#so i'm reading tgcf
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pls assume i'm thinking about this moment 24/7 all week every week
#ahsjgdh i love the young xianle quartet sm they're almost barely not traumatized...kinda#they're very silly especially in retrospect#aaa i do also really want to draw young xie lian and mu qing but the idea of rendering that much gold detailing sounds like hell ywy#i'll do it but christ alive#my art#fanart#tgcf#tgcf fanart#tgcf spoilers#technically#also i haven't read past book 3 for now ywy#tian guan ci fu#heaven official's blessing#feng xin#hua cheng#...he gets one tag bc i'm not keeping track of all the aliases#every time i draw hc his hair gets worse and worse#my man has not seen a hairbrush in the past 800 or so years of his existence
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Xie Lian in the cave: He's obsessed with me 💖😗🥰🥹👰👨❤️💋👨💘💘💘
Fengqing in the cave: HE'S OBSESSED WITH YOU 😬😱🤢👹🙈🙉🙊🔪🔪🔪
#CAVE OF 10000 GODS#IM HERE I READ IT#IT WAS SO MUCH#I WANNA TALK ABOUT IT BUT I'M ALSO STILL PROCESSING#heaven officials blessing#xie lian#hualian#tgcf#talking pancake
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Heaven Official's Blessing except I haven't read the book, remember nothing of the donghua, and saw a few spoilers.
Here is the third part ! As always, please, no spoilers in the replies or in the reblogs! I read all the tags, and I intend on reading the novels once I'm done with this serie. Spoilers includes character's names or role in the story.
(Trigger warning here for slight mentions of necrophilia. It's only implied, but better safe than sorry.)
Hope you enjoy !
First Part | <<Previous Part<< | >>Next Part>> | Final Part
#tgcf#tian guan ci fu#heaven official's blessing#xie lian#comic#mxtx#myart#I feel like I become more unhinged with each new part coming out#Summarizing tgcf without having read any of it#edit: I know more of their names so I'm adding them#mu qing#feng xin
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Following the mdzs duo with the svsss one ! But drawing bingbong normally feels so unnatural to me so I added a little something below
#svsss#lbh#luo binghe#sqq#shen qingqiu#svsss shitpost#idk if this one is print worthy fhdshj i feel i could've done it better#i'm so sorry to the tgcf fans i still haven't watched or read it so the trilogy of couples here is uncomplete#but look at this bingbong#sqq's everyday pov
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"You came from a renowned school, an orthodox sect that never traversed the deviant path. Growing up in that sect, you were always told that ascending was the ultimate thing to strive for," Jun Wu continued. "It is very difficult to give up that sort of goal. Falling in with the Ghost Realm was an unfortunate circumstance, an act born of helplessness. Of course you cannot say you are satisfied with your position in the Ghost Realm. It was never what you wanted in the first place."
Yin Yu didn't have enough confidence to deny it. He said weakly, "Chengzhu has shown me grace. He saved me -"
"I know," Jun Wu said. "He even helped you pacify and send off Jian Yu's vengeful spirit after he died during your banishment, am I correct?"
"...Yes," Yin Yu confirmed. "So whether or not I am satisfied with my current position, it's all -"
"That is dissatisfaction," Jun Wu noted. "You are bound by his grace and have nowhere else to go. You are in denial." Yin Yu hung his head and didn't reply.
Vol 7, page 144-145
One of my favorite relationships throughout the novel, even though we get so little information about it, is Yin Yu and Hua Cheng's. Even the above tidbit is mired by the way Jun Wu is trying to manipulate Yin Yu's emotions and how Yin Yu at times responds genuinely and at others plays along to try and find a way to escape.
Once I had finished the novel, I was left wondering why there are so many fandom jokes about Yin Yu being exploited by Hua Cheng when the text seemed to paint a much different picture of what Yin Yu's life and work environment as a god was like versus as the highest ranking ghost city officer. So in this meta I try to examine and compare the two as well as try to draw conclusions about how Yin Yu felt about it all and why.
First of, I think that Yin Yu's longing to return to becoming a god is genuine, since this is what he says after he stops playing along with Jun Wu's manipulation because he's by then gotten enough spiritual energy to attack him:
"I do want to return to the heavens, I do want to be ranked in the top ten!" Yin Yu continued. "But it's completely meaningless if I don't do it on my own! I'm unlucky, I accept that! Admitting that I can't compare isn't that hard!" Vol 7 page 152
Which is interesting, considering this is what he felt like when he was still a god in heaven while Quan Yizhen hadn't yet ascended:
A good while later, [Quan Yizhen] said bluntly, "I don't like it here."
Yin Yu said nothing.
"They think I'm annoying, but I think they're even more annoying," Quan Yizhen continued. "Before, I could train at least sixteen hours a day. Now half the time is taken up by talking and listening to nonsense, by greeting and visiting people. There are people who yell at me and hit me for no good reason, without apologizing, and I can't even fight back. This isn't heaven. I don't like it here."
Yin Yu sighed. "I don't like it here either."
"Then let's go back," Quan Yizhen said.
But Yin Yu only shook his head, "Even though I don't like it here, I want to stay."
Quan Yizhen couldn't understand. "Why do want to stay if you don't like it here?"
Yin Yu was stumped, and chuckled in spite of himself. He didn't know what to say, unable to explain it to him. How could he convey to Quan Yizhen that reaching the Heavenly Capital was the dream of so many people who sought the path of cultivation, the ultimate end goal? Or just how difficult it was for someone his age to achieve ascension?
Vol 5, page 271-272
Yin Yu essentially seemed to be struggling with sunk cost fallacy, where he put his everything into ascending to heaven and so wants to stay there even though it's making him increasingly unhappy. It's interesting that Jun Wu accuses him of being in denial about his unhappiness in the Ghost Realm, when Yin Yu in the past seemed to be in denial about his unhappiness in heaven. Especially since this is what he was being treated like as soon as his power and influence were in decline:
Yin Yu and Jian Yu were seated next to the "Earth Master." Their assigned seats were considered the edge of the banquet. Yin Yu wasn't eating or talking to anyone. [...]
At the other end of the banquet, there was already a large crowd of heavenly officials fighting to greet Quan Yizhen. The surrounding crowd had completely blocked the person at the center from sight. It appeared that this was soon after Quan Yizhen ascended and established his own palace. He was at the height of his popularity in heaven, in contrast to how he was disliked by most of the present court. Although the two were both Martial Gods of the West, he was significantly more prominent than Yin Yu. The attendees all swarmed over, leaving the table where Yin Yu sat quiet and empty.
Vol 5, page 273-275
I've talked about this in my Yin Yu & Quan Yizhen meta as well, how Yin Yu tries to get by in heaven by conforming and submitting to the elitist power structures it's based on:
Quan Yizhen kept going. "They cussed at me first. I don't even know them. They said I was a low-ranking heavenly official and yelled at me for no reason, then they laughed at me and told me to scram and not to block their way [...]" "Are low-ranking heavenly officials below other people?" Quan Yizhen asked.
"No," Yin Yu replied. Was that true? It was obvious he didn't believe his own words, and Quan Yizhen noticed.
Vol 5, page 271
and how it starts to chip away at the kindness and the moral backbone he showed while still in his sect:
"Shidi, the things you're all saying aren't right." The crowd was taken aback. "I'm going to say something unpleasant," Yin Yu continued. "No matter what path we cultivate, talent truly is an incredible thing. And he is not only talented, he is willing to work hard. If you really think Shifu is playing favorites, then let's work harder to keep up with him - maybe even overtake him. And then things like training halls and supplements will naturally be open to everyone. Rather than wasting time being angry at him, your priority should be training harder. Am I right?" [...]
"You really don't need to mind them. You didn't do anything wrong. It's fine like this." Anyone with clear eyes could see that the other disciples couldn't stand Quan Yizhen. They found fault everywhere, and it wasn't because of his big appetite, or because he wasn't a morning person, or because he was inconsiderate and a poor teammate who only cared about showing off. At the end of the day, what they really couldn't stand was this: he was the last to enter the school, but he received the most. Quan Yizhen nodded. "I think so too." Yin Yu patted his shoulder. "Go train! That's what's most important. Don't think about anything unnecessary." [...]
After watching the two scenarios, Xie Lian praised Yin Yu. "San Lang, that subordinate of yours really is a rare character. What a good heart."
Vol 5, page 262 + 264
Everything Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen already struggled with in their sect - the jealousy, the bullying, the competition for resources - is even worse in heaven, which actively encourages the endless competition for devotees and subordinates as well as the exploitation and mistreatment of those of "lower rank". No matter how hard Yin Yu tries to conform to these structures, they steadily wear away at both the way others see him and also how he sees himself:
After closing the gates, Yin Yu's voice grew louder. "Don't say any more! I don't want to hear it! It's very normal for an ascended heavenly official to establish a palace, so he didn't do anything wrong. Since you get irritated just talking about him, why must you constantly bring him up?" "Please don't think that I'm speaking out of turn, but someone must remind you. Yin Yu, the west is only so big, and there are only so many devotees. He's already taken so much. That wolf yao kill should've been yours, but he stole it! Look at the state of you now - your domain's shrinking smaller and smaller. How much do you have left? Can you maintain your standing if this keeps up?" "How is what he's done theft? It's not like he's forcing anyone to worship him at knifepoint - everyone's willing. Besides, that wolf yao..." Yin Yu sighed and said frankly, "I couldn't have defeated it. It was useless praying to me, so of course they went to him." "I just... I'm worried that if this fight continues, he'll win and leave us with nothing," Jian Yu said bitterly. "Fuck, even those lower-ranking officials only care about their own advancement - each one of them coming up with empty excuses to quit and slipping away to serve under other heavenly officials. What a bunch of no-good asshats!" Yin Yu sighed again and sat down on a prayer cushion. "What fight are you talking about...? Why care for such things? Those who want to leave will always leave in the end, and those who want to stay will naturally remain. I didn't ascend to fight for power with anyone, nor squabble over domains, nor quarrel, so why can't you let this go?" Vol 5, page 277
This is a stark contrast not only to the kind of standing he had while he was still in his sect:
Yin Yu pushed them away, urging them to leave. He sighed. "You said yourself that he's insane, so why bother with him?" It was easy to see that Yin Yu's words held weight with his peers at this point in his life. Although the crowd was still upset, they left as told. Vol 5, page 257
But especially to the kind of authority and respect that his position in Ghost City offers him:
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the ghost crowd. They immediately parted, forming a path, as if someone of importance had arrived. Xie Lian came to his senses and saw a tall, black-clad figure walking straight toward him through the path created by the mob. That person yelled, "Settle down. Let him go!" The black-clad figure, like most of the ghosts on the street, wore a mask. It was a funny mask, with a face that was contorted as if it was smiling woefully. The mob muttered under their breath, "It's the Waning Moon Officer!", and they released their hold on Xie Lian at last. It seemed this black-clad figure was someone significant in Ghost City. Vol 2, page 99
It's also worth mentioning at this point that I think people forget that Yin Yu does not always necessarily work alone and has to do everything by himself but that he has his own subordinates:
After taking a moment to contact his subordinates in Ghost City, Yin Yu meticulously reported the general directions of each sighting.
Vol 7, page 48
Another very important thing to take away from the argument between Jian Yu and Yin Yu is that while still a god in the heavens, Yin Yu had no confidence that he'd be able to fight a wolf yao, yet in the amnesiac extra, he shows no signs of hesitancy or fear when Hua Cheng orders him to go after the monster that stole Xie Lian's memories:
He was still trying to process what he'd learned when he heard San Lang say, "I need to attend to him right now and can't leave. Catch that monster before tomorrow night and bring it to me." "Yes, sir. Shall I leave it one last breath?" the man in the ghost mask asked quietly. San Lang put down his brush and glanced at what he'd written, which he then crumbled up and tossed away, apparently unsatisfied. "Leave it a few. Make it spit out what it swallowed, then crush its worthless head to dust. Make it slow and painful." His tone and expression were both quite frightening, yet Xie Lian didn't find him repulsive or alarming. The man in the ghost mask acknowledged San Lang’s order and was about to take his leave, so Xie Lian quickly dodged away and hid. Vol 8, page 226-227
Which leads me to another important point - the amount of trust Hua Cheng shows Yin Yu by the kind of missions he sends him on. If he didn't have a high opinion of Yin Yu's abilities, he would never send him after something like a monster that had eaten Xie Lian's memories, given how incredibly important Xie Lian's wellbeing is to Hua Cheng. There's many other examples too - like how Hua Cheng trusted Yin Yu to help with tricking Shi Qingxuan and Xie Lian into saving "Ming Yi", or how he entrusted the Earth Master Shovel to him. But Hua Cheng also does not ask the impossible of him - when they're all trapped in heaven and Yin Yu started to dig tunnels with the Earth Master Shovel to try and free Xie Lian and the others so they could recover and become strong enough to escape, Hua Cheng cautions them against it because he correctly deduces that "you'll be seeking your own deaths if you try to break out under Jun Wu's watch." (Vol 7, page 130) Even though Yin Yu is with Xie Lian, Hua Cheng doesn't expect him to get Xie Lian out on his own, because he knows how powerful and ruthless Jun Wu is.
For extra emphasis, let's compare Hua Cheng’s regard for Yin Yu and his abilities to the way Jun Wu never even deemed to speak to Yin Yu while he was a god because he was so very much "beneath" him:
"My dear Yin Yu, I do not think I have ever chatted with you like this before. Isn't that right?"
"I guess not..." Yin Yu replied cautiously.
Even back when he was the martial god who ruled the west, his base of believers wasn't strong, his merits were few, and his rank wasn't impressive. He wasn't the lowest ranked of the heavenly officials in the Upper Court, but he was still below average, so he'd had almost no opportunities to interact with the Heavenly Emperor - the highest of the high.
Vol 7, page 142-143
Keeping all of that in mind, it's very interesting that Jun Wu tries to tempt Yin Yu to his side by offering him the position of his right-hand man:
Finally, Yin Yu asked, "In the Upper Court, I... What... would my position be?"
"Ling Wen will be my left hand, and you shall be my right," Jun Wu said. "There will be none above you besides me."
Vol 7, page 149
When that really is a position Yin Yu already holds - he's Hua Cheng's right-hand man. Now, one could argue that Yin Yu does have less power and prestige in the position of a ghost realm officer than he would have as a god - there's no believers worshipping him - but I think the point is that he doesn't answer to anyone but Hua Cheng, that there's no one else competing with him for that position, no one else among his subordinates that Hua Cheng puts this much trust in, and that there's no one else besides Hua Cheng himself who is demonstrated to hold so much authority and respect in Ghost City. And with all of the above, it's really important to keep in mind that Ghost City is the one single autonomous place in all the three realms and that its Chengzhu is the one single being whose power and influence is rivaled only by the Heavenly Emperor himself.
And said Heavenly Emperor damn well knows Yin Yu is Hua Cheng's right-hand man, which is I believe a big part of the reason he tries to flip Yin Yu by dangling this exact position in front of him. As I've talked about before in other posts, Jun Wu hates Hua Cheng deeply for various reasons. There's the whole thing where Hua Cheng is the unmistakable proof of a believer that never leaves their god, the very thing Jun Wu felt entitled to but didn't receive. But in this case I think him wanting to tempt Yin Yu away from Hua Cheng's side is about how bitter and salty Jun Wu feels about the fact that Hua Cheng holds more sway over all three realms than he does - evidenced by the way Hua Cheng doesn't just have followers in the Ghost Realm but the Human Realm as well, and even the gods, while they fear him, also can't help but admire him and strike deals with him in secret (Vol 1, page 157-160). That Yin Yu, a banished god, would (just like Xie Lian) rather be loyal to Hua Cheng than Jun Wu - that must have angered him a lot because it's something he'd take quite personally.
This is, I think, also the root of why Yin Yu has so much trouble seeing his position in the Ghost Realm for what it really is and why he still longs to be a god despite how unhappy he was in the heavens and how badly he was treated there - he can't see past the prejudices about the Ghost Realm in general and Ghost City in particular that he has internalized. Prejudices that Jun Wu actively weaponizes every time he speaks to Yin Yu, by repeatedly insinuating that being a ghost city officer is a shameful thing to be:
"Surely you do not actually like being a mere pawn in the Ghost Realm?" [...] "Falling in with the Ghost Realm was an unfortunate circumstance, an act borne of helplessness." [...] "You are bound by his grace and have nowhere else to go." [...]
Vol 7, page 144
Which makes it all the more satisfying when Yin Yu tricks Jun Wu (or attempts to, at least) and ultimately rejects both his offer and his authority, and also calls Jun Wu out on the way he tried to manipulate him:
"My Lord... My... No, not My Lord! You! Why must you keep reminding me of that?! Why do you speak like you actually understand me?!"
Vol 7, page 151
Jun Wu is deeply enraged by his defiance and rejection - in general, but also because it reminds him of Xie Lian's defiance against him:
Jun Wu turned around with a casual sweep of his hand. "Exhilarating. You and Xianle must get along well."
Vol 7, page 152
This brings me to my final point - which is that choosing kindness and righteousness even in the face of criticism and rejection, of personal loss and suffering, is what Jun Wu hates the most, and what ties Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu, and Yin Yu and Hua Cheng together. Hua Cheng was drawn to Xie Lian because Xie Lian chose to treat him kindly when everyone else abused and rejected Hua Cheng and pressured Xie Lian to do the same. Similiar things can be said for Quan Yizhen and Yin Yu, since Yin Yu was the one to ask his sect's shifu to take Quan Yizhen in when he came across him as a seemingly abandoned child, and who repeatedly defended Quan Yizhen from the other sect members' judgement and bullying, even though this earned Yin Yu their ire as well. Yin Yu, too, values kindness very highly:
Yin Yu sobbed. "If I wasn't destined to be perfect, I at least wanted to be perfectly kind. But... I couldn't even manage that." (Vol 7, page 156)
Therefore, though we get very little information on their first meeting, I think kindness is also what drew Yin Yu to Hua Cheng, what made him stay loyal to him even when tempted/threatened by Jun Wu, and what made him go right back to working for him after the events of the main story. Because while we get only this one mention, I think a great deal can be gleaned from it:
"Chengzhu has shown me grace. He saved me - "
"I know" Jun Wu said. "He even helped you pacify and send off Jian Yu's vengeful spirit when he died during your banishment, am I correct?"
Vol 7, page 144
It's not just he helped me, it's he saved me. And not only that, Hua Cheng, in a sense, saved Jian Yu as well by helping him move on, which I would assume was simply because Yin Yu wished for his friend to let go of his resentment and not become stuck as a vengeful spirit. What I think is really important to keep in mind here is that not only was Hua Cheng under no obligation to save Yin Yu, he had, objectively speaking, nothing to gain from it. He Xuan was already in the heavens by then and giving Hua Cheng intel. and Hua Cheng didn't show off that he had a banished god working for him either - he let Yin Yi wear a mask, and for years, no one (except apparently Jun Wu) knew where Yin Yu was or what had happened to him, evidenced by the way Quan Yizhen kept looking and kept asking about him to no avail (Vol 5 page 235).
We don't really get Hua Cheng's side of the story but I think the fact that he doesn't speak about it speaks for itself - aside from keeping things close to his chest in general, he tends to not talk about the things he does out of kindness and/or his own sense of justice. We see this for example when Xie Lian only finds out why the group of cultivators is after Hua Cheng when he overhears them saying that Hua Cheng chose to shelter both the pig spirit and the prostitute ghost who had chosen to take revenge on humans who had used their positions of power to hurt others (Vol 5 page 28-29).
This is therefore more speculation than analysis, but I can imagine that this whole scenario - a god with a good heart who gets abandoned by the heavens with only a vengeful spirit by his side - even though the exact circumstances that led to it differed, might have held enough similarities to what Hua Cheng personally witnessed of Xie Lian's banishment that it would bring out that same urge to help and protect in Hua Cheng. The fact that Yin Yu says Hua Cheng saved him really can't be overstated in my opinion, considering that Hua Cheng, understandably, has usually nothing but feelings of either indifference or hatred for all of the gods aside from Xie Lian and the Rain Master.
To sum up - the power structures in heaven encourage workplace harassment, bullying, and endless competition for resources and support, and this causes Yin Yu not only increased stress, isolation, and unhappiness, but also puts a strain on his inherent kindness and righteousness as he starts to give in under the pressure to conform. By contrast, his position in Ghost City is dependant on nothing but his loyalty to Hua Cheng, on Yin Yu's own choice to stay with him, and offers him an unprecedented amount of respect and trust. It is heaven, really, that is repeatedly shown to mistreat and exploit its officials, especially those of lower rank, not Hua Cheng.
#tgcf#re-reading tgcf#yin yu#hua cheng#jun wu#i started working on this in february before my friend died#so if the structure is messy that's why#i kept thinking this was finished and then i and another thing'ed myself repeatedly#also i kept overthinking stuff so now i'm just gonna hit post
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*TGCF spoilers* I've been rereading TGCF and I'm currently at the Black Water arc where He Xuan is revealed and I am YELLING this is truly top-tier writing MXTX popped off with this one!!!!! The suspense, the reveal, the FEAR?!?! Had to put down the book just to scream, it was that good 😭😭😭 definitely one of the best TGCF arcs!!!!
#macy speaks#the best thing I've ever done is read tgcf#and the second best thing I've done is reread tgcf#I'm having a blast I truly love this series so much#and I just needed to yell about this#SO GOOD?!?!?!??! He Xuan's reveal was insanely amazing I literally shivered#sbhdhdhdhdb mxtx a whole highness for this writing truly
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Hualian invented love but fengqin invented divorce they're both so iconic
#fengqing#hualian#tgcf#hua cheng#xie lian#feng xin#mu qing#i'm soft becouse the book finally got out in my country and I can read it in my own language#and it's being and amazing experience#i love this book so much and the fact that i can reas it in my language makes me emotional
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mu qing being seen as someone who's dishonest and ill-intentioned is actually so misled because while nearly every god turns out to have some kind of cover up for their bad actions in the present or past, mu qing is direct about his heritage and his actions in the past, even though he dislikes it. He's not hiding from it I mean, he's at most shifting the blame onto feng xin. He is hard-working and cares about his followers, there's a reason why he's so popular among folks.
#tgcf#mu qing#if I'm wrong about anything lmk i haven't read all the books :3#but that's just what I've observed so far
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"But in the end, I... still think... it's so unfair," Yin Yu sobbed. "If I wasn't destined to be perfect, I at least wanted to be perfectly kind. But... I couldn't even manage that. It's really... so unfair. And to tell you the truth, I can't get over it, even now. I can't swallow the fact that I'm dying for this little bonehead, Yizhen. I can't even let go and die without resentment or regrets. What the heck..." "Better than most people huh?" Yin Yu gave a small, arduous chuckle. Then he sighed, and the sound of his last regret passed along with his soul as he mumbled, "But I wanted to be a god..."
#yin yu#quan yizhen#quanyin#tgcf#tgcf spoilers#heaven official's blessing#heaven official's blessing spoilers#just finished volume seven and! wow! not okay over this!#the tragedy around yin yu specifically just! aboslutely! kills me!!!!#''if i wasn't destined to be perfect i at least wanted to be perfectly kind'' absolutely DESTROYED me and i think it 100% sums up what#yin yu is struggling with and why he can't move on from... well anything. why he can't actually reconnect with quan yizhen and why their#fallout was inevitable#but god i want him to have a chance to move past that#i want him to hear his words and realise what's been tormenting him so much and i want him to heal and be happy#i would really like him to NOT BE A CORPSE THAT QUAN YIZHEN IS CARRYING AROUND BECAUSE I NEED TO STOP READING EVERY TIME ITS MENTIONED#i'm fine i'm okay it's all okay#now that i've gotten this out of my system i'm gonna go read v8#my art
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let's talk abt hua cheng and the way his entire *almost* existence relates back to xie lian cuz it's been my current roman empire, his name having the word 'hua' which means 'flower' can be seen as relating to xie lian's god name (the flower crowned martial god), also he's called crimson rain sought flower cuz he was shielding a lone white flower (also represents xie lian) from the blood rain (he can be the said 'flower' in that rain too actually), that red coral pearl on his hair braid ? it belongs to xie lian, that red string tied around his finger, xie lian tied strands of his hair around that finger which represents marriage and ofc the red-string-of-fate soulmate trope, he has xie lian's name tattooed on him in his terrible writing, made an entire city just so his love can come there and rest and build a temple there so he can worship him and remained his only devotee when xl lost everything (that thing abt gods being in existence as long as there is someone to worship them) he gave up on becoming a god cuz then who will be worshipping his god ?? isn't afraid to show his true form to xl which he never did to anyone, destroyed those thirty three gods cuz they ridiculed his gege, took lqq along with him to qi rong's den so he can clear the false accusations even if xl didn't want him to CUZ YOU WILL NAWT BE HATING HIS DIANXIA OVER THINGS HE NEVER DID i mean his entire existence is because xie lian said 'if you can't find any reason to live, make me your reason to live' and oh isn't that level of devotion and love so devastating ?
#this doesn't mean that hc isn't his own person and have his own personality but most importantly he's his gege's fav person ^^#i remember once xl said ' it's been a while someone listened to me won't you stay ' to hc and OH I LOVE THEM#guys i love hua cheng so much idk if i want to be like him or be with someone like him :(#and i rarely call him san lang cuz that's a name only his gege is allowed to call him by and I feel like I'm intruding#hualian my roman empire every other week ever since i read tgcf back in 2021#I'm writing this before going to bed hope hualian blesses me in my dreams and my exams go well tmrw#okay good night hualian forever 🗣️#tgcf#heaven officials blessing#tian guan ci fu#san lang#hua cheng#hualian#xie lian#heaven official's blessing#mxtx#crimson rain sought flower#mo xiang tong xiu#hualian meta#tgcf meta
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hua cheng really told xie lian, self-proclaimed biggest loser to ever live, you can't lose with me and i just think it's so neat
#yes i read the first volume of tgcf only a couple of hours ago yes i'm onto the next one#why have i not read this before#it is perfect#tgcf#heaven's official blessing#hualian#i am just. so so so so into this
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Soooo I kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a bit there- main reason was to do some reading and uh long story short I read the entire MXTX triad of books as well as a couple other danmei series (my page count passed 10,000 a couple days ago) so yeah I'm a little feral atm
Here are the triad of husbands on a group date, feeding each other- each with their own little ~flair~
Closeup on HuaLian cause holy shit they both turned out perfect
#listen I used to read a lot and apparently danmei has reawakened that ability to read like a series a day#currently working on erha and thousand autumns as well so might draw those too#that is if I can stop reading long enough to draw lol I'm either at work sleeping or reading its hard to draw#my art#mxtx#mxtx fanart#mxtx mdzs#mxtx tgcf#mxtx svsss#svsss#tgcf#mo dao zu shi#mo xiang tong xiu#tian guan ci fu#ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong#scum villian self saving system#scumbag system#scumbag self saving system#heaven official's blessing#lan zhan#lan wangji#wei wuxian#wei ying#wei wuixan#wangxian#cql#hua cheng#hualian#xie lian#shen qingqiu
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on hua cheng's morality and self esteem
on my first read of the book, i was actually convinced that hua cheng was this amoral asshole but that's just what he WANTS you to think. hua cheng actually cares a lot about ghost city (founded to combat the injustice of ghost persecution btw), he just downplays his achievements in front of xie lian because he doesn't want to 'trick' him into liking him. he also sees any accomplishments as a direct result of dianxia's influence so it would be wrong to take credit for them. perhaps hundreds of years of playing the part of the terrible calamity skewed his perception of himself even further.
in his introduction in heaven, they say how he would "Sometimes... carry out a massacre in cold blood, and sometimes he would do odd acts of kindness" (page 157, book 1) which makes me wonder what heaven defines as "cold blood." he visibly dislikes the man who bet his daughter's life and mentions killing several tyrants. in creating e'ming, he nearly destroyed himself in order to save those mortals. on the casino in ghost city, "If I don’t control a place like this, then someone else will. I’d rather that person be me." (page 107, book 2.) he has a very strong sense of justice that he hides under 3 million layers of arrogance.
xie lian gets the ability to tell if he is lying early in the book and sees him for who he really is. they're very similar in that they have this drive to do good in the world but think about it and go about it in very different ways. hua cheng even mentions that it doesn't matter how you go about saving the common people, and that xie lian over-complicates what is right and wrong and should do what he wants... but he wouldn't turn that logic on himself :/
anyway
**this is my reading btw if anybody wants to have a discussion im 100% down
#this started out as a joke about how i sometimes have very coherent analysis about him and sometimes i can only go hrgrhrghrgr#but i have too many thoughts about him. plus i'm working on a characterization reference guide and reread books 1 and 2 yesterday#so my head's full of textual evidence✨#on your first read of an mxtx book you fall for the parts the characters are playing. on the second read you get knocked out#from how well put together and connected everything is. and on the third read your third eye opens#tgcf#i speak#hua cheng#xie lian#hualian#tgcf meta#meta#tgcf analysis
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As for Xie Lian, he felt the net tear and his body drop, and he plunged downward. He flipped in the air as he fell and landed steadily just as the bloody rain was about to descend upon him. There was no time to dodge, so Xie Lian raised his sleeve to block as much as he could. After things went dark, he heard the soft, low rumble of laughter.
The air was awash in the mysterious, alluring fragrance of blossoms. Xie Lian lifted his head and looked up. He didn’t feel any raindrops hitting his face; instead, something soft gently brushed past him. He reached out and caught it. Looking down, the thing that had quietly fluttered into the heart of his palm was a small, vibrant, red flower petal. He looked up once more, and his breath hitched. He couldn’t believe it.
The bloody rain that had darkened the sky had been transformed into a shower of fluttering flower petals. There was no need to guess who had come. Xie Lian curled his fingers to clutch the flower petal as the name blurted from his lips.
“San Lang!”
He turned around and saw that Ling Wen had fallen soundlessly to the ground. A tall, slender young man stood there, chuckling softly. With hair of raven black and robes of crimson red, he could be none other than Hua Cheng.
Blossoms fell like blood; blood danced like petals on the wind. His face was as spirited and handsome as the first time they met, and his eye was bright and lively. He languidly sheathed that long, slender silver scimitar and spoke with a deep voice.
“Your Highness, I’m back.”
#it is so fucking refreshing to love the main pair of this book as much as i do 🥹#they're just!! so good!!! and they derive such pleasure from just being in each other's company#i'm so weak for this dynamic#tgcf#ray reads tgcf#hualian#hua cheng#tgcf official art
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I'm stealing a tweet but what are your media literacy check characters
#one of mine is mu qing from tgcf because if you still think he was being antagonistic on purpose i have no words for you tbh#the other one is bakugou katsuki for obvious reasons#not because i'm defending what he did but because people actively deny that he had character development#my other other one is toga himiko for also obvious reasons#my other other other one is jiang cheng from mdzs#actually mdzs itself is a media literacy check honestly but that take is for another day#bnha#mha#mdzs#tgcf#svsss#2ha#erha#those r all my recent fandoms#please fight in my comments i'm begging you i want entertainment#FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT#p5r#p5#sorry i forgot one my other other other other one is goro akechi because you don't have to like him but calling him evil is crazy#i don't think he's a good person but he's not EVIL#love him btw he is my favorite p5 character but he is Not Really A Good Person#but like people saying he's evil and all the phantom thieves hate him. did you. read persona 5#did you just look at the pretty pictures and numbers like what#the game literally tells you that he was a victim of unfortunate circumstances and the adults around him like EVERYONE ELSE#HE WAS 16 YEARS OLD WHEN HE WAS HIRED TO BECOME AN ASSASSIN#actually i've decided that maruki is also a media literacy check character#because the amount of people i see acting like he maliciously manipulated a bunch of teenagers and he's so bad/evil/a creep is insane#guys. characters don't have to be just good or bad.
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🥰❤️🍁
I wanted a new icon with them in it and was finally able to finish this <3 I love them in case you couldn't tell already...
#tgcf#tgcf fanart#hualian#hua cheng#xie lian#my art#they make me feel soft and so full of emotion hhhh it's been a month since i finished reading the series#and i still FEEL over them so strongly 🥺🥺🥺🥺#hurricane milton knocked out my internet going on nearly 24 hours later now so i'm amazed this managed to upload lmao
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