[Tian Ya Ke (Re-)Readalong] Chapter 29+30

[rekishi]

Hello again!

You may have noticed that my comparison with SHL are few and far in between. I'm keeping it like this intentionally since shadaras is running the rewatch (that I have been woefully neglecting) in parallel and the relationships are quite different even though of course the drama draws heavily on the novel for specific scenes.

You're welcome to run any comparisons in the comments though! I'm trying to keep it low key for the above reasons.

My gdoc for this reread now has 66 pages and a little over 30k words (including html tag though) which is….a lot, actually. Thanks for hanging in here with me!

Chapter 29 – Belated Regrets
Chapter 30 – Rainy Night

Wen Kexing learns some sobering truths. Zhang Chengling's life is still in danger. It's also business as usual in jianghu.



Chapter 29

• "Wen Kexing finally saw the strangeness in the way the other man talked. He enunciated words very slowly like an old man, and completed with his facial expressions, he gave both an irritable and uncanny feeling.
  
  Wen Kexing was not the thoughtless type. Now that the initial emotional impulse had worn off, doubt started to bloom in his chest.
  
  Before he could answer, Zhou Zishu raised his sleeves to wipe the blood at the corner of his mouth, voice gentle, “What is your intention, Ancient Monk?”"


• "Wen Kexing couldn’t help but look over Ye Baiyi’s completely-not-wrinkled face once again and thought, What kind of abomination is this old man?"


• "Zhou Zishu with his unstable breathing was not at all suitable to be in the middle of this fight between these two all-around insolent men, so he cleverly retreated and sat on the top of a wall nearby to spectate and recuperate.
  
  During this time when people were currently too worried about the Lapis Armor and the Ghost Valley to be able to sleep well, no one had any idea that in this small alley, a rarely seen clash between two martial arts masters was happening. Ye Baiyi had denied to be the Ancient Monk and Zhou Zishu was now unsure who he actually was; but upon seeing this unprecedented level of martial arts skills, him being the Ancient Monk didn’t seem like a stretch at all."


• "Ye Baiyi made a noise of contempt and retreated several feet. When he landed on the ground, he fixed his disheveled clothes, those ethereally fluttering sleeves torn by Wen Kexing. Zhou Zishu felt like this was Wen Kexing’s bad habit; since his orientation was not something often discussed out loud, he couldn’t help but imposing it onto everyone else."


• "Ye Baiyi shook his head. “Your meridians have almost withered completely, like an ancient tree without roots. Even removing the poison inside you won’t help; in fact, channeling more energy into you will break your dying meridians, and you can only perish.”
  
  Wen Kexing staggered in shock as he turned and gave Zhou Zishu a look of disbelief. The other man was still perching on the top of the wall, completely leisurely and uncaring; rain fell on him and left his hair soaking wet. He looked like a dim ray of light, and had Wen Kexing not witnessed what he did in the cave that one time, he would never have realized he was someone carrying injuries."

Chapter 30

• “I just felt like… I’d finally found someone I can relate to⁠—Gu Xiang, stop following me.”


• "Then she raised her head to stare after the direction Wen Kexing had vanished to, suddenly being reminded of the image of his soaked back, his broad shoulders, his unwavering steps under the rain that didn’t wait for her one bit. There was no one beside him but he never looked sideways, like he had been travelling alone for a while now.
  
  She pitied him a little."


• "There were actually several factions amongst the Scorpions, depending on the hiring price. For instance, those who were with the Delighted Mourning Ghost and helped him lure out Zhang Chengling were not those who would lay down their lives; to acquire those, one would need to pay a higher price.
  
  It was more troublesome with these lot. There’s no telling how many they were; once a group failed another group would advance, and they were all the fearless type. If they succeeded, they got paid handsomely; if they didn’t, they would have to leave their own body right there.
  
  That’s why it was not at all cheap."

The order of events here is: WKX catches ZZS (and berates him for letting YBY feel him up, heh) and only then stops to question how off the situation is.

Which, we know WKX has an agenda and a plan, and yet still this is what his instincts tell him. Effectively they haven't known each other that long and yet…

Because we're in a wuxia here, as has been stressed to me several times by several people who probably were very annoyed with me playing it fast and loose with genres, cultivating to immortality is not usually a thing (although I do maintain, if it was possible in in the "Nirvana in Fire" world to be able to cultivate to immortality, Lin Chen would be Ye Baiyi. Fight me.) - and as we know for YBY it comes with strict conditions - so it's not a surprise that WKX thinks him...odd, to put it kindly. So this is not usually a thing, or if they have an immortal on their hands, they want him to look like one, not be confronted with a young man such as YBY, perhaps because it's not fair?

Also can I be amused that WKX calls YBY 老鬼, old ghost? Because it gives me much joy.
Btw, the sentence is: "老鬼,你没听说过什么叫做白首如新、倾盖如故么?", which has nothing to do with soulmate as the sparklingwater translation gives, but actually combines "白首如新" white headed strangers and "倾盖如故" old friends at first meeting (reference pulled from xuxunette's translation). I understand why sparklingwater translated it as they did, because it's a bit cumbersome to translate, but considering that 知己 is such a theme in this novel and Qi Ye both, I think this could have been circumvented.

Either way though, WKX is not pleased with YBY's assessment of their relationship. He does pretty quickly accept, on ZZS' word alone, that YBY is the Ancient Monk though. Which is...interesting.

What else is interesting: Keep in mind that WKX and ZZS are pretty evenly matched with ZZS at only half strength/ability but by ZZS' expert eye, WKX holds himself pretty well against YBY, who is more than a master in his own right. That WKX has even surpassed his father. So...how good is WKX really, if he can hold his own against YBY, the Ancient Monk, at least for a little while even if it drives him past his absolute limits?

It also makes ZZS suspicious though. So do we agree that until this moment he doesn't know (and possibly hadn't seriously suspected) that WKX is the Valley Master? But that now he...strongly suspects? Keep in mind, ZZS thinks three people are on par or better than him in jianghu: the Ancient Monk (check), the Ghost Valley Master (check?), the Poison King of the Southern Sea (status unknown).

(I always laugh that WKX has also cut YBY's sleeve and ZZS' dry commentary when it comes to this, it is delightful. I appreciate ZZS' dry humour in general, this is a man who knows what he is capable of and won't hide hit and who chafes at his limitations.)

What strikes me as hm...a bit odd? Is that WKX knew ZZS is suffering from the Nails, he accurately called that himself, and yet he is shocked when YBY says that there is no way to treat the injury. He knows the Nails end in death. Was he just shooting his mouth in the cave? Did he think that, because ZZS is active and has his martial arts, that he somehow escaped that fate for good, as he more or less says to GX later on? In that case this was a pretty sobering wake-up call, or boy didn't have entirely accurate information, which must be even worse.

Meanwhile, should we take ZZS' reaction here as the first inkling that he wants to keep living? The first notion of regret that he chose the Nails? I wonder. It feels a bit like it.

This scene in the rain is… I have feelings about it, but they're hard to articulate. There is a lot of care in this scene, and that caring is very much mutual, whereas WKX is trying to grasp the situation - and is grieving before the time - ZZS is once more coming to terms with his own very real mortality now that he has met - and come to like, I think - WKX. The rain sets the mood here and...yeah, here are two emotionally stunted men who have no clue how to use their words for what they feel.

"How fortunate I'm not in love with you yet." Keep telling yourself that lie, WKX, keep telling it to yourself.

It's a bit hypocritical of WKX to say he only just knows who ZZS is, because he's had that suspicion since the cave and it hasn't stopped him. Though I do believe he'd wrenched away if he had known from the start who ZZS is, because...well, ZZS does have a reputation, probably also in jianghu.

I am curious though who escaped from Tian Chuang in the past few years for WKX to meet and who also escaped ZZS' eyes everywhere. Now I want to know that story as well.

I feel bad for WKX, I really do. On the other hand….I'm really surprised he is so blindsided by this, I feel like WKX is someone who would be very clear eyed. But somehow in this case...not. Blinded by his own wishful thinking?

Another attempt in ZCL's life! And more information on the Scorpions, which comes in quite handy.

ZJ playing quite the righteous man here, isn't he? Naked from the waist, having saved ZCL, yelling at FXF… But we're also on about the Glazed Armor again, people are quite keen on it.

Psst, ZZS, you shixiong emotions are showing. I think it's sweet, actually, even though he's still in denial about ZCL being his disciple.

Well that's it for today! Come back next week for chapters 31+32! :D