#火凤燎原

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《繞樑十載》

《Lingering about the rafters for ten years》

Prequel-ish here, English under cut under Chinese, as usual, Ravages spoilers.

死有輕於鴻毛重於泰山。周瑜覺得五岳之重少於他的主公、大將、義兄之死。北斗七星乃策將星，早已一箭射下。北斗不存，泰山何用？

Death can be lighter than a feather or heavier than Mountain Tai. Zhou Yu thinks the weight of the Five Peaks are lighter than the death of his Lord, general, oath brother. The commander star of Ce was the Seven North Stars, shot down years ago. Without the North Stars, what use is Mountain Tai?

死有輕於鴻毛重於泰山。周瑜覺得五岳之重少於他的主公、大將、義兄之死。北斗七星乃策將星，早已一箭射下。北斗不存，泰山何用？

自被啞殘兵刺，不知張仲景不才、天時將盡、念兄心切，瑜胸上重由十斤到百、千斤漸增。快窒息而亡之際，笑曰：今世已知泰山之重，死而無憾。

卻說策亡十年來，軍書卷卷上留名���想保工作和人頭的上至將軍下至侍僕皆知周大都督犯下有關亡兄的錯絕不可疑。一向理智的大都督不是活在妄想裏就是深信今次也像凌操戰死那次，乃替身。欺敵先欺己，兵法基礎。地圖上孫策永遠留在丹徒，回憶裏也永遠留在丹徒。

死到臨頭，重已達五岳兼四瀆，提琴上山比登天難。憶病榻側笑談齊下地獄誰較深、殺孽賠多久。「公瑾八十終老時，孤在二十層等汝。」「我呸，地獄僅十八層，等什麼？」「此言差矣，為咱們亂世奸雄多建兩層非難事。」

憾不到八十卻棄世、憾兄生前托吾的仲謀又受喪兄之苦、恨獻上這顆一文不值的公子頭，換來的是天下三分而非統一。

天既要滅吾，受江東之恩，肝腦塗地、殉國何妨？周郎坐崖邊，獻最後一曲與性命予天下。一曲肝腸斷，天涯何處覓知音？無力似昔伯牙碎琴，今周瑜斷五弦祭子期。

鏘、丟出刻字玉璧。

鏘、號火。

鏘、璧焚裂。

鏘、玉如天下般三分。

鏘、望下世能同年，同月，同日生。

～～English Edition～～

Death can be lighter than a feather or heavier than Mountain Tai. Zhou Yu thinks the weight of the Five Peaks are lighter than the death of his Lord, general, oath brother. The commander star of Ce was the Seven North Stars, shot down years ago. Without the North Stars, what use is Mountain Tai?

Since the attempted assassination by the Handicapped Army, whether it is Zhang ZhongJing's lack of talent, the approaching end of Yu's life or missing Ce too much, the weight on his chest has been increasing exponentially from ten pounds to a hundred, a thousand pounds. On the brink of suffocation, he laughs: knowing the weight of Mountain Tai in this lifetime, I shall die without regret.

For the ten years since Ce died, his name has been remaining on every personnel list. Those who want to keep both their jobs and their heads from generals to servants know to not doubt any mistakes Grand Commander Zhou makes regarding his late brother. The normally logical Grand Commander is either living in a delusion or believes it is the same as the time with Ling Cao, he who died was but a body double. Fooling yourself to fool the enemy is a basic tactic. Sun Ce remains on maps at DanTu forever, his memory also permanantly remains at DanTu.

At the advent of Zhou Yu's death, the weight has increased to the Four Rivers in addition to the Five Peaks. Lifting his qin up the mountain was harder than ascending to heaven. The memory of sitting besides Sun Ce's bed, joking about who goes deeper down in hell, how long will it take to amend their sins of murder echoed "When GongJin dies peacefully at eighty, I will be waiting at the twentieth floor for you." "Bullshit. Hell only has eighteen floors. Where are you even waiting?" "Incorrect. How hard would it be to build two more floors for us wicked heroes from a chaotic time?"

Regreting leaving the world before eighty, regreting ZhongMou—whom he asked to be taken care of—having to experience the grief of a brother's death again, hating that the profference of this worthless head trades for the division of the world into three instead of unification.

If the heavens seek to destroy me, having received the kindness of JiangDong, why not paint the ground with my blood and die for the country? Zhou Yu sits on the cliff edge and gives his last song and life to the world. One song to split guts, where would one go to find a soulmate? No strength to shatter the qin like BoYa, Zhou Yu shall snap five strings to sacrifice for ZiQi.

Clang, toss the carved jade.

Clang, signal for fire.

Clang, the jade cracks under heat.

Clang, the jade cracks into three like the world.

Clang, hope we may be born on the same year, month, day in the next life.

[1time2study4ravages]

nice to see yet another online/mobile game collaboration with Ravages (and what's more, in this case the dream monster from chapter/episode 1 might be playable in addition to Liaoyuan Huo)

[1time2study4ravages]

it’s really nice to see some notable people from the broader 3K fandom still bring up Ravages once in a while

that said, as a longtime re-reader and promoter of the series, it’s an oversimplification to claim that Ravages subverts for the sake of it or for mere shock value (without considering the thematic and textual considerations that shape how it reconfigures and comments on its sources), and while Ravages is not exactly known for its fidelity to either the historical account or the Romance (though I note in turn that it still manages to mix and match elements from both streams skillfully along with a bunch of other stuff), the other metrics tend to be invoked more in reference to reader responses and preferences rather than a careful assessment of the characteristics and quirks of the series (which would demand something akin to how the roots of 3K lore are being more closely revisited by some enthusiasts in recent years to correct certain simplistic trends and talking-points from years ago)

in any case, the main stumbling-block for Ravages is that since not enough people have been hooked into trying it (let alone survive all the way and continue re-reading until the bitter end, considering the low engagement and high dropout rate), there aren’t enough attempts to clarify and interrogate the series (this is why I’ve long held that principled critical commentary of the series is preferable to the deafening silence or the garbled rumors), and at the end of the day no matter how nice or masterful a given text is, it wouldn’t matter much so long as people don’t bother to pick it up and propagate it...

just to wrap up this rambling, it’s worth noting that while among sinophone and vietnamese readers the Ravages scene is pretty much acknowledged as a distinctive and robust (even if also small) sub-niche within the broader 3K umbrella, among international anglophone readers I’ve noticed that Ravages is still somewhat alienated from what should have been its ‘mother community’, and this is a big can of worms in its own right

I'm disappointed with how little attention Ravages of Time has received from 3K commentators. Granted, it's a work of fantasy, but a deep and richly written fantasy. It's not a comic book version of Dynasty Warriors. I was skeptical when I started, knowing ahead of time about some of the more outlandish liberties its author took, but I ended up quite engrossed with it. If nothing else, it's worth a look just for some of its strikingly different character depictions (Dong Zhuo, Xu Chu, Sun Ce).

People have mentioned it to me a few times. I know some people really enjoy it.

[theotherjax]

Ravages of Time drabble, “Chosen”

Bless the discord it has given me a request and I deliver. Lü Bu/Zhang Liao, 332 words, ANGST:

Zhang Wenyuan thinks about most favoured man a lot.

Maybe once he used to know it was a bad idea, to pour so much of one’s self into a single vessel. He understands sieges and chokepoints after all, places from which there is no going back or forward. When he was younger, he would have known. Men of Zhang, they know, even when they’re really men of Nie. That is the crux of the matter, after all. The man he is. Most favoured man.

He thinks about it, but more correctly, he thinks it. Says it. Shouts it, tastes it. When men die under his hands. When oaths are bent and broken. When Dong Huang falls under his sword. When he sees Lü Bu play chess with Liu Xian and thinks Son of Heaven at the wrong man. Sometimes when he’s tangled in his beddings at night, and replays Lü Bu’s eyes on him, and replays, and replays.

They do ugly work. He is committed to it. He does not think most favoured man means clean glory or honour. For a while he thinks it makes him strongest after his master, but then he meets Guan Yunchang and understands strength in a whole new way. He thinks it makes him destined, but Lü Bu does not believe in Heaven’s destiny. He thinks it makes him chosen.

And Lü Bu does not believe in Heaven’s choice either, but for Zhang Liao this sticks. Chosen. Trusted, wanted – a cherished subordinate, right hand man, a brother. Everything, everything, he thinks when Lü Bu, drunk with victory and plum wine, tilts his face up and kisses him with smothering intensity. Claims him, as though he this man of Zhang is a precious thing, worth wanting and claiming and holding. In the ice of Xiapi, the memory warms his heart. Chosen, he thinks as he dives from the parapets, and hits the water believing in everything – glory, honour, strength, destiny. Brotherhood.

Until, of course, everything falls apart.

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(The rest of the English is under cut, under the Chinese version, Ravages of Time based so expect spoilers.)

《勸君更盡一杯酒，西出陽關無故人。》

《I urge you to empty another cup of wine, West of YangGuan you'll see no more of mine.》

周瑜瞪著躺在榻上不知是睡着還是昏倒的主公心想：如果那支箭穿過鎧甲、戰袍、皮膚、肌肉、心臟多好。如果砍一刀就身首異處，給江東的小霸王一個他應得，斬釘截鐵，轟轟烈烈，精彩不亮麗的死多好。

Zhou Yu stares at his lord lying on his bed, either asleep or passed out and thinks: if that arrow had pierced armour, robes, skin, muscles, heart, how good that would have been. If his head had been seperated from the rest of his body in one deft strike, giving the Little Conquerer of JiangDong the vigorous, decisive, splendid yet unspectacular death he deserved, how good that would have been.

周瑜瞪著躺在榻上不知是睡着還是昏倒的主公心想：如果那支箭穿過鎧甲、戰袍、皮膚、肌肉、心臟多好。如果砍一刀就身首異處，給江東的小霸王一個他應得，斬釘截鐵，轟轟烈烈，精彩不亮麗的死多好。

箭有毒，大夫說孫策怎麼吃藥休養也頂多三個月命。三個月？三個月多麼長：夠立一世功名、夠一國興衰、夠改朝換代，但生離死別，怎算都不夠、不夠卻太長。

明明拿筷子都手抖的人逞強抓緊一大碗藥湯然後夾著淚水把大半碗澆到襟前案上。孫策每灑一碗烏黑的藥，周瑜都恨不得是那次他喝個酩酊大醉，一��腿壓翻周瑜的桌連帶筆墨紙硯潑了滿征袍的烏黑而不又是苟延殘喘的草藥。

那句有氣無力的：「不好意思，這碗滑手了。說不定可以跌出孫家的江山呢。」聽到也厭倦了，但因每次也可能是最後，所以又不得不再聽一次，把每一字一句都刻在心裏。

周瑜並不覺得在塊百年難遇的美玉上寫滿平平無奇的病吟浪費。只要字體夠華麗，後人就會為它作下無數的詩詞。

美玉日復日的雕刻終出差錯——本該已死的蒼天居然為了作弄世人重生——��玉的鋼刀在刻太多、太密的玉石上一滑，它伴著一口鮮血裂成兩半。那一剎那，周瑜想到既可勝戰，又可陪葬的妙策。

這時代死得快多好，威名盡喪前一命嗚呼，在巔峰隕滅，只留一段萬古傳說。

～～English Edition～～

Zhou Yu stares at his lord lying on his bed, either asleep or passed out and thinks: if that arrow had pierced armour, robes, skin, muscles, heart, how good that would have been. If his head had been seperated from the rest of his body in one deft strike, giving the Little Conquerer of JiangDong the vigorous, decisive, splendid yet unspectacular death he deserved, how good that would have been.

The arrow was poisoned, the doctor said no matter how much medicine and rest he gets, Sun Ce has three months. Three months? Three months is incredibly long— enough to establish a lifelong fame, enough for the rise and fall of kingdoms, enough for changes of dynasties. But for eternal seperation in life and death, three months is nothing yet too long.

Looking at he whose hands tremble even when holding chopsticks gripping a bowl of medicine, refusing help then spilling the majority of it along with a torrent of tears on his collar and table. Every spill of the dark medicine from Sun Ce's hands makes Zhou Yu wish it was but that time Sun Ce got blackout drunk, slammed his leg on Zhou Yu's table, overturning it along with everything on it, soaking his clothing with ink instead of it being herbs keeping him on his last legs again.

That weak "apologies, that bowl has slipped my hand. Maybe the Sun family's country would drop out from the bowl one day." has been heard enough times for one to tire of it, but every time it is repeated might be the last, so one has no choice but to listen one more time; to carve each syllable in one's heart.

Zhou Yu doesn't belive that it is a waste to carve the delirious mutterings of illness on a piece of jade with beauty only seen once in a lifetime. As long as the penmanship is grand enough, endless poems will be written for it by future generations.

The repeated carving of the jade finally meets a mistake—the heavens which should be long dead reawaken to tease the living—the knife which carved on the jade too much too densely slips, and with a mouthful of blood splits in half. That moment, Zhou Yu thought of a strategy that can win him a battle and allow him to be buried with the dead.

How good it is to die swiftly in this era, to take one's last breath before all one's glory is lost, to fall at one's peak, leaving only a legend of the ages.

[1time2study4ravages]

the various fan art featuring the two Xun would appear more melancholic in light of the latest Ravages chapters...

[1time2study4ravages]

uh... actually they're dueling to see who lasts longer on horseback

[1time2study4ravages]

SEASON 2 OF THE RAVAGES ANIMATED ADAPTATION STARTS THIS WEEK

hopefully this time around the immortal Pan Feng memes get more clicks and engagements than the Diaochan scenes, haha

[1time2study4ravages]

now if only there were more Ravages fan art featuring picturesque landscapes or intricate background ornaments (though of course such scenes would take more effort to illustrate)

[1time2study4ravages]

it seems Ravages collaborative cameos in disposable gacha games are still happening, though I wonder how effective this method is to get people to watch the anime (let alone read the main comic)

[1time2study4ravages]

it's not often one sees Ravages fan art that involves fantasy renditions of established characters

[1time2study4ravages]

the Romance famously pits Kongming and Gongjin in a one-sided rivalry subplot but Ravages doesn't really follow through with that, so it's a bit amusing to see the occasional fan art that happens to pair up these two masterminds

[1time2study4ravages]

I'd prefer to talk about the finer aspects of Ravages instead of the (rather limited) 'eye candy', but I can't help but note that the screenshot (a teaser for season 2 of the Ravages anime) appears to highlight the 'curves' while the original panel emphasized the 'skin'

amusingly enough, the animated adaptation flips the stylistic shift in the outfits (the main comic features short-sleeved clothing during the dance scene in chapter 13 and only switches to something a bit more exposed for the Chang'an infiltration arc, whereas season 1 of the anime enhances the mild titillation for episode 6 which for better or for worse has become that one iconic episode)

[1time2study4ravages]

at least Ravages still gets promoted via collaborative cameos in other mobile games (but how many international anglophone viewers even notice)

[1time2study4ravages]

Ravages, like its source lore, has an extensive ensemble cast of characters, with multiple and rotating main figures depending on the arc or incident

that being said, thanks to recent developments, I was able to identify five critical nodes (I wouldn't say all of them qualify as protagonists, just to be clear) that happen to have dense connections/semblances among one another, not to mention they also contribute significantly in some major narrative threads and subplots throughout the series

although Ravages still presents an account of the impending collapse of Han and the slow rise of three rival kingdoms (plus the fourth faction that eventually wins out) not to mention the colorful life and death stories of many other heroes and villains and factions it does so from a sideways and somewhat subversive glance through the vicissitudes and vendettas of Sima Yi (a key player in said fourth faction, and thus cast in the role of political survivor par excellence) and his assassin agent Liaoyuan Huo, who would go on to embrace the identity of Zhao Yun (a famous general in one of the three kingdoms and poster child of the Dynasty Warriors series of games)

now it so happens that Sima Yi is typically portrayed in 3K pop culture as the main counterpart to Zhuge Liang (the most renowned and glorified adviser of the period, also belonging to the faction that Liaoyuan Huo ends up joining), and Ravages has opted to retain this time-honored link for the long term (albeit with some fun twists), in addition to lifting up Pang Tong (another adviser symbolically associated with Zhuge Liang, but who exits the scene relatively early) to serve as an early foil of sorts to Sima Yi (as well as an impetus to Sima Yi's character development, a plot point original to the series)

for his part Liaoyuan Huo has his own distinct trajectories and rivalries (since he's more of a fighter and less of a planner even if he too can cook up some decent tactics and tricks as well) but given that he's closely linked to Sima Yi in this series (not so in the source lore) his connections to Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong (who technically become Liaoyuan Huo's teammates at some point in the story) get enhanced as well

focusing on these four figures appears to yield a long-term horizon which Chen Mou might not even complete given the rate of publication, the overall pace of the series, and his commitment to complicate the lore culminating in Sima Yi's epic collision/collusion with Zhuge Liang (with Liaoyuan Huo as a conduit and enforcer with ties to both masterminds) before Sima Yi reaps the fruits of survival and reckons with the final fallout (via the other long-term setup of the death dream in chapter 1, though I note that the dream doesn't need to be literally realized), and while we can expect many other roadblocks and detours along the way (again, Ravages has way more players than just 4) the broad strokes for the end game appear set in stone, unless...

ENTER IMMORTAL ZHAO SHENG AKA 'TRUE' ZHAO YUN AKA 'FAKE' ZHAO ANG THE EIGHTH GENIUS, the mystery box whose gradual disclosures tease out some extra dynamic element to how things might turn out in the long run, for not only does he happen to be a deviant top-notcher from the same school as Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong (and operating in ways eerily similar to the both of them) he has also earned the enmity of Liaoyuan Huo (and what's more, the latest chapter suggests he might even compete with Sima Yi for the ultimate survivor championship and thereby intrude into the dream, one way or another)

with the 8th entering the scene by forging antagonistic ties with 4 key people who already have robust links to one another (as well as a few others), he gets to maintain some sort of foothold or trace in multiple storylines (and he gets to fill in for Pang Tong's imminent premature departure, seamlessly preserving the quartet arrangement and spicing up Sima Yi's destined dates)

until then, my main advice for readers would be to survive and to learn to enjoy the finer aspects that Ravages has to offer

[1time2study4ravages]

the mastermind of the dark arts in the light, the diplomat of the greater good in the shadows