#hyeyouuu

[threelivesthreeworlds]

@hyeyouuu asked : thank u for the translations for the excerpt from lotus step!!! do you have any expectations about Bodhi’s Fate in terms of storyline? of course, at this point we would all be happy if the novel could just see the light of the day but I think the characters of mo yuan and shao wan really open up a lot of room for a potentially very exciting story. also going with the current timeline and considering that the prehistoric era didn’t really have a separate mortal realm yet, I’m not very sure about having a long mortal arc with many reincarnations and stuff for the two of them… like has mo yuan not suffered enough during the 200000+ years that shao wan has been gone for 😅

You're welcome!

And no, we don't really have any solid guesses for what bodhi fate's plot is going to look like. Everything that's been uncovered in terms of when Mo Yuan and Shao Wan shared exposition/past page time in the pillowbook extra and lotus step seems to be building toward lotus step plot more than bodhi fate. What we do know is this: Shao Wan is very good at building arrays, and she's left them intact and behind in places where they still now activate in the present timeline. We also know that Mo Yuan has hidden away all of her information - including presumably her writings and also any arrays she might have been working on. Whether this was simply because he missed her or because something in those papers was important to the fate of the universe - that's yet to be known.

I think once Shao Wan comes back we can assume that it's likely the demon realm, currently in 7 pieces in present timeline, may come together again. Or she'll just advise all 7 as their ancestor. This may very well overturn some of the Realm's politics as we know it. Very likely we're going to reach a scale of powerful antagonist as of yet previously unseen because our main characters are a pair of ancient gods rather than the previous ancient god/not quite an ancient god combo. We'll very likely have to deal with Mo Yuan's grief and refusal to understand Shao Wan's choice to make sacrifices for the universe when he believed there to be another way, and probably Shao Wan's awkwardness in terms of being a person with personal feelings who already realizes (as seen in some passages of lotus step) that she's hurt Mo Yuan very deeply.

I think xianxia as a genre likes to play with the mortal realm. I don't know that bodhi fate will necessarily have one, however! Historically there have been cases in this series where the mortal realm arc doesn't take much prevalence - in pillowbook, for example, the mortal realm only took up half a chapter of page time through the point of view of Ye Qingti. So, I don't think bodhi fate will have a long mortal realm arc unless the themes or the plot dictate that it must be so - which was the case in lotus step. And, if I'm honest, personally prefer the mortal realm portion of lotus step currently - so you'll never know until you read the book if you'll like a mortal realm arc or not.

As for suffering - I gotta tell you, I don't think anyone doesn't suffer in these books. If the fave is a protagonist, a 40 meter angst knife is comin this way.

[threelivesthreeworlds]

@hyeyouuu asked : hello! this is the link to some excerpts from Lotus Step that mentions Shao Wan (and Mo Yuan). would you be able to have a look through it and translate anything that you find interesting from it? i’ve mostly relied on google translate so i’m not sure i get the nuance for some of the important parts 🥺 thank you!! have a nice day 🫶 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_T_leG-kRcsj5PAC4ZwP4dGCMXwMKtDlgGOwAbkcLao/edit

Well, as the kids say, this is my division ; )

I've read all of this so none of it is really new information to me, but I will translate some excerpts for you since we're all content starved around these parts! A lot of these I see are really just passing mentions that don't have much to them, but I do see two excerpts that are a little meatier that I can throw down there for you!

If you're interested in Mo Yuan and Shao Wan and you haven't found it yet, you can also check out THIS COMPILATION of them that I pulled out of the pillowbook extra as well!

CHAPTER 6.02

It made sense if this nine-colored lotus pond was God Zuti's apostle Shuang He. The formation Youwujie, after all, was made by God Shao Wan to protect God Zuti when cultivating.

The fact that Youwujie and the nine-colored lotus Shuang He appeared at the same mortal realm hundreds of thousands of years later required some thought, but wasn't impossible. After all, when God Zuti had feathered and gone in order to protect the mortals, she had not disappeared in the Realms, but rather the mortal world outside of them.

God Zuti, God Shao Wan - one was born from the first light in the universe, the God of Reality, and the other was the first god of the Demon Clan. These two goddesses of the ancient times were of the same generation as the former emperor of heaven and earth, Donghua, Kunlunxu's High God Mo Yuan, Qingqiu's Fox King Bai Zhi, and the owner of the Peach Blossom Forest, Zhe Yan. His Third Highness, born after the calamities of gods of the distant times in the upper time, was quite different from them generationally. When the world was first created, it was the ancient times. After the ancient times it was the distant times, and after the distant past, the upper past, and after that, was this time.

About these two infamous ancient goddesses, there were plenty of notes in the history books, but there were not many that could be found now. The books about Shao Wan have largely been hidden within Kunlunxu by Mo Yuan, and the books about Zuti were missing.

The world knew that God Zuti had feathered to help God Shao Wan send the mortals to the mortal realm.

At that time the mortals were weak, and could not survive long in the Realms. God Shao Wan pitied the mortals and used her godly power to open the Ruo Mu Door which connected the mortal world to the Realms, and sent the mortals there. Then, there were no seasons or mountains and rivers in the ten billion mortal realms that allowed the mortals to survive, and so God Shao Wan asked God Zuti to help. God Zuti spread out a path of hundreds of thousands of red lotuses and sacrificed herself to the chaos to birth all the things that allowed the mortals to live.

CHAPTER 22.02

"It's been many years since you last made a prophecy. You saw the outcome, didn't you?" The white-clad woman began, tails of eyes curving gently with the intention to smile. She was originally of a most beautiful but most cool appearance - as if her flesh and bones were made of ice and snow, dressed from head to toe in white and even the singular ornament upon dark hair was a white jewel encased in a phoenix feather. One could only think of a a frozen soul, a frozen earth. But her eyes were not of the same cool feeling - the ends flicked upward a little, and when she smiled her eyes became enrapturing.

"You know I found a way to open that door, but you don't want me to die." The white-clad woman sighed. "But no one can defy the will of heaven." As if she was resigned. "You are the light god, the god of reality, wise and able to see the will of heaven. You know it best, that it is destined to be and no one can change it, not you nor I." Her gaze settled on a place far away. "Mo Yuan - he can't either."

And then she changed the subject abruptly: "I came to find you because I know what your duty is. You know it as well. These tens of thousands of years you have been hidden away in Mount Guyao - isn't it because you've seen the final ending, and have been waiting for me to find you?" She lifts her eyebrow, and the tail of her eye lifted as well - cool and gentle and alluring, but with an edge, "Why now have you gone back on that decision?"

For a long moment there was only th sound of the wind. The yellow-clad one said: "I don't have the heart to."

The white- lad woman laughed as if surprised: "You can't bear it? But what is there not to bear?" She put her hand upon the other's shoulder, fingers sweeping past the yellow clad one's dark hair like chicken feathers. "The most unfeeling one in the world is you. Born from light - you don't know what the seven emotions nor the six desires are, but now you can't bear to see me die?" A hint of merriment appeared between cool brows. "No one in the realms can obtain a reluctance to part from you. I have obtained it and therefore I have no regrets in this life."

The yellow-clad one ignored her teasing, and shook off her hand. "No regrets? And about Mo Yuan?"

The white-clad woman's smile slowly disappeared from her face. After a long time, she said: "He…I never thought whether or not I regret it." She stepped back, and sat down on a stone stool to the side, fingers pressed against her forehead. Expressionless, now she seemed as cool as frost. After a long time, she said: "I can't have regrets, and I dare not to."