“…he never could’ve expected the sight that would greet him.
“Hua Cheng was fully nude from the waist up. He had one foot up on a new donation box and was wiping away his sweat.”
Hua Cheng just vibing half-naked in the living room like this is a perfume ad
You just know that the moment that portal started opening he def bolted into position like, “Okay okay okay shirt off, leg up, hand here, smolder- no, casual smolder. Look natural.”
He’s such a dork for Xie Lian 😍
Xie Lian: “Someone like Mu Qing… Even though he’s petty, narrow-minded, overly sensitive, paranoid, has a bad personality, is prone to fixating on the little things, never says anything pleasant, likes to nag, is always offending others and has garnered a lot of dislike on that account, has no friends, and remembers small, unimportant offenses for far too long…”
Fu Yao: “…”
Xie Lian: went on and on with a straight face, all in a single breath. He concluded with “…I’ve known him since we were young. He’s still got principles.”
Fu Yao: “…”
Xie Lian: “He might spit in the cup of someone he doesn’t like, but he would never poison the water,” Xie Lian continued.
Fu Yao: “…”
Hua Cheng: “Really? That’s still gross, though,”
Fu Yao: Veins were popping on [his] forehead. “No! He would never spit either!”
Xie Lian: “Laxatives, then,”
—Vol.5 Ch.51
Happy Pride Month!! Saw this and just had to reblog 😂
self-indulgent “Things to never say to someone who just came out” TGCF edition, happy pride month!
and spoilers for plot of tgcf:
3 parade laps around while playing as Jun Wu in a play. 3 ascensions to heaven, while playing to Jun Wu’s tune.. Hua Cheng both started and ended the cycle.
He started it when he fell and Xie Lian first piqued Jun Wu’s interest by saving him.
Most symbolically, each time Xie Lian touched the boy, his pristine white clothes became dirty. And each time they touched, Xie Lians fortune dropped a little and Honghong-ers fortune rose.
“That child is toxic! He bears a fate of extinction, the sign of the Star of Solitude!17 He is destined to bring destruction to all save for himself—truly the kind that evil loves most! Whoever touches him will have misfortune befall them, and whoever gets close will lose their life!” —Vol. 2 Ch.27
You see, Hua Cheng didn’t just have the misfortune of the star alone, he had been cursed by the accumulated misfortune from the kiln. He needed to be saved many many times to dispel all his bad luck.
“not only can the Kiln produce monsters, it can also curse. Just as you were able to disperse your own good fortune, the Kiln can also disperse its accumulated misfortune…
The hour of the child’s birth was already extremely perilous: if his fate was fortunate, it would be the best of fortunes, but if it was unfortunate, it would be the worst of misfortunes. He probably absorbed all the misfortune the Kiln had dispersed on the day he was born, which was how he became so terrifying upon entering the world.” —Vol. 7 Ch.119
The greatest misfortune was meeting Jun Wu on the bridge. The insane man went from “mildly interested” to “wildly obsessed”…
“One phrase. It sounded so unbelievable, laughable even.” —Vol. 7 Ch.119
This is key. One phrase thoughtlessly uttered. What terrible luck. Yes, Jun Wu was the bad luck that just kept on giving, well past the time that any star or accumulation of bad luck could account for. But what misfortune to have attracted that man’s full focus in the first place.
Then Hua Cheng, as the little ghost light that Xie Lian saved, experienced great fortune when Xie Lian was stabbed those 100 times. He gained the strength to take form. Xie Lian should have died, but it was Hua Cheng who was reborn.
Sooo ya. I totally disagree with the theory that Xie Lians shackle disbursed his luck to Hua Cheng. The shackle simply removed any counterbalance Xie Lian could have had against the power of the Star of Solitude. Xie Lian didn’t give his luck to Hua Cheng, rather, Hua Cheng gave his bad luck to Xie Lian.
Xie Lian could have easily been a Lang Qianqiu. Comfortable in his righteous ignorance.
I mean.. I’m glad that it worked out and I don’t blame Hua Cheng with animosity. I’m just sayin.. it’s all his fault for being born.
“How could we? People made statues of him kneeling solely for the purpose of stepping on him!” Feng Xin said. “You’re not the one whose face is being stepped on, so of course you can dismiss it.”
“It’s not the first time that something like this has happened since the war was lost,” Mu Qing said. “And it surely won’t be the last. If he can’t get used to it soon, he might as well just die.”
This. Coming from the guy who literally appears in people’s dreams if he doesn’t think his statues are pretty enough..
THANK YOU!
Alright, so I have good news and bad news: the bad news is that I’m gonna be pausing the comparison posts for a bit, possibly a week if not longer to work on a Hua Cheng bday thing. The good news is that the ghost bridegroom arc edits have a twist that I absolutely think y’all should actually read, so I’m thinking about putting it up for y’all!
Just because he rejected heaven, doesn’t mean he rejected godhood. What he rejected was Jun Wu’s reign. And since he never gave that psycho a chance to shackle him, he couldn’t be considered anything less than a god. He passed the heavenly tribulation.
His first few believers were the people he sacrificed his eyeball for. Then, his first order of business was to slap 33 gods out of their posts and nab their followers. 2 birds, one stone.. or.. 33 birds?
The reason Jun Wu left him alone was probs not only because of his power (this dude was a Supreme Ghost King and an actual fricken God) but because Hua Cheng knew heaven was a scam. Hua Cheng was walking proof that Jun Wu was a fraud. Proof that Jun Wu’s “laws” weren’t divine laws.
What god was he? God of Luck, probably. Seems legit that the cosmic order would see fit to add a God of Luck since a God of Misfortune suddenly manifested due to belief
Speculative: You have to worship the God of Luck and the God of Misfortune together since if you only pray to the god of luck he won’t listen, and if you only pray to the god of misfortune.. well.. results may vary.
Rereading for the umpteenth time and wondering why no one ever talks about how Feng Xin was regularly spending money at a brothel to chill with his crush, but had the gall to shame Xie Lian for trying to steal money just to afford his dads medicine.
OMG DAMN HANDSOME NEW OFFICIAL HUA CHENG ART BY GEAROUS FOR HUA CHENG’S BIRTHDAY!!!
I’m new to tumblr, I don’t get it, and I don’t really care anymore so I’m going to just keep pressing buttons.
If I make some fauxpas, oh well. I typically just comment on and reblog whatever I want while using anywhere from 0-50 tags. Depending on my mood.
I don’t understand tumblr boundaries so to me there are none 🥂
This is mainly for tgcf, maybe some mdzs. I might even start ranting about the mongol invasions from the 13th century at some point. Who knows.
No, I didn’t come from twitter. I’ve never used twitter. I came from a strange place called “offline” after years of an intentional self-imposed social media blackout.
(But if you do ever want to talk about the mongols hmu)
Probs so [someone] knows who to sacrifice for maximum gain at [the place where people are sacrificed for power]
Power of belief and all.
NO BUT WHY DOES HE HAVE A SWORD THAT DETECTS VIRGINS??????