#average hua cheng day

[good-vs-evo]

i strongly believe that hua cheng once spent 12 hours blasting “you stupid bitch” by girl in red and danced around and screamed and then spent 12 hours in xie lian’s temple, repenting for calling his god a stupid bitch

[nangongpuye]

i did a thing

MDZS (novel) :

72 named characters

50 dead (including wen ning, song lan, and wei wuxian)

conclusion: 69% chance of death, with a 4.2% chance of conscious return to life.

MDZS (any and all media) :

77 named characters

55 dead

conclusion: 72% chance of death anywhere in the mdzs-verse.

TGCF:

44 named characters (clones and alter egoes not counted)

16 permanently dead

14 ghosts

16 gods

conclusion: 36% chance of permanent death, 32% chance of dying and becoming a ghost, 36% chance in ascending.

here's the percentage, but skewed with the ghost deaths: 73%

SVSSS (svsss only, no pidw):

41 named characters

12 dead, + 1 linguang-jun missing +1 shen yuan +1 shang qinghua

conclusion: 37% chance of death/missing, 4.9% chance of returning via transmigration

conclusion of conclusions: great mxtx, why did you have to do that to mdzs????? they're all dead......

[lazycranberrydoodles]

its my 2 year blogaversary 😁 thanks for all the love!

[phoenixfire7894]

I know a lot of Tgcf fans greatly dislike the Banyue Arc (and I understand in the sense that it’s early on that all adaptions really mainly include up to that arc in this point in time and it gets repetitive) but I am actually a decent fan of this arc, mainly because of Hua Cheng, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin all just wearing obnoxiously obvious disguises.

Xie Lian really humored these three.

Hua Cheng is the least offensive of these three. He’s not really actively trying to hide his identity per se. I imagine that he didn’t want to straight up lie to Xie Lian, which is why he only disguised his appearance and then proceeded to be the weirdest person ever. Like mans lowkey waltzed up to Xie Lian and said “Hey bestie, I’m just a good old normal, 100% average teenager who is most definitely not a ghost king or anything like that! Look, I can breathe!“ and then proceeded to info dump a shit ton of information about gods and shit like he’s Wikipedia which a normal, 100% average teenager who is most definitely not a ghost king would most positively not know.

However, our other two offenders actually thought they were fooling Xie Lian, whom may I remind you, is legit their childhood friend. They swapped color pallets and called it a day. And not only did they not try to not act like their selfs in the personality sense in their disguises, they also were just so bad at pretending not to be themselves. Like, someone says “General” in the cave where all the travelers were hiding and they both respond like it’s them being addressed. Idiots.

Also, the three of them just bicker half the time. Mu Qing and Feng Xin just kept yelling that this random nepo-baby Xie Lian picked up was so sus and trying to prove it to him while Xie Lian sits there and tells them to go for it while he snickers internally, knowing the identity of every single disguised person in the room.

These three legit had an argument about whether or not this “San Lang” could drink water. That’s just so fucking funny to me.

Honorable mentions in this arc is Feng Xin getting the shit beat out of him by Windmaster because he somehow was unaware that they swapped gendered forms (which btw, how the fuck did he not know this)?! Also, He Xuan and Hua Cheng just seeing each other in disguises because I wish I got their internal monologues for that.

Tldr: Banyue arc isn’t the best arc in the series, but it still stands as a fairly comedic regardless.

[xieliansbignaturals]

"average person goes through 3 gender affirming procedures a year just for fun" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person goes through 0 gender affirming procedures per year. Trans Icon Hua Cheng and Trans Icon Shi Qingxuan, who live in a world with shapeshifting magic & shapeshift just for fun 10,000 times each day, are outliers adn should not have been counted

[ataraxixx]

ok whatever im a day late. citrus halloween costumes bc i needed to draw this.

tagging @average-hua-cheng-fan bc this is ur fault and @morrogatari bc u asked

[gege]

Hiii, how are you? I hope you are doing ok! <3 sending love and hugs. I wanted to ask you... i think i remember something about tgcf having live action adaptation. Was that real or was just a dream i had or something? If it's real do you know if we will have it or what happened to the project? Idk if my mind made that up! sorry and thanks :)

Hiii Anon!

No, it's not some mad collective fever dream we all had, they really did film it (6 months of shooting between July 2021 and January 2022). Native title is 吉星高照 (Ji Xing Gao Zhao) English title is Eternal Faith.

If we ever get to see it is another matter, i probably don't need to say the main reason is because it's a danmei adaptation - it'll have a harder time passing the censors than the average cdrama. Since the popularity of other dangais it seems the censors have become stricter in any case. Job one is always going to be passing the censors.

While checking chinese websites and articles I did find several sources of a rumour that the site security punched a girl who was visiting the set. I can't vouch for the reliability of this but anything that can potentially attract criticism can delay a cdrama release further. Other criticisms include the casting of the male leads, how cheap the set design and costuming look, and a cancelled actress who may have to remain uncredited.

So it will need to satisfy the censors in order to be relased, as well as satisfy the general public and tgcf fans to be worth releasing and I'm not sure if it can do it all. If all goes well and it does ever pass censorship, we won't get a release date in advance. I don't know if you've ever experienced waiting for a cdrama release but you will not get much warning when it airs. It will likey drop with a couple days warning in form of internet rumours, or just completely out of the blue.

HAVING SAID THAT - another rumour is that a full costume bl drama like the untamed will be released internationally in Sept 2024, bypassing a Chinese release. It's just a rumour but it does make this webpage very interesting! But please remember everything above and not get too excited just yet 😂.

I'm gonna share some set photos just because 😍

Zhai Xiaowen as Xie Lian

Zhang Linghe as Hua Cheng/San Lang/Crimson Rain Sought Flower

Chang Huasen as Shi Qingxuan/Wind Master & Tian Xuning as He Xuan/Ming Yi/Earth Master

Vin Zheng as Nan Feng & Li Fancheng as Fu Yao (+ bonus Wind Master)

Liu Lingzi as Xuan Ji

Liu Jinyan as Ling Wen & Wang Yueyi as Female Wind Master

Xiao Kaizhong as Feng Xin/Nan Yang & Cai Yao as Mu Qing/Xuan Zhen

Bian Tianyang as Qi Rong/Prince Xiao Jing/Green Ghost

Lu Yuxiao as Yushi Hung/Rain Master. She played Shangguan Qian in My Journey to You, but as she was fairly unknown at the time of filming jxgz so there are no photos to be found of her as Rain Master 😩.

Anyway, let's all quietly try to will this into existence with physic powers etc.

Thanks for sending me an ask, have a lovely day anon!

(∩^o^)⊃━☆

[rainydayrina]

Im terrible at math so i could be wrong but if im right.....:

This is your reminder that in order to make 10,000 Xie Lian statues, Hua Cheng would have to carve out an average of 29 A DAY!!!

If im wrong please let me know... *updated below*

Im trying to fingure how many he would have made a day if he ONLY worked on it during his mount tonglu 10 years but the math isnt working.

Yes i am the cant drive, sits weird, bad at math kinda gay.....

EDIT: shout out to @muigiel for helping me out. Thanks bestie ♡

I figured most of them were done in that 10 year period but the calculator didnt like me trying to uncover HC's secrets

[tanya-shiza]

Tired Gold busts (2/2) // LMK Medicinal Flower AU

Part 1: [LINK]

Yay 🎉 I was finally able to draw Wei Jian and he doesn't look ugly... It's a pity it's not full-length, but I wanted to draw something like a bust 😃☺️

About Wei Jian:

Wei Jian is an office plankton, but he is happy with it. He loves his job, despite the fact that the boss is very strict and changes workers like gloves.

Wei Jian's boss is the richest man in China. (Yes, that's Reng Zhang Ji from my Coin AU. I originally created Reng Zhang Ji for this au, but he fits better in Coin AU. In Coin AU, Reng Zhang Ji also mentions Wei Jian as the kindest person he's ever met 😉 In Coin AU, the Mystic Mayor became Shi Cheng. Shi Cheng and Wei Jian never met.)

Wei Jian was employee of the month 3 times (which is almost impossible) and accordingly his photo was hung on the wall of honor.

Wei Jian is friends with the guard at the entrance to the office building named Yu Cu. He is a bit emotionless and rather grumpy. Employees often encounter his stubbornness. However, Wei Jian has been working for quite a long time and during this time Yu Cu fell for his kindess.

Sometimes the guard even does a little help and marks Wei Jian as «here» if he is suddenly late in order to avoid him being fired for being late often. If managers find out about this, they both are fined, of course. But Yu Cu forgives Wei Jian for this.

Wei Jian is not a fan of sports, much less, beer, but Yu Cu is. Sometimes, for help with delays, the guard asks Wei Jian to go to the bar with him to watch football together. (It was in this bar that Wei Jian first noticed Shi Tiao, who had a bad habit of getting drunk after work.)

Wei Jian is earns above average, which is suprised Shi Tiao because he the one who earns more, but Wei Jian's apartment, car and clothes create the illusion that the opposite is true.

Wei Jian is a great cook and often watches cooking shows, but unlike the Demon Bull King and Pigsy, he is not a fan of Chang'e or her baking. There is a character in Nexo Knights called Gobbleton Rumble, who is a reference to a real person. Wei Jian would be a fan of him.

You might be wondering, since Wei Jian is so perfect, why doesn't he have a wife yet? He's already 36 years old! The thing is that Wei Jian is kinda cursed, but no one knows about it. Wei Jian was born under a star that destroys any chances of finding a female companion. Wei Jian tries hard, but all relationships end before they last even 2 months. His record is 3 months and 4 days.

However, the star did not say anything about male companion 😏😉 But Wei Jian never even thought that he can choose males as a partner.

Due to numerous failures in dates, Wei Jian became very worried about it. He is disappointed in himself and thinks that he is bad at relationships, although in fact it is the opposite.

Shi Tiao and Wei Jian's relationship wasn't official for a long time. They just acted like a couple, but never called each other boyfriend.

Wei Jian is very afraid that his relationship with Shi Tiao will end up like all the others. This is his deep unconscious fear, which only will be find out when Hua Kan mentions that their friendship is more like a romantic relationship.

Wei Jian was born into a "female family". That's means, he has only Grandma and Mom, who love him very much. Especially Grandma. This is important because Wei Jian didn't have a "masculine" figure, so he took his mother's lead, which led to how gentle, kind and caring he became.

Wei Jian is under intense pressure from his grandma and mother towards a wife and children. They are very concerned that their only son has achieved everything except the favor of a woman.

The numerous mentions of women make Wei Jian wary. He worries that his grandma nad mother might not accept Shi Tiao because he is a man.

⚠️Triggers will be mentioned below! Be careful!⚠️

Suicide

Premature babies

Postpartum depression / Regular depression

Wei Jian was born about 2 months earlier than he should have been. He was premature. This affected his body, of course. He was born very skinny, weak, and his eyesight was poor. He has been wearing glasses since he was a baby. None of his family wore glasses before old age.

One nice day, when nothing foreshadowed trouble Wei Jian's mother returned home and find her husband hanged himself in the living room. Such a horrific shock immediately caused labor. The mother gave birth with difficulty.

The loss of the beloved husband, who never said that anything was worring him, hit the woman hard. She fell into depression and completely forgot about her newborn son, who needed a lot of attention given his premature birth.

In order for Wei Jian's young bones to grow properly, his mother often gave him massages that doctors taught her. At such moments, she felt love and care for her son, unfortunately, this was not enough to forget about the grief.

Then the grandma took care of Wei Jian's needs. Seeing how the boy grows incredibly skinny and often undernourished due to the mother's distance, the grandma moves in to live with them in order to support both: her daughter and grandson.

Grandma didn't mean to, but she accidentally overfed her grandson, and Wei Jian was quite chubby for several years in his teen age (high school). This was especially bad because his bones weren't as strong as he'd like. After entering university and receiving a doctor's note, Wei Jian immediately set about getting himself in shape. Even to this day, Wei Jian takes care of his health. He helps Shi Tiao take care of his health and eat right. It was Wei Jian who helped Shi Tiao break his habit of drinking after a hard day at the bar.

Because the massages brought Wei Jian's mother peace and relief, she continued to do it even when it was no longer needed. One day, she even taught Wei Jian some of the techniques. Wei Jian sometimes uses them because Shi Tiao often complains of joint pain.

[wuxianxkexing]

Another one of my unhinged insights, this time about MuLianCheng.

So I find it interesting that Hua Cheng decided to wear red eyeliner in his San Lang disguise. He first met Xie Lian again after his 3rd ascension during the Bridegroom arc in his /true/ form. People speculate that Hua Cheng is insecure about his looks so that is why he decided to try to befriend Xie Lian in disguise, but if that is the case why show up during your first meeting in your true form? Xie Lian could've looked Hua Cheng straight in the eyes at any point. It is only sheer luck that he didn't.

Ok maybe there is the argument that he showed up in his true form because he just didn't have time to put on his disguise after being tipped off to where Xie Lian was and he didn't necessarily plan to reveal himself but chose to after Xie Lian was left alone in the bridal sedan (even though Xie Lian 100% didn't need his help lol). Alright. But why decide to ever show your true form to him if you are that insecure about your looks? Or at least why decide after only 3 days that the next time you meet him that you will show him your true form? Does that make any logical sense for a person deeply insecure about their looks to do? No. People who are insecure about their looks, especially to the point of wearing a disguise, are not going to get over it /that/ fast. So my argument is that Hua Cheng is not that insecure about his looks. Maybe he has a normal level of self consciousness about his looks but he ain't despairing over how ugly he thinks he is.

So why show up in a disguise? He was worried that Xie Lian might be intimidated or biased by the rumors surrounding him, so he chose to befriend him in disguise so Xie Lian could actually get to know him before letting the rumors cloud his judgment. That makes sense and explains why he was willing to show his true form so quickly. He didn't really want to deceive Xie Lian, he just wanted to get acquainted and show that he means him no harm before revealing his intimidating true identity. However why did he choose that particular disguise?

We know that Hua Cheng has been in love with Xie Lian for like 800 years. It makes perfect sense that he would choose a disguise that he thinks Xie Lian would find attractive (he sure as shit wouldn't choose a disguise that he thought Xie Lian would find ugly or even just average). Why does he have the impression that Xie Lian would be into mean twinks who wear red eyeliner and dress to kill a bitch?

Enter Mu Qing/Fu Yao. He is also a mean twink who wears red (though more like pink) eyeliner who dresses to kill a bitch. Now I'm not saying that Hua Cheng is copying all of this from Mu Qing on purpose. I think that Hua Cheng is naturally kind of a mean bitch who likes to dress really good. But the eyeliner. Why the eyeliner? He doesn't wear eyeliner in his true form and as far as we know he never wore it until after the Bridegroom arc. He saw Mu Qing wearing it and thought for some reason "I need to wear red eyeliner in my disguise too." Why? My thoughts are as follows.

Hua Cheng wanted to prove that he could wear it better. Why? Because he feels insecure about Xie Lian's and Mu Qing's relationship (either past or present). Either he felt, knew or heard rumors that MuLian was a thing in the past and so he naturally feels the need to compete with Mu Qing (especially since Xie Lian could see through Mu Qing's disguise and knew it was him the entire time. What if they started their relationship back up?) OR Xie Lian was giving Fu Yao certain looks or perhaps comments that made Hua Cheng feel like he needed to prove that he could do it better.

I think Hua Cheng realizes that he and Mu Qing are similar, or at least similar enough, to be Xie Lian's type. I think this is part of the reason he so bitchy to Mu Qing in specific. He needs to prove that he can be bitchier, funnier, prettier, more skilled, etc... than Mu Qing in any way that he thinks that Xie Lian might like. Mu Qing is probably too emotionally constipated to pick up on it and just thinks Hua Cheng is an asshole, not realizing that he is jealous of/feels threatened by him.

I also like this theory because of the potential symbolism behind it. They both wear red eyeliner to symbolize their love for Xie Lian. Mu Qing wears pink because his is a soft love. Hua Cheng wears red because his is a passionate love. It seems like they both have acts of service as their love language but Mu Qing is way more shy and lowkey about it than Hua Cheng, hence the more subtle pink instead of the bold red that Hua Cheng wears. It's a little hint at their rivalry before you even know much about them.

[lostintherealmsofthefandoms]

I was playing around in a height comparison site and decided to share some comparisons...

MXTX's mc and ml

Xie Lian - 178 (he's the shortest, I thought he was taller)

Hua Cheng - 190 (the tallest boy)

Wei Wuxian - 186 (in his first life, pretty tall I hink)

Lan Zhan - 188 (not much different between them in the first life)

Luo Binghe - 188 (I was certain he would be taller, he's the same height than Lan Zhan)

Shen Qingqiu - 184 (I think that in his first life as Shen Yuan he was shorter but who knows, couldn't find anything on it)

Me next to them cause why not

2ha version

Mon Ran - 189 (that kind dork gigant puppy)

ChuWanning - 180 ( Mo Ran is way taller)

Shi Mei - 183 (I forget how tall he actually is)

Xue Meng - 178 (I tried find Mei Hanxues height to put near him but couldn't find)

Me with them

It's always nice to suffer a little bit with Immortality/hyx:

Luo Yunxi - 177 (he's shorter than Chu Wanning)

Chen Feiyu - 188 (he's just 1cm shorter than Mo Ran.)

Me with my Yizhan so I know how much will I have to look up when I meet them

Wang Yibo - 182

Xiao Zhan - 184 (their different of height is so little)

Me with my crush boys

Luo Yunxi - 177 (the shortest meow)

Li Dai Kun - 181 (the tallest from my boys)

Pedro Pascal - 179 (I do think is an average male signed height as he said)

Johnny Depp - 178 (no as tall as I thought he was)

Me with my crush girls

Zhou Ye - 165 (5 inch taller than me)

Ni Ni - 170 (my girl is tall)

Avril Lavigne - 165 (I thought she was shorter actually, she looks so short, how do I look than?!?!)

Helena Bonham Carter - 157 (she must be the same height that my mom, I thought she was my height, she's shorter than me!!!!)

Bonus! The characters of my W.I.P

Neven - 180 (in his first life, the mc, inspired by shi mei, shi qing xuan and binghe)

Laoh - 187 (kind dorky giant too, inspired by shen qingqiu and dean winchester, the ml)

Milek - 181 (he's inspired in Chu Wanning I think, is the second ml)

Mo Guan - 168 (inspired by a-xiang I can only see her as Zhou Ye)

Nia - 165 (mystic girl with white hair revealed to me in a dream)

Vys - 160 (short boy, twin of the above, also came to me in a dream)

If anyone wants to play around, this is the site:

[thornycoconut]

This is a little like when people say historically 13 year old girls were married off and having kids. Except they were married off, generally not having kids because even back in the day they knew it was too young (depending on the place and period it may not even have been consummated or even lived together etc). We aren't talking about some 17 year old here either. He was a very young teen. And in the context of the story it is relevant because even in the story, war is horrifying and harming children is horrifying.

Historically younger boys in war were responsible for things like chores, menial tasks, etc. Sometimes the more dangerous stuff like running supplies to soldiers or drums. Generally not as full time combatants. Wars require support tasks so they'd train the boys and have them do the support tasks and as they aged up they could become combatants.

Unless you mean the ones who enslaved children to be soldier etc, thoise are different standards. But that's not in the book so we will table that.

The intention is usually not to have the kids melee fight as the first or even second option. I believe there was a period where boys were given range weapons (the French I believe did this?) So they wouldn't be trying to melee with grown adults where they would likely just get their butts kicked. That is another reason children soldiers aren't ideal. They don't exactly hold up against adults on average.

Warzones get real messy so it not as if they never had to fight even in support positions, but it's disingenuous to say that child soldiers were an accepted practice. They just weren't.

And again we aren't even talking 16 or 17 years old here where in some time periods that would be more acceptable.

Second, I love xie lian, he is one of my favorite characters. He is as flawed as the rest of the cast. Let's be real, a lot of his flaws in that period stemmed from being a young prince who is inexperienced with the world. That's part of what I like about him, just as mu qing's flaws and especially insecurity is what I like about him.

This idea that I'm trying to diss xie lian is just wrong. He just wasn't perfect. A lot of what mu qing is roasted for makes no sense because xl could have made a different choice. Xie lian very consistently made his own choices against advice, so things like being mad at mu qing for assessing young honger coming from a bad situation but definitely not running with the street kids and with properly cared for clothes, seems weird. That's largely why I bring xie lian up about honger.

As for the spiritual land and leaving his job, xie is kind of the other characters involved so it's hard not to bring up his actions?

Third, as I've said, hua cheng interpretation of why mu qing sent him home doesn't make it true. I'm not aware of mu qing ever saying he was jealous of honger. (Feel free to quote or tell me which book it's in, I'll look for it with any sort of identifying details.)

Yeah, so where I said he apologized, and that it was wrong, that was the part where me and other people who happen to defend the character are admitting he was wrong. Not sure what's unclear about that? Yeah, he apologizes when he makes a mistake. No one says it negates what he did.

I think there is some confusion about why the apology matters. He's not doubling down on it. He's not victim blaming. He's apologizing and trying to help. That what he did when he did something wrong which is usually a big indicator of character, especially when pretending it never happened would have cost him nothing. It's not that the apology makes it okay. It shows what he does. Now not doing something wrong is better but no one can take that title.

So it matters the same way it matters that we don't hear about mu qing trying to chase away junior officials that might be better than him one day, or that when all the skeletons come out of closets in the story we don't hear about him committing genocide, etc. It speaks to his character.

The other part of why it matters (less so for my post, but in a lot of others so I'll mention it), is that 800 years ago he did something wrong, apologized, tried to make ammends. Then he apologized again when it came up. They had a heart to heart. Feelings were expressed and their relationship moved onto solid foundation. So the story and the characters involved moved on from the incident, which means roasting him over it seems a little excessive. (Again, less relevant to my post, but as general thing about people bringing up the apology.)

Also, idk what you mean by personal feelings. I clearly have zero feelings as I am really a robot in a skin suit. Lol.

I think it's so funny that hua cheng held an intense, long, 800-year-old grudge against mu qing for not letting him die in the army for his celebrity crush while mu qing had no fucking idea who he was until like book 4

[t0yearnf0r]

Rating tgcf characters based on how big their boobs would be/are.

(All boobs are good boobs, okay? Big, small, whatever - all boobs are good!!!!)

Edit: ya’ll, I made this post on national boob day what are the chances

10. Jun Wu - doesn’t deserve nice boobs. (EDIT: it’s come to my attention that the general consensus is that Jun Wu has huge boobs, but like burdensomely-big, and you know what? Sure, they’re just not nice. Boobs that break your back aren’t nice, so I concur. He’s staying at no.10 because I hate him.)

9. Hua Cheng - he gives me small boob vibes, I’m sorry.

8. Qi Rong - the only thing he can Lord over Hua Cheng are his tits. He does this often. (Edit: Cannibals don’t get big titty privilege)

7. Lang Qinqiu - pure muscle.

6. Feng Xin - has average boobs. They’re nice, they’re fine. They’re boobs, so they’re good.

5. Pei Ming - similar to Feng Xin. He has relatively nice boobs, likes to show them off.

4. Mu Qing - okay, hear me out: Mu Qing’s boobs are bigger than average. Not massive, certainly not He Xuan massive, but bigger than average.

3. Shi Qingxuan - canonically has big boobs. They’re nice, they’re lovely (as all boobs are), sometimes they catch crumbs.

2. Xie Lian - also canonically has big boobs (in that one scene in the manhua). He is unaware of how big his boobs are, he doesn’t really think about it to be honest. They’re sizeable to say the least.

1. He Xuan - big boobs. Massive boobs. Back-pain-type boobs, struggles-to-find-clothes-that-fit-boobs (this is cannon). He didn’t choose them, he was blessed, given, gifted. His tits are the only good thing the heavens have ever done for him. MASSIVE. KNOCKERS. Shi Qingxuan likes to rest their head on them. A shelf, a cushion.

[piosplayhouse]

Just cataloguing the main couples zodiac signs for my own reference (to make jokes about later)

Shen Qingqiu - Virgo

Luo Binghe - Capricorn¹

Wei Wuxian - Scorpio

Lan Wangji - Aquarius

Xie Lian - Cancer

Hua Cheng - Gemini

¹birthday is never given but because he was born during the coldest days of the year we can guesstimate sometime early January based on average low temps in China

[musings-on-aching-flowers]

Hi.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 favorite characters from TGCF? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite moments from the novel? Sorry if you've answered this question before....Thanks....

Hi, you’re totally fine, thanks for asking!! Sorry it took me this long, it’s been a while since I’ve checked tumblr! 

My top 5 favourite characters from TGCF would have to be:

1. Xie Lian

To me, Xie Lian is such an interesting character, especially in his growth into who he is as a character during the events of books 1, 3 and 5. His story arc is extremely compelling, as we can witness how his life experiences have shaped him from his initial naivety, then to his flinty cynicism (which is honestly hard-won at that point) until finally we get his gentle compassion, like wood that has been sanded down.  He may not necessarily be the kindest, most compassionate person, and he’s made his fair share of mistakes and then some, but all those experiences in all those 800 years he’s been around have made him able to still view humanity as something worth saving. 

I also love the dichotomy of his nature; he is non-confrontational, but when he draws his sword his martial prowess is unmatched, he was born a prince but had a single-minded focus on cultivation, and so on. 

(Also STARember draws him devastatingly pretty in the manhua - how could you not love him?!)

2. Hua Cheng

I will confess that I am an incorrigible romantic, and I love Hua Cheng’s utmost devotion to Xie Lian. In all those years, his devotion is true, unwavering, and unconditional, and yet even with such dedication to his Dianxia that it literally tethers him to reality, he has managed to grow into himself and his own as a fully realised individual. He has found purpose other than the sole pursuit of Xie Lian, which I really admire about him. 

What Hua Cheng teaches us as well is how love can change you in such a positive way. His love for Dianxia pulled him from the brink time and again, and helped him keep moving forward even despite the immense pressure he received throughout his whole existence, especially in the early days what with being ‘cursed’.

3. Yin Yu (and 4. Quan Yizhen)

I really love these characters. The part where Xie Lian brutally murdered Yin Yu over his exceedingly average appearance just took me out, but I also think he’s a very realistic and relatable character: the Oikawa Tooru to Quan Yizhen’s Kageyama Tobio, if you will - because sometimes hard work alone can’t beat natural talent and drive. I also appreciate that he never had bad designs on Quan Yizhen - sure, he was jealous, but he didn’t want to actually hurt him, rather preferring to focus on himself and what he was doing, and the events that transpired to his banishment were more a result of bad luck and circumstance on his part. I like Quan Yizhen too, he means well and he’s sweet and he's utterly persistent about something when he wants to be, and I wanted to ruffle his curly hair every time he was in a scene.

5. Yushi Huang (Rain Master)

Every time Yushi Huang came into the scene I was overjoyed. I really like her ascension story, and I love the elegance and gentle grace with which she carries herself in every scene. I think it’s amazing that her role is so important in the Heavens that even Jun Wu wouldn’t dare to make a move against her, and I equally thought it was hilarious whenever Pei Ming would get embarrassed over having to be saved by her. What an icon.

...As for my favourite moments in the novels, I don’t think I could rank them but here are my top 5:

the scene in book 5 where Xie Lian and Hua Cheng kiss on the massive Dianxia statue ‘to exchange spiritual power’ and Feng Xin and Mu Qing are appalled, Quan Yizhen confused and Pei Ming goes ‘Ho ho’

the scene in book 5 where Jun Wu makes Xie Lian contact Hua Cheng to assure him that everything is alright in Heaven and the ensuing conversation has Xie Lian experiencing 800 years of embarrassment at once

the scene in book 3 where Xie Lian is dressed as a woman with a child-sized Hua Cheng running from the group of cultivators and he boards in a cannibalism hotel run by Qi Rong, with Jian Lan and Cuocuo chased by Mu Qing in disguise staying across the hall

all the scenes of the book 3 Brocade Immortal arc where Hua Cheng is bopping around disguised as Lang Ying, but especially when he gets revealed because Xie Lian tries to make him write something

the post canon scene where Xie Lian accidentally curses himself to be in extreme pain whenever he thinks of Hua Cheng but even still he refuses to be apart from him.

Thanks again for the lovely ask! I hope you have a good day :) <3

[rendnotmyheart]

So, I had more thoughts about a fengqing teachers au:

They teach the same subject (history) and are super competitive about who’s class does better. Per canon, the difference between their classes’ averages is like 1%. Xie Lian is the lit teacher. Hua Cheng is the science teacher that does definitely-not-completely-safe experiments. Feng Xin and Mu Qing try to get him called out on it but nothing ever happens. Hua Cheng is just like “at least I know how to keep my class engaged :))” Feng Xin and Mu Qing are convinced he’s bribing administration.

Anyway, back to fengqing. Their students always ship them. Like always. Feng Xin constantly has students not-so-subtly asking if he’s single and showing him pictures of men asking if he thinks they’re hot. It’s pretty obvious what they’re getting at. Especially after a student asks him if he’s seen Mu Qing today and “he looks awfully good today don’t you think?”

Mu Qing doesn’t have this problem because the one time a student asked if he was into girls or guys or what he just glared at them until they went back to their work

Xie Lian has most of Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s students in his class too and it becomes a converging point for the student to share notes on fengqing. Xie Lian tries to dissuade the discussions but his insistence that “no really they’ve been this way for years. it’s nothing special” does NOT help. In fact it only fuels the students on because “omg they’ve been in love for years????” xl: no no! I did not say they’ve been in love for years. I just said they’ve been like this for years!  the students: yeah been like this as in love. So yeah Xie Lian was not successful in curbing the speculation. And it’s not like he doesn’t think they’re not in love. He just thinks it’s inappropriate for students to speculate about such things. Plus, he knows if fengqing get a whiff of the students’ speculation it’ll just set them back like ten years on their rivals to lovers arc

Hua Cheng, on the other hand, has no such moral dilemma about his students gossiping in his class. In fact he encourages it. A student asks if he’s friends with Feng Xin and Mu Qing and Hua Cheng is like “hell no. but sadly gege is” (the students obviously know hualian are together because they’re love besotten fools), and the students take this as an opportunity to get more information on fengqing outside of school because they can never get anything of real value out of Xie Lian. Hua Cheng is like “they’re the exact same outside of school. annoying, incompetent, at each other’s throats - pause for dramatic effect - and completely in love with each other without realizing it, though I don’t see how anyone could love those two. they really are the worst.” (none of the students are completely sure it’s okay to bash on your fellow teachers like that but they’re getting their information and Hua Cheng’s experiments are always the most fun so it’s probably fine)

On valentines or 520 the students hatch a big plot to send Feng Xin and Mu Qing gifts ‘from each other’ in order to prompt a confession. Needless to say it doesn’t work.

Classes come and go, each one thinking they can spark some confession from fengqing, but nothing ever changes. At least, nothing changes in the eyes of the students. Xie Lian can see that their fights no longer hold as much meaning or heat as they used to, AND they can now get through staff parties without breaking anything, so as far as he’s concerned, they’re best friends.

One day these years later, Feng Xin brings up the students shipping them to Mu Qing because surely he goes through the same thing, and perhaps they can have some sort of solidarity. But Mu Qing is just like “no. some of us know how to set boundaries with our students.” Feng Xin is like “fuck you. but seriously no one ever brought it up to you?” Mu Qing is like “only one the first year we started teaching together. no one after that” (this is because word had gotten around that the two things that would ensure you failed Mu Qing’s class were alluding to his love life or mentioning Feng Xin’s name in his class). (this is not true. Mu Qing is a fair and good teacher and his students love him, but no one was ever willing to test the rumor)

Now that Feng Xin and Mu Qing have talked about the rumors directly, it’s harder to ignore them and their feelings. Feng Xin goes from angrily denying the rumors to tiredly denying them to just not saying anything because really it’s not worth it. Then, Mu Qing mentions Feng Xin’s name during class and suddenly fengqing gossip goes up tenfold because “omg he actually said Feng Xin’s name. out loud. just casually.” Now that the Feng Xin taboo is broken, students start bugging Mu Qing. Mu Qing is not as versed in dealing with nagging students as Feng Xin, and it’s driving him crazy, how tf did Feng Xin deal with this for years?? Soon, he can’t take it anymore, so he just kisses Feng Xin in front of everyone. The students cheer, Xie Lian is crying, Hua Cheng is pretending to gag, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing get a warning about pda in the workplace. (this is frankly ridiculous given how hualian act at school) (really, there’s no way Hua Cheng isn’t bribing administration)