#because xiaoge? he REALLY hates immortals

[traineecryptid]

NPSS Weibo Q&A (20240831) Part 2

This is a Q&A session held on Weibo. People will tag their questions with the hashtag #南派三叔藏海花在线答疑# (#NPSS Zang Hai Hua Online Q&A#) and NPSS will look through the tag to pick some to answer. The event started at 1500 hours on 2024 August 31st.

Folder with screenshots and big compilation google doc is here. Part 1 is here.

1536

Q: Shu, why was the patriarch's item changed from the bronze bell to the Heavenly Staff ? Is it to match Tianshou? (T/N: Tianshou could be translated as Heavenly Orders)

A: I’ll explain it like this. If Wu Xie wanted to tell this story to someone else and this story was then retold by that someone else, it would certainly differ in certain details from the truth in his notebook. Perhaps it is to keep people from knowing the full story or perhaps it is so that others could better understand it, or perhaps [he] didn’t want to explain too much.

1539

Q: How do you manage to have both actors that fit the roles very well and actors who don’t in every show?

A: Problem with availability. 

1540

Q: Which is the most tragic character in ZHH aside from Xiaoge?

A: Wah, this is a good question. You have to keep watching yourself because this is a very hard-to answer question.

1541

Q: The dramas suck doesn’t mean that your books suck. Don’t worry at all. A: If the dramas really suck, could I have kept making one after another?

1544

Q: Sanshu, is there any way to make Wu Xie and Pangzi immortal? I can’t bear to see Wu Xie die. It would be hard for Zhang Qiling to adapt, right? A: When I was little, I also hoped to have this kind of medicine to give to my grandmothers.

1545

Q: Sanshu, Xiaoge had already inserted the Heavenly Staff and cured everyone from the Tianshou sickness. So why Xiaoge wasn’t cured?

A: Not only wasn’t he cured, all the Tianshou was borne by him alone, fragmenting his memories.  

1546

Q: Sanshu, Wu Xie’s dream house is a courtyard with a moss pond. What kind of living environment would Xiaoge and Pangzi like? A: Tianzhen still breathing when they wake up is considered heaven (ptsd) for them.

1547

Q: Sanshu, what do you think is Wu Xie’s greatest specialty? Is it his long eyelashes like Xiazi said?

A: His little boss spirit. (T/N: according to this article I skimmed, little boss refers to the kind of boss who is very lowkey, keeps themselves on the same level as everyone else and focuses on their business without prioritizing growth.)

1547

Q: In the most recent episode of ZHH, why does Zhang Jiuri and the others hate Zhang Qiling so much?

A: It will be explained right after this.

1548

Q: The universe’s man crush, I would like to ask: When Xiaoge saw Wu Xie treating him all friendly in the beginning, did he not dare to believe that there was someone who solely cherished him and wanted to protect him without any ulterior motives?

A: Zhang Qiling could see through a person’s heart with just one look. Not because he’s smart, but because he has seen a lot. People are a very simple thing for Zhang Qiling.

1550

Q: The universe’s man crush, the world’s man crush, can you tell me what Zhang Qiling would think if he knew that Wu Xie had called him “Menyouping-needing-a-thousand-cuts” before? (T/N: “needing a thousand cuts” is similar to “damned” as in “that damned troublemaker” and is apparently very rude… since i guess you’re cursing on someone to be tortured?) A: A thousand cuts? Are you a candle? You think I’ve only taken a thousand cuts on your behalf? I took your 60 million but I’ve never ever asked you for a single cent more!

1552

Q: Are there any fixed requirements when casting actors? For example, the Iron Triangle.

A: No. As long as the platform approves, the actors approves, the director approves and the original author approves, then it’ll be OK.  It’s not that difficult. 

1552

Q: I feel like ZHH is a very close reproduction of the novel and it even elaborated on some scenes. I feel like I know the characters better and understand them more now.

A: Thank you. It took very long to write.

1553

Q: Actually, Shu, I watched ZHH and I feel that it’s a close reproduction of the novel. Of course, I read the novel a few years ago and some parts have gotten blurry. But when I was watching the drama, I would suddenly remember the scene. Undeniably, some parts have changed but the majority isn’t that different. It’s really, really the best when an adaptation follows the original closely because Shu, your novels are the foundation and the novels are very well written! Although I don’t know why [people] won’t let go of the question of actors, neither were there praises for the scenes. The requirements aren’t high, it’s enough that I can recall the scenes in the novel while watching the drama. Sanshu, remember, no matter which drama it is, it has to follow your novels. The novels are really, really the best! I’ve always felt like actors were a type of feeling, they won’t be able to convince people no matter who plays the part. But the scenes would always resonate with people! A: Everyone has the right to express their own opinions. I also have the right to work hard at promoting. It’s a difficult world. It’s enough that we be ourselves and not leave regrets.

1553

Q: Sanshu, there are already changes to Wu Xie’s blood and he could deter bugs like Xiaoge and all that. Would Wu Xie live forever without aging with Xiaoge?

A: Wu Xie’s only works now and then. Maybe it has something to do with what he eats.

Here's another 15, this section seems to have a lot of longer questions. Can you believe that we're only an hour into the questions? There's like... an amount more. Thankfully NPSS has slowed down.

[lungache]

I can't reply to your post but hello if you want to talk about it i would love to hear EVERYTHING about your thoughts on x men mutants dmbj 👀

I'M MAKING THIS A POST BECAUSE I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT IT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS WILL LISTEN. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to yell into the void.

So this isn't an X-Mn AU as much as it is a mutant AU because I think mutants fit really well into the DMBJ universe! Many mutants live and work on the outskirts of society, and the tombs welcome those kinds of outcasts. I also think it would be cool to see teams of graverobbers that have a lot of morlock-types, too. Because this is a place where their powers are useful and can potentially make them money in a world that is otherwise inhospitable. I feel like DMBJ has always written graverobbing as a society outside of society.

I have SO many mutant AUS. So. Many. I have a whole different Pangxie one, but this is the big one that I have that I might actually write.

First and foremost, the M9 are families with generations of mutants who got rich graverobbing who have mutations that are just inherently useful in the tombs AND that allow them to pass as non-mutant. I've been cooking up power groups for the different families but would love input!

Wu Xie: Kate Pryde/Shadowcat

> The ability to phase through objects, walls, and people/intangibility. Disrupts electrical fields. Slight levitation.

I imagine the Wu's having powers along this vein: intangibility, like Wu Xie, some have teleportation (I have another AU where he has Kurt's powers lol), and the like. Obviously, these kinds of powers are just OP in tombs. Being able to phase yourself through walls and potentially through any dangerous traps is a god send, you can understand how with powers like that the Wu's became so wealthy. You can get in and out of there in no time. But have no fear! Wu Xie figures out how to make such a powerful tool into a weapon to use against himself and others completely on accident. You can have intangibility but that doesn't cancel out being clumsy and having rotten luck. I think it could also be interesting for him to still be working out how to use his powers in this context for the first few years and then we see him being an old hat at it in his later years.

(Now, these were NOT selected because of any connection between the characters. It's truly a "I wonder how these characters would utilize these powers" kind of deal, not because I think the characters are alike. HOWEVER, I do think the comparison between the two characters is kind of interesting just because there is the stark development from the naive, bright eyed younger versions of those characters who develop into darker, more jaded people. People who have killed. People who will kill again. And all that.)

Pangzi: Colossus

> Body turns to "organic steel" giving him super strength, endurance, and speed. I've been debating making it so instead of being able to turn his body to metal he is simply metal all the time, unlike Piotr. I haven't decided, though.

Stay with me, here: statuesque, shiny, super strong Pangzi. See, you like it, too! You see the vision! Pangzi already has canonical near-super strength, I see no reason not to make it official. IIRC, Colossus is also, like, Heavier. 500 pounds heavy. So it would make those "you're too heavy" comments they always give Pangzi hold a little more weight (ha). It's a power that would come in handy as a tank in a tomb but also come with its own set of complications, too, that I think would be fun to explore. For example, in TLT2, they do a lot of swimming- in his metal form, Colossus can't swim, he sinks.

(I know it LOOKS like I picked Colossus for Pangzi because I picked Kitty for Wu Xie. I promise I didn't. If for no other reason Pangxie actually STAY married.)

Xiaoge: Wolvrine.

> Do I need to explain this one? Immortality, super healing, adamantium skeleton (given to him by the Zhangs), cool knife hands. 

I may have a love/hate relationship with Logan but my love for Xiaoge is pure and never ending. Alas, they do have the shared life experience of being old as balls and having the memories of swiss cheese.

There's something about Xiaoge having this power set and going through incredible trials to become the man he is today that just make Sense for Zhang Qiling to me. He was chosen because of who he is, WHAT he is. He's been boiled down to what he can do and used as a weapon, a tool in a lot of ways. He also has such a complicated relationship with death and dying, something that adds flavor to his title to me? (Has Logan ever met death? I know Wade has a whole relationship with her, and he got his powers from Logan's DNA. Xiaoge having met death would be FASCINATING.)

And? Honestly? I just think Xiaoge should have blades in his knuckles, that just sounds dope as hell and he deserves them.

I know them having these powers takes away some of the DANGER involved in the series. They are way, way less likely to die- which, to me, just means the tombs should try harder.

Also debating between making Hei Xiazi Mystique (the POTENTIAL of him being a shapeshifter is OFF THE CHARTS, plus she is already immortal) or Destiny (precognition, blind character who is able to "see" because she is able to see the future a few seconds ahead). Both are juicy.

I would love to talk to people about this, about other versions of this AU, about places you agree/disagree, anything and everything. DM me? We can chat here or on discord!

[mejomonster]

(5) kxisid ok so theyre all suspicious of Xiaoge because he doesnt get scared in the tombs but like? Jcisikxis how funny would it be if Xiaoge was just a normal dude who reacted to uneasiness like i do, which is just burying all emotion? Like they think hes Up to Something or think that he has supernatural powers but really hes just a guy who dissociates when he gets scared

sameee. like if a real scary thing or disaster is happening i get completely calm and my emotions turn off. which like among other things does make it much easier to help whoever got injured/get them to doctor/call whoever to get called to fix a car/get ppl in danger away from someone violent etc. far as i can tell thats jsut?? some ppl be reacting to danger different lol. xiaoge is just alert and prepared and panic-off when dealing w danger like thats all guys

i mean he DOES have supernatural powers tho but that’s not the point

i mean idk they’re probably also like ‘he hasn’t said a word this whole trip, he’s not an archaeology student like us, i’ve never seen him and im in the 9 families, he doesn’t even have an id, who IS he why is he here’ - i am assuming you mean the past-expedition flashback being suspicious

i am also like. i feel like i read on the wiki that xiaoge is like 100+ but. i feel like i Also heard that’s only cause someone saw him in a pic from the 1920s so like i’m curious if. if i headcanon him to be like 500ish so i can write a period fic would it technically be canon compliant. like i really have no idea how long this man has been around, but it IS long enough he get viscerally murderous when a bitch brings up immortality. xiaoge runs into another immortal and its attack time. my Favorite scene for xiaoge in tlt1 is when they are ALL debating if its murder to kill the corpse that is ACTUALLY alive and sleeping and has been for centuries. And xiaoge’s like ‘he’s lived long enough’ and is immediately MURDER time and wu xie’s only real disagreement w him in the tomb like NO HE’S INNOCENT he didn’t do anything!! And xiaoge’s like ‘he lived too long’ and like xiaoge does end up killing him like.

if u put any immortal in front of xiaoge he gets bloodthirsty and So Angry and im sure part of that is self hate and not wantin to be alive anymore which mm. says a lot about his character that’s so unwilling to give details about himself up usually. But - it would be. A LITTLE funny. If xiaoge was ONLY like 100.

Like dude? you’re still an age living people are??? You don’t need to be mad about immortality yet like Calm down a little. Like if u treat wu xie REAL nice and get him decent doctors and out of the tomb raiding business after 60 he could possibly last to that age? Like. Xiaoge my dude. U don’t need this much immortal angst and self hatred when ur still technically around a regular human’s age? Like yeah ur younger than u expected to Look but there’s still time for a dangerous situation to kill u like have u seen ur job?

If Xiaoge is really 100 or under he is really putting So Much of this immortal-angst onto himself when like. He should go talk to some ppl his age and get some perspective maybe? Like he’s already like ‘people around me will get hurt’ and all the vampire emo nonsense angst and... he’s younger than a vampire.. dude’s still like grandpa age. (Unless he is like 200?)

Although to be fair to him. His immortality is also punctuated by repeated memory loss. So its not just being alive that stresses him out. It’s that he can’t hold onto anything because he forgets, he cant remember where he’s been or what he’s done or if he’s ever had consistent beliefs or morals or desires, he can’t hold onto memories of ppl he cares about and now he’s afraid To Care, people forget him because he leaves and slips away, so he has no connections to anything and i think it makes him scared and feel lost and like he’s always wading in too deep water. Like ppl can tell him he’s good, but he won’t ever know what he did 20 or X years ago and if its a lie. He can’t even be sure if what he did a few months ago was necessarily. It must be scary living his life and feeling so out of control of it. Like he can narrate this past-story to wu xie and pangzi. But he couldn’t even remember it until they went back into the tomb

So he couldn’t even confirm to himself if he was a killer or not until they got into the tomb and his memories got a little more accessible. And still, he remembers only some things and its foggy so. Like while we and him and wu xie want to assume he was a person who didn’t hurt others or wasn’t there for bad reasons, even xiaoge himself can’t really know for sure. And as we’ll find out later w san shu its immensely easy for ppl to gaslight a guy who can’t remember his own version of events clearly. which just sucks even more...

ur not gonna understand this yet but. eventually a guy named xie yuchen (one of wu xie’s ‘friends’)  asks san shu about the past too, san shu’s dodgy Again. and i kinda hope wu yuchen goes dark on him to get an answer cause. someone needs to get a less dodgy answer maybe if they can. and xie yuchen certainly has enough power/influence to push a guy to maybe tell him a bit more than san shu will tell wu xie.

[s1utspeare]

Hi darling

You write such an awesome metas on fictional character so I wanted you to ask that what's your thought on Huo Dao Fu.

😊

AH OMG!!! Your ask could not have come at a better time, cause I have a feeling this man’s gonna be an important part of my next fic, so I really should start figuring him out. He’s SUCH A LIL WEIRDO??? honestly i love him, even though he’s a total Bitch 97% of the time, but I think at heart he’s just Looking For Something, as are all the characters in this show. 

What really interests me about Huo Daofu are his character parallels with Wu Xie, and I think that’s where most of the conflict between them comes in. Wu Xie, whether he means to be or not, is the Focus of Jiumen a good seventy-five percent of the time. Not always in a positive manner, because in Sha Hai they were all about ready to kick his ass, and in Reboot he pisses them off pretty good with his Warehouse Eleven stunts, but there’s a level of attention on him that other members of the families don’t receive, and I think Huo Daofu notices that, and is like “hey wait a minute why is he getting all the spotlight I want some spotlight >:( He’s not even doing a good job why is everyone paying attention to him”

Cause this bitch. THIS BITCH. He tried to be that bitch. He TRIED SO HARD. He went to EUROPE. He went to EUROPE and got a fucking like??? medical degree???? Like he went to GERMANY??? who does that?? not fucking wu xie, that’s who. Wu Xie went and got like a history degree or some shit which was just par for the course. But HUO DAOFU. He was DIFFERENT. He was gonna be THE SHIT. He was gonna be the unabomber of Jiumen, was gonna blow all that shit up and then say “fuck u” and all the future generations of Jiumen children were gonna hear horror stories about how Unique and Wild Huo Daofu was and he was never gonna have to deal with any of them ever again. 

BUT THEN WU XIE DECIDED TO BE PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE AND HE DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING OFF THE BEATEN PATH. HE LITERALLY JUST FOLLOWED WU SANXING AROUND FOR LIKE. A YEAR. AND EVERYONE LOST THEIR MINDS. Like if I had been Huo Daofu and tried SO HARD to be different from everyone else in my generation and then this Dumb Little History Twink kissed a Zhang and found some wild swamp treasure and everyone went nuts about it, I would have been pissed off too. 

Cause Jiumen is like. Annoying as hell, and everyone has a different way to deal with the fact that they’re a part of a treasure hunting org that has been around for hundreds of years and features immortals and weird-ass dudes with unbelievable martial arts skills and also Wu Sanxing. Xiaoge deals with them by Fucking Off Forever. Zhang Rishan deals with them by being The Most Competent Person In Any Given Room, and Huo Daofu deals with them by being The Biggest Bitch He Can Be, which isn’t even that much of a bitch, because there is always going to be a bigger bitch in Jiumen, and his name is Wu Xie. So it just backfires on him, because NO ONE GIVES A SINGLE FUCK. 

We’re introduced to him at Xiao Hua’s fake funeral (which lmao i love that) when he’s making some Evil Plans with the rest of Jiumen, but not for the same reasons, cause when they actually get to the desert, Huo Daofu does not care about the treasure pits. He doesn’t even go down into Gutongjing (I’m pretty sure), he just hangs out in the camps because he doesn’t CARE about the treasure, he just wants to keep Wu Xie from succeeding, wants to say, see, look, I can do things too, I can be clever and cunning, I can take them all down from the inside out and I don’t even need friends to do it. 

Huo Daofu is jealous of Wu Xie, I think, because Wu Xie is free of the confines of Jiumen, and Wu Xie has friends, and Wu Xie didn’t have to go to another country where he knew no one and didn’t even speak the language and work so hard and be fucking brilliant in ways that no one knows about and doesn’t always, always get overlooked in favor of someone who disregards everyone’s favor, but receives it anyway. 

So when Pangzi shows up with Wu Xie, half-dead, on Huo Daofu’s doorstep, I think a little vindictive part of him goes serves him right. 

But Huo Daofu is not a part of Jiumen in the ways that matter, and he’s a doctor, first and foremost. He took oaths because he wants to help people, he wants to save them, and even if he hates Wu Xie down in the pits of his stomach, he’s not just going to let him die. And so he follows Wu Xie to thunder city because, as he says, “I want to be there when you die.” He’s not going to kill him, he can’t do that, he’s a doctor, but that small, mean part of him wants to watch Wu Xie fall. 

(Also I love @kholran’s headcanon that Huo Daofu is Wu Xie’s bitchy ex, bc like YES??? OF COURSE???? like they had an on-again, off-again thing cause they were like “we’re not doing this with the Jiumen women” but they’re WAY TOO ALIKE and just ended up fighting all the time.)

Reboot loves the Rule of Threes, which is where an idea is repeated three times in order to create a pleasing pattern. Human brains love patterns, and so when we see the Iron Triangle, when we see the three pills that mark the stages of Wu Xie’s illness, when we see the three missing people from Sanshu’s journey, our brains go oh that’s important (and Reboot ALMOST kills the game, ALMOST knocks it out of the park, but then they have FOUR story arcs instead of THREE, and it drives me ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE. WHY DID THEY DO THIS. WHY). 

And Huo Daofu is a FANTASTIC tri-tier replica of Wu Xie’s Greatest Hits, which are: 

Being a sort of outcast/family runaway (Wu Xie has very clearly said Fuck Everyone Who Isn’t Sanshu, and Huo Daofu has aligned himself with the Chen clan, because the Huo’s are like Fuck Men (which honestly good for them but pLEASE love ur special doctor boy he’s getting a Complex))

Acting based almost Solely on Emotions when in the Heat of the Moment (i.e. dropping his entire life to go play doctor with a man who will not calm down for any length of time in order to actual REST)

Solving problems that no person should be able to solve because he’s smart as shit 

Narratively, he’s a FANTASTIC foil for Wu Xie, because not only does he essentially hold this man’s life in his hands, but because he is what Wu Xie could have been if he hadn’t met Pangzi or Xiaoge, if he hadn’t had support from other people. And I don’t think that’s Huo Daofu’s fault, because he and Wu Xie are so, so similar. He just never got the people he needed, and its so clear that he’s achingly alone all of the time, so no wonder he’s jealous of Wu Xie and wants to become part of this little group so damn badly, even as he’s protesting and saying, “no, no, I want you to die, literally nothing would give me more pleasure, please die right now, I’m waiting.” 

Sure, he’s a flipper-flopper ass bitch, but he’s trying his best with what he’s got, and shit, that’s not a lot. He’s got zero support system. I mean why the fuck is he making street churros? Even Zhang Rishan, who has NO culinary expertise or connections whatsover, gets to live in a restaurant, while Huo Daofu has to make fried dough in an alley and then keep people from choking on their own lungs on his damn kitchen table. Someone please help this man. 

this is SO LONG i’m sorry but essentially I think that Huo Daofu is Like That because he’s trying so hard to be someone, and no one is paying any attention, and the person he would most relate to, Wu Xie, is off doing God knows what with his polycule of friends and Huo Daofu’s all by himself and like??? i would be SO FRUSTRATED??? please give this man a break and also give him Love??? like, this screenshot speaks VOLUMES (photo credit to @hey-its-wei) 

LOOK AT HIM!!!!! LOOK AT HOW FUCKING HAPPY HE LOOKS!!!! JUST TO BE THERE!!!! WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE!!!!! WHO HAVE SEEN HIM AND LISTENED AND SAID “hey, you can come with us, we’ll take you, you don’t have to be alone anymore.” 

I said earlier that Huo Daofu, like everyone else in this series, was Looking For Something. And like many of our beloved Wu Crew, he was looking for a family. And look! He found them :)

[puppy-phum]

For the character ask thing: Xiaoge!! (I know technically you've written a lot of meta about him already, but still! I always like hearing your thoughts about him ^^)

now you’ve done did it ashen. i think am having an existential crisis over this bc HOW do i even feel about this man? how do i put all of this into words?? and i know i’ve written some meta and wrote that fic too but i just always learn new things about him and everything about him seems to be so tightly in relation to wu xie that. this is going to be hard. but bear with me, okay? 

give me a character

(placing under a cut!)

How I feel about this character

Like I said, it’s hard to put into words how I feel about Xiaoge. He is, even in my mind, bigger than just one man. I don’t blame Wu Xie (and others too) for thinking of him as some type of god. Because what else is he but the most humane god their world has ever seen? 

But that aside, Xiaoge is... very tragic for me. Wu Xie is that too, of course, we have talked about this and NPSS has said that they both are tragic, but Xiaoge is tragic even before Wu Xie has technically even been born. There is the misery of lost lifetimes in him, the grief of lost people. He has been so many things and he can’t even remember. He has been so many people throughout his long life – though, sometimes he hasn’t been allowed to be a person at all. He hasn’t been allowed to become a person. So, somehow, he is just eternally in the making. He is never fully a person in the middle of his amnesia and other people using him and his duty for his own family. 

And still, he manages to be so unapologetically himself. Somehow, he manages to be so unique and stay away from every social norm that it’s almost admirable (yes I admire him being a social disaster haha). So I think my foremost feeling about him is just. Pride? I am proud of him for persisting, for doing his thing, for continuing forward. Even if that’s something that is in his blood and isn’t always his choice. But I am still proud of him for keeping his head and his humanity. Underneath all that coldness, there is a warm heart and I love him for that. He is so many things when he’s allowed to be. And I know that he can be cruel and that he kills people without remorse but he is not evil. He is not a demon. He is probably the most innocent of them all. He has so much blood in his hands but can he really be blamed for any of it? I don’t know. But I am happy that he is, in some ways, brave enough to figure that out. 

All the people I ship romantically with this character

To be honest, I can’t really ship Xiaoge with anyone else than Wu Xie. They are just meant to be, and before and after Wu Xie, this man will not love like that again. They are made of the same soul. There is no one else for Xiaoge. 

My non-romantic OTP for this character

This varies a lot more than the romantic one :’D Because first of all, I adore Xiaoge and Pangzi. Their friendship is just amazing and I am so happy that we’ve gotten to see more of that! I love it that with Pangzi, Xiaoge gets to joke around in his own stony way, that he gets to pull his pranks, gets to be himself. I love it that Pangzi manages to lure this playful side out of him and then gets absolutely stunned when Xiaoge turns it against him XD They are hilarious and I know you think the same :’)

Then, I also love Xiaoge with Liu Sang. That is a more delicate friendship as both of them are not that good with emotions or words or physical contact. But I adore it how Xiaoge kind of just. Takes Liu Sang under his wing? Without knowing anything about this man. Because I still believe that it’s Xiaoge who takes Liu Sang into their circle first, that it’s Xiaoge who sees through Liu Sang, who starts poking him open with one knowing look after another. It’s him who gets Liu Sang to trust them and then to stay. It’s him who somehow gets Liu Sang to accept a home (and I love that because Xiaoge has been there, he knows the pain of being an outsider, and then Wu Xie brought him in and gave him a home and now he’s allowed to do that to someone else? That’s growth). 

The third one on the list is Hei Xiazi. We haven’t seen much of them but they obviously know each other, and I love it how Hei Xiazi is just allowed to tease the great Zhang Qiling like it’s not a big deal. I can imagine the Mystic Nine families gawking at him when they hear it. Hei Xiazi calls their Zhang patriarch “Yaba Zhang” to their faces and they are about to throw hands and maybe scream, and Xiaoge himself only raises a brow and almost smiles. Wu Xie is laughing his ass off. Also, please, I need some immortal bros shenanigans because no one will believe that actually happened 

My unpopular opinion about this character

Wow, once again I don’t even know what are popular opinions when it comes to Xiaoge? But hmm. 

I could maybe mention that I hate how badly he’s been sexualized as a character. His official art designs are evidence of this (one of the reasons why I don’t really own any official merch). Everyone is so damn horny about him (and don’t get me wrong, all of his actors are good-looking but cmon!) and sometimes it makes me wince because as a character, it somehow doesn’t even make sense for him to appear like this to everybody? Like, yeah, he’s fit because of what he does and what he’s been made to do but. Yeah ok, maybe I can’t really argue sigh. 

Though, personally, I am also very cautious when it comes to me thinking about him sexually or his sexual preferences. He feels too complex and... far away? From me? For me to be harboring any headcanons about that. But yeah, I can live without him taking his shirt off in every adaptation. I adore his tattoo but it’s enough for me to see it during scenes where it’s relevant to the plot. Am more concerned about his health lol 

(Please I hope that no one takes any offense to this, I am just not that into fanservice personally) 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon

Pingxie kiss!! Anytime!!!! Okay, I’m kidding (partly). But like, would anyone be opposed to this? They are practically married anyway. 

Otherwise... Him pondering about his experiences behind the Bronze Gate? I’ve heard that in the novels, Xiaoge doesn’t really experience any trauma afterward which just. Sounds very unlikely? And I know he has enough of trauma already and enough pain to carry but that is the experience I’m the most intrigued of. It is just such a big part of him, just like that decade is a big part of Wu Xie’s character too. So I always wish we saw him more connected to that time? Reboot never gave us anything about that really. I’m kind of sad about that because seeing Xiao Yuliang’s Xiaoge in Ultimate Note made him so real and while Huang Junjie is amazing in Reboot (still the softest Xiaoge to date!!), he lacks depth. That version of Xiaoge has been once again stripped off of his humanity and it feels very cruel when he still has a bigger role in all of that than just the role of a protector and cool fighter. He’s still a person. He deserves to have his own struggles and his own feelings and thoughts when it comes to him and the whole story and Wu Xie who is damn dying while Xiaoge loves him so much. So yeah, that maybe 

thank you for sending me this ask ♥ i will probably answer your other one tomorrow! i hope you enjoyed my blabberings ^^ 

[yue-muffin]

Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

In my quest to consume the entirety of the DMBJ franchise available in English, I have decided to start with the non-canon movie because at least this one has an ending, unlike the train wreck that is Reboot/Chongqi’s pacing. I will probably be bitter about that for all eternity, but I digress. I heard good things about the movie from the bird app, and as I am a Pingxie shipper at heart, I decided to finally watch this one.

P A R T O N E

The cut-in animation to the title was gorgeous, I do so love the qilin in every adaptation. It’s particularly striking here with the gold outline and geometric, maze-like lines. It looks like the cards at the very beginning were being arranged in the image of this qilin.

My first reaction upon seeing white people in a dmbj adaptation is: oh no, the English, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear perfect English that matches the actor’s lips! What a miracle, haha. I remember The Lost Tomb 2 being the worst for how many lines had to be in English, sob.

These look so cool. I see we start off with a good old “seeking immortality” antagonist, and an obsessed collector who has dedicated his whole life to this apparently. As usual, he is a scumbag threatening the locals.

The old guy’s accented English is also better than TLT2, ha. The breathy/nasal quality is not at all uncommon. I don’t know what language the locals speak though.

Me, immediately: Zhang Qiling already??

I know he appears in rather early in TLT1, TLT2, and Reboot/Chongqi, but he’s so often mysteriously absent or stuck behind a gate (or in Reboot’s case, put on a bus) that I got excited, ok.

My favorite Zhang Qilings are the cold-looking pretty boy types in terms of my mental image of the character, but this one is also very easy on the eyes and as usual, unfazed in the face of danger coming at him with a knife. This is the only series in which I’m not bothered by the constant cast change between adaptations (unlike Ever Night), I suppose since it’s been this way from the start.

I’m interested in seeing how the backstories differ from canon. It’s actually rather interesting that this is pretty much an official AU, like that’s kind of wild as a concept. I’m used to the late 1990s/early 2000s anime adding new characters and changing plot points and endings everywhere, but Time Raiders takes it a step further.

Zhang Qiling being an ultra-competent badass who doesn’t even need a weapon to take the bad guys down never changes, no matter the universe. He steamrolls everyone, no questions asked.

Did he- he break the blade with his bare hands hahaha. Oh, yup, and a Zhang Qiling with a weapon is even more dangerous. I see those severed fingers. Such a good fight scene and we’re not even 5 minutes into the movie.

I love how he could have simply fired the arrow while he was still on the statue, then jumped down, but he had to be Extra and fire while he was jumping off haha.

It- the divine piece was right there?? By “beneath the statue” I would have thought it would at least be under it, not in a convenient little slot on the side of the altar area haha. So Zhang Qiling’s mission is to destroy the divine piece(s)? To, um, save the world apparently.

WHO ARE YOU? What an excellent question to ask a Zhang Qiling (and that staring into the mirror shot, too.)… I wonder if this one even knows - it’s possible he doesn’t have his signature amnesia here.

Wait- a gate? I think it’s in a cave or something in the novels, but gates have significance in DMBJ. The cinematography is really nice in these mountain shots. I know nothing about film, but I like the shots in the snowy mountains.

This Zhang Qiling knows and practices martial arts on screen! You would think he’d pull some moves normally, but in the drama-adaptations he tends to just beat people up as efficiently as possible. Sometimes with his sword. Other times he just fights ‘em. I have to admit Jing Boran looks excellent going through some forms. He nailed the force and power underlying every movement, then exploding outward with a strike. I do like the impression it leaves.

I, on the other hand, am an absolute noodle and look ridiculous when I do martial arts.

What in the world is happening in this flashback scene with the weird CGI qilin. Ah, it’s when he received his tattoo. That was super dramatic.

Wushanju is looking real edgy with the heavy iron gate on the interior, haha.

He is puzzling (ha!) over those cards so intensely you’d think it was a thousand piece puzzle instead haha. You’re almost there! Just a few more to finish the qilin!

Aw, is this our Wu Xie? Haha his facial hair is- hm. But I love his voice it’s so soft. Really fits that “Mr. Naive” vibe.

Is that. Is that the author of the series. I found out that he makes cameos in almost all (if not all of) the adaptations!

NO. ONLY I CAN FINISH THE PUZZLE. HANDS OFF BUDDY.

Why are there so many pigeons in here. Who let them inside.

A writer, who came to hear his story and turn it into a novel- HA yup it’s the author.

“This should be a story about me and him.”

Ahh I’m loving it already. DMBJ is the ultimate bromance story. Fair warning, I do ship Pingxie so my shipper goggles will be on throughout the movie. But even without shipping, you do have to admit the series is a bromance underneath all the mystery – between the Iron Triangle, between Wu Xie and Xiaoge.

This Wu Xie is a photographer and that is sort of adorable. Already there’s a theme emerging of needing to record events and telling stories. Interesting that he wants to turn his memories into a novel to record his experiences, because otherwise he’s afraid those memories might turn into a mere story in his own head. Wu Xie, that’s a worrying mindset.

Those ancient mask things always make me crack up, I don’t know why.

Ooh, background about Wu Xie’s birth into the Wu family. I’ve never read up to the part in the books where they go into his place in the family in detail. To be fair, his grandfather had three sons and only one of them had any kids – and Wu Xie is his parents’ only child. So, he becomes the only one who can really carry on the family legacy. Aw, I really like seeing his extended family present though! In the dramas we only ever get either his Second or Third Uncle, and he rarely ever mentions his parents even though they’re alive.

And there’s his namesake! The origin of his nickname, and the irony once the story gets into the Sha Hai timeline.

Wu Xie was a bit of a rascal as a kid, haha. To be fair he has a pretty sharp tongue in the novels and is mostly a pure cinnamon roll in the early dramas.

Little Wu Xie in a suit is so adorable. Nooo kid don’t go into locked up abandoned places. He’s already so adventurous haha. Seems that it’s not actually abandoned judging by all the lights on, but.

UH. MASKED MAN BEHIND YOU. I think he wants that item back. This is why you don’t go into abandoned places, kid. He definitely does not learn his lesson though. Also why are you still holding onto that thing, just drop it, I think he wants it back.

Haha he kept one of the coins.

WOAH. Every month someone in your family dies?? That’s uh- sort of traumatic. Also that would be a really good first line for a novel…Just saying. I do love the singing though.

Oh, the Nine Families exist in this universe too! They even give a quick explanation about the ranking system.

Oh yeah, I love how Wu Xie is such a nerd for all this knowledge of ancient texts and tombs. And YES HE FINALLY DOCUMENTS STUFF FOR ONCE.

Uncle Three looked dead for a moment there, scared the shit out of me too.

VAMPIRE MOTHS? Oh I hate bugs I would not be okay lol. WHOOPS. You guys are really good at reading ancient texts on the fly lol.

That’s the mask he has in the beginning of the film, isn’t it. NO DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. AHHH. So you just put it on your face?? Well that was a stupidly simple way to open the door. I’m guessing the creator didn’t care if anyone opened it.

This guy just severed his own arm, ok…and how many years later is his hand still clinging to it? UH. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. Then he proceeds to steal the box thing.

Ah the white dude again. I am so happy there is GOOD ENGLISH though haha.

Oh, hi Zhang Qiling. Just hanging out on a rooftop I see.

He looks so melancholy. Someone give him a hug! This adaptation makes him more human, less stoic robotic superhuman, I noticed. You rarely see him eat or drink anything in the other adaptations, but here he’s just chilling on a rooftop having some drinks haha. It’s ok. I love all the Zhang Qilings.

WHAT THE HELL, LIGHTNING? What the hell is this high tech machinery haha. Eight days? Coincidentally eight days after sitting in a tomb for how many years.

That is a very Extra bookcase to hold a book that apparently has ALL the secrets.

WOW that is a fancy notebook. It looks so beat up in the other versions haha. In this one, it even gets its own hidden shelf in a giant portable bookshelf!

The props for this franchise are so cool and detailed. I always wish they would show more of the creative process in the BTS, I’m such a nerd for that stuff. The Longest Day in Chang’an was pretty good at that, which is half of my enjoyment of that show haha!

I’m also still pleasantly surprised they bothered to incorporate other languages. I’m not sure what the Snake Lady and the old man in the beginning were speaking, but at least the English is good.

I can’t believe they worked in a steampunk chastity belt this movie went all out, huh. Also with these weirdly high tech structures and lightning and moving tomb structures.

And all the pieces start coming together! So that’s why it’s believed they hold the secret to immortality. What a steampunk-looking key.

Is that a writing desk??

Oh, they’re getting a team together to go tomb raiding! Ha, forget money! You may or may not end up dying on this adventure, so who cares about money, right.

He’s so cute standing there with his camera. Look at the little smile as he watches everything going on!

It’s a desk and a storage container?? Oh, there are ~qualifications~ to going on tomb raiding. Makes sense. That is the oddest looking sword.

Must appreciate Zhang Qiling’s fingers in every adaptation. They look very strong and steady here. Let’s not talk about the slooow trailing across the handle.

Wow did you really just throw sand in his face. Have we not learned not to mess with Zhang Qiling after he trounced that first guy who attacked him. I love the fight scenes so much after the bore-fest that was Reboot/Chongqi’s second half of Season 1.

Super pretty, but why did it cause him to stop and stare in the middle of the fight?

This is like a Final Fantasy sword haha. Also I think you should stop while you’re ahead, why did you think a table would stop this dude. (Hey, it’s Da Kui! He was in the novel but not TLT1.).

It’s HERE. Their first meeting. How did he know the coin was on that cord? It wasn’t visible, I don’t think. But uh. That was a hilarious move on his part, he is so Extra?? He just casually flicks the necklace off with his big-ass sword and it drops into his hand. Then casually goes “oh, here, you dropped this” as if he wasn’t the one responsible for it coming off in the first place!!

HERE IT COMES. The unnecessarily long eye contact. Pingxie in every adaptation needs a Staring Into Your Eyes scene.

Real smooth.

Ahh this Wu Xie is such a cutie. He’s like a puppy.

WHAT. Third Uncle, I can’t believe you let him tag along so easily haha. In the beginning he was scolding Wu Xie to never get involved in tomb business, then what happens? They’re going tomb raiding!!

Next Up: to the tomb we go! This can’t end badly or anything what are you talking about.

[merinnan]

DMBJ Ep 7

Okay, DMBJ episode 7! 

 The Xiaoge Rescue Count at the start of ep 7 stands at 9 for Wu Xie, 13 for the protagonists, 14 for everyone. 

 The newly added Wu Xie Swoon Count stands at 4 (I say swoon, but really, it's every time he's unconscious)

For reference, the Wu Xie Swoon Count so far is him getting knocked out in the river cave, passing out after A-Ning bit him, passing out at the cave entrance to the tree/tomb cavern, and passing out again on the floor of the cavern before Xiaoge fed him the kirin blood.

- We start the episode back in at the main plot, and not the flashback, thank fuck

 - Pangzi, that is fucking ridiculous, really. 

- What are you, five? 

- "Why are you so weird?"  Yes, Sanshu, I agree 

- Look, at least he respects having his lips mimed zipped shut

- Because Iron-Masked Scholar isn't an ominous name, or anything 

- And now we're back to the stupid-ass flashback that I'm gonna skim through because it's dumb and I hate it 

- WAIT IS THAT THE SAME MASK THAT BB!YE ZUN WORE PRE-EATING THE REBEL LEADER IN GUARDIAN?!

- Because it looks almost identical 

 - I wonder if the Guardian props team managed to get it cheap from the DMBJ props team, or something 

 - jhkjsdfhklfjhfdg I think it is 

- OMFG it is

- Oh, gotta stop skimming for a sec, here's greey eyed fox demon dude. This might actually be important 

- Ominous neck cricking...? Really? 

- Ironface...created the fox demon? Is that what that was implying? 

- Oh, emperor dude just accidentally murdered his wife. Oops.

- Oh good, back to the real plot again. 

- Ooooh, that's why that stone coffin owner is so pissed at everything 

- I mean, so would I if I'd been peacefully sleeping in suspended animation so I wouldn't die, and then some asshole ripped me out of it and threw me in a stone box, too

- See, now that's a flashback I can appreciate, because it had Xiaoge in it 

- No shit, Sanshu 

- Back to a Lu flashback, but it's in the tomb, so I won't skim it because it seems it's actually plot relevant this time

- And some random girl comes running into the super secret tomb, because of course she does 

- Oh, it's the maid come to tell him that the chick he was having an affair with is dead 

- I mean, dude, I see you're upset, but you really brought this on you - and her - yourself

- Okay, back to skimming, I don't care about the fucking love triangle of like 1500 years ago 

- Oh, wait, back to plot 

- Ooooh, they're in a different tomb right now

- I don't get why they've changed getting the jadeite suit from "power hungry dude just wanted to be immortal" to "power hungry dude who had an affair with the emperor's consort that got her killed wanted to bring her back to life"

- It seems it was just an excuse to shoe-horn in that dumb love triangle bullshit 

 - Oh, fox demon guy is here and bewitching the guy 

- And NOW we're in the actual tomb, before it was a tomb, and here is the evil tree

- Oh, no, it's a hallucination because the woman is here in the jadeite armour and this surprised him 

- Back to the present, yay! 

- ...Pangzi, I'm not sure you should be lounging on a coffin like that 

- Always time for a gratuitous shirtless Xiaoge pic

- Oooooh 

- Okay, those horribly plastic looking green rocks do have a kinda creepy glow to them 

- Dude, you are sliiiiiiightly obsessed and it's rather disturbing 

- She does look good in that white dress and jadeite armour, though 

- Yeah, I wonder what will come first

- I'm going to take a wild guess that it's him dying 

- Also, a little impressed that he managed to murder all his men without seeming to get a scratch on him 

- Oh my. Ironface stabbed him in the back. I never saw that coming. 

- Here is my surprised face

- That is a super fast death for where he got stabbed 

- Oh, hi again fox face 

- And...that's ominous 

- Because I don't think they've actually dealt with fox face yet 

- So he must be hanging around somewhere still 

- Why does every cdrama & anime villain have the same laugh?

- Yes, THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW 

- Wait, why was Ironface's autobiography in a completely different tomb? 

- And WHY WOULD IRONFACE WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN?! 

- And again, Wu Xie is the only person Xiaoge actually looks at

- Oh yeah, they have to get out before dark 

- And what are you after, A-Ning? 

- Pangzi, why are you so surprised that Wu Xie trusts A-Ning more than you right now?

- You're not very trustworthy so far 

- I mean, neither is she, but at least she's honest about it? 

- Sigh

- Oh, A-Ning's people have to leave the area by dark, too 

- And they're not getting along with each other right now 

- Wu Xie is such a good boy 

- Do you guys really have time to be slowly taking the armour off of the corpse?

- You, Pangzi. He said you're a thief 

- Because you are 

- You said so yourself last episode 

- At least they're showing a little bit of novel!Pangzi's abilities, even if they are making him be a fucking idiot about it

- And Xiaoge just being Xiaoge 

- Looking pretty. Being quiet. Waiting for everyone else to stop being dumb.

- Wu Xie being a Good Boy again 

- WAIT WHEN DID I MISS WU XIE STARTING TO CALL XIAOGE 'XIAOGE' INSTEAD OF 'MENYOUPING'?

- Uh oh 

- Another evil bug, but this one's red 

- Oh, the thing they beheaded was the fox face guy 

- Yes, that is the correct response to Xiaoge telling you to run 

- Oh, the boss corpse eater flies 

- Wonderful 

- And it's fast

- WTF is with that jaw full of ridiculous teeth, it looks like a super camp horror movie critter 

- Jesus Christ Pangzi, SHUT UP 

- Good hit, Wu Xie 

- This is some very tense music and panning around to look at all the entrances to the cavern 

- Thaaaaat's a lot of evil bugs 

- There is not enough blood in one body to repel all those bugs, Pangzi, don't be dumb 

- Wu Xie is a lot stronger than he looks, being able to lift A-Ning like that without much effort 

- HOW ARE YOU GETTING VIDEO FROM THAT ANGLE

- AN EXPLOSION ON THE SCREEN SHOULD NOT SHAKE YOU LIKE THAT 

- Oh, okay, they must be right above the cavern or something 

- Still the explosion was very deep and didn't seem like it was so large as to shake around the people on the surface like that

- Is Wu Xie about to faint again? 

- But didn't the kirin blood cure him? 

- And dooown he goes 

- I expect I'll be updating the Rescue Count in a moment 

- It is a very pretty shot of him falling, though

- All wide-eyed with shock and surprise

And of course that's where the episode ends No updates to either the Rescue Count or the Swoon Count this time 

[mejomonster]

i kind of genuinely want to write a vampire dmbj au just because (like a guardian crossover where immortals=mutants) it’s so easy to go okay immortals=vampires and then run with it.

which initially yeah, made me go okay xiaoge as a regular vampire with wu xie. what’s THAT look like (opposed to normal xiaoge... who is basically a reverse vampire, because instead of being the living dead he’s just Living forever, instead of sucking blood his blood physically repels monsters and also heals mortals like Wu Xie when he DRANK IT, and instead of loving his immortality he fucking hates it and is absolutely hellbent on killing every fucking immortal/monster he manages to run into when we first meet him ToT) 

but then i realized like. would hei xiazi Also be a vampire. oh man. xiao hua found himself an immortal but its the most insufferable fucking chaotic bastard you have EVER seen he’s using slang from every and any fucking era at a given time, keeps smiling, carries 100 pairs of sunglasses and keeps trying to sell them, technically can’t go in the sun but he’s got so many layers the fucker can slink around in the day if he’s GOTTA, but its still just like a sexy tanktop underneath the coats and he’s eager to strip and run for the nearest hottie once indoors if he’s not in the middle of a job, happy to work as a hired hitman and just like eat the people he got hired to kill (”hey i have to eat, i might as well get people to PAY me to eat uvu”), and once xiao hua started hiring him the guy started stashing coffins at all his homes and safe houses and every time xiao hua tries to throw them out, burn them, or sell them, more mysteriously appear until eventually he finds boxes of random stuff hei xiazi’s been selling too and xiao hua confronts the fucker but xiao hua only gets a couple minutes into it before he goes “WHO is hiring a masseuse off the street at 2 am???” and then hei xiazi starts with “so there’s prostitutes, then there’s-” and xiao hua tells him he doesn’t want to hear another damn word and that he can store his fucking coffins here if he promises no 2 am ‘masseuse’ gigs are taken for any durations of his stays. to which hei xiazi sidles up to him with too big of a grin mentioning ‘what about you~? i’m sure if you were looking for a massage~ we could do something about that~”. to which xiao hua hisses and mentions he doesn’t want some clammy cold dead hands touching his skin (”but i can warm them up first!”)

Vampire Xiaoge probably tried to kill Hei Xiazi the first time he ran into him. just because of the usual: xiaoge’s always intent on killing other immortal monster seeming fuckers. However that behavior stopped quick as Xiaoge got baffled by how well hei xiazi fit in with humans, with getting work and socializing, and now it just kind of irks xiaoge a little that he’s probably (?) been alive longer but absolutely still has no fucking idea how to blend in (nor does he want to). 

Debating if Xiaoge would be Extra-vampire since he’s the-most-immortal in dmbj usual canon, or if he’d be very odd man out like Blade and be a daywalker (which xiaoge’d probably prefer considering his canon typical urge to kill anything he thinks of as ‘monstrous or immortal like himself’). Either way, eventually xiaoge realizes he needs some stuff again and tries to get into working again. Immediately sees 2000s emo culture and thinks it looks cool and vibes with him personally, adjusts his style accordingly, then fucking takes forever to stop. So when him and hei xiazi DO meetup especially post 2010 they both look slightly out of time in a fashion awkward kind of way except at least Hei Xiazi looks like its from many eras, on purpose, and just makes him seem more like a human. Xiaoge thankfully is so inhumanly hot no one really is bothering to care if he looks like he fits in, except maybe some vampire hunters who prickle at how successful the bastard is.

is San Shu a vampire hunter cause that would be a Concept - even better, a vampire hunter who’s helped vampires and monsters on the down low, so of course when he accuses Xiaoge of murders He’s Committed himself he’s just barely got an actual angle to work with. would that... make wu xie part of a family of vampire hunters, and he’s the baby of the family who wants to be a hunter SO BAD but they won’t ever let him GO out and help because they want his life FAR AWAY from this monster stuff...

then tianzhen falls for. The Vampire. The one Most Often accused of a string of unknown murders done to humans and other vampires alike (and tbh xiaoge probably did some but i bet society just made him into the scapegoat so they can blame him when there’s other actual threats managing to skate by if they blame him - like oh San Shu for example >o>).  

And then of course Xiaoge does not intend to get connected to the world. to give a damn. to become ‘known’ to anybody, let alone someone so connected to the whole mess of monstrous things and the world that gets mixed up with them (Nine Families sure would be involved in that). But there he is, saving this naive fool’s life when the kid managed to push his way onto a hunt, and now Xiaoge is in the awkward position of very much wanting to meet again this cutie who is definitely tied up with the bastard who framed Xiaoge 20 years ago and is currently after the same shit Xiaoge’s been looking for. 

Pangzi, as usual, is badass and competent and good with explosives, a free agent, and has similar chaotic energy to Hei Xiazi except he ‘says’ he’s working with the hunters usually. But until he befriends Wu Xie fully, honestly he’d sell to the highest bidder monster or human, or kill either of them if its the best play for his own benefit. San Shu, and the Wu family in general, is not exactly pleased by Wu Xie’s new found family he is adamandly building up for himself. 

[mejomonster]

i had so many feelings about this scene in ep 25 wow

Pangzi’s acting right before, a little teary over the dying time traveller - this is why i like this actor so much. he adds like this level of depth, that can be heavy and kind, but also experienced and know how to shove things aside to keep working

This scene is already up there for me, alongside the tltl1 scene where Xiaoge says the immortal has lived long enough and just murders him - even though just prior, wu xie had said he was innocent and they all shouldn’t commit premeditated murder. but xiaoge just. he hates that he’s lived this long, he hates seeing others who’ve done it. This scene is a lot like that one - showing something xiaoge is pretty consistent about, cares intensely about. He doesn’t think he should still be alive.

Which leads to - he’s in this world for wu xie. or rather, wu xie in a way is just starting to give him a reason to want to stick around. he’s been around forever - and now, finally, there’s people who care if he’s in it. people who are making him feel connected to it. that he’s wanted it to end for so long... and that now he’s starting to think maybe, there might be reasons not to leave yet. 

that last bit, him looking off, in his own head after pangzi said that. like he’s starting to realize it. that he might be finding reasons to want to stay alive a while longer.

finally just, cheng yi’s acting. wow. thank you. i just. have really been appreciating how he handles the emotionality of zhang qiling. because its often not on the surface - this is one of the few times it actually is, because its a topic he’s very reactive about. but just overall, in every scene, cheng yi is bringing this emotional openness - the starts of it - to a character that in tlt barely let anything slip out. 

[mejomonster]

Ep like 32 idk? Anyway 1 this line hirs different now

Wu xie saw that body in the coffin XIAOGE?? And just tried to DIVE in Xiao hua had to grab him

Then wu xie was rationalizing for like a solid few minutes about How it CANNOT be Xiaoge because it’s Dead and xiaoge doesn’t die!

Well no wonder in Reboot wu xie gets that horrible nightmare vision of Xiaoge dying for him?!!! Wu xie literally is terrified at the prospect of exactly That and will continue to be for decades cool

I am now watching the flashbacks

IDK HOW any of this is relevant at all. But I do know I am super interested in Bu Xun in general. I hope in the books I get more info. Also that Zhang dude who likes Bu Xun gives me.. vibes

The whole purposely recruiting Bu Xun, winning his trust, getting him to become best friends, PEELING AN APPLE FOR HIM mr Zhang do YOU want to marry Bu Xun?? Do you???

Anyway the whole dynamic is fascinating. And Bu Xun as a character particularly - I want his backstory. I wanr to know how later he gets his lackey guy who swears to serve him in life and death. I want to know how he founded his moral compass. I’m in ep 33 now and the scene where they’re getting opium and Bu Xun clearly doesn’t want to kill civilians women and children, and Zhang thinks anything is necessary for power... and I can tell this is it. Their conflict in beliefs, where they’re going to splinter.

Really though I want a novel on this I care about THIS.

Also Cheng Yi... got me invested. I want to know Bu Xun.

Also I am??? So curious??? WHAT was Zhang Qilings childhood??? What era, what did he do for school, what city, did he have a first job??!!! Xiaoge has bad memory so he probably has no idea anymore, but I am desperate and I hope in the books (and if I’m lucky shows) I will find out about Xiaoge’s past because I am now desperate.

Almost certain I’m going to check out the promise of Chang’an soon just because Cheng yi as New characters is fascinating to me.

Still can’t get over wu xie TRYING YO CLIMB INTO THE COFFIN SHOUTJNT XIAOGE

I wonder Where Xiaoge is...

This is a weird show so like I still think there’s a 30% chance Bu Xun IS somehow also Xiaoge. Also an overlapping chance that this dead corpse in perfect condition will wake up.

A 5% chance it does, THEN Xiaoge appears, and tries to kill it because Xiaoge HATES immortals. I suspect Xiaoge has 2 radars: 1 is wu xie genuinely going to die, 2 is an immortal alive and awake somewhere. Another 5% chance body wakes up and it is related to Xiaoge, and dies, but Xiaoge doesn’t kill him. 1% somehow wu xie kills This beautiful corpse if it reanimates because it is Not Xiaoge and probably trying to kill them?

Also shout out!! Sifengs dad friend from Love and Redemption is the loyal follower of Bu Xun in these flashbacks.

Oh and finally: I’m living for the wu xie Xiao hua team up. Wu xie is LIVING his dream as real badass tomb raider with a gun with Xiao hua (a genuine tomb raider also with a gun, who is killing their enemies as Wu xie helps). Wu xie is not his final evolution but he is picking up some competence points.

[mejomonster]

Ok real talk. This bad guys obsession is immortality. So is Xiaoge’s. This guy is like “are you going to let your obsession lead you to killing thousands of these immortals.”

Which again. Interesting concept. Because I do remember, in The Lost Tomb 1 drama - the most interesting Xiaoge moment To Me is when he says about the immortal “you’ve had more than enough time” and freaking Murders him - and it’s the only time he’s directly in contradiction to what Wu Xie says, and wu xie’s like “who even ARE you! What kind of person are you! We just agreed not to KILL that man?!!!”

And it made me think Xiaoge... really hates immortality. The man is READY and eager to kill immortals (and maybe even himself, maybe that’s him acting on his own self hatred outward?). And it’s definitely a thing Xiaoge let’s turn him quite brutal when otherwise he’s a pretty heroic/neutral guy. Enough that he’s literally at odds with wu xie over it.

I’m hoping they explore that with Xiaoge more in TLT2.

Anyway... I find it pretty nice they bring up the concept here, in this movie. Just because like. I do think it’s a KEY characterization of Xiaoge, and definitely interesting, so it’s a good choice to use it. Again. This movies nailing characterization at least, even if it’s tomb-plot is not getting very much focus/development since the characters are taking it up.

The tomb plot is basically just... an excuse and a metaphor to showcase the characters. I’m not complaining cause like I care about characterization more anyway, and the action has been good. That being said.. this movies got some solid concepts, it is a shame they’re not fully utilized...