Three Lives Three Worlds
Pillow Book of Samsara:
三生三世 枕上书之梦回洪荒远古时
The Heavenly Jade Sea was a sacred place brimming with the deepest spiritual beneficence within the Four Seas and Eight Realms. It was located at the far edge of Heaven, and its master was Dong Hua Di Jun.
High God Zhe Yan sat under the canopy of the Buddha bell flower tree inside the stone palace at the Heavenly Jade Sea watching the silver-haired young man, who had left three years ago, concentrate on a white stone chess piece. He had a lot of questions to ask, but at this moment, he could not find a way to approach it.
At the Investiture of Gods of the New Era, the young man was conferred the title, Imperial Jade High Saint of the Eight Realms, Succor of the World, Saviour of the Suffering, Dong Hua of the Purple Mansion, Emperor Lord of the Young Sun. A palace befitting his title was constructed for him on the Thirteenth floor of the Nine Heavens.
The Emperor Lord was therefore the Lord of the Eight Realms. This divine office controlled every celestial deity in all of Heaven and Earth, so it was a very important and substantial official position. Everyone knew that Dong Hua had indeed lived in Tai Chen Palace on the Thirteenth floor of Nine Heavens for three months, managing matters there for a period of time. However, on the day after Mo Yuan disappeared, Di Jun left the Nine Heavens and returned to his home at the Heavenly Jade Sea, henceforth secluding himself from the world.
The time of Di Jun’s departure was so close to Mo Yuan that many immortals speculated that His Imperial Lordship might know the reason behind Mo Yuan’s departure. The Gods entertained the thought of making enquiries at the Heavenly Jade Sea, but the Heavenly Jade Sea was closed to outsiders for the next three years. The Emperor Lord had sealed the Heavenly Jade Sea with a restriction ward so strong that even a mosquito could not fly through it, so everyone decided to give that intention a rest.
On this day, High God Zhe Yan was fortunate to be sitting under the canopy of the Buddha bell flower tree playing chess with Di Jun, but this also relied entirely on his persistence at staying watch near the rear doors of the Heavenly Jade Sea intermittently over the last three years. It was no easy feat, but he kept watch until the steward, Immortal Fei Wei left to attend to some matters, before he was finally led in.
The white stone landed on the chess board as Di Jun looked at the tightly knitted brows of High God Zhe Yan and asked, “You have travelled far to come here, I am sure you are not simply here to play chess with me?
Zhe Yan was startled for one moment, then he smiled, “You are really forthright as always, I have indeed come to make some enquiries. He paused momentarily, “Did you have any inside information on the disappearance of Mo Yuan? Did he leave because of Shao Wan? Do you know where he could be right now?
Di Jun did not answer his three strained questions directly. Lifting his teacup and taking a sip, he replied in a light, indifferent manner, “You and Mo Yuan were a clique at school, so the two of you were closer than I was. If you don’t know where he went, how would I be able to know his whereabouts?”
High God Zhe Yan choked at his words, but he comforted himself. Di Jun had always spoken to others in the same stifling manner, so it was needless taking it to heart. Besides, if one were to use Di Jun’s line of thought, what he said was fairly reasonable. When it came to how close or how distant their relationships were, it was true that he and Mo Yuan were a lot closer.
Zhe Yan fell into his memories.
That affair happened just a mere tens of thousands of years ago.
Among the students of Water Marsh School, there were once eight all-powerful personalities honoured by most students as the Venerable Wild Magnificent Eight Saints. Although there were only eight members, they were split into two different cliques. One clique consisted of four members of the God race, including himself, Mo Yuan, Qing Qiu’s Nine-Tailed Fox, Bai Zhi and Xi Luo, who was now a part of the Western Brahma Realm; Father God’s son, Mo Yuan, was their leader.
The other clique comprised of three members grouped as the demon race¹. It consisted of Shao Wan, Xi Luo’s younger brother, Se Jia and Xie Ming, who had since transformed her body into the Underworld; Founding Ancestor of the Demon race, Shao Wan, was the leader of this small group.
It was obvious to see that aside from the four god and three demon cliques, there was one Saint who unexpectedly did not join or belong to any clique. This person was none other than Dong Hua.
At that time, the God and Demon races had irreconcilable differences, so the Venerable Wild Magnificent Eight Saints were a turbulent group, frequently fighting amongst themselves, day after day.
As the leaders of the two rival groups, Mo Yuan and Shao Wan naturally became the main characters gracing the school tabloids, hence, Shao Wan’s name rang brighter than Dong Hua’s in those days. However, when it came to martial strength, the one who could fight with Mo Yuan was not Shao Wan, but the person who did not create enough trouble to warrant his appearance in the school tabloids, Lord Dong Hua.
He had unquestionably relied on his own strength and fists to dominate the far edge of Heaven, ruthlessly bringing the demons and monsters in the area cowering under his command, but Lord Dong Hua did not create much trouble at school.
Zhe Yan felt that perhaps the main reason for this was his sporadic attendance at school in the first place. If Lord Dong Hua did the honour of occasionally showing up for classes, all he did was sleep right in front of the Master’s eyes. In contrast to him, Shao Wan was a school tyrant who frequently created trouble, yet she surprisingly did not skip a day of school.
Dong Hua and Shao Wan had been friends since they met as young children. Zhe Yan remembered those days when Dong Hua frequently skipped classes, he would borrow notes from Shao Wan to handle the periodic examinations. But who would expect a school tyrant to be taking notes conscientiously.
Consequently, in the first few years of school, Dong Hua and Shao Wan were in the same boat; anything that relied on good note taking skills to succeed, such as sacred literature, arithmetic and historiography, they failed it all.
The only reason they were not repeating their year level were due to excellent grades in archery, martial arts and magic arts pulling their averages up. It was apparent they were both exemplary in fighting.
Thereafter, the school tabloid’s features on the clashes between the two factions of the Venerable Wild Magnificent Eight Saints began to escalate. The Master, who loved to read the school tabloid when he had nothing better to do, became increasingly worried about it.
Although Mo Yuan had always been known as a gentleman of noble virtue, the Master was so seriously brainwashed by what he had read in that period in time, that he had allowed it to affect how he viewed Mo Yuan and Shao Wan. That was why he began to worry that fights might break out between them whenever they disagree with each other.
The Master was panic stricken while pondering on a solution. Believing that his idea of moving Shao Wan away from her shared desk with Mo Yuan was a brilliant thing to do, the Master reassigned Xie Ming as Shao Wan’s new deskmate; while Dong Hua, who never really had much social interaction with Mo Yuan, became his new deskmate.
As Zhe Yan recalled, it seemed to be purely the proximity of his sitting position that allowed Dong Hua to copy Mo Yuan’s notes at close range twice. Unexpectedly, Dong Hua tied for first place with Mo Yuan in the periodic examination that very month.
Although nobody expressed their thoughts openly, most of the classmates felt that credit should be given to Mo Yuan’s notes. Hence, for a period of time, Mo Yuan’s notes became a precious commodity at the school.
But in the following month, Mo Yuan unexpectedly fell ill and could not attend school, so no one, including Dong Hua, could borrow his notes. Without Mo Yuan’s notes, everyone else still had their own and could at least prepare for their examinations with some challenges. However, Dong Hua was not the kind of person who took his own notes, and would always find someone else’s notes to copy.
Coincidentally, Shao Wan, who used to lend him her notes in the past, had also fallen ill and was not in school. Dong Hua copied notes from Bai Zhi instead, and once again topped the class in that month’s assessments.
Everyone, including Dong Hua himself, discovered that as long as he always thought things through and refrained from borrowing Shao Wan’s notes, he would almost always come in first in his examinations.
Zhe Yan remembered that Dong Hua would only copy notes from the same three people thereafter — Mo Yuan, Bai Zhi and Xie Ming. As he sat the closest to Mo Yuan, Dong Hua naturally copied the most notes from him. But aside from copying notes, Dong Hua’s relationship with them seemed to remain mediocre. Apart from exchanging a few words while borrowing and returning notes, he usually had little else to say to them.
When the war between the five races broke out later, Zhe Yan had no idea why Dong Hua chose to fight alongside Mo Yuan, or how the two men got along on the battlefield. One could say they were close. After all, when they had formidable enemies on all sides, they would have to put their trust in each other in order to survive. However, it did not seem like they could be considered “close” because they still appeared to have nothing much to say to each other ordinarily.
Di Jun and Mo Yuan were perhaps like what Di Jun himself had said, that when it came down to it, Zhe Yan’s own relationship with Mo Yuan was definitely a lot closer.
An immortal child stepped forward to top off their tea, snapping Zhe Yan out of his memories.
Di Jun’s words were watertight, but High God Zhe Yan wasn’t a three year old that could easily be fooled and dismissed. Perhaps Di Jun really had no idea where Mo Yuan might have gone, but he had always been an insightful person with foresight. It was not possible for him to be unaware of the reason behind Mo Yuan’s disappearance.
Zhe Yan considered for a moment, and changed the way he approached his questions, “Mo Yuan”, he started before rephrasing his words, “Although the hostility of the God race has been gradually increasing lately, Mo Yuan really isn’t a god that would indulge in fighting and killing and has always been a humble gentleman of noble virtues. You also know this fact. He was never part of the pro-war faction even during our analect theory classes."
"I shall not keep you in the dark. When he decided to step onto the battlefield to join the war of the five races seven hundred years ago, it gave Bai Zhi and myself quite a shock. But I have heard that the night before he made that decision, he met with Father God and Shao Wan. That’s why over the years, I kept guessing if he made that decision to join the war because of what Father God and Shao Wan said to him, right?”
Dong Hua looked up slightly as he savoured his tea, appearing as if he felt incredulous, “Regarding this matter, rather than asking me now, why couldn’t you have asked Mo Yuan a few years ago when he was still around?”
Zhe Yan was once again choked by his words. Other than the opening pleasantries since he stepped into the Heavenly Jade Sea today, every sentence he spoke was stifled by Di Jun, making it impossible for him to continue speaking.
However, Zhe Yan wasn’t known as the High God with the most resources to get things done successfully for no reason. He gritted his teeth and forced two laughs to smooth over the situation, “ Heh Heh, isn’t this because I wasn’t able to ask on time, who knew he would disappear just like that?”
Nevertheless, High God Zhe Yan still had no desire to taste Di Jun’s poisonous tongue again. He had thought of using those questions as a way to build rapport with Dong Hua, but who knew he would not buy it. If that was the case, there was no need to take the extra trouble to do so. It would be better to quickly convey the message that the Elders of the God race had entrusted him with clearly to Di Jun and be done with it.
He coughed. Dispensing with the superfluous talk, he went straight to the point on the true purpose of his visit, “The few questions from before were to satisfy some of my own selfish motives. If you are not willing to answer, I’ll just let it pass. The real reason I came today was mainly to extend an invitation for your return to the Nine Heavens on behalf of the Elders of the God race.”
Facing Dong Hua with sincerity, “The Elders were hoping you could return to Tai Chen Palace to take charge of the situation.”
Di Jun finally stopped stifling him, “Oh? It’s only been three years, and the God race is already in trouble?” Lowering his eyes to look at the chessboard, he massaged the stone in his hand.
On hearing the word “Trouble”, Zhe Yan expressed his honest feelings with a sigh, “Exactly.”
In a few words, he relayed a summary of the thorny situation happening within the God race, “Mo Yuan left, and you have secluded yourself from the world. Consequently, the Gods elected Mo Yuan’s right hand man, High God Hou Zhen to take charge two years ago. Hou Zhen and Fu Ying were both Mo Yuan’s left and right hand men.”
“When Hou Zhen was elected to take charge, Fu Ying naturally refused to concede. The two factions have their respective supporters who were protesting at Ling Xiao Palace Hall, creating a huge uproar. The Elders lamented to me saying if Mo Yuan had left some word before leaving and had legitimately named the next successor, the God race would not be in such a mess right now.”
When he spoke of this point, he helplessly spread his hands, “As you have heard, between High God Hou Zhen and High God Fu Ying, whichever one becomes the Master of the Gods, the other will not concede. When that time comes, the God race will definitely face an episode of internal strife. “
“To prevent such a disaster, the only way was to respectfully invite a High God who could command deference from the Eight Realms to become the Master of the Gods. The Elders have discussed this and have unanimously agreed that this High God is you.”
‘Twack’, a black stone landed on the chess board.
Di Jun’s face remained calm, ”When I left Tai Chen Palace, many amongst the Elders were overjoyed by the turn of events. Now that they can’t fix the terrible mess, they want me to fix it?”
This was a taunting remark, but because Di Jun’s voice remained indifferent, it took the mockery out of his words, making it sound like sincere curiosity, “Am I so easy to dispatch on an errand?”
When Zhe Yan accepted this task, he understood that success would be very difficult to achieve. Dong Hua’s reply was within his expectations. Zhe Yan felt embarrassed, “I also feel that those old men were not very genuine, er, Mo Yuan did leave too suddenly. If only he had designated a successor, now the situation wouldn't be like ….”
‘Twack’, a black stone landed on the chess board again.
Di Jun interrupted his words, something he very rarely did, “The reason Mo Yuan stepped onto the road toward unifying the five races was to prevent Shao Wan from opening the Wakagi door and fading for the human race. But who would have expected that the will of Heaven could not be defied, and the Wakagi door was eventually opened. Shao Wan sacrificed herself on the nirvana fire pyre and faded."
“Everything he aspired for no longer held any meaning, so naturally, he would not have stayed. A person whose heart had turned to dust was able to wait till matters of the four races were on track before leaving was already very considerate. Yet, all of you still complained that he did not name a successor before he left?”
Di Jun was still looking at the chess game when he said those words, appearing unconcerned, his face expressionless, and his voice indifferent. But Zhe Yan sensed the displeasure in his words.
After using a white stone to capture three black stones, Di Jun raised his eyes slightly and looked toward Zhe Yan, “He fought to conquer Heaven and Earth and laid it before all of you. If the God race is unable to defend it, then you are all useless, and ought to let the Ghost and Demon races rise once again.”
Zhe Yan was still in shock when Dong Hua brought up the reason behind Mo Yuan’s disappearance on his own accord. At the same time, he was also considerably startled by the fact that Mo Yuan’s disappearance was indeed related to Shao Wan.
When he suddenly heard his last sentence, he snapped out of his reverie, involuntarily breaking out in cold sweat, “Although this argument is justifiable,” High God Zhe Yan did not like to interfere in matters of the world. But a healer always had a benevolent heart, so he was still concerned about the future of the God race, “But if we were to allow the Ghost and Demon races to gain strength, they will invade the God race as soon as they are strong enough. And when that happens, Heaven and Earth will once again …”
Zhe Yan had a sudden epiphany as soon as he said this and leveled his gaze at Dong Hua, “You ... You left the war suddenly two hundred years ago and returned to the Heavenly Jade Sea to live in seclusion. Don’t tell me it was because you already knew this day would come, so ….”
A glimmer flashed across Di Jun’s usually emotionless eyes, “Oh, What did you guess?”
Zhe Yan caught the glimmer and was increasingly certain of his answer, “At that time, you knew Shao Wan had a way to open the Wakagi Door, and that opening the door would claim her life. You understood that as soon as Shao Wan faded, Mo Yuan would give up everything and leave.”
“When that time comes, the God race would become fragmented. Heaven and Earth would once again be embroiled in chaos. Fighting a lost cause is meaningless, so you made the decision to retire when the God race is at its zenith. Am I right?”
The silver-haired young man did not reply him straight away.
But if this were the case ... Zhe Yan raised another question, “If you were willing to promise the Elders that you will return to the Nine Heavens to take charge. Even if Mo Yuan leaves, the God race will not be in disarray with you in control. And when the God race is not in a mess, Heaven and Earth will not devolve into chaos, so why would you …”
Di Jun held the black stone he had just captured. Looking Zhe Yan straight in the eye for the first time today, “You are quite clever,” he complimented.
As if rewarding his companion’s intelligence, he willingly added two extra lines, “To attain the goal of uniting Heaven and Earth within seven hundred years, Mo Yuan had never once been careless on the battlefield, but he was forced to neglect governance.”
“If this went on, it was a matter of time before problems arose. In the last few years, there were treacherous people among the God race, all manner of vermin were within. If I am always there, how would I be able to reveal their true colours?”
It was then that Zhe Yan understood. It was true that if Dong Hua was around, the God race would not be in disarray. But only if the God race became a mess, would the evil be revealed from within. When the source of the infection has manifested, then it was time to remove the rot so medicine could be applied to heal the wound. This was a much larger game of chess.
Di Jun laid his last stone down on the chess board. It was at this moment that Zhe Yan came to a realisation that while he was preoccupied with the affairs of the world, Di Jun had taken over his black stones and had finished the round of chess all by himself.
Zhe Yan stayed in a daze for a long while, not knowing what to say. A long time later, he praised Di Jun with words that held a dual meaning, “You are a true master in the art of chess.”
Di Jun remained indifferent to his compliment, “Uhm, I am.” He replied.
Zhe Yan felt more secure after gaining a comprehensive insight into Di Jun’s plans. He had several scripts running through his thoughts on how he was going to convey a reply to the Elders. He also could not bear to continue the torture of chatting and playing chess with Di Jun any longer, so he stood and prepared to take his leave.
Unexpectedly, Fei Wei suddenly approached them with hasty footsteps. Lowering his voice, Fei Wei reported that the Heavenly Jade Sea had welcomed another visitor.
Di Jun was not very enthusiastic about the news. He continued packing his chess set as he casually asked, “Oh? Who did you lead in this time?
Fei Wei hastily cupped his hands together in obeisance, “This person wasn’t led in by me. He passed through your Imperial Lordship’s restriction spell on his own and walked in.
Dong Hua stopped packing his chess pieces, and was about to speak when Zhe Yan, who was wearing an astonished look on his face spoke first, “What? Even I could not pass through that restriction and break in, who else has such an ability? Could it be …… Mo Yuan?”
Dong Hua muttered to himself, “Mo Yuan also does not have the ability to break in. To pass through my restrictions, one must have been exempted by me, for example, Fei Wei. Otherwise, it must be someone who is my blood relation, but alas, I don’t have any parents, or any siblings.”
As he spoke of this point, even he himself was becoming a little curious, and looked toward Fei Wei, “Don’t tell me that aside from exempting you, I had also exempted someone else?”
Fei Wei stuttered, “That visitor ... should be related to your Imperial Lordship by blood. That was why he was able to enter our Heavenly Jade Sea.”
That was when he saw the face of the Emperor Lord who had spent the day chatting with Zhe Yan on disastrous matters concerning the Eight Realms, and yet remained unmoved, become completely blank for a moment. After a long while, he spoke, “I remember that I am an orphan, I do not have any brothers, nor do I have any sisters.”
Fei Wei shook his head, “He is not your brother or your sister.”
Dong Hua replied immediately, “I also don’t have a father or a mother.”
Fei Wei still shook his head, “He is also not your father or your mother.”
Dong Hua furrowed his brows, “Then he is …”
Fei Wei summoned his courage, “He said he is your son, and his name is Bai Gun Gun.”
Dong Hua. “... ?”
Zhe Yan, “ … ???“
High God Zhe Yan, who was already standing and was ready to return home, retracted the step he had already taken. He did not just retract his step. He took two steps backward and sat back properly onto the chair he had vacated.
What kind of enormous heaven jolting gossip is this? High God Zhe Yan’s face exuded calm, but the undercurrent of his inner being was turbulent, I did not expect the three years I had spent hunkering down by the rear doors of the Heavenly Jade Sea to be so worthwhile, I have not crouched by these rear doors for nothing, ah!
Glossary for Chapter Two
Buddha Bell Flower 佛铃花 Fo Ling Hua
Heavenly Jade Sea of the Sacred Spirit 碧海苍灵 Bi Hai Cang Ling
(Shortened to Heavenly Jade Sea for
general use)
Emperor Lord 帝君 Di Jun
Water Marsh School 水沼泽 Shui Zhao Ze
Venerable Wild Magnificent Eight Saints 寿华野八圣 Shou Hua Ye Ba Sheng
Gentleman of Noble Virtue 如兰君子 Ru Lan Jun Zi
(Literal: Orchid like gentleman)
His Imperial Lordship 帝座 Di Zuo
Notes
1. Shao Wan, Xie Ming and Se Jia are of the God race. As Shao Wan is the Ancestor Goddess of the Demon race, she is the unified leader of the various demon clans. This was the reason why she classified her little group at the school under the banner of the demons. But technically, she is a god, not a demon by race.
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 2, 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， 梦回洪荒元古时第二段所翻译的。版权都是作者唐七所拥有。
Thank you for the translations!!
I can tell that Mo Yuan and Shao Wan’s story is going to be sad just base on these hints 🥺
Loving it! Finally something can stumble Dijun ah... 😂
Tu traducción es hermosa!!! Muchas gracias por hacerla!!! Espero con ansias las demás 🦊🦊🥰🥰🥰