help me proof the translation

Feel free to pick out errors in the English! Or suggest better wording! Some “mistakes” might be intentional, but I’m really a mediocre writer. Thanks! (don’t have to register to leave a comment here)

chapter 602 (magazine-syndication, not final)

Dying is easy in this day and age.

But real courage comes from knowing that more can be done if you stay alive.

[?]: The top side has collapsed. They both fell under the falling rocks. Find them!
[?]: It’s pitch-dark down there! I can’t see anything!

[?]: The teetering structures here must have been made this way on purpose!
(not sure)

[?]: According to those that got out, someone poisoned the air at the bottom of the cavern!
(slightly distorted)

chapter 602 Enlightenment Through A Dream

[?]: Our allies from Hanzhong confirmed that it’s poisoned quicklime, the same thing that’s used to protect mausoleums! Be extra careful!

[?]: Wait a little longer! They went in with some antidote herbs!

[Yang Qian Wan]: General Ma Chao is down there. Are you men not at all worried?

[?]: You might not know this, honored king, but our Young Master tends to face death like a homecoming. We’re used to it.

[?]: With blessings from the River God of West Liang, I think it’s the other side that should be worried.

Yes.

This madman must be favored by the divine, or else he would have long since…
(not sure)

{pong}
(sfx)

[?]: Ah!

[Ma Chao]: Damn it.

{pa~}
(sfx)

[MC]: Stupid toppling, ruining my fun!
(“fighting [in-the-middle-of] high/contentment…”)

[MC]: Zhao, let’s go again! Cough, cough!
[MC]: Come! Cough, cough, cough cough, come!

[MC]: Hold on… what’s this smell?!

Head… my head hurts!

[MC]: It’s hard to breathe, there must be poison in the dust cloud down there!

[MC]: It’s fine. I’m never afraid…

[MC]: I have the divine’s blessing…

[MC]: Huff!

[MC]: As long as I get out of here…
[MC]: Cough cough cough cough!

[MC]: My head hurts so much!

[MC]: Hurts,
[MC]: it hurts!

[MC]: My head…

[MC]: Father!

[MC]: Huff!

[MC]: No, no, no!

[MC]: Cough, cough cough cough cough cough!

[MC]: Huff… Cough cough!

[?]: Guide your spirit to cultivate your soul.
(not sure, might be from one of the text about Master Zhuang; previously said in chapter 590)

[Zhao Sheng]: General Ma, your family’s deaths were not your fault.

[ZS]: Your father never blamed you either. This is all fate.

[ZS]: It’s the same for me.

[ZS]: Heaven wants you to eliminate a traitor of Imperial Han.

[ZS]: Heaven

[ZS]: wants you to join the sect

[ZS]: to help the person before you…

[MC]: No!
[ZS]: You,

[ZS]: do you see the river of West Liang?

[?]: He… is before you.

[?]: Yes… I see it.

[?]: A man of Ma chooses to believe.
(this reference to “someone of the Ma family” is ambiguous, maybe on purpose; it can be said by Ma Chao as if he is being brainwashed, or it can be referring to another person)

I see it.

I have been waiting.

You came.

Too bad…

Is it a dream?

From a nightmare to a sweet dream.
(“previously was a nightmare, now a beautiful dream”)

[Xiao Fan]: Wake up, quickly.

Yes, I must go find him.

[XF]: Don’t look for him. Live for yourself.

[XF]: He knows that if you come…

[XF]: it’ll mean I’m dead.

[XF]: He knows where I am.

[Liaoyuan Huo]: I’m sorry that you must keep on waiting.

Father-in-law has found his way and is heading home first.

With hometown in sight, it’s a joyous homecoming.

Father, are you well?
An inch on the map became thousand miles of hell.
(my translation based on the lyrical version from the animated series)

My wife, is she well?
Married to absence, how much can words really tell.

— magazine-only teaser —
next chapter: The Incomplete Great Undertaking

— author’s comment —
That’s a part of “Looking Homeward.” Maybe it’s brilliant yet gloomy, with a hint of bittersweet…

2024 May signing, Chen Mou interview by GreatGame (contains spoiler for chapter 598)

original post

…

Later Three Kingdoms is when the story officially begins…

Great Game: Can you talk about your thoughts on the release of volume 77?

Chen Mou: It’s been 77 volumes, so I’m thinking everybody must have gotten used to the feeling by now? It’s the same as always, and we’re once again doing the annual signing event. But of course I still wish for everyone’s continued support.

GG: We see that other than the limited edition merchandise, there are something called “military rations” and “military-issued water”. What’s the reason behind this design choice?
(in the photo below, there are an “Eight Beauty Folding Screen”, two bottles marked “military-use water”, and a bag of chocolate lava bread marked “military rations”)

CM: I’ve considered this idea for a while, or I should say I just want to try every idea.

GG: How completed is the story by this point?

CM: I’ve been drawing for twenty years, but all of that is paving the way for the third arc, which is the part that I have wanted to write about the most. The topic of Later Three Kingdoms tends to be avoided by most writers, but it’s what sparks my creative interest. Now that I am finally starting to see it to fruition, with everything I have planted ahead of time, I would like to think that the readers will also consider the third arc to be brilliant. What I mean is, many Three Kingdoms comics become less entertaining by this arc, but The Ravages of Time saves its best for the Later Three Kingdoms period. We all know what the ending of the story is, but what happened in between? That’s the most interesting part. It’s time to tighten the net and proceed with the harvest. Each volume should bring some surprises to everyone.

Zhao Sheng will throw Sima Yi into the greatest crisis…

GG: Which of the Eight Geniuses is your favorite?

CM: I can only say that any author will have an ideal in mind when creating their work. The Eight Geniuses as a special organization has gathered the world’s best within its school, and at the same time, they will change the world’s future.

Besides the only fictional character Yuan Fang, all other Geniuses are based on a historical figure. The recently revealed Eighth Genius Zhao Sheng is a religious figure. I thought a lot about this, that besides politics, religion had also affected China deeply. Each Genius had his own world view. Their ideas were simply different, not whether any is more righteous than another. That’s the interesting part about Eight Geniuses.

Besides the Eight Geniuses, there are the Eight Eccentrics, since eight was a commonly used number back then. I generally try to avoid favoring one side over the other, so I will let whichever side I’m currently showcasing shine. Therefore, I like every one of these characters.

GG: What identity will Eighth Genius Zhao Sheng assume when he is revealed? Will he be Zhao Sheng or another hidden identity?

CM: This will take a while to explain, because he will drastically affect the story. Religion, you know. Like how Daoism has steered the Chinese culture for millennia? It’s an evolution of culture, similar to the religion in the west; think of it as a field of study, academics.

Any academic field will in its later years evolve into a form of religion. Many historical events were caused by religion. Religious fervor will make even a person of reason become flawed. This is what I want to show the readers.

I want Zhao Sheng’s arc to take its time, to not make him super strong in his debut, but to let him grow slowly. He might not be the best of the Eight Geniuses, yet as the story develops, he will gradually show various powers later, making him the most fitting FINAL BOSS.

GG: Zhao Sheng and Liaoyuan Huo’s dreams appear mostly the same. Can you demystify that for the readers?

CM: Zhao Sheng is an important character in the story, and he will have a major connection to the Sima Yi in the first volume. However, I can’t reveal much of it at this time, only that Zhao Sheng will cause big troubles for Sima Yi. I foreshadowed this before, but other than the fact that Zhao Sheng might be the final boss, I can’t say more.

GG: Will the last Eight Eccentrics appear in the story?

CM: Yes. Now that the story has entered the “Battle of Hanzhong,” the identity and his connection to religion will be mentioned. Eighth Eccentric will appear after this battle, and become an antagonist to the Eight Geniuses.

GG: Deng Ai and Jiang Wei have finally met, but will they lead the rest of the story?

CM: This is only a beginning for them. I would like to give them more screen time for growth if I have time to spare, but because Xun Yu and Pang Tong are about to leave soon, I must focus on wrapping that up first.

I don’t really enjoy sleeping…

GG: Do you have a set creative routine?

CM: I’ve developed a habit after all these years of drawing. I get up early to send my son to school, and since I don’t really enjoy sleeping, I like to work early in the morning or late at night, and I don’t feel that tired when I’m drawing either.

I’ve also discovered that as long as I’m focused on my work, I will improve and improve quickly, be it my opinion on something or a technique. I greatly enjoy this process, and I really want to find out where my limits are.

GG: Then how do you maintain your creative inspiration?

CM: I actually have a bunch of inspiration in the beginning, but my main problem is how to use that on related characters. I would think about how to empathize with the character, because no character is a villain, only that they may have a different point of view. A story will come out of their mutual influence, and it comes together very quickly for me, without dialogues at first, until I start drawing them down. Sometimes it takes a whole day to think, but I always follow a rhythm, and I just want to bring out the interesting bits.

GG: Do you have an outline of the big picture, or do you create on the fly?

CM: …Probably create on the fly, but honestly I would do both. I’m against heroism, however. I don’t like superman, because I believe every person has their value. My “Unhuman” was already like this. At the time I already really liked Wei Yan, and I developed his character fairly early on. I believe every character in Ravages is important, so I want to spend more time on them.

We can’t forget the popular characters, of course, like Lü Bu and Zhao Yun, whom I also like a lot. But I want to spend more time on the smaller roles, like Liao Hua, whom I believe is quite amazing. I want to write his story.

We all know that history is written by the winners, so I want to depict Lü Bu, Yuan Shao and the likes from a different angle. This will make them more three dimensional, and it gives me creative freedom to make them seem more interesting to the readers.

GG: Do you like to draw digitally or with pen on paper?

CM: I draw by hand, but colorize with the computer. AI might be powerful now, but I try not to use it, because I feel this way AI will replace artist’s work sooner. A few prompt can already get you a beautiful picture, but it doesn’t feel right to me. What I do is like a small workshop; it’s small, but there are still people who like my work. I also want to challenge myself, making this kind of work enjoyable.

My readers’ way of thinking is getting closer to my own…

GG: Many readers express their opinions online. Do you take their ideas into consideration when creating your story?

CM: Of course I read them! But I don’t do it often. I’ll read the top few responses, then stop if they’re mostly satisfied with the latest release. I would read some deep analyses too. Having read my work for so long, they can usually figure out what I was thinking about and anticipate where the story is going. It’s like they complement my writing.

Even as a Three Kingdoms tale, this story has entered a different realm at this point. The traditional tropes are shifting in people’s minds too, and Three Kingdoms is becoming more humanized, not just limited to the hot-blooded righteousness of Liu, Guan, and Zhang. There are more darker ideas now.

GG: Have you thought about when to end The Ravages of Time?

CM: That’s a tough question. Since this is the official start of the third arc, the path ahead is still quite long. So… I hope we can all live long lives, until I diligently finish the series. (laugh)

GG: You don’t usually like to show your face to the readership, so why did you agree to another interview like this?

CM: Ah, I felt for a trick (laugh). I kept to this rule for 20 years, but found out ahead of time that there would be an interview with the press. Realizing that I’d be tricked into it either way, I might as well fall for it once.