#mlc needs to know!

[mustluvcatz-reloaded]

I haven't been paying attention - TS2 has been .. what? Re-released? Is this something I want or need? Is it free? Is it better? What exactly is improved? Is it something I NEED??!?

[qpjianghu]

Fang Duobing: ........I think something LGBTQ just happened

[goblinkingsart]

to be young and in love

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

guys where can i find the rest of mysterious lotus casebook subbed after ep 5? youtube has abandoned me 😭😭

[madamadragon]

Here chapter 4! Let me know what you think and sorry for the delay ehehe

------

Title: OUTSIDE MOUNTAINS

Parings: Li Xiangyi | Li Lianhua/Di Feisheng, Li Xiangyi | Li Lianhua & Fang Duobing

Chapter Plot: Madam Yu asks Li Lianhua to find her sister's murderer and after wasting time finding the culprit Li Lianhua leaves Fang Duobing behind to look for Di Feisheng who is kept chained in a cave.

Or in alternative

Li Lianhua is done with everyone shit, Fang Duobing is confused and Di Feisheng is gay but doesn't remember. With them Hulijing.

+Bonus

My dragon lord Di Feisheng when he met for the first time Li Xiangyi in the Valley of Demons (it will happen in the next chapter)

[mx-myth]

(nsfw kind of)

Okay yeah fdb would enjoy bondage in a sexual situation but the one who would like it the most full stop is dfs. Once he overcomes his trauma and/or modern au it like. I don't even think it would be sexual for him. Yes I think he could find that subspace would be good for him and bondage could be an element to that. I also think he buys two thin little red ropes and every morning has llh and fdb tie them for him. One for each wrist; one for llh to tie with his god-awful knot, one for fdb to tie off with a pretty little bow. It's not a master's leash and collar and it's not jiao liqiao's chains. They retie them every morning and he wears them every day and when he looks at them he knows that he is loved.

[shamera]

NaNo day 18

...I fell asleep during my writing time. 😭 did you know this hunter au is now over 12k? it is 22 pages on my document already. stopping here because it is now 5am and also this feels like a natural point to stop

today when i wake up, if i have time, i will work on this fight scene. that's if i have time, so we shall see! fight scene and flashbacks might be entirety of chapter two. dfs in chapter three. 👀

(or if i miss him too much, i go back to the time loop)

nano stats so far: 30k for mlc nonsense (+8k for love and redemption nonsense)

currently word count before bed: 38,331 / 50,000

They ran aimlessly, and Bei Yun gasped out between steps, “If you’re all volunteering to stay, please let me go! I’m like Miss Li and I can’t be of any help, I’m no good at running or hiding either, if I stay, I’d just die! Please!” He reached forward to pull at He Xiaofeng’s shoulder, prompting her to give a painful gasp as the movement jerked on her injured arm and had her crashing down mid-step while running. 

“What are you doing?” Fang Duobing demanded angrily as he noticed, stopping mid-step as well despite the burning protest in his legs, and Bei Yun cringed back apologetically as he pulled his aunt up to her feet again, noting she was so pale her skin almost glowed in the dark as she grimaced in pain. “Come on, we have to go!”

“I’m—” He Xiaofeng bit out, and then grit her teeth. “I stepped badly.”

Not merely ‘badly’, it seemed, with the way her skin dotted with sweat within moments of being pulled up. Li Lianhua came to a stop as well, and said, “She needs to leave the dungeon now, we have to run and she can’t do that anymore!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Bei Yun called from steps away, eyes wide with panic. “I didn’t mean to— I just wanted to get her attention—”

“Both of them,” Li Lianhua said grimly, and grabbed onto He Xiaofeng’s hand. “We’ll follow behind you. There’s no time to argue, go now!”

Despite looking as if she wanted badly to argue with him, He Xiaofeng responded to the words by grabbing onto Bei Yun with the hand holding the remaining crystals and ordering Fang Duobing, “Get back safe or I will hunt you down, do you hear me, Xiaobao?!”

Then they were gone, and Li Lianhua grabbed onto Fang Duobing’s sleeve again and the two of them took off in the dark tunnel, with only a single light left shining from Fang Duobing’s shirt pocket. 

“Why did you let him go?” Fang Duobing demanded as they ran, furious at the man who injured his aunt, even accidentally. Up to him, he would have only sent his aunt away and left one more crystal for the last emergency. Bei Yun was uninjured through the entire dungeon run, and could have been a good asset still. 

“He would have done it again,” Li Lianhua said darkly between huffed breaths, “Look out!”

The swarm of darkness had caught up with them finally, closing in before then and behind. Fang Duobing could make out the shine against carapaces, the quick needle feet, and— 

“This way,” He called out, and reversed his grip to yank at Li Lianhua’s hand, pivoting sharply to race down a passageway he almost missed due to the low light, hidden between cragged rock edges and drowned in further darkness. It could be a trap, it could be a dead end, but at the very least Fang Duobing couldn’t hear more skittering from that passageway, and if they could just hide until the monsters passed, if they could catch the tail end of the swarm to kill two more to obtain the crystals, then they would be home free— 

The echoes of thousands of needle feet against stone rushed behind them, swarming the area they were just standing, although Fang Duobing didn’t turn back to look, pushing forward as fast as he could in the narrow passageway, the jagged stone walls closing in from the sides and above him until he and Li Lianhua couldn’t run side by side anymore, but had to push ahead one person at a time, with Fang Duobing leading into the darkness with the tiny light of his phone and dragging Li Lianhua behind him in a tight grip. 

The passage was closing in, smaller and smaller, and there was a grim satisfaction for Fang Duobing as he was forced to turn sideways to continue pushing forward, because at least this meant if they were ambushed here, there were be fewer monsters that could come after them, and in that case they could just kill two, all they needed were two more crystal shards! 

He could hear the monsters coming after them once more, echoing down the passageway. A little further, a little bit more and they could make a stand, if Fang Duobing stood in the front to ensure that Li Lianhua wouldn’t be hit with the poison, then he’d be able to—

“Stop!” Li Lianhua called, tugging back against Fang Duobing in attempts to pull him back, but it was too late. The passageway had been too dark to see, but suddenly Fang Duobing’s next running step hit air instead of ground, and he pitched forward into the darkness, and then the both of them were tumbling, falling, into a cavern of black. 

There wasn’t enough time for panic to set in before Fang Duobing hit the floor, softer than he imagined, but still with enough force to knock him out. 

— 

Two years previous, and a year after Fang Duobing Awakened as a Hunter only to be rejected by all the sects due to his parents’ insistence that they would ruin any sect that dared take their darling son into a profession with such a high mortality rate, Fang Duobing ran away from home and crossed paths with Li Lianhua. 

Back then, he had been soft and idealistic, sure that the world was a good and chivalrous place and the people in it good and honest. Everyone was just trying to make a living, trying to live their lives, and when he saw a group of looming men standing over someone who had already been pushed down onto the ground, he couldn’t just stand around and do nothing! 

He was a Hunter, and maybe that meant the most only in dungeons, but he had years of martial arts training and his physique was generally better thanks to being Awakened, and following the chivalry that Li Xiangyi set for Sigu Sect, those who had the power to help also had a duty to help. 

So Fang Duobing beat up those threatening men. And got taken down to the local police station because of it, sputtering and protesting all the while. 

Apparently, the men hadn’t been doing anything wrong. Apparently, they were merely bullying the travelling physician into doing an autopsy for them regarding a local thief who recently died, but also apparently they hadn’t actually crossed any lines despite the locals muttering about the gangster-like behaviour disapprovingly. 

Intimidating was not assault, the police officer informed Fang Duobing harshly. Beating them up for it, however, was.

It wasn’t until the physician came down to the station with formal charges of stalking that Fang Duobing was let go, as now it meant he really had been defending a civilian. With the very serious threat of those men continuing their harassment of the physician, Fang Duobing decided to stick around for a few days, just to make sure nothing bad came of it. 

He didn’t want to be the reason the situation escalated into violence, after all. 

Yet those days revealed that the physician had never been the victim in the first place, and that Fang Duobing likely should have been protecting those men as Li Lianhua masterfully connived them until it was revealed the thief had never been dead, merely faking, and that the entire fiasco involved documents originally stolen years ago and then resold, and then finally stolen back as the legality of ownership remained hazy to local authorities. 

Possession was nine tenth of the law, after all. 

Following that had been a chase searching for illegally distributed items taken from dungeons, and Fang Duobing’s first excursion in Li Lianhua’s converted school bus (dubbed Lotus Tower) that felt like it was half kitchen and half old apothecary with only a pull out futon for sleeping space. He appropriated the surprisingly luxurious rooftop tent as his own space (as well as Li Lianhua’s dog Hulijing half the nights), and learned to love the summer breeze and nighttime noises. 

In those first weeks tagging along with Li Lianhua from town to town, Fang Duobing felt like he saw more of the world than he ever had travelling on planes and inside expensive cars with darkened windows. He saw the countryside roll by, spoke to random strangers, and helped the elderly carry their groceries back home for them. He paid too much for handmade trinkets in night markets, and bought gift after gift for Li Lianhua’s tiny space until his apps got declined by his mother. 

He couldn’t fathom Li Lianhua’s strange and nomadic lifestyle. The man was entirely off grid, preferring small villages to big cities, and didn’t even have a phone! He had solar panels and a modern kitchen, yet the most advanced technology was a dingy laptop tucked away underneath the bed that was rarely used, while he filled his spaces with books and brochures from places he’d been. He cooked his own meals and crocheted his own sweaters and made his own hair accessories, and forced Fang Duobing to help around the bus fixing broken tiles and leaking pipes, hauling fresh water and emptying out tanks. 

Yet Fang Duobing felt like he somehow learned more about living in the first month he spent with Li Lianhua than he had his entire childhood. 

And then he might have gotten a little too enthusiastic when they drove close to one of the older gates outside a city, and Li Lianhua contacted He Xiaofeng to drag him away. 

—

It was the rumbling of the ground behind him that startled Fang Duobing back into consciousness. 

His face was pressed against dirt, and he could taste it in his mouth as he coughed and attempted to push himself up from the ground. Unlike the cave they had been in, this space was lit up, luminescent, and his eyes adjusted to see glowing plants covering the ground like grass, sparks of faint light lifting from the plants up into the air like reverse raindrops, floating lazily before fading away once it got too far up. 

Around him, the space didn’t look like where they had come from. Fang Duobing grimaced as he realised he had a strand of hair in his mouth, and spit it out hastily, then spit again and again to rid himself of the taste of dirt. His legs throbbed with his heartbeat, and his left shoulder felt heavily bruised. He had a headache as well, ringing in his ears combined with a dull numbing sensation that bled into his vision in a form of synesthesia. His hair was limp and mostly fallen out of his ponytail, matted with dirt and blood. From a head wound, he realised, as he must have hit his head hard when he fell, but the bleeding had already stopped. 

The area was so large that he couldn’t see the end of it, like a field of tall grass, all lit up, glowing and somehow emitting a dull, numbing noise that made his head feel heavy and slow. Fang Duobing shook his head, attempting to dispel the fog, yet that only aggravated his headache. 

It took him a long second for his disjointed memories to clear up. 

The sudden gate. The dungeon. The fire. The chase, and the fall. 

“Li Lianhua,” Fang Duobing breathed out, and scrambled to his knees despite the sharp pangs of pain at his movement. Everyone else was gone, and it was him and Li Lianhua left in the dungeon now, so why was he alone? He looked around frantically, but the grass was tall as his thigh, enough to easily hide a fallen person. 

They had fallen together, so he couldn’t be far. Fang Duobing attempted to stand, only to collapse under his own weight, the skin of his legs incandescent with pain now, feeling like it was smeared with burning oil, and Fang Duobing couldn’t help the long hiss of pain. He wanted to pull at the gauze, to rub off his skin, but knew better than to do so. 

It seemed that just because he had natural immunity to dungeons as a Hunter didn’t mean he was impervious to its effects. 

Another rumble of the earth beneath him had Fang Duobing freezing in place, the hair on the back of his neck tingling in a fear response. 

There was definitely something else with them in this space, and it was far, far larger than any of the monsters in the dungeon they encountered previously. 

He glanced up nervously, fearfully, still scanning his surroundings to look for Li Lianhua, but… now that he knew to look for it, he could see an incline at least ten metres away, a slope that climbed up so naturally he thought the grass might have grown taller there, but that wouldn’t make sense as the colouration was different. Between earth and flesh tone, the creature was long and curled up, with ridges and spines that protruded from the soft skin. There was a certain texture to it, like strands of rope coiled together into something bigger than itself, in the shape of something that looked between a worm and a snake. 

It was large as a house, coiled together and fast asleep. 

Fang Duobing had a slow and bitter realisation. 

The rescue teams weren’t going to find them, not even if they searched through the entire dungeon. One of the laws passed after the downfall of Sigu Sect and Jinyuan Alliance had been to forbid Hunters from destroying dungeons entirely, to ensure the stability of the gates and to accumulate materials from existing dungeons. Gates fluctuated with the amount of monsters inside the dungeon, and the only way to destroy a dungeon completely was to take out the greatest monster within it. 

In order to do that, the entire sect often assembled with alliances to other sects as well, but that hadn’t happened in ten years. No one even tried anymore. 

Fang Duobing had fallen right into the room of the dungeon boss. 

[malepresentingleg]

Wen learning sign language for his step-son-in-law is something that can be so personal

[skalidris]

oh yeah and the cream guan hemeng gave su xiaoyong for her scar being called green jade ? hm moment

[mustluvcatz-reloaded]

Can you repo neighborhood deco to a mesh from build/buy mode? I thought I saw a tutorial once. OR was it to repo neighborhood deco to another neighborhood deco mesh?

And what about recolors. Those would still have to be separate clones?

[convenientalias]

Do you have a wuxia rec list? I really enjoyed mysterious lotus casebook from your posts on it where it was just relaxing to watch. I was planning to watch Meet you at the blossom next, but not sure what to watch after.

Sure, but tbh I haven't actually watched that many wuxia! Also if you finished Mysterious Lotus Casebook you're technically ahead of me there bc I never watched the last six episodes. I'm just really bad at finishing things sometimes lols. But I do love that show and maybe this will be what finally makes me finish it!

Anyway here is a quick rec list:

-Nirvana in Fire: If you've never watched Nirvana in Fire (have you? I can't remember) I'm contractually obligated to rec Nirvana in Fire. It's more political intrigue than jianghu adventures so it may not be as relaxing to watch idk. Nevertheless it does top my wuxia recs list bc it has the best plot and some of my favorite characters. and it is also very funny. IF WHAT YOU LIKED FROM MLC WAS: the whump of a guy with an incurable poison in his body or the identity porn of a guy who used to be kind of famous re-encountering ppl he knew a while back but now pretending to be someone else. then Nirvana in Fire is a perfect watch for both of those things.

-Ancient Detective: If you like a group of people just wandering around solving mysteries in the jianghu, this show is more purely that than MLC. It has a fair amount of whump and bromance but it's also largely a case-per-maybe-three-episodes show. However, sometimes that's what I want.

-The Flame's Daughter: This is a drama with a bunch of inter-sect war and intrigue. There's also a big love polygon going on and imo the winning side is the most boring. At its worst, the main romance had me going "whyyy" but at its best, there is some really good whump, intrigue, murder, and general jianghu travel and shenanigans. However, out of the list thus far I would say it is the least similar to MLC (if only bc of a focus on m/f romance).

-Handsome Siblings (2020): This is a show about twins separated due to some Nefarious Schemes and then raised by villains to Murder Each Other without knowing their siblings. The level of goofy jianghu shenanigans and whump is absolutely through the roof. Like every few episodes you meet some new villain who's like "Hi my name is Black Spider and I will tie you up and poison you". It is all a bit silly.

Tbh that's about it from me for "this is definitely wuxia" recs but I would like to add one more "this is not wuxia but it is adjacent and in 2023 it was my most similar to MLC watch" rec, which is:

-A League of Nobleman: It's just a historical mystery show set in the capital, with a heaping helping of political intrigue and revenge quest. Similar to MLC, there are mysteries investigated every few episodes, and each is tied into a larger scheme at work. Meanwhile our protagonist is seeking justice for his father, unjustly accused of treason many years ago, and having a (b)romance with at least three different guys. It's not wuxia, there's no real martial arts going on and not a ton of jianghu travel, but as far as MLC comp titles go, it's not bad.

Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed Mysterious Lotus Casebook! I really need to finish watching it lol. And I didn't mention Meet You at the Blossom bc you said you already intended to watch it but yeah I think that show's a lot of fun, it's rather sappy and whumpy and comedic and I enjoyed it a lot.

[bbcphile]

The Yin Leaves Threat Is a Bluff (MLC Meta)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook fans: Are we ready to talk about how the yin leaves threat was a bluff?

So many people seem to be taking Di Feisheng at his word that he wanted to make Li Xiangyi eat the yin leaves of the Wangchuan flower to regain his martial arts for one last glorious fight and that he was fine with Li Xiangyi dying very painfully from their poison after. And I see why: after all, LLH took him at his word, too, and LLH is famously smart and a good detective.

However, LLH has a history of jumping to false conclusions about DFS and, like the rest of the jianghu, assuming the worst of him: in fact, his mistaken belief that DFS broke the peace treaty and had his shixiong killed is the central misunderstanding that nearly destroyed both their respective sects and each other. So, since LLH is canonically very bad at telling who actually wants him dead and who loves him, it’s worth investigating this further. And looking at DFS’ history of bluffing is a good place to start.

DFS and Bluffing

Di Feisheng has a history of bluffing and/or threatening to kill or torture people when he doesn’t mean it. Here are some of his most notable examples (but click here for a much longer list of things he’s lied about or withheld info about):

Threatening to kill Qiao Wanmian to convince LLH to let him find a cure for Bicha (he doesn’t kill women)

Threatening to torture Gao Qian for information (he searches rooms instead)

Threatening to kill FDB when LLH says he’s trouble (the smirk after shows he was joking)

Threatening to kill Xiao Zijin at the wedding if LLH doesn’t help him get into 188 prisons (LLH walks him into a trap and yet DFS doesn’t even try to hurt XZJ in the fight)

Lying about poisoning and curing QWM to protect LLH’s identity and pretending to kidnap her

In all of those examples, DFS is trying to help or protect LLH, albeit in a very dysfunctional way. In the first example, he’s trying to blackmail LLH into living; the second example is to solve the case to find Shi Hun to expel the Asura Grass so he can find a cure for Bicha; the third is a joke, but also one designed to make LLH admit he does care about FDB because LLH is pretending he doesn’t care about anything as a prelude to giving up once he finds SGD’s body; the fourth is to get evidence that someone framed the Jinyuanmeng so LLH will trust him again and want to live to figure out who really killed his shixiong; and the last is to protect LLH’s identity (even though he only agreed to protect it until the Asura Grass was expelled. He’s trying to prove to LLH that LLH can trust him and he wants to help him, not harm him.)

All that to say: DFS has a history of bluffing about threatening to kill people if he thinks it will help Xiangyi live, and will take on the role of the villain—role the jianghu regularly casts him in—if he thinks it will help. And as some of those examples show, he also doesn’t share his plans with LLH until after the plan has been completed. And just look at all the things DFS withheld from LXY at their first donghai battle if you need more examples: he doesn’t mention that he knows it’s a frame job or why he stole SGD’s body. In all these examples, it’s not just that DFS has control issues and doesn’t want to share theories until he has proof: it seems likely that he knows/assumes LXY wouldn’t have believed him, because LLH already proved he didn’t trust him when he fell for the frame job, broke the peace treaty, and attacked the Jinyuanmeng. DFS assumes that there’s no point in presenting information to someone who won’t listen to it; he’d think it’s a waste of time and energy that could be better spent actively solving the problem.

But Why Bluff About the Yin Leaves?

Yao Mo’s Questionable Loyalty:

When DFS says he just needs LLH to live long enough to compete with him, he’s not talking to LLH himself: he’s talking to Yao Mo. In fact, the entire yin leaves plan was Yao Mo’s idea. And that changes everything.

Why? Well, for starters, Yao Mo is the one who invented the Bicha poison and gave it to JLQ to use on LXY (without DFS’ knowledge or permission). That alone is reason enough for DFS to not know if he can trust him, and this lack of trust explains why DFS never told Yao Mo that the mystery patient was LXY/LLH or that he was poisoned by Bicha. Since JLQ poisoned LXY because DFS paid so much attention to him and to fighting with him, it makes sense that DFS would try to protect LLH by hiding his identity and not drawing attention to him. 

But of course, as soon as Yao Mo figures out the mystery patient was poisoned with Bicha, that secret is blown. The pained face (and Throat Bob of Emotion) DFS makes while Yao Mo is having this realization shows not only how upset he is that they don’t yet have a cure, but also how worried he is that Yao Mo now knows it’s LLH, which makes everything more complicated.

DFS was right that Yao Mo would figure it out, since the first thing Yao Mo does after this realization is tell DFS he’s thought of a way “to heal him so he can compete with you.” DFS had pointedly NOT mentioned competing with him in front of Yao Mo yet (to hide LLH’s identity), so this is definitive proof that his cover is blown and that DFS needs to find a new way to keep LLH safe. 

This new plan is to downplay how much LLH means to him, and that motive explains so much about this scene. We know from watching him grieve and tear up while mourning LLH at his personal waterfall after his enthronement ceremony that DFS is miserable because of LXY’s supposed death and that he doesn’t see the point in fighting anymore without him, so we know that one last fight with LXY wouldn’t fix that: he’d still be dead and DFS would still be devastated. 

(Here are some screenshots of him mourning at the waterfall.)

But this isn’t common knowledge. In fact, it seems to be a closely guarded secret; he’s mourning in private, with only Wuyan as a witness. In public and to the rest of his subordinates, he’s trying to project the attitude of the unemotional, unflappable, heartless demon of the jianghu because his reputation is part of his armor that keeps him safe. It lets him seem like he doesn’t have any weaknesses (since “a swordsman shouldn’t have weaknesses”), and it keeps people from knowing that his primary weakness (other than the mind control bug) is LXY/LLH. 

(NOTE: He’s not even comfortable with anyone other than Wuyan and the three kings knowing he cares more about reaching the pinnacle of martial arts than he does about the Jinyuanmeng itself, and it’s not clear if any of them know that he mainly wants to increase his strength and power to free himself from the mind control bug. That’s how closely he guards his vulnerabilities.) 

With that in mind, if he wants to keep Yao Mo (and therefore JLQ) from knowing how important LXY is to him, there’s only one possible answer to Yao Mo’s question about whether he’d mind if LLH dies from the yin leaves after the fight: pretending he wouldn’t object. If he said he’d give up a fight rather than let LLH die from the yin leaves, then Yao Mo would know LLH matters to him more than fighting, which would be revealing a weakness. If DFS said he would give the entire Wangchuan flower to LLH to cure him and would therefore be sacrificing his chance of getting stronger, it would be painting an even larger target on LLH’s back and showing Yao Mo that endangering LLH would be the key to controlling him. The only safe option for both LLH and DFS is for DFS to claim he doesn’t care if LLH dies after they fight and to give orders to find the flower.

Here’s a gif of his command about the Wangchuan flower:

Notice his furrowed brow, the tightness around his eyes and mouth, the way he’s almost wincing as he gives the order? He is miserable about having to play this game and his incredible poker face is barely up to the task.

Here’s a still image of right after the pronouncement; you can still see the barely suppressed wince.

After this command, he dismisses Yao Mo from the cave immediately so he doesn’t have to keep pretending he’s going to sacrifice LLH. The entire time Yao Mo is present, even while he’s walking away, DFS holds himself completely motionless, staying in character from the bluff and desperately waiting to be alone with LLH. The instant Yao Mo is gone, DFS slumps in relief, or at least, does his version of a slump: he bows/droops his head as though the weight of what just happened was too much to shoulder. 

Here’s a close-up of his reaction:

DFS’s relief at being alone with LLH shows that he believed LLH knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing.

He was wrong. 

LLH: Believing the Worst of DFS (again)

LLH’s belief that DFS wants to kill him for a duel makes sense, since at this point, he still thinks DFS did in fact have SGD killed and broke the peace treaty, and he’s pissed off, feeling betrayed, and also in pain (from the medicine and the Beifeng Baiyang transfer that made him cough up blood, and from all the snake bites–he’s primed to read those as exclusively aggressive and cruel attempts to heal him at all costs for the fight, and not to realize that DFS would absolutely do all these things to himself to heal his own martial arts without batting an eye. And he’s in too much pain to see the horrified look on DFS’s face when LLH coughs up blood and DFS realized he almost killed LLH while trying to cure him.) 

But that doesn’t mean LLH is right. 

DFS, upon seeing that LLH has again cast him as the heartless villain, doesn’t try to dispute it. In the same way that he didn’t explain about why he took SGD’s body at the donghai battle, he doesn’t explain himself about the flower, possibly because he thinks he doesn’t have time to waste arguing. His goal is to get LLH to live–he grieved him for a decade, after all, and doesn’t want to have to do it again–and he is painfully aware that he is running out of time. LLH hasn’t exactly been subtle about only staying alive to find and bury SGD’s body, and now that they’ve accomplished that, he wants to make sure LLH doesn’t give up. Growing up in Di Fortress, DFS probably learned how to recognize what it looks like when people give up on life, and seeing those signs in LLH would explain some of the desperation behind his actions.

So, what does he do instead of trying to convince LLH the threat was a bluff? Here’s a gif of his response:

He swallows his disappointment at being thought a heartless killer–bowing his head again and shaking it, then looking up at the cave roof in exasperation–and takes a long, long inhale to collect himself and to quickly brainstorm a new plan. Once he’s figured it out, he says LXY’s name and launches into stage 2 of his plan to convince LLH to live: correcting the initial misunderstanding that first led LLH to not trust him anymore. 

DFS tries to convince LLH that someone conspired against both of them a decade ago–the truth he thought LXY wouldn’t believe him about on the ship–because if that worked, then it would solve two problems: 1.  LLH might believe him that he doesn’t want to kill him for the rematch if he knew he hadn’t had SGD killed, and 2. LLH would choose to stay alive to find SGD’s real killer and get revenge. 

And when LLH doesn’t believe his initial attempt, he gives what is possibly his longest speech in the entire show detailing the evidence supporting his claim that they were both set up and offers to help him find the truth in exchange for their rematch. While he definitely does want a rematch, DFS mentions it here in part because LLH thinks it’s all he cares about; if he were to offer to help without requiring the fight, LLH would be less likely to believe him and even more suspicious of his claims, especially since LLH currently thinks DFS would kill him for said rematch.

But unfortunately, his plan for them to team up fails as he thought it would all those years ago, so he decides to play along with being the heartless villain LLH thinks he is, and it’s only then that he threatens to kill FDB (revealing FDB’s parentage in the process), because he knows that LLH would stay alive to protect FDB. 

I have another 2000+ words worth of thoughts about his talk and fight with FDB–the way he tries to “kidnap” him first instead of fighting him, the way he looks miserable during the fight instead of enjoying it the way he did during the fight at QWM and XZJ’s wedding–but it will have to wait for another meta because this is already way too long as it is. The point, though, is that he’s not fighting FDB because he wants to or is enjoying hurting him: he actually hates every second of it and of performing the role of jianghu villain LLH has once again cast him in. But he’s doing it because he thinks it’s the only way to keep LLH alive. 

These aren’t the actions of someone who just wants to sacrifice his old rival for a fight; they’re the actions of someone trying everything he can think of to keep the person he loves alive. It’s an incredibly convoluted way to show his care, but given that he’s desperate, out of time, and can’t get LLH to trust or believe him, it makes sense that he’d fall back on a reliable skillset that’s kept himself alive despite all the odds: bluffing, keeping his true goals a secret, adopting the mantle of villain, and letting himself be hated for things he hasn’t done.

With both the fight with FDB and with the yin leaves threat, DFS plays the villain to try to force LLH to live, because he’d rather LLH hate him and live than love him and die. 

Because Di Feisheng has never wanted Li Xiangyi–or Li Lianhua–dead.

[junemermaid]

some sentences sunday, mlc snippet

okay it is seven minutes to midnight and chapter three of the taste of pomegranates is an unholy mire of notes and random prose, but. I have been thinking about it for three days so here's a bit.

Fang Duobing's mouth cinches. "No, but—I love you. You in particular. It has something to do with Lianhua, but he isn't..." Di Feisheng is very still. Waiting for that thought to unfurl like a judgment. Waiting, again, to understand. "I don't mean he isn't needed, because that's not true. It's right for us all to be together. If—if he was gone tomorrow, I'd still feel the same. When you came in today, I'd missed you." Di Feisheng makes a throaty sound, like a man strangled. His exhalation scatters as he takes the words in. For someone that largely lets his face betray his every mood, Fang Duobing is a recurring puzzle. "I know." At least this much. He reaches for the hand fisted in Fang Duobing's sleeve, coaxing his fingers to open. "I... felt it when you were gone." Without looking up, Fang Duobing grasps his hand with that same clutching strength, like he needs to hold on to something. "All right, a-Fei." Neither of them moves. Their hands make a tether between them.

tbc

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

ok, i'm being so brave and making the rec post that i told anon i would do like three days ago.

the obligatory caveats. this is not comprehensive—i haven't read all the fic in this fandom, and i've barely looked at anything not in english. my reading habits are pretty broad—i'll read almost any pairing, and am generally willing to suspend my disbelief to do so. i am not usually an au person, though this fandom is doing its absolute damndest to prove me wrong on that point.

also i have…more…fics that i felt i should rec somewhere, so probably this is rec post one, but ten felt like enough and also saying things in public where people can hear me is, it turns out, absolutely excruciating. please no one be mean to me about this post, especially if you wrote one of these fics, because if you are i will simply fill my pockets with rocks and take to the sea, ok? ok.

excited to find out what i manage to do that ruins the formatting, links the wrong fics and/or people, or otherwise breaks things in this post. please tell me if i've fucked up, or if your fic is on this list and you would rather i keep your name out of my mouth, or whatever.

first, a very special mention to the mlc reference guide by @yletylyf. this is such an incredibly comprehensive and generous resource. you want a timeline for this show that does an incredibly poor job of maintaining its own timeline? it's here. you want episode summaries? they're here. you want all the people and places? they're here. if you're writing fic, you want this guide, because it's so much easier and faster than scanning episodes or subs files to figure out the name of one specific guy or whatever. it also means that at least occasionally you work on the thing rather than accidentally rewatching the same scene five times, or hypothetically watching two to four episodes without even really thinking about what you're doing. the reference guide is the unsung mvp of fandom.

beyond porch and portal, difanghua, teen, by willowdream. this is the vampire au that i didn't know i wanted? the author posted it and their note was like 'i'm trying to be the change i want to see in the world,' and i was like ok sure, i'm not really convinced that the change i need is vampire aus, but i'll give it a go, and then i did and was like, oh shit, i'm eating fucking glass about this vampire au, i'm chewing on my own fucking fingers, i'm so fucking normal about this, i need another hundred thousand words of this and also seventeen more vampire aus in my inbox by monday morning. i literally finished reading it and scrolled right back to the top to read it again. i have no idea why this fic hits so hard, but it took me out at the knees. the voices are perfect. something about it is just impossibly compelling.

不安的遠離，再无歸期 | restless distance, without return, fang duobing/qiao wanmian, mature and teen, by @difeisheng. this is technically two fics but they're short and you should read both of them because they're such a brutal, perfect encapsulation of grief, and a really beautiful acknowledgement of the ways that fang duobing and qiao wanmian can be read as reflections of each other, separated by a decade, and it just fucking guts me. i dunno. it's about the grief! it's about the yearning! it's about someone who understands parts of you that you wish didn't exist! i think i've reread this like once a week for the last six weeks and i feel like it gets overlooked because it's not A Ship but like. it could be. it should be.

dance the silence down, fanghua and feihua, explicit, by @momosandlemonsoda. this fic. ugh. ok. i'm breaking my own rules. i had two when i started writing this post: no works in progress, and no reccing things that i haven't left a comment on, like a goddamn grownup. this one fic is breaking both of those rules and i feel bad about it and will hopefully spend like, all day tomorrow just commenting on every chapter or something, but i have to do this. this fic is so good. this fic ruins me. this fic is 63k, still a work in progress, and also if i were losing the whole internet tomorrow and i got to keep one fic in all the world and it was the only fic i could have for the rest of time, it might have to be this one, even as a work in progress. i ignored this fic for so long—by which i mean probably two of the four months since i first watched mysterious lotus casebook—because i was like, i don't like aus, and i especially don't like rock star aus. (or sex work aus, and you're never gonna fucking believe what else this author is writing and what else i absolutely cannot get enough of—this is a sneaky bonus rec for all i wanna do is wrong, another fic that i feel so so so normal about!) but then i was like okkkkkkk but. maybe i'll try it. people seem to be nuts for it. and then i read it and i was like OH HOLY SHIT PEOPLE ARE FULLY CORRECT TO BE ABSOLUTELY UNHINGED ABOUT THIS and normally, honestly, i wouldn't bother posting a rec like this because it's like 'oh haha have you read the five most popular fics in this fandom?' and it feels so redundant, but i know for a fact that a friend of mine who finished watching the show yesterday is reading this post, and even if everyone else has read it, she has not! anyhow as a former music person and a former diner cook, this fic like. i don't know. i feel like it broke me but also fixed me? i literally criticise writing professionally and every time i try to talk about this fic i find myself speechless because it's so perfect to me. i am deeply unwell about this fic. every time a new chapter comes out i sit down and read the whole thing again, yes, all sixty-thousand-plus words of it. some nights you go to bed and you're like 'what's the fucking point?' and then you're like 'no wait, there will eventually be more of dance the silence down,' and somehow that makes things suck a tiny bit less. my wife has made me take out like six sentences from this rec because they're too intense and too weird about it but i need you to understand: you have to read this fic.

in this dream, there is a lover to share this life with, fanghua, g, by @lianhuajing. alternative ending for the end of episode 27, in which li lianhua—precious man who has yet to discover a hill he's not willing to die on—apologises to fang duobing the only way he knows how, and it's wildly upsetting for everyone (but it's ok and it doesn't end miserably, no one panic). this is a delightfully angsty treat, and i love how conflicted fang duobing is in it—i feel like it's not something that i've seen explored a lot, but this poor boy really fuckin goes through it—his best friend and his childhood idol are the same person but are lying to him about it, and his dad's not actually his father and has been lying to him about it, and his best friend/childhood idol may have killed his father, and—yeah, is lying to him about it. like? someone give this poor man a hug and a cup of tea and a snack and a blankie. i love that we get to see some of his internal conflict in this.

quintessence of dust, feihua, teen, by justthereforit. this plays with one of my very most favourite tropes in the world, which is the one where the heart is a physical object and a physical form of trust and control and surrender and—like. this is so good. it's set in episode 13, which is, for me, one of the absolute peak angst points, and it absolutely nails it. di feisheng who's upset and vulnerable and frustrated and angry, li lianhua who knows he's going to die and can't bear the thought that he's going to take anyone else down with him, and they're both just so fucked up. chef kiss. i love it when everyone is emotionally wrecked and continually like 'ok no, i can take one more knife in my soul to protect someone else', and this absolutely delivers on that.

under moonlight, we change our futures yet again, feihua, explicit, by @thesilversun. the wedding room! obviously we have to have a wedding room fic, right? i'm not going to lie: i'm willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for wedding room fics, but in this one, it's actually a wonderfully, horrifyingly plausible setup. it walks a really fine line of keeping people in character, and acknowledging the inherent horror and seriousness of the situation, and also providing some desperately hot sex, and also managing to get the emotional beats of it, too. it has a sequel, which imo really has to be read as the conclusion to this fic, and it's just as good. it's possible that some of what i'm saying here is 'i love vulnerable-inside crusty-outside di feisheng' but like. i do. i love it so much.

what's sealed away, feihua, teen, by @bbcphile. AMNESIA FIC yessssss, a-fei my beloved, fics that handle brain damage/memory issues/amnesia well my beloveddddd. i love the a-fei arc, but i also have had a number of brain injuries and some other stuff that means that my own memory is…not so great, so i sometimes really struggle with how often amnesia in fiction is played off either as nothing to worry about or as a funny thing where everyone's in on the joke except the person who has amnesia. this fic is a great and sometimes very visceral exploration of a horrifying experience, and a really fantastic study of a-fei/di feisheng as a character, as well as the relationship that he has with li lianhua. a-fei trying to balance the trust he has in the sense memory of his body with his understanding of his relationship with li lianhua with li lianhua's reaction to—everything, really—is really well done and wonderful/terrible to read.

我只愿面朝大海 | i wish only to face the sea, g, by foreverstudent. ok so you wanna fuck yourself up some more? go read this. this is canon divergence from episode 39, and fang duobing has learned too well the lessons he's been taught, and sees the shape of things before li lianhua ever touches the wangchuan flower—so he sets about making sure that he won't be able to throw it away. this is agonising and gorgeous and maintains the canon relationships while developing the narrative differently. i wept literal tears. i was like 'ok that's it the worst part is over!' and then i remembered that there was another part coming and then i started crying. anyhow, it is—as ever, with me—about the devotion.

我住長江頭, 君住長江尾 -- i live upstream, you live downstream, fanghua, teen, by @rimbaudofficial. ok so this is Not a fic that i should like, because i am a massive academic failure and despite being in my forties have regular nightmares about having to re-engage with academia for like. any reason. HOWEVER. as noted, i read indiscriminately, even when i'm like 'reading this is a terrible idea and will be upsetting for me personally!', so i was like 'well, how bad of an idea can it possibly be?' and then instead! it was. incredibly charming? it was so fucking cute? the fang duobing characterisation in this is somehow just perfect to me—he's simultaneously confident and vulnerable, and also just so deeply committed to the weird clueless guy who he's decided is meant for him. di feisheng and li lianhua have a perfect weird-bros friendship. i would read another ten chapters of this and i would love it.

[rose-tinted-vision]

nine albums or songs I've been listening to lately x nine people I’d like to get to know better x tag game with no name

(thank you for the tag @lianhuajing !!)

1. why did you choose your url? uh. it was a play on "rose tinted glasses"

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them. nope!

3. how long have you been on tumblr? I think 2022? i knew about it before, just never bothered to make a blog

4. do you have a queue tag? don't kill me, what's a queue tag?

5. why did you start your blog in the first place? I had some Thoughts about Blue Lock and wanted to post meta for it

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp? uhh Flora.

7. why did you choose your header? Reo is one of my Blorbos and I just really liked that panel of him

8. what’s your post with the most notes? probably the "do you download fics" poll

9. how many mutuals do you have? about 20? i don't remember

10. how many followers do you have? 120?

11. how many people do you follow? 91

12. have you ever made a shitpost? yes. i think.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day? an hour?

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? nope

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts meh. some of them are funny i guess

16. do you like tag games? yep! it's nice interaction

17. do you like ask games? i do! but uh. it's a silent empty void here. an echo chamber, if you will.

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? i have no idea but i see @kingsandbastardz a lot in the mlc community

19. do you have a crush on a mutual? nope

20. what is the last song you listened to? 若梦 by 周深

21. what are you currently watching? i just finished The Double! probably starting on Dashing Youth next

22. sweet/ savoury/ spicy? savoury!

23. what is your current relationship status? single

24. what is your current obsession? The Double,,,,

25. what are nine albums/ songs you've been listening to lately?

若梦 by 周深

如故 by 张碧晨

如初 by 张碧晨

借过一下 by 周深

万物不如你 by 张杰

Our dawn is hotter than day by Seventeen

Hitorijana by Seventeen

my music taste is kinda...i tend to stick to a few artists...

26. tagging (no obligation to do this!) @randomingoftherandomness @good-vs-evo @chrysofightme @bbcphile

[spellsword177]

Thoughts on Fence Challengers: Sweet Sixteen

We follow Kings Row through round one and the start of round at the State Championship Finals.  I must start off by saying I’m very proud of the heroes on our team and how far they’ve come and how far they’ll go.  As usual, these are the things the things that really stick to me. 1.  Unsurprisingly, MacRobertson went down swinging.  As I’ve stated previously, I’m sorry to see them go, but this has always been a story about Kings Row and Exton.  Win or lose the final match, Nicholas Cox and Seiji Katayama will have their dramatic face off with Jesse Coste.

2.  Aiden Kane yet again proves himself to be a Chameleon and an excellent fencer, when he actually tries, in his bout with Nate Spencer.  Harvard Lee will forever be his sole reason for continuing to fence.  Interesting how the tables have turned and Seiji is able to unnerve Aiden, but Harvard is always there to calm him down.

3.  Marcus Washington was indeed an impressive fencer.  I’m sorry a hidden knee injury finally took him down, but he was gracious in his defeat by Seiji who knew about his weakness.  Kings Row has at least one ally from another school cheering them on as they proceed in the Finals. 

4.  Seiji shows even more how much he has grown since the beginning.  He’s now a team player willing to have faith in Nicholas and can step aside when needed to save his strength for the eventual match against Jesse.  He can still dish out the smack talk as cold as ice when facing opponents, but is also warm when he needs to be.

5.  As predicted, Lowther Hall is the next team to beat.  Like against MacRob, I know Kings Row will triumph due the set up of the narrative, but it may be close especially without Seiji participating.  Right now, Kings Row is four points behind going into bout 6, but I do have faith in our boys.  They will survive to face MLC.

6.  In some ways, Kyle Allen is worse than his cousin, Jesse, ever thought of being.  He’s a braggart who’s not above using dirty tricks to gain an advantage.  I’d love nothing more than for him to finally lose against Nicholas.  So far, we haven’t actually seen Nicholas fence this time, but the point totals against Emmett Scott in bout one showed him one point behind at 5-4.  Three weeks have passed since Kyle defeated him at camp and he may just need Seiji’s faith to help get him through.

7.  Saving the biggest development for last, Bobby Rodriguez finally knows Nicholas’s secret that he is the bastard son of Robert Coste and Jesse's half-brother.  Seiji may be the primary fencer for Kings Row, but Nicholas is clearly their secret weapon.  I have faith Bobby will not share the knowledge before Nicholas is ready, but it is bound to come out during the Finals.  I still suspect Coach Williams already knows which is why she reached out to Nicholas in the first place.  I look forward to the next edition and what new drama will unfold