zhaleqjj

[zhaleqjj]

This poem is so He Xuan-coded

"I wrote the name of the one I loved on the wind.

I wrote the name of the one I loved on the water.

But the wind is a bad listener,

The water does not remember names."

-Nizar Qabbani

[zhaleqjj]

I just realized that the scene where He Xuan blasts that water ghoul when it lunges for Shi Qingxuan is a parallel to when Hua Cheng explodes the snake that lunges for Xie Lian

Also the action was complicated on Hua Cheng's part because he felt like he wasn't able to protect his highness enough, and He Xuan has been keeping Shi Qingxuan from getting any wounds except for the one on his leg during black water arc, so maybe there was a similar complicated feeling on He Xuan's part.

Since Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan are both deeply entangled in the respective ghost king's reason for existence, He Xuan probably didn't feel the same sense of guilt Hua Cheng felt, but a sense of justice about how he should inflict revenge and some guilt about things that were out of his control.

[zhaleqjj]

I like how He Xuan's robes are described to have silver thread that shimmers and that the Black Water Demon Lair is described to have no light and be pitch black. It's like he took the stars in the sky and stitched them into his robes, which is hopelessly beautiful.

I beefleaf this by headcanoning that when shi qingxuan is sleeping in his dilapidated temple with a broken roof, he can see the stars in the night sky and is reminded of the shimmering robes and just gazes up blankly for a moment

[zhaleqjj]

i just realized that canonically hualian is the red string of fate and beefleaf is a dead knot

[zhaleqjj]

okay but what if pre-canon when shi qingxuan and he xuan went on a mission together, something happened and he xuan saved shi qingxuan by summoning his own water but shi qingxuan is overjoyed and thanks shi wudu for it? And shi wudu is like "what?" and he xuan just rolls his eyes and walks away, leaving shi qingxuan puzzled

[zhaleqjj]

One thing that struck me recently was a few crumbs of He Xuan/Shi Qingxuan and Pei Xiu/Banyue parallels. The parallel I noticed is the crouching during confrontation.

Near the end of Banyue Arc, Shi Qingxuan crouches in front of Pei Xiu and chides him for his actions in Banyue Pass for the past two hundred years. Since tgcf is from Xie Lian's narration, the history behind Shi Qingxuan and Pei Ming and Pei Xiu isn't elaborated on beyond the characters' dialogue, such as Pei Xiu saying to Shi Qingxuan something along the lines of, "Hasn't the Wind Master always been suspicious?" But to me personally, that scene read more like a slap on the wrist than actual anger on Shi Qingxuan's part - more like disapproval and carrying out punishment where justice was due. Supporting this interpretation is Shi Qingxuan's offhanded comment that Xie Lian's question in the communication array reminded him of this problem, implying it had slipped his notice, and Shi Qingxuan's later offer to Pei Xiu to help him rise back in the heavens as long as he recognized his wrongs, implying he didn't dislike Pei Xiu and just wanted to punish the action.

Then, near the end of Black Water Arc, He Xuan crouches in front of Shi Qingxuan and is described to look directly into Shi Qingxuan's eyes, speak slowly and enunciate his words, and say the whole "your brother, an ordinary common mortal" spiel for Shi Qingxuan to hear ("this was all said for Shi Qingxuan to hear"). Even later, when he is giving the brothers two options, when it comes to Shi Qingxuan's turn, he is once again described to speak slowly and say each word clearly. He Xuan crouching in front of Shi Qingxuan kind of gives me a cruel sense of irony when compared to Shi Qingxuan crouching in front of Pei Xiu. They're both trying to get across a point of "the other person should recognize their wrongs" while getting on equal footing with them, rather than looking down on them. I kind of feel like this was He Xuan's last ditch attempt to get Shi Qingxuan to (literally) face and confront his indecision over this horrible situation. As soon as He Xuan yanks off Shi Wudu's head, he stands over Shi Qingxuan and looks down on him, since that last chance of understanding was gone.

And honestly, He Xuan could be mimicking Shi Qingxuan's way of handling problems and carrying out justice by using the familiar crouching gesture :(

[zhaleqjj]

the hualian/beefleaf truth or dare got me in my feels because we have Shi Qingxuan hearing that the worst suffering in the world is “watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it” right after seeing the Bloody Fire Social where Scholar He aka his best friend is suffering to death over and over again and Shi Qingxuan can do nothing about it since it was in the past

[zhaleqjj]

so I heard about the “beefleaf is bad fate wangxian” parallel, so now I’m imagining He Xuan (as Ming Yi) going to Yushi Country to meet with Yushi Huang and basically saying the equivalent of “I want to bring someone back and hide him” about Shi Qingxuan 🥺

[zhaleqjj]

headcanon that He Xuan and Hua Cheng had an agreement where He Xuan did the calligraphy for the Qiandeng Temple tiles and Hua Cheng carved the near-lifelike statues of the Wind and Water Master in Fu Gu