#But the second one was Guoshi Fangxin???

[fluffypurpleglitterdemon]

What do you mean Fangxin was the other Evil Master?!

[illuminatedferret]

One-Word Ficlet Prompt #5: Smoke

Word Count: 422

Lang Qianqiu, speedrunning foot-in-mouth.

-

The smell of smoke still hung heavy around Lang Qianqiu’s mysterious teacher, even hours after the event. It filled Lang Qianqiu with a great deal of wonder and curiosity, and he demonstrated -he felt- an impressive amount of restraint by not immediately leaping to quiz his teacher.

Instead, he patiently bided his time, waiting until a natural pause occurred in their lesson. Calligraphy had wrapped up, and Fangxin-guoshi was about to bid him leave to change in preparation for a swordplay lesson when Lang Qianqiu finally couldn’t hold it anymore, and said, “so what was it?!”

Fangxin-guoshi paused.

“What was what, exactly?”

He might have worn a mask, but Lang Qianqiu knew his teacher well, and could hear the raised eyebrow in his voice. Chagrinned, Lang Qianqiu flushed, aware he’d failed to ask a true question.

“I had heard about your palace,” Lang Qianqiu explained. Fangxin-guoshi’s palace had nearly burned down the night prior, and had taken over an hour to save from destruction. No one knew precisely what had caused it, except that there had been a loud ‘bang’ just beforehand.

Fangxin-guoshi stiffened slightly- in understanding, surely.

“My parents said you were casting a spell to protect the kingdom. What happened, master? Were ghosts attacking? Demons? Assassins?”

Lang Qianqiu bounced in place, growing more and more excited the more ideas he spitballed. As he spoke, Fangxin-guoshi grew stiller and stiller- a warning sign he was too excited to heed.

“His Highness has so much energy,” Fangxin-guoshi commented, which was his second warning.

“I want to be like you, master, and protect the kingdom!” Lang Qianqiu earnestly swore.

Fangxin-guoshi was silent, which was Lang Qianqiu’s third warning- and the only one he caught. After all, shouldn’t his master be flattered that he wanted to be like him? So why wasn’t he saying anything?

“Your Highness should stick to more realistic goals,” Fangxin-guoshi finally said. “Be yourself, Your Highness. There’s no need for you to become anyone else.”

“But won’t you teach me whatever spell you did? I could see the smoke from the other side of the grounds, it was incredible!”

“...I cannot.”

“Why?” Lang Qianqiu complained. It had looked so cool...

“Because there are other things more important for you to know. Now go get changed- it seems you have much energy today. I can work with that.”

A chill ran down Lang Qianqiu’s spine. Every time Fangxin-guoshi said that, he’d be lucky to end the day on his feet. But why was he being punished?? He hadn’t done anything wrong!!

[hualian-fic-recs]

Hi! So, I’m an avid Hualian fan fic reader, but I may or may not have lost two very similar fan fics that I just need in my life.

They’re both Fangxin Guoshi!Xie Lian and his time in the coffin. The first one is basically one where he loses his memories (because of a ghost? I don’t really remember why) and thinks he’s hallucinating while in the coffin. Hua Cheng comforts him and tells him that he’d be there the next day, but it turns out that Xie Lian’s past and present selves had switched, so as far as his past self was concerned, Hua Cheng lied to him. (Hua Cheng ended up going back and helping him out, but the pain was beautiful).

The second one I remember far less of. All I know is that by the end, Hua Cheng, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin opened the coffin. I think it was also a time travel thing, but I really just loved the reactions.

If you or anyone else knows them, or could keep their eyes out for them, I’d really appreciate it. And if you have any other coffin fics to suggest I’d love to read it!

Hey there! Ok I found a few that might be the first one:

use me as your stepping stone by EyeElm1654

The Things We Lost by strawberry_ia. Its WIP

The other is a little vague, so I'm just going to list some feely coffin fics and hope one of them is what you're looking for!

Bloody Coffin, Bed of Butterflies by fullmetalpotterhead

Give me your suffering by fullmetalpotterhead

The Awful Dread that Chokes by Naamah_Beherit

Beginning; Anew by SunflowerQueen1. WIP

Galatea by zarasu

As The Rain and Seasons Pass by Jiu_Lei

mindsick, heartbound by goneforthestars

Hope this helps!

[sailormelanie]

Has anyone ever noticed...that maybe Xie Lian cooks so poorly kinda on purpose?

In the flashback leading up to his second banishment, whenever his mother cooks for them all, the result is apparently disastrous, whereas, at THAT time, at least whatever Xie Lian prepared was described as "edible".

It could be that it's just edible by comparison and her cooking was the absolute worst to ever exist, but if Xie Lian's food in the present timeline could really be considered "edible," it wouldn't have nearly the same level of devastation (pour one out for Pei Jr.).

Maybe it's an unconscious act, but...doesn't it kind of feel like a subtle way of him remembering his mother? Even the way he names the dishes is like her. Usually mothers pass down dishes and cooking skills to their children, and in this case, even though the results were worse, Xie Lian ended up taking it to heart.

Siiigh my heart ACHES for this boy 😭😭😭 Before he developed his relationship with Hua Cheng, his mother is the first person he wanted to talk to after dealing with the aftermath of the fangxin guoshi arc and I'M. JUST. 😭😭😭

[sophia-sol]

Recs round-up for the month of March, 2024! This month below the cut we have:

1 Nirvana in Fire fanwork

2 TGCF fanworks

3 CQL/MDZS fanworks

5 SVSSS fanworks

1 academic article on the gendering of trans voices

2 short stories

1 novella

1 Nirvana in Fire fanwork:

Go Forward Slowly, by burnt_oranges

a post-canon jingyan/mei changsu nif fic in which jingyan discovers that mcs survived after all…and never let jingyan know.

jingyan is uh. not handling it well, the loneliness and responsibility of being emperor. and this only makes it worse!

anyway it's a venue for lots of real good angst, and I definitely cried at one point!

I also really appreciate the use it makes of various secondary characters who are also important figures in jingyan's life

many feels. I love these characters. there IS a happy ending.

31k words in length

2 TGCF fanworks:

Never Look Away, by dkwilliams

hualian fanvid of the TGCF donghua set to Vienna Teng's "Never Look Away"

ahhhhh it's just very feelings!!!!

audio is song-only

youtube video includes lyric captions

3:16 in length

Ten Feet Behind, by thetrickisnotminding

tgcf quanyin canon divergence au where quan yizhen finds the coffin containing the guoshi fangxin

a fun look at a different way for xie lian and hua cheng to meet again, and for quan yizhen and yin yu to meet again!

9k words in length

3 CQL/MDZS fanworks:

in the tall weeds, by cordial

sangyao fic set during the qinghe era of jgy’s life

a look at trans man meng yao and his experience of his gender, and nie huaisang experimenting with transfemininity

a beautiful look at the complexities of identity, the precarity of position, and the connection between jgy and nhs

1k words in length

A Good Fit, by nirejseki

canon divergence fic where young Meng Yao goes to the Lan Sect to learn cultivation as a guest, instead of trying to be accepted into Jin

I had a lot of fun with the route this fix-it took!

and I enjoyed that it included friendship between Meng Yao and Su She <3

5k words in length

Practical Mythology, by metisket

a fun cute look at a cql wangxian time travel fixit au, where wwx is the alarming immortal who fixed the burial mounds and will grant wishes to deserving people, and lwj meets him for the first time at 8 years old and decides he'll marry him

I enjoyed the look at how this au has changed things for all sorts of different people across the cultivation world, and the ways in which wwx both is indeed extremely powerful and also is someone who still has his blind spots and emotional vulnerabilities

lots of different povs throughout the fic which is fun too!

17k words in length

5 SVSSS fanworks:

Oversharing is Caring, by Prudabaga

bingqiu fic where during the trial in jinlan city, sqq is given a truth serum that comes with a side of lowered inhibitions

nobody is prepared for the kinds of truths sqq wants to share (thoughtful and detailed list of who's hottest)

or, tbh, for the truths that come out by the wayside

funny and cute

4k words in length

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, Prudabaga

another bingqiu fic about the jinlan city encounter going differently, this time because lbh has visited sqq's dreams

and sqq has a Totally Very Straight Of Himself tendency to have sexy dreams about lbh

hard for lbh to believe that sqq wants nothing to do with him after that! (he's still very confused tho)

love this for them

26k words in length

right from the start, I gave you my heart, by nex_et_nox

sqq is hit by an obedience curse! uh oh, it's time for the mission to jinlan city!

fun sqq & sqh interaction, and sqq's first meeting with lbh post-abyss going very differently than in svsss

sqq absolutely out here making his own life harder on a regular basis

lots of fun with this trope!

11k words in length

cleanse your life of me, by ambrorussa

svsss au where sy transmigrates into yqy instead of sqq

the fic is in two parts: first, from sy!yqy's pov as he tries to change events within the parameters the system allows him, and then the second from og!sqq's pov follows where the first part left off, with sqq trying to deal with the fact that yqy is so different now from the one he remembers.

the two parts are different in tone and both excellent, both really fitting the kind of character and person the pov character is, and what it is they want the most. I loved it!

endgame ships: liushen & qijiu

11k words in length

Scenario: Fix-It Fic, by lettered

bingqiu fic where due to System shenanigans sqq travels back in time to when he first encountered lbh in jinlan city post-abyss

sqq does his best to make things go differently this time, within the parameters of the genre "h/c fic" which the system tells him he is now in

I'm just! so delighted by so much about this fic!

and I love how the fic plays metatextually with its own fourth wall in ways I haven't really seen much in svsss fic before!

fic is a WIP; as of my initial rec on mastodon there are 14k words; satisfying to read as is

1 academic article:

"Transgender voices: Insights on identity, embodiment, and the gender of the voice" (2018, Language and Linguistics Compass)

this free-to-read academic article is an overview of the features of a voice that lead people to read that voice as a particular gender

it pushes back against the traditional view of male vs female voices, of pitch being the main deciding factor in gendering voices, and of a voice's gender being immutable

it's a pretty accessible read, IMO!

16 pages in length; 12 pages if you discount the list of references

2 short stories:

The Three Thousand, Four Hundred Twenty-Third Law of Robotics, by Adam-Troy Castro

really more of a prose poem than a standard short story

about the experience of being a robot given unfair orders under unbreakable laws

a satisfying read and I loved the structure

2k words in length

Afflictions of the New Age, by Katherine Ewell

A sci-fi short story about an elderly woman hundreds of years old, making use of every life extending treatment she can, but her grasp on time and on memory is no longer good

Focuses on her relationship with her family, with her home aide, with her fear of death, with her experience of the confusion of past and present

Evocative melancholy wistful tone, really effective!

At the end of the story I'm left with many questions, but in a good way

4k words in length

1 novella:

On the English Approach to the Study of History, by E. Saxey

huh, in the end I'm not entirely convinced I LIKE this novella but it's odd and compelling and interesting for sure

about the academic study of history in a context where a very specific subset of people have access to a very specific subset of historical figures to ask them directly about what they remember

asking questions about who's an insider vs an outsider in academic study, about the values of different approaches to history

ultimately I think it turned too much into a story about the fantastical elements in the narrative and didn't engage as deeply with the themes as I thought it would at the beginning

but it's still a very interesting and well done story and I'm glad I read it!

22k words in length

[habizuh-studios]

I've Held My Heart Close All These Years

Since the day he woke up here and again, and again, and again, he has never felt happiness. Until there is a light, and he's set free. A word rings in his head: Ascension. Out of the coffin after ninety-six years, however, can change a lot. Especially if there were countless people to see it.

OR: Xie Lian ascends from the coffin and chaos ensues :) ---- Chapter 2- Melancholic Joy:

(A grateful and uninhibited joy for the goodness of being, but one tinged by sadness at the pervasiveness of evil and melancholy because it all comes to an end... ____ He enjoys it while he can.) AO3 LINK (Next Chapter)

He Xuan, disguised as Ming Yi, almost never comes to heaven. The keyword here is almost because right now he is being dragged there by Shi Qingxuan to watch a new god ascend. Which, if you look on the bright side, is great, because now he has an excuse to freely get new information for Hua Cheng.

The problem is he is really not in the mood right now.

“Come on, Ming-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan had said. “This is important! Do you know how many vacant spots we have here? It could be a new elemental master, like a Fire Master! Come on, don’t you want to take a look? A tiny peek, and then you can go back… eating… or whatever, come on!”

His half-death glare did nothing to make Shi Qingxuan even hesitate a little, which is just great. Maybe later he could play a drinking game and take a shot every time they dragged him along to whatever adventure they felt like going on. Bonus sips for however many times they’ve said ‘come on’ while doing so.

The sky rumbles and quakes. The bell tolls a lot. Like, more so than usual, which is normally… not very many. It’s just there to cheer them on. If the bell had a face, He Xuan thinks it would be screaming, or bawling, or maybe both with how loud and how many times it's ringing. It’s starting to hurt He Xuan’s ears. Still, he follows Shi Qingxuan to watch whoever it is ascend. Once the light finally recedes back into nothingness, he hears a lot of gasps, one of them coming from right next to him. He can see why.

There is a dead body in front of him. A dead body has ascended.

Well, it’s probably not dead, but if someone said it was, He Xuan would believe them without a second thought.

The god’s skin reminded him of a stiff, shiny cloth, with the way it fitted around its bones like some twisted Ghost City meat. The dark, matted hair looked and smelled like it was covered in blood. The clothes were so bloody that He Xuan couldn’t guess the original color of them. It had more places where it was bleeding even more fresh blood.

In one word: bloody.

That does not help the dirt, grime, and tears it is also covered with.

Not to mention it was especially chilling with the new-looking, shiny silver mask it was wearing. The body, as He Xuan will name it, is wearing a mask adorned with exquisite detailed carvings. Though everything else was dirty beyond compare, the mask remained untouched as if it was only just made. A legend resurfaces in He Xuan’s mind.

The legend of Guoshi Fangxin.

Appointed as the Guoshi for His Highness Tai Hua, or Lang Qianqiu, he taught him for years before his seventeenth birthday, in which he hacked all the people there into corpses and killed everyone at the gilded banquet. Later, he was buried and sealed in a coffin after Lang Qianqiu defeated him, as the legend goes…

Was that Guoshi Fangxin?!

Did he ascend from the coffin!?Ling Wen arrives with little fanfare. “General Xuan Zhen,” she says. “please bring the new god to your palace to heal. I will look into this matter at once.”

He Xuan watches as General Nan Yang and General Xuan Zhen carry the body to the former's palace. After they’re out of sight, he makes a tactical retreat. That body really woke him up.

“Shi Qingxuan-” he starts, but Shi Qingxuan fills in his story for him,

“N-need a moment?” they ask shakily. Lucky for him, he does need a moment. Just not like what they’re thinking. Shi Qingxuan would want comfort from another person, but they know He Xuan, or in their eyes, Ming Yi, would not. Hopefully, they can find their brother or something.

“Yeah,” he replies. Thank goodness for Shi Qingxuan.

____

A few minutes later, he’s back at the Earth Master’s palace, using the communication array to contact another Supreme.

“What is it?” The Supreme in question drawls lazily. “What do you need, money? Food? It will be added onto your debt.”“Nothing of that sort,” He Xuan sneers, though Hua Cheng cannot see it. “Someone new has ascended to heaven. Thought you might want to know who it is?” He can feel Hua Cheng become more attentive, probably hoping it was his god. He probably would have paused if he were below himself. “Well then? Who is it?”“That’s the thing,” He Xuan says. “What ascended was, basically, a corpse.”“A corpse? Not a ghost?” Hua Cheng inquires. He can tell that he’s very interested. “Can ghosts even ascend? No, like, a corpse. It might have been alive, but it certainly looked dead. I might be wrong, but I believe it’s the Guoshi Fangxin. I could check for you.”“Perhaps you could. That’s certainly interesting.”“Do you want me to go to General Xuan Zhen’s palace?”“I really don’t care.”“Okay…”____

And that was how He Xuan found his way to General Xuan Zhen’s palace. Fucking great.

Fate really doesn’t like him anymore, does it?

He absent-mindedly goes through the routine of getting past some of the junior officials and insists he can find Guoshi Fangxin on his own. Which is how he finds himself peeking through a random door. And of course, he has to deal with the bullshit that is Guoshi Fangxin is sitting up, probably awake.

Listening closer, he hears… something. Akin to sobbing, maybe.

____

When he awakens, there is pain.

There is always pain.

But the pain is lesser, now.

And everything felt so… light. And he can see, in what feels like forever. When was the last time he truly saw? It isn’t as beautiful as the gold-white light and the people, but it’s something other than nothing. He’s endlessly grateful for this dream.

He tries sitting up, which doesn’t work. His core isn’t what it used to be. He wishes he could experience this dream to the fullest, but this works as well. Despite everything, it’s still him. He’s still here.

It’s so good.He eventually finds his way up, supporting himself on the soft lumps below him. His arms aren't what he wishes they were, but he can still move them. He still tries. His face stretches into something, he doesn’t know what. It pulls at his skin uncomfortably, but he can’t stop.

He tries to make a sound. It doesn’t work.

His arms still work, so he reaches up to his throat, feeling… something. It’s hollow. Maybe a hole? Or a scar? Something. He can’t talk anymore. He wishes he could express his joy, but the sound won’t come out.

He must stay strong for this to continue. He realizes he’s kept his eyes closed the whole time.

He names the color he saw; red. It was red he saw beneath his eyelids. Another beautiful color, he thinks. Red.

Oh wow, he has eyelids too.

He cracks open his eyelids a tiny bit; enough for light to seep through his eyelashes. It’s beautiful.

The design is elegant but not too much, from what he can see. The walls are white. There are carvings along the pillars. He gives his moments some time to adjust before opening them up some more. It seems almost like a white flash, the way he processes it- it’s too much, too fast, but still he can’t help but want more.

Heaven, he thinks. This is Heaven.  He relaxes, allowing himself to take in the sight of this perfect place slowly. He feels a sense of joy, a feeling of contentment. He’s shaking, that much he knows.

His head gets tired, or maybe it’s just him. He looks down. The soft cloth beneath him becomes blurry. He blinks some wetness away from his eyes, but they fall, staining it. His face scrunches up painfully. He doesn’t feel bloody anymore. He’s still dirty, though. He’s messy.

Blood- the blood inside him- rushes down his arms and chest. It has been since he sat up. It feels good. There is an infinite amount of it inside and outside of him. Blood is always a constant; whether dry or wet or blue or red or-

It’s always there. Inside of you.

His blood is red, too.

His shoulders shake. He hears something creak .

His head leads his eyes towards the noise. Standing in between… two doors, is a person, a real, living person.

He could cry from joy, he is crying from joy. He could lift his arms, but he can’t talk. He wants to see them.

Catching the stranger's eye, the stranger hesitantly walks in. He stares at them in awe.

The stranger wears detailed black and gold robes. The gold matches the stranger's eyes, which are narrowed and locked on him. Dark hair is tied up in a high ponytail, but his bangs still cover some of his face.

Before, he didn’t have enough time to study the people in front of him; he was too overcome with emotions to even register their facial expressions. Years of solitude have probably rubbed off some of his social skills, but the stranger looks… weird. Disgusted? Hesitant? It’s certainly something, he knows.

Maybe it’s uncomfortable, the way the stranger shuffles his feet and looks like they’re working up the courage to say something. He doesn’t know why it catches him off guard when he finally speaks.

“Are you the Guoshi Fangxin?”

[iztarshi]

Identity and Xie Lian

Perhaps as a result of having his identity directly challenged and messed with by White No-Face, Xie Lian tends to hold very firmly to his own identity. He uses fake names and disguises, including cross-dressing when necessary, but he never uses his spiritual powers for shape-shifting, false skins or clones. In the same vein he doesn’t seem to hide his shackles in the novel, but he does lie to people about what they are, and mostly he doesn’t hide his face either. There’s a theme of being true to himself for himself, not necessarily with the intention of announcing himself to others.

He tends to wear cultivation robes no matter what he’s doing which, in universe, I think probably signal that he’s willing to help with ghosts and monsters? Even when he’s not a god, he’s still a cultivator, he’s still capable of protecting people, and he still holds onto that. Even when doing things like busking and collecting trash.

*

Statues

There are a lot of statues (thanks, Hua Cheng) but the most important ones are the golden one that Xie Lian uses to hold the pagoda and the giant one from the Kiln. Both of them tie into Xie Lian’s disconnect from “the Crown Prince of Xianle” and efforts to reclaim that part of himself.

The pagoda statue is the first time he feels that disconnect - looking up at a statue of himself as the God-Pleasing Crown Prince who felt he could do anything when he’s tired and worn down and feels so, so helpless and thinking, “is that really me?” Later, in the present of canon, his feelings about his past self seem mixed. He’s horrified and embarrassed by who he used to be, yet still wants to be the confident and powerful martial god again. He sets up his shrine to “the Crown Prince of Xianle” rather than the “Scrap Immortal”, but then seems uncertain who the Crown Prince of Xianle is or what he can do.

In contrast to the statue Xie Lian controlled to hold up the pagoda, the statue from the Kiln is described in terms of how like him it is, down to the friendly smile. For the first time an image of himself from back then still feels like the person he is now.

Also in contrast to the first statue, although he’s still using a larger than life version of himself to handle something, he doesn’t have to do this alone. Hua Cheng lends him power and so, after a scolding from Guoshi, do the people he’s using it to save. Rather than being crushed by the weight of his own image while people demand more and more he’s got people to help support him and make it possible for him to do this.

*

Masks

The bandages Xie Lian wears while in hiding link mostly to Hong-er’s bandages. He’s become the one whose identity is a seen as monstrous and bringing misfortune, as part of their complicated interplay of fate.

The other two masks he wears are, I think, linked thematically. One is the White No-Face mask and the other is the Guoshi Fangxin.

The White No-Face mask is something that’s pushed on him, an attempt at erasing his identity. The Guoshi Fangxin mask is worn by choice, and it’s even mentioned that Xie Lian liked it, but seems to be one of the few times Xie Lian hides his face and even acts differently to normal, having a reputation for being haughty and withdrawn. He’s also taken on the name of the cursed sword that was so heavily tied to the time he was White No-Face.

I think the second time is mostly, or was intended to be mostly, an act of reparation for the first. Having sought vengeance in the Palace of Yong’An once under a false identity, Xie Lian takes on another false identity to try to bring about reconciliation instead and integrate what remains of Xianle with Yong’An. There’s also the matter of attacking/saving the young crown prince of the time.

*

Guoshi Fangxin is also another identity Xie Lian seems to reintegrate as it’s uncovered - after the reveal he does start carrying a sword again. Having been revealed as General Hua he also returns to caring for Banyue (although due to there being a lot going on and him not being sure of being able to protect her she spends a lot of time elsewhere), and by the end of the story a lot of the identities he’s worn at one time or another have become part of him again.

[zhuhongs]

Upon rereading tgcf, one of the biggest complaints I have is how lackluster all the extra chapters were. literally none of them were good and all contained rlly gross and harmful sentiments (like the amnesia one which.. yea.. or all the things implying xl should get pregnant for hc thus equating gay relationships with hetero ones and playing into the wife thing and just GOD I HATE MXTX) 

There were a lot of little plot points i wish that had been further elaborated on more in the extras as opposed to hualian being ... like that. I had enough. Like mdzs had actaully good extras (minus the incense burners) that were nice side stories that elaborated more on the characters. Like the hook one with the juniors was so cute and i loved seeing them grow more. Or the lotus pod extras omg.. im such a lotus pod extra stan. those were so cute and gave us a lot of good insight into just how lovestruck lwj was during the times when he didn’t see wwx. mxtx should've stuck to those sorta extras in tgcf but NOOO. SO I have a list of so many other more interesting things those chapters couldve been spent on like:

A resolution on He Xuan’s revenge and his character arc. Bc its implied He Xuan is still hanging out and watching over sqx and that taking revenge didn’t fully satisfy him bc ok.. yea shi wudu is dead but he xuans family will never come back. Now what does he have to live for?? i wish we couldve seen a look into his life during the entire ordeal. like a chapter from his perspective while he was posing as Ming Yi  and maybe a look at a conversation btw he xuan and the real ming yi or a chapter after SQX was banished to see what he’s doing now. Also what did he xuan owe hua cheng money for anyways?? Like ik not every little thing has to be explained but I Want to Know. PLEASE more goth boyfriend content now I just wanna see him :,((

a better resolution of yin yu and quan yizhens storyline. im still mad abt how that plot point was split btw books 3 and 5  when it was rlly out of place and  there were other more pressing plot matters and it just rlly deserved more time. Also i thought yin yu died!?!?!? but apparently one of the extras says he’s alive and man... i;m not reading any more of the extras to see that, give me a full yin yu and quan yizhen chapter.. fuck.

a day in the life of the guoshi fangxin or general hua PLEASE especially like one where hua cheng was SO CLOSE to meeting xie lian but had no clue that xie lian was there at the time but the two did smth that inadvertantly helped the other and they still were connected even though they hadnt met omg pls that’d be so nice. like imagine Hua cheng catching a glimpse of the guoshi in public in yong’an while he’s trying to follow some lead that points to xie lian or maybe following a lead to capture qi rong bc he said he knew qi rong was a part of the yong’an stuff and originally thought the guoshi was one of qi rongs pawns. like can you IMAGINE him getting so close. but at the last second he did smth small that impacted xie lian. like they bumped into eachother on the street or smth. god i’d go crazy

OR vice versa.. like a day in the life of the young ghost king hua cheng. Like again, one of my biggest issues was that hua cheng just knew everything and its never really explained how he got all of that info. like yes he’s been alive very long and has eyes and ppl working for him everywhere but like... how did he build that network?? I’d love to see a chapter of young ghost king hua cheng travelling around trying to learn as much as he can abt the world and how it can help bring him to xie lian. and the two maybe are in the same kingdom for a bit and they don’t meet exactly but hua cheng stops some fight or something and helps xie lian indirectly or maybe xie lian is performing on the street in some costume and hua cheng doesn’t recognize him and smiles and gives him a coin or smth. idk i’m just dying for any sorta extra chapter or fic like that. i’m honestly so tempted to write my own but i cant write

also!! we’ve seen how xie lian picks up people down on their luck near him and show them kindness (like banyue, lang ying, xiao ying, he tried to with san lang but we know how that ended lmao) so i’d love to see another little vignette of him doing that on his travels and how every person he meets teaches him smth about life and being a good person and idk, i just think it’d be rlly sweet. i love this facet of his character and feel like we didn’t see enough of it towards the end.

ALSO hua cheng only seems to respect one heavenly official besides xie lian and thats yushi huang.. i assume thats mostly bc she was the only one to help xie lian and let him use the rain master hat to bring water to yong’an. I was thinking maybe when he was a new supreme he had run into trouble and maybe was picked up by the rain master and helped him heal and in return he promised to help protect her village from harm in the future. Like i know a heavenly official wouldn’t cooperate with a ghost like that but yushi huang is different and doesn’t really care about the heavens so i think she would protect him if he could do something to benefit her village. ik this is kinda far fetched but when he first became a supreme I’m sure a bunch of ppl probably tried to mess with him and didn’t rlly believe him to be undefeatable bc he hadn’t proved himself yet also i doubt all his power came overnight. he had to learn how to use it once he escaped the kiln. and some group probably thought they could weaken him somehow. I’m thinking maybe a rlly well formed group of ghosts actually caught him off guard once and he had to retreat and was picked up by the rain master and stayed with her and learned from her a bit. i think it’d be a cool concept also i just rlly want more yushi huang content and i’m on their friendship agenda bc he rlly did seem to actually respect her when she first appeared and i think it’d be cool if the two had some history together.

Also idrc if this was addressed I couldve missed it But!! Did xie lian ever tell Hua cheng that the reason he got the curse shackles and was banished again in the first place wasnt bc jun wu wanted to punish him, but because he requested it. And specifically requested it bc he felt guilty abt letting wu ming take the human face disease and disperse for his sake. So he took the shackles and descended to atone for that?? Bc I dont recall hua cheng learning that bc his soul was already dispersed at that point so it didnt follow him and xie lian didnt say anything so uhhh... someone should tell hua cheng that. Like I dont think xie lian rlly said how much hua cheng meant to him and didnt show him he was loved in grand ways. Like xie lian did always care for bc in other ways but I think if hua cheng learned abt this on screen it wouldve been such a great moment and I'm rlly surprised mxtx didnt address this iirc!?!? Like imagine jun wu telling Hua cheng this in the kiln bc xie lian wouldnt say it himself. Imagine how cool that would be.

Also a small thing adding into the whole young ghost king Hua cheng stuff. Its implied and p much stated that hua cheng isnt his real name. That he likely doesnt have a real name bc his parents died? (It's not clear. I'm still mad at mxtx for not making his childhood clearer). So I'd like to see when and why hua cheng chose that name for himself. The new tgcf ending song kinda hints at its meaning with the lyrics "for you I'd fill a city of flowers" as xie lian is the flower wielding martial god so it's probably inspired by that. Also xie lian saved hua cheng from leaping off the city walls but I'd love to hear him say it bc the implication of his name didnt dawn on me for quite a bit and I dont know if everyone made the connection. Again I sure as hell didnt. So itd be cool to see a chapter that takes place in his past after just ascending as a supreme

Overall I rlly think tgcf had a lot more potential to be even better and a lot of that comes down to fleshing out the side characters and letting hualian have more of a storyline independent of one another. like i know the appeal and message of tgcf is that through love, people can overcome anything, but fuck man. i just wanna see what these two (mostly hua cheng) where like in the absence of each others presence. Part of what I really liked abt mdzs is that we got to see that longing develop btw wangxian when the two weren’t together and how they thought about each other and did things in thei others spirit bc they knew the other wouldve done the same thing. but whatever, mxtx was too consumed by her own unhealthy idea of what devotion and true love looks like but still. i rlly think the extras couldve helped the story be better rather than be fujoshi fuel that i try to bleach from my mind -_-