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bucksblr · 4 years ago

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#showyourprocess

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you so much for tagging me @lan-xichens, I’ll try my best to explain how I made this set from start to finish hehe ♡ and also a big thank you to @suibianjie @highwarlockkareena @nyx4 @aheartfullofjolllly and you as well Kris for putting this all together! Content creators get a lot less recognition than they deserve for all the time they put into their content, so getting everyone to see the (sometimes excessive) process we all go through to put our content in our blog, I hope it creates a positive change!! 💖

1. Planning

The set in question was actually requested by someone so they could celebrate their friend’s birthday! At first I wasn’t entirely sure if I was going to be able to finish it on time (college is very hectic right now) but I was able to finish it three days before the deadline which was may 1st! ^-^

The first thing I did was decide what characters I wanted to use in the set, I first reached out to the person who requested the set if there were certain characters they wanted me to use but they said they didn’t know enough to really give me any directives outside of the quote. I decided, since the quote is applicable to the entirety of the show, that I would try to put in as many characters as possible.

Thus, of course, came the hunting for scenes. Those of you in the net discord surely know I came into the content help channel a few times to ask for certain scenes here and there, and eventually I had to download an additional 10 episodes to the back then 20 or so episodes I had in my CQL episodes folder.

As you can see I have 30 random episodes of CQL downloaded (slowly but surely getting to the point where I have all 50 episodes downloaded) and I think I ended up using scenes out of at least 20 of those episodes.

I planned out beforehand what characters I would use per gif. I knew obviously I would start out with Wangxian, them being the main characters of the show, and then would work my way down the list. The second gif consists of Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning. They’re all family pairings, two being siblings and one being a married couple. The next gifset consists of the Yi City characters, then the fourth gif consists of the juniors, and the final gif has Jin Guangyao, Mianmian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Xichen in it.

I have to admit though that when I had made the first four gifs I’d forgotten who I would put in the last gif and the when I thought about it the first time around I could only think of Lan Qiren and the very cursed Yaoyang ship 😭 it was only at dinner time that same day that I remembered I hadn’t put Jiang Cheng in my gifset yet and that’s when I thought of the other characters as well.

I had already made my first two gifs when I went to check Hanyi’s blog for layout inspo and eventually I decided I wanted to try a triangle-ish layout, which I doodled below. I eventually ended up changing the layout of the last gif in the final design. It was also the first time I would work with a triangle-ish layout so I was a bit nervous as I was scared it wasn’t going to work out...

2. Creating

I use Avisynth 2.5 and Adobe Photoshop 2021 (the paid version, unfortunately, I need it for school except I didn’t need it this year but I wanted it so I paid for it with my own money ouch) to make my gifsets! I always start out with trimming down all the scenes I’m going to use into three to five second videos and putting them through Avisynth. This time around I did it separately for each gif I made, simply because I needed so many scenes. I would include a screenshot of my “gif vids” and “temp” folders but I’ve already deleted all the videos, which is what I usually do immediately after a set is posted.

I’ll try my best explaining this gif by gif since each one had a different layout!

2.1 Wangxian

I think I had up to five different designs of this gif 😭 it started out with the gif on the left originally being more centered and the quote right smack in the center but somehow it felt a bit too... empty? I changed up the design and pulled the gif over to the right and put the two closeups on the left, the exact opposite of the gif I eventually ended up with. I switched things around one more time and saved the gif as you can see it right now, except I didn’t include the lines yet. It was only as I finished up my fourth gif that I decided this gif needed lines as well so I added them ^-^

2.2 Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning

I got the inspiration for the font layout on this gif from this Wenzhou post! I hadn’t tried it before and when I did for this gif I was very happy with the way it turned out :D I wanted to portray that life is a pile of good and bad things, as the quote says, in CQL by mirroring these happy scenes side by side with the sad scenes

2.3 Yi CIty

My first time working with the triangle layout!! Putting in the lines and making sure they would line up with the second gif took me the longest of all actually 😭 I think once I got the line on the left in I just copy pasted it and flipped it horizontally so I didn’t have to fiddle around with angling it anymore :’) my original idea was to get a happy Song Lan scene and a sad A-Qing scene, but when I stumbled upon this A-Qing scene in ep38 I just had to put it in there because her smile is so precious 🥺 Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen in the center are also supposed to be mirrored, with Xue Yang embodying the “bad things” and Xiao Xingchen the “good things” ! I also think the Yi City characters fit this part of the quote very well!!

2.4 The Juniors

Ah yes, the junior quartet!! :D I had this planned out from the very beginning, that I would include happy versus sad juniors in the “vice versa” part of the quote, and I think it worked out quite well! My first idea was to put the “vice versa” completely in the special font and have it typed out over the gifs like I did with the “vice” but as I typed out the “versa” I realized it had one letter too much to be able to do that 😭😭 it took me a while to come up with how I would position the “but” and “versa” and after some moving around I decided to just place them the way I did in the final gif! For the font, I duplicated the “vice” and added a stroke to the duplicate, then I changed the fill setting to 0% so I could slightly drag the duplicate away from the original layer to create the effect that’s in the gif — also, finding a scene in which Jin Ling smiles is really difficult.... he barely even smiles in the scene I ended up using :(

2.5 Jin Guangyao, Mianmian, Jiang Cheng, and Lan Xichen

The final gif!! I feel like this might come a little across as “I promise I didn’t forget these characters” because they’re a very odd quadruplet to put together, but they were the most important characters left to put in the set! I was thinking of putting Nie Mingjue in here together with Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, but I did feel he fit more with his brother up in the second gif. Mei @mylastbraincql cheered me on making this gif for which I was very grateful :D <3 the layout came to be after I googled “how to evenly split a rectangle in four” because I didn’t want a repeat layout in the set (*/∇＼*)

2.6 Coloring

For the coloring I pretty much did all of the tweaking on the first gif and then copy pasted all of it onto the second, third, fourth, and fifth gif. This is usually the way I go about my coloring, I will always edit certain gifs if necessary but I don’t think I had to change the coloring much on any of these gifs? Maybe I added in a curve layer here and there, but nothing major! This is really one of my preferred coloring styles, even though I try to step outside of my comfort zones with other sets ^-^

3. Posting

I will always upload sets into my drafts and edit the caption in there as well, clicking on “preview post” a couple times to check everything looks good on my blog as well, before I post a set. However, this time, since there was a deadline and I finished before the deadline, I put this set in the queue so it would automatically post on the 1st of may! Knowing myself, I would’ve forgotten to do so </3

Whew that was... a lot 😭 did it make any sense? Probably not, but it was fun to ramble （ ´∀｀）

I’ll tag

@blinkplnk with this set !

@wuxien with this set !

@wendashanren with this set !

@wanyinxichen with this set !

@yibobibo with this set !

@mylastbraincql with this set !

@sugarbabywenkexing with this set !

@yiling-recesses with this set !

@jiancheng with this set !

Please feel totally free to ignore this if you’ve already been tagged and don’t want to do it again!! <3

#showyourprocess #tag game #this got so long i'm sorry ;-;#very curious to see everyone else's processes!!#thank you for the tag kris <3

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skullsandwineglasses · 4 years ago

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Love and Redemption Review

Overall, I have to say that the story was really good, maybe even better than the popular xianxia romances that came before it like Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, Love and Destiny, and Ashes of Love. The romance may be comparable to AOL, but as a whole, the plot in L&R was more interesting and cohesive.

****SPOILERS AHEAD FOR LOVE AND REDEMPTION AND OTHER XIANXIA DRAMAS****

Plot

What sets Love and Redemption apart from the other 3 xianxia romances is that Love and Redemption also feels like a quest/adventure story, while also delivering a gut-wrenching, star-crossed romance plot. What’s interesting about L&R is that the main focus is on the mortal realm and the FL and ML’s current mortal incarnation, as opposed to the heavenly realm and their immortal identities.

The actions of the mortals have consequences across the 3 realms, as opposed to other xianxia romances that only use the mortal realm as a temporary stage for the leads to fall in love. The other 3 xianxias that I mentioned all opened up in the heavenly/celestial realm first, while the mortal realm was just a brief trial that the leads have to endure before returning to the immortal realm. The moral realm in L&R therefore feels livelier and more eventful, and the mortals have more agency and are not easily influenced by celestial beings. Whenever a celestial being does come down to the mortal realm, their powers are limited and are they are bound by the rules and restrictions of the mortal realm (which means that celestial beings can’t use their powers to mess with the emotions and decisions of mortals).

The drama opens up with a tournament being held at the FL’s sect and members from all the other sects are arriving for the tournament. When the FL and ML meet, they are on equal footing (well, equal in terms of status as disciples, but not so much in terms of magical prowess). It’s like when you were in high school and you meet the visiting basketball team from a rival school, and then end up becoming friends with them.

Love and Redemption also takes the audience through a mystery. What is the true immortal identity of the FL? What’s her relationship to the Star of Mosha? Is she the saviour or the doomsday harbinger? Does the ML have an immortal identity too? Why do they have the same birthday? The drama keeps us on our toes because we learn about the truth and the history of the characters as they’re discovering it, as opposed to the other xianxia dramas where there is very little mystery and few plot twists.

Because of this mystery, the drama is tight and well-paced, since a new piece of the puzzle is always being revealed. Just when you thought that the mystery is solved, there’s a twist, and you realized that the twist was set up from the very beginning of the story, but you just missed it.

The story also doesn’t stray from the main leads. Yes, there are subplots (as all dramas do), but the subplots here are brief, and they usually relate back to the main leads. Unlike in AOL where the later half of the drama derails and focuses on the two other supporting couples, while the main leads only get about 10 minutes of screen time.

The Male Lead - Yu Si Feng

Before starting the drama, I read a lot of comments about how much whump and emotional torture the ML goes through and how much he sacrifices for the FL. I thought this was an exaggeration. I mean, Xufeng in AOL went through a lot of Jin Mi too, (and you could make the same argument for Ye Hua in TMOPB, or Bai Zi Hua in Journey of Flower), so I was a little hesitant about the premise since it’s such an old trope, and I was doubtful that it could top the sacrifice that other MLs have done in other dramas.

But reader, boy was I wrong. Yu Si feng is the definition of limitless, unconditional love. I lost count of how many times he almost died for the FL (not including the 9 times she killed him in their previous 9 lives). He’s spitting up blood and stabbed in nearly every episode. Episodes 37-47 were the hardest to watch because of the escalating chronic angst and misunderstandings between him and Xuan ji that caused irreversible damage to their relationship. Even when she tries to kill him and tells him she regrets having ever known him, he still drags himself back to rescue her. To quote Si feng himself, it’s not a question of whether or not it’s worth it, but it’s a question of whether you are willing to do it. And Si feng is as eager and willing as ever to sacrifice everything for Xuan ji.

I mean, even Xufeng in AOL and Ye Hua in TMOPB snapped at the FL’s cruelty and aloofness at one point, but Si feng seems incapable of ever being angry with Xuan ji. Even when Si feng purposely tries to avoid her, it’s out of protection for her, not out of anger for everything she’s done. Like??? Si feng is impossibly perfect, even by the impossible standards of xianxia.

Cheng Yi plays Si feng to a T. He conveys a different type of pain in every crying scene, and so Si feng basically experiences like 59 different types of crushing pain, and you feel it in your bones every time you watch it. The man’s eyes speak volumes.

While it would be easy to say that Cheng Yi carries the drama with his portrayal of Si Feng, the actions of the ML would be meaningless if there were no romantic interest that he was doing this all for.

The Female Lead - Chu Xuan Ji

Some people may feel that Xuan ji isn’t worth Si feng’s devotion. But, I would argue that the first 37 episodes shows us that she is definitely worth it.

Xuan Ji is similar to Jin Mi from AOL in that she is incapable of feeling or understanding love. Because Xuan Ji was born without her 6 senses (and also without a real heart, unbeknownst to the other characters), she’s naive and juvenile. But despite not having feelings, she’s still able to care completely about others. She cares about her sister, her father, her sect brothers, and Si Feng. She’s fiercely protective of them as they are of her. To the best of her limited abilities, she is devoted to people as much as she can be.

Because of her sensory deprivation, Xuan Ji is really curious about the world. She wants to be like everyone else, to feel like everyone else, in hopes of being able to properly reciprocate people’s love for her. She envies people who are able to cry because she thinks that’s an unhindered way of showing love. She regrets not being able to cry when her mother died. Xuan Ji is therefore a self-aware character, unlike Jin Mi, because she knows her shortcomings. She wants to be able to feel, understand, and share pain.

As such, she’s quite an active character because she has this goal of reviving her senses, which has ripple effects for the other characters in the story since they become a part of her journey, whether by choice or by force.

Why Si Feng fell for Xuan Ji

Xuan Ji and Si Feng are very opposite characters, and not just because of the obvious difference in their personalities. Si Feng is a boy who feels too much (we later see that he gets his persistent sentimentality from his father), but was taught his whole life to suppress his emotions (I mean, the mask both literally and figuratively prevents him from emoting). Si Feng wants to express his feelings, but cannot.

On the other hand, Xuan Ji is allowed to be as expressive as she wants, but she is empty on the inside. Xuan Ji represents everything Si Feng wants to be and is expected to be: free and emotionless.

In this mortal incarnation, SF has responsibilities to everyone, from his spirit beast to his sect. Xuan Ji is the only one who doesn't ask or expect anything of him and yet, for someone who can't feel, she's always thinking of him. she stands up for him, she brings him snacks to comfort him when he’s being punished, she helps steal back his mother's hairpin. These are very simple gestures, but they mean the world to him (no one else has done these things for him before, and he doesn’t understand why she would unconditionally do these things for him), and that's why he's so quick to risk everything for her. Thus ironically, Si Feng actually learned about unconditional love from Xuan Ji.

He’s never known love, warmth, or friendship in his lonely years growing up in the Lize Palace. And so, when you’re just a 16 year old awkward, hormonal, and introverted teenage boy, it’s easy to fall for a selfless girl who invades your personal space and has no sense of propriety.

Why Xuan Ji fell for Si Feng

We see that her love is gradual. She falls in love with him without even realizing she’s fallen in love. She cares for him as a friend at first. After all, like she said, Si Feng is the first friend she’s made from outside her sect. But soon, her caring for him surpasses that of what she feels for her sect brothers. Si Feng teaches her about the world, from what different food tastes like, to naming colours. Si Feng doesn’t infantilize her like her sect brothers do. Her sect brothers are either dismissive or protective, like Ming yan, but she is able to find a proper confidant in Si Feng who is willing to be patient with her and listen to her.

Their 4-year separation when they each undergo training and achieve a boost in their abilities, only made Xuan Ji’s heart grow fonder. She misses Si Feng, and is frustrated to see that things are different between them when they meet again. She doesn’t understand why he’s so cold and distant, and all she wants to do is close the distance between them.

It’s a meme that Xuan Ji is the one who wears the pants in the relationship. She’s assertive and bold, and I think part of the reason why she fell for Si Feng is because he gives her that space to be best and biggest version of herself, whether in the heavenly realm or in the mortal realm. She’s also fascinated by him. A person outside of her sect who has an endearing personality unlike anyone else she’s seen. He piques her curiosity, and so she’s drawn to him. He’s as much as her romantic and sexual awakening as she is his.

It’s apt that their ship name is the combination of their last names “Chu Yu”, which sounds similar to the words 初遇, which means “first encounter”. Not only is this drama about capturing the feelings of first love, but Si Feng and Xuan Ji have also had 10 different first encounters because of their 10 reincarnation tribulations.

The Romance

It’s actually quite fun and endearing to watch because both Xuan Ji and Si Feng are playing hard to get, which frustrates the hell out of both of them. Xuan Ji is trying to win back Si Feng and convince him to stay, while Si Feng himself is trying to win Xuan Ji’s heart, and she doesn’t even realize it. They’re both trying to woo each other, but they’re both being resistant, intentionally and unintentionally.

I have to admit, though, that the first few episodes were slow.

There aren’t major sparks during the first meeting between the leads. She just falls out of the sky into his arms, and he’s flustered by her sudden appearance and clinginess. The love story didn’t feel “epic” during the the first 4 episodes because it didn’t feel like there were any stakes. These were just 2 young disciples from different sects who had a stereotypical meet-cute. It was like watching a high school coming-of-age romcom.

Things start to get serious when Si feng is forced to wear the lover’s curse mask, meaning that he cannot love, or else every time he’s hurt by the one he loves, that mask will release a feather to his heart and he’ll feel unbearable pain. When all the feathers are released, he’ll die. This means that he has to stay away from Xuan Ji, but obviously, the drama can’t let that happen, so he’s constantly thrown into situations with her, he can’t stay away from her, and he ends up falling for her harder and harder against his will.

Xuan Ji trusts Si Feng completely and unconditionally (until episodes 37-47 that is). She is willing to go against her father and sect in order to protect him. She’s willing to sacrifice herself to save him. She’s willing to go rogue with her powers for him. When no one else trusts him, she does.

This makes Xuan Ji a very cathartic character to watch because she isn’t frustrating at all. She isn’t easily influenced and has her own views. She doesn’t share the same prejudiced views as the elder sect leaders. She is willing to disobey if it’s the right thing to do. She immediately clears up misunderstandings, like the one between her and Ming yan. We see her gradually become more mature through her increasing protectiveness over Si Feng.

I think because we see this rational and loyal side of Xuan Ji, we’re able to have a higher tolerance for her ignorance and mistakes later in the drama (but only barely).

The Reincarnations - What Does it Mean to Love a Soul?

Si Feng fell for Xuan Ji 10 times in the mortal world, not including the very first time he falls for her when they were immortals in the heavenly realm.

I explained why I think Si Feng fell for Xuan Ji is this 10th reincarnation, but why did he fall for her in the past 9 lives? In the flashbacks, we see that in each life, Xuan Ji is cruel and heartless, and she still had the same unforgiving and ruthless demeanor as when she was the god of war. Is it because Si Feng’s soul is always going to be automatically attracted to Xuan Ji’s soul?

Because we only see brief glimpses of the past 9 lives (more specifically, we only see the ending of these lives), we don’t really know how they met or how Si Feng came to love her in each life. But, I would assume that there was something about Xuan Ji in each of her reincarnations that attracted her to Si Feng and completed him. Also, we know that Xuan Ji is capable of tenderness. As the god of war, she disliked fighting. As Mosha, she cared about Bailing. So, while Xuan Ji’s nature might be violent and cruel, I think that with each life, she learns about love and sincerity. If we assume that the flashbacks of the 9 lives are in order, then it would seem like Xuan Ji becomes more and more affected by Si Feng’s death with each successive lifetime. In the first life, she is completely indifferent to his beheading. but we see that she begins to become affected in the later lives, but tries to shove those emotions aside because they’re foreign and unfamiliar to her.

We get even less context for how Si Feng might have fallen for the god of war in the heavenly realm. We only know that Si Feng was the Jade Emperor’s son, and only gained a celestial anamorphic form after 10, 000 years. His true form is the Golden-feathered bird. He’s always appearing by the god of war’s side to listen to her vent, but the god of war only sees him as a stray bird who comes by to visit occasionally. Why did he fall for her? Did he empathize with her loneliness? Maybe she was his only friend, like he was her only friend, but she didn’t even realize it.

We also see that Si feng loves Xuan ji no matter who she is or what form she takes. Her gender doesn’t matter to him, and gender was never even an issue in the drama. The drama doesn’t give an explanation for why Bailing created a female body for the god of war (besides that he wanted to disguise Mosha’s appearance), but it also doesn’t matter. It’s a non-issue, and I love it. We just need to accept it, because the “why” isn’t important.

Xuan Ji has 3 different identities: The Star of Mosha (Luo Hou Ji Do), the god of war, and Xuan Ji the mortal. The god of war and Xuan Ji have the same “soul”, and that soul came from the glass of Mosha’s imprisonment lamp, and also from Mosha’s altered corporeal body. So, she is a part of Mosha, but has also become her own entity.

To Si Feng, all 3 identities are Xuan Ji. The memories, emotions, and experiences of all the identities are what made Xuan Ji Xuan Ji, and so he loves all of them.

But what made Xuan Ji finally crack so that she’s now able to love Si Feng in this 10th reincarnation? I think it has to do with her upbringing. We see in her previous 9 lives that she had a troubled upbringing filled with scheming and violence. So she was consumed by the darkest side of humanity and Si Feng couldn’t pull her out. But in this life, she grew up with an abundance of love, which made her want to learn how to love, which allowed her to open up to Si Feng. In this way, the drama shows that Si Feng alone isn’t enough to redeem her, but it took the love of her friends and family to help her grow a heart.

The Angst

Okay. So. Si Feng has probably suffered more than any male lead in xianxia history. I think someone said that he has a martyr complex. But, I’d like to break down the type of angst that are present in dramas.

There is angst that is harmless, and there is angst that is damaging to the relationship.

Harmless angst is usually angst by external forces. Like parents who don’t allow their kids to be together. Like in AOL when Xufeng mistakenly thinks that Jin Mi might be his sister so he can’t be with her. In L&R, this kind of external angst happens when Si Feng mistakenly thinks that Xuan Ji likes her 6th sect brother Ming yan. Xuan Ji isn’t purposely hurting Si Feng, but it’s an unintentional misunderstanding.

Damaging angst is when the couple turns against each other and become enemies. This happened when Jin Mi kills Xufeng and says she never loved him (which technically is true since her heart was re-sealed so she didn’t even understand what love was when she said it). In L&R, this happens Xuan Ji sides with her sect and attacks Si Feng when he reveals his demon form. This happens again when they confront each other outside the Lize Palace and she announces that she’s done with him and breaks ties with him. This happens again when she stabs him, says she regrets having ever known and loved him, and proceeds to try to stab him again. In Love and Redemption, Xuan Ji keeps saying hurtful things to him. There’s not just one moment of betrayal, but a constant onslaught of betrayals over 10 episodes that make the relationship feel like it’s entered a point of no return.

The masochistic side of me likes love/hate relationships and damaging angst. I grew up with it. TVB dramas have a lot of it. My favourite is the angst in Raymond Lam and Charmain Sheh dramas like Drive of Life and Lethal Weapons of Love and Passion. But despite over 20 years of watching dramas, I was still not prepared for the pain and suffering in Love and Redemption.

The good news is that they make up fairly quickly, though some may argue too quickly and easily.

What I Enjoyed

Other xianxia romances usually only have 1 mortal reincarnation. This has 10 reincarnations (even if only shown briefly), and I love that. The leads have already had such a rich history together, but they don’t remember, and so the romance is about them falling in love all over again in this life, while also slowly remembering the love they had in their previous lifetimes.

The world-building was also compelling, and the supporting characters were great. They were the voice of reason and talked sense into the main leads to help move the plot forward. I also liked how the ML and FL each had their own personal relationship with the supporting characters separate from each other. For instance, Ming yan has a childhood friendship with Xuan Ji, but he also develops his own friendship with Si Feng. Wu Ziqi was once Mosha’s helper, and also knew the god of war, but also forms his own friendship with Si Feng. Zi Hu is also friends with both Xuan Ji and Si Feng. Having separate friendships with the leads means that the supporting characters are unbiased. They’re not likely to help the ML more than the FL or vice versa, but they’re able to see both sides of things. They help the leads, but they’re also critical of them, and is therefore able to help the leads make rational decisions. It reminds me of the friendship dynamics in Avatar where the characters have unique relationships with each other. Like Toph has her own relationship dynamic with Sokka and Katara, which is different from Aang’s relationship dynamic with them.

It goes without saying that Si Feng is the best part of the drama. He plays an emotionally repressed character, so it always feels like the heavens opened up when he smiles, and Xuan Ji seems to be the only one who can make him smile. SF's best moments are when he shows moments of vulnerability, like when he begs Xuan Ji not to cut ties with him, or when he's so happy to the point of disbelief and he's afraid of it being true that he begins to slightly quiver, like when he kept asking XJ if she was really the one who took off his mask. You can see him break down and not being able to contain his emotions and how much he’s desperately yearning for his love to be reciprocated.

I like that the FL has the same personality throughout the drama. I'm always annoyed when the FL's personality takes a 360-degree turn when she has a sudden "awakening" when her past life memories come flooding back and she instantly matures and becomes jaded. In Love and Redemption, Xuan Ji stays her bubbly self, even when she’s burdened with responsibilities. Hell, even when she becomes a mother, she’s still aloof and playful. In episode 52 or so when she burns her leg and refuses to leave Si Feng’s house, she acts like a helpless little girl again. Si Feng tells her that such a small injury wouldn’t even faze someone as powerful as she is, but she reminds him that he once told her that even if she didn’t feel pain, her body would know the pain, and so she should always tell him when she’s hurt. I just like this throwback to the earlier episodes to show that while Xuan Ji has grown and matured, she’s still the same person who wants to be loved and pampered.

Weaknesses of the Drama

Xuan Ji is a really multi-faceted and complex character (because of her villainous tendencies), but Crystal Yuan doesn’t completely deliver in all of her performances of the character. Crystal Yuan is great when she’s acting cute (though it reminds me a lot of Zhao Liying’s acting in Journey of Flower, even the voice actress is the same actress), but I feel like Crystal Yuan’s crying scenes are a little lacking. Also, Xuan Ji is a character who is often in moral and emotional conflict because she starts to feel emotions that she doesn’t understand since she’s never felt them before, but sometimes Crystal isn’t very convincing when trying to convey this internal conflict. For instance, in the scene when she thought Si Feng was getting married to Ah Lan, I thought that her devastation at seeing that should have been a bit more palpable. I mean, you finally found the love of your life after searching him for over a year and now he’s in front of you, about to get married to another woman. There should be more pain, anger, regret, disbelief, a battle of emotions unfolding on the face. There should have been more deflation, more staggering. I think back to when Tang Yan was watching Luo Jin get married to someone else in Princess Weiyoung, or when Jin Mi was watching Xufeng propose to Sui He in AOL, and the desperation and shock was subtle, but still so strong. You could feel the drop in your own stomach when sympathizing with the female character.

I also obviously disliked how Xuan Ji didn’t believe Si Feng. But I would have understood why she didn’t believe him (even when he logically explained his innocence) since there are so many people pressuring her judgment, but what I can’t get over is how she had it in herself to physically hurt him. And she already hurt him before too, so she knows how much it pains her to hurt him. She already regretted the act before. But because she mistakenly thinks that he killed Hao Chen, she decides that she needs to kill him? Does Hao Chen mean that much to you that you’d be willing to sacrifice Si Feng in order to avenge him? That was my breaking point for her character.

I didn’t like how Hao Chen’s arc was resolved. For 1000 years, he thought he was right and never had any regrets. He was obsessed with controlling his friend Mosha to the point of killing him and sealing his soul away. He then created another being, became possessive over that being to the point of falling in love with it (without admitting it), and then follows his creation down to the mortal world, and wrecks havoc on the mortals, especially Si Feng. And when Hao Chen learns that he can no longer control or redeem Xuan Ji, he decides that he needs to kill her in order to prevent Mosha from coming back. But then suddenly, because of a few words and visions from the Jade Emperor, he immediately has a change of heart and sees the error of his ways. It’s just so anti-climactic. Yuan Long’s ending was also underwhelming. I just wanted the good guys and bad guys to fight it out without divine intervention.

While I sympathize with Si Feng and agree that it's like watching a puppy get kicked over and over again, he honestly gets jealous way too easily and is too insecure. He also keeps everything to himself and sucks at communicating. We blame Xuan Ji for being too quick at jumping to conclusions, but Si Feng also jumps to conclusions too and causes unnecessary pain for himself.

Overall Impression

Overall, despite the frustrations, I really liked the consistency of the drama. It flows as one complete narrative and all the subplots are well intertwined with the main plot. With other reincarnation xianxia dramas, you could divide the story into distinct arcs, but it’s harder to do with this one since you have arcs that overlap and transcend other arcs. There’s the mask arc, the god of war arc, the reincarnation arc, the demon identity arc, the Mosha arc, etc. Before one arc is completed, another arc is introduced.

If you’re looking for a be-all-end-all, til the end of time and end of the world romance, this is it. While it has many similar tropes to other xianxias like AOL, I think this executes the tropes better. Although if you’ve already watched AOL or other xianxias, you might be more immune to the angst (even though this drama is angstier). But if you watch this drama first, I think it sets the bar pretty high for other xianxia dramas.

The chemistry and sexually tension is also through the roof (and the BTS will have you raising your eyebrows - are costars normally that flirty and touchy feely on set?)

So yes, this drama does live up to the hype. More meta posts to come because I’m still going through withdrawal.

(Just checked the word count on this review, and it’s over 4700 words. I’m clearly an obsessed mess).

Other meta posts:

Recurring details and motifs in Love and Redemption

Similarities to other stories in movies and literature

#love and redemption #cdrama #琉璃 #成毅 #cheng yi #crystal yuan #cdramanet #romance #xianxia #袁冰妍 #琉璃美人煞

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mdzsartreblogs · 3 years ago

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17,000 Post Round Up

Still busy, still a little behind on...everything...but the queue is full of Halloween and Wei Wuxian birthday art, and I'm only like three days behind on posting this, so progress, or something. The overhaul I did of my spreadsheet (did I mention that here or only on my personal blog? I took a day and like...completely changed how I track artist reblogs) has been saving me a LOT of time, so absolutely worth it. Remember, you can always take a peek "behind the scenes" at my data, and see every single tag I use (or, at least, every one as of the last 1k+ round up, since that's when I add new tags to the master list) by going to my spreadsheet, here.

Other things...

I think we're finally evening out on followers, like, hitting critical limit or something? The blog is at 1,342, which is up only 21 since my previous round up (granted, that was posted only 19 days ago, so it's still one new follower a day...)

I added 248 new tags since the last round up, bringing the total number of tags to 6,700-or-so. My reorganization found some mistakes in my old artist tag list; some got removed, some added. Based on current count, 3,665 artists have at least one work reblogged here; that's up 122 since last time!

If you know where any of the works tagged unknown location are, please let me know. Likewise, if you know any of the artists tagged unknown artist (it’s pretty much all official art), I’d appreciate your help a lot!

If you make fanart, feel free to DM it to this blog, or @ me @unforth (don’t tag @mdzsartreblogs, tumblr rarely shows me those tags). I don’t track any unique source blog tags but I do check #mdzs, #mo dao zu shi, and #the untamed daily and reblog all artwork posted there provided it doesn’t break any of my few rules (also provided that the creator hasn’t blocked me, or I haven’t blocked the creator - I’ve been blocked a handful of times and I block people who post hate in the main tag, including artists if they're antis).

Support artists by liking and reblogging their work! Yes, even if you see them on a source blog! DO THE THING! Artists need and deserve our support!

-unforth

And, finally, since I do a full audit to fix any mistakes I've made, I might as well use the data to share some stats... (read more)

The 15 Characters Tagged Most Often:

wei wuxian (8,235 works) (no change)

lan wangji (6,670 works) (no change)

jiang cheng (2,468 works (no change))

lan xichen (1,666 works) (no change)

nie huaisang (1,337 works (no change))

a yuan (1,265 works) (no change)

jin guangyao (1,167 works (no change))

jin ling (1,022 works) (no change)

nie mingjue (879 works) (no change)

wen ning (759 works) (no change)

xue yang (735 works) (no change)

xiao xingchen (725 works (no change))

jiang yanli (638 works) (no change)

lan jingyi (544 works) (no change)

wen qing (498 works) (no change)

The 15 Ships Tagged Most Often:

wangxian (4,724 works) (no change)

xicheng (338 works) (no change)

xiyao (284 works) (no change)

sangcheng (248 works) (no change)

songxiao (242 works) (no change)

xuexiao (168 works) (no change)

3zun (123 works) (no change)

xisang (117 works) (+1 from 16k post)

zhuiling (115 works) (-1 from 16k post)

xuanli (100 works) (no change)

nielan (97 works) (no change)

nieyao (80 works) (no change)

yanqing (74 works) (no change)

ningxian (49 works) (no change)

songxuexiao (36 works) (no change)

The 15 Platonic Relationships Tagged Most Often:

twin prides of yunmeng (559 works) (no change)

grape uncle (381 works) (+2 from 16k post)

twin jades of gusu (283 works) (-1 from 16k post)

wangxian are dads (276 works) (-1 from 16k post)

yunmeng siblings (269 works) (no change)

nie brothers (228 works) (no change)

wei wuxian is a dad (190 works) (no change)

junior trio (133 works) (no change)

yi city family (124 works) (+2 from 16k post)

lan wangji is a dad (119 works) (no change)

junior quartet (119 works) (-2 from 16k post)

wen siblings (117 works) (no change)

wei wuxian is an uncle (110 works) (no change)

burial mounds family (108 works) (no change)

one brain cell trio (107 works) (no change)

The 15 (+1) Artists with the Most Works Reblogged Here: (+1 is "official art")

official art (243 works) (no change)

modao18 (178 works) (no change)

littlesmartart (164 works) (+1 from 16k post)

sketchyscribbles (160 works) (-1 from 16k post)

ibijau (149 works) (no change)

joshua-beeking (124 works) (no change)

hilluhri (104 works) (no change)

elogval (98 works) (no change)

pikazchu (94 works) (no change)

candicewright (87 works) (no change)

bbeiex (86 works) (no change)

wrecklwj (83 works) (no change)

wifiwuxians (81 works) (+2 from 16k post)

valdrift (79 works) (-1 from 16k post)

xiejie-liubo (76 works) (-1 from 16k post)

soursoppi (74 works) (no change)

245bst (74 works) (new!)

Most Prolific Artists Who Posted for the First Time Since Last Tag Audit: since it's Inktober, there's definitely some new people who came in with a bang!

chemical-abcess (19 works)

uwibbit (13 works)

everdreamwithchocolate (11 works)

abadname (9 works)

sorceringing (8 works)

starbiology (7 works)

meimeimmii (5 works)

bearsbloom (5 works)

goldfishpudding (4 works)

elwelcs (4 works)

The 20 most Used Other Tags:

portrait (14,959 works) (no change)

digital art (13,939 works) (no change)

comic (2,829 works) (no change)

laughs (2,487 works) (+1 from 16k post)

flowers (2,386 works) (-1 from 16k post)

modern au (2,094 works) (no change)

chibi (1,898 works) (+1 from 16k post)

sketch (1,882 works) (-1 from 16k post)

lan wangji has golden eyes (1,597 works) (no change)

wangxian hug (1,468 works) (no change)

fantasy au (1,338 works) (no change)

yiling laozu (1,199 works) (no change)

food (1,170 works) (no change)

chenqing (1,133 works) (no change)

blood tw (1,067 works) (no change)

hearts (1,012 works) (no change)

lemon (993 works) (no change)

bunnies (987 works) (+1 from 16k post)

stars (984 works) (-1 from 16k post)

pencil drawing (980 works) (no change)

Top 5 Actors: The "cast" tag has been used 344 times.

xiao zhan (185 works) (no change)

wang yibo (135 works) (no change)

zhu zanjin (10 works) (no change)

wang zhuocheng (10 works) (+1 from 16k post)

song jiyang (10 works) (no change - tie)

Top 5 Animals:

bunnies (987 works) (no change)

birds (419 works) (no change)

butterflies (246 works) (no change)

cats (143 works) (no change)

dogs (106 works) (no change)

The 15 Character Attributes Tagged Most Often:

lan wangji has golden eyes (1,597 works) (no change)

yiling laozu (1,199 works) (no change)

lan sizhui (882 works) (no change)

wei wuxian has red eyes (745 works) (no change)

jiang cheng with braids (550 works) (no change)

fierce corpse wen ning (476 works) (no change)

child a yuan (434 works) (no change)

blind xiao xingchen (432 works) (no change)

jiang cheng has purple eyes (343 works) (no change)

nie mingjue has a mustache (308 works) (no change)

nie mingjue with braids (283 works) (no change)

wei wuxian in lan white (252 works) (no change)

wen yuan (243 works) (no change)

wei wuxian has piercings (219 works) (no change)

child wei wuxian (165 works) (no change)

The 15 Ship Attributes Tagged Most Often:

wangxian hug (1,468 works) (no change)

wangxian kiss (631 works) (no change)

wangxian holding hands (538 works) (no change)

lan wangji carrying wei wuxian (152 works) (no change)

wangxian sharing a bed (123 works) (no change)

wei wuxian wearing lan wangji's ribbon (116 works) (+1 from 16k post)

xiyao hug (112 works) (-1 from 16k post)

xicheng hug (107 works) (no change)

wangxian duet (83 works) (+1 from 16k post)

sangcheng hug (81 works) (-1 from 16k post)

wangxian wedding (70 works) (new!)

songxiao hug (70 works) (-1 from 16k post)

xuexiao hug (69 works) (no change)

shuangjie hug (69 works) (-2 from 16k post)

lan wangji wearing wei wuxian's ribbon (67 works) (-1 from 16k post)

The 15 AU Tags Used Most Often:

modern au (2,094 works) (no change)

fantasy au (1,338 works) (no change)

canon divergent au (718 works) (no change)

creature wei wuxian (621 works) (no change)

creature lan wangji (533 works) (no change)

technological anachronism (288 works) (no change)

bunxian (234 works) (+1 from 16k post)

bunji (227 works) (-1 from 16k post)

dragon (201 works) (no change)

creature jiang cheng (196 works) (no change)

cat person (154 works) (no change)

merperson (142 works) (no change)

historical au (138 works) (no change)

creature lan xichen (134 works) (no change)

bunny person (123 works) (new!)

The 10 Meme, Fandom Event, Holiday, and Character Birthdays Tagged Most Often:

october art challenge (352 works) (no change)

wangxian week (107 works) (no change)

color palette challenge (104 works) (no change)

valentine's day (100 works) (no change)

wei wuxian's birthday (94 works) (no change)

lan wangji's birthday (93 works) (no change)

draw this your style (74 works) (no change)

mermay (72 works) (no change)

mdzs reverse big bang (59 works) (no change)

lunar new year (57 works) (no change)

The 10 Instruments and Weapons Tagged Most Often:

chenqing (1,133 works) (no change)

bichen (561 works) (no change)

wangji (494 works) (no change)

zidian (449 works) (no change)

suibian (187 works) (no change)

baxia (161 works) (no change)

sandu (155 works) (no change)

shuanghua (148 works) (no change)

fuxue (117 works) (no change)

liebing (102 works) (no change)

The 15 Most Common Motifs and Objects:

flowers (2,386 works) (no change)

food (1,170 works) (no change)

hearts (1,012 works) (no change)

stars (984 works) (no change)

fan (796 works) (no change)

lotuses (720 works) (no change)

fierce corpse (599 works) (no change)

fire (544 works) (no change)

the moon (504 works) (no change)

alcohol (487 works) (no change)

jiang clan clarity bell (465 works) (no change)

the sun (456 works) (no change)

art of art (402 works) (no change)

lanterns (363 works) (no change)

scars (248 works) (no change)

The 15 Media-Related Tags Used Most Often:

portrait (14,949 works) (no change)

digital art (13,939 works) (no change)

comic (2,829 works) (no change)

laughs (2,487 works) (no change)

chibi (1,898 works) (+1 from 16k post)

sketch (1,882 works) (-1 from 16k post)

pencil drawing (980 works) (no change)

lineart (932 works) (no change)

ink work (927 works) (no change)

screen cap redraw (549 works) (no change)

watercolor (506 works) (no change)

work in progress (457 works) (no change)

meme redraw (409 works) (no change)

markers (345 works) (no change)

landscape (279 works) (no change)

The 5 Trigger Warnings Used Most Often:

blood tw (1,067 works) (no change)

lemon (993 works) (no change)

mcd/implied mcd (563 works) (no change)

body horror tw (306 works) (no change)

suicide tw (101 works) (no change)

The 5 Location and Era Tags Used Most Often:

cloud recesses (745 works) (no change)

lotus pier (391 works) (no change)

burial mounds (242 works) (+1 from 16k post)

lecture era (233 works) (-1 from 16k post)

post canon (205 works) (no change)

The 5 Lemon Tags Used Most Often:

bondage (105 works) (no change)

bondage using the lan clan ribbon (50 works) (no change)

hickies (46 works) (no change)

blindfolds (35 works) (no change)

bottom wei wuxian (33 works) (no change)

The 10 Other Fandoms Most Often Portrayed in MDZS Art Pieces:

tian guan ci fu (200 works) (no change)

ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong (168 works) (no change)

word of honor (21 works) (no change)

douluo continent (18 works) (no change)

the husky and his white cat shizun (16 works) (no change)

star wars (12 works) (no change)

legend of fei (11 works) (no change)

lang dianxia (11 works) (no change)

marvel verse (6 works) (no change)

fire emblem (5 works) (broke the tie!)

#mod post #tag wrangling

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theleakypen · 4 years ago

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first lines: fic-writers meme

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

I was tagged by @la-muerta! I've mostly been archiving my kissing fics on AO3 lately, so that's what these will be, probably. I'm going to skip the ones where the first line was given to me by another person, since those are not illustrative. I am also skipping my filks. XD

1. Terms of Care - in answer to the prompt: "wei wuxian & wen ning + forehead kisses"

“Ah, Wen Ning, come join me!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, waving Wen Ning over to his spot in the bunny clearing.

2. Not To Be Alone - in answer to the prompt: "jiang cheng/song lan - hating separation"

“I was in shock still, and I said such awful things… So I’m looking for him now, to apologise. To say: traveling with you is better than traveling without you.”

3. This One's Spicy - in answer to the prompt: "lan jingyi/lan sizhui - yi city"

Lan Jingyi was still making elaborate disgusted faces, scraping his teeth over his tongue and the like.

4. fell through the cracks, but we're okay - in answer to the prompt: "oyzz/a-qing, au where they meet when they're both alive"

“Excuse me, are there any powerful people around here? Powerful people who cultivate?”

5. All This Burning Sexual Tension - in answer to the prompt: "wei wuxian/wen qing + laughter"

“Qing jiějiě!” Wei Wuxian shouts, bursting into the mess. “Jiang Cheng has brought it to my attention that we need to work out the unbearable sexual tension between us.”

6. In the Officers' Baths - in answer to the prompt: "mu nihuang/xia dong - something fun and not sad"

“Jùnzhǔ!”

7. in this great golden tower - in answer to the prompt: "qin su/wen qing, koi tower"

Qin Su has never asked xiǎo-Qing about her past.

8. sharp words, soft hands - in answer to the prompt: "chengxuan after like a big battle or something and one of them is hurt and the other one is worried and expressing it through getting snappy?"

Jin Zixuan opens his mouth to speak when Jiang Wanyin strides into his tent, but before he can say anything, the Jiang sect leader snaps, “Don’t bother. I saw exactly how it happened. You’d think someone raised in the great Lanling Jin sect would have learned a modicum of tactics.”

9. corpse kiss - in answer to the prompt: "how about wn/jzx with the prompt “qiongqi path”" (content warning: this one is noncon)

There was no longer a flute playing, but Wen Ning was still rushing toward Jin Zixuan like a hurricane in human form.

10. Closed Fist, Warm Mouth - in answer to the prompt: "xianxuan, in the middle of an argument"

It was lucky that Jin Zixuan had stomped away from his entourage as well as from the Jiang contingent, because it meant that there was no one to stop Wei Wuxian from throwing a punch this time.

11. Growing Things - in answer to the prompt: "lan sizhui & ouyang zizhen (my underappreciated boi!), growing things"

The Baling gardens were one of Lan Sizhui’s favorite places.

12. what's left when revenge is over - in answer to the prompt: "Sisi/Nie Huaisang post Guanyin temple"

“It’s done, then,” Sisi says, standing behind Nie Huaisang and beginning to take his hair down.

13. a good bruise - in answer to the prompt: "chengqing, jiang-furen wen qing. after training disciples"

They have been married for just over a year, but it still somehow seems scandalous to Wen Qing that she gets to be here, in Sect Master Jiang’s own personal quarters, as he gets ready for his post-training bath; that she gets to pull at the ties on his outer robes, skim her fingers along his collarbones to feel him shiver, help him shrug off each successive layer of clothes until all that’s left between her and his sweat-slick skin are her own clothes.

14. why the hell not - in answer to the prompt: "wwx/nhs, burial mounds. why the hell not"

“Nie xiong, what the hell are you doing here?”

15. Rivers and Lakes, Towns and Cities - a prequel of my Songxiao Middle Earth AU, where the Elf Xiao Xingchen meets the Human Song Lan after leaving Baoshan Sanren's mountain (which is, like, an Asian equivalent of Rivendell)

Baoshan Sanren always said that the world west of the Mountain was full of corruption and iniquity, that the Western Elves were liars to a one, and that the gods they called the Valar were betrayers.

16. A Hundred Beautiful Things - The Untamed (TV) fandom, Jiang Yanli/Nie Huaisang political marriage set after the Qishan indoctrination arc.

It was an adjustment, to be sure.

17. Taste You In My Core - 魔道祖师/Mo Dao Zu Shi novel fandom, Nie Huaisang/Xiao Xingchen monster4monster porn with Eldritch Xiao Xingchen and Beast Nie Huaisang.

“Are you all right, gōngzǐ?" the young man asks, and Nie Huaisang does his best not to laugh.

18. A Fruitful Correspondence - The Untamed (TV) fandom, Lan Wangji is forcibly befriended by Jiang Yanli (and by extension Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng) during the time that Wei Wuxian and the Wens are holed up in the Burial Mounds.

Lan Wangji’s plan upon attending the wedding between Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli is to put in the bare minimum of appearances and then go home at the earliest opportunity.

19. Bored - Leverage (!!) fandom, in Season 2, Episode 1, Parker mentioned stealing the Hope Diamond and then putting it back. This is the story of that heist.

Planning the heist still carries the same thrill as it always does: scoping out guard rotations, evaluating the schematics for their new security system (laughable, even with the increased bandwidth to support a greater number of security cameras), visiting the museum as a paying guest… Parker loves this part, and it’s good to stretch her muscles in this way, relying on no one but herself.

20. Best Friends for Best Friends - The Untamed/MDZS fandom (could go with either canon) fic for Jin Ling's birthday featuring the Juniors quartet and a whole litter of puppies - this is an archived threadfic that was cleaned up and then thrown on AO3.

Jin Ling totally forgot about the "no pets at Cloud Recesses" rule, okay?

I've noticed that I tend to like to start with some kind of dialogue most frequently; otherwise, something to establish the POV character's interiority. The big exception is the Middle Earth fic where I was emulating Tolkien's narrator, somewhat.

I think of these twenty, my favorite opening line is probably either 7 or 16. They're so sparse, but still set up a lot.

Tagging @hunxi-guilai, @iamwestiec, @bladedweaponsandswishycoats, @shadaras, @withbroombefore, @vyther15, @vivisextion if y'all wanna play! If not, no worries ofc :3

#long post #tag game #puck writes

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imaginaryelle · 5 years ago

Note

Prompt: a day in new sect leader jiang trying to raise jin ling

Thanks for the prompt! This one came in at around 1.5k and can also be read on AO3.

Jin Ling is four the first time he stays overnight at Lotus Pier without a revenue of Jin nurses and servants waiting on his every need. Those people are busy, Jiang Cheng understands, preparing for the new Jin heir, who should be gracing the world with his presence any day now. Jin Guangshan is very proud, he’s sure. Given the stories he’s been hearing lately and the relieved expression on the face of the Jin cultivator who handed the boy off, Jiang Cheng can foresee many, many extended visits to Lotus Pier in Jin Ling’s future.

It shouldn’t make him angry. Hasn’t he spent years visiting Jinlingtai and glaring at their tiny excuse for a lotus pond, itching to show his nephew what his mother’s home really looked like? Hadn’t he hated requesting permission of Jin Guangshan just to hold the child in the first year of his life? But it rankles, that they don’t want him. That the Jin clan hasn’t closed ranks around him in the wake of his parents’ deaths, and that this precious boy of Jiang Cheng’s blood can be so easily replaced by an infant who has yet to take its first breath.

The Jiang Sect is not the Jin Sect. Jiang Cheng doesn’t have enough people to assign Jin Ling a nurse or a servant even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t because Jin Ling is his nephew and the Jiang Clan has never done such things with their own flesh and blood. And it’s not as if the boy is utterly helpless. He can feed himself without spills and dress himself without trouble, and he wears shoes more readily than Wei Wuxian ever—Jiang Cheng pushes the thought aside.

The only thing Jin Ling can’t quite manage for himself in the morning is putting up his hair, but he sits without much fidgeting as Jiang Cheng combs through the tangles and draws up a small topknot; just enough to keep it out of Jin Ling’s face. He is so still, in fact, and so diligent and quiet while working through his morning training alongside the Jiang’s Sect’s older children that Jiang Cheng starts to worry. It’s been a long time since he spent so much time with a child so young, but he doesn’t remember being quite so biddable himself at that age. He’d been expecting tantrums. He’s seen Jin Ling’s tantrums, usually an explosion of tears and wailing shortly before the boy was whisked out of view by someone in a yellow Jin hanfu.

Instead, Jin Ling is clingy—he clings to Jiang Cheng’s clothes and watches him with wide, dark eyes. He follows Jiang Cheng around the grounds, sometimes jogging in his wake with his hanfu clenched in tiny fists. He doesn’t talk, and he doesn’t smile, and he shakes his head and hides behind Jiang Cheng’s leg when one of young disciples asks if he wants to play a game. His face below that bright red dot is a study in careful determination even when he’s drawing on scrap paper while Jiang Cheng answers his correspondence out on the pier. Even as the sun bears down on them in the late afternoon until Jiang Cheng himself is looking longingly at the water.

There’s nothing urgent happening until dinner. A few hours. Plenty of time to dry out. He stands. Jin Ling immediately puts down his brush.

“A-Ling,” Jiang Cheng says, “let’s go swimming.”

This is not met with nearly as much excitement as he hoped. Jin Ling looks around, as if he’s only just realizing they’re surrounded by water. Jiang Cheng starts taking off his own outer layers—no reason to get everything wet—and tries to look encouraging. He can see the sweat on Jin Ling’s face, it’s not as if the kid isn’t over-warm.

“Traditional Jiang Clan way to cool off in summer,” he says. “It’s easier with fewer layers.”

Jin Ling is just staring at the water with his hands clenched around his belt.

“Do you want me to throw you into the lake with all your clothes on?” Jiang Cheng asks, thinking of his father’s laughing threats on especially hot days. Instead of laughing, Jin Ling’s face immediately screws up into tears. He wails, high and miserable.

Jiang Cheng freezes, just for a moment, and then he kneels and tries to gather his sobbing nephew into his arms as if it can help. As if that’ll make the tears stop, instead of just meaning that Jin Ling buries his face in Jiang Cheng’s chest and rubs tears and snot right into the crossed collar of his innermost yi.

He pats his nephew’s shoulder. He’s not good at this. He knows he’s not good at it. This was his sister’s thing. Even—well, not his, anyway. Never his. But he can’t stand doing nothing while the kid cries, so here he is, feeling like a fish that’s flopped up onto the dock and flailing accordingly. Eventually he can just barely make out the words I can’t swim among all the other noise.

He frowns. “Of course you can swim. I taught you to swim on your first birthday.”

Jin Ling continues to cry, but quieter. He actually opens his eyes. He hiccups. “You did?”

“I had a fight with your grandfather about it. And Jin Guangyao.” The concept of a pond that is entirely decorative still rankles something deep in his soul.

“I don’t remember,” Jin Ling says, looking like he’s going to start sobbing again.

“You will,” Jiang Cheng assures him, wiping away his tears. “All Jiangs know how to swim.”

“But I’m not a Jiang.” Jin Ling’s lip trembles.

“You have a Jiang Clan spirit bell, don’t you?” Jiang Cheng tugs the bell and tassel loose from Jin Ling’s belt at holds it up for inspection. “That makes you a Jiang. And even if it didn’t, you’d be a Jiang because I say you are.” One of those statements seems to work. Or at least, Jin Ling no longer looks like he intends to continue crying. Instead, he runs his hands through the green silk threads of the tassel and looks out at the water.

“Jiujiu,” he says after a moment, “what if there are alligators?”

“They can’t get past the wards,” Jiang Cheng tells him. It’s a large part of the reason they have wards sunk into the waterways instead of only on docks and buildings.

“But what if they did?” Jin Ling asks, logic and cultivation apparently not enough to satisfy him.

“Then I’ll use Zidian on them.” Jiang Cheng raises his hand so Jin Ling can see the metal snake wrapped around his hand and wrist. “They won’t even get close.”

Jin Ling pokes a small finger at it and traces along the tiny etched scales. His lips press together into something might—just—be called a smile. He nods. “Okay,” he says.

“Okay?” Jiang Cheng confirms. “We can go swimming now?”

“Mn,” Jin Ling agrees with another eager nod.

“Good,” Jiang Cheng says. And then he throws Jin Ling into the water, fully clothed, and jumps in after him.

“Jiujiu!” Jin Ling comes up sputtering and yelling. He waves his arms and nearly kicks Jiang Cheng in the sternum. “Jiujiu! I don’t—”

“You’re fine.” Jiang Cheng slides his hands up under Jin Lings armpits, giving him just enough support that he’ll stop struggling. “You’re floating fine,” he says, which is only a little bit of a lie. It takes a touch of spiritual power to really float in water-soaked layers of silk and linen and cotton, but he can feel that little glow of intent moving under Jin Ling’s skin. His body remembers, even if his brain doesn’t. “See?” he says when Jin Ling has calmed. “What did I tell you?”

Jin Ling leans back in the water. He kicks his feet out and slaps his hands against the surface and watches the ripples fan out and he smiles, and he looks so much like his mother then that Jiang Cheng can hardly breathe for a moment.

“Throw me again,” Jin Ling says.

Jiang Cheng raises a skeptical eyebrow at him. “I think only boys who can float on their own get to be thrown,” he says.

“I can, I can!” Jin Ling squirms away from him and immediately dips lower in the water, but he keeps moving. He keeps his head up. “Again.” He tugs at Jiang Cheng’s sleeve, laughing even as he sputters water. “Again, again!” he demands.

“Just remember you asked for this,” Jiang Cheng says, and heaves him, still laughing, into the air.

#Anonymous #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #jin ling #alex writes #family feels #swimming

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yue-muffin · 4 years ago

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The muffin watches Love and Redemption (insert preemptive crying here)

Aright, I finally FINALLY finished live blogging this episode. @mejomonster my thoughts are aplenty! I actually wrote way too much!

Edit: I’m an idiot, I forgot to mention a prediction/observation.

Episode 1:

The CGI is actually very nice in this drama, I’m pleased. I will definitely watch dramas with cringe-worthy CGI, but it’s always nice when they manage to integrate it with the actors and set pieces well, which is even harder to accomplish in Xianxia.

Wait, what did the god of war do to deserve the reincarnation out of the heavenly realm punishment? Didn’t she defeat the Asura/Mosha guy? Was it because she used his weapon or something? And in the first place, why does that half of the Mosha guy’s soul qualify as a celestial that can be reborn? I suppose everyone is subject to reincarnation, but this batch is explicitly for those who have committed crimes in the heavens and wasn’t he on the demon/asura side? Or…maybe he was a celestial who betrayed them? Who knows, I’m just wildly speculating…

The scene definitely suggests there is a lot the narration is not telling us about how these two ended up being reincarnated - yet.

If she lacks the six senses, then why can she see and hear just fine? She apparently can’t feel pain, which would count for the deficiency of touch. Hm.

Xuanji, I relate to just wanting to go back to sleep and not deal with visitors so much lol.

HA, that little look of alarm one of the shixiongs (Liuzi?) has on his face when Linglong tries to convince Xuanji it’ll be fun because they get to check out the handsome guys. So is Linglong supposed to be her twin since they’re both 16 years old?

The dragon wolf thing moves a little funny, but at least it doesn’t look glaringly out of place and the camera doesn’t focus on it for too long, as is typical of CGI monsters. Kudos to them!

Cheng Yi is low-key really good looking in action scenes, just putting that out there. I didn’t think I would adjust to him in period clothing and long hair so quickly, since it usually takes me a while to make the switch (after seeing him in The Lost Tomb 2), but nope! He looks really good!

Ah, so this is the ruthless sect. I love how their first rule, which is literally more important than anything else they may value or encourage in their members, is to not show their entire face when outside the sect…also, what’s the point in hiding only half your face?? Sifeng’s mask only covers one eye, his forehead, and cheek on one side…at least have it cover the entire upper or lower half like everyone else in the sect (I know it’s so we can actually see the actor’s face and not supposed to make sense in-universe)?? I actually do like how they designed it though, it’s far less clunky than the full-face masks we saw in the opening sequence, probably due to the curves.

Sect leader…Sifeng is 16, he IS little pfft. Even adjusting for the times, he is a BABY haha. As I grow older, I realize more and more how young a lot of protags in fantasy stories really are. Also, sect leader is a drama queen, like he’s just lounging on his chair with this dramatic laid-back pose, takes a deep breath, and turns his chin up. So extra.

Aw, yes, I want to see more of Cheng Yi’s easy smiles. He’s so serious in TLT2, except when the warmth seeps into this expression when he’s smiling fondly at Wu Xie…

These devil/asura people have a weird bowing pose. I can’t help but think their hands make them look like…eagle claws or something lol.

Ah, a classic ‘I forgot my invitation’ situation. Well, Xuanji doesn’t have to feel too bad, apparently none of the other Shaoyang disciples know how to fly on a sword either lol. Her sister was tied down by that spell, but could none of the others have attempted to chase after the jerk who grabbed her? (Side note: I really love the color of his sect’s outfits.)

:3 I like Xuanji’s expressions, they’re just cute? So cute. Like her little huff when she’s defending her big sister from the jerkass. Also, I love characters who are like little kittens who puff up and try to protect their friends/family even though the one they’re trying to protect is probably more capable than them.

Jerkass really does take it too far when he just DROPS HER FROM THE SKY. Like, I can accept if youthful teasing goes a little far in that he snatched her and took her for a joy ride, but when it’s apparently that she really can’t summon a sword, it’s 100% not okay to just drop her and laugh it off. If Sifeng didn’t catch her, she could’ve died, and how exactly do you plan on explaining THAT to her father, huh Mr. Jerkass? He had like a dozen witnesses too.

Well, what can you expect from a guy who forgot to bring his invitation and literally was too arrogant and entitled to wait for his teacher to come out and let them in. :p Not the smartest cookie, is he. Even if you got in trouble for forgetting your invitation, you’d get in x10 more trouble for murdering a girl. Good thing she has plot armor and Sifeng was conveniently in the right spot to catch her lol.

Small note, he left her on his sword and she fell off after a bit - so…how exactly is HE flying? Can people fly without the help of their sword? Is he able to make more than one?

Lol Xuanji tugs at him like she does to her sister, it’s cute. But he’s so PANIC every time she touches him haha poor guy. He’s so awkward…why is it so endearing…

It took me a second to realize that he stutters, also that he has a voice actor this time! Idk why, Cheng Yi has a good voice. It would’ve fit this role just fine, unless there were parts they were concerned he couldn’t do. They did a good job matching the VA to his lip movements though, it’s really hard to tell it’s not his voice. It’s been a while since I heard Cheng Yi on video, but listening and comparing, now I can tell that it’s not his in this drama. Anyways, this might be my only complaint lol. Both he and his VA do a good job conveying the stuttering though!

Cheng Yi, you’re playing another character who’s good at disappearing in the blink of an eye lol…

Aah, so normally her sister’s personality type is the annoying sort, which is why she works well as a supporting character. I love how she turns her brattiness up to eleven in order to help Xuanji get out of a scolding by their father. I just really love how these two are so supportive and defensive of each other.

Edit: Alright, but Xuanji did you really just raise a flag for yourself so early in the show. ‘I think tears are the most precious things’. I WILL EAT MY HAT IF THIS DOES NOT BECOME RELEVANT LATER.

And instead of holding onto Sifeng’s name tag for like 50 episodes, she remembers she has it and goes to give it back + some birthday snacks because it’s his birthday too! GAH Xuanji is too cute.

I love how the guy who answered the door just his back only to turn around and smoothly give an explanation for his friend’s disfluency lol (so it’s a language thing!). AND THEN HE GOES ‘carry on!’ AND TURNS AROUND AGAIN. Idk why I find this funny but.

? Why all that effort for dew from a peach blossom tree. Is this one a special peach blossom tree. Why is he making tea with it. OH OK it’s good for cultivation.

He’s so vicious ha, he’s clearly perplexed by her - I mean, he’s the top disciple in his sect, so likely he doesn’t get how she can live so carefree and not have any desire to cultivate or anything. It’s perplexing and kind of total opposite to his worldview, so he reacts harshly.

Ah, I really like Cheng Yi’s acting! He goes from flat/indifferent face to reacting angrily to her picking the snake up, then a subtle worry as his eyes drop down from her to the snake.

I don’t know why I like this snake scene but I dooo. xD Also, it’s interesting how she doesn’t feel any strong emotions (she’s actually rather intensely curious tho!), while he puts on a mask literally/figuratively to seem like he doesn’t and yet gets worked up quite easily.

I’m glad she stops imitating him when he tells her to and is explicitly angry/upset, I get enough of people being assholes and making fun of others for things they can’t help like their speech impairments or mannerisms, it’s just kind of a personal thing that irks me.

AW HE’S SO PROTECTIVE OF HIS LITTLE SNAKE.

Why is it always the peach tree forests?? They’re always weird places that trap people. I can think of two other dramas where this happens haha. I know peaches do have significant symbolism in Chinese culture, so maybe that explains it.

Lol he still flips out a bit when she gets close. Poor girl, getting dropped from the air AGAIN.

Ah, this is the lake! Where they sealed part of that Mosha guy’s soul! This can’t be good.

Aw, look at his face, he’s genuinely worried for his little snake. CHENG YI YOUR RANGE OF EMOTIONS. GAH.

I CAN’T OPEN IT. Oh wait.

WHY DID YOU GO IIIIN YOU JUST SAID YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING AND HE TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT, YOU LITTLE IDIOT. If he’s Little Stutterer, you can be Little Idiot, ok.

Here’s an idea, she finds the snake, you fight the dragon, and then all three of you get out of there.

OH the mask comes off!! Ok, but you have seen like most of his face already…Hahaha the look on his face ‘wait…why do I feel a hand why is she touching me there…OH NO’

Ah, a nice detail I didn’t think they’d think to add in: his stuttering got way worse without the mask on, since he was so upset/shaken.

?? What just happened with her blood lol.

Final Thoughts:

An interesting start, with nice character dynamics revealed and a dangerous situation to move the plot right along. I have been informed the drama really differentiates itself from the typical setup that has been supplied thus far, and I’m excited to see it unfold.

For now, I have a tiiiiny crush on Cheng Yi and I’m interested in where they take Xuanji’s character. Also, what disasters will result from their little excursion into the super lake where a demon lord thing was sort of sealed away a long time ago...

#the muffin's liveblogging adventures #love and redemption

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jcs-writing-hell · 5 years ago

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@my lovely anon | thanks for requesting & sorry for the delay but when I got your request my app bugged & I couldn’t read what you wanted for like a day

Junior Trio/JL centered | Category: Hurt/Comfort | Keyword: Mishap/Slip of tongue(or so xD) | kinda deep & angsty | Word Count: 2441

Jiang Cheng had tried his best, Jin Ling was completely aware of that.

Other than what most knew of Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling had really started to see how his uncle truly cared for him.

It started almost instantly after Jin GuangYao died, the back & forth & pulling on Jin Ling. At the time he was around 16, his mental state a mess - yet with the mess the Jin Sect, once again, ended up in.. Who cared about his emotions? Well, Jiang Cheng did.

Jin Ling slowly healed, at least on the surface, while his maternal uncle tried his best to cover his back. Making up excuse after excuse, with them ranging from "He has just lost his uncle.", to "He is too young." & if anyone tried to dare say "But you were" Jiang Cheng made sure to clarify that the times had been different, that the youths nowadays didn't have the pressure and experience they had had back in the day.

Jiang Cheng had tried his best, Jin Ling was both thankful and aware of that.. yet sooner or later, of course, things couldn't go on that way. With 17 he had started to take extra lessons, less physical training, just to get the history & knowledge he needed to be the new leader memorized. And then, now, with almost 18 Jiang Cheng also had run out of plausible excuses. The last thing his uncle had managed was to invite his friends before his ceremony where he'd be first shown off as the "new face of the Jin Sect", "the person that'll finally, for real this time, bring a true change",..

Needless to say that Jin Ling was stressed. He felt exhausted, strangely enough growing more lonely by day - just like he'd been in his early childhood.

Even his friends, that were adults by then & had brought Emperors Smile in mass along, couldn't quite drown out the fact that.. Jin Ling felt like a toy & as the most important day of his life so far came closer fast without his parents..

Jin Ling didn't even take note of the fact that his friends had disappeared at first. They were camping out & he had one of his moments again where his heart ached, chest tight & air hard to catch in his lungs. Poking around in the fire, he couldn't help but question again.. If all of that was what he wanted with his life. That he shouldn't think that way, because even if his mind would say "no", he had no right to say so. How he was supposed to lead a sect so wrecked & scary as the LanLing Jin Sect.. If his fate was the same as the crooked one of his ancestors, which honestly scared him to death.

His friends had done a pretty good job over all so far though when it came to both distracting and comforting him - not that he really admitted what was going on, or wrong. Due to that, as Jin Ling finally noticed neither Sizhui nor Jingyi being around he grew understandably worried and got up to search for them. He also managed to find them within no time, yet.. what he heard really.. got his blood to boil.

,,Do you have an idea what we could try still, A-Yi? I don’t think we’re really being of much help..” Sizhui was clearly worried, Jingyi however acted and sounded a bit too much like his “jerk” self.

,,I know we wanted to help him.. I mean, we barely got to meet him for like a year now, but.. Don’t you think he has enough help already? Or in general, what are we supposed to help him with? I mean, you also don’t have parents, but to be frank - Doesn’t he have everything else one could dream off? Money, support from pretty much everyone, a bright future ahead of him.. What are the chances that we’d be able to do for him that he doesn’t have already?”

Sizhui was just about to give his friend a good beating as both of the Lan’s flinched quite hard when Jin Ling stepped - quite literally - out of the shadows, his tone full of betrayal, rage and frustration.

,,Do you think that’s what I want? Do you actually think that I want any of that, after all that our way of living caused? Don’t you think I’d rather have my parents, or just one of them, instead of all the money and maidens and luxury items on this world? You know what? Forget it. Who even cares. Thanks, thanks a lot.”

,,A-Ling-” Sizhui’s try to call out for the youngest lead nowhere; all the latter did was lift up a hand in almost a warning like manner as he had already turned and began to storm off. ,,That was really not necessary, A-Yi.. When will you ever learn to think before you speak?”

,,Stop acting like it’s not the truth that we can’t help him. That we can’t give him what he wants or needs either.” Jingyi snapped back as the oldest glared at him, only to get another glare directed at him before Sizhui walked off as well while saying in an upset tone.

,,What he needs right now are at least his friends with all the things that are missing in his life - that he should have in his life at such a moment in time. You could do at least that much for him without worrying about whether or not it’ll bear fruit before you even properly tried.”

~💙~

It took a while before the Lan’s found the other sitting in front of a lake against a tree. He looked worryingly gone out and upset, in truth though not half as much as he actually was. Pushing Jingyi forwards, the younger Lan spoke up in a tone so awkward and hesitant.

,,Uhm.. I.. I just wanted to say that.. I shouldn’t have said what I did.. not behind your back especially.. I.. I’m sorry.”

,,It’s not even really your fault.. It’s just..” Jin Ling started, only to stop a few words in - causing both Lan’s to exchange a worried look before Sizhui sat down; dragging the other Lan with him.

,,A-Ling.. What’s wrong? You’re not quite.. yourself, or more how you were a few years ago..”

Jin Ling only briefly looked at Sizhui, who spoke in a carefully gentle tone, turning slightly away from them at the end as he stared at his hand that was resting above the leg he had bend at the knee. A bit of time passed before he began to open up, not talking too loudly and with pauses here and there.

,,The problem is more.. What isn’t wrong? The closer my ceremony and 18th birthday come.. I don’t know, there’s just a lot of pressure.. Ever since I can think, even when at the time still both of my uncles sheltered and pampered me.. I was always.. The nephew of, the son of, the future sect leader..”

Both of the Lan’s heads dropped, but especially Jingyi didn’t dare look at either of his friends as he fiddled with a piece of his robe in such an ashamed manner.

,,I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my sect, already now.. It’s so.. wrecked, cursed.. How am I supposed to lead this complete and utter mess with people around me that don’t care if it keeps running that way or not. Or with the only person I have left still living hours away, in charge of a sect of his own.. And in between they only keep adding pressure and pressure.. The first time someone gave me letters with maidens that would be good for my sect’s sake to marry was years ago, now they really want me to find a wife - if possible yesterday..”

Jin Ling turned his head as he heard a few muffled noises, only to see that Sizhui held his hand over Jingyi’s mouth - more than likely to stop the latter from saying something inappropriate yet understandable like “What do you even want with a wife already?”, or so.

,,And what do you want, A-Ling?”- To both of the Lan’s shock and surprise all the youngest could give as a response for quite a while were empty stares, then shrugging and shaking his head before he said what they could gather already at this point.

,,I don’t know.. There’s a part of me that when I try to think about it.. does its hardest to stop me from doing so.. Even if I would find an answer, what would it change or matter? I don’t even know who I am deep down inside, apart from the son and what not of.. Even looking back now, to how I behaved from early on.. I tried often to run away. And yeh, honestly even I can’t say A-Yi’s misstress nickname doesn’t somehow fit me.. but it wasn’t that, I ran to have some sort of freedom.. Only to ultimately hide behind what everyone always hides and excuses everything with when it comes to me - or even in front of me.. my title, my heritage, my role in life..”

Jin Ling paused, clenching the hand he kept staring at into a rather tight fist. ,,Who am I.. What do I want.. I know neither and I’m afraid to find a answer for both, knowing it doesn’t matter..”

Neither of the 3 knew what to respond to that and Jin Ling couldn’t blame his friends for being at a loss. He was himself, but more than anything he was so.. so incredibly confused and empty deep down inside.

,,Have you tried talking to your uncle before? .. I mean.. Wasn’t he in an even worse situation?”

,,The last thing I want is to sound childish and irresponsible.. even worse: make him worry, A-Yi.” The youngest said as he let out a breath far too heavy for a boy in his age. He didn’t know what to do, and even if Jiang Cheng had changed a lot to the better the past few years since the temple incident.. Jin Ling was still worried about how to approach his uncle, really not wanting to disappoint at the end of the day.

,,There aren’t all too many that know about this, but I was raised to take over the Gusu Lan Sect; just in case… Not that anyone dares to think of a nightmare huge enough to happen for Master Qiren, Zewu-Jun and Hanguang-Jun to die, but.. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is.. If this scenario would happen, and I’d be left with nothing but the ashes of my sect.. I would rebuild it entirely, change the things that are going wrong already in its core..”

,,That’s not a bad idea, A-Yuan.. If I got it right you were trying to say that our little mistress should completely clean up the mess his sect is, right?”

Sizhui nodded before looking at Jin Ling who looked as lost in thought as he was.

,,Maybe I should talk to my uncle after all..” Jin Ling then finally said, hesitantly turning back around so he could look at his friends that wore confused expressions - not that he could blame them. ,,I might not know a lot currently, but I know for sure that I don’t want to lead the LanLing Jin Sect how it is now.. It would be mildly risky, yet..”

,,Stop torturing us and speak properly already!” Jingyi whined, getting nudged in the side from the older Lan for that.

,,It might be quite the gamble, yet I know they won’t be able to disagree.. I will need some help though, definitely.. I think I.. I think I will set up this massive plan where I tell the elders of the LanLing Jin Sect that I will only take it over if it’s under my own terms. Be it the throwing out of disciples and so forth, close examinations of each member so what happened in the past will remain there.. Closer bonds to the other sects, more openness,.. I also have the birthright to decide how I want the relationship with Yunmeng Jiang to turn out..”

As half-confident as Jin Ling might’ve sounded, he could feel his heart race, hands shake and palms grow sweaty from all the nervousness; paired with this weirdly thrilling rush. His mind was going all sorts of places, no dark ones for once - to the point where he needed a minute or two maybe before realising that his friends looked at him.. like he had gone nuts, while they looked like they were in the process of doing so themselves.

,,But what if they-”

,,We will definitely help you, A-Ling! Whatever support you need, I know most sects will be willing to agree.”

Jin Ling felt his own lips and teeth hurt from how hard Sizhui had slammed his hand once again over Jingyi’s lips as the latter had tried to say something rather understandable - that could cause his mood to go downhill again.

At the end they all nodded.. before awkward silence spread between them as none knew what to do or say now.. Or well, at least until Sizhui spoke up again, his tone giving away that there’d be no chance to say "no", or even argue.

,,That calls for a group hug.”

,,Forget it!” For once Jingyi and Jin Ling were in sync, even sharing the same opinion.. just like a moment later when their expressions distorted into both fear and horror as Sizhui’s turned into one so spine-chilling similar to Lan Wangji’s.

,,Group. Hug. Now.” Even his tone was.. scarier than anything Jiang Cheng could manage - For the sakes of their young lives, the two younger ones then simply spread their arms in defeat as Sizhui pulled them together.. In one of the many group hugs he forced them into secretly; usually and mostly when drunk though.

A few moments into the hug Jin Ling glanced down at Sizhui who had turned out to be quite a bit smaller than him over the years.. and as guessed, the oldest looked up at him and winked. Jin Ling only smiled a shy one..

Yet as several minutes later they had returned back to their fireplace it was more than evident that the super glue of their group - Sizhui - had done a pretty good job at comforting him.. And Jingyi had also done his usual small amount, even if it was only provoking Jin Ling until he finally spilled what was going wrong; which Jin Ling couldn’t quite believe was accidental, neither that day or on any other.

Check out my MDZS Writing Game | Requests open anytime

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #junior trio #jin ling #lan jingyi #lan sizhui #mdzs fanfic #mo dao zu shi fanfic

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sifu-kisu · 5 years ago

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關羽

Guan Yu, Deity of Martialdom

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The 24th day of the sixth lunar month [1] is celebrated in the honour of the birthday of Guan Yu [關羽], who was a Chinese general during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He was serving under the command of Liu Bei and played a major part in the founding of the state of Shu Han by Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period. Guan Yu was bestowed the status of a deity in the Sui dynasty (581–618), and is revered as bodhisattva in Buddhism and as a guardian deity in Taoism. Furthermore, Confucianists also hold him in high regard. Kristofer Schipper in《The Taoist Body》describes Guan Yu as “a model of loyalty and courage, the incarnation of the chivalric spirit, protector of the Manchu dynasty and patron of merchants..[and] a hero of the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-265). Guan Yu, moreover, is known by his religious names of Emperor Guan [guan di 關帝] and Duke Guan [guan gong 關公], Holy Emperor Lord Guan [guan sheng di jun 關聖帝君]. His other posthumous titles include Guan, the Loyal and Righteous God of War, the Holy Great Deity [zhong yi shen wu guan sheng da di 義神武關聖大帝], Guan the Holy Great Deity; God of War Manifesting Benevolence, Bravery and Prestige; Protector of the Country and Defender of the People; Proud and Honest Supporter of Peace and Reconciliation; Promoter of Morality, Loyalty and Righteousness [ren yong wei xian hu guo bao min jing cheng sui jing yi zan xuan de zhong yi shen wu guan sheng da di 仁勇護國保民精誠綏靖翊贊宣德忠義神武關聖大帝] and Holy Emperor Guan, the Great God Who Subdues Demons in the Three Worlds and Whose Awe Spreads Far and Moves Heaven [san jie fu mo da shen wei yuan zhen tian zun guan sheng di jun 三界伏魔大神威遠震天尊關聖帝君). The last name reflects the common people worship for him for his control over evil Spirit and, thus, statues of him can be found ubiquitously in restaurants and hotels. While Confucius is referred to as the Sage of Culture [wen sheng 文聖]; Guan Yu takes the counterpart as the Sage of War [wu sheng 武聖]. Despite his common appellation in the West as God of War, Guan Yu, he does not grant blessing to those who go to war or battle, but rather to those who abide by the code of brotherhood and righteousness. Thus, he has become a symbol of loyalty and integrity, so he is not only a natural favourite of soldiers but has been chosen as patron of numerous trades and professions. The following story from《Records of the Three Kingdoms》[san guo zhi 三国志] is to exemplify and demonstrate Guan Yu’s bravery and unflinching willpower:

羽尝为流矢所中，贯其右臂，后创虽愈，每至阴雨，骨常疼痛。医曰：“矢镞有毒，毒入于骨，当破臂作创，刮骨去毒，然后此患乃除耳。”羽便伸臂令医劈之。时羽适请诸将饮食相对，臂血流离，盈于盘器，而羽割炙引酒，言笑自若。

When [Guan] Yu experienced being hit by a stray arrow, piercing his right arm, [although] after the wound had completely healed, every time arriving at Yin-rains, the bone constantly was in pain. The doctor said: The arrowhead was poisonous, [and] the poison has entered the bone. After the bone is scraped and the poison removed, thereupon this suffering will be eliminated. [Guan] Yu then stretched out [his] arm and ordered the doctor to split it open. At the time when [Guan] Yu just invited all the generals to eat and drink opposite [of him], his arm’s blood dripped departing [ his body], filling a tray utensil, yet [Guan] Yu cut the roast and was involved in drinking, speaking and laughing [in a] composed [way].

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[1] Since this date is fixed by the Chinese lunar or farmer’s calendar, its converted Gregorian calendar date will differ from year to year, depending on when the Chinese New Year commences.

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incorrectcosmicgirlsquotes · 8 years ago

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An Introduction to the members of Cosmic Girls/WJSN

Cosmic Girls or WJSN made their debut as a 12 member girl group under Starship Entertainment on February 25th 2016 with their first mini album Would You Like?

The original 12 members are Seola, Xuan Yi, Bona, Exy, Soobin, Luda, Dawon, Eunseo, Cheng Xiao, Mei Qi, Yeoreum, and Dayoung. Each member represents a star sign.

After success and popularity on Produce 101 Yoo Yeunjung was officially added to the group on July 11th 2016 and thus Cosmic Girls became a 13 member girl group.

About the Members:

Seola

Real Name: Kim Hyunjung

Birthdate: 1994/12/24

Nationality: Korean

Position: Lead Vocal, Lead Dancer (Wannabe Rapper, she’s going after Exy’s rap position)

Representative Star Sign: Sagittarius

About Seola: She’s the oldest member of the group and has trained the longest of any member (10 years), she’s in love with Soobin although Soobin denies that Seola is her ideal type, even after describing a person that’s basically just like Seola. She’s the self-proclaimed “Dad” of the group and one of her specialities is twerking (I can’t make this stuff up). She promises that in the future she will release a hip hop album with Exy.

Xuan Yi

Real Name: Wu Xuan Yi

Birthdate: 1995/01/26

Nationality: Chinese

Position: Sub- Vocalist, Lead Dancer

Representative Star Sign: Aquarius

About Xuan Yi: She’s the second oldest of the group but is really hyper and happy all the time. She loooooves kim, it’s about 80% of what she ate during My Cosmic Diary I’m pretty sure. She loves all of the members. She can imitate and look exactly like a gold fish and a rabbit.

Bona

Real Name: Kim Jiyeon

Birthdate: 1995/08/19

Nationality: Korean

Position: Sub-Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Visual

Representative Star Sign: Leo

About Bona: She trained at Cube Entertainment for about 6 years before coming to Starship Entertainment, which is why she is close with BTOB. She’s got one of the tiniest waist I’ve ever seen, I don’t know how it’s possible, probably sorcery. She tends to favor Xuan Yi and Luda, resulting in the ships BoXuan and BonLu, they’re both adorable ships but some people will fight to the death over which one is better. She and Eunseo are close and call themselves the Yeon Sisters, she and Cheng Xiao are adorable together as well.

Exy

Real Name: Chu Sojung

Birthdate: 1995/11/06

Nationality: Korean

Position: Leader, Main Rapper

Representative Star Sign: Scorpio

About Exy: Before WJSN’s debut she appeared on Unpretty Rapstar Vol. 2 and her rap had everyone shooooooook. I recommend watching her performances. She became Cosmic Girls resident girl crush rapper after that, but after debut we found out she’s really girly and adorable, but we still love her anyway. She has a song called “Wipeout” and anytime the members try to suck up they’ll all start singing it. She’s cosmic girls leader but in reality she’s just the tired aunt that the youngest bother, never letting her sleep, but she loves them, although she once threatened to throw Dayoung in the fireplace.

Soobin

Real Name: Park Soobin

Birthdate: 1996/09/14

Nationality: Korean

Position: Main Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Virgo

About Soobin: She’s one of the smallest/shortest members in the group she and Luda call themselves the Pocket Girls due to their small size. Despite being so small, she is incredibly loud and once imitated a pterodactyl on weekly idol. Her nickname is the “smiling angel”. She vehemently denies Seola being her ideal type but its obvious that it’s Seola. She’s famous in the fandom for her Sunbae CF’s and her CF laugh, which is slightly terrifying.

Luda

Real Name: Lee Luda

Birthdate: 1997/03/06

Nationality: Korean

Position: Sub-Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Pisces

About Luda: I’m almost positive she has the shortest training period of the members and was one of the last members chosen to be in the group. She used to get Bona to help her out, which stressed Bona out, but she would send her cute messages thanking her. Luda is the smallest of the small and is the smallest member of the group at only 155 cm (5′1″ ish). But don’t let her size fool you, she’s a savage and is often referred to as “Pocket Satan” its the small ones you have to watch out for…

Dawon

Real Name: Nam Dawon

Birthdate: 1997/04/16

Nationality: Korean

Position: Main Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Aries

About Dawon: She is arguably one of the most under-appreciated members in the group (along with MeiQi). One of the nicknames the fans gave her is Dawonce and for obvious reasons, the girl can sing (give her more lines Starship). She appeared on a show for under-rated girl group members called “Girls Spirit” and killed every performance. I highly recommend watching her performances to gain appreciate for her vocals and if you can make it through her Yanghwa Bridge performance without crying you’re not human. She’s one of the sweetest, most caring members of the group, and deserves lots of love.

Eunseo

Real Name: Son Juyeon

Birthdate: 1998/05/27

Nationality: Korean

Position: Sub-Vocalist, Lead Dancer

Representative Star Sign: Gemini

About Eunseo: She’s the tallest member of the group and the members often call her a giraffe. She along with Soobin is one of the loudest members of the group. She’s the groups vitamin and has soooo much energy. She’s like a puppy, she really is. She and Cheng Xiao arguably form one of the biggest ships in the group, EunXiao, they’re precious honestly. She’s self-concious about her looks especially her nose, so please refrain from making fun of her about it, it’s not very nice and she even cried at a fan meeting over it, so just don’t. Or I’ll find you…

Cheng Xiao

Real Name: Xiao Cheng Xiao

Birthdate: 1998/07/15

Nationality: Chinese

Position: Main Dancer, Sub-Vocalist, Visual, Face of the Group

Representative Star Sign: Cancer

About Cheng Xiao: She’s rarely seen with both feet on the ground, she’s always mid-air doing acrobatics. She’s suuuuuper flexible. She’s also quite the meme in some of her fan photos and has earned the nickname Meme Xiao. She’s still learning Korean, but she’s improved a lot due to being on a lot of variety shows. One of her most iconic moments can be found in their reality show when she says, “Babo Wasseo! (An idiot came!)” when she meant to say the food had come. She’s an angel and we as fans must protect Xiao Xiao from the perverts on here (cough tastymotion [please report them often even if its not cosmic girls their page is disgusting]).

Mei Qi

Real Name: Meng Mei Qi

Birthdate: 1998/10/15

Nationality: Chinese

Position: Main Dancer, Sub-Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Libra

About Mei Qi: Although Starship categorized her as a sub-vocalist the members often place her in the vocalist line, where she belongs. The proof of her vocal ability can be found in their pre-debut music video “All I Want for Christmas is You” her parts in that had Mariah Carey shook. Despite being one of the other under-appreciated members in the group she has been in 3 movies and was the lead role for two. Be on the lookout for Step Up 6 to come out sometime this year and support Mei Qi! She’s often called “Baby Mei Qi” and "Mei Qi Oppa" by the members.

Yeoreum

Real Name: Lee Jinsook

Birthdate: 1999/01/10

Nationality: Korean

Position: Sub-Vocalist, Lead Rapper

Representative Star Sign: Capricorn

About Yeoreum: Despite being one of the youngest and one of the smaller members, this girl can eat. For most of her screen time in their reality show she was eating something. She’s adorable and although she is the oldest of the maknae (youngest) line, she still refers and introduces herself as the groups youngest member. According to the members the voice she uses and the way she speaks when she is in public or during broadcasts is not the voice she uses or the way she speaks at home. She’s also lovingly nicknamed the “Little Octopus” with Eunseo being the “Big Octopus”.

Dayoung

Real Name: Im Dayoung

Birthdate: 1999/05/14

Nationality: Korean

Position: Lead Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Taurus

About Dayoung: She’s a part of the 99 line or the Maknae line. Despite her age she cooks really well and often makes the members their birthday meal, she and the other members prepared Eunseo’s lunch for the College Entrance Exam. She’s incredibly hyper and is likely the cause of Exy’s lack of sleep (let tired aunt Exy sleep). She gained popularity for looking like Shin Donyeop and even took a selfie with him when she appeared on a show with him (and they do look similar). Because she’s hyper she’s always falling down and getting bruises, be more careful space cadet!

Yeonjung

Real Name: Yoo Yeonjung

Birthdate: 1999/08/03

Nationality: Korean

Position: Main Vocalist

Representative Star Sign: Ophiuchus

About Yeonjung: According to the members Yeonjung was supposed to be one of the original 12 members of the group, but at the last minute was chosen by the company to appear on MNet’s Produce 101. She proved that she was an amazing vocalist and was the last member chosen to be in the group I.O.I. coming in 11th place. She was officially added to Cosmic Girls in July and became their 13th and youngest member. She and Soobin together have their terrifying CF laugh. She’s a sweet baby and needs to be protected at all cost (please don’t put her on a diet Starship).

*This post can and may be updated. Please let me know if there’s anything else you think I should add. (Examples being units, hometowns, blood type, height, etc.,)*

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