#I have yet to read tgcf I'm waiting for the books to be translated into german

[starpros-sunshine]

sometimes I check mdzs twitter and get reminded that there's apparently people who don't realize that ''a victim of circumstance'' is an option in discussing various questions of guilt regarding the characters

[illuminatingsceadugenga]

Alright so this is very much still a work in progress but recently I started working out a timeline for present-day TGCF(Books 1, 3, and 5) that I’ve gotten far enough along that I want to share it.

This project was born from the singular, burning question: how long does it take for Xie Lian to admit his feelings for Hua Cheng? As a result, this timeline focuses more on time passing than the events of the books themselves, but it does have a fair amount of detail to it.

If you would like to look at this, be my guest! Just a couple of warnings: one, I do mean it when I say this isn’t done yet. I’m planning on messing with the formatting more, and I’m currently starting my notes for Volume 5(and the, like, 4 chapters of book 3 in volume 6). Volumes 7 and 8 aren’t even out yet, and I plan on waiting for them rather than digging up a translation online somewhere, so it won’t be done for a while. Two, this timeline is a labor of love. I’m doing my best. I don’t want anyone to think they HAVE to use this timeline now that it exists, but also please be polite? I hope you find this interesting.

The link is set to view-only. I’m sorry if you want to leave comments or anything, but it’s not happening. I may also try to put this on ao3 at some point? We’ll see. I'll make an update post when I'm done with Book 3.

[wangxianficfinder]

Are any of the mod team also in the MXTX Extended Universe - TGCF or SVSSS fandoms? :)

I've seen the first season of the TGCF Donghua but I haven't read the novel (yet) nor have I seen or read anything for SVSSS. But I have read crossover fics with both of those fandoms.

- Mod C

---

Exactly the same as Mod C! I have plans to read the TGCF novel, but right now I'm kinda waiting if it gets translated into German, because I really loved the German MDZS translation. ~Mod Kay

---

Definitely! I've read SVSSS back when the fan translation was still available and it was actually first of the MXTX's novels I read 😊

As for TGCF, I've read about 30% of it but it's a slow going because of all my other books 😂 But I have seen the donghua!

For both I've read quite bit of fanfics and crossover.

~Mod L

[yiifu]

so it's 11.50pm on a Saturday night now and I've just properly finished reading the entirety of mdzs (in english) not including the extras. it feels so surreal and strange, because I'd started the English translations in Jan this year (I read exiled rebel's version) while sometimes reading pdfs of the 7seas one at the same time just to see the differences in translation. I remember blazing through the equivalent of 7seas book 1-3 from Jan to early March. From mid-March to now I took a bit of a break from mdzs to read other things like 2ha (which I'm still reading now), the 2ha manhua and the tgcf manhua. I managed to finish 7seas mdzs vol 4 in mid March too (binge reading sessions before bed, mostly) and then I stopped cos 7seas hadn't released vol 5 yet and I thought I'd just wait. then after a week I decided I couldn't wait that long so I went back to EXR to read what was left of the story until the end (before the extras). Still I took my time with it so the guanyin temple arc took me a few weeks to get through.

but tonight I decided to return to mdzs to finish the guanyin temple arc and that short little bit after that (everyday means everyday, meeting luo qingyang and mianmian, riding off into the sunset while wangxian plays in the distance) and now I'm at the end, also after reading the author's notes. so much effort went into it really and that makes me appreciate the story even more (thank you mxtx for that wonderful mind of yours and for the characters and story you've created!!) I'll probably save the extras to read when I get the digital version of 7seas vol 5 just to participate in the finale mood yknow.. I know 7seas isn't done with mdzs yet there's still the entire manhua to be released which is a whole diff beast but for now the completion of the full English novel merits some special mention at least

and it's like, yeah I'll def grow a little distant from mdzs for a bit while I tour other stories and fandoms and media but everytime I come back to it, to these familiar characters, it feels like coming home. I've consumed this story in so many forms (manhua, donghua, novel, now just left with the audio drama and the untamed) and I've drawn a bunch of fanart of them, even read longfics starring these characters, after a while you just feel like you know them as old friends. and getting to the end of the story and closing the book on these guys, even though it's only temporarily, just feels all sorts of weirdly happy and sad to me now. this story has accompanied me through a holiday trip in dec 2022, through lunch at work, weekends spent reading and watching it, work breaks spent reading it and looking at the wiki and TV tropes page for character info...it's just such a concrete part of my daily memories it really helped me get through this tedious thing called working life

I'm not even saying this to anyone in particular - maybe I'm saying it to the characters and the story - but thank you so much for existing! yall introduced me to the wonderful and heartbreaking world of historical danmei where heroes, magic, gods, ghosts, and everything in between live out fantastical tales of wonder and bravery and resilience and love and so mdzs will always have a special place in my heart for being that first piece of fiction that brought me into these worlds ❤️

[razberryyum]

TGCF donghua Episode 7 Thoughts (SPOILERS!)

So I've started to seriously reading the novel...up to chapter 23 now which is just a little pass this new episode...and I gotta say, wow did the donghua team amp up romance quotient for HuaLian.

This scene was like two simple sentences in the book (chap 22): "San Lang ignored him, tightened his hold on Xie Lian’s hand, and placed his lips upon it. Xie Lian’s hand trembled slightly, and he couldn’t explain why."

That's pretty much it, and yet in the episode it was so utterly romantic with the music, the way San Lang was kneeling, sucking and then looking up at Dianxia with all the love and worship in his eyes.

Just that pose alone: as if San Lang's offering his heart in his hands to his god Xie Lian, which I guess he pretty much is in his every single look and gesture.

It's honestly amazing to me how much romance the donghua is able to pack into every single interaction between San Lang and Xie Lian.

In the book, it was only mentioned that the two of them were tied together by Ruoye, so I was impressed by how the donghua team took that and ran with it to give us a highly charged moment in the cold open to the episode.

I seriously thought they were going to kiss. Dianxia probably thought the same that's why he had to break their gaze.

I also appreciated the naughty positioning of each pair, front to front, when in most circumstances they'd probably be just in a more innocent position of back to back...I wonder if someone on the donghua team ships the two volunteers...

...or perhaps a 4P? 😁 I am kidding of course...unless that's actually a thing in the fandom, in which case, good for them! The more the merrier.

Poor Nan Feng and Fu Yao though, sometimes it does feel like they're the third and fourth wheeler.

I really enjoy watching the looks they shoot one another or direct at Xie Lian because everything seems to have meaning and layer, in similar yet different way from San Lang's gazes.

Similar in that there's obviously a history between them that we're not quite privy to yet (although, I feel both the donghua and the novel is already heavily hinting at their relationship/identities), and different because of the emotions backing those meaningful glances.

While I'm on the subject of meaningful looks...

...I wondered what that was all about since it seemed a rather odd but purposeful moment. As we were introduced to A-Zhao in the book, I did feel he was suspicious somehow, and then seeing him on screen...

...my first thought was he's too good looking to be unimportant. Sure enough shortly after watching this episode tonight, I came across a spoiler for him which at least confirmed when something feels fishy, it probably is fish.

But thinking about it, I wonder if it's supposed to be obvious who he is and I just have poor recognition skills when it comes to characters whom I'm not hyperfocused on to begin with.

Although as soon as these two ladies were introduced, I was immediately interested in them and I can't wait to learn more about them.

I love their voices and how it seemed like the one in black was flirting with the one in white. Xie Lian mentioned one of them was the Guoshi of Banyue so I hope that doesn't mean they're gonna be the villains of this mystery and meet a bad end. They seem cool.

So far the story feels a little bit like mystery-of-the-week-ish, except with the potential of having ties to either the gods or Xie Lian, which definitely makes them more interesting than just normal mystery cases. I think it's an effective format to introduce us further to the world and all the characters and their backstories, especially in regards to Dianxia and Hua Cheng.

Lastly, RIP to the Midlands General. He sounds like a really good soul.

TGCF novel translations can be found at: https://tgcfmxtx.carrd.co/

[evilovesyou]

i'm sorry but i saw your tag and realize that you read heaven's official blessing???? omggg i love that novel so sooo much!! do you have other danmei recs??

Hiii! Hello!! I saw this ask as I got off work and I've been waiting to answer properly. I have a story to tell. 🥰🥰

This past summer, a good friend was reading a Chinese novel and during our weekly game nights, she was telling us ridiculous tales of it (i. e. the Jin Ling's Uncle ParadoxTM). Then she found out there's a live action series based on it and it's available on netflix. Hearing this, Mia and I were intrigued and volunteered to watch The Untamed with her. Our friend said "you only have to watch the first 4 episodes, after that you're free to say it's too weird and you wanna stop." Needless to say, over the next 4 or 5 months, we watched 2-4 episodes a week and absolutely fell in love with it.

After we were done with the life action, we started the animated Heaven Official's Blessing. We were kinda distracted as we watched and life got in the way recently, but when I went back to watch it by myself, I absolutely loved that show. I've rewatched it 3 times. I'm sad that there's only one season up until now, but it's really well-made and absolutely beautiful.

I've read the beginning of MDZS and I've got the first book of the official TGCF translation. I ordered the second one, but it hasn't arrived yet so I've delved into the fan translation instead and I'm about halfway through now. (So no spoilers, please.)

Anyway. There is one person, and one person only, to blame for the fact that I've gotten into danmei/mxtx novels and she knows who she is.

So, to answer your question, I don't really have any recs, except for a number of MDZS fics that were also hand-picked by my friend. But I am absolutely in love with Hua Cheng and the unbelievable level of devotion and dumbassery him and his Dianxia bring to the table. (I just read that proposal scene and almost flung myself out the window because of how stupid they are ahahaha)

[spockandawe]

HEY THERE, you have me interested in The Untamed but I'm a little lost as to where to start, there's both a 50 episode normal version and a 20 episode special edition, which should I watch/start with? Also WHAT does your svsss tag stand for? I'm seeing "The Untamed" and "Chén Qíng Lìng" and "Mo Dao Zu Shi" and "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" thrown around as synonyms or related pieces of media, but nothing with svsss!

Sure thing!!

Okay, to start with, I’d definitely go with the 50-episode version. It’s a Lot, and there is some padding added to the story compared to the original book, but twenty episodes seems really, really short to do justice to the central plot 

(a quick skim of google tells me that the special edition leans harder into the original novel’s gayness, which the show has to be coy about, because china. i think there are expanded scenes featuring the two leads, which is awesome, because their acting is AMAZING, but that just means the plot scenes are even more compressed. I saw at least one person recommend that you not do the special edition unless you’ve consumed the story in at least one other more standard format already)

Also! Iirc, the show is available on youtube and netflix, among other platforms, though those two are wonderfully accessible. However, comma, I do hear from people fluent in chinese that the subtitles sometimes are inaccurate in unnecessary/unfortunate ways. From what I hear, viki has the best complete set of subtitles (I think there may be fansub projects in progress, but I am not at all in touch with those. I still haven’t watched the show myself).

And the general summary of my current webnovel fixation! There’s this webnovel author who goes by mxtx, who currently has three complete books out, which have all been translated into english. Then after I finished those, I started branching out into other authors and webnovels, though I’m not too deep into that end of the pool yet. I’ll break each book into a separate paragraph for clarity. 

Oh, and. Each of these books is explicitly gay, and set in ancient fantasy china, in a wuxia/xianxia setting, which I’m not too familiar with myself, but I believe it functions a lot like how authors will use ‘ancient fantasy europe’ as a playground where they don’t necessarily need to match up to established countries/cities/etc, but they expect readers to recognize certain conventions, like I’d be able to recognize a western author writing a basic feudal setting, or recognize witches and wizards, without them explaining the whole thing from the bottom up. Since I’m not familiar, it raised the difficulty level a little for me to get into the genre, but the webnovel translators tend to use footnotes and I picked up a lot as I went on.

(if you are interested in any of these, novelupdates.com is a good central resource collecting links to various fan translation projects)

So! Mxtx. Her earliest book is The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (SVSSS), which is also the shortest and most linear of her books. The general premise is that a guy who’s been hate-reading this (straight) stallion harem webnovel with a dark protagonist. He goes to bed, and wakes up in the novel, as the protagonist’s dickbag teacher, who is doomed to eventually die horribly. He wants to not die, and is also a decent human being, so the book follows the “original” novel derailing from its intended path, and accidentally getting super duper gay. This one is about to come out in donghua form, but I think that may be its first non-book adaption.

Her second book, which was adapted into The Untamed/Chen Qing Ling (CQL), is also known as The Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation/Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS), which really manages to be the hardest of her books to summarize. Wei Wuxian, the grandmaster of demonic cultivation, dies. Thirteen years later, he wakes up in someone else’s body. Most of the world would like him to stay dead, tbh, but he’s a good egg, and he and his old friend(????) go forth and solve a necromantic mystery together, and also there is romance-romance and ten million family feelings. This one gets nonlinear, with several extended flashback sequences, and the story STARTS at about the midway point of the plot. This has been adapted into an audio drama at least once, a manhua, a donghua, and now a live action show, so it goes by a million different names in its various formats.

Her third book, and the LONGEST, is Heaven Official’s Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu (TGCF), and oh my god, it’s so long, and I love it so, so much. This gets into high fantasy much  more than the other two, including the idea that as people develop their cultivation and powers, they may eventually achieve immortality and ascend to the heavens. The story follows Xie Lian who achieved immortality and ascended to heaven! And then fell. And then ascended! And fell again. Eight hundred years later, he ascends for the third time. He meets Hua Cheng, the ridiculously powerful ghost king, who most of the other immortals are terrified of. But Hua Cheng seems to like Xie Lian! And Xie Lian thinks Hua Cheng is a sweet boy! (hua cheng is a sweet boy, but only for xie lian). This also has extended flashback sequences, but is a more linear story than MDZS, I think. Also it made me cry, which, wow, rude. I love it so incredibly much. This also exists as a manhua, but I think it’s still being published? I haven’t read it yet.

NOW. Mxtx is working on a fourth book, but it’s not out in chinese yet, never mind english. But I needed More. I was getting some SVSSS vibes from this one other book, which, *wobbly hand motions*, but I am enjoying the hell out of this book purely for its own sake.

Meatbun is an author with other books that I haven’t read yet, but I am currently in the middle of The Husky And His White Cat Shizun/Er Ha He Ta De Bai Mo Shi Zun (Erha/2ha), which is at this moment being adapted to a live action tv show called Immortality. There are MANY warnings that go with this book, though the google docs translation files do a good job of placing warnings at the front of every document and in front of relevant chapters. The general premise! Mo Ran basically conquered the entire world, put down all resistance by force, and was a super powerful but Kinda Dumb emperor. As part of this, he took his old teacher, who he despised with a burning passion, prisoner, and abused him a Lot. The story starts as rebels try to mount an assault on his palace, and Mo Ran’s cousin gets impatient with how slowly things are moving and runs ahead of the group. He finds that (suicide warning:) Mo Ran has... taken poison, and is in the middle of dying. This doesn’t stick. He wakes up as a teenager, apparently having traveled back in time, and starts living through events again, with the knowledge of his past life. It took me a while to warm up to this story, but ohhhh my goodness, it’s so TASTY. The translation for this one is ongoing, and I am in AGONY waiting for further updates.

So those are the ones I’m currently into and mostly blogging about! I also read Dreamer In The Spring Boudoir, mostly because feynite wrote an SVSSS fic set in the universe of that novel, which was good in some ways, left me cold in others (and the original novel is straight, with a society with rigid gender roles, so making it super gay in the fic made the setting much more interesting to me). Meatbun has other writing, which I haven’t sampled yet, but I am definitely interested in doing that sometime soon. 

Sorry, I know this is a LOT, so if you have any other questions feel free to ask me!! I got into these mostly via being interested in the untamed, so I read them as 1) mdzs, 2) svsss, 3) tgcf, 4) erha, which was an order that worked well for me. But if someone was looking for a general order to read them in, independent of that, I might suggest 1) svsss, 2) mdzs, 3) tgcf, 4) erha. They’re all really good, and scratch different emotional itches, and each of them has at least a few characters who sucker-punch me RIGHT in the goddamn heart. They’ve been a HUGE help for me dealing with the restlessness and/or apathy of quarantine, so I’ve been evangelizing them to pretty much anyone who will listen to me, hahaha

[seventhstar]

reading update 12/15/2021

Current TBR:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Councillor by E. J. Beaton

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

The Queen of Ieflaria by Effie Calvin

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Persuasion by Jane Austen

4/5. It's been a long time since I reread this one! I'd forgotten how good this novel is. As much as I love misunderstandings and drama, there's something very satisfying in how little of that there is between Anne and Wentworth: all they really need is time to wrestle with their feelings.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

4/5. I love how creepy and dark and tragic this is, and I love Heathcliffe and Cathy in their fucked up glory. Another book I haven't read in a long time, probably since I was in high school.

Heaven Official’s Blessing Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

4/5. I had real trouble deciding how to rate this. I'd already read the fan translation of the novel prior to the announcement of the official release, so I was curious to see how it would compare.

I have two complaints about this book. One is that they chose to cut volume 1 off right after the Banyue arc. Personally I think the first couple plot arcs in TGCF are way more interesting on reread, when you can catch the foreshadowing, so I was hoping for more. Two is that, for whatever reason, I'm just not a huge fan of MXTX's writing style in this book. I like the character and story enough to keep reading, so it's not a deal-breaker.

Overall, I think it's a really accessible translation. The appendices are really helpful, and the interior art is beautiful.

Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Vol. 1 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

5/5. I love this book so much. It is incredibly funny, and yet it manages to wring a lot of emotion of you, too. Again, I felt like the translation was really accessible and the appendices and footnotes helped explain some of the Chinese webculture-specific stuff I didn't know enough to get. Shen Qingqiu is the most oblivious man alive and he has whatever the polar opposite of gaydar is. Plus the interior art is so good! I have no complaints about this and feel oppressed by the fact I have to wait until next year for the rest of it.

All right! We are so close to the end of the year, and I have read 85 books. Now, 5 of those were the 5 individual volumes of TGCF that I read as fan translations, and to be honest I have mixed feelings about counting those as 5 separate books? But I don't know that I'm gonna get five more books in this year, so we'll see.

Right now I have physical copies of The Jasmine Throne and The Councillor, so probably I'll start one of those and then just do my annual rereads of Good Omens and Hogfather. (I have a really fancy illustrated copy of Good Omens; I might cook a steak for Christmas and make an evening of it.)

[razberryyum]

TGCF donghua Episode 11 Thoughts (SPOILERS for episode and novel!)

Ok I didn't think they were actually going to kiss, BUT for a heart-stopping second I thought they were gonna get close enough before cutting away. Just to tease us, if for no other reason. I actually held my breath. It was still a big tease nonetheless but I am still grateful for the scene because my God was it beautifully done. The focus on Dianxia's lips as he says Hua Cheng's name, the way his breath catches as HC leans closer, the world fading away around them, HC's ponytail gently falling forward just so, the way they just focus on his lips just as if from Dianxia's POV....all of it just screams romance. Once again, that was all the work of the donghua's team. In the book, this moment occurs when they're actually back at Puqi Shrine, and Xie Lian's actually in the middle of cleaning a table when he very nonchalantly addresses Hua Cheng by his name. It was cute because Dianxia did it so casually but hardly THIS romantic. So, really, hats off to the donghua team!

Actually other than that last scene, of course I am grateful to the donghua team for many other moments in this episode. To start, whenever they show San Lang protecting Dianxia.

We know Xie Lian can definitely take care of himself, but I appreciate that Hua Cheng's instinct is always to protect him anyway. I actually thought that's why he gave himself the name," Hua Cheng". The words translate to "Flower City", and in the olden days, a city had walls protecting the people in it, so I figured that Hua Cheng chose this name to represent how he will always protect Xie Lian, that his protection is all encompassing. Lol, I can't wait to find out how wrong I am.

Even though Hua Cheng's fight with Pei Su was mostly off screen and limited to quick flashes of swords clashing, what they did show of Hua Cheng in his "real" form was DELICIOUS.

I am grateful to the donghua team for Hua Cheng's adorable reaction to Dianxia being cheeky. Too precious!

Our General Hua looking like a god in armor...and the way he made bis appearance in that scene too, like a savior coming to rescue mankind...or in this case, Banyue.

This scene actually made me tear up. I don't remember thinking Pei Su was that attached to Banyue when reading the book, but that might've been my fault for not paying close enough attention when HuaLian weren't directly involved. I was actually wondering how they were going to conclude the Banyue arc in just one episode since it felt like they would have to pack a lot into just 20 mins or so, but I think they did a really good job of wrapping it up. Didn't feel rushed or that anything important was missing.

I love both of them already, but I want to especially commend the donghua team's character design for The Wind Master. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read the book, but trust me when I say THAT is a brilliant bit of character design. They will have to change two things about her next season but it's like she's mostly there already. 😂 I also love her voice and voice performance (by VA Qiu Qiu), so perfect for the character. I seriously cannot wait to see more of her next season, especially after hearing that news about the VA. 😁

I guffawed. This was a bit of brilliance too. Man, I just love the donghua team! They really did such a GREAT JOB bringing TGCF to life. I mean, is there really anyone who hates this adaptation?? I guess if you weren't into Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's relationship, the case of the week parts might be a bit underwhelming, but what I appreciate about them is that they inevitably link back to Dianxia and his past, or introduce us to new characters which then opens up the world. They always have a purpose, leading to bigger things. As a first season I think it was pretty strong, what they changed from the source material were usually positive alterations. I mean, I'm reading the book now because of this show, after putting it off for so long, so I'm definitely converted.

I do have to say though that the season did end on a rather odd note since it felt like there should have been just a few more beats before the end credits. It was a little abrupt imho, but it still is miles better than poor SVSSS's season finale, which ended on a freaking scene transition.

Of course there's still that special HuaLian episode on February 16th, so I guess technicallyyyyy this first season hasn't quite ended yet. The special looks to be picking up right where this episode leaves off: with Dianxia having a conversation with Hua Cheng back at Puqi Shrine about his role as Ghost King and other related topics. I'm not sure why it's airing a month and a half later, or why on February 16th instead of Valentine's Day, but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm just grateful we have more TGCF and HuaLian to look forward to. Second season is already in production, and apparently the theme song for it will drop tomorrow! A live action has been announced which they're still casting, and honestly some of those casting choices scare me so depending on who they end up deciding on, I might just gonna stay away from that completely and stick with the donghua and book.

Novel Reading Progress...about to finish Book 2... SPOILERS

MXTX-laoshi is a total sadist giving us THAT kind of sex pollen scene when nothing could be done cuz Hua Cheng's still a little bean sprout...I love Dianxia, love him more now knowing he was a pretty flawed human being, that he's absolutely not perfect...his heart is warm but his actions are sometimes quite cold...I blame his privileged upbringing and his youth and inexperience for some of his rash decisions...he means well but of course the road to hell is pathed with good intentions...wish he would stop forgetting about little Hua Cheng though, poor baby...the more I read about the human face disease the more I don't want to...just, overall, I feel this heavy weight on my heart now because I know things are going to go from worse to utter calamitous shit soon. I am SCARED, preparing my heart for breakage.

To read the TGCF novel: https://tgcfmxtx.carrd.co/

[razberryyum]

TGCF donghua Episode 9 Thoughts (SPOILERS! for episode and novel)

I've heard of the words Sinner's Pit a while back, probably when I first heard of TGCF, but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago when I started reading the book that I finally understood what they meant, and why it was an event in the saga of HuaLian. Even though I've only been acquainted with it for such a short period of time, I still teared up when watching the scene, so I can only imagine how much more emotional this moment was for fellow fans who have been waiting years to see it. I really hope it lived up to everyone's expectations cuz it kinda blew my mind.

When the episode was delayed in its broadcast I actually felt dread, since I immediately assumed that the HuaLian Sinner's Pit scenes didn't pass the restrictions and it was going to be edited to death or worse yet, completely cut out. Thank God that was not the case. I was looking forward to much groppage of Hua Cheng from Dianxia, and that's exactly what I got...with an extra large dose of romance too thanks to the amazing score. If anything was left out in the scene I sure couldn't tell nor did I feel anything was missing.

I've watched countless fall and rescue scenes in cdramas, to the degree that sometimes it feels like it's a required element in romance cdramas, and of course it's usually the woman in the couple falling from somewhere and the man coming to her rescue and catching her. And they're usually so poorly done that I either eyeroll so hard my eyes feel like they're gonna pop out of their sockets or I feel almost nauseated from the cheesiness.

But the donghua did it PERFECTLY. Those stupidass cdramas should learn from them. HuaLian's fall and catch scene was paced just right, scored just right, shot just right...simple PERFECTION. Not at all cheesy or cringey, utterly sublime...and everything that followed between them was utterly sublime as well.

Talk about another perfectly captured scene. I loved this line. So sweet and wonderful. No wonder Hua Cheng's in love with this man.

Btw, I know it says friendship, but just in case anyone's worried the donghua is trying to friendzone HuaLian, those Chinese characters can just be a general way of saying getting along, usually in a friendly way, but it's not as friend zone-y as it sounds. Although, I doubt anyone actually watching the show and paying attention to it would even think Hua Cheng only wants to be bro-friends with Xie Lian.

I mean, I guessss bros can be touchy feely and eyefuck eyelove each other all the time, but I would personally like to meet them bros like that.

Also, not fair of the donghua team to cuteify these boys even more. My poor heart almost couldn't take it. Too adorable!!

Honestly, after that HuaLian-ful sequence, my brain was barely able to register anything else. Doesn't help that I already know how things will resolve in terms of this mystery. I am mostly looking forward to how the "new" characters whom are being introduced to looks and how they will bring to life certain non-HuaLian related events that sounded dramatic or even epic in writing.

For example the Banyue Guoshi...was totally not expecting her to look this adorable. She looks so innocent and pretty, who in their right mind would bully such a beautiful little girl??

Although, when she is on the attack, she definitely does feel like a wraith bringing instant death upon her victims. This was so beautifully animated: it looked both terrifying and truly impressive.

Lastly:

Hiiii puppyyyyy!!!! Nice to finally meet you!! Who's a good boy?? 😂 E-Ming's a total cutie pie and his first appearance was cool AF too. I freaked out a little.

OMG I almost forgot!! I LOVE the new ED theme!!! I hope they release an official MV for it soon!

~

NOVEL SPOILERS

Current Reading Progress: finished book 1, currently in book 2, knee-deep in Yong'an famine crisis. Every HuaLian interaction is a treasure, I know I didn't mention them at all last week but pretty much every time they meet up again I scream a bit. The temple scene, when Dianxia told chibi HC to live for him, got me so emotional (I also really want to hug little HC and protect him forever). Seriously felt like I finally reached some kind of important milestone since I read that line somewhere even before I even knew who or what HuaLian was. I don't know how many seasons of the donghua we'll be blessed with, but if we don't get as far as Dianxia's past, then I do hope we at least get to see Ghost City, Gambler's Den, Paradise Manor,and Qi Rong's cave. I can imagine getting into some of that next season but unless it's a long one, I doubt we'd be able to see all of it in one season.

And also, I don't think I love Qi Rong anymore. He really is a bad, bad boy...and not in the sexy way, but more in the holy shit you really are fucked up way.

Finally, the Yong'an thing... I'm already bracing myself. I could be wrong but I already see how that could lead to Xianle's downfall. The knives are probably coming, huh?

TGCF novel translation can be found at: https://tgcfmxtx.carrd.co/