I Have Decided. I Like Tgcf Better Than Mdzs, But I Like Wei Wuxian Better Than Xie Lian. Wbu?

“…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 😍

The fact that Quan Yizhen regularly descended just to beat up his own worshippers, and this only resulted in gaining a larger following… is probably the most realistic thing in this whole high fantasy series.

I fr just wanted to stop responding cus this obv isn’t going anywhere, it’s pointless, we don’t see eye to eye, agree to disagree blah blah but there’s one part in particular I can’t let go because I’m wheeeezing

Are you aware that Mu Qing and Feng Xin were so desired in heaven, since they are both pretty competent ? In fact, Mu Qing easily found another master.

😂😂

Was this ironic? Do you realize.. what you’re saying? Their new master.. the system that desired them.. ok I’m done lmao you just made my point for me

“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..

I’m re-reading book 6.

*deep breaths*

I’m not prepared. But I’m doing it anyways.

Hello there!

I saw the thread about topics within the book and one I had to ask about is what is this spicy take on the black water arc? Like now, I'm super curious and have to follow up on this!🤣😅

Veering sideways about the one on if Jun Wu did it or not. Xie Lian's parents being either killed or manipulated by Jun Wu to do so would track with him. Have you determined which stuff was probably him and which wasn't? It's honestly really terrifying to think how long he was terrorizing and ruining their lives until things unraveled with Xie Lian's third ascension.

And the three clowns one - what's that referring to?

TIA!🌸

Some of this is going to be tough to answer without going into full dissertation mode but I’m going to try to keep it brief and platform appropriate. I’ll save Blackwater for last haha you're tryna get me blacklisted

The thing that sold me on Xie Lians parents was the fact that they used his white silk band to do it, which is hugely symbolic and basically screams “It’s your fault.” First read through, I thought they did it because they were feeling as if they were a burden to Xie Lian. Since then though? No. That silk band was used by Xie Lian every single day, and he had to search for it. His parents were not so cruel. Then there's the amount of trauma that band would have had to endure to become sentient. A quiet acceptance of death by suicide doesn't fit the bill. 

I actually want to keep on that to further compound my thoughts, but I'm wont, because the point is; in finding out what Jun Wu may or may not have done, looking at out-of-character actions and what doesn't add up is best. Like Xie Lians sleeve getting caught on a cloud during his descent. The Spirits at Mt. Taicang that attacked Honghong'er. Mu Qing just so happened to show up at the blessed mountain when Xie Lian finally thought he was catching a break. Who killed Ming Yi? The friggen drought.

And yes, the clowns. MQ/FX. This ties into the prior: Why are they so unbearably acidic towards Xie Lian? Some past grievances, yes. But they are hostile, they think he's an idiot, and they're never there when Xie Lian needs them yet fight over who's the worse friend- not who is the better friend. It's not a bitter past, its more like their flames were stoked beyond reason. Then, time and time again, they deny any association with him in public, leaving him hanging. Are they just afraid of rumors? Mu Qing, maybe. But the noble and just beacon of righteousness, Feng Xin? Would watch his friend and former liege be humiliated and not say anything? 

And could I, in all confidence, after reading multiple mxtx works say "It's just because that one event upset them,” and leave it at that? 

And no, I have not verified all. Some have backup, some are speculation. It’s something I’d like to work on the next time I return to tgcf though. 

The Blackwater arc.. woof. Ok, bracing myself for incoming projectiles. 

In a nutshell, it's that Shi Wudu stole Shi Qingxuans fate of wealth and that's how he gained the title God of Wealth, contrary to popular belief. I could go full blown dissertation.. and actually I might, but first I'll just start with where I started:

Shi Qinxuan had a fate of wealth that was verified to not have been touched by Blackwater, nor consumed by the Reverend of Empty Words. So why was he a destitute beggar at the end? Not poor, not struggling, but a crippled, starving beggar. 0 wealth. None. Not a single coin.

The wealth he has as god was showered on him by Shi Wudu and most Shi Qingxuans temples were shared. I actually dont recall it saying he had his own temples at all (doesn’t mean it didn’t happen)

Then I asked myself "Why was 'wealth' used so many times in this tangled arc? Qingxuans fate, Wudu's domain, He Xuans windfall.." 

"Who benefitted the most?"

Then questions like "What was Shi Wudu's overprotectiveness really about? Mostly optics, right?" 

Because... what if someone found out..? His overprotectiveness really only flares up once the spiritual power is gone.. you could say it's all about safety but.. 

And so I read through carefully to either confirm or deny the hypothesis and regardless of how much no one wants to hear about it I'm firmly in the camp that this isn't a head-canon but possibly an intention. The timelines of Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan dont back the idea that the fate swap only happened at the last moment before ascension. Shi Wudu moved them to a home less than an hour away from He Xuans hometown before he even ascended. The power of the RoEW was not insurmountable. And just because Shi Qinxuan wasn’t “fated” to ascend doesn’t mean he couldn’t have, but Shi Wudu sure wasn’t going to wait to find out. 

Maybe it was greed, maybe it was a necessity in order to preform the fate ritual idk. But Shi Qinxuans fate is gonezo and neither the RoEW nor Blackwater laid claim to it. 

😭😭😭😭 it was so sad that I couldn’t stop laughing. #JusticeForYizhen

Mu Qing and Feng Xins overall immaturity, petty passive-aggression, and lack of personal growth over an 800 year span always blew my mind. But I’m starting to really consider that they had someone whispering in their ears about one another.

“Don’t mind him, Mu Qing. You know he always looked down on you and it’s only got worse since you left his highnesses side first. Feng Xin will never let that go.”

And vise-versa. Or even more insidiously, casually playing one another’s insecurities off each other in seemingly unrelated ways.

We all know Jun Wu love psychological games. Immortalizing everyone around Xie Lian not only physically but keeping them all emotionally stunted. (CoughLQQcoughcough)

And this also further serves to isolate Xie Lian, since if the three of them were able to co-exist then they could present a problem and possibly figure things out faster.

Too bad none of them could tread their own paths.

This is all just

Pure Speculation

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Whether you love Hualian, Wangxian, or Yanshen, there is something for everyone!!

Why is it common knowledge that the flashbacks in Volume 6 (7s) take place starting 4+ years after the fall of Xianle? As in, they’ve been on the run for 4+ years. I can’t find anything to support this in the text, and there’s a lot of context clues that suggest it hasn’t even been a full year.

Please point me in the right direction to confirm this.

Is that timeline fanon or canon?

Hua Cheng doomed Xie Lian

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.