Translator's note 2

Hi! I'm really really happy that the danmei kids on Twitter found this and that you are all enjoying it! I didn't expect anyone to actually read this so now I'm shy lol. A couple of things - 

It's a bit hard to find the 'Blog Archive' on mobile, but if you display the web version you'll be able to see it on the right hand side. In case it's helpful, here's the link to Chapter 1: https://tongqiankanshi.blogspot.com/2020/09/tong-qian-kan-shi-copper-coin-niches.html

I'm probably going to be cleaning this up a bit over Xmas break, mainly for the sake of smoothness & flow in English which means that it'll be diverging a bit from the original text. But I do want to make it more enjoyable to read in and of itself. 08 12 2020: This is currently happening, slowly though. 06 02 2021: This is probably not going to happen anymore i cba

Quick summary of the plot: 

It's about the disembodied soul of a dragon who's looking for his lost body, as well as the people who were responsible for maiming him; he meets a mysterious demon-slaying monk with amnesia who only knows that he's looking for someone; maybe they fall in love idk. It's set in 11th century China and the magic is based on geomancy (feng shui).

I'll also be updating this post in case anything else comes up! Please let me know what you think :))

08 12 2020 - A note on names: Xue Xian is translated into 2 words because his surname is Xue and his forename is Xian; Xuanmin is a Dharma name, the name he has as a Buddhist priest, and is a mononym, which is why it's translated as 1 word. Lu Twenty-Seven (Lu Nianqi) and Lu Nineteen (Lu Shijiu) have their names transliterated because these are nicknames based on their dates of birth; as is discussed briefly in the novel itself, many cultures used to avoid giving small children "nice" names in case it's a bad omen that curses them to die early (see "How to train a dragon"). A child would normally be given a real name later on in life, but the Lus were orphaned before this could occur.

06 02 2021 - I'm no longer interested in finishing reviewing the translation because I've moved on. However, some notes on translations --  Looking back I would've translated "Spider of the Same Age" as "Tongshou Spider" instead, because the transcription is a lot less bulky. (It also matches with "Wuming Spider".) I also now know that English translations of "zou huo ru mo" are typically "qi deviation" but I'm honestly not 100% into it especially in this novel's context because the person who is having a qi deviation in the story is not a cultivator. Also, full transparency, Taipu is actually Taibu in pinyin but I thought it would look nicer in English with the "p" instead of the "b". "B" in Mandarin is pronounced how "p" in French would be pronounced - slightly spat out. Okay coolio thanks everyone!

25 02 2021 - I'm on twitter properly now!! Also might come back and finish editing this after all haha let's see...

- Jiaqi