Emperor’s Domination

reality, it had more wicked thoughts compared to Lil’ Yellow.

Lil’ Yellow naturally didn’t dare to go against Li Qiye and had to nod its head.

“It can understand you?” Yang Ling smiled after seeing this: “It looks smarter than my mount.”

Lil’ Yellow became unhappy again, thinking that this dumb girl was wasting her breath.
How could she compare a beast emperor to her crappy mount?

It was playing nice because of Li Qiye.
Otherwise, it would have eaten Yang Ling for touching its neck earlier.

The group arrived on Main Peak.
They could sense an atmosphere culminated from students training hard.

There were numerous battle stages with students training and fighting.
Teachers were around to guide them.

Some focused on perfecting their merit laws and techniques.
One sat alone on a boulder in the middle of a stream, absorbing worldly energies…

The more powerful students were challenging their friends for actual combat experience.
There were more than a hundred stages there of varying levels.

The fights were meant for improvement and training, rarely to the death.
Only mortal enemies would actually do so.

In front of the gate was a statue.
It wasn’t especially large but everyone would feel insignificant when standing before it.

“This is a statue of Duality Master.
Duality here stands for mud and cloud.” Yang Ling introduced.
[1]

Of course, this statue was created by future descendants, not Duality Master himself.

At the base of the statue was a famous line.
However, it wasn’t the domineering one that shocked the world – 80,000 Buddhas are nothing more than statues and the gods up in the firmaments are mere floating duckweeds.

The following characters were carved – Just a mortal I am, just one thought to become cloud and mud.
[2]

That’s right, this phrase is the one most often said by him instead of the line chanted during the creation of Duality Academy.

No one knew the origin of this line so it probably originated from him.
Because of this, people started calling him Cloud Mud or Duality Master.

Li Qiye stared at the statue and repeated the line.
This moment lasted for a while as if nothing was more interesting to him than the statue.

Yang Ling noticed this and thought that Li Qiye had a strange expression.
It was hard to pinpoint it on a particular emotion.

Though many came and saw this statue, they usually had a look of reverence while recalling his tales.
This wasn’t the case here.
There was no hint of admiration or remembrance.

1.
The raw for Duality is cloud mud, which classically means two polar opposites or different statuses, low and high.
Cloud is up high while mud is at the bottom.
People would call superiors cloud and refer to themselves as mud to show humility/lower status.
Duality has a similar meaning and sounds far better than Cloud Mud Master.
If this was a nobody that would die in 10 chapters, I probably would have used Cloud Mud but it’s an important character so a cool name is necessary.

2.
This is a tough line to translate because we have virtually zero context regarding his attitude.
It can be interpreted in several ways.
One interpretation is that cloud and mud here are substitutes for heaven and earth, or everything in existence.
This is the arrogant interpretation, that he’s strong despite being a mortal.
The humble interpretation is that cloud and mud here signify the earth, the mundane factors of being a mortal, that he’ll return to the earth and become one with it just like cloud and mud in the time of a single thought.
A mortal’s lifespan is nothing compared to a cultivator, just one passing thought.
From what we’ve seen, he’s domineering when he took over the holy ground so the first interpretation has narrative support.
However, this line for me as a reader comes as being humble.
All in all, I don’t have enough to make a definitive translation regarding the intent.
I’ve consulted with other translators and this is the consensus.
It’ll have to stay literal.