#Tgcf book 7 spoilers

[blue-rhapsody]

PLEASE IM WHEEZING

[yeyayeya]

My honest reaction:

[junwusbridge]

Jun Wu: *Doesn’t ask for anyone’s help to build his bridge*

Jun Wu’s Bridge: *Breaks and kills his people*

Jun Wu to the Other Gods: Why didn’t you guys help me?

The Other Gods: You didn’t ask.

Jun Wu:

[benevolenterrancy]

I've started v7 of Heaven Official's Blessing and let me tell you I was NOT expecting some voltron-style gundam battle but I'm deeply into it

The Series 07 toy sets include Divine Statue Gundam, with Ghost King and Flower Crowned Martial God figures, as well as the God Sword set with 4 additional Heavenly Officials (though the owner of Ghost City Emporium doesn't know why you'd waste your money on that trash)

[princessofxianle]

Feng Xin's Family Tree

in-depth character descriptions to come soon but im pleased to introduce...

Feng Yang (风阳): Feng Xin's Father

Shen Wangxi (神忘昔): Feng Xin's Mother

Shen Liang (神諒): Feng Xin's Older Sister

...more to come under the tag #fx backstory au

SEND ME AN ASK!!!

Feng Yang (风阳): Feng Xin's Father

a respected high-ranking general of the Xianle Army

his weapon of choice is a longbow

shares personal history with the current King of Xianle

lives by the motto "a man's worth is defined by his ability to protect the things he loves"

Feng Xin highly respects his father eventually adopts this mindset as well

Shen Wangxi (神忘昔): Feng Xin's Mother

also a descendant of the Miao people like Hua Cheng

her daughter is her "mini me" and she was SO proud of her

she tragically dies in childbirth with Feng Xin

fengshen (Feng Xin's longbow) uses the same character for "Shen"

Shen Liang (神諒): Feng Xin's Older Sister

Feng Xin's older sister by many years, born before her mother married Feng Yang

Feng Yang claims her to be a carbon copy of her mother

she hates Feng Xin... to the fullest extent of the word

to her, her little brother is a parasite that took her beloved mother away

but he still tries relentlessly to get on her good side... but to no avail... he loves her so much

[huntingrays]

i believe this is what xie lian imagines whenever any of the heavenly officials talk about hua cheng

[illuminatingsceadugenga]

Alrighty! The TGCF Present-Day timeline has been updated to include Volume 7/the first half(?) of Book 5! Book 5 largely takes place over the course of a few days, which impacts how it gets displayed on a timeline, but there's still a lot going on.

Other updates: Hualian Kiss counter and commentary for Volume 7.

Edit: this timeline is also posted to my ao3(same name as my tumblr), it just won't have Book 5 posted until volume 8 drops

[inkats]

as usual, doodles of stuff I found funny. Incredibly unreadable but it’s just paraphrased dialogue from the book so. Like. U get the gist.

[ace-aro-taku]

shhhhhhh i'm making a meme

[mikaelasgraveyard]

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

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

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

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

[junwusbridge]

B*stard

[bichenique]

TGCF SPOILERS

This is a major spoiler do not open it unless you're done w TGCF.

Jun Wu and Mei Niangqing's relationship somewhat mirrors Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's. A foil, maybe?

I saw a fanart recently of Hua Cheng painting Xie Lian but I had to readjust my eyes because at first glance I thought it was Mei Nianqing painting the Crown Prince of Wuyong.

🎀 Also yipee first long yap sesh post 🎀

pls take my yapping as a grain of salt; i also think other ppl posted abt this already and if that's true i didn't see it yet

Which he does at like, book 7 or 8, I don't remember, I was trying to study for government while reading the book. Mei Niangqing paints murals of Jun Wu and his four vassals around Mt Tonglu so Xie Lian and his gang can find out the truth.

Many readers did establish already that Xie Lian is Jun Wu's mirror/foil because like that was what leads Jun Wu to be obsessed with molding Xie Lian to be like him. They're too alike, it's almost eerie, but let's be honest, Jun Wu was rigging Xie Lian's fate so he will end up like him. Let's focus on HC and MNQ

That being said, here are some scenes I remember that kinda mirrors MNQ and HC:

Mei Nianqing makes art of Jun Wu, in reverence and remembrance of him. Hua Cheng does the same. However, their stances are different. MNQ is wistful about it, HC is more like manifesting his gege into reality and manifesting their marriage.

MNQ and HC both stayed with their princes. MNQ stayed even if the other three vassals left because they were friends and he didn't know JW murdered their other three buddies. However, he left JW the moment he found out abt that. HC stayed with XL and followed him everywhere, even willing to die for his prince, even if it meant dying multiple times.

They were both separated from their hubbies.

MNQ has known Jun Wu in all his eras, and HC has known XL in all his eras too, but maybe only from a distance.

Despite everything Jun Wu and Xie Lian did, MNQ and HC still wanted to stay by their side and remember their true selves. RIP Jun Wu and his mountain tho lmao. MNQ kinda confirmed it for me when he asks Jun Wu after his defeat (not a direct quote btw): Aren't you tired, Your Highness? I just miss how things were. HC tells XL that "what matters is you." The only difference was that MNQ made a choice and worked against Jun Wu while HC consistently made the effort to be there for XL.

I think my Ted Talk is done.

I will say tho, TGCF has this theme of breaking the cycle of abuse and recovering from trauma — Xie Lian choosing to go against Jun Wu, MNQ holding Jun Wu accountable for his crimes, Hua Cheng becoming someone strong so he will never feel unsafe just as he did in his childhood, Lang Qianqiu swearing that he will never be like Xie Lian and then having to revive Qi Rong so Guzi will never have to live the pain of losing one's dad, Mu Qing finding the courage to reunite with old friends, Qi Rong learning to be the person he wanted to be there for him— to name a few, I will probably have separate posts for this.

I guess in Heavenly Official's Blessing, they did shatter taboos.

[princessofxianle]

Tgcf vol 7 vs the translation i read...

"Your elderliness" vs. "you old fart"

I like both for very different reasons 😂 but both ways XL is so sassy and im living for it

Edit: I couldn't forget to include the absolute tantrum he throws after this line 😂 like "im going back to sleep fuck you"

[hamliet]

Anon who talked about book 7 of TGCF here! I unfortunately will only have book 8 available this February :') once I get my hands on it I will review it here like I did for the last books if you don't mind! Meanwhile, I still have a lot of thoughts on TGCF, and I hope I don't bother you with how long this ask is 😅

I've seen an interpretation online of the bamboo-hat scene in book 6 in which it says that XL would've never ended up as White No-Face's successor even if the bamboo hat guy didn't appear, because it isn't in XL's nature to do something so destructive and evil. Is it bad that I think think this interpretation diminishes the impact the bamboo-hat scene has for me? Because to me what made that scene so great was the fact that kindness was indeed able to change someone at their worst and by consequence bring out their best self. Hell, what makes the conflict between JW and XL so interesting to me is because XL could've indeed become like him had he not received kindness in his darkest moments, and by consequence JW could've been like XL under the right circumstances. "XL is just naturally gooder™ than JW" is not exactly an interpretation I like, and I think it may even contradict the message of other character arcs in the story as well. HC was saved by the kindness he received from XL, and thus became devoted to him. When HX chose his revenge over his friendship with SQX, it didn't satisfy him, and it even made him more miserable, as he lost his only friend in the process. Guzi, by loving QR unconditionally and genuinely as his son, ended up bringing up to the surface a side of QR that perhaps not even QR knew he had, and it moved his heart enough that he ended up sacrificing himself to save Guzi in turn. QYZ became attached to YY because he showed him compassion when everyone else dismissed him and thought of him as nothing more than a brute. I could go on and on. In other MXTX's books there's also a big emphasis on the impact kindness and genuine connection can have on people. WWX could've easily become a XY or a JGY had he been raised in different circumstances. Hell, the constrast between Bingmei and Bingge hinges on the fact that Bingmei was shown kindness while Bingge wasn't, and the difference between them is of day and night.

Usually they mention the quote "What matters is 'you' and not the state of you.", and that part where HC knew XL wasn't the one who did the guilded banquet Massacre, but I didn't exactly interpret these quotes to mean that XL is naturally good™ in a way that he's able to do no big evil, but rather that he's naturally good in a sense that evil isn't something natural to him, even if he participates in it, which is a theme that can also be seen in characters like JW, HX and QR, who became who they are due to the circumstances in their life shaping them into who they became. It's even highlighted that QR used to be a shy and sweet kid until his environment raised him into a monster. Evil isn't natural but rather something slowly molded by circumstances is how I interpreted it. And as for the Guilded Massacre, it's more that HC saw XL rejecting cursing Yong'an after the bamboo-hat scene and thus rejecting White No-Face's philosophy precisely because it was proven wrong in his eyes, and therefore it would make no sense for XL to be responsible for the guilded banquet massacre later on.

Of course I could be completely wrong in my interpretation, but this is what I picked up while reading the novel. Maybe it's my bias against the immobility of the self? Once again I'm sorry for the wall of text, it's just that I have a lot of thoughts about the way MXTX's books handle the impact that kindness and connection have on the self. I also really like your theories and interpretations not only on MXTX's novels, but for other works as well (I'll only be able to read the ones on JW next month in order to avoid spoilers unfortunately)!

No, I completely agree with you. Actually, I'd go so far as to say that's misreading the story, and the ending--without spoilers--makes this textually explicit. Like, it literally says, not symbolically but directly, that the point is that Xie Lian could have become just like Jun Wu.

So, they're not just misinterpreting, they're misreading. I'm guessing theses are the same kinds of people who think MDZS's message is WWX=good JGY=bad, honestly, when again that means that you're missing the point of the story. (Good point about Luo Binghe, as well!)

To return to TGCF, Hua Cheng's "what matters is you and not the state of you" has nothing at all to do with Xie Lian being a "good" person. In fact, Hua Cheng is pretty explicitly amoral. He's loyal to Xie Lian because Xie Lian was kind to him and he fell in love with him. It does not matter to him whether Xie Lian does good or does bad; that's the point of Wu Ming. It only matters to him that he is Xie Lian, and Xie Lian told him he mattered and did not deserve to be treated as he was being treated.

Of course, one could counter that love itself is a moral virtue, so thereby it saves Hua Cheng and the whole world, but that's for another time haha.

And, of course, please do continue to share your thoughts!!

[thenanamisimp]

Danmei and MXTX novels

Would you look at that, another post that's not about anime? WILD. It is about MXTX novels though so the hyperfixations continue. I'm actually in the process of planning a very lengthy analysis of all three of her series but this is a warning, don't expect too much. I was never good at those in school plus it's been almost 7 years since I've last written something like that but I feel so passionate about her works that I really wanna try to share what I thought about the novels. Nevertheless, this isn't actually those analysis posts since those are gonna be separate and will probably be written after I re-read each series. However, since I'm actually finally fully done reading all her series - including the extra side chapters - I wanted to quickly share some of my opinions and how I feel after finishing all 18 of the books.

This goes without saying but just in case - SPOILER WARNING for Heaven Official's Blessing, The grandmaster of demonic cultivation and The scum villain's self saving system novels.

First off, if you haven't read any of MXTX's work before, prepare for trauma and tragedy. Most of her characters are either deeply traumatised already or in the process of. I will always encourage people to read content warnings before reading her books.

Starting off with my favourite - TGCF or Tian Guan Ci Fu (aka Heaven Official's Blessing). This story means a lot to me. I got introduced to TGCF through the donghua before I even knew it was queer fiction and even with censorship, the closet is made of fucking GLASS so I had to look for the source material. Honestly it took me a while to commit to reading the whole series as I've been struggling to pick up books for years now but TGCF actually got me back into reading (I think in total it took me about 8 days to read all 8 volumes). More than just the story telling being good, I got so incredibly attached to every single character (except Jun Wu, he can eat shit - tho the fact I'm even saying this speaks volumes about how well MXTX can write characters. It takes a lot for me to hate a character this much).

Taking place in a beautiful fantasy world, we follow Xie Lian and Hua Cheng through tragic traumatic past and present and we learn of the horrible truths about the lives of immortal beings. We also see two idiots in love take their sweet ass time to confess. I love me a good slow burn full of longing and pining. I eat that shit UP every time and MXTX gave it to me with every single one of her series.

TGCF for me was a journey full of kicking my feet at fluff, second hand embarrassment (because xl I stg, what do you MEAN you were taught how to resist the advances of women but not how to resist hot men you gay lil shit the closet is made of glass) and honestly, lots of crying. The hundred stabs incident, ruoye's creation and hcg's last death made me sob and scream (no exaggeration, I was stomping around my room, crying and yelling GIVE HIM BACK RIGHT NOW).

Also, in a not so unpopular opinion (I think?), Pei Ming is my fave because 1) he's the no.1 Hualian shipper - check the whole Mt Tunglu adventure for proof and also 2) he's just a lil slut with a big heart. I could seriously talk about him forever because I went from hating him after he tried to throw the blame for the Banyue Pass incident on Xie Lian, to loving him after I realised that everything he does, he does because he is truly just a kind man who loves a good fight. He's so silly! Just a lil guy! Go Pei Ming go!

Fuck you Jun Wu. Again. (I hate him just as much as I hate Mahito. Maybe a little less. I really hate Mahito).

Moving on to my second favourite (but honestly it's such a close one), MDZS or Mo Dao Zu Shi (The grandmaster of demonic cultivation). Take a wild guess about how I got introduced to it... Fandom of course, because very few people talk about TGCF online without mentioning MDZS so I just had to give it a chance.

The great grandmaster of demonic cultivation has been dead for a while but when he gets gifted a new body through a not so well known demonic ritual, he runs into an old acquaintance. We learn about Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's past and current world of cultivation and hear stories about messy betrayals and conspiracies. Aaaand we find out about some more trauma and tragedy because is it really an MXTX novel without it?

And talk about a rollercoaster because (and please don't hate me for this) I found Wei Wuxian annoying initially.... But it's okay now because I kin him so go figure. Tho I actually kin only his adult self, I was a very introverted and rule abiding teenager, a lil more like Lan Wangji. In any case, wwx is the same stupid chaotic bisexual that I am and he is babygurl. Yeah and what if he murdered 3000 people? It was self defense. THEY ATTACKED FIRST. Your honour, he did nothing wrong and he does not deserve to be punished!

On a serious note, MDZS explores so many themes that are personally important to me, my favourite being the power dynamics of the world. It’s truly moving that even with all the pain Wei Wuxian went through, how far in his cultivation and how powerful he got, he still couldn't protect those he loved (until Lan Wangji of course because Wangxian is perfect together and they always protect and defend each other. Wangxian my beloved). While it might be a stretch for some, it really reminded me of how powerless we are in the world. People aim to educate themselves and go on to do whatever they can to better the world in their own way and yet, it really feels like nothing’s improving sometimes. I could talk about this for hours but maybe I’ll leave that for another time and another analysis post since this is supposed to be a shorter one (lmao)

Last but not least, RZFZX or Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong (honestly this one I use the english name for because I can’t pronounce the chinese as much as I try - The scum villain's self saving system or Svsss). This one I actually kinda struggled with - first of all because WHY BUGS MXTX. Not much bothers me in fiction but BUGS? Too far. Heads with spider legs? Raw flesh with maggots? Blood mites? I was out (for about half an hour and then I kept reading). Please note that it's not the raw flesh that bothered me, it was the fucking maggots. I can read about graphic murder, creepy hauntings, torture and many more but as soon as there are bugs? Nope! I’m done. People have phobias and that’s mine I guess. Enough ranting about bugs!

The story follows Shen Qingqiu, the scum villain of the hit web novel Proud Immortal Demon's Way (or PIDW for short, as it's referred to in Svsss) who is actually one of the original readers - and haters - of PIDW, who transmigrates into the book in order to fix the plot holes left by the original author. With his guide “the system” he does his best to lead the male lead of PIDW, Luo Binghe, down a better path than in the original story.

Svsss employs a comedic way of storytelling, with our protagonist being omniscient, it allows for the narration to be sarcastic and poke fun at a lot of moments that are cliche or badly written, as interpreted by sqq. Honestly, this is just a personal preference but I favour the more serious storytelling way of MDZS and TGCF (give me hurt until the very end when the main characters get together and then give me comfort).

To me, Svsss is a lot harder to analyse as a lot of its themes are unfamiliar to me, especially considering I’m the furthest from having any sort of humanitarian education (I have 2 engineering degrees). Using a story within a story, MXTX is able to deliver two main overarching themes; one about abuse and its results through Luo Binghe as well as one about the relationship of author and their readers, the feeling of being trapped by the readers' opinions and wanting your story to be liked through Shang Qinghua (to be honest, I hadn’t really picked up on this one until I saw discussion about this in the fandom).

If I'm being completely honest, I don't think I grasped this series as well as the other ones and I'm finding it hard to digest lbg and sqq's relationship. I'm unsure as to what it is that's holding me back from loving them as much as Hualian and Wangxian. I do tend to prefer tropes like theirs more than the whole "had to convince him to date me" thing which is what Bingqiu's relationship seemed like to me up until the end of volume 3. It’s also why I'm glad I actually followed through and finished the extras in volume 4 (I was really tempted to stop reading once I finished volume 3 not gonna lie). I believe those to be integral to understanding sqq's feelings towards lbh and while I understand that sqq did actually love lbh from the beginning (denial is a river in egypt and the gloset is made of glass - what the fuck is with MXTX's bottoms and the damn glass closet), I struggled to see the tipping point of where he actually understood his own feelings and what was going on in his head and that he was actually in love with lbh. Which is why I think to really understand Svsss, I would seriously need to reread it.

I also would love to eventually talk about queerness in MXTX's work because in each book, sexuality and queerness is explored and examined in so many different ways. As a queer person myself, it fascinates me as I can relate to so much of it. To be honest, I think I could write a short thesis on just this.

Honestly, while I'm very passionate about my favourite pieces of media (if you've heard me talk about any of my top 5 anime you'll understand what I mean), there hasn't been a lot of things outside JJK and MXTX's novels that have made me wanna dive deep into analysing every single detail. It genuinely makes me feel like I'm gonna implode sometimes. These 3 series have seriously reignited my love for reading. I was shown that a good book - in my opinion of course - doesn't need to avoid difficult topics. It simply needs to use them well as a means of delivering a message and a story, rather than them being included just to be included. They also reminded me that I love queer fiction and I need to read more.

I actually would really like to read Erha (or 2ha or The husky and his white cat shizun) but I've read the content warnings and I'm ~~apprehensive~~. While not a lot of things bother me, I'm not sure I want to read about that stuff (please look at the content warnings of this book, or any piece of media in that matter, especially if you have topics that easily bother or trigger you). Remember, it's our responsibility as readers/consumers to look out for ourselves first!

Please recommend any good danmei (other than MXTX) and possibly include links where they can be read! I would also highly appreciate recommendations for some good wlw fantasy fiction as I really would love to read some wlw novels - or even anime/movies/webtoons/manga. Just in desperate need of quality wlw content.

Also while I said I'd keep it short, it seems I ended up writing over 2000 words…

PS. I proofread this about 5 times and during one of them my file crashed, so if there's any mistakes or if I’m not making sense somewhere, blame my deep-fried brain, thanks

Thanks for reading my novel ramble! Enjoy reading :)

theNanamiSimp

[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua Season 2, Episode 7 thoughts

More screaming about TGCF. As usual, very good ep. Spoilers for the show and the book below.

T-T Hua Cheng is so mean to E-Ming/himself.

Mu Qing is so happy he made his dice T-T And Feng Xin stole them!!!!

The crocodile monsters are really neat looking. I'm wondering why the creative team didn't just stick with designing monsters instead of what they did in that one episode.

Splash war alkdjaldkjalj This episode is for the FengQing lovers, truly. They're the best/worst. Love them.

Meanwhile Hualian:

Hua Cheng to Xie Lian: Whenever you need me, baby, call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me

Xie Lian being the typical "dude you didn't specify it had to be swords and being weird about it is stupid" is my jam. I love him.

Xie Lian to Lang Qianqiu: "I have always been like this." -gazes into the distance sadly- "You just didn't know."

This makes me T-T T-T T-T I just love like the central message about how much of our perceptions of people we know informs what we "know" about them. And how it's very easy to let other people draw their own conclusions, and how dangerous that can be. And how people will blame the gap between their perceived reality and reality on the subject of their perceptions, and how dangerous that is.

Xie Lian to Lang Qianqiu: "Don't make an inviolable monument to me in your heart without my consent. -camera focuses on San Lang- I am not the person you imagined. And in the end, it's your own disappointment."

T-T Central message hereeee. Hua Cheng this gonna bite you in the butt next ep.

Sorry, distracted by how Lang Qianqiu's hair crown looks like a cat.

(I'm sure I'm not the first to point that out but here I am pointing it out cause :3).

Hua Cheng stepping forward to stand next to Xie Lian -heart eyes- It takes very little to make me Emotional about them okay???

Lang Qianqiu to Xie Lian: "If you want to force me into self-destruction like you, I absolutely won't! No matter how you treat me, I will never become like you!"

Xie Lian: -terrifying laughter-

Hua Cheng: -not pleased with this-

Qianqiu doll!!! He's so cute!!!

SCREAMS

HE'S HERE!!!!! XD My beloved awful man is HERE XD

Demon Hualian is so cute tho

Wonderful episode :3 Can't wait to see more of favorite awful man and how disastrous Hua Cheng's decision will be.

Subs weren't as noticeably bad this week (some awkward phrasing in places but mostly nothing egregious). Though why Qi Rong is the "Green Immor" is anyone's guess. Wouldn't be as terrible if they didn't repeat it so much.

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

S02E03

S02E04

S02E05

S02E06

S02E07 (you are here)

S02E08

S02E09

S02E10

S02E11

S02E12