Three Lives Three Worlds
Pillow Book of Samsara:
三生三世 枕上书之梦回洪荒远古时
Hello to all our lovely readers! Firstly, we would like to apologise for taking such a long time to update the blog. Lockdowns and real life (kids, life, pandemic, work and whatever else you can imagine) had to take precedent for a while. But now we are back and raring to go with more frequent updates. We are sure everyone is excited to read the concluding chapter of Back to Chaos in a Dream. So here's the story for everyone to enjoy...
Feng Jiu awoke, and found herself not sleeping in the Sui Han chamber at the Heavenly Jade Sea, but lying in the Ba Ye chamber at Tai Chen Palace. She slowly sat up on the bed as her eyes fell onto the set of little porcelain foxes placed on top of the nearby zither table. The little foxes were made by Di Jun in an effort to win her favor when she woke up after the big battle with Miao Luo.
Feng Jiu’s mind went blank momentarily.
Then she understood immediately. This was Tai Chen Palace 260,000 years in the future. She had returned to the present.
Zu Ti had said that when the destined opportunity arrived, Gun Gun and herself would naturally return to the present from the Chaos Era. She massaged her temple, making an effort to recollect for some time. Then, she remembered that just a moment ago, Di Jun and herself were at the Water Marsh School in Shou Hua Ye…. Could it be… the hand massaging her temple paused momentarily. Could it be that the storage box made from pure Dao Li Jade at Water Marsh School was the destined opportunity mentioned by Goddess Zu Ti?
She sat crossed legged by the edge of the bed, and spent a short while carefully thinking about it in detail once more, feeling that this was most likely the case.
Di Jun made plans to head to the Water Marsh School Palace. This was a month after High God Hou Zhen had been inaugurated in the Nine Heavens, becoming the third King of Gods. He explained that he wanted to use this opportunity to retrieve an item while Hou Zhen was temporarily making no effort to consolidate the school as part of his personal property.
Di Jun did not usually bring up official matters in his day to day life, but if Feng Jiu were to ask, Di Jun would not keep it from her. If she was not able to understand what was said, Di Jun would patiently explain it to her. Fei Wei said Di Jun was the type of person who would not bother speaking to someone if he felt that they were not intelligent enough to comprehend, and this was the first time he saw Di Jun treating someone so patiently in the hundred thousand odd years he had served him.
Honest Fei Wei’s intention when he said those words was to make Di Hou happy, but it had appeared as if he had unintentionally categorised her as an unintelligent person. Di Hou could be dense at times, so she didn’t catch the underlying tone and had not reacted to it. But the frightening part was, these words were overheard by Di Jun who happened to be passing by.
Di Jun took out a book entitled《Learning the way to say the right words with High God Zhe Yan》, making Fei Wei copy it thirty times over as a punishment.《Learning the way to say the right words with High God Zhe Yan》was a book Zhe Yan gifted Di Jun after his first visit to the Heavenly Jade Sea, where he was stifled by Di Jun till he questioned life itself. Perhaps even High God Zhe Yan himself had never dreamt that his book would eventually be put to use in this way.
As Di Jun had not held anything back from her, Feng Jiu knew what Di Jun intended to retrieve. It was a formation strategy drawing that the late Shao Wan had left behind.
According to what Di Jun had said, the only thing left in the Eight Realms that could counter his Qian Yuan Formation strategy at present was the Jie Zi Xu Mi¹ formation strategy personally drawn by Shao Wan. Only three people in the world knew of the existence of this strategy. One was himself, another was Shao Wan herself, and the last was the person who had the scroll in his safekeeping — High God Mo Yuan.
As a matter of fact, the fake scroll of formation drawings Di Jun previously leaked to Fu Ying were not completely useless. If one were to look closely at the thirty six key ingenuities concealed within it and amend them one by one , it would really be able to counter the Qian Yuan Formation strategy. However, this scroll of formation drawings still had areas where it fell short when compared to Shao Wan’s Jie Zi Xu Mi Formation.
The Jie Zi Xu Mi Formation — placing a mustard seed into Buddha’s mountain, and placing Buddha’s mountain into a mustard seed. The small within the large, and the large within the small. This was a formation strategy that utilised using the few to defeat the many², and the use of softness to conquer strength. To counter the Qian Yuan Greater Formation, which utilised absolute military strength as a guarantee, with a small army, the Jie Zi Xu Mi Formation was the only formation in the world that could accomplish it.
Feng Jiu may be young, but she was still the Queen of Qing Qiu; she was also not constantly dense and was able to understand this after giving it some thought. Since the Jie Zi Xu Mi Formation had such a function, Di Jun planning to have it in his possession was proof that he already had the intention to return to the Nine Heavens. This was different from what the history books had stated — it wasn’t until 3,000 years later, when Heaven and Earth devolved into chaos once again, that Di Jun could not tolerate another great war rising before deciding to leave his seclusion to unite the five races, grasping authority once again.
What else did the history books say? Oh, right. According to the written account, after High God Hou Zhen wielded the Sceptre of the Parijata Tree, becoming the third King of Gods, the Demon, Ghost and Monster races were intimidated by the Qian Yuan Greater Formation and were forced to cede to the God race. This brought the longest period of peace within the Four Seas and the Eight Realms since the start of the chaotic war. Over the next 3,000 years, every living being within the four races were finally able to recover from the war. But 3,000 years later, the Founding Lord from the group of seven Demon Lords unexpectedly thought of the way to successfully decode the Qian Yuan Formation. After the Qian Yuan Formation was decoded, the army of the God race were no longer constantly winning wars undefeated.
Subsequently, the Founding Demon Lord ripped up the《Treaty of Zhang Wei》, formed an united alliance of the Seven Demon Lords, and jointly declared war on the God race. From then on, the curtains were drawn for the acts of war between the Gods and Demons, and the Eight Realms were once again in great upheaval.
Feng Jiu shared this period of history with Fei Wei, “The history books state that Di Jun had no intention of ruling Heaven and Earth. But the Demon race ripped up the Treaty and launched the war, leading to the suffering of all life in the Eight Realms. High God Hou Zhen was unable and incapable of fixing the situation. Di Jun was benevolent and could not sit by while the Eight Realms were once again embroiled in chaos. As a result, he re-opened the Heavenly Jade Sea, commandeered 72 Generals and millions of soldiers, and sorted out the conflicts between the God and Demon race one after another.”
At the same time Feng Jiu raised a question of her own, “But I think that Di Jun already anticipated that the world would descend into chaos eventually and was determined to participate in this war. Moreover, he has already started preparations for it, right?”
Fei Wei was undoubtedly Di Jun’s most trusted immortal steward; the internal and external affairs of the Heavenly Jade Sea were all managed by him, so he knew everything in detail. Feng Jiu was able to see Dong Hua’s intentions because he had not hidden anything from her, but the fact that she was this meticulously caring about Di Jun made Fei Wei feel a sense of comfort.
He immediately expressed what he knew and replied without any reservation, “The Demon race are experts in strategic formations. After seeing the rudimentary decoded formation drawing that Di Jun leaked to Fu Ying, no matter how unintelligent they might be, three thousand years of studying the formation would have been enough research time for them to correctly unravel it. But having said that,” Fei Wei paused momentarily to revise himself, “in fact, even without Di Jun’s rudimentary drawings, the Demon race might still be able to unravel the formation eventually. It’s just that the number of years they would take to do so will be hard to say.”
After he finished revising his thoughts, Fei Wei continued, “The true enemy of the God race had always been the Demon race. Once the Demon race unravels and decodes the Qian Yuan Formation, they would naturally incite war once again. Di Jun had indeed foreseen this a long time ago.”
Feng Jiu nodded her head pensively.
Fei Wei smiled slightly, “In the Eight Realms and Four Seas, only Di Jun has the ability to be the Master of all races. The Elders and High God Hou Zhen did not understand this and still believed that scheming against Di Jun would enable them to sit firmly on the seat of the King of Gods. Since they did not comprehend this, he used this opportunity to let them figure it out thoroughly on their own, that’s all. This had always been the efficient way with which Di Jun usually conducts matters.”
Feng Jiu fell silent for a while, “I know Di Jun always loved to play chess and could treat Heaven and Earth and the Eight Realms like a game of chess…. Is Di Jun a person with this much ambition?"
Fei Wei also remained quiet for a while, then he sighed quietly, “If Di Jun had any intention to conquer the world, why wouldn’t he have raised capable military generals and a powerful army a long time ago? And if he had sufficient military strength, why would he wait a few thousand years to clean up the God race and subdue the Demon race? When High God Mo Yuan was around, Di Jun definitely would not have bothered to take charge of this matter, and had also acknowledged that High God Mo Yuan was the best choice to be the King of Gods. A son of Father God, a legitimate heir of Heaven and Earth. Who would dare be disloyal and refuse to accept his leadership? But didn’t High God Mo Yuan leave just like that? The New Era of the Gods was the painstaking effort of High God Mo Yuan and Goddess Shao Wan after everything was said and done. They had already gone to this extent, so letting mediocre people destroy their effort would be a great pity."
Feng Jiu was stumped for a long moment, “When I got to know Dong Hua, it was already over two hundred thousand years later. Di Jun had already secluded himself from the world and retired to Tai Chen Palace. The legacy he left behind for future generations was the shadow of his triumph in every battle, and his success in every invasion. Everything he did seemed to be easy for him, and there was nothing he couldn’t do. I had no idea that Di Jun also had to endure such a test of patience and consideration to meticulously plan to do something.“
Fei Wei laughed, “After all, this is certainly a matter that is considerably difficult.”
Feng Jiu did not mention the conversation she had with Fei Wei to Di Jun, but she made a silent vow in her heart. Di Jun needed to prepare for a major event at this time, and since she was the person who was accompanying him by his side, she would have to double her efforts at being more considerate towards him. Although she might be unable to share any of his burdens, at least she did not need to let him worry about her. Consequently when Di Jun wanted to head to Water Marsh to attend to his official matters, she restrained herself and did not bring it up despite wanting very much to come along to visit the place.
But Di Jun brought her along on his own, saying that she could take care of his day to day life. With this reason, Feng Jiu could not decline tagging along. Besides, she really did want to visit the secret school palace that had sunk to the bottom of the East Sea long before she was born.
Eventually, while they were at Water Marsh, they unexpectedly ran into the rumoured long missing High God Mo Yuan. Seeing Di Jun’s expression, it appeared that Di Jun was not at all surprised to find High God Mo Yuan secluding there.
High God Mo Yuan was her aunt, Bai Qian’s master. Hence, after he awakened from 70,000 years of deep sleep after sealing Ghost Lord, Qin Cang, Feng Jiu had also seen this Venerable God several times. At that time, the Venerable God she saw was peaceful, prudent and quietly secluded. Anyone looking at him would feel a sense of reverence for him from deep within their hearts.
But the entire personality of the High God, found within Water Marsh at this moment, was nevertheless substantially different even though his physical appearance was exactly the same 260,000 years in the future. If one were to say that High God Mo Yuan of the future was equivalent to a gentle piece of ancient jade, the Venerable God of this moment could be compared to an edge of a blade dyed in blood; a dispirited soul concealing his brilliance, standing aloof from worldly affairs. He could also be compared to an orchid steeped in blood, physically living in a deep valley outside the secular world with his heart trapped in endless hell.
The history books had never recorded the reasons for Mo Yuan’s sudden disappearance after he established the New Era of the Gods. As a result, Feng Jiu did not know that this matter was related to Shao Wan. Although Feng Jiu was curious on seeing the current appearance of this Venerable God, she also knew that this wasn’t a good time to ask Di Jun about it.
Despite being disheartened by the current state of world affairs after hearing why Di Jun was looking for the Jie Zi Xu Mi Formation and Di Jun’s intentions towards its use, High God Mo Yuan did not make things difficult. He moved around the library for several moments and quickly sought out an exquisite storage box made of ornate jade and said that the formation drawing was stored in it.
The jade box was not a creation of Shao wan but a gift bestowed by Zu Ti as her name was carved onto the bottom right corner of its cover.
Feng Jiu saw how exquisite the box was and had every intention to give it a closer appreciation after Di Jun took the formation drawings out of the box. But as soon as she touched it, a sudden blinding flash of silver light burst from the jade box, and she was swept into it like the speed of a thunderbolt that was too fast to cover one’s ears. In the split second that she was swept into the silver light, she had lost consciousness; when she awakened afterwards, she had already returned to her present time.
In the Ba Ye chamber, Feng Jiu propped up her chin as she sat cross legged on the edge of the bed, pulling herself out of her memories. As soon as she did so, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching. When she lifted her head to see who had arrived, she discovered that the person was none other than Di Jun who was supposed to be secluding inside Yang Shu book chamber. Feng Jiu was somewhat distracted. Di Jun set his eyes on her and saw that she was well and sitting by the bedside. He appeared to heave a sigh of relief as he walked over, stretching his hand out to touch her forehead, “Do you feel unwell in any way?”
Feng Jiu blanked out for a moment, then she suddenly smiled, both hands holding onto Di Jun’s hand, swaying it lightly as she raised her head to look at him, “You may not believe me when I say this, Di Jun, it seems that I have gone 260,000 years back in time and seen you when you were 140,000 years old!”
To her surprise, Di Jun was not in the least bit shocked, “How was I at that time?"
She kneaded his fingers as she played with them, “At that time, you were also very good. Why aren’t you surprised?"
He tidied her sleep-induced messy hair around her ears, “Bringing you to sightsee at Mount Zhang Wei, and taking you to Water Marsh to develop your knowledge, I was naturally feeling very good.“
Feng Jiu widened her eyes, “How... how did you know?!”
On that day, the highly skilled Goddess Zu Ti had boldly sent Feng Jiu 260,000 into the past after Gun Gun accidentally passed through and had felt no necessity to inform Di Jun. Luckily, the Third Prince was more prudent and had personally gone to Yang Shu book chamber to inform Di Jun. On learning about this matter, Di Jun naturally wanted to chase after them, but even he, himself, had no ability to travel back in time, so he could only let Zu Ti lend him a helping hand.
Zu Ti was of the opinion that, although she could recall time, she was unable to gratuitously send anyone back to the past at will. Rather than saying Little Gun Gun and Young Feng Jiu were able to travel back in time because of her will, it might be better to say it was Heaven’s will. Since Di Jun was determined to chase after them, she could only try her utmost to do so; as for whether Di Jun could return 260,000 years back to the past, it would rely on his own destiny.
However, Di Jun had not felt that this was a meaningless endeavour.
While he was in that era, he could no longer remember everything that had happened 260,000 years later. The Di Jun of the present was indeed no different from the original Di Jun of that age. But when Feng Jiu touched Zu Ti’s jade box, the destined opportunity descended. As Di Jun and Gun Gun similarly did not belong to that era, he along with Gun Gun, who was at the distant Heavenly Jade Sea, travelled back to the present once again in the wake of the silver light illuminating the world from the jade box.
After listening to Di Jun clearly recount the whole story, Feng Jiu was extremely shocked, “So it was like this? Goddess Zu Ti had said before, once Gun Gun and I return through time, all the imprints we have left behind in that period of time will disappear, and no one will remember us.” An exceedingly spirited and happy expression exuded from her large apricot eyes, “I was originally thinking that it was such a pity for Di Jun to forget that we ever had such a period in our lives. But now, I feel really fortunate!”
She happily hugged him around his waist for a while when something seemed to cross her mind, and she raised her head. Retracting her smile as she looked at him for a long spell, pulling his hand and letting him sit by her side, "But I have a question,” a perplexed expression appeared on her delicately beautiful face, “if Di Jun had forgotten me, why did you fall in love with me so quickly? Based on what you said, when I travelled back in time, you totally did not know me at all. You only heard from me that I am your future wife, that's all. But you still treated me so well right from the beginning,” she furrowed her brow, sincerely puzzled, “why were you so good to me and fell in love with me so quickly?” Biting her lip lightly, “Because in reality, the situation wasn’t like this. Initially it was clearly I who chased after Di Jun for a very very long time before you finally fell in love with me.”
He raised his hand and tapped her forehead, "In reality, you were a palace maid in Tai Chen Palace for 400 years, but I never saw you. You said you chased after me for a very long time, but I was totally unaware of it. After we had some destiny, you had already reverted back to your status as Qing Qiu's Queen. When I first saw you, I....” He stopped suddenly.
She sat kneeling by his side, stroking her forehead where he had tapped, and curiously asked, "When you first saw me, how did you feel, Di Jun?”
When he first met her, she had emerged from the waves of the Wang Sheng Sea, her hair jet black and long, her body clad in a snow white muslin robe, standing above the waves, smiling beautifully at the entire party of bridal escorts. Her thoroughly wet long hair cascading like a waterfall, her fringe sticking onto her cheeks, making her face, which was only the size of a palm, appear even more delicate. Amongst the young fairies of Nine Heavens, no one else had that bright smile, and that lucid and elegant appearance.
He had always believed that when he first met her by the banks of the Wang Sheng Sea, he honestly did not have that big of an impression of her. But now, at this moment of recollection, the scene of that day was vivid in his mind. He was stumped for a long time.
Until she pulled on his sleeve once again, pressing him on how he felt when he first met her. It was then that he returned to the present, not realising the warmth his facial expression was exuding towards her, "When I first saw you, wasn't I already captivated by you?”
The hand massaging her forehead paused, her eyes widening. It was a long while before she murmured, "Is that true?"
He laughed, his hand replacing hers, helping her massage the sore area where he had tapped earlier, "So even if we don't know each other, once I set eyes on you, I will fall in love with you very quickly. No matter how many times this happens, it will always be the same."
She was dumbfounded as she looked at him. For a long time. Suddenly, her eyes reddened and then, she threw her entire self towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, easily burying her cheek into his shoulder.
Very quickly, he felt a patch of moisture on his shoulder.
"Why are you crying again?" His voice was soft.
But she simply embraced him tightly, placing the side of her face close against his shoulder, and replied in a muffled, yet lovable voice, "I also don't know why. I just feel very happy, but I still feel like crying. Di Jun, you are not allowed to look at me!"
"En, I won't look." He raised his hand stroking her head, then he imprinted a kiss on top of her head.
Bodhi Rebirths bloom all over the palace walls,
flower blossoms crowding around,
like the continuous coil of mist and clouds.
Buddha Bell flowers dance,
flying upwards amidst the night wind.
This night is a good night.
Source: The Legend of Cats, phần 4
Glossary for Chapter Nine
Heavenly Jade Sea 碧海苍灵 Bi Hai Cang Ling
Water Marsh 水沼泽 Shui Zhao Ze
Nine Heavens 九重天 Jiu Chong Tian
Fairy 神女 Shen Nu
Buddha Bell flowers 佛铃花 Fo Ling Hua
Bodhi Rebirth 菩提往生 Pu Ti Wang Sheng
Notes
1. “芥子须弥 (jiè zǐ xū mí)“ means “the smallest may hold the largest”. It is from the saying: “the buddha’s mountain and the mustard seed”, which is a way of saying something is a sheer impossibility — to insert the largest thing into the smallest one.
2. “Using the few to defeat the many (以少胜多)(yi shao shèng duō)” is an idiom that is self explanatory and the general meaning is to “win from a position of weakness”. It is a frequent phrase used in warfare where one could use a smaller army to defeat a stronger and larger opponent.
Credits
Header Pictures: Tencent, Eternal Love of Dream
Story: 唐七 | Tang Qi
Book Title: 三生三世 枕上书之梦回洪荒远古时 | Pillow Book of Samsara: Back to Chaos in a Dream
Copyright Statement
The above translation is translated by our translation team from Chinese author, Tang Qi’s original work, Back to Chaos in a Dream Part 9, an outtake of her book, Three Lives Three Worlds, Pillow Book of Samsara. All copyright belongs to Tang Qi.
以上的英语翻译都是本翻译师从唐七原作， 三生三世枕上书番外， 梦回洪荒元古时第九段所翻译的。版权都是作者唐七所拥有。