#justice for jiang cheng

[sonik-kun]

Nah, I'm sorry, but Jiang Cheng did NOT consent to receiving Wei Wuxian's golden core. If he did, that scene wouldn't have been as big as a surprise for not only us as the readers but also JC himself.

That scene was a MASSIVE plot twist. It wouldn't have been had JC consented or demanded that WWX hand over his core to him.

Not only that, if it was all completely consensual, WWX and the Wen siblings wouldn't have had to have kept that secret hidden from JC and the rest of the world for all those years. It would have become public knowledge. And who knows, it may have even paved the way for future core transplant surgeries. But it didn't. Because it was kept in secret and it was kept in secret for a reason.

Because Jiang Cheng would have never agreed to it.

Jiang cheng was lead to believe that he would get HIS OWN core back from Boashan Sanren. He was never told it would be a core transplant. He was lead to believe he would be receiving a new core of his own. Especially since this Boashan Sanren was a fabled woman, known for her inhuman abilities.

Why else would WWX mislead JC up the mountain, blindfolded, and told him to pretend that he was WWX? He did so because he knew that JC would never consent to Wen Qing experimenting on him, on top of removing WWX's core and putting it into his own body.

WWX knew that JC would NEVER agree to that, that's why he made the whole thing up.

So whilst WWX and the Wen siblings were acting within JC's best interests, it was still nonconsenual. He didn't agree to that surgery. Your idea of medical consent is completely skewed if you think otherwise.

Patients always have the right to withdraw consent and reject treatment. And they should always be made aware of what treatment and surgeries they will be receiving in order to accept or reject said treatment.

So yes, by modern medical law standards, it was nonconsenual surgery.

For the sake of fiction and it being in an ancient setting, I'll let it slide and not apply such logic here in WWX's case. But if we're really going to go there and argue the ethics behind it, I'll stand here and say that it was completely nonconsenual, and JC had every right to be upset by it. Especially since said surgery cost WWX his life, which JC was more than willing to sacrifice his OWN LIFE for.

[randomness-is-my-order]

since i’m on my third mdzs brainrot of the year, let me just say: it’s enlightening how this story, spread over multiple volumes, goes over the simple but undeniably true reality that even while doing almost everything “right” you can still be horribly “wrong” in the eyes of society. how wei wuxian would bend over backwards to follow his morals (which have been narratively shown to be somewhat the standard) but still be condemned at large because he didn’t go about it the way that was perfectly compliant with what his social superiors and other authority figures expected of him. how “good” deeds in the mdzs world (and ours) will only be accepted and praised, coming from someone of lower social standing, if they are packaged in an unobstrusive manner–and sometimes, not even then. and it’s funny how some people miss that, how they wonder what would have happened if wei wuxian had been just a bit more tempered, a bit more subservient, a bit more polite. how the expectation of delivering his kindnesses in the most unhindering manner possible is somehow an acceptable train of thought–how the burden to do better is not unequivocally placed on people like JGS, Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, the Lans, etc.

some people think that wei wuxian using demonic cultivation in the eyes of the cultivation world is his downfall. nevermind the fact that he literally isn’t practicing mo dao–this whole issue is NOT about what he’s doing, but about who he is. mxtx has made that clear at multiple points in the novels but the most glaring example is, ofcourse, how the nie sect is allowed to mess with resentful energy all they like and since they are a powerful enough sect, they face no social or political backlash for it–not in the way that wei wuxian does. even then, during the war, those people had no qualms against weaponising wei wuxian’s powers for their benefit. if it truly was about the dubious morality of using mo dao for them then wei wuxian should have been condemned from the get-go. but it’s not. it’s about the son of a servant wielding enough power to change the tides of a war and then surviving to tell the tale and continue to live with the kind of power that shouldn’t be held by someone of his station. it’s about people quaking in their boots because wei wuxian has shown himself as someone who won’t conform, who won’t become a dancing monkey for their tunes.

yes, wei wuxian is not some perfect angel saint but then, why the fuck should he be??? this expectation from some readers and the members of his world alike, that wei wuxian should have been the one to give it his all and more to avoid conflict is blasphemous. in the end, wei wuxian chose his path, stuck to his ideals, and went down throwing a big fuck you at the larger cultivation world’s back, while the rest failed to break the cycle of power abuse. the fact that it took them more than a year to see him to death is just a testament to how well wei wuxian handled things than some grace given by the cultivation world. the whole “wei wuxian’s first death was inevitable” is, for me, not about wei wuxian slowly spiralling and things getting out of hand. his death was inevitable because corrupt people with power will always choose to exploit and silence, will always choose to exert their will, will always choose to hurt those lower in the chain. and that is exactly what happened with the ambush and everything that led upto it.

[incorrectly-quoting-mxtx]

Jiang Cheng: Personally I blame you.

Wei Wuxian: How is this my fault?!

Jiang Cheng: Because then it would be my fault and that can’t be right.

[eastofaeon]

i think the closest i'll ever come to loving myself is loving characters that share my flaws only i can love them regardless because they're not me

[bornfreakdraws]

For the ask game, F and V?

[the ask game]

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

Ooh, tricky question! It's hard to say because I've consistently been into DBZ since before I started drawing (and when I did start drawing on the internet, my first fan arts where DBZ fan arts) but I never kept up with the new series and eventually stopped making fan art for it. The longest on record that I've actively been in a fandom is probably Castlevania (since it came out, so since 2017, it's been 7 years oh god)

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Not the most (because honestly I don't relate that much to any of them), but one of the last characters I identified with was Jiang Cheng from 'The Untamed' / 'MDZS' because I too am very dramatic, angry and emotionally repressed (and possibily aroace)

I also definitely come across as aggressive, especially when I'm expressing care/concern (it comes out as a lecture).

[huahualianlian]

thinking about jiang cheng, never getting a proper moment to mourn his parents, his sect, his golden core, didn't even take a long time before he's already the sect leader, never getting to mourn jiang yanli and her husband because he has a sect to run and a nephew to take care of, and never getting the chance to mourn the death of wei wuxian who he once considered as his brother.

how could he? how could he mourn the yiling patriarch, the one who was blamed by madam yu for every misfortune in their sect, the one who was blamed for the death of his sister, the one who was blamed for every evil deed done in the entire cultivation world?

how could he mourn, when the people who could ever comfort him are the ones he's mourning?

[cakemoney]

i know I don't talk about modaozushi on here (namely cause I've been too lazy to actually read it i don't process chinese like that) but i really do have very strong opinions about jiang cheng. namely that he has never done anything wrong

[kumomist]

i actually kinda like the ending... cause honestly in the end wei ying got burned way too much by the cultivation world and was through with it, and as much as lan zhan is on wei ying's side, he cant leave the sects unchecked, especially with the way they easily turned on wei ying, and then jin guangyao too without thinking of evidence and being suspicious of the scenario

essentially wei ying deserves to be free from the judgement and the societal expectations (not using a sword, crafty tricks, etc), while lan zhan is choosing to stay and keep them in check so that history doesnt happen again

[esoteric-oracle]

//long rambles ahead!

I think what really lingers with me about MDZS is that it's not a novel with a cathartic ending at all. It's a bittersweet story that leaves you slightly hollow. Yes, it's a beautiful and epic romance. It's a piece of social commentary interwoven with a love story and murder mystery. It's a cautionary tale. But it is also very much a tragedy. It's a story about being too late, second chances, and moving on.

By the time the truth of everything JGY and JGS did comes to light, it's 13 years too late. Everything that mattered has already happened. Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan are long dead. Jin Ling is still an orphan. Wen Ning is dead, and sometime in the future, his death will be permanent. Wen Qing was burned to death at the stake for no fault of her own. Nie Mingjue has already spent ten years in a no-doubt agonizing state of un-death, and Lan Xichen will have to bear the guilt of loving both Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao, and by doing so, forsaking them both. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's once-close bond is irrevocably broken, and the woman who sowed the seeds of resentment when they were still children will never face the consequences of her vitriol.

People sometimes say MXTX was too hard on the side characters, and only gave the Wangxian a happy ending, but what stuck with me after finishing the story is how… sad things are. Yes, Wangxian finally get the happy ending they've deserved for nearly 20 years - but at the same time, it's not a happy ending where the people who've wronged them get the consequences they deserve.

Wei Wuxian will spend the rest of his life haunted by guilt and loss, over what happened to Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, over the loss of the Wen remnants. The rest of his years won't even be lived in the body his parents gave him.

Lan Wangji will spend the rest of his years wondering if he'd chosen to stand with Wei Wuxian when it mattered - would his son have had to grow up without his birth family?

Nie Huaisang is left wondering if his brother had been a little less trusting and had never taken Meng Yao in as a Nie deputy, would his brother have died a less wretched death? Would he have been forced to stoop to ruthless machinations and manipulations to seek some semblance of justice?

Wen Ning will have to live with the knowledge that if he'd been a little less kind, if he'd let Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng die that fateful day - his family would still be alive. The Wens would've won the war; Wen Qing might've even succeeded Wen Ruohan.

No one really gets the ending they deserve. MDZS isn't a story where good people get happy endings, and bad people get their dues. Sure, Jin Guangyao's crimes are revealed and he faces the consequences of his actions. But what about the people who stood by and made him into a monster? If anything, the side characters and antagonists who survive get better than they deserve. The real villain of MDZS - society - will never face retribution. Those cultivators who always believed in their own bigotry and righteousness over and over again, will never face justice.

Do you think those cultivators and the public will ever feel any regret for the innocent people they condemned to death in their own prejudice and blind self-righteousness? Do you think the people who gathered at Nightless City to call for Wei Wuxian's death considered for one second that he was the biggest reason they won the war? When the cultivators who sacked the Wen settlement at the Burial Mounds threw the bodies of the Wens into the blood pool, do you think that was a sign of shame?

Do you think Jiang Cheng will ever regret leading a siege on a small settlement of innocent farmers? Do you think he's haunted by condemning to death the same people whom he owes his life to?

Do you think those people like Yao-zongzhu will ever feel an ounce of remorse for so easily believing rumours and hearsay, and spreading speculation and vitriol about innocent people?

Do you think that unnamed cultivator out there will ever lose a single minute of sleep over smashing in Wen Popo's head?

In the years that follow, Wen Ning will have apologized a hundred times for lives he did not take, crimes he did not commit, because of the name he bears. People, both in-universe, and even readers, will condemn him for actions he could not help, for doing the right thing. But did Jiang Cheng ever apologize for killing his family? Did the Jins ever apologize for their horrific treatment of people in the labour camps?

People will continue to demand that Wei Wuxian apologize for causing the deaths of their friends and family. But how is Wei Wuxian meant to do that? No one ever apologized to him for taking his family away. No one ever apologized for condemning the Wen Remnants to death for crimes they took no part in. The Wens were his family too.

There's so much potential for bitterness and corruption in MDZS. Instead of saving everyone, Wei Wuxian could've stood aside and let the people who tried to kill him die. MDZS could've been a story of succumbing to hatred and grief, but it wasn't. MXTX could've gone on and on about how society wronged the protagonist, but she didn't. The narrative is one of forgiveness and moving beyond past grievances. The story chose to close the story on a positive note. I truly love that aspect of MDZS, where MXTX leaves just enough room for hope and love at the end.

A-Yuan will finally get his closure about the family he lost as a toddler. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian get their happy ending together after being separated by nearly two decades by war, miscommunication, cruelty, and death.

Wei Wuxian will never regret protecting survivors of an attempted genocide, because it was the right thing to do.

And Wen Ning will still stand in the way and take a fatal blow meant for Jin Ling, despite everything the Jins and Jiang Cheng did to the people he loved.

Because they chose love. Characters like Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning and Lan Wangji have the chance to move on and live a happier life because when they could've succumbed to hurt and fury and resentment, they chose to be kind and do the right thing. Wangxian get their happy ending because they learn to recognize the toxicity of the cultivation society's self-cannibalizing prejudice, and chose to pursue righteousness above personal benefit.

MDZS isn't a story about good people getting good things. Just look at what happened to Xiao Xingchen. There's really nothing satisfying or cathartic about everyone's fates at all. There's no promise about society facing the consequences of their mob mentality or Wangxian actually changing the world together. Even in TGCF, for all its makings of a love story, we get the promise of societal change once Jun Wu is deposed.

It has all the makings to be a tragedy or tale of vengeance of epic proportions - but instead, it's a love story. It's a story about making the best of what you've got, and staying true to yourself and your morals, even if that's sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. It's a story where everything that could go wrong went wrong, but the characters still managed to fight their way to a better ending by choosing kindness. At its core, MDZS is a testament to choosing compassion over cruelty no matter how tragic and hopeless life gets, no matter how long the journey gets. Even though the happy ending is more personal and only applies to the specific characters, even though we don't actually get the promise of their society becoming a better place - we still have the hope that Wei Wuxian's second chance brings. The hope that sometimes, no matter how cruel the world is, some people who deserve it still get their happy endings. That's what makes MDZS such a memorable work of art. That's why it stays with you.

[letteredlettered]

Hi! I would love to read a JC and WWX post and how it is diff from what you’ve seen in western media!

I'd already started writing a JC post, so I wrapped that in to answer your question.

I follow a few JC fans so I see the backlash to the haters more than I see any haters, but apparently there’s some question in some people’s mind about whether Jiang Cheng loves Wei Wuxian, and I find that a little silly. That said, I think that to understand MDZS’s JC at all, you cannot just read the surface, so if you’re not thinking about him as a person or giving him any consideration beyond what other characters say and think of him, you’re not doing him justice. You’re also not going to see that he loves WWX and also loves several other people quite deeply, because a) JC's never going to be affectionate in his dialogue, b) JC's not going to even be affectionate in his body language or minor actions, and c) WWX, the main viewpoint character, is never once going to think about whether JC likes him or loves him.

Lots of posts have outlined better than I will how deeply loves not only WWX, but also his family, in particular JL. The short version is: JC’s his major flaws are all related to him loving his parents and getting shown very little affection in return—none at all from his father and only some in a backhanded way from his mother, usually in comparison to WWX.

As for Jin Ling, JC threatens him all the time, and even shoves him around a bit, but Jin Ling obviously adores JC and feels adored. JC is the one Jin Ling goes to when he's crying; JC is also the one who leaps to JL's side when JL is hurt. JL knows he's in trouble with JC when JL does something unsafe, but JL knows that his own safety is the most important thing in JC's life. Tellingly, JL rarely takes any of JC's threats seriously, and even tells other people said threats are bogus.

Then there’s WWX. Even while JC is berating WWX endlessly for making their clan look bad, he is literally carrying around WWX on his back. He is protecting WWX with everything he has. He sacrifices himself to the Wens to WWX won't get caught. After their falling out, after WWX lied to him for years and got their sister killed, JC still can't even stop himself from protecting WWX when WWX might get hurt by JGY's guqin string.

The guy is willing to throw himself on the fire for anyone he loves. Just heaven forbid he express any of it. But because he does not express love through speech, Wei Wuxian (who I will point out is a talker) doesn't understand this about Jiang Cheng—and this is shown to be a consistent flaw that WWX has. He also does not understand that LWJ is in love with him, despite LWJ defying all of society to follow him around and lift him onto donkeys whenever WWX gets droopy.

But I'd add the pretty much no one, other than Jin Ling, understands this about Jiang Cheng. If the cultivation world had understood JC, they would not have believed that JC and WWX had actually had a falling out. Part of the reason people don't know him is the same reason JC has such a terrible time with everything—WWX steals everyone's attention, praise, and fear wherever they go. No one is really looking at JC to admire his devotion or his loyalty, because WWX is there, doing it better than him, always. Imagine LWJ+WWX hadn’t defeated the Tortoise of Slaughter and had just been holed up in that cave for six days. All anyone would’ve talked about was how deeply JC must love his shixiong to make it back in such record time. It would all be “heroic rescue” this “unflagging loyalty” that. But instead, LWJ+WWX  had to really just steal the limelight.

In fact, the book is partly about the fact that people don't analyze people's actions too deeply. They believe what they hear. They believe what they want to believe. JC really can just say "I reject WWX" and they believe it. JGS can really just say "WWX is evil" and they believe it. Everybody says LWJ is perfect, so they believe he can't be a cut-sleeve who is in love with WWX. And WWX, who knows better than anyone that rumors aren't true, believes it too.

Even after WWX's death, JC's reputation is locked onto WWX. I do think this is JC’s own fault, given that he can’t accept his brother’s death and is obsessed with him but idk. Canon demonstrates that there’s a huge difference between what JC says he’ll do if he finds WWX and what JC actually does, and it’s not because LWJ is in the way. But no one really seems to pay attention to the difference between what JC says and what he actually does when the chips are down, except JL, so it’s no wonder everyone says he has torture dungeons, no matter how ludicrous that is.

I think what makes JC’s love for WWX particularly complex, and particularly incomprehensible in the eyes of the cultivation world, is WWX's position in JC's family. JC thought of WWX as a brother. He loved him like a brother. And yet JC was deeply aware that WWX wasn't his brother. JC's mom made sure that JC was deeply aware of that at all times, and you know what, so did his dad. And then, the rest of the cultivation world constantly talked about the fact that WWX was not a part of the family, that the Jiang Clan raised him like a son but he was really the son of a servant. MXTX expertly shows that this fact gets trotted out whenever WWX does something questionable--when WWX is brilliant, he's a lauded member of the clan, but when he is bad, he is of low-birth and adopted through charity. The truth is, it’s an unusual relationship for a world in which there’s a pretty big different between your clan (blood relatives) and sect.

How can JC hold both of these truths in his head? What makes it bearable for JC is that when they grow up, JC will be the Sect Leader and WWX will be his right-hand man; they will do everything together; they will be brilliant together; they never have to worry about blood or debt then, because then it won't matter whether they're brothers or best friends; the difference won't matter. They can both be the head of a family that they love. Except that doesn't happen.

JC’s parents die, and WWX disappears. I will, at this point in my understanding and credit to Jiang Cheng, say that the part about JC I find hardest to swallow is that he partially blames his parents' death on WWX. Yes, WWX stayed behind in the cave of the Tortoise of Slaughter to save LWJ, and yes, this meant that Wen Chao and WLJ have a particular grudge against him, which they use as partial excuse to attack Lotus Pier, but by god, that's a stretch. Lotus Pier would have been attacked anyway, and the fact that JC even partly blames the attack on WWX has far more to do with what his mom said about WWX showing off for the glory and bringing down the wrath of the Wens than it has to do with reality. YZY is going to say anything she can about how WWX being a hero with the Tortoise of Slaughter was actually a bad thing, because it's so fucking painful for her that WWX is a fucking legend when her son just . . . isn't.

As JGY points out, they were in fact the strongest sect once WWX comes back from the Burial Mounds and fights the Sunshot Campaign with JC. They could have been the power couple of JC’s dreams, but just as YZY pits JC against WWX, the cultivation world after the war pitted WWX against themselves and by extension, JC, and JC buys into it. I find this super understandable, and I think it’s pretty unfair to expect JC to be more understanding of WWX, given that WWX is constantly lying to him. Similarly, I think it’s pretty understandable that he doesn’t understand the plight of the Wens, given that WWX doesn’t explain it to him at all. From JC’s POV, WWX just leaves, at a time when JC really needs him, and he does it on a crusade for unrelated people—as though he never considered himself part of the family in the first place.

And you know what, that may be WWX’s POV too. He loves the Jiang family like his own family, but he’s also deeply aware that he is not blood. MXTX makes it very clear in canon that WWX felt that he owed the Jiang Clan, and not in the way you owe a family. That is—he doesn’t owe them his existence, but he thinks he does owe them his core and his cultivation. And he gives it all to JC.

I outlined above that the relationship between JC and WWX is unusual in the cultivation world given that they each feel like the other is family but are consistently reminded of the fact, and pressured to believe, that they are only sect siblings and that WWX is actually a subordinate. I also haven’t found many relationships like this in other media—though I’ll point out once again that my experience is mainly with western media. I think the closest things I can think of are stories in which the parties are of a different class but are raised together for whatever reason—because they actually are somewhat related but one of them has low class relatives, or because they were not as well-supervised in their youth but  one of them suddenly comes into money and is forced to leave his low-class BFF behind, etc.

Given that this relationship is unusual, you don’t see a lot of situations like WWX’s, in which WWX feels like he owes the Jiang family his golden core and then gives it to him. But there’s another element to this sacrifice that I’ve only seen in one other piece of media, and that’s the fact that WWX knows that JC can’t live without being special, and WWX thinks he can handle it.

There is so much in western media about brothers giving up their lives to protect their brothers (Supernatural), or even just giving up their dreams and ambitions so that their brother can follow his own dreams instead (It’s a Wonderful Life). But these sacrifices are always framed as “I love him so much,” or “It’s my duty” or “I couldn’t live with myself if he didn’t get what he wanted” and sometimes even, “I can handle the suffering and I don’t want him to live with it.” But there’s something about WWX’s “eh it’s not a big deal to me  and it is to him” or his “bro’s kinda petty and can’t get over himself, whatchu gonna do” that feels stupidly singular.

WWX never says it isn’t a big deal. He never said that it didn’t hurt or that he didn’t make a sacrifice. He never said JC was pathetic or a loser or anything that diminishes JC or makes him less than he is. What he says is that JC is always competitive and comparing himself to others, which is true. But the other sacrifices in fiction that come close are a little more “I don’t want you to have to suffer” or even “I’m strong, and you’re weak, so I’ll take on this burden for you.” Meanwhile WWX doesn’t think JC is weak, and while WWX doesn’t want to suffer, he certainly doesn’t want to suffer himself. The sentiment feels closer to “you need to feel special so I’ll make that happen for you,” and there’s something about it that is a little condescending.

I mentioned that I’ve only seen this kind of thing one other time, and it was in a baseball anime called Touch that aired in Japan in the 1980s. Touch is a story about twins, one of whom is smart, talented, and works hard. The other twin, Tatsuya, is good in school and good at baseball, but at first seems like a lazy guy who only cares about joking around and having fun. Then you find out he’s a genius and a one-in-a-lifetime talent, but just never bothered to focus on anything because he’s so stupidly good at everything that he would just show his brother up, and his brother cares about excelling and Tatsuya doesn’t, so he just…was careful to never apply himself to anything.

WWX isn’t Tatsuya, in that when they’re on an even playing field, WWX doesn’t really seem to have any compunctions about showing off. But as soon as the playing field becomes uneven, he also has no compunctions about destroying himself so that JC’s competitive spirit is satisfied. There’s something about it that has a flavor of “I’m better than you,” even if it’s never what WWX meant to communicate. No wonder JC feels like a clown.

Like, in the end, WWX kind of did make a fool of JC, even though WWX did it out of both love and loyalty. I'm not sure I've ever read or seen anything else where such a sacrifice has such ambiguity, and it really makes the WWX+JC relationship one of the most complicated I've seen.

[simply-whump]

Strange Tales of Jiang Cheng (江城诡事) - Whump List

Whumpee : Qin Huo Le played by Xia Zhi Guang and Song He played by Caesar Wu

Synopsis : In the early years of the Republic of China, the situation in Jiangzhou in the southwest region was chaotic, which led to frequent spies. Qin Huo Le, who returned from studying abroad, met detective captain Song He and with the help of the quirky female forensic doctor Fan Xiao Fan, the three of them worked together to solve 8 bizarre murder cases and bring justice to the world. (MDL)

Genres : Thriller, Mystery, Investigation, Bromance

Warning! Possible spoilers below!

Qin Huo Le

Ep 1 : None

Ep 2 : (01:35) Arm twisted — (11:35) Throwing up

Ep 3-4 : None

Ep 5 : (12:5) Choked

Ep 6 : (08:55) Crying

Ep 7 : (11:30) Am twisted — (11:55) In handcuffs 

Ep 8 : (06:10) Knife at his neck, captured, hands and feet tied, gagged (Gif Set)

Ep 9 : (0:50) Still tied up —(04:45) Knife at his throat — (06:23) Found, untied, taken hostage

Ep 10-23 : None

Ep 24 : (03:05) Arm twisted

Ep 25 : None

Ep 26 : (05:05) Thrown to the ground, attacked, knife at his throat

Ep 27-35 : None

Ep 36 : Missing, suspect in a case

Ep 37 : None

Ep 38 : (00:45) Tied up with rope the whole episode 

Ep 39 : (09:30) Still tied up, black hood on his head, gagged, saved — (13:40) Restrained

Ep 40 : (05:25) Wakes up from a nightmare

Ep 41 : None

Ep 42 : (06:45) Fighting, hit — (09:10) Shot at, more fighting, gun pointed at his head — (12:50) Hit several times, choked, punched, Song He comes to the rescue

Ep 43 : (08:25) Handcuffed (wants to infiltrate a prison)

Ep 44 : (03:00) Handcuffed, about to infiltrate a prison (very dangerous), hugged by his friends — (10:25) Manhandled, restrained, force fed something disgusting, coughing

Ep 45 : (01:00) Glass cup smashed on his head, knocked out — (07:10) Wakes up in a cell, holding his stomach, in pain — (12:35) Stomach hurting, sweating

Ep 46 : None

Ep 47 : (02:50) Fighting, hit

Ep 48 : (04:05) Walking unsteadily, holding his stomach, passes out, wakes up in bed, concern for him — (09:10) Crying, vision blurry passes out — (11:30) Wakes up tied up

Ep 49-50 : None

Ep 51 : (01:00) Teary-eyed, fighting — (10:20) Teary-eyed 

Ep 52 : (00:50) Teary-eyed, crying — (10:20) Crying

Song He

Ep 1-2 : None

Ep 3 : (10:35) Fighting, choked, in an explosion, found collapsed on the floor, concern for him, helped up, stumbling — (11:30) Wound treated, in pain, alcohol dumped on his wound, screaming in pain (semi-comedic)

Ep 4-12 : None

Ep 13 : (07:30) Feeling unwell, collapses unconscious, concern for him, surrounded by some poison miasma — (09:15) Wakes up, slightly disoriented 

Ep 14-27 : None

Ep 30 : (08:55) Surrounded by smoke, coughing, collapses, passes out, concern for him, woken up

Ep 31-38 : None

Ep 39 : (01:50) Fighting, hit

Ep 40 : (02:00) Surrounded by enemies — (03:45) Just had a tough fight, injured, tired, bleeding, saved — (09:20) Grabbed on his injury, wincing in pain

Ep 41-46 : None

Ep 47 : (11:30) Drugged, stumbling, vision blurry, cut with a knife multiple times, hit, fighting, pinned to the ground, stabbed in the chest, jumps through a window, shot, still manages to escape (Gif Set)

Ep 48 : (03:35) Bleeding, barely conscious, concern for him — (09:45) Carried unconscious, concern for him — (12:00) Unconscious in bed, wakes up, pale and feverish, in pain, concern for him

Ep 49 : (00:50) In bed, weak

Ep 50 : None

Ep 51 : (01:25) Slight concern for him, fighting — (06:25) Shot, collapses, bleeding, concern for him 

Ep 52 : None

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[rejectedfables]

Today I’m thinking about parallels.

I’m thinking about how Wei Wuxian, by doing the right thing (standing up to Wen Chao in defense of Mianmian), upset a powerful member of a powerful sect (Wen Chao of the Wen sect), who retaliated against Wei Wuxian by wiping out the home (Lotus Pier) of the man Wei Wuxian planned to spend his life with (Jiang Cheng). Wei Wuxian, out of guilt and love, had a physical part of himself (his golden core) transplanted into Jiang Cheng without Jiang Cheng’s prior knowledge or consent. Wei Wuxian then disappeared for an extended period of time, while Jiang Cheng desperately searched for him.

I’m thinking about how Xiao Xingchen, by doing the right thing (attempting to bring Xue Yang to justice for the Chang clan, and verbally standing up to injustice in the face of the Jin clan), upset a powerful member of a powerful sect (Jin Guangshan of the Jin sect), who retaliated against Xiao Xingchen by encouraging or allowing Xue Yang to wipe out the home (Baixue Temple) of the man Xiao Xingchen planned to spend his life with (Song Lan). Xiao Xingchen, out of guilt and love, had a physical part of himself (his eyes) transplanted into Song Lan without Song Lan’s prior knowledge or consent. Xiao Xingchen then disappeared for an extended period of time, while Song Lan desperately searched for him.

Later Wei Wuxian spends a couple years living in a remote haunted area (Yiling Burial Mounds) making house with the beaten remains of their previous enemy (the defeated and abused Qishan Wen clan remnants). 

Later Xiao Xingchen spends a couple years living in a remote haunted area (Yi City) making house with the beaten remains of their previous enemy (Xue Yang, injured from having narrowly escaped execution).

In the end it’s heavily implied that Wei Wuxian kills himself, and it’s stated that no matter who tried to call on his spirit in the following years, until Mo Xuanyu, he never answered. 

Xiao Xingchen certainly killed himself, and no matter how many times or in how many ways his spirit was called upon, he never answered. 

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 foliage by antebunny

💙 foliage

by antebunny (@antebunny)

G, 7k, Wangxian

Summary: Wei Wuxian surrenders in Nightless City. Jin Guangshan, knowing that he's coreless and weaponless, organizes a night hunt with 1,000 Jin disciples where Wei Wuxian is the prey. He shouldn't have underestimated Wei Wuxian. Kay's comments: This is the most BAMF Wei Wuxian story out there and I absolutely adore it. He surrenders and has to fight 1000 Jin disciples an then he comes out on top and vanishes. In the meantime, the world changes. The non-linear narrative worked really well in this story and I loved the shifts in perspective as you learn more about what happened after Wei Wuxian surrendered and why he surrendered. There's a second part too, about his return. Excerpt: “A-Xian, please…stop. Just stop,” Jiang Yanli begs, spending the last of her breath gasping out a barely coherent sentence to her little brother. “Okay,” Wei Wuxian says, desperate as always to make her happy. “Okay. If that’s what you want.” He raises his flute to his lips, calming the fierce corpses currently rampaging around Nightless City. Jiang Yanli feels the world going blurry, but forces herself to focus for her brother. Wei Wuxian gently picks her up and passes her to Jiang Cheng, who came running over as soon as he heard her. “A-Yuan,” he says to Jiang Cheng urgently. “Please, Jiang Cheng, A-Yuan–he’s just a child.” Then he backs away, hands at his side, and turns to face the assembled cultivators. “Wei Wuxian!” The sharp voice of Sect Leader Nie. “What is this? Are you surrendering?” Wei Wuxian looks back, once, at Jiang Yanli. No, she wants to say, don’t do it. A-Xian, I came to tell you that I don’t blame you. I know it’s not your fault. I know you would never. Don’t surrender to them, A-Xian, there’s something rotten in the heart of Jinlintai and they’re not interested in justice. But she can’t. She’s losing consciousness in her brother’s arms, and she can do nothing but watch as Wei Wuxian looks away with resolve on his face. She’s never hated herself more for being weak.

pov alternating, non-linear narrative, canon divergence, somebody lives/not everybody dies, angst, hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending, jiang yanli lives, bamf wei wuxian

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[dum-spiro-spero99]

THE SPECTRUM, THE RINGKOMPOSITION IS COMPLETE AT LAST

Narcissus religious guilt, inflexible faith , and gay for Goldmund

Frollo religious guilt, inflexible justice and faith, straight but queercoded somehow

Javert inflexible justice and gay for Valjean

*fictional*Girolamo Riario religious guilt, inflexible justice and faith, envy/love for a genious , sense of mediocrity, gay for Leonardo

*fictional*Salieri religious guilt, envy/love for a genious that accidentally kills, sense of mediocrity and gay for Mozart (mlor takes that to eleven)

Jiang Cheng envy/platonic love for a genious that accidentally kills (the untamed only), sense of mediocrity and aroace

Squidward envy/love for a genious, sense of mediocrity and gay for Spongebob

P.S I percieve the most of them as in the aroace spectrum, when I write gay for I mean in a strange psychosexual, ambigous homoerotic relationship that sometime borders on obsession

[immortal-gege]

I do think Jiang Cheng is "selfish" in that he prioritizes the well-being himself and his family over justice, e.g. being angry at Wei Wuxian for not keeping his head down and minding his own business both against Wen Chao and later with protecting the remnants of the Wens, both of which did/would have consequences for the Jiang clan. But also I don't think that's inherently bad of him though. It's super unfair to have to make the decision between protecting family and attempting to uphold justice.

[nixster627]

I just keep thinking about how Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue are essentially the same person at different points in their life. They are both well known for their tempers, became sect leaders when they were young after their parents died quite suddenly and tragically at the hands of one of the Wen, and have a reputation for doling out justice (NMJ to the Wen specifically and JC to demonic cultivators).

And it surprises me when people love one but hate the other and the reason they give is something like "but JC never treated his brother terribly after becoming sect leader" as if Nie Mingjue didn't also treat his brother pretty badly after becoming a sect leaders as well.

NMJ pushed his brother to constantly train because he knew one day soon he would die because of the effects of the saber and knew Huaisang would have to take over but instead of communicating this to Huaisang, he just kept forcing him to participate in an activity he hated.

JC had a similar problem where he kept getting angry over the fact that WWX wasn't doing his duties as first disciple because he didn't know that WWX didn't have a golden core anymore. To him, it probably just seemed as though WWX was no longer taking his duties seriously.