#i love mxtx protags

[mxtxfanatic]

Xie Lian grinned, “Feng Xin, did you know, there are so many people in this world that are nothing but rocks in my eyes.”

Feng Xin didn’t understand. Xie Lian walked with his hands behind his back, “Rocks are everywhere, but precious jades are hard to come by. When it comes to martial arts, I’ve only ever seen two people who could be called jades. One is you. The other, is him.”

He suddenly stopped in his step, turned his head around, his eyes shining brightly, “I truly think that Mu Qing is extremely gifted. Such a precious jade, how can it be sat to let dust collect and hide its beauty just because of backgrounds and temper?”

Xie Lian looked determined, “No! I think that’s wrong. You ask why I think so highly of him? It’s the same reason as why I think so highly of you. Ones that are destined to shine, I must let them shine. Besides, I don’t believe that good will brings bad returns.”

—Chapt. 61: Lost Red Pearl; Inadvertent Eyes Red with Desire (Part Two)

Xie Lian helps Mu Qing, first and foremost, because despite Mu Qing’s bad attitude, his martial skill still deserves to be honed and admired. The friendship is an added bonus, but Xie Lian went into this with the conviction that a person must be allowed to shine for their skills.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Call that a Cave Story.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[benevolenterrancy]

what I'm learning is that MXTX series really have ☆*: .｡The Range｡.:*☆ and that my first impressions often don't survive for very long...

MDZS, initial impression: ooh revived necromancer that everyone fears, this is going to be dark and revenge-fuelled

MDZS, subsequent impression: these are Silly Lil Guys off on a romcom murder mystery

SVSSS first impression: nerd who got isekai'd into a shitty novel, crybaby puppy dog imprints on him

SVSSS subsequent impression: how many times now has the love interest tortured the main character? should I start a tally?

(i've only just finished SVSSS bk2, please no spoilers!!)

[jade-len]

i adore how mxtx sorta flipped the idea on the whole top/bottom thing with svsss, and just BL relationships in general.

making bingqiu very open to switching, not making the "bottom" super feminine and actually leaning more to the handsome side compared to the "top", how luo binghe is manipulative sensitive and cries easily, etc. one of the main themes in svsss is literally about sexuality (and possibly even about gender roles).

as a queer asian man myself, i absolutely despise the "yaoi archetype" and it was one of the reasons why i avoided consuming BL media. hell, years ago when i first saw heavens official blessing, i mentally groaned and went, "ugh, let me guess, the bottom is super feminine and innocent, while the top is masculine and experienced." of course, that's not the case now, but it's disappointing how that thought was there purely because of the god awful way fetish-y media portrays homosexual people and couples. because, believe it or not, we are not assigned male/female typical gender roles just because one likes to top/bottom (and even then, it's not even like that! some people have preferences, sure, but it's not so strictly "i'm top/bottom")

so, while i absolutely LOVE the english novel designs (especially luo binghe's cute curly hair, gongyi xiao, etc, and personally believe a lot of the takes from the western artist on the designs are an improvement), i am greatly saddened by people subconsciously assigning shen qingqiu as someone more delicate and feminine and luo binghe as someone super masculine and muscly. like, if you're going to have luo binghe depicted as the western design (i believe this stems from binghe being applied to more western ideals for men, and, admittedly, i actually really love his design), at least don't make shen qingqiu feminine and delicate? don't have his appearance play into the stupid yaoi thing?

i get that people have different takes on svsss, especially how the western version depicts it. but, people just... seem to very over exaggerate the top/bottom roles when it comes to bingqiu (again, these two are, canonically, VERY open to switching).

it's weird, it's uncomfortable, and it comes across as, "so, who wears the pants in the relationship?"

so, can we please have more canonically handsome shen qingqiu? canonically beautiful and pretty boy luo binghe (they literallly state that binghe looks EXACTLY like his mom, su xiyan! while a more handsome woman, is still very beautiful!! plus it is stated several times that binghe is slim, and that shang qinghua made him that way!) or at the very least, a BL couple who actually look like normal people (ok thats a little hard considering binghe is literally supposed to be perfect) and not just a stupid fetishized version of themselves.

and no, i'm not saying that queer men shouldn't be feminine or men who are feminine shouldn't be in a relationship with guys who are masculine, etc.

TLDR: please stop twinkifying shen qingqiu and going against what mxtx defied for us queer men (the stupid yaoi roles). and for the love of whoever you believe in, do NOT think that i hate the english design or people's personal interpretation of characters, i just hate the subconscious assigning of gender roles to bingqiu and how media portrays and fetishizes LGBTQ+ relationships in general.

edit: also i love teardrew's (check them out on twitter!) interpretation of shang qinghua. while i do really like the the eng novel design's tiny scared hamster vibes, teardrew's version just radiates "up to no good, paranoid but suspicious looking bitch" rat man and i love it so so so much. i'm not gonna repost their art bc i don't know how they feel about that but perhaps you can search up "svsss designs" on here, you'll see it pop up eventually lol.

edit 2 (1/16): i just saw someone reblog a post (that im pretty sure was referring to this one because, well, if you saw it i think it'd be a little clear kahxj) that was about how bingqiu switching and completely eschewing traditional top/bottom dynamics was a fandom idea or smth? so now i'm wondering, since i swear i remember that they were open to switching, but it's just that sqq preferred to bottom and/or was just a little too lazy to top. plus, sqq is a pretty unreliable narrator who says he doesn't want something one moment and then he does. how could he say no to bingbing? esp if he seems to wanna try bottoming too. perhaps i'm mixing things up though, idk? so if anyone can find that passage that says he only and strictly wants to bottom or whatever please show me! but i think the point of this post still stands haha (i wanted to ask about it, actually, but when i clicked on the og post's user it turned out that they blocked me ? so that was a little surprising oops. hey if ur somehow reading this, im... sorry for making you want to block me bc of this post? akdhxjj)

[snake-and-mouse]

Dear mdzs fandom. As much as I love fix-it tropes that are like "tragic death reversed ha! Beloved character gets to come back and fix this shit!" Or "SIKE eleventh hour time travel back to make different decisions and save everyone with foreknowledge from having already lived all this!" Or even some more creative uses of timeloops that give the same result...

We need to be honest that Wei Wuxian (or most the characters lbh but let's focus on him) would NOT participate in any of that shit unless forced or ooc 😂 That man LITERALLY DID get to come back to life and had the chance to try to rekindle his relationships and find closure and repair what he could of the fallout of his first life... and ACTIVELY SAID NO FUCK YOU I'M RUNNING AWAY WITH A DONKEY. HE WAS DRAGGED KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO THE CANON RESURRECTION AND REDEMPTION PLOT. IF GIVEN THE CHOICE HE WOULD STILL TRY TO YEET HIMSELF OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH IN ANY OF THESE DAMN FICS.

THIS MAN WOULD NOT FIX-IT A DAMN THING.

[interstate35south]

i love when people draw all the mxtx protagonists together but i’ll be real the generic anime boy face curse is alive and well

more often than not the art itself is fantastic it just takes me like a solid minute to figure out who’s who. bonus points if lbh is robbed of his wavy hair and the only way i can tell him apart from wwx is his forehead

[carrot-felisidad]

Why I prefer my pookie as bottom?

(answering the question you never asked)

Because FANFICTION or even ORIGINAL WORKS in general are usually bottom-centric. If Jiang Cheng is the bottom in a fic, there will be detailed idealization of his pain and suffering and as a bottom, the story will promise him a gentle care and acknowledgement of a Top (aka Lan Xichen), which will nourish me as a reader of course. I will always prefer a pookie-centric fic, sorry I don't make the rules. Lan Xichen also has his own pain, (dare I say he got one of the most tragic ending in canon), but he's not my pookie, so... Sorry man. I can't ship Jiang Cheng with Nie Huaisang because NHS is also my pookie and if they're in a fic together I will combust.

And that's why I ship XiCheng and not SangCheng. I have no care of the canon and the chemistry, I just want the purple man to bottom.

Thank you for reading my important feature essay.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Beefleaf isn't canon. Mxtx has said she doesn't like to write another gay ship different from the main (she struggled with svsss)

I have heard about this! The content I saw was just so insistent about Beefleaf that I wondered if maybe I was misremembering and the "no same-gender side couples" thing applied to MDZS only. (I have gotten similar vibes from Moshang and from whatever Yue QIngyuan and Shen Jiu's ship name is, but I've now obtained Vol. 1 of SVSSS and plan to read it, so if those two aren't actually canon, don't tell me! It can be a surprise!)

The "no side couples"--or, in MDZS's case, "no queer characters AT ALL besides the protag, his love interest, and the disgraced goth weirdo who annihilates himself to resurrect the protag"--thing confuses me, because... I guess I don't get the point of it? I totally understand not having the bandwidth to develop more than one couple. The challenge of adequately building up other relationships fully independent of your main couple without detracting from the exploits of your protagonist and his love interest could be daunting, as would expanding the story's focus and juggling multiple equally-prominent lead characters for an effective ensemble piece. But here it seems like people picked up a vibe between the characters from what was already there in the text and then MXTX was like, "oh, no, they're not a couple! there's just the one couple!" and THAT I don't get. If she's disinterested in writing women, but has a cast of attractive men who are all obsessed with each other, why not toss a romance in there between some of the guys? Again, you can keep it entirely as-is and just toss a kiss in there or confirm in interviews that yes, they were in love, and you're so happy readers picked up on that even though you didn't get to tell their full story on the page.

I am extrapolating based on the Xiyao situation specifically, so maybe this doesn't apply to her other works! But it is a choice that confuses me. A couple doesn't have to be that developed; Xuanli certainly aren't, but their existence is a major plot point. I should think that the presence of other m/m couples would bolster the main couple, if anything, because it sets a precedent for them existing in their world. There are situations where adding an expressly romantic element would change something fundamental about the relationship, but there are just as many where the addition of a romantic element changes nothing or makes it make more sense (case in point: Xue Yang's freakout after killing Xiao Xingchen).

Like I said, I get not wanting to devote energy to it, and I also get that sometimes a work or performance is received by the audience in ways the artist didn't intend (this is the Destiel website, after all), but to make it a conscious choice to have One M/M Couple Only? Based on what I currently know, this perplexes me.

[kurv4]

lbg when he finds a guy with a beard that looks eerily close to his dead teacher/crush/??? that kicked him to hell when lbg was 17, ran away from him after reuniting 3 yrs post hell, and self destructed 5 years ago when trying to prevent lbg from going insane and mudering everyone

[whumpbby]

I agree 100%, and also would like to add that the difference in how HC/LWJ treat the protags, compared to their 'friends/family' is that both of them suffer from a massive ✨Hero Complex✨.

They are the Saviour of their beloved who has to be protected from everything and everyone else. And it works perfectly when the danger is ongoing, and I can easily see how a person may fall for someone who saves them when needed and wants nothing in exchange.

Because real, established, long-term relationships aren't this. They are messy and weighted, between people who know you and people you know, and sometimes you just think you do. And, paradoxically, you have to communicate even more in them, because closeness makes it easy to assume shit that isn't true - like Wei Wuxian assuming he knows JC the best of all, or XieLian assuming he understands his friends, because they're friends. Of course they know them, they've known them forever! (I am looking at XieLian here, who kinda seemed to forget the fact his friends were first his servants - and always first and foremost his servants when the chips were down - and for a long time didn't seem to grasp the actual true complexity of their relationship.)

Now, is it surprising that a new relationship subsumed the old ones? New relationships are exciting, fresh, there's no expectations, no weight of the past. And with a partner that is so smitten and subservient, and caring only about what's best for you? A partner who doesn't expect explanations and doesn't know your flaws and won't pull you to task? Jackpot!

I mean, until the danger passes and the freshness goes away, and the realisation settles that one isn't a princess in need of saving and the other doesn't need to be the knight. What do you do then?

I am forseeing some long and needed conversations in the post-canon future, where both WWX and XL will attempt to explain to heir partners that, you know, I'm a real grown up person, not some damsell in distress that needs to be supervised. I can talk to people and make friends, and sometimes be alone. And can you tell me fucking once what you want for dinner, instead of "whatever you like?!"

I SIMPLY THINK (as my friends approach to restrain me) that the Xianle Trio is (to a slightly lesser extent) the Twin Prides of TGCF in that both relationships are way more consequential to the story than the size of their roles suggests and in fact reconciling that relationship (or failing to, for WWX) is completely essential to the main character's narrative and emotional resolution

[oshikasa]

mxtx protags 🌸🐰🥒

out of the way gay boy i’m abt to get it *shoves the love interests out of the way* /j

princesses!!! i love them all sm!!

[mxtxfanatic]

When Wei Wuxian Stops Giving a Fuck

Wei Wuxian spends 95% of the novel being so polite and charming and funny and kind that I think people honestly forget how terrifying and decisive he can be once you exhaust his patience. These are some of my favorite moments when Wei Wuxian stops being nice to people who absolutely never deserved it:

Wei Wuxian found the scene unbearable. “After so many years, the Lan family is still like this,” he thought to himself. “They’re still affecting that stupid, undying self-restraint. Hmph. Watch this!” He spat at Lady Mo and said, “Who the hell do you think you’re screaming at? Do you think they’re your servants? These people traveled through half the country in order to help you for free. What exactly do they owe you? How old is your honorable son? He should be at least seventeen this year, right? And he’s still ‘a child?’ How old does he have to be to understand human speech? Yesterday, didn’t these cultivators say several times not to touch anything or approach the western courtyard? Because your son couldn’t stop himself from pilfering what isn’t his, as though he were a starving dog stealing chickens in the night, you’re blaming me? You’re blaming them?”

—Chapt. 4: Feral III, fanyiyi

[Jin Zixuan's] blood grew hot and he blurted out, “If she’s unhappy, then let her break off the engagement! I certainly don’t cherish your wonderful shijie. If you cherish her so much, why don't you take it up with your father? Doesn’t he love you more than his own son?” After hearing the last sentence, Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed, and Wei Wuxian was no longer able to contain his own fury. He flew at Jin Zixuan, his fist raised. Though Jin Zixuan had been prepared to defend himself, he hadn’t expected Wei Wuxian to hit back so quickly. The attack started before he had even finished speaking, and when the fist struck him it immediately caused half his face to go numb.

—Chapt. 18: Elegance VIII, fanyiyi

Wen Chao’s complexion switched between red and white. Wei WuXian added, “Right, what was the accusation given to those who insult famous cultivators of the Wen Sect again? How should they be punished? I remember that it was execution, right? Yes, very well, you can go die now.” Wen Chao couldn’t hold himself back any longer, unsheathing his sword and lunging at Wei WuXian. With that, he lunged out of Wen ZhuLiu’s range of protection. Wen ZhuLiu had always been used to defending against the attacks of others. He had never expected Wen Chao to leave by his own will. Facing the sudden difficulty, he somehow couldn’t react in time. On the other hand, as Wei WuXian provoked Wen Chao, he was precisely waiting for the moment of uncontrollable rage. The smile by his lips didn’t falter at all as he attacked with the speed of lightning. In a split second, he had snatched the sword and reversed the situation, subduing Wen Chao with just one move!

—Chapt. 53: Courage, exr

After he said a few harsh words to her, standing where she was, Jiang YanLi had burst into tears. When Wei WuXian returned, this happened to be the scene that he saw. Although his shijie had an easy temper, except for how they cuddled and cried together the day the three of them reunited after Lotus Pier was destroyed, she hadn’t really shed many tears in front of others, much less cry so loudly, so pitifully in front of so many people. Wei WuXian was filled with panic. As he tried to ask her, Jiang YanLi was crying so badly that she couldn’t even speak properly. Then, when he saw Jin ZiXuan standing on the side, astonished, he fumed with anger, wondering to himself why it was the dog of a person again. With a kick, he pounced on Jin ZiXuan. The fight between the two would have alerted the Heavens. All of the cultivators around the base came to break up their fight. Amid the ruckus, he finally understood what was the cause of all this, and became even more angered. He spread his tough talk, saying that one day he’d definitely make Jin ZiXuan die in his hands, he told people to drag out the cultivator woman. A round of questions later, the truth emerged, and Jin ZiXuan’s entire body was frozen. No matter how much Wei WuXian continued to curse at him, he returned neither words nor fists, his face dark.

—Chapt. 69: Departure, exr

Hearing this, Wei WuXian’s smile disappeared at once. He asked, “Discipline?” He turned his head slowly, “A crooked path?” Lan WangJi’s voice was low, “Wei Ying.” Jin ZiXun and the others noticed the unusual atmosphere as well. Holding their breaths, they looked at him. Wei WuXian smiled again, “Do you know why I’m not carrying my sword? It wouldn’t make a difference if I told you anyways.” He turned around, stating one word at a time, “Because I want you to know that even if I don’t use my sword, with nothing but what you call a ‘crooked path’, I will still rise unparalleled and leave all of you staring at me from behind.” With his words, all of the people present were shocked speechless.

—Chapt. 70: Departure, exr

Wei WuXian, “Cut the nonsense. I’m sure everyone knows that my patience is limited. Where is he? With so much time wasted on you, I’ll give you three. Three!” Jin ZiXun wanted to resist, but when he saw Jin GuangShan’s face, he felt his heart shiver. Wei WuXian began again, “Two!” Jin ZiXun finally yelled, “... Fine! Fine! It’s just a few Wen- dogs. Take them if you want to. I’m not fooling around with you any longer! Go find them at Qiongqi Path on your own!” Wei WuXian laughed coldly, “If only you said it sooner.”

...

The group felt their scalps tingle and their blood run cold. The head inspector stammered, “The YunmengJiang Sect and the LanlingJin Sect have been getting along with each other. You mustn’t...” Hearing this, Wei WuXian glanced at him, his tone amused, “You’re quite brave. Are you threatening me?” The head inspector hurried, “Of course not, of course not.” Wei WuXian, “Congratulations to you for successfully draining all my patience. Since you don’t want to speak up, let’s let him answer on his own.” As though it’d been waiting for his words for a long time, Wen Ning’s frozen corpse suddenly moved, raising its head. Before the two nearest inspectors could even scream, each of their throats was clenched by a hand as firm as iron. ... He suddenly spun around, putting his hand on Wen Ning’s shoulder before shouting, “Wen QiongLin!” As if a reply, Wen Ning let out a long, thundering roar. The ears of everyone within the valley ached. Wei WuXian spoke one word at a time, “Whoever caused all of you to be like this, let them meet the same end. I give you the right to do so. Settle everything!” Hearing this, Wen Ning immediately crashed the two inspectors that he was holding together. Like exploding watermelons, the two heads immediately let out a loud bang, sending red and white flying everywhere.

—Chapt. 72: Recklessness, exr

He walked beside the person whose words were the harshest and ground his foot against the person’s face, laughing, “Talk. Why aren’t you talking anymore? Mr. Hero, just what are you going to do to me?!” The person’s nasal bones had broken from the force, bleeding and screaming uncontrollably. Many cultivators were watching from on top of the city gate. They wanted to help, but they didn’t dare approach the scene. One of them shouted from afar, “Wei... Wei Ying! If you’re really that strong, why don’t you go find those sect leaders participating in the pledge conference? What could you prove by picking on us low-level cultivators with no power to fight back?” Wei WuXian let out another short whistle. The cultivator who shouted felt as a hand suddenly tugged him down. He fell off the city gate, breaking both of his legs, and began to scream. Amid the wails, Wei WuXian’s expression didn’t change at all, “Low-level cultivators? Do I have to tolerate you, just because you’re low-level cultivators? If you dared say those things, you had to dare shoulder the consequences. If you knew that you were insignificant pieces of scum as filthy as ants, how come you didn’t know to think before you speak?!” Everyone was as pale as ash, making not a single noise. A moment later, when Wei WuXian didn’t hear any more chatter, he continued in satisfaction, “Yes, that’s the spirit.”

—Chapt. 77: Nightfall, exr

One of the cultivators who stood in the front rows of one of the arrays commented bitterly, “Wei Ying, you disappoint me so much. There used to be a time when I admired you and said that at least you were someone who founded your own sect. Now that I think about it, it’s almost repulsive. From this moment on, I’ll forever stand on the opposite side of you!” Hearing this, Wei WuXian first paused, but soon exploded with laughter, “Hahahaha...” He laughed so hard that he almost couldn’t breathe, “You admired me? You said you admired me, but why haven’t I ever seen you when you admired me? And as soon as I’m loathed by everyone, you jump out and wave your little flag?” Tears of laughter seeped from the corners of Wei WuXian’s eyes, “Your admiration as a bit too cheap, isn’t it? You said that you’ll forever stand on the opposite side of me. Very well. Does the fact that you’re standing on the opposite side of me affect me at all? Both your admiration and your hatred are so, so insignificant. How could you be so shameless as to flaunt them in front of others?”

—Chapt. 78: Nightfall, exr

Just because a person is kind does not mean that they are unconditionally kind. Nobody is obligated to tolerate bullshit forever, and I am really glad that mxtx wrote Wei Wuxian as a character with clear boundaries, limits, and an understanding of when he needs to remind people who tf he is.

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 21

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

The last chapter of the story?!?!?!

I will be continuing my notes into the extras-already decided when I started book 1. Once those extras are done though,- pls pls pls I will accept any fanfic recs. I am absolutely ready to get lost in the sauce for the next several months. Send me your absolute favs! I will read the shit out of them.

Today I am back on my tea- this is a lady grey latte :'3

LET'S GOOOOO

Oh man. Thank fuck Shan Qinghua is okay, but Tianlang-jun is looking REAL rough. p272

Not snake boy! him too! p274

Mobei-Jun coming in to save his man 👏 Get it! p276

This story is so annoying. The "big bad" was never even evil. The man just wanted to hang out in the human realm, read poetry, and vibe but the humans were the ones being awful. This story was driven by nonsense the entire time at least in MMDZS the fake evil one was still being orchestrated by an actual evil one. This was just a bunch of fuckery and racism. p277

LOL when I read the big "fight" I was thinking- that's it? Literally all this build up for the fastest fight?? Then two paragraphs later SQQ also said "that's it?"p279 I really do feel bad for Tianlang-jun. He was done so dirty in this. (I do want a buttload of fanfic where he get's a better life and also works to actively set his son up LOL Tianlang-jun biggest Bingqiu shipper).

I still cannot get over that Zhuzhi-lang's mother straight up fucked a snake. p280

Why did this reveal have to be worse :((((( The fact that LBH's mom actually likely cared for Tianlang-jun but was imprisoned by the OPM, was too late to get to Tianlang-jun, and forced to drink poison. :((( uuuuuuuugh. p282-283

Holy shit! Luo Binghe is the one who is actually powering the realm merge!!! p286

Baby Luo Binghe this behaviour is so toxic :'( p289-291

Are you kidding me. :( Why Yue Qingyuan!!! Xuan Su actively drains his life force whenever he uses it. p296

and we get the reveal that Yue Qingyuan was the pal who promised to come back and save Shen Jiu. uuuugh my heart, why am I so emotional about this. p297

The most bittersweet system notifications rn, so upsetting. Bro is about to lose the only things he's grown to care about in this second life and they are just listing achievements for what pp298-299

I know Yue Qingyuan is in a bad way but I really am rooting for him. Good on SQQ for not giving YQY his last wish. I need this softy to pull through. p301

Oh no! BInghe is hallucinating now :(((((( the sword has totally fucked him with demonic qi. :((( p307

I always love when we get a scenario pusher- it really "pushes" SQQ's boundaries p307

OMG. Well. That's not a small scenario pusher!!!! What is it with MXTX always having her male protags fuck dry 🤮🤮 This is not cute, and I totally understand it is a "fuck or die" scenario but omg RIP SQQ's asshole. How is this both kind of tender and absolutely horrific :((((((( 🤮🤮 pp310-311

This is actually so terrible :( my heart what the fuck :( Luo Binghe reached out, wanting to touch him but also not daring to. His hand remained frozen in midair as he muttered, "Shi...zun?" Once he heard Luo Binghe call him "Shizun" as normal, Shen Qingqiu seemed to come alive, and he gasped in a breath. Unfortunately, due to how strained this breath was, it almost sounded like a sob. Luo Binghe was stunned, "Shizun...what...What did I do?" p314

aaaaand the Jade Guanyin :(((((((( p315

Bless the system for getting me out of the choke hold that this scene had me in. I truly thought everyone was about to die. pp318-320

I'm dead LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I clocked it many chapters ago with my jokes that SQQ was actually changing the genre and was really the bawdy love interest. He really did though XD ahahahaha p323

Thank fuck everyone (at least LBH and SQQ) are alive! I thought they would have killed LBH afterwards or with the state of his mental health, he would kill himself but thankfully he is not dead. p327

YAY! We have Yue Qingyuan alive as well! p329

Incredible. Shen Qinghua wanted this ending as well but decided to sell out for finances. Bless that this guy got to see his favorable ending play out LOL p333

oh!!! Tianlang-jun is also alive!! p335

My heart! SQQ to LBH " Of course what this master most wanted to see first was you!" p339

We hit the end of the main story!

Some final thoughts- that felt really abrupt. Like it just ended very fast. These two really have a strange relationship (I am sure more happens in the extras but as is stands it is still so ambiguous). Nary a real declaration of love, and their intimate moments were all fabricated by other situations or a product of deceit. I am excited to dig into the extras to see more about their relationship.

[tweetsongs]

i love shen jiu because there's just something deliciously horrifying about a character who was meant to be redeemed becoming doomed in the story because an author was pressured by readers to go in a different direction. what a cosmic horror for the character! you had the potential for good, the potential to be redeemed. all the seeds were there, and because of a million invisible hands you will never be able to comprehend you are thrust into the place of the villain. you cannot be saved and even when you are it can't be as yourself.

it's so interesting bc mxtx protags tend to be like 'you were a hero because it is what was asked of you. but now that the world refuses it for you will you still choose to be good', but sy is the only protag for whom that choice just...never quite comes?  there's never quite a moment where being good would be the harder choice for him. even when he dies for lbh there's the threat of system failure & the knowledge that he has a chance of coming back. at every turn his goal IS to be kind, as dictated by a seemingly omniscient being. in that way, sj occupies a much more traditionally tragic mxtx protagonist role - whenever he IS kind, he is ostracized by the world. when he tries to save lqg, when he's kind to nyy, when he tried to shield qht...what did that get him? 

it's soooo interesting that like many mxtx characters, he's seen by the world to be awful but internally does try to do good, but because he is doomed by the narrative he never gets anyone who /understands/ him, which is the grace that redeemed both wwx and xl at their lowest points. yqy is the closest to fitting this role for sj, but he like. was a COWARD about shit and never tried to heal the rift between him and sj and also semi-believed the rumors by the end. he wasn't like mxtx mls who are defined by 'even if the world is against you, i believe in your heart'

yqy was like i will protect you without the i will believe in your heart part, which would've felt worse for sj. like he can protect himself fine!!! he needed someone to just, understand that he wasn't the evil person ppl said he was.

a lot of people have spoken more eloquently than me abt how sj was deprived of the chance to be good because of his circumstances within the narrative, but i’m just fascinated by how he was deprived of the chance to be good because of something greater than that, a mass of god-like beings outside of the story, exerting their will for a black and white narrative where he can be the one to blame. even when he could’ve been redeemed, he couldn’t have. the world literally refused him the chance.

[illuminatedferret]

What do you think of the blackwater arc?

That's a pretty open-ended question! I've read a lot of very compelling analysis of the Blackwater arc, so let me see if I can sum up my thoughts without repeating much of what's already out there.

I suppose the short answer is that I liked it, although when I was rereading it for my timeline it did feel a little long. MXTX likes to write complicated situations with no easy way out(as opposed to her preference for writing protags that are the moral guidepost of their stories), and the Blackwater arc does a very good job presenting that sort of complexity in micro. A lot of awful stuff happens, but it's very human and compelling. I once read something that basically said "revenge is what people turn to when justice is denied to them" and i think He Xuan embodies that. I really love how his character is established in the Blackwater arc- he's a deeply passionate man whose refusal to lay down and die goes so far that I honestly wonder if he even knows how to do it.

I know many people tend to lean towards favoring either He Xuan or Shi Qingxuan in the aftermath of the Blackwater arc. I don't think it's that simple. I think that He Xuan was entitled to obtain justice for his family, but it's also unfortunate the lengths he was willing to go(stealing another's fate, collecting the people with horrible fates). I don't think it was right to demand Shi Qingxuan either kill his brother or take on a horrible fate, but it's entirely understandable why he does! If his family suffered so terribly, why should he bother to spare the brother of the man who caused their suffering, especially when that brother is the reason for their suffering? When that brother refuses to cut ties or take action against him? He Xuan cares very deeply about his family, and it's clear that even after all this time, he's in a lot of pain about their deaths. I think his actions are a commentary on the cycle of revenge, that he is unwilling to let go of his desire for revenge even if it requires he perpetuate the harm inflicted upon him. It's one of many foils to Xie Lian and his choices throughout the novel.

One thing I really liked about the Blackwater arc was the parallels between Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan! Shi Qingxuan is being haunted by a horrific ghost, who we later discover is a supreme who has been at Shi Qingxuan's side all along, pulling the strings behind the scene. Rereading the whole section where Xie Lian has soul-shifted to Shi Qingxuan's body after figuring everything out is heart-wrenching after reading Book 4. He wants to help so bad, and above all else you can tell his priority is being witness to Shi Qingxuan's suffering, because he knows what it's like for to be alone/have your suffering unrecognized by others. (and conversely, Hua Cheng's desire to remove Xie Lian from the situation as quickly as possible is also very understandable after reading Book 4)

[phoenixcatch7]

Random mdzs headcanons that I don't think interfere with canon:

Though sufficient cultivation cures this, lwj is short sighted. (this is because of that mxtx interview but if he actually was short sighted he would be wearing glasses in canon.) Similarly, so would lxc and lqr is already halfway there lol.

Wen chao is barely older than the main cast. Like a couple years at most. This is is because it took until his poor wife (who shall forever be unknown, rip) being mentioned for me to go 'that's an ADULT?!'. Everything from the voice to the face to the short sighted immaturity and the lying to adults in charge, there's no way this guy is anything over 20.

Lqr isn't a very strong cultivator for all his technical skill is impeccable. I think this because I thought he was young grandparent age when he's the uncle!! It's too much stress! Major props.

He's also aromantic! We know that nothing will stop a lan in love, much to their detriment, but not only does lqr seem to regard the lot of them as idiots for finding the absolute worst choices ever but I feel if he'd also loved and lost it would have been... Relevant.

Jfm was gay, and his unrequited love was wcz. Alternate sexualities (and queerness as a whole) is one of those things that's still so dangerous in many countries, and I guess ancient fantasy China is one of them! Poor mxy. Anyway that plus arranged marriages plus jfm being an only child (to my knowledge) and needing heirs... Yeah I feel like that's one of those things that happens. It's common all throughout history, forcing people into het relationships for any number of reasons or risk social (or even physical) death. I could so easily trace how that would have affected him through the courtship, marriage, his parents, him genuinely trying to love yzy and maybe deep inside knowing it was doomed to fail, her intelligence picking up on that and trying to figure out how she was unworthy, her feeling hurt and disrespected, getting more and more paranoid and sensitive as it wears on, her being so close to the right answer but correcting her would expose him. Him just trying to settle for mutual respect and teamwork and her never getting what she needs to be fulfilled in life, what she was raised and trained all her life in preparation for. The way he's so unwilling to force his kids to do anything miserable and the way he's so quick to call off the engagement when all he's hearing is disinterest and incompatibility. I could make this a whole post on its own but I fully believe this man lived and died like so many other queer people have in the past - never being able to find out who he truly was, and that he wasn't broken for not being the way he needed to be. Wangxian have an easier time of it, but when there's stories like mxy? People keep their heads down. He raised jc the way he was raised, and he turned out fine. It wasn't their fault he was such a failure of a son.

To cheer things up, I firmly believe that wwx is bisexual af. Just because lwj is his soulmate doesn't mean he's not. Are you an mxtx protag if you're simply, straightforwardly gay? I think not.

Though I do wonder if jc being Banned From Women was 100% an entirely whoopsie daisy accident. Sometimes standards are supposed to be impossible... Now I think about it, the certainty lwj hated wwx, the total lack of any partner, the focus on jl, the constant frustration with wwx's flirting and incomprehension with jyl crushing on jzx... I think the women are the only straight ones in the family, cuz he's sounding the aroace bell! Good for him tbh!!! Break the cycle!!!!

Lsh is the child of either wrh, wc, jgs, or two perfectly lovely normal people who died in war/childbirth. He was 100% a village kid, so thank goodness they all stepped up. I feel like one of the wens would have told wwx his parentage either way, so if he hasn't told anyone else I can't imagine it's great.

Each sect is associated with an element. The wens of course were fire, the nie earth, the lan air, the jin water (koi/carp tower), and the jiang are lightning (given we assume yzy and the jiang territory are compatible (her husband is probably water lol oof)). Years of specialised clan training and select marriages have caused the clan members qi to take on movement (at minimum) matching the respective elements. This is based on the anime, where everyone has nice handy colour coded qi, but the twin jades have the prettiest cloud texture that perfectly matches their crest and wwx has an almost lightning spiky red with just enough smoulder to make he sure he's a fire type. This also!!! Matches their fighting styles, have you noticed?? Idk if they did it on purpose or not but it's so cool!!! Wwx and jc are constantly moving, redirection, bounce and flip around; lwj and lxc are very twirly, lots of attacks from above, lwj often lets his sword fly mid battle, and of course the music! And the nie are very... Brick wall lol. I'd say NHS is air? Maybe? Water?

This one's a bit silly, but I like to imagine csr and bsr are mother and daughter from a distant land where people use their surnames last (gasp) and it wasn't really important to bsr cuz secluded mountain but they did figure it was going to be a problem a touch late. 'oh but phoenix they have different spellings in Chinese' csr got asked 'oh so like the immortal?' panicked and changed it on the spot. Her husband's nicknames all use her 'surname', he's the only one who knows about the mix up.

Spinning in the air helps you change an attack or helps you float. Yes this is based entirely on the anime (donghua?) where even the most serious of characters (lwj) do three full rotations before landing a big attack midair. It might be so he has time to get his guqin out lmao.

Jc is left handed, I'm pretty sure that's anime canon at least. Any good swordsman (or dual sword whip wielder!) can do a little ambidexterousness tho.

Wwx can do decent guqin cuz he's the gentleman prodigy of the arts but he probably whittled a dozen dizi out of roadside bamboo on long journeys to entertain himself which is why chengching was such a fine tuned spiritual tool.

The jiangs were a great sect lead by good people in an ehhhh family. Individually they're all actually decent people but they bring out the worst in each other even as it keeps them all in check.

I firmly believe that yzy was holding back a LOT when made to whip wwx in front of the wen wench. That's a whole entire spiritual weapon and she was going at it wildly in a barely stable environment. Compare that to lwj who took the discipline whip not too many more times (if any) and was rendered bed bound if not house bound for years recovering (and grieving) and over a decade later is still a mass of scar tissue. And that was an orderly and structured punishment using materials designed to NOT kill the victim, not a whole entire LIGHTNING MURDER WEAPON. Wwx was back on his feet minutes later sword fighting, rowing, carrying jc on his back... Lwj is the more realistic result, real whips can be lethal, and very, very dangerous. They are excruciatingly painful and if you make a mistake they can easily flay skin and muscle to crack bone. You're not supposed to strike the same patch of skin twice. Yeah wwx and his stupid pain tolerance but I truly believe him and yzy were in full accord in that moment with the roles they had to play (and jc hated every second). She could at least have apologised... in the middle of heated battle for her home and life though....

Lwjs eyes are gold and sunset and stars' YES ALSO BUT I looked at them and my immediate reaction was 'that's a bird of prey'. They're LITERALLY falcon eyes, they're identical, and I've never once seen that comparison :(. He's already piercing/intense/pinning/scouring, (and his anime eyeliner and dark lashes look like the markings) he's so perfect for the metaphor. Make it that wwx is the rabbit prey, come on.

Why is wwx sun coded but moon aesthetic and lwj moon coded but sun aesthetic like how's that fair why does it always happen.

Stop blaming wwx for Suiban he admits he came up with a zillion good names and it was jfm who didn't pick any and named it as a joke. Ngl if that was my trusted person who went and did that I would have been gutted but hey wwx thrives. I do feel like jfm naming the sword that wwx sacrifices to save jc is grounds for some angst at the very least.

Lxc was definitely in some situation with the other two because he does read as a parallel to lwj. Their romantic lives are basically inversions of each other, you could hold a graph up to a mirror. It's just that lwj was so deeply lucky to get wwx back, and he fell in love with someone true to himself. Lxc just got used and left with the ashes, no matter how much true love was on either side. Wwx chose family, kindness and community with poverty and jgy chose greed and power and wealth for total isolation. It was NHS that inverted their fates, but either brother's love could only come at the cost of the other. Poor qiren...

All those fancy huge ribbons in everyone's hair (again it's the anime donghua) are special and ridiculously sturdy ribbons given by the parents they wear in varying styles to tie it all up and as they grow up so they don't trip on it. This is a silly headcanon but I love it cuz those ribbons are stupid long and literally everyone has it. Maybe it's the mdzs equivalent of the guan ceremony?

Wwx has for sure done cannibalism.

Ooh painful headcanon time - his parents died in yiling right? And all corpses get tossed into the mounds for centuries, right? Nonzero chance wwx's parents bodies broke his fall.

Lwj gets wwx a mule for a birthday/festival cuz those guys are basically the perfect mounts humans are ever going to get, they're just v rare and infertile. They're smart and brave as donkeys and fast and strong like the horse, resulting in an animal that is down for mounted parkour with the right training. And then lwj can ride a horse alongside wwx when they go travelling ^^. Idk I just think it'd be super cute.

Wwx only comes up with good names when he's doing real bad. Names when he's doing good: Suiban, li'l apple, rulan (after his bf). Names when he's doing bad: chengqing, yin iron tally/stygian tiger amulet, compass of evil.