#ghost wwx

[sasukimimochi]

. . .

Chapter 28 "Missing Home"

The ghost melted pleasantly into the kiss that touched his forehead, and the warm assurance of the other’s arms. “Mn. Let’s go home.”

More under the cut

Bonus (rough robe reference for WWX's outing robes. They're somewhat Gusu themed so if anyone manages to see him, they won't think its too unusual):

We're back again!! Happy late WWX day and Halloween (if you missed it, here's my Halloween post with the ficlet I wrote and my Halloween décor post)

I hope this update's art makes up for the simpler ones I've been doing, I really wanted a two-person piece this time and I think I did alright! A lot of stuff is beginning to unravel, so I hope you guys are excited!

I don't think anything in this chapter is worth a CW, but there is a little dialogue about death and injury in this chapter, self blame & vague mentions of suicidal actions (in dialogue as well). so just keep that in mind if you're sensitive to those topics. I'm excited for a new chapter to be released! 💖🐇👻

Read/See more MDZS writing and projects in my masterpost! ❤

[artofyuzanrath]

A (slightly more experimental) drawing loosely based on @sasukimimochi fic GOM~

Alternative versions under the read more

[hellinglaozu]

🏮Till Death Do Us Part🏮

[cloudpalettes]

i reach my hand out to the scorching sun

[doufudanshi]

ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通押回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

[pixiefms]

[thegirlinthecher]

[benevolenterrancy]

bros don't let bros walk around with their chest torn open

[annebaneriddle]

Wei Wuxian?????

Honey, the hell you doin' at Ghost City???

The sects trying to summon WWX's soul: Why isn't it working???

Wei Wuxian having the time of his life (death?) gambling at Ghost City: ... Hua Chengzhu, can you hear that annoying buzzing sound too?

Hua Cheng: I don't hear anything.

Wei Wuxian: ...

Wei Wuxian: Anyways, so -

[icyolive]

"Wen Ning hadn't gone over to help support Wei Wuxian in the first place, nor followed them into the cabin. Instead, he crouched on the deck outside. The boys had found this strange at first, wondering why he didn't go in. It was only now that they realized just how wise the Ghost General truly was."

Wen Ning: Follow Hanguang-Jun as he bridal carries Wei-gongzi into a small enclosed area? After a fraught day of fighting corpses, getting dissed by the cultivation world again, and meeting dead loved ones? No I Do Not Think I Shall.

[sasukimimochi]

i decided i needed to do some more traditional art, and i decided to do something softer (and also, something i've not done but i've seen done)

i did a Ghost of Mine WWX with my regular drafting pencil, a little bit of sakura micron fineliner (around the facial area) and...drum roll please- COFFEE.

it was fun to use but i had to edit away the waves on the paper because i did not use the right paper for that haha. i really like this one!

Hope you guys like it too ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ ❤

Check out more art of this/other MDZS Projects on my masterpost! ❤

[i-guess-im-into-this-now]

Shen Qingqiu, embarrassed: I didn't come up with the idea! It was from that trashy book!

Wei Wuxian, envious: I cannot believe someone wrote a smutty book about you and your husband!

Xie Lian, triggered: It's mortifying to read about one's self like that. Those pervy books are best left in the trash.

Wei Wuxian, wide eyed: Don't tell me you have a smutty book about you and your husband too?!

Xie Lian: Unfortunately, yes.

Wei Wuxian: Lucky! All I have are some poorly drawn and wildly inaccurate pictures of the Yiling Patriarch.

Part 1

Part 2

[spriteofmushrooms]

The interesting thing about Jiang Cheng is that he refuses to be his mother's golden child to Wei Wuxian's scapegoat; he actively chooses Wei Wuxian again and again. He defends Wei Wuxian from her until she dies. It's unusual.

This doesn't mean that Wei Wuxian's experience was any less fraught--being hated by a caretaker is awful even if everyone else loves you. But it was an interesting choice by MXTX.

[trans-xianxian]

I know we joke and jest but lan wangji sitting in the boat holding wei wuxian, asking wen ning if the core transfer hurt, and wen ning describing how wei wuxian had to watch and feel for two days as his golden core left his body and his spiritual power died, how no one in the world had yet been willing to do such a thing but wei wuxian had begged, all while he's just lying there unconscious, is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire show. fuck. wen ning in that damn boat with wangxian

[ivorysodapop]

Design stuff!!! It's a little more drastic bc WWX is DEAD but differences between them also

AU Masterlist

[scrivenger-grimgar]

Ghost king wei wuxian refusing to find a new sword after suibian and even refusing different weapons, preferring instead to grieve for and honour suibian by using hand-to-hand.

I’m imagining it to look like itadori Yuuji’s cursed technique from jujutsu kaisen but it’s using resentful/yin energy, and upon impact the energy starts corroding what it touches, leaving open wounds or holes like a cookie cutter shark.

The style of fighting itself is unconventional and avaoidant, like when jin ling attacked him in the donghua.

Another ability he has is to basically melt into the shadows and hide. Melting into a person’s shadow his voice is only able to be heard by him. This doesn’t exactly help with Mo Xuanyu’s supposed insanity as he’s often seen talking to no one.