my-random-mdzs-thoughts

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Been thinking about how it was a drought that started the downfall of Xianle. About how when Xie Lian descended he used the Rain Master's hat to make it rain where the drought hit the worse--Lang-er Bay--and how he kept doing so even after the fighting started. About how Xie Lian insisted on doing so even when it drained so much power to run around like that and no one even knew he was doing it. He kept trying to make it rain, but a hat can only hold so much water. It could only make a light trickle for a short time before he needed to run to get more water to bring. Thinking about his own downfall, the chain of events and how he couldn't keep making it rain after some time, stretched too thin.

Thinking about how, after his banishment, Xie Lian chose Lang-er Bay to lie in to give the people one last chance. How on the last day it started raining. Heavy. A downpour so heavy that that man with the rice couldn't even see Xie Lian in the road until he sat up and tripped over him. How that man gave Xie Lian his bamboo hat, the same type of hat that Xie Lian used to bring rain to this very place, to shield him from the rain.

Something something Xie Lian's downfall started with a drought, and was brought back from the brink by the rain in the same place it all started.

Feel free to expatiate on this. I'd love to hear your thoughts

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Why is my account bald... wangxian save me...

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Okay I’m currently furious that migraines are often so blindly easy to treat and I had to find this out myself at the age of 26 when I’ve been to a neurologist since I was 11 lol so I’m about to teach you two neat and fast little tricks to deal with pain!

The first is the sternocleidomastoid muscle, or the SCM muscle.

This big red section is responsible for pain around the eye, cheekbone, and jaw, as well as some temple pain. Literally all you have to do is angle your head down a little, angle it away from the side that hurts, and then you can gently pinch and rub that muscle. I find it best to start at the bottom and travel upwards. The relief is so immediate! You can increase pressure as you feel comfortable doing so.

Here is a short and easy video showing this in action

The second is a fast and easy stretch that soothes your vagus nerve, which is the nerve responsible for calming you down. The vagus nerve, for those unfamiliar, is stimulated by deep breathing such as yawning, sighing, singing, or taking a deep breath to calm your anger in a tense situation.

You can stretch this out by sitting up as straight as possible (this does not have to be perfect to work) and interlacing your fingers. Put your hands on the back of your head with your thumbs going down the sides of your neck and, while keeping your face forward, look all the way to one side with just your eyes. Hold that until you feel the urge to breathe deeply or yawn, or until you can tell there’s a change. Then do the same thing on the other side. When you put your arms down, you should clearly be able to turn your head farther in both directions. If the first session doesn’t get rid of your migraine, rest and repeat as many times as necessary. I even get a little fancy with it and roll my eyes up and down along the outer edge sometimes to stretch as much as I can.

If you need a visual here’s a good video on it. I know some of the language they use seems questionable but this is real and simple science and should not be discarded because it’s been adopted by the trendy wellness crowd!

I seriously cannot believe I didn’t hear a word of this from any doctor in my life. Additionally, if you get frequent recurring migraines, you may want to see a dietician. Migraines can be caused by foods containing histamines, lectin, etc. and can also be caused by high blood pressure in specific situations such as exercise, stress, and even sex.

If any of this information helps you I’d love to hear it btw! It’s so so fast and easy to do. Good luck!

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

All illustrations for Mo Dao Zu Shi: French Edition Exclusives

Made some scans of the French edition illustrations, which are interspersed throughout the four volumes.

Illustration Artist: Marina Privalova (Baoshan Karo)

Other illustrations available here:

[Vol. 1] - [Vol. 2] - [Vol. 3] - [Vol. 4] [Vol. 5 - Russian edition exclusive illustrations]

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

for anyone who criticizes jyl for bringing soup to yiling instead of like, money—

we should first ask: could jyl actually have given wwx money? she must have something, you say. the jins are rich! she could even give him some of her betrothal gifts.

but realistically jyl probably didn't have much money at all! let's think this through. not only did she not marry jzx yet at the time of her yiling visit, but (based on many, many imperial palace tv shows lol) all her worth would be in betrothal gifts of jewelry, fine clothing, or other misc items, which is 1) heavy and difficult to transport without notice, but that doesn't actually matter bc it's ultimately 2) disrespectful to sell and worse to have the gifter find out when they come by for tea and you begin chatting about the event in two days and they say oh where's that one-of-a-kind jade bracelet I gave you wouldn't it match the also one-of-a-kind silk garment that lady jin gave you sooo well oh you will look so lovely in it won't you wear it.

or worse, have it recognized in some random pawn shop on the street by someone who has never really liked you and WILL get you in deep shit for it.

does jyl have any money from the jiang side? well, jc has been busy at work rebuilding lotus pier and the clan since before wwx's defection, and even if he's not borrowing a shitton of money from the jins (which he almost certainly is), he definitely has the opposite of surplus funds. he's also busy organizing and buying gifts for the wedding too, making him go more in the red because you know the jins aren't going to want cheap-ass things even if you don't have money.

let's say jyl did get a significant bride price (aka given money money)—not only does that go to her family (jc), but it is given during the ceremony (which, again, hasn't happened yet). and, realistically, jc probably will have to use it to offset the costs of the above.

beyond that, let's just take this scene from a storytelling perspective. sometimes it is simply about the emotional resonance. the vibes. let's say jyl did have some funds to give wwx. but imagine if jyl was like here a-xian take all this money 😐 ok sure useful for some period. but is that the gift that wwx would want during the first time he's gotten to see her in months, and likely the last time he will see her in a long, long time (possibly years)? would that be impactful for the story?

meanwhile, the soup she brings represents her love. we hear in the extra, from wwx's own words, the care she put into selecting the ingredients, making sure the lotus root is fresh and perfectly ripe. it also takes hours for her to even make iirc. wwx derives so much comfort from it—that's why it comes up again and again. it is one of his first memories of feeling safe in lotus pier, of home. it provides wwx some semblance of normalcy. he hasn't had any this entire time, and is likely something he aches for whenever he's homesick or sad or questioning his choices. it is simply, given the circumstances, incredibly thoughtful. (and how meaningful was it to see wn treat it with such respect? seeing that is literally the moment in the chapter when wwx realizes—ah. the wens are people I cherish as well.)

and regarding jyl coming in her wedding dress—it is not for herself. it is for wwx. we saw how devastated wwx was just to even hear that jyl was getting married because he had to hear it from someone who wasn't jc or jyl. and to immediately then realize he cannot go? even more heartbreaking. and jyl, who clearly knows wwx extremely well, would know, without having to ask, how upset wwx would be to miss such a huge occasion in their lives that was previously a given. this is what she can do to offset that, even just a little. because jyl came in her dress, wwx gets to experience a piece of her wedding even though he cannot physically be there. not to be a 2000s mastercard ad, but there really are some things that money can't buy.

idk there's also some fist-shaking at the class discrepancy in the scene. and I get it. it sucks! her dress is certainly lavish, and the wens are farming on a corpse mountain and have only just started making a bit of money. yes, it's fine to think that if you were in the character's shoes, maybe you would've found it to be in poor taste—but the story isn't about you. it is about these characters, and what this scene means to them. and I'm of the camp that if there is no indication that wwx is upset by any of this, and in fact moved by it, there really isn't reason for the reader to be righteously indignant about these things on a character's behalf. that's just not the focus or the point of the scene.

plus, jyl is sharp. she is likely more aware of the discrepancy than most people think. she has also been shown in the text to not just be another sheltered, spoiled noble (re jzx soup incident). but if what you want is guilt from jyl—I personally think that guilt is performative, and accomplishes nothing. her guilt would've only made wwx unhappy. instead, here is an action that is meaningful and brings joy to wwx. to share her joy with him is not selfishness, nor is it some lack of awareness of their situation. if in this moment, she shows off her dress, if she revels in her joy, her happiness, it is for wwx, and wwx is incredibly moved by it.

and let's face it—wwx, of all people, would want to see jyl in a wedding dress that cost more than rebuilding lotus pier from the ground up. he wouldn't want anything less.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

To the Immaturity of the Season

CW! Blood, murder

I’d like to think Mama Lan made a choice of leaving love in her boys’ hearts over bitterness. I’d like to think there was an initial attraction between mama Lan and qhj, removed from other social context and ties that they later had to discover. I’d like to think mama Lan found a value in remembering that, as fleeting it had been. I’d also like to think mama Lan had a hint of sardonic sense of humour while qhj was a blushing fumbling straightforward boy.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

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

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

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

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

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

Demon vs. ghost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Running the numbers

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

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

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

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

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

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

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

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

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

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

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

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

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

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

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

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

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

So why the confusion?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

I also wanted to do a bike mechanic au with Wei Wuxian being a mechanic! This is so much cooler what I had in mind!

Cycling au with wangxian.

Wei Wuxian ! Pro cyclist turned bike courier turned pro cyclist again??? Or is it a fluke??

WQ convinces wwx to enter into a road race in Gusu, where lwj is also competing and has been the race leader for the past 3 years. Wwx shocks everyone by hiding in the pack and at the last minute, breaks away and beats lwj to the finish line of the mountain checkpoint by using short intervals of an odd sprint climbing technique lwj hasnt seen before. He ends up winning and earns the title King of the Mountains, unseating lwj from the title and royally pissing him off in the process.

The long sloping mountains of Gusu are Lwj’s home, and he has trained there every day for the past 10 years. Climbing is his specialty, he’s honed his technique, perfected it. He gets to the top faster than anyone else. Until now.

Lwj is looking forward to returning the favor at the next race, but wwx never shows. Months later, lwj happens to be in Yiling training for his next race and in a chance encounter, crosses paths again with wwx while he’s on delivery. Yiling has very steep, short hills all throughout the city, which is why lwj is there to take advantage of them. Now lwj can see where wwx learned his sprint-climb technique, if this is the terrain he bikes all day long.

Wwx is delighted to see the handsome cyclist he almost lost to, but doesnt have time to stand around and chat— he has deliveries to complete!! He lets lwj come along with him, if he can keep up of course ;) it’s gruelling lwj has to admit, but he does keep up and atthe end of the day, he challenges wwx to enter another road race.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

patron's request :3 💖🐇

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

//femswap

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Night meeting sketch

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"Turns out, he's pretty chill" ahh fanart

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

the idea of jiang cheng “adopting” or even having any magnitude of amicable/favourable relationship with sizhui—wen yuan—after discovering him instead of lan wangji or during any other period of canon is extremely absurd and offensive to the point of hilarity. some people mistake jiang cheng’s hostility as being solely directed towards wei wuxian (often thought to be attributed to his prior “love” for wei wuxian turning incredibly sour post-yanli’s death) but no, jiang cheng didn’t let go of his resentment for the wens, either. even after the genocide that he led and was a part of. he was still hateful towards the wens.

“And,” the proprietress added, “I’ve also heard of another person who was frightened away.”

“Frightened away by what?” Wei Wuxian asked.

Surely, this person couldn’t also have coincidentally run into Jiang Cheng using his whip on someone. Just how diligent was Jiang Cheng in his arrests, and how frequently did he lash people?

“No, no,” the proprietress said. “It was his bad luck too, I guess. His surname is Wen, and of course, Sect Leader Jiang’s mortal enemy is also named Wen. He hates every person in the world who bears the name Wen, and he grits his teeth at the mere sight of them, clearly wanting to skin them alive. So of course, his face was not a pleasant sight…”

so honestly, i think a person like jiang cheng could never reasonably set aside his hatred for the wens to “look after” wen yuan when he couldn’t even do so atleast 15+ years after his grievance with the wens began (the only valid reason he has to hold against the wens was the lotus pier massacre and that too, the wen remnants had no hand in). this is also besides the fact that jc knew wen yuan was amongst the wen remnants when the siege happened.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

the idea of jiang cheng “adopting” or even having any magnitude of amicable/favourable relationship with sizhui—wen yuan—after discovering him instead of lan wangji or during any other period of canon is extremely absurd and offensive to the point of hilarity. some people mistake jiang cheng’s hostility as being solely directed towards wei wuxian (often thought to be attributed to his prior “love” for wei wuxian turning incredibly sour post-yanli’s death) but no, jiang cheng didn’t let go of his resentment for the wens, either. even after the genocide that he led and was a part of. he was still hateful towards the wens.

“And,” the proprietress added, “I’ve also heard of another person who was frightened away.”

“Frightened away by what?” Wei Wuxian asked.

Surely, this person couldn’t also have coincidentally run into Jiang Cheng using his whip on someone. Just how diligent was Jiang Cheng in his arrests, and how frequently did he lash people?

“No, no,” the proprietress said. “It was his bad luck too, I guess. His surname is Wen, and of course, Sect Leader Jiang’s mortal enemy is also named Wen. He hates every person in the world who bears the name Wen, and he grits his teeth at the mere sight of them, clearly wanting to skin them alive. So of course, his face was not a pleasant sight…”

so honestly, i think a person like jiang cheng could never reasonably set aside his hatred for the wens to “look after” wen yuan when he couldn’t even do so atleast 15+ years after his grievance with the wens began (the only valid reason he has to hold against the wens was the lotus pier massacre and that too, the wen remnants had no hand in). this is also besides the fact that jc knew wen yuan was amongst the wen remnants when the siege happened.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Rejoice

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

“No one can walk a single-plank bridge their entire lives and never fall”

I think about this quote daily