#I AM SO EXCITED FOR FU XUAN !!

[artheresy]

Just watched Fu Xuan’s trailer and my love for her keeps growing day by day, saving for Kafka’s rerun is the hardest thing I want to pull for Fu Xuan so badly-

Her trailer was a lot of fun, I will say with a lot of dialogue there was less ability to focus on the music and it seemed like that might be intentional because the music certainly didn’t have the same mood setting intensity of say Blade’s, Kafka’s or even Jing Yuan’s imo. However, the music from her trailer was still really good and fitting her character. I liked it a lot

Qingque’s entrance and her involvement in the trailer was such a joy, Qingque is one of my favorite characters and seeing the continued emphasis of her and Fu Xuan and their dynamic given how they contrast each other is such fun.

Fu Xuan’s visuals were beautiful, I’ve been a big fan of how her ultimate looks and the animation of her move sets and just all of the animation within her trailer was spectacular. Going back to Qingque’s entrance, Hoyoverse seriously has been improving so much with their ability to animate such clear, strong, and borderline comical expressions over the course of their games and seeing so much detail like that was a joy.

However, I will say it feels like there’s something lacking, or perhaps I wanted more out of her trailer. There’s a gap in it that I can’t explain or pinpoint. Other trailers have felt like they last for longer for me, but hers felt oddly short. And just, maybe it’s because my standard was set high with the masterpieces that were Blade and Kafka’s, but I wish there had been a bit more especially with how important Fu Xuan is and how amazing her design and ultimate animation is. Like I wish they had set a stronger mood throughout the trailer because those kinds of trailers are what catches me most

That being said, I still loved Fu Xuan’s trailer, I love Fu Xuan herself, her banner is going to be so hard resisting to pull on and I’m gonna need some serious self control. Overall, her trailer is still super solid, super fun, and very visually impressive to me. It’s such a nice thing to see after I was admittedly… rather disappointed with that last trailer before hers.

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Them finding you asleep in public

characters: Fu Xuan / Herta / Himeko / Kafka / March 7th / Natasha / Pela / Qingque / Serval / Tingyun x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none

a/n: The urge to write a lot more than 1 or 2 paragraphs for some characters was really strong, but I managed it because I am a man of dedication, focus and sheer will… 

that and because I knew this would take far too long if I didn’t contain myself.

Also, there are some characters I still don’t know too much about, so if I got something wrong about their personalities, then I’m sorry

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Fu Xuan

Did you have no idea how stupid you looked while sleeping like this in public? If anyone else found you like this, they’d take you for a lazy bum with no shame, but luckily for you, Fu Xuan knew you well enough to know that at least the first part would be a misconception. Nevertheless you looked stupid. Stupid and a little bit cute. So stupid and a little bit cute in fact that she couldn’t stop herself from pulling out her phone and snapping a picture of you, only for the flash she forgot to turn off to wake you up, causing you to slowly look up at her while rubbing your eyes, in turn causing the Master Diviners face to heat up.

“D-Don’t fall asleep during working hours! …what am I going to do with you..?”

Herta

Sleeping people normally were none of Herta’s concern, they were neither interesting to study, nor entertaining enough to waste her precious time on them. But considering how much of a help you were with her research, it would have been rude not to spare you from the embarrassment of being seen like this by a whole lot of other people. It also helped that she was just about to start an experiment and needed a suitable guinea pig helper.

“Wakey-Wakey. How terrible to be bored enough to fall asleep even though you’re living on my space station. Lucky you! I have just the job for you”

Himeko

Himeko was a researcher first and foremost and one of the most important tasks of any respectable researcher was to observe. It was the first step towards putting together a scientific theory and thus something she was all too familiar with. So whenever she found you sound asleep on one of the astral express’ couches, she did what she did best: observe. Was it with a cup of coffee in hand or some random book she got her hands on.For whatever reason watching you sleep put her mind at ease, like watching one of those cat videos March liked to show around to the rest of the crew. To varying degrees of excitement.

“Theory: the couch is even more comfortable when tired”, Himeko stated to herself before pressing her hand against the couch, feeling it before letting out a small yawn, covering her mouth with her free hand before nodding to herself. “Theory seems possible. I’ll need to test it more often”, she spoke while slowly putting her head on the cushions, tiredness, no matter how much coffee she drank, rolling over Himeko, only for her to quickly nod off herself, her head not far from your own.

Kafka

Truth be told, Kafka would have preferred you were awake. There weren’t many things one could do with a sleeping person, but as waking you up was out of the question, other ideas quickly began swirling through her mind, until finally, her brain decided on one.

Putting on one of her favorite lipsticks, she gave you a quick peck on the cheek, making sure to leave an imprint of her lips, only to find herself unsatisfied with the results. If you were lucky you’d notice it once you went to the bathroom in the morning, by which time you would have already passed the rest of your crewmates, and while she doubted that they’d have any reaction to it, one imprint would have certainly been enough to make you embarrassed about it.

That being said, adding one or two more couldn’t hurt.

March 7th

Seeing you sleeping in such a public place like the parlor of the astral express wasn’t something March got to see every day and while the urge to take a picture of you with her camera was compelling, she knew that there had to be made preparations beforehand. Before long, March pulled out a marker before carefully drawing a silly mustache and monocle on your face, making sure not to wake you up in the process. You were probably going to figure out the culprit relatively quickly once you looked in the mirror, but as long as she got a silly photo, March didn’t really care.

And a silly photo she got.

Natasha

You were always trying your best to keep whatever child was currently bedbound inside her clinic entertained, never leaving their side until they had long fallen asleep. And while Natasha appreciated it, the sight of you and the children causing her heart to melt each time, you fell asleep while leaned against the bed more than once.

In such moments Natasha would have loved to carry you to bed, the floor being a lot colder than a blanket, but that would only wake you from your dreams, something she didn’t want to be responsible for after seeing you take such good care of others. And so all she was able to do was cover you with a blanket of your own before making a mental note to repay you the following day

Pela

While you always indulged Pela in her hobbies, her requests of painting a picture of you always fell on deaf ears, you always finding a reason or excuse for her not to, too embarrassed by the idea of being painted. So finding you asleep like this was like a godsent. Locking the room to make sure you didn’t slip away before she got her notebook and pens from her room, Pela made sure to return quickly before beginning while you were still asleep.

After all, what you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you.

Qingque

While she had been sent to find you by Fu Xuan herself, you having reportedly been sent to get something from the abandoned storage, only to not return, her boss ought to have thought twice before picking Qingque for the task of retrieving you. So when she eventually found you, having nodded off on an old couch in one of the corners of the building, the prolific slacker couldn’t help but notice how comfortable it looked. And while many would have felt ashamed for even thinking about sitting down next to you and closing their eyes for five minutes while on work, Qingque had no such inhibitions.

It didn’t sound like Fu Xuan needed you that urgently, so it wasn’t like she was going to get fired for this… probably.

Serval

When Serval found you slumped over one of the desks in her workshop, passed out from what seemed to be exhaustion as the mechanism you had tried solving these past couple of days lay next to you, not much closer to completion than it seemed yesterday, she couldn’t help but smile at your dedication to the craft, or so was the reason she would have given if she wasn’t having difficulties retaining her composure at the sight of your sleeping face

A part of her wanted to squeeze you till you popped, or at the very least displayed signs of doing so, finding what she saw in front of her as adorable as a puppy, yet she decided against as much as touching you. Neither wishing to wake you up nor to accidentally breaking one of your bones. She needed you in her audience after all.

Tingyun

If you had been Ying Juan, Tingyun’s next course of action would have been as clear as the sky on a sunny day. Snap a few pictures to sell to all kinds of Fangirls and make a quick buck. But considering you weren’t anywhere as popular and she had her qualms about the idea of anyone else getting to see you sleeping this peacefully, her conscience beat out the businesswoman inside of her.

That being said, just because she wasn’t going to let anyone else see you like this, didn’t mean she was going to let this opportunity for a nice photo slip, pulling out her phone as taking a picture in one swoop before putting it back and once again walking out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her.

[transmascaraa]

random but yes my final thoughts on all the new natlan chars with a conclusion in the end lmao

mualani .

i love her she's so cute help i knew i would love her ever since her first appearance i literally can't wait for her drip marketing tmrw

the tattoo typa things on her skin help?!????!??!? beautiful?!!?!!?!??

hydro women>>

~

kachina .

SHE'S ADORABLE HELP

i love all the genshin children sm they're so precious i swear even dori /p

i love her hair a lot tho

~

kinich .

LOOK.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER(scara) HAS COMPETITION NOW.

I WILL REFRAIN FROM SAYING TOO MUCH BUT BASICALLY I LOVE HIM. (and ajaw lmfao that little thing about to become like boothill)

~

citlali .

ANYWAYS LOOK AT HERRRR

she's so cute i love her

something about her reminds me about hsr fu xuan but either way she's probably the cutest char from the trailer imo^^

~

xilonen .

help me i can't do this anymore the women are literally top tier(offtopic but she's almost identical to one of my ocs which i won't rant about rn lmao)

THE MAKEUP AND HAIR???? MY FAVORITE WOMAN FROM NATLAN?????????

SHE'S THE DEFINITION OF SMTHN LIKE "in war rn but at least i gotta look hot" AND IT'S TRUE

~

iansan .

somebody help why did we only get like 0,6sec of her😭

still i'm very excited for her

for the design at least since i truly have no idea of her personality lol

~

chasca .

i love this woman already

also the mole she has on her shoulder bro i have the one on the same place

cowboy vibes from her btw??

~

capitano . and ororon(olorun?) .

about capitano; first, i'm very excited, and second, i wish he said more than just "hmph."

about ororon(olorun?); heard that he turned out very bad based on who he references and even his name is very messed up i'm pretty sure?? basically the same situation that happened with candace/kandake EITHER WAY i'm excited to see him more and like will he be the first tall male anemo help lol i like his design

can't wait for them although i have other preferences for now

~ ~

mavuika .

THANK GOODNESS SHE'S NOT LIKE THE LEAKS

i absolutely love her design and everything sm about her literally please don't die and yeah she's now my third favorite archon along with furina and nahida

also despite the outfit not being revealing and all and literally a 10/10, i have a feeling she's gonna get very sexualized because of that zipper😭

~

in conclusion, i absolutely love the characters.

the only problem is that there's not really many dark skinned characters aside from iansan and kinda tanned mualani and xilonen ig

here's a link to a petition to try and stop hoyo from making the skin colors as light as they always do😭 i personally didn't look into it too much at first because of which countries the nations were based off of, but now this is supposed to be africa/south america and there's not really much skin representation

yeah, sure there's representation, but not of skin color other than iansan(and mualani and xilonen too)

finally, i think that all the designs are truly 10/10 it's just the skin colors bothering me aka hoyo's typa racism due to them being a chinese company. again, don't get me wrong, shitty company and i hate racism(as a white person) but the characters are great in all honesty and all the other types of representation are great^^

~

(good thing i personally don't play the game because of my phone storage and i'm just in the fandom from it's release bro and i love the lore so that's how i know the characters and story in the first place)

~

update:

my honest thoughts on the drip marketing(no pictures)

KACHINA IS ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE SHE'S SO CUTE AND PRECIOUS TO ME THAT'S IT(what animal is she supposed to be btw??)

MUALANI LOOKS SO PRETTY!!!!!!! I LOVE HER SM PLUS HER SHARK IS ALMOST AS CUTE AS HER

KINICH JUST LOOKS SO GOOD. I LOVE THAT MAN. I AM NOT USED TO LIKING TALL MEN AT ALL BUT HEAR ME OUT...........

I LOVE ALL OF THEM FR I'M SO EXCITED FOR MORE CHARACTERS

~

(is it just me but do they look like they all have the same skincolor on their drip marketings???? like are kinich and kachina a bit darker OR is mualani lighter than she looks???)

[danfengfan]

符玄 — unexpected (girl)friend

° FEM READER / WLW

synopsis : you never expected to be friends with fu xuan and perhaps you shouldnt, especially when fu xuan doesnt know what she does to your heart

you didn't know what you were getting into when befriending fu xuan

she's known for being all kinds of things, ranging from good and bad. some call her mean while some admire her. it's just by chance, she seemed interested in you enough to befriend you

currently, fu xuan had taken a break from her newly acquired duties and went out to see if you guys could catch something today. you guys managed to find a snake but it seemed too scared as it ran away

"lady fu, you have some leaves in your hair… ah, you have work soon. forgive me, if i hadnt been so excited i wouldnt have invited you here"

"you need not to worry, i am fine"

"but your clothes are dirty!"

"its only a bit of dirt, i am sure i can simply brush it off before then. either way, if getting my clothes dirty means being able to have a pleasant time with you then i do not mind"

fu xuan can be so unbelievably charming at times without realizing it. but she definitely noticed how you got flustered all of a sudden

"lady ___?"

"nothing!"

fu xuan's unknown charms are definitely not good for your heart

[strwbmei]

Why is Silver Wolf so shooooort :(((

Bc of her my head is filled with thoughts just about how small she is and how easy she is to pick up and how fun it must be

Not to mention Fu Xuan; she may be the Master Diviner but even she can't divine how down bad I am for her--

Or even Herta but. Well. That's already a given

(you can ignore this until later if you're not answering rn I am just mega down bad)

Silverwolf would be so easy to pick up! I'm not sure if it's true, but I've seen people say that according to Kafka's canon height compared with Silverwolf's model, Silverwolf is around 4'10-11. Herta is around the same height, so I can imagine lifting them off the ground and them blushing when they realize how you were able to do it with such ease.

Damn. Now I can't stop thinking about Fu Xuan misusing her divination for.. other purposes and getting all excited from the anticipation.

[aoxizu]

day 87 of saving for jing yuan: 352 wishes

2.1 will be the anniversary update and the anniversary itself should fall during the second half of the update, which will contain aventurine and some other rerun character

i am excited to see what rewards they will give (free aventurine please) and hope that it is more than 10 wishes

but that means even if i dump literally all of my savings into jing yuan's banner, i should still be able to get an aventurine and if i get lucky, an aventurine light cone

but i also kind of want luocha and topaz and even more fu xuans, so i'll have to see who's rerunning

16 days left until jing yuan rerun

[rayisalive]

I am so excited for fu xuan and danheng IL THEYRE ANIMATIONS LOOK SO COOL-

[bananas-de-fire]

NEW MUTUAL HIIIIIII <3 <3 I see you are a fellow HSR enjoyer. Who are your faves in the game so far!

Hihihihiiiii!!!!!

God honestly its hard to pick because there are so many that I'm excited to learn more about? Like I am so excited to learn more about Kafka and Silverwolf and how they got tangled up with Elio and just the specifics of their stories

And then theres like March and Sushang who also have pasts we know nothing about I'm excited to see where March's story goes and I wanna know who Sushang's parents are and why she seems to know absolutely nothing but swordplay

Zhshdhshd on that note though uhhh top three in no order is Fu Xuan, Dan Heng, and either the Landau family or Tingyun

[meaningofaeons]

hello, its oi anon!

somehow i feel like there's going to be a twist with the emperor that's 'limited in public appearances'... i bet all of my stellar jades that he'll be some puppet ruler for the destiny faith faction.

how often do you read non-oi manhwas? shadowless night and blinded by the setting sun (i know i recommended this before but i love it it's so good the ml and fl makes me feel things and the actual character development and worldbuilding makes me go hrrgrgggggh) have to be some of my favourites outside of traditional reincarnation oi. fl of shadowless night reminds me of stelle in the 'deadly trash panda' way, her head may be empty but her hands sure are filled with knives (and food). ml also got that jing yuan vibes

FU XUAN BRONYA AND SEELE YOU WROTE THEM SO PERFECTLY THEIR ROLES ARE PERFECT IT MATCHES SO WELL!! i am so so excited for this series if you can't tell already sdafghm,lkjbsdflnjk

luocha honestly gives off saint/cardinal/priest vibes. that clothing and his coffin, fits right in tbh. caelus ig could be at the xianzhou empire, who also lost his memories and is looking for his sister, lumine/aether style? he could be friends with sushang and helps out the cloud-knights quite a bit whilst also just wandering around doing odd jobs here and there. kinda unsure he's hard to place\

anyways!! take care!! eat and rest and sleep well, majesty is coming along great!!

hi again oi anon !! (≗ᆽ≗)ﾉ

hehe I am super excited to write more on the emperor since he's the only original character really in the series thus far, and most of the others will probably just be side characters like servants or minor nobles... （๑´ﻌ｀๑）

I will read blinded by the setting sun asap!! I have seen it around before and it's so pretty I love it I don't read a whole lot of non-oi/reincarnation manhwa mainly bc they're either usually hard to find or translated in such a way that is difficult to understand hdjsjhfnjd ;w; but I have read some! I rather enjoy the more typical medieval-style world ones with magic and stuff, and the lead finding their way on their own merit, like the remarried empress. navier obv isn't reincarnated or isekai'd, she's just a badass!!

THANK YOU BY THE WAY!!! I had some trouble finding places for the xianzhou charas but I thought that role did fu xuan justice! I was going to add yukong as well but unfortunately I don't know much abt her yet :< as for bronseele, yas teehee I am very excited to write them together. they won't be a huge part of the story but I wanted them to have roles that fit! （＾・ﻌ・＾✿）

your ideas are awesome for luocha!! I love the saint/cardinal idea, I counter with this: he's from the Destiny religion in Stellaron, but he went to the Xianzhou Empire to "spread the word" (but really, he's there for his own means, perhaps something to do w/ that coffin in canon if more info about him comes out soon). this is because in the quests he's in, luocha mentions that "luocha" is just the name he goes by on the xianzhou, not his actual name! I did want to throw in sushang as well tho so I'll see what happens!! (=♡ ᆺ ♡=)

thank you for the care & support!!! I'm glad you're enjoying how it's coming along thus far!!!! (=◕ᆽ◕ฺ=)

EDITED I FORGOT ABT CAELUS !!! I was gonna mention him LOL I don't have a planned role for him but I like your idea oi anon!!! will keep it in mind :3

[dootnoot7125]

🎶✨when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool) 🎶✨

i can only pick 5? seth do you understand how hard this is for me. augh. fuck it im doing 10.

ummmmmmm

1. Spider on the Wall - GHOST ft. Yuma

i feel like i have to include this one for reasons. it's at the top of my most played which is um. an achievement for sure. im so normal about spider on the wall

2. Long Way Down - The Happy Fits

found this band around a year ago? cool sound good music what more can i say

3. Dance of the Frogs - kikuo ft. Qi Xuan

song goes nuts it's so good. also i thought it was sung by a real person the first time i heard it. qi xuan is very high quality, kikuo went off with the mixing/tuning, or both. probably both.

4. Spinning Rainbow - Champagne Confetti

minnesota w these guys rule. i got to see them live and that being my introduction to their music ruled. theyve got an album on bandcamp for 10 usd highly recommend if you can

5. EXEC_FLIP_ARPHAGE/. - Ar Tonelico 3 (Ken Nakagawa, Kazuki Yanagawa, Akiko Shikata)

i. debated for a long time what video game song would go on this list. have the one from a very horny game series that i only slightly recommend.

6. Mylo Xyloto & Hurts Like Heaven - Coldplay

got supper back into this band recently and hearing the opening track flow so perfectly into the second one instantly sold me on the album mylo xyloto (first track shares the name). plus hurts like heaven would go so well with free by florence + the machine. speaking of....

7. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful - Florence + the Machine

other than too much is never enough and i will be (both for ffxv AND what introduced me to her music), this is my favorite Florence song. it's just so pretty...

8. Dialogue - ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

look. i love akg. maybe too much. theyve got a lot of good songs and still have the same feel as they did in the 2000s which rules

9. Cometh the Hour Avant Garde 2023 - BLEACH (Shiro Sagisu)

this song actually made me YELL the first time i listened to it. cometh the hour already goes hard and then they made it go even HARDER for tybw. as much as i have a love/hate relationship with bleach, the soundtrack fucking rocks

10. Superstar Tennis - Scratchin' Melodii (LJ Lephemstar & 2cada ft. Amy, Chris, CYBER SONGMAN, & CYBER DIVA)

no joke before the full song was released i would watch the snippet preview of this on youtube almost every day. sometimes multiple times in a row. i cannot WAIT for this game to come out i am so excited.

[acr3ss-the-cosmos]

"I am a keeper of memories, a maiden who wishes to record what others love and treasure," Black Swan explains, offering a gentle smile to Chenhua as she gestures for her to sit in front of her. At this moment, everyone believes she's been here for a long time. Yes, it's natural there has been a fortune teller in these parts for a couple of days. Yes, it makes sense that she's been asking about the fates of others to do some fortune telling. "You've been in good moods these days, it seems. The cards speak of joyful memories being celebrated on this day." The thing was that the Memokeeper didn't need to do anything, she simply spoke that she was a soothsayer and others have believed her charm and charisma instead of her powers as a Memokeeper. The confidence and charisma have been powerful tools but she wishes to learn more about those beauties that are memories of such bright stars within Xianzhou. Chenhua's memories are warm to the touch, and she wishes to know more. Black Swan turns one of her cards, showing a joyful picture of Chenhua from the past. "Tell me... About lily, my dear. Was it one of the days where you've been in a mood so joyful it could light up the darkness of gloom?" (I read you wanted chenhua to talk about her ingenia so~ please, chenhua. share thoughts. memories, if you will.)

Unprompted. Always accepting! @blckswnstm

The Divination Commission was a crucial cornerstone of the Xianzhou Alliance. The Luofu's Master Diviner, Fu Xuan, and the other diviners under her leadership were responsible for charting the ship's path as well as reviewing every decision made in the Luofu. However, not every diviner still worked with the Commission, such as Ruoyue, the fortune telling shopkeeper of the Looking Bronze. Although Chenhua possessed no such gifts of foresight or telling other's fortunes, she still found some respect for the craft, even if she had never really been interested in having her own fortune told.

Which was why Chenhua found it strange that she was invited by an outworlder fortune teller to sit with her as she passed by -- and stranger still that she accepted her offer.

"I... have been in higher spirits lately, yes." The Foxian answered as she took her seat in front of the mysterious woman. Her tone was amiable enough, but still contained a hint of caution. Chenhua had never done anything like this before, and so didn't really know what to expect. She looked at the cards that were placed face down on the table with a curious gaze, and just as she wondered whether or not the woman was legitimate, the fortune teller flipped over a card, and Chenhua's marigold eyes widened in shock and recognition at the image depicted;

It was of the the day Chenhua had activated Lily for the first time, and the excitement and relief could clearly be seen on the craftswoman's face.

There was longer any lingering doubts in Chenhua's mind of the fortune teller's legitimacy.

"...I had wanted to see if I could create a smaller, more mobile version of the Golden Cloud Toads you may have seen around here, one that could move about freely without being confined to sit on a floating ball." The Foxian started, her eyes still locked onto the card. "I asked my superiors at the Artisanship Commission for special permission to take some spare ingenia parts home with me, and they accepted."

Despite the subtle twinge of uneasiness in Chenhua's stomach, the craftswoman began to softly smile as she continued to recall the past.

"It took... quite a few attempts as I was figuring things out, but I was eventually able to perfect her design and activate her without any malfunctions or errors to her code." Chenhua brought up a hand to lightly brush her fingers over the card's picture of Lily sitting on Chenhua's craft table, the tiny toad facing her gleeful creator.

"That was quite some time ago, and she's been with me ever since."

[wormytoast]

only an hour or two until next drip market lets go boys!!!!!!!!!!!!! wonder who its gonna be

manifesting gallagher OR aventurine i am in fact a husbando collector despite it all (all of my 5* characters are men except silver wolf and himeko LOL)

honestly im pretty excited for all the penacony characters they all look cool, im interested to see which ones are 5* or 4*

cant wait for misha tho!!! if he's in sparkle's banner i might just try to get her as well

ALSO i need to keep in mind reruns, so far i think the characters slotted for a rerun are jing yuan and luocha? theyre from older versions and still havent had their reruns yet so im assuming thats happening and i can finally crown my jing yuan with his light cone

OR theyre gonna rerun fu xuan or huohuo who i ALSO need lollll my only good support is luocha...

honestly i just need more materials to build more characters OTL

[woman-respecter]

how are you so good at moc omg any tips?

WARNING: INCOMING INFODUMP I AM TOO EXCITED TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION

aaa thank you so much for asking! really because for the most part star rail gameplay is very simple (there are only 3 buttons per character and for a lot of them ur using the same button every time, for example seele will always use her skill, never her basic) it all comes down to team and character builds. now a lot of this you have to get lucky for, like pulling a good character (though you can plan out your pulls strategically like i do) in gacha of getting good relic rolls. but the rest is up to you. if you don’t want to listen to my rant use the website prydwen.gg for everything, as well as teambuilding guides on youtube. also feel free to tell me what chars you have and let me build teams for you, but without further ado here is my guide. (under the cut)

HOW TO BUILD A TEAM

in order to get 3*s on the highest levels of moc you will want to run a dps/support/support/sustain comp (for kafka one of these supports should be a dot applier) or, more rarely dps/dps/support/support (this is p much only for topaz/another follow up attacker or blade/jingliu) and HOWEVER this can be kind of scary/uncomfortable to run and may result in dying a lot if you arent built enough so if you want extra comfort do preservation/abundance/support/dps

pick a main dps for each side. unfortunately, unlike in genshin, the 4* dps kinda suck so these should ideally be limited 5*s or clara. if you don’t have these, qingque is pretty good tho difficult to play and we will be getting a free dr ratio next patch.

understand the skill point needs of your main dps. for many, they will be using their skill point every turn, such as for both of my mains, seele and kafka. for jingliu and blade they only use sp every few turns. dan heng il and qingqiu use a lot of sp every turn. knowing this will help with the rest of your team building

choose two supports who fit your main dps’ needs. for example if you are running kafka, the main considerations are what stats they are buffing on you or debuffing on the enemy as well as how many sp they will consume generate. most supports fit with most dps but some may synergize better with others, for example bronya’s crit boost and sp heavy playstyle synergize very well with jungliu who needs crit but doesnt use a lot of sp, while asta gives speed and atk which are the main stats that kafka uses. basically all the supports (harmony characters + pela and silver wolf) are good in many cases tho yukong is a bit niche. make sure the supports arent cumulatively using too many sp, especially if your main dps uses a lot of sp. you will have to split up some in demand supports between each side but there are plenty of good ones to choose from.

choose a sustain. these are: natasha, bailu, lynx, luocha, gepard, huohuo and fu xuan. if you need someone to help survivability you can also use fire trailblazer but she can’t solo sustain. the most important thing about your sustain is that they fill your sp needs. luocha and gepard are entirely sp positive. lynx bailu and natasha are mostly sp positive but may need to use skill in emergencies. fu xuan uses skill every 3 turns. huohuo is sp neutral. besides sp needs, fu xuan and huohuo have some buffs that they give you. put fu xuan on teams with a crit dps (ie not kafka) and huohuo on energy hungry teams. otherwise this doesnt matter.

you can tailor your teams to the content but building more than the required 8 characters is a pain. so only do that if u have the resources.

RELIC BUILDS

use prydwen.gg for each character to see what sets and stats they want. pray that you get good roles. prioritize building your main damage dealers

ok that was long. feel more than free to send me any more questions on this topic if you need more help, i love doing this ^_^

[apopcornkernel]

Of all his names, Jing Yuan still likes Kieng Goan the most.

He is quick to give his reasons, when pressed. It connects him to the homeland he’s never seen. It connects him to the other half of his ancestry. Et cetera. But what he will not ever admit is this: that because of the nature of his societal circle, he has not heard this name in a long time, and that the first time Fu Xuan spoke it into remembered existence he had felt the years shiver away into memory, and something new under his skin, something he has always had but only forgotten for the moment.

And she persists in using this name—half due to her natural inclination for their mother tongue of Hokkien, and half because she thinks his Spanish name of Eugenio Quieng silly, and she is a woman of iron spine who will not be moved if she does not wish it.

His preference for this name, Jing Yuan recites to himself, is only a matter of shared culture. But when he opens her letter, her script spidery beyond legibility, he cannot deny the warmth that spreads through his chest, like honey seeping into bread.

Kieng Goan, she writes, come back sooner, for in your absence the fools have converged upon me. They have sensed the loss of the greatest fool of them all and now vie for your crown. (You are whom I speak of, in case it is unclear, which considering the sad state of your mental facilities I am certain it is.) One of the wretches, a mestizo español, tried to gain my favor by promising me his Spanish surname. Domestic bliss for me, he said, and my trading business for he. They tax our people quite unfairly, as you well know, but I suffered no temptation. Firstly, because he is a champion fool, second to none but you. And secondly, because he wishes to bind me to the ignominious fate of the household. As if I would ever give up sole proprietorship for the sake of one such as him. Of course, there was naught to be done but have Mimi chase him out.

Jing Yuan laughs out loud, uncaring of the sideways looks he draws.

Another tried to get to me via his sister. Paid me a visit just the other day, a Luciana Ochangco. She is pleasant enough, I suppose, but she will talk of nothing but her own troubles, Fu Xuan continues, and with each blot of ink Jing Yuan can see the scowl on her face as she presses the pen harder than is necessary. With the amount of times she has complained about her cochero, I almost wish she would go and take the reins of the quilez herself. With enough luck she will drive herself off the Puenta de España and straight into the River Pasig.

There is more to the letter but it is mostly about Fu Xuan’s burgeoning business, the apple of her eye. She tells him, with visibly restrained excitement, of new clients, new connections, new suppliers. She is eager to look into the untapped market of some new textile from Leyte, she cannot wait to surpass her new business rivals.

By the time he has reached her signature—a perfunctory Yours, Hu Ge—Jing Yuan’s cheeks ache from the force of his smile.

He takes his sheet of paper (used, of course, because the postage alone will eat up more of his meager stipend) and smoothes it out. And then he begins.

Dearest A’ge, he writes, I see you and Mimi have come to a ceasefire at last, if only so that you may join forces to terrorize your poor admirers...

i have been possessed to propaganda movement-ify jingfu

[wayfarerreads]

August Reading Goals + June/July Wrap Up:

Haven't felt like updating this little blog in recent months :/ Mainly because, between work and family, July was extremely busy and I didn't have as much time or motivation to read.

But now it's August and things are starting to calm down, so hopefully I can find my motivation again ^_^

In June I managed to read, or at least start, a few of the books I wanted to get to. I finished This is How You Lose the Time War, Fangirl, and Golden Stage. I started Gideon the Ninth, Fire Logic, the Husky and His White Cat Shizun (Erha), Tian Guan Ci Fu, and Inland.

In July I got caught up on Erha, and got further in Tian Guan Ci Fu. I also read Spring Trees and Sunset Clouds and started My Darling Sick Beauty.

For August, I'm flip-flopping between giving myself a tbr or just seeing where things go :/ Tbr's haven't really been working for me, but I'm reluctant to let go of the format...

I guess if I do try to stick with a tbr these are the books that will be on it:

-Tian Guan Ci Fu by MXTX:  I’m about 86% of the way through TGCF.  Things have really taken a turn regarding the identity of White No Face :’(  I’m really looking forward to completing TGCF, but I also don’t want to say goodbye to these characters...  I really adore Xie Lian <3  Finished 8/30/2021

-Erha by Meatbun: I’m caught up with the current human translation (ch.160).  *deep sigh* There aren’t enough words in the English language to express how much I love Erha lol  It’s one of those rare books that I start and it immediately hooks its claws into my soul and just burrows there.  Mo Ran and Chu Wanning just constantly break my heart, with all of their misunderstandings.  Mo Ran 2.0 is best boi; seeing him trying so hard to be a good person and come to terms with Taxian Jun/Mo Ran 0.5 and the things he did in that lifetime is so well done.  And Chu Wanning! I love him so, so much <3 He is very much my favorite Erha character. He's so awkward and full of self loathing and I cannot wait to see him finally get past all of that 😭 I’m dying waiting for the next chapter lol  Can’t wait to see where this whole drama with Ye Wangxi/Nangong Si/Song Qiutong is going, especially with the ch.160 reveal :O  I also really want to know who the antagonist is!!!  He reminds me so much of Taxian Jun...

-My Darling Sick Beauty by Dao Xuan:  This one is just kind of fun and funny and fluffy. I really love Jiang Zheliu and Wen Renye and seeing their relationship develop.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, wasn’t completely getting into it, but I stuck with it and now I’m hooked :D

-Remarried Empress by Alpha Tart:  This is my first Korean webnovel.  I’m not really far enough in to have much of an opinion yet.  I like Navier and I’m curious to see where this goes.  It came highly recommended by a friend, so I’ll probably love it ^_^

-Nan Chan by Tang Jiuqing:  Not super far into Nan Chan either, just got to chapter 12.

-Inland by Téa Obreht:  Intriguing, but I’m only 5% in.

-Fire Logic by Laurie J. Marks: I adore this book & very much want to read the whole quartet (which my library happily has :D).  Right now, I’m only 90 pages away from the end.  Will probably finish it either tonight or in the next few days. Finished 8/4/2021

-Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir: Love, love, love this book!!!  I’m a little less than halfway through and am excited to get back to it.  Finished 8/25/2021

-Bloodchild: and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler: I haven’t touched this one since April -_- It’s my first Butler and I really want to get into her works, especially since I have a ton of her other books!  After finishing Fire Logic, I’ll probably prioritize this one. Finished 8/10/2021

-Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston:  Read like two pages of this in May and haven’t touched it since :/  I think it’ll be a quick read, though, once I get back to it.  Finished 8/18/2021

-the Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon:  Haven’t read this since May either.  I do want to get back to it.  I definitely don’t expect to finish tPotOT this month, but I would like to continue it rather than leave it hanging.

-Victory's Price by Alexander Freed:  Haven’t touched this since March :(  I love Star Wars and I really love the characters in Alphabet Squadron.  Very much want to find out how the trilogy ends.

-a Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara: Haven’t read since February :(  Like with Victory’s Price, school got really busy and I didn’t have time to read.  I’m only 90 pages in, so not very far, but I really love what I’ve read so far.  I’m going to go pick up my own copy this weekend, ‘cause too many other people have holds on the library copies and I know I’m not going to be able to finish it before I need to return it :/

[pengiesama]

Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross (Fic, TGCF, HC/XL)

Title: Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross Series: Heavenly Official’s Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) Pairing: Hua Cheng/Xie Lian

Summary:

All of Heaven has been brought to its knees by the hot new gatcha game, Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross. The gods are at each other's throats, and are at the brink of civil war, in pursuit of the rarest of .pngs.

Chaos reigns. And it is most emphatically Hua Cheng's fault.

Link: AO3

Check out my commission info here.

Read on Tumblr!

“...so you see, profits are up from last quarter, and attendance at the gambling halls is at an all-time high,” said the bird demon at the front of the conference room. “Our Lord’s bold strategic moves in this fiscal year have broken previous records into such dust.”

“Master’s business acumen is unmatched,” stated the hog demon to the horned woman seated next to him at the polished wood table. The horned woman nodded at this sage assessment, and the rest of the room murmured in agreement.

“Unmatched.”

“Unparalleled.”

“Who other than a Supreme could wield such horrible power?”

Suddenly, the demon business consultants found their voices silenced. They could not utter a peep -- it was as though an invisible hand had reached down their gullets to pluck out their tongues. But there was little mystery to who had performed such a feat. A perceptible dark aura had descended upon the room, and at the center of it all was the object of their praise and adulation: their Lord himself, Hua Cheng. Despite their acclaim, despite the numbers from last quarter’s gross profits displayed prominently on the overhead projector in a neat, color-coordinated bar graph, Hua Cheng’s expression was grave. He swirled red wine in a goblet of fine, translucently white porcelain.

After a long and deliberate silence to build up an appropriate sense of dread, Hua Cheng spoke.

“Not good enough.”

He hurled the porcelain goblet against the wall, splattering its contents -- looking to all the world as red blood and white bone, a scene of spectacular violence. Hua Cheng snapped his fingers and a nearby handmaiden handed him an identical goblet. Hua Cheng swirled it again, once, twice, before he spoke once more.

“Profits are up,” Hua Cheng repeated, mockingly. “An all-time high. Meaningless. I need more than that.”

His consultants said nothing, out of terror. And also out of still not being able to speak because Hua Cheng stole their voices. Hua Cheng seemed to remember this part only belatedly, as he waited a little bit too long for a response. He rolled his good eye, sighed in frustration, and gave the bird consultant his voice back.

The bird consultant knew he had a role to play in this scene, and wasted no time embracing it. “M-my lord!” he coughed, trying to get his tongue back in the right place in his throat. “Whatever do you mean?”

Hua Cheng threw another goblet against the wall, and accepted its replacement in his waiting hand.

“I have built an empire on cards and dice. However, there remains the need to attract more clientele. New clientele. Clientele that think themselves too good, too noble to enter my gambling halls. Tempt them, ensnare them, enslave them -- only then will I approach the profits needed for my ultimate goal.”

Their Lord’s riches were unparalleled -- truly, the stuff of legends. Mountains of gold, oceans of jewels. Jurisdiction over the nether realm, command over an army of souls and a bottomless abyss of power. Wealth that even the richest of kingdoms could only ever dream of. To lust for more and more was the nature of demons, to be certain. But their Lord’s aspirations seemed to be approaching the limits of reality itself.

“Such devious and lofty ambition is surely within my lord’s reach,” said the bird consultant, with utter sincerity -- for it was a simple truth that everything was within reach for their lord, the king of the ghosts, the lord of the demons, the terror of the heavens. “But does my lord already have something specific in mind?”

Hua Cheng was idly throwing goblet after goblet at the wall, clearly bored of the meeting. “I do. I don’t care about your input, and I don’t know why I pay you or why I have these meetings. You’re all dismissed. Bye.”

The demon consultants found their tongues forcibly returned to their mouths, and they quietly filed out of the room, trying to reattach them properly. It was no use, and was entirely unwise, to inquire any further into their lord’s plans.

After all, surely, they would find out soon enough.

--

Xie Lian was used to being out of the loop on the latest trends in Heaven. It didn’t really bother him -- he was just too old to keep up with this gossip or that fashion trend or that new joke, especially when it was sure to be old hat in a week or less. What’s more, it was always so awkward trying to fit in. He distinctly remembered the pain on Shi Qing Xuan’s face as he tried to explain to Xie Lian why that picture of a frog puppet on fire was relevant to the current conversation in the heavenly array. Xie Lian still didn’t understand. Why would someone want to set a puppet on fire? It seemed like a perfectly good puppet. He probably could have put on a street performance with it.

“It’s just like -- an expression! It’s you! You’re all excited and on fire and you’re the frog puppet!” Shi Qing Xuan explained, in increasingly desperate tones.

“I’m not a frog puppet,” Xie Lian said. “And I don’t want to be on fire. It hurts, trust me.”

Shi Qing Xuan lowered his head to the table and buried himself under his voluminous silken sleeves. “You are the least cash money person I have ever met.”

“Sorry,” Xie Lian said. “I am the trash god, you know.”

In any case, Xie Lian’s willful ignorance of popular trends allowed him to live a peaceful -- if uncool -- life. But as he was soon to discover, one cannot escape from the cold, clammy grasp of popular culture entirely.

Xie Lian didn’t remember why he’d needed to visit Heaven, that day. Perhaps he’d needed to get some holy water from the celestial stream, perhaps he’d needed to gather herbs to make medicine, perhaps he was just feeling masochistic and wanted to go to a place where everyone deliberately ignored him. Whatever the reason, it was as though he had stepped into the realm of the damned.

Gods stumbled down the streets, mumbling to themselves as they tapped away at glowing screens that floated in the palms of their hands. Cries of joy and cries of despair echoed from the palaces and alleyways. All around him, Xie Lian saw faces twisted by anguish, by ecstasy, by madness -- still more with eyes that were utterly dead to the world. Xie Lian almost thought that he had made a wrong turn, and had landed in the entertainment district of the Ghost City by mistake. But no. This was Heaven, but somehow, it had become overrun with the unmistakable aura of hell.

Surely no one would have blamed Xie Lian if he had simply turned around and left. But alas, he never did know how to leave well enough alone. Xie Lian hastened to the Windmaster’s mansion, hoping against hope that Shi Qing Xuan was still in possession of his full faculties...or as full faculties as could be expected from such a devoted follower of hot trends. It took a few knocks, but eventually, Shi Qing Xuan answered the door. Xie Lian was disheartened to see that he (well, currently she, for the present moment) had that same glowing screen in the palm of her perfectly manicured hand; however, Shi Qing Xuan’s expression was still bright and cheery, her eyes still clear. With any luck, she still had enough strength of will left to answer questions.

“Just in time!” Shi Qing Xuan said cheerily, dragging Xie Lian in by his wrist. “I’m about to stream my next few dozen ten-rolls. You can be my guest commentator! Ming-Xiong and I have a channel, you know, and we can always use guest commentators, because Ming-Xiong doesn’t really talk, he just eats into his microphone even though we’re not a mukbang stream except when it’s Thursday and we’re a mukbang stream. We have a podcast, too, did you know that?”

“No,” Xie Lian said. “I didn’t.”

“Well, if you stick around, you can be a guest on that too!” Shi Qing Xuan said cheerfully. “Come come, sit here so the cameras can see you.”

Xie Lian settled down awkwardly, watching as Shi Qing Xuan attached her glowing screen to a strange setup. Ming Yi didn’t seem to acknowledge his presence at all, and continued to engage in the activity that he had been partaking in since they entered the room, which was slurping noodles extremely loudly into a microphone. A large screen displayed on one of the walls, showing the camera footage of the three of them in the room, and showing a scrolling feed of the conversation taking place in the heavenly array -- as well as a running tally of the merits that were being tossed their way. Xie Lian was extremely puzzled as to what they were doing that merited...merits. Every time Ming Yi made an especially loud slurp or finished another bowl of noodles, a new wave of donations pinged onto the screen. Pictures of that frog puppet kept popping up in the chat, in new and strange situations.

Frog puppets. Noodles. Podcasts. Heaven transforming into hell. And Xie Lian could do nothing but watch.

“Hey everyone! We’ve got a special guest today; he’ll be chatting with us while I whale for my new outfit card in Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross!”

“You’re doing what to a whale?” Xie Lian asked, regretting the question when it wasn’t even fully out of his mouth.

Shi Qing Xuan laughed uproariously, then stopped, seeming to realize from previous experience that Xie Lian wasn’t joking. However, instead of having a swooning fit over Xie Lian’s uncoolness as she usually did, she seemed to have the scent of something interesting. She scooted in close, closer, closer. Xie Lian fought the urge to bolt.

“Xie Lian. Your highness. Lemme ask you this. Do you know what Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross is?”

“Absolutely not,” Xie Lian said.

“He doesn’t know!” Shi Qing Xuan crowed with glee, clapping her hands in delight. “He doesn’t know at all! Your highness, it’s only the most popular game in the Heavens right now. Or like, ever. You seriously haven’t heard of it?”

“Not at all,” Xie Lian said. He looked around for anything that resembled a game board. “It’s a game? Where are the game pieces?”

Shi Qing Xuan gestured with a flourish to the screen display, her sleeves fluttering like leaves in the wind with the motion. “You’re looking right at them, your highness.”

On the screen, there was...a series of pictures of Shi Qing Xuan, in a dizzying variety of different outfits. Shi Qing Xuan pointed to each one, proudly.

“This is me in my travelling robes, and this is me when I’m feeling a little sassy and want to go out incognito dressed as a simple but also beautiful mortal cultivator, and this is me except I’m a schoolgirl, and oh, there’s me when I’m a schoolboy too, and this is me on a day out at the beach in a cute polka-dot bikini and couture sunglasses and kicky little high heels, and this is me as a Santa Claus -- watch out or else you’ll be on my naughty list, Ming-Xiong!”

Ming Yi had nothing to say to that except another loud slurp. Another torrent of merits pinged on the screen.

“And this is me as a sexy cat burglar, and this is me as a famous idol singer, and this is me as a dazzling bride, and this is me as a star athlete, if you’ll notice the diamond-studded booty shorts, and this is me as a pastry chef, and--”

“Windmaster,” Xie Lian interrupted, seeing that Shi Qing Xuan was not about to stop any time soon. “Would you be so patient as to explain to me how one plays with...such game pieces as these?”

Shi Qing Xuan squinted at the screen, frowning. “...I dunno, I just pick whatever outfits I’m in the mood for and then let the auto-battle option do the rest. Anyway, this is another idol outfit, but it’s from a different collab and in THIS one you can see that I’m wearing striped panties--”

“Is there an aim to the game?” Xie Lian prodded gently, trying to keep Shi Qing Xuan on...some sort of track that didn’t just involve her showing off her pretend closet for the next hour. “Does one battle against any sort of opponents?”

“Ugh, you martial gods and your one-track minds,” Shi Qing Xuan sighed and shook her head. “Yes, I guess you fight monsters and stuff. And like, you can join a team with people on your friend list and take on raid battles with them -- those are like, battles with really strong opponents. And once you kill ‘em you get prizes.”

Xie Lian gave a polite “hm.” He supposed he could see the appeal of practicing strategy with such a...low-impact method, but he wasn’t convinced it would impart any real-world benefits when it came to actual combat. He didn’t become a martial god by sitting inside playing xiangqi, after all.

“There’s a story.” Ming Yi had finally diverted his attention from his noodles. He cleared his throat, and squared his jaw, clearly itching to say more. “In the game.”

Shi Qing Xuan gestured wildly with her fan. “Yeah, that too! In the idol collab there was a WHOLE story about me and Ming-Xiong and I forget who else teaming up with a bunch of mortal girls who were desperate to save their school from closing, so they offered up a prayer and--”

“The MAIN story,” Ming Yi cut in. “Is about a sect of cultivators out to save humanity from a prophecy of destruction. They summon the aid of the gods to help in their battle, and along the way, they encounter many twists and turns and eventually they discover that the prophecy came from a mysterious race of aliens from beyond the stars who wish to sacrifice humanity in a crucible to split off the timeline, but in actuality this already happened millennia ago, or maybe millennia in the future if you think about it laterally, or maybe it happens in a cycle or all at once, but whatever the case may be the heroes must find a way to unite the True Timeline with the Dark Timeline, but which timeline is real? What will become of our heroes when the timelines are merged? Also the main character cultivator who’s kind of a blank slate but not really if you play the sub-scenarios has an evil twin or possibly an alternate-reality clone who can summon the power of the demon kings and it’s not clear if he’s working with the aliens or a rival cultivation sect or if he’s just a rogue agent out to sow chaos and destruction--”

Shi Qing Xuan started slurping noodles as loud as she possibly could, and the noise combined with the rush of pinging merits drowned out Ming Yi as he continued to confuse and vex everyone who heard him. Fuming, Ming Yi returned to his task of eating his feelings.

“Anyway,” Shi Qing Xuan said, daintily wiping her mouth, careful not to smear her lip rouge. “You get it now, your highness?”

“A bit,” Xie Lian said, lying through his teeth to avoid having it explained further.

“Great! Now, you get all these cute little cards by drawing for them in a lottery, and you can either grind for free game currency by toiling away on tasks...or you can just buy currency and draw until you get everything you want!”

Shi Qing Xuan’s tone clearly showed which method of cultivation she preferred. Still, when it came to matters of luck and lottery, it was best for Xie Lian to not get involved at all.

“You’ll have to excuse me, Windmaster, but I wouldn’t want to upset your fortune by staying here. I wish you and your whale the best of luck in…” He gestured vaguely. “...cultivation?”

“Nononono, stay! C’mon, did you think I didn’t remember about your Thing when I invited you in?” Shi Qing Xuan lunged forward and dragged Xie Lian back down to sit on the colorful silk cushions. “It’s so BORING doing this with just Ming-Xiong to keep me company -- it’ll totally be a hoot to see how bad our rolls are with you in the room! I’ll just draw for my new outfit later. It’s for the ballet event, by the way.”

“Oh,” said Xie Lian.

“I’m a swan princess,” Shi Qing Xuan elaborated. “Cursed by a dark wizard to force me to be his bride. Bird by day, fair maiden by moonlight. And only a kiss from a prince can save me!”

“I see,” said Xie Lian.

“Odette dies at the end of that ballet,” Ming Yi noted.

“Nuh-uh!” Shi Qing Xuan shot back. “The wizard turns into a big ugly monster and the prince shoots him and then the prince cries on her body and stuff and she’s alive somehow! And she’s a human again but she can still turn into a swan for all the sequels. There was a turtle and a penguin or something too.”

Ming Yi stared at Shi Qing Xuan with a mouthful of noodles, and Shi Qing Xuan took this as a victory, somehow. With a flourish, she presented her glowing screen to Xie Lian. There was so much going on that Xie Lian didn’t even know what he was looking at. Beautiful fairies with petal wings, with butterfly wings, fluttered here and there, glowing orbs and blooming flowers decorated banners encouraging players to “draw now!” And surely players had a glut of choices to draw from. There was a banner with Shi Qing Xuan pouting and winking at the camera, there was a banner with Feng Xin and Mu Qing facing each other down with bow and spear in hand, there was even a banner with the Rain Master’s loyal ox assistant...wearing a black blindfold, white wig, and a short, frilly black dress. (“Geez, is that Nier collab still going on?” asked Shi Qing Xuan.)

Shi Qing Xuan tapped on one of the banners, and pointed to a glowing button on the bottom of the screen. A set of eight fairies fluttered their wings, just waiting for their cue to pull back the curtain and reveal what awaited behind it.

“Press the button,” beseeched Shi Qing Xuan, wriggling in place. “Press it, press it, c’mon, your highness!”

“It’s your money on the line,” Xie Lian said, simply, and tapped the screen.

A lavishly-animated cinematic played on the screen. The fairies swirled around the white-clad cultivator character, who raised their sword to the sky -- causing the clouds to split with a crack of thunder. Rainbow light filled the screen, and energetic strings and drums added to the assault on the senses.

“Oooh!” Shi Qing Xuan clapped her hands in excitement. “Rainbow clouds! You got me at least one ultra-rare card out of that, your highness! I think your luck’s finally turning around!”

“Maybe it’s just that his luck’s so bad that it got confused and looped around,” Ming Yi said.

Shi Qing Xuan nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, honestly, that’s more likely.”

“I won’t exactly argue,” Xie Lian said. “But I must protest.”

The cinematic finally ended, and the results of the draw displayed on the screen. Xie Lian squinted, a bit confused at what he was seeing. Shi Qing Xuan and Ming Yi’s jaws had both dropped to the floor; struck into speechlessness by the outcome. But the silence was quite brief. Shi Qing Xuan let out a shriek that rattled the windows and had the microphones panging with horrible feedback.

“THEY DO EXIST! YOU DO EXIST!” Shi Qing Xuan leapt onto Xie Lian, shaking him by the shoulders. “NO ONE’S EVER MANAGED TO FIND YOU BUT YOU JUST FOUND YOU! FOR ME! LIVE! ON MY STREAM!”

Xie Lian briefly glanced at the array chat, which was absolutely exploding with expressions of excitement, of disbelief, of frog puppets. All over -- him? Xie Lian didn’t understand. Least of all because Shi Qing Xuan was making no sense at all and was no longer able to control the pitch of her voice. It was rapidly approaching levels that only dogs could hear.

The roll he’d made was impressive, evidently, by the game’s standards. He’d figured out that much. But...all the cards were just...him. Him in various outfits. There he was in his plain white robes and straw hat, dangling his bare feet in a stream while animated flower petals drifted around him and Ruoye twirled about his ankles. There he was as the flower-crowned martial god, wielding Fang Xin and flinging his golden mask aside as he reached into the air as if to catch something. There he was, holding his hat to his head and smiling over his shoulder at the camera, reaching out his hand as if to beseech the viewer to take it. There he was, in light and colorful summer robes, dancing under lantern light to the beat of the festival drums. There he was, face half-hidden behind the hood of a voluminous wool-lined cloak, warming his hands on a mug of tea as snow swirled around him. There he was, as -- as a bride, gazing demurely up at the camera with blushing cheeks and parted lips as his mystery groom drew back his veil…

“Um,” Xie Lian said. “You...you don’t have to use any of these. As game pieces. In fact, please don’t.”

Shi Qing Xuan briefly stopped screaming directly in Ming Yi’s ear long enough to whirl around, wild-eyed. She flashed a terrifying grin at him.

“I am the only person ever to have gotten even one card of you, let alone ten,” Shi Qing Xuan said. “I am going to show off so much.”

“These cards have amazing stats,” Ming Yi was murmuring to himself. Excitement was coloring his normally-expressionless face. “They’re just broken. They’ll revolutionize the meta. I’ll have to update the wiki; all the literature gods are going to be SO pissed that I got to it first…okay, the game crashes when you try to equip the Chef card, I’ll list that as a bug...”

Shi Qing Xuan snapped her fingers at Ming Yi, and Ming Yi wordlessly handed the glowing screen back to her. They were both staring at Xie Lian with expressions of determination, of hunger. Xie Lian’s eyes scanned the room, looking for the best escape route.

“Your highness,” Shi Qing Xuan said, voice dripping with sweetness. She offered the screen with both hands, and inched closer, closer. “Won’t you roll for us again? Once, twice more, maybe?”

Which would turn into thrice more, which would turn into him being locked in the mansion’s basement for the next month. Xie Lian had no talent for fortune-telling, but he wasn’t blind to where this was going. Those windows looked extremely breakable, surely it would only take a single kick. They were up rather high, however, and Xie Lian couldn’t afford to land wrong and be hobbled with the Windmaster in hot pursuit -- and, from the array’s continuing reaction, perhaps all of Heaven would be only steps behind as well --

Suddenly, there was an announcement on the screen, heralded by the rumble of drums. Shi Qing Xuan and Ming Yi were distracted enough for Xie Lian to start creeping towards the door to make a stealthier escape.

“It’s…a flash event! A limited-edition raid!” Shi Qing Xuan read off the screen, with growing excitement. “‘A Raid for the Strongest and the Prettiest Only’ -- Ming-Xiong, that’s us, that’s us, it’s only us, right?”

“Obviously,” Ming Yi said, rolling his eyes. He summoned his own glowing screen.

“Tell the rest of the guild to get online! Right now!”

“No need. We’ve got ten secret weapons in our deck. Lead off with the one of him in the teahouse waitress outfit, that’s a buffing card, then swoop in with the pincer of the orchestra card and the one of him in the bunny ears, then mop up whatever’s left with that overly-horny one of him in the river flashing his ankles…”

The raid had apparently begun, and to Xie Lian’s surprise, his cards really did seem like they were useful...or as far as he could tell, they were useful. They were easily cutting through the little green goblin sprites that advanced across the screen, and there were a lot of loud noises and flashing colors. It covered his escape quite nicely, and Xie Lian was able to creep out of the mansion and back onto the heavenly avenues without being stuffed into a sack and imprisoned in a locked room, to tap a screen until his finger fell off.

The rest of Heaven was under the same thrall that had swept Shi Qing Xuan and Ming Yi away -- they stood motionless in place, or paced in circles, furiously tapping and swiping away at their screens. The raid had apparently interrupted a real-life brawl between Feng Xin and Mu Qing, and they lay slumped against each other for support, bruised and bloodied and clutching their screens, as they battled for the title of Strongest and Prettiest.

It was truly outstanding. Whoever was behind this game now held control over Heaven -- surely, an entire army could leisurely stroll down the streets and not be confronted by a single god, so engrossed they were in their virtual world. Xie Lian briefly wondered if Jun Wu was a fan, too. He imagined a horde of demons sauntering into the hall that housed the throne of Heaven, and pushing Jun Wu off of it with a single finger as he poked away at his screen. Xie Lian shuddered. Those thoughts were probably some form of blasphemy.

Who could manage this kind of feat? Who was cunning enough? Skilled enough? Audacious enough?

There was only one possible answer, and luckily, Xie Lian had a standing invitation to dinner with him any time he pleased.

--

“San Lang,” Xie Lian said, bowing at the entrance to Hua Cheng’s study. “Please forgive the intrusion.”

Hua Cheng’s expression was warm and welcoming as he rose from his desk to greet Xie Lian at the door.

“My home is always open to you. But to what do I owe the pleasure of a surprise visit? I haven’t had the time to prepare any treats for us, nor the time to prepare my heart for seeing gege’s face and hearing his voice.”

“Oh, stop,” Xie Lian said, waving off Hua Cheng’s teasing. “I just wanted to...lay low here, for a little while. If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all.” Hua Cheng’s eye was shining, and his expression was warm as he regarded Xie Lian. He was certainly in a pleasant mood today; Xie Lian hoped his unannounced visit wouldn’t dampen things. “I’ll have a guest room prepared, and we’ll have a feast tonight -- I can have a bath drawn for you while you wait, and I have many fragrant oils I can comb into gege’s hair while he relaxes--”

“Have you heard of a game called Celestial Cultivation Conference?” asked Xie Lian.

“I could rename it to that if gege finds Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross too unappealing,” Hua Cheng said. “We could discuss it after we settle on which oil you prefer.”

“Ah,” Xie Lian said. “So you are the mind behind that game. It’s causing quite the crisis in Heaven right now.”

“Oh yes,” Hua Cheng said, his eye crinkling as he smiled. “I know. Almond oil?”

“And you’re responsible for all those strange outfit cards.”

“I outsource some of the art to trusted assistants,” Hua Cheng said. “Though I take care of the most important art personally. Coconut oil?”

Xie Lian eyed him warily. “...and you’re responsible for the game’s, ah, story?”

Hua Cheng made a face. “Ah, your highness, please don’t remind me. No, I outsourced that nonsense too, but I fear I should have paid more attention when the ghostwriter submitted it for approval. No one plays this thing for the story but one has to have standards.”

Xie Lian turned this thought over in his mind. The corner of his mouth twitched. “...ghostwriter?”

Hua Cheng bared his teeth in a wide grin, and Xie Lian snorted before smacking him on the arm lightly. In truth, he didn’t blame Hua Cheng for the...situation in Heaven, nor could he really blame the game itself. No one was ever forced to participate in any of Hua Cheng’s various business ventures. There never any trickery, any unfairness -- Hua Cheng clearly found it far more entertaining to watch as people leapt into his stewpot of their own free will; motivated by greed and pride and vanity and jealousy and other such dark drivers of the human condition. And this new game of his seemed to bring out all of said emotions in spades.

“Rose oil,” Hua Cheng declared with an air of finality. “Its fragrance will suit you. I’ll ring for bath water--”

“Ah!” Xie Lian clapped his hands together. “There were workers here digging a hot spring the last time I visited, yes? I asked them what they were working on. Have they finished?”

Hua Cheng’s eyebrows rose, and he pouted briefly. “...yes. That was supposed to be a special surprise. I haven’t finished arranging it to receive gege yet.”

Xie Lian’s shoulders drooped. “Ah...I understand, I’m sorry for being so forward. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a nice soak. And you mentioning oils reminded me how lovely it is to soothe sore muscles with a massage after a long dip in the springs...”

A pulse of energy palpably resonated through the manor’s structure, nearly knocking Xie Lian off his feet.

“Actually, I forgot, it’s arranged right now,” Hua Cheng said hastily. He rubbed at his arm where Xie Lian had swatted him earlier. “Did I happen to mention that my arm has been very sore lately?”

Xie Lian tutted and shuffled in to take Hua Cheng’s wrist in one hand, and his elbow in the other, flexing the arm carefully to check for stiffness. The floodgates had been opened, and now Xie Lian would talk about health and wellness until physically restrained. “Now, San Lang, you can’t ignore your body like that. If you’re sore or stiff, then you should visit a doctor.”

Driven on by an earnest and entirely innocent passion for Hua Cheng’s well-being, Xie Lian felt his way up Hua Cheng’s bicep with one hand, checking for muscle knots and tender spots.

“I don’t feel anything particularly off, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not hurting. It does mean that I’ll have to give you a more general workup instead of just targeting your arm, though, since I’m not sure of the source of the problem. Will it bother you if I massage your neck and back? Perhaps your thighs and calves, too. Are there any sensitive spots I should avoid?”

Hua Cheng’s expression was blank, and he had a faraway look in his eye. “...his highness may...workup wherever pleases him…”

Xie Lian smiled. “You’re a model patient, San Lang. Fetch that rose oil you mentioned? It’ll suit you, too.”

And so, profits that year broke all previous records, especially after the surprise release of the Hot Springs Set; the most overly horny collection yet in the hottest app on the market. From the creator that brought you My Sword Boyfriend and Rabbit Turf War, download Celestial Confluence/Cultivation Cross today!

--

“Hey. Hey. Crimson Rain Seeks Flower.”

“...”

“I’m way too cute and way too annoying to ignore so I know you heard me! So, Crimson Rain Seeks Flower. As my third-best friend--”

“That is an exceedingly unfortunate sentiment if true, Windmaster.”

“--as my third-best friend, I think you owe me the full scoop on what you’re doing with all this dough you’ve been raking in. C’mon, c’mon. I just wanna make sure you’re investing it wisely!”

Hua Cheng mulled things over for a moment, then pulled a small, elegant notebook from his pocket.

“Investments for the future. Savings accounts to ensure our children receive the best education. Retirement funds -- I wish to be able to eventually devote myself entirely to serving at Qiandeng Temple, you see, and to pass off the reins of the business to one of the children who proves to have a head for it. And before any of that,” Hua Cheng continued. “Wedding planning is quite expensive and tiring indeed. Choosing gowns, choosing flowers, choosing menus for dinner and lunch and brunch and tea and dessert. Bringing together all the guests on my guest list has proven to be quite the headache in and of itself.”

Shi Qing Xuan peeked at the list. “...what’s a ‘Hatsune Miku’? And a ‘Beyonce’?”

Hua Cheng rolled his eye and sighed at Shi Qing Xuan’s lack of culture. “The artists performing at the reception will hail from dimensions far and wide. Which brings us to another item proving to be quite expensive; researching interdimensional travel. Once that’s settled, we’ll be able to finalize the guest list and start looking for a patissier capable of bringing my cake design into reality.”

Hua Cheng smiled at Shi Qing Xuan warmly, and Shi Qing Xuan hesitantly smiled back, unsure of how to react to this sudden outpouring of Crimson Rain’s most secret desires. Hua Cheng snapped his fingers in Shi Qing Xuan’s face, and after a split-second, the Windmaster sighed and slumped over.

“And you won’t remember a word of that when you wake up, because I know you’ll run that mouth of yours and spoil the surprise for gege,” Hua Cheng finished. “I just know he’ll love Miku.”