#i started mdzs in 2022

[benevolenterrancy]

alright folks, I'll probably finish SVSSS v4 by this weekend (pray for me) and then I'll be done all of MXTX's books and I have no idea which series to try next... So!! I'm going to pose the question to people that might have more experience in the genre! These are ones I've either incidentally acquired or been recommended

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Redraw of my first post on this blog. Oh how far we've come B'*)

[Now with it's own redraw!]

[pbaintthetb]

was anybody going to tell me that the first section of my junior fic was already at 7k words, or was I supposed to find that out for myself?

[doufudanshi]

ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通���回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

[gargoyleandgremlinpress]

Sudden Nature by everbrighter

This MDZS fic/series is a modern AU that's mostly without magic... except there's a heavenly bureaucracy. And every once in a while, it makes a mistake, and sends someone who's died back to earth. This is rare, but frequent enough that hospitals have resurrection wards just in case.

If you're at all familiar with canon, I think we can all see where this is going.

Wei Ying is a a whistleblower on the Wen Corporation in this one, who's adopted baby A-Yuan. When he's killed in an accident, Lan Zhan raises Lan Yuan and lives with his grief... and then Wei Ying comes back. This is a story that's emotional and heartfelt, and very funny in bits, about grief and loss and family, and getting something back you never thought you would, much like canon.

The series is a bunch of interconnected short fic with two long segments. The first one is from one from Lan Sizhui's point of view: "Lan Yuan has lived most of his sixteen years not knowing the man who raised him as a toddler. So when Wei Ying suddenly comes back to life, both Lan Yuan and his dad, Lan Zhan, work to make room in their lives for him. Too bad he has a science project due this week..."

The second one is from Wei Ying's: "Wei Ying comes back from the dead, all of a sudden. Over the course of a week, he remembers what it is to be alive, and what it is to be in love." (Not gonna lie, I kind of love the parts where Wei Ying is adjusting to no longer having the body of a twenty year old, in terms of sleeping for a week on the couch now has CONSEQUENCES.)

But it was the very first part of the series that hooked me, where Lan Zhan falls in love. And it's not who you think.

"Aren’t there classes for this? Aren’t there books a person is supposed to read for this? Should he have done research? Shouldn’t he have prepared? But ah, it’s too late now, and there’s a baby in his arms, face to the shoulder of Lan Zhan’s cable-knit sweater."

I finished the typeset for this fic back in the fall of 2022, and it was in my pile of text blocks to finish binding for Binderary, an annual fanbinding challenge, in February, 2023. It was the last one left. I looked at the text block. I looked at my bookcloth and paper options for the cover. I pulled out two options... and couldn't decide. It turns out, I just didn't have the right combination of colours.

In the interim, I obtained some Duo book cloth, a particular line that has a two-tone colour shift to it, gorgeous in person, but really hard to photograph. The company that makes it, sadly, has gone out of business, and the final group orders for it obtained near epic status among @renegadeguild circles. (It has its own lore. And fic.)

Which is to say, the spine of this book is Duo Dragonfly, and the cover is chiyogami paper. The endbands were my first time trying a double core, in sewing thread, and are a little bit shaky as a result, though I'm pretty happy with the colour combo. Lettering stencilled in gold acrylic paint.

I was going for an ethereal, heavenly feel with the title page, and a shout out to the Toronto setting with the spread on the table of contents. (Hello, fellow Canadians!)

A few interior shots here, and a vaguely Lan cloud used for the section breaks. I did a bit of formatting to mimic a newspaper column for the article that starts off "Thirty-Seven," the long section from Wei Ying's point of view.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out, and glad I held off to get the match that felt right for the cover materials!

And behind the cut for spoilers... the last sentence in the short chapter right before Wei Ying's death gets me RIGHT IN THE FEELS every single time I read it.

Lan Zhan held onto A-Yuan! He held him for fifteen minutes, and then for the next sixteen years it took for Wei Ying to come back from getting milk at the 7-11! Oh my heart. Nnngh.

(Also, I slid in a fan art illustration for the fic from GreenTeaPikachu, so enjoy the drunk!LanZhan Does Parkour as an added bonus for clicking through!)

[tossawary]

Sign-ups are open for MXTX Remix 2024 (@mxtxremix) right now and they close on February 9th. It's a gift exchange for people who already have MDZS, SVSSS, and TGCF fanworks, either art or fic. You can find details such as the eligibility rules, the FAQ, and the sign-up form itself on the AO3 collection profile.

I participated in the MXTX Remix event back in 2021 and it was a lot of fun! I ended up turning someone else's Canon Divergence Liushen fic ("tangled in the hanging tree" by technorat) into a Star Wars / Space Opera AU version of itself, in which Shen Yuan was a symbiote attached to Shen Jiu and they bickered a lot.

I also received "demons don't write what they know" from atarah, which is a Demon Liu Mingyan / Human Sha Hualing fic, inspired by my own Moshang Human/Demon Role Reversal AU.

It's on a shorter time scale than a Big Bang event, so you don't have to make a commitment half-a-year or more in advance: assignments go out on February 13th and assignments are due March 29th. The minimum requirements are also much more manageable: a complete 1,000-word fic or a clean piece of lineart. I think it's potentially a fun entry point into fan events if you've already start creating art or fic for one of these fandoms and are personally interested into dipping your toes into gift exchanges.

There is the pressure of transforming someone else's work into a gift for them, but it can also be fun to play with another fan's stuff, using someone else's story as a structure rather than starting from scratch. Though definitely not for everyone, it can also be interesting to open up your own work to someone else's transformation, and see what about your art or writing speaks to someone else. Examples of previous MXTX Remix works (2021, 2022, 2023) can be found in their parent collection: MXTX Remix.

[southernwolf16]

After coming across SVSSS-related stuff on the blogs I follow/stalk, I finally gave in to my curiosity and checked the donghua.

I tried reading the novel a while back, but it didn't entice me that much so I didn't finish it. I think seeing the donghua helped spark my interest again.

Then I held back from watching Ep 10 for the past week and started reading the novel. I'm almost finished with it.

It's so different from MDZS. I find myself laughing most of the time. Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu (Shen Yuan edition) are such disasters. I'm sure the more senior fans have already written eloquent posts about how codependent they are, Shen Jiu and Yue Qingyuan's relationship, why Cucumber Bro and Airplane Bro transmigrated to the novel they read/wrote, why the System exists in the first place, writing what you're passionate about vs writing what'll bring in money, and who is Jiang Cheng's counterpart in SVSSS, among other things. I think I read a post suggesting it's Liu Qingge? Or is it Shen Jiu?

Anyway, back to the donghua. I hope I'm not alone in saying I like the character design. At first it was a little jarring---maybe because I'm not used to watching CGI---and the donghua isn't actually 100% polished a la FFVII remake (on a side note, someone joked that Yue Qingyuan seems to be from the PS2 era). Regardless, I appreciate the design since it gave me an idea how the characters look like.

Which is why I'm a bit surprised when I started trawling the SVSSS tags here at Tumblr and saw art depicting Luo Binghe as a curly-haired, big-muscled mountain of a man. Perhaps this is influenced by Western taste? I'm not an expert in Chinese literature or culture, but in some pics I've seen from Cdramas those of demon blood who play major roles don't have the physique of someone who can crack walnuts with their biceps. Think Wang Yue (Wang Zhuocheng) from Legend of Chongzi and that actor from Love Between Fairy and Devil. Furthermore, Luo Binghe is described as a pretty boy in the novel so at this point, I'm of the humble opinion that the donghua got his body type right. And I subscribe to the standards of beauty from the source culture.

Okay, going back to the donghua Ep 10. As we say here in my country, papunta na tayo sa exciting part---I'm going to see Luo Binghe get pushed down the Endless Abyss by his beloved Shizun. Oh, the angst, the drama.

Nope. Nothing of the sort happened.

Oh, so they saved it for Season 2 [Tries to find Season 2]

[Season 2 not yet released] 😨

What. The. Hell.

I held off finishing Season 1 because I thought Season 2's already available. The site where I watched the donghua said Season 2's release is 2022.

Dude, we're two months' shy of closing 2023. 😱

Season 2, where art thou? 😭

[ninjakk]

Very excited to be part of the 2023 edition of @mxtxfoodzine, which is packed full of fanfic, gorgeous art and yummy recipes for you all to try at home. Out the 31st of October!

I could not resist combining my love of cooking, writing and MDZS 🥰 So much so, I ended up with two fanfics instead of one haha.

I can't wait to see what you guys think! I have a canon universe, burial mounds settlement fic - which I absolutely adored trying my hand at writing WQ for the first time. There's also a modern au, established Wangxian, fluffy adoption fic - which is something I'm very proud of as well ❤️

Here's a little taster for you all!

In A Pickle - with tasty pickled radish recipe and cute chibi artwork by @daynight139

"What are those?" Wen Yuan's tiny voice whispered in wonder.

"Chillies. They are really hot, so don't touch them, otherwise they will burn you and make you cry," Wen Qing cautioned the child, shooting him a sharp look of warning as she spoke.

Perplexed, Wen Yuan glared at the chillies, quietly wondering why they would want to burn him and make him cry personally.

And my second fic...

Bun In The Oven - with a recipe offering two tasty baked bao fillings and adorable artwork by @daynight139 which is full of hidden things for you to spot!

Lifting the two trays of golden baked bao out of the oven, he turned to place them onto cooling racks.

"Congratulations Lan Zhan, we're now the proud parents of an abundance of little ones!" Back to his usual chirpy self, he sent his husband another cheeky wink as he held a bun up towards him. "Shall we have a whole brood too, er-gege?" he giggled as he placed the last bun down to cool.

"Hmm... Let us start with one, for now." Lan Zhan's low voice sounded by his ear as two strong arms wrapped around him and pulled him in close.

I really hope anyone who reads my two new fics enjoys them as much as I relished writing them 💞

In the meantime, you can download the 2022 edition of the zine to get a flavour of what's to come.

Yes, I'm aware I have a thing about puns... I can only apologise 🤣

[jaggededges123]

strawberry!

well, i wrote my first fanfic in a notebook when i was twelve, about me transmigrating into my fave book series at the time! but i mostly wrote original fiction for my teenage years, and then around 2018 or so i started writing a handful of fics after watching a few tv shows, but it didn’t really *stick* as a big hobby for me (separate from original fiction) until mdzs in 2022. and now here i am XD

[yletylyf]

Fic Writer Wrapped- 2023 Edition

I did this in 2022 and 2021, and am revving it back up for my own personal interest in tracking these things. Tagging anyone reading this if you want to participate!

Like in previous years, this is about fic published on ao3 in 2023 (not amount of words written in 2023, which I don't keep track of).

How many stories did you complete?

I completed one longfic (more than 100k words), eight medium fics (between 15k and 100k), and forty-two short fics (under 15k). Just like last year, I continue to have considerable lag between writing and publishing. The longfic and some of the medium fics were mostly written in 2022, but published and finished this year.

What is your total word count for the year?

547,416 words

What fandoms did you write in this year?

I really committed to the multi-fandom bit. I also discovered an addiction to cdramas. I wrote in Harry Potter, Tolkien, The Grisha Trilogy, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Emma - Jane Austen, Twilight, the Locked Tomb, House of the Dragon, 陈情令 The Untamed, 山河令 Word of Honor, 苍兰诀 Love Between Fairy and Devil, 莲花楼 Mysterious Lotus Casebook, 无量 Wúliàng, and 长月烬明 Till the End of the Moon.

Did you write more, less, or roughly about what you expected?

This year's published word count borrows from many projects that were written in 2022, probably about 150k words' worth. Even subtracting that, I wrote a lot more than I expected. Because I didn't write a long fic this year (123k of Rainbow of Chaos's total of 130k words was written in 2022), I felt like I was unproductive compared to previous years. But I actually I wrote a lot!

What’s your favorite story of the year?

To catch a fox (Grisha verse, the Darkling/Nikolai). I had a blast writing this, it felt like it wrote itself, and I think the fic is so much fun, I still enjoy re-reading it, and I'm really happy about how many other people liked it as well!

What is your most underappreciated story of the year?

This question gets harder and harder to answer every year, because the more deliberately niche I write the happier I am when I get a single comment and feel that is more than sufficient appreciation. I guess if I had to pick one, it's my Aredhel/Celegorm fic, because imo this ship deserves to be more popular than it is!

Biggest fanfic-related disappointment of 2023?

I was riding the high of discovering the Darkling/Nikolai ship after watching the TV show Shadow and Bone in March. A good friend left a prompt that I loved, in an event called Fandom Orienteer, which had a several-month-long writing period and then a posting window in August. I bit off more than I could chew when I started writing Palace in the Dark, found my ideas too plotty, and did not finish in time to post a completed story in August. By the time I actually finished over Thanksgiving, not only did I miss being part of the event, I had lost almost all my WIP readers (except my friends from the darkolai server, shout out to you, you are the best!). It's fine, the fic is finished and complete on my profile, and readers will slowly find it. But I was disappointed in not being able to finish in July for the event and when the momentum from the show was hotter.

Biggest fanfic-related surprise of 2023?

I'm surprised by how many multi-fandom exchanges I did. I was only dipping my toe into them in 2022 and was not sure the whole thing really suited me. I wrote almost forty exchange fics this year, and got some amazing gift fics in exchange, and it's been really fun.

Something you look forward to working on in 2024?

I think I'll work on more villain-centric fic for MDZS, and also hopefully write more new-to-me fandoms for exchanges.

[angstymdzsthoughts]

I posted 238 times in 2022

226 posts created (95%)

12 posts reblogged (5%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mondengel

@mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess

@anjimimimoo

@last-in-line-for-hell

@therinde-dreams

I tagged 155 of my posts in 2022

Only 35% of my posts had no tags

#mdzs - 137 posts

#wei wuxian - 80 posts

#lan wangji - 56 posts

#reply - 53 posts

#character death - 26 posts

#lan xichen - 22 posts

#jiang cheng - 18 posts

#lack of reply - 17 posts

#lan sizhui - 13 posts

#angsty talks - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 108 characters

#i feel like the quality of writing slowly degraded the longer it went but i have no motivation to correct it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

All the Wen Remnants want is to live in peace until their dying day, WWX enables that by creating a massive barrier over the Burial Mounds that makes time move faster for those within it.

The Sects finally lay seige to the Burial Mounds and break the barrier, they are stunned to discover the Burial Mounds are now a lush thriving paradise free of resentment, the Stygian Tiger Amulet now merely a powerless and rusted trinket.

JC is the one who discovers WWX had been manipulating time but LWJ is the one who discovers Suibian, a first class spiritual sword, massively aged and used as a gravemarker alongside Chengqing (that now has flowers growing out of the holes) for her master who died hundreds of years ago.

It started small. A way to speed up the crops growing so everyone could eat. In injury that would have taken months to heal only taking an hour. Speeding up the Burial Mounds slow recovery until it became a place where life was possible again.

No one noticed at first. The days felt like they were passing by normally. Of course A-Yuan shot up so quickly, all children do. Of course their elders felt slow and ache with all the hard work farming demanded. But then one of the women had a late in life pregnancy in her early forties. Barely a month after finding out she was expecting she birthed a healthy nine month old baby boy.

Wei Wuxian had already been working on a way to stop what was happening but Wen Qing had gone to him and asked "Would it really be so bad to leave it? We don't know how long we have until the other sects come for us. Let the elders spend their last days in peace and let the children grow until they can defend themselves."

284 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

#4

I saw fanfictions where Wei Ying was the secret son of Wen Rohan from the woman he loved. He recognized this and demanded him for himself (without explaining that this was his son), and the Jiangs handed him over to the beaten ones, believing that he was guilty. What if they go even further? Madame Yu is pleased to hand over the severed head of the "servant's son"...

WRH looking at the decapitated head of the young son he didnt know he had: ... This is the opposite of what I wanted.

293 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

#3

Since secretlyevil! is popular this week, I propose secretly evil mxy finds a ritual for temporary possession expecting that WWX will do his thing and he’ll wake up in a year as the ruler of the cultivation world. Instead he wakes up in the jingshisleeping next to hanguang-jun. Your bet if he confesses or he tries to take over wwx’s postcanon life…

Mo Xuanyu wasn't expecting to wake up next to one of the most beautiful men in the world. He had sort of been expecting two or three beautiful women given all the rumors of Wei Wuxian before he died. He was by no means complaining of course!

A quick look around the room led to real disappointment though. He didn't know where he was, but the early morning light made it obvious that this was not the empire he had been expecting. A part of him had thought the Yilling Patriarch would take over Koi Towers since it was by far the most luxurious city in the known world.

Still, it was better then that thrice damned shed.

Now all Mo Xuanyu had to do was continue to play the part. He had no doubt that Wei Wuxian had built up an army for him to command. He just had to make sure no one got close enough to begin doubting his power. Hopefully Wei Wuxian didn't have a habit of showing off...

He began to climb out of bed, eager to see what the Yilling Patriarch had built for himself in the past year but was stopped by a strong arm around his waist.

Really though- he had to commend the Yilling Patriarch for his excellent taste in men! Hangung-Jun as a lover! That alone was worth losing his body for a year.

"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji said with a sleep slurred voice.

Mo Xuanyu didn't really think much of interacting with Hangung-Jun. The other man would at most be a concubine who no one would listen to if he noticed Wei Wuxian acting strangely. As tempting as the older man was, Mo Xuanyu was too excited to see his new empire to stay in bed longer.

So he scoffed and removed Lan Wangji's arm from his waist and said "Don't be so clingy, Hangung-Jun. I have better things to do."

The way Hangung-Jun's eye snapped open and locked on him made him realize that he had just made a mistake.

296 notes - Posted February 12, 2022

#2

WWX dies after Sunshot Campaign Reputation Intact AU

Playing fast and loose with the timeline a bit, bear with me here.

It's almost perfect the Sunshot Campaign has ended, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian have returned to Lotus Pier.

Wei Wuxian sits outside overlooking the lake waving Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli off to bed to moonwatch a bit longer.

In the morning they find Wei Ying asleep in the same place they left him last night. Exasperated good humor fades into horror as they realise their brother isn't breathing anymore and had passed peacefully away in his sleep with a soft smile.

Visitors including the Lan, are turned away from Lotus Pier as Jiang Cheng checks that it wasn't a assassination. (it's not, Wei Wuxian body literally gave out on him because of the immense strain the Sunshot Campaign put him under).

The funeral is held privately at Lotus Pier and Wei Wuxian's tablet is added to the Family Shrine.

The first the Cultivation World learns of Wei Wuxian's death is at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt when Jin Zixun callously asks why the Jiang Sect are still wearing mourning attire and Jiang Yanli replies in front of every Cultivator at the hunt that the Jiang Sect is in mourning for the death of Wei Wuxian.

(Wen Qing encounters Lan Wangji and learns that Wei Wuxian is dead. Lan Wangji overhears her muttering that its her fault and pressures her for a answer. A answer she won't give unless Lan Wangji helps her rescue her brother Wen Ning...)

Wei Wuxian returns to a world that knows of his sacrifice (A concept that gives him hives) a brother ready to either whip him or hug him and Jiang Yanli and her husband Nie Huisang who both want him to investigate the truth behind the murder of Nie Mingjue and Jin Zixuan and expose Jin Guangyao.

Because ironically Wei Wuxian has the best reputation of the lot of them having died a hero and willingly endured a Golden Core Transfer Surgery as the donor. Lan Wangji's reputation took a nosedive when he rescued the Wen Remnants and barely survived the Propaganda storm of rumors by the Jin for opposing them by going into seclusion.

WWX kicking in the jingshis door: Hi Lan Zhan! I'm here to kidnap you!

306 notes - Posted October 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

In those AU's where WWX allows himself to be purified to death by the Lan its often by LWJ who thinks he's helping and WQ knows beforehand, Here WWX is suicidal and has decided to make his death mean something.

What if WWX agreed to be purged of resentment in return for granting the Wen Remnants sanctuary then fully informed the Lan of what cleansing entailed? The Elders don't believe WWX because he's still agreed to undergo cleansing and they don't realise WWX is actively suicidal instead of lying. LWJ is conflicted regarding the issue and LXC steps in to perform Cleansing also sure that WWX is exaggerating, he's not exaggerating. How would the Lans react knowing that they assisted in WWXs suicide. How would WQ react after WWX lied to her about the the Lans requirements to take in the Wen Remnants, not knowing that he'd tricked them into killing him thereby forcing the Lans to take in the Wen Remnants and protect them out of duty and guilt at accepting such a twisted agreement.

I like this one.

Lan Wangji was really the only one who unquestioningly believed Wei Wuxian when he told him that the ritual would likely kill him. He was immediately telling Lan Xichen that they needed to make a new deal and find a different condition to take in the Wens because he wasn't willing to risk Wei Wuxian's life. Lan Xichen speaks to the elders and they all convince him that this was just the Yilling Patriarch trying to weasel out of being purified and purged of the resentful energy that makes him so powerful. Lan Xichen believes the elders and doesn't trust Wei Wuxian but he does have a talk with him to try appeasing Lan Wangji.

During their talk Wei Wuxian sort of nonchalantly says 'yeah the chances of me dying are super high but if this is what the Lan clan wants then so be it' and Lan Xichen is like 'ok I'm still pretty sure your lying because no one would be this casual with their life so this is a go, but Wangji won't be happy about it.'

Wangji is Very unhappy about it. He tries to stop the ritual and fights a lot of his own clan before he is subdued and dragged away for his own punishment. Wei Wuxian feels super guilty and regrets telling Lan Wangji.

The ritual happens and Wei Wuxian ends up very very dead. Lan Xichen has a crisis because 1) he just killed a man, 2) he was warned that his actions would cause this, 3) he kneeling chose to ignore these warnings, and 4) that man happens to be the love of his brothers life. Some of the Lan elders try to argue that Wei Wuxian tricked them so they shouldn't have to fill their end of the agreement and take the Wens in but Lan Xichen shuts that down fast.

Lan Wangji is told that Wei Wuxian is dead and his heart breaks. Lan Xichen begs for forgiveness but Wangji isn't really in a forgiving mood. He ensures Wei Wuxian has a proper burial and goes into seclusion, planning to stay there for the rest of his life.

336 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[iantimony]

tuesday!

another two-weeker because i forgor last week but it's not actually that beefy

listening: metric albums formentera from 2022 and formentera ii from 2023 are full of good earworms. favorite songs: all comes crashing, enemies of the ocean, oh please; just the once, days of oblivion, who would you be for me ... idk all of formentera ii is really really good. easily could list all those songs as favorite. just love a good synth! just incredibly catchy albums.

i got back into the podcast sweetbitter; i listened to the first season on sappho not long after it started, but fell off when they started season 2 on pirates. i'm listening to that one now and i'm enjoying it! i'm a little leery of season 3's topic (christian bible) but i feel like they do a good and sensitive job of covering information in general. the podcast hasn't actually updated in ages which is interesting, i'm not sure if they're just on hiatus or if it's like...done? i can't seem to find any information on it, there are some tweets that were posted on reddit about it that are now deleted, maybe there was a falling out??? it's possible they say something in the most recent episode (may of last year) about a hiatus but it's not in the episode notes...in any case, god i hate the ads they have. they're so stuck in my head in the worst way possible. 0/10 on that front. get that coin but please choose less obnoxious/a wider variety of ads (i know that's not always in their control but yk).

reading: finished mdzs. restarted svsss but it's been sideburnered for a few days while i play catchup on work.

watching: finished kill la kill with the boyf...am caught up to dunmesh...been passively absorbing the black list because my roommate has been watching it...

playing: fallow but i really wanna do disco elysium soon for Real

making: pottery has been on a planned 2-week break between sessions so no reports here! i did go in briefly for open studio to attach a handle and re-trim some of my citrus juicer. otherwise, really haven't done much...i restrung a necklace for my mom as a birthday gift a few weeks ago, and i have been drawing a little again! some dunmeshi fanart, some concepts for a painting i want to do.

eating: fairly boring - two weeks ago was in florida with my grandma and that eating is always notably bland. last week my roommate and i fuck-it-we-balled a bit so it was a lot of tuna salad and adjacent things, this week we got some more recipes rolling in though. last night we did a off-the-cuff vaguely-thai rice noodle and tofu thing that was real yummy but not the most filling because there was like no fat in it. definitely could use a different protein or something to juice it up.

misc: doing okay! valiantly played homework catch-up this past week! excited to go back to pottery tmrw, thinking about upcoming wedding gifts to make!

[fondofeveryprickle]

My AO3 Wrapped

Happy new year for us all, and that 2023 brings us again many good fandoms, fics and friends! <3

I saw some people doing an ao3 wrapped of fics they wrote and things like that, and I decided to make one of recs.

I cannot count how many fics/words I read in 2022, but it was *a lot*. According to my ao3 page, I have 1200 fics in my History, I know I haven’t read them all, some of them I opened and saw it wasn’t for me, some of them I tried reading and didn’t like, but still, those are 1200 fics there.

have bookmarked 120 fics/series just this year.

Here are my top 12, one bookmark for each month of the year:

January:

anteros, punish me (leave me to bleed) by sakutsu - Haikyuu!!

I usually read Hinata centric fics, but this one was something else. It’s a Sakusa Kiyoomi centric fic, and it made me cry. It’s about his understanding and acceptance that he is aro, and how he sees the world. It is beautiful. Have tissues in hand.

February:

In Between by vetiverdreams - MDZS/TGCF crossover

This fic has *promise*. The first chapter alone has Xie Lian’s pov, of him meeting Wei Wuxian, and it’s great. There’s just so much there. I love how they wrote Wei Wuxian, and Hualian both. It’s a wip, but so worth it!

March:

Swaying Close by vetiverdreams - SVSSS

Liushen goodness! This was the year I discovered them, and this fic is just the sweetest!!!!! The fluffiest of fluffs. 5+1 times that LQG thought SQQ was cute. And SQQ was so cute, and the whole story is adorable! I loved the banter they had going on! This is also about SQQ being himself, having some modern attitudes.

April:

By folly or fickle fate by Vrishchika - MDZS @vrishchikawrites

First of all, this fic was written for me by my favourite writer, so need I say more????? Modern Au with cultivation. WWX is a cultivator, and one of the best ones, LWJ is not a cultivator, nor does he know this world exists. And they meet when WWX saves LWJ’s son, a-Yuan from an Abyss. This is so good. If you know Vrishchika, you know her characterization is *good*, and we have absolute BAMF WWX. Amazing!

May:

Burn your Wings by oWhiteKiwibird - BNHA - @crowbird-kamakse

Ohhh, this was also the year I discovered BNHA. And this was one of the first fics I’ve read. Canon divergence, and Izuku actually has his parents quirks (but because of how abused he and his mother were by his father, he doesn’t want to use it). He still gets OFA, and then when he gets to UA things start changing. It’s a beautiful story, it’s sad, and Izuku suffers a lot in the beginning, but there’s so much growth. And his and Todoroki’s relationship is beautiful.

June:

A Secret Never Shared by Vrishchika - MDZS - @vrishchikawrites

This fic should be on the list much earlier than June, because I had the privilege of betaing, and I had read it long before and reread it and loved every word of it. BAMF Wei Wuxian, who ascended instead of dying on the first siege. As always, perfect characterization, WWX is still WWX but also more, because he is a god now, and it changes people. This is a story of those 13 years where he would have been dead in canon. Also, the best a-Yuan. 

July:

Hero Class Civil Warfare by RogueDruid - BNHA - @roguedruid

BAMF Izuku!!!!!! On my bookmarks notes I say: “The teachers quickly realize how glad they should be Izuku has always wanted to be a hero.”. UA has an activity they have every year where they divide the hero classes into heroes and villains and they have to compete. Izuku is chosen to be the villain leader, and Bakugou the hero leader. This is a story about how intelligent and smart Izuku is, and how he can be a very good leader. 

August:

Bonnie & Klein by surveycorpsjean - BNHA 

Where the porn is the plot. Izuku and Bakugou, already pro heroes, are sent 10 years to the future, where they meet their future selves (who are married). The smut is fantastic, but it’s all about the feelings, and about loving yourself, and accepting who you are (in very literal ways sometimes). Super tender, loving and also very hot.

September:

Razzmatazz by xylophones - BNHA - @xyloophones

A love letter to Izuku (is what i’ve written on my bookmarks). This is a story where All Might chose Izuku so much earlier, when he was still a kid, so Inko is also involved. The relationship between them all is wonderful, they are really a family. This is a Izuku who is prepared and well-trained. Wonderful.

October:

Half-Truths by kibosama - Not Me the series

This is a canon divergence fic, where after White decides to take over Black’s life, he leaves home. Things change accordingly, he has to come clean a bit before . SeanWhite is perfect, good communication.

November:

but you’re everywhere (yes you are) by fortunehasgivenup - Kinnporsche - @fairhairedkings

Canon divergent because Porsche remembers the first kiss at the pier, and decides to tell Kinn he does. Everything changes from that conversation forward. Absolutely gorgeous story. Great communication. Porsche stands his ground, and they learn to separate Kinn boss from Kinn boyfriend. I love their relationship very much. Really good communication, I need to say that again. The relationship is very healthy. And the smut is scorching.

December:

Erased Potential by theslytherinpaladin - BNHA

It’s a wip, but there’s over 230k words to read, and it is that good. Izuku knows that being quirkless will make becoming a hero much harder, that’s why he decides (when he’s in middle school) to ask Eraserhead to train him. He does, and things change accordingly. Smart Izuku, Dadzawa (without All Might bashing). Great fic!!!

.

It was not easy to make this list. So many good fics I’ve read this year!!! Thank you so much to all the authors who put time to write these masterpieces and share with us. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

If you want to check my other bookmarks, they are here.

Remember to always leave some love to the authors <3

[dimpledpran]

2022 brought a lot of incredible moments. But it did give almost an equal amount of highs and lows. So glad that it is over, and here’s to hoping that 2023 brings nothing but the best. Thank you to everyone who has made this past year more bearable for me. Whether you are someone I’ve talked to on here, made content that I enjoyed seeing on my dash, or reblogged stuff from me with wonderful commentary, thank you for making my time on this godforsaken beloved website more fun!

Since life has been getting busy, it has been harder to keep track of content and I am sure I have missed so many creations lately. And so, I am also jumping on the bandwagon to have a tracking tag. I will be tracking #lightmiup (light me up). It is kinda a play on my name, and with the meaning since my name means light. So feel free to use that to tag me in your creations.

Will reblog: ~ Asian media (series and movies). Mostly BLs, but not entirely limited to that. ~Preferably stuff that I have watched, but I am also open to more recs ~ Asian artists (mostly CQL cast, Ohm, Nanon, Jeff Satur, Indian personalities) ~ Countries: Thailand, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore

Will not reblog: ~ reposts, whitewashed content, brownfaced content, discourse

With that, I am also going to take a month off from Tumblr. Shall spend January introspecting and planning out my goals for the year. My blog will be going down memory lane, and will run on queue with my fave posts from 2022, and if I get tagged in stuff. Though I might pop in a few times with some 10YT sets if the feels get a bit too much.

Here are my top 10 series/movies I watched in 2022 (starts from tomorrow) and Fave Creations (MDZS/CQL Faves , Bad Buddy Faves, Other Faves) in the mean time.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2023 filled with lots of love, joy, peace, positivity, success and good health! 💙

Take care and see yall around! Mimi :)

Tagging a few people to spread the word : @aheartfullofjolllly​ @carloslouwho​ @eohachu @fangrui @gege​ @highwarlockkareena @i-got-the-feels @isvisomewhere @kaajukatli @lan-xichens @liyazaki @machikeita @manhasetardis @nanons @nongnaos @nyx4 @oswlld @phukaoapologist​ @rinielle @talays-portkey @seawherethesunsets @yibo-wang​ @yilinglaozu

[therapeutic-dose]

fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love~<333333

Ohhh this is neat! Thanks Wren!

So starting from oldest to most recent:

2012 A Moment More | BBC Merlin | Merthur | G | 3,719 | Complete

It's late, Arthur is drunk, and Guinevere is gone. In the cover of night, Merlin and Arthur share what can never be.

2016 Stepping Forward | Daiya no A | MiSawa | G | 1,499| Complete

The story behind "Just recently, that four-eyes finally went to Sawamura's house and got on his knees. Of course he came back with a beauty of a shiner to show for it." Wherein Kazuya and Sawamura's coming out doesn't go especially smoothly for Kazuya's face. Based on the DnA doujinshi "Last Days" by Yuta, as scanlated by Team Karaage.

2022 Tempered  | MDZS | ZhanChengXian | Explicit | 42,099 | WIP

Jiang Cheng is dying. The insidious spread of hatred's venom has lead to the beginning stages of the dissolution of the greatest gift he never wanted: Wei Wuxian's golden core. In the face of this knowledge, he must finally learn to reconcile that hatred to what it truly is, what it only ever has been... Love. Undying, unrelenting love for the man he once called brother, and the man he once called ally and friend: Wei Wuxian and his husband, Lan Wangji.

2023 The Sun Rose on a Wednesday | KP the Series | Vegas Character Study | M | 4,512 | Complete

Vegas is familiar with the taste of ash in his mouth. There are times when the fire burns out in him, the fuel of the flames exhausted. The blood and bone and skin, cruelty and torture and death, all become ash. Only ash, only dust, only the echo of a beginning and an end, a taunt from a disgruntled audience to just let his story end. He tries not to think, as he eats this meal made with hope, with trembling hands and racing heart and tears gathered at his waterline, refusing to fall until the final curtain call. There will be no encore. --- Vegas, in the aftermath of Pete.

2024 Harmony's Overture | KP the Series | KimChayMacau | M | 44,149 | Complete

When Chay planted the stupid idea for Macau to go get hammered at a sketchy bar and see if it would somehow lure Kim out of his seven years of silence, Macau had rolled his eyes. Like, in what universe would that work? Kim doesn't give a shit about him. But when Macau made one last bid to get Kim's attention, that's exactly what he did - and boy, did he ever get it. And in the aftermath, there is Porchay, his best (only) friend. His only friend, whose feelings might not be exactly friendly... — Part two of this KimChayMacau verse, this time from Macau’s point of view.

Tbh this was tough even though I only have like 21 fics on AO3 lmao. I wanted to put some older fic up so that was fun to comb back through things!

[truly-morgan]

[AA cross-over, JC moves to the US, befriend Edgeworth]

Jiang Cheng + Miles Edgeworth | Mo Dao Zu Shi Cross-over Ace Attorney + Modern AU 30-05-2022

[#mdzs #AceAttorney cross-over, #jiangcheng #milesedgeworth, modern sett.]

Jiang Cheng hadn't been surprised when he was basically shipped to America.

"We are expanding our company, I need someone to look over it in America" his father had said.

He knew very well this was all so he wouldn't be close to him all while not angering him too much his wife as he wasn't kicking him out.

But it was alright, he could roll with it, he would show them.

and with that Jiang Cheng had started to work even harder than before, ready to prove what he could do. He was pretty satisfied that the result he had were better than what anyone else had expected at first.

all this was achieved by him never really taking a break, working hard nearly every day without much care for his health.

All this to his assistant exasperation. The man had known him even before he started working at his father's company, caring about the younger man. This lead him to force him to take a break once everything was more stable and no one could really argue about the incredible job he did.

this is how Jiang Cheng ended up forced on a vacation for a weekend, driving himself to some kind of somewhat isolated retreat spa or something like this, he didn't really follow what his assistant said as he was only thinking about the work he would be missing out on ("the tickets are already bought! You have no choice but to go" he was told).

"Maybe some calm will help me" he had sighed at some point on his way there.

He did raise a brow when he saw a car speeding in the opposite direction, wondering why anyone would drive so fast away from somewhere that was meant to make you relax.

"Gumshoe, I swear your pay will be revised in the next evaluation" he heard mumbled as he got out of his car, finding a man on the side typing on his phone.

"Everything's good sir?" Jiang Cheng asked, unsure if he should really intervene with the angry-looking man.

"I am trying to call the man who dare call himself my friend, but I have no signal" the man sighed in frustration, "May I ask if you might have any?" he politely asked while joining him.

Jiang Cheng did take a look at his own phone, offering a sorry smile to the man. "No signal either" he replied, "I see I am not the only one being forced here".

The man looked a bit surprised by his word, before letting another frustrated sigh leave him. "Dare I assume it is also because you are 'working too much'?" the stranger asked.

This made Jiang Cheng chuckle a little, still a bit frustrated about it too. "Yes".

There was a silence afterwards, making Jiang Cheng a bit awkward, unsure of what to do from here. He was relieved when the man decided to extend a hand towards him, presenting himself "I am Miles Edgeworth, prosecutor".

Jiang Cheng was a little surprised. He had heard about the man more than once before, although not always presented in a good light. He did suppose it changed a bit in recent times.

"Jiang Cheng, COO of the Jiang Corp. branch in America" he said next.

Some recognition seemed to also pass on to the other man's face. He was still not used to people vaguely knowing who he was.

"Why don't we head inside?" suggested Jiang Cheng, "If we are to be stuck here, might as well settle down and have some tea".

Edgeworth seemed to think about it, before another sigh left him, this time looking resigned to stay here. "I suppose it couldn't do too much damage to take the weekend off" he admitted.

Like this they went inside, taking care of their reservation ("It must be fate, our rooms are next to each other" Jiang Cheng had joked a little when they were given their keys).

It was already getting late on a Friday night and so they decided to have dinner together. "I am sure having some company will make this trip a little bit better" Edgeworth commented.

And it did make the weekend pass by more quickly and in a less boring (and lonely) way than he first thought it would be. He dared to assume it was the same for the lawyer.

He never expected to connect so easily with the man, both borderline workaholics.

sure the treatments at the spa helped him relax, but having someone to talk about (or sometimes bitch about) work was nice and surprisingly therapeutic. He felt like he couldn't really do this with his assistant since he was still trying to keep a vague impression of professionalism between them.

After their little forced vacation, they decided to keep in contact, meeting only now and then at first, usually to have tea or dinner.

but soon their little rendez-vous became more frequent. It was their own little way to have a day away from work (before being forced to have one again) where they could talk about work without it technically really being work.

Edgeworth would complain about his cases and how bad the investigation would have gone while drinking his tea, sometimes exasperated despite something in him not complaining that justice had been done right.

"You complain about him quite a lot, but you seem to like him just as much" Jiang Cheng teased him after yet another trial where he was up against Wright. This did earn him a scoff.

"You don't see me mentioning you also enjoying a certain young master's visit more than you would let shown" the man had argued back, which man Jiang Cheng roll his eyes, not without a small smile on his lips.

Sometimes they'd be joined by Jiang Cheng's nephew as he came to visit him with his parents. The boy had been shy at first towards the other serious-looking man, but had slowly warmed up to him despite not understanding what he would say, his jiujiu needing to play translator for them.

"I sadly never learned Chinese" Edgeworth admitted with a small smile, "maybe it could be something I should pick up one day"

"I could help you if you ever need someone's help" Jiang Cheng offered with a laugh, a little a-ling also giggling with him despite not understanding what was happening before going back to his drawing.

They enjoyed sharing a good cup of tea every Saturday, talking and sometimes just sitting in silence, enjoying the time spent together. Maybe the reason they met wasn't one they enjoyed, but they weren't so mad to have find a good friend at the same time.

====

(I ran out of ideas here but maybe one day I'll pick up this cross-over, I dunno why, I just feel like I wanna see more of these two workaholic sarcastic men together)

Original