#now let's see if I can make the other one symmetrical 😅

[nattikay]

x1 ear for 3.0!!

This method definitely gave the ears some nice depth (a tad hard to see in the picture but looks great irl), which is fantastic because the primary gripe I've had with my ears on past heads is they always look too shallow, almost flat, from the front (as you can see on 2.5 there), even if they're not from the side. I was a little worried that the front border would be too thick when I first started adding the fur, but once I had everything glued down tight and gave it another quick shaving pass, I think it turned out pretty alright!

I'm also a lot less worried about the head being too small for the body at this point. Between the big eyes and big ears, it looks just about the same overall size as 2.5 now, just with different proportions. Adding the hair poof and cheek tufts should help even more. It still might be a little smaller than ideal, but I no longer think it's gonna be outlandishly disproportionate or anything. So yay! Of course, we won't know for sure until it's done and ready to wear, so...we'll see 😅

Approximately one week remains on the clock. sivakoooooooo

[beneaththebrim]

Hi! Do you think there's any deep significance about the topic of luck in tgcf? It gets brought up so much.

Yup! Yes, very much so 😅

It’s implicit in the title of the novel: What is a blessing but a hope for good fortune?

Now, when I talk about luck, I must inevitably talk about fate and free will, because luck, in a sense, is a liminal state between them. It’s an element of randomness that turns the tables one way or another.

We see this in the arc words: “By heaven official’s blessing, no paths are bound.” In other words, with luck and compassion, one’s will can be achieved, regardless of fate. Big theme of tgcf, there.

Let’s dig into how this theme plays out:

I’ve written a little bit about luck in my mask meta, which I wrote back when Book 3 had just been finished translated. The main thesis of that meta is that in TGCF, the act of masking correlates to playing out one’s predestined role and fate (you can see this in how Jun Wu plays his roles as heavenly emperor in his armor and ghost king in his mask; you can also see how Xie Lian plays out his role as Jun Wu’s heir in the Shuangyuan parade, up until he drops his martial warrior mask to save Honghong-er).

Through a certain lens, one can view the central conflict of tgcf as a battle between fate and free will: Xie Lian is always one who wants to provide another cup, to take the third path, to determine his own fate. Jun Wu, meanwhile, a victim of a cruel fate, seeks to constrain Xie Lian’s path.

But Xie Lian escapes this fate, for a number of reasons: his sense of empathy, his humility, bystander intervention, and a stubborn enough believer. Often, these come down to the sentiment that ”It only takes one!”: When fate and free will are at a stalemate, someone or something happens that saves the day.

Enter luck!

TGCF is a book where, I think, a lot of the good luck/bad luck, a lot of the karma balances out in the end: for every great ascension there is a great fall; for every good fortune there is a bad one. We see this especially in the Black Water arc: Shi Wudu manipulates and rages against fate, and dies for it; He Xuan loses his humanity that he might be a force of retribution, and in so doing he loses his only close friend; Shi Qingxuan ascends and lives in luxury without deserving it, then abruptly loses everything, also without deserving it. There’s a certain symmetry to the distribution of karma.

The Black Water arc, as well as the fate of Wuyong, provide a tragic backdrop–situations in which fate and luck have combined to produce a bad outcome: Fate beats free will.

But, where He Xuan has bad luck, Hua Cheng has good luck. Where Mei Nianqing always loses at cards, Hua Cheng amasses wealth in his gambling den.

What makes him different?

We know that after his second ascension, Xie Lian requests not only a cursed collar to suppress his spiritual power, but an ankle shackle to disperse his luck–that way he might experience misfortune, but those around him would be better off than normal. Symmetrically, Hua Cheng is a Star of Solitude. As the Ch.67 end note has it:

Hua Cheng has power over luck, likely due in part to his being a Star of Solitude. We can also infer that Xie Lian is the savior who stops Hua Cheng from causing those around him misfortune. In Ch.220, we’re also given the following information:

It appears that Hua Cheng’s birth star originally combined with the kiln’s curse to bring him the ‘worst of misfortunes.’ However, Xie Lian saving Hua Cheng and assuring him when no one else would, Xie Lian giving Hua Cheng a reason to live–all this reverses Hua Cheng’s fate, causing him to have the ‘best of fortunes.’

And it’s Hua Cheng’s seemingly miraculous intervention at several crucial moments in Xie Lian’s life–his second ascension, his escape from the kiln, breaking out of heaven’s lockdown, breaking the shackles–in which luck intercedes on behalf of Xie Lian’s ‘third path’. Free will beats fate. Even Jun Wu lampshades it in Ch.92:

Miracles, a majority of which are wrought by Hua Cheng’s intervention. But ironically, it is in part the power of Mount Tonglu’s curse on Hua Cheng which imbues him with such immense power over luck. Somehow, by the workings of the universe, Hua Cheng’s fortune helps to balance out the tragedy of Wuyong, without Jun Wu even realizing it.

But that’s just it, isn’t it?

At that Shangyuan parade, Xie Lian plays his fate, and Hua Cheng is a victim of his. But through a compassionate act of free will, both of their fates diverge at that moment. A miracle, perhaps; good luck begetting good luck.

I think the last lines of Ch.244 have it best:

There’s a certain reciprocity to the phrase ‘Heaven Official’s Blessing’: is the heaven official giving or receiving a blessing?

Both; both. :)

(All pictures from miqqumi’s translation of the official manhua; all quotes from Suika’s translation of the novel)