Zong Yan had no idea what just happened. He was at a loss.
He didn’t know why, after claiming the authority of the Dreamlands, he’d somehow come to this world and entered the body of Apollo, the Sun God. He didn’t understand how he’d left his original world.
After he arrived on this world and somehow got involved in the war between Greece and Troy, everyone still seemed to know and remember who “Apollo” was, which meant this wasn’t the same situation as Cthulhu’s half-self.
Could he go back?
Zong Yan tried to access the Dreamlands, but maybe he was too far from his original world. Even after he exposed the opening to the Dreamlands, he couldn’t find the right coordinates. And there was something more. Zong Yan felt a mysterious power in the darkness that seemed to be blocking him from returning to his original world.
Before all this happened, Yog told him he would probably return to Azathoth’s flood of consciousness. Was that strange power related to the mind of the Lord of the Universe?
Zong Yan wasn’t at all certain what he sensed. But he absolutely felt bewildered and lost.
He stood on the edge of the sea at the end of the world, reached up and clutched the hot chain of the Silver Key. In that moment he felt that his cold heart was warmed through by its heat.
“No, I can’t just sit here and wait to die.”
Closing his eyes, he took up the lyre he was holding. His long, slender fingertips ran over the strings, and the sound seemed to fill him with limitless courage.
The sunlight shone behind the god, weaving gold threads around his fingers, gilding his deep, handsome profile with divine light.
Zong Yan didn’t hesitate. When the song was finished, he opened the gate to the Dreamlands and jumped inside.
“Elder brother—!”
The goddess of the crescent moon, who was closely following Apollo, cried out in alarm and surged forward with her divine power.
“?”
The Sun God, hearing his sister’s call, looked as if he had awakened from a long and distant dream.
He gently plucked the strings of his lyre in his hand and slightly turned his head. In his blue eyes there was a deep melancholy, a sense of confusion.
She didn’t know why, but Artemis suddenly felt that the Apollo before her now was more genuine.
Although the Sun God of a moment ago had exuded an aura she was all too familiar with, the goddess of the crescent moon somehow felt he was different in some way from the elder brother she remembered. Although she recognized he was her brother, her intuition said there was something wrong.
When she saw the current Apollo, her heart settled into place.
But at the same time, her suspicions grew.
Because the moment she’d arrived from the other side of the sky, she clearly saw a colorful gap in space split open in front of the Sun God, and Apollo leaped inside. But all she caught was a fleeting glimpse. By the time she arrived in front of him, the flash of color disappeared like a ghost.
She showed a worried expression. “What in the world just happened, gege?”
Apollo didn’t immediately answer. The handsome god just plucked the strings of the lyre one by one. The goddess of the crescent moon examined him for a while, only to recall that they’d been born here on this island together. When they had finally left, the Sun God played this piece of music for their mother, the goddess Leto. After so many years, Apollo never played this parting song again, even at the feasts on Mount Olympus.
“Nothing’s wrong.” The Sun God relaxed his brow and stretched out a handsome smile full of hazeless sunshine as usual. “A familiar person with a familiar aura, it seems.”
—So familiar he was like another version of himself.
But Apollo didn’t say much about it. He just winked at his sister and continued to smile. “It’s getting late, so let’s go back. Greece and Troy are still at war.”
Artemis wanted to ask about the colorful gap in space just now, but Apollo seemed reluctant to talk about it, so she decided not to ask more questions. She stepped onto her moonlight deer.
“Right, let’s go.”
—
On the other side, Zong Yan, who’d just fallen into the Dreamlands, once again felt the sensation of passing through a membrane.
By now he’d determined that this sensation meant he was passing through the barriers of space-time.
Zong Yan lowered his head. He was still wearing the dark khaki trench coat the Lord of the Gate had given him before.
The moment he saw the coat, he couldn’t stop himself from sketching the outline of the gray-haired evil god in his mind.
In the past, Zong Yan was a straight man of science. Being able to confuse Picasso with Monet was proof he didn’t have the slightest bit of aptitude for art. Even if Hastur granted him artistic ability later, it didn’t do much for his poor level of understanding.
But now, when Zong Yan recalled the evil god’s face, he couldn’t help but feel he surpassed any level of human beauty that could be described in words.
In fact, all three original pillar gods weren’t bad in terms of looks. Shub-Niggurath was a prime example. He was completely in line with popular aesthetics. His blond hair and red eyes gave him a permanent air of seduction, making him a walking human-shaped aphrodisiac.
And while Nyarlathotep had countless incarnations, setting aside the ones that were non-human, if his avatar had a human form, its looks were completely online. In Miskatonic University, the Bloated Woman was the perfect image of a school flower. The dark-skinned doctor could call himself an international model and random onlookers would believe him. As for the Black Pharaoh, he had even more exotic appeal.
However, the human form of the Lord of the Gate was different from all of them.
He didn’t have the sinister aura of an evil god. There were even times when he seemed to possess a kind of inherent and unapproachable holiness.
Indeed, although it was extremely strange to describe an evil god this way, Zong Yan really had trouble associating his new boyfriend with all the other hideously ugly evil gods.
He held the still-warm key as he walked through the pale, colorful landscape, and nonsensical thoughts ran through his mind.
Then his eyes flashed with a sudden chill.
He felt the mysterious force that was pushing him forward intensify again.
It was as if space had suddenly begun to flow around him, forcing the black-haired young man towards a certain place.
It wasn’t the first time Zong Yan felt this kind of pushing force. When he’d become Apollo before, he felt the same thing when he was roaming.
It was like… This power was urging Zong Yan to go to another world.
The black-haired young man held the Silver Key in his hand. He clearly felt the power in the key pulling him a certain direction.
And that direction was the opposite of where the mysterious power was urging him now.
Whenever Zong Yan showed a tendency to want to follow the key’s guidance and leave, the space around him began to feel strangely amiss, like something was wrong.
‘Forget it. I’ll go and take a look.’
Zong Yan had a few guesses of his own. He pressed down his nebulous suspicions, lowered his head, and hesitantly, gently, placed a kiss on the complex and ornate pattern engraved on the Silver Key.
Obviously he was only kissing a key, but he had the illusion of kissing the lover who was now connected to his heart.
He looked up with a blushing face, shook off his disordered thoughts, and walked quickly towards the crack in space.
Perhaps the Silver Key was partly responsible for giving him the psychological capacity to do this. Zong Yan was no longer heading on a journey with an uncertain destination. He believed in his heart that the Lord of the Gate would find him in the vastness of time and space no matter where he was.
So he took a step forward.
A second later, the sky spun and the earth turned.
Misty clouds suddenly appeared between the sky and earth. The black-and-white Taiji Eight Trigrams were suspended in the billowing, luminous clouds.
At the far end, a vast, majestic heavenly palace stood between heaven and earth, covered with row upon row of vivid, magnificent reliefs.
Emerald green tiles formed the slanting eaves, and clouds of mist gathered at the edge of the jade tiles, condensing into drops of crystal clear water, refracting the sunlight into seven-colored rays.
Just below this magnificent structure, an immense, forbidding platform of black iron spread out beneath the sky like it was brandishing its claws.
The oppressive might of this platform didn’t match the rest of the enormous building complex. Its whole body was made of dark and cold Nine Heavens Black Iron, and there could even be seen wisps of cold white mist emerging from it.
In the four cardinal directions of the platform, four statues of ancient beasts forged of the same material stood tall, with sharp fangs and black chains wrapped around their bodies.
When Zong Yan opened his eyes, after he got over his dizziness, he found himself standing on top of the black platform.
As he was secretly pondering to himself and observing his surroundings, the nearby clouds were full of immortal bystanders, each of them looking on with thoughts of their own.
The lofty god stood in the center of the platform, and the thousand strands of his ink-black hair were entwined with an intricate headdress of dark gold, but not a strand was touched by the wind.
He was dressed in a luxurious crane cloak and a dark blue robe richly embroidered on the hem with ornate patterns. His eyes were as deep and unmoved as a pool of cold water, and his face was without sadness or joy, revealing only a noble, haughty aura.
“So here’s the immortal Yun Zhong Jun. His last hour is at hand, yet he still puts on a show….”
“No, he violated the precepts of the Heavenly Law. I don’t know if His Majesty the Emperor of the East will leave him a way out.”
“I think it’s a long shot. Today he’s come to the Great Immortal Dais. I don’t know what the consequences will be.”
Fearing the pressure of the Nine Heavens Black Iron of the Great Immortal Dais, all these immortal gods and goddesses were hiding behind the clouds and mist, just looking over from a distance. They didn’t dare come any closer.
“Alas, Yun Zhong Jun is one of the supreme deities. Why would he offend the Heavenly Law….”
Everyone was discussing it. Zong Yan, on the other hand, calmly folded his hands under the broad sleeves of his robe and tried a few tricks.
Unfortunately, all of them failed. Obviously this Nine Heavens Black Iron Great Immortal Dais wasn’t that easy to fool. Forget about spells, it also restricted his movements while he was inside.
Even Yun Zhong Jun, who had the power of an Elder God, would find it difficult to break free.
The good thing was that the Silver Key was still on his chest. But right now he couldn’t even walk, so he could only wait and see what happened.
Zong Yan frowned. Just as he was about to try something else, another, even colder, voice came from the sky.
“Pass on his Majesty the Emperor of the East’s heavenly decree. The supreme god, Yun Zhong Jun, has violated the precepts of the Heavenly Law and has not shown the slightest remorse. According to His Majesty’s orders, he is to be taken to the Great Immortal Dais for capital punishment and henceforth demoted to the mortal world—”
“To be carried out at once. Thus ends His Majesty’s decree.”
—
The author has something to say:
Zong Yan: Thanks for the invitation. I just became Yun Zhong Jun, and before I was even able to start pretending, I’m going to become a mortal. This is too hard
This section about Yun Zhong Jun is from a brain hole I’ve been thinking about for the Jiu Ge myth. I haven’t begun to write it yet, it’s not even in pre-collection _(:з」∠)_
TL Notes:
New terms in this chapter! My poor brain (o≧▿≦)o
disappeared like a ghost – 又神鬼莫测般消失不见了 – 消失不见 – vanished from sight; 神鬼莫测 – Neither spirits nor devils may know of it — unpredictable; Even devils cannot circumvent; Neither the spirits above nor the demons below will know anything about it; so mysterious that even gods and spirits could not predict
the sky spun and the earth turned – 天旋地转 – The sky and earth were spinning round; The heaven revolves and the earth turns; very dizzy
Taiji – 太极 – Also known as Tai chi, a Chinese cosmological term for the “Supreme Ultimate” state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which Yin and Yang originate. Taiji is understood to be the highest conceivable principle, that from which existence flows. The “supreme ultimate” creates yang and yin: movement generates yang; when its activity reaches its limit, it becomes tranquil. Through tranquility the supreme ultimate generates yin. When tranquility has reached its limit, there is a return to movement. Movement and tranquility, in alternation, become each the source of the other. (Wikipedia)
Eight Trigrams – 八卦 – The Bagua or Pakua originated in China and are eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality. Each consists of three lines, each line either “broken” or “unbroken”, respectively representing yin or yang, 0 or 1 forming binary numbers 000-111 (0 to 7). Due to their tripartite structure, they are referred to as Eight Trigrams in English (Wikipedia)
Nine Heavens Black Iron – 九天玄铁 – Alternatively: Ninth Heaven profound iron / mysterious iron / darksteel – According to myth, the mother goddess Nüwa (女娲) gathered nine kinds of mysterious iron ore from ten great planets outside the sky and forged a sword which she gave to the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor used the sword to defeat most of the monsters and ghosts on Earth (per random page found on google)
thoughts of their own – 各怀鬼胎 – harboring ghosts – each with his own axe to grind
His Majesty the Emperor of the East – 东皇陛下 – Dōng Huáng bìxià – Also known as The Great Unity, the God of the Eastern Sky (东皇太一), the highest god of the Jiu Ge myth. He is sometimes said to be identical to Dong Jun, also named in the Jiu Ge songs, a sun god or possibly moon god. Dong Jun and Yun Zhong Jun are said to be opposite dualistic gods (Wikipedia) Refer to Ch. 32-33 for notes about Yun Zhong Jun and the Jiu Ge
leave him a way out – 网开一面 – leave one side of the net open — to give the wrongdoer a way out; a net open on one side — purposely give the offenders a chance to turn over a new leaf; give sb. a way out; let sb. slip through the net – be lenient
Great Immortal Dais – 仙台 – xiāntái – Alternatively: platform, stage, terrace
Thus ends His Majesty’s decree – 钦此 – This by the emperor himself – expression marking the end of an imperial order
Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:
Leto – 勒托
Olympus, Mount Olympus – 奥林匹斯山
His Majesty the Emperor of the East – 东皇陛下 – Dōng Huáng bìxià – Alternatively: the Eastern Emperor, His Majesty Dong Huang
[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]
Zong Yan had no idea what just happened. He was at a loss.
He didn’t know why, after claiming the authority of the Dreamlands, he’d somehow come to this world and entered the body of Apollo, the Sun God. He didn’t understand how he’d left his original world.
After he arrived on this world and somehow got involved in the war between Greece and Troy, everyone still seemed to know and remember who “Apollo” was, which meant this wasn’t the same situation as Cthulhu’s half-self.
Could he go back?
Zong Yan tried to access the Dreamlands, but maybe he was too far from his original world. Even after he exposed the opening to the Dreamlands, he couldn’t find the right coordinates. And there was something more. Zong Yan felt a mysterious power in the darkness that seemed to be blocking him from returning to his original world.
Before all this happened, Yog told him he would probably return to Azathoth’s flood of consciousness. Was that strange power related to the mind of the Lord of the Universe?
Zong Yan wasn’t at all certain what he sensed. But he absolutely felt bewildered and lost.
He stood on the edge of the sea at the end of the world, reached up and clutched the hot chain of the Silver Key. In that moment he felt that his cold heart was warmed through by its heat.
“No, I can’t just sit here and wait to die.”
Closing his eyes, he took up the lyre he was holding. His long, slender fingertips ran over the strings, and the sound seemed to fill him with limitless courage.
The sunlight shone behind the god, weaving gold threads around his fingers, gilding his deep, handsome profile with divine light.
Zong Yan didn’t hesitate. When the song was finished, he opened the gate to the Dreamlands and jumped inside.
“Elder brother—!”
The goddess of the crescent moon, who was closely following Apollo, cried out in alarm and surged forward with her divine power.
“?”
The Sun God, hearing his sister’s call, looked as if he had awakened from a long and distant dream.
He gently plucked the strings of his lyre in his hand and slightly turned his head. In his blue eyes there was a deep melancholy, a sense of confusion.
She didn’t know why, but Artemis suddenly felt that the Apollo before her now was more genuine.
Although the Sun God of a moment ago had exuded an aura she was all too familiar with, the goddess of the crescent moon somehow felt he was different in some way from the elder brother she remembered. Although she recognized he was her brother, her intuition said there was something wrong.
When she saw the current Apollo, her heart settled into place.
But at the same time, her suspicions grew.
Because the moment she’d arrived from the other side of the sky, she clearly saw a colorful gap in space split open in front of the Sun God, and Apollo leaped inside. But all she caught was a fleeting glimpse. By the time she arrived in front of him, the flash of color disappeared like a ghost.
She showed a worried expression. “What in the world just happened, gege?”
Apollo didn’t immediately answer. The handsome god just plucked the strings of the lyre one by one. The goddess of the crescent moon examined him for a while, only to recall that they’d been born here on this island together. When they had finally left, the Sun God played this piece of music for their mother, the goddess Leto. After so many years, Apollo never played this parting song again, even at the feasts on Mount Olympus.
“Nothing’s wrong.” The Sun God relaxed his brow and stretched out a handsome smile full of hazeless sunshine as usual. “A familiar person with a familiar aura, it seems.”
—So familiar he was like another version of himself.
But Apollo didn’t say much about it. He just winked at his sister and continued to smile. “It’s getting late, so let’s go back. Greece and Troy are still at war.”
Artemis wanted to ask about the colorful gap in space just now, but Apollo seemed reluctant to talk about it, so she decided not to ask more questions. She stepped onto her moonlight deer.
“Right, let’s go.”
—
On the other side, Zong Yan, who’d just fallen into the Dreamlands, once again felt the sensation of passing through a membrane.
By now he’d determined that this sensation meant he was passing through the barriers of space-time.
Zong Yan lowered his head. He was still wearing the dark khaki trench coat the Lord of the Gate had given him before.
The moment he saw the coat, he couldn’t stop himself from sketching the outline of the gray-haired evil god in his mind.
In the past, Zong Yan was a straight man of science. Being able to confuse Picasso with Monet was proof he didn’t have the slightest bit of aptitude for art. Even if Hastur granted him artistic ability later, it didn’t do much for his poor level of understanding.
But now, when Zong Yan recalled the evil god’s face, he couldn’t help but feel he surpassed any level of human beauty that could be described in words.
In fact, all three original pillar gods weren’t bad in terms of looks. Shub-Niggurath was a prime example. He was completely in line with popular aesthetics. His blond hair and red eyes gave him a permanent air of seduction, making him a walking human-shaped aphrodisiac.
And while Nyarlathotep had countless incarnations, setting aside the ones that were non-human, if his avatar had a human form, its looks were completely online. In Miskatonic University, the Bloated Woman was the perfect image of a school flower. The dark-skinned doctor could call himself an international model and random onlookers would believe him. As for the Black Pharaoh, he had even more exotic appeal.
However, the human form of the Lord of the Gate was different from all of them.
He didn’t have the sinister aura of an evil god. There were even times when he seemed to possess a kind of inherent and unapproachable holiness.
Indeed, although it was extremely strange to describe an evil god this way, Zong Yan really had trouble associating his new boyfriend with all the other hideously ugly evil gods.
He held the still-warm key as he walked through the pale, colorful landscape, and nonsensical thoughts ran through his mind.
Then his eyes flashed with a sudden chill.
He felt the mysterious force that was pushing him forward intensify again.
It was as if space had suddenly begun to flow around him, forcing the black-haired young man towards a certain place.
It wasn’t the first time Zong Yan felt this kind of pushing force. When he’d become Apollo before, he felt the same thing when he was roaming.
It was like… This power was urging Zong Yan to go to another world.
The black-haired young man held the Silver Key in his hand. He clearly felt the power in the key pulling him a certain direction.
And that direction was the opposite of where the mysterious power was urging him now.
Whenever Zong Yan showed a tendency to want to follow the key’s guidance and leave, the space around him began to feel strangely amiss, like something was wrong.
‘Forget it. I’ll go and take a look.’
Zong Yan had a few guesses of his own. He pressed down his nebulous suspicions, lowered his head, and hesitantly, gently, placed a kiss on the complex and ornate pattern engraved on the Silver Key.
Obviously he was only kissing a key, but he had the illusion of kissing the lover who was now connected to his heart.
He looked up with a blushing face, shook off his disordered thoughts, and walked quickly towards the crack in space.
Perhaps the Silver Key was partly responsible for giving him the psychological capacity to do this. Zong Yan was no longer heading on a journey with an uncertain destination. He believed in his heart that the Lord of the Gate would find him in the vastness of time and space no matter where he was.
So he took a step forward.
A second later, the sky spun and the earth turned.
Misty clouds suddenly appeared between the sky and earth. The black-and-white Taiji Eight Trigrams were suspended in the billowing, luminous clouds.
At the far end, a vast, majestic heavenly palace stood between heaven and earth, covered with row upon row of vivid, magnificent reliefs.
Emerald green tiles formed the slanting eaves, and clouds of mist gathered at the edge of the jade tiles, condensing into drops of crystal clear water, refracting the sunlight into seven-colored rays.
Just below this magnificent structure, an immense, forbidding platform of black iron spread out beneath the sky like it was brandishing its claws.
The oppressive might of this platform didn’t match the rest of the enormous building complex. Its whole body was made of dark and cold Nine Heavens Black Iron, and there could even be seen wisps of cold white mist emerging from it.
In the four cardinal directions of the platform, four statues of ancient beasts forged of the same material stood tall, with sharp fangs and black chains wrapped around their bodies.
When Zong Yan opened his eyes, after he got over his dizziness, he found himself standing on top of the black platform.
As he was secretly pondering to himself and observing his surroundings, the nearby clouds were full of immortal bystanders, each of them looking on with thoughts of their own.
The lofty god stood in the center of the platform, and the thousand strands of his ink-black hair were entwined with an intricate headdress of dark gold, but not a strand was touched by the wind.
He was dressed in a luxurious crane cloak and a dark blue robe richly embroidered on the hem with ornate patterns. His eyes were as deep and unmoved as a pool of cold water, and his face was without sadness or joy, revealing only a noble, haughty aura.
“So here’s the immortal Yun Zhong Jun. His last hour is at hand, yet he still puts on a show….”
“No, he violated the precepts of the Heavenly Law. I don’t know if His Majesty the Emperor of the East will leave him a way out.”
“I think it’s a long shot. Today he’s come to the Great Immortal Dais. I don’t know what the consequences will be.”
Fearing the pressure of the Nine Heavens Black Iron of the Great Immortal Dais, all these immortal gods and goddesses were hiding behind the clouds and mist, just looking over from a distance. They didn’t dare come any closer.
“Alas, Yun Zhong Jun is one of the supreme deities. Why would he offend the Heavenly Law….”
Everyone was discussing it. Zong Yan, on the other hand, calmly folded his hands under the broad sleeves of his robe and tried a few tricks.
Unfortunately, all of them failed. Obviously this Nine Heavens Black Iron Great Immortal Dais wasn’t that easy to fool. Forget about spells, it also restricted his movements while he was inside.
Even Yun Zhong Jun, who had the power of an Elder God, would find it difficult to break free.
The good thing was that the Silver Key was still on his chest. But right now he couldn’t even walk, so he could only wait and see what happened.
Zong Yan frowned. Just as he was about to try something else, another, even colder, voice came from the sky.
“Pass on his Majesty the Emperor of the East’s heavenly decree. The supreme god, Yun Zhong Jun, has violated the precepts of the Heavenly Law and has not shown the slightest remorse. According to His Majesty’s orders, he is to be taken to the Great Immortal Dais for capital punishment and henceforth demoted to the mortal world—”
“To be carried out at once. Thus ends His Majesty’s decree.”
—
The author has something to say:
Zong Yan: Thanks for the invitation. I just became Yun Zhong Jun, and before I was even able to start pretending, I’m going to become a mortal. This is too hard
This section about Yun Zhong Jun is from a brain hole I’ve been thinking about for the Jiu Ge myth. I haven’t begun to write it yet, it’s not even in pre-collection _(:з」∠)_
TL Notes:
New terms in this chapter! My poor brain (o≧▿≦)o
disappeared like a ghost – 又神鬼莫测般消失不见了 – 消失不见 – vanished from sight; 神鬼莫测 – Neither spirits nor devils may know of it — unpredictable; Even devils cannot circumvent; Neither the spirits above nor the demons below will know anything about it; so mysterious that even gods and spirits could not predict
the sky spun and the earth turned – 天旋地转 – The sky and earth were spinning round; The heaven revolves and the earth turns; very dizzy
Taiji – 太极 – Also known as Tai chi, a Chinese cosmological term for the “Supreme Ultimate” state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which Yin and Yang originate. Taiji is understood to be the highest conceivable principle, that from which existence flows. The “supreme ultimate” creates yang and yin: movement generates yang; when its activity reaches its limit, it becomes tranquil. Through tranquility the supreme ultimate generates yin. When tranquility has reached its limit, there is a return to movement. Movement and tranquility, in alternation, become each the source of the other. (Wikipedia)
Eight Trigrams – 八卦 – The Bagua or Pakua originated in China and are eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality. Each consists of three lines, each line either “broken” or “unbroken”, respectively representing yin or yang, 0 or 1 forming binary numbers 000-111 (0 to 7). Due to their tripartite structure, they are referred to as Eight Trigrams in English (Wikipedia)
Nine Heavens Black Iron – 九天玄铁 – Alternatively: Ninth Heaven profound iron / mysterious iron / darksteel – According to myth, the mother goddess Nüwa (女娲) gathered nine kinds of mysterious iron ore from ten great planets outside the sky and forged a sword which she gave to the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor used the sword to defeat most of the monsters and ghosts on Earth (per random page found on google)
thoughts of their own – 各怀鬼胎 – harboring ghosts – each with his own axe to grind
His Majesty the Emperor of the East – 东皇陛下 – Dōng Huáng bìxià – Also known as The Great Unity, the God of the Eastern Sky (东皇太一), the highest god of the Jiu Ge myth. He is sometimes said to be identical to Dong Jun, also named in the Jiu Ge songs, a sun god or possibly moon god. Dong Jun and Yun Zhong Jun are said to be opposite dualistic gods (Wikipedia) Refer to Ch. 32-33 for notes about Yun Zhong Jun and the Jiu Ge
leave him a way out – 网开一面 – leave one side of the net open — to give the wrongdoer a way out; a net open on one side — purposely give the offenders a chance to turn over a new leaf; give sb. a way out; let sb. slip through the net – be lenient
Great Immortal Dais – 仙台 – xiāntái – Alternatively: platform, stage, terrace
Thus ends His Majesty’s decree – 钦此 – This by the emperor himself – expression marking the end of an imperial order
Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:
Leto – 勒托
Olympus, Mount Olympus – 奥林匹斯山
His Majesty the Emperor of the East – 东皇陛下 – Dōng Huáng bìxià – Alternatively: the Eastern Emperor, His Majesty Dong Huang
[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]
