[English translation] 业火苍云歌 - Song of Hellfire and Ashen Clouds

The original cover that I intended to put was taken down from Youtube. I especially liked the opera singing in Ba Du's cover.
This is the video from Bilibili: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av8367029/

原唱//Original vocal：音频怪物 (Yin Pin Guai Wu)
作编曲//Music：TONY_MS
作词//Lyrics：荀夜羽 (Xun Ye Yu)

翻唱//Cover: Lao干妈 (Lao Gan Ma) [In the Youtube video above]

翻唱(戏腔)//Cover (opera singing)：八度 (Ba Du) [In the Bilibili video]

***

谁在翻云覆雨掌控这天下

燃三界烽火当赏红莲炎华

战鬼转生自然历灭天劫杀

是英雄就要耐得寂寥萧飒

Who’s stirring up storms to seize control of this world

Igniting war on realms of mortals and immortals alike, rightfully rewarded the tortures of hell

The warrior’s ghost incarnate has naturally seen the worst of catastrophes

One who calls himself a hero must endure bleak solitude

为守千秋霸业做漂泊生涯

拼死搏杀胜负往往只一刹

恩怨不提只因为无从做答

宿命无情索性莫要在意它

To defend my grand ambitions I live a wandering life

Battling to the death, difference between victory and defeat made oft in split seconds

Grace and vengeance shall not be addressed, as there’s simply nowhere to start

Fate’s merciless anyway, so I pay it no mind at all

男儿自当磊落

胸怀凌云壮阔

历经生死劫破

荡尽乾坤浑浊

Men should be open and frank

With guts rivaling the breadth of heaven

Brave through tribulations of life and death

Exhausting the entirety of this murky world

为你坠星劫火

换我堕天心魔

此生荣辱功过

休管他人做何评说

I down the stars and rob its flames for you

In turn I fall out of grace with heaven into demonic paths

For my lifetime glories and shames, achievements and failings, 

I care nothing for the judgement of others

关山 为血脉 谁肯割舍

拓疆土 与英魂对酌

江河 横利刃 哪个来夺

守家国 以血赋长歌

For one’s own flesh and blood, who’d be willing to part with their homeland

We’d expand our borders, and toast with heroic souls

Before our rivers I brandish my blade, who dares to come claim?

To defend my homeland, a song shall be written in blood

因你 勘不透 内心执着

荣华梦 千秋换予我

毁天灭地 便重新雕琢

举身赴山河 换你回眸一顾 秋波

Because you fail to see through your obsessions

Your dream of eternal glory becomes mine to own

Even with total destruction of heaven and land, I’ll sculpt it back again 

I charged into battle, in exchange for your rippling glance back at me

为守千秋霸业做漂泊生涯

拼死搏杀胜负往往只一刹

恩怨不提只因为无从做答

宿命无情索性莫要在意它

To defend my grand ambitions I live a wandering life

Battling to the death, difference between victory and defeat made oft in split seconds

Grace and vengeance shall not be addressed, as there’s simply nowhere to start

Fate’s merciless anyway, so I pay it no mind at all

酒方尽惬意时

负陌刀策飞马 

纵千里快哉风 

袭万里月霜沙 

Still in ecstasy after a drink

Carrying my blade, I drove a dashing horse

Over hundreds of miles like a hurricane

Assailing thousand miles of frost and sand under the moon

喋血刃绽朱花 

射苍狼星挂甲 

宣武讨战争霸

男儿自当立于天下

Killer blades bloomed crimson flowers

Arrows shot the armored Wolf Star

Declaring war, goading battles, fighting for dominance

Men ought stand proudly on their own under heaven

出鞘 一步外 平山破浪

引风雷 哪个敢来挡

设防 盾围内 铁壁铜墙

势如虹 谁人妄逞强

One step away, my unsheathed blade made mountains razed and broken waves

Drawing thunder and wind, who dares get in my way

Defenses set, within shield walls of impregnable iron and bronze

Facing such unstoppable forces, who dares flaunt their bravado

若果 入苍云 注定沧桑

以血 染江山 又何妨

悍将 渴战 舐刀头血凉

不知吾心者 切莫笑

轻狂

If devotion to the Ashen Clouds dooms us to vicissitudes 

What’s the fuss if the landscape should be dyed with our blood

For a vicious warrior thirsting for battle, blood on his blade shall cool his tongue

Those ignorant of my heart, laugh not

At my brazen arrogance

微醺意正酣

追风天嗣横

崩星卷飒沓

猎猎裹裘轻

雁门锁雕翎

敌血染红缨

Tipsy to the point of bliss

The warrior god dominates upon his steed

An avalanche of stars swept up behind him

His fur cloak flutters in the wind

Archers locked behind Yanmen Gate

Enemy blood dyes his tassel red

出鞘 一步外 平山破浪

引风雷 哪个敢来挡

设防 盾围内 铁壁铜墙

势如虹 谁人妄逞强

One step away, my unsheathed blade made mountains razed and broken waves

Drawing thunder and wind, who dares get in my way

Defenses set, within shield walls of impregnable iron and bronze

Facing such unstoppable forces, who dares flaunt their bravado

不知吾心者 切莫笑

轻狂

Those ignorant of my heart, laugh not

At my brazen arrogance

***

Translator's note:

If this isn't a manly song I don't know what is. 

It's really quite fun to attempt translation for songs with different sets of emotions (as compared to the usual, of the softer, gentler, melancholic variety we usually get).

But again, there's quite a number of terminology that's quite culturally specific, and makes references to mythology. I'm not sure if I've done them justice, but I tried my best. E.g. 红莲炎华 (or 红莲业火, "hellfire of red lotus") meaning tortures of hell. 

Background for the song: it's a song devoted to the Ashen Cloud sect, one of the two warrior sects as far as I'm aware of, from the Chinese MMORPG game Jiang Wang 3. 

[English translation] 锦鲤抄 - Tale of the Koi

演唱// Vocal：云の泣/ 银临 (Yun zhi Qi / Yin Lin)

作词// Lyrics：慕清明 (Mu Qing Ming)

作曲// Composer：银临 (Yin Lin)

编曲// Arrangement：灰原穷 (Hui Yuan Qiong)

混缩// Compress：灰原穷 (Hui Yuan Qiong)

文案

宁武皇仁光九年锦文轩刻本《异闻录》载:

扶桑画师浅溪，居泰安，喜绘鲤。院前一方荷塘，锦鲤游曳，溪常与嬉戏。

其时正武德之乱，藩镇割据，战事频仍，魑魅魍魉，肆逆于道。兵戈逼泰安，街邻皆逃亡，独溪不舍锦鲤，未去。

是夜，院室倏火。有人入火护溪，言其本鲤中妖，欲取溪命，却生情愫，遂不忍为之。翌日天明，火势渐歇，人已不见。

溪始觉如梦，奔塘边，但见池水干涸，莲叶皆枯，塘中鲤亦不知所踪。

自始至终，未辨眉目，只记襟上层迭莲华，其色魅惑，似血着泪。

后有青岩居士闻之，叹曰:魑祟动情，必作灰飞。犹蛾之投火耳，非愚，乃命数也。

Story

Originated during the reign of Emperor Ning Wu, ninth year of Ren Guang, the ancient texts in “Record of Strange Tales” writes:

Qian Xi, a painter from Fusang who lived in Tai’an, was especially fond of painting koi. In the waterlily pond at his yard koi fishes swam. He played with them often.

During the Chaos of Wu De, land was divided, and wars frequent still. Evils of all kind wrecked havoc across the realm. When armies approached Tai’an, all of Xi’s neighbours fled, but him alone stayed, for he could not bear to leave his fishes.

Night fell when his house went up in a blaze. A person entered the fire to protect Qian Xi. The person claimed to be a koi fish demon who intended to take Xi’s life, but developed feelings for him and couldn’t bring itself to do the deed. When dawn broke the following day, the fire died down, and the person had disappeared. 

Qian Xi, thinking it was all a dream, ran to his pond, and found the water dried, the water lilies withered, and the koi fishes nowhere to be seen.

From beginning till the end, he could not recollect its appearance, except the layered colors upon its collar, overlapping like lotus petals, dazzling and striking, as if made of blood and tears.

Later when the Hermit of Qing Yan heard of the story, he sighed and commented, “when demons are moved by emotions, they’re doomed to become flying ashes. Akin to the moth drawn to fire, it’s not foolishness, but fate.”

***

蝉声陪伴着行云流浪

回忆开始后安静遥望远方

荒草覆没的古井枯塘

匀散一缕过往

Cicada cries travel with the wandering clouds

I quietly looked into the distance when memories began

The ancient well and dried pond hidden in overgrown weeds

Diffused a streak of the past

晨曦惊扰了陌上新桑

风卷起庭前落花穿过回廊

浓墨追逐着情绪流淌

染我素衣白裳

Dawn awakened young mulberry trees by the country path

Winds stirred fallen flowers in the courtyard and passed through its cloisters

Ink chases the torrent of emotions

And dyed my plain white robe

阳光微凉 琴弦微凉 

风声疏狂 人间仓皇

呼吸微凉 心事微凉

流年匆忙 对错何妨

Slightly cold was the sunlight, slightly cold were zither strings

Wild was the wind, and hastily goes the mortal world

Slightly cold was my breath, slightly cold were my thoughts

So hurriedly the years flow by, why matter with rights and wrongs

你在尘世中辗转了千百年

却只让我看你最后一眼

火光描摹容颜燃尽了时间

别留我一人 孑然一身

凋零在梦境里面

You’ve wandered through the mortal world for hundreds and thousands of ages

Yet you allow me but one final glimpse 

The flames sketched your likeness, then burned through time itself

Don’t leave me all alone, bare and desolate

to wilt away in my dreams 

萤火虫愿将夏夜遗忘

如果终究要挥别这段时光

裙袂不经意沾了荷香

从此坠入尘网

Fireflies would wish to forget summer nights

If in the end they had to say goodbye to these times

My dress and sleeves heedlessly caught the fragrance of water lilies 

And I since fell into mortal’s net

屐齿轻踩着烛焰摇晃

所有喧嚣沉默都描在画上

从惊蛰一路走到霜降

泪水凝成诗行

Wooden sandals gently stepped past wavering candlelights

All clamors and silences sketched onto the paintings

Walking from the season of spring bugs till snowfall
Tears condensed into poetic lines

灯花微凉 笔锋微凉

难绘虚妄 难解惆怅

梦境微凉 情节微凉

迷离幻象 重叠忧伤

Slightly cold was the burnt candlewick, slightly cold was the drawing brush tip 

Difficult it is to sketch the surreal, difficult it is to resolve grief

Slightly cold was the realm of dreams, slightly cold was the story within

Disorientating illusions and phantasms, sadness overlapping upon sadness

原来诀别是因为深藏眷恋

你用轮回换我枕边月圆

我愿记忆停止在枯瘦指尖

随繁花褪色 尘埃散落 渐渐地渐渐搁浅

I only realized you bade farewell because of your deep hidden love

You incarnated to make me whole again

I wish memories would halt at the tip of these thin fingers

And fade with the flowers, scattered as dust, and slowly, slowly, be washed ashore

多年之后 我又梦到那天

画面遥远 恍惚细雨绵绵

Many years later, I dreamt of that day again

The scene was distant, like an endless drizzling rain

如果来生太远寄不到诺言

不如学着放下许多执念

以这断句残篇向岁月吊唁

老去的当年 水色天边 有谁将悲欢收殓

If our coming lives prove too distant for promises

Why don’t we learn to let go of our many obsessions

With these broken verses I mourn bygone years

Those aged years, by horizons the hue of water, who will lay down our joys and sorrows for their eternal rest

蝉声陪伴着行云流浪

回忆的远方

Cicada cries travel with the wandering clouds

To distances of memories past

***

I love how vivid some of the lyrics here are. Some examples that especially struck home with me was "Many years later, I dreamt of that day again; the scene was distant, like an endless drizzling rain." Simple and powerful. (More so in the original language, where I feel that the imagery evoked is even stronger.) 

Anyway, the "Record of Strange Tales" is a fictional book. But there is a historical literature piece in this genre (horror, I guess? With a dash of paranormal romance?), "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" (聊斋志异). It has a collection of stories featuring relationships between humans and demons, some heartwarming, some sinister. Animal demons that cultivate into human forms is a prevailing figure in Chinese folklore.