#mount tong'lu arc

[mdzs-trash]

I swear MXTX was sleep deprived when she wrote the Mount Tong'lu arc

[alexbutrandomthoughts]

Currently reading Mount Tong'lu Arc and Hua Cheng is getting hella nervous over these statues with covered faces hmmmmm.

How much you wanna bet he's about to be exposed for being a massive simp.

[zhuiling-shipper]

TGCF BOOK 6 MOUNT TONG'LU ARC HUALIAN KISS

[sharktastictime]

the entire Mount Tong'lu arc is exactly this

[sokkalore]

Would you perhaps want to list your favorite xie lian simping for hua cheng moments? Like we all know HC is a major simp but XL honestly is too and I love it

this ask makes me so happy that i decided to dedicate an entire highlight color to annotations of characters acting like whores . ok here we go.

xie lian's obsession with hua cheng's legs, hands, etc. this starts even before he sees hua cheng's face, in any form:

"Those black leather boots were wrapped tight, and going upwards there were a pair of long and slender legs, looking extremely beautiful as they walked." this is chapter 8.

in chapter 16 hua cheng just. picks up a bag of junk and walks away with it and, "He watched as the lanky youth walked away with his giant bag of junk as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world, and it made him mutter 'forgive my sins' inwardly."

when they're actually in the banyue arc properly: "Xie Lian turned to see San Lang striding with his lithe long legs towards him." like we get it bestie we get it.

he also describes hua cheng's hand as, "...long and shapely, clean and elegant, a beautiful hand. It wasn't a vulnerable kind of beautiful, but rather, there was a strength hidden beneath the muscles. It was a hand that one wouldn't want to have choking their throat."

physical attraction aside, xie lian is just absolutely obsessed with hua cheng's sense of humor. hua cheng raises an eyebrow and xie lian is like, "he's the funniest person to ever exist." some examples:

when hua cheng lies about the general's tombstone saying everyone should kowtow before it three times just bc they were laughing at the general's death and xie lian is like "why are you so mischievous?" and hua cheng sticks his tongue out and they both share a little giggle

it would take a while to find every example of this but open up to a scene where hua cheng is making fun of someone (probably fx or mq) and you will find xie lian giggling to himself or smiling fondly

xie lian always just wants to be. near hua cheng:

he gets legitimately sad when they're apart for more than like, 48 hours. this happens after the banyue arc, after the qi rong beat down, in the very small space between their ghost city date and them meeting back up again for domestic puqi shrine times, in between mount tong'lu opening and the end of brocade immortal arc like...any time they're separated for a short amount of time (or a year) xie lian is NOT happy about it. clingy!

but even when he is literally with hc, he likes being as close to him as possible. in gambler's den, "Xie Lian was content to just watch from the background, but the moment he heard Hua Cheng's voice, he started trying to push himself through the crowd."

xie lian is constantly grabbing onto hua cheng's hand. to the point that when he instinctually reaches for it post CPR attempt/coffin scene he has to like. shake himself and be like stop. you whore. stop it. that's too much.

the part when pei ming is like hey is it? convenient? to have a red string dangling between the two of you? and xie lian gets legitimately SAD when hua cheng makes it invisible

this ended up more romantic than simping which is what you asked for so. to finish off, a few more moments that i have highlighted purple for whore:

when they're in qi rong's lair and the way xie lian tells us that hua cheng is now in disguise is, "...the one standing next to him wasn't the exceptionally handsome red-clad ghost king he knew,"

every time xie lian gives us a detailed description of hua cheng's widow's peak

in sinner's pit when he describes hua cheng's jawline for like three paragraphs and is only interrupted when ke mo starts yelling

when, in the aftermath of the underwater kiss, xie lian says, "Every time they met, Hua Cheng looked good in different ways," and (here's the start of the widow's peak mentions), "...above Hua Cheng's forehead was a widow's peak, and it made his face look even more shapely and alluring."

when hua cheng wore all black and, "Looking at him, Xie Lian couldn't help but remember the saying: 'for men to look handsome, they must dress in all black.' He thought deeply about the truth of that statement."

like two chapters later when xie lian literally can't focus on sqx being missing because hua cheng keeps changing outfits and xie lian cannot stop staring at him

in mount tong'lu when they're running from bwx and hua cheng says something like oh if he kills one of my butterflies i'll make ten more, i'll never back down, let's see who's left standing in the end and we get, "Xie Lian's heart skipped a beat for some reason, and he mumbled inwardly, '...Oh no, this is bad.' Even though Hua Cheng's expression was subconsciously displayed, Xie Lian really was quite weak to this aggressive and rebellious confidence of his."

when qi rong said that hua cheng only got attention from girls in puqi because it's a remote place and xie lian thinks to himself, "Even if Hua Cheng was dressed like a beggar, Xie Lian believed, should he go begging, he would collect a mountain of gold."

OK I'M STOPPING HERE BECAUSE THIS POST IS SO LONG but. this isn't even close to a comprehensive list but i hope it satisfied what you were looking for 😭

[spockandawe]

Tian Guan Ci Fu!!!!

Finally!!!!

I was held up both by being super intimidated by the prospect of making six volumes of wildly different lengths look consistent, and the difficulty of hunting down five true-red floral batik fabrics for thr covers (book 3 is divided between the black water arc and mount tong'lu, or it would have cleared 800 pages). If I'd realized how hard those fabric constraints were going to make my life, I would have maybe made a different decision, and now i have lots of spare not-quite-right red fabrics lying around that I need to find a use for (oh nooo)

Then! I used white-and-silver fabric for books 1, 3, and 5, and black-and-silver for the depressing flashbacks that are books 2 and 4. Each of the books uses a different set of white-on-white endpapers, which are hard to photograph nicely, but they work very well irl

I would do a few things differently if I were to redo tgcf, but I'm still very stoked about how this came out. And I think fretting about this was holding me up on other projects, because guess what, I'm all excited to make books again :p I technically have the materials to redo this, but... Not Now. It's a possibility in the future, but I need significant break before I get this ridiculously ambitious again, haha

(edit: it should go without saying, but if you can, support all the hard work that the translators put into this beast, and support the original book on jjwxc. in the unlikely event that there is ever an official english language release of the book, i will also be purchasing it that way)

[veliseraptor]

Have you read TGCF? If so, what are your thoughts on that novel? Do you have a favorite character? A ship? Arc?

oh man anon HAVE I by which I mean I think I've read TGCF...three times so far. and am going to get around to reading the official translation as well, because it's a good excuse to do a reread. but like, I made this image re: my long list of cnovels I want to read

real problem, I'm telling you.

anyway, TGCF is probably (definitely) my favorite of the three MXTX novels? like, the characters from MDZS and particularly the CQL iterations thereof own my emotions, right, but as a whole and particularly as a novel I like TGCF more. and some of that I think is as a result of MXTX growing as a writer over time (you can see it, I think, book by book; I can't tell in terms of language craft but in terms of storytelling there's a developing throughline I find very interesting to track, even as I think she's also becoming more of a sprawling writer over time, but hey, #same) and some of it I think is just about the story as a whole, and the main romantic pairing, clicking for me in a way that neither Wangxian (novelverse) or Bingqiu did.

but also that it feels very ensemble-cast, in a lot of ways, which I like; I feel like the TGCF side characters get more of a chance to shine, which I think is partly an artifact of POV - Wei Wuxian is just a little more...narrow-vision than Xie Lian is as a narrator, for character reasons. and I really like the TGCF side characters. He Xuan, Shi Qingxuan, Yin Yu, Ling Wen, and Mu Qing are standouts, but I also ended the book with a whole bunch of Jun Wu feelings that came out of nowhere to completely body slam me into the ground, so like...

favorite arcs...I mean, surprising no one probably Black Water Arc is really peak me bait in many ways and it was very good for me. seriously, lots of good crunch practically made for me to enjoy in there. The entirety of Book 4 is also a highlight for me on several different levels; the journey to Mount Tong'lu (the murals) and the ten thousand statues part also is a fave. Book 2 didn't strike me as much on first read but on reread hit significantly harder. but there's a lot of smaller moments in there I like as well, that aren't whole arcs but nonetheless I think about/anticipate on reread.

I feel like with the exception of Hua Cheng/Xie Lian and Beefleaf (BEEF AND LEAF, my brain helpfully trumpets), for the most part I'm less interested in "ships" per se than I am in dynamics. Like, I've read a lot of Yin Yu/Quan Yizhen but I don't even know that I ship it so much as that I just find their dynamic crunchy and enjoyable to read about. I want all of the fic about Mu Qing and Xie Lian's relationship (and the whole Xianle Trio, really, but especially them); Hua Cheng and He Xuan's relationship is fascinating to me too.

there's a tragic dearth of exactly the right flavor of fucked up Jun Wu/Xie Lian and/or Bai Wuxiang/Xie Lian out there, which. alas. but I don't even really know how to articulate exactly what I want. (and there's not none of it, just not enough.)

and of course as always I just want to know more about what's going on in various characters' heads at any given time.

oh, also Mu Qing/Hua Cheng. that is my very special pool noodle. it's awful and I love it.

[getthedoor-itsdepression]

TGCF ARCS

B1 (CH 1-12): Mount Yujun (Bride)

B1 (CH 13-29): Ban Yue Arc

B1 (CH 30-44): Ghost City, Gambler's Den Arc

B1 (CH 45-57): Fang Xin Goushi Arc

B2 (CH 58-68): Pre-Ascension Arc

B2 (CH 69-76): Post-Ascension, Pre-War Arc

B2 (CH 77-88): YongAn Rebellion & Fall of XianLe Arc

B3 (CH 89-92): Mid-Autumn Banquet Arc

B3 (CH 93-101): Fetus Spirit Arc

B3 (CH 102-125): Black Water Arc

B3 (CH 126-132): Brocade Immortal Arc

B3 (CH 133-140): Rogue Cultivators, Haunted Inn, and Pre-Tong'lu Arc

B3 (CH 141-180): Mount Tong'lu Arc

B4 (CH 181-189): Second Banishment Arc

B4 (CH 190-198): The White-Clothed Calamity Arc

B5 (CH 199-207): Post-Tong'lu Arc

B5 (CH 208-220): Heavenly Court Arc

B5 (CH 221-228): Reunion & Battle in the Skies Arc

B5 (CH 229-234): WuYong Arc

B5 (CH 235-241): Final Battle Arc

B5 (CH 242-244): Ending

TGCF EXTRAS

(CH 245): Yuanxiao Jie

(CH 246-249): Amnesia Adventures

(CH 250): Ghost King's Bedtime Story

(CH 251): Cave of Ten Thousand Gods/Statues

(CH 252): The Ghost King's Birthday

[annrandano]

Hi......if you don't mind me asking, can I ask, who are your top 5 favorite characters from TGCF? And why? And what are your top 5 (or top 3) fav moments from the novel? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks.....

Hello!! Oh, I don't mind it at all, I think it's a really nice question, thanks for asking :') I'm sorry it turned out long, but you asked why and I deliver. Spoilers ahead!

First, my top 5 fav characters!

1) Hua Cheng

I've talked about this in a couple posts, but I adore how love is his main reason to become a stronger ghost. Even though he is a "very very bad very terrifying" calamity, his character and who he is revolves around love and, to me, that's a very powerful and interesting motive. It makes me so emotional and his devotion for Xie Lian is just so touching :') Plus, it's extremely easy to trust him and come to love him, and I was very grateful for him while I was reading! I thought it was going to be more difficult to empathize with him but not at all.

2) Xie Lian

Just... Baby (very pair with Hua Cheng). I was pleasantly surprised with him because when I started reading I thought he was going to be more... generic? In the sense that he was going to be the good guy who does no wrong at all and is pure and clean. But his background is so so interesting and dark and he still is the sweetest bean ever. He gets angry, scared, violent. Cries and laughs, loses himself... But finds his way back and does what makes him happy (even though if it's collecting scrap). And you still can see the trauma.

3) He Xuan

I already liked Ming Yi so much, but when his true identity and purposes are revealed... *chef kiss* He's so complex and (even though his actions made me sad) I understood his reasons, his anger and his grief. I could read about him a lot and I love exploring and discovering things about him. I must also say that I have a weak spot for dark, silent, serious characters and that's what he is.

4) Mu Qing and Feng Xin

Mu Qing's so interesting and complex!!! The final confession on the bridge was great and all the mixed signals showed how conflicted, confused and resentful he was for eight centuries. I'm weak for that sort of mechanics. (I'm gonna add Feng Xin here as well because they share a place in my heart and because I'm a cheater and want to add a sixth character). Then Feng Xin, who shares a lot of past with Mu Qing, but they can be easily told apart. I just have a soft spot for him, tbh. He left Xie Lian but felt very guilty (and still feels very guilty). He's loyal, has a bow and is handsome (there's more but I don't want to write the bible).

5) Shi Qingxuan

I love them, that's it. Poor soul had bad luck and got into trouble without even knowing they were getting into trouble. I think I've come to love them more after reading some fics and exploring his character, because in the novel I didn't love them as much. Shi Qingxuan is a very funny, loving and caring character who surprisingly goes through a lot. I would love to write about them!

And now my top 5 moments:

(I don't remember all the things that happened, so I'm gonna list those that first came to my mind when I thought about it).

1) Xie Lian and Hua Cheng moments and goodbye after defeating Jun Wu (and Hua Cheng removing Xie Lian's shackles)

2) Book 4 in general and especifically the conversation between Xie Lian and fire ghost Hua Cheng about Hua cheng's beloved and why he's not resting in peace

3) Xianle trio moments in Wuyong Palace (especially Xie Lian rescuing Mu Qing from the lava and Mu Qing's f-f-friend confession)

4) The reverend of empty words arc!

5) 33 gods and Mu Qing vs. Xie Lian in the mountain and........ the multiple stabbing......... sorry (I didn't enjoy it, but it made me feel many things and understand everything better, I just really like angst)

Shoutout to Hua Cheng "teaching" Xie Lian how to roll the dice, Xie Lian's confession in Mount Tong'lu and the very big sword made of Pei Ming, Mu Qing, Quan Yi Zhen and Feng Xin. Again, this top would probably change if I read the novel again now, but I need time :') Thank you so much for asking and sorry this came out this long........ I hope I didn't scare you asdfg :__

[lunar-magnolia]

IT'S TIME TO GO ON A SPECULATION JOURNEY @l-tachi​

It's true we don't really know Hua Cheng's past before he fell into Xie Lian's arms as a child, but we do have some things that could help make up a little picture of his human life. I might leave out some things and take them for granted, like his transformation from simple fire ghost to savage:

*putting a read more because Long and spoilery

He was a citizen of the Imperial Capital of Xianle or lived in the vicinity of it. It's possible that he lived outside the walls, because of what Feng Xin said about knowing all the children who lived in the poorest part of the Imperial Capital. He said he had never seen little Hua (or Hong-er) around.

Because of his cursed eye that he kept covered, it's possible that his family was cast out of the city when he was born. Maybe they did live inside the city, but once little Hua came around and voice spread about his curse, they might have been kicked out.

It's also possible that only his mother loved him in the family, and the fact that she wouldn't give him up and doomed them all could have been cause of fights in the household. Thus we have little Hua lying about having parents and refusing to go back home.

It's also possible that he truly doesn't have a name. Hong Hong-er is the way his mother called him, and sounds more like a cute nickname that referred to his red eye (it means "little red"). He never gives Xie Lian a proper name, neither when he's a child nor when he was in his Wuming form. This is completely debatable tbh

However, when he meets Xie Lian again after 800 years, he does give a name that he says he prefers: San Lang. In the notes of the book it says that it indicates the third son of a household. This made me think that he probably had at least two older siblings when he was human. Which is nice, but all things considered he probably didn't have a good relationship with them.

CW: death, suicide mention

It's unclear if he jumped or just fell from the wall during the festival as a child. There's a high chance that Xie Lian is an unreliable narrator and Hua Cheng never told him why he was in such a dangerous position in the first place. It's however safe to imagine that he was going to jump, but seeing the parade he stopped himself. He was either pushed or he slipped.

I say it's kinda safe because of the infamous scene where little Hua is pleading to Xie Lian to tell him why should he continue living when he really doesn't want to. His life has been too hard on him and he wants to die. Xie Lian tells him to live for him if he can't find anything else worth living for. So yeah.

The guoshi of Xianle mentions that the kid Xie Lian had brought to the Royal Pavilion centuries ago was cursed and he probably never lived past 18-20yo. We know that up until 14 years old he was alive and well and in the army, fighting in the name of the Crown Prince. We also know that after the Land of the Tender accident he was booted from the army. At some point after the fall of Xianle, he died.

We see him protecting one of Xie Lian's temples when people wanted to burn it down. It's possible that he died doing exactly that, when he was around 18/19 years old.

In fact, Hua Cheng mentions that dying in Xie Lian's name is the greatest honor for him. And it already happened twice: when he was a human and when he sacrificed himself as Wuming.

Also another possible indicator of the age he was when he died is the age he has in his Hua Cheng form. He is described as a youth in his 20s.

After his sacrifice as Wuming, his soul still refused to leave the mortal realm and dissipate. We can imagine that after that episode mount Tong'lu opened and he went there as a fragile soul to regain his power and become at least a savage again. He knew he needed to become strong again if he wanted to protect Xie Lian, so he risked it all.

We know that while journeying towards the kiln, he gained enough power to have a "physical" form and gauge his own eye out to forge E'ming in a desperate situation. Plus, at the exact same moment, the heaven sent a heavenly calamity and he ascended as a ghost. But since Xie Lian wasn’t there and he had lots of beef with the heavenly officials, he immediately jumped down and continued on his path to become a supreme.

He stayed in the Mount Tong'lu zone for 10 years. In these ten years it's highly probable that he slew as many ghosts as he could to gain as much power as he could get. He also spent his time exploring the ruins of Wuyong and honing in his art skills in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods.

When he entered the kiln, it's unclear if he found other powerful ghosts to fight inside it or not. In any case, once he was done and still inside, before escaping he carved the giant Crown Prince statue that we see in book 5.

After escaping the kiln, he had all the "physical" strength. But we know that he's also extremely knowledgeable, and that when he challenged the 35 heavenly officials, some were civil gods and he beat them in debates.

So it's possible that after becoming a Supreme, he started his journey to gather as much knowledge as he could. During the years he gained fame and his Crimson Rain Sought Flower title.

With his status and skill, he eventually founded Ghost City and started building his own wealth too, thanks to the Gambler's Den.

It took some time, but when he was positive he could take all the 35 heaven officials down at their own game, he went and became the infamous Hua Cheng, the Crimson Rain that sought the flower.

I think it's important to mention that the guoshi of Xianle also said that the people cursed like Hua Cheng had the worst luck. Instead, we see Hua Cheng being possibly the luckiest person on Earth. This is probably the consequence of Xie Lian changing his fate and giving up all his luck (per the cursed shackle). Among everything, in fact, guoshi said that to survive the curse, fate must be changed.

I think Xie Lian altered Hua Cheng's fate both when he was a human and held onto little Hua when everyone else told him to let him go, and when he gave up his luck just after Wuming's sacrifice. Xie Lian, in fact, says that luck will be transfered to people who lack it. And Hua Cheng, who was in the vicinity, was probably the most unlucky person present. I think he absorbed most of Xie Lian's luck, and that also impacted his fate.

Another possibility is Hua Cheng gaining luck after he forged E'ming. If his eye was the reason why his luck was so terrible, removing it and sealing into a spiritual device could have been the catalyst to his apparently infinite luck.

I think he also spent his time looking for Xie Lian, but the world is vast and he lost track of him after the Wuming arc. So he focused on improving himself to be worthy of one day approaching Xie Lian.

I guess he came to know Xie Lian's whereabouts when Xie Lian ascended for the third time. It's possible that he got word of it from Black Water, and then the rest is history.

Akdhskfhjd I might have skipped some things, please feel free to ask more questions if something is unclear or doesn't make sense. All of this is pure speculation based on the information we have from the book and it's all debatable. Still, I had fun thinking about it! Thank you so much for the prompt!!!

[luv4rgirl]

TGCF BOOK3 SPOILERS

im so frustrated with the mount tong'lu arc this isn't looking good what's with this new "nation of wuyong" and how is this crown prince related to xie lian or his guoshi 😟

[gaygothfarmer]

Mount Tong'lu Arc has begun and I am sluggishly moving forward because even before I got into tgcf the ONE THING that has transpired and RIPPLED was the dread of the Mount Tong'lu Arc.

Guys, I am scared and unprepared.

[spainkitty]

Okay, so I'm thinking about doing a whole meta thing about why I'm ranking these arcs this way, what makes each arc so good or so bad, but I might just lose new friends 🤣🤣🤣 So if you want the whole spiel, lemme know. For now (a teaser??):

IMO, the major TGCF arcs in order of best to worst:

#1- Book 4

#2- XuanXuan *ahem*Imeanbeefleaf, I MEAN Reverend of Words/Black Water Demon arc

#3- Banyue Pass

#4- Mount Tong'lu

#5- Ghost City

#6- Ghost Bride

#7- Brocade Immortal

#8- Final Arc

#9- Cannibal Lair

#10- fetus spirit 💔

[lunar-magnolia]

@honestlyshamelesscollector thank you for asking me this!! I'm really happy to share my thoughts, I hope to answer your questions in the best way possible akdjsk

I absolutely agree with you about Xie Lian. He does indeed grow a lot, even though he does so in a traumatic way.

***A little disclaimer: these are just my thoughts here, first impressions having read the novel once, plus watched the donghua and read the manhua a couple of times. I'm no expert at all, but I have lots of feelings about this akdjskfmf

**Putting a read more because long lmao

Young Xie Lian's dream was to become a god and save the common people. And present Xie Lian does it everyday, as much as he can. The biggest lesson he got growing up was probably the fact that he can't save everyone at the same time, but saving (or helping) even just one person was enough. He might be a god, but he is still one person. Having godly powers doesn't make him omniscient or give him the ability to suddenly work on a bigger scale than he could when he was human.

Book 4 in particular highlights just how much the present Xie Lian has changed from the Crown Prince that Pleased The Gods, filled with the idealism of a young man and maybe just a little bit spoiled, to the kind and humble Scrap Immortal that does everything in his power to help the people he comes across.

We see him starting to change as soon as book 2 though. When he tries to both save the Imperial Capital from being invaded and save the Yong'an people from the draught, it's the first time Xie Lian faces the limits of his godly status and power. He divides his time to keep it going for a bit, but in the end he's exhausted and overwhelmed, and he can't do it anymore. Even though he is a god. The inevitable consequences of his own actions and the fall of Xianle challenged his idealism and destroyed his heart so hard that he almost gave in and took his revenge on innocent people. But one person is enough, right?

One could argue that Xie Lian never really had it in him to do it, and I'd probably agree. The whole waiting for someone to help him before releasing the curse, and then trying to sacrifice himself when it eventually was too late to avoid it was enough of an indication for me. It only took the kindness of one person to make him change his heart. If he truly sought revenge, one person wouldn't have been enough. And damn if that didn't ruin Bai Wuxian's plans wonderfully lolll

Xie Lian knew in his heart that the people of Yong'an didn't deserve to pay the price for what happened to Xianle. Even though Bai Wuxian tried (and for a while succeeded) to make him believe it.

Straying from the path that Bai Wuxian wanted him to walk was not as easy as it seems. Bai Wuxian carefully paved all the paths for him, pushed Xie Lian in the directions he wanted him to go with the most violent methods I've ever seen, but Xie Lian always found a way to avoid it, also thanks to Hua Cheng's presence, even when he didn't know it was him (I have so many feelings about that imma cry skfjkefj). Hua Cheng always believed in him and knew what Xie Lian was truly capable of, and boy was he right gdi.

When Xie Lian went through the betrayal of Jun Wu, Hua Cheng's presence reminded him of who Xie Lian is and what he's become. The doubts Bai Wuxian put in his mind, the danger of the Human Face Desease threatening to be freed again, and the resolution to not give in into grief and pain and staying true to the person he had become were again overcome thanks to one person. Xie Lian could have never actually become what Bai Wuxian wanted him to, no matter what he threw at him.

In the end, Xie Lian learnt how to save the common people for real. And he realized that didn't have to do it alone! Instead, the common people themselves were part of the solution (the human array to contain the resentful spirits yknow). It does send an important message, and it's probably the most important thing that Xie Lian learnt: that one person alone cannot save all, if all don't want to be saved. It's a group effort, it takes time and heart and not everyone has it in their heart to risk their lives for the sake of others. Godly powers can only do so much, and a god cannot change fate from above. A god must instead support and protect the people, work with them, give them a boost, and in the end the people will save themselves.

It's a really nuanced and complicated process, I don't know how to explain it properly ajdkfjdl.

It's also worth mentioning that the relationship with Mu Qing and Feng Xin had all the potential to prevent much of what happened to Xie Lian. But just as Xie Lian was young and inexperienced, so were they. And despite all, until Xie Lian stopped thinking of them as servants, he couldn't grow. He had to lose them to truly understand the depth and worth of people believing in him. Which doesn't make it any less painful or sad... Things could have indeed gone differently, but the outcome would have never been the same. I'm glad in the end they kind of sorted it out though.

And the fact that Mu Qing and Feng Xin still cared for Xie Lian when he ascended for the third time was so evident in hindsight. Made me smile when I realized.

Also I liked that in the end Xie Lian didn't go rule the heavens or even go back to it, and instead stayed in the mortal realm to continue doing what he did for the past 800 years. Considering that young Xie Lian said clearly that he wanted to become a god, it's an important thing. It shows that in his mind the concept of gods and their role has changed, and he will stick to his new views despite the possibility of achieving what his young self wanted. Though this isn't just a consequence of book 5, it was shown even earlier when he first visited his palace in the heavens. Xie Lian didn't want to enter it, it made him uncomfortable, and instead sat outside waiting for Shi Qingxuan.

There are so many things to say about Xie Lian but idk if I have the competence to express them all akdjskfj I love his character to bits. His development was not banal in any way, and even though we didn't see all the 800 years it took for him to change, we do feel how gradual that was. Just think of when he met Banyue.

He was still a bit idealistic, telling her that his dream was to save the common people, but he already grew enough of a thick skin to understand when it was worth to pick a fight or not, and he wasn't picky on food (even cooking it himself in his helmet, with outrageous results). It might not seem much, but all things considered, it was a change.

In his first banishment he learnt how hard life was without his Crown Prince status, but he still picked fights with people and refused to eat some things because they weren't as high quality as the food he used to eat at the Royal Palace.

During his second banishment, he learnt to be humble and how problems couldn't be solved with just the right idea. He learnt the grayness of morality and life, how right and wrong are not absolute concepts. He experienced the worst fortune (by his own choice) and learnt how to not let it get to him, how to grow enough of a thick skin to get up each time and not take his frustration out on others.

Truly, Xie Lian is a great character. I have read the novel only one time so far, but I'm planning to reread it soon. So who knows, I might notice more things next time around! This was just my first impression Ahah

As for things I wish that were better explored in the story, I'd say Pei Ming's growth and maybe Ling Wen's motives (though I might have just blinked and missed this last part, because I was still reeling from the Black Water arc lmao).

About Pei Ming, I think he went through a considerable growth since the first time we see him, when he tries to save Little Pei from banishment. At first he gave me the impression of being the usual arrogant womanizer, who would do anything to avoid having his reputation tarnished. But blinking to book 5, we see that he's... Idk, it feels like he's taken that shameless arrogance and put it away, especially after interacting with the Rain Master. Their story is extremely important to his development imo. Their shared past held a place in his heart, and it resurfaced when he met the Rain Master again. I think he was deeply signed by her actions in the past, and he never forgot her.

It's shown when Pei Ming refuses to be saved by the Rain Master and refuses the sword she wants to give to her (which incidentally is the same sword that, yknow, she used to sacrifice herself in front of him back in the days). He says (or better, the people around him say) that it was out of pride, because he couldn't accept that a woman saved him. But he never confirmed or denied it, instead he ran after her "to help".

At the end of the story Pei Ming is not as loud and proud of his reputation as he was in the beginning, instead he seems humbled.

I think the Xuan Ji case also had an important role in his development. Considering how we see her dissolve having found peace after talking/fighting with Pei Ming during the Mount Tong'lu arc, I do think that Pei Ming himself must have reflected on himself a bit too.

He also lost his two best friends, Shi Wudu and Ling Wen, so... Yknow, my hualian ship captain must have had some changes.

Especially when it comes to the Rain Master, I feel there are good basis for a good friendship between them, despite the past. The Rain Master never showed open animosity towards him, instead she helped him. It seemed to me that Pei Ming is the one who believed she hated him, but it was never confirmed.

And maybe if you squint there could be more between them, if you're into that ahah. I wish we could have seen more of his grown version, though I do understand that it happened in the epilogue and the book is already as long as it can be ahaha. So really I'm not that sad it didn't happen, I'm happy that there are signs in the background that "hint" at that instead (if they can be considered hints, idk ahha).

About Ling Wen, ehhhh I want to reserve the right to reread and reconsider. Right now I feel like the Brocade Immortal thing was almost unnecessary? I like her background, how she became the biggest civil goddess of the heavens, but I didn't get why she created the brocade. Again though, I might just go back and reread that part later. Tbh I was reeling really hard after the Black Water arc, so I just blanked on some things akfjskf

Did the Brocade serve any purpose in the end? Aside from being the catalyst of Ling Wen's story arc and being one of the two mighty ghosts in Mount Tong'lu (and also giving that nice hualian scene where Hua Cheng was trying so hard to get kissies from Xie Lian ahaha). Idk, I'd like to hear your thoughts about this!!

I think I rambled enough, if you got to this point wow you're amazing! And thank you for going through this long rant Ahah. I hope it makes some sort of sense! Thank you again for the questions, talking about tgcf made me really happy!