#mxts

[bookswithsyd]

Everything Is Coming Together… And Falling Apart | Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation is a wild ride. Books one and two set up a lot of information and book three lacked a lot of action to keep me invested. I have been waiting for something shocking to happen, either with the plot progression or with Wangji and Wuxian’s relationship, and welp, I got all of that and more in book four. This volume was well worth the wait! Not only do we get the events of the Burial Mound and the small victory for Wei Wuxian to prove he is not the mastermind behind this. But, we got the brain imploding reveal that Wei Wuxian not using his sword is not because he’s an egotistical asshole, but because be has no spiritual energy to properly wield the weapon. The fact that Wei Wuxian gave up his golden core for the 50% chance that it could be transferred to Jiang Cheng shows just how caring Wuxian is.

Starting off in the middle of the second siege of the Burial Mound, tensions run high as nobody knows who they can trust. Wei Wuxian is common enemy number one, but is backed by the trustworthy and honorable Lan Wangji. Su She is a no-good cultivator who left his original clan only to carry with him the secrets and techniques to his new clan. Those cultivators who climbed up the mountain to destroy Wei Wuxian surly had so much hatred in their hearts after they had to crawl into the Yiling Patriarchs cave for protection. Getting saved by Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning was a huge slap in the face to all of them.

This volume was full of anguish through and through. The never ending tension between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian could be cut with a knife, I have officially given up on any type of reconciliation of their friendship at this point. Returning to Lotus Pier after the catastrophe of the Burial Mound attack and seeing the budding relationship between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji was clearly too much for Jiang Cheng who sees himself as the victim who lost nearly everything and must live seeing the cause of his downfall flaunt his good fortune in his home. The fight in the Ancestral Home seems to be the final straw in the friendship.

The discovery that Wei Wuxian no longer has a Golden Core because he underwent surgery to transplant it to Jiang Cheng was the most shocking piece of information. Knowing how much Wei Wuxian cares about his family (his excitement about his sister getting married and the life of her child, the disappointment of not being able to actually attend events for Jin Ling, and the guilt over the deaths) and seeing how terribly his relationship ends up with Jiang Cheng, someone who he views as a brother, is incredibly sad to see. Knowing what he went through in order to help Jiang Cheng be able to cultivate, you can see that he is selfless for those he cares about. Going through excruciating pain for the (less than) fifty percent chance of this procedure working. This led to Wei Wuxian only being able to cultivate the demonic path in order to have any type of power. He can no longer use his sword, and he is forever left to be hated by those around him for trying to save those he believes should not be killed for the acts of a few who happen to share their name.

The entire last section between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji was such a trip. Having both of them tense from the fight with Jiang Cheng and sharing a room was a recipe for disaster. A drunk Lan Wangji is a chaotic force of nature. Stealing chickens and fruit, drawing on the walls with his sword, and breaking a bathtub. The upset emotions are showing so clearly in his drunken state. Lan Wangji wants to show off that ha can be fun too, that he can be reckless like Wei Wuxian’s stories.

Having things escalate in the bathtub and carry over the line on the bed was probably the worst timing for this to happen. Both were upset and stress with everything that was happening at the time. Lan Wanji gets less filtered and proper when drunk, so he let those inner thoughts come out full force. Wei Wuxian has admitted his feelings and longing for Lan Wangji and is taken over by his emotions once pulled into the bathtub. Both have a sweeping realization after the act is done, neither of them know what the other was thinking, or how they feel about what just happened between them. The tense awkward atmosphere is the end of any type of comfort they feel with each other, leaving them thinking the other hated everything or advantage was taken.

The ending of this book is such a cliffhanger. Knowing the Wei Wuxian is having a mini mental breakdown thinking that he took advantage of Lan Wangji, he seems like he is going to go on a rampage that will result in him purposely hurting himself for the sake of mending his guilt in some way. I have no idea how this relationship will find common ground so they can talk everything out. I have no idea how the events of book five will play out, this ending is so open and there are still multiple points in this story that need to be wrapped up, so I feel like these last 400 pages are going to be even more hard hitting.

[petirrojo57]

I woke myself up this morning because I’d dreamt an urgent question; do things placed in qiankun pouches, bags, or sleeves rattle or clunk when someone’s walking, or alternatively running for their lives?

I’m picturing Lan Wangji (insert your own favorite danmei or xianxia character here) hustling to some night hunt with his tools of the trade (guqin Wangji, snacks for Wei Wuxian, change of clothes, etc) and trying to sneak up on some resentful being and something in his sleeve/bag bumps against the strings and makes a muffled racket eliminating the element of surprise.

How about when he and Jiang Cheng manage to get back all the swords confiscated by the Wens and they have all these bits and pieces of metal in qiankun pouches and every third step is “Clang! Clang”?

Do qiankun pouches come with silencing linings?

These are apparently the important questions troubling my subconscious brain.

[jayninjago]

[mini-godzilla]

The fact that Sha Hualing got a guy who looked like Binghe’s old teacher to feed to his evil sword enough times that he had to tell her to knock it off is hilarious. Like “my boss sleeps next to the corpse of a guy that he’s obsessed with bringing back from the dead. It seems like giving him a look a like for human sacrifice purposes is a good idea.” Peak girlfailure. Love her.

[nyaskitten]

the goblin👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹

THE GOBLINNNNNN 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 THE FEARSOME AND DUBIOUS GOBLIN 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 THE DEMONIC GOBLIN 👹👹👹👹

[chlobliviate]

It’s finished!!!

11 chapters/35k words

From the Prompt - Fuck it if I can't have him

For Marauders x Taylor Swift Bingo 2024

Everyone thinks Sirius and Remus will finally get together (or that they already are together), which freaks both of them out. Sirius gets a boyfriend (which drives Remus insane) and Remus starts hooking up with people (which drives Sirius insane).

They're awful at communicating and l love them (your honour).

[adhdo5]

I am on one hand glad that TGCF has more female characters than MDZS does, we're moving up in the world etc., and Ling Wen is FUCKING EXCELLENT and I have an appreciation for Lan Chang and for Banyue (character), but dear fucking lord sometimes shit happens and it's like MXTX if this is what you're going to do maybe I don't want you to write women

[mbta-official]

Chugga Chugga?

screech screech. bitch

[movielosophy]

The Ingenious One | Are you also from Yuntai?

[peachshadows]

A possible route that can open up the Erlang Shen joining the long line of suitors for our hapless Liu’er: The system pushes Liu’er to make contact with Erlang before/during the War against Heaven. Despite his prejudice, Erlang finds himself drawn to/charmed by Liu’er. Ends up besotted when the monkey brings Heaven’s Most Wanted to his and the Jade Emperor’s feet (even though the poor guy is obviously heartbroken and scared for his life).

Another possible route: Something akin to a “Witness Protection Program” for Liu’er after he “betrays” Wukong and Erlang is his semi-handler/bodyguard for the first few centuries after Wukong got out.

OOOOO I LOVE THAT IDEA SM IM GONNA COMBINE IT

I just really like the idea of an already besotted Erlang Shen being able to track Macaque and his every move because he's being appointed as his "bodyguard" like this dude really won the lottery for Macaque's time and attention.

Wukong, under Buddha's mountain: why do I suddenly feel murderous rage

[bookswithsyd]

Too Many Timeline Jumps | Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

We have officially hit the halfway point of Grandmaster of Cultivation. Points are beginning to be connected and questions are finally being answered, but that also means that I have even more questions after finishing this novel.

With so many jumps in the timeline, it was a challenge to keep track of what happened where and how this effected the timeline. We get to see glimpses of childhood, the Sunshot campaign, and even a bit of the current day.

The biggest section of this book for me was the time spent during the education period held by the Wen Clan. This set up a lot of information like the extreme existent that the Wen Clan went to in order to retain control over the other cultivation clans. Threatening and punishing people for the smallest issue that could be spun into a call to overthrown the Wen’s was such an overstep of power, only to be followed up by a forced education program where every clan had to send juniors to be taught by the Wen clan on how to be proper cultivators. This was not the case (shocking, right?), but instead was a stage for Wen Chao to boast about his subpar skills and take credit for other’s hard work.

In taking the swords of the cultivator, they are left defenseless to large monsters and were used as live bait in order for Wen Chao to swoop in and deal the killing blow. This is shown in full force when the group is sent to an underground cave to hunt down a large yao beast. When push comes to shove, things take a turn for the worst and the juniors end up abandoned in the cave with a historical yao beast who has already eaten thousands of people. Through self-sacrifice all but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are able to escape from the cave and flee to their homes.

The time in the cave is the only real point where we can see Lan Wangji saw raw emotions from the overwhelming stress he is under. We also see Wei Wuxian be able to a good person and put Wangji before himself. This does lead to the two pairing up to take out the big bad that is keeping them trapped, but in that 6 hour raid boss battle, Wei Wuxian’s injuries just get worse. You would not think that a quick moment riddled with sickness haze would lead to the moment Lan Wangji would recognize Wei Wuxian in a whole new body, but it does. A simple song that Lan Wangji sings to a half conscious Wei Wuxian leads to this huge story unfolding the way it does.

The only time that we see current day is when Wuxian and the Lans try to uncover evidence that Jin Guangyao is the evil mastermind behind these terrible events of the past book (the corpse puzzle). The big secret is revealed that the purity song that Xichen taught to Guangyao was altered to interweave a song that pushed for the death of a close friend. With the huge blow to Xichen’s mental state knowing that his sworn brother might have betrayed his good will, the brothers set out to meet at the Burial Mound.

This period is where we get a short reprieve to a more might hearted mood. With Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian paired up again for their journey, they run into a sea of bunnies, a pile of soft stray, and Wen Ning following them like a stray cat. Once the three get to the Burial Mound, they free the trapped cultivation juniors only to be surrounded by cultivators set out to rehash the original battle on the Burial Mound some ought fifteen years earlier.

The second big arc of this book is the Siege Hunt. Putting young, prideful cultivators from different clans together to fight it out for the most kills is bound to bring up drama. And the games didn’t even start before the pride jumped out. Egging on Wei Wuxian to one-up a bullseye on a horse can only result with him matching it with a blindfold on.

The blindfold leads to the scene that (to me) came out of nowhere. The first kiss. Happening with only one side knowing and being hidden in the dense forest surrounded by yao beasts and ghosts was not how I expected Lan Wangji to make his move.

A lot of tension happens on the mountain. From Lan Wangji about to have a mental breakdown, to Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan about to hash it out with swords and fists, emotions run high.

The last main section is a spotlight on Wei Wuxian and Jiang Chen’s childhood and rough start. Getting off on a terrible start, Jiang Chen is a menace to Wei Wuxian. Being force to get ride of the dogs that he loved for a random kids off the streets didn’t set well with Jiang Chen. The boiling point came when he was meant to share a room with the new burden in his life. Locking Wuxian out of the room and tossing his sleeping mat out into the hall was not the welcoming that was expected. Riddled with terror, Wuxian runs away only to be brought back by Jiang Yanli, the loving big sister that she is. They dynamic never seems to really change with the two boys. One always seems to be chasing after the other, jealous of the other’s abilities and insecure about his own.

This book seems more about putting pieces together as we only get a glimpse at the current day and set up the biggest suspense cliffhanger. Now officially over the halfway point, full pictures are beginning to come to light and the hostility is ramping up in preparation for the big fight. I can only image what can happen after the inevitable big reveal. The only question is how and when it can happen.

[superhyperfastcars]

Mastretta MXT

[jayninjago]

Me and gang before the horrors

[ciphir]

Mastretta MXT

[lovethatmakingcoffee]

Chapter 63- Spotlight on a chair

Binghe and A-Yuan get asked how they want this to be handled moving forward

[chlobliviate]

London Boy is finished!!

From the prompt - London Boy

Sirius moves from London to Cardiff to be near James, Lily and Harry. As a firefighter, he seems to be unfairly accident-prone and ends up in A&E multiple times, where he meets Remus, a very hot, very Welsh nurse.

Slow burn. (pun intended)