#post yi city

[aphel1on]

wei wuxian text post meme pt 3

[mxtxfanatic]

Let’s talk Yi City Arc! I’ve seen a few posts since my time in the fandom that talks about the Yi City Arc as unnecessary or out of place in the whole of the mdzs narrative. I’ve even seen some suggest that the disconnect is because Yi City was originally a separate story to mdzs, a sort of prototype, if you will, to explain it away. I, too, after my first read questioned the significance of this arc to the overall story. However, the Yi City arc and its placement so early in the novel is actually just a huge and very clever spoiler to most of the important plot points of the overarching story… if you know what plot points to look for, which an un-spoiled first-time reader would not. So let’s talk about those spoilers:

1) The righteous cultivation clans’ refusal to stand against evil—and, really, their indulgence of it—leads to the wiping out of an entire clan and a monastery as well as the deaths of two powerful cultivators unaffiliated with any major sect.

The “righteous” cultivation clans happily ignore that fact that the Jin Clan is amassing power through unscrupulous guest disciples, and it is only when Xiao Xingchen, an outsider, brings the crime against the Chang Clan to light do they bother to pretend to do anything about it. However behind the scenes, the Jin Clan assassinates their only real opposition, and the other clans, great and small, continue to do nothing as Xue Yang is released to commit another massacre. The Jin are never held responsible for their actions. Likewise, all the clans turn away from Wei Wuxian, an outsider, when he calls out the Jin Clan’s crimes against the Wen remnants and accuses them of amassing power via poaching vassal clans and attempting to steal his tools. Behind the scenes, the Jin work to undermine Wei Wuxian’s reputation before joining in to massacre Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. The Jin are never held accountable for this, which directly leads into the Xue Yang situation.

2) Xiao Xingchen has his reputation slandered by Xue Yang killing others using his sword.

After Xiao Xingchen kills himself, Xue Yang begins using his sword to enact “vengeance” on the remnants of the Chang Clan, who he considers as having “betrayed” Xiao Xingchen. Finding the signature of Xiao Xingchen’s sword on the slain bodies leads the cultivation world to believe that a disillusioned Xiao Xingchen is killing in revenge. In much the same way, Wei Wuxian is used as a scapegoat by the cultivation world whenever bad things happen, such as the presence of walking corpses or the mass digging of graves. In neither situation does any clan investigate the true events of the situations, happy to blame the easiest suspect and allow the unrest to continue. In both situations, Xiao Xingchen and Wei Wuxian are eventually found innocent of the crimes for which they are accused, and the true culprit is revealed.

3) Xiao Xingchen is betrayed by someone he considered close to him, which eventually leads to his death.

Xiao Xingchen, due to being literally blinded by his sacrifice, ends up running into, rescuing, and caring for his mortal enemy, Xue Yang. Taking advantage of Xiao Xingchen’s blindness, Xue Yang tricks him into murdering a bunch of innocents and his best friend, causing him to commit suicide. Wei Wuxian, similarly, is betrayed by a close friend he kept near, figuratively blinded by a former childhood friendship and the present debt he felt owed to said friend’s parents. This misplaced trust directly leads to his death.

4) Xiao Xingchen must give up his eyes for Song Lan to see again, because Baoshan Sanren is not magical.

This is probably the biggest spoiler of the entire arc, but by the time you get to where this information is relevant, you’d probably have forgotten that this was even said. Xue Yang blinds Song Lan after destroying his home, and to atone for this, Xiao Xingchen goes to his master, Baoshan Sanren, to beg for her help. However, Baoshan Sanren cannot make something out of nothing. Mxtx explicitly writes that tidbit into the narration. Song Lan goes up the mountain blind and comes down with eyes. Xiao Xingchen goes up the mountain with eyes and comes down blind. Song Lan was given Xiao Xingchen’s eyes.

Much later in the story, Jiang Cheng loses his golden core. Wei Wuxian offers the miracle solution of Baoshan Sanren “giving” him a new one. Jiang Cheng, obviously skeptical, questions Wei Wuxian up until the moment he must go up “Baoshan Sanren’s mountain” alone. Wei Wuxian descends, alone, looking pale and weak. Later, when Wei Wuxian is ambushed by the Wen, Wen “Core-melting Hand” Zhuliu touches him and is visibly shocked by a discovery that he then keeps to himself. Jiang Cheng emerges from the mountain with a new golden core, while Wei Wuxian emerges from the Burial Mounds with a new cultivation method wholly independent of the need for a golden core. The Yi City arc tells us why this is: “Baoshan Sanren” cannot make something out of nothing.

And these are just the major parallels I remember off the top of my head. However, while a reread makes a lot of these parallels directly applicable to specific plot points in Wei Wuxian’s own story, I would argue that the biggest role the explicit paralleling is meant to play for a new reader is to make you question the dominant narrative of the main story. The narration tells us that Wei Wuxian is a bloodthirsty man who may as well be a demon, known for cruelty and vengeance. We see none of that from his character when he is resurrected. Then we get a mini-drama where a man with attributes Wei Wuxian directly relates to, with a story Wei Wuxian directly compares to his own life, is scapegoated by society, killed, then eventually vindicated. If nothing else, the Yi City Arc is meant to make you, as a reader, stop and go “Hey, wait a minute, what if Wei Wuxian isn’t the bad guy here???” And once you understand that, you should start questioning everything the prologue told you, just like the juniors start to question what they were told about Xiao Xingchen post Yi City in their group debrief.

[hamlet-not-hamnet]

xiao xingchen’s way of dealing with arguments: taking offended surprise naps

[rejectedfables]

MDZS memes Xue Yang edition 01/???

[krispycreamsicle]

[jonathankai]

yeah, I think neither of them planned it through

(I always feel hesitant when drawing fanart on paper, but I've been feeling such a strong pull towards traditional art lately (as you can guess, I tried and couldn't bring myself to work on this comic digitally), so I want to see if a switch from digital fanart to traditional is possible and worth if for me).

[catonthemountain]

Xiao Xingchen is one of my favourite Untamed characters and I've been meaning to actually make and post some fanart so here you go ??

(This is definitely a bit rough but I'm still figuring out how I want to draw him)

[lady-of-the-lotus]

(Xiao Xingchen: I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me)

(28/?)

[youremysunshine8]

Wwx's fantasy: Lan Wangji comes home and eats the lovingly prepared spicy as fuck meal I made. We stay up till 1am.

Wwx's reality: Lan Wangji eats saltine crackers straight out of the sleeve and forcibly knocks me out at 9pm.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Not a question, but I love your blog so much. Makes me so happy :) I'm very excited to see the Yi City trio in your style.

We're getting close to the Yi-City arc! In the meantime, have some behind-the-scenes sketches of me trying to figure out their designs!

[aphel1on]

xuexiao text post meme pt 2

[xueyangscrushedpinkie]

You know what I’m thinking about?

Xxc making a basket for him, A-Qing and Xue Yang. How domestic, how cute, How GAY

AHHHH

Edit: LOOK AT THEM

[hamlet-not-hamnet]

problem solving yi city style

[rejectedfables]

my MDZS Xue Yang memes continue

[wifiwuxians]

the date

pretty sure i never posted this here? it's from last year! xiao xingchen and song lan are finally going on a date, and they enlist the help of their friends to decide on what to wear

[alchemist-shizun]

Yi city boys silly textposts because we need them in these trying times pt. 1

Please enjoy my absolute dumbassery with the commentary. Starting strong with:

Let me follow with this great dyad

Staying on theme, starring my thoughts: "what eyes?"

Somebody should come and get Song Lan some help. And several weeks of vacation while we're at it!

Nothing bad ever happened if I'm delusional enough, right?

NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENED IF IM DELU-

No because that was the hardest meme to make I was hurting. But it was kind of funny

I just found out I cannot post more than 10 pictures (how many years have I been here again?) so you'll have to excuse me while I make a second post with the other half of this batch, that was literally the worst picture to end this with L M A O

(Part 2)