#Raylin liveblogs tgcf

[raylin-creates]

What the hell did Hua Cheng do for He Xuan that he can get away with all this?? I know part of it is for taking care of his fish but that can't be all of it!

[raylin-creates]

Live Mu Qing Reaction

[raylin-creates]

White No-Face: Hey can you two stop flirting for a moment and fight me? >:(

[raylin-creates]

OK I watched the Heaven Official's Blessing donghua and started the novel. I didn't catch onto it in the show, but I am now absolutely certain that despite Fu Yao and Nan Feng claiming their generals dont know they're helping Xie Lian, those two generals who used to serve Xie Lian sent the deputy gods to him and are just too prideful to want to admit they still care about this dumbass lmao

The two generals (who's names I CANNOT for the life of me remember) just feel more like people who WISH they could hate Xie Lian for what happened in the past but know he's good at heart and also the type to get into SO much trouble without help that they can't help but do whatever they can to keep this guy alive and happy. But they can't ADMIT they want to help him so they both send a subordinate telling them to keep it a secret that they were sent by them.

And the deputy gods seen to have very similar personalities to their generals so seeing how they interact with Xie Lian I may be projecting their actions and feelings onto their generals a bit but I am certain that the two generals are secretly doing everything they can to help him without being obvious they're helping him.

I also thought at first that Xie Lian's debt was erased by Ling Wen fudging the numbers for him, but I now think the generals settled it themselves.

Xie Lian has more support in heaven than he thinks and I love it.

[raylin-creates]

Uh. Xie Lian please tell me that you properly learned sword swallowing and don't just stick it down your throat and ignore any damage it does to you. Xie Lian. XIE LIAN LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME YOU DON'T--

HUA CHENG YOUR BOYFRIEND IS DOING SOMETHING STUPID WHERE ARE YOU

[raylin-creates]

YIN YU! YIN YU! YIN YU!

HE'S QUICKLY RISING THE RANKS OF FAVORITE CHARACTERS WITH THIS SCENE!!!

[raylin-creates]

I had COMPLETELY forgotten Xie Lian is still pretending to be a normal person in front of Sang Lang fduufjgufigvufuvuvu

It's so futile. Even if Sang Lang WASN'T already fully aware of who Xie Lian is, both of them come across to me as being so bad at acting like normal people that it's a wonder people don't clock them as supernatural entities on sight.

There has to be a comedic fanfic out there where Sang Lang really isn't aware of who Xie Lian is and they both put on horrible performances of being normal mortals that the only reason they haven't realized the other isn't Human is they're too busy worrying about themselves not being revealed as not human. I've been trying to stay away from tgcf fanfics for now to try and keep my reactions genuine but that HAS to exist right?

Xie Lian's ONLY saving grace is that nobody in this world seems to actually knows what Taoist magic is supposed to look like. And i don't either because I also have yet to see actual Taoist magic in this world that isn't a god using divine abilities and Xie Lian trying to pass it off as completely-normal-mortal-Taoist-magic. For all I know about it that's been shown so far and all I DON'T know about how this stuff is typically portrayed in Chinese mythology and media, it could very well be the same thing. (He's also saved by him just being so goddamn nice nobody cares about what he is)

As for Sang Lang... Honestly he doesn't seem to be trying all that hard. He seems to only be putting in effort at the moment to try not to scare off Xie Lian right away. (He's also saved by him being so goddamn scary nobody wants to question what he is)

[raylin-creates]

OK between encouraging Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to kiss earlier and now asking one of the questions I've been wondering about for a while now, why does it seem that Pei Ming of all people has become a vessel for the reader?

Someone commented a bit ago when Pei Ming had started encouraging their relationship that that scene had been what finally brought them over to liking him and I have to agree that this arc is doing a lot to soften his character.

Personally I still don't like him (as a person, he's a good character though), but this has pushed him in my mind more towards "pathetic, unaware of himself, with few to no pleasant qualities" rather than "actively malicious, scheming, horrible bastard." Depending on what the story does with him from here on out, I could see myself potentially liking him, whereas before I couldn't have imagined it.

Honestly I have more problems with Pei Xiu than Pei Ming, from the Ban Yue Arc.

I do still think it's ...off-putting? Unusual? Unpleasant? That the narrative seems to have just skipped over and ignored that Pei Xiu actively committed genocide. Like, his punishment seemed to have more to do with the circumstances of how it happened than the genocide itself, and any remorse he shows is more about Banyue taking the full blame than anything else.

I can hope something will happen in the future that more fully explores the full implications of it but as of now there doesn't seem to be any intention of revisiting it. After the real circumstances got explained back in the Ban Yue Arc, the story abandoned what little effort there had been to portray Kemo (the only character from Ban Yue Other than Banyue to recieve significant screen time) as being justified in his rage over what happened.

There's a huge difference in how the narrative is treating the killing off of the Ban Yue kingdom vs the Xianle kingdom. We obviously spend a lot more time learning about Xianle since it has huge significance to the main character, but even accounting for that, there's a huge tonal difference in how they're spoken of by the story.

Is this anything? Like am I losing my mind here? Anyone else wish the story had spent a little more time examining the full consequences of Ban Yue being entirely destroyed?

Not just how it affected characters like Banyue and Pei Xie, but how it affected the actual citizens of Ban Yue, like Kemo's rage and grief? How there were definitely innocents killed, no matter how the story insists the entire kingdom was militaristic and bloodthirsty?

I dunno. Maybe I'm misremembering how bad it was handled, (I hope I am), but I definitely want to revisit that arc and take the time to examine it properly.

Wow I really just spent the better part of half an hour ranting about an arc way back from the beginning of the series instead of reading the current one. Uh, Oops?

[raylin-creates]

Xie Lian:

Hua Cheng:

[raylin-creates]

Perfect! He did get the child-bearing pills! Come on Xie Lian, give him the horrible belt you made and this will officially be my favorite extra!

[raylin-creates]

Hahaa Hua Cheng is now paying for his shameless behavior!

This was such a good extra--it was a great way to show how Xie Lian has changed over the years, and Hua Cheng having fun teasing a naive Xie Lian!

AND IT CONFIRMS YIN YU IS OKAY!

The epilogue chapter implied that Hua Cheng was teaching Quan Yizhen to bring back his soul but we didn't get to see him until now! He's back and still serving Hua Cheng.

[raylin-creates]

*wheeze*

HEAVENS EYE PLEASE STOP AIRING THEIR INTIMACIES TO THE WORLD JDYFYSOGIFDUYS

[raylin-creates]

"Innocence" huh?

...

*wheezing laughter* Yeah, no. No fucking way I'd buy that. San Lang/Hua Cheng is too much of a bastard (affectionate) for me to believe he has an innocent bone in his body when it comes to anybody but Xie Lian.

And--ok i dont know much about Chinese honorifics and such but assuming "gege" is basically an affectionate pet name (for lovers hopefully)--Love love love that Sang Lang is instantly picking a fight with these two by openly stating where he stands with Xie Lian. Their reactions are priceless.

And again, I just CAN'T get enough of the deputy gods being protective of Xie Lian. I have to wonder how much of it is on behalf of their generals and how much is them personally caring about Xie Lian. Both options are great though.

[raylin-creates]

No. Way.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME????!?!??

This happens in the donghua too but this makes it look more like they were responding than asking what he meant.

ARE NAN FENG AND FU YAO ACTUALLY (looking up the names) FENG XIN AND MU QING IN DISGUISE???? THEY INSTINCTIVELY RESPONDED TO "GENERAL" I CAN'T--

I can't believe I didn't piece that together sooner. Was this supposed to be super obvious? Was this implied way earlier and I missed it???

THEY'RE NOT EVEN GOOD AT KEEPING IT SECRET, DIDN'T I MENTION EARLIER THAT THEIR PERSONALITIES WERE SIMILAR TO THEIR GENERALS???

I'm banging my head on my desk for not realizing it sooner but I love it so much that they actually came themselves to help Xie Lian, that's amazing.

If it turns out after this that they're NOT Feng Xin and Mu Qing and this moment was nothing I'm throwing my phone down the laundry chute.

I'm losing my mind. Oh my god it's so obvious. It's so obvious. They're not even good disguises. Wouldn't be surprised if Xie Lian already figured it out and was just humoring them, he knows them way better. Wouldn't be surprised if everyone (including Sang Lang) already knew it, they're so bad at it.

Ugh. This has to be the worst kept secret in heaven. I'm kicking myself.

This is some Clark Kent glasses bullshit. (I love it)

[raylin-creates]

We're already off to a juicy start! I love that you can already see a difference in personality--he's a little more spoiled, a little more delicate. It seems like he's been reverted to before even his first ascension, so this is truly a Xie Lian before White No-Face had interfered in his life.

[raylin-creates]

I need something like a fic or series of one-shots focused on the Puqi villagers. Such underrated side characters, I'd love to see something that explored their perspective on Xie Lian more.