#ming yi the time of darkness

[selfiesforalgernon]

I think I'm gonna have this as a reminder whenever I get the urge to post anything on reddit again lol (from Ming Yi the 36th hexagram of the I Ching)

[muzsmocsing]

Reviewing tgcf characters because I have thoughts

I finished S2 recently and I need somewhere to put my not exactly hot but like warm (?) takes because it's taking up too much storage space in my brain.

🤍 Xie Lian 🤍

It's a good thing I'm not into guys because if I was I would be on my knees for this man in every sense of that expression and his pet menace to society would mince me up like garlic.

So I'll try to be brief about my overflowing feelings about him. Xie Lian is the best main character I have come across in a WHILE. He's the embodiment of compassion and kindness. And also a cold blooded murderer. A babygirl. A father figure. A terrifying martial god. A silly little guy. A pathological liar. The most genuine man you'll ever meet. He's everything, and Hua Cheng is 100% valid in his obsession. I'm right there with him.

Rating: 10/10

❤️ Hua Cheng ❤️

Idk if we ever figured out who wrote My Immortal but I'm pretty sure we have our culprit.

"Hi my name is Hua Cheng Crimson Rain Sought Flower Red-Robed Ghost King and this is my evil weapon of death E-ming. I've killed soooo many gods with it!! My dark power is I can summon storms of BLOOD and SUFFERING. I have my own scary city of DEMONS and they all love me and think I'm HOT but I only want my BOYFRIEND who's the only REAL GOD so STOP FLAMING HIM YOU POSERS-"

Needless to say I love him. Being the 8 time winner of the Loverboy of the Century Awards with unbeatable records in the yearning olympics is truly a remarkable feat.

Rating: 9/10

(Bonus: E-ming. Cute little guy. Likes his stepdad more than his real dad. Not afraid to show it's feelings even if it makes it look like a muppet, 10/10)

🧡 Feng Xin & Mu Qing 🧡

Tweedle dee and tweedle dum gets a shared rating because they would hate to be grouped together like that and that's funny to me. Their dynamic is great, they're good characters, I wasn't sure which one was which until midway through the second season. But then also I have a pair of 7yo twin cousins who I still can't tell apart despite them not looking even a slight bit similar so that might just be a character flaw on my end. Oops.

Rating: 7/10

🩵Shi Qingxuan🩵

I'm doubling the rating because she is best boy and best girl at the same time. I love that I can use any and all pronouns for him because he's literally a pride parade personified and therefore all of them are correct. You don't get that type of chaotic fun just anywhere.

He is truly living my dream, presenting as whatever gender they want depending on what's more convenient and/or funnier in the moment. Super useful, for things like gathering intel and terrorizing Feng Xin by being a woman.

And I personally think we should crown her the new emperor. She'd look significantly better on that throne, with her Barbie-like radiance and flourishing Kenergy.

Rating: 20/10

🖤 Ming Yi 🖤

Listen, I hate to say it because I like a sunshine x grump moment as much as the next gay but he's just... not giving what he thinks he's giving. Everyone is whispering ominously about him having some dark devastating secret but MY point is no matter how big his boobs are in his female form, Shi Qingxuan could do better. I'm sorry. She really could.

Rating: 4/10

💙 Lang Qianqiu 💙

Just an honest man with good intentions and a sickass fucking sword. He did NOT hesitate to attack the infamous Crimson Rain Sought Flower on SIGHT and I respect a quick decisionmaker, even if it shows some himbo tendencies. He also has the same distinct energy as Fred from Scooby Doo.

Rating: 6/10

💚 Qi Rong 💚

He's got some odd dietary and moral choices going on. Definitely. But he's just such a fun villain!!! Being Xie Lian's nr 1 source of migraines SHOULD make me like him less but I'm sorry, every time he was on screen I was LIVING. He would do numbers on reality TV. Someone put this guy on Kitchen Nightmares, I need to see him 1v1 Gordon Ramsay.

Rating: 7/10

🌚 Jun Wu 🌚

He has his emperor status & DILF card going for him but something about this man just ain't right. If he came to a party I was attending I would cover my drink is all I'm saying.

Rating: 2/10

🔥Pei Ming🔥

I don't know much about him besides he had that one shady empolyee or whatever (could not hear the plot over the deafening sound of Hua Cheng's yearning) but I'm partial to a good manwhore character. The thought of people praying to him like "Hugh Mungus, who art in heaven-" really tickles me.

I know he's probably straight but I headcanon him as at the very least bi-curious because you can't be that hot with that much game and not use it for evil. (That evil being causing large scale gay awakenings among his soldiers.)

Rating: 7/10

❓Pei Xiu❓

Unreliable, unimportant, unattractive, unemployed.

I remember not a singular thing about him besides fucking up Xie Lian's daughter's life and also being on my last nerve from the jump. If you're going to be evil at like least be memorable about it, you know? You can't be a bad person and a bad character at the same time. Pick a struggle.

Rating: 1/10

📚 Ling Wen 📚

I heard she committed some war crimes but honestly if I had to do an entire realm's tax returns by myself AND teach Pei Ming how to read (I refuse to believe that man is literate, just look at him) I would want to rage on occasion too. I hope she has a hot wife waiting for her at home to give her massages after carrying the whole system on her back all day. It's what she deserves.

Rating: 8/10

Thank you for reading!! Opinions might change once I read the books but as of now this is it. Remembering everyone's names has been a journey and a half so this post is sponsored by @kirstenly 's character cheat sheet go look at it! and everything else too!!!

[xo-arcie]

So I am almost done with book 4 and it is my favorite (so far).

Just all the Hualian moments have me gnawing on my fucking furniture (The dice game they played? The attempted coffin escape?? The exchange of spiritual power???) but what is killing me is learning the truth about Shi Wudu, Shi Qingxuan, and He Xuan!!!!

I may be tainted from binging season 2 of Arcane (that show left me only seeing 🏳️‍🌈 everywhere), but the realization that "Ming Yi" was always trying to keep Shi Qingxuan away from his master plan the whole time just plucked away at my heartstrings. It builds up to that moment where Shi Qingxuan cries out his remorse for everything that has happened to He Xuan, but he used the endearment 'Ming-xiong' instead.

And then He Xuan has an unreadable moment, these unsung emotions flickering across his dark features, only for him to say:

"You called for the wrong person."

Am I looking too much into that??? There is a tenderness there, right?? I know it was the long-con fruition of He Xuan's master plan, but maybe, just maybe, he genuinely started to care for Shi Qingxuan along the way???

[ryin-silverfish]

Could you mention the spirit foxes you know please? The best known is Su Daji, and I know the story of Jade Fox (she's so cool. She fought Erlang), but I've wanted to know more. I also knows about the fox spirits from Strange tales from a Chinese studio.

JTTW fox spirits die so fast sadly.

JTTW foxes are like the Red Shirts of demons

The earliest "maybe" fox spirit is Yu the Great's wife, the Girl of Tushan. Basically, when he arrived at Tushan, he saw a nine-tailed fox, heard the locals singing about it, and decided to marry a girl there.

There are two readings of the text: 1) the fox is just an auspicious sign from Heaven, telling Yu to get married, and 2) the fox is an avatar, or transformation of the Girl of Tushan. Later Qing legends certainly favor the second reading, with foxes referring to themselves as the descendents of Tushan.

The other "maybe" fox spirit is Chunhu("Pure Fox"), Houyi's wife. Now, I heard you asking: "But wait! Isn't Houyi's wife Chang'e?" Well...there are actually two "Yi" in Chinese mythos-history.

The "Yi" people are most familiar with, who shot down the Sun Crows, supposedly lived in the time of Sage King Yao, while the "Yi" married to Chunhu was from the Xia dynasty.

(Rough timeline: Yao —> Shun —> Yu the Great —> his son Qi, founder of the Xia dynasty)

Basically, Houyi usurped Qi's son, Tai Kang, and seized his throne, then Han Zhuo usurped and killed him while he was out hunting.

According to 左传 + Qu Yuan's 天问 and 离骚, Chunhu played a vital part in this: a dark-skinned beauty, she was originally Hebo's wife, until Houyi killed her husband with an arrow and forcefully seized her, then she plotted with Han Zhuo to murder Houyi and became his wife.

Since Chunhu could also be written as Xuanhu("Dark Fox"), some scholars suggested that her clan might have used a black fox as their totem or worshipped such a divine beast. Unlike the Girl of Tushan, the implication of her being an actual fox wasn't as strong, but she did fit into that "plotting temptress" stereotype that would later be connected to fox spirits.

There is this one strange trivia in the Northern-Southern dynasty 搜神记 that goes: "All foxes come from this one slutty woman in ancient times called Ah Zi(阿紫), who turned into a fox, therefore fox spirits often refer to themselves with that name too."

The Ming dynasty novel, 三遂平妖传, is all about this family of foxes and how they were behind Wang Ze's failed rebellion in the Song dynasty: "Sagely Old Lady", her daughter Hu Mei'er/Yong'er, and her son Hu Chu'er/Zuo Chu.

When they passed Wu Zetian's tomb, her ghost appeared in Sagely Old Lady's dream, telling her that she would soon reincarnate into a male body, and that Mei'er is actually the reincarnation of her paramour, Zhang Liulang, and they promised to be husband and wife in every life.

When she woke up, Mei'er was missing, so she just went on and cultivated 72 Daoist arts using the Heavenly Scroll this Egg Monk guy stole from a cave. Meanwhile, Mei'er landed in an enunch's garden, was adopted as his daughter, tried to charm the Crown Prince by disguising herself as a consort and got insta-killed by Guan Yu the guardian deity.

She reincarnated again as Yong'er, and reunited with Sagely Old Lady and her brother, who taught her Daoist arts and began to plot a rebellion. They managed to convince Wang Ze, a minor official, into leading it——who just happened to be Wu Zetian's reincarnation, so naturally Yong'er married him.

Alas, their rebellion was not to be: Egg Monk, disgusted by their behaviors, left to seek help from the Mystic Lady of the Nine Heavens, and, with the arts she taught, crushed the rebels.

Yong'er and Zuo Chu got struck dead by divine thunderbolts, while Sagely Old Lady was spared thanks to her fellow heavenly foxes' pleadings, but sentenced to guard the Heavenly Scroll forever.

This wouldn't be the first time Wu Zetian was associated with foxes: in the Qing dynasty novel, Flowers in the Mirror(镜花缘), she straight up is the Heart Moon Fox(心月狐) incarnate, one of the 28 Lunar Mansions.

She reincarnated because the two Sui emperors kept complaining in the Underworld about how they were usurped by the Tang, until the Celestial Court went "Okay, fine, we'll send one of our own to usurp the Tang dynasty too. Happy?"

Which, like Daji, is very much in line with the "A powerful woman? *gasp* She must be a fox demoness!" literary tradition.

[eruhamster]

heya i'm thinking of reading tgcf and was wondering is beefleaf canon? i wasn't sure going by the fandom stuff i've seen so far but your post says it is? whcih would be great, I'd love two romances in one book!!

Ah, sorry for leading you on. So it's not officially canon, but it's heavily implied that He Xuan harbors feelings for SQX and doesn't want to admit it. It's in the same vein as Pei Ming and the Rain Master; you can get a good feeling of what is likely going on in the characters' heads, but Xie Lian has a tendency to not really pay attention to the romantic lives of the people around him (and -that- is canonical and he even laments being too stuck in his own brain to notice Feng Xin was courting someone).

If you don't mind spoilers:

He Xuan's true self comes through every once in a while in the text and you can usually tell when it's his true feelings or thoughts based on his tone or if he's interacting directly with Hua Cheng. His real self is very heavy; Xie Lian notes sometimes that his tone and words are very oppressive and dark, and every time in those instances it's who He Xuan really seems to be. An example of this is when Xie Lian feeds them both stew that was already awful because he made it, but also poisoned further by Hua Cheng:

Not stomach; heart. The true He Xuan tells him his heart is overtaken by demons. And when you think about this as to who he is as a character - he has hung around SQX for hundreds of years, buddy-buddy with him, even transforming as a girl with him just because SQX asks him to. They're clearly very close, and even once He Xuan has easy chances to kill him in the midst of him taking revenge, he doesn't bother and actively protects SQX from harm. He saves SQX life a few times. He actively tries to keep him from Shi Wudu and gets angry when he picks his brother over him. He even tells SQX he was giving him chances.

And still, he keeps SQX alive. He doesn't even take his fate back. And in fact, he repairs SQX's broken fan and gives it back. If you parse through every interaction they have, every single instance of He Xuan saying anything, it becomes fairly clear that he only bears ill will toward Shi Wudu, and seems to be furious both at himself for not having the heart to hate SQX (and perhaps thinks it's because of all the ghosts he's eaten, and thus why he thinks he needs an exorcism?), and furious at SQX for not siding entirely with him. And with that push-and-pull game comes the parallel of He Xuan losing his sister and fiancee, and seemingly playing into that trauma during his revenge by chaining SQX up and letting him get felt up by a bunch of beggars in front of Shi Wudu - so he is giving Shi Wudu the taste of having his little brother/sister, often depicted as his wife by mortals, get the same sort of treatment that his sister and fiancee had been given. I think it's very purposeful that it was written that way - that He Xuan lost a fiancee, and Shi Wudu is depicted by mortals as having SQX as a wife. And He Xuan is jealous of SQX picking Shi Wudu over him, quite clearly in the text. There's a million instances of it, but here's one:

And if you dissect further, it seems that he may have specifically been trying to enact a plan to get revenge on Shi Wudu in a way where he could still hang around SQX as Ming Yi; he actively keeps them separated till the last moment and seems panicked or angry every time Xie Lian gets closer to revealing him, and all the work he -tried- to do to reveal the truth to SQX was through things like shadow ghosts or while dressed as a ghost in a ghost mask.

And even once it's over and he shows up again, he acts the same as he always did toward SQX; grumpy, but sarcastically so, and with no real menacing aura. Even when he hits him, in the text it's clear he doesn't actually hurt SQX at all, and later, he even laughs:

So while Beefleaf is a popular ship that isn't canon, I think at least He Xuan's infatuation with him is like... Borderline canon. It seems heavily implied. Particularly since it mirrors Hua Cheng so well. And I do not think, honestly, that Hua Cheng would work so closely with a ghost so outwardly venomous. It's made pretty clear in the story that the ghosts Hua Cheng surrounds himself with are decent people, and sometimes just want a bit of revenge that Hua Cheng would deem fair.

And I think specifically there's a lot of room for it that makes it clear it really could be a matter of Xie Lian being oblivious to others' love lives like he has in the past. I mean, he keeps thinking Pei Ming's obsession with Rain Master is purely not wanting to be upstaged by a woman when that's -clearly- not the case. There's tons of instances where SQX is clearly not giving Xie Lian the whole truth of what happened between him and He Xuan, and I think there's a lot to grapple with about why that would be so. But I would definitely say it's like... Like to say "He Xuan falls in love with SQX" is not just headcanon, it is a very easy interpretation of what's going on, and specifically due to the parallels in the story (two ghosts obsessed with two gods so thoroughly they become supremes, one's obsession from love and one's obsession from hatred), and the relevance of wife/fiancee and SQX's genderfluidity, I think that it's likely intentionally set up this way.

TL;DR it's sort of in the same vein as like... Yeah technically Bert and Ernie aren't married but you'd be an idiot to not see what's right in front of you. It's that kind of 'not actually canon.'

[becauseimanicequeen]

Because you like color related questions: What is your favorite color and what ql use it best?

Hi, Anon.

I love the question, but...

How can this artist who loves colors possibly choose a favorite among the things that give her life?

I know I'm crazy, but not that crazy! lol

So I'll just change the question a bit and steer this post in the direction I want (and give you more than you asked for). Okay? Okay!

I'm practically obsessed with one half of the traditional color wheel. And that's everything from purple, going into blue, and up to blue-green (or what most people call turquoise or teal, the latter which seems to have become really popular in the past few years). Throw some pink in there, preferably the neon/fluorescent kind, and black and you basically have my art, lol.

To summarize, though, my favorite colors are:

Purple

Blue

Blue-green (or what most people call turquoise or teal)

Pink

Black

With that said, let's move on to the second part of your question.

I can't remember if I've ever seen blue-green (turquoise/teal) in a QL (but my memory is fucked, so help me if you want).

When it comes to the other colors, I will share some moments from QLs where the colors are particularly beautiful (in my eyes), used in a great way in a particular scene, or when there's a color-coded character I like rather than focus on the use of a particular color throughout a whole series (the latter would turn into a thesis for each color, lol, and I just don't have the time or energy for that right now).

Let's start with black and then move through the others according to the color wheel.

I love black because it goes well with every other color. But I also love black because it's a color that can be used in shows/films without using it. And that's by filming night scenes.

I love night scenes in shows/films because it's many times used for the big emotional scenes, from confessions to breakups and everything in between.

The black might not be evident in all these particular images I've included below, but all these scenes play out in the dark of evening/night.

Like in To Be Continued when Ji practically confesses that he likes Achi but gets rejected (kind of):

When Zhou Shu Yi confesses his love for Gao Shi De in We Best Love: No. 1 For You:

Shu Yi is also one of my favorite QL characters, and he often wears black.

When Sailom confesses that he likes Namnuea in Wedding Plan:

Which I think has a deeper meaning since he can only ever truly be himself in the dark or in the company of Yiwa through a large part of the series.

Then there's Phat loosing his shit in La Pluie:

He finally got to unload some of the shit that had been weighing on him for so long, and I loved that scene so much.

And then there's My Stand-In that practically show a multitude of different emotions in their night scenes:

And Ming wears black a lot, which I've written about in this post about his clothes in particular, and in this one where I've also written about Joe's blue.

I could spend a whole post on night scenes, but I won't because I need to save some images for the other colors, lol.

So, moving on to pink!

For me, there are two characters/shows that stand out with the use of pink. The first one is Tankhun in KinnPorsche:

He's so ridiculous, such a drama queen, and that's exactly why I love him so much. And, he's constantly surrounded by pink.

Then there's Wandee Gooday. This series didn't just use pink, but neon pink, and I will forever and ever love this one for that:

The one above has some purple in it too, but the color on their skin, pillows, etc., has more red than blue in it, which (in my eyes) means it's verging more towards pink.

There's also this softer pink that's in contrast to the other images above. They're using different values, intensities, and hues of pink to create different moods/vibes in their scenes, and I love that.

Other honorable mentions (but I have to save on the images since tumblr only gives me 30... lol):

Tharn and Phaya's first (real) sex scene in The Sign (not the dreams). The neon pink is divine in that scene.

Maybe in Secret Crush on You as well. I can remember that there were neon lights. And, when there are neon lights, there has to be pink, right? (I will be rewatching this series for my Pride Month celebrations soon, so I might get to see how wrong I am, lol.)

The pink neon lights in Ai Di's club in Kiseki: Dear to Me were also divine.

Now, let's move on to purple.

I obviously have to mention Dee from Wandee Goodday here, because he just looks so good in purple:

Also, both Dee and Yak look good in purple:

Please, Wandee Goodday, give me more purple!

Other than this, I can't remember purple that well. So, let me share three examples that are a bit purple-ish. The first one is Kiseki: Dear to Me where the lights sometimes verge towards purple.

Then we have two different series where there are blueish and pinkish lights that, kind of, mix and create purple. The first one is this scene in KinnPorsche:

And the other one is this scene in Love in the Air:

They look really similar, don't they? And I absolutely love those colors together. That lighting is divine.

Next, we have blue.

Blue is used a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

So I had to narrow it down a lot and choose a couple of blue characters and moments.

Let's start with this scene from Deep Night:

This is the scene where Pan and Ken start flirting with Seji like it's a competition. But what I love about this shot in particular (besides from the blue) is that Pan, who is the one who brings up poly, shows up between Seji and Ken in the shot (and in several scenes throughout the series). He's the one who brought all three of them together. And I love that he often stands in the middle. Also, he looks so good in blue.

Then there's Ji in To Be Continued who is surrounded by blue basically all the time because he's a blue character. And he looks really good in blue.

And then there's King from Bed Friend who is also gorgeous in all the blue hues:

Then I love this moment in Two Worlds:

These two got about 10 seconds in the finale, which was the highlight of this episode for me. Both of them practically propose to each other at the same time, both are dressed in blue and standing in front of those blueish pillars. I loved every single second of this scene as if each second was a whole hour long.

Then there's a whole series called Blue Boys, which meant I had to watch it as soon as I heard about it in April/May. The second part started yesterday with a new episode and I have to say that I really love this short series and its vibe (their chemistry is great, btw). And Nami's blue shirt:

That blue is gorgeous.

And then, last but not least, there's one of my favorite blue characters, and that's Saengtai in La Pluie:

I love this blue boy and his yellow boyfriend so much. They're one of my favorite couples in the QLs I've watched.

As an introvert (passing off as an extrovert, which makes me want to shut up and hide on purpose most of the time to protect my energy, lol) I can absolutely relate to Tai not wanting to socialize with everyone all the fucking time. He's chosen the people who get to drain energy from him (I wish I was that good at putting up boundaries, lol) so I'm not as annoyed by his silence as many others who watch this might be.

Yes, he hurt Phat's feelings. Yes, Phat had every right to run away when he was hurt. Yes, it was glorious to see Tai switching on his loyalty like never before when he realized how much he'd hurt Phat. And that whole episode of him searching for Phat and losing it when he found him healed parts of me I didn't even know were broken (lol).

If you haven't seen La Pluie, I recommend watching it.

Anyway...

There you have it, Anon. My favorite colors (because I can't choose one) and some of my favorite characters/moments including those colors.

Thank you for your ask.

[ruiniel]

Nightmares by the Sea

Fandom: Heaven Official's Blessing

Pairing: He Xuan/Shi Qingxuan

Count: 1.7k

Rating: T

Tags/CW: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Relationship, Drowning, Ambiguity, He Xuan's words have double meaning in places, beefleaf, ish, She/Her Pronouns for Shi Qingxuan, POV Shi Qingxuan, for most of it

Summary:

Shi Qingxuan has always been thankful for him, more so when times are dire.

Also on AO3

Banner art: Sunlight on the Coast by Winslow Homer (1890)

A white-hot sun had hounded them for the entire day. 

Now, Shi Qingxuan was sprawled like a starfish on the shore, and warm sand soothed all those tense muscles in her back. “I’ll give you this. Us coming here was a great idea…” 

“You mean me coming here, and you following without rhyme or reason,” replied Ming Yi. He sat next to the Wind Master, cross-legged, hands resting in his lap. His words were unfriendly, but his tone was mild like the breeze that tugged at the lapels of his tunic and sifted through his dark hair, loose and pooling over his shoulders. 

“Oh come on,” she nudged his thigh with a bare toe. “You could've made it so I didn't know where you went, if you wanted to.”

Their outer robes were discarded on a boulder, next to their boots. Shi Qingxuan had stuffed the Wind Master fan in hers. She lazily half-rose and looked at Ming Yi’s face for his reaction, as she always did after the unspoken rules of their familiar banter. Despite his morose demeanor sometimes—well, most of the time, if Shi Qingxuan thought about it—she’d come to read him by his expressions alone. Or lack thereof. It was a great feat either way and one she received too little credit for.  

Much too little.

Ming Yi gave no retort, and Shi Qingxuan was met with a rare view: his eternally somber features veiled in serenity as he gazed at the vast, shimmering surface, far ahead to where the horizon kissed the sea. 

Behind them stood cliffs and rock formations of white and gray, silent and bared like ancient bones to the sun. Gulls spread their wings above, their calls joining the song of wind and water whistling through the stones and murmuring along the shore. 

A mission on the borders of the South Sea of all places had been unexpected, but in the end, turned out to be swift work; no one would miss them in the Upper Court besides. Not yet, anyway. Shi Qingxuan sat up, bumping into Ming Yi with her shoulder. 

He slowly tilted his face from the sight of sea and sky, which now ran copper with the blood of evening; not quite looking at her, but just enough to show that he was listening. “...well?” he asked when nothing was forthcoming. 

She stayed quiet but slowly turned and wiggled until she lay with her head on Ming Yi’s thigh, annoyed clicks of tongue and all. “I have an idea—”

“No.”

Shi Qingxuan smiled up at him, though Ming Yi’s gaze had returned to the sea, now a fiery cauldron of molten sunset gold. “Let’s go for a swim.”

Ming Yi looked at her then. The cold blue of his stare met her emerald eyes, where dusk’s amber danced. “... will you change back already?” he asked, voice as mellow as before as he brushed a meddling strand from her face. 

“No,” Shi Qingxuan said in turn. “Ming-xiong, could you not be so much like, well, yourself?”

“Trust me, I’m not.”

Ming Yi sometimes had strange turns for words, but a century passed since they met, and she was well used to his quirks by now. “We’re here. We worked hard. Why not try and have a touch of fun?”

Ming Yi raised a brow, his mouth twisting ever so slightly. “Fun? Can't you see the waves coming in?” 

She frowned. “What waves? The water’s as flat as a—” Upon turning her head, the words died in her mouth. 

Far out at sea, the sky was darkening, a purple, burdened twilight slow to crawl across its canvas. The previously calm waters roiled, and undulations formed slow tides that fed endless waves nearing the shore. 

Shi Qingxuan rose, gathering her under-robes about her knees and studying the change. “Huh. Well, it's not like we’ll drown.”

“I’d still rather not be awash and drifting for who knows how long, with none but you as company,” her friend muttered.

Shi Qingxuan looked over her shoulder at him,  the smile brighter as it pulled at her lips. Behind her slender figure, the sea was all the more turbulent, the waves faster, foam spilling from their mouths as they crashed against the shore.

“I am the Wind Master, aren't I?”

Ming Yi tilted his head to one side. The bright, warm colors from before had bled dry around them, or so it seemed. He watched Shi Qingxuan in a new and curious way, gaze drifting down her body to where her hands crinkled the silks of her robe. “Yes, you are,” he said, barely leaning forward and propping a forearm on his raised knee. “But you don't know the world beyond this mirror.” 

Shi Qingxuan wondered. Jabs aside, they each knew their competence yet for some reason, Ming Yi was taking this too seriously. “You needn’t worry,” she said and turned back ahead, bare feet leaving prints in the wet brown sand as she neared the sea. “Water is my friend, my brother its Lord.  If you won't join me, wait here! I’ll return in a little while.”

Lightning flickered in the distance at a gathering of storms. The waves didn't thrash that much, and she’d known waters far more violent than this. It was warm from the passing day’s heat. Shi Qingxuan neared, being gently lifted with the motion of the waves as she entered the shallows. Soft seaweed lapped at her ankles, and she looked back when the water reached her hips. 

Ming Yi was standing on the shore now, arms crossed, appearing to look her way. Shi Qingxuan waved at him, but on receiving no response sighed and turned. 

She walked, submerged, and swam, allowing the saltwater to carry her body. The Wind Master turned on her back and stared upward, at a sky now laden with bruised, rain-engorged clouds. 

She shifted and swam again, looking to the shore. What was Ming Yi doing? He merely stood there and watched. For someone with his personality, even this muted display said much about him. 

Warmth bloomed in Shi Qingxuan’s chest, catching her unawares—her mind had wandered, and so had she. Her feet no longer touched the seabed. She made a turn and swam towards the shore when a wave pulled her back. Shi Qingxuan redressed easily but then came another, and another, like giant hands intent on dragging fresh prey towards the open sea. There was vigor in her body and strength in her strokes;  in her mind formed a challenge.

The repeated pull continued, currents roiled beneath and around her like snakes. She tried accessing the private communication array. “Ming-xiong? Ming-xiong, can you hear me?”

Nothing. As a larger wave washed over her, she saw him: his figure was smaller now, farther away. Still standing on the shore, gazing in her direction.

She wouldn’t flail, or lose composure. Shi Qingxuan knew the waters of the world, not as well or as commanding as the winds but she’d never seen them as a threat, and they always welcomed her. Thunder rumbled above her head, angry and deafening. Despite all attempts, after a while, there was still no progress, as though an unseen force kept her tethered.

If she cried out, Ming Yi wouldn’t hear. But he should notice something was wrong by now… shouldn’t he? She must have barely been visible amid the waves. “Ming—!”

She swallowed a mouthful of water and another wave crashed into her, blurring her sight and hurling her under. Shi Qingxuan struggled to swim upward, arms and legs burning with strain, even the body of a god beholden to the tireless might of nature. 

It felt like quicksand—an unhappy memory, but one she found frightful in its comparison. The more she tried, the deeper she sank, and soon she lost the remaining air in her lungs, and her vision of the deeps saw white bone and twisting shadows, circling her like a moving prison.

No… what is this?  She was weaponless, the sea vicious in its grasp and what light remained darkened as she drowned deeper. 

Something latched on to her—eyes widening, Shi Qingxuan tried fighting back, but the hold was stronger, dragging her along like a felled reed. 

She could barely see when she broke the surface. Before her, cold, glittering blue. 

“M-ming-xiong…”

“Hold on!” 

She did, fingers digging into Ming Yi, struggling to keep afloat.  The clutch around her waist was his arm, but the relief was brief as a great wave smashed into them, sending them both beneath.

Warmth again. Brief, repeated, forcing itself inside of her. Salt on her tongue, in her eyes, burning through her nostrils, her lungs. 

“Easy, Qingxuan. Slowly.” 

Her eyes focused, head and chest aching and burning as she coughed and coughed. But she knew the voice above her, felt solid warmth beneath her. Night had fallen.

“Ming-xiong… you…”

“Don’t speak,” Ming Yi urged, himself wet to the bone, on his knees at her side. He was smoothing her long hair out of her face. 

“ ‘m … sorry.”

His eyes always said more than his words ever would, but Shi Qingxuan could not guess the meaning behind, this time. “You honor fickle friendships,” he said, “if this is what they yield.” His words were punctured by annoyance. Or was it disdain? No… not that. 

“...strange… all of a sudden, the water… isn’t it? Ming-xiong, I… saw…something, down there. There were…”

Ming Yi shook his head, eyes following down her drenched, clingy robe. “There was nothing, Qingxuan.”

Shi Qingxuan wanted to say more, but her body also felt like it wanted to take its leave of her, and his voice was gentler than she’d ever heard it. Everything about him now curled in her chest like a ragged little beast, needy and hidden. Her cheek burned from the proximity of a fire he’d started. She let it go. “Thank you. I’m sorry,” she repeated, turned to one side, a hand weakly skimming over his.

In the distance, there was no trace of the storm, and the sea was a mass of darkness. Ming Yi tore his eyes away and stared into the flames; she missed the warmth dying in their depths.

[bl-bracket]

Bracket Stats #7

You guys know the drill by now. These are the cumulative stats for every bracket EXCEPT Best Kiss, Best Siblings, Build-a-BL, and Best QL Marriage Proposal. It's a little confusing because we just ended the Best QL Marriage Proposal one, but the changes in stats here are focused on the Most Unhinged Bracket.

There have now been 116 different dramas that have been in these brackets. 68 are from Thailand, 15 are from Japan, 6 are from China, 9 are from Taiwan, and 18 are from South Korea.

With this bracket we had 11 new dramas: 6 are from Thailand, 2 are from Japan, 2 are from China, and 1 is from South Korea.

The new dramas are: Dark Blue Kiss (Thailand), Dead Friend Forever (Thailand), Double Mints (Japan), My Eleventh Brother (South Korea), My Stand In (Thailand), Something in My Room (Thailand), Stay with Me (China), The Miracle of Teddy Bear (Thailand), The Shortest Distance is Round: Noir (Japan), The Spirealm (China), To Sir, With Love (Thailand).

Dark Blue Kiss and To Sir, With Love were both featured in the Best Siblings bracket, but this is their first time in an individual character bracket.

There have now been 235 individual characters featured here. 153 from Thailand, 23 from Japan, 18 from China, 16 from Taiwan, and 25 from South Korea.

There were 21 new characters featured. 11 from Thailand, 4 from Japan, 3 from China, 2 from Taiwan, and 1 from South Korea.

The 11 new characters from Thailand are: Bun (Manner of Death), Chalothon (The Sign), Jan (To Sir, With Love), Lhong (Tharntype: The Series), Mew (Only Friends), Ming (My Stand In), New (Dead Friend Forever), Non (Dark Blue Kiss), Nuan (Something in My Room), Taohu (The Miracle of Teddy Bear), Way (Pit Babe).

The 4 new characters from Japan: Aoyama (The Shortest Distance is Round: Noir), Ichikawa Mitsuo (Double Mints), Kurosawa (Ossan's Love), Tsuge Masato (Cherry Magic).

The 3 new characters from China are: Mo Yi (Stay with Me), Ruan Lanzhu (The Spirealm), Ye Zun (Guardian).

The 2 new characters from Taiwan are: Ai Di (Kiseki: Dear to Me) and Fu Yong Jie (HIStory 4: Close to You).

The 1 new character from South Korea is: The Parents (My Eleventh Brother).

If we include characters who have been in multiple brackets: 278 are from Thailand, 36 from Japan, 36 from China, 27 from Taiwan, and 39 from South Korea.

92 characters have been featured at least twice (opposed to 71 before). The average amount of times a character has been featured in a poll is 1.77 times (opposed to 1.64 before). The most amount of times a character has been featured is 8 which is Prapai (Love in the Air).

The average amount of characters per show is 2.03, the same as last time.

The Untamed and Kinnporsche: The Series are now tied for most characters who have won at 3, (Wei Wuxian - Poorest Little Meow Meow, Lan Wangji - Most Whipped, Autistic Swag, Xue Yang - Most Unhinged) & (Porsche - Most Babygirl, Tay - Most Gender Envy, Kinn - Horniest on Main), though since Lan Wangji has won twice, The Untamed has won the most amount of brackets total.

2 new actors have joined the ranks of having multiple characters: Book Kasidet with Cher (A Boss and a Babe) and Mew (Only Friends) & Heng Asavarid with Sky (Secret Crush on You) and Chalothon (The Sign).

We've now had 15 female characters with the inclusion of Jan (To Sir, With Love) and Nuan (Something in My Room)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Feb 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most. 

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) ep 9 of 12 - WinSound totally won me over in this ep. They were great. Their competitive style of romance, made me really happy. Double tsundere it’s so rare to get and not be annoying or depressing. Of course the mains were adorable too. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) ep 8 of 12 - Solid little episode. Perth in the pool, thank U BL gods. Peeling the shrimp to rope, always a favorite of mine. Some awesome couple flirting and a nice romantic sex scene. What’s not to like about this episode?

Hit Bite Love (Sat YouTube) ep 2 of 6 - King is fucking adorable. Burger is clueless and (apparently) entirely straight. Shogun is one of the gayest characters ever put in high school BL. Heda is kinda awesome, basically a chaos wingman. Matteo is interesting. I genuinely like the central friendship between King & Shogun a lot. Queer baby besties! It’s Ming & Wayo-esk but better. Holy KINK FEST outta nowhere, BLman! I’m getting total whiplash with this show. Very Make It Right. What does it want to be? Who tf knows but I’m into it, that’s for sure. It’s accomplishing something, which most pulps don’t.

609 Bedtime Story (Fri WeTV) ep 11fin - my backup computer is down so I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet. Hopefully but next week’s report.   

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) ep 6 of 10 (or 11&12 of 20) - Jonny’s hair is driving me nuts. Hai Yi’s behavior is confusing me too. Office boys remain totally adorable. Very doomy mid run ep 6. Ah Taiwan, how unpredictable you are. 

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 7 of 8 - these weirdos make for very strange boyfriends. Frankly? K seems like a useless bit of business, if you ask me. 

Individual Circumstances (Korea Thurs Viki) ep 5-6 of 8 - I’m just annoyed with Mr. Tsundere at this point, he’s gone from grumpy to mean. I just want him to have a really good reason for having disappeared without saying anything, and good does not mean “sensitive pathetic authorial feels.” You don’t abandon your best friend just because you fell in love with them, that’s an unforgivably shitty thing to do. 

The End Of The World, With You AKA Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu (Japan Sun Gaga ep 1 of 8 - Stars Toshiki Seto (Senpai, This Can't Be Love). The world is about to be destroyed by a meteor, so Masumi visits his old uni library to read as much as he wants until the end. There he meets Ritsu, his player ex. It’s a bit awkward, and I’m not sure about the premise (it scares me that it might be sad). It’s racier, gayer, and has better kissing than i was expecting (again a sign it might go dark). Also Is Ritsu a big time bi-slut player or is that Masumi’s perspective? Regardless I’m intrigued if wary. 

Finished this week

The New Employee (Korea Weds Viki) ep 7fin - They are so cute it’s unbelievable. I thought it was a good office romance ending, if not a great Bl ending. All in all this is a darn near perfect nugget of an office romance BL, sweet and much gayer than we have any right to expect from Korea. Rainbow rice cakes forever! 9/10

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) ep 12fin - It’s a serviceable series about hot swimmers flirting and dealing with family drama in a sweetly earnest manner, but ultimately it squanders the talent in play. I would’ve preferred a cleaner narrative arc, less angst and more plot, fewer couples, and a shorter series. That said, there’s nothing objectively wrong, sub-standard, or off-putting about this show. And it has lots of consent and other good qualities. It’s fine. Watch along here. 8/10

I Will Knock You (Fri Gaga) ep 12fin - I did think a lot over why I disliked this one. Because on the surface it’s just your standard slightly terrible Thai pulp, and I’m usually not that mean about them. I think in the end it comes down to the uke who just seemed to never warm to the boy pursuing him, and never really actually wanted to be his boyfriend. Also terrible dead fish kiss. 5/10 

Gossip

Apparently we have new scions (waves goodbye to BrightWin) - GeminiFourth: The Crown Princes of BL. If you’re wondering how their chemistry is so good (My School President), this article may explain it. 

In Case You Missed It

Caught up on 2020′s The Reason Why He Fell In Love With Me. (Gaga picked it up and I’ve been wanting to see it since it got announced in 2019.) 

TRWHFILWM Series 1 - 2 teachers who work together at the same high school, one outgoing and the other reserved, start an affair. Gave me Ossan’s Love vibes and that is my least favorite kind of JBL. It’s just far too cartoonish and slapstick and I don’t like it. That said, it has several kisses, a happy ending, and they are cute together. So if you can this style BL, it you might like it. 

TRWHFILWM Special - Completely ignores the first couple and the teacher premise, carrying over just one main character, and should have been a new BL (Boys Love flashbacks). I understand 2021′s season 2 continues this tactic. But I’ll watch it eventually. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Not a lot actually, which is cool, I still got some 2022 catching up still to do. Why You Y Me, may be? 

Starting: 

Moonlight Chicken (Weds? YouTube) 1 of 8 -   

My Beautiful Man S2 - ??? sorry I’m scared of this one and not really paying attention, it being Japan and a desirable property, I’m assuming it will either be impossible to find or just show up on my dash in 2 places at once. 

Feb releases list is here. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post. (see comments some are inaccurate, NOT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Hit Bite Love it’s classic terrible Thai pulp and I’m kinda loving it. 

Thank you very much GMMTV. 

FINALLY! 

Also FINALLY. 

More FINALLY (My School President). 

I love the acknowledged combative nature of this relationship. It’s great. 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Under the Skin by &team, eh, it’s catchy I guess

[autumnistic-danmei]

FantasyFQ AU

I've been bored in my classes so I decided to just sit down and make something so like- Here's this thing lol.

-Roughly based in the Dark Ages (Early Mediaeval times), but with the fun little added addition of a touch of ✨m a g i c✨

-Yes, I have an obsession with Fenqing. No, I will not be shutting up about them. Yes, those two idiots are a central part of this AU. Yes, I also have an unhealthy obsession with He Xuan.

Humans:

Feng Xin - He was a royal beast tamer/slayer from the fallen Xianle monarchy, who now just wanders the lands in search of the creature that destroyed his kingdom. Over the years, he has encountered Mu Qing multiple times, but he doesn’t really understand why. He also thinks he’s being followed by an unnaturally large black cat, but he really doesn’t mind its company, and he has nicknamed the little creature “Fu Yao”.

Ling Wen - A scholar and mage living in a coastal merchant town who gains most of her income through dealing with literally everyone’s paperwork and taxes.

Qi Rong - He used to be the irritating younger prince of the Xianle monarchy, who now rules over his own little hidden town of lesser demons.

Quan Yizhen - A wandering beast slayer searching for his old teacher, who has just a touch of the tisms, but really, who doesn’t?

Shi Qingxuan - They are a young noble from a kingdom in the south, who has been cast from their kingdom due to the actions of their deceased brother and now lives in the streets of a small town nearby. They hate seafood of any kind.

“Ming Yi” - A reclusive beast tamer that prefers to live near the coast and specialises in creatures from the caverns, who has ties to the royal family and commonly attends the banquets purely for the food lol.

Pei Ming - A beast slayer from the same town as Ling Wen known both for his flirtatious attitude and his impressive feats.

Ban Yue - She’s a young beast tamer, but she is surprisingly skilled for her age, already having tamed a whole den of lethally venomous scorpion snakes.

Lang Qianqiu - The only remaining descendant of the Yong’an monarchy, but as of yet, he has ruled over the kingdom quite fairly.

Xiao Mengyou (Little guy!!!!!!) - He’s Lang Qianqiu’s best friend and the royal mage of Yong’an.

Creatures:

He Xuan - Very few people have ever seen him, but the few witness accounts say that he is a siren of sorts with black octopus tentacles instead of a fish tail. He rules over the waters in the south, where his bone dragons sink every ship that tries to sail, earning the area the name of the Black Water Demon Lair. He seems to still have some feelings of attachments to Shi Qingxuan, but has yet to act on them.

Hua Cheng - An infamous fox spirit known for his unpredictable behaviour, mysterious past, and his rule over the massive beast den known as the Ghost City. He usually stays in his foxlike form, and very few have seen his human form.

Yin Yu - A ghoul serving under Hua Cheng who was once Quan Yizhen’s teacher, but he accidentally caused the deaths of many during an accident with a dangerous beast, so he was banished and later on, killed.

Yushi Huang - She’s probably the most chill faerie you’ll ever meet, who lives in a large farming town in the north and blesses their crops. She can and will beat you up if necessary.

Bai Wuxiang - An ancient white dragon known for destroying kingdoms and sending mysterious plagues into cities, wiping out large populations of people in a single sweep. He has been missing for years now, but people theorise that he is simply resting in the northern mountains.

E-Ming - An infamous lesser spirit possessing a large silver longsword, which is tied to Hua Cheng and is by his side almost constantly.

Ruoye - A lesser spirit possessing a long silk band, which has a rather playful attitude when it’s around Xie Lian.

Who knows what they are at this point:

Mu Qing - He was born human, but most (everyone except Feng Xin and Xie Lian) do not consider him to be one anymore due to his curse that causes him to have catlike features and an alternate form of a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. He follows Feng Xin around out of curiosity, but he refuses to admit that he’s actually following him.

Xie Lian - We’re pretty sure he’s a human, but his eyes reflect light like a cat’s, and he’s practically poisonous from all of the weird stuff that he eats, so he’s just the neighbourhood cryptid at this point. He lives near Shi Qingxuan, residing in a small village a short distance south of them, and he used to be the crown prince of the Xianle Kingdom.

[riwrite]

from @deiscension. Despite the last days of autumn still clinging to most of the land, the mountainsides of the northern territories are already blanketed in drifts of snow. The lights of a village nestled against the mountain flicker far, far below. That was where they had spent the better portion of the day, tending to a prayer. But as the sun sank low, instead of arranging to return to the heavens she had set off toward the mountain, looping an arm through Ming Yi's and promising him the trip would be worth it. Now, beneath a full moon and bright stars winking from behind the clouds, snow drifting down to adorn them with ephemeral crystals of pure white, she turns and raises her brows as a smile blooms across her face. "See? I told you. It's gorgeous up here. There's even more snow than last year!" she exclaims. Holding her arms out, Shi Qingxuan twirls, sending snowdrifts dancing away into the night, her delighted laughter following close behind. One arm drops back to her side, the other remaining held out in Ming Yi's direction. She cants her head towards an outcropping. "Come on, I want to show you what the sea looks like from here." Mirth sparkles in her eyes, smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. "You're the only person I've taken here, you know. Doesn't that make you happy?"

cold does not touch the divine, and neither does it touch the dead. but where shi qingxuan is blanketed in warmth, kept comfortable and safe by words of faith whispered by her devoted, by the sliver of golden heaven she cradles in her innocent and undeserving hands, he xuan is simply unfeeling, the pieces of mortality that once allowed him to long since gone.

and perhaps it is beautiful up here, moonlight on pristine snow casting the world in stunning silver. perhaps shi qingxuan is radiant as she twirls, glittering snow arcing from where it meets her joy, smile warm enough to thaw this frozen mountain. but he xuan has no need for beauty. when all he is is a turbulent ocean waiting for conditions to allow him to swallow all that touches his unstable surface, what use has he for delicate moonlight, or ephemeral snows, or hands held out in offering for shared happiness ?

the one thing he wants is out of reach at the moment. and, truly, he otherwise cannot care less where he is. if he were back in the heavens avoiding the foolishness of the gods, if he were alone in his sprawling manor with his family's ashes on his wretched island, if he were here, allowing his day of dutiful prayer answering to be extended on someone else's whim ( but she is not just someone else, is she ? ) ; it is all the same to him. his murderous fingers ache for blood, but not here, not now. as much as he likes the idea of staining this snow red, it is not her blood he wants. at least, not hers alone.

   " why would i care who else you've brought here ? " he asks as he falls into step behind her, not taking the outstretched hand he pretends doesn't make him feel something. he is enticed by the sea, nothing more. not the fragile shards of hope that when the time does come, she will make the right choice. he can stand with her above the waves, and he can fantasize about pushing her into their dark depths, her white robes swirling as she plummets into cold blackness. the ocean is his domain as much as it is her brother's — there is not only one man who runs the seas.

   " just show me what you want so we can go back. "

[ghooostbaby]

sometimes i think people just cram any unrelated angst into he xuan because he's dark and serious but NO you don't understand HE IS FULL OF HOPE

Shi Qingxuan's eyes grew wide. "It wasn't suicide. It was ..."

"Exhaustion," Ming Yi said.

"That's right!" Xie Lian exclaimed. "Even though he was hounded by misfortune, to the end never once did Scholar He think of killing himself."

He said somberly, "Think about it. This man had an abnormally strong determination. Having been struck by so many unfair, unjust encounters, if this was a typical person he would have long since given up or ended everything. Yet he always fought back; he never backed down over anything. i think that, perhaps, once the Reverend of Empty Words found him, it never managed to suck up what it wanted - fear. The cause of death wasn't suicide because of fear and despair. After the Reverend of Empty Words clung onto him, it didn't eat good fruit, but a steel plate instead. It broke its teeth, losing thoroughly at the end."

the defining trait of he xuan is that he never gives up trying to live!

it is soooo interesting that he xuan got all the same suffering sqx would have gotten but became too tough for the Reverend to swallow... for the time we see he xuan, he seems kind of grim and difficult and shi qingxuan so full of life and fun, but at their most pressured moments, shi qingxuan is so fearful and he xuan full of hope and determination to live.

HE XUAAAAAAAAN you're so incredible i love you so much babyyyyyyy

and the way his method of cultivation is eating as well, an act of sustaining life, nourishment! he simply refuses to stop living!!

UGH! GHOSTS! hua cheng and he xuan the baddest ghost kings, the two most shining lights of hopefulness, goodness, love, life, passion, desire, sincerity

*HOWLING*

[bookofjin]

In service to Wang Mang 2 (HHS)

(Including the early travails of Ma Yuan)

[HHS022]

Jing Dan, courtesy name Sunqing, was a native of Liyang in Pingyi. As young he studied in Chang'an. At the time of Wang Mang he studied the Four Categories.

The Eastern Watchtower Records says: In the time of Wang Mang they lifted up scholars of the schools of Virtuous Acts, Able Speech,Thoroughness in Government Affairs, and Clarity in Writing.

Dan for his ability in speech became Chancellor to the Marquis of Gude, and was praised for having the capacity to manage affairs. He moved to Deputy to the Joint Leader of Shuodiao.

Shuodiao is Shanggu. Deputy is Dependant Prefect.

[HHS023]

Dou Rong, courtesy name Zhougong, was a native of Pingling in Fufeng. His seventh generation ancestor Guangguo was August Empress Xiaowen's younger brother, and was ennobled Marquis of Zhangwu. Rong's great-great-grandfather in the time of Emperor Xuan as a Two Thousand Shi official moved from Changshan to there.

Rong was orphaned young. In the middle of Wang Mang's administration, he became Marshal to the General of Strong Crossbows, went east to strike Zhai Yi, and turned back to attack Huaili. For his merit with the army he was ennobled Baron of Jianwu.

The General of Strong Crossbows was Mang's Marquis of Mingyi, Wang Jun. Zhao Ming, Huo Hong, and other of Huaili rose up with troops in response to Zhai Yi. Wang Yi and others routed Zhai Yi and turned back. The combined army struck Ming, Hong, and others, and wiped them out. Rong at the time was accompanying that army, see the Book of Han. The Eastern Watchtower Records and the Continued Book of Han both state he became Baron of Ningwu.

His younger sister became the junior wife of the Great Minister of Works, Wang Yi. He had his family within Chang'an, and set out to enter among the nobles and their kin. He formed connections with prominent and outstanding of his hamlet, and became famous due to his reliance on chivalry. However, he served his mother and older brother and raised his younger brother, and within cultivated acting with right-mindedness.

[HHS024]

Ma Yuan, courtesy name Wenyuan, was a native of Maoling in Fufeng. His ancestor Zhao She was a Zhao general and was titled Lord of Mafu. His sons and grandsons following that used it as their clan. In the time of Emperor Wu, [the family] as Two Thousand Shi officials, moved from Handan to there.

The Eastern Watchtower Records says: They moved to Chenghuan Village in Maoling.

His great-grandfather Tong for his merit was ennobled Marquis of Zhonghe. He was implicated in his older brother Heluo's rebellion and was executed. For that reason Yuan's two generations were not distinguished.

Ma Heluo was good friends with Jiang Yun. When Yun was executed, he consequently feared the crime would reach himself, planned rebellion, and submitted to execution. For the affair, see the Book of Han.

Yuan's grandfather and father did not manage to do distinguished service. In the Eastern Watchtower Han Records, Tong begot Bin, who in the time of Emperor Xuan as Gentleman Holding the Tally was titled Envoy Lord. The Envoy Lord begot Zhong, Zhong's official position reached Marshal of Dark Martiality. Zhong begot Yuan.

Yuan had three older brothers, Kuang, Yu, and Yuan#. All had talent and ability, and in the time of Wang Mang all became Two Thousand Shi officials.

The Eastern Watchtower Records says: Kuang, courtesy name Changping [or Zhangping?]. Yu, courtesy name Shengqing. Yuan, courtesy name Jizhu.

Kuang became Grand Warden of Henan, Yu Colonel of the Central Ramparts. Yuan# Joint Leader of Zengshan.

Yuan was orphaned at the age of twelve. As young he had great aspirations, his older brothers were amazed by him. He once received the Qi Poetry, but his thoughts were unable to hold on to its chapters and sentences.

The Eastern Watchtower Records says: He received the Qi poetry, his teacher was Man Chang of Yingchuan.

He therefore explained to Kuang, and wished to go to a border commandery and engage in farming and herding.

The Eastern Watchtower Records says: Yuan, since Kuang had set out to become Grand Warden of Henan, and his next two older brothers were officials in the Capital City, saw that the family's means were not sufficient. Therefore he explained to Kuang his wish to go to a border commandery and engage in livestock herding.

Kuang said:

You have great talent and will successful later on. A good craftsman does not show people the raw materials, follow what you are fond of.

It happened that Kuang passed. Yuan wore mourning clothes for the full year and did not leave the place where the tomb was. He respectfully served his widowed sister-in-law, and he did not put on his cap or enter the house.

Later he became the commandery's Courier Supervisor, and sent off prisoners the Minister of Instructions' Office. There was a prisoner who had committed a serious crime. Yuan had sympathy for him, and released him, and thereupon became a fugitive in the northern lands. There was an amnesty, following that he stayed behind to herd livestock. There were many retainers who returned to adhere to him, and consequently his servants and dependants numbered several hundred families.

The Continued Book of Han: Yuan went beyond the northern lands, and relied on herding the clan's livestock. Since Yuan's grandfather Bin originally had stayed in Tianshui, and his father also once had been Prefect of the Herdsmen Teachers. At that time Yuan# had become Envoy for Protecting Pastures, and for that reason the retainers all relied on Yuan.

He shifted and drifted between Long and Han, and often spoke to his retainers, saying:

When a grown man has aspirations, destitution will increase his firmness, age will increase his sturdiness

Following that, he settled to engage in farming and herding, and reached to have several thousand heads of cattle, horses and sheep, and several ten thousand hu of grain. Then he sighed and said:

In general, the growth of goods, wealth and property, is prized for its ability to distribute relief. If not, then [you] are a prisoner to defending money, and that is all.

He therefore fully distributed it to his brothers and old friends, and personally wore sheep fur clothes and hide trousers.

At the end of Wang Mang, when troops rose in the four regions, Mang's junior cousin, the General of Guards, broadly summoned the valiant and outstanding, and then nominated Yuan and Yuan She of the same county to be staff members, and recommended them to Mang. Mang used She as Great Governor of Zhenrong and Yuan as Great Governor of Xincheng.

Wang Mang changed Tianshui to be Zhenrong and Grand Warden to be Great Governor. He changed Hanzhong to be Xincheng.

[deiscension]

﹄ ◇ ; @riwrite / BALDUR'S GATE 3 STARTERS

❝ evil is evil, even if it once was innocent. ❞ / from hx..... wahhh

      ⌜◈⌟    ▌ ──  "𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐱𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐲. Can't you ever say anything light-hearted?"

     𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. It would be so easy. How many times has she done this already? Breezing past Ming Yi's stoic observations with a nod or a bit of light teasing, taking his hand to lead him one way or another, laughing while the line of his mouth remains taut. That's just how they are. Night and day. Steadfast earth and playful breeze. It's not that she doesn't want to engage further with his thoughts. It's that so few trust her to understand anything heavier than a backhanded compliment, she doesn't know how to contend with this sudden weight.

      𝙀𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡. Good is good. Innocent is innocent. Immoral is immoral. Gods are gods. Ghosts are ghosts. The sun is warm, and its light is pretty on your hair. Return the compliment, won't you please?

      𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐒𝐡𝐢 𝐐𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬. Sunlight kisses her face, haloing the dark behind her eyelids. "You're right," she concedes, and she could swear the sunlight is pooling in her mouth, warming her tongue into complacency so it won't shy away from giving shape to her thoughts. Because, truth be told, she has had similar conversations with herself. She's not sure when they began to take form; the Banyue Pass affair, perhaps. "But I think there's more to it than that."

      𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐮𝐩𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. "Evil is evil, even if it was once good." She turns her right palm upward. "Good is good, even if it was once evil. We'd all be better off if everyone could understand something so simple. Except it's not that simple, is it? Most everything is more like this." Her hands come together with a soft pompff. "Saying it's this way or that way doesn't do anything. If evil is evil even though it was once innocent, then it's our duty to grieve that loss of innocence just as passionately as we punish wickedness. Someone has to know the full truth. Then the same thing won't have to happen again. That's why we gods are here, after all. And..."

      𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭. Strangely enough, she doesn't feel very afraid of what he might say in return. Even if he's mean about it, she can bear it because he's her best friend. Who else could she trust with her most secret, fragile thoughts?

       "...𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧. The innocent becoming evil, I mean."

      ���𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐢 𝐐𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫. Between blinks, she catches a glimpse of Ming Yi's face again. He's still frowning. How very Ming Yi of him. Laughter tumbles from her lips.

       "𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧. It's hard to imagine you crying, but rest assured I would still cry for you if you ever became such a person." Folding her arms, Shi Qingxuan levels Ming Yi with a self-assured stare. "That won't happen, though, so let's not think about it. Do you know what is entirely possible?" She points directly between his eyebrows. "You giving yourself ugly old man wrinkles by scowling like that."

[habizuh-studios]

I've Held My Heart Close All These Years

Since the day he woke up here and again, and again, and again, he has never felt happiness. Until there is a light, and he's set free. A word rings in his head: Ascension. Out of the coffin after ninety-six years, however, can change a lot. Especially if there were countless people to see it.

OR: Xie Lian ascends from the coffin and chaos ensues :) ---- Chapter 2- Melancholic Joy:

(A grateful and uninhibited joy for the goodness of being, but one tinged by sadness at the pervasiveness of evil and melancholy because it all comes to an end... ____ He enjoys it while he can.) AO3 LINK (Next Chapter)

He Xuan, disguised as Ming Yi, almost never comes to heaven. The keyword here is almost because right now he is being dragged there by Shi Qingxuan to watch a new god ascend. Which, if you look on the bright side, is great, because now he has an excuse to freely get new information for Hua Cheng.

The problem is he is really not in the mood right now.

“Come on, Ming-xiong!” Shi Qingxuan had said. “This is important! Do you know how many vacant spots we have here? It could be a new elemental master, like a Fire Master! Come on, don’t you want to take a look? A tiny peek, and then you can go back… eating… or whatever, come on!”

His half-death glare did nothing to make Shi Qingxuan even hesitate a little, which is just great. Maybe later he could play a drinking game and take a shot every time they dragged him along to whatever adventure they felt like going on. Bonus sips for however many times they’ve said ‘come on’ while doing so.

The sky rumbles and quakes. The bell tolls a lot. Like, more so than usual, which is normally… not very many. It’s just there to cheer them on. If the bell had a face, He Xuan thinks it would be screaming, or bawling, or maybe both with how loud and how many times it's ringing. It’s starting to hurt He Xuan’s ears. Still, he follows Shi Qingxuan to watch whoever it is ascend. Once the light finally recedes back into nothingness, he hears a lot of gasps, one of them coming from right next to him. He can see why.

There is a dead body in front of him. A dead body has ascended.

Well, it’s probably not dead, but if someone said it was, He Xuan would believe them without a second thought.

The god’s skin reminded him of a stiff, shiny cloth, with the way it fitted around its bones like some twisted Ghost City meat. The dark, matted hair looked and smelled like it was covered in blood. The clothes were so bloody that He Xuan couldn’t guess the original color of them. It had more places where it was bleeding even more fresh blood.

In one word: bloody.

That does not help the dirt, grime, and tears it is also covered with.

Not to mention it was especially chilling with the new-looking, shiny silver mask it was wearing. The body, as He Xuan will name it, is wearing a mask adorned with exquisite detailed carvings. Though everything else was dirty beyond compare, the mask remained untouched as if it was only just made. A legend resurfaces in He Xuan’s mind.

The legend of Guoshi Fangxin.

Appointed as the Guoshi for His Highness Tai Hua, or Lang Qianqiu, he taught him for years before his seventeenth birthday, in which he hacked all the people there into corpses and killed everyone at the gilded banquet. Later, he was buried and sealed in a coffin after Lang Qianqiu defeated him, as the legend goes…

Was that Guoshi Fangxin?!

Did he ascend from the coffin!?Ling Wen arrives with little fanfare. “General Xuan Zhen,” she says. “please bring the new god to your palace to heal. I will look into this matter at once.”

He Xuan watches as General Nan Yang and General Xuan Zhen carry the body to the former's palace. After they’re out of sight, he makes a tactical retreat. That body really woke him up.

“Shi Qingxuan-” he starts, but Shi Qingxuan fills in his story for him,

“N-need a moment?” they ask shakily. Lucky for him, he does need a moment. Just not like what they’re thinking. Shi Qingxuan would want comfort from another person, but they know He Xuan, or in their eyes, Ming Yi, would not. Hopefully, they can find their brother or something.

“Yeah,” he replies. Thank goodness for Shi Qingxuan.

____

A few minutes later, he’s back at the Earth Master’s palace, using the communication array to contact another Supreme.

“What is it?” The Supreme in question drawls lazily. “What do you need, money? Food? It will be added onto your debt.”“Nothing of that sort,” He Xuan sneers, though Hua Cheng cannot see it. “Someone new has ascended to heaven. Thought you might want to know who it is?” He can feel Hua Cheng become more attentive, probably hoping it was his god. He probably would have paused if he were below himself. “Well then? Who is it?”“That’s the thing,” He Xuan says. “What ascended was, basically, a corpse.”“A corpse? Not a ghost?” Hua Cheng inquires. He can tell that he’s very interested. “Can ghosts even ascend? No, like, a corpse. It might have been alive, but it certainly looked dead. I might be wrong, but I believe it’s the Guoshi Fangxin. I could check for you.”“Perhaps you could. That’s certainly interesting.”“Do you want me to go to General Xuan Zhen’s palace?”“I really don’t care.”“Okay…”____

And that was how He Xuan found his way to General Xuan Zhen’s palace. Fucking great.

Fate really doesn’t like him anymore, does it?

He absent-mindedly goes through the routine of getting past some of the junior officials and insists he can find Guoshi Fangxin on his own. Which is how he finds himself peeking through a random door. And of course, he has to deal with the bullshit that is Guoshi Fangxin is sitting up, probably awake.

Listening closer, he hears… something. Akin to sobbing, maybe.

____

When he awakens, there is pain.

There is always pain.

But the pain is lesser, now.

And everything felt so… light. And he can see, in what feels like forever. When was the last time he truly saw? It isn’t as beautiful as the gold-white light and the people, but it’s something other than nothing. He’s endlessly grateful for this dream.

He tries sitting up, which doesn’t work. His core isn’t what it used to be. He wishes he could experience this dream to the fullest, but this works as well. Despite everything, it’s still him. He’s still here.

It’s so good.He eventually finds his way up, supporting himself on the soft lumps below him. His arms aren't what he wishes they were, but he can still move them. He still tries. His face stretches into something, he doesn’t know what. It pulls at his skin uncomfortably, but he can’t stop.

He tries to make a sound. It doesn’t work.

His arms still work, so he reaches up to his throat, feeling… something. It’s hollow. Maybe a hole? Or a scar? Something. He can’t talk anymore. He wishes he could express his joy, but the sound won’t come out.

He must stay strong for this to continue. He realizes he’s kept his eyes closed the whole time.

He names the color he saw; red. It was red he saw beneath his eyelids. Another beautiful color, he thinks. Red.

Oh wow, he has eyelids too.

He cracks open his eyelids a tiny bit; enough for light to seep through his eyelashes. It’s beautiful.

The design is elegant but not too much, from what he can see. The walls are white. There are carvings along the pillars. He gives his moments some time to adjust before opening them up some more. It seems almost like a white flash, the way he processes it- it’s too much, too fast, but still he can’t help but want more.

Heaven, he thinks. This is Heaven.  He relaxes, allowing himself to take in the sight of this perfect place slowly. He feels a sense of joy, a feeling of contentment. He’s shaking, that much he knows.

His head gets tired, or maybe it’s just him. He looks down. The soft cloth beneath him becomes blurry. He blinks some wetness away from his eyes, but they fall, staining it. His face scrunches up painfully. He doesn’t feel bloody anymore. He’s still dirty, though. He’s messy.

Blood- the blood inside him- rushes down his arms and chest. It has been since he sat up. It feels good. There is an infinite amount of it inside and outside of him. Blood is always a constant; whether dry or wet or blue or red or-

It’s always there. Inside of you.

His blood is red, too.

His shoulders shake. He hears something creak .

His head leads his eyes towards the noise. Standing in between… two doors, is a person, a real, living person.

He could cry from joy, he is crying from joy. He could lift his arms, but he can’t talk. He wants to see them.

Catching the stranger's eye, the stranger hesitantly walks in. He stares at them in awe.

The stranger wears detailed black and gold robes. The gold matches the stranger's eyes, which are narrowed and locked on him. Dark hair is tied up in a high ponytail, but his bangs still cover some of his face.

Before, he didn’t have enough time to study the people in front of him; he was too overcome with emotions to even register their facial expressions. Years of solitude have probably rubbed off some of his social skills, but the stranger looks… weird. Disgusted? Hesitant? It’s certainly something, he knows.

Maybe it’s uncomfortable, the way the stranger shuffles his feet and looks like they’re working up the courage to say something. He doesn’t know why it catches him off guard when he finally speaks.

“Are you the Guoshi Fangxin?”

[killerandhealerqueen]

8 shows to get to know me

I was tagged by the lovely @loisroo​​ and while I’ve done this before, I’ll do it again and actually explain why these shows are my favorites

Killer and Healer - okay look.  When it first came out, I was going to wait until it had fully aired to watch it and just like...binge it.  But then I kept seeing beautiful gifs from @tytangfei​​ about our two mains and i’m like...you know what?  I can’t fucking wait anymore, I need to watch it now.  So I did and honestly?  I did not think it would change my life as much as it has.  I made so many friends because of this drama, have written so many fics for this fandom (126 and counting), I’m doing a fucking rewrite of the drama to give us all a happy ending because it’s what we (and the characters) deserve and just...look at these fucking idiots in love i love them

S.C.I. - my first true drama that introduced me to the world of cdramas.  I watched it when it aired in 2018 and was just so intrigued by the cases, the characters, just...this drama holds a very strong place in my heart.  It’s not my number one (which is Killer and Healer), but it’s very important to me and I love them very much

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty - I think this was my first historical drama that I watched during quarantine and it was another drama that honestly got me through that hot fucking mess of a year.  I also made a lot of friends because of that drama and I just loved the found familiness of it all, I loved how they always had meals togther (it reminded me of sunday dinners where all of my extended family would get together and eat dinner and just have a good time) and it was just a good drama.  And the cases too.  The cases were interesting, as were the characters and just...it’s a good drama

Jiang Hu Shao Nian Jue - okay, this was a new/recent drama that I just watched but it really hooked me in because the mains reminded me a lot of Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi in regards to chemistry and the whole aesthetic and just...the overall case and everything was just my style

Under the Skin - another case/detective/crime drama and I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  I liked Shen Yi and Du Chen and their dynamic (very Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi-esque and if anything reminds me of Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi, I will check it out), I thought the individual cases were really interesting and how Shen Yi was able to use his skills as a forensic artist to help solve the cases.  And the overarching case...look, if there’s an overarching case and all of the individual cases somehow tie into it, I’m all over that shit (and there’s supposedly supposed to be a season 2, if that cliff hanger had anything to say about it)

Doubles - not one of the first jdramas that I watched, but it’s one that I keep going back to to watch over and over.  It’s an older drama, from 2011, but there’s just something about it...something about the characters, something about the cases...yeah, it’s a crime/detective drama (I tend to watch those) but...i don’t know.  It just feels very human, to me.  Maybe that’s why I like it.  Like, the cases that they take/are assigned to aren’t like...big cases (the last one is but it’s only big because one of their friends got hurt because of some big wig)...they’re literally in Unit Zero, which is like...the shittiest unit in the station, but they do their best and at the end of the day, they just want to help.  I don’t know, it’s just a comfort jdrama of mine

 Danger Zone - it’s a taiwanese drama and the only one I’ve watched but...my god, this drama.  It’s dark (holy shit it’s dark) but the cases are fascinating and the like...two mains, Ren Fei and Liang Yan Dong are just so interesting because Liang Yan Dong only ever wants to talk to Ren Fei when he’s in prison before he’s released because he only trusts Ren Fei and just...god, the overarching case for this drama...I just...Ren Fei and Liang Yan Dong are connected because of the overarching case and they had no idea and just...this drama is so good.  It’s so dark but it’s so good.  If you ever get the chance to watch it, please fucking do

Tagging: @zennialemo​ @nineninepetals​ @ahhhnorealnamesallowed​ @mejomonster​ @marulo​ @hyperbolicgrinch​ and anyone else who wants to play