#bound in heaven

[chineseredcarpet]

Ni Ni for her film Bound in Heaven promos at the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival

[mtonino]

La pioggia non mi fermerà (spero)

Bound in Heaven (2024) Huo Xin

[cnladies]

NI NI 倪妮 with ZHOU YOU for Shang Cheng Shi (Bound in Heaven) | October 2024

Ni Ni: more photos here Shang Cheng Shi: more photos here

[ifyoucandaniel]

No Paths are Bound vol.1 by @cataclysmicevie 🔥🖤

this has been in the works since last november.

i discovered a friend i’d met through bookbinding also loved mxtx and when we agreed to do an exchange i knew exactly what i was making. could i have made this less than 6 books? absolutely. so many mistakes were made with these books but all in all i’m very happy with how they came out and i’m so happy she finally has them!

the art on the dust jackets is by @/ RACCUN7 on twitter and the end page art is by @huaepiphany !! both artists were so kind to let me use their art for this project and it would not be complete without it!! 🖤

if you’ve never read this fic but you love tgcf then i cannot recommend this enough. this fic is one of my top 5 all time favorite things i’ve ever read and to this day i think about the character development and story probably more than the original story and if ever there was an oc i loved it would be ren song. i think everyone should read this and love it as much as me and i cannot wait to make my own copy sometime :) i’ll probably post some more closeups of the other books soon, but i just thought i’d share these!

[vaggieslefteye]

CHARLIE & EMILY in 1x06 - "Welcome to Heaven"

[soulcatdoodles]

no paths are bound.

[budd-ie]

I don’t think Xie Lian ever really got the chance to feel human. When he was born he was the center of the world, and since he was young he wanted to be a god. There was nothing he couldn’t do and nobody who didn’t love him, he had massive privilege and he knew it, and at the time, he really genuinely thought he was omnipotent. His mind skipped mortality and went straight to expecting godhood. But even when this period of his life is over, what comes next is isolation. Now, he’s someone without heavenly appeal but with knowledge and experiences much beyond the understanding of mortals. He lives among them, takes the same jobs, eats the same food, has the same needs, he can try to help them, he can try to love them as he always has, but there’s still something that’s just not quite the same. He may understand their plight after living through poverty, but he’s never truly been the common person he’s always wished to save. He can’t grow old, he can’t die, nothing can kill him, his existence is something so beyond humanity but still so far from the god he dreamed of being. And so, he berates himself whenever he has strong emotions or slips up a little or says something kind of weird or misses little details, becuase he still sees himself as not quite human enough to make those kinds of completely normal mistakes. He pushes people away before he has the chance to hurt them, before they have the chance to learn to hate him. So when Hua Cheng finally comes into the picture, he’s trying to say it’s okay to be human, Xie Lian. It’s okay to want to save yourself too.

[remyunart]

"I am forever your most devoted believer"

I also post some of my stuff on bluesky :))

[monhiio]

An arrangement no one is really happy with.

His occasional walks with his betrothed are as unavoidable as they are uneventful. She talks, he listens. He doesn't make the same mistake again of disagreeing with her on something, instead hes tasked with showing her around. A walk through the palace, a walk through town, through the market, around the city walls. He wonders if he can postpone the wedding for as long as he keeps finding places for him to take her. But then again Xianle is only so big, and he thinks suggesting that "Your majesty perhaps I can show her Yong'an first" would get his head cut off instead.

The Emperor and the Queen dont bother sending Xie Lian away anymore when theyre on these walks. And his occasional presence makes it all so much worse. Because he cant zone out when his Highness is there. Instead Feng Xins gaze follows him, miserable and pleading. that is until theres a tug at his arm and the sound of his fiancé clearing her throat, and hes forced to look away. Its absolute torture.

Part 1

Part 2

[emotionaldisaster909]

Inside someone else’s memories, Hua Cheng whispers the same thing.

“I’m sorry.”

His hands cradle Xie Lian’s face, wishing he could speak to his god again.

Never before has the child prayed with the expectation of an answer, but god, how desperate he is for his love to look on his face one last time.

To hear his voice when he speaks, and give him an answer.

- “No Paths Are Bound”, ch. 30

Hua Cheng seeing Xie Lian through He Xuan’s memories, for the first time in hundreds of years.

[chineseredcarpet]

Bound In Heaven costars Ni Ni and Zhou You for Vogue China

[uzi-x33]

Akane comforting Teru after Kou died. oh.

[ynkfva]

this will never not be funny

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Xie Lian found something in himself that he thought was gone—worn away with every mistake he had made. Faith. His arms opened, and the child was hesitant—but eventually, he fell into them, his body trembling with silent sobs. "I remember you," he whispered again, voice breaking as Hong-er clung to him. I remember you. I remember you. I will always, for as long as I live, remember you. (A re-telling of TGCF where Xie Lian has his cursed shackle placed in his eyes, blinding him. And yet, through all of his struggles; there is always someone watching over him.)

Author: @cataclysmicevie

Note from submitter: Listen: this fic is an incredibly long haul but it’s also so good, I’ve read it in full once, and a couple more times in parts

[kaiteell]

"Don’t worry, your highness. You can pay me back next time."

[ao3screenshotss]

(context: the scene where they’re trying to figure out who cuo cuo’s father is)