#jiang fighting style

[korpikorppi]

Some impressions of the Yunmeng Jiang fighting style (and some of the others, too)

This comment by @mylittleponygrrl

My one wish (regret) about the series is that we never got to see the Yunmeng Jiang fighting forms. What a wasted opportunity that we never got to see Wei Wuxian, their first disciple, actually sword fight 🥺

on this post about my favourite LWJ sword technique got me thinking. While I agree that There Should Have Been More!, we actually do see Wei Wuxian sword fight and we do also see the Yunmeng Jiang fighting style 🙂. Let's see...

We do, of course, have The Moonlight Duel™️. Wei Wuxian does not, as we know, draw Suibian, but he uses the sword in it's scabbard to parry Lan Wangji's attacks, using defence techniques we can safely assume to be part of the Yunmeng Jiang fighting style. And he fights Lan Wangji to a standstill, so they appear to be quite effective.

The occasion where we see the best glimpses of Wei Wuxian fighting with a sword (even if the sword is not, unfortunately, Suibian) is the fight against the Wen in the cave of the Xuanwu, which is actually a really nice show of the various fighting styles. It is (also unfortunately) almost impossible to get good screencaps of him: he is a flurry of motion, twirling in tight circles (rather similar to the moves he uses when casting his talismans, come to think of it, so that is perhaps something typical for him), performing fast parries and strikes with relatively small movements, skillfully wreaking havoc as he goes.

In this fight, Wei Wuxian also performs a neck slice, basically the same technique as my LWJ favourite (caps here), but the execution is more straight forward with him moving in after a nice little parry, keeping his body straight, barely leaning in, before pulling the blade back.

Moving on... Wei Wuxian actually wields Suibian during the fight on the Jinlintai stairs! Even if he has not been using a sword for a long time, even if he no longer has his golden core nor a reservoir of spiritual energy, he's doing... quite ok, relying at this point (I imagine) on his reflexes and muscle memory from his years of training.

And of course, regarding the Yunmeng Jiang fighting style, we must not forget Jiang Cheng. As the Young Master of the Jiang Clan he's sure to have received as thorough and rigorous a training in the Yunmeng Jiang sword techniques as Wei Wuxian, and we see him fighting both in the Xuanwu cave...

...and during the Sunshot Campaign.

Based on how the Yunmeng Shuangjie fight, I get an impression that where the Lan (or at least the Twin Jades) like to keep their enemies at a distance to employ their large, graceful sweeps and swirls, the Yunmeng Jiang seem to go by the principle of "keep your friends close and your enemies closer", also in practise.

Both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng perform their parries relatively close to their bodies (as can be seen in some of the images above), keeping their movements precise, fast and economical. And even when thrusting and striking out, they do not seem to reach very far or lean in but keep their bodies straight and their weapons closer to their bodies than the Lan, who always seem to go for range, to bend and stretch (check out the contrast between Jiang Cheng above and Lan Wangji below). I also have a feeling that compared to the Lan, more emphasis is placed on defensive techniques in the Jiang style, which would make sense considering the above-mentioned difference in their "range of engagement".

Also, the Yunmeng Jiang characteristic of fighting at a relatively close range allows Wei Wuxian to more easily adapt his sword style to fighting with Chenqing when he uses his flute (much shorter than a jian) as a melee weapon. Quite handy.

To end this, I also have to mention that I absolutely love the way Jin Zixuan fights! If the Lan favour engaging at a long range and the Jiang at a relatively short range, Jin Zixuan seems to settle somewhere in between. His techniques are not as graceful as those of the Lan nor as fast as those of the Jiang, but they are very powerful and well grounded. And while all of the young masters are quite adept at unarmed combat (look at the fight in the Xuanwu cave!), Jin Zixuan strikes me as being the most comfortable with it. So are those things representative of the Jin fighting style? Probably, but it is pretty much impossibe to say to what extent, because we do not see anyone else really use it (and Jin Ling for sure had not been taught proper unarmed combat).

And oh, talking about the fight in the Xuanwu cave! It is also interesting to see Lan Wangji fight the Wen: his injured leg prevents him from moving much so he needs to adapt his preferred fighting style. Pretty cool!

And the Nie style? Beats me. There are sure to be clear differences compared to the rest of the great sects, stemming from the difference in their weapon to begin with, but the only Nie representative we really see fighting is Nie Mingjue. And I strongly suspect no one else fights like Nie Mingjue.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 3: Enveloping Feelings.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4 (soon))

[twistedappletree]

One thing I’m trying not to do in my fic is make adult LSZ a carbon copy of LWJ, especially with fighting.

Obviously, he learns guqin in canon but everyone just seems to have him do everything exactly like LWJ.

NO.

I refuse.

I’ll make him use his guqin and sword at the same damn time. I will have him physically knocking people upside the head with it inbetween playing. I’ll make him carve barriers of spiritual energy with the tip of his sword before ascending in the air like a whirlwind and using a mix of every damn cultivation style he’s learned while traveling. I’ll have him and Wen Ning seamlessly finessing the heck out of anyone who tries to mess with them.

I will make this kid god.

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Research Is a Love Language

Sangcheng extra for chapter 7/8 of Soldier, Poet, King

Set during the week Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen are recovering from their Drift experiment.

[AO3]

-/-

Nie Huaisang is minding his own business and trying to stay awake for roughly the 34th hour in a row when he’s suddenly grabbed from behind, which is the excuse he’s going to use for why he whips around and sucker punches world-renowned Jaeger pilot Jiang Wanyin in the throat.

“I’m sorry!!” he gasps immediately, hurrying to wrap an arm around the man’s shoulders where he’s doubled over coughing and gagging, attempting to gasp in a breath. Nie Huaisang pats his back a little frantically. “I didn’t know it was you! But honestly, who the hell walks around just grabbing people from behind in a place like this?!”

Jiang Wanyin is incapable of answering at the moment - re: coughing, gagging, etc. - so Nie Huaisang just sighs and ushers him into the lab with tutting and clucking in disdain over the man’s general condition that would put his favorite childhood auntie to shame.

“Whoa - the hell did you do to him?” Mo Xuanyu asks but Nie Huaisang just waves him off in favor of dragging Jiang Wanyin over to the emergency cot. The thing’s seeing way more action lately than it has the entire time Nie Huaisang has been here, though sadly it hasn’t been the kind of action he’d been hoping for when he’d stuck it in here.

“Why are you investigating us?” is the first thing Jiang Wanyin manages to say when he can breathe again, though he still sounds like someone tried to choke him out. “Wei Wuxian said someone’s been digging around in our personnel files, and he traced it back to you. What the fuck do you want?”

Nie Huaisang blinks at that; it’s only been a couple days since he finally broke through Tokyo’s obnoxiously tight security to get at all the juicy, classified shit they don’t want anyone to see, and it’s been roughly 10 hours since he managed to track down and unencrypt all the studies and experiments done on and with the Yunmeng trio. Nie Huaisang puts on his best innocent eyes, the ones that fool everyone except for Jin Guangyao, and looks at Jiang Wanyin with a confused pout.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lies smoothly. “I don’t do that kind of research, I’m on weapons duty and A-Yu is on Kaijus. Why would I look up pilots’ files?”

Jiang Wanyin’s resolve visibly wavers, slipping for just a moment into uncomfortable uncertainty, and Nie Huaisang personally thinks it does wonders for that handsome face of his that’s always far too angry to be at all welcoming. Nie Huaisang pulls his favorite fan from his sleeve and starts waving it quickly in front of his chin, aware that it usually makes him look more anxious than he is simply because the too-quick fluttering puts others on edge so they assume he must be as well.

“I don’t know why you would want to, but you’re not going to throw me off - you did, and I want to know what the fuck is going on!”

Nie Huaisang continues to pout as charmingly as he knows how and stops waving his fan in favor of snapping it shut and swatting Jiang Wanyin in the chest with it. “Are you always pissed off? I don’t think I’ve seen you look happy about anything since you got here.”

“Am I supposed to be happy about being investigated by my commander’s brother?”

“No one’s said anything about investigating except you,” Nie Huaisang sighs and stands up to retreat to his desk and plop down, using his reflection in the screen to redo his little half-ponytail. Jiang Wanyin stands and starts stalking across the room towards him, but Mo Xuanyu pushes off his desk to roll his chair in between them. Jiang Wanyin stops in his tracks, still glaring, and Nie Huaisang smirks to himself. Mo Xuanyu, for his part, looks like he hasn’t even noticed anything, just sitting in his chair with his knees pulled up to his chest reading something on a tablet and munching on the last of his favorite candy from the grocery shipment earlier in the week.

“Cut the bullshit,” Jiang Wanyin says, sounding…moderately calmer. Nie Huaisang looks up at him sidelong, an eyebrow raised. “No one’s better at this shit than my brother, and if he says he caught you red-handed then he caught you, that’s it. Just tell me why and I’ll leave you alone.”

Nie Huaisang sighs and leans back a bit, pulling one foot up onto his chair and resting his elbow on it, fan still dangling from his hand. “Down, A-Yu. Good guard dog,” he tells his friend and the boy rolls his eyes but returns to his desk anyway with much-less-suave scooching. Nie Huaisang gestures grandly to the rickety old wooden chair next to his setup. “Take a seat in my office, Jiang Wanyin. Come on.”

Jiang Wanyin looks a bit wary but he complies anyway after a moment, crossing behind him and settling down in the chair stiffly.

“Why does Wei Wuxian have a tracker on your files?”

“Because he’s a paranoid idiot.”

“Mhm. And he sent you down here to bully me instead of coming himself because…?” Nie Huaisang unfurls his fan and waves it a few times lazily as Jiang Wanyin blushes a splotchy red high on his unfairly perfect cheekbones.

“Is he too busy pestering Lan Wangji to come harass me in person?”

Jiang Wanyin scoffs hard and leans back, arms crossed tightly and his jaw (also unfairly perfect) tense as he clenches his teeth.

“Is it pestering if they’re both happy to keep everyone else on the corridor awake until the middle of the night with their bullshit?”

Nie Huaisang nods sagely, as if in agreement, only to say, “That’s hot.” It’s mostly to see Jiang Wanyin thoroughly flustered and he doesn’t disappoint, his upper lip curling in disgust and the bridge of his nose suddenly has the most adorable crinkle Nie Huaisang thinks he’s ever seen. He hides his mouth behind his fan as he laughs and waves his free hand at Jiang Wanyin as he tries to stop laughing long enough to get him to sit back down. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Sit down, here. Don’t go storming off, I’m just teasing. Obviously he sent you here to flirt with me since he knows he’s not my type.”

Nie Huaisang laughs harder and this time Jiang Wanyin actually does storm out, red from the top of his forehead all the way down his throat. 

“Nice one,” Mo Xuanyu says once his laughter has died down to chuckles. “That’s probably enough to chase him away for at least a few days.”

“I know. What a shame though, he’s so handsome I wish he’d stick around just for me to look at, he’d make such a good trophy husband for me don’t you think?”

“Babe, we both know you’ll be the trophy wife for whatever meathead manages to tie you down.”

Nie Huaisang sighs in long-suffering and fans himself, as world weary as a Victorian maiden on her fainting couch. “Don’t I know it. Still, he’s fun to tease. Don’t try to keep him out if he comes back, alright? I like him.”

“Whatever you say, Laoshi.”

-/-

Jiang Cheng is absolutely not stepping foot in the research lab again. The only person in the entire world he can stand making a fool out of him is his dumbass brother, and even then it’s rare that he lets him get away with it. But Nie Huaisang?! The guy looks like he weighs 100 pounds soaking wet and he obviously relies on others to fight his battles for him (re: Mo Xuanyu sliding up to defend him and, he has to assume, Nie Mingjue’s reputation keeping anyone from messing with his brother in the first place).

“You like him though,” Wei Wuxian teases when Jiang Cheng finishes his ranting, pacing back and forth around their room like a caged tiger. “And he wasn’t wrong! I did send you down there to flirt with him! Why’d you run away when he started pulling your pigtails?”

Jiang Cheng tackles him down to the mattress and shoves a pillow over his face until he stops thrashing and obliges his irritation by playing dead. 

“I don’t need your help to…do that!” he snaps, returning to his pacing. Wei Wuxian sits up with a sigh and looks up at the ceiling like he’s praying for strength. It’s actually a little disconcerting when it’s usually Jiang Cheng lamenting over having a brother like Wei Wuxian, and he’s not totally sure he likes even a momentary reversal of their usual roles.

“It’s flirting, A-Cheng. You can say it, I promise you won’t catch on fire.”

“I don’t flirt!”

“Yeah no shit!”

“You fucker-!!”

“Boys,” Jiang Yanli sighs a few minutes later when she finds them wrestling on the floor. “You can’t even get along while I’m gone for two hours?”

“Jieeee,” Wei Wuxian pouts from where he’s got Jiang Cheng pinned with a knee in his back, an arm and a leg each yanked up behind him in a too-tight hold. “I sent him downstairs to talk to that cute researcher he likes and he messed it up!”

“Oh dear,” Jiang Yanli tuts and shoos Wei Wuxian off his back. Jiang Cheng refuses to pout, because he’s not a fucking child, but he does accept Jiang Yanli fussing over him and brushing his hair back over his ears as Wei Wuxian is left to sort himself out - good, he doesn’t deserve to be coddled. “A-Cheng, what happened?”

“I went down there to ask why the fuck he’s investigating us, like you told me to!” That last is, of course, aimed at Wei Wuxian considering he’d never yell at their sister. “I didn’t know I was supposed to flirt, considering I’ve never done that in my entire fucking life!”

“Well…did he tell you why he’s looking into us?”

Jiang Cheng sighs and resists the urge to pinch at his nose. He knows from experience that it won’t do anything to alleviate the particular flavor of headache that is Wei Wuxian and all his chaos.

“I got..sidetracked and left before he answered.”

There’s a beat of silence to mutually lament his social skills - or lack thereof - and then, as usual, it’s Jiang Yanli who rallies first. “Alright, well then that’s just the perfect excuse to go back down there and try again! Right, A-Xian?”

“What? Oh! Yep, yes, absolutely, you should 100% try again. I can totally see this going better the second time around if you go back down there. And hey, I need the room tonight with Lan Zhan anyway so -”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Jiang Cheng snaps and storms out. He’s going to kill that little Jin Guangyao guy, he swears. Ever since Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji got their shit together during his experiment they’ve been nothing but absolutely unbearable, and if Jiang Cheng has to spend one more night bunking with the Jin cousins he’s going to murder one or both of them, no matter that Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan have now apparently settled their differences as well.

He heads down to the weight room to attempt to distract himself from..well, everything really, but he can’t do that all day and night. He stops for dinner and goes back right after, still too keyed up to even think about trying to find somewhere to bunk down for the night. He supposes, with some degree of irritation, that he could sleep on one of the weight benches and try to make Wei Wuxian feel guilty for sexiling him yet again, but he already knows that Wei Wuxian will just brush it off as Jiang Cheng being too lazy to go asking around for somewhere to crash.

He realizes belatedly that with Lan Wangji in his and Wei Wuxian’s room that the Lan brothers’ quarters will be empty. Everyone knows by now that Lan Xichen is holed up in Jin Guangyao’s room with him, and no one’s seen either of them in days though Nie Mingjue hasn’t made any comment about it one way or another so he’s assuming they’re fine. He should just ask to stay in the Lans’ room considering it’s Lan Wangji’s fault that he can’t sleep in his own bed anyway, but…he glances at the time only to realize it’s too late to ask, and it’s not like sleeping in another room will keep him from being able to hear what his stupid brother does with his downtime these days.

The more he thinks about going back to that fucking hallway the less he wants to, and so when he finally gives in and leaves the weightroom after a quick shower he finds himself heading back down to the research labs. Nie Huaisang has a bed down there, after all, and everyone knows that researchers don’t sleep. It’s worth a shot, and sure enough when he gets there he spots the man still sitting hunched at his computer, his features colorless and eyes dark in the acid-green glow of whatever he’s reading on the display.

There’s no sign of the little one, Mo Xuanyu, so Jiang Cheng steals his chair and sinks down into it with a sigh.

“A-Yu, you’re supposed to go get some sleep,” Nie Huaisang mumbles without looking up.

“Tell that to the bags under your eyes.”

“Fucking shit!” Nie Huaisang yelps, whipping around with wide eyes to stare at him. Jiang Cheng smirks in satisfaction for having startled him and put him on the back foot instead. “When did you - what -”

“Got sexiled again and I’m sick of trying to sleep in the same shoebox as Jin Zixun. And you never answered my question earlier.”

“That is so valid, you stay here as long as you want to, gorgeous,” Nie Huaisang huffs when he’s recovered. “And what question did I not answer?”

Jiang Cheng sighs heavily and tips his head back against the headrest. So they’re still playing this game that’s definitely more of a nuisance than a game. He rolls the chair over to Nie Huaisang’s workstation and pushes a haphazard pile of folders and loose papers out of the way enough to put his elbow on the desk and prop his chin in his palm, too tired to care about appearances.

“Come on, seriously. I just need to know that you’re not like…doing weird shit with our information. There’s personal stuff in there, and you wouldn’t be the first one to try to start something with our reputations.”

Nie Huaisang hums and his tired eyes light up briefly in recognition. “Am I planning a smear campaign against you guys in an attempt to turn the entire world against your brother, you mean?”

Jiang Cheng winces for the reminder of his mother’s most lasting legacy in the eyes of the world, and Nie Huaisang at least has the decency to look apologetic. “Yeah. That.”

“Nah, I don’t know how to do that even if I wanted to, which I don’t.” Nie Huaisang flicks his fan open and waves it a few times, the slight hint of a breeze a relief in the stale air of the shatterdome that’s even worse down here in the basement. “Can you be trusted with secrets or are you the type to get nervous and blurt out everything you know?”

Jiang Cheng blinks at that and actually thinks about it before ultimately deciding on, “Yeah, I can keep a secret. What’s up?”

“I need information on three-way Drifts, and you guys are pretty much it.”

Jiang Cheng blinks at that and then frowns, trying to find an example to prove that’s not the case only to realize that…there really isn’t one that comes to mind.

“No way. There have to be others. I know we’re the only triple-team in Asia, but there’s gotta be others elsewhere. The Americas? Oceania?”

“Nope. I guess they’ve probably experimented with it, but I mean, you’ve seen the level of mods Wei Wuxian had to make to your first Jaeger suit to get it to work with three consciousnesses controlling it. And now Violet Spider is completely unique, your repair crew had to be trained by Wei Wuxian himself to be able to maintain her, right? You think anyone else is willing to put in that kind of time and effort when Jaegers work just the same with two pilots?”

“...Huh.” Jiang Cheng takes a moment longer to consider it and then shakes himself a bit in an attempt to focus back on the task at hand. “Okay fine, so we’re the only three-way team in the Jaeger program. Why do you need to study us?”

Nie Huaisang shrugs in a way that looks just a little too practiced to be fully nonchalant. “I dunno, I just do what I’m asked.”

“You broke into Wen Ruohan’s security system and accessed extremely classified information on some of the top Jaeger pilots in Asia…because you were asked. And you don’t know or care why you were asked.”

Nie Huaisang shrugs again and picks up a half-empty cup of instant noodles to sip up some of the broth, though he makes a face and sticks his tongue out immediately after. “Eugh, that’s ice cold. How long have I been down here?”

“Pretty sure nobody wants to think about that. Listen - can I steal the cot over there for a few hours?”

“Hm? Oh - yeah sure,” Nie Huaisang waves him off and turns back to his computer, already hunkering down again and looking very much like he’s about to fall asleep right there in his chair. “A-Yu won’t be back for a while, he usually passes out pretty hard when I send him to sleep in a real bed. Should be pretty easy to sleep down here, I’ll stay quiet.”

Jiang Cheng nods and starts to stand up, but halfway there he pauses and takes a closer look at Nie Huaisang’s face, once again washed out and vaguely tinted green by his monitor. Even in such weak lighting, the shadows under his eyes are obvious, and his posture speaks of exhaustion. His little half-ponytail that Jiang Cheng refuses to acknowledge is cute is askew and short pieces are hanging loose around his face, as if pulled free by a few too many passes of his hands. Jiang Cheng sighs and finishes straightening up, crossing his arms and waiting for Nie Huaisang to look up and notice him again.

It takes Jiang Cheng kicking one of the wheels of his chair to knock him out of concentrating on what looks like weapon schematics that definitely have the Wen symbol in the top corner, startling him into blinking up at him and asking a confused, “What??”

“If Mo Xuanyu is off crashing somewhere and I’m sleeping in here, where are you going to sleep?”

“Uh…I just have to finish this one last -”

“Nope. I can’t sleep with lights on, your monitor will keep me up. Go to bed.”

“Well that’s not my problem, and you said it yourself that the alternative is the Jin boys -”

“Huaisang.” The use of just his given name stops him short, and Jiang Cheng forces himself to meet the other man’s wide eyes without blushing and without looking away. “Either find somewhere to sleep, or I’ll make you. You look like shit.”

Nie Huaisang’s mouth falls open and he reaches up suddenly to push the strands of his fringe back away from his face, his surprise turning into a pout that Jiang Cheng is already learning is his typical method of deflection. Not like he hasn’t seen that trick a million times.

“A-Cheng!!” he whines, and the diminutive is fair play but still makes Jiang Cheng’s neck go hot. Of course he’d found his family name in those fucking files. Damn it. “You can’t tell a man you barely know that he looks like shit! You’re so beautiful, don’t you know how soul-crushing that is??”

“Somehow I think you’ll recover,” Jiang Cheng snarks. “Come on, wrap it up and find somewhere to sleep for a while.”

Nie Huaisang whines the entire time he’s locking all his programs with layer upon layer of passwords, as he powers down the computer bank, as he gathers up the trash covering his desk and chucks it in a bin in the corner. Jiang Cheng stands nearby with his arms crossed over his chest and watches him drag himself through the motions. He tries not to smile at the display that’s…surprisingly far from infuriating for reasons he’s not going to examine closely.

“Will you still be here when I come back?” Nie Huaisang asks when he’s lingering in the doorway to the corridor, the entire room darkened save for a single table lamp near the cot for Jiang Cheng to see by.

“Dunno. How long are you going to sleep?”

“I usually can’t get more than about 5 hours. Sometimes 7 if I’m lucky.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t have high hopes for his own ability to sleep any longer than that, and normally he’d just get up and leave to go about his business, but..something a bit sad and a bit hopeful in Nie Huaisang’s eyes gives him pause. Before he can stop himself, he’s promising, “Yeah. I’ll be here whenever you get back.”

“Okay great, we need to talk about weapon upgrades for Violet Spider and I don’t feel like hunting you down tomorrow, it’s so much more convenient if you just stick around. Okay goodnight!”

Jiang Cheng is left standing in the doorway gaping stupidly at Nie Huaisang’s quickly-retreating back, unsure if he should feel like an idiot or…well no, he’s self-aware enough to recognize that he’s just going to feel like an idiot no matter what Nie Huaisang’s intentions are.

Still. He keeps his promise, and when Nie Huaisang walks in the following morning to find Jiang Cheng sitting up on the edge of the cot rubbing at his forehead Jiang Cheng hears his footsteps stutter.

“Oh. Hey, you really stayed!”

“Was I not supposed to?” 

“No - I mean yes! I mean of course, I’m just..pleasantly surprised.”

Jiang Cheng grunts an acknowledgement and forces away the lingering wisps of his usual nightmares. Not that his mood is all that good most of the time anyway, and he’s not a morning person, but that’s all the more reason to not let the black mood of his dreams hang around and make things even worse. He stands up and stretches his arms above his head with a couple of satisfying clunks from his shoulders, and he frowns as he walks around the end of the computer bay to find Nie Huaisang already settling in in his chair.

“Breakfast?”

“Hm? Oh uhh…we’ve got ramen?”

Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow and Nie Huaisang snaps his fan open to hide behind. Jiang Cheng kind of wishes he found that slightly less endearing than he does.

“There’s a canteen full of hot, only slightly-shitty, freshly made food within a 3-minute walk from here. Why would we eat instant ramen cups?”

“Uhhhhh..”

“Morning. Oh! Good morning~”

Jiang Cheng sighs and turns around to find Mo Xuanyu shuffling through the door looking a little bleary-eyed but more well-rested than the couple of times Jiang Cheng has seen him. He points a finger in the boy’s direction and he stops short, eyebrows raised. “You. What are you eating for breakfast?”

“Oh no, are we out of ramen?”

“Fucking hell,” he mutters and turns back to Nie Huaisang to find the man blinking sweetly up at him, clearly pleased at having his argument backed up. “Well I’m not eating shitty instant ramen for breakfast, and if you want me to come back and talk about weapons you’ll come with me. Otherwise I might just forget where I’m supposed to be and go work out instead.”

“A-Cheng!” Nie Huaisang pouts. Jiang Cheng ignores the blush he can feel burning in his cheeks to turn and stride out of the research lab.

“Get going, both of you! The eggs are running out so they’re limiting portions and I want my fair share.”

Jiang Cheng makes it to the canteen quickly, and he’s just sitting down at an empty table with his tray when he’s joined by a handful of others. He glances up to find both his siblings settling down across from him, with Lan Wangji at Wei Wuxian’s side, of course, considering they never go anywhere without each other anymore. Luo Qingyang sits down on his left, and on his right -

“Nie Huaisang! How lovely, I didn’t know you’d be joining us this morning,” Jiang Yanli greets, her warm enthusiasm infectious.

“I got bullied out of my cave,” Nie Huaisang replies with a smile, and Jiang Cheng thoroughly ignores the meaningful stares from the peanut gallery on the other side of the table. “Wei Wuxian, I believe I have you to thank for my newest mother hen?”

Wei Wuxian, the fucking bastard, just laughs so hard he needs to lean against Lan Wangji’s side for support until he gets himself under control again.

Luo Qingyang asks, “Did A-Yu come up with you?” around a bite of soup and Nie Huaisang makes an elegant little gesture that manages to direct the eye without outright pointing.

“He’s sitting with his siblings over there, I told him only one of us needed to corral A-Cheng here and make sure he comes back downstairs after he eats.”

“ ‘A-Cheng’?” Wei Wuxian repeats with a frankly unholy level of glee. Jiang Cheng kicks his ankle under the table hard enough to make the man yelp and he ignores Lan Wangji’s glare to bare his teeth at his stupid meddling brother.

“Yes, he found my family name since someone’s encryptions on our files aren’t as effective as he said.”

“My encryptions are fine! No one else has ever gotten through them before anyway. But you’re trying to distract me - he found your name and you’re letting him use it?!”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t deign to rise to the bait, instead stabbing somewhat viciously at his eggs and taking a bite that’s probably a bit too aggressive but he doesn’t care. Everyone seems to get the hint and thankfully start their own meals, though Jiang Cheng can feel his siblings practically vibrating with the desire to ask him what the hell happened between yesterday afternoon and this morning. He desperately wants to tell them absolutely nothing, but knowing them they wouldn’t take his word for it. It’s easier to just let them indulge their imaginations rather than trying to convince them of the boring truth.

“By the way,” he pipes up when he’s nearly done. “I’m sick of getting sexiled since you two can’t keep it in your pants for a single damn night. Lan Wangji, congratulations, you can move into the room and I’ll go somewhere else. And I don’t want to hear you two going at it ever again in my entire life!”

“Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian yelps and Lan Wangji goes perfectly still; whatever his face is doing is something subtle enough that Jiang Cheng doesn’t feel like trying to decipher it.

“God I picked the wrong table this morning,” Luo Qingyang mourns into her smoothie. “I’d so much rather listen to A-Yu chattering about Kaiju guys or Zixuan reciting sappy poetry about Yanli into his congee.”

“Oh my god,” Nie Huaisang laughs behind his hand. “Are all pilots such good gossips? I definitely need to sit with you more often, the Jins have been so boring on their own!”

Before things can devolve too far into shouting and jostling, Nie Mingjue stops next to their table and everyone goes silent though their commander only has eyes for Nie Huaisang.

“Did you get it, A-Sang?”

“I’ve got it, da-ge. You wanna talk about it in the lab or should I find you later?”

“I’ll come to you after lunch.”

Jiang Cheng’s eyes fall to the containers in Nie Mingjue’s hands and he’s just thinking that it’s an awful lot of food even for someone of Nie Mingjue’s stature when Nie Huaisang fills in the gap for him.

“You taking breakfast back to the other two?”

Nie Mingjue just grunts and Jiang Cheng catches the slightest softening of his features before he nods and moves on without so much as a goodbye.

“Huaisang,” Jiang Yanli starts in a conspiratorial whisper the moment Nie Mingjue is gone. She leans over the table and Nie Huaisang happily leans in to meet her, opening his fan up to hide their faces from the rest of the room, though naturally everyone at their table can hear them just fine. “We’ve heard a silly little rumor that perhaps you can clear up for us. Is Xichen living in Jin Guangyao’s rooms right now?”

“Is that really a rumor when Wangji told us he is himself?” Jiang Cheng snaps - he’s never much cared for gossip though everyone else seems to be determined to turn it into a full-time hobby.

“Hush, A-Cheng, it’s just a bit of fun. So - is he?”

“Ahhh Jiang-jie, I really don’t know! They were down in the lab for a few hours last Wednesday but I really don’t know anything about what’s happened since they left!”

It’s a blatant lie considering he’d just asked Nie Mingjue if he was taking breakfast to them, but he says it so convincingly that only himself and Lan Wangji seem to have noticed the dishonesty. Jiang Cheng doesn’t really care enough to call him out on it. Instead, he’s thinking about who the fuck would order Nie Huaisang to research three-way Drifts, and Nie Mingjue carrying breakfast to Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao who are, according to Lan Wangji’s extremely stilted and bare-bones report, recovering from a Drift experiment done in secret that had nearly ended very badly.

He waits until they’re on their way back to the research lab to say, “Chifeng-Zun wants to drift with Xichen and Jin Guangyao, doesn’t he?”

Nie Huaisang hums and waves his fan lazily as he practically saunters down the corridor, his soft, wide-legged trousers swishing quietly with each step. “I really don’t know, A-Cheng, I just do what he asks me to!”

“Bullshit, you know plenty,” he grumbles but lets it go. He supposes that eventually they’ll all know one way or another if the legendary Chifeng-Zun is going to make some sort of grand comeback, but Jiang Cheng…doubts it. The man’s more than earned a quiet retirement, as far as he’s concerned, and the fact that he’s the martial leader of Shanghai is enough of a surprise.

Anyway - he’s got his own problems to worry about. He settles in next to Nie Huaisang at his desk and looks away as the man types in all his passwords, only looking at the screen again when Nie Huaisang taps him on the knee.

“So, your files included plenty of video footage of you doing all sorts of different things: sparring, practicing on your own, fighting in your Jaeger - and that footage is both from inside the cockpit and from the helicopter feeds, so I can see how you move and how your Jaeger moves if I watch the footage side-by-side like this.”

Jiang Cheng forces his embarrassment down far enough to actually watch what Nie Huaisang is showing him, though his eyes are drawn to his siblings more often than not. He genuinely loves Drifting with them, fighting with them, working together as a unit that’s capable of protecting people (even if they hadn’t managed to save their loved ones from the destruction of Lotus Pier), and it’s interesting to watch them in action like this. But Nie Huaisang constantly draws his attention back to himself, pointing out quirks in his fighting style or things that are unique to him that he feels are important.

He’s never felt so…noticed. 

“Look look look!” Nie Huaisang says with quick slaps to his arm a few hours in. “Look I loved this battle of yours! I can tell when it’s Wei Wuxian or Jiang Yanli on point and making the decisions and they’re great too, but this one was all you, I can see it.”

Jiang Cheng flushes at such brazen admiration, but he reminds himself forcefully that it’s just professional. It’s just research.

“Violet Spider isn’t fast enough to accommodate the things you try to do with her,” Nie Huaisang says as they watch the side-by-side footage. In the cockpit, Jiang Cheng watches himself (and Wei Wuxian) execute a flawlessly timed jump of the sort that he prefers, the pair of them landing the jump and punctuating it with a vicious downward swing of their sword that should have decapitated the Kaiju they’d fought no problem - except the footage from the helicopter feed shows Violet Spider executing the move a few beats late, and in those precious few seconds the Kaiju escapes their grip and turns on them. “It’s not your fault - it’s the tech. We’re not actually advanced enough to keep up with fighting styles like yours, you know? You’re so fast, and if your Jaeger could keep up with you you’d be unstoppable. I mean you basically already are, right? You guys are in third place in Asia, just behind the Jades and the Jin cousins, and the Jin cousins are only so high up because they’re fucking loaded and their Jaeger has so many mods it might as well be a new classification, it’s got nothing to do with them.”

Jiang Cheng frowns and refuses to be flattered by so much blunt praise of his martial skills. He’s been honing them since his childhood, of course he’s fast. Wei Wuxian is faster when they spar, but he refrains from saying so. “So what do you want me to do about it? We’re not rich, we can’t pay for the mods on Violet Spider that would make her like Sparks Amidst Snow, and something tells me Jin Guangshan wouldn’t go for it anyway considering no one else seems to be allowed to have a Jaeger or suits like theirs.”

“That’s where I come in,” Nie Huaisang says with a cheerful smile that makes Jiang Cheng’s heart do something highly unauthorized. “Your weapons are outdated compared to every other Jaeger in the field except for Immortal Mountain, and she’s not actually on active duty yet. Once again - not your fault! But I know Wen Ruohan doesn’t prioritize anybody in Tokyo except his children and their cronies, and obviously everyone in that ‘dome with any degree of influence whatsoever hates your brother, so why would they help you? 

“But I’ve got clearance now to upgrade your weapons for you, and I thought you might like having something to use that’s purely your style for when you’re on point. What do you think?”

Jiang Cheng sits back for a moment to just..process. Obviously he’s going to agree to weapons upgrades, there isn’t a fool alive who wouldn’t. But the thought that Nie Huaisang had actually sat and analyzed their fights, had spotted the rare occasions that he gets to call the shots, and had then decided to ask for his input on the issue rather than going to world-famous tech genius Wei Wuxian…

“How the fuck did you even notice all of this?” he finally asks to stall for time, and Nie Huaisang instantly leans back to widen his eyes at him and start fluttering that fan under his chin again, clearly preparing to deflect. “And don’t tell me you don’t know or someone else told you to look for it! No one’s ever noticed this shit before, not even my siblings and they’re in there with me.”

He and Nie Huaisang stare at each other for a long, silent moment broken only by the slight ruffling of the fan between them. Nie Huaisang breaks the silence first to say, “Soooo is that a yes, you want to pick your weapons?”

“Hell yes I want to pick my weapons!” Jiang Cheng shouts and Nie Huaisang laughs, swats at his chest with the fan.

“Okay well that’s all you had to say! To answer your question , I noticed because I was watching for it, and I just thought you might like a treat considering how much of a shit deal you get the rest of the time, what with having to risk your life and everything. That’s all.”

Jiang Cheng keeps his arguments about that behind his teeth. Nie Huaisang says it like it’s not a big deal, like it’s not the first time in his life that someone has looked at Jiang Cheng right next to Wei Wuxian and noticed him first. Like it’s not the first time in a long time that someone besides his siblings can make him feel seen in a way that isn’t unnerving or miserable, but is instead like being appreciated. Wanted. Valued. Nie Huaisang doesn’t need to know all of that, but when the man pats his knee again he leaves his hand there for a second too long, and Jiang Cheng thinks maybe he knows anyway.

[llycaons]

in hindsight I was extremely burned out on shonen in 2020 because when I watched cql I remember such intense relief that I wouldn’t have to sit through a training montage. like oh they’re already fully trained cultivators. thank god

[least-carpet]

What do you like about jc? Why he is your favorite?

Anon, this has been sitting in my inbox because I was afraid to open this can of worms. I've rotated this character nonstop for, like, the past three years. I got on Tumblr because of this character. I'm not even that wild about MDZS as a novel! I'm a SVSSS main! I don't know how I ended up here!

He loves his nephew so much. I love what we get about Jiang Cheng's relationship with Jin Ling, who had what was probably an indescribably weird childhood, but who has never once thought to himself that his uncle didn't love him. Jin Ling is evidently spoiled and rude but also so genuinely courageous, forgiving, and loving in his horrible teenage way. I love these two and they love each other!

He's dutiful. I think people sometimes think of duty as a burden, and obviously it can be, but I also think of it as an expression of care towards others. He sincerely cares about his responsibilities, which include all of the people who joined the Jiang sect to follow him.

He's supremely competent. We see the poor guy fail a lot, but he restored a massacred sect to Great Sect status in 13-15 years with what seems like no familial support and no apparent close external connections. He must be really, really good at his job.

He's such a bitch. He's here to make things hard and unpleasant on purpose! He's witty and will say the meanest possible thing he can think of in a fight! Just like his mother, he can sense your insecurities like a bloodhound and tear into them at will! I think this is a good and endearing quality (for a character, obviously).

He is profoundly screwed by the narrative. Dude is, as @winepresswrath puts it, "ontologically cursed." He exists to fail. His creator made him the most determined little toaster and then put him in 1000 unwinnable situations. He is trapped in, like, a bespoke torment matrix, that he only really escapes at the end of canon (dignity in tatters but nephew in hand).

Killer style in CQL and maybe also the donghua from what I've seen of the gifs? Fashionable king. Deeply uncool despite the drip, which endears him to me more.

Wang Zhuocheng's crying face. Yes, it's that gif set again. It haunts my dreams.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Pride! Untamed please!

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

 Lan Wangji is standing next to his brother as he makes small talk with Nie Mingjue – their closeness had never really recovered after the war, despite Xichen’s best efforts and Jin Guangyao’s lukewarm ones – when a Jin servant steps to his side and whispers, “Your wife is requesting your presence in Lady Jiang’s sitting room.”

Even as quietly as he’d spoken, Xichen and Nie Mingjue had obviously heard him. Xichen frowns. “Is she alright?”

Her injuries had been superficial and mostly healed. But Lan Wangji had seen the exhaustion that she didn’t want to admit to and said nothing, because they’d already gotten into one fight today and he understood pride well enough. Perhaps he should have insisted.

The servant lowers his eyes. “Apologies, Sect Leader Lan. I have only been instructed to escort Master Lan.”

“Excuse me,” he says, dipping his head to Nie Mingjue and falling into step with the servant. His pace is unhurried, which Lan Wangji tries to find reassuring. If something was wrong, surely they would be moving with more urgency.

He sees Jiang Cheng first and has to keep his lip from curling back in distaste. He’s ducked his head to speak with Jiang Yanli, the two of them standing outside of her rooms, but they both cut off their conversation when they see him. He bows shallowly to Jiang Yanli, ignoring Jiang Cheng completely. “Madame Jin. Is-“

“She’s fine,” she says, but the tension around her eyes and the strain in her smile tells a different story. “Please go in, Lan Wangji.”

He pushes the door open, closing it behind him, and at least he doesn’t have to look far for her. “Are you hurt?”

Xuanyu looks up at him, a faint redness in her eyes that speaks of tears. She’s dressed much like she was when he first met her, back in the Jin gold and cream and her hair turned sleek and pulled in hairstyle that’s half up in a braided bun on top of head and the rest of her hair flowing freely. It’s a Jiang hairstyle, one that Jiang Yanli used to wear when they were younger. The hair ornament in Xuanyu’s hair is Jiang Yanli’s as well.

The only Lan thing on her is her forehead ribbon, and it startles him with how out of place it looks, while Jiang and Jin seem to blend seamlessly. It causes something to twist uncomfortably in his chest, but he ignores it to repeat, “Are you hurt?”

“Sit down,” she says, gesturing to the place at the table across from her. He takes the seat next to her instead, looking her over for some sort of new injury or pain, but he can’t find anything amiss. “Ah, okay. Okay. So.”

He waits, but she just twists her hands together, occasionally reaching up to touch her hair and then realizing that with this new hair style it’s not where she expects it, and lowers her hands.

“Did something happen?” he asks.

She starts to shake her head then gives a jerky nod. “I – I – I’m. Yanli-jie’s healer came to see me.”

The stab of worry is almost becoming familiar when it comes to Xuanyu, but that doesn’t make it any more comfortable. “Are you ill? Have your injuries worsened?”

She shakes her head, and it should be a relief, but instead his worry just deepens. “No, no. It’s. Um. Not – I. It’s just that – well. You know. In the cold spring. And then the wall. And the bed.”

It takes him a moment but then heat flushes his cheeks. She is referring to when he became inebriated and took her. “Did I hurt you?”

She had said that it was not the type of hurt that was unwelcome or lingered and she’d never flinched away from him. But it was a first time for both of them and he barely remembers what he did and at the time he was significantly stronger than her and she was still injured from their spar. It’s entirely possible he harmed her in some way.

“No!” She bites her lip, staring at him with an intensity that he doesn’t understand. “Wangji, dammit, are you really going to make me say it?”

“If you wish me to understand, then you’re going to have to,” he says, worry and guilt pushing him to his own frustration.

Xuanyu blinks several times, and he’s about to apologize, but then she says, “I’m pregnant.”

He stares.

“From when we – you know – obviously,” she says. “So. Yeah.”

His eyes drop to her stomach. Several things snap into place at once but he can’t focus on any of them beyond the roar in his ears and the acid churning in his stomach.

He is no better than his father.

Xuanyu is his wife not by choice but circumstances out of her control and she had never wanted him and even if she enjoyed that night, he had lost his senses and demanded what she hadn’t offered freely, not even doing her the courtesy of taking the care to spill outside of her. Now his child grows inside her, pinning her in place and shackling her as his mother was shackled.

“Wangji?” she asks, voice concerningly high pitched. “Say something.”

“I’m sorry.”

She goes perfectly still except for where she’s gripping her robe above her knees. “Oh.”

“I never intended,” he starts but the lump in his throat makes it difficult to get anything else out. Instead he gets to his feet, bows to her, and is pushing out of the room as quickly as his feet can carry him.

Everything is too hot and too close and he can’t breathe. He needs to get outside. He needs to think.

“Hey!” Jiang Cheng shouts as he rushes past, but his voice softens as he says, “Oh, shit.”

It’s too bright and too close and too loud and he has no patience for Jiang Cheng even at his best and he just needs – he needs –

“Wangji?” Xichen grabs his elbow as he’s headed for the exit, eyes wide and concerned. “Is she – what’s wrong with Lady Xuanyu?”

“I,” he starts, and still can’t make himself speak. He pulls himself out of his grip and continues for the door. He hears his brother make his apologies to whoever he’d been speaking to and then his presense at his back, following him out.

He’ll probably be grateful for that when his head clears, but for now it’s too full of panic and shame and a bitter self hatred he hasn’t felt this intently since he’d lost Wei Wuxian.

“I know somewhere private,” Xichen says softly as soon as they’re outside, the lungful of fresh air not nearly as clarifying as he’d hoped it’d be. “Come.”

He follows his brother, focuses on breathing, and not why it feels like he can’t get enough air despite how greedily he sucks it in.

[blackmoonlightexpress]

Luo Yunxi Appreciation Master Post: How can someone be so multi-talented?!

In case you did not already know, here are LYX's many talents. It's insane how many different things he can do at a near-professional level beyond acting!

1. Dance/Ballet

LYX graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy majoring in ballet with over 11 years of professional experience.

This is him doing 13+ pirouettes in a performance of Tchaikovsky Rhapsody (full video, he's on the right)

Interpret dance solo (燃烧的火苗) where he won the first gold ever for STA (video, news)

Swan Lake solo at the Taoli Cup Dance Competition in high school (video)

Modern dancing solo (黑白影画) at his graduation performance (video, he's the only guy in white)

He also taught at the Macao Conservatory for a year and danced in front of national leaders in Flying to the Moon (奔月) at the Macao 10th Handover Anniversary (video)

He's super flexible and has a strong core (despite being naturally thin)

In response to request from fans, he performed the Black Moonlight dance in a now viral video on Douyin.

2. Wuxia / Posture

LYX is known as one of the best actors working today for wire work - you can see him here doing 3 consecutive jumps 2-3 stories above ground (compilation videos 1, 2)

He does a lot of his own stunts and is often better (i.e. more graceful) than his stunt double, even though it's really risky and he's sustained some serious injuries from being dropped accidentally (And the Winner is Love: B roll video, actual scene, other BTS, other fight scenes)

He moves with elegance, not just in action sequences (Ashes of Love fight compilation 1, 2), but people have made video compilations of how he walks, kneels, works his sleeves and train

Of course, it's thanks to his dance foundation, but he also puts a lot of hard work into stunt training. Not something a lot of actors do because it eats up time to make more TV or go on variety shows (Ashes of Love stunt training, BTS)

3. Diving

He played a diver once in Flip in Summer (夏日心跳) and actually learned to dive... I mean he's no Tom Daley but this looks pretty good for an amateur... (full video)

4. Voice Acting

He’s always dubbed himself since circa 2018 (with the exception of And the Winner is Love due to Covid logistics issues), which is not the norm in Chinese drama (Ashes of Love dubbing BTS). In fact, he is sometimes the only person in the cast to use his original voice (e.g. in Princess Silver)

He also lends his voice to animations - he was the voice of Viktor in Arcane (BTS video), which received positive feedback (most people didn't realize he was not a professional voice actor)

He appears as a judge and live dubbing performer in Voice Monster alongside the top voice actors in China, Bian Jiang (aka voice of Yehua in Eternal Love, Nan Wangj in the Untamed) and Zhang Jie (aka voice of Donghua in Eternal Love, Sifeng in Love & Redemption). He has so much respect to those working behind the scenes, and it really shows (full video)

5. Singing

Some of you may know that he started out in a boy band called JL with Fu Longfei - these videos didn't age well, but here you go: JL (MV), 我们 (MV)

He has released a number of solo singles, including 缘起 (MV), 星星之火 (live), 不是我 (MV), 等风停 (MV). and 勇 (soundtrack), which he composed and wrote the lyrics himself (these are all mando-pop ballads if that's your jam)

He performed Big Fish 大鱼 at Tmall's 11/11 Festival (live video) - while his rendition is not as powerful as the original, he can hit really high notes with an impressive falsetto - I think it goes up to G5 (one octave above middle C)

He performed Pipa Xing (琵琶行) at the Douyin Festival (live video) - the notable part is his Peking Opera style singing at the end

He occasionally releases covers of songs on Chinese karaoke app Changba or Douyin: 要不然我们就这样一万年 (youtube), 黑月光 (youtube), 不染 (youtube), 山水又一程 (youtube)

He can also sing in other languages, including 喜欢你 in Cantonese (recording) - it's actually a very good cover and his Cantonese pronunciation is >95% accurate - there are parts where you can't tell he's not a native speaker.

6. Musical Instruments

He's an accomplished classically-trained pianist, which you can see in...

JL MV (video, starting around 3:30 mark) - don't mind the makeup, it's from ages ago

Mr Mossie season 2 (video)

Love is Sweet (BTS video) - impromptu jazz, he was deciding which song to play

Fan thank you recording (video)

He also plays the guitar, though probably at an amateur level

7. Music Gaming

During college he was obsessed with this music game called O2Jam (劲乐团) to the point where he created new tracks (i.e. arrange/compose the music) for the company under the username Dinoroy (explained by himself here, videos of him playing).

He became well-known within the fan community as the legendary D神 (D God). There are a lot of funny comments from old players saying that they thought D God is a bitter middle-aged recluse trying to screw them over with difficult tracks (read comments here).

D God was so prolific and reliable that gaming company accepted his submissions without review. Here are some of his best tracks - game arrangement only (Lydia, Croatian Rhapsody, Digital Emotions), music & game arrangement (黑暗魅影), original composition (光之乐章)

8. League of Legends

He's an LOL super fan, commentator, and player since season 2, went to see worlds in person twice, and was a cast member in a gaming show called Beyond It! Hero (episodes here)

He played the 2018 All-Star Event in Las Vegas teaming with reigning world champion Rookie and delivered the final blow that beat the other team 2:1 (video)

He got a quadra kill at a celebrity mobile game even though his team was crap (video clip)

He co-invested 1M RMB in a team led by Misaya 若风 - you can see them playing together in a live broadcast of the mobile game (video)

Update: Our longtime fan boy has become spokesperson of League of Legends and official commentator at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou! The love is reciprocated!

9. Calligraphy/Drawing/Culture

LYX is known for his Chinese handwriting (he practices regularly) - there's even a font based on his handwriting called 汉仪罗云熙体 (download here)

He does all his own handwriting for marketing materials (e.g. Immortality below) and doesn't need a hand double for scenes where his character is practicing ancient Chinese calligraphy

He's also got amazing drawing skills - check out the Queen of the Night 昙花 he drew as Runyu while waiting around on set in between takes (video)

While he doesn't go on a lot of variety shows, he's often a guest on cultural programs, like the beauty of Chinese Calligraphy 书法之美 (video), Chinese Fans in 指尖上的非遗 (video)

His self-produced Mr. Mossie covers a lot of cultural topics (seasons 1, 2, 3), the segment on Hanfu was featured in the UNESCO Chinese Language Video Festival (video)

10. Photography

Luo Yunxi is often seen taking photos on set with his top-of-the-line Leica camera. Here are some of the photos he has shared:

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 40 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

What a Relief

After spending a few weeks in Gusu doing...stuff, our trio comes to Jinlintai for the discussion conference. Unusually for a CQL stair-climbing scene, nobody is planning to murder anyone once they get to the top.

Our crew walks up the stairs past 3 massive sculpted reliefs featuring Jin Guangyao.

First and most important, I have to point out that the sculpture version of Lan Xichen [edit: Nie Mingjue actually, whoops] is wearing a sash that looks like this:

*cough*

Meanwhile, for the picture with the sword and flames, qhanzi.com tells me that the written characters are 伏殺, fú shā; Google translate tells me this means "ambush." Specifically Fu=conceal, Sha=kill. Ballsy to have a monumental artwork on your front steps announcing that you're a backstabbing turncoat, Jin Guangyao.

Speaking of balls, Jiang Cheng jumps at the opportunity to bust some when the Lan bros arrive with Wei Wuxian in tow. He pretends not to know who Wei Wuxian is, but obviously does know something, given how bitchily he asks to be introduced. Lan Wangji continues his 13-year-long silent treatment of JC while Lan Xichen tries to figure out which bland smile he's meant to be deploying in this situation.

(more after the cut!)

They're all rescued by the appearance of Jin Guangyao 3.0, who has discarded his Nie braids and his Wen hotness in favor of Jin ostentatiousness.

He's no longer wearing the v-neck robe and topknot crown that we associate with the cultivation sects. Instead he's wearing a hat and a round-necked robe with a big embroidered design on the chest, that resembles the clothing style of a court official.

Some people see JGY's bureaucratic wardrobe as signaling that he's an unassuming administrator, someone who is not threatening to the power structure or is not ambitious. I see it more as conveying that his ambition reaches beyond the cultivation sects into the realm of dynastic/imperial politics.

Anyway, Jiang Cheng turns his ire towards his nephew, and Lan Xichen relaxes again. Possibly he is a little too relaxed, judging by how he's ogling Jiang Cheng.

I'm high as a kite, I just might stop to check you out

Party Monster

Fanfics are often accused of giving us an out-of-character (OOC) Wei Wuxian, but no fanfic Wei Wuxian is as OOC as the Wei Wuxian who attends this banquet. Normally Wei Wuxian is a mildly annoying flirt, but as soon as soon as he arrives in Koi tower he is (presumably) possessed by the spirit of Jin Guangshan, and becomes a gross sex pest.

He goes out of his way to hit on the wife of the clan leader and make googly eyes at all of the maids, whose social status doesn't allow them to be rude to him. And he does it in front of his date! What the hell, possessed Wei Wuxian.

While oblivious to Lan Wangji's jealousy, Wei Wuxian does check in with him to make sure it's ok to put on his "crazy Mo Xuanyu" act. LWJ replies with a certain amount of salt, but once Wei Wuxian makes it clear he's thinking about Lan Wangji's public face, LWJ chills out and answers him normally.

Side note: in no universe would this cute lil maid be making eyes at heavily-masked Mo Xuanyu when unmasked, radiant, filthy-rich Lan Wangji is right there to be smiled at.

Jin Guangyao greets everyone and some dancers start doing their thing; mercifully, possessed Wei Wuxian refrains from hitting on the dancers. As soon as Jin Guangyao starts to circulate through the room, Nie Huaisang has an epic nervous breakdown all over him, which is even better entertainment than the dancers.

This gives Wei Wuxian the cover he needs to slip out of the hall unnoticed. Well, as long as nobody notices Lan Wangji's obvious pining.

Fight Club

The prophecy foretells that into each generation of Jins will be born one douchebag cousin. Jin Chan is the douchebag cousin of his generation.

Jin Chan accuses "Mo Xuanyu" of being a sex pest, and Wei Wuxian suddenly understands why the plot made him act so OOC at the party. Mo Xuanyu wasn't really a sex pest; he was a regular pest, trying to get information out of Qin Su, not trying to seduce her. But he doesn't know that yet. In other adaptations Mo Xuanyu is gay, but CQL exists in a strange censorship-created realm in which gayness is pervasive but never mentioned, and therefore there is no homophobia. So nobody would care if Mo Xuanyu was gay.

When Wei Wuxian realizes what Mo Xuanyu did, he thinks "Mo Xuanyu, do you want to die?"

Nice choice of idiom, Wei Wuxian. I believe we have firmly established that yes, Mo Xuanyu absolutely did want to die.

The show is kind of vague, verbally, about whether Wei Wuxian 2.0 has a golden core. But there are a lot of moments that strongly suggest he does, at this point, have a functioning core.

This rock attack is, I hope, one of those moments, or else Jin Chan is a total pussy, getting knocked back by landscape gravel.

Next, Wei Wuxian shows Jin Ling the super-secret move known as "arm twisting," which Jin Ling, as an only child, has never encountered before.

Anyone with siblings is very familiar with this move.

Because this is The Untamed, this move should be executed with extra spinning whenever possible.

Jin Ling learns the move right away, and uses it to win the scuffle.

Avuncular

After the fight, Wei Wuxian sits with Jin Ling for a chat, and gives him the classic uncle advice "have as many fights as possible while you're young, because when you're older you'll have to be mature and get along with people."

I love Wei Wuxian so much.

For contrast, Jin Ling says that Jin Guangyao tells him not to get in fights. This makes Wei Wuxian seem like the cooler elder, but it also has a more sinister element, of Jin Guangyao holding Jin Ling back. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian grew up constantly fighting with each other--sparring as well as informal fights, presumably. And their cultivation was super strong, partly as a result of that.

Wei Wuxian takes the opportunity to tell Jin Ling that he's not in love with Qin Su any more, because he's transferred his affections to someone else. Obviously Hanguang-Jun is the someone else, given that they've been inseparable for weeks. To keep Jin Ling from yelling while he explains, he clamps his hand over Jin Ling's mouth.

The thing is, in order to effectively clamp your hand over someone's mouth, there has to be something behind them--a wall, the mattress, your own torso, or something else solid. Otherwise they can just jerk their head backwards to get away from your hand. Or they can stand up and walk away, even.

Jin Ling, hilariously, does not realize this, and spends a ridiculously long time sitting still and making angry faces while Wei Wuxian rests his hand on his face.

Spy Game

Later that night, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji get ready for some shenanigans.

Not the sexy kind, alas, just some paperman snooping.

Wei Wuxian, because he's facing serious danger, is feeling extra playful and cute, and he takes time to goof around with Lan Wangji before getting down to business.

In paperman form, he's able to do some things that the censors overlook, including tugging on Lan Wangji's headband and apparently blowing him a kiss. In the book and the donghua, he catches onto Lan Wangji's lip on his way down his face, too.

One thing that's kind of muted in the live action as compared to the novel is how much Lan Wangji enjoys Wei Wuxian's childish and playful behavior. Lan Wangji never got to be playful as a child, but with Wei Wuxian he can cut loose--which he does mostly in the sack or when they're drinking together. But even when he stays in control of himself, he likes Wei Wuxian's silliness.

He tells Paper-Xian, tenderly, to be very careful, before he sends him on his way.

The Adventures of Paperman

The CGI department outdoes itself with paperman, making an animated character so adorable I'd be happy to watch a whole episode of him.

Paper-Xian sneaks into JGY's study and pokes around, finding an empty envelope. Then he listens and watches while Qin Su stumbles in, retching.

She's followed closely by Jin Guangyao; they proceed to have an absolutely fucking endless argument in which the words "sister," "brother," "incest" "rapist dad" are never said, instead using vagueburger phrasing like "this matter."

Jin Guangyao does freely admit to killing their kid, though, and wants to know who told Qin Su about it so he can kill them, too. She won't tell him, shockingly.

Jin Guangyao ends the fight by putting a paralysis spell on his wife and then making her go to sleep with another spell, which is the cultivator equivalent of saying "I've said what I had to say and I need some space."

He takes her into a secret room where he is also keeping a bunch of talisman-protected stuff and a shockingly small number of books.

Seriously, as a person who has way too many books, I am personally offended by the way Jin Guangyao wastes shelf space in his secret room.

As Paper-Xian sneaks around the room, Jin Guangyao helpfully pulls aside the curtain covering the shelf with Nie Mingjue's head on it, so he can grouse at NMJ for (figuratively) haunting him. Seriously? Dude, you keep a guy's head on your bookshelf, he gonna haunt ya.

The episode ends with Paper-Xian bowing (adorably) to Nie Mingjue, and then sitting laying on his face, which would make BOTH Lan brothers jealous if they found out.

Soundtrack: Ring the Alarm, by Beyonce; Blister in the Sun, by the Violent Femmes

[wutheringskies]

that utterly disgusting post comparing Wei Wuxian not giving up Wen (dogs) and Jiang Cheng giving up his 3 dogs, and how, he's always been in the position of "giving."

NO.

All the people saying in the tags they are "true brothers," absolutely not. To fulfil your status quo siblings, tsundere character and ship, you completely dismiss the entire story.

1. Jiang Cheng has no dog loving tendencies.

2. The scene of giving his dogs up presents an important theme.

Jiang Fengmian tries to get Wei Ying adjusted to the dogs, but he absolutely cannot, so they are made to leave; Jiang Cheng as a child is understandably upset about losing his dogs. To add on, his dad lifts Wei Ying up and Jiang Cheng kicks Wei Wuxian out, scares him with dogs, but feels like he would get into trouble, so he tells his sister, tries to find him, gets injured, and Wei Wuxian promises he won't tell anyone that JC kicked him out; and then, the dogs are gone, but now Jiang Cheng has his favourite subordinate.

What strikes me is that Jiang Cheng, even as a child, holds no true empathy.

- Wei Wuxian has no control over what he absolutely cannot stand; whether it be dogs or injustice. It's integral to his character.

- Wei Wuxian has no control over who lifts him up, loves him, or praises him. None of these actions are meant to be targeted at Jiang Cheng. Yet throughout the plot we see JC losing his mind when someone approaches WWX with positive intentions or says good things about him.

- JC kicked WWX out and scared him with his worst fear; this is the parallel you are meant to be drawing; just like Jiang Cheng threw him out then, Jiang Cheng threw him out now (leaving the Wens to die is not an option.)

- Jiang Cheng worries that he would be admonished by his father which is why he goes to find WWX, but gets injured in the way.

such a pathetic character honestly. the reason he is still alive is because of the former - he fears authority. Killing demonic cultivators? But let Xue Yang go! Why? He's protected by the Jins. Don't fight LWJ because he's powerful.

and the finding WWX, trying to help WWX once but getting injured... lack of capability.

- WWX promising not to tell anyone; and that's it. that's the basis of their relationship. it's one sided as hell. they're not brothers. it's basically abuse. if you've read the book, you would know.

"from Jiang Cheng's perspective" Jiang Cheng doesn't matter! He will always be beneath Wei Wuxian; his whole purpose is to be a red warning sign; Wei Wuxian can kill 50 of Jiang Chengs for all I know; there is no need to dive deeper with your biased, limited knowledge of Jiang Cheng.

- They are not brothers. They are martial brothers. Raised in the same sect and practicing the same cultivation style.

- There's a clear distinction of subordinate vs superior; master vs slave; owner and his killing dog. The point of conflict arises when the dog acts without his master's commands to save common people. It doesn't stem from misunderstanding or any such thing like that - it's out there. Wei Wuxian knows their moral ideologies don't align. He had hoped Jiang Cheng, if not take the Wens into Yunmeng, would at least, let him be. But when the matter is of "Kill them, or I will not stand by you."

Wei Wuxian leaves the sect; it is NOT Jiang Cheng's sacrifice. It is not hurting Jiang Cheng. The most hurt it causes is to Wei Wuxian; who ultimately had to make the choice.

Jiang Cheng is hurt? Oh, is it because Wei Wuxian chose the moral high-ground over playing his lapdog? Jiang Cheng must be furious.

Also, "Jiang Cheng has given and given" - NO.

- Wei Wuxian comes to Lotus Pier and hangs out with friendless, bitter, unloved child Jiang Cheng, matches his competitiveness head on head, coaxes him to talk to people, etc. Accepts all the endlessly bitter taunts and throws out a few in return. Surpasses him in abilities, practices together. They're boys.

- Does all his bidding and requests in Cloud Recessses to do this or that. Jiang Cheng does carry him, when they are 15.

- In Xuanwu Cave, Jiang Cheng also attacked the Wens after Wei Wuxian got burnt; Wei Wuxian was the reason he was able to live. He did travel and ask for aid. But Wei Wuxian also did allow himself to become a bait and usher people out stuck in a cave with a 400 year old monster... what's not clicking?

- and after the fall of lotus pier he strangles Wei Wuxian and hits him, gets done with life, thinks "I'll die heroically" and also sort of out of guilt and remnant care for Wei Wuxian, but instead loses his core.

And then?

Then what? That is it. That's really it for their relationship being giving on Jiang Cheng's side. It died when Lotus Pier did. Yet:

- Wei Wuxian knowingly, consciously gave up his core for the guy who strangled him twice in the past 50 hours or so.

- Without even a core, fought in the war alongside the Jiangs, earned a lot of report; the sunshot campaign is a small arc text wise in the book, yet there are at least three mentions of Wei Wuxian being the reason behind why the Jiangs are extremely powerful.

- Even afterwards acts on JC's orders in the Phoenix Mountain Hunt.

- Keeps protecting Jiang Cheng's name by ensuring it's not about Jiang Cheng or "don't bring him into this."

- Doesn't even attack the Jiangs in nightless city

- JC can enter the barriers still

- even back to life he just wants to get away and not harm him, unlike JC

so basically, fuck Jiang Cheng and more specifically please touch grass. it's one thing to like a character. it's another to dehumanize a bunch of people rescued from labour camp prison where they were dealing with xianxia level of abuse as dogs and justify a powerful clan leader not helping them, especially when he owes them, to show how he once lost his dogs.

Like that is vile.

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 Away from Trouble by Ilona22

💙 Away from Trouble

by Ilona22

M, 15k, Wangxian

Summary: An overheard conversation changes the way Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian part before he ascends Baoshan Sangren's mountain. From that point onwards, things go differently. Kay's comments: The story that made me fall in love with Ilona22 as a writer! I was immediately gone, the story was just too much to my liking. I'm just so weak for stories where Wei Wuxian thrives outside of the cultvation sects. Here, he leaves after the Golden Core transfer, because Jiang Cheng told him to get lost. Luckily, he soon finds his footing again without a trip to the Burial Mounds, since he didn't wait around for Jiang Cheng. Thanks to Wen Qing, he even has the hope to cultivate a new golden core, but for now, he finds a new profession, as a travelling painter. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji pines. I loved how the canon divergence played out in this story and just the found family vibes of it all. Excerpt: The during their conversation, they had all introduced themselves, too. The monk was Lu Lei, the other man was Lu Zhao. The later was an artist and calligrapher of some renown, Wei Ying had admired one of his paintings on Jiang-Zongzhu’s wall in his study. Lu Lei was the abbot of his monastery. The two of them new each other for a long time, and Lu Zhao had painted for the other on several occasions. Though he was more known for his paintings of plants and scenery. Lu Lei was highly skilled in the healing arts. And unwilling to let his patient escape, especially as he had saved both of them. As Wei Ying had guessed, neither was even slightly skilled at fighting. And so, Wei Ying agreed to travel with them. It turned out to be a good decision. Over the next two weeks, he rested and recovered, spending a lot of time talking with the two men. It were long conversations, often about heavy topics, as Wei Ying finally had the time to grieve the friends he had lost during the fall of Lotus Pier, and to adjust to the changes his life had gone through in such a short time. But they also had a lot of fun discussing art styles and philosophy. Lu Lei and him had several long talks about cultivation, and it was fascinating to learn more about the non-martial styles practiced by monks. Lu Lei was interested in his thoughts about talismans. The first time someone was so willing to talk about the branch of cultivation Wei Ying had always quietly hoped to be able to eventually gain his mastery in. In Lotus Pier, that would have been difficult. But now, he had realized during those conversations, there was no reason not to pursue that path. And so, slowly, he had come to look forward to this new chapter in his life.

pov alternating, canon divergence, wei wuxian leaves the yunmeng jiang sect, wen remants live, wen remants deserve better, families of choice, artist wei wuxian, rogue cultivator wei wuxian, golden core transfer fix-it, lan wangji/wei wuxian get a happy ending, mutual pining, developing relationship, not jiang cheng friendly, genius wei wuxian, inventor wei wuxian, sunshot campaign, love confessions

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[drama--universe]

Learning cultures

Requested by anonymous: Hello! How are you? Your writing is divine, just...wow, speechless! Can I request a oneshot for LXC? The reader is a cultivator from a completely different country, she has different customs, different fighting style, different weapons, different magic... she traveled all the clans, Nie, Jiang, Jin and even Lan, in every clan everyone liked her even though she had different customs, she was kind and accommodating to everyone, forming strong friendships with JGY and NHS. Then she runs into LXC during one of the walks, literally slamming into him when she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Of course, LXC didn't get mad, he made sure the reader was okay and went on his way. JGY sees all this and then teases the reader when he saw her blush😂 NHS then becomes something of a messenger as he passes letters from LXC and the reader to the other one 😂I don't know, somehow the request came to me, I hope it's cool, I don't ask for requests too much😄 take care and thank you!👋

Pairing: Lan Xichen x fem!foreigner!reader

Word Count: 2.9k words

You never really expected to find another country, you honestly just wanted to leave your home for awhile. You had set sail on the shores of your home country and now you found yourself on the shore of another. Your boat was wrecked and you went under, only to wash ashore later on while trying to not inhale the salty water. The sun shine down from it's spot up in the sky, making the sand beneath your hands burning hot and the air around you dry. You could practically feel the taunt from the sun as it challenged you, but you could care less. Your weapons felt heavy, the spear on you back was pulling you down back into the water due to it's weight and the twin daggers didn't help you out much either. Your bag was floating somewhere in the water and you didn't even want to think about where all your food went, probably already taken by the sea like your ship.

But even while nearly drowning, you were painfully aware of the eyes on you. Two curious eyes that made you wonder why they were not even in view.

Then you spotted it, a child staring straight at you with big eyes full of curiosity, almost sparkling as they spotted you. The kid wasn't tall, slightly on the thinner side if you'd compare with the children from your country, and you guessed that he'd been an early teenager. He was hidden behind a tree, eyes barely visible as he tried his best to stay hidden. The man behind him, you assumed it was an adult anyway, didn't share that thought as he casually strolled forward out of the woods. He seemed surprised by you and you were just as surprised, he looked quite different from you or anyone you had ever seen before today. He was a bit paler than you, silky black hair and thinner slanted eyes. The grey robes he wore were also unique looking to you, looking nothing like your clothes in the slightest. He spoke, the language unfamiliar to you and not even sounding like anything at first. You held up your hand for him to pause, getting up before focusing your energy to him. He spoke again and this time you understood him fine, thanks to some quick spell.

"Are you alright?" He repeated his question again as he held out one of his hands, which you quickly took with a thanks as you focused your spell to make him understand your words.

"Fine, fine... Could be worse." "Worse than drowning?" He asked and you opened your mouth to retort his statement, but closed your mouth again when you realized he was right. Not much worse than almost dying...

"May I ask who you are?" "Right! The name's (Y/n), pleasure to meet you!" You smiled brightly as you held out your hand to shake, surprised as he just bowed his head while revealing himself to be Meng Yao. The boy from behind the trees had also decided to join you, standing behind Meng Yao while sending you a bright and yet shy smile and introducing himself as Nie Huaisang. The conversation quickly moved on to your place of origin and how toy actually got here, which was then followed by Huaisang offering you a place to stay. You could hardly ignore the kid or his request, so you agreed.

Thus you found yourself on the grounds of the Qinghe Nie clan, meeting Nie Mingjue and being absolutely terrified of the man as he reluctantly agreed to let you stay thanks to Huaisang's pleading look. He reminded you much of your little brother, a cute boy who knew how to get what he wants. Although difficult, you tried to adapt as much as possible to their culture. Huaisang was quick to guide you through everything, starting with giving you a hanfu to wear. It was beautiful, a soft material used instead of the rough fabrics that you were more used to, and details were so difficult to catch that you could spend hours just looking. Then he and Meng Yao taught you some of their customs before explaining that every clan had different ones. It took you a couple of weeks to get the basics of the Nie clan before you set off to the next.

First the Lanling Jin clan, where some disciplines were kind enough to tell you a bit before you set of again thanks to the arrogant teenager(s) that kept mocking you. The second clan you went to was the Yunmeng Jiang clan, where you were taught by the daughter of the head of the clan. Jiang Yanli was the sweetest, never getting annoyed or angry as she taught you everything you needed or wanted to know. Wuxian, her adoptive brother, was even more excited to teach you things (pranks mostly) and he was always present when Yanli taught you. You only saw Jiang Cheng a few times, but you could tell that he was a nice person as well, just not visibly showing it to others. You stayed with them for 3 months, then you moved again to the final clan.

Gusu Lan, one know for it's strictness and their many rules to follow. You didn't really know what to expect from them, so having the kids from Yunmeng and from Qinghe join you for a sort of school was kind of exciting. You were just glad that you were allowed to join them, Meng Yao had sent you a letter saying that he got permission to take you as a Nie representative.

You actually enjoyed the trip up the mountain, unlike the others, as the view as astounding to see and the fresh air instantly woke you up from your drowsiness. Once past the gate, you could only marvel at the structures that were build in between the mountain. Of course you loved all the other clan buildings, but this one had a massive library that you just couldn't ignore. You just wanted to find out what kind of information the books in there had, what kind of knowledge you could possible gain you. Then you were inside, greeted by a man that you could only stare at. All the previous people you had met were attractive, both men and women, but this man was different. Maybe it was because of the confidence that he had or maybe just something else, but he looked dazzling. You almost thought you reached the heavens, the white and blue robes didn't make that thought any better. You also noticed the ribbon weaved through his hair to rest on his forehead, a cloud symbol laying between his eyebrows. It looked intricate and you wondered if you could take a closer look at it in some period of time later on.

You joined Yanli and some other girls to a dorm, settling in quickly after a short introduction. The robes on your bed were soft, feeling almost as soft as the clouds that were painted on the bottom of the robe and you were almost afraid of how quickly you would dirty the white and light blue colors.

A woman entered not much later after you got dresses, her robes a darker blue than you had seen others wear, and she asked everyone to follow her before pausing on you. You expected a mocking comment or something along those lines, the girls from Lanling hadn't been to quiet with their insults, but she just walked closer to you and pulled your belt up a bit before pulling your robes a bit down to make it lay flatter than it had before. You thanked her, bowing your head before following her out like everyone else. You entered a lecture hall, the men were all present already and you quickly joined Huaisang and Meng Yao before looking around. Two men entered, one an elder man that you assumed was the head of the clan when you saw his clothes and the other was the angelic man from the front gate. He was smiling slightly this time, mostly aimed at a younger boy in the front that looked very similar to him. The elder man spoke first, but you hadn't expected him to start rules. At first, you were carefully listening to his words but that changed around the 30th rule or so.

"How many more do we have to listen to?" "There are 3,000 rules in total, all of them are equally important. I do admit their wording could be shorter." You flinched as someone actually answered your question, turning your head slightly to see the angelic man. After blinking a few times, you nodded to acknowledge his words before turning to face the front again. Huaisang, who had heard of the number of rules, was already laying face down on the table and you couldn't help but do the same. It was only at the 580th rule that you shut off your brain, letting go of the translation spell that made you understand the elder and instead trying to push back your growing headache. It was like someone was pushing your head together at the temples, knives pushing into your skull and turning around once inside. It was painful, so much so that you just wanted to lay down and sleep right in this room. You couldn't, obviously, but you opted to just close your eyes instead in hopes that it would lessen slightly by doing so. So you closed your eyes, hoping that you would be left alone as the elder still listed the rules, you assumed he was anyway.

When you opened your eyes again, because of course you had fallen asleep, everyone else was getting ready to leave. You just followed, you didn't want to stay longer at the moment. Your headache, although lessened, was still killing you and you had some medicine in your bag that could help. You didn't wait for anyone, you just want to the dorm and shoved the medicine down with some water. Then you laid down to sleep, quickly moving on to the dream world.

Although it was early in the morning, you were wide awake and bringing with energy. You were the only person, beside the Lan disciplines, that seemed happy to be out for a walk. You didn't know why Huaisang looked so glum, the sights were beautiful and the cold breeze could easily wake up anyone from their slumber. Nonetheless, you talked him through the walk as you walked, a happy skip in your step and a big smile on your face. Your eyes weren't really focused on the road ahead of you, they remained on Huaisang during your conversation. Unfortunately, that also meant that you didn't see that everyone else had stopped. The result? You were abruptly stopped when you slammed into someone's chest, stumbling backwards until the person caught you. You looked up and we're surprised to see Lan Xichen before you, giving you a smile like you hadn't just bumped him.

"Are you alright?" He let go of your waist and you straightened your robes out before nodding at him, trying to ignore the way that your heart skipped a beat and how your face heated up.

"Please be mindful of your surroundings." He said before turning around and walking away, leaving you standing in the same spot with a look of surprise. Yet you couldn't help but smile a bit.

"You're so in love with him." Meng Yao speaks loud enough for anyone to hear as he passes by you, smirking at you before speeding up a bit as you kicked your leg at him. This action earned a disapproving look from Lan Qiren while Xichen just chuckled softly, which made your face heat up even more. Luckily, the rest of the walk was without you slamming into someone else again. However, you also noticed that Xichen lingered near you as you walked, almost like he was ready to catch you if you tripped again or something along those lines. Not that he made that clear, he just walked beside you at a decent distance, which only made Meng Yao raise his eyebrows at you suggestively once more. You ignored him without hesitation, instead focusing on the road and those interesting pebbles on the ground.

You didn't know how you ended up in this situation, sitting across Xichen while drinking tea and talking. But you also didn't really care about how you got here, you were too busy trying to keep your face neutral enough and not to just smile like an idiot. Xichen was explaining some stuff about the clan, the reasons for their colors and how their rules came into place, but you could only stare at him. More specifically at the cloud symbol on his forehead, which he hadn't noticed and if he had, he was kind enough to not point it out.

"Why do you wear that?" You blurted out in the middle of his sentence, realizing how rude this probably was and quickly apologizing after. Xichen paid no mind to this and kindly started to explain instead.

"It is a metaphor, it shows that we restrain ourselves." The explanation was simple, you were sure that he oversimplified the actual meaning, and Xichen was also quick to add that it wasn't something that just anyone could touch.

"Only close family members are allowed to touch the headbands. When we marry, our wife and future kids are also allowed." Xichen says and you felt a wave of disappointment wash over you, unsure of the reason for those feelings. The conversation moved on to other subjects, but somehow the thought of marrying Xichen had entered your mind and it wouldn't leave. You could only try to hide the slight blush on your face until you could excuse yourself to go to your class.

You never went to that class. and the thoughts of marrying Xichen turned into hopeful dreams that revealed your true feelings of the man.

The first letter you sent to Xichen was after your leave of the Gusu Lan clan. You added it to your letter to Huaisang, the paper folded neatly with Xichen's name on it. Xichen answered not much later, his response folded into the letter that Huaisang send you back. You didn't miss Huaisang's teasing in his own letter, you had no doubt that the boy had peaked into your letter. However, you first focused on Xichen's letter, because the man had called you his dear friend and you took a few minutes to just process that.

A dear friend was a start, maybe someday it say dear lover.

The second conversation was started by Xichen, asking you where you were traveling this time. You answered him, sticking in a small note of thanks to Huaisang that he helped you deliver the letters to Xichen. You received no you're welcome back, but you did get another letter. One that only made your heart ache as Xichen spoke of marriage, but he was to be clan leader after all and neither of you were still really young. But still with all that, you wished that he would chose you and not some clan's daughter that was chosen for him. Luckily, he didn't seem to mention his future marriage in any way, so you didn't see need to worry yet. Even though you were glad, you couldn't help yourself from asking if he had plans to marry. The letter was sent before you could actually control your actions, embarrassment entering much later and when it was too late to get the letter back.

You waited for two weeks for any kind of response from Xichen, but you got a very good response. You got Xichen in front of you, his angelic smile aimed to you and a letter in his hand. You took it with confusion, reading it's contents carefully.

Right at the bottom, written in the neatest letters stood a sentence that made your heart stop.

'I hope that we might marry someday.'

You were ready to faint at this point, not being able to control your magic as you made the letter go up in flames thanks to the sparks from your fingers. You only stared at the ashes before apologizing to Xichen, but he was just smiling at you like it was nothing. Then again, you had explained your powers to him or at least to some extent.

"I presume that to be a yes?" He asked and you nodded slowly, not really knowing what you were supposed to say to his proposal. You'd figure it out later, however, because you just wanted to hug him right now. So you did, embracing him and toying with the back of his belt as he threw his arms around your shoulders.

"How'd you know?" You dare to ask him, looking up to him with curious eyes as you awaited his answer.

"You often think out loud." Cue your face heating up as you hid your face in his chest, only making the man chuckle softly while parting your head.

You received one more letter later on from Huaisang, asking if the proposal went well. You burned that one as well.

[carrot-felisidad]

It's crazy how the juniors just accepted Mo Xuanyu after a few times of meeting him. In their eyes, Mo Xuanyu has this bad reputation (though I'm still not sure if they were true, or made up rumors, or exaggerated) to the point that he was exiled, but they easily acknowledged his skills.

And didn't the elders wonder how this secluded gay emo suddenly became competent in decision-making and dark arts??? They just listen to his investigations, but if it was me--a similar secluded gay emo--I wouldn't be given the time of the day. We could also blame it on Wei Wuxian's natural charm and confidence, but still. Imagine you have a weird cousin who flirts at everyone and is quite loose in the head, then suddenly he knows how to play violin and Zac Efron or Harry Styles or Jungkook (whichever poor male usual Wattpad protagonist you could think of) starts protecting him.

And he's suddenly hanging around the venerable Hanguang Jun because he mentioned he likes him (in animation at least) and Lan Wangji just... let's him??? There's something gay going on here.

And Jinling, the kid who got the Jiang's temper and the Jin's elitist attitude, starts seeing him as a proper uncle who taught him how to fight. Awwww. Finally, he got an emotionally supportive uncle for once in his life with the many uncles he has. But Mo Xuanyu was the most distant uncle, living in Mo village and all. I mean, how did he process that?

And the rest of the juniors, Lan Jingyi, Lan Shizui, and Ouyang Zizhen, just decided to follow him like ducklings.

My point is...

How did the cultivation world process Mo Xuanyu in their heads?

[mostlikelytofangirl]

I'm just. So INSANE about it

WRH not forcing MY into a style he can't master? WRH recognizing his need for underhanded methods and not being disappoint about it/ encouraging him? WRH paying attention to him to a degree he can see his strenghts and weaknesses? GODS

One of these days I'll write a fic about hensheng saving JGY as a hyperpowerful semi-sacred ancient Wen sword that cultivated itself a physical form

Yooooo you know what's even more INSANE????

MY had a reputation for copying techniques! Given the fact that he didn't have any sort of proper training during his formative years, and with his prodigious memory, what he did instead was seeing other cultivators and imitate them, sooooooo...

How farfetched would it be to assume that WRH saw him execute techniques from other sects, noticing how of course not every one of those would suit MY, and decided to encourage him to develop his own style with the knowledge he already had and the one WRH was willing to provide??? Almost like "yeah, that's a flawless Jiang/Jin/Nie/Lan move, but what can you do?"

MY could have mastered any cultivation fighting technique regardless of whether or not it's the best for him specifically, but everybody can do that, MY could go beyond and with his own personal style!

The significance of that! Someone not only willing to teach him, but encourage him to go beyond his comfort zone of just doing what others told him and develop his own technique bc WRH knew he could and it'd be the best for him!

OMG PLS DO!! Hensheng turning out to be much more special and unique than what MY previously thought ;u;

[incarnadinedreams]

This isn't really new, but it's actually really interesting to me what a sticking point the 'enemy of the cultivation world' line is for people who have a less favorable interpretation of Jiang Cheng's character.

When I first read the novel, it honestly just seemed obvious to me that it was part of The Plan with their staged falling out/defection from the Yunmeng Jiang clan. Whether it was a good or likely to succeed long-term plan or not is up for debate, but considering that we know the entire duel and 'falling out' was staged, I thought it was a given that was just part of it.

So I was actually pretty surprised to see so many people adamant that even if the duel was staged, that statement was a specific lie/betrayal on Jiang Cheng's part. Because of the duel/defection situation being generally light on description in the novel, there's not enough detail to say conclusively and definitely either way.

The first time we hear about the 'enemy of the cultivation world' declaration is actually in the prologue, where some dude is telling the "citation needed" summary version of the Yiling Patriarch's life story (7S version):

"[...] The former Jiang sect leader raised him like his own son, eh? But look at him: publicly defecting from the clan, making himself an enemy of the world. He’s embarrassed the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng utterly and almost doomed them to the same fate of extermination. [...]"

Of course it's not until the end of ch. 73 that we really know the circumstances of this defection. Where the duel is described the style of narration shifts noticeably to that very detached, third-party narration, the tone shift that indicates throughout the novel that this is the story the public believes.

The ExR translation phrases it this way:

They fought quite a fight in Yiling. Negotiations failed. Both resorted to violence.

Under Wei WuXian's command, the fierce corpse Wen Ning struck Jiang Cheng once, breaking one of his arms. Jiang Cheng stabbed Wei WuXian once. Both sides suffered losses. Each spat out a mouthful of blood and left cursing the other. They had finally fallen out with each other.

After the fight, Jiang Cheng told the outside that Wei WuXian defected from the sect and was an enemy to the entire cultivation world. The YunmengJiang Sect had already cast him out. From then on, no ties remained between them—a clear line was drawn. Henceforth, no matter what he did, they'd have nothing to do with the YunmengJiang Sect!

The official translation from 7S makes it even clearer that this is the 'what the public is meant to believe' type of thing by formatting it this way (including the italics):

Following the duel, Jiang Cheng made this public statement: "Wei Wuxian has defected from our clan and become a public enemy. The Jiang Clan of Yunmeng expelled him and has broken all ties with him, drawing a clear line between his deeds and our own. No matter what this man does going forward, his actions have nothing to do with the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng!"

Whether it's a verbatim quote or not doesn't particularly matter for my interpretation (I don't particularly doubt the statement itself happened), but I would be interested in how it's presented originally; unfortunately I can't read it, so as always there's the 'going off translations' caveat here.

Immediately in the next chapter we see the aftermath of the duel and Wei Wuxian's nonchalant attitude to it, and then later in ch. 75, when Jiang Cheng brings Jiang Yanli to visit Yiling and show off her wedding robes and she reveals he suggested she have Wei Wuxian pick her son's courtesy name.

That's where we really realize just how staged it was (bolding mine):

Jiang Cheng raised up his bowl, "To the YiLing Patriarch."

Hearing this, Wei WuXian remembered the proudly fluttering banner again. All that was in his head was the ten golden words ''all hail the supreme Lord of Evil Patriarch of YiLing', "Shut up!"

After he drank a mouthful, Jiang Cheng spoke, "How's your wound from last time?"

Wei WuXian, "It healed a long time ago."

Jiang Cheng, "Mn." With a pause, he continued, "How many days?"

Wei WuXian, "Less than seven. I told you before. With Wen Qing, it was nothing difficult. But you really did fucking stab me."

Jiang Cheng ate a piece of lotus root, "You were the one who smashed my arm first. You took seven days, while I had to hang my arm up for an entire month."

Wei WuXian grinned, "How could it seem realistic if it wasn't hard enough? It was your left hand anyways. It didn't hinder you from writing. It takes a hundred days to heal a wound to the bone. It wouldn't be too much even if you hung it up for three months."

[...]

Before they parted, Jiang Cheng spoke, "We won't see you off. It wouldn't be good if someone saw us."

Wei WuXian nodded. He understood that it wasn't easy for the Jiang siblings to have come out here. If someone else saw them, all those things they did for the public to believe would be wasted. He spoke, "We'll go first."

We don't actually know, exactly, to the letter, what the plan was. Everything after Wei Wuxian says they could cut ties to protect the Jiang sect and Jiang Cheng saying they should have a duel is very light on the actual details.

Even with that wiggle room, I just don't buy the interpretation that the 'enemy of the cultivation world'/'public enemy' line was some extra betrayal behind Wei Wuxian's back, totally unknown to him, some sort of sneaky move meant to simply make everyone hate him even more for no reason.

They were clearly concerned with the possibility that nobody would truly believe that they'd actually fallen out, and felt they needed to go to fairly extreme lengths to sell this story to the public. While there were definitely some hurt feelings (on both sides) at this point, there was definitely still some hope that things would work out in the end, somehow.

I think this part of the novel works better with them both clinging to a thread of tenuous hope, a desperate last-ditch effort to somehow figure out a way to keep both the Yunmeng Jiang sect and the Wens safe because neither one of them can back down but neither can really let go yet.

If anything I'd say it would be a bit weird to take the public statement made after an event we know is staged to deceive the public... and assuming that for some reason, that specific line of it should just be taken at face value.

As with many aspects of the novel, the public story and what actually happened are just not the same thing.

[sunderwight]

actually I think it would be funny if Jiang Fengmian really did just flat-out dislike Jiang Cheng and didn't even bother trying to hide it

Jiang Fengmian introducing his kids like "this is my daughter A-Li, and this is her adopted brother A-Xian, and this is Yu Ziyuan's son Jiang Cheng"

Jiang Fengmian sending Jiang Cheng off to the Wen indoctrination like "cool maybe they'll kill him"

Jiang Fengmian looking into his son's eyes and clasping his shoulder after he comes back alive from his harrowing ordeal and near-death experience and going "you couldn't even slay one legendary demon beast? not one?"

Jiang Fengmian untying Jiang Cheng while Lotus Pier is under attack like "you go back and die fighting alongside your mother, I'd do it myself but frankly I just don't like her enough to bother"

basically if Jiang Fengmian was actually the guy Yu Ziyuan accuses him of being, everything would be worse but also funnier. arrested development parenting style Jiang Fengmian. survives to the end of the story but this time no one particularly wants him to