28 Arrogance (15)

Wei WuXian was purposely trying to disgust him. Jiang Cheng had always hated being defeated while compared with others, no matter how pointless the comparison was. If anyone said that he wasn't as good as someone else, he'd be angered and not think about anything else until he won against the person. As expected, Jiang Cheng's face darkened, "Oh, really? Then, may I ask which type you're interested in?"

Wei WuXian replied, "Which type? Well, I am very much attracted to people like HanGuang-Jun."

Lan WangJi could not tolerate this sort of frivolous and foolish joke at all. If he felt disgusted, he would definitely draw a line between them and keep his distance. Disgusting two people at once—this was killing two birds with one stone!

However, as Lan WangJi heard this, he turned around.

His face was emotionless, "Mark your words."

Wei WuXian, "Hmm?"

Lan WangJi turned back, speaking in a mannerly yet resolute way, "I will take this person back to the Lan Sect."

Wei WuXian, "…"

Wei WuXian, "…Huh?"

Notes:

Compass of Evil: The literal translation is "Wind-evil Compass".

Rice Mountain: The "fan" in "Dafan Mountain" means "relating to Buddhism," but it also sounds similar to "rice," so Wei WuXian mistakenly thought that it means "big rice mountain."

Wei Ying: This is Wei WuXian's birth name. In Ancient China, people usually don't call others by their birth names, unless they were of the same age and close acquaintances with each other. It was considered disrespectful to even mention an elder's birth name. The common name, or the "zi," was another name given to the person by their parents, which other people can freely mention. In this case, by referring to Wei WuXian by his birth name, the speaker is showing his disregard for him.

Vermilion mark: In the past, vermilion marks were drawn on children to "pierce through ignorance" in hope of them being good students later on in life, thus what the implied meaning referred to.

Young Master: Although the man wasn't the boy's servant, in Ancient China, one should still refer to the young master of any family as "Young Master", especially if the family was of higher status than the speaker's.

Jianxiu: This is a type clothing with sleeves that are wider on the shoulder end and becomes quite narrow by the time it reaches the wrist. However, this really doesn't matter, because most fanart show him dressed in other ways.

Jar: In Ancient China, alcohol were stored in large jars made of clay.

Bichen: The name means "to avoid dust." However, please do not pronounce it like bitchin'. The correct pronunciation is bee-chen, with the en sounding like the en in enough.

Sandu: This literally translates to "three types of poison".

Whose hands would the deer die on: This proverb means that it is impossible to determine who's more powerful and who will win, if a match happens between the two of them.

Zidian: This literally translates to "purple lightning".

Wangji: The two Chinese characters of the zither's name are exactly the same as Lan WangJi's name. The term is a Daoist phrase that means to "get rid of a heart of deceit". It usually refers to finding pleasure in tranquility, forgetting about material matters, and being at peace with the world. The name does, indeed, reflect WangJi's personality (that is, until the uke starts flirting with him).

Lan Zhan: This is Lan WangJi's birth name. The "Lan" surname means the colour blue, and "Zhan" is an adjective that is often used to describe an azure blue. This also implies that, by calling him with his birth name, Wei WuXian used to be very close with him.

Qiankun bag: Qiankun means "Heaven and Earth". A qiankun bag is basically a dimensional bag, holding a lot of items although it looks tiny.

Gourds: Ancient Chinese people liked to carry everything around in gourds, from the average liquor to level-enhancing elixirs that help with cultivation.

A hare crashing into the tree trunk: This proverb originated from a story of a farmer who didn't want to do actual work and waited for a rabbit to kill itself by crashing into a tree. It describes the act of waiting.

GuanYin: This is the most famous goddess in the traditional religion of China. She originated from a male Bodhisattva in Buddhism—when the religion was passed through the Silk Road, she somehow ended up becoming a female goddess.

Immortal: An immortal is a heavenly being or someone from the heavens. They can either be born an immortal or become an immortal through practices such as cultivation. All cultivators aim to become an immortal.

Goddess of the Nine Heavens: This is the goddess of war, sexuality, and longevity ("Wikipedia").

Jade Emperor: He is the monarch of all deities in heaven, from the Daoist religion or just Chinese folklore in general.

Erjin temple: This is a type of temple which is usually set in remote mountains or forests, with monks living in them and few visitors. Because of its nature, erjin temples are usually quite large in size.

Gege: This means "older brother".

Struck while the iron was still hot: This proverb means to grab onto a good chance/opportunity when it comes

Zhang: One zhang is around 3.3 meters.

Fierce corpses: From now on, the term fierce corpse will describe the certain type of moving corpse/live corpse instead of a powerful corpse (with fierce being part of the noun instead of an adjective to corpse).

Fairies: This does not refer the Western fairies that fly around fluttering their miniscule wings. These will be further explained in a few chapters, but for a better understanding of the story, a fairy is formed when a living creature gains consciousness. This is sometimes translated as spirit, such as the kitsune spirit in Japanese and Chinese folklore, but the term fairy will be used here, so that it can be distinguished from the evil spirits that also appears often.

Cut-sleeve: This is another term for homosexuality (male-oriented only), originating from the ancient story of a homosexual emperor. When the emperor woke up, one day, his lover was still asleep, with the emperor's sleeve under him. Therefore, he cut off his sleeve when he left the bed, so that his lover wouldn't be woken up. This has been left like this because the term "homosexuality" sounds too scientific , while the term "gay" doesn't have that romantic or poetic feeling to it, and any other terms are somewhat offensive. This will be used as both noun and adjective.

Six arts: Traditionally, the six arts involved rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics ("Wikipedia"). However, it is fine to not interpret this literally and assume that he was skilled in a lot of areas, in general.

Sunshot Campaign: This does not have anything to do with brand names called "Sunshot." Literally, it means "the campaign to shoot down the sun," but it has been simplified. The nature of this campaign will be explained later in the story.