#as it was said in NPAB

[emotionaldisaster909]

CAN WE TALK QI RONG?

And the fact that

Donghua team performed an OUTSTANDING JOB of a character study through animation

Like I’m watching him insult Lang QiangQui

And it suddenly hits me that I kinda understand and feel him???

Like Ke Mo

Even though he is wrong

He has a right to hate Yong An

Xie Lian has much more of it, but-

Have you ever thought that

We never get to know

How Qi Rong died?

Even though he didn’t care for XianLe, it was his only home

So when you see him talk about this-

You can see that underneath his arrogant hateful craziness

There is genuine pain

Which he HIDES BEHIND SMILES

HIS EXPRESSIONS KEEP SWITCHING

AND I APPLAUD THE DONGHUA TEAM FOR THIS DECISION

He laughs in one second

AND IN THE NEXT YOU SEE THIS

This GENUINE ANGER

and a RIGHTFULL ONE AT THAT??

No matter how deeply twisted everything about his mindset is

At its core it’s a lack of any established moral guidelines in his upbringing

And the worst coping mechanism of fighting pain, insecurities and fear of abandonment

By going batshit crazy in defense and grabbing onto everything that makes him seem “important”

Yet by doing so he succeeded in becoming so unimportant

That even his remaining family thought about him so little

That we never got an explanation of how he died

He definitely died alone

And at least for this

He has a right to feel angry

Because anger is just helpless pain

[fauzhee10069]

TGCF map?

While I’m writing a fic and looking for a map, I found this fan made map on reddit thread:

Source: a reddit thread

Unlike the map in MDZS, this fan-made map of TGCF is like any other map in fantasy settings (eg LOTR, Final Fantasy series, anime One Piece/HxH, etc).

But what if the TGCF world itself uses China map as reference like in the MDZS?

Because there is one location that also exists in the real world, namely: the Gobi Desert.

Ke‌ ‌Mo‌ ‌demanded, “Our‌ ‌kingdom‌ ‌had‌ ‌disappeared‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Gobi‌ ‌for‌ ‌over‌ ‌two‌ ‌hundred‌ years.‌ ‌You‌ ‌are‌ ‌not‌ ‌of‌ ‌our‌ ‌people, why‌ ‌do‌ ‌you‌ ‌know‌ ‌our‌ ‌tongue? ‌Who‌ ‌are‌ ‌you?”‌ (TGCF chapter 24)

Xie‌ ‌Lian‌ ‌immediately‌ ‌said,‌ ‌“General‌ ‌Ke‌ ‌Mo,‌ ‌I‌ ‌think‌ ‌you’ve‌ ‌mistaken‌ ‌something.‌ ‌We’ve‌ traveled‌ ‌across‌ ‌the‌ ‌Gobi‌ ‌desert‌ ‌to‌ ‌get‌ ‌rid‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Guoshi‌ ‌of‌ ‌Banyue,‌ ‌how‌ ‌can‌ ‌we‌ ‌be‌ ‌the‌ helpers‌ ‌she‌ ‌sent‌ ‌for?”‌ (TGCF chapter 26)

And here is the location of Gobi desert:

So I want to try guessing the locations in TGCF are, which, although the names are fictional, are based on real locations.

Like Morioh and S city in JoJo which are said to be based on Sendai, Miyagi prefecture.

Before proceeding, remember that this is a fan-made and not a serious project either. This is purely headcanon so you are free to agree or disagree, if you prefer your own headcanon then so be it.

First, regarding the location of Mount Tonglu (Wuyong), I was looking for a map showing the locations of volcanoes in China and found this:

However, I didn't really check the history of these mountains, so I more or less made up the location of Mt. Tonglu here:

The map above is for the event circa 2000 years ago, since volcano eruptions by a single mountain was capable to buried the entire Wuyong kingdom, it made me think that Wuyong's territory wasn't that big.

Besides that, I was inspired by the "No Paths Are Bound" fanfic which brought Xianle into the history of Wuyong. Moreover, it was mentioned that for the people of Wuyong, they tried to invade other kingdoms to take over their land & have their people move in. Thus, I’ve made Xianle and Xuli bordered Wuyong.

Most readers believe that Xuli was located in the north, considering Pei Ming's domain (although I don't think it really has to be, because Xuli kingdom had already fallen during present time which I think, its location is no longer necessary where).

There is also Zhaoyi, my made up kingdom for my fic (therefore, not canon). I was inspired by the timeline of the Xia dynasty era where the royal territory was not as big as during imperial era, so I also made Xianle’s territory quite small as well.

Generally in every dynasty there is always territorial upheaval which often ends with one dynasty overthrowing another. In this fanfic of mine, I want to make sure that the Zhaoyi kingdom will be absorbed by Xianle. Yong'an itself was part of another country in the past which will be taken by Xianle.

The old capital of Zhaoyi is Qiyi. Qiyi itself is actually the old name of Qishan. Again, I got inspired by NPAB to incorporate MDZS’ places in TGCF. The name 'Zhaoyi' itself is taken from the history of Qishan County in the Spring and Autumn period during King Wu’s reign (Zhou dynasty) as one of its state; Shao (召 or 邵).

Regarding Lang’er bay location, I’ve made it based on Qinghai lake. Wait a minute, why the lake? Isn’t it a bay? The initial fan-made map is correct in seeing the concept of Lang'er bay as a ‘truly bay’. But I want to match the location of Lang'er bay to the map of China, which according to TGCF, located to the west of Xianle. The problem is, to the west of China there are no bays! Therefore, I tried to redefine the word 'bay' and I came up with this:

Thunder Bay! According to wiki, Thunder Bay is a large bay on the northern shore of Lake Superior, in Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada.

In addition, in Qinghai Lake itself there is a spot called “Fairy Bay Area”.

Years later, Wuyong had fallen, its territory was absorbed by Xuli. Xianle itself was expanding its territory and managed to seize part of Zhaoyi's. Zhaoyi moved the capital in unknown location (presumably around Yong’an, which still belonged to said kingdom). Also, moving the capital was a common thing to do since a long time ago.

During this time, Banyue and Yushi were found. It is noted that Banyue was located around Gobi desert and Yushi was a kingdom far to the south of Xianle. The blank territory between Xianle and Yushi can be filled with any random countries.

As time went by, Xianle and Xuli were keep growing. The Zhaoyi Kingdom finally fell and Yong'an officially became a part of Xianle. Despite that, some remnants of Zhaoyi still exist as autonomous zone led by rebels.

Circa 800 years ago, Yushi eventually fell and became part of Xuli's territory. You can see how ambitious Xuli country was back then (like the Mongol empire). Xianle itself began to clash with Xuli and managed to seize part of its territory. However during this tension, Banyue took its chance to absorb the autonomous zone of Zhaoyi. More places are revealed.

Less than a decade later, the fall of Xianle happened as a result of the civil war with the Yong'an rebels. Feng Xin mentioned that Yong'an obtained help from other countries secretly. Thus, given the tension between Xianle and Xuli, I presumed that it was Xuli who was secretly helping Yong'an (and also some of the rebel descendants of Zhaoyi who held grudges against Xianle). Actually some of the Xuli people prayed to Pei Ming, but Pei Ming paid no heed, considering that King of Xuli at that time made him break his sword.

During this time, there was a new dynasty that was starting to grow which would become the home country of Shi Wudu, Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan.

The decline of Xuli was starting to happen, as Yong’an and the unnamed country absorbed some of its territories. Yushi's region was eventually taken over by the unnamed country. Yong'an itself became a bigger country than Xianle, its territory reached the eastern edge (which would become Lang Qianqiu's domain later).

The location of Mount Yujun is revealed. Mount Yujun itself is said to be in Pei Ming's domain (north), because we already believe that Xuli is in the north, then Mount Yujun itself is located in Xuli.

Xuli had finally fallen while Banyue itself kept growing. Ling Wen and Pei Ming were responsible for the fall of their own kingdom (lol), I thought the latter agreed to participate because he saw how corrupt his nation had become. Xuli is then divided into several countries which I don’t bother to name and set the regional boundaries.

Circa 200 years ago, Banyue eventually was eradicated by Yong’an. Some years ago (it was not necessary to coincide with the fall of Banyue), the Black Water Demon Lair was discovered. According to TGCF, Black Water Demon Lair is located in the South Sea.

In the southern part of China there is a tropical island called Hainan, a place that I think is suitable for Black Water Island. In the middle of Black Water Island, there is Black Water Lake, and coincidentally:

On the island of Hainan there is also a lake. In the middle of the lake, there is also a small island that I actually wanted to make the location of the Nether Water Manor on, but I just remembered that the manor is like being in separated dimension (iirc underwater inside the lake).

Finally, Yong'an nation also fell and was divided into several countries (which again, I careless to name and set their territories). More places relevant to the plot are revealed (including the MDZS’ one as a tribute to NPAB). In the end, the largest country is Shi Qingxuan’s unnamed country (lol), and also in the Himalayan region there are several unnamed countries.

Interestingly, in the present timeline of TGCF, there aren’t named countries that are still standing.

Specifically below is a map showing the domains of the martial gods:

The domain divisions are purely made up and not based on regional divisions used IRL.

Thank you to those of you who have read up to here. I made this not to ridicule the fantasy map, not at all. In fact I think the TGCF storyline will be more in line with the fantasy map. It's just that I was challenged to use a map of China thanks to the existence of 'Gobi Desert' the novel mentioned.

[littlemissinkdrinker]

Reading Update

I started and finished an audio book this week:  “The Last Sister” by Kendra Elliot. It was really good and I will definitely be looking into the rest of the series.  This is my 13th finish for the year already and we aren’t quite done with January yet (I’m not expecting to finish anymore books between now and the start of February but I said that when I started the Last Sister and ended up being wrong, so there we go).

I’m about 15% of the way through No Paths Are Bound, book 3 of Tiān Guān Cì Fú. This book is about 1000 pages long and it’s going to take me awhile to finish it.

I can’t decide if I should start Magicians of Caprona, pick up the sequel to The Last Sister, or continue with No Paths.....I’ll probably should get the audiobook for TLS’s sequel predownloaded on my phone for the drive into work after my weekend and maybe wait till I get to the 25% mark on NPAB to start the MOC