#But what moments of Xie Lian Hong-er did and did not see is something I want to keep in mind later!

[fluffypurpleglitterdemon]

Every time a sudden flower appears just quietly noting down "Hong-er was here for this. Hong-er saw this."

[lunar-magnolia]

IT'S TIME TO GO ON A SPECULATION JOURNEY @l-tachi​

It's true we don't really know Hua Cheng's past before he fell into Xie Lian's arms as a child, but we do have some things that could help make up a little picture of his human life. I might leave out some things and take them for granted, like his transformation from simple fire ghost to savage:

*putting a read more because Long and spoilery

He was a citizen of the Imperial Capital of Xianle or lived in the vicinity of it. It's possible that he lived outside the walls, because of what Feng Xin said about knowing all the children who lived in the poorest part of the Imperial Capital. He said he had never seen little Hua (or Hong-er) around.

Because of his cursed eye that he kept covered, it's possible that his family was cast out of the city when he was born. Maybe they did live inside the city, but once little Hua came around and voice spread about his curse, they might have been kicked out.

It's also possible that only his mother loved him in the family, and the fact that she wouldn't give him up and doomed them all could have been cause of fights in the household. Thus we have little Hua lying about having parents and refusing to go back home.

It's also possible that he truly doesn't have a name. Hong Hong-er is the way his mother called him, and sounds more like a cute nickname that referred to his red eye (it means "little red"). He never gives Xie Lian a proper name, neither when he's a child nor when he was in his Wuming form. This is completely debatable tbh

However, when he meets Xie Lian again after 800 years, he does give a name that he says he prefers: San Lang. In the notes of the book it says that it indicates the third son of a household. This made me think that he probably had at least two older siblings when he was human. Which is nice, but all things considered he probably didn't have a good relationship with them.

CW: death, suicide mention

It's unclear if he jumped or just fell from the wall during the festival as a child. There's a high chance that Xie Lian is an unreliable narrator and Hua Cheng never told him why he was in such a dangerous position in the first place. It's however safe to imagine that he was going to jump, but seeing the parade he stopped himself. He was either pushed or he slipped.

I say it's kinda safe because of the infamous scene where little Hua is pleading to Xie Lian to tell him why should he continue living when he really doesn't want to. His life has been too hard on him and he wants to die. Xie Lian tells him to live for him if he can't find anything else worth living for. So yeah.

The guoshi of Xianle mentions that the kid Xie Lian had brought to the Royal Pavilion centuries ago was cursed and he probably never lived past 18-20yo. We know that up until 14 years old he was alive and well and in the army, fighting in the name of the Crown Prince. We also know that after the Land of the Tender accident he was booted from the army. At some point after the fall of Xianle, he died.

We see him protecting one of Xie Lian's temples when people wanted to burn it down. It's possible that he died doing exactly that, when he was around 18/19 years old.

In fact, Hua Cheng mentions that dying in Xie Lian's name is the greatest honor for him. And it already happened twice: when he was a human and when he sacrificed himself as Wuming.

Also another possible indicator of the age he was when he died is the age he has in his Hua Cheng form. He is described as a youth in his 20s.

After his sacrifice as Wuming, his soul still refused to leave the mortal realm and dissipate. We can imagine that after that episode mount Tong'lu opened and he went there as a fragile soul to regain his power and become at least a savage again. He knew he needed to become strong again if he wanted to protect Xie Lian, so he risked it all.

We know that while journeying towards the kiln, he gained enough power to have a "physical" form and gauge his own eye out to forge E'ming in a desperate situation. Plus, at the exact same moment, the heaven sent a heavenly calamity and he ascended as a ghost. But since Xie Lian wasn’t there and he had lots of beef with the heavenly officials, he immediately jumped down and continued on his path to become a supreme.

He stayed in the Mount Tong'lu zone for 10 years. In these ten years it's highly probable that he slew as many ghosts as he could to gain as much power as he could get. He also spent his time exploring the ruins of Wuyong and honing in his art skills in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods.

When he entered the kiln, it's unclear if he found other powerful ghosts to fight inside it or not. In any case, once he was done and still inside, before escaping he carved the giant Crown Prince statue that we see in book 5.

After escaping the kiln, he had all the "physical" strength. But we know that he's also extremely knowledgeable, and that when he challenged the 35 heavenly officials, some were civil gods and he beat them in debates.

So it's possible that after becoming a Supreme, he started his journey to gather as much knowledge as he could. During the years he gained fame and his Crimson Rain Sought Flower title.

With his status and skill, he eventually founded Ghost City and started building his own wealth too, thanks to the Gambler's Den.

It took some time, but when he was positive he could take all the 35 heaven officials down at their own game, he went and became the infamous Hua Cheng, the Crimson Rain that sought the flower.

I think it's important to mention that the guoshi of Xianle also said that the people cursed like Hua Cheng had the worst luck. Instead, we see Hua Cheng being possibly the luckiest person on Earth. This is probably the consequence of Xie Lian changing his fate and giving up all his luck (per the cursed shackle). Among everything, in fact, guoshi said that to survive the curse, fate must be changed.

I think Xie Lian altered Hua Cheng's fate both when he was a human and held onto little Hua when everyone else told him to let him go, and when he gave up his luck just after Wuming's sacrifice. Xie Lian, in fact, says that luck will be transfered to people who lack it. And Hua Cheng, who was in the vicinity, was probably the most unlucky person present. I think he absorbed most of Xie Lian's luck, and that also impacted his fate.

Another possibility is Hua Cheng gaining luck after he forged E'ming. If his eye was the reason why his luck was so terrible, removing it and sealing into a spiritual device could have been the catalyst to his apparently infinite luck.

I think he also spent his time looking for Xie Lian, but the world is vast and he lost track of him after the Wuming arc. So he focused on improving himself to be worthy of one day approaching Xie Lian.

I guess he came to know Xie Lian's whereabouts when Xie Lian ascended for the third time. It's possible that he got word of it from Black Water, and then the rest is history.

Akdhskfhjd I might have skipped some things, please feel free to ask more questions if something is unclear or doesn't make sense. All of this is pure speculation based on the information we have from the book and it's all debatable. Still, I had fun thinking about it! Thank you so much for the prompt!!!

[sunmaylight]

TGCF Book 3 Reaction pt.5 - Adventures before Mt. Tonglu, the REDUX

*Sigh* Tumblr crashed at the worst timing. I have to do this all over again. Or at least make a quick abridge version.

I’m just going to try my best, *sigh*

Anyways. Lots of stuff happening before Mount Tonglu opens that it should deserve it’s own post or two considering that there are like five things happening in there or something and like over twenty Hualian moments highlighted in pastel pink. Can’t wait to continue from my last post to this. Cause the ending of that post of the Wind & Water Masters Arc has me realing at times.

QYZ and Xie Lian have go on a mission. They hav to find the Brocade Immortal Robe. But first a short break at Puqi shrine and Lang Ying.

Ch 129: Everywhere Xie Lian looks, he is reminded of Hua Cheng

- Me: Dang. Xie Lian has it bad. He is missing Hua Cheng like a housewife waiting for husband to get home.

Lang Ying: *Eats Xie Lian’s cooking like it’s nothing, helps around the house, basically doing all of the tasks Hua Cheng usually does.*

Xie Lian: I’m going to take a bath

Lang Ying: *Enters and sees a half naked Xie Lian. Runs away. Come back to take away QYZ and runs away again.*

- Me: Oh, so Hua Cheng did switch places with Lang Ying. ((My son! Hua Cheng, why?!))

Ch 130: QYZ’s backstory is revealed. 

- Me: Why does that sound familiar? Is it because of the story from the Lantern Festival? Some reference to another book read?

QYZ’s story reveals that a Heavenly Official named Yin Yu was banished

- Me: *gasp* Wait. Is Yin Yu the banished Heavenly Official that Xie Lian saw working for Hua Cheng?

Golden Step-Litter appears to give Xie Lian a ride to somewhere. QYZ sees the Step-Litter like it’s the coolest thing he has ever seen. QYZ wants to ride it, but was pushed off. Xie Lian almost got pushed off, but ‘Lang Ying’ caught him.

- Me: Dang, cause I know who ‘Lang Ying’ is, it feels so sad when Xie Lian was going to call for ‘San Lang’, but it ended up as ‘San- Lang Ying’

QYZ is so chaotic. Does he have ADHD? I feel like he has ADHD and/or some levels of Autism. Though I don’t know cause I’m no expert.

QYZ does something reckless without thinking. Xie Lian, mother hens him and convinces him to stop 

- Me: QYZ and Xie Lian reminds me of that one D:BH comic with QYZ as baby Connor trying to put everything in his mouth and Xie Lian is Hank, trying to stop him.

Yin Yu(?) does a good job, looks like he will pass out.

- Me: Yin Yu(?) looks like he needs a vacation and more pay.

The robes move and circle around the two Heavenly Officials

- Me: This reminds me of that one clothing commercial where the outfits were chasing this group of people. Once cornered, they changed the group of people’s outfits.

Xie Lian is the person who grabs the one cursed article of clothing from the donations box out of any other clothing.

- Me: *sob* book. Please stop reminding me of Xie Lian’s E Rank (Cursed) Luck. He needs that curse removed. Please.

Ace Attorney Xie Lian strikes again. Target: Ling Wen

QYZ has taken a liking towards Xie Lian. Like a puppy who follows you home after you give it some food and head pats. He behaves like a young boy from a shounen slice of life anime or a kid with ADHD.

- Me: QYZ, what a person

Xie Lian asks Lang Ying some casual questions. Makes it seem as though nothing is wrong.

- Me: gasp is this when Xie Lian will pull a question like “So, how have you enjoyed everything so far these past few days San Lang?” ‘Lang Ying’: “It could have been better if these Heavenly Officials left you alone Ge...ge....oh.”

Xie Lian corners ‘Lang Ying’ with calligraphy writing until the boy had no choice but to confess he is Hua Cheng

- Me: Now that is smart. Played Hua Cheng like a fiddle somewhat.

Ch 134: Xie Lian: After meeting you, I remember how to be happy again

- Me: QAQ

Xie Lian made homemade meatballs. QYZ eats one and passes out.

- Me: Oh god. Xie Lian. Do you know someone named Bianchi from KHR? I feel like if you two were to meet, you will be knowledgeable in Poison Cooking

Heaven’s Eye to Xie Lian: You! Your lips are tainted. You have kissed evil.

Xie Lian: *sweats* N-no. I haven’t.

Hua Cheng: *Looks at Xie Lian suspiciously*

- Me: ohohoh, Alright Xie Lian. You say that

Xie Lian lies to cover up his status, but his lies crash down on him and harm his reputation with Puqi village.

Puqi Shrine takes hits from two Heavenly Official’s fighting and 40-50 Cultivators striking down it’s door. Puqi shrine, collapse

- Me: Farewell Puqi Shrine. You have served Xie Lian so well.

Xie Lian: Stands straighter, and has a certain expression on his face

- Me: oh, will he finally snap now?

Xie Lian: Yells at the Cultivators. Then weaponizes his homemade meatballs into a poison that can only be detoxed by drinking 80 cups of water

- Me: Xie Lian, are you trying to kill them? You are basically joking that if they drink over a week’s worth of water, they will be ‘cured’. No, what is most likely going to happen is that they will die from too much water consumption.

Xie Lian: Reporting what happened about Ling Wen to Ling Wen.

Xie Lian: *realization*.....oh.

- Me: (QAQ)     Now Xie Lian’s group of people he knows in Heaven shrinks again. The amount of people he was close too was really small, after SQX, I think Ling Wen was next. Now who will fill that gap?

Ch 136: Hua Cheng transformed into Hong Hong-Er’s age. Xie Lian: *pinches cheeks*

- Me: Aww. So cute.

Hua Cheng: With Mount Tonglu opening, He Xuan is hibernating

- Me: Black Water =?= Black Bear

Ch 137: Xie Lian crossdress again for safety

- Oh, now that outfit is better on Xie Lian than the last time he had to crossdress.

Random Food Stall owner, gives up on life after his stall is ruined

- Me: Cabbage guy: “MY CABBAGES!”

On the run, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng enters an inn run by Ghosts. They hide in the second floor and the group of Cultivators follow soon after.

- Jeez, I wonder who they could be.

The comedic skit of the Cultivators & Heaven’s Eye dodging from eating Ghost Food just because of their harsh criticism over the dirty dishes. 

- Me: Will they fall for it, dang it, they did not.

Ghost lady: oh yeah. We have some suspicious guests on the second floor. Guests on the second floor: Why do I/we feel like we’ve been ratted out?

----

Okay. Going to stop here. Because I’m tired and still a bit salty that my og post was lost. However, I did go farther with this one than the og post. So that’s something at least.

Next time is more of the Inn, some Mount Tonglu entrance exam thing, and possibly a bit of Mount Tonglu...hopefully? Otherwise, I think I will split Mount Tonglu into three separate cause a lot happens in there, more than the Wind & Water Master’s arc. 

[awesomeorangepumpkins]

tgcf made me do it

I don’t post on tumblr ever? I don’t even know why I feel compelled to say that. I don’t have followers. I’m just a quiet lurker that follows and reblogs and has commented like twice.

But I just read Tian Guan Ci Fu/Heaven Official's Blessing and it doesn’t have a huge english speaking audience? There’s a little bit on reddit and a little bit in tumblr, nothing that I can find on ao3. I’ve posted a few sad tweets because its’ been almost 24 hours now since I finished the story and my heart and brain are so obsessed. Normally when you read something so massive (1992 PAGES on my kobo reader for all 5 books), it’s really rare that the story hangs together all the way through. I read it translated. An aside, holy fuck are these translators AMAZING for translating such a huge thing so quickly. I wonder how much I’ve lost. I’ve never so badly wished I could read another language. I’ve been sad I can’t speak spanish, but I read in english, there’s TONS of awesome stuff to read in english, even at the pace I read, it’s been great. 

tl;dr I went into this with low expectations, but while I HATE the huge flashback in the untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi, I LOVE the characters. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are incredibly compelling. I’ve explored it almost exclusively through some amazing fanfic, but I personally don’t think it invalidates anything. 

The problem is that now I’m fucked. I have read this TGCF masterpiece. I don’t see how the story could possibly have been shorter. The flashback device was actually fucking necessary here. The characters were brilliant (I dislike the scream-y-ness of Feng Xin and Mu Qing, but that’s 10000% personal problems). The relationships absolutely skewered me. I can only think of one other plot that blew me away as much as this (Ancillary Series).

And I have no way of handling this? I’ve already read the extras. There’s no fanfic that I can find in english. The donhua hasn’t come out yet. There’s mostly people trying to find or read the story and no one talking about how it wrecked them. There’s lots of gorgeous art. That’s mostly how I’ve been feeding my soul. Art and the manhua.

Anyways, I need to flail. Spoilers ahoy below the cut.

Two tiny quibbles before I get into how unstructured flailing: I really wish I could read this in the original because 1) what happened to the newer young Lang Ying??????? 2) was it ever explained why baby Hua Cheng (Hong Hong-er?) didn’t want to show his face? I thought maybe it was the the first sign of human face disease, but then that seemed to not really be it? Maybe because this was such a massive story, MXTX just left those bits dangling and couldn’t stomach spending any more time editing?

Did anyone else have a few moments where they wondered if Hua Cheng was Jun Wu or White No-Face? Like in Book 1 before you really knew what the fuck had happened? I think in Book 2 (maybe? this shit became a blur, maybe it was later) I started having inklings that Jun Wu was White No-Face and it was really clear that the little boy, the soldier, the nameless general, and the determined ghost fire were all Hua Cheng from the second those characters appeared, but the fact that baby Hua Cheng wouldn’t let Xie Lian remove his face coverings made me think we were supposed to be suspicious of ... something?

BUT. Then Book 4 happens and I couldn’t absorb any of it while it was happening. Book 3 ends in such a cliff-hanger and Book 4 is designed to force you off that cliff and shred you into pieces. I was so obsessed to how on earth Xie Lian was going to get out of the kiln that I was probably halfway through Book 4 before I realized just what it meant that the 800 years happened AFTER Book 4. Like fuck. That timeline hit me like a tidal wave. I’m still at sea.

It’s bad enough that Xie Lian was stabbed 100 times without dying and Hua Cheng was already in love with him and watched it happen. It’s already bad enough that Hua Cheng prevented the second wave of the Human Face Disease in Yong’an and basically saved Xie Lian from that horrible mistake and was blasted into pieces for it. It’s already bad enough that Hua Cheng DIED on the battle field believing absolutely in Xie Lian. It’s already bad enough that you realize that the whole REASON Hua Cheng made 33 gods disappear before Xie Lian could ascend for the 3rd time because Hua Cheng had to watch Xie Lian be humiliated when Hua Cheng was powerless to help or support or even really let Xie Lian know he was there. 

Then you realize that for eight. hundred. years. after all of this Hua Cheng has been trying to find Xie Lian again and Xie Lian has been slowly unfucking himself from his messed up sense of pride and hubris and the pain he went through while thinking he’s completely alone. The fucking bamboo hat. Rouye. If Rouye doesn’t tell you WHAT kind of person Xie Lian is underneath his puffed up pride and inflated sense of self, I don’t know what else does. I just. I’m sure I’ve absolutely not conveyed how insane these characters and this relationship arc is. I haven’t even gotten into the villian or the other characters that fill out this world or the PLOT of this story, but Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. fuck. fuck. The extras DO NOT HELP make up for this pain. There was 800 YEARS between when Hua Cheng got blasted into pieces saving Xie Lian from the most shameful moment of his fall from grace and Hua Cheng holding Xie Lian’s hand to help him out of the wedding ... litter/sedan.

I’m dead.

[mousehole5000]

reading tgcf chapters 72 - 88 end of book 2. body horror kind of in this one. if you know you know and i did include an excerpt of it

i didnt take any notes from 72-76 but uhhhh shit has hit the fan

fuuuuuuck. but he couldnt get there fast enough and then THAT happened to that family FUCK :(

xie lian has indeed been greatly sheltered and this is a painful if inevitable moment. very curious about where he goes from here :(

:pensive: the universe has its own rhythm. perhaps it does but im wondering if this is part of it orrrrrrr

wait theres a girl. shes pretty. feng xin is impressed by her this is a first. is she going to be important? is it too much to ask for? to see a girl do things?

xie lian and the king... i sad. but the anger is real from both sides regardless of their arguments. i sad

ahhh flashbacks to religious studies. read a whole essay about contagion magic vs similarity magic. pretty sure it was by one of those early anthropologists who were ummm racist but this is definitely a thing that people do

damn so xie lian’s first experience of killing anyone was during the revolt and he killed thousands. wow. “mere ants” like those crushed for him by servants. hoooo boy

:pleading: hes so good and im so sad for him to painfully learn that just being good isn’t enough

awwwww. </3

ohhh wait i think the epub version doesnt spoiler out the authors notes awwww i was enjoying the mystery but okay. not sure if i would have guessed this without tbh theres a lot of kids (2) running around with bandages in this book. but i guess the saber thing isnt likely to be anything else. also ohhhhhhhhh hong hong-er... little reddie... ah i see now :(

land of the tender; body of gold hard pressed against desire. hmmmm. im. hmmm. remember that scene with the prostitute in ghost city and how i was glad it ended quickly? i miss those days. i mean murderous desires/lustful desires okay sure thats something fine but. hmm not so sure how i feel about the rest of this. and the hair thing has significance according to the notes. i mean. hmm. moving on for now. ive seen spoilers for more about hualian’s relationship but im gonna wait to comment on it until i know everything

i would actually be curious to see feng xin and mu qing interact without xie lian when theyre still having to work together i wonder if they are more chill or less chill bc clearly feng xin cares a lot about xie lian and im wondering what theyre like with each other without him around. to be fair tho since theyre his generals im not sure if theres much room for that

human face disease time. oh boy. things really are only getting worse. im also suspecting that this disease was intentionally brought into the city to hasten its downfall but we shall see

saving this for the illustration of the differences between feng xin and mu qing. not sure what it says about me but im finding mu qing relatable that is 100% what i would do but i feel much more fond of feng xin. interesting

thank you for being a beacon of amusement in these trying times. distract your bickering friends by forcing them to play improv games. also the differences between fx and mq continue to interest me

awfully convenient there guoshi. i have to say that its looking more and more like the bad shit thats happening in xianle was actually not to do with xie lian. the fact that the yong’an rebels were being supplied? whatever the fuck is going on with lang ying.... i could be wrong but thats what im thinking im wondering how much of this was already laid out or at the very least poised to happen before xie lian intervened

here it comes this is the unsettling body horror bit

BRUHHHHHHHH. HORRIFIC. IM SORRY BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT IN ADAPTATION FOR THE CHILLS IT WOULD GIVE ME.

hmmm after this its mu qing who is like “hey ummm you kinda just chopped that guy’s leg off when he hadn’t actually asked you to. kinda fucked up also could definitely turn on you” makes sense that it was mu qing who said that he’s clearly very smart and bc of his background he’s more likely to think of things from a different perspective than xie lian and feng xin. he’s been scornful of commoners before but he definitely understands them more so than the other two

just when i thought this couldnt get more horrific. no rest for anyone what an awful fate

saving this as a note on mu qing as a character and his attitude towards xie lian. what xie lian says here about the curse is interesting. the faces/souls vs the ones they are infecting. its awful for both of them and neither are the only truly at fault theyre being pit against each other

its telling that mu qing is the one who is telling xie lian that line about there not being a second cup of water. also BIG ARGUMENT im bookmarking this to come back to in the present day

looks like celestial palace is coming down and im bitterly remembering the fact that xie lian toppled his own statue earlier to let lang ying get away... who then presumably planted the curse.... sighs

the bits with xie lian’s parents made me tear up. this is, what the kids call, relatable.

hmmm dont think feng xin is always going to feel this way lmao

oohh that is a cool image

i.... sad. and so book 2 ends!!! im wondering when we find out exactly how the split between our trio went down. im sure its sad

politically im still not sure exactly what the message is trying to be i mean obviously theres corruption that completely throws the poor under the bus but so far its also been clear that xie lian actually cant do anything about it. but!!! also xie lian doesnt understand a lot about the world, he’s been sheltered and he’s a prince and he wants to save the world and i love him for that but he hasn’t seen what the reality of life is for a lot of people he’s looking at everything from the position of the nobility and even with all his kindness i dont think thats ever enough to bring about meaningful change. how can it? idk but we still got a LONG ways to go