("Yama King" explores a theme that seems absurd yet is painfully real: why, throughout human history, is it often the loyal and the good who are sacrificed first, while the wicked and cunning enjoy long reigns of power? I borrowed the mythological figure of Yama, the King of Hell, and inverted his logic of judgment. He is no longer the arbiter of karmic justice, but rather a faithful executor of our unjust world. All the historical tragedies in the song, from the wrongful deaths of noble ministers to the rewriting of history books, point to one cold reality: "justice" may exist, but it often arrives too late to matter. This song is a dedication to the "good souls" lost to injustice, and a defiant question aimed at the ugly reality of those who "slowly... never die.")

歌词翻译 (Lyrics Translation)

他笑中有铁，袖中无尘

(His laugh contains iron, his sleeves are free of dust)

黄纸未裁，先唤忠魂

(Before the yellow paper [for edicts] is cut, he first summons the loyal souls)

不是地狱催命急

(It's not that Hell is impatient to claim lives)

是人间留不住乾坤

(It's that the mortal world cannot retain Heaven and Earth [i.e., order and justice])

阎罗不急恶人归

(Yama is in no hurry for the wicked to return)

偏招良士断春晖

(He prefers to beckon the good men, cutting short their spring sunlight)

酒肉尚温权位稳

(The wine and meat are still warm, the seats of power are stable)

谁来地府理是非？

(Who will come to the underworld to judge right from wrong?)

昔日名臣覆印归

(Famed ministers of the past return with their seals of office overturned)

金马门前草半肥

(The grass before the Golden Horse Gate grows half-lush [from neglect])

子夜抬棺无人问

(At midnight, a coffin is carried with no one to ask)

只闻笙歌压落晖

(One only hears the sound of pipes and songs drowning out the fading daylight)

东市贩骨者换铜爵

(Those who sell bones in the East Market trade them for bronze goblets)

北苑诗人伏檄悲

(Poets in the North Garden prostrate before proclamations in sorrow)

最先沉江的不是盗

(The first to be drowned in the river are not the thieves)

是那抚琴不仕衣

(But he who plays the qin in commoner's clothes, refusing to serve)

朝代更迭谁主笔？

(In the changing of dynasties, who holds the author's brush?)

不过棺前手再提

(It is merely the hand that offers condolences before the coffin)

先帝车裂留讳号

(The previous emperor was torn apart by chariots, yet his taboo name remains)

奸相百年仍铸碑

(The treacherous chancellor, a hundred years later, still has monuments cast for him)

白日青天能照鬼

(The bright sun in the clear sky can illuminate ghosts)

史馆夜半易换题

(In the history archives, the topic is easily changed at midnight)

一页天命三改字

(A single page of the Mandate of Heaven has its words altered thrice)

九重城外落荒鸡

(Outside the nine-layered city walls, a wild rooster crows on desolate land)

阎罗不急恶人归

(Yama is in no hurry for the wicked to return)

先收良德满庭帏

(He first gathers the virtuous to fill his court's curtains)

碑上镌忠贼名并

(On the stone tablets, the names of the loyal and the traitor are engraved side-by-side)

冥河倒映是非非

(The River Styx reflects a world where right is wrong and wrong is right)

李牧无冢冤似雪

(The injustice done to Li Mu, who has no tomb, is as white as snow)

秦庭舞剑舞忠烈

(In the court of Qin, they dance with swords, a dance for the loyal and heroic)

岳飞满背忠义字

(Yue Fei's back is covered with the words "loyalty and righteousness")

难敌一笔「莫须有」

(Yet it's no match for the single stroke of "perhaps it's true" [a baseless charge])

你道汉武兴邦烈

(You speak of Emperor Wu of Han's fierce nation-building)

却不记焚书坑儒血

(But forget the blood from the burning of books and burying of scholars)

隋炀筑渠通九州

(Emperor Yang of Sui built canals to connect the nine provinces)

独不知尸骨堆桥穴

(But was unaware that corpses and bones were piled in the bridge foundations)

庙堂之上换朝议

(In the high court, the imperial agenda is changed)

江湖之间饮故衣

(In the world of wanderers, they drink to their old clothes [and bygone days])

一瓢陈醋祭楚人

(A ladle of stale vinegar is offered to the people of Chu)

半卷黄图喂鱼矣

(Half a scroll of the yellow map is fed to the fish)

恶人自坐玉麟榻

(The wicked sit comfortably on jade-unicorn thrones)

善士转世守残棋

(The virtuous are reincarnated to watch over a broken chess game)

人间本不缺公道

(It's not that justice is lacking in the mortal world)

只是太晚 给不起

(It's just too late to be affordable/given)

阎罗不急恶人归

(Yama is in no hurry for the wicked to return)

地府先迎道骨灰

(The underworld first welcomes the ashes of the virtuous)

阳间剩下诸权贵

(In the world of the living, all that remains are the powerful and corrupt)

活成鬼样 赖人非

(Living like ghosts, yet blaming others for their wrongs)

故都灰飞新王坐

(The old capital turns to ash as the new king takes his seat)

山河无语看燕飞

(The mountains and rivers are silent, watching the swallows fly)

碑前冷笑三分讥

(Before the monument, a cold laugh holds three parts mockery)

只道：“彼时彼刻

(He only says: "At that very moment,)

我亦未悔为忠为鬼。”

(I too did not regret being loyal, even as a ghost.")

黄泉未冷，忠骨已陈

(The Yellow Springs [underworld] are not yet cold, but the bones of the loyal are already stale)

阎罗再写次序簿

(Yama rewrites his ledger of order)

仍先点良人名

(And still calls the names of the good first)

而把恶徒，留在灯火之中

(Leaving the wicked, in the midst of lamplight and fire)

看他们

(To watch them)

慢慢老去

(slowly grow old)

慢慢掌权

(slowly gain power)

慢慢……不死。

(slowly... become pussy.)