#how did lxy get there?

[exitvelocities]

a kiss out of envy or jealousy fic meme fill from discord. yes, there's almost definitely a threesome later. no, i'm probably not writing it.

*

upon stepping out of lotus tower on the thirteenth anniversary of the donghai battle, li lianhua registers three things at once: the moon is very bright, there is someone in the clearing wearing the flashy white and red of his own old sigu sect garb, and he is kissing di feisheng. "what's going on here?" li lianhua says, voice sharper than he means it to be. understandable, when one comes upon a stranger kissing one's husband.

li xiangyi — because that's indisputably who it is, once his face is visible — pulls away with a scowl, clearly displeased at being interrupted. di feisheng, for his part, looks faintly bemused. "what does it look like i'm doing?" li xiangyi says, chin lifted challengingly.

"kissing my husband," li lianhua says, tone acidic. "and you!" he turns to di feisheng, whose face is so carefully blank that he must want to smile, the jackal, "why were you letting him?"

"well, he wanted to kill me for your shixiong's body," di feisheng says, the corner of his mouth quirking in a way that's probably only visible to li lianhua, "so i had to explain a few things to him."

li lianhua turns back to li xiangyi. "and that made you kiss him why?"

"i don't see why only you should get to," li xiangyi says crossing his arms. "i have as much a right to him as you do."

"you do not," li lianhua cries. "you don't know what we've been through!"

"i do too, he told me," li xiangyi says.

"not all of it," di feisheng says.

li lianhua levels a finger at him, "you're enjoying this!"

di feisheng raises his hands placatingly, but li xiangyi cuts in before he can say anything. "why shouldn't he?" he says, "you can't even fight him anymore."

li lianhua sways like he's been struck, vision going white with fury. di feisheng is by his side before he can blink the anger out of his eyes, hand on his elbow holding him steady. "xiangyi?" he says softly and li lianhua shakes his head.

"you little brat," he says, waving a finger at li xiangyi. "just like always, you know nothing!" li lianhua grabs at di feisheng, pulling his head down and kissing him soundly. he feels di feisheng's eyelashes flutter against his cheekbones in surprise but he relaxes into it easily, lips parting for li lianhua's tongue. kissing di feisheng is familiar and comforting, and li lianhua loses himself in it for a moment before he remembers he's supposed to be teaching someone a lesson and pulls back.

li xiangyi looks like he's bitten into something sour. "well, whatever," he says. "you just have more practice than me right now, that's all." he turns and stalks up the steps of lotus tower like he owns it, ignoring hulijing's inquisitive bark. "i'm going to find something to eat."

"good luck," di feisheng mutters, but his gaze is soft when li lianhua turns to glare at him. "don't worry," he says, cupping the side of li lianhua's face tenderly. "i won't leave you. not even for a younger version of yourself."

"who said i was worried," li lianhua says with a sniff, eyes cutting away to hide the way his heart is full and trembling.

"i do still want to fight him, though," di feisheng says thoughtfully, and li lianhua swats at his face.

[rinbylin]

[kingsandbastardz]

Tumblr ate the anon ask I was responding to so I'm gonna paraphrase it here:

what do mean llh gave di feisheng to fang duobing? the letter totally said something else

Yes, it did - but I didn't feel I could comment too deeply on it when it's been retranslated and people who are far more literate than I am have analyzed the contents already. -- The letter itself seems pretty straight forward.

However, what I wanted to focus on was analyzing unspoken social dynamics - so I'm gonna get in depth into my reasoning for my interpretation. And admittedly in previous posts I was playing fast and glib with my responses (they were just insomnia-fueled thoughts I typed real fast) so I wasn't really in depth or anything. Anyway~~~ That means it's time for me to get long winded.

So! First thing - this is the scene: The letter was written from Li Xiangyi and addressed in its entirety to Di Feisheng. However, when it was delivered the fisherman asked for both DFS and FDB. It was then read outloud by either the fisherman or FDB -- I assume read out loud, and loudly, because DFS never left his position by the rocks and emoted his distress at the contents. That means everyone there also was privy to the letter contents.

The letter itself is straight forward. It's addressed from LXY telling DFS that he regretfully can't make the duel and that he respects him both as a martial artist and as a person, and if he wishes, he can go to FDB who has inherited his skills and shows great promise, etc.

The thing IS - I firmly believe that this is not a message meant just for DFS.

Both LLH and DFS code switch between their non-leader selves vs Li-Menzhu and Di-Mengzhu. It's easiest to see based on what they're wearing. Li Xiangyi when he's dressed in the Sigu Sect uniform. Or the Styx flower hand-off scene where he calls him Di-mengzhu (not Lao Di or A-Fei or whatever else) likely as a reaction to his official regalia/red uniform which means DFS was showing up in an official capacity. Both of them know very well the importance of a certain.... how to say.... drama? They're both leaders and they were also very performative in their roles as leaders. They both expected that massive peanut gallery that showed up to witness the fight - the one filled with members of various sects, including Sigu Sect leadership -- because dfs was likely the one announcing it.

Imo - aside from the need to express the full weight of what he felt, part of the reason LLH was so formal in his letter is expectation that there would be other people there - influential people. The very people DFS and FDB would have to deal with in the future alone. FDB would be ok but he's largely unknown to the rest of jianghu and therefore his story is still malleable. DFS is known, but infamous and his narrative is as much of a trap as LXY's was. And now he no longer has the benefit of a sect to act as a buffer.

LLH's last act as LXY was not to save Yun Biqiu but to carve a new path open in the world for DFS and FDB:

Expresses that he bears deep emotion and the greatest and deepest respect for DFS despite a reputation of them being enemies

Informs everyone that DFS is not seeking dominion or 'the throne' but rather, is going the fighter-scholar path of studying and testing martial skill -- aka, this is message from one sect leader to all the others present. Spread the word, this man is NOT gunning for your power. None of you have reason to take him down.

Establishes FDB as his one and only successor - while also stating clearly it's entirely up to FDB to decide whether to continue down this path or not

Creates a pathway for DFS and FDB to maintain their connection with each other - and in fact lets everyone else know that there is a pre-established, legacy relationship between DFS and LLH that FDB will be inheriting.

Gently asks DFS to keep an eye on FDB's development - iterating that if dfs is the one asking, then FDB may make the decision to continue to train - aka help him see his full potential whatever his decision is.

At the same time, he silently wishes FDB to maintain connections with/keep an eye on DFS. In another reply I kinda went on about this: imagine a scenario where your friend's mom pulls both of you in front of her. And the whole time is telling your friend that they need to do, expectations, a list of goals, etc. The entire time she's only focused on your friend - but there is this silent implication that you, as the witness, is expected to act a reminder or even an enforcer if your friend isn't listening. If things go wrong, you're expected to go in there and help them to do the thing they were asked to do. This is the unspoken message I'm getting for FDB. Even though his name wasn't mentioned in the letter, it was explicitly delivered to both him and dfs. He's standing right there while an imaginary LLH talks to DFS. So if after all this, dfs disappears without another word = fdb can feel emboldened to go after him, knocking on doors until he answers. Should he decide to do so.

Entreaty - "These are LXY's (my) last wishes. Please respect my memory after my death."

Conclusion: LLH's last actions were to create a space where both DFS and FDB can make their own decision on their path in the world, without the weight of all those other people in jianghu influencing them.

Note: I also believe that on dfs' side, his clothing choices point toward his plans to publicly step down and leave the martial path with Li Lianhua. But llh sucker-punched him and left him standing on some rocks like a widow waiting for her husband who's lost at sea. They were technically on the same page, but it somehow went wrong because... well. Unfortunately that's DFS' narrative. He never quite reaches his goal without the hero either hindering or helping him. The entire drama was LLH being that karma busting fulcrum for him. But now, should he wish it, it'll be FDB's turn to step up and do the same.

[bl-bracket]

Poorest Little Meow Meow NOT from a BL: Bonus Round

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Han Juwon: He is a typical kdrama lead in theory, his mom has been taken from him at a young age, his dad sent him far away to private schools and is using him in his political schemes. Han Juwon has mysophobia, not a social bone in his body and a RBF that do not endear him to people at all. He's not above using people and a little tweaking of the law to reach his goals.

Wave:

Ryu Sooyel: look how soppy wet he is. no one respects him. not even himself

Vier:

Kishimoto Ruka:

Katha: Khatha is such a poor little meow meow that he should be allowed to participate.

Lee Dongsik: He has been wrongly accused of killing his twin sister 20 years ago but never really cleared his name (no body, no crime, no convicted murderer) and is still searching for her. People still think he did it and are not afraid to treat him like shit. He's heavily traumatized. And let's say he's not above a little manipulation and crime to find his sister and her murderer

Jiang Zisuan: he spent like half of his life trying to avenge the death of his older sister and then for some reason just cant seem to actually do that before (SPOILER) dying in a random woman‘s arms who he employed because she looks like his sister and imagining that its actually her. she also was kind of in love with him which made this whole situation worse. and he killed so many people on the way except the guy he actually wanted to

Yun Biqui: SPOILER WARNING FOR SERIES: Ten years ago, Yun Biqiu was tricked into betraying the sect leader he idolized, Li Xiangyi. At the behest of a beautiful woman, he poisoned LXY; he only intended to temporarily incapacitate LXY, but the antidote he was promised turned out to be fake. LXY disappeared and was presumed dead, and Biqiu never stopped blaming himself and hoping that LXY would return. EXTREME SPOILER WARNING FOR END OF SERIES: When LXY eventually did return ten years later, Biqiu pretended to be re-beguiled by the beautiful woman in order to sabotage her evil schemes; to convince her of his loyalty, he also pretended to betray LXY again, stabbing him non-fatally and bringing him to her. His sabotaging allowed LXY to escape, though, and helped contribute to the defeat of all the baddies. Despite this, he still believed that he deserved to die for everything he'd done previously; when confronted with his past treachery and presumed current treachery, he did not defend himself, and would have willingly submitted to his own execution. Luckily, LXY arrived in time to reveal the truth of Biqiu's regret and loyalty, and also finally gave Biqiu peace by forgiving him for what he'd done ten years ago. And Biqiu cried 🥺

Master Amin: girlbossed to close to the sun

Shiro: Sleeping with a sleazy, much older politician in order to get information about his missing sister, who isn’t even his sister by blood. Openly gay yakuza and ready to fight about that. Cohabitating with a painfully strait laced and uptight virgin penguin. (A cop. Not a literal penguin.)

[murderedbyhomework]

There's a saying somewhere on the cn fandom that 如果角姐是戀愛腦，李相夷便是師兄腦 (if jiao liqiao is love brain, Li Xiangyi was shixiong brain) and like it's so true tho. Like we as a random do not talk about just how much Li Xiangyi/Li Lianhua loved his shixiong, even outside the obvious "spending his remaining 10 years with the one goal of finding his shixiong's remains and immediately giving up on fighting against death after finding sgd to the extent where dfs had to bring out the big guns to get llh to continue living for a while".

There's way too many stuff I could talk about but I'll briefly talk about Wenjing. As depicted in canon, Wenjing was sgd's 18th birthday present for lxy, made from Yun Metal (not that lxy knew it at the time). The name of the sword itself says a lot about lxy's love for his shixiong. Wenjing (刎頸）refers to the phrase 刎頸之交, aka "a friendship/relationship one would slit their throat for, referring to friendships where one would willingly and gladly lay down their life for the other". Li Xiangyi is the one who names this sword, and he directly references this phrase when naming the sword. One could say wenjing was a symbol of just how much sgd meant to lxy.

So how much does wenjing mean to Li Xiangyi/Li Lianhua? Going off canon, lxy was a bit of a peacock, and he liked to show off things he deemed impressive, yet for things that were actually really important to him, such as his love for cheap candy, he kept close to his chest. So what about Wenjing? It's a beautiful sword, and very well made, but Li Xiangyi never showed it off to anyone and kept it extremely private, because in his opinion, sgd's gift was something he wanted to keep just for himself. As top of the Jianghu, a lot of him was shown to the public and under public scrutiny, everything about him placed on the spotlight, placed on a pedestal, yet lxy was possessive enough over this sword to keep it to himself, like a secret only his shixiong and himself would know.

And then there's lxy always keeping wenjing on him even during his years as llh. As lxy, he had shaoshi as a sword already, and he didn't need another sword on him, not really, because he's proven that even disarmed he's not defenseless, but he kept wenjing on him anyway, because it was probably a symbol of his shixiong's love for him. And as llh, he would continue keeping the sword on him, despite being a wandering doctor who supposedly knew no martial arts and would be too poor to have such a beautiful sword.

And finally, llh chose to destroy shaoshi instead of using it to end himself (it's canon he literally said to shaoshi "using you to end me is rather inappropriate"), but despite wenjing later being revealed as, in fact, a sign of sgd's betrayal and hate of llh, llh never destroyed that it. He did throw it into a cliff face so no one could ever reach it again (low key excalibur situation hmn), but in my mind, it wasn't ever an action of hate against sgd, not a rejection of his gift, but rather llh throwing wenjing away from himself before he could actually get really mad and destroy this gift from his shixiong. He might have left wenjing behind when he went off to die, but we all know Llh's love language is abandonment.

[dangermousie]

This man was the golden child jock. But also, I find it so interesting that before the disaster, he was so about doing and physical stuff - not that losing use of one's legs is easy for anyone, but it must have been an extra shock for someone who based his whole life and future on physical activity.

I love how all the happy memories and skills are also traps of pain.

Her consolation (and the fact that worry about disappointing his mother runs through all his memories. He may respect his father but you get the sense it's his mother he was close with.)

You know, the casting for the mains is great on many different levels, but one of them is that both LXY and WJY are in their 30s and so they bring a sense of live that has been lived for a bit. I think if actors in their early 20s did a storyline so filled with past regrets and traumas and lived in experience, it would much trickier to carry off.

[mx-myth]

Okay hear me out red string of fate mlc au (rough timeline) (you only see your string(s) and who they connect to but no one else's)

(This is long as fuck actually)

Li Xiangyi who grows up in the streets with two strings. One is red and sometimes he thinks about following it to see where it leads but he never does. He meets shan gudao and eventually gets picked up by his shifu (I forgot what he calls him in the show, so) and at some point learns that the grey string tied in a bow on his opposite hand means his other zhiji hasn't been born yet.

(Lxy doesn't think anything about this until one march morning years later the string bursts into colour and unravels forward when he's training (you can fight me on this but fdb is ABSOLUTELY a spring baby born in the morning. Something about the coming of new life and the dawn of a new day and how that's what he symbolises). Because of the mostly-romantic connotations of strings he's guilt-ridden over his zhiji being a decade (or thereabouts? I don't remember the actual age gap in the show) younger than him before he forcibly puts it out of his mind)

Fast-forward to when he meets qiao wanmian. They become close friends and basically everyone thinks they're fated. But a-mian sits him down to quietly tell him that she has no string, none at all, that they really aren't fated and never will be. And lxy, who, in the nights he lies awake, still is guilty about being ten years older than his youngest zhiji (he doesn't know whether his other one is older or younger than him, the string was already red by the time he was old enough to retain memories), lies and says he doesn't have a string either. But he wants to court her because he loves her. That part, at least, is true: li xiangyi loves qiao wanmian.

And then he starts the sigu sect and eventually meets di feisheng. Their first meeting is only in passing but they lock eyes and lxy sees not only the moment when it registers that they're zhiji but also the moment when dfs sees that he's walking arm in arm with a-mian. They both walk away none the wiser to each other's identities.

It's only when they meet for the first time as di-mengzhu, leader of the jinyuan alliance, and as li xiangyi, the number one swordsman in the jianghu, and cross swords does lxy truly realise what this means. Their string spools out between their bodies, fluttering away between their swords, as he realises that he and this zhiji of his are on opposite sides. That their string is the only thing that connects them across their unfathomable chasm.

(It isn't. Lxy doesn't know it but dfs admires his swordsmanship. Dfs thinks they have a lot in common via neili and fighting techniques and their devotion to their crafts but he thinks that lxy knows this. He doesn't say anything about it because he assumes that lxy knows this and also because it's common knowledge he and qiao wanmian are going to get married. So lxy never knows)

Afterwards lxy becomes consumed with red strings of fate. He obsessively starts searching for stories where the zhiji turn out to be enemies. He finds almost nothing (most of what he finds is enemies to friends, or worse, enemies to (friends to) lovers, and all of it he throws out in disgust) and in his frenzy he begins neglecting his relationship with a-mian.

The ultimate betrayal comes when lxy learns that dfs killed shan gudao. A-Mian just recently broke up with him and that combined with his zhiji killing his shixiong is what does it. It spells the beginning of the spiral of li xiangyi.

Switch to di feisheng. He'd thought they had an understanding and sigu sect and the jinyuan alliance were approaching peace talks but suddenly lxy is killing his members left and right. He has no idea what this is about until jiao liqiao congratulations him on killing shan gudao. He grunts in confusion but everyone talks it to mean he did it. So dfs just had to roll with it.

There's nothing he can do about it. Dfs sends people to investigate sgd's death and trains. There is a real and oncoming war soon and so he issues a challenge to duel lxy on the eastern sea.

(The war comes anyway)

(Di Feisheng loses something on that ship anyway)

He spends the next ten years while he's in seclusion recovering thinking about it. About lxy, the bright, brilliant zhiji who was never his. About the fact that he killed his own zhiji. About the moment when, as he sank into the water, he'd closed his eyes and thought that following his zhiji to the underworld wouldn't be so bad.

Execpt that li xiangyi isn't dead. His string isn't white, is still as red as the robes he wore, and it still leads somewhere he doesn't know. Dfs takes a sort of pride in this. Of course lxy wouldn't die in their duel. Of course he's strong enough to come out of it alive.

He doesn't really think about his xiao-zhiji at all, except when he touches that string and wonders if lxy is also connected to this person. He wants to meet them someday to test their skills, to take them to meet lxy. In seclusion dfs makes that deal with himself - he'll make his zhiji meet, and then he'll leave them with each other, because for all he knows, li xiangyi still hates him.

(I picture it going dfs > lxy/llh > fdb age-wise, with dfs only being a some months older than lxy/llh. But neither of them know that because of their childhood circumstances)

He leaves seclusion with this goal in mind.

And then he figures out - as a six-year-old, no less - that his zhiji have already met each other. That they've been traveling in tandem for months and have been solving cases. That li xiangyi is for some reason li lianhua (he knows why. The first thing jiao liqiao had said to him was congratulations on killing li xiangyi). That this stupid naïve little puppy named fang duobing is his xiao-zhiji.

Llh treats fdb kindly. He's mischievous and he teases fdb about inconsequential little things and dfs burns, because he still remembers lxy vividly wanting to kill him. He burns because this is side of him he's never seen and he burns because his xiao-zhiji is already used to this and he burns because he wants that too.

Whether he forgets that after he writes li lianhua's name on his hand doesn't matter then.

Switch to fang duobing. He's really fucking annoyed by the fact that no one is telling him anything. He's been traveling with llh for months, but despite the fact that they both know they're zhiji he won't talk about it. He won't even answer any questions about that kid.

Fdb isn't an idiot. His strings have been red ever since the day he was born. No way is some kid not even half his height his zhiji. The math doesn't work out.

(This is terrible, llh thinks. Of course he knows dfs has been alive because his string never turned white. Of course he recognized that little face as dfs' before he even saw the string connecting them. Of course he realised what was up as soon as fdb started pestering him about that kid and whether or not he has another string. Of course he knows dfs must've clocked it too.)

Fdb is severely skeptical when the Iron Head Slave or whatever llh claimed he was shows up and llh tells him they're old friends. But he's delighted to meet his other zhiji formally - right up until the point when they have their first chopstick battle over the food. At that point he becomes exasperated, and then he becomes ready to throw down once they begin arguing over who gets the guest bed.

(Fdb believes in respecting your elders but dfs is showing him absolutely no respect so guess what? He can sleep on the floor. Not even his handsome looks will help him win the fight)

(They end up squished together on the bed, both of them fuming because llh told then to just share)

(He and dfs never talk about their string, but they both observe enough to be able to tell that they're both connected to llh. They don't talk about this either, but sometimes llh will do something especially stupid or crazy or clever and they'll Look At Each Other)

(And then they can't about it, because A-Fei is learning from scratch)

But then he learns that A-Fei (who used to correct him when he playfully called llh da-ge, saying that he was er-ge and that fdb should be calling him da-ge, and fdb had gotten so tired of him and llh fighting with their eyes that he just straight-up called him gege with his most shit-eatting grin, to which dfs stared at him before dragging him outside to beat his ass) (who, after he lost his memories, would sleep in the bed with him with their backs against each other, and fdb loved feeling like his zhiji thought he could watch his back, and even if A-Fei was a stupid early riser and his half of the bed was always cold when he woke up it meant that he could always smell breakfast cooking downstairs) (who, after all, fdb felt like he was finally understanding) is actually di feisheng, villain of the jianghu, he feels like everything they'd had together was built on lies. He asks llh if he knew, if he knew that his (their, their zhiji, but llh still won't talk about it) zhiji was dfs, and then he has to go on with the knowledge that he was the only one kept in the dark.

And then when he learns that li lianhua was li xiangyi all along it really dawns on him then. His zhiji have known each other for years (and everyone thought they had killed each other on the eastern sea, and something about that is so wrong that fdb can't even think about it) and never told him the truth. They said that they were friends (llh said that) and that they knew each other for years (llh said that) and everything he knows about them is based on lies of omission and half-truths (that llh told him). He's torn and he's hurt and he's angry, angry at himself and everyone else.

(If he had known though, would things have stayed the same? Would he have laughed the same way if he knew the man he was wrestling in the dirt with was dfs, would he have still made the same suggestions on how to improve in cooking if he knew the man making the food was li xiangyi?)

(it isn't until li lianhua/li xiangyi are gone, though, that he realises that dfs was used by llh in the same way that he was)

Except that when li lianhua dies, there's two people who have to look at a red string that's supposed to be white.

(Switch to li lianhua. He crawls back from the underworld but what does he have left? The strings on his fingers are red, red like happiness, and aren't those two better off without him anyway? He's finally burned all the bridges of all of his relationships. It's time that he start over again.)

(Except that he stumbles upon the Lotus Tower anyway. He stumbles upon Di Feisheng and Fang Duobing and even as he asks them why they still even want him, he's crying, reaching for them, and there's tears on all their faces.)

[beneaththebrim]

WIP Wednesday: more from the dihua stabmarriage fic

from dihua server event collab with @/sumeriasmith

this passage's draft heading is "The moment DFS determines that SGD will have to die"

(also connecting somewhat with this shippy analysis post from earlier in the week)

CW: implied past sexual assault (sgd/lxy), period-typical racism

In his entire time training, amassing strength, and founding and leading the Jinyuan Alliance, Di Feisheng had never been so close to the goal he’d set out to achieve since he’d escaped Di Fortress at the age of twelve as he was now. There could be no mistakes at this stage.

Complete this task, and he would finally be free.

The price: another dubious collusion. A man who’d undermined him and pitted him against Li Xiangyi, the very same man he’d regarded back then as petty and mediocre, ambitious beyond his ability. A despicable man, but Di Feisheng had worked with despicable men—and women—before. There was no trust between them but an understanding of their goals.

And Shan Gudao was in the dark regarding Di Feisheng’s.

The hood was off, and they’d sealed their agreement, albeit in words. There was no wine and no ink; Di Feisheng knew better than to drink from his “allies’ ” cups at this stage. Everything that could be touched, consumed, or breathed here was liable to have been poisoned. He girded his inner force like a coiled, hissing snake, ready to trade venom for venom.

He desperately wanted to take in a breath of fresh air. He was already craving a stint at the waterfalls, where he could steal a moment’s ease before having to see Li Xiangyi again, as an enemy again.

Di Feisheng was about to take his leave when Shan Gudao addressed his retreating form in a gleefully conspiratorial tone:

“So, how was he?”

Di Feisheng paused. He turned slightly back, clasping his hands behind him.

“You mean?”

“My shidi, of course. The little slut, did you get a taste of him?”

Di Feisheng felt like a bucket of ice water had been upended over him. His face remained cold; he didn’t even allow himself to swallow.

Shan Gudao smiled smugly at him.

“Surely he would have made a pass at you? Ahh, he’s been an inveterate cut-sleeve since he came down the mountain. I thought I could break him of the habit, how he looked at men, how he looked at me. It was downright embarrassing, not to mention after he started the sect. Oh, I had him violently. But that little slut…” He shook his head, still smiling. “He liked it. No matter how many times I punished him.”

It was everything Di Feisheng could do to keep the murderous intent from flashing through his eyes. He turned the rest of the way around, eyeing the other man stonily.

Shan Gudao continued, “I’m surprised he didn’t make a pass at you, Di-mengzhu. How curious.” A sniff. “Perhaps he took a vow of celibacy after losing his dear, beloved shixiong, haHaHAHAHA—”

His bellowing laughter echoed throughout the chamber.

Di Feisheng waited until the noise died down before replying dryly, “Were all Nanyin royalty so lustful, or is it just a trait of the two living descendants? Li Xiangyi is my rival, not the object of my affection. Perhaps it has escaped your notice, but my sole interest is martial arts.”

At that, he turned back around with a flick of his robes.

“In the future, do not speak to me of such inconsequential matters.”

The moment he exited the Wansheng Sect’s grounds, he flew straight for the Jinyuan Alliance’s private areas, where the sound of crashing water could scrape his mind clean.

[nutcasewithaknife]

Ooh, I’d love to hear about MLC on ice!!!

And I would love to talk about it. forever and ever. You might have unleashed a beast.

The premise of this one has changed way too much to be a Yuri!!! on Ice AU anymore, so it's just an ice skating AU now. The basic premise is this: Fang Duobing, young ice skater who can't quite seem to find the right coach for himself and is coming off several unsatisfactory seasons, goes off to an obscure little town with a rink with no plans. There he latches on to Li Lianhua and soon recognises him as Li Xiangyi, who quietly retired and then vanished off the face of the earth 7 years ago after a terrible injury. The only course of action is, of course, to badger Li Lianhua into being his coach! Especially when Di Feisheng declares that the upcoming season is going to be his final one!

This is just like the first chapter or two of the fic, things go off the rails quite soon. There's the series of suspicious events 7 years ago that caused dfs, lxy and sgd to leave the season, the lingering effects of Li Lianhua's injury that limit his skating abilities severely, Di Feisheng who is determined to hunt him down and skate against him anyways, Qiao Wanmian (the first one to find Li Lianhua again in this AU) who tags along for the chaos and agrees to be Fang Duobing's official coach to keep Li Lianhua's identity a secret, so on. It swings wildly between crack and heartfelt emotional moments, domestic shenanigans and skating drama. Like I mentioned, I'm writing this with @istgidek1234 who is the real hardcore Yuri!!! on Ice stan and skating expert in this relationship. I went into a bit of a rabbit hole with ice skating a few months back, and it merged with the MLC hyperfixation we both were having, and this happened.

Tagging @istgidek1234 so she can ramble on a bit more about this au!! And here's a little bit of the chaos from one of my segments:

Li Lianhua was, overall, in good spirits on the evening the doorbell rang, just as they settled in for dinner after winding down post-practice. Then he opened the door, and said spirits went flying off with his peace of mind in tow.  He really needed to get a peephole put in. Di Feisheng scowled at him with the force of a… well, a Di Feisheng. Li Lianhua knew better than to try and shut the door on his face; he valued the fact that his door was securely hinged to it’s frame. “How did you–” There was no point in asking how Di Feisheng had stalked them back home. Of course he had. Li Lianhua had been a fool lulled into a sense of false security by his own complacency.  Panicked, he poked his head out and looked around, just to make sure. “Are you trying to get the world’s entire skating press here?” he hissed at him. Di Feisheng looked at him like he was a bug. “No one knows I’m here. I took care.” He better mean something more concrete and foolproof than the shades and mask sticking out of his pockets.  “What do you want now?” Li Lianhua asked flatly, resigned to his fate. “My head on a pike?” He was going to kill Fang Duobing for dragging him back into this world, and then Di Feisheng for hounding him immediately. He was going to flee the country with nothing but Hulijing.  That train of thought slowed to a halt as he noticed that Di Feisheng was… was he hesitating? No, he never did. If he’d shown up here, that meant he’d made his mind up about whatever it was already. He was taking his time though, fixing Li Lianhua with a look that was his usual stubborn battle-face, but more intense than ever.  And then he spoke. “Skate with me, Li Xiangyi.” Li Lianhua blinked, slowly, then a few times rapidly. “Pardon?” Di Feisheng’s jaw clenched tighter. Li Lianhua’s own hurt from just looking. “Skate a pairs program with me.” “A what!?” came the shout from behind. Li Lianhua shut his eyes and prayed for strength as Fang Duobing stormed up to the door, then pushed right past him, all the way out. “Di Feisheng!? What is he doing here? What did he just say??”

[dramatea88]

Kill Me Love Me episodes 12 and 13. The way they ended episode 13 was devastating *sobs*

The Xiyan prince is about to leave and he can bring the beauties with the burnt mark home, but of course the crown prince has other ideas. Meanwhile, Jinghe and Mei Lin fall out when she discovers just how ruthless he can be to achieve his plans.

(Uhm ya, you don't know half of it, lady)

The royal hunt is on and the Crown Prince is up to no good. Well, so is Jinghe as he's intent on capturing Li Qi, a man who is connecting to the tragedy at Qingyuan 10 years ago. But his plan involves jumping off cliffs...

-- Here's what I can say, it is funny how quickly the story improved once the Xiyan prince left and we don't have to endure 2ML shenanigans (for too long anyway) 😆

His little arc in ep 12 is pretty interesting tho. Try not to spoil yourself before watching it.

Ps Which one of you were hella mad at him? hands up!

Anyway, I was super concerned about the drama, as I said, esp with episodes 7-9, that the show had jumped sharked. My primary concern was tha they were going to shortcut their emotional and relationship growth by making them be cute with each other from the get go.

But something turned at ep 10, and I can say at eps 12 and 13 that the tension, darkness and Murong Jinghe we knew in eps 1-3 is baaaack. Even Mei Lin seems better defined and her character writing is more solid.

Our couple is back to threatening each other and dang it Liu Xueyi somehow makes threats sound like seduction.

But what really shocked me, was the last 10 min of ep 13. Such a short scene, but a massively important one as Mei Lin finally realised the depth of suffering Jinghe had gone through.

It was a scene I never ever thought I will see in a cdrama, a kind of humiliation that is so awful in its rawness it will make you turn away in shock.

I am so used to Cdrama heroes being portrayed as perfect, always with beautiful skin, always suave and sure of himself.

But here, Jinghe is at his lowest in front of possibly the worst person: someone he has growing feelings for.

I am not going to spoil you about what happened, because this is a scene that needed to be seen to feel the impact.

Personally, I am actually agog that the producers a actually went there! But I really, really liked that they did. That's brave writing.

Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan acted the heck out of that scene. That quiet, respectful way she treated him. She didn't say a word and went to gather wood.

His devastated look as he was forced to LOOK AT THAT LOG as Mei Lin drags him away... the whole scene left me speechless really.

Perfectly acted, all of it. And both actors hardly said a word to each other during this time. I can see that LXY WJY are not the type of actors who want to pose and look pretty for the camera all the time, that's for sure.

Honestly, I am glad Liu Xueyi was given this moment because he really showed what he was capable of here.

And ya know, I am not the type to cry when watching any drama. Heck didn't even cry watching the Titanic, but I almost did with this one, because this is a humiliation none of us want to ever endure.

Anyway, they have An Important Conversation after the whole thing which will define their relationship now. If they ever do have lovey dovey moments in future ep, it will feel more organic than forced.

What did you think of this episode?

[umbrellaeclipse]

Oh, some thoughts on the first episode of the new season of which I must scream into the void with!!!

(Warning: disorganized rambling and spoilers for Thunderbolt Fantasy S4 E1)

Such a serious tone from the get-go! Shang Bu Huan, as self sacrificial as ever, parting ways with Juan Can Yun in order to stowe away somewhere safe to protect the sword index. Thus, also leads to a parting with my dear favorite character Lin Xue Ya; who will no longer be following SBH as he is now too boring to consider a worthwhile target.

Hohoho, I cannot help but think LXY's parting is a farce. I feel like he's scheming something and I am ever so delighted to find out what. Also, did LXY always have that massive crystal flower over his left shoulder, or have I just blindly never noticed before...?

Hmmm hmmm hmmm, and SBH also mentioned he never knew his parents.... are we getting... actual backstory on him? I feel like the show so far has hinted a lot but his origins are still vague.

Oh, and back to the demon realm again. Some shocking revelations there I suppose. Granted, it's no shock how hierarchical the demon realm is, but to my suprise, Xing Hai, was/ is a lower class demon? Hmm hmm hmm, and now the lower classes of the demon realm have to worship the demon gods to not get killed. A fate previously carried out by humans before the war. How curious.

Oh cool! The mad scientist dude is back, and is pairing off with the Order of the Divine Swarm... and then, enters the best characters of the season. I already love this buff hornet lady and the pretty boy spider spy. Their battle gave me life. I love the fights in this show so much! I'm looking forward to their character development... and the hornet lady had such a sick... soliloquy? Not sure what the word is for the little character poems, but I've always loved them and was a bit sad how few there seemed to be in S3.

Back to the demon realm. Really, gonna force Lang Wu Yao into his demon side.... and, hmmm, Ling Ya had some interesting comments here, being LWY's demon side so he could just continue living as a human... gonna think on that one. Also, lol, the new opening has LWY's demon form flash in towards the end.

I am so psyched to see this show continuing!!!! I am going to be so normal about it. As normal as Luo Zhen Jie is about his sword girlfriend.

Cheers <3

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

my friend call me at three in the morning to blurt out:

"You know? In a melodramatic xianxia, these two will be a young war god and a demon leader of the underworld organization who secretly love each other, but one of them who drowned in rage from fucked up misunderstanding will kill the other, now they stuck in a cursed plot of chasing or saving one reincarnation and dirty politic of the gods who can't be chill about their scheming and ambition or even to leave the lovers fucking in peace."

Then she start spiralling into some madness like maybe DFS is the one who died and getting stuck in a reincarnation wheel. Something something about a young spirit who being captured to be a slave/cauldron for the darker side of heaven, escaped to the underworld, masking his roots and start a demon cult. Thats why LXY heavenly sword is super lethal to him and shattered his soul. Another ramble about how Wuyan, his spiritual beast (or did she said black dragon?), following each one of his mortal reincarnation to collect every fragment of his soul and patching it up with a spiritual hot glue.

She abruptly end the call after long explaination about how FDB can be the youngest contender for a new war god position centuries after LXY went missing, because every think he is dead, DEAD. which he is not, he just go undercover in a mortal world to cool down and have some regret. That is also why his former heavenly official (everyone in sigu) friends can't find him in the book of reincarnation, because he not yet dead. And they can't find DFS either because everyone looked into the direction of soul with demonic imprint when he is actually not.

She even pick the ost and being adamant about that one ost from Ashes of love will fit perfectly😂 and now I don't know if I should be concerned or not. That friend of mine usually a strict "hetero couple only" person, and here she is screaming in my ear about di feisheng and li lianhua. I'm cackling. She clearly sleep deprived but this is such an amazing idea.

[rinbylin]

"#their rs is only as equal as he decides it to be" hits the nail on the HEAD for me THANK you. llh and fdb are friends the way parents and children can be friends. fdb makes a very commendable effort at being equals with llh and llh can allow and enjoy it to an extent but there IS a gap. fdb not having access to llh's past puts him in a unique position to understand llh in a way that nobody else does and that IS good for llh, like fresh eyes on such a worn out painful story. but there's also an element of responsibility that llh has for fdb that he doesn't have for dfs. dfs is his equal and can make his own life choices. he only escaped dfs at the end because of dfs's own choice to trust him with the flower, not anything llh could have done. but he can still escape fdb on his own power just fine. ANYWAY EVERY RELATIONSHIP IN THIS SHOW IS KILLING ME IN UNIQUE AND SPECIFIC WAYS thank u for understanding

(for context)

NO THANK YOU for understanding!!!! I didn't even think anyone was going to read [inserts opinion that I think could get me into a situation surrounded by knives] as you can tell I hid it deep in the tags of reblogs of my own non-maintagged post hbhjbhjbhjbj - and even much less agree with something of it

hell yeah. to me their relationship is entirely premised on that gap between them, for better and for worse. that's how fdb can be unique to him but at the same time also puts him out of fdb's reach forever (that's why ep 30 hits hard). it's very likely llh wouldn't have continued with their relationship - at least with the degree of investment he did - if not for finding out his connection to sgd. so the familial element in it is virtually inseparable from the manner they ended up to be with each other. (like also, on top of how how lxy was literally a formative "adult" figure to bb fdb.)

while fdb thinks this is a friendship the whole time, llh actually treats fdb like a younger family member 小辈, with the front of being friends bc he was a Liar hiding his identity. and then post-identity reveal was bc he's just a Liar who doesn't feel the need to load his own problems on a younger member as an elder. (I do think this mismatched perceptions of their relationship is delicious)

also that's such a good add-on regarding dihua's relationship - particularly about the element of trust between them, which is a basis to why I can consider them friends in some dimension even back when they were more of rivals, unlike fdb with llh. like llh/fdb, they contain a paradox: being the ones who understand each other better than anyone else can but also bc they're so up close on each other that they fail to really see each other too. they're equals premised on the circumstance of them being from the same generation with a shared past (that is also part of their tragedy), but also, in a very curious space of it not being entirely mutual - simply due to llh being the person he is with the kind of conflict he's facing. (once again, all the relationships llh have are embedded with a degree of them being unrequited and it's <333 </333)

THEY REALLY ARE KILLING ME TOO IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE YEAH

[kingsandbastardz]

So this is a thing that’s been bouncing around in my head for awhile, but I hadn’t really had a good starting point for it because it was just a billion fragmented pieces. I kinda have to write it now, though bc I think it’s giving me mental constipation and actively preventing me from writing other things. Anyway, forgive me for being long-winded.

---

Regardless of how you see the ending – whether you think he reached enlightenment/ascended, or he died, or he lived  -- llh’s story is about escaping the narrative.

FDB meanwhile is about being a catalyst of change or transformation, whether it is for his own life or llh’s. He exists in a shifting narrative space that's difficult to define and creates narrative movement from that.

DFS… well. He's still trapped.

First, what exactly is ‘the narrative’ I’m talking about here? It’s a thought or concept, it’s alive yet also not. It’s essentially the words of a story strung together and told and retold, adjusting to the whims of the storyteller and the desires of the people hearing it. It lives and changes organically based on call, response and group consensus.

It’s a crowd of people sitting around an old man in one town, nodding along and yelling when they don’t like the direction a story is going – and then in the next town, that same story teller making adjustments so he gets more tips that evening. It’s people in other towns asking repeatedly for the same story over and over because they like that one hero and each time, the storyteller obliges them, with small details being added or falling off. It’s the collected gossip that morphs as it moves like lightning through an entire city. It’s the records found in a courts’ archives where the ink has become smeared and illegible because a scribe dropped it in a puddle and the next scribe did his best to write in the margins what he thinks it said. Probably.

It is the men at the beginning and end of MLC telling the crowd about Li Xiangyi’s great feats while dressed in white, and heroically battling evil.

This changing, amorphous thing is The Narrative. Now, see the entirety of MLC as such a story—this narrative being told by all these different voices to the audience (us).

So LLH escapes it. FDB defies it and changes it and refuses to live by it.

DFS is… he is part of it. If he ever cared about what anyone says about him, dfs has long since given up on changing the narrative. He’s learned to accept it because it literally doesn’t matter what he says or  does – ppl will always spin it to suit the needs of the story, which will then get passed around as fact. So he lives within this framework of societal expectation for the villainous. He weaponizes it to use it to his advantage. And, ultimately, he’s trapped by it.

Imagine a yin yang symbol. Imagine llh standing on one dot with dfs standing on another. Imagine the yin yang spinning as they both walk forward. They’re interlinked, never to be separated. They’re mirrors, but at the same time always moving in opposite directions of each other as the symbol spins. This is the position I image DFS being when in relation to llh.

Narratively, DFS both parallels and moves in opposite directions to llh.

Mirrored parallels, let’s go with that - Where they are the same but on opposite ends of it:

Visually dark vs light in clothing etc, even their masks are black vs silver and on opposite sides of their faces

Skills and energy-wise: both utilize pure yang energies but fast and overwhelming vs slow and steady

Positioned as great rivals/oppositional forces of equal skill

He’s just as trapped by the narrative as LXY but as the demon lord instead of the hero

Repeatedly placed on opposite sides of the screen as a visual cue

Dfs = chaos, llh = agent of order

Llh femme presenting for a very heteronormative appearing sect and storyline while dfs is extremely masculine/heteronormative appearing, but at the helm of a sect that is full of fringe elements and is potentially queer

regarding personal health - llh uses risk percentage as an excuse to not try to heal himself – meanwhile dfs will take any risk to heal himself even if it means he dies

Dfs rescued himself as a child while llh is picked up and nurtured by others

Dfs is a self-taught genius while llh is a trained genius

Dfs survives so hard he doesn’t understand what it means to want to die, llh wants to disappear so badly that he doesn’t understand what it means to desire to live

Oh right, and the thing I didn’t mention before. Not only does DFS live in the narrative. DFS is narratively bound to llh. He is not and was never independent of llh. Not due to lack of skill or for want of trying, dfs is narratively incapable of succeeding at his greatest goals without llh’s help – or ultimately fails due to llh’s actions. Either outcome, llh is involved.

He leaves the story when LLH does (disappearing into the ocean after the Donghai Battle) and returns to the narrative (leaves seclusion) the very moment FDB forces LLH to become active again and LLH starts moving to tie up loose ends.

His attempt for establishing peace was destroyed by Shan Guado and Jiao Liqiao, yes, but it ultimately fails because lxy declares war and ‘kills’ him. It takes LLH revealing himself to everyone and establishing events for things to quiet down.

Unable to reach the guanyin elixir without llh’s help

Unable to figure out the secret behind shan gudao’s death and the war between their sects without llh’s cooperation

Succeeds in finding the styx flower, not for himself, but for llh’s benefit

Unable to reach the next level of Beifeng Baiyang without help from llh and Yangzhou Man

Continuously bids for freedom and agency – but his first attempt is foiled by not being able to get rid of the mind control bug. Then during the amnesia arc, his ‘freedom’ from his enemies comes at the cost of being kept by llh as a servant. Then as soon as he was able to get rid of the mind control bug, he’s captured by jlq and his freedom/autonomy is taken away again. If the narrative was a sentient being – it’s watching him claw his way up the side of a mountain and every time he almost reaches the top, it chops his hand or fingers off to send him flying back down below. Ultimately, DFS is only able to regain physical and mental freedom when llh rescues him and choses to give him that freedom (see amnesia arc where llh tries to keep dfs as his servant/weapon).

Cure llh/save his life – ultimately stopped by llh’s actions.

Simply put – while llh exists without dfs. As far as the narrative is concerned, dfs does not exist without llh. Jinyuan Alliance is replaced completely by Shan Gudao as the bad guys in the story. (Which he was- but there is no mention of DFS or the alliance's roles - everything is attributed to lxy's heroism and return from the dead.)

So what happens post canon in a world where llh is dead? What then? We have fdb, right?

I’ve been bothered by this – and as much as I go on about how fdb is the future of the story. That he’s the inheritor of everything llh, including dfs... There is no guarantee of anything because he’s the guy that writes his own story and transforms his narrative.

We get the bit of bonding with each other in the zombie village when llh deliberately leaves them alone with each other (could this be an example of llh facilitating emotional bonds between the two?). We get fdb’s sense of betrayal later on when he thinks dfs turned on them. And then later his happiness when he realizes dfs was on their side. We get him calling dfs Lao Di. But then we have the moment at the eastern sea with the letter - where we get him running off to investigate alone until both men just happen to arrive at the beach at the same time from opposite directions. Because fate, I guess. I think dfs and fdb’s relationship is meant to be a 50/50 swing by design because we don't know the future and Fdb is ultimately the catalyst for whatever direction the story goes.

As two men who loved the same man and who tried their best but ultimately failed to keep llh alive, will he care enough about dfs to maintain ties with him or… just… walk away after saying his goodbyes --- you know, they way they often do in jainghu.

So just for speculation’s sake. Let’s say, with no additional input or relationship development. Let’s say they take the second route and go their separate ways. FDB doesn’t reach out further to DFS and DFS never tries to find fdb for a replacement fight. They never try to bridge that llh-shaped gap.

This is where we come to the third thing – Narratively, dfs’ purpose is to remind llh of the true past and to provide information or vehicles for him in his quest to address that past.

So what does that mean for dfs when LLH dies? Dfs, as a survivor, cannot physically do the same. How will he die narratively? Imo, with the way his movements mirror llh's and his role for llh, it makes sense that dfs will do what llh did - he goes back to where he was in the past. He returns to the beginning.

And from there? Maybe, DFS returns to seclusion, or a form of seclusion at least, once again in mourning. Because otherwise what else does he have left that holds meaning for him? Jinyuan Alliance? Whatever remnants remain... he never cared about it and I’d argue that at the very start of the series, he was already 1-foot out the door with retiring from leadership. Strength was freedom – he has both, so now what? Power and skill? The one person he wants to fight is gone.

DFS goes away. Days become months, become years and life continues on. New heroes and villians will rise and fall. And one day, fdb will remember he used to know a powerful guy. Whatever happened to him? And the people around him will shrug. Some may even be young enough to be like, “Who?” FDB lets it go because he’s a busy man. He’s got businesses to run, students to train, etc – can you blame him? His life is full. Eventually, he forgets he ever asked a question.

This is how the last living piece of dfs in the worlds’ consciousness dies. He fades away from memory, absentmindedly.

Maybe one day, a student or scholar will crack open a book about the history of li xiangyi and if they don't skim, they’ll come across a line or two talking about some guy that fought lxy that one time and ultimately failed to kill him. Maybe they will be motivated enough to look further into him, maybe not.  

Llh remains alive as a memory – his legacy kept alive by fdb who’s his student and his students’ students. Sigu Sect and Baichuan Court remain as pillars of society.

DFS? Who is there to remember him? Who is there to see how his story ends? Does it matter? Who is DFS without llh?

There are plants that exist without their natural pollinators or creatures that eat their fruit because they are so ancient, those creatures no longer exist. We only know what they potentially look like based on the shape of the flower/plant/tree.. They survive because they have evolutionarily figured out stopgap measures to make up for the deaths of their pollinators. But one day those measures will no longer work. Stopgaps only buy time. That plant exists as a living memory of something that used to exist and then one day it too will die.

DFS is like that remaining plant.

You know that question about whether a tree exists if no one is there to hear them fall in the woods?

Now, here is me, getting a leg cramp in the audience. I’ve always loved the antagonists, the monster-shaped beings that weren’t really monsters inside, and all the random side characters that fall off the story one after another. I’ve always bothered the hell out of everyone bc I’m the person going “So what about x? What about y? Where is z now?”

So consider this me asking – in a story where his existence is swallowed by a narrative that no longer needs him - what about dfs? Where is he now? What is he doing now?

[vierran45]

Shan Gudao really is the worst! I understand why he was jealous of Li Xiangyi’s talent back then, but all this other petty stuff he did just to prove he was better than LXY. And even going so far as to injure their Master who saved their lives and adopted them when they were living as poor street rats. This guy only thinks of himself and his perceived injuries and how he should be the best because he deserves it. Ugh, what an egotistical, megalomaniac weaselrat he is!

I agree with Xiangyi, he really is despicable.

All that gloating about the miseries he created really gets me. Definitely the worst.

Also, the way he keeps blaming everything on Li Xiangyi. He doesn’t take any accountability for his actions, because in his twisted tiny mind everything that happens is somehow Li Xianyi’s fault. And Xiangyi takes it in, because he has been wallowing in guilt for the past ten years and has internalised this supposed idea that everything bad in jianghu is somehow his fault.

[potahun]

AU of mysterious lotus casebook where lxy is not poisoned by bicha 👀

!!!!!!!

thanks for this!!!!

one thing about an AU where there is not bicha poisoning is that the outcome of the donghai battle could have been completely different and the changes could have started as early as 10 years ago :O

i wonder if w/o the Bicha acting up, Li Xiangyi would have been so desperate to have Di Feisheng cough up Shan Gudao’s location right there and then? Would he have tried to stop the battle when he realised that something odd was happening at the same time as he was fighting, with the simultaneous ‘bombing’ of the Sigu Sect members and Jingyuan Alliance members? Would he press on and win? Would Di Feisheng LET him stop the battle?

The reason LXY fights DFS is also due to a ruse that frames the Jingyuan Alliance as SGD’s murderer. The reason DFS doesn't clear up that misunderstanding is because he doesn't care about being the Bad Guy, and this is making LXY fight him at full power. He only has to shut up for LXY to come at him! Great!

But if DFS might be okay with losing Jingyuan Alliance members to finish his fight with LXY, I doubt LXY would be fine with Sigu Sect being collateral for this fight. It's not huge, but I think there is a chance that, w/o the poison acting up when it did, LXY might be able to stop the fight and force DFS into a temporary truce. Alternatively, they could also fight to exhaustion without death, and at the very end, when they both wake up on the beach, LXY gains some sanity and thinks "wait a minute. something wasn't right with this fight. there is something I missed".

Either way, for the sake of this AU, let's presume such a truce happened. So here come the five facts of the AU!

1. LI Xiangyi doesn't die. Even when he still loathes himself for the losses the Sigu Sect incurred because of him, he doesn't die. And Di Feisheng is there the entire time to see that he sticks to it.

2. For DFS too, there is a question mark. We know he used the Jingyuan Alliance and power ultimately to achieve more personal goals, and 10 years ago, those goals weren't achieved yet. At that stage, he would not accept the possibility of traitors in his ranks, or members with personal agendas. DFS is also very, very capable of lying and acting to cover up his intentions. I think there is a good chance for DFS and LXY working together semi-covertly in investigations to (i) find what happened with SGD (for LXY) and (ii) clean up the Jingyuan situation (for DFS).

3. There is a huge mess to clean up in terms of violation of the Peace Treaty and a lot of agendas to hide...but with LXY alive, the Sigu Sect still stands. No one, however, understands why LXY suddenly wants to let the Jingyuan Alliance off the hook for now. What about SGD?? There are awkward meetings where DFS is caught in LXY's quarters and everyone is just "??????????" about it. A LOVE AFFAIR? (cue Sigu Sect becoming more and more unstable in terms of internal politics, but also, LXY prefers this if it means he gets to investigate without alerting the enemy)

4. Some years after the Donghai battle, teen Fang Xiaobao starts showing up to Sigu Sect to train and LXY himself receives a ton of hate mail from He Xiaohui and her husband threatening him to tear the sect apart if they accept her son. There is a huge amount of FXB camping in front of the Sigu Sect gates, shenanigans with a younger FXB failing to bribe LXY with candies even though LXY postpones training him simply because he wants to solve the SGD business and other episodes.

5. Fang Xiaobao gets to know Li Xiangyi as Li Xiangyi, but their prolonged contact humanizes him into a Li Lianhua-style of Li Xiangyi. This would be the story exploring how, w/o the bicha poisoning, Li Xiangyi could combine Li Xiangyi and Li Lianhua and whatever comes after Li Lianhua, into himself, and live.