#yin jiao

[xinyuehui]

CHEN MUCHI as YIN JIAO

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023)

[tokumusume]

Riding by my side is my best friend, Yin Jiao.

[electricsoul-rpg]

CHEN MUCHI (陈牧驰) as Yin Jiao, Crown Prince of Shang Dynasty

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms 封神第一部：朝歌风云 (2023)

[areuils]

Creation of the Gods 2: Demon Force Review (Contains Spoilers)

Given I’m unsure of what is considered major spoilers or just expected of the movie given it’s based on a Ming Dynasty novel, I will just say you have been warned

Plot summary: It’s the traditional siege(s) of Xiqi plot line. Lead by Deng Chanyu (best known for bullying Huang Tianhua and Nezha with a rock) and then later Wen (taishi) Zhong (best known for having a lot of friends), they try to break through Xiqi’s defences and capture Ji Fa and get the fengshen bang. The four Mo brothers are also there and dies to super Yin Jiao who got resurrected by Kunlun and absorbed Yuanshi Tianzun’s power. Deng Chanyu turncoats over to Xiqi after Ji Fa talks to her about her motivations for combat and together, along with Jiang Ziya’s advice, beat Wen Zhong and one of the ten absolute formations he set in place (the one that seals souls).

Plot wise, overall it’s fine. It’s basically what I expected after the director said that the sieges of xiqi was going to be one big battle. What I didn’t expect was that the only ones of the Kunlun disciples that actually fight are Leizhenzi and super Yin Jiao. The funniest thing ever was when Nezha, yes that Li Nezha of Chentang Pass who will commit 1700 killings, saying killing is prohibited by immortals. Later on, Yang Jian says drinking is prohibited, so maybe they’re just really careful of rule following in case they end of going against the way of heaven. I would’ve liked to see Wen Zhong hit people with his sticks instead of doing the Jie Sect classic: formations, but given the actor is old, too much active and violent movement is probably bad for him.

Okay time to address the biggest issue in the movie (outside of horrendous cgi but I’ll get to that). The strange romance subplot between Ji Fa and Deng Chanyu. I’ve taken to calling this movie a high budget costume cdrama movie entirely because of this subplot. For those who don’t know, the strong independent who needs no man woman having a badly written romantic subplot with the protagonist who makes bad decisions due to falling in love is almost a key corner stone of cdramas.

Ji Fa I know you’re nice and all but all of Xiqi got their souls sealed and is currently getting massacred by Shang soldiers (thinking back why were you affected little lotus root? It’s one of your key advantages in the book too) and you’re hesitating to kill Wen Zhong because it’d also kill Deng Chanyu. Deng Chanyu had to go help you while she was bleeding out because you were that hesitant. What happened to you! In the beginning of the movie, you’d rather die than let the people of Xiqi suffer and now you’re willing to sacrifice all of Xiqi (and the world) because of a woman whom was your enemy like 3 days ago and you don’t even know very well! Ji Fa stop reminding me of the version of you from The Legend and the Hero 2. It’s not a good look.

On a lesser note, the horrendous cgi! Well it’s mostly fine except …

This monstrosity. Trust me it looks worse in motion. This is what I’ve taken to calling super Yin Jiao. Given that he and Leizhenzi are the only ones who fight a lot with cgi, you’d hope it looks good. It does not and every time he came on screen I wanted to burst out laughing. Please note this movie had been delayed due to cgi reasons. If this was the best that they’ve got, I just hope less of super Yin Jiao in part 3.

About the kunlun disciple shaped mascot in the room: Nezha and Yang Jian. What they do in this movie is mainly stand around and watch things happen. They help out with protecting the citizens of Xiqi during Wen Zhong’s attack, though ultimately fails to the soul sealing moonbeam lasers (Book Nezha: ???) and that’s it! Oh wait, Yang Jian also rescues Jiang Ziya once after Jiang Ziya called out water escape several times as a gag. Speaking of which, eight-nine technique, nine turns technique, what’s that? All Yang Jian knows is the 5 methods of escape. He literally does nothing but that and rescue people and calls them out too.

Also I think they ended up taking out a romantic subplot involving him because he was offered alcohol, denied due to reasons above, and then purposeful accidental kissed by the woman who handed it to him. As one commenter said, which of the four words of Qingyuan Miaodao have to do with love? He later rescues her and she tries to say something but he just goes off to save more people. Nezha gets a better showing with huntian ling and blots out the sky to stop the moonbeams from hitting people. Truly the mascots to bait people who had no interest previously but do have interest in one or both of these characters into watching. Unfortunately I’m a Huang Tianhua fan too so I’m just eternally suffering.

Characterisation wise, outside of Ji Fa, everyone important is fine. Ji Fa’s characterisation aside from the strange romance subplot is workable? He’s way too self sacrificing, especially as King Wu, but outside of that being annoying, just acts like part 1’s version.

Given what I remembered of Nezha and Yang Jian’s personalities and roles in the first movie, it was to be expected they be passive rather than how they acted in the book (missing Nezha’s violent personality and Yang Jian’s love of viewing the scenery and being a smart asshole). Group together because they are basically a set.

Jiang Ziya stops being comedic relief and starts doing his job as being the guy who does military strategies and also fills the quota for fish allegories.

Yin Jiao I don’t remember much from the first movie or the book. He gets a lot of people shipping him with absolutely everyone after the first movie so that probably says something about his personality. Standalone, he’s fine. Usual angsty guy out for revenge. This movie actually made me realise Yin Jiao is Taisui Xingjun, hence the form super Yin Jiao has. Super form has 3 personalities as a gimmick and it’s fine, not anything majorly important. Lets me suffer the bad cgi more however.

Newcomers Wen Zhong, Duan Chanyu (and to a lesser important extent, the four Mo brothers).

Wen Zhong, less friends, got a huge power buff. He’s the one who stayed most to the book version. Loyal supporter of the Shang Dynasty, though not to Yin Shou, and comes out of retirement to secure the future of the Shang Dynasty. Didn’t have his condemnation of Yin Shou’s sins here but Yin Shou comparatively has done less sins compared to the book before Wen Zhong returns from suppressing the northern uprising. Dies by getting stabbed through the third eye. Enthusiastic supporter of following the rules.

Deng Chanyu diverges from the book a lot. Her core motivation is to follow her dead father and die on the battlefield too and bring honour to the Deng family name. Her reason for turn coating is due to not wanting to kill civilians because her father never did. Poor Deng Chanyu, freed from Tuxingsun and right into Ji Fa’s hands. She kept her rocks at least.

Brief note on the Mo family. Why can’t they talk and why do they have zero brain cells. That’s all I have to say on them. Yin Jiao kills the remaining three single handedly after they were terrorising Xiqi.

Yin Shou and Daji are in the movie but don’t do much so I won’t talk about them.

Overall

Well I didn’t have high expectations going in after I got spoiled about the romantic subplot and people saying the movie was badly written. It basically matched my expectations. Is it better or worse than the first one? I’d say worse but I’d have to rewatch the first one. I’d say the director achieved their goal of showing what can the average human do against cultivators and giants, though that came to the downside of basically only the normal humans doing the fighting. Hope the third movie is better and no badly written shoehorned in romantic subplot that destroys characters thanks.

[wangmiao]

Chen Muchi as Yin Jiao & Yu Shi as Ji Fa in Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023)

[feihu-containment-chamber]

[singlebraincelledgoat]

So guess where I’ve been

Yeah I watched the second COTG movie and it’s taken over my life. If I had a nickel for every time I got violently fixated on a sequel media about Chinese mythology that received a lot of mixed reviews because of certain animation styles and possible budget cuts mainly because it had NeZha I’d have 2 nickels

*looks at LMK s5*

Anyways, I guess we doing art dumps now

You know I got a bit worried if I was deviating too much with my design of Yin Jiao’s 3 head 6 arm form, but given what he looked like in the actual movie I think I can implore a little self indulgence (every time I draw him I think of sharks and I think it shows a little lol)

Also Yin Jiao and NeZha have a lot of parallels that I’ve been absolutely eating up (NeZha stop taking other people’s backstories and looks in mythology challenge /j). Also would love to see NeZha and Lei Zhenzi interact more as the only kids on the immortal team. Also the only guys on the team who can fly, you can't tell me they wouldn't have taken advantage of that

I’m definitely not qualified to do any sort of rewrite of these movies, but I’m all for ending the trend of cutting the Huang family out of FSYY media when they’re so pivotal to the original novel. TianHua come back, they loosing it without you...

And some final miscellaneous doodles

I saw Yang Jian, Ji Fa, and Yin Jiao all get shipped together frequently and honestly I heavily fw the poly version of them. Yin Jiao has 3 heads to kiss after all /j (what would their poly ship name be? JianJiaoFa???)

Also please ignore how bad my Ji Fa design is, I'm still trying to figure out how to draw him

[scorbleeo]

Drama Gossip: The Spirealm (致命游戏)

Source: Google Images

It started off peculiarly; first, his domestic cat refused to let him cuddle it. Lin Qiushi soon found that a sense of disharmony and incongruity began to pervade everything around him. Then, one odd day, he pushed open a door, and he discovered that the hallway he was familiar with turned into a boundless corridor. At both ends of this corridor were twelve, identical iron gates. Thus, the story began.

Source: MyDramaList (2024)

Action, Adventure, Augmented Reality? Sign Me Up!

I do not consume everything that has the 'entering a virtual game with real life consequences' plot-line but when I do, I more or less will enjoy them. The Spirealm is exactly that plot-line and after just finishing 19th Floor (another Chinese drama with similar concept), I was expecting more and hoping for lesser disappointment.

This drama did not disappoint at all. Lets first talk about the roles and the cast. Brilliant job on the casting, everybody pulled off their role so wonderfully, it felt like they were made for their roles. As for the characters these actors portrayed, wow. I haven't been obsessed with a fictional Chinese character in such a long time but Ruan Lan Zhu is so easy to be obsessed with. The writing was brilliant because I very quickly grew attached to the main people and when shit hit the fan, yeah, I felt everything as if I was a part of them.

Spoilers going on from here so if you haven't watched the show, go and watch it now, please?

As I was saying, I was so attached to some of the characters, I really, wow... Say Li Dong Yuan first. I actually already was spoiled with his death, I even knew which door was going to cause his death yet when it happened, I physically gasped. Then his farewell scene came about and goodness gracious, Xiao Zhuang's reaction was absolutely heart-wrenching. It really did not help that right before getting stabbed, the door Dong Yuan went through for Ling Ling was one of the most entertaining and comedic doors.

After that Zao Zao's death? She was already trying her best in the real world, she tried her best in the spirealm. She gave one of the best speeches ever. Yet that chandelier... I never hated chandeliers as much as I do now.

That's the thing about The Spirealm. This show has plenty of heartbreaking scenes but at the same time, it has a bunch of hilarious scenes too. You really can go from laughing one second and then depressed the next. Exactly like when Cheng Yi Xie sacrificed himself for his brother? One second I was laughing at Lan Zhu begging for Ling Ling's forgiveness and suddenly I was pissed but before I could even get real mad, I was hit with a broken heart. This may sound like a complain but the roller coaster of emotions made this drama ten times more interesting than other dramas.

Moving on to the game or doors or levels (however you want to call them). I really, really enjoy shows with this concept but many a times, the stakes just aren't high enough. Not The Spirealm though. I mean, look at Dong Yuan, Zao Zao and Yi Xie. They are part of the main leads and that world did not go easy on them. As much as I hate that they died, I really appreciated the high stakes in this drama. It made watching the show so much more worth it.

Anyhow, despite thoroughly enjoying this drama, I have so many questions. First things first, did I miss the significance of the necklace Lan Zhu gave Ling Ling during the first door?

Also (this is not that important by the way), when the time comes, the players have no choice but through the door. We've watched Ling Ling enter his doors plenty a time. Now tell me how did Wu Qi survive?

I may be someone who loves an ambiguous ending but if the theory that everything was not real is in fact real, I hate it. Yet, everything being a part of Ling Ling's dream or "hallucination" does make sense, as much as I hate it. Remember where Ling Ling walked into upon completing the first door? He entered the door in the middle of the road and exited it into his house? The discrepancies started right from the beginning. Which (if I did not miss anything) might explain the lack of significance behind the necklace. It will also explain why Ling Ling's time between each door is never long yet Wu Qi's not worried about his next door when he witnessed Dong Yuan's death? Or that Chen Fei's advancement is so much slower than Ling Ling. Furthermore, I'm supposed to believe the crew learnt about a mysterious man who helped Xiong Qi reunite with Xiao Ke in the spirealm and they did not investigate more?

I really do hate the everything was not real theory but I also cannot deny it's the most reasonable one. There was another theory I chanced upon on Douyin a while back and have since forgotten most of the information. However, I like that theory a lot even though it was quite farfetched. Long story short, the user theorised that after Lan Zhu walked into the portal and cleaned the program, Ling Ling woke up and regained consciousness after being hit, right? That's not reality but the 12th door and the door god for this last door is Lan Zhu. That was all I remember but the user did provide explanations and timestamps for their theory and upon reading it, it did make sense too. Therefore, if I ever come across that video again, I will link it here.

In the meantime, let's wallow in the conclusion of The Spirealm. It was a quick and short ride but an extremely memorable one.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.5/5)

More productions from China here: 19th Floor (19层) | Under the Skin (猎罪图鉴)

[movielosophy]

Creation of the gods ⅰ  | He might be a better emperor.

[i-can-not-art]

Oc relationship charts

[barananduen-blog]

☆⌒ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALEN FANG YILUN! ⌒☆

UPCOMING DRAMAS

MUSIC

"LEGENDS NEVER DIE" - CALL ME BY FIRE SEASON 2 Alen Fang with the high notes

PHOTORAPHY

[tokumusume]

more fengshen + text posts

[electricsoul-rpg]

CHEN MUCHI (陈牧驰) as Yin Jiao, Crown Prince of Shang Dynasty

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms 封神第一部：朝歌风云 (2023)

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Beloved of A Lifetime (2024)

Gifs of Intro & Ending of cdrama “Beloved of A Lifetime”

《 三生無殤 Beloved of A Lifetime》 EP1-2：靈族聖女被害，兇手卻是新婚丈夫 | 鐘麗麗 管櫟 | KUKAN DRAMA

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLB0Kxjg1qA

[twstrhythm]

Another long anon under the cut.

Aside from the fact that you seem to be trying to educate me about my own culture, you really are a fool, aren't you?

Yes, respect is important. And yes, it is not good manners to pick a fight with someone. However, there is that small bit you decided to highlight. Shall I say it louder for those in the back?

"Respecting the feelings of whoever is being spoken to."

That goes to say the same should be expected from this hypothetical female character too. If she was not respecting their feelings, why should she expect them to respect her back?

And for the Chinese OCs in question, here is how they would react.

Haoyu would not like it if she disrespects his feelings and would definitely talk back to her about it. If she won't show him respect, then he is not showing her any respect too. He does not see why she thinks this is okay to do.

Hui Jin is upset by this. He does not think the girl had the right to disrespect him for a joke. It is not funny to him, so he will react accordingly. He would tell her that she is being disrespectful and that he will not tolerate that.

Jian-Yu would be put off by the disrespect he is receiving and start judging this girl for it. He does not see why he should have to put up with his feelings being disrespected like this. If she has the audacity to tell him that he needs to respect her feelings, he will laugh at her and say "that's a funny joke. Funny, because you didn't do that for me. Why should I respect you?"

Jiao-Long is upset with it. He does not think he did anything to deserve to have his feelings just disrespected like this. He would likely start avoiding her. If he has to spend time around her, he makes sure someone else is with him. He refuses to deal with her alone.

Kunming does not like that she disrespected his feelings like this. He is more than willing to just throw hands with her. Whenever he sees her again in the future, he just turns the other way and ignores her. He makes sure to drop hints for other people to know that this girl was not so nice.

Li Feng shrinks into himself. He first questions if it is his fault. Then he will ask other people for their opinion on it. Finally, he concludes that this girl was being disrespectful towards him, and that he does not have to accept that. He would judge her from a distance whenever he sees her from that point on.

Longwei is baffled that someone would be mean to him for no reason. Oh? It was a joke? Haha. He does not find that funny. As someone who had been bullied before, Longwei will not just let her get away with it. He would confront her about it and make sure she understands exactly how he feels about her now, and he is not going to be nice about it.

Shen is upset and kind of wants to cry, but he doesn't. He tells the girl that she should try being nicer. If she won't change her attitude, then he will not talk to her anymore. He will ignore her if she tries to talk to him.

Shi Yin is annoyed by this, and he tells her that she was being disrespectful flat out. He also tells her that he will not be speaking to her again from that point on. If she refuses to respect him, he will not respect her.

Xiaoshi is not going to go easy on her. He starts out by telling her that he thinks she is a terrible person for not respecting his feelings. Why should he respect her if she is just going to treat him like trash? That is not something he will just accept.

Xinyi just begins avoiding her like she is the plague. He does not want to speak to someone who disrespected his feelings. He has no obligation to. If he has to see her again, he avoids looking at her directly and only speaks to her when someone else does.

Xue Long is not pleased with this. He has had plenty of experience with people disrespecting his feelings, and he has become more guarded as a result. This girl had said/done something that hurt him, so he is more cautious around her. He remembers what he has been taught, but this person did not respect him. He gives her judgmental looks any time she tries to speak to him.

YunLong would just sigh and tell her that she is not a good person for being so disrespectful. He would say he would like to be nice, but it does not seem like she deserves it. Whenever he sees her after this point, he makes sure to remind her of her actions and that she needs to change that if she wants his respect.

Zixuan looks at her differently from that point on. His feelings were just disrespected after all. "Treat people the way you want to be treated", he has heard people say. Since this girl was treating him disrespectfully, then he will not be nice to her. He ignores her as much as possible.

[uovoc]

Importing some faves from the Nezha 2 fandom on Lofter

feat. cameos: Nezha from Legend of Hei, Sun Wukong, and Yin Jiao from Creation of the Gods II

Plus, incredible comments section from the Nezha Wants to Sleep comic:

Topmost username is 给我堪堪击击/Gei wo kankan jiji, meaning "Withstand assault for me", a homophone for 给我看看鸡鸡/Gei wo kankan jiji, "Show me dick"