#actually it’s the whole Yi city arc

[anyanary]

Lighting study!

[mxtxfanatic]

Let’s talk Yi City Arc! I’ve seen a few posts since my time in the fandom that talks about the Yi City Arc as unnecessary or out of place in the whole of the mdzs narrative. I’ve even seen some suggest that the disconnect is because Yi City was originally a separate story to mdzs, a sort of prototype, if you will, to explain it away. I, too, after my first read questioned the significance of this arc to the overall story. However, the Yi City arc and its placement so early in the novel is actually just a huge and very clever spoiler to most of the important plot points of the overarching story… if you know what plot points to look for, which an un-spoiled first-time reader would not. So let’s talk about those spoilers:

1) The righteous cultivation clans’ refusal to stand against evil—and, really, their indulgence of it—leads to the wiping out of an entire clan and a monastery as well as the deaths of two powerful cultivators unaffiliated with any major sect.

The “righteous” cultivation clans happily ignore that fact that the Jin Clan is amassing power through unscrupulous guest disciples, and it is only when Xiao Xingchen, an outsider, brings the crime against the Chang Clan to light do they bother to pretend to do anything about it. However behind the scenes, the Jin Clan assassinates their only real opposition, and the other clans, great and small, continue to do nothing as Xue Yang is released to commit another massacre. The Jin are never held responsible for their actions. Likewise, all the clans turn away from Wei Wuxian, an outsider, when he calls out the Jin Clan’s crimes against the Wen remnants and accuses them of amassing power via poaching vassal clans and attempting to steal his tools. Behind the scenes, the Jin work to undermine Wei Wuxian’s reputation before joining in to massacre Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. The Jin are never held accountable for this, which directly leads into the Xue Yang situation.

2) Xiao Xingchen has his reputation slandered by Xue Yang killing others using his sword.

After Xiao Xingchen kills himself, Xue Yang begins using his sword to enact “vengeance” on the remnants of the Chang Clan, who he considers as having “betrayed” Xiao Xingchen. Finding the signature of Xiao Xingchen’s sword on the slain bodies leads the cultivation world to believe that a disillusioned Xiao Xingchen is killing in revenge. In much the same way, Wei Wuxian is used as a scapegoat by the cultivation world whenever bad things happen, such as the presence of walking corpses or the mass digging of graves. In neither situation does any clan investigate the true events of the situations, happy to blame the easiest suspect and allow the unrest to continue. In both situations, Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian are eventually found innocent of the crimes for which they are accused, and the true culprit is revealed.

3) Xiao Xingchen is betrayed by someone he considered close to him, which eventually leads to his death.

Xiao Xingchen, due to being literally blinded by his sacrifice, ends up running into, rescuing, and caring for his mortal enemy, Xue Yang. Taking advantage of Xiao Xingchen’s blindness, Xue Yang tricks him into murdering a bunch of innocents and his best friend, causing him to commit suicide. Wei Wuxian, similarly, is betrayed by a close friend he kept near, figuratively blinded by a former childhood friendship and the present debt he felt owed to said friend’s parents. This misplaced trust directly leads to his death.

4) Xiao Xingchen must give up his eyes for Song Lan to see again, because Baoshan Sanren is not magical.

This is probably the biggest spoiler of the entire arc, but by the time you get to where this information is relevant, you’d probably have forgotten that this was even said. Xue Yang blinds Song Lan after destroying his home, and to atone for this, Xiao Xingchen goes to his master, Baoshan Sanren, to beg for her help. However, Baoshan Sanren cannot make something out of nothing. Mxtx explicitly writes that tidbit into the narration. Song Lan goes up the mountain blind and comes down with eyes. Xiao Xingchen goes up the mountain with eyes and comes down blind. Song Lan was given Xiao Xingchen’s eyes.

Much later in the story, Jiang Cheng loses his golden core. Wei Wuxian offers the miracle solution of Baoshan Sanren “giving” him a new one. Jiang Cheng, obviously skeptical, questions Wei Wuxian up until the moment he must go up “Baoshan Sanren’s mountain” alone. Wei Wuxian descends, alone, looking pale and weak. Later, when Wei Wuxian is ambushed by the Wen, Wen “Core-melting Hand” Zhuliu touches him and is visibly shocked by a discovery that he then keeps to himself. Jiang Cheng emerges from the mountain with a new golden core, while Wei Wuxian emerges from the Burial Mounds with a new cultivation method wholly independent of the need for a golden core. The Yi City arc tells us why this is: “Baoshan Sanren” cannot make something out of nothing.

And these are just the major parallels I remember off the top of my head. However, while a reread makes a lot of these parallels directly applicable to specific plot points in Wei Wuxian’s own story, I would argue that the biggest role the explicit paralleling is meant to play for a new reader is to make you question the dominant narrative of the main story. The narration tells us that Wei Wuxian is a bloodthirsty man who may as well be a demon, known for cruelty and vengeance. We see none of that from his character when he is resurrected. Then we get a mini-drama where a man with attributes Wei Wuxian directly relates to, with a story Wei Wuxian directly compares to his own life, is scapegoated by society, killed, then eventually vindicated. If nothing else, the Yi City Arc is meant to make you, as a reader, stop and go “Hey, wait a minute, what if Wei Wuxian isn’t the bad guy here???” And once you understand that, you should start questioning everything the prologue told you, just like the juniors start to question what they were told about Xiao Xingchen post Yi City in their group debrief.

[lazycranberrydoodles]

its prosecutor jiang wanyin!!!! oh fuck!!! / gifs + au rambling below the cut / follow for more mdzs x aa crossover stuff :3

all the gifs i made (poses traced off franziska):

hes so similar to franziska when you think about it. theyre both deeply insecure tsundere adoptive younger sibling of successful main characters. who carry whips. something something edgeworth choosing death and wwx actually dying also

his share code is HWFEFF if you wanna use him in a trial! you can't share backgrounds but heres the scenery from the donghua i used.

the easiest way to put custom stuff into objection.lol is to send it in discord and then use the link from opening it in your browser :)

a whole lot of AU stuff

the art im making is for if mdzs was an ace attorney game, playing from WWX's POV to solve various mysteries/cases over the course of the plot. so this scene would be from turnabout goddess, which would loosely cover the dafan mountain mystery.

cases include:

Turnabout Revenge (Mo Manor, quick introductory first case)

Turnabout Goddess (Dafan mountain, the good times flashback)

Turnabout Saber (the man-eating castle (omg hiii nhs))

The Blind Turnabout (Yi City arc)

Turnabout Deviation (the Koi Tower conference, Empathy on NMJ ala turnabout memories or beginnings. opening cutscene is his qi deviation)

The Blood-Soaked Turnabout (second Burial Mounds siege, flashbacks: Xuanwu, Sunshot, YLLZ, Nightless City massacre)

Turnabout Lotus Seeds (testimony about JGY, tree scene, golden core reveal, bathtub scene. opening cutscene could be JGS' death but that would make it canon rather than ambiguous)

Turnabout Confession (Guanyin temple)

the problem with splitting novel!mdzs into turnabouts is that flashbacks are a huge chunk of the book but they don't have mysteries/ cases to solve so they've gotta be lumped together with present day stuff. imo? many of the flashbacks would likely have to be abridged so they could be retold ala DL-6, SL-9, or the fourth grade incident, where characters talk about it over some pieces of art. this is really difficult when theres a metric ton of unspoken, complex, and signifcant history between every character lmao

there's not as much of a problem with the cql timeline but i have not finished it. so.

the opening cutscenes in ace attorney always show the murder and/or the murderer plotting. the first cutscene of the game would be MXY summoning WWX, muttering about getting revenge on his family (it would also be good for him to mention the yllz being dead because that's how the novel starts.) cut to WWX's POV as he wakes up covered in blood and the investigation segment begins.

for investigations of monsters (goddess, saber, etc) the cutscene would be a scene of some poor throwaway cultivator getting their shit wrecked.

it would be cool to make a breakdown for JGY but again I need to review that scene cause I don't know who I'd base him on. maybe Vasquez or Dahlia.

tell me your thoughts!! i'm working off of a mdzs summary/ skimming the novel because i don't remember it too well so if i get anything wrong please yell at me

Jin Ling's sprites & Nie Huaisang's sprites / masterpost

[eruhamster]

no, im thinking about the whole thing of more than just one or two people reading TGCF and somehow thinking he xuan only just found out about the fate switch again. the fact that this is something people think is so insane to me because even if the specific time he learned was never given, like it's essentially spelled out for you.

hua cheng says when he xuan died, shi wudu showed up and made sure he was dead, so he xuan knew something was up with this guy. he found out he was a god and grew more suspicious. and then he infiltrated the heavens to find out more. like that's really the only actual statement we get, but like... it's so clear it's been a long time coming.

suspicions don't make you eat a bazillion water ghosts to make you into a water ghost to give you the specific powers necessary to overcome and kill a water god. he had to have known for as long as he was considered black water sinking ships. and of course he would know from the moment he infiltrated - he knows what happened to him and when. he would go up there and see that shi wudu has a brother with his name, who ascended the same day he died, who isn't known for doing anything beyond pulling a drunken party trick on an asshole. and sqx is so willing to talk to everyone, "ming yi" even complains that he throws out his array password to everyone. sqx told xie lian his ghost story, complete with a spell to make it cold and spooky with scary music while he told it, within like a month of knowing the guy. there is absolutely no way in hell that he xuan did not connect the dots within a year of infiltration.

and this idea of "well why would he spend centuries not doing anything" is so fascinating because it completely disregards the entire subtext of who he xuan is and what his relationship is with others. he is not friends with hua cheng. hua cheng is actively antagonistic toward him(and this is not just a hua cheng thing; hua cheng is actively nicer to sqx and even pei ming than he is to he xuan): he calls in inept. he says he doesn't know what he's thinking. he freaks out at him coming into his territory(puqi shrine), he is actively on edge while they're on the island, and he goads and mocks him in ways he doesn't to his other underlings. and yet hua cheng bankrolls him. he xuan is insanely in debt because hua cheng pays for his food, the cost of his fish(that hua cheng also actively dislikes), the cost of bribing heavenly officials(probably to keep their mouth shut), etc.

hua cheng doesn't help he xuan and fund his escapades because they're friends. he is clearly hua cheng's actual spy. it's a sort of payment for his services.

there's no real info on this but they clearly have a deal worked out. hua cheng pays for his expenses. he xuan was likely tasked at keeping ears out for news of xie lian. their deal was likely set to end when xie lian was located. maybe it went further, given hua cheng is so familiar with what he xuan knew as a new ghost - esecially since hua cheng is known to help ghosts pass on and help them with petty revenge or give them shelter in Ghost City in turn for their assistance(best example being the boar and chicken ghosts, they serve their chengzhu after he helped them get revenge and that's why many of the cultivators in the mt tonglu arc hate him, as seen in the ghost inn scene), it could easily be the case that he xuan came to hua cheng and they worked out a plan together. hua cheng knows how the heavens work; he ascended once. he could have come up with the infiltration plan and assisted he xuan in turn for him being a spy alongside he xuan's goal of finding out what shi wudu did. so even when he gets up there and immediately connects the dots, he'd do the work he was tasked with.

because if he only just recently found out, it would be insane to think that "ming yi" wouldn't go berserk. that "ming yi" wouldn't at the very least start acting noticeably different toward sqx. but he doesn't, because he's known.

i've seen people mention the hua cheng line of "my underling for 10 years" - this is him working out the hole he xuan found himself in when the real ming yi set off the flame pillar. "ming yi" was working as jun wu's spy for 10 years. the 10 years comment was aligning with that, giving an out so he could be taken back to the heavens with the idea that he was only jun wu's spy that was discovered after 10 years of infiltrating ghost city.

in reality, jun wu was unlucky enough(or maybe 'ming yi' volunteered) that the spy he picked was already hua cheng's spy of centuries; a double-agent. he xuan was spying, and that was why hua cheng knew the moment xie lian ascended. that is why he knew the exact mission xie lian was on and where he could find him. because he had a spy on the lookout.

and by the time their deal had been fulfilled, he xuan had been sqx's best friend for so long that he had grown complicated feelings and didn't start on the path to revenge until he had no choice: when the real ming yi finally killed himself in a cry for assistance(which, personally, i think may have been spurred by he xuan potentially deciding he wanted to keep that ming yi imprisoned indefinitely, or perhaps only due to an accident that originated from xie lian's unluckyness burning sqx).

the real issue from then on is he xuan fighting with himself, stuck between 'ming yi' and the oppressive and violent black water, seemingly actively attempting to both get his revenge while trying to salvage a relationship with sqx and keep the truth of "ming yi" from his best friend.

that's why, despite it all, he xuan still pops into the rebuilt puqi shrine to eat the food in a silent act of congratulations. xie lian actively got in the way of his plans to the point of he xuan barely being able to contain his violence and hua cheng legitimately being worried, and again, hua cheng and he xuan clearly are not friends - but hua cheng still helped him for centuries. hua cheng is the reason he got his revenge. and that warranted stopping by during a celebration.

this fits in so perfectly with their characters and the events of the story. the moment you think that the discovery happened recently, motivations come into question and it makes things muddy. like, one person who believed that he'd only just learned had said that hua cheng must have found out about xie lian's ascension through the rain master - there is not a single instance in the books that imply the rain master and hua cheng have interacted meaningfully. you have to actively make things up to go against this very clear line of what likely occurred.

this is also what makes he xuan so tragic. "ming yi" is not a complete lie, and he does try to cling to it, and only has to let it go after xie lian's continued meddling that eventually reveals the truth to sqx - long after he would have known, if he xuan actually wanted sqx to know. he wanted to stay friends with sqx, and he hated himself for it, which is why he shows a bit of himself when he asks xie lian to 'exorcise the demons in his heart.' the real he xuan is not so evil; hua cheng does not work with evil ghosts. the real he xuan has silly pet skeleton fish that assault him and accidentally poison him the moment he comes home because they're so excited to see him, and makes little jokes like teasingly sliding away from sqx when sqx recalls the 'reverend' saying everyone close to him will perish. that's why he doesn't change sqx's fate after he kills shi wudu. that's why sqx makes it clear that he xuan wasn't the one that broke his leg and arm. that's why he hesitated when sqx called out his pet name. that's why he kept and repaired sqx's fan. that's why he laughs before leaving when sqx is hounded by all his new friends about godhood. that's why he helps hua cheng one more time. that's why he congratulates xie lian on the shrine reopening. that's why he still says 'dream on' and 'do it yourself' to sqx even when there is no more ming yi; he xuan is not a bad person. he is just a man with demons. and if his hand hadn't been forced time and again, maybe he would have made the decision that being "ming yi" indefinitely wasn't such a problem. but the mountain of sins he'd committed over the centuries in the name of getting his revenge once xie lian was found was a hill too big to climb over, and once the path to revenge started, he had to do it. otherwise, what was the point of all the debt, all the lies, the wrongful imprisonments, the killing- everything he used to stand against, the crimes that others had done to him? he had to do it.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 38 part one

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)  

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!  

OK But Why?

This tale-within-a-tale is excruciating, yeah? So let's start off by considering why it even exists. Yi City feels like, if not a fully separate story, a pretty complete arc that can play as its own little movie. And it's incredibly sad, in every direction. While it may have begun life, in its originally-written form, as a different story exploring some of the same themes, MXTX placed it in the novel deliberately, and the producers of CQL included it deliberately. Why? Other than the, you know, catharsis of a well-wrought tragedy?

I think the answer is that it tells a set of parallel stories, alternate versions of the stories our main characters inhabit, with different outcomes driven by the character's choices. There's an obvious parallel between Lan Wangji's grief and Song Lan's, and another clear one between Wei Wuxian's core donation and Xiao Xingchen's eyeball donation. 

And there's an important comparison to be made between Xue Yang and Wei Wuxian, two demonic cultivators. They share some formative experiences, but have followed radically different paths, shaped, at a key moment, by another person's choice. 

Overall, the Yi City story illustrates how choices made in a moment affect not just an individual life, but ripple outward into other lives. So be prepared for me to point out parallels even more than usual, as we go through these episodes.

Empathy

We start off learning about Empathy and how it’s sooper dangerous, which means of course Wei Wuxian is totally down for it and probably invented it.  He gathers the kids around and assigns Jin Ling to be the person in charge of supervising and deciding when to pull him out of the matrix link. 

Jin Ling is surprised and reluctant so teacher’s pet Sizhui jumps forward and volunteers. 

Wei Wuxian asks Jin Ling for his Jiang clarity bell, which is on a tassel that used to be Jiang Yanli’s. 

(more behind the cut!)

Once the bell/tassel is out of Jin Ling’s hand, however, he changes his mind and snatches it, and the responsibility, back. 

It seems like Sizhui might recognize this tassel? 

It’s like the one Jiang Yanli gave Wei Wuxian when they met up before her wedding, which means Wei Wuxian would have had it with him during their year in the burial mounds. 

Jingyi disapproves of Jin Ling’s mind-changing, which is a little unfair since JL didn’t actually say “no” prior to Sizhui putting in his oar. (Sizhui is entirely loveable, but he is also a pushy brown-noser just like Lan Wangji was at his age. He just does it so sweetly that nobody minds.)

Sizhui, also like his Lan dad, has made it his life’s mission to manage a loudmouth hothead’s temper for him. 

Heading into empathy with A-Qing, we get flashes of bits of the story that we're about to see in depth. Then we jump to "ten years ago" which, given the way this series does math, probably means seven years ago.

Side note: A-Qing has managed to keep her hair looking pretty cute despite being 90% dead. 

Splish Splash

This particular section of the Wuxia River of Sadness is reserved for people who are contemplating the total mess they have made of their lives (gifset here), but A-Qing didn't get that memo, so she's having a nice time splashing joyfully without a care in the world.

A-Qing isn't about drama or being depressed, even when things are pretty difficult. She has found a big rock to sit on and is having a nice day hanging out on it.  

Then she goes skipping along singing "la la la la" (which is the same sound in Chinese as we make in English when we're singing and don't know the words, incidentally). Ok, show, we get it, she's happy and carefree. I sure hope she doesn't get involved in any weird relationships.

Grifting

She sees a couple of women walking on the path and she starts pretending to be blind. In the book, this pretense was facilitated by her having completely white eyes, but in the show she has normal brown eyes, until she actually is blinded by Xue Yang. So her entire pretense of being blind is to unfocus her eyes a bit and wave her hands around...

...with frequent intervals where she thinks no-one is watching her, and she acts 100% like she can see. Somehow she is almost never busted for this. 

The ladies give her a steamed bun and whisper loudly to each other about how pitiful she is. 

Then she heads into town for a little grifting, picking a wealthy douchebag as a mark. She bumps into him and steals his money bag, which he doesn't notice because he's too busy creeping on her. 

She's annoyed and disappointed that he doesn't have a lot of money.

Hey Pretty, Don’t You Want To Take a Ride With Me

Next she bumps into (and robs) Xiao Xingchen, who is actually blind, so he doesn’t notice her noticing how extremely pretty he is. 

He does notice that she has robbed him, however. 

Did you know if you have your eyes removed or even just damaged so you can't see any more, your eye sockets and/or tear ducts will bleed pretty much forever? Yeah, me neither. 

Xiao Xingchen immediately takes charge of A-Qing, telling her to walk more slowly and then telling her - kindly - to return his money purse. Before she can answer him, the rich douchebag comes back to yell at her and try to hit her. Xiao Xingchen stops him and smooths over the situation, and then lectures Ah Qing about stealing and how it's bad. But he tells her to keep his money, so - mixed messages, bro. 

She calls him gege and says that since he's blind and she's blind, she's going to follow him forever. He’s like, okey dokey, and they walk off together. Is she really the first person (since Song Lan) who’s had this idea about him? He is *very* pretty, after all.

It's unclear to me if she's calling him gege in the sense of “orphan girl who wants a family,” or in the sense of “mostly-grown-up woman who would like to Hit That.” Xiao Xingchen appears to take it as the former; he is too gay virtuous for the other option.

Two seconds after they decide to stay together, they encounter Xue Yang lying injured by the side of the road. A-Qing pretends she didn’t see him, and almost successfully wangles a piggyback ride out of Xiao Xingchen. 

But then he hears Xue Yang and immediately decides to rescue him, like the do-gooder Xue Yang despises him for being.

Xue Yang gets the romance-tropey piggyback ride that A-Qing was hoping for. Girl, the time to stop trying to seduce your gay male friend is 5 minutes before you started, ok?  

So...why was Xue Yang lying by the side of the road with a stab wound? Who gave it to him? If Jin Guangyao was sick of him, he would have stabbed him 100% fatally, and he wouldn't have let him hang on to Tiger Seal 2.0. And presumably Xue Yang wouldn’t think of him as a friend any more. It’s a mystery.

The new throuple decide to go to the creepiest abandoned walled city that has ever existed, and head past all the regular houses to set up camp in the morgue, for some reason. Not even inside one of the buildings; just out in the courtyard with a bunch of possibly-occupied coffins. Xiao Xingchen is so fucking weird. 

Each Unhappy Family is Unhappy in its Own Way

Xiao Xingchen gets to work patching Xue Yang up, and Xue Yang wakes up and recognizes him. A-Qing explains that they are blind and tells him not to be rude about it.

Xue Yang takes a second to process the situation, and then decided he’s going to hide his identity and make nice with Xiao Xingchen. Proving that found family can also have hideous toxic dynamics.

Xue Yang is very careful to keep XXC from touching his hand, since that would give away his identity. He has a...prosthetic finger? He wears a black glove and keeps his pinky finger straight so we know it's a replacement, or injured, or something. 

I think this is a concession to Wang Haoxuan having ten functional fingers and the show having a limited CGI budget. In a real sword-based society, missing a finger is probably not particularly uncommon, and he would probably just rock the nine-fingered look without having a special glove.

At this point, the complex interactions of the trio get rolling. Xiao Xingchen is honestly kind, Xue Yang is fake-kind, A-Qing is fake-unaware with Xue Yang and is unable to make Xiao Xingchen understand the problem, and Xiao Xingchen is genuinely unaware of everything. 

We spend a fairly large amount of time with Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen playing happy families. As part of his false persona, Xue Yang adopts a coy and whiny tone when talking to his pet white-clad cultivator, remarkably like another demonic cultivator we know.

I’m pretty sure Wei Wuxian has never managed to cop a feel while his sweetie climbs up a ladder, however. 

Then again, neither Lan Wangji nor Wei Wuxian has ever needed a ladder to get onto a roof, so maybe it’s just a lack of opportunity. 

This relationship, on the surface, is cute and sweet, which just makes the reality of it more disturbing. It’s super uncomfortable to watch, but there’s more than manipulation happening in these interactions. As Xue Yang flits around doing domestic tasks like patching the roof of the crappy outdoor shelter that they absolutely do not need to be using, he tells Xiao Xingchen various true things about his early life, and we begin to see what shaped him. 

Xue Yang (like OP) is obsessed with candy. In Xue Yang’s case, he was a hungry street kid who loved candy but couldn’t usually have it because of poverty. We learn that he has skills in patching up inadequate housing because he did it growing up. 

And we learn that he was beaten a lot. 

So he and Wei Wuxian have these things in common - except now Wei Wuxian gets his sugar from alcohol, not from candy. And Wei Wuxian’s handyman skills are used to make a home for his former enemies in the burial grounds, while Xue Yang’s are used - also in a cemetery, of sorts - to manipulate and trap his enemy. 

I Want Candy

In classic predator form, Xue Yang uses candy to lure A-Qing into coming within stabbing range, because he thinks she’s faking her blindness and wants to test her.  

I find him super attractive right here in spite of his evilness. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s offering candy. (OP goes and gets a jolly rancher out of her purse). 

After calling her over, he draws his sword with a super-loud "sshshk" noise that she inexplicably doesn't notice, and she bravely walks up to, and nearly on to, the point of the sword. 

This shocks him and convinces him that she's really blind. He sits her down with apparently sincere gentleness, and gives her candy, while quizzing her about her hot gege.

A-Qing tries to warn Xiao Xingchen about Xue Yang being a bad guy, pointing out that he's a cultivator and won't tell them his name. (She can’t say “also he tried to stab me” because she’d have to come clean about being able to see.) Xiao Xingchen, because he is a condescending prick--albeit a very sweet one--pats her on the fucking head and laughs off her extremely useful warning. 

Xiao Xingchen came out into the wider world with a set of ideals that he lives by, apparently without examining them. He’s humble, kind, frugal, and wants to eradicate evil. He also believes that the majority of people are good like him, and that detecting evil is simple--as simple as following his sword toward it. He doesn’t allow A-Qing, who is experienced in the wider world, to teach him anything, preferring to keep his ideals untarnished.

Contrast this with Lan Wangji, who also starts his journey into the wider world with a set of ideals (codified as rules), but does not make the mistake of assuming that other people shares his beliefs. Once he’s away from the Cloud Recesses, he follows Wei Wuxian’s lead when dealing with new people, rather than insisting on doing things the way he did back home. In general, he is open to having his beliefs challenged, even when it makes him upset or uncomfortable. As a result, he grows into a righteous man, not a naïve one, and he’s fully capable of identifying enemies even when they appear to be friends.

Bonus: 

In this brief long-distance shot we learn that A-Qing sleeps in a coffin, which is some next level goth girl shit. 

Soundtrack: 1. Hey Pretty by Poe 2. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow 3. Cheap Thrills by Sia

[fangxin-guoshi]

My mxtx adventures so far...

So I read/watched tgcf and became obsessed. Finally got around to reading MDZS for the first time and here's some lil thoughts (rn I'm like abt a third of the way thru)

- I love how there will be some insane tool/torture device/technique that's super powerful and wwx will just casually mention that he invented it it's so funny. like ok prince of darkness we get it ur evil and edgy and a genius

- JINGYI!!!!! I LOVE U BABIE!!! ALSO SIZHUI!!! KIDDOS!

- idk why but I love that it's called the sun shot campaign. It sounds so much cooler than like "wen extermination" or whatever. Also I hope to learn even more abt it.

- actually all of the juniors I love (even u jinling, lil shit <3)

- im so curious abt the whole jc and wwx history bit. I know they're brothers and have some history via fandom osmosis but I'm so ready to get the full story. I love angsty siblings

- the porn book pfft (lwj really went "BLASPHEMY!! GET THIS VILE FILTH AWAY FROM ME!!" lol)

- love how lwj acts annoyed w the rabbit gift but the first chapter set back in the present timeline it's someone commenting on how he has a bunch of pet rabbits awwwww

- omg WHAT was the yi city arc during the empathy section my jaw was dropped the whole time xxc you fucking sweetheart you didn't deserve that. A qing is THE girl ever omg. Also I'm convinced xue yang is not dead he is ALIVE and coming back to haunt everyone. Also WHY tf are they shipped together??

- I find it so funny how when lwj got drunk for the second time wwx kissed him briefly and then he felt so guilty he slept on the floor lmaooo that's so sweet

- currently in the middle of the whole wwx empathy w nmj and getting more background on the venerated triad and the dynamics. the drama is SO juicy

- also I can't help but notice a lot of similarities between tgcf and mdzs. Protagonist w a bad reputation among his peers, the flashbacks throughout the story, the three tumors and venerated triad kinda similar, etc. kinda fun

*i actually watched the donghua a while ago so I had a little prior knowledge but it went WAY over my head and I was NOT in the mood to read another giant series yet*

(might update as I get further along idk)

[veliseraptor]

xuexiao for the ask meme? The answer is indeed obvious as apparently nobodys asked yet - if you would *like* an opportunity to go off. 👀

👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit

(which is to say, ship it, obviously, I'm not exactly subtle about this one)

What made you ship it? watching yi city arc in cql, pretty much. still remember watching it for the first time, already loving xue yang, and going "what the fuck. how is this actually happening. what the fuck" the whole goddamn time

What are your favorite things about the ship? as much as I love them both (I do, a lot, in case that wasn't clear), and want them to be happy (I do, I will write endless fix its about it), the thing that holds me captive about xuexiao is the tragedy of it. it's sort of the ultimate in "the love was there, but it didn't change anything" ship. by the time it becomes a thing it's already pretty fucking doomed, by virtue of both xue yang and xiao xingchen being who they are. if things were different, if they were different - but they're not, and so they both die, miserably. and it makes me. you know.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I don't know how unpopular it actually is (for the most part I'm really bad at measuring that), but I'm really not about mean dom xiao xingchen. not to harsh other peoples' yums (you find hot what you find hot, I get it), but I just can't make it work for me in terms of characterization.

also this is definitely not unpopular among people who ship the thing but since it does come up not infrequently: xue yang did love xiao xingchen, yes, actually, in the way that he knew how, which just happened to be "badly."

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

So, Canto 5. Spoilers.

Peak fiction, utterly incredible. My following thoughts will be jumbled but forgive me.

I've sadly not finished the source material, so I won't analyze it from that POV, but just to discuss the continued building of the world of the City, the Great Lake is so well conceived as a setting. The individual Lakes and their Waves, and the Whales that cause them, the variable coordinates and U Corp's monopoly on written data of Laws. You could make a whole damn RPG on the back of this stuff alone, I know TTRPG heads are looking at this and coming up with some homebrews.

I wonder if the Lakes are actually the result of the Whales changing the waters around them? Ishmael theorizes that the Whales parasitize humans out of loneliness, to make others like them (which of course reflects on Ahab as a Whale) and I wonder if the waters of the lake are similarly changed to reflect the Whale? And then I think about how Ahab turned the inside of the Pallid Whale into Pequod Town gah the subtext.

I'm also thinking more about the Sinners as a found family. While they've gotten on well enough since Verg put his foot down it's becoming clearer as time goes on that real bonds are forming. Ishmael was certainly straining those bonds but its a testament to them that they grew stronger after she found peace. I was pleasantly surprised she and Outis found a dynamic as fellow seawomen leading to mutual respect, not to mention what's going on between Heath and Ish (I have never shipped anything harder in my life). And then there's the individual relationships to Dante. Dante and Ish have gotten over the hump, and while she says that if they ever go in the wrong direction "she'll drop a skiff and depart" I feel like Ish is invested in Dante as a friend and will be there for them no matter what, including steering them back on the right course.

We saw it in S.E.A., but it's dawning on me that we get to experience characters post arc and that there are consequences to that. It didn't feel that way as strongly with Canto 1 - 3 because Gregor and Rodya are thoroughly still cooking on their issues and Sinclair feels like he's started his arc to becoming more confident and capable (the part where he actually threatens that guy is just chef's kiss). But we saw a Yi Sang who's actively trying to preserve his new friend group and find the bright side of things. Now we'll have a collected Ishmael who can keep it together and is firmly on Dante's side, which will be amazing come the Heartbreaking if the Heathmael dream is real.

Rapid fire thoughts in no particular order:

Ahab VA is perfect casting, her character is phenomenal, and I can't wait to see how she'll do on Hermann's team. PM is carrying the torch of insane old ladies.

I'm increasingly certain that the plot of Limbus will be ultimately about the multiverse (IN A GOOD WAY) and the goals of the villains and other groups deals with mirror worlds in some way.

I'm thinking about the other 3 Calamities of the Lake, Whales that attack without rhyme or reason. I have to imagine them as other great beasts of literature, so one surely is the Crocodile from Peter Pan. Possibly another is the Dogfish from Pinocchio (adapted as Monstro in the Disney version). Then I don't know, the Giant Squid from 20'000 Leagues Under the Sea (or maybe the "Narwhal" itself)? There's many possibilities.

I enjoy the Middle as a faction, they fit in with the deeply absurdist nature of the City and feel distinct from the other Fingers we know about. Makes me wonder what the actual fuck the Pinky's deal is if they're the worst Finger (iirc).

Love the feeling of Faust and Verg as outsiders Red Fraud Alert there's no way it doesn't come to a head at some point where Vergilius and the group are fundamentally at odds but the group is strong enough that threats won't cut it.

Compass is fire. Love that we're seeing different fan remixes combining the vocal and instrumentals in interesting ways, though I worry for the official version. Fly, Broken Wings doesn't work as well when it just goes through the whole thing without repeating the Broken Wings part, I much prefer an edit that matches the in game version more. I hope Mili sees what people are doing and gives us the heartbeat.

Praying to god we get a Stubb or Pip Outis ID with Pequod Captain Ishmael, but that will likely be end of season. I predict Ish ID to be a powerful SP support ID and will likely be as meta as Nclair (which is cool but also kinda unfortunate narratively, there are some downsides to the Gacha format).

Sentences like "Ishmael totally tops Heathcliff, that guy would turn into a puppy dog at the slightest hint of affection" are insane things I believe wholeheartedly and I love every time a literature person stumbles upon it and has to wrestle with this surprisingly valid crackship not knowing its origin.

All for now but I'm sure I'll think of something else later, can't wait for the Christmas Event (which will likely drop after Christmas but c'est la vie).

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Closing out the tl;dr Volume 2 thoughts, now the post of Things That I Liked/Found Interesting! This one is also not rebloggable for the same reasons: it's not a review, it's just personal opinions.

Bullet point version!

-Yi City slaps. A-Qing is a fabulous character and her perspective--as a commoner with zero prior knowledge or interest in the cultivation world--is a breath of fresh air.

-Jin Ling is the best boy and I love him.

-I wish the whole book was about WWX being a chaotic middle school teacher because that's where he's at his best.

-Had some surprising and mixed feelings about JGY and NMJ, both separately and together.

~~~~

-YI CITY YI CITY YI CITY. WHAT A BANGER OF AN ARC. I enjoyed it in the drama (fun fact! I watched Yi City for the first time while very drunk, immediately after watching the Eurovision broadcast. do not do this!), but oh man, it is a BLAST in the novel! Worth the price of book purchase on its own, IMO.

What makes it better? A-Qing, mostly. She's got so much PERSONALITY--she's as brash, she's childish, she's extremely clever, she's unscrupulous in little things but tries her best to do the right thing where it counts, her survival instinct is at odds with her fierce devotion towards her first friend. She's a fully- realized character centering her own arc; yeah, she bears witness to the Songxuexiao tragedy, but it's her reactions that take priority. Since this canon generally isn't that interested in its handful of female characters, I was pleasantly surprised by how much Yi City in the novel was A-Qing's story first and foremost. (IMO, this is a rare case of a female character being less developed in the drama. XY, SL, and XXC make their drama appearances well before Yi City, so we've already developed opinions of them; A-Qing as the newcomer is more an audience avatar rather than an active agent.)

A-Qing's perspective also provides a welcome contrast to what we get elsewhere in the story. She's at the bottom of the social ladder. She's not a cultivator. She doesn't know XY's backstory as a demonic cultivation prodigy recruited by the most powerful clan, she doesn't know SL and XXC's backstory behind the little bits they share with her, and it doesn't make a difference to her. She cares about them as her friend, her friend's friend, and the sus guy who ruined everything, and that's enough to make the tragedy matter.

I also appreciated how her lack of cultivation world knowledge isn't seen as as a shortcoming. When A-Qing fails to pick up on something, WWX's reaction is always some flavor of HHHHH OH GOD OH NO THERE'S NO WAY SHE COULD REASONABLY KNOW THIS BUT HHHHHH THIS IS VERY BAD. He even praises her instincts when her intuition leads her to make practical choices! It made me want to sic WWX on the ASOIAF dudebros who hurl vitriol at 11-year-old Sansa Stark for not somehow psychically inferring information that was actively concealed from her. (It also makes WWX's patronizing attitude towards QS later on even more galling, because it's like, I know you're capable of understanding that not everyone knows what you know, WWX! I just saw you do it!)

-Another fun thing about Novel Yi City was that WWX got to actually do badass demonic cultivation shit. The part where he animates the paper effigies to go fight corpses for him? SUCH FUN. I was going "HELL YEAH! BADASS!" right along with the juniors.

-Or rather, right along with most of the juniors, because I quite liked all the content with JL! He's super annoying! He is the best boy! He loves his uncles! He is capable of change and growth! This is how I know that foreshadowing or indicating a character's emotional responses without spoilers is possible: every time demonic cultivation is presented in a non-negative context, JL is visibly uncomfortable. It's a nice touch, clearly telegraphing "JL has baggage about his parents' deaths that are going to complicate things for WWX once his identity is revealed."

(Relatedly, I also was like ☹️ at WN's quiet sadness when he overhears JL yelling and figures out who he is--identifying him, specifically, as "Miss Jiang's son." Ahhh! AHHH!. Sure would be cool if we could see this kind of thing from WWX himself!)

-I know I dragged WWX quite a bit, but the other great thing about Yi City is seeing WWX in Chaotic Middle School Teacher Mode. ("Congratulations! You just got poisoned!" and LQR's desperate attempts at revising his seating chart are the two most relatable moments in this entire novel to me.) If the story was centered on WWX and LWJ falling in love while leading a monster-hunting Montessori, I would read the shit out of that.

-Man. So like. JGY. Everybody says that he's way more sympathetic in the novel, because the novel makes clear that he's good at his job and includes all the lore about his past that the drama largely omits. Finding out that filial piety to his mother was his core motivator is what elevated him from "cherished garbage man tailor-made to appeal to me" to "garbage man about whom I am fully unwell," so I was super excited about this new and improved version of my son with all the pathos left in.

And... sorry, lads, but Novel JGY does not do it for me the way Drama JGY does, and contemplating why he does not do it for me has been interesting. I think what it boils down to is that by the time we meet him, the narration primes us to view him with suspicion. We are told several positive things about him, but what we are shown--what we actually see him do--is neutral to negative. The first time we actually see him outside of Customer Service Mode, he's gaslighting and threatening QS. That scene makes my skin crawl, and the only reason I can come back from it in the drama is that I already have an attachment to him; it's like how watching the title character of Macbeth spiral through Acts I-III mean I can still sympathize with him in Act V even after the brutal murder of Macduff's family in Act IV. Hitting me with the QS scene right out the gate and going "people were real shitty to him tho" after the fact is akin to starting Macbeth with the Macduffs' deaths and then being like "Macbeth had hella PTSD tho": it's not going to recontextualize anything enough to get me fully on board, especially since the injured parties in this case had nothing to do with his suffering.

-I liked Novel Da-ge more than expected, mostly because I was expecting to hate him so so SO much. I liked getting to see him being a normal-ish man for that one singular scene when 3zun are all together before MY tries to join his father. NMJ's good-natured exasperation as he passed NHS's purposely-forgotten saber to LXC was such a heartbreaking contrast to his violent rage when he destroys NHS's stuff, and really drove home how his saber sickness had him fucked up. Similarly, his easy trust of MY and his willingness to let MY leave to seek his fortune is WILD given how he''s going to spend the rest of the flashback in "bitch eating crackers" mode about everything JGY does and aggressively attempting to control him.

-MY killing the commander in this context was silly. In the drama, I get it! It comes off as a genuinely impulsive action. Here? Literally how is that going to accomplish your goals, bud? NMJ's response to it is also silly, because he tells MY that he won't be executed if his story about plagiarism is true, and like. NMJ. How is he going to prove it. You literally were JUST about to kill him yourself after hearing the story. What is happening. Where is my tearful divorce.

-I cannot emphasize enough how much I prefer the drama's Nieyao dynamic. The decision to have MY be in a trusted position at the Unclean Realm for a substantial amount of time adds sooooo much personal investment to everything that unfolds that appeals to my desire for mess. The novel is just a guy going "I CAN FIX HIM!!!" about his shady former coworker and yelling at him while the guy they both dated is like "awww c'mon guys be nice :("

[ghooostbaby]

i wonder where the interpretation for the whole “he xuan’s revenge failed” thing came from... (jk i know it’s beefleaf fanon :P)

as far as i could tell, there was no indication that he xuan was determined to immediately kill shi qingxuan as part of his revenge, and that not killing him along with shi wudu is a “failure” of his revenge. are you all such vicious revenge perfectionists you DEMAND beheading or bust?? in fact, he xuan already stripped shi qingxuan of his heavenly powers, exposed his brother’s corruption to him, forced him to live out his days without his brother as a mortal in abject poverty without the possibility of reincarnating (as mxtx said in an interview, once someone ascends to the heavens they are taken out of the cycle of reincarnation so shi qingxuan won’t reincarnate) - seems pretty revengey to me ???

there’s also the part when he xuan’s still in disguise, but after shi qingxuan has found out the truth of how he became a god and lost his powers, he xuan gives him the chance to go stay with the rain master while they are going after shi wudu. maybe he was faking it, maybe he genuinely hoped shi qingxuan would go, but it seems like his main interest was shi wudu.

and if he xuan decided not to rip shi qingxuan’s head off ... he xuan was the one that decided that? he wasn’t outsmarted or strong-armed out of it, he was perfectly capable of doing it and didn’t. yeah, i suppose this is where beefleafers could say he doesn’t behead shi qingxuan because he has conflicting feelings.. and this is why it seems that reading beefleaf into the black water arc requires reading he xuan as disempowered. It only works if he isn’t capable of doing what he wants for some reason, but why in the world would that be? is it more likely that he xuan is actually capable of doing things he wants to and not doing things he doesn’t want to do, or that he is rendered incapable of action by romantic feelings? (but i really don’t think what he did to shi qingxuan could be considered “going light” or not taking action... true romantics over in the beefleaf ship, if it’s not a beheading it must be love! XD) I wonder if it’s because he is so defiantly silent, and maybe some readers can’t see agency in introversion, or if maybe if some people who ship them see themselves in shi qingxuan and he xuan is a convenient absence that can be filled with a tragically passive longing. or some people just like shipping things that are nothing but pain... that’s definitely true ...

but it’s such an unfortunate waste of he xuan’s character to read him this way. try reading the black water arc assuming that everything he xuan does, he intentionally chooses. i find it much more interesting. he is a furious, silent, powerful ghost king with a strong sense of justice who has shown himself capable of doing whatever the fuck he wants. if he is in love with shi qingxuan, wouldn’t he do something about it? or maybe even the black water arc was him doing something about it. if he WAS in love with shi qingxuan before he stages the black water arc and this was a test to see if he xuan could really trust him, shi qingxuan so utterly fails him and fails his own commitment to justice, i can’t imagine he xuan would still feel the same by the time they come to the reveal. (and shi qingxuan CERTAINLY doesn’t feel the same way about he xuan as he did for “ming yi” when they see each other again in the imperial city.)

does it really make more sense that he xuan makes all these convoluted moves to avoid murdering shi qingxuan because he has fallen in love with him while hating himself for falling in love with him, so he spares him while also destroying his last family and condemning him to a slow death as a mortal while tortuously watching him from afar for the rest of shi qingxuan’s days ... or that ... he doesn’t want to murder shi qingxuan, doesn’t, punishes him, kills the villain who destroyed his family’s lives, and then gladly gets the fuck out of the heavens, and never appears to shi qingxuan again except that one time his bb gurl (hua cheng) asked him. this feels like a very “he’s just not that into you” scenario. sometimes if someone murders your brother and leaves you to ruins and other than one time where they acted extremely angry never appears to you again, it’s NOT because they secretly harbour an eternal flame for you. !!

the simplest explanation is likely the right one! and also this is an explanation that assumes he xuan is capable of acting on his own desires. i mean ... did you READ his backstory?! he is THE character of desire and determination!

[symphonyofsilence]

i feel like mdzs doesn't have a happy ending at all, or like doesn't feel "complete". wwx runs away from the past but is reminiscing constantly and that never gets solved. the whole premise of gossip and mob mentality also doesn't get solved because jgy was guilty and so it was justified?? like... i don't know how to feel about this book. is it badly written or purposely incomplete? are the main couple so nonsensical in their displays of love because it's commentary or because it's actually romantic?

I agree that it doesn't have a happy ending. The only character that I can think of that got an actual happy ending is Mianmian. And maybe LWJ. WWX is happy and satisfied at the end of the novel on the surface but just as you said, he keeps reminiscing and he didn't get closure for all of the considerable trauma he went through -up to and including dying. And he clearly wants to go back to Lotus Pier. I think it's supposed to be a bittersweet ending.

I think the gossip and mob mentality never gets solved because realistically it will never get solved. All it can be is addressed and warned about. And I think where we get this is precisely when JGY was guilty of some sins but what the people gossiped about was exactly what he wasn't guilty of. Immediately after his death, people started to gossip about how he was so narcissistic that he made a statue of himself to be worshipped. While that statue was actually his mother's. WWX here notes that:

But there was no use in saying all that. Nobody knew with more clarity than Wei WuXian that nobody would care and nobody would believe him. Anything related to Jin GuangYao would be given the most malicious conjectures and passed through the mouths of the crowd

WWX draws parallels between himself & JGY the moment the crowd turns against JGY & asks WWX for help, too. Then in the inn, WWX overhears people speculating about why JGY left Sisi alive. And this goes so far that even people who were gossiping eagerly at that table feel uncomfortable. But the crowd still goes on shamelessly. Noting that nobody knows who they are here. Indicating that they know what they're doing is shameful, but they don't care. Even the phrase "what goes around, comes around" which at the beginning of the story was used for WWX by the people at the inn, is used for JGY too at the end.

But we're given a glimpse of hope for the future of society through the next generation. Children who saw the notorious MXY and trusted him accepted his help and advice, and eventually accepted him, Children, who gave the Yiling Laozu and the ghost general a chance to prove themselves and when they did, they changed their minds and defended them. Children who started shipping Wangxian before WWX himself did-or knew that he was gay. Through JL helping MXY escape from JC even if he was still weary of him because of the previous scandal that got him kicked out of the Jin Sect, giving him a second chance, supporting his relationship with LWJ, overcoming his internalized homophobia, and JL who saw that even if JGY, WWX, and WN gave him reasons to hate them they also gave him reasons to love them, and chose to not choose hate, and chose to mourn JGY, JL who when scolded for mourning JGY by the most notorious gossiper of the old generation in the story he told him off.

I do agree that the story is sort of incomplete. But I think it's incomplete in a complete way-...I'm not making any sense. what I mean is that I think it's narratively complete, but the story of the characters still goes on. But they each do get a closure, for better or for worse. and that's where we leave them. Right after they get their closures. But what they will do with the rest of their lives is left unsaid. But it didn't need to be said. The main story that the book told; the Sunshot Campaign, The 5 great sects, 3 Zun, Yi City Arc, and Wangxian all came to their ends. no subplot was left without a resolution and no character was left with an unknown fate. NHS's years-long revenge plot came to fruit and he saw the demise of the man who killed his brother, that was the end of the 3 Zun and NHS's only goal for many years and he achieved that, but now he's left with the dusty hat of his san-ge, and a sect that he's more or left driven to ruin, and none of his family and friends. He will come to be the next Xiandu, but he will be the loneliest social butterfly. LXC finally found out the truth about JGY's deeds and how his other sworn brother got killed, and he chose to still love JGY, he chose to die with him, and when he was saved by JGY in the last minute, he knew that his love was returned. and now he's the only one left of the 3 Zun, and with the knowledge that A-Yao would never move against him. Maybe one day he can go back to be Lan-Zongzhu, maybe one day he can wield Shouyue and not see A-Yao's blood on it, maybe one day he can celebrate his brother finally getting together with his beloved, maybe he can still not end up like his father, but not today. LSZ now knows about his Wen heritage, he now has an undead biological family member & he will reconcile his Wen and Lan heritage and honor what remains of his long-gone sect. Along with Wen Ning who now has a last-living family member, and will try to find his new purpose in life...or death. SL goes around the world to continue his quest with XXC now with XXC's sword and the hope to one day see his reincarnation again. JL has almost all the truths and he has decided what to do with it, He will not choose hatred & anger, he will give people second chances. he will mourn what's to be mourned and move on with his life. Being a sect leader at his age is not easy and he's still struggling and stumbling & he needs to learn to ask for help more. but he's doing his best and he has his uncles and his friends to help him. JC now knows what WWX has done for him, why he needed to do what he eventually came to do, how he honored their sect, and why he left, even if I think WWX didn't correctly communicate to him that he loved JC personally and what he did wasn't only out of duty, and JC with his insecurity and unshakable belief that he's unlovable wouldn't reach this conclusion, he more or less got closure and he can now step in the path of healing. He who was continuously after WWX in both halves of the story in the end stopped JL from following WWX and said "Let everyone go back to where they belong." He would go back to being Jiang-Zongzhu and JL's jiujiu and since what he most cares about is his sect and family I think as long as those two are fine he would be content, if not necessarily happy, and maybe one day, he and WWX will reconcile, too. And Wangxian have each other. WWX has someone who he knows will catch him if he jumps down from a tree. and LWJ will not let thousand-year rules dictate to him what is wrong and what is right, won't see the world in black and white, won't let his sect stand between him and happiness, and will love someone flawed freely and untamed, and flawed. And maybe one day WWX will go back to Lotus Pier and drink Lotus Wine with JC and know that he had always had and will always have a home and a family there.

The ending of MZDS is I think above all, realistic. and in reality, life goes on. and every ending is a new beginning. we left the characters at the end of the story but there is a whole universe still going on inside the book where the characters will go on with their lives after the storm, and they will live on inside our minds as well. I think the way their stories are not entirely complete is actually a very incredible way for the characters to forever live in our minds. For instance, if JC told WWX about his sacrifice the Yunmeng Shuangjie fully reconciled and went back to what they were we wouldn't have this much collective brainrot as we have now. And realistically, WWX's and JC's relationship couldn't go back to what it was that quickly, it needed a whole book of its own.

It's also one of the reasons that I think WWX's issues being unresolved is intentional. BC realistically people stick to the coping mechanisms they know and if WWX thinks that repressing, ignoring, running away, and pretending that everything is fine has worked so far for him, then he wouldn't let it go. Especially since overconfidence is also one of his character flaws. He knows best. (so much that he even makes decisions for other people. And assumes their feelings and thoughts without ever asking them about them) If he thinks it's fine then it's fine. And the way he had to face his repressed emotions about the core transfer when JC made him talk about it for the first and only time, how he quickly turned away from JC after the Guanyin Temple before he could say anything, and how he kept repressing his emotions and yearning for LP & his remaining family (he stops himself before asking more about JC & JL from the Juniors in the extras), and is maladjusted in the CR show that MXTX hasn't just forgotten about it. She does see it as an unresolved issue. And when MXTX truly wants to give her characters growth she will do it. [Spoiler for TGCF & SVSSS] like how Shen Yuan finally comes to embrace his feelings for LBH & his own identity & his emotional- openness and breaks away from the way the system wants him to act and becomes his true self. And the way Xie Lian finally lets go of his guilt over Wu Ming and learns what he told HC is also true for himself, too ("what matters is you, and not the state of you.") And he gets free from his shackles. He has a real, genuine talk with MQ & he reconciles with his two best friends. He even forgives Jun Wu. And everyone except Beefleaf and Junmei gets a happy ending.

about Wangxian...well, I honestly don't know what's with all this romanticizing non-con in the romance genre. I don't really think it's in the book to be criticized. What MXTX does is that she acknowledges that those are wrong things to do with LWJ being distressed by what he's done when he kisses WWX without his consent, and WWX feeling guilty after he kisses LWJ when he's drunk but not enough to stop doing that and then feeling guilty again when he does the do with him when he's drunk after that (until LWJ just fully goes for it without asking for consent or paying any attention to WWX's protests AGAIN but now skips the guilt phase), Fengqing being horrified by HC's stalking and obsession and HC feeling ashamed, too, and LQG & SQQ being horrified by LBH's obsession, stalking, imposing and non-con advances. But then it all gets solved by the good ol' "jokes on you they're into that". (Except for SQQ I think) So I guess those are there in the story to, as what some with those specific kinks would say, spice things up.

And as for the lack of communication, MXTX does satirize it in SVSSS where LBH's advances are seen as murder attempts by SQQ but I think in MDZS it's there to create drama and slow-burn and highlight the depth of LWJ's love when LXC finally explains to WWX that all this time LWJ has believed that WWX knows that he loves him, has rejected him & his flirtings are only mocking his feelings but still has chosen to dedicate himself to WWX & follow him around everywhere for the rest of his life (and we know this kind of devotion and following one's loved-one everywhere and helping them whenever necessary but never undermining their decisions is how MXTX depicts true love with HC saying to XL "I'm forever your most devoted believer", SQQ saying to LBH "this time, wherever you go, this master will accompany you." And SQH saying to Mobei Jun "My king, please let me follow you the rest of my life!". Usually, there are supporting characters who are also loyal and loving towards the MC and used to always follow and help them (JC, FX & MQ), but due to some other concerns, they had to leave the MC. But the love interest's priority is always the MC & nothing can set them apart.) the lack of communication is very in character for both of them as both of them are people who would rather (literally) die than talk about their feelings. And WWX just DOESN'T understand when people show their love for him with acts of service. So I'd say it depicts two flawed people in love with each other.

[amynchan]

Okay, so today:

Had a bajillion panicked messages to which I had to respond either Read What I Wrote The First Time, Read What I Wrote The Second Time, or (v rarely) ok this is an issue let's get it done.

(That last one got mixed in with all of the other ones that were basically "help me I didn't read the directions," so it took too damn long to figure out that there was an issue and solve it. I am Not Pleased about this and honestly Rather Pissed Off.).

Kept getting slammed with people and messages who were panicked and upset that I hadn't done a thing yet. When I was done with the messages, the thing took--total--30 minutes. I could have done it a LOT sooner without all of the panicking.

Got lowkey accused of being unhelpful despite clearly outlining the boundaries that exist for my own mental health. Seriously. Implying that I'm a shit person for sticking to my work hours is a shitty move.

Spent about an hour troubleshooting a problem that only existed because Someone Else Panicked Too Hard. Had a hard time believing there was a problem in the first place due to the issue of 'too many people panicked after skimming what I wrote,' so it took even LONGER for this poor guy to get actual assistance. (Again, kicking myself in the ass over this.)

Had to record a whole new video for a set of directions even though the directions are right there but people don't wanna read 'em and I'm v tired of them making that my problem over and over again.

Forgot to eat and had to scarf down my lunch right before class so as to keep a promise to a friend. Said lunch may have stunk up the nearby space, and that made me feel bad after a whole morning of being filled with rage.

Injured myself while cooking. I am now wearing a bandaid and a glove to make sure that this puppy is properly covered.

Ruined a perfectly good potato (different cooking venture. RIP potato. ;-; ).

Broke my chair somehow. It now has no back on it, and I cannot lean upon it anymore. Likely gonna have to get a new computer chair. :((

On the other hand, I got to

Show my friends the Yi City arc in the donghua! :DDD

so I'm rather giddy at the moment because I KNEW that one of them was gonna love Xue Yang and I was right.

[mxtxfanatic]

A-Qing and Wei Wuxian: An Under-Discussed Analysis

While many different Yi City comparisons and relationship breakdowns have been made, one that I don't think I've ever seen is between A-Qing and Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian is probably the first living being to treat A-Qing with respect and not fear or revulsion after her death. He plays into her jumpscare trick by allowing her to scare the juniors, but also addresses her respectfully, the directness of which initially arouses her wariness. He trusts her to lead him and the juniors to safety, being able to understand that she does not mean any of them harm. This is a trust she then reciprocates when she allows Wei Wuxian to perform Empathy on her to share her wish to avenge Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan:

Wei Wuxian smiled. “Mm, you’ve thought about this, very good. This is exactly how you should analyze the situation—don’t ignore any suspicious details. Now then, let’s ask her to come inside and clear up any doubts about this case.” After he finished speaking, he immediately removed one of the wooden boards blocking the window. The youths inside the dim room and even the ghost outside were startled by his sudden movement. She raised her bamboo pole in defense. Wei Wuxian first waved to the ghost. “Miss, you’ve been following us this whole time. Do you have some business with us?” he asked immediately.

—Chapt. 36: Flora IV, fanyiyi

The ghost of the blind, tongue-less girl had returned! Wei Wuxian made a snap decision. “Let’s go!” “Go where?” Lan Jingyi said. “Follow the sound of the bamboo pole,” Wei Wuxian replied. “You want us to follow a ghost?” Jin Ling said, somewhat startled. “Who knows where she’ll take us?!” “Yes, exactly. Follow her. The sound’s been tailing you ever since you got here, right? You tried to walk further into the city, but she was leading you toward the city gates, and then you ran into us. She was trying to drive you away—to rescue you!”

...

“Why don’t you come in?” Wei Wuxian said to the ghost girl. She wiped her eyes and face and ran at him, her entire soul merging with his body.

—Chapt. 38: Flora VI, fanyiyi

But the thing I find most interesting about A-Qing and her role amidst the Yi City arc's parallels is how alike she and Wei Wuxian are. If Xiao Xingchen is the parallel for Wei Wuxian's righteousness and the trajectory of his first life, then A-Qing is the parallel for his adaptability and unwillingness to passively accept evil cloaked in civility, as a lot of the moments where Wei Wuxian and A-Qing are most in-tuned are when A-Qing is showing off her survival skills or when they are both mentally raging about Xue Yang:

This girl really knows how to act wild. I understand now—she’s pretending to be blind. She was probably born with white pupils. Even though she looks blind on the surface, she actually can see. She’s using her appearance to pose as a blind person in order to trick people and win their sympathy. As a young, lone, homeless girl, if she pretended to be blind, others would naturally lower their guard. In reality, she could see perfectly clearly and could thus adapt to the situation. It indeed counted as a smart method of self-protection.

...

Ah-qing apologized repeatedly, but as the man was about to leave, he realized he wasn’t willing to let it go just yet. His unruly right hand found Ah-qing’s bottom and pinched her forcefully. As he shared her feelings, this was effectively the same as pinching Wei Wuxian. He instantaneously felt his skin crawl and become covered in a dense layer of goosebumps. He could think about nothing except slapping the man so hard he’d fly right into the earth.

—Chapt. 39: Flora VII, fanyiyi

Before she even opened her mouth, something small flew abruptly toward her. Subconsciously, Wei Wuxian wanted to dodge in case it was some kind of concealed weapon, but of course, he had no control over Ah-qing’s body. Soon after, he came to a sudden and startling realization: It’s a trap! Xue Yang was experimenting on Ah-qing. If she was truly blind, she shouldn’t be able to dodge! Ah-qing proved herself a veteran of posing as a blind girl at all times. She was quick: when she saw the object sailing toward her, she didn’t attempt to duck out of the way. She didn’t even blink. Instead, she allowed it to strike her lower chest, and only then did she jump back. ... He pointed the tip of the blade at Ah-qing. If she walked a few more steps forward, she would be impaled. But if she hesitated even a moment, the fact that she wasn’t truly blind would be revealed! Wei Wuxian shared all five of Ah-qing’s senses, and he could also feel the prickling at the back of her head. However, the girl had incomparable courage and composure, and continued to feel her way forward, expression normal. Sure enough, when her stomach was about a centimeter from the tip of the blade, Xue Yang drew back Jiangzai on his own and placed it back into his sleeve, exchanging it for a couple of pieces of candy. ... She was astonishingly shrewd, Wei Wuxian thought. Ah-qing hadn’t forgotten at all. Everything Xiao Xingchen said, she remembered more clearly than anyone. She had said the wrong thing on purpose, and since Xue Yang corrected her, he had effectively confirmed that he was also a cultivator. His test had failed, but she had tested him successfully in return. Though the girl was so young, her mind was surprisingly sharp.

...

Xiao Xingchen hadn’t had much prior experience with people like him and was easily amused—just a few of Xue Yang’s remarks could make him laugh. Listening to their pleasant conversation, Ah-qing viciously but silently mouthed a few words. After careful observation, it seemed as though she were saying, “I’m going to kill you, you horrible thing.” Wei Wuxian and Ah-qing’s feelings were the same.

...

There’s no way Xue Yang has good intentions, Wei Wuxian thought. He even wants to help Xiao Xingchen night- hunt. If Ah-qing doesn’t follow them, then we’ll miss something big. However, Ah-qing was indeed quick-witted and understood that Xue Yang was probably up to no good. She waited until the pair left, then hopped out of the coffin and followed them at a distance.

—Chapt. 39: Flora VII, fanyiyi

However, Ah-qing did not understand the cipher lying before her. Her knowledge was extremely cursory, derived entirely from the occasional moments when Xiao Xingchen had mentioned these subjects. “Could that rotten thing really be helping Daozhang?” she mumbled. Don’t start believing in Xue Yang so easily! Wei Wuxian thought. Fortunately, Ah-qing’s intuition was very sharp. Though she couldn’t pick out anything strange from what she saw, her wary attitude toward Xue Yang was deeply rooted within her. She hated him on instinct and couldn’t feel at ease with him. Thus, whenever Xue Yang followed Xiao Xingchen out to night-hunt, she quietly tailed them. Even when they were all at home, she never let down her guard.

—Chapt. 40: Flora VIII, fanyiyi

While A-Qing lacked the cultivation knowledge and skill to act on her knowledge to save lives, the courage and endurance she displayed while living with Xue Yang matches Wei Wuxian's own spirit. And because of this shared spirit, A-Qing is willing to entrust her life and after-life goal to Wei Wuxian:

Wei Wuxian sighed internally, then turned to Ah-qing. “We’ve troubled you.” ... Propped up on the side of the coffin, Ah-qing pressed her palms together and bowed repeatedly to Wei Wuxian. Afterwards, with her bamboo pole serving as her sword, she made the “kill kill kill” gesture she had often used when causing a ruckus. “Don’t worry,” Wei Wuxian said.

—Chapt. 41: Flora IX, fanyiyi

...a faith proven rightfully placed as not only does he (and Lan Wangji!) put an end to Xue Yang's reign of terror in Yi City, he also releases Song Lan from the curse of the nails and gathers the fragments of her shattered soul to give to him for safekeeping:

“Hold him down!” Wei Wuxian said. He leaned over and rapidly felt through Song Lan’s hair, searching for the two nails stuck in the corpse’s skull. Relief washed over him when his fingers found the ends: this pair of nails was much thinner than the pair which had been hammered into Wen Ning’s head. Plus, they were made of different material, so restoring Song Lan’s original consciousness wouldn’t be too hard. Immediately, Wei Wuxian pinched the ends of the nails and slowly began pulling them out. Feeling the foreign objects move in his head, Song Lan’s eyes abruptly widened. He let out a low hiss, and Wen Ning was forced to press him down harder to prevent him from escaping. When the nails were finally wrenched free, Song Lan immediately collapsed on the ground, entirely immobile, paralyzed, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

—Chapt. 41: Flora IX, fanyiyi

After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian produced two identical, small spirit-locking pouches and passed them over to him. “Xiao Xingchen Daozhang and Miss Ah-qing.” Though Ah-qing had been terrified of Xue Yang, she had closely shadowed her murderer, preventing him from escaping or hiding until Bichen had plunged its blade through his chest and he had finally experienced retribution. The seal Xue Yang had venomously thrown at her had shattered her soul. Wei Wuxian had run around frantically, trying his best to pick up the pieces, but he had only successfully retrieved part of it, and only after a great deal of effort. Now that Ah-qing’s soul was in fragments, it was in more or less the same state as Xiao Xingchen’s. Curled up in their respective spirit locking pouches, the two souls seemed extremely fragile, as though they would disintegrate right inside the pouch at the slightest bump. Song Lan’s hands trembled slightly as he received them. He held the pouches in his palm, too afraid to carry them by their tassels lest a shake destroy the souls inside.

—Chapt. 42: Flora X, fanyiyi

[corrose]

for the ask meme, 10, 12, 13? (your choice for fandom/character)

omg. thank you for the ask, sorry it took me so long to respond! My takes aren't super salty unforch and it took me so long to come up with answers (brain smooth)

10) Most disliked arc? Why?

12) Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

13) Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

10) Most disliked arc? Why?

MDZS - Not a fan of the Yi City arc. I just didn't care as much about the whole *waves hand airily* whatever tf was going on with Xuē Yáng and Xiǎo Xīngchén and co. The general consensus that they're narrative foils for the mains...okay sure etc, but the characters don't compel or move me. It felt like an anime filler arc complete with extended flashbacks. Also. A-Qing deserved better.

12) Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Friend i racked my brains so hard for this one and honestly can't think of anything either past or current. Brain empty (holds it upside down like an empty wallet and a gnat flies out) instead i will choose to answer #14.

13) Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

ORV - Nirvana had so much nonbinary swag and I sorta wish singshong had pulled a Vegeta so that Nirvana could become a weird Kimcom party member lmao. Glad that we still get to see Nirvana from time to time as a librarian, but Nirvana as Kimcom party member would have been so funny. to me. (Does this even count as an unpopular opinion)

Secondary answer - Jiāng Chéng did nothing wrong actually

14) Unpopular opinion about your fandom?

People who aren't CN speakers shouldn't do podfics of CN properties 🙃

[r95irth]

For the salty ask list: 25 and 10 regarding MDZS

Aw thank you for playing the game with me ^^

10 - Most disliked arc and why?

I'm going to anger my beta-reader Nasha...but I really disliked the Yi city arc, for several reasons (mostly stupid ones one stupid and one more legitimate than the other) The more legitimate one...It felt ouf of the story, like different from the rest (which makes sense since it's a story that MTXT wrote in high school and decided to implement last minute), I didn't like that there was no-prexistence for XY, XXC and SZC before. I did like WWX being a teacher in this and it was fun but that's it. I didn't even really vibe with the romantic couple of the arc (sorry XXC/SZC and XY U-U) I do like XY and A-Qing a lot (and Ouyang Zizhen whom shined in this arc) but huh that's it. It doesn't help that it's a moment of the story I was struggling with the power system and didn't understand much of how WW could do this and that (it was the beginning, so I waited for an explanation that never came, used to the way western books do, which is on me).

The stupid reason is that someone put the kids in danger and nailed dead cats for that. Which automatically make them the ultimate villain for me. You kill cat you're irredeemable in my book *runs away*

25 - How would you end MDZS? Would you change the ending ?

Ah, hard question. I really loved MTXT, I wouldn't change much from it? But at the same time I would changes some things.

Maybe make the theme a little more clearer because obviously some readers didn't get it, but there's always people not reading it like the author intend to. You can't fight that. So yeah...

My author side adores the parallel between LXC and JGY and their parents (the same way LWJ and WWX mirror it) adore the first sentence being "Wei Wuxian is dead hurray!!" and you spend the whole book learning that actually, not hurray at all...And the last line "JGY is dead, hurray!!" (when really not hurray). I think though this would have needed to be more highlighted, by giving more time / more development in the extra. With the cultivation world being in trouble because now they have lost their best administrator, and they have NHS who is not a good plotter or a good administrator either and destroyed everything in his revenge path. I would have more Wangxian getting a bit held responsible for some things because I'm sorry they are not acting to righteous by hiding the truth from LXC and going in their honeymoon phase and abandoning everything else. I do love seeing them happy, and I adored the incense burner extra but huh I feel they replaced important story bit we would have needed xD I would have also loved to see the Lan sect and the Nie sect getting a bit exposed for their hypocrisy (especially the Nie sect and they almost demonic cultivation saber)

But on the other hand I also hate the way MDZS ended with that loop. (I know I'm human, I'm complicated TT) I wanted JGY to get away and survive, because I'm tired of the "commoner who rose to the top and ended up being "corrupted" (aka playing their rules) being punished and proving the point of elite that letting them (commoners) in is actually worse than letting the system as it is" I really really hate that. I would rather have him flee and prosper in another place.

OR BETTER, my ideal ending is JGY ascending. like I said on twitter and then Shiome did an awesome fix-it au art like a week later (satiating my urge to write the au) - linking MDZS and TGCF together by having JGY ascend as a god, paving that once again you don't have to be perfect to be a god (im sorry if you hadn't read tgif, know that every gods in there is guilty of something). I would have loved that type of ending because we avoid the trope and JGY ends up being a bit right and doing the middle finger to everyone (look at Shiome's perfect art!!). and make the overall theme even clearer aka, the problem is the society. think that'd be my ultimate perfect ending for MDZS U-U° (and I could write an happy ending for xiyao, since Wangxian got their, they are fine they don't need extra help).

I'm going to be a little weird again, but as much as I love JC, I would to change anything to his story. Not even Chengxian reconciliation. I do love to reconcile them in my fics, but I do like that in the book they just...Are cordial to each other and not angry anymore but not friend/back to what they used to be. I just find it more realistic. People who's been following me for a long time know I'm picky with redemption arc and forgiveness. Not all characters needs to be forgiven/to forgive, I like diversity and some not forgiving. (I like some never forgetting, forgiving, and live their life without being portrayed as resentful) which I feel is a bit the case for JC. (as much as JC can be at least).

[silvysartfulness]

12, 17, 19, 22 for the choose violence ask game👀

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Oh man, like. All of them? I tend to only fall for unpopular characters, so that's a long list. But keeping it just to a few choice people in the Untamed;

Xue Yang. Obviously. He's brilliant, he's dedicated, he's fucked up in some really interesting ways and he got so close to having a redemption arc and happy ending before everything came crashing down! If he'd been the protagonist/viewpoint character, you know he'd be getting the fandom's WWX cinnamon roll treatment. But alas.

Jiang Cheng. That so many people dislike him honestly baffles me? I see so many takes that are frankly based in extremely shallow readings, disregarding his trauma, his world context, the impossible balance between his crushing responsibilities and the people important to him. He's not your homophobic dad or schoolyard bully, he's a deeply traumatized person doing the best with what he's got despite losing everything dear to him over and over, and he's trying so hard. He's loud and has a hot temper, but for fuck's sake, there's so much love there and you'd almost have to be willfully blind not to see it!

Jin Guangyao. Another of those "if he'd been the main character/viewpoint character, people would have loved him" ones. He's intelligent, determined, hardworking and loyal - though frequently pushed way beyond his breaking point in that loyalty. Pragmatic to the point of ruthlessness, but it's because the world's one big trolley problem to him - he sacrifices the few to help the many (even if yes, that does include himself in 'the many'), but he doesn't take pleasure in the hurt he causes (except in that one pretty understandable case of his dad). He deserves so much compassion, or at the very least understanding!

Should I put Song Lan on here? A lot of people seem to hate on him for very shallow, ship-related reasons, but within the plot, he tried his very hardest to set things right. It's not his fault they were all already doomed by the narrative and he walked into Yi City that day as the unwitting catalyst.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

For fics, Yi City fix-its that don't count killing Xue Yang as "fixing it". Stories digging into the hot mess of the complex, fascinating canon-verse, or at least reincarnation.

More fics with characterization I vibe with - a complicated, rough-edged but ultimately lovable Xue Yang, a compassionate but stubborn and somewhat brittle Xiao Xingchen and a Song Lan who feels so much and is so bad at showing it. More SXX fics overall!

For art, more art with the CQL character designs! The designs for the other adaptations are kind of cute, but they're just not my guys, and I feel pretty lukewarm toward them on the whole.

(And fellow artists - please, please, please don't forget Xue Yang's missing finger! 😭 I see so much fanart with either 10 intact fingers, or a glove with a fully articulated left pinky. His lost finger is the driving force of his entire character arc, don't just forget about it...😢)

19. you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Hmm... 🤔 On the whole, I don't feel a lot of shame for my tastes in fiction. I'm surprised I actually ended up really liking the main couple as much as I did - in a love story, no less? That literally never happens, I always go for the sideline gremlins.Other than that, though...

Trying very hard to hold up the blorbos and my usual go-to tropes, groping around for any sense of horror or shame, but I can't think of anything really. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I guess I'm that one (1) person who actually likes the Yin Iron plot? I genuinely think CQL made a lot of good choices to tie the sprawling narrative together more cohesively, and I liked the introduction of the Yin Iron and how it led into the creation of the Yin Tiger Seal rather than tossing the latter in as an "Oh yeah, this was a thing that totally existed all along, forgot to mention". (I know MDZS was written and posted in installment, and that can make it hard to work with foreshadowing etc, but even so. I do think CQL did a good job tightening up the story in many ways.)

And don't get me wrong, I absolutely don't mind the idea of Xue Yang as an absolute nobody clawing his way up from nothing! It's a delicious version, too! But there's just something about the idea of a family he could have belonged to, a sense of community he could have had, ripped away centuries before he was even born.

If I want to be a petty, I guess I could put "Xue Yang is canonically brilliant" under this question, too, because I wish that was explored in more fics and meta. The boy is a prodigy. He's a genius. He's also a street-brawler, petty thief and murderous little piece of shit, but that doesn't take away the first point. Let Xue Yang be the highly, dangerously intelligent Problem that he actually is!