"BOOM!"
A terrifying purple thunderbolt plunged from the sky like a dragon. In less than a fraction of a second, it slammed into Lu Sheng's body.
"Crack-crack—"
The sound of crystal porcelain shattering echoed. From the thick purple sparkling plasma, a figure entirely enveloped in lightning surged forth.
Sheng gave a light shake of his arms, flicking away the coiled lightning like purple serpents scattering to the ground. Platinum-gold flames rose up, forging his Golden Glazed Body into a breathtakingly exquisite form. Though vast cracks now marred this exquisite glass form, the fractured areas rapidly healed as the platinum flames flowed over them, restoring it to flawless perfection.
Sheng's eyes had transformed into pure gray, like the mist between the fading light of day and the dawn's first glow symbolizing both the end and the beginning. He took a single, light step forward, abruptly materializing before the sword-wielding master of thunder.
His outstretched right hand shot upward. As it clenched into a fist, countless stars surged forth, ultimately converging upon that single fist, resembling a swirling nebula.
"True Martial Star Power, Break!"
The fist struck out, shattering the magnificent nebula. A colossal, peerless river of stars poured forth from his punch. Compared to his previous clash with Monroe, Lu Sheng now wielded this technique effortlessly.
As the river's radiance faded, the figure blocking him vanished completely. Only a gray-purple longsword fell limply from midair.
Sheng made no move to catch it, merely glancing at it indifferently before withdrawing his gaze and closing his eyes. A vast cloud of black smoke abruptly materialized, swarming toward him and enveloping his entire body like a colossal black cocoon.
Memories belonging to the former level 13 powerhouse surged ceaselessly into his mind. This process lasted nearly half a day. When the black smoke surrounding him was fully absorbed, he finally opened his eyes slowly.
"Huuu..."
Sheng exhaled a heavy breath. That single breath seemed to extinguish every last speck of the platinum flame on his body. The intricate, magnificent Sun God Runes faded away, and his Golden Glazed Body reverted to that of an ordinary human.
"Finally chewed it through."
A hint of delight and satisfaction flickered in his eyes. He had fought this level 13 powerhouse named "Thunder Blazer" over a dozen times, each battle ending in utter humiliation.
After breaking through to level 11 and his immortal cells surging to 330,000, he had finally succeeded in defeating him. Beyond the tangible gains from victory, the primary reward was the profound sense of accomplishment.
"Level 12 to 13 is another threshold, a qualitative leap in power..." Lu Sheng gently stroked the area over his chest.
Just moments ago, his Golden Glazed Body had nearly shattered. It seemed utterly unimaginable—after all, this Golden Glazed Body had been capable of withstanding Qian Yushu's Swords Wave without breaking. And that was during the Martial Arts Tournament.
Over all this time, how much had Lu Sheng's strength grown? How much bigger was his Martial Dharma Projection now? The might of his Golden Glazed Body had multiplied many times over, yet it still shattered under the attack of a level 13 zombie powerhouse. One could only imagine just how terrifying level 13 truly was.
Sheng casually extended one hand. His gaze fixed on his own palm. His hand was beautiful, almost flawless, but the most peculiar feature was the pattern at the center. It resembled lightning. Every single line of it. Numerous lightning-like palm lines converged, as if a terrifying thundercloud storm was forming within his hands.
"Huuu..."
Lu Sheng opened his mouth and exhaled, expelling a spherical ball of lightning. This lightning shot forth, effortlessly shattering several layers of void.
"If Level 11 and Level 12 represent mastery over the power of the rules, then Level 13..."
Lu Sheng murmured slowly, "It involves the power of the laws governing the cosmos."
Yes. Reaching level 13 signified entering the Realm of Laws.
"The power of the laws represents the most potent and fundamental force within a given domain. It is a secondary manifestation of the primordial cosmic force. Reaching this stage equates to having made initial contact with the very essence of the universe."
Rules merely grasp the patterns of cosmic motion, while laws touch upon the very essence of that motion. Explaining this in layman's terms might be difficult to grasp. Let me offer an imperfect analogy.
If the entire universe were a game, all players below Level 11 are ordinary players. They are clueless, ignorant of the game's mechanisms, and their skills are clumsy and rudimentary.
Level 11 to 12 players, who grasp the rules, become skilled veterans. They master the mechanics and know how to exploit them, surpassing ordinary players in every aspect beyond measure.
Reaching level 13, those who comprehend the laws become the VIP players of the game, possessing special privileges. They inhabit a world entirely distinct from ordinary players. As people who grasp the primordial power of the cosmos, they essentially see the game's code directly, they are able to able to manipulate data in the back end. They could even abandon this game and run their own private server without issue.
In a sense, Lu Sheng could be considered a player of this caliber. Yet despite possessing primordial power and the ability to "see through the code", he couldn't decipher it—nor did he understand programming.
In short, the power of laws is immense—truly immense. After entering the Law Realm, martial artists compete based on how much law power they command. For any given law, the deeper your comprehension and the greater your control, the stronger you become. It also comes down to the number of laws you grasp. Mastering two laws makes you far more formidable than someone who masters only one.
"So now, I've essentially grasped one Law."
The Law of Thunder.
"Not only that, but my swordsmanship has broken through. Reaching the Sixth Realm!"
All this knowledge came from the martial treasure of the level 13 powerhouse he'd just defeated, Thunder Blazer. Through his memories, Sheng also learned something else.
"There are distinctions in strength between different laws."
The memories of a level 13 powerhouse were vast—knowledge, insights, experiences, all tangled together. It took Sheng considerable time to barely untangle them all. Defeating Thunder Blazer hadn't changed Sheng's cultivation realm, but mastering a law power meant his strength underwent another profound, earth-shattering transformation.
"If I were to wield the Sixth Realm's Sword Technique now, combined with the Law of Thunder... against opponents below level 13, it should be as effortless as slicing through melons and vegetables. No more struggling through battles like before."
There was just one thing. Though the power of the Laws was formidable, for martial artists below level 13, harnessing it was far from easy.
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Translation notes by dhoo
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That was an intense chapter in terms of new vocabulary: rules, laws, layers of void, also a bunch of characters names, some martial art lingo like the Martial Dharma Projection, some terms specific to Lu Sheng's techniques like his Golden Glazed Body, etc. Of course it's ok to forget most of it! Yay! Important words and phrases will come back anyway. Just keep in mind that level 11-12 martial artists (the 5th cultivation Realm, the Rules Realm, it's not that important) try to master one or more rules and level 13+ martial artists (the 6th cultivation Realm, the Law Realm, again not that important) try to master one or more laws. In a nutshell, laws are stronger than rules. Et voilà, next chapter!
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Thevoid, layers of the void
空, xūkōng: void
好幾層的虛空, hǎojǐ céng de xūkōng: 好幾 several 層 layer(s) 的 of 虛空 void
The "void" is an important part of the fabric of Lu Sheng's universe, and it is made of layers that the post powerful martial artists can break... or crash through when their opponent is stronger.
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Level 13
十三級, shísān jí: 十 ten 三 three 級 level
Level 13 overlord
十三級霸主, shísān jí bàzhǔ: 霸主 overlord
Level 13 powerhouse / strongman
十三級強者, shísān jí qiángzhě: 強者 strongman
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Golden Glazed Body
黄金琉璃身, huángjīn liúlí shēn: 黄金 gold, 琉璃 colored glaze, glass, 身 body
trad. 黃 / simp. 黄
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Sun God Runes or Sun God Patterns
太陽神紋, tàiyángshén wén: 太陽神 sun god, Apollo, 紋 pattern, mark
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If the entire universe were a game
That analogy is interesting and did allow me to better understand rules and laws, but anyway we'll learn more later.
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Lei Futian aka Layfoot Yann, Layfooty Ann (phonetical), or Thunder Dogdays, Thunderdog Daze, Thunder Blazer, Thunder Scorch
雷伏天, léi fútiān: 雷 Thunder 伏天 hottest days of summer, dog days, canicule
I feel like being creative here. The author gave him a cool Chinese name where the meaning really matters: Lu Sheng inherits the Thunder Law from a martial artist called Lei (thunder). Calling him Lei Futian is possible but not risky and not rewarding, we'd lose the thunder. I don't think an phonetical English version like Layfoot Yann makes sense either, I'd prefer Lei Futian. It would be nice to convey the meaning Thunder, I made different propositions and picked one. I might think of something better later.
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Martial Arts Tournament
武道大賽, wǔdào dàsài: 武道 martial art 大賽 tournament
The short version for the tournament organized in the previous arc of this novel. Its full name is: 星際天才武道交流大賽, xīngjì tiāncái wǔdào jiāoliú dàsài: Interstellar Genius Martial Arts Exchange Tournament
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Monroe: a level 12 martial artist who played an important role in the previous arc—the Tournament arc. See Glossary.
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Qian Yushu: another martial artist who played an important role in the previous arc—the Tournament arc. His main technique is the Sword Array or Swords Wave. See Glossary.
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Martial Dharma Projection
武道法相, wǔdào fǎxiāng: 武道 martial arts 法 law, dharma, magic, etc., 相 to see
An avatar, image, kind of a hologram that strong martial artists of level 9 and above can project. The size of this projection used to be of importance in earlier arcs. Martial artists would compete to see who has the biggest one.
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The rules and the laws
Both words, 規則 (guīzé) and 法則 (fǎzé), could be translated as "rule", but then the story wouldn't make much sense. I'll try my best to clearly differentiate them as "rule" and "law" since they are very distinct martial arts concepts in Sheng's universe.
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The rules, the power of rules, aka rule power
規則之力, guīzé zhī lì: 規則 rule/regulation, 之 of, 力 power
A rule power is a strong power wielded by level 11 and level 12 martial artists. One can master one or more rules. The more rules one grasps and controls, the stronger they are. Each rule manifests as a beautiful galaxy-like bright ribbon around the martial artist's body. The next step is to incorporate these rules inside one's body, to strengthen the body and prepare it to grasp even more powerful laws.
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The laws, the power of laws, aka law power
法則之力, fǎzé zhī lì: 法則 law/rule/code, 之 of, 力 power
The Law of Thunder
雷之法則, léi zhī fǎzé: 雷 thunder 之 's 法則 law
In Sheng's universe, a law power is "the most potent and fundamental force within a given domain", that is to say that laws are much stronger than rules.
Having a rule power, which means grasping/understanding a rule and harnessing/controlling its power, means that one can use this cosmic rule. Having a law power, which means grasping a law and harnessing its power, means that one can bend the rules, change and re-write cosmic rules.
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The Sixth Realm: the Realm of the Laws
六境
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The Fifth Realm: the Realm of the Rules
六境
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Translation issues
A rule or a law? There are often mistranslations, for at least three reasons:
1. Both 規則 (guīzé) and 法則 (fǎzé) could be translated as rule. Fortunately, only the latter also means law.
2. The word 規則 (guīzé) means rule/regulation, but... it is written with two characters who both have various meanings, 規 means rule/law/arrange/... and 則 means rule/law/standard/... Well, law+law=rule? Could we say it's a mess? It gets worse.
3. Lu Sheng is still only a level 11 martial artist and yet he is already grasping his first laws, something you usually do when you transition to level 13. He gets everyone confused with his abnormal, surreal abilities, friends and foes alike, even the translators :')
As stated above, in his universe, in theory, rule and law concepts belong to different cultivation levels. Level 11 and 12 martial artists try to grasp as many rules as they can (mastering one is enough to get to level 11, mastering a few means more strength, mastering many means overpowering strength compared to others). Level 13 and 14 martial artists try to grasp as many laws as they can (again, mastering one is enough to get to level 13, etc.). BUT thanks to harvesting memories in the dream world and inheriting vast amounts of knowledge and experience, Sheng is always at least two steps ahead, he has been beating martial artists and beasts whose level is higher and who are supposed to be stronger than him, and he will keep doing it in the future. One of the reason is that he already is grasping laws as a level 11 martial artist, it's shockingly abnormal to his peers, but it's what it is.
Sheng's body shouldn't even be able to resist the power of these laws he is inheriting, how he's doing it is based on his many techniques and body strengthening abilities, as explained here and there in different chapters.
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True Martial Star Power, Break
真武-羣星之力-破 , zhēn wǔ qún xīngzhī lì pò: 真 true 武 martial 羣/群 group 星 star 之 's 力 power,破 to break - 星羣 means constellation, but here the order is reversed.
Hmm, I'm not sure about this technique's name, what do you think? Maybe True Martial Stellar Power and something other than break?