#tgcf spoilers BTW

[mikaelasgraveyard]

something I really love about tgcf is that like, yes its a romance and the romance IS the highlight of the story and everything in it follows along the path to that romantic ending, but I just love how the writing get you to really fucking care about that romance

“that’s a super common thing in romance stories bro” i KNOW but just come walk with me for a second. I love that the story takes us on xie lian’s journey through his third ascension but also through his past that is infinitely fucking important to the present. we have to sit for such long flashbacks within the books where xie lian just gets kicked to the ground and dragged through the dirt like non fucking stop. we see him at his greatest and we see him at his absolute fucking lowest. we are rooting for this poor fail man and feeling all those injustices he faces in our hearts and just fucking. wishing for things to go his way for once and .. by god thats what we get through the romance

we the reader are like sooo fucking aware that hua cheng knew xie lian from ages ago (at least likely aware, it didn’t seem like it was Really a well kept secret) from back in book 2, and then near the end of the book we find that !! not only did he know him as a kid and a teenager in the army but after he died he stayed around JUST for him, and even though he couldnt do much he was there through literally those worst moments of xie lian’s life and fast forward hes still there. devoted as ever after building an empire all in the name of his love and it’s. GOD it was so fucking satisfying to learn.

xie lian deserved that passion and devotion and jsut straight up love after all that bullshit. he went through hell and on the other end of it, after years and years of stumbling through barren wastelands on his own he gets to finally fall into the arms of someone that practically turned the term unconditional love into reality and EMBODIES it. he gets to find out how easy happiness can be. someone to eat his shitty food like how he’d eat his mother’s. someone that was there and saw him so fucked up and through it all loved him all the same and even felt that pain with him … bro deserved the world after everything and got someone that would do fucking anything to give him just that, if not literally then whatever the hell could be closest and i just love it SO much

[lazycranberrydoodles]

xie lian texts like a grandpa … i imagine pre confession their texts would be a graveyard of hua cheng’s failed attempts at flirting

xie lian's profile picture is from the manhua by starember / follow for more of hua cheng Ls

[sokkalore]

[screaming crying throwing up]

to be loved is to be known…

[princessofxianle]

"hm? I wonder why the donghua team added in Feng Xin's immediate reaction to Lang Qianqiu breaking his right arm with his left?" bc its not in the book

*ahem* Feng Xin in Book 2... seem familiar???

And heres the original scene...

[cutefoxgirl2992]

Qi Rong and Xie Lian are perfect examples of the nature vs nurture argument but idk if y'all are ready to have this convo

[potatosaresweet]

tgcf spoilers btw

i keep thinking about how jun wu was convinced that xie lian's last believer(hua cheng) would leave him in that final battle since his own last believer(mei nianqing) also left him but to be fair to mei nianqing the situation is completely different.

xie lian was all hua cheng ever had, the god who saved him as a child, who protected him, whose shrines offered him shelter and comfort. xie lian is the literal reason he refuses to leave this world, as he wants to help and protect him just like he did so many years ago-he's what ties his existance on earth because he had no one else. his family seemed to despise him, no other friends, nothing. of course he'd follow xie lian anywhere, of course he'd do anything for the ONE PERSON to ever care about him, the person who held him while he cried and told him it wasn't his fault.

but mei nianqing? he had friends other that the prince. he had the other perceptors-all five of them were incredibly close. and then they turned against jun wu(for understandable reasons) and he killed them. his friends. THEIR friends. of course mei nianqing got scared,wouldn't you? seeing his prince slowly fall into madness, going as far as to kill people he cares about,people they both held so dearly in their hearts, it makes sense why mei niangqing fled.

the situation was completely different and yet jun wu failed to see that. he was so desperate to draw or forcibly create parallels between him and xie lian he ignored how big their differences are. yes junmei paraller hualian in a more tragic, messed up way but the dynamics are not identical and part of why jun wu failed is because he assumed not only that xie lian and him were the same , but also that mei nianqing and hua cheng's circumstances were identical

[vikvampir3]

So whose gonna cosplay hualian and recreate the fourth book cover with me?

[roserocksrapidly]

I think my favorite thing about Hua Cheng is that yeah of course he'd die for Xie Lian (and has) but more than that he LIVES for Xie Lian. He heard that "if you have nothing else to live for then live for me" and took it PERSONALLY. He seems like a character set up perfectly to die in tragic self sacrifice but at every turn he says "fuck this, I choose to stay alive." Doomed by the narrative guy who fought so viciously against the narrative that HE WON (and now the narrative is scared of him). Every time I remember "I pray to never rest in peace" I have to go lie down. And all this bc of the power of gay love. Hua Cheng, the character you are 💞💞💞

[shiqingxuanz]

little art dump

[bokutoasavillain]

Love how Xie Lian has a creampie kink and the public knows

[lunaticmeap]

friendly reminder that Mei Nianqing's first proper conversation with Xie Lian in 800 years involved asking him "is it because you cultivated and avoided women for so long that you turned gay" with Hua Cheng standing right there with them

[chirpycloudyrobin]

oh beefleaf my beefleaf 🥺 i have AU thoughts for my beloveds

specifically, (assumed) unrequited beefleaf where shi qingxuan wrangles the cosmos (dont ask how) into letting him find he xuan's reincarnated family so he could reunite them as a way of apologising

but wait !! theyre in trouble ?? of course shi qingxuan is going to help them ! he owes them that much

and he knows he has absolutely zero rights still harbouring feelings for he xuan but he can't help it ! hes been pining for centuries and one does not simply let go of a century of feelings

but- but- wouldn't it be easier if he lets go ? again, what right does he have feeling this way for he xuan ? and besides, he and miao-jiejie are so different from face to mannerisms to ambitions.. everything ! and miao-jiejie will be back in he xuan's life soon too. what chances did shi qingxuan even have ? did he even have one, when he xuan had secretly hated- LOATHED his entire being the whole time ?

feelings hurt hmm... anyways...

maneuvering events while in the throes of a great heartbreak is no easy feat ! oh no, is he getting attached to them ? are they getting attached to him too ? does this count as stealing from he xuan again ?

shi qingxuan should speed up his mission. and he does. and his mission ends happily of course ! one happy little He family reunited at long last

well, he's got no place there. byebye now !

except. hmm.

did everyone (read: shi qingxuan) conveniently forget that he xuan's family now lead their own lives ? that they may have the memories from before but theyre now virtually new people ?

the reunion didnt end with "and they all lived happily under one roof ever after". the reunion, instead, ended w promises to visit. promises to make up for lost time. promises to introduce their new families to he xuan.

he xuan and miao-jiejie loved each other once. they love each other still, but it's nostalgia-flavoured now. and they get their closure, ofc they did. did you know miao-jiejie got asked out a while ago ? funny how the universe worked like that

so he xuan got the closure he deserved after so long. his family are living happier lives and he gets to see it and be part of it. he has mourned them and he has avenged them and their future remains bright. he should be able to move on to the reincarnation cycle now, right ?

right ... ?

[sokkalore]

shi qingxuan said jump lie and hua cheng said how high

[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua season 2, episode 4 thoughts

Overall a really fun episode :3 Spoilers below (also book spoilers for folks coming solely from the donghua)

Another five seconds of Yin Yu (via reference) and my boi Quan Yizhen getting a shout out, love them. Quanyin fans thirsty but we push on in the desert.

Hua Cheng and Xie Lian playing the gambling game together is so cute T-T Hua Cheng holding Xie Lian's shoulderrrrr

This was so cute T-T He comfort his gege T-T

And then this shotttt ahhhhh (Hua Cheng's hand is so much larger alkdjladaj bless, Xie Lian needs the big hands to cradle him)

(Hua Cheng trying to keep his cool SO HARD. Hua Cheng @ Hua Cheng: BE COOL, BE COOL, WE GOT TWO TOUCHES TODAY BE COOL -screaming-)

This was everything. Hua Cheng: everything for you gege (in or out of bed)

T-T I cry over them. I'm totally normal about them T-T

(Also considering in this episode that the official English subs are still ass and there's a point where they don't even bother subbing an ENTIRE Xie Lian line, that we get stuff as good as the above is a miracle).

I know it was there before, but it was interesting to see how much taller Shi Qingxuan's male form is than Xie Lian. It was really cute. Their friendship is so adorable! When Xie Lian helps Shi Qingxuan up off the floor T-T When Shi Qingxuan was like "you're not the one making trouble for me/you're not a burden/you're not the problem" because Xie Lian is so used to thinking of himself as being the one to drag others (Feng Xin, Mu Qing, everyone he cares about) down, I just T-T Their friendship ends me. Also Shi Qingxuan clasping Xie Lian's hands to toss the dice to encourage him I am T-T I cry over them T-T So much T-T

Shi Qingxuan carrying Ming Yi ends me alkdjalj BEEFLEAF FANS FEASTING TODAY!!! Beat up Ming Yi -eye sparkle- that head snuggle. Shi Qingxuan's >:3 face.

Ahh this is gonna hurt bad later.

Overall a wonderful episode with some nice art :3

...Excepting one particular part of the episode that was a whole on what the fuck in a bad way, and this person and this person did a better job dealing with that than I could.

Other episode thoughts for season 2 (didn't start till episode 3):

S02E03

S02E04 (you are here)

S02E05

S02E06

S02E07

S02E08

S02E09

S02E10

S02E11

S02E12

[yaoigoddess9158]

I made my beautiful, innocent, did nothing wrong, bb in gl2 ☺️

( + Post-Black Water version )

[hua-liansimp]

Orufrey at first glance: oh silly smiling glasses guy and his grumpy husband living together raising children

Orufrey at a closer glance: Fire and Water, Sun and Moon, Black and White opposites, oh the silly smiling guy is actually kind of fucked up and struggles with his self-worth and sometimes his intentions aren't exactly selfless or morally right and he's prone to obsessions and he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone, and his grumpy husband is actually very soft-hearted and can be kind of naive and his magic is so kind although he has his own tragic past and he's a dad 24/7 despite claiming he never wanted apprentices—

oh and they're childhood best friends and each other's closest and only friend really and silly smiling guy started working on and kind of getting over one of his biggest fears because of Olruggio, because Olruggio has been kind and selfless even as a child, and Qifrey thinks he's not good enough to even be his friend, and he hates himself for being obsessed with the Brimhats because he loves their lives together but that is also why he needs to protect it and they would do anything to ensure the other's safety and Olruggio has unwavering faith in Qifrey and Qifrey knows he doesn't deserve it, not anymore, and

*Love Like You by Rebecca Sugar starts playing*