Sword Snow Stride

Intrepid Blade’s Path in the Snow, aka Sword Snow Stride
雪中悍刀行 (Xue Zhong Han Dao Xing)
Author: Feng Huo Xi Zhu Hou [idiom: Fire beacon (battle smoke) tricking the lords (lit. various marquis, or simply: lords – local rulers) – thanks to Akolaw]
Translated by Foxs

Official Brief Introduction (translated from the raw [1] by Paonakata):

A beauty with the face of an Arctic fox [2][3], with her two blades, Xiudong (Winter Embroidery) and Chunlei (Spring Thunder), strives to be number one under the heavens.

An ancient prisoner at the bottom of the lake, loves to eat meat.

An old servant with missing front teeth, on his back a box of swords.

A youthful sect elder riding a mythical Si (Elasmotherium) [4], dares not go down the mountain.

A not-too-cold-hearted assassin maiden riding a panda, a sunflower slung over her shoulder.

In this Jianghu, where traveling nobles care more about fashion, wandering heroines care more about popularity, and sects care more about currying favor with the imperial court.

Our main character, with blade in hand, got this Jianghu and made utter mincemeat.

[1]【內容簡介】有個白狐兒臉，佩雙刀繡冬春雷，要做那天下第一。湖底有白發老魁愛吃葷。缺門牙老仆背劍匣。山上有個騎青牛的年輕師叔祖，不敢下山。有個騎熊貓扛向日葵不太冷的少女殺手。這個江湖，高人出行要注重出塵裝扮，女俠行走江湖要注意培養人氣，宗派要跟廟堂打好關系。而主角，則瀟灑帶刀，把江湖捅了一個通透。

[2]https://studycli.org/chinese-culture/chinese-standards-of-beauty/#Fox_face_hulilian

Fox face (狐狸脸, húlíliǎn)

As the name suggests, the fox face consists of various “foxy” attributes. Foxy eyes, an “M” shaped upper lip, and a sharper and more angular curve to the mouth and eyes. The eyebrows and the eyes are almost obliquely parallel and slightly pointed. Good examples of celebrities who are considered to have this type of face are Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) and Jenny Zhang (张嘉倪).

[3]https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%A5%B5%E7%8B%90

北极狐[Arctic fox]（學名[scientific name]：Vulpes lagopus）别名[also known as]雪狐[snow fox]或[or]白狐[white fox]，在寒冷的北極凍原地區是常見的小型犬科動物[is a common small canid in the cold Arctic tundra]

[4]https://cryptidarchives.fandom.com/wiki/Si

The si (兕) or qingniu (青牛; Chinese: “livid ox”) is a cryptid reported from China, described as a very bulky, large animal somewhat like an ox, with a single horn on its forehead. It has traditionally been considered as some form of modern rhinoceros or simply an ox, but it has been suggested that its description is closer to an elasmothere. This makes it the only example of an alleged living Elasmotherium reported in modern times.

Translator’s Note:

The literal translation of the title, Xue Zhong Han Dao Xing, is actually ‘Intrepid Blade’s Path in the Snow’, but we opted to use the more familiar working title of ‘Sword Snow Stride’. This is a difficult work to translate. The author uses a lot of colloquialism, which I, as a non-native Chinese speaker, am not familiar with. Therefore, if you know any better, I invite you to suggest a better translation.

Although Chinese is not my first language, I am fascinated by idioms and the ‘story’ behind certain phrases, hence the reason I include a lot (and I mean ‘a lot’) of explanations. Also, like in my other works, I like to keep appellations and the way the characters address each other in their original form, because from the way they address someone else, we can deduce the relationship between them. I feel like if I simply translate a certain word as-is, the many nuances behind those words will be lost.

I give you a simple example: for one English word, ‘Master’, there are several different Chinese characters. Master as in ‘expert’ (da jia, gao shou), as in ‘teacher’ (shifu), as in ‘master/servant (or subordinate) relationship’ (ye), as in ‘young mister’ (gongzi), as in ‘host/owner’ (zhu) … that’s all I remember, for now.

Another example is related to the title of this book. Actually, there are several words in Chinese than can be translated as one English word ‘hero’. The character ‘han’ in the title means ‘heroic / intrepid / valiant / dauntless / fierce / ferocious / violent’. Other ‘heroes’ are ‘xia’ [chivalrous person / knight-errant], ‘ying xiong’ [‘ying’: outstanding / excellent, ‘xiong’: male of species / manly / grand / imposing / powerful / mighty], ‘hao han’ [lit. good/real man: strong and courageous person], ‘hao jie’ [towering figure], and some others that are less common. You get the idea …

Anyway, if you find this kind of style of translation not to your liking, then please stop. Don’t say that I did not warn you. But if you have no problem, then I gladly invite you embark on this journey together.

Contents:

Book 1 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 1 – Waiter, Serve the Wine
Chapter 2 – Arctic Fox Face
Chapter 3 – The Two Dimples
Chapter 4 – Go to That Mountain to Pick Hawthorns
Chapter 5 – The Most Beautiful Person in the World
Chapter 6 – Let’s Go
Chapter 7 – Wu Meiniang Looking at The Top of The City Wall
Chapter 8 – Eastern Queen
Chapter 9 – Blade in the Snow
Chapter 10 – Warm the Wine, Ring the Bell, And Then Enjoy the Scenery
Chapter 11 – Rouge Tanhua
Chapter 12 – There Is Lao Kui in The Lake
Chapter 13 – Lao Kui Wields a Saber, Lao Huang Carries a Case
Chapter 14 – Inferior Horse, Yellow Wine, Six Thousand Li
Chapter 15 – There Is a Bull Rider on The Mountain
Chapter 16 – The Best, Really Good
Chapter 17 – Tell The Mountain Ghosts to Listen
Chapter 18 – Those Jars of Yellow Wine
Chapter 19 – Blade Training
Chapter 20 – Killing People and Enjoying the Snow
Chapter 21 – What A Big Master of Go
Chapter 22 – The Old Taoist on the Mountain
Chapter 23 – Little Dog, Little Clay Figurine
Chapter 24 – Moving Mountains
Chapter 25 – Women Down the Mountain Are Tigers
Chapter 26 – Why Would a Princess Give Another Princess Any Trouble?
Chapter 27 – The Best to Kill
Chapter 28 – Oath-to-Kill Poster in Large Characters
Chapter 29 – Do You Understand?
Chapter 30 – Infuriating the World Crazy
Chapter 31 – Great Yellow Court
Chapter 32 – Shouldering the Way
Chapter 33 – The Mountain Is Not Getting Any Higher
Chapter 34 – Reaching Out, Bowing Head, Beauty, All Are Zen
Chapter 35 – Half a Jin of Red Makeup
Chapter 36 – Northern Xie, Southern Li
Chapter 37 – Old Cow, Tender Grass
Chapter 38 – You Are My Zen
Chapter 39 – Sugar-coated Hawthorn and A Head
Chapter 40 – Brilliant Northern Liang Subduing-the-Spirit Song
Chapter 41 – Great Pavilion Subduing the Old Monster
Chapter 42 – Exchanging Sabers in the Nether World, Drinking Wine in the World of the Living
Chapter 43 – Mass Murderer
Chapter 44 – Why Read the Books Attentively?
Chapter 45 – That Mountain’s Hawthorn, This Lake’s Lotus Flower (Part 1)
Chapter 46 – That Mountain’s Hawthorn, This Lake’s Lotus Flower (Part 2)
Chapter 47 – That Mountain’s Hawthorn, This Lake’s Lotus Flower (Part 3)
Chapter 48 – The Old Soldier and the Mulberry Tree
Chapter 49 – Miss Heihei
Chapter 50 – The Cross-Eyed Old Man
Chapter 51 – Borrowing Xiudong and Giving It to The Hunting Dogs
Chapter 52 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 53 – The King’s Banner and Fish Dragon Drums
Chapter 54 – Seeing Someone Off In White Clothes
Chapter 55 – One Sword Equals a Million Divisions
Chapter 56 – The Terrestrial-Spirit Immortal
Chapter 57 – Under Heavy Rain, On A Small Path, Stood a Red Armor
Chapter 58 – Water Drops vs. Water Armor
Chapter 59 – Small Umbrella, Big Tornado
Chapter 60 – Slow Saber Painting