Three Lives Three Worlds
Wherever Step Goes, Lotus Blooms:
Vol 1, Metamorphosis
三生三世 步生莲之化茧
When Lian Song returned to Jing Shan Courtyard holding the borrowed umbrella, the servant girls who often served in the courtyard had finished tidying up the hot spring in Yi She Pavilion. The older girl, Tian Bu, hurried over to take the umbrella from his hand. While holding it for him, she asked him to indicate if he would prefer to warm himself up with a cup of hot wine first or take a dip in the hot spring.
The rain seemed to have lightened, the entire courtyard of pear flower blossoms were enshrouded by the misty drizzle as the young man dressed in white gazed at them from a distance, “Send the wine to the hot spring. This umbrella...” Pausing for a moment, he continued, “Get a servant to send this to Lin Lang Court tomorrow.”
There were two people of extraordinary talents in the officialdom of the Da Xi Dynasty. One of them was the Grand Councillor, a man whose only wish was to return to his hometown to open a pastry shop despite receiving the favour and trust of the Emperor in no small measure. The other person, clearly decorated as the chief military commander with elegance and good looks surpassing all of the runner-up scholars in the whole country combined, was the current dynasty’s general.
The Grand Councillor, whose lifetime dream was to open a pastry shop, was named Su Ji, and he was the benefactor who saved Cheng Yu's life. As for that elegant and good-looking General of the current dynasty, he was the white-clothed young man Cheng Yu had felt would make a beautiful couple with Hua Fei Wu — General Lian, Lian Song.
Lian Song came from a noble Marquis background, and was the third son of the loyal elder Marquis, Zong Yong. When he was around the age of 14 or 15, he followed his father into the battlefield, frequently illustrating his outstanding achievements. By the age of 25, he had risen to the position of Commander General and was bestowed the Commander General Mansion. He was the youngest commander general of the first rank since the dynasty was founded.
Throughout his entire life, the proud Grand Councillor Su Ji had only praised one person before — Commander General Lian — who was as famous as him. He said that Lian San was brave, had defeated powerful enemies, and established the nation’s prestige. Lian San was elegant, good at painting, and skillful with the flute. Lian San also had the demeanour of an immortal who had descended to the mortal world.
Su Ji had a fair bit of immortal roots and was well on his way to ascension in terms of cultivation. Though the world felt that his words of praise for Lian San were overstated, both he and Lian San understood that he wasn’t exaggerating. Commander General Lian, Lian San, was indeed an immortal who had descended to this world.
Among the thousands of worlds, there were billions of mortal worlds and one of them was the Da Xi Dynasty. Those nurtured by Heaven in these worlds are known as mortals, left to their own devices, experiencing a limited lifespan. But outside the mortal world, lies the Four Seas and Eight Realms, the world of immortals. In this immortal world of Four Seas and Eight Realms, Lord Lian Song, the third son of the Heavenly Lord of Nine Heavens, was the Water God of the Four Seas. The North-South-East-West waters were under his jurisdiction, and he was known as the Supreme Water God of the Eight Realms.
Lord Lian Song, the Supreme Water God of the Eight Realms, left the Four seas for this mortal world because of another god. This was Chang Yi, the Flower God who had died under the Demon Locking Pagoda on the 27th Heaven 44 years ago.
While he was soaking in the hot spring, Lian Song looked at the raindrops falling onto the pear blossoms in the courtyard, lost in his thoughts.
After Chang Yi's death, the flora of the world seemed to have lost some of its colour. In the past, when Chang Yi was around, this mortal world's rain falling on pear blossoms always made one taste the delicate emotion of a beautiful woman in tears of sorrow. As a matter of fact, it could even invoke one to experience some tender affection at times. But now, it resembled a bullied little daughter-in-law, shrivelling in the rain, annoying anyone who saw it.
But for some unknown reason, this cold, early spring rain and the agitating pear blossom scene suddenly made Lian Song think of the time when he first met Chang Yi.
That was truly a past event that happened a long time ago. Whether it was 700 years ago or 800 years ago, Lian Song did not count closely. Either way, it was around that time.
At that time, there was no Head Steward managing the Jade Pool in the Nine Heavens, so the hundred flowers of the world had no Flower Master. As there was no one assuming the position of Flower Master, it was highly inconvenient for many matters. This issue truly had nothing to do with him, but it could not be helped that his close friend, Dong Hua Di Jun was in charge of the Gods’ Immortal Registry and Office. Once, having lost to Di Jun in a game of go, Di Jun had slovenly passed this burden onto him, ordering him to temporarily take his place.
So he assumed Di Jun’s position for the time being. As he watched the flower gods under him fighting over the Flower Master position in plain sight and on the sly, there were times when he felt that their fights were interesting and other times when he found their incessant chirping irritating. But most of the time, he thought they were an annoyance.
Within the rumours of Nine Heavens, the Third Highness was a well known playboy among the God race; all of the Four Seas were aware of his romantic fame. The young Water God was handsome, well-versed in war with a highly respected status, and as the Heavenly Clan had always held martial strength to great esteem, all the young ladies naturally loved him.
But this world had the kind of romantic love fashioned by sweet speech and honeyed words, as well as the tender consideration of others. In other words, most of the so-called romance in the world largely referred to this sort. Then, there was also the kind of heartless romance that was forged with a careless and indifferent attitude; this was the type of romance that characterised the Third Highness.
Although he was a playboy from the mouths of people within the Eight Realms, he did not have much extra patience towards beautiful women. He usually felt irritated whenever he came across flower gods who finally came before him, asking him to judge matters fairly after fighting each other till they were wailing interminably.
Besides, the Third Highness was very different from his two older brothers who carefully observed the court etiquette of the Heavenly Clan ever since they were little. He would leave whenever the pestering became vexing.
In the Nine Heavens, he was said to be the most elusive immortal of them all. As he had always behaved in this way since he was very young, Tian Jun was long accustomed to it; despite constraining his two elder brothers to strict court etiquette, Tian Jun was used to indulging Lian Song.
It was that one time when Lian Song became so annoyed by the persistent pestering that he left the Nine Heavens and headed to the Southern Realm to seek Lord Qing Luo, the youngest son of the Yellow Demon Lord, Seventh Lord of the Demon race, for a game of go.
After the rebellion of the Ghost race was suppressed, and the rebel Lord of the Ghost race, Qing Cang, was sealed 20,000 years ago, the Four Seas and Eight Realms were once again at peace. The God and the Ghost race restored their friendship and got along rather well. Looking at the current situation, the Seventh King of the Demon race also suppressed his desire to stir up trouble. In the last 20,000 years, the world largely appeared to be a picture of peace. So, it was not a ridiculous notion for a God to seek a Demon for a game of go.
Lord Qing Luo loved having guests. Whenever there was a happy occasion, he would get his courtyard tidied to host a banquet. He was also an incredibly optimistic person. Almost everyday, he could find something to be happy about in his ordinary demon life, hence hosting a feast practically became a daily affair. However, on this day, Lord Qing Luo looked melancholic.
A round-faced youth seated below him wore a mischievous smile as he exposed his scar, "Lord Qing Luo was refused entry at Princess Xiang Yun's place, and received the cold shoulder. The cold created a knot at the bottom of his heart, resulting in his worries displaying on his outer appearance. "
Princess Xiang Yun was the Demon races’ greatest beauty of the current generation. She was rumoured amongst them to be comparable to the number one beauty of the God race, Qing Qiu's Bai Qian, and was just as beautiful. However, the Demon race had always loved competing with the God race, but their repeated contesting and losing, losing and continuously contending, constantly challenging and losing had caused them such significant psychological trauma that their self-evaluation was consistently inaccurate. Thus, Lian Song did not take the rumours circulating within their race to heart.
The grey-robed youth next to the round-faced youth continued lazily, “The Vermillion Demon Lord has raised Xiang Yun in fear of her melting while cradling her in his mouth¹, raising her into a girl whose eyes are in the skies², yet Qing Luo, you have your eyes on her”. After receiving a glare from the frowning Lord Qing Luo, he laughed, “If you are only interested in her beauty, why don’t you summon Chang Yi to wait on you for a few days? Chang Yi is intuitive and will offer you her service, and if you were to trade white marsh for this service — I’m not sure about others — but you, Qing Luo, can afford it regardless of the amount of white essence required.”
The crowd at the banquet guffawed.
White essence is the Immortal essence. The Eight Realms has four races; God, Demon, Ghost and Monster all together consisting of thousands of different living creatures. Each race has their own essence, the Gods have white essence, the Demons have black essence, the Ghosts have green essence, and the Monsters have scarlet essence. But regardless of race, the essence in a newborn baby is always diverse, and it would take all kinds of cultivation to refine its purity. The more powerful the living beings were, the purer the essence in their bodies.
When the grey-robed youth ridiculed Lord Qing Luo for having so much white essence despite being a demon prince, he was making fun of his incompetence at cultivation.
Lord Qing Luo was born with a big, inflexible one-track mind, so he often refuted others with that mindset. He paid no attention to the people around him snickering at his incompetence, yet he was very opinionated when Xiang Yun was compared to Chang Yi, “Chang Yi? How could she possibly be compared with Xiang Yun?’
Lord Qing Luo was accustomed to being a one-track mind and was an honest person. Even if he looked down on the woman named Chang Yi, he simply couldn't say anything unkind to a woman. But at a banquet with guests from all walks of life, there were no lack of bootlickers. Someone immediately fawned, “The Little Prince is right, a flower monster without a master could only depend on selling her smiles and earning her benefactor’s pity to get by. Lowly born and cheap. How could she ever be on par with Princess Xiang Yun?"
The monster and demon races were symbiotic in the Southern Realm. The monster race was weak and had been a vassal of the demon race since time immemorial. As the flower monsters were born good looking, they were frequently taken as concubines by demons of rank. There were few masterless monsters in the Southern Realm. It was even rarer for flower monsters to be without a master.
Deep down inside, Lord Qing Luo agreed with this ingratiating remark, but he felt torn as to whether he should be so unkind to a weak woman, mumbling, "It's not nice to talk about Chang Yi like this, Chang Yi is, she is, she is..." But after deliberating on "she is" for a long time, he could speak no further on the matter.
Lord Lian Song, who had been studying the small wine warmer at his side, spoke for the first time, "Chang Yi." Facing Qing Luo, he said, "She is called Chang Yi, isn’t she?"
Although the Third Highness of the Heavenly Clan often came to the Southern Realm seeking Lord Qing Luo’s drinking company and chanced upon many banquets hosted by him, Lian Song always sat on the honorific seat to Lord Qing Luo's right, saying a few words only to Lord Qing Luo when the mood striked. Many young men in the Demon clans admired the Third Highness and wished to talk to him. But in the past, no one had the opportunity to start a conversation with this Highness.
Seeing his chance to speak with the Third Highness, the apricot eyes of the youth who fawned on Qing Luo a moment ago, brightened, and immediately turned to face Lian Song, inclining towards him as he spoke in an ingratiating tone, “Your Third Highness is not from our Southern Realm, there are things you didn’t know. Chang Yi was originally a red lotus but a red lotus that couldn’t bloom due to a natural defect. As a result, no distinguished person wanted to take her into their garden. She is a flower monster but masterless. This was already something that made her a laughing stock. But in recent years, I don’t know where she got the crazy idea of wanting to cultivate into a fairy and searched everywhere for white essence,” he sneered implicitly, “To get white essence, she sold her smiles everywhere, making her no different from those courtesans in the mortal realm. Within the Monster and Demon race...”
Lian Song held his head with his palm and looked at the apricot-eyed youth, “How beautiful is she?”
The young apricot-eyed youth, who was vividly speaking with enthusiasm, got stuck and paused, “What Your Third Highness is saying is…”
Lian Song simply gave a quick smile, “I just heard you all saying that she is beautiful, so how beautiful is she?”
Men… most of them loved discussing and commenting about beautiful women, and were especially fond of doing so after getting inebriated by a bit of wine. The various lords at the banquet pondered over the Third Highness’s words and swept a glance at each other meaningfully, thinking they understood his interest. The next half of the banquet was submerged in discussing Chang Yi's beauty, and no one was mean about Chang Yi's background again.
After raising such a discussion, the Third Highness had not uttered a single word since. Outwardly, no one could tell if he was interested or not. With his iron fan in his right hand, he was simply tapping the edge of the table idly, a clear sign that he was lost in his thoughts.
It was the flourishing spring season in the Southern Realm. The sea was blue, the skies were clear, and the flowers and trees were luxuriant; the scenery was quite good, so Lian Song stayed for a few more days.
The Eight Realms believed that Lian San was a player, and they were undoubtedly convinced on the matter. But what the Eight Realms couldn’t be sure of was —- out of the millions of beauties in the world, which kind would the Third Highness love?
Tian Jun had three sons; his eldest son, Yang Cuo, was upright and serious, his second son, Sang Ji, was honourable, and both were not easy to curry favour with, until the Third Highness, Lian Song finally gave a glimmer of hope to the bootlickers intending to move up the ranks with flattery. However, the thoughts of the Third Highness were difficult to fathom.
For example, you would assume the Third Highness fancied a certain type of beauty because it was indeed the same kind currently keeping him company. Just when you also want to present a similarly beautiful woman to him, the belle accompanying him the next day could unpredictably be completely opposite to the type of beauty from the day before.
Amidst the Four Seas and Eight Realms, everyone felt that in terms of promiscuity, the Third Highness cannot be counted as the most promiscuous. But when it came to difficulty in serving him and grasping his unfathomable mind, the Third Highness should be at the zenith.
However, was it not a few days ago that Lian Song had raised the question on how beautiful Chang Yi was at the banquet? This offered a thread of hope to the Southern Realm nobles who wanted to curry favour with this Prince from the Heavenly Clan.
Everyone was very hardworking, making every effort to seize this glimmer of hope. Before the third day was out, someone sent Chang Yi into Lian Song's room.
Lian Song remembered that Chang Yi was in the depths of the candlelight.
Whenever Lian Song came to the Southern Realm, he often stayed at a small courtyard on the cliff of Xifeng Mountain.
It was past midnight when he returned from a game of go at Qing Luo’s place. Treading through the bright moonlit ground, he stepped into the hanging flower door of his small courtyard on the cliff. Just as he looked up, he saw the candlelight in the north room.
Outside the north room stood a Persian silk tree. The velvety feather-like flowers on the entire tree were dyed a shade of pure gold by the moonlight, appearing somewhat beautiful. A thin rope was fastened to the tree, extending into the north room. He had personally tied the other end of the rope to a flower stand in the north room earlier this morning. Hanging on the rope were several pieces of letter paper he intended to dry after making them out of boredom.
A strong gust of wind began blowing in the courtyard, the disturbance flickering the candle flames in the room and fluttering the papers on the rope like butterflies elegantly desiring to take flight. Lian Song raised his hand slightly; the tree went still, and the wind stopped. When he stepped towards the papers, he saw that the closer he got to the candlelight, the insects, birds, flowers and plants on the paper appeared to take on a different kind of liveliness when the weak light illuminated through it.
He rummaged through the papers on the rope casually as he walked into the room.
The more the candlelight flourished, the more it became densely woven; some of the light fell onto the lamp stands, while some fell onto the ground, arranging itself in a variety of heights with a somewhat interesting artistry. In the recess of the candle light, a woman in red raised her head slightly to call out his honorific title, "Your Third Highness." Her face was indeed beautiful, and could live up to being as beautiful as a painting.
Lian Song shifted his gaze towards her, but barely pausing for an instant before moving his gaze to a letter paper printed with the flowers of the four seasons and casually said, “Chang Yi.”
The woman’s eyes revealed her slight surprise, “How did Your Third Highness know I am Chang Yi?”. Her voice was soft.
It was said that among the three sons of Tian Jun, the most intelligent was the Second Highness, Sang Ji. When Sang Ji was born, thirty-six five-colour birds from He Ming Jun Ji Mountain flew straight to the skies to congratulate him. This was an auspicious sign from Heaven. Later, Sang Ji cultivated into a high immortal at 30,000 years of age, a clear proof that he was an outstanding talent among the gods. Under the glowing halo of the Second Highness, Sang Ji, his two brothers seemed pale in comparison regardless of aptitude or merit. But some gods had a different view on this matter, for instance, the former Master of the Universe, Dong Hua Di Jun.
Dong Hua Di Jun was born without any auspicious signs from Heaven and Earth, yet he later unexpectedly grew up to be the Master of the Universe. As a result, he was not superstitious about things like Heaven and Earth firing golden rays with a few pathetic birds flying around the Heavens, the flight of birds signifying excellent future prospects for someone on the day of their birth. Dong Hua Di Jun always felt that Lian San was a malleable genius. After Tian Jun had Lian San, the matter of him procreating a son could be stopped from this point. In any case, he would not be able to produce anyone more intelligent than Lian San.
With the kind of intelligence affirmed by the picky Dong Hua Di Jun, the first meeting between Lian San and Chang Yi naturally went without the usual “Who are you?” “I am Chang Yi.” “Who sent you to my room?” “So-and-so sent me to your room.” “What are you doing here?” “I came here to keep Your Third Highness company, but Your Highness, I will only sell my talents, not my body.” type of dialogue. Lian Song felt that even Chang Yi’s question, “How did Your Third Highness know that I am Chang Yi?” was so simple that it did not require him to waste his time answering.
He continued scrutinising the four seasons floral paper as before. Taking it down, he brought it closer to the candlelight, illuminating it. After a while, he said, "Even if they compel you, given your ability, you didn't have to come if you were unwilling. But they have misled you into believing that I am an immortal with inexhaustible white essence, so if you have made me happy, I would have plenty of white essence for you to use? But since I have been cultivating in tranquillity so far," When he spoke of the word ‘cultivating in tranquillity’ — as if he found it laughable himself — he smiled an extremely nonchalant smile, and corrected himself, “Since I have been cultivating, my body no longer has the slightest trace of green essence. Your younger brother, who was hurt by the two-winged tiger in Qi You Cave, needs white essence accompanied by green essence. I’m afraid my pure white essence might not be beneficial to him."
The woman's expression shifted slightly, but she calmed down instantly. A little flower monster showing no traces of fear nor cowardice before a prince of the Heavenly clan.
The little flower monster's voice remained soft, "Your Third Highness is wise. Your Third Highness has seen through it all. Chang Yi can't deceive Your Highness. Since Your Third Highness does not have anything Chang Yi needs, I will take my leave at once."
She simply stood up decisively as she spoke, patting the dust that did not seem to exist on her knees and proceeded to walk out from the shadow of the candlelight confidently. She walked to the front of Lian San, thought for a moment and gave a curtsey, speaking seriously, "Your Third Highness, it's late at night, it’s better that you rest early. Although I did not set up the candlelight, if your Highness feels that it is not very good after looking at it, I will dismantle them before leaving and call it a day. Consider this as repaying Your Third Highness for being forthright with Chang Yi."
It was at this moment that Lian San turned to look at her seriously.
There were many beautiful women coming and going around the Third Highness, so he paid no attention to them. Having observed beautiful women for around ten to twenty thousand years, he was very familiar with their routine posturing. After his previous words, the intuitive beauty would certainly reply with, “Your Third Highness must be joking. Your Third Highness is incomparably noble. Being able to serve Your Third Highness is my good fortune, much less asking for whatever white or green essence from Your Highness…” The not-so-perceptive ones would at least respond with, “How did Your Third Highness know that the white essence I am searching for is actually for my younger brother, and not for cultivation like what people commonly say? Your Third Highness is so insightful on distinguishing matters, I deeply admire…” and so forth…
The Third Highness felt that this little flower monster was a bit interesting.
The little flower monster standing a few steps before him, appeared to look rather sincere while waiting for his reply.
The petals of the Four Seasons flower on the floral paper in his hand were not dyed skilfully, so the Third Highness casually fed it to the nearest stand of candlelight. "I heard you were very intuitive," he said, waiting for the floral paper to burn out before slightly raising his eyes, "but it doesn't seem to be the case."
Understanding his words, the little flower monster was clearly a little shocked. Staring at him, she took two steps back, seriously pondering for a while before looking at him again, "Should Your Third Highness ask me to go, I will go. I even wanted to help you dismantle the candelabrum before my departure. This this this... isn’t enough to be considered intuitive?"
This was Chang Yi.
The Third Highness gently rubbed his forehead; the bits and pieces of old memories from seven or eight hundred years ago were surprisingly unforgotten.
When Tian Bu served in Lian Song’s Yuan Ji Palace at Thirty-Six Heaven, she was the most capable fairy within. Although she had lost her magic after coming to the mortal realm, which made a lot of work utterly inconvenient, she continued to be dependable and meticulous, just like when she was in Yuan Ji Palace. From a distance, she saw Lian Song shaking the wine pot while soaking in the hotspring. Figuring out that he had finished drinking a pot of wine and would be in the mood to have another, she quickly carried another pot she had preheated on the small stove, and presented it over to him with haste.
After placing the pot of wine carefully on the side of the hot spring, Tian Bu suddenly heard her master asking, "Speaking of which, do you think that Yan Lan and Chang Yi are somewhat different in their temperament."
Tian Bu contemplated for a moment and thoughtfully replied, "Princess Yan Lan’s soul is the rebirth of the Flower Master Chang Yi. She has grown up in the mortal world after all, her past memories of being in Heaven or in the Southern Realm were mostly lost. Some changes to her personality were inevitable.” She probed further, "Your Highness… do you think it is a pity?"
She saw Lian Song leaning against the side of the hot spring, closing his eyes slightly, "It is a pity."
Glossary for Chapter Two Part 2
The Third Highness 三殿下 San Dian Xia
(In Third Person)
Your Third Highness 三殿下 San Dian Xia
(In Second Person honorific)
Lian Song, Tian Jun’s third son 连宋 Lian Song
Lian San also refers to Lian Song 连三 Lian San
Lian Song is known by all the above names in the entire story
Nine Heavens 九重天 Jiu Chong Tian
Southern Realm 南荒 Nan Huang
Demon race 魔族 Mo Zu
Monster race 妖族 Yao Zu
For the 3L3W translations we have chosen to use Monster to refer to 'Yao'. Other translators may have used Goblin or other words to refer to them. However as the connotation of Goblin is that of the ugly green creature in western mythology, we prefer to use Monster to refer to them. In Chinese Mythology, a 妖 can refer to the following:
Goblin, Witch, Devil, Phantom, Monster and Demon. It could also be used to describe someone as enchanting or bewitching.
As you can see, the word can refer to quite a lot of things. In the context of the 3L3W universe, the Flower Monsters in the story are technically what is known as flower goblin spirits (花精, Hua Jing). In other books, they may be referred to as such. To avoid confusion with the Demon race, we will use Monster to refer to them. We might change it to Flower Goblin in the future but for the moment, Monster will be the go-to word.
Notes
1. The Vermillion Demon Lord has raised Xiang Yun in fear of her melting while cradling her in his mouth is the literal meaning of “含在嘴里怕化 (han zai zui li pa hua le)”, which came from the phrase, “含在嘴里怕化了捧在手上怕摔了（han zai zui li pa hua le peng zai shou shang pa shuai le)”.
The literal translation of the entire phrase is “holding it in one’s mouth and afraid of it melting, holding it in one’s hands and afraid of it dropping”. The actual meaning of the phrase is “adoring one’s child to the extent of spoiling.
2. "Raising her into a girl whose eyes are in the skies”is the literal translation of “养得她一双眼睛在天上 (yang de ta yi shuang yan qing zai tian shang). This phrase refers to a proud person who looks down on others.
Credits
Header Pictures: Tencent, Eternal Love of Dream
Story: 唐七 | Tang Qi
Book Title: 三生三世 步生莲之化茧 | Wherever Step Goes, Lotus Blooms: Metamorphosis
Copyright Statement
The above translation is completed by our translation team from Chinese author, Tang Qi’s original work, Three Lives Three Worlds, Wherever Steps Go, Lotus Bloom: Vol 1, Metamorphosis, Chapter 2-2. All copyright belongs to Tang Qi.
以上的英语翻译都是本翻译组从唐七原作， 三生三世步生莲之化茧， 第二章所翻译的。版权都是作者唐七所拥有。