#as usual SHEN ME SHI PLOT!!!

[spockandawe]

I'm going to have full cohesive pitches for these books as individual experiences sometime soon, i swear, but since I 1) just finished rereading thousand autumns (first time where it wasn't a third mtl), 2) am rereading peerless for the first time in years, and 3) am reading sleuth of the ming dynasty for the first time ever, I've been thinking a LOT about meng xi shi as an author and trying to scrape together my thoughts. Because I think she's really stunningly good! She's one of those authors whose skill just SHINES through, even when a translation is weak, and that's always something so fascinating to me.

But at the same time, i have a harder time raving about her books than most of my other faves. Trying to pitch thousand autumns to friends was something I really struggled with! The other two are easier, by nature of their central dynamics, while yan wushi cranks this one up to nightmare difficulty mode. But I think that it also provides an example of what I might be having to recalibrate for.

Like, I'm an easy binch. If Hua Cheng is leaving a necklace for Xie Lian early on, or Luo Binghe is noticing Shen Qingqiu's leaves right at the beginning of their books, I'm hootin and hollerin, I'm drumming my heels on the floor. And Meng Xi Shi is NOT about that instant gratification lifestyle. We're not having dessert before dinner, and there is some INTRICATE plot shit happening in all these books that is not getting muscled aside for indulgent ship time.

I'm absolutely certain it's a conscious choice, and one i respect the hell out of, especially since all of these books have the characters woven in with actual historical figures, which always manages yo take me by surprise. I assume details like keeping a wholeass imperial prince secret until he's five are fictional embellishment, but... nope! Actual history! The SCOPE of these plots and the politics they all muck around with means that there are limits to how much an author could spend time on ship bait without trivializing the central conflict. As much as i enjoyed golden stage, i never cared about the politics. And not caring about the politics in meng xi shi's work would be jettisoning SO much nutritional content.

And, that's not to say that there's NOTHING indulgent for me in the earlier parts! Yan Wushi starts delightedly letting people assume he's plowing Shen Qiao as soon as they start traveling together, Feng Xiao spends the second mystery of Peerless totally disguised as Cui Buqu's wife and fighting with him as "this wife", and Sui Zhou and Tang Fan start straight-up cohabiting POSTHASTE. And then. Meng xi shi makes you wait for it.

This isn't bad! The delayed gratification is very GOOD! The tension is delectable. The feeling of 'oh come on now you're just dragging this out on purpose' is mitigated by having characters drag things out in character. Shen Qiao's sense of responsibility pulls him towards Yan Wushi, and then away from Yan Wushi (and yan wushi is also Helping sfhfgdf). Feng Xiao doesn't move THAT fast, but Cui Buqu will Literally Die before he'll admit he has tender feelings. And Tang Fan is textually scared to lose what he has platonically with Sui Zhou by stepping into unknown territory. I'm still howling OH COME ON, but it transmutes into something directed at the characters, not the author.

And the plots we're making space for like this are hefty bois. All of them have heavy political themes, where in my usual diet, i would reluctantly accept a little politics on the side in my ancient chinese fantasy meal. And each of these books has baited me further into caring about mundane politics 😂 In Thousand Autumns, it's very much a balance between lavishly described fantasy martial arts extravaganza and big politics enhanced by the martial arts extravaganza. Peerless, we're down one martial artist in the lead characters, so there's more non-fighting politics happening (and both characters are secret police commanders), but at least one of my boys floats around playing magic music on his guqin. Fourteenth Year Of Chenghua? Goddamn, I'm reading this thing and I'm in the THROES over ancient chinese imperial office politics, like oh noooo oh my god HOW COULD THEY DEMOTE HIM AT A TIME LIKE THIS, fffff, who can possibly intercede with the emepror now-- And i have NO idea how i reached this point, this is so funny to me.

I do think it says a lot for all three of these that they won me over so hard despite not being as tailored to my personal tastes as something like mxtx! I do love all them to pieces. But it's something like... Digging in at the earlier, slower stages of these books was a hell of a struggle. One that paid off, but i worry about people bouncing off them! Something I've said about thousand autumns (and will say again) is that it's a book that asks for a lot of trust from readers. Some of that is PURELY down to yan wushi, but the structure and pace doesn't make that easy. I do think that the trust is repaid by the end, at least in terms of my reading experience, but it makes me worry! I do want people to read these!

Actually that brings me to the last big strong point I want to mention before i get back to reading: the character writing. Because GODDAMN, the character writing. It both contributes to the slow start in these books, I think, but also MASSIVELY enriches the emotional payout as they progress.

Yan Wushi is one of the funniest, most obnoxious characters of all time! He's also cruel, demanding, and overbearing, and a strong, vivid personality like that takes real time and effort to develop. The beginning of the book looks like it could slip into misery porn + stockholm syndrome healing cock = i guess this is a healthy relationship now. And it doesn't! But it's hard to tell how it WILL go, and that makes it hard to commit to a tome like this. Feng Xiao is comparably obnoxious and hilarious, but Cui Buqu is closed up tight as a clam, and both of them deal in secrets professionally, it is HARD to start accessing any hints of emotional sincerity in either of them. And Tang Fan and Sui Zhou are both junior government officials, early in their careers in a volatile work environment, and they present in a pretty reserved, professional way at first, and the subtler/goofier character notes take time and intimacy to properly manifest. wang zhi on the other hand--

I recommend these books! I really recommend them! I don't want to be underwhelming people with 'oh, you won't like it at first, but JUST YOU WAIT.' Because I did like them at first. They didnt elevete me to the same flailing emotional THROES as some novels, but the quiet rich flavor of the relationships in these are FABULOUS. And the sheer scope of the plots she pulls off, I mean, holy shit. I'm not underwhelmed by these books at all, I'm more likely to get overwhelmed, there's a reason I've been savoring the latest reading experience. I like them a lot! I like meng xi shi as a lot! In the sliver of cnovels that I've sampled, her books are doing some really cool things i haven't seen anyone else pull off, especially with such aplomb. I didn't start out LOOKING for books like that, but I'm still really, really glad i found them, and I do highly recommend them, just in general. I'll figure out how to pitch them individually soon.

*holds probably over 1.5M words of meng xi shi tomes* I Just Think She's Neat

[mirageofadesert]

C-Drama Review: Only For Love

Broadcast: Hunan TV, Mango TV, 2023, 36 Episodes Genre: Romance

My Rating 4.5/10

A drama that stays a bit too true to its source material, ultimately failing to translate the charm of the web novel into a TV adaption.

Acting: 6/10 World-building: 3/10 Production: 5/10 Storytelling: 4/10 Pacing: 4/10 Re-watch Value: 3/10 

Summary with minor spoilers

Zheng Shuyi (played by Bai Lu) is an ambitious reporter for a financial newspaper. In order to write another cover story, she wants to interview the well-known entrepreneur Shi Yan (played by Dylan Wang). The only distraction in her ambition comes in from of her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, who is cheating on her with another woman. Zheng Shuyi vows revenge by focussing even more on her career - and seducing the rich uncle of her ex's new girlfriend. A series of misunderstandings lead to her inadvertently mistaking Shi Yan for him. And then there's Shi Yan's real niece Qin Shi Yue (played by Shen Yu Jie), who soon starts working as an intern at Zheng Shuyi newspaper under a secret identity. Follow their tangled love story through 36 episodes of misunderstandings, awkward car rides and boring business talk.

My review - spoilers ahead!

While I never have high expectations for modern cdramas, the combination of Bai Lu and Dylan Wang made me excited. There were quite a few scenes that made me giggle like a teenage girl, and some of the tension arced made me come back to the show every day. However, there are a lot of things wrong with this show.

The main problem is the failed attempt to transfer the charm ad humor of the web novel directly to the drama, without making adaption based on the different type of media. There were many scenes that had the typical web novel/manga elements - frozen characters, puppy eyes, awkward silence. As drawings, these are usually expressed with additional text or symbols. Since those kinds of edits are only done in variety shows, all we got were the character staring at each other or making awkward facial expressions. The show also failed to make use of music to deliver the meaning of these scenes.

This left us with a drama, that lacked chemistry between the leads ad made the acting feel wooden and boring. And that in a drama with the queen of chemistry!

On top of that, the show failed to have an interesting secondary plot. Nearly all the exciting scenes and awaited reveals were linked to the niece, who became my favorite character. The work-related scenes were incredible badly written. At times, it felt like they had just used place-holder lines instead of writing actual dialogue.

All of this contributed to a disappointing performance of every actor in the cast. I personally don't think that Dylan Wang's dubbing was an issue because of his higher voice, but I think the line delivery from the whole cast was not well done. It took away the little emotions the story allowed in the first place.

The first couple of episodes, I was waiting for the drama to switch tone, based on Bai Lu's usually choice in scripts. However, Only For Love stayed true to its storytelling style from the start to the unremarkable finish. It had its cute and funny moments, but overall it's the weakest drama I have seen Bai Lu star in so far. Maybe after all the angst, it was time for something light! I would recommend watching this Only For your Love for the actors!

[liberty-or-death]

I’ve just started reading Thousand Autumns/qianqiu and I posted my first meta a few weeks ago on Twitter.

THE TITLE; Thousand Autumns

Thousand Autumns is a really nice and poetic name, but term 千秋 has three meanings. The first is, a long time, the second is a thousand years (lol it’s pretty similar to the first) and the last meaning is an elderly man’s birthday lmao (I think this is probably the least relevant meaning? 😅) . (The term’s drives from the poem “With Su Wu” written by an anonymous post but I’ll come back to it only if it becomes relevant when I read more haha.

Personally, the title reminded me of the idiom 各有千秋 when I first watched the donghua. This term means everything has its merits and strengths, which I thought was particularly fitting since Shen Qian and Yan Wushi are uh, very different lol

🐥HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Thanks to Meng Xi Shi’s amazing world building, it’s pretty obvious which period Thousand Autumns was situated in just from Chapter 1 alone. (Still, this is a fictional wuxia novel so please take this with a pinch of salt)

“After Yan Wushi’s entered seclusion

In Chapter 1, Yu Shengyu says, “Shortly after your retreat, Gao Wei, the new emperor of Qi Country, ascended the throne. (…) In ten years, Qi Country's national strength has declined sharply. The (Northern) Zhou Dynasty Emperor Yuwen Yong (aka Emperor Wu of Northen Zhou) is planning to attack Qi, I am afraid that the North will be annexed by Zhou State soon." ” (MTL by yours truly)

🦄 My Commentary:

Northern Qi was an imperial dynasty that ruled from 550-557AD. And as the novel says, it was eventually conquered by the, Northern Zhou Dynasty (the Northern Qi was particularly corrupt and the Emperor Yuwen Yong had been plotting it for sometime). This paragraph effectively puts the novel in the Northern and Southern Dynasty (420-589AD).

Skip to 9:34 of this video to learn more about the historical events during the Northern & Southern Dynasty (it’s really short);

And lol, THIS is what I really love. Meng Xi Shi explains why Northern Qi was so corrupted in relation to the novel.

Chapter 2 (EDITED MTL)

“The Gao Family (Gao Wei’s family) of the Qi Country was absurd, and the emperors loved to be close to the demonic clans . Under Gaowei’s rule, he got very close to the Hehuan Zong, and the Hehuan Zong also grew in power in the Qi State”

🦄 My commentary

OKAY I LOVE THIS. If you’re familiar with the story, you’d know by now that there are 3 demonic sects - Huanye, Hehuan and Fajing. Lets now focus on the meaning of 和欢 (Hehuan). It doooooes mean happiness/harmony but tbh, it’s usually used to describe people fucking around LOL She’s basically implying that the Qi Country fell because its people were fucking around too much lol

[sarah-yyy]

bodyguard au prompt #4 and/or #20, wangxian please!

#20 - “please don’t pretend to care more than you actually do”

Wei Wuxian is unhappy, this much Lan Wangji can tell. 

It shouldn’t have been so. Lan Wangji has crossed a desert to save Wei Wuxian, brought him into the palace, and reunited Wei Wuxian with… With the one he loves. 

Lan Wangji has done so at great cost to himself, thinking that he had done the right thing, and yet. 

Wei Wuxian is unhappy.

“Tell me how to fix it,” he says quietly to Wei Wuxian. “You are unhappy. I can fix it. Tell me how.”

Wei Wuxian flashes a smile that isn’t really a smile at him. “Please don’t pretend to care more than you actually do, er-dianxia,” he tells Lan Wangji, and turns back to staring out the window. He does that often, these days, as if wishing he could leave the palace walls. “It hurts more when you do that.”

His words are too cryptic; Lan Wangji doesn’t understand. “Wei Ying?” 

“You serve your emperor well,” Wei Wuxian murmurs. “Lan Xichen is rightfully proud of you.”

Even Lan Wangji would not use His Majesty’s given name, but it seems unimportant to point that out to Wei Wuxian. If it would make Wei Wuxian happy, Wei Wuxian should be able to call the emperor anything he wants. 

Besides, they are to be married soon. Who is to say that the emperor has not granted him leave to do so?

“You are unhappy,” Lan Wangji says again. “You weren’t like this, before.”

He means of the journey back to the imperial city, back when Wei Wuxian thought that Lan Wangji was just a random soldier, a hired bodyguard, sent by the Jiang family to escort him back, back before Wei Wuxian learnt of the alliance, back before Wei Wuxian realised that the reason why it was so important that he be taken to the palace was to serve as consort to the emperor. 

Wei Wuxian had been happy, then.

Lan Wangji had been happy, then.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t speak. 

Lan Wangji advances towards him. 

“That’s close enough, er-dianxia,” Wei Wuxian says lightly, when Lan Wangji is about three paces away. “We should keep our distance. After all, I am to marry your brother.”

Lan Wangji’s heart clenches at the thought, and he hurts, he hurts the same way he had when the imperial edict announcing the upcoming union of his imperial brother and Wei Wuxian was read out. 

“But you are unhappy,” he says again, for the third time, soft but fierce. 

It’s important to him that Wei Wuxian is miserable. He needs to know how to make it better.

“How could I not be?” Wei Wuxian snaps, turning to face Lan Wangji properly. “How could I not be unhappy, when this is happening to me?” 

Lan Wangji can feel his own heart shatter at the admission. Wei Wuxian is unhappy, and Lan Wangji would rather die than to let him keep being unhappy.

“How could I not be unhappy, when I have spent two months on the road, slowly falling in love with a man I thought was my soulmate, only to find that I have been brought back to marry his brother?” Wei Wuxian closes the distance between them, fists his hands in Lan Wangji’s robes. His eyes shine with tears. “How am I supposed to be happy, er-dianxia, when you’re the man I love, but not the man I’m meant to marry?” 

Lan Wangji’s lips part in surprise. 

Wei Wuxian loves him. 

Wei Wuxian loves him. 

Lan Wangji lets out a ragged breath. “You love me,” he whispers. “You love me.” 

“Of course I love you, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian says, crying. He pitches forward, wraps his arms around Lan Wangji’s waist, and presses his face to the crook of Lan Wangji’s neck. “I love you, and it’s killing me that everyone wants me to marry Lan Xichen. That you want me to marry Lan Xichen. I can’t, Lan Zhan. I only love you.”

Lan Wangji closes his arms around Wei Wuxian’s back, holds him close tightly. “Wei Ying,” he breathes out. It’s all he can manage, he’s so overwhelmed. Wei Wuxian loves him. “Wei Ying.” 

“Can you fix this, er-gege?” Wei Wuxian whispers. 

Er-gege - it’s the most wonderful words to hear out of Wei Wuxian’s mouth, after enduring weeks of his overly polite er-dianxia. Lan Wangji finds himself smiling, and then unable to stop. 

“I thought you would want to,” he says. “Everyone wants to marry the emperor. To be consort. You joked about it often, on our journey back. You said one glimpse of the emperor was all it took for him to steal your heart. I thought you loved him. I thought marrying him might make you happy.” He takes a deep breath. “His Majesty does not want to marry you.”

Wei Wuxian pulls away. “What?”

“You’re not the Jiang he wishes to marry,” Lan Wangji confesses. “But I thought it might please you, and I spoke to His Majesty about it. I thought… I thought that was what you wanted.”

Wei Wuxian blinks, slowly. “You…asked Lan Xichen to marry me, because you thought I wanted to marry him.”

Lan Wangji nods. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I misjudged, and made you unhappy. I will speak to His Majesty. I will fix it, I promise, Wei Ying.”

“I won’t have to marry him? You promise, er-gege?” Wei Wuxian asks, hope shining brightly in his eyes. 

Lan Wangji nods. He will make sure of it, no matter what he has to do. He doesn’t expect that it will be a hardship, convincing his brother to recall the edict. 

“And us?” Wei Wuxian asks. “What of us?” 

“If Wei Ying loves me,” Lan Wangji says, heart rabbiting in his chest, “if Wei Ying would be happy with me, then will Wei Ying agree to marry me?” 

Wei Wuxian reaches a hand up, cups Lan Wangji’s face gently. “Will that make you happy too, er-gege?” 

“More than anything else,” Lan Wangji tells him hoarsely, honest. 

“Then yes,” Wei Wuxian murmurs, and presses his lips to Lan Wangji’s. “Oh, yes, Lan Zhan, let’s get married.” 

(buy me a kofi!)

[janecrockeyre]

scum villain is a greek tragedy disguised as a regular tragedy disguised as a comedy disguised as a danmei

this is going to be long, and this is only PART ONE.

a.k.a, Analysing the plot of Scum Villain’s Self Saving System through Aristotle’s Poetics, because I Have Mental Issues

Part One: Introduction and the Tragic Hero

Scum Villain’s Self Saving System is a tragedy disguised as a comedy, unless you’re Shen Yuan, in which case it’s a mixture of a romance and a survival horror. It's a fever dream. It's a horrible, terrible book that made me feel new undiscovered emotions when I finished reading it. 

The thing is... SVSSS shares characteristics with some of the most famous tragedies in the West, such as Oedipus Rex, Medea, Antigone, the Oresteia... if you haven’t read these, I’ll explain everything. But the gist of my argument is this: SVSSS is the perfect tragedy. In triplicate. 

Tragedy as a genre is old as balls and so it has meant slightly different things to different people over the last few thousand years. I'll be focusing on ancient Greek tragedy, which was performed at the yearly Festival of Dionysus in Athens during the 500-350s BC (give or take a hundred years). Aristotle, when writing about this very specific subset of tragedy, had no idea that one day Scum Villain would be written, and then that I would be using his work as a way to look at Shen Qingqiu’s Funky Transmigration Mistake. Anyway!

Greek tragedy greatly influenced European dramatic tradition. I have a lot of opinions about white academics idolising and upholding the classics as the "paragon of culture" but I'll withhold them for now. I have no idea if MXTX has read Greek tragedy or not, so don't take this as me saying they are writing it. 

In my opinion, tragedy is a universal human constant. We are surrounded by pain and hurt and none of it makes any sense, so we seek to process that pain through drama, art, literature, etc. We want to understand why pain happens, and how it happens, and try to make sense of the senseless. The universe is cold and cruel and random. Tragedy eases some of that pain. 

On that note: Just because I am analysing Scum Villain through a Greek lens doesn't mean that it was written that way. I'm pasting an interpretation onto the book when there's probably a very rich and deep history of Chinese tragedy that I just don't know about. If you ever want to talk about that, please, god, hit me up, I would love to learn about it!! 

Anyway, tragedy. MXTX is excellent at it! Mo Dao Zu Shi? Painful dynastic family tragedy. Heaven Official's Blessing? Mostly romance, but she managed to get that pure pain in there, huh? 

But in my opinion, Scum Villain holds the crown for the most tragic of her stories. MDZS was more of a mystery. TGCF was more of a romance. Neither of them shy away from their tragic elements. 

Scum Villain would fit right in between the work of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. How? Let me show you. Join me on my mystery tour into the world of "Aristotle Analyses Danmei..."

Part One: The Tragic Hero

What is a tragic hero? Generally, Greek tragic heroes are united by the same key characteristics. He must be imperfect, having a "fatal flaw" of some kind. He must have something to lose. And he must go from fortune to misfortune thanks to that fatal flaw. 

There are two (technically three) tragic protagonists in SVSSS and all of them are tragic in different but formulaic ways. Each protagonist has their own version of “hamartia” or a “fatal flaw”. 

Actually, hamartia isn’t necessarily a flaw - rather, it is a thing which makes the audience pity and fear for them, a careful imperfection, a point of weakness in the character’s morality or reasoning that allows for bad things to happen to them. For example, in Oedipus Rex, the king Oedipus has a “fatal flaw” of always wanting to find the truth, but this isn’t exactly a flaw, right? Note: this flaw can be completely unwitting, as we see with Shen Yuan. It can also be something that the protagonist is born with, some kind of trait from birth or very young. 

Shen Yuan

Shen Yuan’s “hamartia” is his rigid adherence to fate and his inability to read a situation as anything but how he thinks it ought to be. He believes that Bingmei will grow into Bingge, and it takes several years, two deaths, and some truly traumatising sex to convince him otherwise. 

Shen Jiu

Shen Jiu’s fatal flaw is his cruelty. It is his own sadistic treatment and abuse of Binghe which directly leads to his eventual dismemberment. This is kind of a no-brainer. Of course, it isn't all that simple, and as an audience we pity him for his cruelty as much as we fear it because we know it comes from his own abuse as a child. This just makes him even more tragic. Delicious. 

Luo Binghe

Luo Binghe’s fatal flaw is a complicated mix of things. It is his position as the “protagonist” which compels him to act in certain ways and be forced to suffer. It is his half-demonic heritage, something entirely out of his control, which sets in motion his tragic reversal of fortune when he gets yeeted into the Abyss. He also, much like Shen Yuan, has the propensity to jump to conclusions and somehow make 2 + 2 = 5. 

As well as having their respective “flaws”, all three protagonists match the rough outline of a good tragic hero in another way: they are in a position of great wealth and power. Even when you split the different characters into different “versions”, this still holds true. Yes, Luo Binghe is raised a commoner by a washerwoman foster mother, but his dad is an emperor and he also ends up becoming an emperor himself. 

Yes, Shen Jiu is an ex-slave and a victim of abuse himself, but Shen Qingqiu is a powerful peak lord with an entire mountain’s worth of resources at his back. 

Shen Yuan is a second generation new money rich kid. 

Bingge is a stereotypical protagonist with a golden finger. Bingmei is a treasured and loved disciple with a good reputation and a privileged seat by his shizun’s side. 

In a tragedy, having this kind of good fortune at the beginning of your story is dangerous. Chaucer says that tragedy is (badly translated into modern english) “a certain story / of him that stood in great prosperity / and falls out of high degree / into misery, and ends up wretchedly”. If we follow this line of thinking, a good tragedy is about someone who has a lot to lose, losing everything because of one fatal point of weakness that they fail to address or understand. 

If we look at Shakespeare, this is what makes King Lear such a fantastic tragic protagonist. He is a king in control of most of England, who from his own lack of wisdom and excess of pride, decides to split his kingdom apart to give to his daughters, favouring his murderous, double crossing progeny, and condemning his only actually filial daughter to death. He loses his kingdom, his mind, and his beloved daughter, all because of his own stupidity.

This brings us to:

Part Two: Peripeteia

This reversal of fortunes is called peripeteia. It is the moment where the entire plot shifts, and the hero’s fortunes go from good to bad. Think of it like one of those magic eye puzzles, where you stare at the image until a 3D shark appears, except you realise the shark was always there, you just couldn't ever see it, waiting for you, hungry, deadly, always lurking just behind that delightful pattern of random blue squiggles. 

Each tragic hero has their own moment of peripeteia in SVSSS, sometimes several:

Shen Qingqiu

In the original PIDW, SQQ’s peripeteia presumably occurs when he finds out that Bingge didn’t perish in the Abyss but has actually been training hard to come and pay him back. There’s really not much I’m interested in saying here - as a villain, OG!SQQ is cut and dry, and the audience doesn’t really feel any pity or fear for him. As Shen Yuan often mentions, what the audience feels when they see OG!SQQ is bloodlust and sick satisfaction. There is also the trial at Huan Hua Palace, which I will talk about in Shen Yuan’s section. 

Shen Yuan (SQQ 2.0)

One of SY’s most poggers moment of peripeteia is the glorious, terrifying section between hearing Binghe for the first time after the Abyss moment, and getting shoved into the Water Prison. 

“Behind him, a low and soft voice came: “Shizun?”

Shen Qingqiu’s neck felt stiff as he slowly turned his head. Luo Binghe’s face was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

The scariest thing about it was that the expression on his face was not cold at all. His smile wasn’t sharp like a knife. Rather, it showed a kind of bone-deep gentleness and amiability.”

This is the moment of true horror for Shen Yuan, because he knows what happens next: the plot unfurls before him, inevitable and painful, and he knows that death awaits him at Luo Binghe's hands (lol). Compare it with the bone deep certainty with which he faces his own downfall during the sham of a trial later in the chapter (I’ve bolded the important part):

“In the original work, Qiu Haitang’s appearance signified only one thing: Shen Qingqiu’s complete fall from grace. [...] Shen Qingqiu’s heart streamed with tears. Great Master… I know you’re doing this for my own good, but I’ll actually suffer if she speaks her words clearly. This truly is the saying “not frightened of doing a shameful deed, just afraid the ghost (consequences) will come knocking”!”

After the peripeteia is usually the denouement where the plot wraps up and the threads are all tied together leaving no loose ends, but because this tragedy isn’t Shen Yuan’s but the former Shen Jiu’s, it’s impossible to finish. 

Shen Yuan cannot provide the meaningful answers that the narrative demands because 1) he doesn’t have any memory of doing anything, and 2) he wasn’t the person who did them. Narratively, he cannot follow the same path as the former SQQ because he lacks the same fatal flaw: cruelty. 

This is why Binghe doesn’t kill him - because he loves him, rather than despises him. And this is why Shen Yuan has to sacrifice himself and die for Luo Binghe in order to save him from Xin Mo: because the narrative demands that denouement follows peripeteia, and SQQ’s fate is in the hands of the narrative. 

(Side note: I believe that this literal death also represents the death of OG!SQQ's tragic arc. The body that committed all those crimes must die to satisfy the narrative. SQQ must die, like burning down a forest, so that new growth can sprout from the ashes. After this, Shen Yuan's story has more room to develop instead.)

It must happen to show Bingmei that SQQ loves him too. And this brings us to Bingmei.

Bingmei

Bingmei has two succinct moments of utter downfall. The first is a literal fall - his flaw, his demonic heritage, leads his beloved shizun to throw him down into the Abyss. From his point of view, SQQ is punishing him simply for the status of his birth. He rapidly goes from being loved and cherished unconditionally, to being the victim of an assassination attempt. 

He realises that he is totally unlovable: that for the crimes of his species that he never had a hand in, he must pay the price as well: that his shizun is so righteous that no matter what love there was between them, if SQQ sees a demon, he will kill it. Even if that demon is Bingmei. 

The second moment is when SQQ dies for him. Again, from his point of view, he was chasing after a man who was struggling to see him as a human being. Shen Qingqiu’s death makes Bingmei realise that he has been completely misunderstanding his shizun: that SQQ would literally die for him, the ultimate act of self sacrifice from love: that SQQ loved him despite his demon heritage. 

Much like King Lear holding the corpse of his daughter and wailing in sheer grief and pain because he did this, he caused this, Bingmei gets to hold his shizun's cold body and cry his eyes out and know that it was his fault. (Kind of.)

(Yes, I’m bringing Shakespeare into this, no I am not justifying myself)

Maybe I'm a bit sadistic, but that scene slaps. Let me show you a comparison of scenes so you get the picture. 

Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following

KING LEAR

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so

That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives.

[...]

 KING LEAR

And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,

Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,

Look there, look there!

Dies

Versus this scene in SVSSS: 

Luo Binghe turned a deaf ear to everything else, greatly agitated and at a loss of what to do. He was still holding Shen Qingqiu’s body, which was rapidly cooling down. It seemed like he wanted to call for him loudly and forcefully shake him awake, yet he didn’t dare to, as if he was afraid of being scolded. He said slowly, “Shizun?”

[...]

Luo Binghe involuntarily held Shen Qingqiu closer.

He said in a small voice, “I was wrong, Shizun, I really… know that I was wrong.

“I… I didn’t want to kill you…”

PAIN. SO MUCH BEAUTIFUL PAIN. Yes, I know Shakespeare isn’t Athenian, but he was inspired by the good old stuff and he also knew how to write a perfect tragedy on his own terms. Anyway. I’ll find more Greek examples later.

This post was a bit all over the place, but I hope it has been fun to read. Part Two will be coming At Some Point, Who Knows When. This is a bit messy and unedited, but hey, I’m not getting paid or graded, so you can eat any typos or errors. Unless you’re here to talk to me about Chinese tragedy, in which case, please pull up a seat, let me get you a drink, make yourself at home.

ps: if you want to retweet this, here is the promo tweet!

[hamliet]

A Game of Thrones: Ming Dynasty Edition

Or, Hamliet received a recommendation for Qiang Jin Jiu (thanks @khunsimp​)  saw the premise of enemies-to-lovers, disgraced sons, and sins of the father themes, was like “that’s my jam,” and read 164 chapters in a single weekend. (There’s still like. ~120 to go that aren’t yet translated #fun). 

It is indeed my jam and is essentially the love story of Mulan’s Shang and 2ha’s Shi Mei. I’m kidding, the leads are their own characters (very much so!) but that’s whom I kept comparing them to in my mind. 

Shen Zechuan is a particularly compelling character. He’s introduced as a somewhat pathetic figure, a PTSD-stricken teenager who’s lost everyone he ever loved, was never really treated as a son by his father, and yet is being tortured and sentenced to die for the sheer fact that he is his father’s only surviving son. His father supposedly committed treason, for which Shen Zechuan pays the price. But then the story switches, and you see Shen Zechuan’s cunning nature, which is in many senses just as pitiful but dangerous. I mean the guy’s skinning people alive by chapter 30 so. 

Xiao Chiye at first was, to me, likely to be less interesting as a character because I’m not usually into the physically driven characters--but I was wrong. He’s equally as well-developed and complex as Shen Zechuan, and his continual struggles with duty, his love for his family, and his internal struggles are compelling. His relationships with his family is particularly heartwarming. The scene where he tells his father he’s fallen in love with a man, essentially coming out to him, was deeply touching and wholesome--which stands out all the more because of the story’s extremely dark tone (which I’ll talk about later).

The plot is highly complex. It's also very political, which I enjoy, although I will admit that not having the conclusions yet definitely means some parts feel fragmented at this stage--but they probably won’t feel this way by the end. I’m highly intrigued by the mysteries surrounding Bai Cha, Shen Zechuan’s mother, and by the premise of Qi Zhuyin and Hua Xiangyi’s relationship (also, canon lesbian couple! Who are complex characters! It’s like the characters from Female General and Eldest Princess ended up in a good story!) 

The story’s tone is quite dark--I literally have no expectations for any character besides, I’m told, the main pairing and the lesbians to get a happy ending. It’s very tragic and violent, dark and exploring the worst of humanity more so than the best. Hence, why I compare it tonally to A Song of Ice and Fire. However, that doesn’t mean the story is nihilistic--for the most part, it’s really not. That dark tone is its strength as much as it is also my largest critique. 

For the latter element, there are chapters where the story can almost feel as if it is wallowing in that darkness--I’m not sure, for example, I needed the scene of a pregnant concubine being drowned, nor the told-to-us backstory of Mu Ru if she was never going to be properly explored before dying. Nor Li Jianheng’s tragic childhood, which was almost too much to bear especially with the ending he got. A lot of the unnecessary elements also seem to concern violence against women, and while it does have really nice female characters with arcs, this was... a lot. 

However, as hinted above, the darkness does make the beautiful, loving, heartwarming, and yes, funny (the novel has a great sense of humor) moments shine more brightly. The way Xiao Chiye is clearly light to Shen Zechuan, and his own redemption might pave the way for Shen Zechuan’s growth. The story hinted early on that Shen Zechuan might have to choose between his hatred and his will to live, and recently picked up those threads again with Xiao Chiye’s father’s wariness of Shen Zechuan’s demeanor. I think this is a worthy theme and really hope it’s further developed through his character.

But this idea--that hatred helps him live--ties into two other strong themes of the novel: wanting to live no matter what it costs, and the cost of victory/defeat. Whether on a physical battlefield or a political chess game, trade negotiations, torturing a prisoner, a marriage, the story is constantly asking the characters what the cost of victory is, and when it is worth it and when it is not--when a defeat can truly be a victory in some sense. I’m very interested to see how these ideas continue to develop. 

Anyways, I quite enjoy this novel, especially the main characters, and am interested to see where it goes! Personally, the writing is less my taste than MXTX’s works (which are very, very character driven in a personal way, and have a distinct kindness to their tone), but it is extremely well written and the two leads are excellent characters. The themes are worthy questions, and it’s truly moving and enjoyable. I definitely recommend it! 

[somnianus]

On Chinese and Eastern Dramatic Acting vs Western

Part 1    Part 2

Mostly in ref to the Untamed/Word of Honor, but applies to a lot of East Asian works-

I’ve been getting the sense that people I know from the west (also being Asian-American myself) often interpret Chinese/Japanese/Korean drama and theatre to be too corny/cheesy/over-acted. A quick search on some internet forums confirms this. Maybe it’s because I used to watch a lot of C-dramas when I was a kid (Legend of the Condor Heroes/Return of C Heroes/Journey to the West/The Reincarnated Princess/etc), I personally did not notice that the acting was over the top. 

I don’t really speak for the quality of acting of these actors because I barely follow them in their careers, but I do know that some of them are immature actors or don’t have much formal training (which may cause the cheesiness above). However, Eastern dramatic acting in general does seem like a common complaint, so I decided to look into it - this is all coming from someone who JUST recently got back into watching C-dramas btw, doing my own research so don’t mind me if there’s some incorrect things down here, I am by NO means at all an expert in drama and theater (lol):

^Villains are often depicted with very exaggerated facial expressions (Above, Xue Yang, The Untamed)

Part 1

1. Chinese concept of mo vs western equivalent of “mimesis” or “imitation”

From this, an excellent chapter on Chinese theatrical concepts vs Western concepts.

Mo plays a significant part in traditional Chinese theatre, usually held to be antithetical to the realism of Western theatre because of its emphasis on theatricality. 

Mo means mimesis or imitation, but in a very different sense from the Western concept. One of the first Chinese scholars to use this term, Fu Sinian, used it to compare Western theatre to Chinese theatre:

Presenting a real event and performing an entertaining show are not compatible. The former emphasizes imitation (yige zhong mofang^b); the latter stresses spontaneity and entertainment. The former performance produces a lifelike image; the latter has nothing to produce. The former puts emphasis on the plot; the latter puts emphasis on theatricality. Therefore they are completely contradictory to one another.

This guy actually goes onto critique Chinese theater, saying it should be more like Western realism, so that there will “be no singing, and the acting will imitate people’s real gestures.” However! Other Chinese critics tried to approach Western vs traditional Chinese drama as two DIFFERENT but still valid forms of art. For example, Yu Shangyuan (1927) said western performance is “writing realistically” (xie shi) and chinese performance as “writing suggestively” (xie yi). Western dramas really rely on an accurate/semi-accurate representation of life and realism. Traditional Chinese drama and acting relied on the “symbolic and imaginative.”

Then what is mo? It is the emotional display, the emotional revelation, that is shown on stage. Starting from the Yuan dynasty, the Chinese drama was thought to be a continuation of poetry rather than its own independent stage art.

Poetry is where the intent of the heart goes. Lying in the heart, it is “intent”; when uttered in words, it is “poetry.” When an emotion stirs inside, one expresses it in words; finding this inadequate, one sighs over it; not content with this, one sings it in poetry; still not satisfied, one unconsciously dances with one’s hands and feet. [anonymous, 1975, from Shi Daxu 200 BCE]

Chinese drama with dancing and singing, was the most expressive product of poetry. The importance of mo cannot be stressed enough - it is the measure by which traditional Chinese drama was judged, how well this drama make you feel? Love, pain, loss, guilt, happiness? Plot becomes something that doesn’t matter as much (more on that later).

^Beijing/Peking Opera - highly stylized, emotive, “unrealistic” performances

To emphasize how central and important this concept is, it’s thought that a good Chinese playwright never fails to “seize a highly dramatic scene to stage an elaborate presentation of an emotional state.”

Love is of source unknown, yet it grows ever deeper. The living may die of it, by its power the dead live again. [Peony Pavilion, Mu dan ting]

This quote really shows how important it was to show these emotions on stage, to inspire the audience to feel deeply. Chinese critics believed that the best part about drama was how efficient it is to display emotion. Playwrights should “depict extreme bitterness, extreme happiness, extreme silliness, and extreme sobriety; imitate these feelings to the utmost (miao mo jin xing^p).”

Such performances are not necessarily accurately mimicking reality, but they are obtained through the “revelation” of a character’s internal emotional world.

2. Mo vs the depiction of reality or theatrical truth

The Chinese concept of aesthetic truth relates a lot to theatrical truth. In a lot of traditional Chinese art, painting, poetry, etc, aesthetic truth is not empirical, and doesn’t have to be accurate to life, or realistic. It’s a “truth that lies beyond mere superficial likeness.”

To the Chinese artist, an accurate resemblance between art and reality is not only superficial but often distorting. Chinese artists hold a dialectical view on the “form” (xing) and the “spirit” or “content” (shen) of an artistic object. According to them, xing  and shen are not always complementary. On the contrary, they often stand in opposition to one another. (referenced in the chapter above)

Traditional Chinese artists would rather represent the object with the wish that their representation matches its spirit, or abstract identity, than its actual form because a “photographic image is a shallow image.” It’s easy to draw a picture of something realistically, but it’s much harder and more satisfying to depict its nature, its feeling, its spirit.

This also naturally affects theater and dramatic performances.

Dramatic writing can be divided into two types: “a painting-like work” or a “transformed work,” in which the latter has higher artistic value because it reaches more towards the essence of dramatic object. Realistic imitations are fine, but they’re not really enough to reveal the mo or true feelings of something.

In addition, traditional Chinese dramatists believe that “all dramas are nothing but allegories. One need not ask about their origins in actual life.” You might be able to see, then, that these older playwrights and critics really fancied the overdramatic depictions of emotions.

a. The Chinese notion of theatrical truth/aesthetic truth vs European

Onto what we, as part of the Western audience, are more used to:

For Italian neoclassical critics, the pleasure of a drama hinges  on how accurate, how realistic, the depiction is. Castelvetro, the leading Italian Neo-Classical critic and creator of the concept of “the three unities,” claims thus:

We cannot imagine a king who did not exist, nor attribute any action to him.

Another Italian critic, Robortellus, said that a creative/imaginative story with no “verisimilitude” (truthfulness, in this context, realism) is less appealing than one that imitates a real-life event:

Thus if a tragic plot contained an action which did not really take place and was not true, but was represented by the poet himself in accordance with verisimiltude, it would perhaps move the souls of the auditors, but certainly less.

So basically, it’s fundamentally the opposite of Chinese theater. Italian dramatic works prized being realistic, being properly adapted from reality and real events. Chinese dramatic works, however, enjoyed the emphasis on heartfelt emotional demonstrations, or mo. Even in critical writings, the word “truth” is used, but it is usually used to modify the word “heart” or “emotion.” It is very concerned with the internal, the truthfulness of heartfelt emotional expression.

Taken these contexts, you can see why the Chinese stage/dramas are wholly “unreal” as Tao-Ching Hsu puts it. Everything, the makeup, the costumes, the props, is expressive and suggestive rather than imitative.

b. Bejing/Peking Opera, jingju

A famous example is the Beijing/Peking Opera, jingju. The makeup and costumes themselves are fantastical representations. The colors and patterns suggest different moods, temperaments, characters, and even changes in emotions. Actors would make distinct movements to depict distinct emotions with varying levels of energy. The stage itself may be sparse, because it is not as important as the expression of emotion and drama. 

The stage is sparse not because of the lack of technology or funding, but because it leaves room for the actor themselves to fully express their internal thinking/feeling/emotions. Characters can cross hundreds of miles in a few steps or may take the whole stage to cross a supposed road. This representation looks “unreal” to a realistic-minded audience, but it is very genuine to a Chinese audience.

Summary (so far)

This crucial understanding of the concept of mo (the emotional revelation), and the way traditional Chinese drama depicts life and stories, informs how their modern works are also portrayed. Coming from a Western dramatic background, where realism and plot are the most important aspects of a work, it can be very confusing, right? Even Chinese scholars began to judge their own dramatic works through a Western lens.

How does this traditional background affect modern Chinese dramas and works? I think it still has a very large effect, even though much of Western ideals about dramatic works have been heavily integrated into modern Chinese dramas.

Part 2: On Theatricality and how it transfers into Chinese Cinema

[mejomonster]

So I started the Rebel Princess:

Binged 5 eps lol

I love xiao qi, he has very Shen Wei as hei pao shi but emotionally healthier vibes. Very kind, good hearted, direct, intelligent, and the black clothes and hairstyle specifically remind me of shen wei so. Of course I love him

The emperor is played, I think, by the princess's dad in Goodbye My Princess. Idk what it is about that specific actor, but when he's cast as a leader he always seems like a well intentioned one. Like emperors OFTEN come out cold or cruel or at least somewhat inhumane in how they treat all others below them (like I'd say the emperor in Jade Palace Lock Heart means to be a good leader and kind but ultimately Will kill a son or wife just as a calculated move, will kill a servant etc). Whereas this emperor? When he says poison the maids I truly believe he's upset he had to make the decision and it was a very thought out decision not an impulse or a move of brute force. He seems to Believably truly love his sons and not want them dead, even tho he dreads what could happen to them if they fuck up in politics too much. Like I genuinely believe he is a loving father, a wise emperor, and trying his fucking best to do his best for everyone. His only arrogant thought is that he's the family meant to lead but in his defense he's dealing with 2 major families trying to use him so of course he puts them down. He's one of the easiest emperors to feel for and trust and like. Also? He's actually genuinely intelligent. There's an outside plot going on ans both Xie and Wang are vying for power, and he has the sense to not accidentally kill to harm or help xie or wang, and to realize there's a 3rd party fucking with him. Best emperor leadership wise I have seen in a cdrama

I love awus dad. Is he scheming and dangerous? Yeah. But a trait I love in this show is ALL the royals I believably think feel emotional ties to their families. With awus mom I can feel her love her husband and distrust him and love her brother and worry he's using her as a pawn. I can feel awus dad for all he wants Wang to be in control, he genuinely thinks his daughter is precious and does love her and want her ALIVE and I don't think he'd ever kill her for politics (whereas I do think he'd let his sister the empress die if he needed to).

I like that along with the emotional groundedness of the royals which is usually not this well done, the plot starts very personal on awu and easy to follow. No big confusing exposition to explain the setup, it just leads u naturally into it like awu

Fun fact, xiao qis girl soldier is played by one of my FAVORITE actresses from Go Princess Go (she was the 2nd lead girl the maidservant, also starred in Pove and Destiny). And I love her and I'm excited she's a warrior in this! And I hope to see more of her later! I love her and she deserves more fun roles!

A lot of really good actors in this yall weren't lying. That helps so much in a show

I actually find her current crush zitan really cute and hot and quite nice on his own merit rn if a bit too naive slightly in his own way (I'm waiting for the shoe to drop now). So I love that for once I actually get a heroines first love crush lol, and like both romantic leads. I personally suspect 2nd prince and/or Hulans younger guy (played by Wu Xie from ipartment) is the third party orchestrating a lot of the disasters in the capital right now

The palace drama in this is a lot less petty and a lot less reactionary disastrous punishments (partly due to a very rational emperor) and I really appreciate it.

[fgodump]

Connections to “The Poppy War”

The setting and characters to The Poppy War has derived a lot of inspiration from historical events and myths alike. This is meant to discuss which characters have a relation to those preexisting. Of course, you do not need to know this information to enjoy the books, but I think knowing them will elevate your reading experience. None of this information is official. This is just the conclusions I came to while reading. Feel free to make comments

MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Locations

Nikara: Qing Dynasty. 

Mugen: Japan (Meiji Period)

Hesperia: Britain

The Hinterlands: Mongolia (unsure)

Murui: Yellow River

Tianshan: Kunlun

The different provinces were based off the Chinese Zodiac

The Poppy Wars: the Opium wars, as they have the heavy involvement of foreign invaders

Fang Runin: Rin’s character does not seem to take from a specific person, however the wiki stats that she was inspired by multiple people, such as Azula from ATLA and Mao Zedong

Chen Kitay: It's pretty obvious his character is inspired by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three kingdoms. In actual history, he wasn't that much, but in the book, Zhuge was a monster at strategy. 

In the first book, Irjah proposes a question, which Kitay replies “to bait the enemy into giving them arrows by rolling out a boat of strawmen”. This is something that Zhuge did as well.

Sring Venka: Honestly I'm blanking on Venka. I think perhaps Venka isnt supposed to represent a character at all, but instead all the comfort women and victims of the Rape of Nanking, based on what happened to her during Golyn niis. 

Yang Souji: He and his group the “Iron Wolves” remind me so much of the Shinsengumi. He even shares a name with Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit. 

The Shinsungumi were also nicknamed “The wolves of Mibu”

I know the glaring problem with this is that the Shisungumi are Japanese, and should have been Mugini in this book, but I think these parallels are pretty cool in any case.

Chiang Moag- Ching Shih. Woah, as soon as I heard Lady Pirate, it was undeniable who Moag is. Ching Shih, the most famous pirate in China perhaps, and she was a woman.

Their backstories share similarities too. Ching shih was a prostitute, just like rumors around Moag. 

The Cike: During the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian (China’s only female emperor) had a secret police force that assassinated everyone she needed. This sounds incredibly similar to the way Daji used the Cike. 

Altan Trengsin: I believe that Altan is like Rin; either an amalgamation of many characters or simply someone Kuang made for the sake of the story.

Ramsa: I believe him to be Nikara’s representation of the creation of fireworks. Not based off a person, but instead one of the Four great inventions of China. Or maybe I’m looking too far into it lol, since he doesn't strike me as being inspired from a myth, since he is not a shaman

Baji: Zhu Bajie of Journey to the West. Based on his description and his name, I had him guessed before they even said anything about pig.

His weapon is even the same as Bajie’s, a nine-toothed rake. 

He also shares his desires, both of them being lusty for beautiful women

Suni: Sun Wukong. I had him guessed by his name as well. Although I believe the connection to be true, I cannot help but feel disappointed that the avatar of Sun Wukong was killed off so easily

The traits that these two characters share are pretty different, much more different than Baji had Bajie. 

For one, Suni is generally calm when he is not being taken over by his god, and is pretty gentle and nice actually. This is very unlike Sun Wukong, and also the reason why I think Suni was a bad body for Wukong to take over, since I think their desires do not match up like Rin and Phoenix

Aratasha: The last in the trio, Sha Wujing. I was confused at first, since Aratasha is no fighter, but I realized his name sounds incredibly similar to Sha Wujing. Wujing was a sand river demon in JTTW, so I don’t think it was a stretch to believe that Aratasha was based off of him (his god is a river god, after all)

Plus, Aratasha died before Baji and Suni did. Wujing in JTTW was weaker than both of his companions. 

Chaghan and Qara Suren: This may be a stretch, but I think Chaghan was inspired from Genghis khan. Gengis Kahn united the Mongols, like Chaghan united the Ketreids and Naimads. Even though the time period would be centuries apart (Genghis 1206, Qing Dynasty 1644-1912), it is the most likely option. It is unrecorded whether Gengis had any sisters, so I believe that Qara was made for the sake of plot (anchor). 

Yin Family: The entire Yin family was taken from the story of Nezha. You can read more about the original story by searching his name in Wikipedia. R F Kuang kept a lot of things from the original tale, and these notes are what I have noticed

Yin Vaisra- Li Jing. Li Jing was also a great general, and in other stories, he was the head general in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Army. If you know about “Journey to the West”, it was him who attempted to subdue Sun Wukong. 

Yin Saikhara- Lady Yin

*its interesting how Kuang decided to make the mother’s name the family name for the Yins. Originally, I would have thought it was Li instead.

Muzha and Jinzha’s name were lifted directly from the source material

Mingzha is a character Kuang added, for Li Jing only had three sons (or 2 sons and a daughter in this case). There is no source material for how Muzha and Jinzha’s characters are; even in adaptations we rarely get to see any exploration of them.

Yin Nezha- Nezha:

Yin Nezha, like his original counterpart, was the third child of his father. Since Muzha was changed to a female, he is actually the second son. 

He has the powers of the Dragon of the Western river (TBG 392), likely referring to the White Dragon in myths, who is the dragon ruler of the western sea. 

Like the Nezha in the myth, Yin Nezha had an occurrence with a dragon that changed his life. 

At the first battle between Nezha and Rin in TBG, it is stated he wears golden rings around his wrists and ankles. Guanyin bodhisattva did this to Nezha in Journey to the West, in order to placate him. 

The Trifecta: All of the figures in the Trifecta were based on the Fengshen Yanyi (AKA the Investire of the Gods).

Jiang Ziya: His name was directly taken from the novel. 

Su Daji: Her name was directly taken from the novel, as well as some of her penchants for murder. Daji, in both history and the novel, was infamous for her torture methods. 

Jingzha being delivered back to his father in a dumpling holder would qualify as a toruture method. I applaud Kaung for being creative.

Yin Riga: I do not know if Riga is meant to be King Zhou or Ji Fa (the man who overthrew Zhou). Perhaps he was inspired by both of them, or neither. 

Since Kuang did not go into depth into which gods were in the pantheon, I will make a list to who I think is there

Gods mentioned in the books:

Erlang Shen

Sanshengmu 

Sun Wukong *implied through Suni

Zhu Bajie *implied through Baji

Huxian *implied through Unegen, and also Daji

Phoenix

Nuwa

Fuxi

The Four Dragon Kings (Yin Riga was likely the Dragon of the East) *There is no confirmation that there are multiple dragons, but I believe it was strongly implied

Chang’e

Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West

Zhenniao *implied through Pipaji

The Four Guardians (Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise) *implied through Dulin, who summoned the Black Tortoise

Wong Tai sen *implied through Lianhua (Actually I am not sure, but I could not think of any other healer god in Chinese myths)

Gods not mentioned but I believe are in the Pantheon: 

Yudi: Usually depicted as the husband of Xiwangmu

Hou Yi (Since Chang’e is there. However, there is a possibility that he is in Chuulu Korikh as punishment for killing the sons of Yudi)

Shennong: He exists between Nuwa and Fuxi as the “human”

The Eight Deities

Guanyin: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Yanwang: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Other tidbits:

Arlong’s name may have been the combination of “Azure” and the chinese word for dragon “Long”. 

Aquebus are guns, but they shoot very slow. This aint a AK 47

The Red emperor could have been based off of Qin Shi Huang, or even the Jade Emperor himself.

Chuulu Korikh’s origin, although explained, has ties in Chinese myths. It was the mountain that encased Sun Wukong before he was broken out by Xuanzang. This means that the mountain was put there by the big B, Buddha. (Actually I can't remember if Kuang said who put the mountain down, but if she didnt specify this is what I think happened) 

I am more familiar with Chinese history and myths, rather than Japanese ones, so if im missing something feel free to correct

[lanonima]

First review of the new year! I also decided that once I hit twenty, I'll start a new graph because this one is getting pretty crowded. There's plenty of open space, but I'm not likely to read stuff in that open space so…

Anyway, my review of Copper Coins:

Romantic - Fucky is not how risque a work is but rather my opinion of the attitude/quality of the main relationship, the way the characters interact with respect to one another. I like a lot of stuff in fiction but if you’re easily made uncomfortable, stay towards the top half.

Easy reading - Plot-heavy is how I personally consider the plot’s intricacy and successful implementation, regardless of the author’s intention.

Copper Coins

Author: Mu Su Li

Quality: 5

Enjoyment: 4

Comments: Oof. I hate, absolutely hate, saying the phrase "show don't tell" about novels because it has to do with screenwriting and doesn't really apply to novels all that much but damn. This book was so surface level. I did not feel a single emotion the entire time. It actually reminded me a little bit of Nan Chan, and retroactively made me like that book better because I would definitely rather reread that than this. Not saying it's a bad book, I'm sure it's fine, and if you liked Nan Chan and want a relationship with a similar dynamic and are less of a bitch than I am, you will probably like this one too. It just doesn't have enough emotional depth to be entertaining to me.

Would I read it again: No, and I won't read anything else by this author either.

The reviews of things I previously read are below the cut.

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Author: MXTX

Quality: 9.5

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: I have a huge emotional connection to this novel. There are some weak parts, the tension isn’t quite even, she’s pretty terrible at erotic scenes and not great at fight scenes…but that being said, I love the characters and some of the plot points really ripped my heart out. This is a novel that’s really driven by the characters so if you’re a character-focused person like me, definitely look into it (as if we all don’t already know it lmao). I really, really love this story. Every single adaptation of it has also been great, but the novel is still my favorite. It was my introduction to xianxia novels too, so you can say it changed my life!

Would I read it again: I’ve already read it twice, and consumed every adaptation (sometimes also multiple times)

Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Author: MXTX

Quality: 6

Enjoyment: 5

Comments: I’m not much of one for comedy and, as I discovered, not really into system novels either. Clearly weaker than MXTX’s later work, many of the characters are somewhat bland, she hasn’t quite found her groove yet. It’s not my style but the fandom is hilarious and the fans constantly produce content that I actually do find entertaining so overall I still have some fond feelings for this one, even if not for the source material.

Would I read it again: I found a different translation and am willing to try again in the future, I’m also willing to watch the donghua. But I can’t guarantee I’ll like it any more than previously.

Tian Guan Ci Fu

Author: MXTX

Quality: 10

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: I love this book…but not as much as I love Mo Dao Zu Shi. I think the plot is somewhat typical, however the characters are great once again (though maybe slightly less deep than MDZS), and her use of thematic repetition and foreshadowing are killer. Actually, I liked this book more the second time around because it just hits differently. Definitely the best of MXTX’s couples, they are so soft and sweet. Very long, but worth it.

Would I read it again: I already have, was personally translating the manhua before I hurt my arms, and am eagerly awaiting the donghua this fall!

The Villain’s White Lotus Halo

Author: A Big Roll of Toilet Paper

Quality: 10

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: Fuck, I love this one so much…..even though it’s also a system novel. But that part is in it so rarely that it reads more like pure fantasy. I love the characters, I love the plot, I love the way the relationship is developing. Oh yeah, the translation isn’t even complete but I already purchased not only the original from JJWXC but also the print edition. I’ve even drawn fanart for it, which is so unlike me. Every time a chapter comes out, I’m ruined for the rest of the day, I can’t think about anything else. Good fight scenes, which is uncommon. My favorite danmei novel so far.

Would I read it again: I fully intend to once the translation is complete, and also plan to read it in Chinese later (I’ve already read certain parts in Chinese hahaha but not the whole thing)

2Ha (Husky and his White Cat Shizun)

Author: Meatbun Doesn’t Eat Meat

Quality: 8

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: 2Ha is not for the faint of heart, it’s very horny, and violent, and has a lot of questionable content. However I love it so much. The story and characters are great, Meatbun really has me by the heart. The writing is a little more on the casual side but it hardly matters because the story is so great. Good fight scenes. Chu Wanning is like, the ultimate Me™ character, I hate how much I adore him. If you read this, just go into it knowing that it’s a long emotional journey, the characters are very dynamic and there’s a lot of character development.

Would I read it again: Same as the above, I plan a reread when the translation is done and have read parts in Chinese and might read the whole thing again later. Cautiously eager about the up-coming live action and donghua.

Di Wang Gong Lue

Author: Yu Xiao Lanshan

Quality: 2

Enjoyment: 9

Comments: This is one of the most terribly written things I’ve ever read, but I’m a character girl and the characters and ways they interact fucking kill me. I’m constantly entertained….although I don’t think this is actually supposed to be a comedy. If I were going to treat myself and like, take a bubble bath and read something that made me laugh, this is exactly the sort of trashy romance I would want to read. Technically a political intrigue story but it’s so abrupt and full of holes, are any of us reading it for the actual plot? The donghua is on Youtube, I watched it first and recommend others to do the same. If you can handle that, you can handle the book because it’s exactly the same in quality, just gayer. I do love the main couple a lot, the set-up surrounding the relationship is great, and the side characters are also really fun.

Would I read it again: Probably not, but I’m still having fun with it. I watched the donghua and read a bit of the manhua as well, which has very cute art and is probably my favorite version of the story.

Liu Yao

Author: Priest

Quality: 6

Enjoyment: 7.5

Comments: I really struggled getting into this one, it took me about 25 chapters to get invested. Initially I had rated it a 6 in enjoyment but after careful thought, I realized that even though it was so hard for me, it probably is my favorite Priest novel and I really do love the main couple so much. Her side characters also seem to be slightly stronger than usual in this one. Decent plot, not too much or too little. It seems really chill to me, doesn’t provoke much of an emotional reaction but I do think it’s very sweet, which is nice sometimes too.

Would I read it again: No, but I think (?) it’s supposed to get some kind of tv adaptation (drama or donghua, not sure), and if that happens, I’ll watch it.

Didn’t Know the General was Female

Author: Rong Qing

Quality: 4

Enjoyment: 6

Comments: Not the greatest thing I’ve ever read, but cute. It’s short, and a little lesbian fluff is never a bad thing. Writing is a bit weak and the plot is basic, but the characters are enjoyable and I liked it overall.

Would I read it again: No.

Wrong Way to a Demon Sect Leader

Author: Yi Zhi Dayan

Quality: 4

Enjoyment: 7

Comments: Again, not the greatest in writing or plot, it’s a bit shallow. But I found the idea of it to be entertaining, and actually liked it more than I would have assumed. It’s fairly short and cute, like a good summer beach read.

Would I read it again: Probably not, but possibly, if the stars align.

Female General and Eldest Princess

Author: Please Don’t Laugh

Quality: 7

Enjoyment: 6

Comments: A very good first effort, but the writing is a bit weak. It’s slow to start and I don’t think the political plotline is spectacularly strong. Some things were left unexplained, and her sense of battle tactics and fight-writing were very confusing, definitely room for improvement. I don’t think it’s as good as people say, but she writes with the air of someone who will continue to improve. And also, a lesbian author writing lesbian stories so that’s a plus. Overall I enjoyed the experience, this story is definitely worth a read.

Would I read it again: Maybe, but probably not.

Sha Po Lang

Author: Priest

Quality: 7

Enjoyment: 7

Comments: Originally I rated this one higher, but on later thought I realized that I actually enjoyed Liu Yao more. I personally have issues with the way Priest writes, and this book showed a lot of them. Characters were okay, I did like the main couple, but side characters were weak as usual. The plot is pretty good, though not great, and I think some of the pacing is off. Some descriptions were confusing, but that could be a translation issue. Overall, still a pretty good political drama, but I would say that of the three I read, this was the Priest novel with the least impact on me.

Would I read it again: No. But I will watch the live action if it ever gets made.

Guardian

Author: Priest

Quality: 6

Enjoyment: 5

Comments: I love Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan, thought the plot was interesting, and there were some enjoyable moments. But it has all the problems I usually have with Priest in addition to some choices that offend me as a queer reader. I spent about 75% of the time reading while pissed off. And actually the fact that it had a happy ending kinda bummed me out because I love a good tragedy. Overall, I can only give it an average score. If you like Priest, you’ll like this one too. I’m not a tv person but I binged the hell out of the live action, I really loved it, so I was sort of disappointed that the source material didn’t seem as strong as I had assumed.

Would I read it again: No, but I will happily watch the live action again some day.

Jing Wei Qing Shang

Author: Please Don’t Laugh

Quality: 9.8

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: I have to start off by saying: damn girl. The improvement evident in this book is absolutely insane. A few minor issues prevent me from giving it a 10 out of 10 – her transitions are still extremely abrupt, the ending is slightly weak and some plot points remain unresolved, and her use of narrative repetition is too heavy-handed for my taste. Other than that, this book leaves me almost speechless. Very similar to Female General and Eldest Princess, there are many similar themes and events. But while I thought FGEP was fairly cute, I like this one way better. If you like angst, political intrigue, and lesbians, you should definitely read this book. I have no doubt that Please Don’t Laugh will continue to improve in the future, and I really look forward to following her career.

Would I read it again: 100%, I absolutely intend to read this again sometime in the future. It’s very long and very dense but delightful and ultimately worth it.

Fox Demon Cultivation Manual

Author: Feng Ge Qie Xing

Quality: 8

Enjoyment: 10

Comments: This was a delightful romp. I had expected it to be somewhat silly and was pleasantly surprised. It was heavy enough to be engaging but light enough to be an easy read, with multiple spots that made me literally laugh out loud which does not happen often. This is apparently just one book in a series of same universe novels, and a lighter-hearted one at that. I would be interested to read the others because I found the world pretty engaging, and I do want to know what became of the other characters. Overall I found it very fun and very cute, I read it in four days so that says something. On the downside, the link for chapter 9 is broken. But skipping a chapter doesn’t seem to have affected the experience of the novel as a whole.

Would I read it again: Yeah I think I would be willing to read this again someday. If it gets adapted I would also consume adaptations, in addition to being interested in the other connected works.

Golden Stage

Author: Cang Wu Bin Bai

Quality: 6

Enjoyment: 7

Comments: This one has some Sha Po Lang vibes, but the characters have more depth and chemistry. The word ‘more’ here is extremely relative because it’s still pretty shallow. I honestly liked them both, I liked the relationship and the psuedo-rude way that they flirt entertained me. As for the plot…ehhhh. It tried. There were things that worked, but in general the plot seemed disjointed from the characters and there were a few things that had no business being there and just muddied the waters. It’s not bad necessarily, it’s just not very smooth. There are better political intrigues to read if that’s what you want. But if you just want some sugar-sweet fluff with a backdrop of drama, then this one is perfect. My favorite scene was probably the flashback to the first few times they met, absolutely fantastic.

Would I read it again: Nah.

Nan Chan

Author: Tang Jiuqing

Quality: 8

Enjoyment: 6

Comments: This one is kind of weird because it’s definitely competent, it’s well-written and has a fairly in-depth plot, but I just didn’t really enjoy it all that much? I never got emotionally attached to any of the characters, and I didn’t even really get the relationship buildup. I understand what the author is going for with it of course, but it didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense… Or rather it seems like some bits in the middle were just missing, there’s good buildup in the beginning and in the end but how they got from point A to point B was kind of not explored to my satisfaction. I did really like the flashback to the past, I thought that storyline was all pretty interesting. The big bad was kind of disappointing to me as well though. In general, I think this is a really good book with a lot of skill behind it but it’s just not really my thing.

Would I read it again: No.

[touchmycoat]

Hewwoo, for that fanfic ask meme, M, S, T and X (if its okay to ask mote than one thing, if not then uhh M or X please!)?

HI DARLING <3 <3

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

oh goodness—well the songxiao secret santa’s coming up!!!! I’m 4k into my fic skdnfl and i’m p excited about that, but I can’t share...

now I’ve got a bit of a crack premise for scum villain, and I’m not sure I can make it happen but: shen yuan transmigrates as usual, but shen jiu is trapped inside his head with no autonomy over the sqq body. this is stressful and traumatizing and awful for 9 but he and shen yuan manage to negotiate things and figure out boundaries, etc. That’s the set up.

The actual plot: 9 ends up telling shen yuan his backstory with yqy, and how he believes 7 just completely lied to him and ditched him and now won’t even try to give him an excuse. and shen yuan, being a Chinese millennial, goes “that sucks dude, let’s go drink and karaoke your feelings out” and 9′s like “??? karaoke??”

AND CUE MY 79 PLAYLIST OF FUCKING SONGS THAT MAKE ME CRY (like "Tiny” and “Angel Among Demons”)

(The part of my brain that really wants to make this a real fic instead of my fantasy premise insists that Shen Qingqiu, being a classically trained scholar of every persuasion, is obviously an inspired musician and great singer. Shen Yuan takes full advantage of this and whips out guzhen and pipa covers of like, Adele and Beyonce’s Lemonade.)

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

Love me a good fix-it ;;; and I think my favorite ones are the subtle ones, where things happen, and you slowly realize “wait, this is no longer like canon,” and then GASP THERE’S HOPE

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

HAHAHHAAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH OH MAN. At the moment? the Shi brothers LMFAO. Just in my head, but SQX whump lives rent-free there always. The set-up is just too damn great, sqx has got all this guilt and irresolution and nowhere to put it all. Also SQQ. Both versions.

((Fanfic Ask Meme!))

[inspiritjun]

MXTX novels in a nutshell

Now that I have finished all three MXTX novels, I wanted to summarize them quickly so, here are my thought: 

MDZS / GDC

Among three of the books, if I have to choose one, it would be Mo Dao Zu Si, not only because of cql, the book has so many characters that made me feel things and the setting of the story suits my interest.

My favorite character in the novel, besides the main character, is Jiang Cheng. Poor boy went through so much, but still managed to lead the kingdom of his forefathers, collecting it from ruins. He could have done better, in regards to Wei Wuxian, but he gave into the situation. He was all alone, with no one to supervise, people make mistakes, esp. when they are young. 

The Yi City arc deserved their very own story, Ah Qing is not much discussed but that girl was clever, smart and dedicated. 

The juniors are much intelligent than the older generation. Jin Ling not hating on his uncle proves his maturity and that the next generation have bright future.

Nie Huaisang, I can’t help but think that in the end, he felt all alone. Wei Wuxian, who used to be his best friend once, does not feel the same way now, especially after knowing his true color. LXC and JGY, whom he used to turn to for every problems and who were so dear to him once, are no longer with him. The only thing he wanted was to avenge his brother, but after all the ordeals, I think that he was lonely, just my thought. 

Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao are negative character but knowing what turned them into antagonists, can’t hate them wholeheartedly.

The only character I dislike is Jin Guangshan, that old man have done not a single right thing in life ><

WangXian relation was wholesome, not rushed, not forced, natural.

The friendship we were robbed of are: 

- The triplets : WWX, JC, NHS

- WWX and Wen Qing 

TGCF / HOB

Tbh, due to the immense violence, self harm, gore and such I was not quite fond of reading it initially. 

But Shi Qingxuan made the plot interesting and captivated me. Every character had their own story, which were super amusing.

My personal favorite characters in the novel are: 

Yin Yu - How could someone have such great heart. Sadly he had to pay high price for 2 words he spoke at wrong time and place. 

Feng Xin - Loyalty is his description. Poor boy had chance at building his own family but didn’t persevere to follow his master. 

Jian Lan - She is not major character but I admire her for letting her husband go, not only once but twice, for his sake. Usually females are depicted as clingy ones, even Xuan Ji had such character. But Jian Lan let Feng Xin go when she was pregnant, became a single mom, went to Paradise manor to get back her child, let go of her husband second time, even though she knew she and her child could have better future alongside him. Even though Feng Xin was willing to take up his responsibility but at what cost, she stood for herself.

Hua Cheng was always supportive of Xie Lian but never took the lead, that’s what I love about their relation.

In this too, can’t hate the antagonist truly, in fact, I feel sympathy for Bai Wuxiang.

By the end of the novel, it was a tie between MDZS and TGCF.

SVSSS

Honestly, I had zero interest in this book, but since it is one of MXTX works, I didn’t want to leave it unread.

From the beginning, I was not fond of the system, Shen Qingqui could not be himself, simply  to earn some points. The major thing upsetting me was LBH and SQQ’s relationship, somehow it felt one sided the entire time. Only in the last chapter, it felt like for once Shizun initiated the skinship earnestly, not to tame the Demon King or not to coax him from crying, or forcefully by LBH. The feeling of romance between them seemed unnatural to me, no offense though.

The extras and the side stories were the ones that made the novel worth reading. Knowing Tianlang Jun’s side of story, how could anyone hate him or call him cruel Demon Lord, it was human who think not my race, they must have different motive.

Zhuzhi Lang repaying the drop of water with a fountain was incredible. 

Gongyi Xiao was incredible kid, sadly his wish of going to Cang Qiong Mountain remained unfulfilled.

Liu Qingge seemed aloof and cold but was support pillar for SQQ. 

Yue Qingyuan was such a marvellous parental figure.

More than the main pair,  Shang Qinghua and Mo Beijun’s story fascinated me.

Hence, in a nutshell, the relation between Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe felt like that of Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng, in-laws bitterness...lol  

Both Jiang Cheng and Yue Qingyuan could have achieved better peace of mind, if they were good in communication, them hiding their true feeling made themselves and their dear ones hurt.

WangXian and HuaLian’s level of trust is dream of every pair. The feeling was mutual and their level of understanding is something only few could achieve. 

[rigelmejo]

8/19/20 progress

I already knew this I supposed... but further confirmation that

It’s easier to immerse in a new material, if you look up keywords for the first episode or chapter. (Those first chapters are when a lot of the genre specific and story specific words pop up, so if you catch the keywords then it will be easier to follow all main-plot information in the following material).

immersing more DOES improve comprehension the more you do it.

I am watching Xin Xiao Shi Yi Lang (The Shaw Eleven Lang). I first tried to watch it in December, then in general I tried to watch shows in only-chinese more in January-May. In those months, shows got consecutively a little bit easier to follow without looking words up - although mostly, each new genre the difficulty spiked again a bit. So difficulty was like: 10, 8, 7, 8, 6, 8, 6, 4, 7, 5, etc... where 10 is most difficult to follow. I do notice that overall, regardless of genre differences/show differences spiking difficulty back up, I am getting overall better at some things. 

My reading speed, ability to catch words quickly that I’ve studied, ability to read through grammar easier, ability to read through *some grammar at a quicker speed, ability to look away from the screen more and still follow the plot (so listen comprehension is better, reading speed to catch up to when I look away is improved). Overall, just the comfort level of the activity - it doesn’t feel nearly as draining to immerse in only-chinese, it doesn’t feel like I need to use a translator to look up key words if I don’t want to. As in I feel I can at least minimally follow a plot even if I skip looking up words that catch my attention. I notice overall that I have more ability to figure out at least SOME words from context alone in bigger sentences - so not just verbs. And a super noticeable skill that has improved: my ability to notice name/place/proper noun introductions is WAY IMPROVED. For the whole year of learning Chinese, I really struggled immensely with recognizing when words were a name of something instead of a noun/adjective/verb to figure out. The only time I could tell was if someone said ‘zhe she’ or ‘mingzi’ or ‘jiao’ or ‘jieshao’ first to clue me in that it was about to be a proper name, or for people hearing ‘xiaojie, gongzi, shifu, shidi, shijie, shixiong, xiong, xiansheng, laoshi’ and eventually catching on that it’s a name. But places and named objects like swords or specialized tools like shovel types or named reports completely escaped me. 

I remember that the first time I watched Xin Xiao Shi Yi Lang, I could only follow the fact “there’s a sword they want, they know each other, and a princess (?) is running away from her fiance (?) who wants the fancy sword her family owns that everyone seems to want.” Which... to be honest, I do think that’s the minimum gist of the plot, so I did pretty well for my no-lookup guess of what was going on back in December. But this time when I watched, I looked up a lot of words more for double checking my correct comprehension or specifying details, not because I needed it to follow the plot. And for names, I just caught them: We’ve got Xiao Shi Yi Lang, Lian Chengbi, SiNiang, Shen Kunbi (the princess, I’m not sure I caught the second part right unless I can see it’s characters on screen), Xiao gongzi (the evil small woman who also looks like Lian Chengbi sometimes?), Jiao Zhu (Lord Jiao, the snake clan’s leader), the empress (? or queen, Shen family, I can’t quite catch if the first part of her name is a title or her name). The 4 great masters that Yi Lang, SiNiang, and Xiao gongzi just annihilated from importance... I caught the servant of Shen’s name too, the girl who begged Lian-xiong to take her with him to find her princess, but they haven’t said it enough for me to remember it. 

I also catch that they’re mentioning the named place of the region often (Jiang something), the Shen clan area, and the sword does have a name (which I recognize the characters of but can’t remember the pronunciation of). I caught that Xiao gongzi is from a clan/kind of people too, the Heaven-something. All of this is a ton more specific detail-wise than I was ever able to catch back in December. Some of this is because I know new words, some is because I can read/comprehend faster so I have the TIME to catch other low-hanging-fruit details I should understand, some is because I’ve gotten much better at recognizing proper names versus nouns/adjectives/verbs. I’m really happy about the proper noun stuff... it was probably the HARDEST thing for me to distinguish in written chinese, whereas any other grammar issue was a bit perplexing but noticeable to me if I could just get extra time to read through it. I think again I probably have Tamen de Gushi novel to thank for this... it’s writing style used first person so it was easy to follow, but many other characters were always name-mentioned without usual introduction scenes, and yet others were left unnamed and so I had to get used to ‘that person’ and ‘aunt and uncle’ and ‘the gang of friends’ and get better at recognizing vague characters being talked about too. 

I think a lot of these comprehension improvements in the last 8 months were partially just WATCHING more chinese-only stuff, and also doing 2000 word cards and reading in some short bursts (I’d read 15 chapters of Tamen de Gushi, a few chapters of Priest novels, and Mandarin Companion Sherlock). 

In addition, I notice a decent increase lately from maybe May-August. I think what I added recently, that’s been helping - listening to chinese audio, and flashcards with sentences. 

For Chinese audio I have 2 main sources - audiobooks/audiodramas where I just play them whenever I want either for background noise or to listen to and try to follow the plot, and an audio of Spoonfed Chinese sentences with english then chinese sentences so its very comprehensible audio ‘flashcards’ i can just play in 30 minute chunks in the background for ‘review’ or ‘exposure’ to i+1 sentences. This audio addition to study has been super easy to add, I just try to play it more. I think the audiodramas/books are helping me solidify the words I DO know, get more familiar with what ‘sounds right,’ increase my listening speed comprehension, and help set ‘phrases’ stick better in my head. The audio 30 minute ‘flashcard’ loops are like audio reinforcement of the sentences in anki I’m doing, and they give me more audio-only review and exposure compared to anki - helping me work on listening comprehension, and on hearing easy new i+1 sentences I can always comprehend and learn a little new stuff from each day. I really love big audio files of ‘flashcards’ and I discovered the study idea back when I studied japanese (the website japaneseaudiolessons.com was basically entirely based on this concept of teaching/study, and also to a degree I think Michael Thomas and Pimsleur are just paid versions of this method). 

They let you be introduced to new things to learn in a very easy to understand way building on what you already know, and review in a way where the flashcards remind you of the translation in case you needed it. Its very low effort, but it really reinforces what you’ve learned and helps you pick up new stuff. (And it’s higher effort if you also try to repeat it and practice speaking). However, audio flashcard files I think work BETTER if you try to pay attention - at least if you hear any new sentences. That way you actively TRY to figure out what you expect the answer to be before you hear it, and note what the actual answer was so you remember this new word/grammar. Whereas reviews with this audio, you can pay attention a bit less actively, since its only going to be important to focus if you CAN’T automatically guess what the right answer is - in which case, listen more to that piece of audio. But if you’re replaying it over and over, even if you only actively pay attention some of the time, you’ll pay attention enough to pick up new info, and passively listen to things you comprehend already enough to review them. So overall, its definitely lower effort than listening to audiobooks/audiodramas and trying to purposely follow the plot. (Although I think passively listening to audiobooks/audiodramas is the easiest task, I don’t think it efficiently teaches you more as quickly as listening to audio-flashcard loops since in audiobooks/dramas you comprehend less). 

Chinese flashcards with sentences in anki - right now all my anki flashcard decks use sentences mostly. The Spoonfed Chinese deck is helping with words IN context and WHAT contexts to correctly use different words. This is helping strengthen the foundation of words I know. Likewise, my HSK deck in anki also has sentences and explains individual character meanings, so that’s also reinforcing it. I’m mostly using these decks for exposure/recognition, so I’m not working on trying to correctly speak/produce such sentences very much (just occasionally). So they aren’t helping a ton at improving my speaking/production grammar. But they are helping me a lot with comprehending better, and with remembering the proper tones in words I know, and the proper words to use for different situations (especially with near synonyms). I think these cards are making my reading speed comprehension in chinese better (just like reading more in chinese was helping).

I have also been reading more - without a dictionary when possible, because I’m lazy. I haven’t been reading as much as I want, but I do feel what I’m doing is challenging myself. (I guess I just wish I challenged myself more ToT). I read chapter 1 of MoDu with no dictionary twice - the second time was much easier, somehow. I read part of chapter 1 of Guardian, part of chapter 1 of Tian Ya Ke. I read a little bit of Tamen de Gushi with no dictionary, I read a Mandarin Companion book. I notice that in general reading is helping me recognize phrases like how authors tend to word descriptions of body movements or appearance, or descriptions of emotional displays (like he rubbed his neck, put his hand in his pocket, face grew pale, eyes glanced away, mouth curled upward in a slight smile, etc). Those descriptions are getting much easier to recognize and read quickly. Also, I notice with more difficult novels, I’m getting better at roughly guessing unknown words with unknown characters - the hard part is getting myself to focus on paragraphs where I see a lot of unknown characters, because my eyes would prefer to just skim over them all. I have to make myself actually look, find the words I do know and grammar I recognize, then actually look at the unknown characters for clues of if they’re part of a 2-part version of a word I know the other character in, if they’re characters I can guess roughly the meaning of, if I can guess their sound or not, and what their word type is grammar wise if that will help me - is it a name, title, verb, adjective, noun. 

Usually I can skip adjectives without losing the main idea of the plot, but I still slow down and try to figure out the adjective if it keeps popping up - it means the author relies on it a lot. Names automatically get easier once I realize they’re just names to recognize. And unknown characters part of 2 character words, if i CAN guess a meaning from context, are generally the most important for me to pick up. Because they usually contribute to plot or details, and they’re words I actually can keep relying on later on in the writing if I figure them out. As usual... dialogue is my strong suit, and the easiest part to follow. Action descriptions of things going on are the second easiest. Then finally, long descriptions of places/people/economy/looks/situation/group etc are still my weakest point since those parts are noun and adjective heavy, usually with less already-known general words I can lean on to help me.

---

I am really pleased about my show comprehension improvements though. I’m thinking, as long as I look up the words in new shows for the first couple episodes, I should be able to get into new genres/new shows without them feeling draining anymore. 

I’m going to keep working on my flashcards until they’re in the 2000s, to match up with my original old single-word 2000 cards. Then maybe focus more on reading. I’d like to get more comfortable reading novels (even though lol I know that’s probably THE HARDEST of my comprehension goals).

Also surprisingly I’ve been really picky about my tones lately, so I’m spending probably 1/3 of my study time overall just on focusing on tones - tone training, pinyin pronunciation basics again, listening carefully. I noticed my active vocabulary has decreased a little these past couple months... but I suspect that’s mostly because I’ve NOTICED where I was incorrectly using the wrong word for a situation, so now my mind isn’t auto-supplying a word to use unless I’m relatively sure its supposed to be used for that situation. So in the long term it’ll probably be a good thing. Likewise, words are auto-showing-up in my mind less to use if the tones are less solid. 

I’ve been using the Hanzi flashcard deck on and off again (anki version). I’m contemplating adding my own pronunciation mnemonics to them, so they’ll be more thorough.

Other notes:

- nothing seems to make those words like ‘turan’ ‘suiran’ ‘jinran’ ‘shihou’ ‘zhiqian’ ‘ranhou’ ‘ziran’ really seem to stick for me except reading/listening more. They’re all ‘explanation’ words usually used in telling stories or descriptions, and since they’re not directly anything you could ‘draw/visualize’ then for me I find I just need to be exposed to enough examples of them being used.

- similarly, the way authors/storytellers say descriptions of people moving hands/eyes/heads/looks really is something to just... get used to. All the words are simple, its just getting used to seeing them in those combinations.

- i still have no idea if ‘repetitive listening’ of 50-100 times helps a LOT lol. But i do think listening MORE in general, definitely helps to a degree. Especially once you’ve got 1000-2000 words you’re vaguely familiar with. That means there’s a lot of words you’ll eventually Recognize when listening, even if you can’t comprehend full sentences. 

- immersing in content you’re already familiar of the context of, is always easier. whether its because you read it/watched it in english before, or because you looked up keywords/summaries for the first couple episodes before diving in. That said, I prefer to also do some immersion where i go in knowing absolutely nothing (so if i need to, i’ll look up keywords while watching). Because i like to see exactly how much i can understand when i had nothing to rely on going into it. That said, that’s more for gauging progress. For actually PICKING UP NEW WORDS from a show or audio, I think having context ahead of time improves the ability to pick up new words. 

- if you’re learning a language that happens to make audiodramas about stuff you like??? I 100% recommend checking them out! Chinese has been a treasure trove for me, because if I like a book or show, then there’s a corresponding book/show, and there’s usually also an audiodrama, and usually also fanmade dialogue-containing music video edit videos and AU edit videos, and regular music videos, and osts.... and you can find ONE story you like and have like 200+ hours of material to sink into. If I like one story (lets say MoDaoZuShi by MXTX) then I can watch a drama, read a novel (in chinese and english, in traditional or simplified characters), listen to an audiodrama, listen to ost, find a ton of music video edits with dialogues, find fanfic in multiple languages, watch donghua if I wanted animation instead of live action. And also check out any of the author’s other works. Same thing with getting into something by Priest - I can watch Guardian, listen to fanmade audiobooks, find music video edits with dialogue, listen to the ost, read the novel in traditional or simplified or english. And several other priest novels ALSO have audiodramas along with all this other stuff. A person can easily find a visual show, an audio drama/book, a text only novel, and a picture-text manhua all about some story they like. So they’ve got this very easy to find ‘study material’ to immerse in a variety of different ways. Whether they ‘need’ practice in each area, or are just more comfortable with say ‘audio’ or ‘manhua’ instead of reading novels, they can still find stuff to enjoy. When I studied french I always found reading material I liked, but I should have been looking harder for other materials in other areas, like I am in chinese. Likewise, in japanese I could often find visual shows or manga i wanted to check out, but I had trouble finding audio-only I was interested in... I could have been looking for a broader variety of materials than I did at the time.

[tazzmanien]

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Review

Okay let see, as some of you know I only started to read this novel because Mo Dao Zu Shi left an empty spot in my heart and I needed a quick fix. Well, quick it was, fixing did not happen. Why you ask? Because instead of one obsession, now I have two. So before I write my review just a little thing I really need to get off my chest, SV was not as good as MDZS, but I never expected it to be and it was still very great. That’s all the comparison I’m gonna do. If you want me to compare more let me know and I will gladly do it. It seems I love to write about those stories.

Sorry for the length of the review, I’m just that obsessed. And warning: SPOILERS AHEAD

Looking at the novel overall, it was a very fun read, with a few really sad elements and lots of weird love story aspects and colorful characters. It was very easy to read, even though it had its weak parts, I laughed so much that I would recommend it to everyone.

The good:

I can’t say much about the writing quality, as I was only able to read the translation. But the translation seemed like it’s easy to read, so I’m guessing the original is similar. The development of the story was easy to follow, even though it started off so weird, that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to understand a single thing. The story had everything I love, from scifi to fantasy to horror to love to friendship to family, like a really fun mix. Usually mixing too much doesn’t always turn out good, but this writer is really good in combining all the elements.

I looooooved the whole part with the system. I adore stories where a regular boring human gets dragged into a story (book, movie, whatever) and needs to survive without being discovered. So much potential for humor and disaster. And this is exactly what this book has delivered. I was laughing so much while reading. I will also write about this in the bad some more, but even though we never get to know what the system is, it was written in such a matter that I was easily able to accept the fact that there is this weird system, like in a game, telling our main protagonist what to do. And that says a lot. I’m usually one of those people complaining when things don’t get build up properly or explained well. So I must say, you got me here.

Overall all the parts where the novel would cross to the real world or characters go from the real world into the novel were so entertaining that I’m so hooked now and would love to read more stories with such elements.

Characters, oh those were the most fun to observe. Well the writer did not invent anything new. You have all those characters with all sorts of typical strengths and flaws and sad backstories, like in any other story. Like not a single character would contrast with all the existing characters of any other story, except for the fact that the writer switched things up so much that it felt quite new. You ask what I mean? Well look it is quite rare to see this weird combination:

The main character is this normal millennial dude getting dragged into a fictional story where he is supposed to play the villain. Our main is nothing like a villain would be, he has so much heart, but is also completely unaware of it, that is hurts observing him. Being a decent human being and the fact that he doesn’t want to end up deformed like the original villain would, he does everything necessary to get on the good side of the other main guy (who is the protagonist and good guy of the original novel). Now, being someone from our boring normal world, who never fought or did anything remotely similar to what the villain in the story did, you would think he would be a complete disaster in the body of an immortal cultivator of a Xianxia novel. But funny enough he isn’t! He is a composed, wise and strong person on the outside who seems sophisticated and educated and detached from all failure caused by feelings of any sorts. But on the inside he is just what we expect him to be, the most panicking weird dense idiot I’ve ever seen. He is soooo relatabel on the inside it hurts. But on the other hand he is also so far from what anyone of us would be in such a situation, as he seems to have everything under control on the outside even though he is such a mess on the inside. He almost never breaks character and he manages to solve all problems somehow. I would have died 100 deaths if I were him. I even suspected that the moment he got dragged into the novel, he snatched Luo Binghes halo as a new protagonist (halo: like the main protagonist simply never loses and cannot die and gets everything he wants in the end). Just think about it, how else would he have managed everything he did. Everyone even loved him by the end of the story! I could write books about this character, but I’m sure you are already annoyed so I will keep it short. I love Shen Qingqiu with all my heart and I aspire to become like him one day.

Lets get to my demon boi Luo Binghe. He is originally supposed to be the “good” guy of the story. Come on guys, have you ever read a story where a demon who kills and has a harem is a good guy? I was so confused while reading the summary of the novel that I thought, they must have misunderstood things, but no, they didn’t, he actually is this really bad demon who does really bad things and still is the most lovable thing ever to exist. He is like a Labrador when with his Shizun (his teacher and our main guy Shen Qingqiu) and a killing hell hound when with anyone else. He is strong, intelligent, most handsome and charismatic bastard, but such a lovely little smitten princess for his Shizun that it’s comical. One simply has to love him. So of course our Shizun never stood a chance in not falling for him.

And this exactly if the best thing about the story and it’s main plot to be honest. Those two idiots getting together, while one tries to “rewrite” the original story so that he gets his happy end. Who would have thought that this “I just want to survive and would do anything to do so” strong teacher, yet weird millennial and straightest straight to ever straight in straight history would fall for the bad and strong demon boy who falls to his knees and cries of love every time he sees his Shizun. I know many stories where the teacher and disciple fall for one another and very often they are opposite in character. But those two idiots are so weirdly colorful that opposite would not even beging to explain how complicated their relationship really is. Depending from which angle you look, they could seem like the complete opposites or like a mere mirror reflection of one another. Or depending on where your own heart stands, you could say they don’t fit together at all or you would think they are the all time biggest OTP. And I adore this complexity!!! It drives the story.

Some other characters of the story were also very well written and gave the story some much needed drive. And like with our mains, no character was simple or regular. The whole story about Airplance Shooting Towards The Sky is just so... I have no words really. Maybe one day in the future I will write about him, but for now just take my word for it, that some other characters were written amazingly. I truly think that the writer has a brilliant talent in creating beautiful multidimensional characters and I must say this is the best thing about reading her novels.

All the other side plots were good. Some were needed to help the overall story line and others were just a nice cherry on the top. But the main plot remained the best in the end.

Also the subplot or let’s call it the actual meaning of the whole novel is so brilliantly implemented that you would not focus on it when reading, but still fully understand it nevertheless. It is like a criticism and love letter to fandom in general. It is so self aware that one gets whiplash at times.

The bad:

I had quite some open questions at the end of the novel and even though in general most characters were created brilliantly, many characters were left out in the end and many story lines were simply never really developed much. So let’s just say Shen Yuan would have went nuts reading it ;) (Shen Yuan is the millennial getting dragged into the novel and in his original life he used to review novels and complain a lot about this particular novel)

I was so happy that there were the extras to the novel, that gave us at least a little bit of background information about some characters and a few nice moments between our main pair. I mean in the main novel the pair does get together but then out of the blue the story ends and we don’t even get a real confession or anything of that sorts. Yes yes, I know the fact that our dense Shen Qingqiu is willing to stay with Luo Binghe and says it out loud is a huge confession of its own, but you know I really would have loved to read about a kiss or something, because I’m a sucker for those. 

Still even with the extras, some plot holes remained and the one that sticks out to me the most is THE SYSTEM. What the heck is it? Where does it come from? What’s the point of it? Who controls it? Like any information about it would be really nice? Don’t get me wrong even without this information I was easily accepting its existence, but now that I’ve finished reading everything, those questions start to bother me. Well I guess my own head canon making machine will have to work now. A pity I’m not good at writing, otherwise I would overflow AO3 with them, just to fill the holes. 

I also feel like, if I had not read another Xianxia before or if I had not a general understanding of the whole fantasy part, it would have been a difficult thing to imagine the world the story took place in. All those peaks and all those “magical” happenings (cultivation stuff) would have confused the heck out of me. I’m just guessing a) the novel was written for a specific reader group who already understands the general idea of Xianxias or/and b) the skills of the writer weren’t as developed as they are now back when she wrote the book.

And even though many things were not explained or plot holes remained, still some chapters were dragging. But to be honest I don’t want to sound a though I’m complaining to much, as the overall flow was still very decent.

Conclusion:

I love this novel, even with all its flaws. The main characters will forever have a special place in my heart. I will definitely read it again one day and I would recommend it to anyone in the blink of an eye.

On a side note, I feel a little reluctant in hoping for an adaptation of the story in China, because of the censorship. If you censor the whole love aspect of our main pair, the story would loose so much of its beauty in my opinion that it would be just okay. I know the actual main plot was not the love story, but I admit this is what I live for. But who knows, The Untamed managed to end up like a beautiful interpretation of Mo Dao Zu Shi, maybe the manhua or a donghua or a live action adaptation of SV would turn out better than I can imagine. I’ll stay open minded.

[lansizhuis]

What is scum villain? You mentioned it quite often already and I still don't know what it is 😂

*opens my powerpoint* IM GLAD YOU ASKED BC I WILL TAKE ANY EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT IT 

- it’s the first work of mxtx (the author of mo dao zu shi)

- it has the cultivation theme as well so we still get long hair and pretty faces and sects

- the basic premise is that shen yuan (our mc + shou/uke) read this really long ass novel and he’s pissed tf off with how much plot holes it had and how the main villain named shen qinqiu is a badly written character bc of how much of a scum he was to the protagonist of the novel, luo binghe (and that he isn’t surprised with his gory torture at the hands of the protagonist in the end)

- BUT THEN shen yuan is implied to have died and is then transmigrated to the novel he hated and he becomes shen qingqiu aka the scum villain (so now shen yuan = shen qinqiu)

- okay from here onwards imma use the shortcuts sooo shen qinqiu is SQQ (the “teacher”/”shizun” of LBH; so like their sect has loads of divisions and he’s the master of one of it & specifically where LBH is under) and luo binghe is LBH (he’s the protagonist who supposedly had a harem of hundreds of women in the original novel)

- so bc SQQ is so scared the gory torture and death his character suffered, he resolved to be nice to the protagonist BUT he can’t do it easily bc there is this thing called the “system” (best character in the entire novel im still laughing) so the system is something like the one you see in games?? the one that says, “accept mission to gain blah blah points” basically like an AI but not really?? anyhow the only one that can hear it is SQQ

- anyhow SQQ does something that makes LBH fall in love with him (AND ISTG THE SYSTEM’S REACTION TO THAT IS GOLD)

- im not gonna say so much so you can enjoy it BUT THIS IS SO HILARIOUS

- SQQ has a cool facade 99% of the time but inside when he’s arguing with the system and complaining about life in general, he’s 100% in rage but only internally hahahaha

- LBH is super strong and overpowered like how protagonists are and he used to be a cute bun going all “shizun! shizun!” but then THAT THING happened and when he got back he’s all tall and hot and sexy now but still going “shizun!” shizun!” (only it’s darker hahahahaha) and he’s super possessive of his beloved shizun

- basically we should play a game where we take a shot every time LBH says “shizun” 

- MISUNDERSTANDINGS GALORE x1000 and usually i hate that trope but for them?? it super makes sense AND IT’S SO FUNNY

- this is more of a lighthearted and easy to read novel so nothing really deep but it’s super enjoyable for me

- THE EXTRAS ARE GOLD HAHAHAHA 

- you will learn that sex/making love = papapa

- PAPAPA TO SAVE THE WORLD (rip SQQ’s ass)

- i know i keep saying it’s funny but the story of original!SQQ is going to rip your heart ALSO there are uhh 3 (??) times i felt my heart clench on diff occasions (but don’t worry there are more funny parts)

- why you should read it: THE SYSTEM TROLLING TF OUT OF SQQ AND SQQ’S INTERNAL RAGE 24/7 AND STILL KEEPING A COOL FACADE + Liu Qingge (he’s the master/head of the division of their sect that are warriors so he’s like SQQ’s shidi) and Shan Qinghua (he’s the author of the original novel who also got transmigrated here) are amazingly funny characters too

crap i made half an essay hahahaha YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE ASKED ME LMAO conclusion: please read scum villain and laugh with me while the translated chapters aren’t in THAT PART yet thanks

[scumvillain]

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

(back to masterpost)

Let’s start this journey of hilarity and tears!

Chapter 1

Let me start by saying as much as I love this novel now, it was difficult to get into having no experience reading Chinese webnovels aside from Mo Dao Zu Shi. Reincarnation plot line? Familiar enough. Transmigration? The popular take on it in webnovels is very different from the ones I’ve read in English-origin fanfic.

The summary of this novel in particular is a load of nothing unless you digest the translators’ notes or know the original language in the first place, in which case it’s actually quite hilarious in a hysterical sort of way (like a lot of the narrative).

After leaving, coming back, and finally persevering past the first chapter, I finally got hooked on this story and couldn’t stop laughing, thus here I am.

I will say this now and probably a few times later for good measure: Shen Qingqiu is my spirit animal, I channel him so hard sometimes it’s ridiculous. I didn’t expect to like him as a narrator, but his thoughts are genuinely hilarious to read and the casual tone really works well because of it. He’s also very earnest inside his own head, which is interesting and something to save for a later discussion.

So, starting with the summary, I FINALLY understand what this “grass mud horses” thing is holy crap did that take a long time for me to get. But once you know it, it’s a surprisingly effective phrase for his feelings upon transmigrating lol.

I love emojis like these: _(:□)∠)_

I can never be creative and make them myself but they’re cute.

Anyways, onto the actual chapter.

You have to admit, this background is full of so much angst and terrible unfairness that you might end up side eyeing the author who just could not give this MC a break. It’s so much misfortune that it feels like the entire universe has conspired against him lol.

As the story says, “It was yet another heart-aching history full of blood and tears.”

I found it interesting that this main character who is really the love interest in this actual novel, is actually someone who “fought over every trifle, seeking revenge for the smallest grievance, and had thousands of knives set to kill in his heart while his mouth smiled and agreed.”

This kind of protagonist in an actual story is kind of annoying for me to read about, but as the deuteragonist...? Okay, it can be interesting to see how our MC Shen Yuan mucks this up with his presence.

I was skeptical about transmigration stories at first, but I grew fond of them after reading a few. Just don’t take the handwavy stuff in the beginning seriously and you’re good to go.

Original Shen Qingqiu was indeed a scumbag, did you have nothing better to do than torment one of your disciples? That’s very unbecoming of an adult, let alone one that’s cultivated to his level...

However, did you expect the novel to be so great when the author’s pen name is....a dirty euphemism. xD

I love the self-awareness of this novel, it’s probably one of its highlights. All of these points are things we’ve probably wondered before while reading one story or another, but suspension of disbelief keeps our mouths shut.

Inconsistent setting?

Not being clear on their own magic system, even confusing terms they themselves defined?

Everyone falling to their knees and being stupid in front of the protag, but smart according to the narrative? aka the characters who exist to make the protag look good.

Rare items/magic/something appearing when convenient?

Script-like villains who could be exchanged with any other villain from other series?

I love Shen Yuan’s exasperation with all of it.

“Shen Yuan felt that he was angry enough to come back from the dead.” 

ohohoho

“Shen Yuan had made a firm resolution early on. If one day, he were to wake up[...]he absolutely wouldn’t happily giggle...”

“He was solely engrossed in acting as though he’d just woken up...”

This genre-savvy, trying very hard to collect his thoughts sort of MC is surprisingly fun to read, you know? Not too over-the-top all-knowing expert nor freaking out and completely giving himself away novice. xD

“...having experienced the baptism of reading every kind of do-over or transmigration YY novel all year round.”

hahaha

At first, I didn’t notice anything off about the names when they introduced Yue Qingyuan. Then we got Liu Qingge and it slowly went downhill from there. I thought it was a coincidence? But obviously there is a trend (Mu Qingfang, Qi Qingqi...). Is this ‘qing’ acting as a sort of generational name since they’re all of the same generation in the sect? 

I don’t usually have an issue remembering everyone’s names (except for the ones in Legendary Master’s Wife, which is so freaking long), but the Peak Lords of Cang Qiong Sect slowly gave me stitches as more were revealed haha.

“Where did he still have the qualifications to lament other people’s tragic deaths? The one who died the most tragically was him all right!”

His hysterical, earnest narration is the best.

But also, consider how quickly he latched onto this role lol even claiming this as his future death (which is yikes, ‘human stick’ is a nice, concise term I guess...simple and sweet, huh?). However, we won’t see him truly embrace this role until later...

【Warning. Your plan just now was very dangerous. It is a violation of behavior, please do not attempt. Otherwise, the system will automatically give punishment. 】

I didn’t really think of the system much the first time around since I read so fast through it, but this thing really is lowkey hilarious and helpful. Hey, it could have just let him mess up and explain only after points were docked.

【...You need to complete the beginning stage mission for it to be unfrozen...】

god, this gives me flashbacks to all those damn video games where the tutorial lasts for 30 min. of gameplay or more (Pokemon Sun & Moon, I’m looking at you >>) and you can’t do anything outside of bounds or the stupid game stops you.

Ah, our second main character is about to be introduced!

(quotes from WorshipperA)

Next: Chapter 2 onward →