Translator Messages – 10th Anniversary

Commemorating Wuxiaworld's 10 year anniversary, here are special messages from some of our earliest translators!

Thyaeria
Tales of Demons and Gods, The Great Ruler, Physician's Odyssey, The Sovereign's Ascension, Desolate Devouring Art

Hello, Thyaeria here!

It’s truly incredible to be celebrating Wuxiaworld’s 10th anniversary—how time flies! I still vividly remember joining this amazing family back in October 2015, transitioning from my own site to become part of something so much greater. Honestly, I wouldn’t have realized it had already been ten years if no one had mentioned it. Before I began translating, I was simply an avid reader.

My journey started with Japanese and Korean novels, and soon I moved on to Chinese ones. Titles like Soul Land, Coiling Dragon, and Martial God Asura were among the first I read. However, my impatience with waiting for translations eventually led me to dive into the raws. That decision marked the beginning of my translation journey, with Tales of Demons and Gods being my first project.

Truthfully, translating wasn’t easy at first—it felt dull and monotonous at times. Back then, I was juggling my studies, a part-time job, and the challenge of squeezing translation work into the limited free time I had each day. It often felt like digging an endless pit for each novel. But thanks to the unwavering support of the readers, I persevered.

What started as a passion project has now grown into a career, and the journey has been nothing short of incredible. Over my time with Wuxiaworld, I’ve translated about 6,000 chapters—a number that still amazes me when I reflect on it!

Novels have since become an integral part of my life. I still read them daily, and perhaps that’s what people mean when they say to “fall in love with what you do.”

This marks the first decade with Wuxiaworld and its amazing community of readers. Here’s to celebrating this milestone and to many more ahead!

Deceptioning
Upgrade Specialist in Another World

Hello everyone, Deceptioning here.

A heartfelt congratulations on WuxiaWorld’s 10th anniversary! It boggles the mind to see how much the community has changed since WuxiaWorld’s inception from a small passion project for a small community to the global webnovel platform it is today. I don’t think the me from 10 years ago could have ever imagined how much this community has shaped my life. 

Like everyone here, reading was one of my favorite pastimes. I grew up on old school Wuxia novels like Jin Yong’s Condor Trilogy and progressed over to the manga and light novels before finding out about the Chinese side of manhua and webnovels. Zhan Long was the first work I cut my teeth on; it was just a small fun project I joined on a whim. 

That small whim turned into a great passion, however, and I fell into the rabbit hole that was translating. Not long after Zhan Long, I had set my eyes on translating my own novels, the first being Chaotic Sword God. It was a great experience that led me into starting my own website and then ultimately joining WuxiaWorld to work on Upgrade Specialist in Another World. 

Back then, the community was a lot smaller and the rapport between translators was quite strong. People would collaborate with one another, working to standardize terms, laugh at the awful writing, and just have fun translating our favorite works for the community. Even now, a full decade later, some of my dearest friends are the ones I made during my time as a translator. 

The support from the many readers of the community and my fellow translators was what made translating worthwhile. Though I am no longer translating, I look back at my time here on WuxiaWorld fondly, and every once in a while, I get the urge to pick up the figurative pen and start translating again. I still heavily enjoy reading and there are plenty of works that have yet to be translated. 

But that is a journey for the future. Congratulations once again to WuxiaWorld for 10 years, I hope to walk the same path with everyone in the future once again!

Etvolare
Sovereign of the Three Realms, Necropolis Immortal, Star Gate

etvolare wishes Wuxiaworld a Happy Birthday!! What an amazing ten years of incredible storytelling!

I still remember how starstruck I was in early 2016 when Ren invited me and Sovereign of the Three Realms to join the Wordpress site. I was moving back to Taiwan the night SOTR went live on WW. It seemed more like I’d stepped off the plane into a new world, that I’d manifested my dream of joining the greats!

When I first stumbled upon the scene in 2015, translators were updating via forum posts on SPCNET and readers cultivated patience as updates came once a week. I lived in New York City then and still worked in finance, but was captivated by the notion of readers around the world loving the stories that I’d grown up with. Deciding to dip a toe into translating for fun, I spent the early days as much translating as I did learning Chinese all over again.

While I started the precursor to volare novels in 2015, I bubbled with excitement when discovering WW. Little did I know that my volunteer email to Ren around Thanksgiving would completely change my life trajectory. Here I am in 2024, translating full time and often threatening to refine readers into bubble tea fodder!

The journey started with SOTR, and I distinctly remember wanting to pick a Chinese novel that was at least two thousand chapters long. Only the strong go for such a long, meaty novel! The joke was on me since that locked me into the series for four years, given that three updates a week counted as a fast pace in the initial days. 

Fellow translators chuckled at me when I eventually expressed chagrin. It is for good reason that our job is often likened to digging endless holes! Necropolis Immortal followed, and now Star Gate by platinum author Eagle Eats Chick. I’ve translated more than ten million characters—a number that seems entirely unreal. It’s such a blessing that I get to work with my passions and interests everyday.

Seeing that it is often western culture being exported around the world, it constantly amazes me to witness a reverse export story in action. How phenomenal it is that xianxia and wuxia have captured the hearts of English speakers under the heavens! WW is more than just a job to me, it is a celebration of how love for courting death and good stories transcends culture. I would like to raise a cupped fist salute to WW, and here’s to ten more years!

PS. When can I escape the old men harem memes? Readers, you are lovably crazy.

Littleshanks
Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Happy 10th anniversary, Wuxiaworld! Wow, time really flies. I can't believe it's been 10 years already. And quite a journey it's been—from a band of dorky hobbyists translating novels for fun to an official publisher with licensing rights. I never imagined you would grow into something so big!

I always get a burst of excitement when I hear a friend and acquaintances talk about a novel-to-TV adaption that got picked up here ages ago. I'm always like, "Heck, yeah! I know that story! I know the person who worked on that!" 

It's genuinely an indescribable feeling seeing web novels go from a niche interest to a full-blown industry reaching tens of millions of readers every day. The numbers might be bigger, but I think the core reason we all read has pretty much stayed the same. Of course, that's to dive into an entertaining story and distract ourselves from the stresses of the world.

Wuxiaworld was my escape. It was my go-to when I had 10-15 minutes to kill on my commute to school or lunch break, and just wanted to get away from all the monotony of life. I got my start here—first with helping FlowerBridgeToo edit Martial God Asura, and then translating Rebirth Thief myself—because I wanted to give back to a community that shone a little light on my day. 

So congratulations, Wuxiaworld! I hope you can keep brightening the days of your readers for many more years to come!

Deathblade
I Shall Seal the Heavens, A Will Eternal, Sage Monarch, Beyond the Timescape

My journey as a Wuxiaworld translator is basically the story of my life. For the most part, it started when I saw the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on opening night at a theater here in San Diego. That was what sparked my interest in the wuxia genre, something I had never heard of up to that point in my life. My journey into fan transitions, movies, and TV shows led me to start studying Mandarin Chinese. I eventually traveled to China before moving there and living in the country for nearly a decade.

Some years into that journey, I decided to test my ability by translating a novel. I picked a classic wuxia story by Gu Long. Given how I had fallen in love with wuxia, I thought it would be amazing to provide a high-quality translation of a wuxia novel to people who, like me in years past, had no way to read such stories in Chinese.

That project led to a second project. Then more. During that time, I became acquainted with someone named RWX, who was part of the same online translation scene. One day in my apartment on Xiumen Street in China, I accepted a phone call from the U.S.A. It was none other than RWX, who explained that he had started a new website, which he had named Wuxiaworld because of his love of wuxia. He invited me to be part of it by posting my wuxia fan translations there. I accepted.

As I was about to finish my most recent project, RWX offered suggestions about what to translate next. At the time, the most popular series in China was 我欲封天, and he suggested I pick that as my next project. Together, he and I decided that a good translation of the title would be I Shall Seal the Heavens.

The rest is history.

Being a part of the Wuxiaworld family for roughly a quarter of my life is something I wouldn’t trade for anything. And I hope that Wuxiaworld sticks around for years and years to come as the best place to get quality translations of fiction from the other side of the globe.  

P.S. Let’s not get into the subject of how many translations on Wuxiaworld are actually wuxia. 😂

Bao
Emperor's Domination, Spirit Vessel

Hello everyone,

My journey with Wuxiaworld started back in 2016 when I asked to join and was accepted by Ren. I initially translated Emperor's Domination as a hobby to share the genre with my friends. As time passed, it blossomed into a job that opened many opportunities in my life. Over the span of eight years in translation, I experienced the ups and downs of life. The flexibility of the job was a blessing. I married a wonderful wife in 2018 and had a son in 2020. My beloved mother passed away in 2022 from cancer (please get annual screenings), and I was able to be with her at home during her last six months. My second daughter was born in February 2024, and I’m still translating the same novel I started in 2016.

Enough about me—back to translation. Ren told me at the start my style was too rigid and literal. When I first started, I truly respected the Chinese style and tried to translate as literally as possible. As I became more comfortable, I took more liberties and leaned toward readability. This is especially true now, with more than 6,000 chapters out. 

I never thought translation would last this long. It is a testament to the captivating stories from the East that can engage a worldwide audience. Good stories are good, regardless of their origin.

Despite the many changes at Wuxiaworld, I still feel supported as a translator and am grateful to be a part of the community. I also want to express my gratitude to the loyal readers, especially those who always send me messages on Discord regarding typos and errors.

OMA
Warlock of the Magus World, City of Sin, Star Odyssey

Congratulations to Wuxiaworld on its tenth anniversary!

Looking back, it’s hard to believe it’s been around eight years since I joined this incredible community. So much has changed since then—not just for me but for the industry as a whole. What started as a group of fan translators driven by a love for novels and cultures has evolved into something none of us could have imagined. Today, Wuxiaworld is a thriving business, allowing many of us to dedicate ourselves fully to this work we’re so passionate about.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working on Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin, both of which were incredibly rewarding projects that shaped me as a translator. Currently, I’m working on Star Odyssey, a journey that’s been equally challenging and fulfilling. Seeing these stories resonate with readers has been an experience unlike any other. Your enthusiasm, encouragement, and feedback have been the driving force behind everything I do. It’s not always an easy road, but knowing that these novels bring enjoyment to so many people around the world makes every effort worth it.

As Wuxiaworld grew, my role here naturally shifted. I moved from working purely as a translator to also managing and mentoring other translators. It’s been a humbling experience to see the talent and passion in our team, and I’m proud to help guide others in crafting translations that live up to the standards we strive for. That said, I’ve never stopped being a translator at heart. Bringing a story to life, word by word, remains one of the most rewarding aspects of my work, and I’ll always make time for it.

I also want to take a moment to thank my team—Neshi, Nyx, and Theo—who’ve stuck with me through the ups and downs of the past few years. Their hard work, dedication, and passion have been a constant source of inspiration. Without them, so much of what we’ve accomplished wouldn’t have been possible.

This journey has been incredible, but it’s far from over. Wuxiaworld has always been more than just a platform—it’s a community. It’s a place where readers and translators connect through stories that span worlds and cultures. My hope is that Wuxiaworld will continue to grow and evolve, and that you, the readers, will stay with us as we deliver more stunning tales.

To everyone who has supported us over the years—thank you. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just discovered us recently, your love for these novels and your unwavering encouragement mean the world to us. It’s because of you that we’re able to do what we do, and I look forward to sharing many more adventures together in the years to come.

Rex
Renegade Immortal, Immortal Soaring Blade

Hello everyone this is Rex the translator of Renegade Immortal. It’s been a while and I hope everyone is doing well. I can’t believe it’s already the 10th year anniversary for WuixiaWorld! It sometimes feels like just yesterday when I first got hooked into the scene with Douluo Dalu and Coiling Dragon at the time. I remember reading Coiling Dragon for a whole week straight, completely ruining my sleep schedule which is something reading continues to do to me.

Thinking back it was kinda crazy how I just jumped into translating Renegade Immortal with basically no knowledge of the story at all and translating it from chapter 1 and around 180 at the same time. Definitely not something I would do again given what I learn over the years. However overall I really enjoy the few years of translating and sharing Renegade Immortal to everyone. There were definitely a lot of rough patches going through and at times I always remember now Ren says translating is like digging a hole (which I still fully agree with to this day). In the end I’m glad to have been able to share this amazing story with everyone.

As a bit of a personal update, I finished my masters shortly before Renegade Immortal did and after that was pretty busy with job searching why the novel I tried to get going didn’t really get much attention, sorry. I really did hope to keep translating to some degree after getting a job but sadly it wasn’t possible. Not so much a time issue as it would just be too much of a hassle working it out with my current job. I hope everyone else is doing well and continues to enjoy all the great stories these amazing translators are putting out!