"Nirvana in Fire"/"Lang Ya Bang" Group Read: Discussion Post for Chapters 5-8

[x_los]

Week 2 of the "Lang Ya Bang" book club, chapters 5-8. This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on May 16th.

I'll be doing a weekly post with thoughts on this community. Feel free to join in/discuss. If you'd like to join the Discord, contact superborb for an invite.

Chinese text: https://sj.uukanshu.com/book.aspx?id=17338
English translation: https://merelhyn.tumblr.com/post/641747965727358976/the-langya-list-epubpdf

SPOILER POLICY: I personally don't give a fuck or even like to give unearned credence to the concept, so since I'm writing the post, anything's fair game.

(If anyone is interested in dankodes running further poetry content during or after NiF, please let me know what you'd be keen to discuss. I'm happy to work with you on that. I'll probably ask this again once NiF draws to a close.)

Comments

Chapter 6

[x_los]

'Freeze is' too modern

'Great leaps over buildings'— wuxia allows for that much qi gong, huh

This 'cutting chills' bit is a little unclear—does FL simply intimidate them, or is this killing intent shit?

D says Jin Yong makes a point about martial artists being bad soldiers, but NIF doesn’t seem to credit that: the country’s greatest martial artist is Commander Meng, firmly an army man.

Apparently this was all I managed to say about Chapter 6 last time:

- Bless chapter 6 for bringing in Commander Meng, the best fucking dude you could ask for

Re: Chapter 6

[superborb]

Unclear if metaphorical or real chills. I would think real given the other physical manifestations of qi here.

I think another example of NIF deviating from wuxia norms, with its focus on imperial power.