#Tgcf novel passages

[eternal-moss]

One thing I really really hope they express in the next tgcf episode was the sheer excitement that Xie Lian had at seeing the armoury. PLEASEEEE- this is something that Hua Cheng probably built especially for him (given how much Xie Lian likes weaponry and how willing he was to give it to him), and something that is emphasised pretty heavily in the novel. It’s like the one bit of joy that Xie Lian gets this season, I need him to be happy and excited about it.

For reference, here are the pages describing it

(Leave it to Jun Wu to ruin a perfectly good moment am I right?)

[illuminatedferret]

So I've been trying to do a bit of detective work regarding the origin of the "E-ming reopens wounds" translation. TL;DR I think it may have come from an early version of Suika's translation, and is likely a mistranslation.

Most translations I could find online (including Deep Dream translation group, several bootleg novel sites that have stolen Suika or Deep Dream's translations, and a couple of machine translations) have that passage in line with the official translation - that simply, E-ming is dangerous, forging it took a cruel ritual, and touching it would have terrible consequences.

I did however find a pdf containing the webnovel chapters 12-43, with the following:

precisely the excerpt I submitted before. At the top of this pdf is a note:

The link in this note leads to a 404 error, but is one that was shared around a lot before the Sevenseas' official release. I found a tumblr post from 2019 which identifies this link as Suika's (now deleted) translation.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200508224041/https://arahir.tumblr.com/post/188476102230/ok-im-an-anon-who-in-the-past-has-asked-you-how

So, it looks like this is a old document of Suika's, and I can only assume the "reopens wounds" thing was a mistranslation that Suika later corrected.

The TGCF epub I have on hand is an amalgamation of sakhyulations' (up to ch 23) and Suika's (ch 24 and beyond) fan translations. Well, it doesn't actually say it's using Suika's work, but, it does link the source of the ch 24+ translations, that being the above google drive link. I'm not sure who made the epub or when it was made, but they must have taken Suika's work before it had been properly edited.

IIRC this was an epub that was circulating tumblr a while back. I don't know how widespread the "reopens wounds" fanon is, but if it's popular on tumblr, I guess this explains why.

Sorry for such a long ask!! I think that covers almost everything I found. Oh, there was one single bootleg novel site that did have the passage:

"The wounds inflicted by the evil sword of E-Ming are all cursed. Even when the wound is healed, if Hua Cheng wants it, it will bleed once more." Jun Wu answered.

which is slightly different from the above passage from that pdf. But I couldn't find any real source for this translation, so I'm thinking it might just be based on the above passage, with words switched around to disguise the fact it's stolen.

wow!!!! don't apologize for the long ask, this is some awesome digging you did!!! thank you SO much for sharing all your hard work!!

E-ming reopening old wounds being a mistranslation of some sort does make more sense to me than anything else, just because it's so specific and yet the official translation makes no mention of it, but it being from one of Suika's earlier translations is interesting. I'm still curious what the original raws read like. I wonder, considering Xie Lian's arm injury doesn't heal without special medicine, if the raw says something about wounds being slow to heal or not closing, and that's where the mistranslation initially occurred.

'E-ming reopening wounds' isn't a fanon I see discussed much, but I've read more than one fic that uses the idea, and I've mentioned it to friends before in the past without anyone questioning it until recently. So, it coming from an old translation that was probably one of the initial ways people read TGCF makes a LOT of sense- people read it, internalized it, and stopped thinking about it when more accurate translations rolled around, while still keeping the idea in their head.

[taihua]

tgcf=bad writing (based on that reblog THIS ISNT HATE IM JUST GENUINELY CURIOUS I REALLY LOVE U)

Allow me to elaborate! It's my favorite book so I say this with all the love in my heart for the story and characters, but--

She needed an editor: there are large sections of the book that could have been cut without changing the plot. Like Hua Cheng trying on different outfits during the Brocade Immortal arc... I know fans like this scene, but it's obvious word-padding that doesn't contribute to the story or even contribute anything significant to Hualian's relationship development. See also the endless chapters leading up to Mount Tonglu. Bloated cast and characters not contributing anything significant (why were Banyue and Pei Xiu there except to address the fact that MXTX forgot about them after book 1???) and honestly, there's a lot of boring filler around this point in the novel. Reduce and cut.

Another thing that needed editing: loose ends not being tied up. The Brocade Immortal arc is a disaster, difficult to follow, and has no lasting impact besides Ling Wen being in jail for maybe two pages. It's never explained who created Cuocuo and why and Mu Qing's involvement is handwaved even though his explanation doesn't make sense. Xie Lian puts Banyue in a jar and forgets about her for an entire arc.

The descriptions are severely lacking compared to other danmei novels. I'm not a fan of 2ha but I'm reading it anyway because I love the way the author describes the scenery, the food, the clothes, the architecture... Thousand Autumns also has some of the most beautiful passages describing the cultivation techniques. I'm sure some of this has to do with the translation teams, but TGCF also doesn't really give much to work with? The descriptions of the Ghost City are good, but the rest of the book is just kind of like. "Xie Lian was in a room. He looked around and there was a table." versus other writers who are giving us sentences like "The celadon tea set gave an aroma of jasmine where it sat on top of the mahogany table and when he picked up the teacup, it was cool against his palm." Good descriptive writing engages five senses and I don't feel that TGCF does that successfully. What do we know about heaven except that the palaces are golden?

Anyway, what she does do successfully is making an interesting world with memorable characters, even if most of them don't get the attention they deserve, and she's great with dialogue and humor. Plus the romance is good; it's not rushed and it's believable that Hualian like each other (which you'd think would be a given in romance novels, but some of the ones I've been reading lately don't bother to establish that lmao).

tldr version: too many words that aren't giving us the right info :,I

[mhaynoot]

finished tgcf book 1 and here are some random thoughts i had through the book and certain passages that i kept rereading:

xie lian with sincerity: "if you pray to me for good luck, i think you might actually get cursed instead"

he actually ascended after 800 years of collecting scraps??? what. it took me until like the end of the novel to realise that wasn't joke and actually real what. what.

he's so pathetic meow meow i cant wait to see him cry and break my heart into itty bitty goey pieces (currently reading book 3 and im in hell now)

mu qing: passive aggressively bitching at xie lian

xie lian with sincerity: who are you?

he's really just murphy's law on embarrassment but at least everyone else is getting dragged into the pit he made (too bad he's right there next to them, falling flat on his cute face)

first arc flash review:

nan feng and fu yao are instantly obvious like i'd be more shocked if its revealed theyre actually not feng xin and mu qing but it's really really funny seeing them fall into pits one after another

wow that bridal sedan scene is so heart fluttering i think i reread each paragraph like 3 times

goddamn what a fucking ml introduction 👏👏

holy shit people actually die in this??? i was expecting the cannon fodder because he was just so fucking annoying but that woman too? damn that's just so sad

pei xiu meeting xie lian here is just retrospectively as embarassing as the second time

also very nice foreshadowing and setting up of themes

second arc flash review:

they just meet like that????

the donghua made it so obvious but even in the book, you can tell hua cheng was just desperately restraining himself whenever xie lian did some freaky flirty shit

he's such a sweet ml, i'm already foreseeing so much fucking suffering to counteract this blissfulness

dni curtain

i can't believe hua cheng just upped and left to get a tattoo AND make a brand new door after seeing the dni curtain

xie lian is so lax about things, its almost concerning like i get why feng xin and mu qing- i mean nan feng and fu yao are "?!?!?!?!" at him sksksk

i gasped at the venom sucking part, like audible breath and everything, holy fuck

also cute detail about how hua cheng disinfected his blade with nan feng's fire and how both of them did that with implicit understanding

honestly i did not foresee the general being xie lian and had to reread that passage again after finding out. so embarassing for him. i close my eyes. but also hua cheng making everyone kowtow to the grave is just that much sweeter

xie lian does not restrain himself with the skinship at all. he immediately becomes embarrassed afterwards yeah but he always instinctively wants to touch hua cheng sooo badly. like how tf is hua cheng still alive - no wait i guess it's because he's dead that's why.

"does it matter if you're human or not?" XIE LIAN YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT TO HUA CHENG (AND ME)

LMAO nan feng running away when he heard xie lian offer to cook and then running back in to give hua cheng the stink eye and xie lian a warning only to leave again is just so funny, i was soo sad to not see that part in the donghua ver

last part and ending thoughts:

"your highness" ugngnnghhhngnn

the whole conversation between them and their upfrontness with each other is just so refreshing

im suprised they resolved this mystery so quickly, like i was expecting another arc or even a whole more book to dance around this but nope. xie lian says one "hua cheng" and then bam it's in the open.

donghua made xie lian full grab xie lian's face while it was a poke in the book but i approve of both versions, all very cute, all very likely to make hua cheng fall in love even more

awww he has to leave? ohmygod ringringring

and yep thats my thoughts so far

i read the whole book and then watched the donghua btw!! i'm not an "anime first" girlie, im a "the manga was better" loser tryhard always

also i just read all of book 3 by the time i finished writting this so lmao

[zhongwans]

wait so you mean the new TGCF physical edition doesn't have any romance???

Yes. All BL physical editions published within China are censored to hell and back with all same sex romance removed. If they don't cut out scenes entirely, then passages are altered to remove all hints of romance.

The new TGCF physical edition has only three volumes. Note that TGCF is a massive novel and that the uncensored and complete Pinsin edition (published in Taiwan) has six incredibly thick volumes in total. Can you imagine how much the Chinese publisher must have cut out to shave the entire story to just three volumes, despite it including 10k characters worth of "new content"? Also remember that it's not just the same sex romance that has to be removed, but also anything that is considered "sensitive" by the censors (ex. gore)

And note that the censorship is no joke. Even the barest hint of same sex romance within the text is completely wiped out or altered.

[abigail-nicole]

tgcf liveread 3

archiving my live-tweeting of the novel Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu, one of the most delightful reading experiences I ever read, because I reread this live-tweet series constantly because HuaLian brings me all the joy in the world. check my tgcf liveread tag for the full series if you want. please purchase official licensed copies from Seven Seas! liveread from 3/27/20:

resume but with my kindle app settings changed in honor of my first ever visual migraine. Also thanks to @thegeekgene & @snarp who put this all in one ebook for me!

Oh look: there’s the one brain cell in the heavenly realm

Listen I’m a big fan of shi qing xuan rn

This passage drives home a lot of points about Xie Lian’s personality as Good Boy:

“I’ll pay him back with my entire life” like............ getting married........Hualian

MXTX loves Angry Brothr relationships & Mu Qing being v Jiang Cheng here

So both these dumb babies ignore Xie Lian for a couple of centuries but then get mad at each other for ignoring him

Hua Cheng: i Heard someone was being mean to my boyfriend

me: *swoons*

I know I read this yesterday but Hia Cheng kidnapping Xie Lian so they could apologize to each other I could read EVERY DAY

No hua cheng in a murderous rage is so sexy oh no

Xie Lian: Im not prepared for someone to touch me back. please send help

“oh honey it’s fine I can deal with my own shitty family ty ily”

Hualian both like “insult me all day but IF YOU INSULT MY BOYFRIEND I’LL DESTROY YOUR FACE” which is ESPECIALLY charming from Xie Lian

I really appreciate them translating Qi Rong like this

Glad we get the clarification that Xie Lian is also real OP

I love when Xie Lian is like “this certainly can’t be the same-name person i had an important relationship with in the past” and it ALWAYS IS

just think about how Hua Cheng is feeling in this scene !!!! watching his loved one go through so many emotions, watching Xie Lian’s calm exterior finally crack!!!! how much Feelings

this is how Xue Yang would be if he were actually a Yiling Wei disciple

COME BACK TO GHOST CITY WITH ME is what xie lian WANTS him to say

what an adorable exchange between our heroes??? The way their cases are tender & warm while also being full of pretty intense horrors??? they manage to be so shy & sweet & Seen to each other while being so fierce & mysterious to everyone else??

the pacing in this book is truly incredible

Also the dynamic of hualian is so good??? So kind and giving & bringing out the best in each other??? Solving important mysteries but also eating domestic dinner together??? I’m tears

continued in part 4!

[coffeeandritalin]

So when I first read the passages below, I mostly paid attention to Fu Yao and Nan Feng insisting that San Lang drink from Fu Yao's water bottle. I figured San Lang, fully aware of what was happening, was making things difficult for them out of sassy pettiness and a desire to have fun at their expense.

But then something finally registered for me today...

**spoilers ahead**

(passages from 7S TGCF, ch. 8)

San Lang obviously knows who Fu Yao and Nan Feng are. As much as Fu Yao and Nan Feng were trying to unmask San Lang, they were also trying to avoid being unmasked themselves 😝.

Meanwhile, Xie Lian is off in the corner like... 'Guys, I already know (/suspect) everything. Please spare the innocent water bottle and table.'

(I can't believe it took me this long to make this small realization… but in my defense, I tend to binge-read these novels, so I'm reading at a fast pace + my eyes and brain are tired from reading for 8+ hours.)

[magpiefngrl]

My Fave Reads of 2021

I reached 100 reads this year on Goodreads, hurray!

I read a lot, guys. 2021 felt like a veeeeeery long year for me and I found escape in books. I was not much into fanfic for most of the year, barely reading one short piece every month--that is until early December when I reached the 100-book milestone and promptly abandoned all books in favour of fanfic lol

(a fanfic rec post is coming too in a week or so)

My fave books of the year were (in order of reading):

1. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (historical fantasy novella) Gorgeous writing, queer, utterly beautiful. This one hit all my buttons.

2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (horror) Gothic horror at its best--here with colonialism and eugenics.

3. Spectred Isle by KJ Charles (historical paranormal m/m romance) Possibly my fave KJC romance, and that is saying a lot. Love the folkloric magic (similar to Tesh's Silver in the Wood).

4. The Lover by Marguerite Duras (literary) A fragmented novel about memory and loneliness and family.

5. Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official’s Blessing) by MoXiang TongXiu Only one of my most beloved stories ever. At over 2200 pages, it has everything (except smut 😞😞). There's lots of humour in it, but when the knives come out, they hurt.

6. Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (fantasy novella) Astonishingly good, very feminist (in a non-lectury way).

7. Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (psychological horror) A chilling, subtle, masterfully written novella with strong lesbian subtext.

8. We’ve Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (gothic i guess) One of the most unique narrators I've read.

9. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantasy) This is the novel that made me think "we're allowed to write like this???". Outstanding.

Runners-up:

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by MXTX

Look, I get it. When I saw that title, I too put off reading the story. Huge mistake. First, the title makes SO MUCH SENSE when you read the novel. Second, this is a hilarious story. There's angst and misunderstandings, but such wit too. It's also very metafictional, very clever in subverting and discussing tropes. (Some people say that MXTX was in high school when she wrote this. How dare she be so talented.)

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

The conclusion of the Will Darling series is fantastic. KJC managed to stick the landing. There's action and adventures and awful, entitled people but there's also real relationship and character growth from one of KJC's best pairings. A really really good romance series.

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E Harrow

A modern, dying girl finds herself in a Sleeping Beauty universe. An excellent, feminist novella with queer rep and a strong voice.

Stay tuned for more book awards lol

Book I'm most ambivalent towards: Dark Rise by CS Pacat. It’s two months since I’ve read it and my main lasting impressions are: “it ripped off LOTR pretty extensively” and “scenes between Will and James were to die for”, and it’s hard to reconcile the two.

Most bonkers book: The Back Passage by James Lear, a hilarious gay erotica. Our narrator and protagonist tries to solve a crime in one of those English mansions, Agatha-Christie-style, while also joyously fucking all the men he encounters. James Lear is the pen name of a literary author so the writing is actually pretty good.

New author crush: Tana French. In the Woods didn’t make my Top-9 list but I loved her prose so, so, so very much. The mood her novels are saturated in is stunning.

Most sultry atmosphere: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo.

Poetry book: The Carrying by Ada Limon.

Short story collection: Sofia Samatar’s Tender. Stupendous. Samatar is amazing at writing with negative space.

Book that hurt me the most: TGCF. The pain is incomparable to anything I've read before, and I tend to pick angsty books. I cried inconsolably for days. There's so much humour in TGCF, and then bang! Book 4 happens.

Best book boyfriend: Hua Cheng of course. Next question.

Overall OK but didn’t grab me: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow.

Most jaw-dropping plot twist: The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. Wow. This is how you plot murder.

Most delightful narrator: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. Several years later than everyone, I managed to get my hands on this (thanks, scribd!). Although YA isn't quite my cup of tea anymore, I had a lot of fun with the novel and enjoyed the voice of Monty, the disaster bi narrator. Great prose too.

Short story: Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow in APEX Magazine. Available for free. Such depth and emotion in 5k.

Classic I Finally Got Around to Reading: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.

****

Overall, this has been an interesting and mostly satisfying reading year. I DNFed 3 novels (which are 3 more than usual tbh) but I read some bangers too. I've also kept a little rec project going all year, which involved posting 3 book recs each month (tag is here if you want to see the previous 11 months).

I've got about 50 books already on my 2022 TBR so hoping there are some good ones in there. Looking forward to seeing what 2022 will bring!

past years

2015 2016 2019 first half of 2020 top 5 books of 2020

[hamliet]

what is mxtx story take on revenge?

In general, not favorable, but also nuanced. Meaning, MXTX really isn't interested in condemning people.

Xie Lian seeking revenge by unleashing the Human Face Disease is framed as wrong, but at the same time, we see how hurting and desperate he is, and we get it. That he's in this position is wrong; hence, we never see the idea that someone can never do better and just deserves to be put down. That does not justify the actions taken either (as we see through Jun Wu, He Xuan, etc). We get why they do the things they do, even if what they do isn't justified really.

Wei Wuxian also enacts revenge on the Wens for the Jiang Sect and ends up then becoming a target of revenge. Assumptions about seeking revenge inhibit Luo Binghe's growth. It's just not a positive thing, even if it is understandable; it more reinforces a cycle of a broken world full of human beings trying their best.

I think each novel has its own most poignant passage about revenge. In Scum Villain, it's when Qiu Haitang realizes the reasoning behind why Shen Jiu lashed out at her family, and she doesn't even know that Shen Jiu is no longer inhabiting his body (Shen Yuan is). The point is that she was operating on limited information, and it becomes--while not excusable--something horrific when you consider what Shen Jiu endured from her brother. The point is we can only ever operate on what we know, and we should acknowledge our perceptions of people just aren’t always accurate. I’ll just quote Dostoyevsky here, because I think that’s what QHT’s story emphasizes:

“Don't let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex and varied than our subsequent explanations of them.”

In MDZS, it's where Wei Wuxian is confronted at the Burial Mounds post-resurrection. He points out he has already died for his crimes; what on earth will satisfy the people now? The point is that revenge is not about justice; it's about continuing a cycle.

And in TGCF, it's Lang Ying the Elder's fate. He wins his revenge, destroying Xian Le. But it doesn't bring his family back. Instead, he's left with his family's face growing limp limbs out of his body. It's not that he was wrong exactly to rebel (it's complex) but revenge itself doesn't restore life. All you are left with is the scars of those you lost.

[bigbadredpanda]

Hello, there is something that has been bothering me for a while now, and maybe you can help me.

Do you know if it's possible for cultivators become immortal in mdzs?

In the audio drama when Lan Qiren reads the Lan Sect rules he talks about their purpose as cultivators, which is to reach immortality, Wei Wuxian too mentions it not long after. Also Xiao Xincheng, when telling his story, talks about an immortal that lived on a celestial mountain, referring to Baoshan Sanren. These things made me think that yes, it's possible, and maybe it's just very hard.

But then I read somewhere about mdzs being a low fantasy novel. That's when I get confused. I thought mdzs was xianxia, that was considered high fantasy, where there are immortals, and low fantasy was instead wuxia, where there are not.

Since I'm in no way an expert of this genre I don't know if there are specific rules or the author can mix things up and decide what to keep or leave.

I don't know if in mdzs when they talk about becoming immortals they really mean it, it's really possible, or if instead it's just some kind of myth, and they can only prolong their lifespan.

So the most important thing that I'd really like to know is if it's possible or not, in the mdzs universe, and in case how can you tell?

Hope it's okay to ask, your answers are always interesting and I've learned a lot of things thanks to you. Thank you so much if you can help me!

Hello and thank you for your words of support! The short answer is no, cultivators do not actually become immortals in mdzs.

Wuxia and xianxia literary genres have in common the same character xia (侠) that is commonly translated as ‘chivalry’ and which refers to the archetypal hero who strives to uphold justice and punish evildoers. They differ though in the first character, wu (武) means ‘martial arts’ and xian (仙) ‘immortality’. Wuxia generally depicts characters proficient not only in martial arts but also in a variety of weapons, paralysing acupuncture techniques, they also possess near-superhuman abilities such as leaping in bamboo forests and running across water. Xianxia is inspired by Chinese myths and draws heavily from Taoism from which the pursuit of immortality originates. Fantasy elements abound and deities, spirits, demons may mix with humans. It is indeed tempting to qualify wuxia as low-fantasy and xianxia as high fantasy but in truth there is such versatility across both genres that it would be arduous to draw a clear line of delineation between what constitutes low and high fantasy.

Mdzs is officially labelled as a “low fantasy xianxia”. In the author’s notes for chapter 20, MXTX quips: “In this low fantasy xianxia world, there is no mythological creatures like qilin or taotie. The only mythological creatures that to exist are spiritual dogs, spiritual rabbits, spiritual turtles, spiritual pigs. Practical and domesticated.” So even if there are undeniably fantasy elements in mdzs, their scope is limited.

The part you allude to about the Gusu Lan sect rules are an addition in the audio drama that do not feature in the novel. I went back to listen to the episode (it was a fine excuse to listen to the audio drama again) but did not find any mention of immortality. I shall make an attempt to translate Lan Qiren’s speech which is in Classical Chinese (audio drama s1e05):

夫圣贤之典，教人诚孝。谨言慎行，立身雅正，亦已备矣。修道者，养神炼身。当慎节起卧，卯作亥息。均适食饮，餐不过三。犯戒者，禁闭三日，书雅正一篇。

The texts from wise men of virtue instruct on the benefit of devout filial piety. One must be cautious in word and in deed and must behave righteously. Those who cultivate must elevate their minds and refine their bodies. Their life must be properly regulated with fixed hours to rise and to rest, awaking at 5 in the morning and sleeping at 9 in the evening. All nourishment and drink must be taken in just consumption without exceeding three meals. Those who violate the rules must remain in seclusion for three days and copy the volume of “Rightousness” once.

(Fun fact, this quote is based on an actual Chinese classic from the 6th century, “The Family Instructions of Master Yan” by Yan Zhitui)

The other bit that you indicated happens later on when Wei Wuxian is told that he must copy the “Great Justice” section of “Righteousness” three times as punishment. He complains, “Just copying it once is enough to make me ascend”. He's not saying it literally but in a “I will die” way ^^

Concerning Baoshan Sanren, I’ll put forward again my translation of a relevant excerpt (ch.29):

这位抱山散人是位世外隐道，据说与温卯、蓝安等人是同一时期出道的修士。那一辈的风云人物，如今早已魂消身散，只有抱山散人，传闻至今仍未陨落。若果真如此，该有好几百岁了，足见修为了得。

This Baoshan Sanren was a recluse who had forsaken the outside world. It was said that she was a cultivator that emerged during the same era as Lan An and Wen Mao. This illustrious figures from this generation have long since vanished and turned to dust but according to rumours, Baoshan Sanren was the only one who endured to this day. If this were true, she would be several centuries old and it would be a testament to her extraordinary cultivation base.

We learn several things from this passage. First, it’s not said that is effectively immortal, just that she may have lived for a very long time. Second, this is a rumour. It’s a running theme in the series that one must be careful to distinguish between hearsay and actual fact. Third, if these rumours happened to be true, it would be exceptional. So in conclusion, there is no confirmation that the person closest to immortality is actually immortal.

I think that the perception that cultivators in mdzs can live forever come from expectations of the xianxia genre. Although mdzs and tgcf are both xianxia, one is decidedly more down-to-earth than the other and the two do not operate by the same rules and do not share a common lore. The other important contributor to that biased perception is perhaps the definition of xian 仙 in xianxia which can be misleading. As I’ve said, it does mean ‘immortality’ but there’s a figurative sense to that, not only a straightforward literal one. For instance, what is called in English the ‘cultivational world’ is in Chinese 仙门世家, something like “The Immortal Families” if we want to stick close the original. Xian 仙 is an intrinsic part of cultivation but in the case of mdzs, there’s an emphasis on immortality being a conceptual pursuit (to prolong one’s lifespan) and not an actual end goal.

[lemonade-of-gods]

A headcanon that I was thinking of earlier:

Now as we know, the rules of the tgcf verse are that gods need believers to survive, gods die without them and once they're dead they can't reincarnate.

And it's all fair and lovely, and with the passage of time and the evolution of society to how we know it the new world doesn't quite need the old gods anymore. So they fade away

Hua Cheng and Xie Lian survive because fafa is his greatest believer and Xie Lian is his reason to exist, so why not?

So it's not like the world needs them anymore, but it's not like they have a reason to leave the world either.

One day, Xie Lian overhears the prayer of a writer for a novel idea. It's more of an errant curse really, but he's intrigued. And bored.

So he and Hua Cheng send her dreams, ideas, plot bunnies. It works like a charm. And because it's the Internet, its fame spreads all over the world.

With it comes fan followings. Worship in the form of fanart, fanfiction, fan songs... the new kind of believers.

And of course, believers for the old gods. And what forms on the Internet stays on the Internet for quite a long time.

So perhaps it's really not much of a surprise for Xie Lian to stumble across two familiar faces fighting at the supermarket over instant noodles.

But it certainly gives He Xuan the shock of his afterlife when a certain someone takes a seat at his table in a cafe, saying that he'll leave once his brother comes to get him, sporting a smile he'd lost hope of ever seeing again in this life or the next.

[spockandawe]

Than you so much, spockandawe for answering my ask. Do you mind if I ask a few questions again?

Who is your favorite main couple in mxtx novels (wangxian or hualian or bingqiu)? And why?

Who are your fav side couple (don't have to be canon) in mxtx novels (in each of the 3 novels)? And why?

Sorry if you have answered the questions before...

No worries whatsoever! I love talking about fandom things like this :D

Hmmm. I think... I'm going to have to go with hualian as my favorite main couple. It's a really tight race with bingqiu, but the metaphor I've used before is that svsss hits me like I'm eating a bag of doritos, where shh yes okay i know it's lighter on nutritional content than I want it to be, but i can't stop eating and if you try to take it away I will FIGHT YOU-- But tgcf in general and hualian in particular are like a big fancy dinner, and no matter how much i LIKE my doritos, I still have to admit that a real dinner has more substance to it.

I think that a big element of it really is mxtx developing as a writer, and that it's unrealistic to expect a novel she wrote when she was barely an adult to compare to where she is now, and by any standard, tgcf is ambitious as HELL, but that's not all there is to it. I think that for me in particular, there something about the difference between Luo Binghe falling in love as a teenager and achieving love in his mid-twenties and Hua Cheng falling in love comparably young and staying devoted and steadfast without any external support for eight hundred years. I can conceptualize the passage of eight years, but trying to picture eight HUNDRED years of that kind of single-minded adoration just leaves me reeling. And it opens the door to intense gestures of devotion that bingqiu just never had TIME for, like the statues.

There's also something for both these ships that doesn't wangxian doesn't have as much of (which knocked it out of the running ssfdf) and that's that regardless of gong/shou dynamics, there is an intensely submissive element to way that Luo Binghe and Hua Cheng love. And like... that really, really does it for me. And looking at it now, i think that's the real final deciding factor in tipping me in favor of hualian. Luo Binghe begs Shen Qingqiu to choose him, using any and all methods at his disposal. He's 200% down to be as shameless as it takes to get what he wants, and I love it.

But I just DIE at the way Hua Cheng is ready to tie himself into knots to avoid inconveniencing Xie Lian in any way. He's the ruler of a city and lives in a lavish palace, but is completely down to stay in puqi shrine because that's what Xie Lian wants. Xie Lian is part of a heavenly contingent that invades his city, and steals his prisoner and bURNS HIS HOUSE DOWN, and Hua Cheng is furious........ because when Xie Lian consciously decided to jump in front of Hua Cheng's sword, he got hit with Hua Cheng's sword. And it mean I SCREAMED in Mount Tong'lu, when after so much dedication and service, Hua Cheng decides NOT to remove the paralyzing talisman from Xie Lian's body! It makes me appreciate the depths of how much he's FEELING when we see his self-control finally waver! When we get to see those little moments of fear! I can't exactly say that choosing hualian over bingqiu was an EASY choice, but it was the CLEAR choice for me, hahaha

And my favorite side ship....

Oh man, I have no idea how I'm going to explain this, but...... moshang. I just. I love them.

And see, I don't think mxtx even did that great of a job writing them, or at least she didn't spend enough energy addressing the whole 'hmm, casual violence as a display of affection does not actually work with humans, aight' thing. There's still more... fear than I would like at the end of canon, when I think a quick abrupt turnaround for mbj would have legit been appropriate, and if anyone can recognize the difference between his appearance and his actual thoughts, it should be sqh

But also.... this relationship hits so many of my buttons, even if mxtx kind of like, set the microwave timer, and fan creators had to come along and actually hit START.

The shameful truth........ (afdhfj not actually shameful) is that if I had to pick one mxtx character and be like 'it me', i would have a hard time justifying anyone but shang qinghua. The last time i reread the extras and saw the bit about how mbj's cold face was a gift from shang qinghua to his favorite character, I was legit like 'YES, QUEEN!' And in a transmigration story like this, an author being loved by their own character is just THE most indulgent, wonderful thing!

And as far as canon plot goes, one, I VERY much want to write some actual in-depth thoughts about mbj's trauma and baggage from being imprisoned by huan hua palace when he was just a toddler, and realizing that his dad was... not going to protect him from his uncle. I want to pore over that lingering fear and lack of trust, and a gradual swooning over one of the most nonthreatening men around, and terrible (mutual) communication skills leading to a near-fatal falling out and a miracle save. I want to scream about how he puts ALL his faith in shang qinghua to protect him from his uncle, the bogeyman of his youth, and COMPLETELY neglects to warn or inform shang qinghua in any way, and shang qinghua loses like ten years of his life to the stress, but manages to pull it off in the end.

This ship DOES embody some of the things I like most about wangxian, especially the part where two people of intensely different temperaments still manage to build up a deep understanding. Now, wangxian gets messy in large part thanks to external forced, while these two manage to fail at everything, starting with basic communication, all on their own, but like.... I like dumbassery..... these two endear themselves to me XD

[nyerus]

helloo just a question tho... did tgcf specifically mention when xie lian realised that the ring given from hua cheng to him is actually hua cheng's ashes? cuz i dont remember reading abt this or did i miss out on that? have a great day ahead!!

Hi there! Thanks for the ask! I hope you have a great day too~

Xie Lian doesn't explicitly say when he realized the ring was Hua Cheng's ashes, but on the last chapter of the novel when he's talking to Ling Wen, she mentions it point-blank. And Xie Lian agrees and reveals (to the reader) that somewhere along the way, he figured it out himself:

Personally I believe Xie Lian subconsciously figured it out completely between the events of the Kiln and when he goes back to the Heavenly Capital. (But definitely thought of it sooner though.)

By the Kiln, he asks Hua Cheng about his ashes and receives this cheeky reply:

Xie Lian is incredibly stressed at this point in the story, and doesn't have time to inquire further. However, by now he understands Hua Cheng's feelings for him--and if Hua Cheng says there would be no reason to exist if the hiding place of his ashes were destroyed, it's quite significant. And would mean it is definitely related to Xie Lian--as Hua Cheng by this point has been outed as Xie Lian's last, most devoted believer. Countless paintings and 10,000 statues and all.

When he later is taken to the Heavenly Capital and has a tiff with Jun Wu, the ring momentarily slips out from under his robes--and Xie Lian mega panics for a sec:

There is some part of his mind that knows that this is not just a fancy trinket or a spiritual device. Even if he hasn't had time to actually sit down and think about it (because poor boy is witnessing his life being turned upside down), there's a subconscious awareness about the true nature of the ring by this point! If Xie Lian had like 5 minutes to breathe and think about it, he probably would have come to that conclusion directly on-page. But since he's being thrown from one plot point to the next, his subconscious does the work for him, and we as readers don't see it.

Additionally, I'm sure that when he first received the ring (at least by the point where he first asks Hua Cheng about it in Ghost City), the thought had already crossed his mind--and thus, sat there in the back of his brain. As he accumulated more clues and also realized Hua Cheng's feelings for him, his mind probably made the logical connections. Thus, he quietly arrived at the correct conclusion but didn't allow himself to accept it until later. It took a while because it would mean Xie Lian would have to accept the fact that Hua Cheng was in love with him (and that he was in love with Hua Cheng), as a ghost would not give their ashes to just anyone. They'd give it to their most beloved.

TLDR; There is a passage in the last chapter that says Xie Lian figured out the ring was Hua Cheng’s ashes somewhere along the way. Exactly when isn’t known, but probably concretely after the events of the Kiln. He did, however, likely have an idea beforehand--as early as the Ghost City arc. But until he realized the full depth of Hua Cheng’s feelings, Xie Lian probably wouldn’t have let himself believe that.

I hope this answer made it clear for you, though it was quite long haha! Thank you again!~ (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ

[drysauce]

Mdzs reaction time!!! *crowd cheers* (part one)

I regret to inform you that it is 1am again, but, in my defense, it means I’m enjoying the novel, so

Get ready because this is probably gonna be a lot

(Chapter 9)

AJDJJS THIS PASSAGE:

“Wei WuXian called for them, ‘Children!’

Lan JingYi replied, ‘Who are your children? Do you know which sect we are from?’” SO MUCH SASS

DJKSJD Lan JingYi tries to be all tough but the MOMENT someone mentions lwj, he’s like Oh Shoot I Better Be Quiet. I love that

“Lan JingYi was astonished, ‘So that’s how it works? It makes a lot of sense! Wait, so you’re not really a lunatic?’” HES SO BLUNT KDKSJ

ANOTHER GOLDEN PASSAGE:

“Lan SiZhui was breaking down, ‘That is not supposed to happen! The YiLing Patriarch has said before, that high level ones eat souls, and only low level ones eat flesh!’

Wei WuXian couldn’t help but comment, ‘Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess!’” DJSKKD I mean at least wwx is self-aware

(Chapter 10)

“It wasn’t that Wen Ning shouldn’t be here, but that Wen Ning shouldn’t be in this world at all.” *cue dramatic music*

“Jiang Cheng seriously wanted to slap the rotten brat so hard that he went back inside his mother’s stomach.” JAKDJJS PLS THIS IS TOO FUNNY

Mmmmm lwj is very very aware that it is wwx in mxy’s body even after Zidian. Interesting.

More to come in another ask! I read four chapters today, which isn’t a lot BUT I have all day tomorrow (today?) to read. So >:)

Anyway, part two shall be served shortly

okay I will forgive being awake at 1am this time because when I was reading mdzs (and even more often while reading tgcf) I was also staying up for most of the night gsbxhsn but as you said that means you're enjoying it which is good hsbxjzj

bhahah yeah that's exactly how Jingyi is, he's so precious, isn't he?

and yeah wwx is very much aware of that gsbdhjs the stories about the yilling patriarch tend to exaggerate quite often

oOOOOOO wen ning has appeared!!! tbh the case with wen ning was the first thing that shocked me when I got into mdzs, you'll understand why later when the backstory chapters come

hsnzjns yeah jc is really... something,, I mean he says stuff like that but actually he cares about his nephew very much and would literally kill anyone who dares to say a bad word about jin ling

AND OMG YES WANGJI KNOWS OF COURSE HE DOES and I'm very curious about your reaction when you find out why he knew that it's not mxy but wwx, I would say more but I don't want to accidentally spoil anything

[tentative-wanderer]

Hi, tentativewanderer, ..do you mind if I ask a few questions?

Who is your fav main couple in mxtx novels (wangxian or hualian or bingqiu)? And why?

Who are your fav side couple (don't have to be canon) in mxtx novels (in each of the 3 novels)? And why?

Sorry if you have answered the questions before...

Of course I don’t mind ^^

Favourite main couple: WangXian a number of years ago, HuaLian at the moment. Overall I don’t prefer either of these pairs over the other, it’s just that I’ve finally allowed MDZS to settle in the depths of my soul while TGCF is still roiling somewhere closer to the surface.

I like WangXian because Wei Wuxian is just that charismatic and Lan Wangji is a great match for his personality. (You can see how my focus is more on Wei Wuxian...)

I like HuaLian because Xie Lian is inspirational. Hua Cheng’s devotion is sweet, saccharine even, but it would be batty if the recipient weren’t someone as good as Xie Lian. (You can see how my focus is more on Xie Lian...) They make me feel like I need to be better. Yeah I know how HuaLian is also about loving someone regardless of the state they’re in, but I don’t think that translates into loving unconditionally, if we wanna get technical about it. I think that as long as one is capable of reason, having the will to give to others is a vital ingredient (among other factors, perhaps) in becoming worthy of the overwhelming amount of love that Xie Lian and Hua Cheng get.

Bingqiu is fun(ny) but I’m biased against Shen Yuan(’s laziness) so this pairing wasn’t and isn’t my fave 🤣 but I enjoyed the humour.

Favourite side couples:

SVSSS: QiJiu :) I love Shen Jiu, and I love the pairing’s hints/implications/not-too-subtle-subtlety: https://tentative-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/624462327370186752/here-are-my-favourite-heart-rending-tidbits-in. I wonder if such things were retained or got lost in translation. I never read more than a few passages of the English translation, so I don’t know. Anyway, the tragedy is tasty.

MDZS: Shuangdaozhang/SongXiao. I don’t always view them in a romantic light, I like how they’re friends too. They occupy a pleasant in-between spot on the friends-lovers spectrum; to me, their relationship doesn’t feel like it needs to/should be classified as one or the other. Its mere existence is valuable. Daozhang are zen like that :)

I like SongXiao because Xiao Xingchen is Nice. + nice contrast with Song Lan (XXC low laughing point, ie laughs easily, versus SL no laughing point, ie nothing is funny to him). + nice tragedy.

TGCF: I honestly didn’t sense any side pairings in TGCF. Other than Ling Wen/General Bai Jin, maybe 😆. Oh, there’s Feng Xin/Jian Lan and Pei Ming/Xuan Ji, but they’re a (surprisingly realistic and unromantic) tragedy and a disaster respectively, so...no.

Edit: wait. How could I forget my fic tagged Xie Lian/Misfortune (https://archiveofourown.org/works/28014660/chapters/68624541) and my Jun Wu pairings shitpost (https://tentative-wanderer.tumblr.com/post/639787500078071808/if-pairings-are-fckerfckee-then-tgcfs-hidden)? Those are my fave TGCF side couples.