TN/Foreword for those who haven't read the previous arcs and those who forgot: The previous story arc was the Young martial artists Tournament arc. In that arc,Lu Sheng participated in a tournament as a VIP. He was an incredibly gifted and young fighter, a genius level 10 martial artist, only 20 yo, who could already fight level 11 or even level 12 martial artists who were more than 100 yo. Before the tournament, the evaluation of Sheng's "physique level" had revealed that he had an extremely rare "Immortal-level extraordinary physique". A level so rare that he was maybe the only one to possess it in the whole Yamu star region, even though it has countless stars and inhabited planets. This incredible evaluation is what made the officials of the Yamu star region decide to organize a tournament for young geniuses. They basically wanted to show off his strength and make money from all the tourists coming from neighboring star regions. So far so good. BUT Lu Sheng also still was a "weak" youngster living in a universe where old martial artists of level 13 and above could probably crush him like an insect. So, he wanted to go to the battlefield to fight beasts from the Dark Side universe, but it seemed too early for him, too dangerous; that's why Speaker Dunlop, head of the Yamu star region, proposed that Sheng leaves the star region and goes to another place in the galaxy, where a better evaluation of his physique level could be performed, and where he could safely take the time to learn and get stronger. But Sheng is in a hurry. And also, after the tournament, Sheng's power increased again during his seclusion: only a few months have passed and he is now already level 11.
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"I checked—there are still three other recruitment ships in the Hundred Great star district that are about to leave. Or you can board the next ship in a few years."
Lu Sheng, speechless, stared expressionlessly at Speaker Dunlop's weathered but smiling face on the communicator. He hadn't expected such a proposition from him. Shaking his head, Sheng said, "Give me their location coordinates."
"Right."
Dunlop nodded. "I've sent them to you. I'll also make arrangements for you at the battlefield—the letter of introduction, identity verification, and..."
Dunlop paused, his expression suddenly turning serious. He addressed Sheng with utmost gravity: "Lu Sheng, are you certain? Do you truly wish to head to the interdimensional battlefield so soon? I've inquired—the galaxy will send someone to retrieve you in due time. There's absolutely no need to rush. You'll have ample opportunities to join the battlefield later..."
Sheng's gaze remained calm. He said nothing, only replying softly, "Speaker, I'm already level 11."
Dunlop's eyes widened momentarily. Then, as if understanding something—or perhaps letting out a slight sigh of relief—he nodded slightly with a complex look. "I understand."
With that, he naturally ended the call.
A prodigy who reached level 11 in his early twenties and possessed an immortal-level extraordinary-physique... No one understood his future path better than himself.
The signal from Dunlop had only been cut for a moment before Lu Sheng received the time and coordinates. Glancing briefly, he saw the closest coordinates were located in the Sawyer star region, over two hundred light-years from his current location.
To catch up with that spaceship, he'd have to depart within seven hours at the latest. He withdrew his gaze, exhaled softly, and murmured under his breath, barely audible to himself: "Looks like I really won't be able to stay home for long. I've only just emerged from seclusion, barely spent a few days with my family, and now I must depart once more."
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"Esteemed passengers, we are about to formally arrive at the Sawyer star region. During the remainder of our journey, we will pass through the following stellar touristic attractions."
Inside the cabin of a medium-sized starship, a diverse array of space travelers, each with their own unique appearance, filled the seats. This vessel, named the Big Fish, functioned as a cosmic long-distance bus, operating fixed routes to provide interstellar travel services spanning one or even multiple star systems.
As the ship's announcement played, a beautiful female flight attendant pushed a cart from the front of the cabin. Passengers intrigued by the announcement began asking the attendant about the attractions. She patiently answered each inquiry.
Suddenly, the attendant noticed a peculiar passenger standing in the aisle, its skin a deep, dark green. This passenger had six tentacles clinging like suction cups to the ceiling of the ship's cabin. Instead of sitting in a proper seat, he dangled mid-air like a hanging lamp, swaying back and forth.
The attendant frowned slightly, quickening her pace to approach him. With a hint of resignation, she said, "Mr. Babard, why have you come out again? The ship will be making several stops soon. Could you please return to your seat promptly?"
Clearly, this eccentric passenger, called Babard, had been reminded by the attendant before. But he explained in a shrill voice, "It's fine. I just like hanging out like this. Don't mind me, Miss Attendant. Oh, and please remind me before the next stop—I need to disembark!"
The attendant checked and answered, "But the next stop is at least twenty light-years from your destination. Aren't you in a hurry for something urgent?"
She had barely finished asking him when passenger Babard shouted, "It doesn't matter! My most urgent matter right now is to get off this ship immediately!"
"Alright..."
The attendant tried to persuade him to come down from the ceiling, but no matter how she pleaded, he remained stubborn as a rock. With no other option, the attendant could only helplessly let him be.
The cosmos was full of peculiar species with strange and unusual quirks. After all these years aboard the Big Fish, she'd grown accustomed to the oddities.
The flight attendant pushed the meal cart forward a few steps, her gaze instinctively shifting to a seat on her left. It was a pair of adjacent seats. The aisle seat was empty; its occupant was currently suspended from the ceiling.
Seated by the window was a young man in his twenties. His hair was jet black, his build and features unremarkable. He remained intensely focused on the communicator in his hands. He looked like an utterly ordinary man in every way. The attendant moved a little closer.
"Sir, would you like..."
The flight attendant was about to ask if he wanted something to drink when the young man lifted his gaze toward her and she met his eyes. Instantly, she stiffened. The rest of her sentence caught in her throat, and it felt as though even her heart had stopped.
She was looking at an incredibly dark and profound pair of eyes, like two black holes. They seemed poised to swallow her soul whole, yet within their pitch-black depths, she glimpsed swirling hues of four colors. But this sensation lasted only a few seconds before vanishing completely.
"Thank you, but no, thank you."
The young man spoke to her gently.
"Uh... oh, okay."
The flight attendant instinctively began pushing the cart away, but the young man called her back.
"How much longer until we reach planet Moordoor?"
"Two... two hours."
"Alright, thank you."
"You're... you're welcome."
The flight attendant drifted away from the seat, pushing the cart a short distance before she suddenly whipped her head. To her shock, the area where the young man she'd just spoken with had been seated seemed to be shrouded in patches of shadow—a dimmer zone where even the light itself appeared muted.
She couldn't help but glance back toward Babard's direction. Now she thought she understood why he would rather hang from the ceiling like a chandelier than sit properly in his seat.
"Two hours. That should be enough time." Sheng was checking the time and coordinates Dunlop had sent him. The recruitment ship for the Sawyer star region was scheduled to depart in four hours from Port 119 on planet Moordoor.
Barring any mishaps, he could easily make it on time. If he missed this ship though, he'd have to head to the next coordinate point—and even then, there was no guarantee he'd make it, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
Sheng shut off his communication computer, his entire body relaxing with it. He had to leave the Whitehole Shuttle to his family and purchasing another ship on such short notice was impossible. That's why he had chosen boarding a long-distance passenger shuttle instead.
To avoid unnecessary issues, he'd even gone to the trouble of disguising his appearance. But apparently, it hadn't worked too well. Some poor unlucky soul had been so scared by him that they hadn't been able to relax the entire journey. Sheng glanced at the octopus person clinging to the ceiling and sighed inwardly.
After reaching level 11, the number of immortal cells within his body had surged to an unprecedented 330,000. It took some time to become familiar with this explosive power, leading to the accidental scaring of others. But after this journey, Lu Sheng should master this new power perfectly.
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Translation notes by dhoo
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Note: I added lists of chapters where the words occur, just to get a quick feel of how important each word/phrase is in this story or not: is it often used? is it new? is it the last time it's used? in which chapter is it explained and used several times? You can see it all with one quick glance at the list of chapters. I automatically made these list the old school way, with a spreadsheet and a few lines of code: I browsed 165 chapters, #500 - #664, all written with traditional Chinese characters (this arc has 50 chapters, #530 - #579, and #664 is the last chapter I could easily find online but there is a few more on faloo dot com).
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The galaxy
For now, it's a mysterious concept: "the galaxy" might "send someone" to fetch Lu Sheng. See the forewod atop this chapter. We can deduce from it that the Yamu star region is a little area in a big galaxy. How little and how big? Wait and see, we will learn more about it later.
星系 (trad. same characters), xīngxì: galaxy (星 star 系 system)
I found 82 occurences of 星系 in chapters 515 (x2), 518, 522 (x5), 523, 527, 531, ..., 577 (x5), ..., 622 (x4), 623, 625 (x4), 626 (x4), ..., 646 (x3)
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level 11
十一级 (trad. 十一級), shíyī jí: 十 ten 一 one 級 level
In the first arc, the strongest martial artist were around level 4. Later, we learned that the strongest martial artists on planet Azure were around level 8. Now that we're in space, Lu Sheng has reached level 11 and faced level 11 opponents already, and there are stronger martial artists of level 13 and beyond.
I found 175 occurrences of 十一級 in chapters 500 (x3), 501 (x2), 502 (x5), ..., 531 (x3), 532 (x3), ..., 537 (x5), 538 (x6), ..., 551 (x11), 552 (x12), ..., 567 (x15), 568 (x7), ..., 611 (x2) [last occurrence]
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An extraordinary physique aka transcendent life constitution, literally the body-nature of a living being who surpasses ordinary standards
超凡生命体质, (trad. 超凡生命體質), chāofán shēngmìng tǐzhí: 超凡 extraordinary (超 surpass 凡 ordinary ), 生命 life, living being (生 be born 命 life, fate), 体质 physique, constitution (體 body 質 material, nature)
This is a core concept in this novel. The strongest characters have an "extraordinary physique" and in a way they are destined (genetically programmed?) to get really strong. We will learn more about it in later chapters. Lu Sheng's extraordinary physique level was evaluated in the previous arc.
I found 72 occurrences of 超凡生命體質 in chapters 501 (x9), 502 (x4), ..., 531, 533, ..., 587 (x19), ..., 626 (x4), ..., 645
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An immortal-level extraordinary physique, level/tier/grade, aka "not-rotten-level surpassing-ordinary-born-life-body-nature"
In the previous arcs of this novel, we learned that Lu Sheng had an extraordinary physique of immortal-level, which got everyone including Speaker Dunlop really hyped, since it is something that very rarely happens in a star region. This was the trigger for the big tournament of the previous arc, which involved young and promising martial artists belonging to several neighboring star regions.
不朽级 (trad. 不朽級), bùxiǔ jí: 不朽 to be immortal (不 bù not, 朽 xiǔ rotten) 级 level > immortal-level
不朽级超凡生命体质 (trad. 不朽級超凡生命體質): immortal-level extraordinary physique
The verb often associated with this concept in this novel is 拥有 to possess - 拥有不朽級超凡生命体质 means that someone "has" or "possesses" an immortal-level extraordinary physique. simplified 拥 = traditional 擁 > full traditional 擁有 or 擁有不朽級超凡生命體質
I found 98 occurrences of 不朽級 in chapters 500, ..., 504 (x4), 505 (x4), 506 (x4), 507 (x4), ..., 522 (x7), 531, 567 (x4), ..., 587 (x21), ..., 596 (x5), ..., 630 (x2)
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immortal cells
不朽细胞 (trad. 不朽細胞), bùxiǔ xìbāo: 不朽 immortal 细胞 cell (细 thin 胞 womb)
Lu Sheng has special cells that he calls immortal cells or star seeds. He wants to turn all his cells into immortal cells. The purpose of these cells is to evolve and strengthen until they become become as energetic and bright and hot as stars, like miniature stars; that's why they're called star seeds. The more of these cells Sheng has, the stronger he is. He now has 330,000 immortal cells. In other words, so far, only a tiny portion of his body cells (trillions, said the author) have become immortal cells, he still has a long way to go.
I found 117 occurrences of 不朽細胞 in chapters 505, ..., 525 (x5), ..., 528 (x8), 531, ..., 552 (x4), ..., 605 (x5), ..., 614 (x12), ..., 619 (x5), ..., 643
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The Whitehole Shuttle
黑洞 is blackhole, 白洞 is... well, whitehole.
白洞穿梭者号 (trad. 白洞穿梭者號), bái dòng chuānsuō zhě hào: 白洞 whitehole 穿梭 to shuttle 者 suffix -er or -ist (turns a verb into a noun, like work+者=worker) 号 name, (character indicating a boat name)
The name of Lu Sheng's fancy spaceship, which he left on planet Pregnancy so that his family can use it. This ship was introduced in the previous arc.
I found 12 occurrences of 白洞穿梭者號 in chapters 503, 509 (x3), ..., 529 (x2), 531, 623
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The following keywords won't be used in the rest of the arc, they'll be quickly forgotten, I mean, you can forget about them, but I still tried to translate them properly.
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The Sawyer star region, aka So'yeah or Ask Yeah star region
索耶星区 (trad. 索耶星區), suǒ yé xīng qū: 索 ask/Suo (surname), 耶 yeah, 星 star, 区 area/region/district/sector
I guess this one was meant to be pronounced rather than literally translated, though maybe So'yeah was what the author had in mind.
索耶星區 appears only in chapter 531 (x3)
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Babard or Mr. Babard, aka Baba De xiansheng (based on the sinograms' pronunciation), mister Virtuous Dad, Mr. Kinddad or Mr. Kindpapa (based on the sinograms' meaning). Babard seems like an innocent, fatherly character. Sometimes, Lu Sheng and the author seem evil. - See Glossary for more
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The planet Moduo aka planet Modo, Mordor, Modor, ... , Moordoor
摩多星, mó duō xīng: to scrape, much/many, planet
Is it a reference to Lord of the Ring's Mordor? Maybe. It's not written the same but it's pronounced the same: LOTR's Mordor is 魔多, mó duō: "much sorcery" (a brilliant name, if you ask me). The second character 多 is the same, the first character is pronounced the same but means scrape instead of sorcery.
So, what should we call this planet? It seems the author wanted it to be a reference to Mordor, since it sounds exactly the same, but also wanted to play around by changing that reference a bit. I like Moordoor, which has more or less the same pronunciation and also carries the interesting meaning of a "door" towards the moor. For Lu Sheng, this planet is a metaphorical entrance door to the interdimensional—strange—battlefield, a moor between universes.
摩多星 only appears in chapters 531 (x2) and 532 (x4).
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The Big Fish
大鱼号 (trad. 大魚號), dà yú hào: 大 big 魚 fish 号 name, boat name
The name of the shuttle to planet Moordoor.
大鱼号 only appears in chapters 531 (x2) and 532 (x3).