#but personally if i was hua cheng and they found the cave of ten thousand gods i would go and die another time

[nguyenfinity]

y'all would not believe what i got into

[cherryhua]

Alright, let me start by saying that I am a huge Hua Hua fan, and he is my ultimate favourite character in all MXTX books specifically, and the danmei genre in general.

going into details on why i like him is not the goal of this post.the reason why i am making this, is to answer to a "hate" thread regarding Hua cheng.

the main points this thread uses are the following, and i will try to answer each point individually :

- Beautiful as hell and more pretty than anyone else

- He is a static and underdeveloped character

- Always has the best sense of humor

- Can be obnoxious and get away with it

- Has an endless array of powers

- Tragic backstory

- Was bullied as a child

- Is always right

- the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods comes off as creepy stalker and not romantic

- Beautiful as hell and more pretty than anyone else :

while reading TGCF we need to keep in mind that we are reading the story through Xie Lian's point of view, reason why some parts of the story do sound biased, sometimes ambiguous, sometimes unreliable..etc. the description that Hua cheng is the most beautiful creature that ever set foot on the face of the universe, is how Xie Lian sees Hua cheng,and doesn't mean it's true. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right ? ( well, if i am being honest the man is fine AF.. I mean have you seen the manhua et STARember arts hehe *wink*wink).We can all agree that not all the characters present in the book share the same opinion, and definitely everyone has their fair share of beauty, even Qi Rong of all people. So, is Hua Cheng "Beautiful as hell and more pretty than anyone else"? From an unbiased point of view, HC is as beautiful as any other character present in the novel. From Xie Lian's ( and my ) point of view : then YES he is, god darn it !, from "haters" point of view : he's an obnoxious, evil, one eyed a**hole.

- He is a static and underdeveloped character :

I wholeheartedly disagree, and no I am not talking as a fan here, but as a long time Danmei and yaoi reader. People compare TGCF's Hua cheng's character development with MDZS's Wei Ying and SVSSS's Liui Binghe, which in my opinion is not fair. Those are 3 completely different books: in SVSSS the story is told through Shen yuan's point of view, but the reason why LBG's character development is so heavily explained too, is because She Yuan's whole journey ( and life ) depends on it. In MDZS, the story again is told through WWX's point of view, the reason why we got to witness his rise, downfall, "humbling" arc, and finally his happy ending. However, in TGCF, the story is about Xie Lian's journey,and how he learned to love himself again , through the effort of a man who never had loved himself. We do get glimpses about HC's backstory, and arc, but MXTX doesn't go into details because it's not about Hua Cheng, and it's up to us readers to read between the lines. if you compare HC's arc, to any other character's arc, you'll find that Hua cheng's Arc was at its end, when the novel started, and other than dying, getting exposed or arrested, no other character, other than Xie Lian's, get any real development because again, it's not about them, and it never was.

- Always has the best sense of humor:

Again, the story is told through Xie Lian's point of view. The man has literally set his password to "Just recite the Ethics Sutra a thousand times" as a joke and found it extremely funny, so the bar here is really low.

- Can be obnoxious and get away with it :

Hua Cheng never gets away with anything, he is obnoxious to other people that aren't Xie Lian, that's true, but no one ever claimed that he was a good person. Hua cheng's whole existence is set around Xie Lian's, and yes he doesn't give a crap about anyone else because no one ever gave a crap about him too, other than Xie Lian who gave him a reason to live and saved his life twice, everyone else was just either bullying him, beating him or just straightforwardly mean. and to Claim that HC is just a bad guy is also false, he never harmed ( or harm ) innocents, he took Yin Yu under his wing ( a fallen God may i add ), he build up Ghost city with his own hands and gave ghosts a place where they can be themselves, he gave refuge to a ghost female who killed her r*pist, and the list goes on.

So no, Hua Cheng isn't your misunderstood 'bad boy' here, nor is he the shining white knight MC.

- Has an endless array of powers :

Man, I am seriously wondering if those people read the book ? the man literally dies at the end when he gave all his spiritual powers to Xie Lian, and don't get me started on him dying twice before. So no, he doesn't have an endless array of power, but he is powerful, the man is a ghost king after all, what did you expect ?!

- Tragic backstory :

this is very debatable in my opinion. everyone in TGCF has a tragic story in in it's own way : look at Jun wu, He Xuan, SQX and SWD, LW or the Rain master, heck even Qi Rong's backstory is tragic, and don't get me started on Xie lian's backstory. So yes, Hua Cheng's backstory is tragic, but isn't any more tragic than any other character.

- Was bullied as a child :

His bullying story is very relevant to why Hua Cheng had such a pessimistic, angry view of the world. I would've agreed that it's a little mary sue-ish, if he was described as this talented, beautiful, good child who's been bullied by the mean ugly people, but it wasn't the case. HC wasn't anything special, he come from a poor normal background, he was described, as being called ugly, and someone who brought evil fortune and bad luck.also Hua Cheng is heavily, heavily, heavily implied to be H'mong so he is ultimately ethnically marginalized,

impoverished child who, through sheer determination and wits, is able to rise above the position he was born in and create his own future, not because he was this Mary Sue character.

- Is always right :

again Hua Cheng wasn't born to be this very special, smart, talented person, but through his hard work, determination and tenacity was able to control his fate, and change it. It's true that he is very knowledgeable, but the man spent 800 years teaching himself the art of the sword and secrets of the universe. Why, you may ask ? Hua Cheng wanted to be the strongest, in order to protect Xie Lian ( and also avenge him ). What Hua Cheng has now, isn't something that fell into him from the sky, or was born with it, he worked very VERY VERY hard to get it.

- The Cave of Ten Thousand Gods comes off as creepy stalker and not romantic :

When Hua Cheng was in that cave for 10 years, his mind was filled with one thing : his God, Xie Lian. Why ? because Xie Lian is his motivation, his reason to live, and the reason why he is in that cave to begin with. The statues were never done out of malice, or bad intentions, it was done out of devotions and admirations. Just like a fan collecting merchandise and posters of their favourite artist. I personally don't find it creepy, but i believe it's due to cultural differences. so many words and instances in the book do not translate gracefully in English. Besides, the Story is heavily relying on Taoism as a concept. so i think it's unfair to apply western ideologies to a Chinese novel, based on Chinese folklore and ideologies, directed to a Chinese audience. The cultural aspect of the book must be kept in mind, in order to enjoy it.

[eulaties]

TGCF FIC RECS ★ GENERAL ★ #21

fics that have an asterisk (*) in front of them are my personal favorites! also, all of the fics listed are completed unless otherwise stated.

NOTE: these are general fic recs for tgcf (heaven official’s blessing), meaning that there’s no overarching characters/ships. also, just a word of warning for donghua-only watchers: most (if not all) of these fics contain heavy spoilers for the tgcf novels. proceed with caution!

this list was last updated on 12/30/22.

if you want fengqing fic recs click here

if you want yushipei fic recs click here

if you want quanyin fic recs click here

if you want junmei fic recs click here

*fortune’s fool • multi-chapter (7/7)

SUMMARY: “how yin yu met hua cheng, how the two of them met black water, and what yin yu learned about unconditional love and revenge along the way.”

TAGS: pre-canon, basically the yin yu origin story, found family, hua cheng waiting for 800 years (true), build up to hua cheng finally finding out ab xie lian’s ascension, angst, hurt/comfort, background quanyin beefleaf & hualian, yin yu and his two no good very bad role models

CW: very brief description of sex in chapter 5

NOTES: this fic is genuinely *so* good its basically canon to me....please read it!!!

*when rome’s in ruins • gen, one-shot

SUMMARY: "unimpressed, lang qianqiu crossed his arms. ‘really, you should look at yourself. all she said was that we cardinal martial gods would have to share a palace for now; i don’t know why you’re making this into such an affair. it will take time and merits we don’t have to finish rebuilding the heavenly capital. for now, can’t we just accept that with so few palaces it’s only fair that we share?’ pei ming, mu qing, feng xin, and quan yizhen all shouted, 'NO!' in anguished unison.”

TAGS: post-canon, canon-compliant, humor, everyone sharing one palace bc heaven is broke, martial god shenanigans

NOTES: a fic elaborating on this excerpt from ch. 251: aiyah! cave of ten thousand gods – "it was the truth, for the upper heavens had suffered great damage previously, and so a number of gods had to secretly beg the head of the ghost city for help."

*heaven’s grief and hell’s rain • beefleaf, one-shot

SUMMARY: “he xuan did everything he planned, got all the revenge he wanted. so why is he still here? and why is he so...empty?”

TAGS: post-canon, angst, the journey towards healing, hx pov

NOTES: part 1 of this author’s post-canon beefleaf arc!

*clip my tiny wings • beefleaf, one-shot

SUMMARY: “what do you do when a devastation ghost keeps coming around for dinner, and you said he could, but you also don't really know how to feel about it? well, it's an evolving process.”

TAGS: post-canon, angst, the journey towards healing, sqx pov

NOTES: part 2 of this author’s post-canon beefleaf arc!

*underneath a sky of stars and crescent moons • peiyue, one-shot

SUMMARY: “far ahead, where land met the sky, she could see the stars very clearly. banyue was grateful for the clear night sky for illuminating her path. it didn’t bring her the warmth she needed, but it was enough to guide her, and that was all that mattered."

TAGS: pre-canon, canon-compliant, angst, set during the yong’an war, a fic about banyue making the decision to open the gates

NOTES: this is such a good fic!! i love how the author characterized both of them <3

*one step ahead (for once) • he xuan-centric, one-shot

SUMMARY: “a new god ascends during he xuan's lunch in the palace of the earth master. he doesn't really care, but shi qingxuan does, so obviously he's going to be forced to join the commotion outside. but he xuan is about to care quite a bit, once he realizes exactly who has joined the ranks of the upper court, and how much that matters to a certain someone he knows has been waiting for a long, long time.“

TAGS: pre-canon, a distinct memory, xie lian’s ascension, right when everything is set into motion

NOTES: this fic is so golden to me. a must-read

the path to ascension • gen, one-shot

SUMMARY: “the path to ascension is paved with glory and despair.”

TAGS: yushi huang-centric, character study, introspection, canon-compliant

loyalty • gen, one-shot

SUMMARY: “after all, i’m someone who wouldn’t acknowledge my own family; why would i do such a thing?”

TAGS: ling wen-centric, character study, introspection, the three tumors, canon-compliant

these pieces in my hands • quanyin, beefleaf, multi-chapter (12/12)

SUMMARY: “two ex-heavenly officials - one who died and came back to life, and one who never died but at one point, wished for death - met in the most unexpected circumstances. when presented with an opportunity to travel together and move on with their lives, they meet familiar faces, who were also brought together by a strange twist of fate, and are forced to acknowledge the wounds which they have tried to forget but have never quite mended.”

TAGS: post-canon fix-it, angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, communication, closure, healing, getting together, happy ending

what's on the menu? me-n-u • hualian, one-shot

SUMMARY: “mu qing rolls his eyes and says coolly, ‘i doubt xie lian is even interested in a blind date.’ four pairs of eyes turn to look at said person. xie lian presses his lips tightly together and averts his gaze, forcing down the urge to hide his face in his arms. it seems to get the point across well enough.” or: xie lian goes on a blind date.

TAGS: modern au, fluff, humor, blind date, background fengqing and beefleaf

matchmaker, matchmaker • gen, multi-chapter (3/3)

SUMMARY: “shi qingxuan has a great idea, and like all his great ideas, he enlists the help of his best friend.” or: shi qingxuan (and his unwilling sidekick, he xuan) tries to matchmake couples in school.

TAGS: modern/college au, coffee shops, amusement parks, dates, fluff, humor, angst, getting together, matchmaking, background pei su/ban yue and jian lan/xuan ji

NOTES: the first chapter is about fengqing, the second chapter is about yushipei, and the third chapter is about beefleaf!

two idiots don't cancel each other out • hualian, one-shot

SUMMARY: “by some twist of fate, he xuan gets dragged into a love triangle he never wanted to be part of.”

TAGS: college au, fake dating, misunderstandings, he xuan is tired, and hualian are idiots, background beefleaf, humor, fluff

[profmori]

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

HELLLO !!!!! THIS IS SO CUTE AND AHHH

ITS A HARD QUESTION i literally love all the characters so much fuck so to pick top 5 feels like a punishment fjfkssk

1. Mu Qing : cause duh he's best boy. plus i relate to him in alot of way. ive done many things in past that he also did in the novel that make me feel less shitty about myself. both of us tend to come off people who only think about themselves, so it was nice to finally resonate with someone.

2. Xie Lian : i like how realistic he is and how he was portrayed in all the glory and in all the bad stuff. something about him is so insanely human that it doesn't feel like im reading a fictional character. especially in book 4 with everything that was happening it felt good to see a character break apart in all the ways possible and hit rock bottom. (plus both of us are shit cooks meant to be fr)

3. Hua Cheng : he's a bastard. so am i. we will get along. Also i really like that he didn't become a blind dog after xie lian, during the time they were apart hua cheng grew as his own person and found new perspectives.

4. Yin Yu : i just desperately want him as my best friend he's literally so cool and calm most of the time (ahem, leaving behind that one go die scene but it's fair) imagine being able to work in the paradise manor with him ahhhhhhhh

5. He Xuan : i really don't have any big words to say for him and except he gets to live in the ocean and has skeleton fished as pets that's enough to make anyone cool in my eyes. also he's such a mood, my man is trying to stay out of trouble and just eat but here comes his butterfly bff crying about his crush.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS : SHIN QINGXUAN, FENG XIN, PEI MING, LENG WIN, LORD RAIN MASTER, QI RONG, I LOVE THEM ALOT SOBS

(honestly all the characters are awesome it's really hard to pick wjdjwke)

And my top five moments from the novels

1. Xie Lian getting drunk and sleeping in an empty grave.

2. Hua Cheng punching He Xuan three feet underground for no reason at all.

3. Mu Qing's confession (the fact that he immediately jumped off in lava afterwards)

4. THE CONFESSION SCENE SCREAMS (the whole cave of ten thousand gods tbh, nothing beats it)

5. When Xie Lian had nail in his foot and hua cheng was scolding him and taking care of him

thank you for the ask !! it was very fun :D sorry if i was all over the place i just woke up ho ho

[lazyrunawayphilosopher]

I don't really care about Mu Qing and Feng Xin's reactions during the ten thousand cave scenes. If Hua Cheng was really a stalker then he is doing a terrible job at it. He should have found Xie Lian during the 800 year gap then. Why would he waste time and build an empire for himself not to mention , become ghost KING of said empire. Bai Wuxiang is a stalker. A stalker is fine with the person they are stalking rolling in mud yk but they are gonna keep tabs of the person's every moment which Bai Wuxiang (Jun Wu) does.

Hua Cheng building statues for a god doesn't means he is stalker. For a literal god. You can check out this post. The Hua Cheng is a stalker jokes has gone too far honestly in the TGCF fandom. This and this and this wholeass post and this one too.

I love the OX cart scene in TGCF. Both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng met after so many years and actually got to have a normal conversation with someone without worrying about giving them bad luck or scaring them or getting judged. Something about having a conversation with a stranger and they match your vibe is so amazing. Talking about mundane things without worrying because both of them are equally weird and one in a million. In other words they are made for each other.

[lunar-magnolia]

IT'S TIME TO GO ON A SPECULATION JOURNEY @l-tachi​

It's true we don't really know Hua Cheng's past before he fell into Xie Lian's arms as a child, but we do have some things that could help make up a little picture of his human life. I might leave out some things and take them for granted, like his transformation from simple fire ghost to savage:

*putting a read more because Long and spoilery

He was a citizen of the Imperial Capital of Xianle or lived in the vicinity of it. It's possible that he lived outside the walls, because of what Feng Xin said about knowing all the children who lived in the poorest part of the Imperial Capital. He said he had never seen little Hua (or Hong-er) around.

Because of his cursed eye that he kept covered, it's possible that his family was cast out of the city when he was born. Maybe they did live inside the city, but once little Hua came around and voice spread about his curse, they might have been kicked out.

It's also possible that only his mother loved him in the family, and the fact that she wouldn't give him up and doomed them all could have been cause of fights in the household. Thus we have little Hua lying about having parents and refusing to go back home.

It's also possible that he truly doesn't have a name. Hong Hong-er is the way his mother called him, and sounds more like a cute nickname that referred to his red eye (it means "little red"). He never gives Xie Lian a proper name, neither when he's a child nor when he was in his Wuming form. This is completely debatable tbh

However, when he meets Xie Lian again after 800 years, he does give a name that he says he prefers: San Lang. In the notes of the book it says that it indicates the third son of a household. This made me think that he probably had at least two older siblings when he was human. Which is nice, but all things considered he probably didn't have a good relationship with them.

CW: death, suicide mention

It's unclear if he jumped or just fell from the wall during the festival as a child. There's a high chance that Xie Lian is an unreliable narrator and Hua Cheng never told him why he was in such a dangerous position in the first place. It's however safe to imagine that he was going to jump, but seeing the parade he stopped himself. He was either pushed or he slipped.

I say it's kinda safe because of the infamous scene where little Hua is pleading to Xie Lian to tell him why should he continue living when he really doesn't want to. His life has been too hard on him and he wants to die. Xie Lian tells him to live for him if he can't find anything else worth living for. So yeah.

The guoshi of Xianle mentions that the kid Xie Lian had brought to the Royal Pavilion centuries ago was cursed and he probably never lived past 18-20yo. We know that up until 14 years old he was alive and well and in the army, fighting in the name of the Crown Prince. We also know that after the Land of the Tender accident he was booted from the army. At some point after the fall of Xianle, he died.

We see him protecting one of Xie Lian's temples when people wanted to burn it down. It's possible that he died doing exactly that, when he was around 18/19 years old.

In fact, Hua Cheng mentions that dying in Xie Lian's name is the greatest honor for him. And it already happened twice: when he was a human and when he sacrificed himself as Wuming.

Also another possible indicator of the age he was when he died is the age he has in his Hua Cheng form. He is described as a youth in his 20s.

After his sacrifice as Wuming, his soul still refused to leave the mortal realm and dissipate. We can imagine that after that episode mount Tong'lu opened and he went there as a fragile soul to regain his power and become at least a savage again. He knew he needed to become strong again if he wanted to protect Xie Lian, so he risked it all.

We know that while journeying towards the kiln, he gained enough power to have a "physical" form and gauge his own eye out to forge E'ming in a desperate situation. Plus, at the exact same moment, the heaven sent a heavenly calamity and he ascended as a ghost. But since Xie Lian wasn’t there and he had lots of beef with the heavenly officials, he immediately jumped down and continued on his path to become a supreme.

He stayed in the Mount Tong'lu zone for 10 years. In these ten years it's highly probable that he slew as many ghosts as he could to gain as much power as he could get. He also spent his time exploring the ruins of Wuyong and honing in his art skills in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods.

When he entered the kiln, it's unclear if he found other powerful ghosts to fight inside it or not. In any case, once he was done and still inside, before escaping he carved the giant Crown Prince statue that we see in book 5.

After escaping the kiln, he had all the "physical" strength. But we know that he's also extremely knowledgeable, and that when he challenged the 35 heavenly officials, some were civil gods and he beat them in debates.

So it's possible that after becoming a Supreme, he started his journey to gather as much knowledge as he could. During the years he gained fame and his Crimson Rain Sought Flower title.

With his status and skill, he eventually founded Ghost City and started building his own wealth too, thanks to the Gambler's Den.

It took some time, but when he was positive he could take all the 35 heaven officials down at their own game, he went and became the infamous Hua Cheng, the Crimson Rain that sought the flower.

I think it's important to mention that the guoshi of Xianle also said that the people cursed like Hua Cheng had the worst luck. Instead, we see Hua Cheng being possibly the luckiest person on Earth. This is probably the consequence of Xie Lian changing his fate and giving up all his luck (per the cursed shackle). Among everything, in fact, guoshi said that to survive the curse, fate must be changed.

I think Xie Lian altered Hua Cheng's fate both when he was a human and held onto little Hua when everyone else told him to let him go, and when he gave up his luck just after Wuming's sacrifice. Xie Lian, in fact, says that luck will be transfered to people who lack it. And Hua Cheng, who was in the vicinity, was probably the most unlucky person present. I think he absorbed most of Xie Lian's luck, and that also impacted his fate.

Another possibility is Hua Cheng gaining luck after he forged E'ming. If his eye was the reason why his luck was so terrible, removing it and sealing into a spiritual device could have been the catalyst to his apparently infinite luck.

I think he also spent his time looking for Xie Lian, but the world is vast and he lost track of him after the Wuming arc. So he focused on improving himself to be worthy of one day approaching Xie Lian.

I guess he came to know Xie Lian's whereabouts when Xie Lian ascended for the third time. It's possible that he got word of it from Black Water, and then the rest is history.

Akdhskfhjd I might have skipped some things, please feel free to ask more questions if something is unclear or doesn't make sense. All of this is pure speculation based on the information we have from the book and it's all debatable. Still, I had fun thinking about it! Thank you so much for the prompt!!!

[hua-lian]

Hello , so um I want to request something I hope its not too much , can you maybe translate some interesting parts of that chapter where MQ ,FX XL gets to HC cave and find the statues and HC gives(?)XL a red string on his finger , and can you tell me what chapter that is ? , thanks , anx sorry if its a bother

MASSIVE SPOILERS

first of all, you have low standard if you’re asking me for translations HAHAHAHAHA

okay so the chapter that HC gives XL the red string is chapter 158, and only from chapter 173 onwards did XL, HC, MQ and FX get to HC’s cave, and I would argue the interesting parts is the whole thing but I can’t translate that without taking a year so I compromised and put summaries in between translations in [brackets]

warning, this is one hell of a long post because I don’t know how to use google docs

Red string part (Chapter 158)

Xie Lian was contemplating whether he should smash the stone wall to see what was behind, when he heard Hua Cheng: “Gege, give me your hand.”

Xie Lian: “???”

Even though he was confused, he still relented and gave his hand to Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng gently held his hand, putting his hand in his palm, his other hand covering, as if he was putting something on him. Xie Lian’s heart jumped faster, and he held his breath for a moment, at once, he raised his hand, and questioned: “This is?”

On his right hand’s third finger was a fine red string, which was what Hua Cheng put on him. Additionally, this red string continuously extended, connected to Hua Cheng’s own finger’s red string.

Hua Cheng raised his hand, showing the two’s identical butterfly knot, smiling as he said: “Tied together.”

Hearing this, Xie Lian’s face heated up, quickly he rubbed his face twice, afraid Hua Cheng could detect his unusually quick heartbeat, laughing as he said: “San Lang this is a form of magic?”

“En.” Hua Cheng slightly straightened his expression, putting down his hand, he said, “Even though we won’t leave each other on our own, we can’t guarantee there will be no outside forces. This string won’t snap, and won’t be short. Unless the other was gone, otherwise, we can definitely follow the string to find the other person.”

Xie Lian said: “Gone, meaning?”

Hua Cheng said: “Dying, or vanishing into thin air. If the string is unbroken, it means the other person is fine.”

Chapter 173

[HC and XL fall into HC’s Ten-Thousand Gods Cave, and as they continue walking XL sees a lot of different types of statues, all with their faces covered.]

Some was fully covered, extremely unusual. Xie Lian found it weird, wanting to pull down one statue’s gauze and see its face, but behind him Hua Cheng said: “Gege, I suggest you don’t.”

Xie Lian turned his head back, questioningly asked: “Why? I feel that these god statues are a little weird.”

Hua Cheng walked forward, and said: “Because it’s weird, it’s best if you don’t. Since these faces are covered, there must be a reason why. The head is where the spiritual energy assembles, if the cover is removed, allowing these weird god statues to assemble the spiritual energy, who knows what might happen. Gege, didn’t you want to find your two footmen? Since we haven’t found them, it’s best not to touch them (god statues) so as to avoid side issues.”

His words were mysterious and confusing, but it was not without reason, in the case of removing the face gauze, awakening whatever these god statues had, that would not be any fun at all. Xie Lian thought for a bit, deciding to put down his hand, and said: “I’m just a little curious as to who the god is.”

Hua Cheng, playing it down, said: “This place is Wu Yong’s national border, perhaps it’s Wu Yong’s crown prince’s god statue, not strange at all.”

Xie Lian: “I’m afraid it’s not.”

Hua Cheng said: “Eh? How can one be sure?”

Xie Lian faced him, and said: “From the murals we saw on the way here, Wu Yong’s crown prince and Wu Yong Nation’s people’s clothes, compared to these god statue’s dress style, it’s not the same. Therefore, I’m afraid that these god statues and Wu Yong’s crown prince are unrelated. Additionally, it’s possible they weren’t made by the hands of Wu Yong’s people.”

Hua Cheng laughed and said: “Really? Gege is really meticulous.”

Xie Lian also laughed, and said: “No, no. Only that the style of these god statues, whatever craft labor, clothes, or the streamline and details of the clothes, all seems to have a more modern style. For example……the style of Xian Le Nation.”

Hua Cheng raised a brow, and said: “It seems, gege has a rather deep knowledge of this aspect.”

Xie Lian said: “Where, where. It’s only that I’ve seen too many god statues, sooner or later I’ll be more perceptive.”

Even though he didn’t know why, but he kept feeling, from just now till now, Hua Cheng was a little off. After talking to this point, he seemed to be faintly nervous.

[XL decided to listen to HC, and not touch the statues, then they come across a path split into 2, and XL questions why HC immediately goes to the right if he claims he doesn’t know the place. HC makes up nonsense, saying he’s more lucky so he randomly picked the right side. XL then hears voices from the left path, and heads there despite HC calling him back. It’s MQ and FX, stuck in a hole. HC did not follow him.]

Chapter 174

[XL jumps into the hole, HC comes and brings him out, XL brings MQ and FX out of the hole. XL, MQ, and FX spend the whole chapter talking, generally about how XL knew MQ and FX were FY and NF all along.]

Chapter 175

[As they continue walking, MQ tries to touch one of the statues, and HC immediately holds a sword towards him, and reluctantly MQ relents after a standoff. Suddenly, MQ and FX grab XL and runs away from HC, and MQ mentions that the red bead XL had lost long ago was found again, and it’s the red bead in HC’s hair. XL is in disbelief, and MQ takes off a veil covering a statue’s face, and it’s XL’s face. All the statues are of him, made by HC. They then see some murals, and it’s all drawn by HC, one being Pleased God XL saving small HC, one being HC holding an umbrella over a white flower, and FX and MQ are horrified to realize that HC’s been watching XL all this time.]

Feng Xin was simply absolutely terrified, and said: “What kind of person is this? Staring at you from 800 years till now?! Still staying with you until today? Fuck me! This is too horrifying! Is he possessed?! What does he want? Ordinary believers completely would not do this kind of thing, what does he want?!”

Mu Qing said: “There’s a plot……There definitely must be a plot! Quickly continue looking, a clue can definitely be found here!”

Xie Lian was already shocked stupid, staring at the small red boy on the wall, he hadn’t reacted yet, he only felt that there was much he hadn’t forgotten, but he had not cared to remember all the messy and confusing things which were all fighting to appear first in Xie Lian’s head, when the two beside him starting making noise. He shivered once, and asked: “What happened now?”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were standing in front of a stone wall, as if they had seen some kind of terrible thing. On seeing that he wanted to walk over, Feng Xin quickly turned and pushed him back, and said: “Don’t fucking look!”

Xie Lian: “? What is it? What thing? Why can’t I see it?”

Mu Qing’s face also darkened, and he said: “……Don’t see it. It’s nothing worth looking at, quickly run!”

The two of them grabbed an arm, once again rushing towards a path. Dragged by them, Xie Lian said: “What are you two doing? I still have not seen the entirety of the murals?!” 

Feng Xin ran and angrily said: “No use looking! You can’t see that kind of thing! Fuck, honestly! I really have never seen this kind of fucking thing before! This kind of person!!!”

Xie Lian was confused: “You have never see what before? What’s did San Lang do?”

Mu Qing scolded: “Still calling him San Lang, stop calling him that! It’s too late to run! From now on don’t approach him! He’s not normal, he’s sick, he’s a lunatic!!!”

Xie Lian couldn’t listen to it anymore, and said: “Why are you two scolding like that? Didn’t I say, not everyone who’s not normal is bad?”

Feng Xin said: “Stop asking! I don’t know! He’s entirely different from us! He’s sick! Towards you, he……he……”

Xie Lian said: “Towards me what?”

One wants to return, the other two want to pull, the three of them were locked in a stalemate, suddenly a cold voice came from their front, and said: “Didn’t I say before, once at other’s domain, don’t touch their things randomly? Otherwise, whatever happens next, it’s hard to say.”

The three of them stiffened, turning their heads. They could only see a red figure in front of them. Hua Cheng was leaning against a stone wall, blocking their way.

Chapter 176

[They run again, and XL says he wants to ask HC about the statues and murals instead, and MQ and FX, obviously, refuses, and they both think XL is too trusting of HC. MQ puts a tally (talisman?) on him which makes him obey and prevents him from being able to speak. HC appears again.]

Feng Xin and Mu Qing instantly backed a distance. Hua Cheng did not look at them, his eye moving to one side, taking a step towards Xie Lian. Feng Xin and Mu Qing reacted when they saw who he was heading towards, quickly putting Xie Lian behind them, and said in unison: “Don’t come over!”

Hua Cheng’s expression darkened.

If this was a normal day, whoever dared to tell Seeking Flowers in Blood Rain not to come over, he would completely not care about these words, it would be weird if he didn’t laughed and purposefully headed over, but this time, he instead seemed as if he was a little afraid, not daring to act rashly, halting his footsteps.

A while later, he then slowly said: “What is the meaning of this?”

This tone seemed calm. Feng Xin instead said directly: “There’s no need to act anymore, this place has always been your nest. We have already seen these god statues, and those drawings of yours, we have seen it all!”

Hua Cheng was blocking them, hearing this, the hand behind his back trembled, two finger unconsciously curled up.

“……” He slowly drooped, and weakly said, “His Highness, has also seen?”

This tone was very low, even though this manner of speaking was nothing exciting, it was a little hoarse, clearly unusual. Xie Lian thought: “I have not!”

Actually, he didn’t see a lot, however, at this moment he couldn’t speak nor move, honestly only able lean against the stone wall in the corner, as if he was hiding behind the two, afraid to come out to face Hua Cheng, and unwilling to talk to him. Feng Xin drew his bow, and said: “Correct. Whatever…thoughts you have, we are clear. With respect to you as a Ghost King, if you still have some respect and dignity, please do not come close to His Highness the Crown Prince anymore.”

[HC, angered, fights them, and traps them in cocoon silk, then MQ says he was the one who drove HC out of the military, and then HC tells them to admit if the thing they were talking about before was true or not. MQ shouts for XL to run away, XL runs and falls down pretty much immediately.]

Xie Lian’s hands and feet were tightly bound by white thread, lying on the ground, his black hair and white sleeves scattered, his bamboo hat having fallen aside. Hua Cheng slowly turned towards him, pausing for a long time, he headed towards him. Having walked only a few steps, Feng Xin couldn’t control himself and said: “Hua Cheng!”

Hua Cheng paused in his steps, slowly inclining his head.

Feng Xin summoned up his courage to say: “You…You let go of His Highness! He’s already so miserable. Towards him, don’t……” 

Hua Cheng didn’t say a thing, walking to Xie Lian’s side, bending his knees for a bit, he picked him up.

[HC carries him and leaves, and MQ bites the silk aggressively.]

Chapter 177 (Confession!!!)

[HC carries him away, his hands stiff, and HC then notices the tally MQ had put on XL, preventing him from speaking.]

Xie Lian’s organs were in disarray, the effect of the Obey Talisman on his back starting to fade away, he moved his leg with force, letting out a “Ah.” Even though it looked like a dying fish futilely fighting its last battle and letting out a protest without any deterrence, Hua Cheng still stiffened, instantly retracting his hand, and said: “I will not!”

Seeming as if he thought his voice was too loud, and was afraid to startle Xie Lian, Hua Cheng took a few steps back, lightening his tone, and said, lowly: “Your Highness, I will not do anything. You…don’t have to be afraid.”

[XL is injured, which he hadn’t realized until HC was taking off his clothes and helping him (?), MQ and FX come again, but it turns out they were fake, and Bai Wuxiang had been pretending to be them.]

here’s a link to a translation for the confession!!

[starkissedblade]

tgcf spoiler

i know it was actually jun wu and not mu qing and fen xing but it was the funniest shit ever when they were in the cave of ten thousand gods and they were looking at the murals and they saw that (im guessing) nsfw one that xie lian hadn’t seen yet and it freaked them out so much they did a scooby too esque chase away from hua cheng and i think it was fen xing who was like i have never met such a person what the actual fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭and they’re like carrying xie lian and he’s like none of us are normal 😳☺️ lol and they’re like no way are we letting u stay in this situation and i found it kinda sweet that they were protective but then it turned into jun wu being a piece of shit but like 😭😭 i was thoroughly entertained i couldn’t stop laughing

[bisiji3]

Science and the Heaven of Light-Sound

There were no creatures on earth.

The Deva came to earth from Ābhāsvara.

There were no sun, moon, stars, or days and nights.

There was no time or seasons.

The Deva from Ābhāsvara were self-luminous beings that could fly in the sky.

They often travelled between the earth and Ābhāsvara upon its discovery.

The Deva needed no consumption of foods.

Their lifestyle was beyond our understanding.

The Deva found a thing called “the Milk” on earth.

Some of them randomly grabbed and tasted it.

Originally, the way the Deva consumed foods was different from that of ours.

That made them lighter and always luminous.

Yet, since the point when they craved for “the Milk,” they grew muscle.

They became heavy and could no longer fly in the sky.

They were able to walk on earth since then.

They no longer radiated pure lights.

Due to such ceasing of self-luminous status, sun, moon, and stars emerged.

The sun appeared, and with the earth’s rotation, days and nights came to be.

The moon revolves around the earth.

A complete revolution of moon around the earth is a month.

The earth revolves around the sun.

A complete revolution of earth around the sun is a year.

The more Milk they consumed, the uglier they became.

Deva who consumed lesser still retained their beauty.

From that moment, there was beauty and ugliness in appearance.

The beautiful ones looked down the ugly ones.

The ugly ones became jealous about the beautiful ones.

Once they had difference, they had argument and they fought.

The Milk disappeared, but there was less-tasty “earthly savory” everywhere.

The Deva who consumed more became ugly.

Those who consumed less were beautiful.

They saw each other as obstructing existence, and eventually they made war on each other.

The earthly savory disappeared, but there was another substitute with lesser taste.

The same thing happened.

When the second kind of earthly savory disappeared, the soil grew natural rice.

It’s a kind of bran-less grain that tasted delicious.

It needed not be cooked and they could just grab it and eat it.

There was no distinction of men and women.

The two sexes derived from the consumption of the grain.

Those with greater emotions were women, and those with lesser emotions were men.

Men and women grew affection and love among them.

The Deva who did not consume earthly savory and the grain were noble and supreme beings.

They blamed these men and women.

The men felt shameful of themselves and kneeled.

The women brought food to them and held them up.

Since then, the men called the women who brought them foods wife.

The Deva blamed them for their doing and ordered them to leave.

These men and women returned after three months of moving around.

They found out that other Deva were doing the same thing.

And no one felt it wrong to become husband and wife.

The Deva did not live in houses when they arrived at earth.

But then they had distinction of men and women, and so they built houses for shelter.

Before consuming the grain, they were born out of incarnation.

Since the time when they became men and women and were able to reproduce, the mothers could become pregnant and give birth to children.

Humans are then “born from mother” thereafter.

Originally, when humans were hungry, they gathered natural rice and ate them on the spot.

Later, some were lazy and gather two portions a time.

Such allowed them to offer sufficient foods for five days.

In ancient times, people reaped the cereals.

The rice could grow naturally, and they needed not to cultivate them.

Later, they reaped the rice too much.

Then the rice ceased to grow and natural rice was no more.

Instead, the soil grew cereals with bran.

People had to thresh and filter before cooking them for food.

This kind of cereal did not grow as fast as before.

In order to cultivate the cereal, people divided the land.

Their own fields came to be.

Some farmers had poor harvest, and so they stole others’ properties.

And they fought each other.

They selected a good-looking and virtuous person to resolve their disputes.

In return they would give him foods.

That man was called a king.

In the beginning, the kings were virtuous.

But later, some kings became fatuous and foolish.

Originally, human life span lasted 84,000 years on average.

When they started to theft and hurt each other,

Their life became shorter and shorter.

Three thousand years ago

When people could live 100 years in average, Gautama Buddha appeared in this world and redeemed many people with the Dharma.

Later on, the humanity still made evil karmas.

Their life span reduced even further to the nowadays 70 years on average.

When their life span was reduced to 10 years in the future, females married and gave birth to children 5 months old.

Their height decreased one inch per 100 years to one foot.

They became barbaric and the end of world shall come.

At this point, all grains went extinct.

If one could find a grain, he would treasure it just like how we treasure our jewelries now.

Fleshes scattered due to excessive slaughter of lives.

Nothing could be consumed as foods.

People cooked the withered bones to sustain their lives.

They had no fabrics but only human hair for their clothes.

Human hair was the most luxurious material for clothes.

Their sacred bodies were no longer wearing jewels and gems but were armed with blades and steels.

The land became barren and no grains could be grown.

Mosquitos, hornets, and serpents disturbed people together.

Gold, silver, agate, and other precious stones and metals no longer existed.

They could no longer hear the Daśa-kuśala-karmāni (Ten Good Practices).

They no longer respected their parents and elders.

They only did evil things.

Rage filled in their heart and they often killed and slayed each other.

A cruel war finally broke out.

People used grass as weapons to kill each other.

Some hid deeply in the mountains or caves.

When they met, they told each other:

“I won’t kill you

So don’t kill me.”

Seven days later, they went down the mountains, finding that the war had ended.

Those who did not hide in the mountains had all been destroyed.

The entire world had been through a catastrophe.

Only ten thousand people remained.

Those who survived and returned, seeing this tragedy, cried in mourn for seven days.

They then celebrated for seven days more for their fortune of survival.

They determined that they shall spare no efforts in doing good and so their life span increased.

People’s childhood extended to five hundred years, and women could still go into marriage or give birth to children at the age of 500.

Everyone was healthy.

Only nine pains and diseases still lingered in this world.

People could feel cold,

People could feel hot,

People could feel hungry,

People could feel thirsty,

People could have need for urinating,

People could have need for defecating,

People could have desires.

People could eat too much.

People still grew old.

Besides these problems, they met no challenges.

All could have enough foods and water.

Their life span increased or sometimes went back to the decreased state.

Following Gautama Buddha, Maitreya incarnated in this Sahā world

And enlightened the people.

He then became the fifth Buddha of bhadrakalpa.

Resource：Excerpt from Venerable Master Hsuan Hua – 人的始祖，是從光音天來的

Translated by天成數位翻譯公司

Organized by Jhan, hang-cheng

Relevant information：

[wasabicreampuff1367]

When they ate the roasted hare on the beach in chapter 120 Xie Lian couldn’t believe then that Hua Cheng had not managed to win over his special someone that he seemed to love so dearly.

He’d truly believed that if Hua Cheng wanted a person there would be nothing to stop his advances and yet he said he had not won that person over and it made him wonder who could be such a person to turn someone such as Hua Cheng down. He worried it might be bad taste of taking him for granted that was the root cause.

But what Hua Cheng told him was that he was afraid and as he’d eventually learn, Hua Cheng truly was.

A fanfic in which we explore the events leading up to the confessions and some of the aftermath, from Hua Cheng’s point of view, in chapters 173-178.

Author: wittykitsune

wasabicreampuff1367: *spoiler alert*

Okay, so, I found this fanfic on AO3 and it’s absolutely amazing. I obviously don’t own this fic and when I post in the future, it won’t be my own work unless I say so. This fic was by ‘wittykitsune’ on AO3.

Basically, the fanfic runs through the events from the moment before they first enter the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods as well as Hua Cheng’s thoughts. So the story is in Hua Cheng’s perspective. It goes up until after Mu Qing and Feng Xin leave the Cave with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng successfully baiting the White No-Face.

I kind of just wanted a fanfic that was in Hua Cheng’s perspective.

It’s so adorable and heart wrenching because Hua Cheng truly thinks that he’s trash but also holds onto that slight glimmer of hope that Xie Lian will still allow him to stay by his side and protect him.

I recommend anyone who has read TGCF, aka. HOB, to read this after they finish the novel. I personally, have read and reread the novel at least a dozen times. Though, I do also recommend people read the manga, the manga is on a hiatus(?) or something along those lines. I just read a few chapters of the manga to get a visual on how everyone looks like, by ‘everyone’, I mean the main characters Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. Mu Qing, Feng Xin and Ling Wen are also included.

Honestly, I’m pretty sure this is how you post stuff on tumblr, so this should be my first official post, but again, I’m not too sure about tumblr, so I hope I did this correctly.