#he's xiandu!

[xiyao-feels]

The thing is I do get the, like, instinctive suspicion of JGY? Or—well, no, I think a lot of it is classism. But suspicion is honestly a really reasonable response to JGY's activities under JGS! It's worth it to ask: was he really in danger of his life? And even if he was, having had to do this to survive—what will he be like, when he doesn't have to anymore?

They're fair questions! The problem is they're questions we can answer from the text. He absolutely was in danger of his life. And as to what he'd be like when he didn't have to anymore—

I've talked about the watchtowers a lot because they're such a good example, and the kind of thing that would never have happened without him. But sometimes I want to shake people and say, look at the result of his governance! Look at the world WWX wanders through, post resurrection! Look at the peace, look at the way the juniors really get the chance to be kids!

This isn't something that happens automatically. Or really what I want to say is, it means something about the powers of the cultivation world. You can't just treat it as an interesting background fact to the juniors' characterization, with no depth beyond that! The cultivation world under WRH was the way it was because of WRH; the cultivation world under JGS was the way it was because of JGS; the cultivation world under JGY was the way it was because of JGY, and the way it was was better than any other time we've seen it.

[aphel1on]

will never stop being funny to me that nmj near the end of his life was extremely paranoid and delusional, but he was correctly identifying jgy as a threat, but, like... for wrong reasons only. you'll see ppl going "nmj was right about jgy all along, it's sad no one listened to him😭" but no. jgy isn't inherently evil, nor is he a power-hungry monster. not everything he ever said or did was part of some conniving ploy. when given the opportunity, he generally does try to return kindnesses and help people! but - oh, yeah, no, he's totally gonna murder you dude. no, yeah, he's gonna be so sneaky about it that it'll take a decade for the truth to come out.

it's like making 2 mistakes on a math quiz that just so happen to cancel each other out and give you the correct answer.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Wangxian talk about how the Blue Spirit mysterious masked man knows a mixture of Lan and Jin sword techniques, and I am torn between delight at the implication that JGY gave SMS swordsmanship lessons, and confusion at when exactly JGY would have become expert in Jin swordsmanship.

[eternal-brainrot]

happy birthday to my beloved one and only a-yao!!!! light of my life who deserves all the love and appreciation on his birthday <333

[thatswhatsushesaid]

hey do you guys ever think about the decade and change of peace and stability the jianghu enjoyed which allowed jin ling, lan sizhui, lan jingyi and ouyang zizhen to just be dumb kids? to grow up in safety just doing dumb kid shit?

thanks jin guangyao 🙏

[wishthefish]

My request is draw Su She. My man deserves it

Oh no, he's all soggy! Who left Su Zongzhu in the milkshake? (⁠ʘ⁠言⁠ʘ⁠╬⁠)

He is less...wet in this drawing.

[wutheringheightsfilm]

urggh the inconsistencies in mdzs make my head spin... tell me why wen ruohan was never chief cultivator but in cql they call him xiandu...

[danmei-confessions]

My honest opinion is that Jin Guangyao as Xiandu did in fact make the world a better and safer place. That Jin Guangyao's watchtower project brought sorely-needed aid to regions typically ignored by cultivators is something I'm willing to believe, because that information is given to us by Lan Wangji specifically--someone who has spent the last 13 or so years "going where the chaos is," and therefore has firsthand knowledge of what the situation is like out there for civilians.

Jin Guangyao's consistent lobbying for the watchtower project, at considerable political and financial cost to himself, indicates to me that he genuinely cared about improving the lot of the common people and using his hard-won status to make institutional reforms for the benefit of society. And the fact that the Jianghu Wei Wuxian is resurrected into is so peaceful--that children like Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, Jin Ling, and Ouyang Zizhen can run around being kind and idealistic--is proof that Jin Guangyao succeeded.

That Nie Huaisang succeeded in bringing about Jin Guangyao's downfall, then, is quite bad for the rest of society. We aren't given much information about Nie Huaisang's character, abilities, or goals beyond vengeance, so we don't know how important he considers things like helping the common people and improving society to be. On the other hand, Nie Huaisang's actions throughout the story indicate that he's all too willing to allow his own sect to decay and to put children in the line of fire in order to achieve his own, selfish vengeance. Therefore, if Nie Huaisang truly becomes the next Xiandu (as MXTX said he would), there is absolutely zero indication that he would give two shits about trying to help the common people. While he might not go as far as to try and directly tear down the watchtowers himself, it is still far more likely that the watchtower project would stutter and end under Nie Huaisang's reign--simply because maintaining the watchtowers is difficult and unpopular, and Nie Huaisang has shown zero indication of any willingness to work hard for *moral* ends that do not involve his own private interests.

Society at the end of Mo Do Zu Shi--both the Jianghu and the lot of the common people--is in a worse state than it was at the beginning. Wei Wuxian's actions created a massive power vacuum that none of the surviving named characters can effectively fill. Quite frankly, that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji happily swan off into the sunset with zero regard for the political mess they helped create--a political mess that will doubtlessly negatively impact the lives of thousands--makes me second-guess their moral characters.

.

[symphonyofsilence]

While making this poll I noticed that actually Wangxian are the subplot to the 3Zun story. The whole plot happened because of Nie Huaisang's 10 years old revenge plot against Jin Guangyao. Which happened because of the whole huge 3Zun drama.

Jin Guangyao was the one who killed the villain of the past time of the story and won the war. He was the one who went from being a poor outcast to the Xiandu.

The climax of the story is The Guanyin Temple. In the Guanyin Temple the main characters are Jin Guangyao, Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are... kinda there. Flirting and hugging each other.

In fact If you erase Lan Wangji very little of the plot will change.(I mean the book is in the romance genre so yeah, in that way it will definitely change drastically. But I'm talking about in- universe changes). Even in his own romance plot, he didn't have a very active role since LXC was the one who screamed at WWX about LWJ's love for him.

[spriteofmushrooms]

Wei Wuxian sipped the wine Lan Zhan brought from Gusu in one of Jinlin Tai's many ostentatious peony gardens. He had found a branch in a ginkgo tree that was high enough that no one should see him at a glance where he still had a good view of the moon between the yellow leaves. It wasn't the worst way he could have spent his time at the Discussion Conference. Lan Zhan, for example, had to be xiandu. What could possibly be worse than that?

"Jin Ling, what's the matter now?"

Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. Really, Jiang Cheng is such a wronged mother. He plays his part like a grand madam.

"Do you think Zizhen-ge is a better sect leader than I am?" Jin Ling hissed.

"What?" Wei Wuxian looked down. Through the branches, he could see Jiang Cheng's silver lotus guan glimmer with his head shake. "Where did you get that from? A-Ling, sit and explain."

"You complimented him in front of everyone," Jin Ling grumbled, but he flounced onto the bench.

Jiang Cheng folded himself gracefully, careful of the drape of his robes. "It's his first conference. All I did was walk him through presenting himself, like a junior should be treated."

"You liked his proposal."

"You like it, too, brat. Besides, a little support in the beginning keeps the old men at bay."

Jin Ling knocked his shoulder against Jiang Cheng's. "So it's not because you always wanted a poet for a nephew?"

Wei Wuxian couldn't see it, but he could imagine Jiang Cheng's face. But when Jiang Cheng spoke, it didn't match the tone he expected. Sad, but trying to joke. "After the poems Zixuan wrote?"

"A-Die wrote poems?"

Oh, oh, Wei Wuxian wanted to leave.

"Once he became enlightened, he was devout. 'Rain pearls on lotus leaves which bow gracefully/Thoughts of you collect and overwhelm me.' A-jie blushed for weeks." Jiang Cheng sighed. "The Jinlin Tai library should have them all somewhere. Please don't let Ouyang-gongzi read them."

Jin Ling huffed a laugh and threw his arm around Jiang Cheng's shoulder, which is when Wei Wuxian realized Jin Ling was taller and broader now. He hadn't seen them side by side in years. A light breeze stirred the gingko leaves and lifted the scent of peonies.

"Hanguang-jun didn't murder anyone with his eyes today," Jin Ling chirped. "Do you think he's starting to like politics?"

"Don't."

"Jiujiu..."

"He's the xiandu, Jin Ling. What do you think would happen if anyone overheard you disrespect him, especially while hosting the conference?"

Jin Ling groaned and threw his head back dramatically, jostling Jiang Cheng. Briefly, Wei Wuxian amused himself by imagining what Yu-furen would have made of her grandson. Then he gently slapped himself. "You're so boring, jiujiu! It's not like he respects either of us."

Jiang Cheng snapped, "I didn't realize you aspired to be so immature and irresponsible."

Immature? Irresponsible? Jiang Cheng had a lot of nerve! Wei Wuxian would tell him so, but then he would have to admit to hiding in a tree. Jiang Cheng would be so annoying about it, and Wei Wuxian really didn't want to bother!

"Aiya, jiujiu, if I can't complain to you about him, who can I? No one else sees what he's like."

Jiang Cheng leaned against Jin Ling, but then he ruined the picture by saying, "It's good that most people can't tell. If half of the sects ran to Zewu-jun with complaints about his beloved didi, he would leave seclusion before he was ready."

They were quiet for a few moments. Suddenly, Jin Ling burst out, "Do you really not care?"

Jiang Cheng paused. "About?"

"You know I spend time with—him!"

"You're sixteen, Jin Ling. Your memory should be good enough to remember every other time you've poked at this. And use his name; he doesn't actually appear every time you call."

"Wei-qianbei misses you!" Jin Ling grabbed Jiang Cheng's shoulders and started to gently shake him back and forth, but then Jiang Cheng pushed his hands away and stood.

"As you are clearly feeling better, I will leave first," Jiang Cheng hissed.

Jin Ling zipped in front of Jiang Cheng, blocking his path. "Jiujiu, I don't understand you at all! You want to talk to him, and he wants to talk to you. Why are you waiting?"

"He wants to talk to me so much that I learned about his elopement from gossiping disciples? He wants to talk to me so much that he lives in Cloud Recesses, which he hates? He wants to talk to me so much that he ignores Lan Wangji's hand on Bichen every time we meet?" With each question, Jiang Cheng prowled forward, and Jin Ling backed up.

"I don't think he hates Cloud Recesses..."

That's right; Wei Wuxian didn't. Lan Zhan was there, for one thing. And the juniors!

"That's because you don't fucking know him," Jiang Cheng snapped.

"Oh, and you do? When you won't even talk to him?"

"I was his assignment, Jin Ling. He either played with me or starved; he either trained to be the best or lost his position." Jiang Cheng laughed, dark and mean. "Not that I noticed."

"Jiujiu..."

"Let him live the life he wants, Jin Ling. Let me go to bed."

[angstymdzsthoughts]

LXC commits suicide after canon. LWJ goes back in time somehow and goes straight for JGY's throath for causing his brother so much anguish. LWJ now has to:

-Deal with the repercussions of killing xiandu in public

-Dealing with his very confused, hurt and devastated brother

-Deal with the realization that he has doomed himself and WWX bc NHS has no reason to manipulate MXY into the sacrifice if JGY is already dead

[poorlittleyaoyao]

THIS MORNING’S QUANDARY IS:

Okay, so in CQL officially there are no fierce corpses, just “puppets,” right? Which means that prior to Xue Yang decapitating him, Nie Mingjue was alive, albeit feral.

So when Xue Yang, holding the half-restored Yin Tiger Tally, informs Jin Guangyao “I can’t control him” and asks what to do next, that implies that killing Nie Mingjue… was not the original goal? Or maybe it was, but when the qi deviation didn’t kill him outright, they pivoted to something else? That involved? Controlling him in the way Xue Yang would eventually control Song Lan?

And I am DESPERATE to know what the plan was gonna be if Xue Yang had been able to control him with the Tiger Tally. What tactical advantages does having a clearly unwell Nie Mingjue shambling around possibly bring to anyone involved? Were they gonna have him do something awful to destroy his legacy, since his public qi deviation doesn’t seem to have come with a body count like in the novel? Were they gonna have him voice support for whatever political actions Jin Guangshan found convenient and hope that nobody noticed the fact that he’s now grey, sporting black veins in his neck, and speaks in exclusively in incoherent growls? WHAT?

I guess maybe there wasn’t a tactical advantage, and Jin Guangyao just wanted to use him as a demonic cultivation research subject for malice’s sake, but that doesn’t square with how subdued and uncomfortable he appears in the flashback. Lanling’s demonic cultivation research apparatus isn’t super developed in the show, and there are so so many logistical questions for how they would smuggle an instantly-recognizable 6’4” sect leader into Jin Guangyao’s home unnoticed following said sect leader’s very public medical crisis. There is no reasonable way for any of this to go down if zombies aren’t real and therefore all possible explanations are very funny.

[limitbreaker23]

A WIP game, I can do that, @fistfuloflightning <3 Let me annoy you with my Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji post-canon wip. cql verse, because it gives me the great opportunity to have older Jiang Zongzhu deal with Xiandu Lan Wangji. To give Jin Ling an opportunity to attend the studies in the Cloud Recesses, Jiang Cheng takes on some clan leading duties for Lanling-Jin, supervised by the Chief Cultivator, most annoying esteemed Hanguang-Jun. Have an excerpt of Jiang Cheng trying to rail rile Lan Wangji up from the second chapter:

“This position requires a particular way of thinking.” “This position requires you,” Jiang Cheng said, looked steadily at Lan Wangji, not letting that glance slip away, leaning closer to feel those eyes on him, the tingle down his spine. Lan Wangji’s ears seemed red from this close. “Someone perfect, proper and particular. Someone setting an example.” In annoying others. “No one’s afraid you’ll ever go mad with power like some of your predecessors.” “Hmph.” “I keep a close eye on you, just in case,” Jiang Cheng said, voice quiet, distance between them too small to dare for more volume. Almost a whisper. Lan Wangji blinked and cocked his head to the side, watching him as if Jiang Cheng was about to slam his balled fist into his face. His ears red, his throat exposed like this, a vein pulsing invitingly. Perhaps he kept too close of an eye. “Don’t think I’m praising you. Gusu-Lan needs to hold some more competitions and conferences for you to keep up with your predecessors. I assume with Zewu-Jun in seclusion it’s too time consuming to organise anything and continue splitting his duties between you and your uncle.” Jiang Cheng grabbed the folded paper and pulled it out of Lan Wangji’s unexpectantly loose grip, stashed it within his sleeve. Nothing to waste time on here anymore now. He should bow and leave. “Competitions?” And Lan Wangji didn’t let him, pinned him straight to the spot with his stare. “Like?” Jiang Cheng leant back in towards those eyes. Fear was something for juniors after all. “Why ask for my opinion, Hanguang-Jun? Yunmeng-Jiang is not known for its hospitality, if I need to remind you.” Lan Wangji didn’t flinch away from his breath, didn’t blink for once. “I would not decline your opinion.” No one should suffer from goosebumps at such indifferent, cold words, and here Jiang Cheng was, being a fool. “We’d be here all night if the two of us discuss socialising.” A flutter of lashes. There it was, as hateable as always. “If only there were more hours in one day,” Jiang Cheng said. “If only.” Jiang Cheng smirked right at Lan Wangji, instead of bowing and leaving. “Clan Leader Jiang.” Lan Wangji turned further towards him, seemed almost hesitant for a moment. “Cultivation should not be neglected. Has your training suffered since you’ve taken on Clan Leader Jin’s duties?” Jiang Cheng closed his tired eyes for a moment, probably too long, and Lan Wangji looked at him with that softly furrowed brow again. Fucking strange question out of the blue. “Would you like a duel to test me?” “Meditate with me,” Lan Wangji said. “I was preparing to. Join me.” Jiang Cheng’s heart almost drowned that quiet, deep voice. He breathed out something akin to a laugh. Watched his breath leaving goosebumps on Lan Wangji’s pale throat. “I didn’t know Gusu-Lan practiced Dual –” He bit his tongue, Lan Wangji’s eyes growing wide, ears flaring crimson. Jiang Cheng almost jumped back, forced his body into a simple step, craving more and more distance, wishing those eyes to close. Rarely had he seen Lan Wangji’s eyes this large and open, never a better opportunity to judge their colour, and he really had no need to do that. “My cultivation is not yours to worry about. Xiandu.” He bowed deeper than necessary and couldn’t escape that wide-eyed look. Carved into his mind even with his eyes open. He forced his spine straight again and stared through Lan Wangji, who lowered his head into a bow in return. And Jiang Cheng turned before Lan Wangji could look at him again. Judge him. Blush at him. Fuck this. He dashed outside, hurried through the garden as fast as Gusu-Lan allowed and dodged those beds of blue flowers in his way. Felt like some stupid rabbit hopping through them. The cool evening breeze burning in his lungs, heart slamming into them, not allowing him to breath. Like some dumb fucking teenager. Embarrassing himself to his core that wasn’t even his and beyond. Jiang Cheng kicked the first pebble in his way down this mountain.

Who knows if this makes sense, it's a beloved moment to me. I love middle-aged cultivators being dorks. I have no writer friends in fandom, feel yourself tagged if you want to share beloved wips. *hides*

[thatswhatsushesaid]

i don't know why tumblr keeps recommending posts to me that contain extra catty commentary about jgy in the tags, but i'm really not impressed!!