Translation notes for the Guardian Fan-song 一令長安

[foxghost]

Translation notes for the Guardian Fan-song 一令長安 / A Writ of Lasting Peace, novel excerpts included as well as credit at the end, do take a look at that — like a lot of great fan productions, it was made by an army of fans.
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For the novel lines, I made notes, but for the lyrics, I’m putting down my initial ‘meaning’ draft and the full sentences I constructed from them.

一令長安——鎮魂同人曲（劇情版）

A Writ of Lasting Peace - Guardian original fansong (plot version)

Youtube post with subbed video

沈巍：“有一個人，我和他萍水相逢，什麼關係也沒有，在他心裡，我只是個說過兩句話的陌生人。可我還是想再多看他一眼。”

Shen Wei: There is someone … him and I met by chance like patches of drifting duckweed. There is no relationship between us at all. In his heart I am but a stranger he’s spoken to once or twice. And yet I … still want another glimpse of him, once more.

[萍水相逢 means to meet by chance, but I chose the literal translation because it’s prettier, and still perfectly understandable.]

趙雲瀾：“你從沒開口和我要過任何東西，弄得我連討好都沒地方討，其實你真的想要什麼，大可以直接告訴我，只要我有的……騙我幹什麼？”

Zhao Yunlan: You’ve never opened your mouth to ask me for anything. It’s left me with no avenue to even get on your good side. Really though if there is anything that you want, you can just tell me outright. As long as it’s something I have … What’s the point of lying to me?

[The second sentence reads: You’ve made it so even if I want to win your favour, I have no place to do so. Just a shorter rephrasing.]

大刃落崑崙，混沌初隙

Great blade falling upon Kunlun mountain, The first sign of chaos through a fissure

[When a great blade falls upon Kunlun mountain, the first sign of chaos shows through the wound]

濁土化山魂，臨風睥睨

Muddy earth creating a mountain soul, Looking disdainfully in the direction of the wind

[From the mud comes a mountain spirit who looks disdainfully into the wind]

昧火拜往生，長焚戾氣

The samadhi true flame gives life, In its long burning, great malignance was born

[The Samadhi true flame gives a gift of life, birthing a great malignance in its scorching heat]

九幽承此諾，翻覆潮汐

Beneath nine layers of the underworld, a vow was borne, Turning the tides

[Caught in the nine layers of the underworld he bears this oath, turning the tides]

【輪迴晷】繼輪迴，慼慼生殺替

[Reincarnation Dial] To turn the wheel of reincarnation, Sorrow in a cycle of birth and murder

[To turn the wheel of reincarnation / Sorrowful is a cycle of birth and murder]

【山河錐】安山河，業業十八獄

[Mountain River Awl] To calm the mountains and rivers, Towering, Eighteen levels of hell

[To calm the mountains and rivers / Towering is all eighteen levels of hell]

【功德筆】辨功過，灼灼血字筆

[Merit Brush] To sort merit from sin, A shining brush that writes in blood

[To sort merit from sin / Shining is the brush that writes in blood]

【鎮魂燈】鎮心魂，錚錚千秋意

[Guardian Lamp] To subdue heart’s soul, Intention unwavering through a thousand years

[To subdue heart’s soul / Unwavering the intention unchanged through a thousand autumns]

[I went from the meaning translation back to the literal translation here, because “thousand autumns” means the same thing as “thousand years.”]

汪徵：“三界六合，總有你不知道的人和不知道的事，也許你確實很有本事，可是托生成人，就算有天大的本事，能大得過天地，大得過命嗎?人不能活得太傲慢，要是狂得連諸天神佛都不放在眼裡，也許有一天會遭報應的。”

Wang Zheng: In the three planes of existence, the four cardinal directions, heaven and earth, there will always be people and matters that you know nothing of. Maybe you really are quite capable, but once you have been reborn into a mortal, then no matter how capable you are, could you be greater than the heavens and earth? Greater than fate itself? A person must not live too arrogantly. If you’re mad enough to deem the gods and Buddhas unimportant in your eyes, perhaps one day retribution will come to you.

[I spelled out exactly what 三界六合 means: “Three worlds” is easy, and “Six directions that come together” is like a 3d axis: four cardinal directions as well as up and down.]

【汪徵】未解懵懂意，朝露已晞

[Wang Zheng] Before these confused desires were understood, The morning dew has already dried in the sun

[Our concealed feelings has not been made known,but the morning dew has already dried in the sun]

【祝紅】誰寄無心處，溫存誤許

[Zhu Hong] Who has sent towards a heartless place, An error in affections promised

[One who seeks love in a place of heartlessness has misplaced her affections]

【楚恕之】我本輕狂客，何關天律

[Chu Shuzhi] I am a frivolous visitor, What do I care of heaven’s laws

[I have always been an irreverent guest, why would I concern myself with heaven’s laws?]

【郭長城】福祿祭燈魂，無聲無息

[Guo Changcheng] Fortune made sacrifice as a lamp’s soul, Without sound and fury

[Without sound or fury, I have made a sacrifice of my fortune for the soul of a lamp]

祝紅：“趙處，你給我一句話，只要你給我一句話，我從此可以和族人斷絕一切關係，刀山火海也跟你到底！”

Zhu Hong: Zhao-chu! You just give the word. If only if you’d give the word, Then from this moment on I would break off all of my connections to my tribe, I would follow you to the end into a mountain of swords and a sea of flames.

[刀山火海 / A mountain of swords and sea of flames, is an idiom for “extreme danger,” translated as is.]

郭長城：“就，就是不做壞事，偶爾遇到能幫上忙的，就搭把手，我什麼都不會的。”
Guo Changcheng: I … just don’t do bad things, and occasionally, if there’s something I can help with then I help out. I…I don’t know how to do anything.

楚恕之：“我不是別人，趙雲瀾你記著，我戴上功德枷是我自己樂意，是給他們臉，不是低三下四的承認我的錯。”
Chu Shuzhi: I’m not ‘other people.’ Remember this, Zhao Yunlan. I wear the merit cangue because I chose to do so. I’m giving them face. It does not mean I’m bowing and scraping to admit I was wrong.

趙雲瀾：“我富有天下名山大川，想起來也沒什麼稀奇的，不過就是一堆爛石頭野河水，渾身上下，大概也就只有這幾分真心能上秤賣上兩斤，你要？拿去。”

Zhao Yunlan: I am rich with famed mountains and endless rivers under heaven, but none of it feels rare when I stop to think about it. It’s all just a pile of broken stones and uncultivated streams. From head to toe, probably only this bit of true heart is worth anything weighed on a scale. You want it? Take it.

沈巍:“我連魂魄都是黑的，唯獨心尖上一點乾乾淨淨地放著你，血還是紅的，用它護著你，我願意。”

Shen Wei: Even my soul is black. There is only a spot of cleanliness in the apex of my heart, where I keep you. My blood is red, still. If I can protect you with it, I’m perfectly willing.

[Rephrased “With it protecting you, I’m willing”]

心魔本無物，當年青衣

The demon of the heart is but an illusion, In the black clothes I used to wear

[The demon of the heart is but an illusion, like the black robes I was clad in all those years ago]

[TN: I’m actually not sure about the 青衣 since it can be both ‘servant’s clothes’ and ‘black clothes’ but I went with the art vid depiction of him in black. The first one I would usually spell out as “seven emotions and the six desires” but it’s no more clear than “demons of the heart” so, translated as is.]

敢觀不敢憶，三拜菩提

I dare to behold but not to recall, Three bows towards understanding

[Would I dare to behold but not to recall, those three bows toward understanding]

[TN. Three bows toward Bodhi, but considering it’s from Shen Wei, I chose a less religious word for ‘enlightenment’]

刀斬黃泉路，難拒折戟

A blade to part a road to the underworld, A disastrous defeat that cannot be resisted

[As I cut my way through the underworld, a disastrous defeat seems imminent]

后土獨相赴，枉盡舊旅

Attending to the great seal alone, Vainly keeping a promise to walk a familiar road

[In vain I keep a promise to make this familiar trip, attending to the earth’s great seal alone]

曾至虔，奈何未相惜

Once I acted with reverence, And yet I did not cherish you

[Though once I venerated you, it is regrettable that I failed to cherish you]

[TN. ambiguous for either the relationship between lao-Li and Daqing, or Shen Wei and Kunlun. Worded to fit both.]

問歸期，我輩本不羈

If asked of our return, We have always been unruly

[When asked of our return, we answer, “Have we not always been unruly?”]

[TN. again ambiguous — either for Zhao Yunlan asking for Shen Wei to return in the later part of the novel when ZYL refused to take his ‘medicine,’ or for Mianmian not returning beneath the seal where he belongs.]

一令安，長明鎮故里

A single command for peace, A long lasting light that calms my native home

[A writ of peace, like a shining brightness that calm the place I used to call home]

笑白駒，與君共天地

We laugh at the way time flies, With my lord we share the heaven and the earth

[We laugh as the white horse of time pass us by, and with my lord we share in heaven and earth]

[TN. 白駒 here is short for 白駒過隙, which means “how fast time flies.” I added words to keep the metaphor and the meaning behind the idiom.]

趙雲瀾：“我別的東西也有，只是你可能大多都看不上，只有這一點真心…你要是不接著，那就算了吧。”

Zhao Yunlan: I have other things, but you probably would not look favourably upon most of them. Only this bit of true heart… If you won’t catch it, then forget it.

沈巍：“我接住了，你這一輩子，生生死死、死死生生我都再不會鬆手，哪怕你有一天煩了、厭了、想走了，我也絕對不會放開你，就算勒，也要把你勒死在我懷裡。”

Shen Wei: I’ve caught it. The rest of your life, in life and in death, no matter what happens to us, I will never again loosen my grip. Even if one day you grow tired of me, loathe me, and you want to leave, I will still absolutely not let you go. Even if I must bind you, I would rather have you strangled, have you breathe your last in my embrace.

[TN. SW here literally says “if we live or die, we die or we live” and I changed one of them to “no matter what happens to us.” The word 勒 / strangle is used twice here, and I translated the first one to ‘bind’ because it can also mean to ‘rein in’ as in a horse. ‘Breathe your last’ is an addition, to make it clear what Shen Wei means.]

Production staff：

Producer：燦鴆

Singer：妖揚

Song writer / Arrangement：水墨流蘇R

Lyrics：微我無酒

Designer：Carol嬋

Artist：江湖夜雨

Pv（Art Version）：蕭翼fair

Pv（Cut from drama version）：連城琬

Calligraphy：零雨其濛濛

Late stage：沢渡溫

Special thanks：怪獸 黍鶴

Voice cast：

Shen Wei：趙羞澀 【星之聲】

Zhao Yunlan：嚴楓

Zhu Hong：贇珩【翼之聲】

Wang Zheng：一隻檀檀子 【SN工作室】

Chu Shuzhi：浩然 【KA.U中文配音社】

Guo Changcheng：南楓【羽落有聲】