#monster lan wangji

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Happy Halloween and Wei Wuxian day!

[lazycranberrydoodles]

fanart of @poorly-drawn-mdzs’ mdzs and x-files crossover!!!

also -

[foxyyaoguai]

MDZS x Tentacles

Don't judge before you've tried it 🤭

Here are some very romantic tentacle recommendations:

🐙 every time we touch (i get this feeling) by celerydragon (WangXian, sci fi au)

🐙 But the rose was awake all night for your sake/Knowing your promise to me by x_los (WangXian, resentful energy tentacles)

🐙 Fall Into the Ocean, Into You by giantomelette (WangXian, Octoman lwj)

🐙 Secrets of the Back Hill by ElDiablito_SF (Jadecest, Eldritch Horror)

🐙 Prey by JaggedEdges (Niecest, noncon, Oviposition, aphrodisiacs)

🐙 Wrapped in Your Arms & Filled with Your Eggs by FoxyYaoguai (XiXian, WangXian, WangXiXian, noncon, Oviposition, aphrodisiacs, WIP)

If you have any recs, pls send them my way!!!

[berryberrytaeberry]

Can we talk about Frankenstein and the spurious connections that can be made to MDZS.

A theme of Frankenstein is "what/who is the monster" and the title itself gives you the answer, Victor himself. Yet, today we call Frankenstein's monster "Frankenstein", which in itself is the theme of MDZS: What becomes "true" is what people say.

And we also have the english title of MDZS: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, which likely intentionally uses "Demonic" instead of the more accurate "Ghost" in the same way. The legacy of the book's title is one that's not true to the book's form.

And, in MDZS we also have this major thought problem of "who is dangerous for who?" Is Wei Wuxian dangerous to society; has society wronged him? Is Wei Wuxian dangerous to Lan Wangji; is Lan Wangji's clan and his (pre character development) desire to hide Wei Wuxian away dangerous to the latter?

OR--Maybe no one in Frankenstein is the monster? Maybe no one in MDZS is dangerous? Maybe the dangerous monster is the reader, forced to assign nuanced characters the label of "antagonist": A natural consequence of the novel-reading paradigm.

The true monster and true danger of any story is the hands that hold it. Isn't that a better answer to these novels' central themes?

(With Frankenstein being in the western canon I'm not putting any weight on the connections being valid. Coincidences at best.)

[yamirosenkreuz]

⚠️: 🔞 / ♀️ Wangxian /🐙 lwj / 🍼💦

✨ Patreon

Hahahaha~ Hope someone is enjoying this AU because im really feral over it lol i do really like monster/whatever lwj destroying wwx in the bed 🙈💦💦

Twitter / BlueSky / Instagram

and some extra smutty sketches bc the original drawing is not nasty enough 🤣

[qiu-yan]

wei wuxian and the horribly overpowered boss monster

related question: if wei wuxian knew in advance how his decision to stand by the wen remnants would end, would he still make the same decisions?

i feel like i've failed to capture the core philosophical question i had in mind when i made this post, so i've decided to try making a similar (but not identical) scenario instead. and another similar poll on roughly the same question here. they're not exactly the same but hopefully the core question is similar enough.

suppose that one day, postcanon, there appears a stupidly overpowered monster that eats children. wei wuxian and friends engage the monster in battle 3 times; each time, they are completely routed, and barely escape alive.

now, a heavily injured wei wuxian has snuck out of first the gusu lan healing wing, and then the cloud recesses as a whole, in order to do his own investigations. he sees the monster from a distance. it has captured a child and is obviously about to eat the child.

wei wuxian has no time to call for help; if he wants to rescue the child, he must act immediately. however, based on his own state of heavy injury and how poorly he fared in battle against this monster in the recent past, wei wuxian estimates that his chances of saving the child are 0%. wei wuxian further estimates that, if he draws the monster's attention in any way, not only will it eat the child anyways, it will also certainly kill him. wei wuxian's own chances of surviving an encounter with this monster are also 0%.

wei wuxian thus has exactly 2 options:

attack the monster in a bid to save the child.

hide where he is and do nothing.

what does wei wuxian do?

follow-up questions:

in this scenario, what is the morally correct course of action?

in this scenario, what are the morally incorrect courses of action?

is this scenario significantly different from the one in this previous post? if so, how?

is this scenario significantly different from the version under the cut?

full scenario under the cut (because of length):

suppose that there is a stupidly overpowered monster called (for lack of better name) the child-eater. the child-eater can only be summoned into the world via a newly-invented, incredibly complex demonic ritual with an incredibly high chance of failure. upon being summoned, the child-eater will seek to consume exactly 99 children; upon consumption of the 99th child, the child-eater will automatically disappear from the world, and will remain gone until someone summons it again. eating children does not make the child-eater any stronger; its power level remains constant.

the child-eater preys upon children by first capturing them, then storing them in a (transparent) cavity in the center of its body, and then moving into the child-eater's own pocket dimension to kill and consume them at its own leisure. other beings can only enter this pocket dimension at the child-eater's deliberate invitation, so if one wishes to rescue a child from the child-eater, one must do so before the child-eater enters its pocket dimension.

the child-eater has healing and regeneration capabilities rivaling that of SCP-682, so it invariably fully heals in between battles.

postcanon, someone summons the child-eater.

so far, the child-eater has already eaten 98 children, a fact which is known and has been confirmed to be true by the cultivation sects. every cultivator who engaged the child-eater in battle has been killed almost immediately, with only four exceptions: wei wuxian, lan wangji, wen qionglin, and jiang wanyin have all escaped battle with the child-eater heavily injured but alive.

wei wuxian has fought the child-eater exactly three times. each time, due to the child-eater being stupidly overpowered, wei wuxian has gotten his ass kicked:

first battle: while performing rites for the deceased wen remnants in the burial mounds, wei wuxian and wen qionglin ran into the child-eater, which did not have an abducted child with it at the time. wei wuxian and wen qionglin attacked the child-eater. the child-eater retaliated with a single strike that broke wei wuxian's left femur, hip, and several rib bones, and tore off both of wen qionglin's legs. the child-eater then left to search for children to eat, giving the legless wen qionglin the opportunity to drag wei wuxian to safety. given that wei wuxian had cultivated a new golden core, wei wuxian was able to fully recover from his injuries in around three months, during which he reattached wen qionglin's legs to his body, restoring wen qionglin to full functionality.

second battle: wei wuxian, lan wangji, and a medium-sized contingent of lan cultivators ran into the child-eater on a routine night-hunt. since the child-eater has stored a child in the transparent cavity in its body for later eating, the lan cultivators attacked the child-eater with the objective of rescuing the child. in the ensuing battle, wei wuxian was incapacitated when the child-eater grabbed him and slammed his head against a tree, fracturing his skull; lan wangji was then incapacitated when he shielded wei wuxian's prone body with his own, tanking an attack that shattered most of the bones in both of his arms and most of his ribs as well. wen qionglin, who had been summoned by wei wuxian, was cut in half horizontally by the child-eater.

wei wuxian and lan wangji were saved by jiang wanyin, who had secretly tailed the night-hunt: while the child-eater was occupied killing the rest of the lan cultivators (and the jiang cultivators who had accompanied jiang wanyin), jiang wanyin dragged wei wuxian and lan wangji to safety. afterwards, wei wuxian and lan wangji recovered to full health in around half a year; during this time, the two halves of wen qionglin's body were recovered from the battle site and reattached by wei wuxian, restoring wen qionglin to full functionality. every other lan and jiang cultivator present at the battle perished. they were unable to save the child from the child-eater, either.

third battle: an army of around 500 cultivators, which included wei wuxian, lan wangji, wen qionglin, and jiang wanyin, tracked down and descended upon the child-eater, intent on destroying it. in retaliation, the child-eater immediately decimated the cultivator army, leaving less than ten people standing; when wei wuxian raised the newly killed as fierce corpses, the child-eater shrugged those off as well. in the ensuing battle, wen qionglin was once again cut in half, lan wangji's ribcage was shattered, both of jiang wanyin's femurs were broken (lol), and wei wuxian's right arm was torn off; when wei wuxian nonetheless continued to attack, the child-eater impaled him clean through the lower abdomen. ultimately, the above named four individuals only survived because the child-eater mistook them for dead and left the battlefield.

now, it is one month after the third battle. wei wuxian, lan wangji, and jiang wanyin are still in the early stages of recovery. the healers were also unable to reattach wei wuxian's right arm, so he only has a working left arm now. however, wei wuxian was able to reattach the two halves of wen qionglin's body, so at least wen qionglin is back to full functionality now.

in the wake of the disastrous third battle, the child-eater has been declared an existential threat by the cultivation clans; all efforts and resources are now going towards learning as much as possible about the child-eater and the spell that summoned it, finding a way to eliminate the child-eater, and ensuring that, once eliminated, the child-eater never returns. due to these efforts, the cultivation world has now learned all of the information i gave above regarding the child-eater (ie. that it was summoned by a newly-invented demonic ritual (whose creation wei wuxian had no hand in); that this ritual is incredibly difficult to perform and has a high chance of failure (in which case nothing happens); that the child-eater will seek to eat 99 children; everything about the child-eater's eating habits; and that, upon consumption of the 99th child, the child-eater will immediately disappear, until it is summoned again).

right now, it is (correctly) known to the cultivation world that the child-eater has already eaten 98 children; thus, after it consumes its next child, it will disappear. thus, amongst the cultivation clans, two opposing camps have emerged: a. people who think the child-eater should be tracked down and killed before it can eat its 99th child; and b. people who think the child-eater should be allowed to eat its 99th child.

due to wei wuxian being the foremost expert on demonic cultivation in the cultivation world, wei wuxian himself has been designated an essential person to the cultivation world's opposition of the child-eater. it is currently estimated that he out of everyone has the highest chances of disabling the child-eater-summoning ritual, and of figuring out who created this summoning ritual.

a restless wei wuxian, still recovering from his heavy injuries, sneaks out of the gusu lan healer's wing, and then out of the cloud recesses entirely, to go gather information on his own. very unfortunately for him, he runs into the child-eater.

more accurately, he sees the child-eater from a distance; it has not spotted him yet. it has a child in the transparent holding cavity in its body, and is clearly about to enter its pocket dimension in order to eat the child.

if wei wuxian wants to rescue the child, he must act immediately; otherwise, once the child-eater takes the child with it into its pocket dimension, nothing more can be done. however, given how poorly wei wuxian and all of his friends fared in past battles with the child-eater, as well as wei wuxian's own state of heavy injury at the moment, wei wuxian concludes that, if he were to attack the child-eater right now, his chances of rescuing the child would be 0%. furthermore, his chances of surviving the encounter with the child-eater would also be 0%. the only course of action through which wei wuxian survives is the one where he hides in his current location and does nothing, thus allowing the child-eater to eat its 99th child.

since, by wei wuxian's own estimation, he has zero chance of actually rescuing the child, no matter what wei wuxian chooses to do, the child-eater will end up eating its 99th child and disappearing.

what does wei wuxian do?

follow-up questions:

in this scenario, what is the morally correct course of action?

in this scenario, what are the morally incorrect courses of action?

is this scenario significantly different from the one in this previous post? if so, how?

is this scenario significantly different from the short version above the cut?

[sweatsnervously47]

TLDR of Episode 10 of the Untamed, we meet the elder gays and everyone has a crisis about it.

[rayan12sworld]

💠🧡SOS: Wei Ying Injured from Fighting a Horrifying Monster!

Anonymous

Summary:

“…See, it’s a very scary curse that prevents me from stating the truth about this creature!” Wei Ying raises his milk to the ceiling, “It’s deceitful and secretive. It’s done this so I can’t share with anyone else, about the horrors I have seen. Lan Zhan, these horrors are meant for my eyes, and my eyes alone. This is a battle I must fight on my own. Lan Zhan, my good Lan Zhan, you understand this, don’t you?”

Lan Zhan stares at him, completely dead-panned and fish-eyed.

“Lan Zhan, you understand, don’t you?” Wei Ying raises the milk carton higher.

Lan Zhan turns resolutely towards the stove, then casts a side-way glance at Wei Ying, “I do not.”

or

Wei Ying returns injured from a night-hunt. Lan Zhan is worried. And there was something about an elevator.

Chapter:1/1

Words:16,743

Status:completed

Wei Ying pouts, “Er-gege, you think everyone is like you? I’m innocent, don’t involve me with the likes of you. It was a pretty big deal for me, okay?” “You are… innocent?” Lan Zhan struggles to comprehend this. His entire life, it appeared that Wei Ying was miles ahead when it came to things like romance. Lan Zhan frankly expected him to have had four girlfriends at a time, it would even make sense; Wei Ying is just very loveable, “At the hunt, then… why did you tell me…?” “Told you what?” “Firstly,” Lan Zhan starts, “You didn’t resist my kiss though clearly, you didn’t know who it was. You then told me you have ‘fought countless battles.’” “You believed me?” Wei Ying looks stunned. Lan Zhan blinks, “Yeah?” “Wah, Lan Zhan, just look at you. When I kept telling you my cultivation doesn’t harm me as much as you think, you didn’t believe me! But when I bragged and made up bullshit about having tons of experience, you did? Tsk. Tsk. Just what sort of opinions do you hold about me, Lan-er? I’ve never even held a girl’s hand, if not for life-death situations.” He pauses, “Which I know are plenty, but hey…” Lan Zhan feels strangely called out. It isn’t like Wei Ying is wrong… he has often totally dreamt of Wei Ying residing on a black throne, all power and wicked smiles, while he sits by his feet, like an obedient concubine. Wei Ying doesn’t need to know that though.

~~dream ha?

He looks down at Wei Ying, whose eyes are gleaming, who keeps giggling, his face flushed. His heart softens, the guilt and the flames of his yearning settle down into a calmer, but steadier fire. He thinks to himself, he will protect that smile forever. “Or were you actually angry because you were jealous?” Wei Ying continues, “What if someone else was kissing me like that when I was defenceless, and you ran into that sight, what would you have done? Gone and cut up trees because you lost hahahaha?” What a stupid question. Lan Zhan’s lips form a straight line. Just… imagining the scenario makes his stomach swirl and muscles tense. His attacking instincts flare up. If not for Wei Ying’s resounding laughter in the room, Bichen would’ve flown into his hands. “What? Are you angry now?” Wei Ying teases, “So, you can kiss me however you wish, but others cannot?” “I was wrong,” Lan Zhan states, “But others still cannot.” “Why can’t they?” Wei Ying tilts his head to the side, acting all cute and small under his weight. Does he - does he even know? What a dangerous game he is playing? Lan Zhan’s throat bobs, “Do you wish to be kissed by others?” “Well, hmm… if given the choice-” “ Cannot. ” Wei Ying blinks slowly, “Huh?” “Cannot be kissed by others,” Lan Zhan says with much difficulty, “Cannot be touched. Cannot be held.” Cannot smile at others like this. Cannot call others in the way you call me. Cannot be seen by - okay, he needs to calm down. Wei Ying’s eyes shine, “Oh? Only you can have me?” Lan Zhan’s eyelashes tremble, “If - If you wish.” Wei Ying laughs, “So, what I wish for matters after all!” Then, his tone becomes a bit more serious, “And what does Lan Zhan wish for?” “You. Only you.” Lan Zhan presses. “It can only be me, is that right…” Wei Ying whispers, “Then, do you know? That it’s only you for me too? That it can’t be anybody else. That I want to be forever by your side. Whatever the conventional titles exist for lovers, I want them all. Your lover. Your cultivation partner. Your… husband. Your every day, and your every night. Lan Zhan… am I wishing for too much?” “Too little,” Lan Zhan says, laying down beside him, and cradling his face to neck, “You can ask for anything. I’ll give it to you.” Wei Ying lifts himself up, places a kiss at his jaw, “All your love. Your attention. Your consideration.” “You already have them,” Lan Zhan whispers, as Wei Ying plants butterfly-like kisses on his jaw, “Ask for more.” Wei Ying barks out a laugh, “Tonight, I’m going to claim Hanguang-jun’s body for myself - or, well, get claimed. Then, I’d want it some more. I’d want it everyday. Do you know how difficult it is to live with you, and not jump you? Do you appraise my endurance? Say, not even a Lan can hold back as much as I did.” “I know,” Lan Zhan says honestly, “It’s too difficult.”

~~

[greywake]

I've been working on this one for a little while now and it just keeps growing!

So I decided to break it up and post the first section as a chapter.

I hope you enjoy!

[yugiri315]

LWJ Cosplay Log - Master Post

Making Lan Wangji

(AKA My Lan Zhan Cosplay Log)

This went from a historical project to cosplaying all the Hanguang-Jun, Lan Wangji in existence!  The main concept is Lan Wangji’s (LWJ) novel/manhua/audio drama design.  As the project started pre-pandemic, I didn’t consider the butler or dragon au in the design.  That would be too much.  There is a dash of videogame in him since there were some details I liked in that model.  If the title is “Mo Dao Zu Shi” then I have incorporated Lan Wangji’s description and concept arts into my design.  

Lan Wangji as known in The Untamed was generally avoided save for a tiny nod to the show’s Gusu Lan Clan.  “Mo Dao Zu Shi” Wangji and “Untamed” Wangji are distinct in my opinion.  Neither is superior from the other, just different enough that I need to pick one interpretation to play with.  The actors of Untamed, especially Xiao Zhan, really claimed the characters as their own and portrayed them wonderfully.  Wang Yibo’s Wangji is his Wangji, I won’t interfere that.  If you want to see that interpretation of Lan Wangji, then go watch the show.  It already exists.

A few caveats before you dive in:

1)     I am not a seamstress or tailor so I don’t know all the proper sewing terminology in English or any other language 2)     Also, modern romanization of Chinese confuses the shit out of me, a native speaker, so apologies for any spelling mistakes.  The Yale Romanization made so much more sense but then China thought they understood the English alphabet better than native English speakers so here we are.  Do as the Romans do, I guess. 3)     I am not a historical costumer either so all my info come from conjecture and research 4)     I am not a Chinese historian but I like to think I know enough about my history and culture through osmosis and the hell-hole disguised as Chinese school to talk about it 5)     I am not trying to make an authentic historical costume, I’m trying to make an anachronistic fantasy costume. Historicity went out the window the minute LWJ and every adult character decided to have their hair down.  I did try to make a semi-historically accurate version?  Depended on the mood at time of construction. 6)     I suck at being Chinese apparently so that will be my safety net if everything fails horribly :P  

The Lan Zhan Cosplay Log Layer 1:  Undergarments! 中衣 Layer 2A:  Yichang 衣裳   Layer 2B:  Ruqun 襦裙 Layer 3:  Zhiju 直裾 Layer 4A:  Leatherwork Layer 4B:  Jade Bling Layer 5A:  Dachang 大氅 Layer 5B:  Bijia 比甲 Layer 0:  Hair, Props, “Cheating,” & Overall Stats

Exhibit:  LWJ cosplay in action [1][2]

Citation

Patterning:  https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Qb411j7z6?spm_id_from=333.905.b_72656c61746564.1

http://www.yeoh.com/index2.php?section=journal&g=691

https://cosplayqna.tumblr.com/image/38971971992

https://torguqin.wordpress.com/hanfu/hanfu-tutorial-list/

Hanfu Resources:

@ziseviolet:  https://ziseviolet.tumblr.com/about

@fouryearsofshades:  https://fouryearsofshades.tumblr.com/post/179249195707/hello-do-you-happen-to-have-a-master-post-of-all

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 The Sun Will Rise by vespertineflora

💙 The Sun Will Rise

by vespertineflora (@vespertineflora)

E, Series, WIP, 129k, Wangxian

Summary: For centuries, the villagers surrounding the Qianlian Forest have been beholden to a fearsome creature. A once loved Prince was long ago cursed into a monstrous form, and ever since has required the sacrifice of maidens to ensure the safety of the forest and the people living around it. This forlorn tradition might have continued for centuries longer... but when it comes time for Lotus Pier to send a maiden as tribute, Jiang Yanli is chosen, and Wei Wuxian won't stand for it. His plan is simple; he'll send Jiang Yanli off to live the long life she deserves with her fiancé, and offer himself as a sacrifice to the Prince instead. Kay's comments: Series is marked as incomplete, but feels complete! Part one is the main story and part two is an additional kinky scene added as an extra. This story is incredibly hot and not gonna lie started reading it for the smut, stayed for the plot, because not only are the explicit scenes perfect, but the story is also very compelling and I loved the slowly unravelling mystery aspect of it. I first read this story when it came out and could hardly wait for the next chapter, because I was just so hooked. Here we have Wei Wuxian being sacrified to a mysterious creature in place of Jiang Yanli, only turns out the mysterious creature is plant-tentacle-creature Lan Wangji, known as the Prince, who's not interested in killing Wei Wuxian, but will still make a meal out of him. Slowly but surely, the two of them become closer and Wei Wuxian can't help but want to figure out, what happened to Lan Wangji for him to have turned into this form. Excerpt: Wei Wuxian’s brow furrowed, finding that particularly strange, but just as he was about to kneel down and try to loosen the vine from around his foot, he felt something curl and tighten suddenly around his wrist, directly against the skin--his eyes darted down, just barely registering another vine that had grabbed onto him when-- A question seemed to spill into his his mind. He felt... strangely breathless at the unfamiliar sensation of impression, at the way he could almost feel the echo of words that hadn’t been spoken inside of his head, and at the inexplicable sense of familiarity he was left with. He didn’t actually hear anything, there weren't even really words, so much as just sensation... but he somehow knew what he was being asked all the same. It... this... whatever it was that reaching out to him... wanted to know who he was. “Wei Ying,” he gasped out, his words stumbling slightly as he tried to cope with the intimacy of having something pressing a thought directly into his head like this, before realizing what he’d said. “Ah... Wei Wuxian. I came from Lotus Pier. Are you... are you the Prince?” He... he had to be, didn’t he? Or if the legends were wrong, this was at least whatever entity that everyone called the Prince. It felt like a bit too much of a coincidence to expect one spiritual being at a certain location and run into a completely different one instead. There was a hesitation, something almost unsure, before Wei Wuxian felt the flicker of affirmation in his head. “Well, I... know you’re used to something a little different, but... I’m your offering this time,” Wei Wuxian continued explaining, because he knew this thing wanted him to. His heart was already racing again, the fears that had settled in the lull since his arrival immediately reviving, his thoughts spinning as he was immediately left confronting his mortality once more. “Is that... is that acceptable? Will I work for that?”

pov wei wuxian, canon era, alternate universe, fairy tale elements, human/monster romance, fantasy, tentacle monsters, monster lan wangji, tentacles, human wei wuxian, plants, vines, top lan wangji/bottom wei wuxian, eventual romance, slow burn, strangers to lovers, angst with a happy ending, mystery, bamf wei wuxian, homesickness, falling in love, bdsm, reincarnation

~*~

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

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Can you pls also share sleepy lwj and wwx bc I know the perfect place for them to nap as well!! 🤩

The sleepy lads, at your whims! Transparent too!

[mdzs-fics]

Beyond the Autumn Waters by omphalos

Canon Divergence - post siege of the Burial Mounds Teen and up 15 chapters (complete) 83k words

Jiang Wanyin barked out a laugh. "Don't be fucking ridiculous. Li-daifu says it will be many months before you're fit to travel even by boat. Even then you won't be well enough to defend the brat if Lan-shi decides to reject him with violence. What were you intending to tell them about him anyway? That he was some byblow you got on a mysterious woman who was definitely not a Wen? I can't see your xiongzhang believing that for one moment. There's no way he doesn't know you're a cutsleeve."

Wangji felt his muscles tense further and his cheeks burn. "None of your business."

"Isn't it? That boy you call your erzi – by some equally nonsensical reasoning, he's my zhizi. I'm not having you take my zhizi to a place that will reject him or worse. Whatever you think about me, Jiang-shi is a happy place for children. Let him stay here while you recover your fitness at least. Let him know a little of what is to be a… a child of the sun and the water before you take him back to your frozen home. Let him eat fucking lotus seeds and shoot fucking kites with a practice bow. Don't you think– Don't you think Wei Wuxian would have wanted that?"

Beyond the Autumn Waters begins two days after the siege of the Burial Mounds. Jiang Wanyin returns to it looking for his brother's sword. He finds Lan Wangji with a bundled Wen Yuan. A battle ensues, ending when Lan Wangji collapses from the wounds of the discipline whip.

What occurs after is a journey through the years between the death and reappearance of Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji will not return to three years of seclusion. Lan Yuan will be raised at Lianhua Wu, with his younger cousin, Jin Ling, staying there when he can. The helplessness of the Jiang sect in relation to the Jin is made evident.

Life proceeds over the years. Rumours arise about the relationship between Jiang Wanyin and Lan Wangji. The actual relationship between Lan Wangji and Jiang Wanyin develops, moving from rancor to tolerance to friendship and familial bonds.

There are several wonderful chapters dedicated to what I consider "Jin Ling's Journey" … a mythical trip of a young ten-year old looking to cure himself of jealousy. As with all mythical journeys, Jin Ling will be tested multiple times as he searches for the object of his trek.

It may seem that I am glossing over a lot of this work. It is difficult to describe the events and interactions between the major characters without giving away too much.

Much of the background to this story is pretty much straight from what can be read in the novel. Jiang Wanyin obtains his brother's sword. Jin Guangyao is manipulative. Nie Mingjue dies to Qi deviation. Did I mention that Jin Guangyao is not a pleasant person?

I found the last chapter to be a very satisfying end to these in-between years, with the announcement of a competitive night-hunt at Dafan Mountain and a cryptic reference to a plan of action that, as the author writes "they wouldn't really be able to stop until the huapo [landslide] they'd catalysed reached its natural, cataclysmic conclusion."

Nie Huaisang does not play a major role in this story. But, somehow, I get the feeling …

[restingdomface]

Wei Wuxian: Lan Zhan! Our son is giving me /such/ an attitude right now!

Lan Wangji: *comes into the tea room to see WWX and LSZ at the table* Hm? 😐

Lan Sizhui: 0.0 *big eyes and pouting because he’s literally not doing anything wrong* ??? 🥺

Lan Wangji: *turns to WWX* Hm? 🤔

Wei Wuxian: *picks up an annoyed looking rabbit from the floor* Look at this little monster, he’s thumping his legs at me because I won’t give him my food! This is human food! It’s cooked!

Lan Sizhui: *giggling* 🤭

Lan Wangji: *soft eyes of love and affectionate blinks* Mm. 🥰 Entitled.

Bunny: *angry thump at WWX as soon as he’s set down* 😡🐰

[mdzs-mangatranslation]

CHAPTER 4 ✨

Bato ◦ Mangadex ◦ Download .CBZ ◦ Chapter index

Here it is! Lan Wangji has finally debuted! My god, this chapter was a monster, hahaha. Lots of SFX that needed to be cleaned, but I'm happy with the final result.

Feel free to join the Discord server, where you can discuss the chapters with others and find other content like translated posts and updates related to the manga.

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[doufudanshi]

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

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

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

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

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

Demon vs. ghost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Running the numbers

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

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

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

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

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

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

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

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

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

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

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

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

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

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

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

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

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

So why the confusion?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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