#and hua cheng died before turning 18

[yes-i-read-sappho]

realizing that neither xie lian nor hua cheng possess a fully developed frontal lobe has radically changed my perception of them

[baiwu-jinji]

I'm so very late to the party but finally finished listening to TGCF audio drama season 1, love how intense the last two episodes are :3 Here are some incoherent thoughts about some of the episodes I haven't talked about:

Episode 12: It occurred to me when I'm listening to this episode that the ghosts of Ghost City are always so lively and bubbly, always laughing and flirting and teasing, when most of them must've had a tragic life story with unresolved misfortunes that caused them to turn into ghosts in the first place. Their high spirits feels incongruous with their tragic past, but maybe it's because they're happier as ghosts than as humans?

There's a ghost called 红粉骷髅 (literally "skeleton of beautiful woman") in this episode that finds afterlife much more liberating and satisfying than life itself, as she recites the following poem when she's dancing: "I danced for others in life, nobody buried my bones when I died; I sing for myself after death, my beauty moves the netherworld."

(The name 红粉骷髅 actually comes from a Buddhist story where the Bodhisattva Guanyin turns into a beautiful woman to make love to men but would suddenly turn into a skeleton in the process, scaring the men into realising that the most alluring beauty in the world is but ashes and bones and ghastly in death, and that they shouldn't give in to temptations.)

Episode 13: Hua Cheng tells Xie Lian that he doesn't look at the wishes of his believers and just throws them away because he doesn't care about being worshipped. This just shows the difference between Hua Cheng and Jun Wu: although they both desire power, Hua Cheng only wants power in himself and over his own fate, while Jun Wu wants power over others. The conversation between HC and XL is as follows:

HC: It's better to help yourself than ask the help of others. If you want to climb out of the abyss, what use is it to look to others? Others won't come to save you every time.

XL: That's why you need gods.

HC: But if everyone counts on the god, what about the god? Wouldn't the god get tired?

XL: But you must have many believers. If you turn a blind eye to their prayers, won't they consider you to be ineffectual?

HC: I didn't ask them to worship me, they kneeled before me without my permission. Besides, only those who happen to have their wishes granted would dare to talk about it - those who don't wouldn't dare to complain.

Episode 17: Xie Lian tells Lang Qianqiu that he named his sword technique which he uses to break up a clash by diverting all the harm to himself "wuming" (meaning "nameless") - a fitting name because the technique is about the negation of the self, and sacrificing oneself to endure it all. "Wuming" is also the name Hua Cheng took when he followed Xie Lian after the fall of Xianle and eventually sacrificed himself to protect Xie Lian.

Episode 18: When Xie Lian worries that telling Lang Qianqiu the truth would make Lang Qianqiu question everything XL taught him and cease to be the courageous and honourable person that he is, Hua Cheng asks XL to trust in LQQ's innate moral strength. I like what HC said to XL about LQQ:

"If you value him so much, then why can't you trust him? Trust that since he's the one you chose, he won't lose himself in hatred and will eventually do what he should do, even though he once wanted to destroy the whole world out of hate."

HC is asking XL to have faith in LQQ the same way that HC has always had faith in XL.

There's also something I wonder about the situation between Xie Lian and Lang Qianqiu. LQQ's parents were murdered by the resentful ghosts of the people of Xianle, and XL took the blame for the Gilded Banquet massacre because he didn't want LQQ to think that he tried to save those resentful ghosts in vain, that LQQ's good will towards the resentful ghosts was met with hatred and revenge. But has it occurred to XL that his own supposed "betrayal" would've hurt LQQ equally much? Would LQQ really feel better if instead of the resentful ghosts, it's his teacher whom he admired and respected so much that had betrayed him?

[eruhamster]

it is really really really really cute to me that xie lian really followed through with the 'if i were a god, i'd give them a cup' promise.

hua cheng was so destructively unlucky he got his mom killed, doomed the kingdom of xianle, and in all honestly probably attracted jun wu to xie lian. none of these are things he did directly, but they're a result of his extreme unluckiness. he died before he turned 18, and even in death, he was unlucky enough to be captured and thrown into a lantern to be sold off, unlucky enough to cause xie lian further strife and was perhaps the reason why they kept getting found and needed to move, perhaps why xie lian was caught trying to steal, and he was unlucky enough to be bitten up so severely by the angry ghosts that he was on the brink of annihilation.

then xie lian sealed his luck with the intention that that luck spill over to those around him.

from that point on, everything was smooth sailing for the person closest to xie lian. the person always on his tail. ascended as a god, descended and became a supreme, found extreme prosperity, lucky beyond imagination.

and the first time in 800 years he rolls a snake eyes when trying to discern his luck with a bit of divination, it's when xie lian's luck is unsealed. the moment xie lian's luck is unsealed, that's when he almost dies(well, 'dies') one more time.

i'd like to think that in married life, their lucks are both so-so now. they drink from the same cup.

[caluski]

So I recently finished reading TGCF... But I have a problem with two things. Spoilers ahead obviously.

In human years, Xie Lian is about 10 years older than Hua Cheng, yes? Since Xie Lian gets turned into an immortal at 17 and doesnt physically age anymore... So how is it that Hua Cheng dies before turning 18 like the fortune said? Because he dies as a soldier... But there is no way that a decade has passed before the war, no??? I can't remember exactly - I feel like I've read the whole thing too fast, the timeline feels blurry in my head - but hasn't it been less than a year since Xie Lian steps down to help for the first time? Isn't that when the war breaks out? That should still make Hua Cheng a child, not a nearly adult teenager...

But THEN - even if I assume I misread that and he actually did die at 16-17, where the hell did the adult form of him come from??? Wouldn't that make the one that followed Xie to puqi shrine the "real" form??? Since that's approximately the age he died?? His image with the eyepatch and the pearl bead and all that, it kept being described as a man in his 20s.... I keep trying to think what have I missed, but even the time he gets killed as a "no name" ghost for the first time, too, he's also in his actual time-of-death state. That much was clear. So what was up with the sudden body change? This whole time, between dying as a ghost, to rejecting becoming a god, he was an immortal still, in one way or another. He couldn't age, right??? It was never mentioned that in the process of becoming the ghost king he could mature physically as he was gathering more power. The only thing explained seemed to be the eye part.

What am I missing here????? No doubt there must be something I misread or accidentally skipped, but what.... What's the explanation for it???????????? How did Hua grow more and Xie didn't even though they were both turned immortal at approx the same age????????????????????????

Also, actually another thing that really annoyed me: that damn array password being left unrevealed. Not that I was that curious of what it was, but I expected it to be revealed and it wasn't, not even in the extras (and in the extras it was even revealed what the last mural was which was EXTREMELY obvious and didn't need to be said). So I went on reddit and I only found theories and someone mentioned that the author stated that "it's to stay between hualian". Which made me even more annoyed LOL because it just makes it sound like even she couldn't come up with what it could be. Personally I don't think it would be sexual, since obviously hua had a ton of worshippers and was a pretty boy and everything, so a lot of people, especially residents of ghost town, wouldn't actually mind saying some stupid stuff like praising his dick or something. I think it would be something like "hua cheng is the best husband in the world" because by the time Xie learned it obviously they still weren't a couple and if it was something Xie-specific (like "San Lang" since he's the only one to refer to him with that. He was soooooooo embarrassed of being so in love with Xie Lian he would NEVER force him to say this kind of stuff in fear of revealing too openly wanting to be spoken to in such way).

I don't know LOL I think I'm overthinking this way too much. But I don't want to give too much shit to the author, I think the story was fun and idk I honestly enjoyed it. Should I draw fanart. I kind of want to.... But yeah I think that's all I really have to say about it lol. It was fun! Definitely not watching the anime or reading the comic or anything else. Genuinely surprised there was no *actual* sex scene though. Also no wedding?????? I can't believe there was no wedding.... Have I missed a chapter or two???? How was there no wedding............ That's so crazy. I can forgive the lack of sex scenes but no wedding...... I'm so disappointed. I was actually so excited to read about a god + ghost wedding. That would be so interesting.

[csilla-nocturne]

I HAVE A THEORY!

To start I'm going to copy something here I posted to twitter years ago:

I head-canon that those who became a supreme ghost did so because they were originally meant to ascend. He Xuan is an obvious example, but like if HC hadn't been cursed he'd have ascended at 18 instead of dying. That's why no matter what he does Qi Rong can never become a supreme he's just doesn't have what it takes. Same for Shi Qingxuan. SQX could probably become a very powerful savage rank, but would never make it to supreme rank. I guess this makes HC an oddball because he managed to ascend before he became a supreme, but he does tend to be over the top like that.

On a related note I don't know that I really count Bai Wuxiang as a supreme ghost, because I don't really count him as a ghost to begin with. BWX is a clone/another form of Jun Wu, and I don't think JW ever actually died, and left a corpse behind. He's still 100% one of the calamities, after all XL almost became one without dying. I just don't think you can really be a supreme ghost without being an actual ghost first.

Ok notice the part I bolded. At the time I couldn't think of why Hua Cheng still be able to ascend.

I've got to thinking about it recently, and what does Hua Cheng do just before he ascends? He removes his red eye, uses it to make E'ming. What if the curse was centered in that eye? If so is it possible that by removing his eye in the way he did, and creating E'ming he removed the curse from himself, and put it into E'ming. If this is the case not only could it possibly restore his original fate to ascend, but it could turn the curse that plagued him his entire existence into something he now has now has full control over.

Thoughts?

[hualianisms]

18 and 19 for the fic writers asks? :)

thank you for the questions! <3

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Hua Cheng can't die, but it's like dying all over again. Once more, the raw, abject torment; once more, his love consuming him from the inside - the single weakness of a ghost king. Once more, his heart in his god's hands, Xie Lian his salvation and demise both - a grave of Hua Cheng’s own making.  He closes his eye, his heart a mess of jagged glass shards in his chest, a shipwreck already in motion between dead ribs.

this is from my fic of hua chengs pov of canon scenes, specifically the confession scene in the original chapter 177 of the webnovels. im proud of this line and this whole fic bc i put in my best writing into it and i like how the lines turned out

for this fic, i initially thought it would be hard to write hua cheng pov but it turned out not that hard actually. i just put myself in his shoes, tried to imagine i was an immortal being existing solely because of love whose mortal existence was suffering but who is made of eternal, undying devotion on a level that most mortals cannot comprehend or achieve. how i interpreted hc when writing this fic was that he's defined by both immense suffering and ineffable love.

in this particular line, he thinks xl would be too disgusted by him upon finding out hc harbours romantic & sexual feelings towards xl, and it's the most vulnerable hc has ever been. xl has always been everything to hc, both his salvation and ruin - he died for xl, and he exists bc of xl, so that's how this line came about. a reflection on how xl literally holds hc's ashes in his hands, having the power to both save hc and end hc, and hc wouldnt have it any other way, bc every single inch of his existence is entirely for xl, devoted entirely to xl. so in this fic i wanted to portray this immortal, eternal love that's beyond anything mortal, is instead a religion on its own, that exists on a scale that no mortal love or mere crush or infatuation can compare to

19. Who is the easiest/hardest character for you to write about? Why?

answered this before here, but basically easiest is feng xin, i love writing him. not just bc he's straightforward but also bc he loves swearing so much and has so much aries Angy/hotheaded energy that it's fun to write his vulgar, hyperbolic and indignant internal monologue and dialogue akshsh

for hardest in tgcf, im not sure, maybe jw or hx if i ever tried to write their pov but i haven't yet. of the tgcf charas whose povs ive written (xl,hc,fx,mq,qyz,yy,sqx), sometimes i actually struggle with xl pov, im not sure why. maybe it's bc his mbti and enneagram are very different from mine and im more used to writing introspective fics so i accidentally end up writing a xl who is more introverted than he actually is (in the novel he often downplays his own feelings to focus on hc's feelings or others' feelings instead). however when writing his pov of pining/thirsting for hc it's really easy kfjddj either way im working on improving my xl pov to be as in-character as possible

thanks again for the asks, have a neat day/night 🩷

(send me a number for the Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing Asks)

[curiosity-killed]

who are you, really?

commission info || ko-fi

[nyerus]

Hello. I hope you are well. I have few questions actually😅

1. Does Xie Lian have tanned skin?

2. What does the novel state about his skin color?

3. Hua Cheng is a ghost. I have seen a tweet saying the present Hua Cheng (Crimson rain sought flower) is a corpse. But corpse and ghost term is totally different from each other, right? Even Wuming wasn't a corpse. Can you please tell me more about it? It is upsetting to me because him being a corpse, cut off a lot of interesting facts of him.

4. Also about the age Hua Cheng died at, MNQ said he wouldn't live past eighteen which mean he did reach eighteen years of age, right?

Hello there Anon! I'm doing alright, thank you for asking! :D

The novel does mention Xie Lian's appearance a few times, but I can't recall specific instances apart from that one paragraph in chapter 114 (the one where Hualian are being very domestic and cute in Puqi Village while farming):

It is mentioned in a few other places that Hua Cheng has that "bloodless" look by the way, probably as a callback to him being dead. That being said, he is absolutely not a corpse! It's not possible for him to be a corpse at all, since, well, his corpse was turned into ashes -- which was then turned into that crystalline ring Xie Lian wears around his neck. ♥ Wu Ming gained a corporeal form due to becoming a powerful ghost, yes. That form is basically the physical manifestation of his spiritual energy. Later on, as he became way more powerful, Hua Cheng also gained the ability to shapeshift. (As can other powerful ghosts on his level, such as He Xuan and Bai Wuxiang.) Because his body isn't "real," he can make it look however he wishes, even though he's got a true form that acts as sort of a baseline to return to. This also means he can make his body as humanoid as he wants, such as having a heartbeat, sweating to look sexy for gege, or also... making other bodily fluids for Xie Lian's satisfaction hahaha, as MXTX mentioned before. ;)

And yeah, the way I interpreted what Mei Niangqing said was that he literally wouldn't live past 18. Meaning, he died when he was 18, never having reached 19. I think it can be interpreted a little differently by everyone, though.

[wei-suibian]

So, tgcf au time

While i wait to take a shower, am gonna write this thing that has been rounding my head for a while, so:

Xie lian is a nurse that works in a really small, really run down hospital that mantains itself through donations. The boss is Jun Wu and other workers are MQ, FX, SQX, LW and some others.

XL used to study to be a doctor, his family was well off, but stuff happened and they died, and since he had no family who wanted to take care of him and he was +18, he dropped out and worked as whatever came his way to survive.

He lives in a crappy appartment with his Persian cat RuoYe, who lives better than him, honestly.

So, one day after work he wanders through some alleys and, by chance, finds a guy that has been stabbed, and because he has no sense of self-preservation, he brings him home.

In the light of his crappy lamps, he sees that the guy is actually a handsome man, and proceeds to treat his wound and take care of him.

The dude, called Hua Cheng, thanks him and stuff and tells him he was just careless this time, then leaves.

Turns out HC is a 'good' mafia boss who had been tricked by a double agent, HX, causing him to be mad for a while and not pay attention, thus getting stabbed.

After XL took care of him he couldn't stop thinking about him, and asked for advice on how to approach him. The ideas given where useless and so he thought 'i guess I'll go get stabbed again'.

Cue HC getting hurt on purpose in the most stupid of ways only to get close to XL, who is as oblivious as a brick and only thinks HC works in something really dangerous.

HC said he was a stuntman with many enemies.

XL didn't pry.

So XL and HC met more and more to the point xl considered him a friend, and so at one point hc knew of his job.

The next day soemone had donated a good amount of money to the hospital under the name sang lang.

For once, xl one brain cell worked, and he knew it was hc, so he, flustered but happy, ran away to thank him in person. Hc had fiven him the adress of the bulding in which he 'made business', so he went there.

When he arrives there are people making trouble at the door, and he's gonna ignore them and go in but then hears a voice from long ago.

His cousin Qi Rong is there, being a little bitch, and xl, who had been searching 4 him 4 a long time cracks his knuckles and calls his name.

Turns out that when younger, his cousin had run amok with bad crowds, and because he made trouble with a local mafia and his life was in danger, he sold xl's family while he ran away with his, thus stripping him from his parents, money , properties and everything.

When qr sees him he's seething and sneering, ready to pound him to death while justifying himself that it was not his fault. Turns out that they'd run to another country for a while and didn't keep contact, so qr didn't know abour their deaths, only thought they would get robbed or something.

Meanwhile hc is going down in the transparent elevator when he sees xl surrounded by 30 thugs, and begins to sweat like his life is on the line, worried beyond belief.

Cue xl dropping a flying kick and doing a backflip, and hc is just frozen. Xl fights and spins like he's dancing and kicks everyone's asses and hc is so horny he's about to die.

When he gets down his men clean up the mess and xl is just shaking qr and lowkey screaming at him while the other cries.

He asks hc to take him to prison so he can reform, and then xl goes to thank him like nothings happened but hc is so in love he can hardly contain himself.

I've got nothing after this but maybe hc tries to court xl but he's dense and doesn't notice although he gets gifts on a daily basis and the hospital now looks so high class thanks to his donations.

Eventually, thanks to sqx maybe, xl realizes he likes hc and he kind of confesses in a moment of passion (a kiss).

Also it turns out that when xl family got killed, hc had been there, forced by the boss to 'train', that had been before hc overthrew him and became the new boss, and it had been him who hid xl away and saved his life, but he was too late to save his parents.

Xl didn't remember because after that he ws in a bad place, and it took some time for him to recuperate, but he was grateful anyway.

They married someday and hc and his dog e-ming lived with xl and his cat in a wondeful mansion. The end.

This was mostly based on the concept of hc being hurt on purpose just to continue meeting xl, it was supposed to be funny.

[nyerus]

hii what are ur thoughts about having friends like FengQing? i will totally dislike them for leaving my side w/o any good reason if they were my friends. AND idk if i will forgive them if they show up years ltr (uk what i mean?) like where were u when i needed u both? why show up only now? yes ik.. youre both busy with all the duties and all... but im? here? alone? for the past few years:( and yes ik maybe youre guilty but isnt it a little too late? i feel so bad for xielian tbvh

Hiya Anon!

To be honest, I agree. That's a lot of baggage and a lot of pain there. But ultimately, I think the XianLe Trio's dynamic is rather complicated as a result of their extreme circumstance. In our world, we will likely never experience such extreme situations so it's hard to say precisely, but bottom line: if my friends left me out to dry in my time of need, I would so not be as forgiving as Xie Lian at all LOL. Especially since Xie Lian suffered so much--of which, the two of them will never know the true extent. ;;;;; It really does hurt....

On that note, Hua Cheng being very antagonistic (especially towards Mu Qing) is completely understandable. He truly sees what they did as a straight-up betrayal; that Feng Xin and Mu Qing are nothing more than fairweather friends.

But in truth I think the two of them truly did care and wanted what was best for Xie Lian, but it turned out extremely Bad for a variety of reasons. Mu Qing almost certainly wanted to ascend in order to take Xie Lian and Feng Xin to middle heaven and keep them comfortable and safe (though he didn't not COMMUNICATE that whatsoever). Doesn't really forgive him betraying Xie Lian on the mountain, but he's a means-justify-the-ends type of man who figured Xie Lian's short-term emotional distress was worth his long-term well-being. Incorrect assumption there.... RIP. But empathy is not Mu Qing’s strong point.

Meanwhile, Feng Xin also was driven away by Xie Lian--but given how Xie Lian VERY CLEARLY suffered intense and unknown trauma, it's sad that Feng Xin didn't notice that it was an intense cry for help. But in his defense, he took care of Xie Lian's parents for that whole time and was utterly baffled by it all. (And poor Xie Lian was trying to protect himself from more trauma and rationalized "if I push him away first, it won't hurt when he eventually leaves me too" -- but it hurt him all the same.)

Additionally, I think it's also important to note that there is actually a 4/5-year gap between the end of book 2 and the beginning of book 4. (We know this because Hua Cheng was 14 when he made the promise on Mt. Taicang to never forget Xie Lian--right before Xie Lian was banished. And then Hua Cheng died when he was 18-19.) So Feng Xin and Mu Qing stayed with him for a while; they didn't up and leave immediately, so that’s there.

Ultimately it comes down to two things: 1) Feng Xin and Mu Qing both put Xie Lian on a pedestal. Different pedestals, but dehumanizing all the same. So when Xie Lian showed vulnerability, weakness, and other extremely human sides of himself, neither of them were able to process it well. This, coupled with their situation itself, caused their bonds to basically shatter under pressure. 2) To be fair to both of them, everyone has their limits. Sometimes, you do have to take care of yourself especially when things seem hopeless, so their respective reasons for leaving were not totally invalid. As shitty as it is. :/

Also, I think Feng Xin and Mu Qing probably searched for him--especially indicated by how the two of them immediately go down to help Xie Lian when he resurfaces (and yes, that's also due to their down guilt too lol!!). But since Xie Lian was very intentional about staying off the radar, it's understandable that neither of them were able to find or help him. After all, we know that Hua Cheng searched for him and was unable to find him as well--even though he got close. And Hua Cheng has perfect luck, and STILL couldn't find our boy lksdjflksdjfls. Truly unfortunate Lianlian.

And given that 800 years passed, I think Xie Lian eventually figured "there isn't any point in staying upset over the past." I'm glad they made up in the end, though also think they've got some stuff to work out as well lol.

Thank you for this ask!~ (´• ω •`)♡