#tgcf is ENDLESS im feeling you

[makedonsgriva]

just remembered that xie lian spent 100 years trapped in a coffin. brb going to claw my heart out of my throat

[irrealisms]

jun wu or bwx for character asks? 👁️

starting off: hi yen if you're reading this it's got spoilers so pls skip this post ty <3 u can come back to it when u finish tgcf which at your current rate will be in like. a couple days lol

How I feel about this character

Im Normal About Him.

the ending is. perfect. the bamboo hat. it's never too late. when he's defeated he looks relieved. quoting myself from discord:

he cannot face being proven wrong, because it means he’s done terrible things and hurt people when he didn’t have to. he wants so badly to be proven wrong, because it means that maybe there’s good in the world and not just endless crushing pain and evil.

i have a lot of thoughts abt him & the tragedy of him & his entire ideology!!! i am sort of failing at condensing them but i have a lot of thoughts about him .

All the people I ship romantically with this character

hehe. xie lian (i am a sicko). i can also justify this to some extent--jun wu/bai wuxiang (i think mostly bai wuxiang, actually?) remarks positively on xie lian's appearance a notable amount, there's the "makes one ache, makes one excited" bit which i cannot read as anything other than Kind Of Weird And Horny, there's the thing where jun wu tests xie lian's virginity by making him bleed on jun wu's sword (i have another whole meta in my heart about swords as blatantly phallic in tgcf but i assume you do not need to be convinced of this lol)--but honestly i don't fully stand by it. this is a ship i have at least 80-90% because i am a sicko. i hope you can all understand

My non-romantic OTP for this character

ALSO xie lian. im complex. i contain multiple guys. the thing is that i have a beautiful google doc that consists of every time jun wu/bwx is analogized to a parent/teacher and xie lian is analogized to a child and it has . like. 30 quotes? somewhere around there? it's a lot! it's a lot. "i have decided that we are the same guy due to The Parallels but also i am going to enforce this and Make us the same guy by Molding You into Becoming Me" is an incredibly good dynamic whether it is slash or gen, and i do think the "weird forced adult-child relationship going on" reading is in fact more supported by the text than a shippy one. also when i'm not being a sicko about it there's also something deeply beautiful to me about their ending, about xie lian defeating jun wu but also showing him this moment of grace. and of course the Parallels which apply equally when it's slash vs gen. also you may have noticed that neither this question nor the last one do i bring up guoshi. this is bc idgaf about him. sorry mei nianqing . he exists i just Do Not Care

My unpopular opinion about this character

im gonna be so real i have no idea what is and is not popular wrt jun wu. what are the popular jun wu opinions.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

once again im kind of at the same place i am wrt mu qing of, like.... nothing, honestly? i am incredibly happy with what we got, i think it's beautifully written and the resolution is perfect, mxtx is a good writer and tgcf is a good book, no complaints

having a bit more of his backstory with mnq might be cool, i guess? we get the huge infodump but it's kind of just an infodump, it is just Pure Exposition, going into that a bit more / more naturally than "guoshi helpfully exposits for us" could be neat even tho i dont think its necessary. as mentioned i'm p much happy with what we got

(ask game, give me a character)

[abigail-nicole]

tgcf liveread 11

being part 11 of live-readthrough of TGCF Tian Guan Ci Fu Heaven Official's Blessing, officially licensed in english translation here, buy it. the twitter thread I kept returning to because keeping memories of the first time you read something you love is important! You never get the chance to read a book for the first time except once. this is a tautology but also like, savor it, which I did with this livetweet. originally tweeted 4/2/2020:

bring down the tax brackets of the whole Neighborhood he xuan. Lolol

I love Ruoye so much

I have very little to say a lot the action scenes here except it’s so lovely to see hualian supporting each other in battle

Ahhhhh I had feelings about qi rong is he finally gone?????? No?????????!!!!!

Im so invested but so sleepy anyway TOMORROW with Chapter 229 Adroit Dice. I also love reading things in translation because when’s the last time you read the word adroit? Translating is fascinating for word choice & authorial intent. Anyway hualian forever gnite

But in general, in tgcf: xie lian is like *shocked emoji* and hua cheng is like *smirk emoji*

A) hua cheng dragging all the martial gods followed Immediately by B) shi qingxuan dragging pei ming specifically

Boyfriend & Uncle united in dislike of blockhead friend

this IS ominous, especially since it’s the first time in 878990000000 words that hua cheng ever rolled poorly, and a very clever way to signal to the audience that Shit’s About To Get Real

The phrase: “Mu Qing was certainly behaving oddly”

my brains: RED ALERT: PROB JUN WU INDISGUISE DO NOT TRUST!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is another great signifier that Shit’s About To Go Down, & emotionally, because all our associations of E’ming (& therefore Hua Cheng) being upset are emotional not physical danger. because there is so little that could physically endanger Hua Cheng

also everytime xie lian pets e’ming im subconsciously screaming BUT EVERYONES WATCHING ARE YOU REALLY GONNA TIUCH HIS DICK RIGHT HERE LOLOL “strokes the hilt” mxtx did this on purpose

Feng Xin being like “ugh stop being so in love ugh gross”

wait....the 33 heavenly officials who mocked xie lian in book 4... SAME 33 HUA CHENG DEFEATED??? He takes carrying petty grudges to a new level i LOVE it

Hua Cheng shattering a sword with one hand: sexy

Everyone blaming mu qing immediately: hilarious

Xie Lian deciding not to solve all his problems with self harm & suicide: that’s GROWTH

also lol @ feng xin here

Using dead bodies as surfboards on a river of lava: creative, structually unsound, implausible, & also a hilarious visual

Hua Cheng and unconditionally supporting his partner I’m melting into the floor

An endless broken bridge over a river of lava is both metaphorically & literally doing a lot of heavy lifting here

Lolol @ xie lian roasting mu qing TWICE here

This is an interesting bit of insight. Most of this is very Shown Not Told in the text and this is the first time Xie Lian has acknowledged these things aloud to us. the Xian Le trio relationship taking on all cadences and nuances over a thousand years, every friend/enemy/annoyance/worship/dislike permutation

oh no n I’m having Feelings about Mu Qing!!

feeeeeelings !!!!!! also the phrase “bones dissolving into air” v cool

Ruoye, who before had been able to stretch exactly as long as needed.... still stretches exactly as long as needed to CREATE DRAMATIC TENSION Lololol

I really thought there’d be more sex in this book. Like........any sex

Inner sailor scouts here 600% mu qing & feng xin as mars & venus

soft <3<3<3 melting

HEART IN THROAT

HUA CHENG MISSING???? IN DANGER???? INJURED????

Xie Lian holding his breath so he won’t have to hear how close he is to crying oh my god my tiny heart cant take it

Mu Qing & Feng Xin commenting offhand about how much xie lian loves hua cheng makes me explode into silver butterflies

ANIME FIGHT ANIME FIGHT WHAT A BEAUTIFUL ANIME FIGHT!!!

Hua Cheng, the only one who could’ve been a god & chose to be a ghost king. What a hipster. Heaven is too mainstream, too country club for Our Goth King

Literally they got the final boss down to 50% health and it changed forms & restored its HP

well OKAY FINE EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO PICK MY HEART OUT OF THE SHREDDER

"The one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matter is 'you', and not the state of you. No matter what's happened in the past, I will never leave you. You can tell me anything." .... "You told me this yourself."

A LOT OF WORK DONE BY THESE TWO SENTENCES HERE!!!!

IVE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED FOR A CHAPTER TITLE

my BABY my CHILD my FAVORITE WEAPON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUOYE!!!!!!!!!

This is the best anime series finale I’ve ever seen

BIG tw cw for abusive dad jun wu

.......continued next time on tgcf liveread part 12

[yea-baiyi]

important to note is that the reason hua cheng enjoying xie lian's awful food and not telling him it's bad works is because he's playing along with xie lian's act. xie lian's KNOWS his food is shitty, he is doing it on purpose, because all of it – the chaotic cooking, the inventive names, the godawful taste – reminds him of his mother and he does not want to talk about it, so he just plays carefully oblivious whenever people try to discourage him from cooking and keeps doing it. lying to your partner if their cooking is awful is bad practice, but hua cheng praising xie lian's cooking (not excessively but just enough to be encouraging) is perfect for them, because it lets xie lian just enjoy this moment of feeling close to his mother without needing to be defensive about it. once AGAIN an example of how tgcf takes unhealthy codependent romance tropes and flips them on it's head to make it the most profound shit ever. height of romance. what in the fuck

[mousehole5000]

more tgcf chapters 143-173 lets goooooo

PEI MING BOO HISS except actually okay he’s mostly funny i think but still boo hiss

“hey who’s this guy who’s really pissed at you?” “oh thats my sword. i broke it.” alright then!

i think i need to go back and reread the banyue pass arc bc im still confused as to whats going on with banyue and pei su

“Banyue dropped from the sky with two pots raised. Without a word, she plummeted with the mouths of the pots facing down, trapping and detaining the shocked Ming’guang and the roaring Ke Mo within.” - THATS MY GIRL

“It must be known that, to heavenly officials, it certainly was more than natural for kingdoms of the mortal realm to fight and annihilate one another; the acts of these plays progressing on endlessly. But when it came their own turn, it was often hard to let things go. If one must stand in the same court as the one who annihilated their own kingdom, and that man cavorted in the heavens, exceedingly flashy, then it must be vexing.” - hmmmm!!

“I’ve spoken too many words in this lifetime. What are you referring to?” - okay to be fair thats a mood

okay its nice to get some pei ming backstory and its funny that he and xie lian are bonding but also still whenever pei ming interacts with a female character my hackles rise like a cat lol

“Xie Lian watched as Banyue thought really hard before cheerfully pulling out a few long, wine-red scorpion-snakes, and putting them into the bubbling pot.” - THATS MY GIRL

“Although “smell” was something colourless and formless, the instant Banyue removed the pot cover, it was as if some mysterious physical object had twisted all the air around the mouth of that pot. The group stared at the sight within the pot for a long time. Their pupils reflected an endless, bottomless darkness; like it could pull them into the abyss. No words could describe the sentiment expressed within their eyes. A moment later, Xie Lian patted Banyue’s shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.” - like father-figure like daughter-figure. amazing.

“However, what if one day mortals discovered something completely new that ran faster than horses? Then, when this new invention overtook horses, worshippers of this heavenly official who controlled horses would inevitably decrease. Such heavenly officials, flashing by like shooting stars, made up the majority of the heavens.” - obsessed with this, genuinely. life and change. worship and its purpose. my religious studies diploma on my wall is screaming at me rn. ALSO i am once again thinking about celebrities

“...” It was only then that Pei Ming seemed to notice, and started to contemplate this question. A moment later, he answered, “A habit. In a dark, creepy place like this, isn’t it normal to hold women in your arms, to comfort them and calm their fears?” “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t scared,” Banyue said.” - BANYUE I LOVE YOU. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH. god this takes me back to every college party i ever went to

LING WEN BACKSTORY????? shoeseller chosen for godhood bc she wrote a political essay and got arrested...... and now she’s face to face with the official who appointed her..... do go on.....

“Ling Wen laughed out loud, seeming to be enraged, and her voice dropped. “Very well! You said I couldn’t reach that high. Then, might I ask you: had the prominence of the Palace of Jing Wen at its peak ever reached even the knees of my Palace of Ling Wen??” - GET HIM!!!! BOO HISS JING WEN

“Compared to you, I’m not that bad,” Ling Wen said. “You’d personally order me to stay in the Palace of Jing Wen until midnight, then turn around and say I shamelessly hang around ‘til late to harass you. Words murder without form; I was much nicer responding with blatant violence.” - ling wen im love you..... also this bit... feels Real

BLOOD RAIN BLOOD RAIN BLOOD RAIN!! FLOWER PETALS TRANSFORMATION!!! see hua cheng? look as how cool it can be when you leave the story for a little while!! bc then you get to return and make an entrance!!

“Not only can you bring forth bloody rain, you can also make flowers shower. I didn’t know that. How fun!” - cute!! and in that moment we were all xie lian

“Everyone was stunned by his deed, and Ling Wen arduously gave him a thumbs-up. ”Ol’ Pei, what a man!” Pei Ming gritted his teeth. “WELCOME!” - aww three two tumors buddies!!

okay yin yu is here and xie lian did the equivalent of asking someone when the baby is due only to find out theyre not pregnant at all. then rong guang taunts yin yu and no one says anything. i do love the amount of awkward moments in this book tbh sometimes there are no words.

“All around was sand and mud crushing at him, exceedingly suffocating. The sand and mud was also moving endlessly; the feeling was like he was swallowed into the stomach of a giant monster, and that monster had also eaten a bunch of other things besides him, tumbling everything in its stomach, trying to digest” - ooooh creepy!!! the red string thing... is cute.... also xie lian being able to see hua cheng’s butterfly vision by looking directly into his eye is kinda cool. and obviously homoerotic.

“Are lower-ranked heavenly officials below other people?” Quan Yizhen asked. “No,” Yin Yu replied. Were they not? It was obvious that he himself didn’t believe in his own words, and Quan Yizhen also noticed. A good while later, he said bluntly, “I don’t like it here.” Yin Yu said nothing.” - im having emotions. and then yin yu also saying he doesnt like it there either.... also idk how this scene is going to play out but as much as im enjoying quan yizhen being an icon i can also possibly see how yin yu could eventually get to the point of “i am tired of being nice. i do just want to go apeshit” even if he really cares about qyz. it happens </3

“Indeed,” Hua Cheng said. “Half a year later when Quan Yizhen actually ascends, he won’t find it so funny anymore.” “Can we watch that part too?” Xie Lian asked. “We can. Hold on,” Hua Cheng replied.” - quan yizhen king of taking things literally. also why did this turn into hualian having a movie night

jian yu seems like the kind of asshole who would purposely give someone regular soda when they specifically asked for diet soda. god yin yu is really having a bad day i really feel for him in the whole situation with the brocade immortal

awww okay at least jian yu tried to take responsibility. im still mad at him tho that was objectively a terrible idea. god this whole situation sucked :(

“Rocks and earth crushed at them from all around, forcing their bodies to press tightly against one another, their faces brushing, their ears warm. Although it wasn’t the right time, a thought flashed through Xie Lian’s mind: “‘To die buried together’ doesn’t feel so bad.” - okay... im kind of emotional.... gay people....

okay obviously these murals and the prince of wuyong have some connection (im guessing pretty direct) to xie lian and are important but everytime they start analyzing one i feel like im back in art history class fhadskfhskjdhf not that thats a bad thing!! i liked art history a lot tbh

“Don’t worry, they’re not human,” Hua Cheng said. “It’s precisely because they’re not human that we have to worry, alright….” Xie Lian thought.” - goth ghost bf problems

xie lian: well, there is one person i trust more than anyone else, someone who’s first in my mind hua cheng, oblivious: oh :/ xie lian, also oblivious: what? hua cheng: you shouldnt trust so easily its dangerous xie lian: oh. haha. yeah. well. wanna,,, know who it is? hua cheng: its :) fine :) it :) doesnt :) matter :) but of course you can tell me if you want to gege xie lian, internally: well now ive made it weird hua cheng, 5 minutes later: actually i need you to tell me. right now. its totally for your security me: gay people smh

“As they suspected, he had been captured by Qi Rong. Although no one was bound by ropes, there were balls of greasily green ghost fires hovering over every one of their heads.” - completely off track but anybody else remember the great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts song

“Could there actually come a day when Qi Rong was embarrassed that someone might see the manner in which he ate? Before Xuan Ji entered, she put Guzi down. Guzi, ta-ta-ta, ran in, rushing straight to Qi Rong’s side. But when he saw him, he pointed his finger. He cried, “Dad is eating bad things in secret again!” “I’m not!” Qi Rong retaliated.” SCREAM IS QI RONG LEARNING THE POWER OF LOVE NOOOO also god that poor man whose body he has im starting to doubt if he’ll ever be free jimmy novak flashbacks

everytime we get another ghost king power somewhere someone should be writing hua cheng the cyborg bf in a high tech futuristic au i think thats the only other potential setting that could truly capture this wild ride

“In truth, throughout history, there was no man in the world who didn’t love bragging. A breeze could blow the handkerchief of a brothel girl into a man’s hand, and he would turn around and say the most beautiful of renowned escorts had fallen in love with him; holding shoes and wiping benches for the emperor’s mistress’s uncle’s grandson’s cousin’s mistress would for sure become him being an important administrator at the residence of royal relatives, raising his status. Thus, men who didn’t brag were a rare species.” - SCREAM this is going in my favorite tgcf quotes folder god... mxtx come here let me shake your hand

read the story of rain master yushi huang’s ascension. why am i crying. also this bit im crying again me with my stuffed animals “Thus, while Yushi Huang was cultivating at the Temple of Yulong, every time when she went to seek water and passed that door, she would rub the head of that ox. The door knocker soaked in her essence of life, and when the Rain Master ascended, the ox ascended with her.”

okay thats enough for now i have 7 more chapters to book 4!!! woo!!!