#one flower one sword

[yumemiruuuu]

Sharing this absolute gem with y’all 😩🤌🏻❤️

[fateandloveentwined]

from afar silver butterflies flutter like glistening orbs, dashed across the starry sky

-- tgcf donghua x one flower, one sword (with figurative translation read: attempted)

银蝶蹁跹 / 宛若迢迢连天星 from afar silver butterflies flutter like glistening orbs, dashed across the starry sky

一念花树绕香云 / 一念随剑影

as blossom trees weave through trails of swirling clouds, as shadows and light flicker to the dancing of the sword

断壁连残垣 / 城池飞沙扬砾

broken walls and disjointed ramparts -- the city stands in ruins.

繁华覆灭人面成疫 / 战火疮痍

past flourishes crumble; hollowed spectres plague the kingdom: in crossfire shambles remain.

留恋花树亦怜君 / 伫望候远信

he thinks of the blossoms and he thinks of him, at a distance he awaits for word.

任凡尘俗世笑我 / 山间祈长明

去向未言说曾经 / 繁花似锦

let the mundane jest, and the worldly ridicule; among the mountains he prays for the perpetual light, the glorious peace --

let the unspoken futures become the ones now lived, let the road to the eventual be paved with blossoming flowers

业火尽 / 一花一剑一世与君行

穿行于天地间 / 惟愿逐一双影

the incessant has ceased. beyond shall i walk with you, one blossom, one sword, one life.

amidst the earths and the heavenly skies, i wish for the silhouettes two to ever follow.

note: one flower, one sword. i really liked the line 一念花树绕香云 / 一念随剑影 when i first heard it (so poetic!!), and we talked of the tgcf donghua recently; i screencaptured some shots when i watched it so thought i might post them out.

very on-a-whim metaphorical translations, please do not use this for learning chinese; i'm pretty sure there are more literal translations online (or i could try one), for now i'm just doing this for aesthetics and fun so just appreciate the donghua art and lyrics!!

[officialangelkeys]

One Flower, One Sword (一花一劍 ) Piano Cover | Heaven Official's Blessing - Li Xinyi | 李鑫一

Piano / Music commissions are open! x

[chelfaust]

✦Flower Sword✦

print

[sunshikilo]

wanderer's adventures in sumeru

THANK YOU FOR 70 FOLLOWERS BY THE WAY!! some news, i made an offical art twitter account! 🥳 its @/marsunshi and i linked it, right now im focused on genshin there and will be a lot more active, but im still going to try and post mcsm content here because i have Many wips ^^ i also have my ao3 linked there and i have a few drafts of mcsm works that i might post at some point..who knows

[mdzs-trash]

I hope you guys like him, I spent so much time on these oml 💀

[deadshadowcreature]

Twitter draw pile ✍️

I tried to figure the design of Ao Lie’s impulsive older sister (it’s said in lmk wiki that she’s the pearl holding Longnu, the longnu that follow Guanyin), along with Muzha and Jinzha (it would funny if Muzha got confused with Nezha for once)

Manifesting Red Son being autistic baby, Mei and Nezha dynamics, and also the fact that Nezha can secretly lift the staff :)

[cosmosnout]

Them

[julijbee]

im sure everything will be okay ･ᴗ･

[heading-down-to-georgia]

happy very late valentines day!

[kaesaaurelia]

Friends, tonight's Hero Forge theme is betrayal, heartbreak, and having entirely too many dogs.

Companion to this.

[officialangelkeys]

One flower One Sword (ENGLISH COVER)

Lyrical Analysis (一花一劍) – Heaven Official’s Blessing ( 天官赐福) Below (TLDR: I wrote english trans-lyrics to One Flower, One Sword theme from Heaven Official's Blessing)

Music + Writing commissions are open! x

Hey! How goes it? If you are only looking for the lyrics, you are in the wrong place! This link will take you to where you want to go! 

This is a lyrical analysis of why I chose the phrasing, and/or to explain certain components as I understood it at the time of working on this. I really do encourage everyone to read the book/take a peak at the Donghua. With that being said I do heavily reference certain plot points, and should warn you that this may be a spoiler alert (not in a “who did it” kind of way) but just a generic plot run through as it relates to the song. If you would like to get straight to it, skip to the full disclaimer below!

So if you can’t tell already, I am already off schedule for a few reasons. 

I found an audio issue in my test render/ copyrights are a thing. (Fixed for now)

I discovered that my harmony tracks were peaking (after playing around in a master file) and I attempted to revamp the mix– resulting in a far worse outcome than the original audio lol.

So now the audio mix is in limbo. I am having someone else look at it, and see whether they can do anything with it. It may just be uploaded as is.  *UPDATE* so I mixed this about 5 times in a 48 hr period after having someone look it over for me. I went from Mixcraft back to Adobe Audition (Haven’t used adobe in like– 3 years???) and then mastered in Mixcraft and //shrugs// I think it is better than the original take that was intended for upload. I figured out my de-essers just aren’t de-essing the way I want them too, so I’ll blame it on poor recording technique at the time I recorded. 

And finally? 

There’s no need to rush it now. 

I’m not the first one putting out lyrics so it’s totally fine! This was a goal of mine like last year, but I gave up on it as I just couldn’t find the motivation to work on this.  I’m really proud of myself for pushing through completion on this project. I do not like working long term on anything, and this idea of working on this song has been there since August 2020. So uploading anything related to it at this point is still an accomplishment!

So this is my breakdown on the lyrics, plot, and practically everything I thought about regarding this song. One thing that initially stuck out to me with this song beyond the composition work and the musicality, was the story I got from it all. I felt like, “wow, I have to watch this” to fill in the blanks as to what happens between these two and determine whether or not this story is as great if not better than my feelings towards The Untamed/ MDZS. If it were not for this song alone, I would not have watched, nor read any of Tian Guan Ci Fu (TGCF). For this reason, I am thankful that it was featured in this series! 

(I want to discuss the composition, but may dedicate time to that later, if I revisit the piano cover I did. )

Although I do usually avoid this genre, I will respect what is written and established canonically.  I do not consider myself to be deeply engrossed in the fandom by any means, nor do I entertain fanfics. 

Okay! Now on to the analysis!

Xian le’s shining grace reflects prosperity 

A teenager in white descends with destiny

Flowers are displaced and I can see his face

In a flash, the rules are left broken 

So, I rewrote this stanza twice because of the final two lines. I am not much of a person who cares to keep rhymes, but I considered it for this song in certain places because that is what stuck for me.  One flower, One Sword is a song I heard from Hua Cheng’s POV, so I tried to keep that theme.

I do not remember every detail, but this depicts the first time Hua Cheng (HC) meets the crowned prince Xie Lian (XL). At this point in the story, he is known as Hong’er, but I will continue to refer to him as HC so as to not introduce too many names/ cause confusion. It was a parade proceeding and HC was a kid about to jump from a high bell tower. This parade is very important in the Xian Le kingdom as everyone believes that the procession helps to protect the kingdom from calamities.  He sees XL (who is a teenager at the time) and is in awe, and ends up falling. XL sees the child fall and moves very quickly to catch him, breaking the parade traditions and causing quite a commotion among gossipers. The parade is technically interrupted by this event and the “rules” or traditions are broken at the moment because XL temporarily left his post to save HC.  That’s basically the story behind the lyrics.

In the darkest night, are hidden glowing eyes

Dancing butterflies like lit stars in the sky

Surely he takes off, in the pursuit of a voice 

Fighting in moonlight no matter all the time it takes

Fighting by moonlight no matter any consequence.

Ok, so as you can see, this line was altered lol. I am not currently reviewing the PV at the moment of writing, but this made me think about the war/ fighting that occurs in the novel. Xian le’s , the kingdom in which XL is from, was basically threatened and at risk of failing, leading to fighting, war, catastrophe (which comes up again in verse two I think?). I can’t remember whether or not XL has ascended or not by this time, but I believe he had at some point and was intervening in the human world/ affairs which was against the rules of the Heavenly Court. 

Glowing eyes, and dancing butterflies are interesting lines. But I think this relates more to HC in his current form. Butterflies are his signature (silver butterflies). 

A figure of flowers meet a sword at Yi Nian Bridge

Challenging the heavens, with thunder and lightning 

Though time passes, and we change as time goes on 

With one flower, and one sword I will defend thee~

so “figure of flowers” ? Can be taken a few ways… personification of XL fighting a mysterious person at Yi Nian Bridge (he was/ is an excellent swordsman). Or a figure, as in a number of flowers cross paths with clashing swords on the bridge (so either figuratively or literally) lol. And with fighting, one is generally defending someone, something, etc.

The indication of the time changes is also very important to note. XL experienced many ups and downs in his story that resulted in changes in his behavior, and his perception of the world in a sense. He also didn’t understand the value of those closest to him, Mu Cheng and Feng Xin as an example until they were gone. Essentially by the time we meet XL, he is very humble about his abilities and does not like bringing attention to himself unnecessarily. Or if you want to flip it to HC, he waited a substantially long time to reunite with XL. I mean, I could never– the point is, the passage of time is very important.

Challenging the heavens can be a reference to XL breaking the rules and being banished several times as well. Or, if you’re “nasty” XD could even say its in reference to HC challenging all the heavenly officials and whipping tail lol.

If I were to say that I hear the last phrase from HC POV, it would be because of the following 1) he is XL’s #1 devotee from youth to adulthood 2) he would often reside at the temple for XL and continuously change out the flower on XL’s statue. 3) He was also a decent swordsman and a figher. He often protected the temple from vandalism at times. 

At Mount Tai Cang there was a calamity 

Walls and houses down, a new reality

(From) Riches now to rags, met with such devastation

Unknown mysteries of war highlight a brazen truth

So I believe this is referring to the fall of the Xianle kingdom in the civil war. I don’t actually recall what was the initial start of this conflict. But the human face disease was a problem, along with XL’s futile attempts to help the people. HC was a part of the military and ran into XL several times. He was eventually kicked out by Mu Qing. 

Taicang mountain could also relate specifically to when XL took HC there as a kid and the priest told him that HC had the worst fortune and would cause devastation and destruction anywhere he went. HC ran away at this point as well. 

I think the quote below helps with the final phrase regarding the “truth” without spoiling the story.

“Because the Kingdom of Xianle was destined to fall. Since you raised your hand and messed up this game of chess, then, there will for sure be another hand that returns all the messed up pieces back in place.”

Tree of white flowers meet dark clouds at Yi Nian Bridge

And like ambers, time does wonders to a mystic

And like ambers, time burns on in a mystic scene

With the fog past, and clouds gone, truly serene

With a flower, and a sword  I will never flee~

Staring at the flowers in trees, I do miss you

I don’t care if they laugh at me, I’ll live anew

The hereafter is bright, like colorful silks,

 I’ll be with you, forevermore,flower and sword

Whether here or beyond…we’re together, always

I do not have much extra to add here. I am very strategic in how I phrase things here because things change a bit in the final chorus. “I don’t care if they laugh at me…” is quite ambiguous to me, as it could really apply to XL’s return 3rd ascension or to before HC was the HC that everyone was afraid of lol. I really liked singing “Hereafter”. I get so tired of singing “future”– like that word is just overkill in all english covers I think. 

Fun fact: twitter helped me in a poll on the “never flee/ I’ll defend thee” bit. I didn’t realize that the chorus would change each time, and I ended up using both variations.

Colorful silks= I mean the red garments they wear. =v=, I’m shrewd with it in my mind.  

Conclusion: So I tried to convey the feeling of devotion without the necessary cringe implied in a typical love song. I felt that this was more poetic than just “I wanna be with you forever, and ever, one flower and sword, and ugugugu gege”. The art of storytelling is really important to me for some reason, so it makes me happy when I can maintain story related elements in an English take. I had to fight depression, anxiety, and imposter syndrome the entire time, but I finally made it to the end of this hot take on my thoughts.

If you actually read all this, you are honestly a trooper!

[raththemagician]

𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍𝚜ヾ(≧▽≦*)o

[archecopeteryx]

You don't know him? That's Vista of the flower sword, and even Mihawk recognized him. Even though they couldn't finish their Battle I think Vistas Sword style is one of the most interesting ones visually IMO

I wish there'd been more characters using the flower sword style.

Yes I guess Zoro would just copy it like he did with Kinemons style 0.0

[blacklegsanjiii]

I absolutely loved your Shirohige!Sanji headcanons! And I'm curious, how would Marco, Izo, Vista and the others react about everything in WCI, the Vinsmokes, etc?

I definitely feel like hearing about it would be nothing new for Marco, however Jozu, Vista, Izou and every one else? Listen the Vinsmoke's are lucky White Beard is dead, however the commanders are alive. I feel there's breaks needed all around especially when the cuffs are talked about and Sanji's mom.

Tears are definitely shed. They have plenty of experience with how Big Mom operates but hearing about Germa is new for them, the nitty and gritty details will haunt them. The commanders have definitely figured out that Sanji is telling them so they won't ask every time they see each other. Yes it ends in a dog pile, yes Sanji is at the bottom

I feel like the commanders would wait a few years before tracking Germa down, no one would expect a bunch of 40something retirees going after them which makes it easy to take Sanji's siblings and Judge's head. Sanji and the hats and Ace don't have any clue Judge's head is spiked in front of White Beard's grave for a week before Marco feeds it to a sea king, they don't need to know either. This was definitely for everything the bastard has done and if Germa falls well, if a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it does it make a sound?