#because WHY would JGY want to turn NMJ into a puppet

[random-mdzs-thoughts-dumpster]

I want to rewatch CQL and have a list of crimes they made JGY do.

[songofclarity]

when you said "[Huaisang] took taking down jgy so seriously and so professionally; he has no cheering moment or hail of victory" I was reminded of another post I saw about the moment at the beginning of NMJ's Empathy flashback where the disciples are celebrating the victory over the puppets but NMJ only looks grim. It's something the Nie bros have in common: both consider violence and killing to be necessary and justified— but it's a grim duty, to be undertaken with seriousness, not satisfaction

Yes, that comparison is exactly it, Anon! I do appreciate how CQL ensured Nie MingJue was all business during his fights. Even at the banquet when the Sunshot Campaign was over and done with, his group arrived late (‘Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come’) and he looked miserable. Not even an official victory party could put a smile on his face, much less encourage him to celebrate three years of hard work!

I would hesitate, however, before accusing the Nie brothers of finding violence and/or killing as necessary. Those are just tools in the tool box and they could be taken out as needed but they weren’t always needed, much less required. We see time and time again how the Nie brothers pick non-violent options when violence and murder would make their lives so much easier. And this choice between violence and non-violence is important. This is the choice that separates them both from Jin GuangYao. Because when it comes down to it, what was the point of having fought against the Wen Sect if they were all just to become violent and murderous themselves?

For convenience, I have outlined Nie MingJue’s 5 year plan here:

Fight a war against a violent sect

Win even if it might cost him his own life

Go home and live in peace

Nie MingJue stayed his hand from murder not once, not twice, but three times when confronted directly with a cold-blooded murderer. He picked suffering Meng Yao/Jin GuangYao to live over easily justifiable back-alley execution. He banged on the doors of Koi Tower demanding Xue Yang be turned over to him, but never used violence to take matters into his own hands, not even when he held Baxia at Xue Yang’s throat and could have ended the discussion right then and there.

The only people Nie MingJue ever killed were nameless cultivators on the battlefield; nameless cultivators when he was being held prisoner in the Sun Palace; and Wen Xu, a declared enemy met on the battlefield. There is no evidence or accusations that he ever killed anyone after the Sunshot Campaign, not at the Burial Mounds and not when he had his qi deviation.

Nie HuaiSang, for his part, could have just stabbed Jin GuangYao in the chest when he was crying on him and be done with it. Violence is easy. Murder is easy.

For the Nie brothers, violence was never necessary, but justice was. And there is no justice if you just become the beast you fought to defeat, so rules and morals must be taken into account.

Nie MingJue decided, on his own, to send Meng Yao back to his father to face justice after the murder of the Jin disciple. Nie HuaiSang worked to expose Jin GuangYao’s crimes and let the world decide on their own whether or not Jin GuangYao’s crimes deserved punishment.

Nie MingJue followed the rules. He played fair. He asked for permission. He talked in private. He made his demands. He was aggressive, but he never killed to get his way. How easy it would have been if he killed to get his way like Jin GuangYao did! But he didn’t. Nie MingJue was good. Nie MingJue died.

Nie HuaiSang picked up where Nie MingJue left off. The letter to Qin Su was just a letter to Qin Su revealing some of Jin GuangYao’s crimes. Jin GuangYao got away with murdering the Jin disciple all those years ago, and now he’s going to get away with direct involvement in the murder of his own child? Or baby-trapping and then marrying his own sister? No, no he is not. And he’s absolutely not getting away with Nie MingJue’s murder or dismemberment.

Nie HuaiSang still never picked violence. He never picked murder. He never told people what to do or how to do it, and he certainly never held a weapon in his hand. That’s the beauty of his revenge.

As the saying goes: the pen is mightier than the sword. He picked letting the information speak for itself and giving other people the option to use violence, but that was never their only option. Sadly, no revenge plan, no matter one taken as seriously as this one, is foolproof when other people are involved. Qin Su and the letter were discovered by Jin GuangYao, who then blackmailed her, imprisoned her, and then pushed her to suicide. This shows the depth of Jin GuangYao’s cruelty. Jin GuangYao reacting in violence is a Jin GuangYao problem.

As another saying goes: do not shoot the messenger. We already saw how the Jin Sect protected and absolved Xue Yang of his well-documented mass murder. Nie HuaiSang would have heard about how Jin GuangYao, Jiang Cheng, and Lan XiChen were all OK with the Jin protecting Xue Yang while Nie MingJue and popular rogue cultivator Xiao XingChen were very much not. In order to make Jin GuangYao face justice, the one choice Nie HuaiSang never had was to stand up and speak out and expose Jin GuangYao’s crimes. Xiao XingChen tried that with Xue Yang and it got him a fate worse than death. Nie MingJue tried to stand up to the Jin Sect and it got him betrayed and his death to look like an unfortunate event, not even a murder. So instead, Nie HuaiSang got the information out there as secretly as possible and let everyone else decide on what to do with it.

And thankfully everyone agreed with him that Jin GuangYao was trash. No violence was needed to help them see the light. Jin GuangYao made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.

Violence is only a Nie brother final resort when justice is about to be evaded. Nie MingJue is so horrified after the Sun Palace that he’s willing to kill Meng Yao and then himself over the murder of his subordinates. Meng Yao uses the “I saved your life” get-out-of-jail free card, which not only threatens to hold Nie MingJue hostage to a life debt but also means at least two cultivators where killed to save Nie MingJue’s one life. That’s terrible math! Where is the justice in this?? But in case he is in the wrong, Nie MingJue agrees to kill himself too, so justice WILL be served one way or another before Meng Yao runs away again.

Violence and murder are indeed grim tools for a serious duty and they need to be handled respectfully and with resolve! Note how Nie HuaiSang at no point lies and says, “I had no choice.” It was his choice to send the letters, it was his choice to put himself in danger at the Second Burial Mounds Siege and at Guanyin Temple, and it was his choice to save Sisi from her unlawful imprisonment and let her speak on her own behalf. This boy had choices, choices other than violence and murder, and he never victimized himself by claiming otherwise. He never pleaded innocence or passed the blame. He simply dodged the discussion entirely, but the ending shows he knows what he did and why.

Nie HuaiSang, "Wei-xiong, why do you keep on asking me? No matter how much you ask, I don't know anything." With a pause, he continued, "But..." Slowly, Nie HuaiSang brushed together his storm-drenched hair. "I think that if this person hates Jin GuangYao so much, they'd probably be entirely merciless towards something he cherishes more than his life." (Ch. 109, ERS)

Nie HuaiSang has so much conviction that his cavalier attitude after Jin GuangYao's death is so cold that if anyone touched him they would probably be burned. When Nie HuaiSang lies, he says, “I don’t know.” He knows the importance of information and he’s not about to expose himself for having any that might get him killed. Nie HuaiSang’s fight was different than Nie MingJue’s in tone and shape, but Nie HuaiSang kept the same agenda and, frankly, played by the same rules as his Nie MingJue.

Some rules Nie MingJue lives by:

Outside input is important

Don't kill people for the rewards

Have conviction in your choices

Jin GuangYao was in the process of fleeing justice at Guanyin Temple just like he fled justice at Langya. Jin GuangYao laid a trap for Nie MIngJue at Langya and there was no doubt going to be a trap at Guanyin Temple--so Nie HuaiSang sprung one on him first.

“Brother XiChen, behind you!!!” (Ch. 108, ERS)

And the choice to stab Jin GuangYao was Lan XiChen’s, not Nie HuaiSang’s, although Nie HuaiSang was determined to see justice prevail and that treacherous Third Brother brought down.

Of interest, Nie HuaiSang’s ten year agenda:

Expose Jin GuangYao’s violent crimes

Win even if it might cost him his own life

Go home and live in peace

Violence and murder were never on the agenda. They aren’t necessary. They were never necessary. The tragedy is thinking that they might be, and that’s Jin GuangYao’s tragedy, not the Nie brothers. Nie MingJue’s behavior shows a man who thought if he fought hard enough, pushed hard enough, allowed redemption arcs to a murderer, tried to work with people who didn’t want to work with him, peace might find a way.

Violence was only needed because Jin GuangYao could not be stopped in any other way. He burned the brothel down with all the women inside it to hide his past and he tried to massacre the whole cultivation world to hide his crimes. Considering the amount of death the Nie brothers have faced, from family dead from qi deviations to piles of bodies on the battlefield to allies killed to save their lives, I dare say the Nie brothers had a respectful relationship with violence and murder because they wanted to escape the cycle the most.

[captain-apostrophe]

I saw that no one chose [2]Shakespeare for your prompt fics. I admit I have gone overboard (because I love Shakespeare), so you can do whatever you want. Choose one, pick whichever sparks joy or completely ignore this. Here goes

1. Richard ii - A III. 2 let us sit upon the ground (jgy having a breakdown before the Guanyin temple scene)

- A IV. 1 Alack, why am I sent for to a king, deposition scene (JC convinces WWX to surrender himself instead of WQ+WN and a trial at Jinlintai ensues)

- A V. 5 I have been studying how I may compare/This prison where I live unto the world (WWX in the burial mounds)

2. Jin Ling as Hamlet (because his uncle murdered his father, see)

-A III. 1 Good my lord,/How does your honor for this many a day? (...) Oh, woe is me,/T' have seen what I have seen, see what I see! (WWX as Yílíng Laozu tries to push LWJ away)

3. Much Ado About Nothing (JC/Beatrice + Huaisang/Benedick - A III. 2-3 either one of the trick scenes)

4. Romeo and Juliet A III. 2 Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,/Take him and cut him out in little stars,/And he will make the face of heaven so fine/That all the world will be in love with night/And pay no worship to the garish sun. (XY & XXC)

5. A Midsummer Night's Dream - based on this Sam Rockwell scene from the 1999 film https://youtu.be/1TiNAYpVVr4 (some kind of reincarnation au vibes, where XY and XXC are amateur actors, and playing the suicide scene knocks something loose in his head)

- A III. 2 “Puppet”? Why so?—Ay, that way goes the game. fight scene (the juniors idk who the smallest in height is, but Jin Ling does seem to have a similar fiery temper; a night-hunt gone wrong maybe because of some interfering spirits)

6. Titus Andronicus - A II. 4; A III. 1; A V. 3 An if your Highness knew my heart, you were.—/My lord the Emperor, resolve me this (XXC discovers SL's mutilated body before it's turned into a fierce corpse and he kinda snaps)

7. MacBeth - A III. 4 banquet scene (jgy sees the ghost of NMJ)

-A V. 1 away damned spot (LXC in seclusion)

8. The Taming of the Shrew (instead of throwing him in the Burial Mounds, WC takes WWX with him and psychologically torments him with the same tactics as Petruchio; plot-twist: instead of being tamed, WWX kills him, because I hate TTOTS)

9. Othello A III. 3 (Othello/NMJ; Desdemona/LXC ; Iago/JGY; Cassio/NZH)

- A V. 2 It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul. - Oh, the more angel she,/And you the blacker devil!(...) I have another weapon in this chamber, - Oh, Desdemona! Desdemona! dead! Oh! Oh! (...) Soft you, a word or two before you go.-I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this,/Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. (to DESDEMONA) I kissed you before I killed you. Now, killing myself, I’m dying while I kiss you again. Kisses DESDEMONA, dies (established relationship; JC realizes what NHS did at Guanyin temple and all the scheming before and is driven to murder)

10. Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead "Two ELIZABETHANS passing the time in a place without any visible character.bThey are well dressed—hats, cloaks, sticks and all. Each of them has a large leather money bag. GUILDENSTERN’s bag is nearly empty. ROSENCRANTZ’s bag is nearly full. The reason being: they are betting on the toss of a coin. (...) It would have been nice to have unicorns."+" Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead, lying in a box with a lid on it? (...) Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, Where’s it going to end?" (JGY and XY in the afterlife, but they don't know it)

-"We could play at questions. (...) Yet he sent for us. And we did come." (JGY +NHS)

Now that's what I call a prompt! It was fun to have so many to choose from and to look at the different parallels you drew. I might be doing another, but this was the one that really caught my eye. Hope you like it!

(also on ao3 if you prefer to read there)

[gen; Lan Xichen; references to Macbeth; guilt and sleepwalking and blood]

- Spot -

In his sleep, Xichen walked.

There was nobody to see it, secluded as he was, and he himself was not aware. He only knew that he was tired every day, as tired as if he'd risen from his bed and paced back and forth for hours on end. The weariness felt fitting, though. He didn't deserve to sleep well.

He tried not to think about it. He spent a lot of his time now trying not to think about things; sometimes he succeeded.

Each night he went to bed at the prescribed time and lay staring into the darkness. Despite his weariness he always struggled to fall asleep - and the sleeplessness seemed to perpetuate itself. The longer he lay there, unsleeping, the less likely sleep became. Sometimes he didn't sleep until the room was turning grey with the approach of dawn, and sometimes he didn't sleep at all.

But when he did sleep there was no rest in it, and this was why: he would rise without waking and walk circles around the boundary of the home that had become a prison.

"Yet here," he mumbled, on one such night, words slurred and changing from dull to desperate and back again. "A spot!"

He wrung his hands together. He paced. If one were to look they might notice, as the months of his seclusion turned to years, the wearing of a path around the boundaries of the rooms: from door to bed, from bed to desk, from desk to door and around again. And again. And again.

"Hell is murky - out, damned spot! Who would have thought a man would have so much blood in him?"

He held up his hands as though to stare at them, though of course he saw nothing - or if he dreamed, perhaps in the dream he saw the stain of the guilt that lay upon them. Certainly the image of it haunted his waking hours. He was supposed to be spending this time in meditation, this seclusion, but each time he closed his eyes he saw his sworn-brother again and felt the hot spray of blood over his hands.

"No more of that," the sleepwalker told himself, soothing. "No more of - oh, but here's the smell of the blood, still! What perfume could sweeten this? Will these hands never be clean?"

His distressed cry rang out like a bird's call through the night. There was nobody to hear it. The elders of his sect slept easily with the weight of their decisions.

"Wash your hands," he said. His tone was gentle, as if he spoke to another, one he wished more kindness on than he would in waking choose to offer to himself. "Wash them and put on a clean robe. Look not so pale. He's buried! He cannot come out from his grave! Wash your hands."

There was no water in the wash-bowl but he knelt at it anyway and, as if enacting some elaborate mime, scrubbed at his hands. Come morning the skin would be red and raw - but there was nobody to notice how his hands troubled him now, and he did his best not to wonder why.

It didn't matter. What did he need his hands for? Let them ache. Let the skin crack and the joints swell. All his hands were good for any more were a weight when they sat folded in his lap, when he stared at nothing and feigned serenity.

"To bed now," he told himself then, rising with freshly-aching hands and eyes still unseeing. "Come, come, come - what's done cannot be undone. Dawn approaches. To bed."

And on the next night, and the one that followed, and on and on, he would rise to repeat the performance: pacing, scrubbing, muttering. Murmuring in distress but providing, too, the consolation that there was nobody else to offer.

Perhaps one day he would believe that he deserved forgiveness.

[watch-grok-brainrot]

Jin Guangyao's Violation of 忠孝仁义

So I had written about WWX and his strong sense of 忠孝仁义 last week. While I was writing it, I kept on thinking about JGY and how he managed to violate all of these virtues. I wanted to go into this characterization of him because I find it so interesting how opposite he is to WWX in the decisions he made. (Warning: i’m not nice to JGY here so if you don’t want him dragged, don’t read?)

忠- loyalty, devotion, fidelity (usually for country or monarch)

(Can I take a moment to talk about how much I LOVE THIS SHOT?! The blood of WRH on the camera lens, WRH falling over, the sudden shift to brightness that mirrors the scene in ep 50 where JGY obscures the sun in his bow (picture above the read more cut)! I can’t get over how much I LOVE the lighting and the way WRH collapses, making way for JGY to become the new sun. Foreshadowing much CQL Crew?!)

This one might be a stretch depending on how you read JGY. I fully believe he went to work for Wen Ruohan as Wen Zhuliu did -- seeking someone who will value his skills. However, WZL died for WRH and JGY just bided his time. (Note: While we know very little about Wen Zhuliu, we know he was at least 忠 and 义. He died for WRH and Wen Chao and refused to let WC desecrate Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan’s bodies. For that, I have to give him respect. He, despite everything, still had that jianghu sense of 义. Also, the man can count. And knows what a golden core feels like.)

So we know JGY gave Lan Xichen the maps, but he also lured them to Nightless City where the puppets were waiting. Had WWX not brought out the Stygian Tiger Amulet, would JGY have murdered WRH? Or would he have stayed in the shadows forever? As a viewer I have no idea what JGY is thinking, what he’s doing, or what he’s hoping for. He hides so well his intentions that there is debate about if he really was helping with the Sunshot Campaign or not! That isn’t something you can say about someone with loyalty. 

What upsets me further is that Nie Mingjie, having been JGY’s superior officer, sees JGY more clearly than LXC can. NMJ has seen JGY murder and has seen the level of self-serving vindictiveness JGY is capable of. In the case of the Sunshot Campaign, this self-serving attitude made JGY become a double agent uncommitted to either side. Too bad NMJ could not convince LXC of JGY’s duplicity. I’m gonna blame those dimples. 

The fact that we do not know JGY’s intent really shows his lack of 忠. If You Stand For Nothing, JGY, What Will You Fall For? (Answer: Himself and that is not 忠)

孝 - filial piety (deference to your lineage)

So for 孝, you’re supposed to respect your parents, honor your parents, and defer to your parents. What are you not supposed to do? Kill you father. That’s what.

So this should’ve been a really short section because that’s pretty cut and dry. But I want to look at what JGY says to JGS when JGY brings in Sisi and the other women. 

(He’s so creepy in this picture! *shudders*)

“父亲,我给你找来了你最爱的女人. 有很多个. 你高兴吗?”

“Father, I have brought you your favorite -- women. There are many. Are you happy?”

(Translation note: you can translate the line as your favorite women or your favorite -- women. I chose to translate it as the latter due to the context.)

First of all, the tone. JGY’s voice is breathy. I can almost hear a smile. He has zero moral qualms about this. He addresses his father as father, not dad or anything close. But he does acknowledge that relationship. And then he says he’s brought JGS’s favorite. There’s a slight emphasis on the favorite there. And it’s creepy. JGY adds the next line and goose bumps start to form on my skin. He knows his father’s sins and he’s punishing his father with it. Why are you doing this JGY?! And at the end, when it asks “Are you happy?” his voice is so sinister I want to scream. JGY clearly knows what he’s doing. He knows exactly what it means to be 孝 and chooses to make a mockery of 孝, to make a mockery of his father, and to kill his father. 

And then, after he watches JGS die, he tells Sisi and the other women to continue -- to desecrate JGS’s body. This is about as un-孝 as one can get! Remember, WWX and JC were willing to die to get JFM and YZY’s bodies back so they could be cremated and honored. The difference here is night and day! Yes, JGY was very good to his mother, including building a Guanyin Statue in her likeness and sparing Sisi who was a friend of his mother’s, but I cannot get over how much of an abomination he was toward JGS (even if JGS deserved an awful death).

仁 - benevolence, humanity, love of man

JGY has no 仁. Does JGY love anyone other than himself? Maybe his mom. (He might have some 仁 towards Su Sh*t She but that’s only suggested by the last couple of episodes.) That’s really it. He might have loved Jin Ling as his nephew. He might have loved LXC for LXC’s kindness and brotherhood. He might have loved Qin Su as whatever relationship he thinks they had. But when push comes to shove, JGY has zero benevolence towards anyone. He’s willing to kill Qin Su, take Jin Ling hostage, and take LXC hostage. (He also has no 义 but that’s the next section!)

And there’s ep 23. When LXC, JGS, and NMJ were discussing what to do with the Wens,  JGY suggested the Wens be imprisoned at QiongQi Path. Since WRH had ordered the slaughter of multiple clans, including the Jiangs at Lotus Pier, doing the same to him would not be considered unreasonable. Ruthless, yes, but a good show of might and order. This acceptance of murder is due to the concept of 诛九族. 诛九族 (zhū jiǔ zú) is one of the most severe punishments in ancient China. The character breakdown makes it fairly self explanatory:

诛 - to execute, kill, put to death

九 - nine

族 - family, clan,ethnic group, or tribe

诛九族 condemns you and your entire family to death (Depending on the source, some say it’s you + 8 types of relatives. Some say it’s everyone related to you from 4 generations above to 4 generations below).

By suggesting the Wen remnants be imprisoned and not slaughtered, JGY presented himself as 仁. However, by turning around and slaughtering the people per JGS’s wishes, JGY knowingly chose the immoral path where blood flowed like rivers. 

(Also! The way this shot pans down makes me think about how JGY is descending into a hell of his own making...)

义-  righteousness and code of brotherhood

Good god, 义. I have so many feelings about 义. Let’s start with some history because CONTEXT is so important. So when you ask a chinese person on the street to give you an example of 义, I’m willing to bet one of the most common answers you will get is 桃园结义 (tao yuan jie yi, or peach garden/grove establishment of brotherhood). This is THE story of fraternal love between non-blood related men. 

So quick and dirty synopsis of 桃园结义 and the three kingdoms story (I actually haven’t read it and it’s been a while since I actually tried to figure out the plot… so hopefully this is all correct!). Three men (刘备、关羽、张飞/ Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei) met on the streets, fought each other, became besties, and decided to start a rebellion. They took over one third of the country with the oldest (刘备) being the monarch and the other two working at his side (a little Yunmeng bros feel there, right? You’ll be the leader, I’ll be your right hand man). And they died for each other. 关羽 was the first to go. To seek revenge, 张飞 worked his men to the rebellion. Two of 张飞’s subordinates ultimately decapitated him while he was sleeping and brought it to their enemy. 张飞’s head and body are buried in two different cities in China (doesn’t this make you think of NMJ’s fate? Because it did when I was thinking about this and I wanted to cry. Also, 张飞 started out as a butcher. SERIOUSLY CQL/MDZS, can we pretend to be SUBTLE!?). 刘备 continued seeking revenge. Prior to 关羽’s death, the three kingdoms were in semi-equilibrium where the two smaller ones were allied against the larger. However, 关羽 being killed by their kinda-ally destroyed the delicate balance between the three kingdoms. 刘备 could’ve tried to make peace but he wasn’t going to let his sworn brother’s murder go unavenged. They all died in the end but with honor and brotherhood intact. 刘备 and 张飞’s determination to avenge 关羽’s death epitomizes the virtue of 义. They are willing to die for eachother. 

In CQL the parallelism to the 桃园结义 imagery is obvious to anyone who has a cultural background that screams Romance of Three Kingdoms at you. Let’s take a look, ok?  

A quick Google image search yields these images (I couldn’t choose): 

You know what they look like? This (from ep 40): 

You know what 桃园结义 looks like when mainland China made a live action? This: 

And you know what that reminds me of in CQL (ep 23)? 

Are you freaking out now about the visual parallels? Ok. Good. Because we’re moving onto a tiny bit of text comparison because i’m excited and i can. 

Per Romance of Three Kingdoms (note: historically inspired novel, not history), 刘备、关羽、张飞 swore the following oath: 

“念刘备、关羽、张飞，

Hope that Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei

虽然异姓，既结为兄弟，

Even though we have different last names,since we have sworn to be brothers

则同心协力，救困扶危；

Then let us unite our hearts and efforts towards helping the needy

上报国家，下安黎庶。

Repaying our country, bringing peace to the people.

不求同年同月同日生，

We do not ask to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year

只愿同年同月同日死。

But hope to die on the same day of the same month of the same year

皇天后土，实鉴此心，

Heaven and earth, verify our hearts

背义忘恩，天人共戮！”

If we turn our backs to righteousness and forget charity, may we be slaughtered by all. 

Now, let’s look at the oath said by the 3zun:

“神明在上。

Brilliant gods above, 

今日我兄弟三人在此立下重誓，

Today, we three brothers swear a solemn oath here 

上报仙门，下安黎庶 ， 

To repay our cultivation sects, To bring peace to the people.

天地同证，如有异心，

Heaven and earth be our witnesses. If we become disloyal, 

千夫所指，天人共怒”

May a thousand men point their fingers at us and may we be incite the anger of all

Even some of the wording is verbatim. The parts I bolded are what I was excited by since they’re either parallel or verbatim. 

The first set of lines: 上报国家，下安黎庶 and 上报仙门，下安黎庶 . (Remember when I guessed in my WWX post that since there are no countries, the cultivation sects are the target of 忠? This is my proof that I was right!) My hubris aside, this is the part of their oath where they swear to be both 忠 and 仁 together. The wording is verbatim except for the part that doesn’t apply to the CQL universe! 

The second set of lines: 天人共戮 vs 天人共怒. The sentence/phrase format and message is identical-- betray this oath and incur wrath.  (I can’t help but headcanon NMJ wanted to say 天人共戮 because it’s so much more metal but JGY was like, that’s really severe and convinced LXC to side with him to get it changed.)

Even the structure of the oaths are similar. Both oaths start with an introduction (we are three who want to be brothers), both oaths ask the heaven and earth to see them (Heaven and earth, verify our hearts & heaven and earth be our witnesses), and both oaths call upon the wrath of the people for vindication in case of betrayal. The CQL version is an abridged version of the three kingdoms oath and the writers set that up along with all the imagery because they want us to be constantly thinking about the three kingdoms bros and their amazing “even after death we’re still brothers” sense of 义.  They want us to compare JGY’s 义 with that 义 and find JGY lacking. 

The obvious betrayal of 义 is NMJ’s death.  Not only is JGY the cause of NMJ’s death, he butchers (i’m cringing at my own pun... but it’s so accurate) NMJ’s body so that NMJ’s spirit cannot rest. 

But, to me, what JGY does to LXC is betrayal on par with what he does to NMJ (and not dissimilar to what Xue Yang does to Xiao Xingchen). As we went over in the section about 仁, JGY says one thing so that LXC suggest JGY handles the matter. When everyone leaves, JGY does the un-仁 thing, essentially with LXC’s blessing. JGY kills NMJ but he does it by asking LXC to teach him how to play guqin. LXC becomes an unknowing accomplice (like XXC who becomes the killer of tongueless victims of corpse poison). 

So remember in my WWX post how I said WWX took on what he perceived as JC’s debts so JC doesn’t end up 不仁不义? JGY says one thing and does another in front of LXC. He knows LXC cares deeply about being righteous and kind. He knows LXC wants to do good. And he leads LXC down a path of self doubt and regret. LXC ends up teaching JGY the techniques that kill NMJ. LXC lets JGY handle the Wen remnants. Thus, unlike WWX who tries to absolve JC, JGY intentionally puts LXC into the position of 不仁不义. 

Can WWX and JGY be more diametrically opposed (foes)?

[wwjgyd]

Watching the finale and a shindanmaker today got us a whole round of new AUs oops

MY-WRH: failed core switch, WQ and MY team up to steal WRH’s core but it doesn’t work (WQ might’ve botched it on purpose?)

WN/WC: timetravel both are fierce corpses, probably leaning more towards romance/platonic than horny, maybe gore?

SMS inquiry LXC: LXC dies, SMS pretends it's his fault but JGY has a good memory. LXC/XY: post-NMJ's death for convenience, sorry dude, LXC got to know XY through JGY and XY pokes at LXC until he "opens up" MY married to WN: idk nothing for this yet but it's a nice concept.

failed core surgery

finale made me also wonder what if someone else tried core surgery/switch but due to the low chance of success it fails and both end up without a core and the setup would be MY<->WRH so MY+ WQ team up to steal WRH's core? but the core donor needs to be conscious maybe some kind of poison that prevents him from moving but leaves him conscious?

It fails so we have WQ only person who even knows what happened with a core and MY and WRH both coreless so WRH stays puppet-leader while WQ gets to actually make decisions and MY is completely fucked over but thanks to his contribution he can stay for now? or more "thanks to his contribution WQ prevents WRH from strangling him on the spot" Like idk they wake up after surgery WRH mad but trying to attack MY realises what's happened but MY can't feel his core either and WQ be like "sorry lads it failed" Possible it didn't actually fail but after she saw it worked she still made it fail because MY is not a person she wants to see hodl WRH's power either so just "neuters" both of them. horror and angst, like MY and WRH both faced with being coreless, MY with his plan completely backfiring. Especially if he had plans to get rid of WQ afterwards because who says she wouldn't take it away from him too since she betrayed wrh MY be like "ok we can try again, let's just kill WRH and you give me someoen elses core, I take the credit for killing WRH and tell my dad to spare you and everyone dear to you deal" WQ: no. but why would she agree to this in the first place if she never wanted to kill WRH. She got a backup plan?

MY's suggestion makes her consider giving WRH a new weaker core? so he can keep up appearances WRH refuses, what if it fails again? They can’t just repeat this how they want (he actually too prideful, doesn’t accept anyone elses core so they bluff their way through it) temporary truce

Wen Ning cheated on Wen Chao with Wen Ning time travel gone wrong

I guess it'd mean past wn and wc already were a thing so time travel ghos general wen ning but maybe wen chao doesn't know that's wen ning? maybe a fierce corpse wen chao post death who's not recognisable to wn either?

exactly! hurt comfort! fierce corpse care! (which reminds me i still have an SMS/wZL fic to continue because I keep thinking this would be the same continuity, which isn't saying much since it's canon-insert)

Lan Xichen is happily married with Xue Yang

post chang massacre (post-NMJ’s death for convenience srry)

JGY actually wants to get rid of XY or at leats fakes it, LXC already met with XY who got through his defenses and to open him up a bit about his negative feelings, JGY a bit worried 

MY happily married to WN Nothing specific yet aside from congrats ur related to WRH now

Su She plays inquiry for Meng Yao so MY dies before being acknowledged by JGS

Su Minshan plays inquiry for Lan XiChen

This could be an interesting AU... I guess he's to blame for why LXC can be enquired or feels guilt or tries to shoulder the blame. So idk, donghua escape but at what cost? Wheels are turning, what if JGY doesn't even know SMS is talking to/trying to talk to LXC…

Su She refuses to talk to JGy about what happened but ensures it wasn’t his fault. Su She decides trying to contact LXC and succeeds, they talk about JGY and decide together SMS to claim he did it.

conspire to gaslight JGY into believeing it's not his fault thinking it'll be easier but JGY has a good memory so it  backfires sowing distrust between Suyao and SMS might suspect LXC did it on purpose(he did not or did he?).

It should just end up with everyone being even worse off and no one trusting eachother anymore and it should be look like to SMS as if LXC did it as revenge but to the reader it should be vague enough for possible denial. Maybe SuYao mrdering eachother?

LXC accidentally plunging ppl he cares about into misery again from the grave. Maybe once they are all dead they can clear up the misunderstandings in the afterlife and JGy is just like "cool. I never wanna hang out with you 2 again. I'll go look for mom now if you'll excuse me"

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 41 - watching notes

Only 10 episodes left 😭😭😭

And we're now entering Nie Mingjue's memories. I have a feeling there's going to be some serious "oh shit!" and "wtf is happening???" going on

Jgy's backstory still moves me, no matter what he did later

I feel like both his and wwx stories are cautionary tales of what happens when you combine a rigid class-system with a mob mentality and top it all of with a healthy amount of "manners over morals"

I feel like JGY main strategy is "hold your tongue and bite your time". I completely fell for his sweet facade in the first few episodes of the flashback

Jo, did NMJ just ram his saber into a stone wall? 😱

NMJ may have anger issues, but he's a good dude

I think he took the "the more perfectly you should be, to leave them with nothing to say" to heart. Like, he never outwardly complains.

Another perfectly timed screenshot I thought I should share :D

Oh, we've seen that before!

How can this be the same person that I thought would be the designated fandom cinnamon role in ep 2/3?? 🥺

I know I'm praising actors left and right during this commentary,but ALL TGE AWARDS for how smoothly JGY changes his demeanor from humble and sweet quasi-servant to "you're not worthy of breathing the same aor as me"

This

And this

Might as well be two different characters

I wonder if, when the NMJ send him away, he realised and regretted, that he had just lost one of the only people who were truly on his side and if he thought it was worth it

One thing I find very interesting in the scene in the Scorching Sun palace is that, jgy is still wearing his hair in the braided style that is customary for the Nie clan. I think I'll try to spot when he changes it

Okay, scratch my earlier musings about if JGY feels genuine regret over how he had to leave NMJ. He clearly doesn't 😐

Gotta give it to him though, he puts gollum to shame with how he switches his personality

Only it's deliberate

And he's not insane

... don't know where I was going with this

So we're at the point where Nie Mingjue wakes in Lan Xichen's arms. Seen that before

Which leaves me asking: WHAT PART OF THIS IS THE ACT??

I wonder though, how they could convince NMJ to become sworn brothers with him after that while story

He does not seem like a man who forgets a grudge easily ^^

That scene of the three of them meditating and playing the Quin is weirdly domestic :D maybe it's just because, so far, we've only seen wwx and lwj in a similar situation together 😅

Why do I still ship Lan Xichen and JGY after all that happened? Because of scenes like these!!!!

JGY *plays Quin ominously*

Didn't know that was possible :D

The fuck???

Why is he coughing blood?

Lwj is playing "Clarity" in the present time to calm him down! Ten points for parallels!

Poor Lan Xichen. Why do I have a feeling that he's the designated buffer between them? 🙈

Sorry for the lack of intelligent commentary, but I'm trying to wrap my head around how much of a puppeteer JGY is ...

I've already mentioned this, but I appreciate the parallels between jgy and wwx and how they differ. Both operate very much outside the orthodoxy, in large part due to them not being born into it. The crucial difference is their goals. One seeks to gain power to not only find his place within the system, but rise above all those who ever looked down on him, too. The other wants to change the system for all those others who are also hurt by it.

Two characters with very similar backgrounds diverging on very different paths

And I appreciate it that it's spelled out in his rant to NMJ here

This is SO telling. I adore this scene! Before I would have calked him simply selfish (and he is, don't get be wrong). But he also probably grew up in a world where he could never be truly save and never feel equal to anyone. Everything be has, he had to fight for.

I just wrote that he and wwx had the same background? I retract that because there is one huge difference. Wwx was loved. From what I've heard, his parents loved him. Then, of course, he has to endure live as a homeless kid, but he was adopted by a foster-father who loved him and had siblings he shared everything with. Of course, he still never felt as if he quite belonged or was enough (Madam Yu saw to that) and that left it's own scars, culminating in all gbe times he rather took on all burdens himself rather than ask for goddam help once. But he was loved. Loved and appreciated and cared for. It seems, that jgy never knew that, probably until NMJ took him as his Vice General. So he learned to survive in the shadows and bite his time until the opportunity arose, never fully trusting anyone.

Does that excuse anything or rid him of responsibility? Nope. But it makes for a damn interesting character

I AM SHOOK!

That exchange between Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao was such a brilliantly crafted piece of dialogue!!! 😱😱😱

Because, if, and I think by now that that's likely, jgy turns out to be the main villain of this arc, then he is one o can at least partially understand. He's right in saying that NMJ has no right to claim that his actions are all just. He's gained his position by virtue of his birth and he's working within a system that justifies itself through mixture of imagined moral high ground and the virtue of blood heritage. No action to uphold that can be truly just.

At the same time, I believe, jgy turned those believes into a self-fulfilling prophecy. He himself schemes and uses other people's worst impulses and the faults in the cultivation world to his advantage. Proofing to himself, again and again, that he is right about them and thus justified in his actions. Enter wwx who tries, who really tries to shove the error of their ways in their faces. (I think I just answered my question from a few episodes back about why jgy seems to be working specifically against wwx 🤔)

Sorry for going on such a tengant

NMJ, did you have to call him a son of a whore? 🙄

The hell is happening to NMJ?

Oh shit, what did he do with the song of clarity? How could you even use that to harm someone??

So he tweaked it?

Oh no 😥😥😥

Let me get this straight. JGY intentionally brought NMJ to the point of qui deviation? 😳

Oh no Huaisang!! 😭😭😭

Xue Yang??? He worked with JGY? 😱😱😱

So he didn't doe of Qui deviation!!!

Fuck, JGY spotted paperman-wwx 😳

Honestly wwx, maybe it's not the best idea ever to put your conscious into something that can be crushed by accidentally stepping on it 😬

That's his sword!!!

Didn't wwx just reveal who he is???

Maybe don't do that?!?!

HE CAN WIELD HIS SWORD AGAIN!!! 😭😭😭

but jgy definitely figured out who he is ... 😐

Still, I'm weirdly proud of him :')

But wait! Why does jgy have his sword to begin with???

Aww, little exhausted paperman-wwx flopping down into lwj's hand 🖤

This episode liveblog has been far too serious so far. Here, have my favourite lan Wangji mood:

I really appreciate how seamlessly this show moves between serious scenes and comedy

Jin Ling going "what do you want?" followed by 5 beats of silence and then

had me wheezing 😂

Oh no, he's hidden everything already, hasn't he?

Wow, even Xichen is defiant now. I sense drama!!!

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose (this episode was enlightening, but still raised more questions. Feels like we're honestly entering the final arc of this show 😔)

[mxdberries]

wrh wins au + f!nmj - imagine wrh forcing nhs and nmj to fuck until nmj gets pregnant. wrh loves playing with nmj’s big breasts, and how they swell and leak more and more as her child grows. nmj+nhs’s child is sent to some random wet nurse because wrh wants all of nmj’s milk for himself, & wrh doesn’t give nmj a chance to recover from birth before fucking her, and he makes sure to keep nmj pregnant as often as possible, breeding her with the various other cultivators from the sunshot campaign

Da jie!!! Her tits would be so spectacular the softest parts of her hard body. Let me die against them 🤤 WRH wins AU is a big favorite of mine, I always wanted to write something for it. Not gonna lie, the first thing that came to my mind was Wen Ruohan with a milk mustache going "Got milk?" 🥛

At first Wen Ruohan thinks of fucking her himself to replace the son she cut down, such strength would welcomed compared to the failure of his children, but Jin Guangyao offers a better idea. Sure make NMJ have WRH's babies but why don't they also use NMJ as a brood mare, having the losing Sect Leaders or their heirs knocking her up, then raising the children in Wen sect so in the future, they'll be devout puppet leaders. WRH likes it.

And the one to start it is NHS, the whole time the poor guy is crying, pressed against her naked chest getting petted while he fucks into her. NMJ glares at WRH, who watches them the whole time. If NHS hadn't been drugged, he probably wouldn't get it up. It's hard for her to get pregnant, months pass and she's still getting her period something that's both a pain and a relief until one day she doesn't. She doesn't get to see NHS again for years. WRH keeps her chained following him everywhere, forcing her to sit at the foot of his throne, she glares at everyone.

Her body lost muscle tone partially from no training partially from poor diet, making her look soft but she looks softer as her belly rounds out & her already big tits get bigger. Her chest is tender and hurts, she practically growls at people if they get brushed against. She's not completely helpless as WRH plays with her boobs (they are just massive, talk about cup runneth over) ; she kicks out, slaps away his hands, WRH thinks it's funny but that doesn't stop him from bruising up her face and legs. When milk comes in he's the greediest thing, sucking what little milk she has while he takes her ass. She gets used to WRH drinking from her, that if he skips she's in pain and leaking but just squeezing them isn't enough. Begrudgingly she asks him to help her. If her child wasn't in the way he'd be sitting on her, fucking her leaking chest & coming on her face (it's just not the same any other way, he needs to watch the shame and anger in her eyes) This is the second thing he does once the baby is out of her, the first was fucking her cunt till it bled.

Out of all of them Jiang Cheng is the easiest to endure they have little personal relationship, they don't look at each other, he's proficient. LXC isn't as bad as NHS but she can't look in his eyes bc he looks at her with so much guilt. She expects JGS or maybe JZX, but instead it's JGY the little fucking traitor and NMJ goes wild, like bordering qi deviation, like not even WRH gets under her skin like that. But still WRH's milk supply needs a refresher so JGY gets his turn, she cums hardest on his dick.