WTATFIL Chapter 1

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Quick Translator’s Note

Hi guys, it’s Moon Flower or Moon for short. I read a spoiler thread on this novel and became interested so here I am. Chapters 1 and 2 have already been translated by Attica but I’m going to translate them again since I saw there were a lot of terms that needed to be explained and I might translate them differently than Attica so just to be safe I’m going to translate chapters 1 and 2. 

I will put any term explanation/translation notes right under the paragraph they are mentioned. Although there are some terms where I go more in-depth but those explanations I have them numbered and explained at the bottom of the chapter. 

The notes/explanations will be in a gray font color so feel free to scroll past them if this is not your first time reading this type of novel. 

If you see any typos or would like to provide me with some feedback on my translation feel free to comment down below. Lol, I feel like a YouTuber when I say that, just missing a subscribe and hit that like button. Anyways, enjoy the chapter~ 

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Chapter 1 Esteemed Lord LianHua——Shen QingXian

沈清弦 – Shen QingXian. 沈 – surname. 清 – clear, pure. 弦 – chord, bowstring.

In the cultivation world, Esteemed Lord LianHua is essentially synonymous with God. 

If you don’t mention his personal succeeding disciples who have been worshipped as The Three Sages and don’t even mention his grand-disciple (disciple’s disciple) and his great-grand-disciple (disciple’s disciple’s disciple) who have taken control of the 6 Great Sects of the cultivation world, just even a servant who had cleaned the yard as of today had already founded his own sect and is heads and shoulders above others. 

亲传弟子 is a disciple who’s master had personally taught them. I translated it as personal succeeding disciple since that is how it’s usually translated in other novels so I’ll just leave it the same. There is more on the different types of disciples below this chapter. [1]

Anything that Esteemed Lord LianHua had touched, even if it’s a flower or a blade of grass will become something extraordinary and will be able to enter the Dao. 

With this, it’s enough to see how supreme this Esteemed Lord existence is. 

But as of now, this Esteemed Lord LianHua, who even if he lifts a finger is able to shake the Three Realms, is troubled. 

Undergoing closed cultivation for a hundred years and finally catching a glimpse of the will of heaven, he thought that ascending was within sight but he had never thought he would see this kind of scene enter his eyes…….

Amid the mist with rays of sunlight filling the whole sky, the crumbled Heavenly Staircase had turned to stars scattered everywhere. The flickering of the light shine from the stars, similar to fireflies in a forest, was so weak that it was terrifying. 

Upon closer inspection, you actually could somewhat make out a rough sketch of the Heavenly Staircase. Unfortunately, it lost its foundation so there is no way for anyone to take a step forward. 

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In the last millennium, not a single person from the cultivation world had ascended.  

Shen QingXian had thought that the bodhicitta of the previous philosophers had not been sincere enough so it was hard to pass the Heavenly Chasm but never thought that it was actually because the path to the heavens had crumbled thus cutting off the path to ascension. 

Is this how far he can go?

After his master, is his generation only able to go this far?

It’s not only him. With the Heavenly Staircase collapsed, the later generation also can only go this far.

Bitterly cultivating, painstakingly asking the Dao, in the end, he was met with a dead end. 

How could he be willing to accept this?

Shen QingXian closes his eyes and clasps his hands together. Suddenly, a burst of dazzling light rose straight from the ground. The rays of light are abundant, bright, and clear that even if it is in this world that is windless, noiseless, and devoid of anything, they emit a majestic force similar to a billowy sea. 

The rays of light expand once more, a power that blots out the sky and covers the earth surges forth. It’s as if the high noon sun had come out during a pitch-dark night, lighting up everything in a moment. 

This technique, 600 years ago Shen QingXian used it once. 

That time, two of his disciples had gotten into a dispute with one another. It was a fierce battle that plunged people into an abyss of misery and reduced many cities to ashes. 

灵生灵炭 – couldn’t find the meaning of this phrase, when I searched it up it gave me this phrase 生灵涂炭 which I assume is the same thing as 灵生灵炭 so I translated it as plunged people into an abyss of misery.

When Shen QingXian used the technique at that time, he pulled back the lives of 100 thousand people and restored everything to how it was. 

And yet when this powerful restoration technique was used on the Heavenly Staircase, it didn’t raise a single billow. 

Restoring the Heavenly Staircase…….sure enough, is it just a delusion?

Shen QingXian is thinking this when a reddish-black towering ray rises to the sky. Following immediately afterward is a jade-colored blob that then suspends over the rough sketch of the Heavenly Staircase.

This is…….

Shen QingXian fixes his eyes on the thing, amongst the red radiance he is able to make out the thing inside. 

If you go to novelsupdate.com or fullnovels.com and you search up this novel you’ll be redirected to my website nightbloomincereus.wordpress.com which is the original location of the translation.

A jade scroll.

Shen QingXian walks forward. He reaches his hand out, when his hand touches the scroll, a foreign but arrogant spiritual energy flows into his palm. 

The radiance scatters away and the jade scroll opens. A line of powerful and strong words appears on it: “The Heavenly Path has declined, there is no door to ascendance. If you wish to restore it, follow the directions given by the jade scroll.”

“Restore it?” Shen QingXian softly murmurs, “Can it be restored?”

As if replying to him, another line appears on the jade scroll: “First, meet with Gu JianShen.”

顾见深 – Gu JianShen. 顾 – surname that means considering, look at. 见 – meet, it has another pronunciation, Xian, but you see it more often pronounced as Jian so I’ll assume that the author is using Jian. 深 – deep, profound. 

Gu JianShen?

Shen QingXian thinks for a moment. In his mind appears an image of an obstinate and unruly man wearing a crimson robe.

T/N: when I read this line 一袭深红长袍，桀骜不驯的男人 (an obstinate and unruly man wearing a crimson robe) I immediately thought of Bai Lu in Legend of Zhao Yao. I imagine the crimson robe to look something like the one Bai Lu wore in Legend of Zhao but in men’s style although it looks like the one she wore is men’s style. Omg, I loved her look in this drama, she looked so cool as if she could be the male lead instead. There’s a pic where her robe was all red but it was blurry *cries*.

Heart Domain’s Gu JiuYuan?

心域 – Heart Domain. 心 – heart. 域 – domain, territory, region, I’m going to go with domain. 

顾九渊 – Gu JiuYuan. 九 – nine. 渊 – deep pool.[2]

The cold wind rustles, frost and snow fill the whole sky, the WanXiu Mountain that stretches continuously for hundreds of miles reaches to the sky as if it can touch the sky. 

万秀山 – WanXiu Mountain. 万 – ten thousand, myriad, a great number. 秀 – beautiful, elegant. 山 – mountain. 

Mist twines and coils around the mountain. In the middle of the mist sits an audience hall with its grey-tiled roof and lofty wall. It exudes an air of loneliness and peacefulness as if it’s an immortal island in the middle of the sea. 

T/N: Although in the raw it said 青瓦 and 青 can mean blue or green, I searched this up and the pictures were all grey roof tiles that covered houses in ancient china. 

For hundreds of years, no one has ever stepped inside the audience hall, today it is unusually lively: Outside, countless disciples stand as taut as a bow. Inside the hall, incense burners are lit and spiritual tea is being steeped. Amongst the dimly discernable scent sitting by side are a few cultivators wearing fine clothing.  

Only see a man clothed in green on the left strike the table as he stood: “Discuss the Dao with demonic cultivators? Have you gone crazy, LaoSi!”

Mentioned above that 青 can mean green or blue. I’ll stick with green for now. 

老四 – LaoSi. It’s something that close friends would call one another or an older person would call you. This person who he is calling LaoSi is ranked fourth amongst the people and 四 means four and 老 is similar to adding 小 in front of someone’s name, kind of a nickname. If you are ranked third or fifth, they would call you 老三 and 老五, respectively. I believe we don’t have this kind of thing in the English language so I’ll just leave it as pinyin unless you guys find it easier to remember if I change it to Old Four which is the literal translation of this phrase. 

Below him, a delicate and pretty male said, “Senior disciple brother, don’t be impatient, let ZiLiang finish talking.”

Although Zeng ZiLiang was regarded by these two as a younger disciple brother, it is obvious from his appearance and age that he is older than them by quite a bit even his bearing is more composed and steady, he says, “An invitation from WeiXin Palace, you guys see it for yourself.”

曾子良 – Zeng ZiLiang. 曾 – has two readings: Zeng & Ceng so I did a search online, for last names it’s pronounced Zeng, the word means before, once, ever, already, at some time in the past. 子 – son. 良 – good, fine. 

唯心宫 – WeiXin Palace. 唯 – only. 心 – heart. 宫 – palace. 唯心 – idealistic, idealist. Karl Marx had two ideas: idealism and materialism. Idealism is 唯心主义 (主义 is just -ism). The 唯心 here is the same as for idealism. There’s a phrase 唯心所欲 (to follow one’s heart’s desires) which I suppose is what the palace was named after. I’ll just keep the pinyin unless u guys want me to go with idealistic/ideal/idealistic or something like Follow Heart, whatever is easier for you guys to remember it by.

The green-clothed man becomes enraged: “This kind of demon palace sending a letter over, just directly throw it to the fire to burn!”

This novel is originally from nightbloomincereus.wordpress.com, if you see it elsewhere that means it has been stolen. 

Zeng ZiLiang looks at him, his tone containing a deeper meaning, “It’s True Red.”

T/N: yes, u guys read it correctly, it’s True Red. True Red is what the dictionary gave me and I was like that ain’t a color so I searched it up and turns out it is a color. It says online that Pantone’s True Red was the color of the year in 2002. 正红色 (True Red) is the way it’s traditionally called red in China. 

The green-clothed man suddenly pauses. 

The delicate and pretty man with ink-black hair takes the invitation. After he glanced at it, his pupils quickly contracted: “Demon Lord JiuYuan personally wrote this?”

Zeng ZiLiang sighs heavily. 

This time, even the green-clothed man who was on edge calms down. 

The audience hall falls into silence, one could even hear a pin drop.

The six people taught* the Three Sages. Although each has founded their own sect, they all cultivate the Heavenly Dao and are disciples of Esteemed Lord LianHua so they have a close relationship. If there is a big matter they will all congregate at WanXiu Mountain to discuss and come to a conclusion. 

*师出. I’m not sure about this phrase but 卖出 means sold and 卖 means to sell and 师 means teacher so 师出 might mean to have taught.

Zeng ZiLiang opens his mouth first: “ShiZun is wandering about and we are not allowed to see him for a hundred years. We have no way of asking for instructions. This Demon Lord JiuYuan’s True Red invitation, even if we don’t want to receive it we have to. 

师尊 – ShiZun, it’s another way of addressing your master (the other is 师父). It’s just that this one is used if your master is someone who you really respect and look up to. 

The invitation that is now like a hot potato before their eyes, falls onto the warm jade table, similar to a searing flame. 

暖玉 – warm jade. It’s just a jade that has been formed from high temperature and high pressure, they give off a warm feeling, an example would be nephrite. The opposite would be 寒玉 (cold jade), it’s formed from low temperature and high pressure, they give off a cold feeling, an example would be jadeite. 

The heavenly dao has Esteemed Lord Lian Hua. The demonic cultivation has Esteemed Emperor JiuYuan.

Don’t even mention the six of them even if the Three Sages are here, they will also look at this invitation with a worried frown. 

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Go? They are the dignified righteous heavenly faction, how could they go and discuss the Dao with those demonic cultivators who oppose heaven and go against Order. 

Don’t go? Then I’m afraid that Demon Lord JiuYuan will take this opportunity to make trouble and stir up a foul wind and rain of blood. 

The green-clothed man called Ye Zhan said: “You guys are cowards and afraid of death. If you want to go then go. Anyhow I, Ye Zhan, will not attend!”

叶湛 – Ye Zhan. 叶 – surname that means leaf. 湛 – deep, profound. 

Zeng ZiLiang says: “Senior disciple brother, don’t act on impulse. That Demon Lord’s temperament is strange. This time he had personally written the invitation. If we don’t go…….”

Ye Zhan interrupts him: “If he wants to kill or cut us to pieces then I, Ye Zhan, will not retreat but want me to cater to that demon? That’s out of the question!”

“As a matter of fact…….” The pretty and delicate man Cheng Jing mutters as he says: “…….why would Gu JiuYuan send us an invitation?”

程静 – Cheng Jing. 程 – surname meaning procedure, order, journey. 静 – quiet, calm, and silent. 

“Then let’s go…….” a languid voice speaks up, sitting in a corner, a man with multicolored eyes says: “These few years, Heart Domain’s strength has become powerful. Us going and meeting with them is also to know ourselves and our enemies.”

Ye Zhan sneers: “Meet? I’m afraid that you want to go and seek refuge with that demon!”

The man with multicolored eyes languidly smiles, not expressing any opinion to that statement.

Zeng ZiLiang said, “Old rules, majority wins.”

Saying this, Zeng ZiLiang is the first to say: “I’m going.”

The man with multicolored eyes raises his fair-skinned arm: “I’m also going.”

A gorgeous woman to the right in a soft voice responded in agreement.

Ye Zhan looks to the side at Cheng Jing. 

Cheng Jing’s eyelashes slightly hang down, after a slight pause he says: “I’m going.”

It’s only four people and they all agreed to attend, Ye Zhan who insists on not going without a word flick’s his sleeves as he leaves. 

T/N: lol, that rhymes. Sleeves and leaves. 

In the moment that he is about to walk out, a ray of evening sunlight rises to the sky. In an instant, WanXiu Mountain is filled with pleasant and melodious sounds. 

The remaining five people in the audience hall stand up with a rush, they speed walk to the entrance of the hall.

The scene outside is shockingly beautiful to the extreme!

Originally the area was covered in ice and snow but in an instant, everything rejuvenated as if spring had come. Brilliant rays of light enveloped and dispersed the lonely coldness. Warmth returned, grasses and trees fluttered before the wind, and flowers burst into bloom as if the entire mountain had come alive to use its most beautiful self to welcome the return of its master. 

Ye Zhan, Zeng ZiLiang, Cheng Jing…….these six people at present have bowed their body, the greeting they are giving is one they would give to their master. 

行的是师门大礼 – not sure about the italicized part. Assuming that it means a greeting they give to their master. 

The disciples standing outside have not recovered from the shock. They blankly look forward; all eyes have been drawn to the blob of white. 

In the abundant rays of light, the shallow and light white became the most dazzling existence. 

He wears the most commonly found white clothes, has the most commonly seen chignon hairstyle, and does not wear any unnecessary accessories but that clear air puts pressure on everything. 

T/N: an image of a heavenly figure descending from the sky and Moses enveloped in a bright glow while parting the sea comes to mind when I think of this. *translator turns chuunibyou and clutches eyes* Ugh, this image is too much for my mortal eyes, I’m going blind. 

Everyone’s heart thumps a beat.

When they recover from the shock, everyone finds themselves kneeling.

——Their body is not controlled, rather they are all kneeling willingly.

In a moment there was a rush of devotion and admiration. Their chest was also full of an indescribable feeling of being deeply moved. 

The person standing at the pinnacle of the cultivation of the Heavenly Dao, Esteemed Lord LianHua, the supreme “God” in every cultivator’s heart. 

“Everyone get up.” Accompanying the voice that is clear and bright as the moon a puff of gentle wind stirs up. Everyone who was kneeling stands up. At the same time, they all felt their body become clean and clear. The pent-up place they felt in the past is now unblocked, their cultivation has also improved a lot along with it! 

The crowd of disciples face’s beam with delight, they bow in gratitude. 

Ye Zhan walks forward a step, The strict and inflexible sect master in the hearts of the disciples in the crowd is right now showing excitement, his thin lips quivering, his voice is really light and soft: “Esteemed Lord!”

Shen QingXian raises his hand: “Go inside.”

He walks in front and the other six people follow people each of them acting obedient as if they are registered disciples that had just entered the sect. 

记名弟子 – registered disciples, basically they have been accepted by a master but that’s only in name they haven’t been formally accepted but their name has been registered in.

The younger generations are even more afraid to let out a breath. They don’t even dare to look at the esteemed faces of their sect master let alone dare to offend this excellency!

After entering QianTing Hall, Zeng ZiLiang recalls the matter regarding the Demon Lord’s invitation. His heart skips a beat and beads of sweat immediately appear on his forehead. 

乾听殿 – QianTing Hall. 乾 – one of the Eight Trigrams, represents the sky/means Heaven. 听 – listen. 殿 – hall. [3]

It’s not only him. Cheng Jing, the dandiacal multi-colored eyed man from before, and the young woman at this moment all have their fists clenched tightly in anxiety.

For ten thousand years, the Heavenly Dao and the Heart Domain had been at daggers drawn and there have been many crusades against one another. A thousand year ago, Esteemed Lord LianHua exterminated the Fallen Corpse Clan that had been wreaking havoc at the time, badly injured the vitality of Heart Domain. 

WeiXin Palace dispatched the Four Generals, WangDu. These four people’s cultivation is comparable to the Three Sages but the result, easily made to surrender by Esteemed Lord LianHua. That battle, to this day, had become a legend in the cultivation world. 

亡渡 – WangDu. 亡 – death, conquer. 渡 – cross (a river, sea, etc), ferry crossing.

Esteemed Lord LianHua represents the Heavenly Dao. Without a doubt, he definitely hates Heart Domain to the extreme. 

But that True Red invitation to discuss the Dao is still on the table…….

Zeng ZiLiang regrets it so much that his intestines are almost green. If he had known that Esteemed Lord would come out of closed cultivation today, even if you beat him to death he would not have wanted to receive this invitation!

Shen QingXian sits down in the hall, he presses his hands and says: “Why are you all gathered here, is it that there is something to discuss?”

Although he hadn’t appeared for hundreds of years, he is still clear on the rules of today.

A few grand-disciple founded their own sect. If it is not a big matter, they would not gather here. 

If you go to novelsupdate.com or fullnovels.com and you search up this novel you’ll be redirected to my website nightbloomincereus.wordpress.com which is the original location of the translation.

Although he did not conceal the fact that he had come out of closed cultivation, he also had not informed them in advance. In such a short time all six are here, certainly, they had already planned this.

The six people don’t say a word. Shen QingXian’s sight slightly shifts and he sees the True Red invitation on the table. 

On the invitation glinting darkly is a vivid “heart” character written in lively and vigorous calligraphy.

Zeng ZiLiang is afraid that Ye Zhan would dig a pit for him so he directly kneeled down and said: “Esteemed Lord, this disciple pleads guilty!”

Once he knelt, the four people who had previously raised their hand in agreement to attend the banquet also kneeled down. 

Shen QingXian picks up the invitation, opens it and gives it a look: “Discuss the Dao with WeiXin Sect at the Astral Sea?”

星海 – Astral Sea, decided to go with this from Attica’s translation. 星 – star. 海 – sea.

Zeng ZiLiang is so nervous that his back starts to perspire but he has no choice but to speak the truth: “Yes.”

It’s over, it’s over…….Esteemed Lord detests demonic cultivation to the core. If he knows that they want to attend, he will definitely fly into a rage!

He hadn’t even opened his mouth to admit his wrong and ask for punishment when Shen QingXian asks: “Is Gu JianShen attending?”

Below was included in the raw so it’s the original author’s comments, not me the translator’s. So when I reference the author I’m referring to Long Qi. There’s probably going to be a few more of the original author’s comments after each chapter in the future. 

The author has something to say:

Zeng ZiLiang: We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re going to be killed by the boss!

Ye Zhan: You cowards, die!

Shen QingXian: En…….once I go out I can see Gu JianShen, saves a lot of trouble. 

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UPDATE ON THE TRANSLATION OF THIS NOVEL. PLEASE READ!!!

I will be working with Blue Dreams on this novel. The chapters will be available on google doc (so if u want u can make the doc available offline and read w/o using ur cellular \o/). Novelupdates and fullnovels will still be updated but the links will direct u to a google doc. Once I finish translating chapter 2 I will link Next to chapter 2.

jk, was confused, it will be on Foxaholic not google docs. It’s going thru proofreading so will link when finished. We all in different time zones so thank u guys for waiting. 

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Moon’s Chinese Classroom Corner

It’s an essay down here. Please be prepared. 

[1] There are two other kinds of disciples 入室弟子 and 关门弟子. 入室弟子 are disciples who after having gone through the process of bowing to all the masters in a certain sect are then selected by one of the masters to officially become one of the disciples under their “school” so to say. Under each sect there are many “schools” that each master is in charge of. It’s similar to how in a university there are many schools for different majors. Let me give you an example: Arizona State University (I’ve been hearing too much of their ads on the radio lately). Under Arizona State University there is W. P. Carey School of Business (if you are going into a business-related major you would go to this school), Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (if you want to go into an educator-related major you would go here), and so on. The same applies to the sects, each master specializes in something different. Going back to 入室弟子, they are selected by one of the masters to become a disciple under them so what’s the difference between them and 亲传弟子 if they are both selected by the master? Well, it’s because although 入室弟子 are disciples under that master, they are not taught personally by their master they are taught by their senior brother(s) (师兄) but that does not mean those 入室弟子 are considered the personal succeeding disciple’s disciple. It’s more if you think about it a senpai teaching their kouhai. 

Okay, moving onto 关门弟子. This is the last disciple a master takes in. After him/her, it’s a sorry not taking disciples anymore. 

There are two more types of disciples 内门弟子 and 外门弟子. 内门弟子 is the umbrella term for the three I mentioned above. 内门弟子 are people who have been chosen by masters, they typically are the people who the master finds worth the time to teach. 外门弟子 have not been chosen by any of the masters but they do have some talent, just not enough to enter the eyes of the masters of the sect. 内门弟子 are treated way better than 外门弟子, after all, they have been chosen by a master of the sect. 外门弟子 are typically considered servants, they sweep the floor and other things and as a result, they don’t have a lot of time to cultivate. 

[2] It’s mentioned in Attica’s translation of this chapter that the names Gu JianShen and Gu JiuShen are referring to the same person. In Ancient China people had two names: 表字 and 称字. When a kid is born he/she is given a 称字 which is his/her birth/given name. When a male turns 20 (for females it’s when they turn 15), they are given another name or 表字 which is a courtesy name used in society. So only those close to them like their family call them by their given/birth name. Their colleagues or acquaintances or higher ups, basically people they are not close with would call them by their courtesy name. Sometimes a friend may also call them by their courtesy unless they say that the friend can call them by their birth name. The two have to be really close friends though. 

An example would be Confucius: 孔子名丘，字仲尼. 孔子 (Kong Zi) is Confucius, 名丘 (Ming Qiu) means his birth name is Qiu and his last name is Kong so his full birth name is Kong Qiu. 名 means a given name so it’s kind of like a shorter way of saying 称字. 字仲尼 (Zi ZhongNi), the 字 here is a shorter way to say 表字 and ZhongNi is his courtesy name so his full courtesy name is Kong ZhongNi. All in all, 孔子名丘，字仲尼 means Confucius’s birth name is Qiu, and his courtesy name is ZhongNi. The 子 in 孔子 means Master in Ancient China although today it doesn’t have that meaning. It’s the same where LaoZi is not the guy’s real name. LaoZi’s birth name is Li Er and his courtesy name is Li BoYang. Both Confucius and LaoZi are great philosophers of their time so they had the word 子 added to their names. 

Of course, this idea of given name and courtesy name is not present in China today, though there may be a few rare cases out there somewhere. 

[3] 乾 is a tricky word. When writing Chinese there are two forms of writing: simplified and traditional. China uses simplified while Taiwan uses traditional, the difference is that in traditional there are more strokes but it’s easier to tell what a word means. Some words are the same in simplified and traditional and some words are different in simplified and traditional. 乾 is a rare case where it’s a combination of both. 乾 is 乾 in traditional and simplified form but 乾 can also be 干 in simplified form. And, it has two pinyin: gan1 and qian2. Lovely ain’t it. When it is gan1, the word means dry. When it is qian2, the word means heaven and it can be a surname. Okay, so when is 乾, 乾 and when is 乾, 干 if you are writing in simplified form. After observing a few typed out phrases, it seems (don’t take my word for it) that you would write 乾 as 乾 if you are referring to any heavenly phrases like 乾坤 (means paradise and earth) but for any other phrases like arid (干燥) and straightforward (干脆) you use 干.

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