** Permission to post it was granted by the artist Do not repost/edit the art without permission Please, support the artist on their page too **
Artist : KKia (pixiv / weibo / lofter)
Source

Discoholic 🪩

No title available
trying on a metaphor

oozey mess

#extradirty
Claire Keane

@theartofmadeline
Peter Solarz
DEAR READER

Product Placement
Jules of Nature
No title available

Love Begins

roma★
No title available
Game of Thrones Daily
Monterey Bay Aquarium

izzy's playlists!
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
i don't do bad sauce passes

seen from Israel

seen from United States

seen from Türkiye
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Singapore

seen from Germany

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from Singapore
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States

seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States

seen from France

seen from Türkiye

seen from Germany
@bluekeroppi
** Permission to post it was granted by the artist Do not repost/edit the art without permission Please, support the artist on their page too **
Artist : KKia (pixiv / weibo / lofter)
Source
Crimson Rain Sought Flower – Hua Cheng
This is a meta that’s been in the works a while now, and yesterday I posted it to Twitter for Hua Cheng’s birthday! It’s June 10th in my timezone now, so here it is reformatted, tweaked, and with a few additions for Tumblr.
This is quite the long thread, so grab some snacks! (ノ´ヮ`)ノ*: ・゚
Hua Cheng and Morality
First, we need to understand Hua Cheng’s origin. He is a reject of society. He was cast aside by the world, and thus in return, holds zero esteem for it. He couldn’t care less what happens to the world, apart from the one person left in it who treated him with compassion and humanity. However, Hua Cheng is not ever intentionally cruel. He is not a cruel person, yet he’s also not a particularly nice person. He’s neutral. He has known severe poverty, and has suffered at the hands of hypocrisy and injustice—so he hates these things too.
That is why he’s sincere in his actions (even if they are not always “good”), and a man of his word. That is why he rules Ghost City with an iron fist, yet is fair. He does not abuse his power, and is always clear about terms in an agreement, but is not very forgiving. If you cross him, or try to swindle him, you will be put in your place. Pray to him with less-than-honest goals, and he will ignore you. Or if he’s in the mood, ruin your life to teach you a lesson. Wrong his beloved, and there will be hell to pay—full stop.
Meanwhile, he will protect innocent humans trapped in Tonglu, not only because that’s what his God would have done, but because those people are helpless. Hua Cheng knows helplessness. Especially to use them for his own gain is a hypocrisy he cannot accept for himself. And then, he will build a city for other ghosts (serves also to keep them in line), so that they won’t be taken advantage of like he was as a small ghost fire. He will give shelter to a ghost who got revenge on her rapist, and even for animal spirits who seek their vengeance.
These can be seen as benevolent acts, yet it’s more accurate to say that Hua Cheng’s hatred of bullies and the abuse of those who are vulnerable is the basis for whatever moral code he has. It’s an eye-for-an-eye (sorry) ideology. Rather than kindness or righteousness, it’s about balance.
[CONTINUED UNDER CUT DUE TO LENGTH.]
Keep reading
"Guaranteed genuine, otherwise returnable~"
My art
chinese hanfu by 夫诸Fzz | recreation of xie lian from tian guan ci fu
lan wangji: how do i get out of the friendzone?
wei wuxian: omg who put you there bestie
Wei Wuxian didn’t have the freedom to act as he pleased, he died precisely because his position prevented him from doing so.
Every time he is criticised, the conversation always comes back around to ‘how dare the son of a servant be this arrogant?’
‘“Wei WuXian! You’re only the son of a servant—how dare you be so bold!!!”’
(Ch.70, during the confrontation on Phoenix Mountain)
During this confrontation, people are upset that WWX has hunted a third of the prey, but no one has any complaints that Nie Mingjue also hunted a third of the prey.
‘Jin GuangYao, “In reality, not only did Young Master Wei keep a third of the prey to himself, our eldest brother has eliminated over half of the fays and the monsters as well.”
Hearing this, Lan XiChen laughed, “That is how Brother is like, after all.”’
-
‘“It’s unbelievable that Jiang Cheng could tolerate this servant’s brazen actions for so long.”‘
(Ch.1, prologue)
‘”I’ve never seen the servant of any sect dare be so arrogant, so proud.”’
‘“Excuse my bluntness, but he’s the son of a servant. How could the son of a servant be so arrogant?” ‘
(Ch.73)
Notice how, as his reputation gets worse, he goes from ‘son of a servant’ to simply ‘servant’ - despite never actually having been a servant of the Jiang sect.
In chapter 73, WWX is accused of ‘killing indiscriminately,’ even though he hasn’t done what he is accused of, his position disallows him from defence.
Who actually kills indiscriminately?
It’s widely known that Jiang Cheng does. But, as a Sect Leader, he can do whatever he wants.
‘Lan WangJi, though, was different from him. He wouldn’t even have to explain, and people would explain for him, such as how HanGuang-Jun had been deceived by the YiLing Patriarch.’
(Ch.50)
Why is Lan Wangji different? They were both strong cultivators from prominent sects, masters of the six arts.
The difference is, Lan Wangji was born with position, Wei Wuxian wasn’t.
When Lan Wangji runs off with the Yiling Laozu, people will make excuses for him.
For Wei Wuxian, he puts one toe out of line, and is shunned immediately, takes the blame for things he had no part in.
When WWX saved the Wens, Jiang Cheng refused to speak up in his defence, he declared WWX an enemy of the cultivation world, led the rest of the sects to believe that the Wens were an army.
He did these things in part because he felt WWX had forgotten his place - as JC’s subordinate, as a disciple of his sect, as someone who he thought of as indebted to him & his family.
The fact that Wei Wuxian’s position gives him so little freedom to do as he pleases, is precisely why he suffers such severe consequences.
But he puts his morals above keeping his position, thus is rewarded with a second life and a happy ending.
Wen Zhuliu put his loyalty to the Wen clan before his morals. That’s why he died.
Jin Guangyao cared more for ambition and revenge than morality. That’s why he died.
I find that rather interesting.
I was rereading the hunt at Phoenix mountain two days ago and it was the first time I noticed that while everyone was going crazy with WWX snatching 1/3 of the prey, no one even cared to noticed the fact that NMJ snatched another one third.
Also, on that note, the path of cultivation of the Nie sect is not really that different from demonic cultivation, the only difference is in the moral code. (That and also many people don’t know about the Nie sect’s way of cultivation which is one reason of the lack of criticism). The Nie sect uses the resentment of spirits while WWX uses the resentment of corpses to cultivate.
When NHS explains to WWX and LWJ about the saber spirits WWX asks him “how is that different from demonic cultivation?”. And the difference of course lays with the people find amoral to take advantage of a deceased person’s wishes and resentment but are totally fine if the person in question is not really a person but a spirit instead (which is a little racist if you think about it).
Thinking of it now I have a feeling that the cultivation of the Nie sect is more harming to the body than demonic cultivation, maybe because they cultivate with one spirit that gets stronger the more time they spent with it and it affects them greatly? While WWX has many corpses and he doesn’t tangles himself with only one. That is just a thought, I can’t possibly now that, but WWX seemed ok to me in temper, unlike NMJ, and keeps his calm when many wouldn’t. He loses it completely when things get so facted up that no person, cultivating or otherwise, would’ve been able to cope with it.
So WWX openly cultivating a path that is criticized and being extremely good at it, along with that strength and his arrogance and his denial to step down was his downfall. People wanted his strength and him out of the way so they can do anything they wanted. But it would’ve been extremely difficult to do so if it wasn’t for his position along with JC’s lack of support.
To be fair though, is not that JC didn’t try to protect him but it just wasn’t enough. He thought he couldn’t do more and when WWX told him to let it go, he did just that. But if JC’s love and faith in WWX were purer he would have seen that together they are the strongest and no one would’ve dare to come against them. He could have protected WWX and WWX would’ve had his back, because he cared about him and because he would have felt indebted because of that.
But JC was a little resentful to his brother for betraying him and along with his fear of being second and losing to other sects he choose to protect the Jiang sect instead of his brother when he could’ve had both.
And is just so sad to think about it.
The Nie sect’s cultivation method actually uses the spirit’s of non-humans - as in yao and/or guai.
But yes, from what we see, the Nie sect’s sabre cultivation seems to a one way ticket to an early death, which is precisely why Nie Huaisang avoids it.
I wouldn’t say WWX’s downfall was due to arrogance - as he explained to Lan Wangji in chapter 75 - ‘“Nobody can give me a nice, broad road to walk on. A road where I could protect those I want to protect without having to cultivate the ghostly path.” ‘
I think he refuses to contemplate the possibility of losing control of his cultivation not because he was arrogant, but because it made no difference either way - he could either use it to protect the Wens, or give up his cultivation and let them die. Of course, letting them die isn’t an option, and he’s just not the kind of person to fret over things when doing so isn’t useful.
Later on, when JZXun attacks him, and later the sects gather and plan to kill him, stepping down means letting them kill him, and then the Wens too.
During the SSC, WWX’s cultivation wasn’t criticised, people found it frightening, but more than anything they were glad to have someone so powerful fighting for them - ‘everyone feared him and flattered him’ (Ch.50)
The problem came when they realised that they couldn’t control WWX - they try to demean him, for being too ‘arrogant’ for the son of a servant, but WWX (and JYL) is having none of it. WWX makes it clear, when he shows up JZX at the archery contest at the beginning of the Phoenix mountain hunt in Ch.69, that he’s not willing to be ‘put in his place’ by the others sects, this is what frightens them, not his power, but that its him who has it.
After all, JGS covets the yin hufu, but no one protests the idea of a sect leader having the same power WWX does.
As for Jiang Cheng, the problem here is that he is the only one who could have done anything to improve the situation following WWX’s departure with the Wens, but his resentment of WWX got in the way of that. I already made a post about how JC has had an underlying resentment of WWX since childhood, so I won’t repeat myself here.
First of all, following the war, JC could have done something to elevate WWX’s position from simply a disciple and the son of a servant of the Jiang Clan - JGY was adopted into the Jin Clan in recognition for his deeds during the war, and of course 3zun became sworn brothers. Considering that WWX did a lot during the Sunshot Campaign, it seems a little cold that JC gave WWX no recognition at all. They could have become sworn brothers, JC could have even made him a recognised member of the Jiang Clan. Doing this would not have fixed everything, obviously, but it would have at least given people less ammunition to hate WWX with. (After all, while JGY is chief cultivator, people don’t bring up his parentage, its only when he falls from grace when its openly spoken about once more - power and position gives people armour from criticism, whether that criticism be valid or not)
Secondly, during the initial discussion following WWX’s departure in Ch.73, JC was explicitly given the opportunity to explain that the Wens were innocent, and that WWX was helping them because JC owed them a life debt. He initially does try to explain, but…
‘Everyone, I’m afraid you don’t know that the Wen cultivator whom Wei WuXian wanted to save was called Wen Ning. We owe him and his sister Wen Qing gratitude for what happened during the Sunshot Campaign.”’
He vaguely references owing them a debt, but straight after he says this, NMJ mentions the fall of Lotus Pier.
‘When he heard Nie MingJue mention the incident of his sect again, hatred sprouted within him. The hatred was directed at not only everyone who was seated in this room, but also Wei WuXian.’
Although JC does know, deep down that WWX is not responsible for Lotus Pier (as stated in Ch.59), by this point his resentment has overgrown whatever love he had for him, and from this point on, he refuses to speak up for him, despite having the opportunity to do so. I think, there’s a reason the arc covering the fall of LP is called poisons - this was a turning point for JC, his relationship with WWX could not be the same again.
‘“[Lan Xichen,] I have heard of Wen Qing’s name a few of times. I do not remember her having participated in any of the Sunshot Campaign’s crimes.”
Nie MingJue, “But she’s never stopped them either.”
Lan XiChen, “Wen Qing was one of Wen RuoHan’s most trusted people. How could she have stopped them?”
Nie MingJue spoke coldly, “If she responded with only silence and not opposition when the Wen Sect was causing mayhem, it’s the same as indifference. She shouldn’t have been so disillusioned as to hope that she could be treated with respect when the Wen Sect was doing evil and be unwilling to suffer the consequences and pay the price when the Wen Sect was wiped out.”’
JC knows that it was WN who saved him after he got captured, and then WQ sheltered them, he is living proof that the Wens WWX is protecting were innocent. JC had two sect leaders here, essentially saying that if WN and WQ could be proven to have went against the main Wen sect during the war, then they might be forgiven.
He could have spoken up, he chose not to.
Even LXC, who wasn’t even certain that WQ was innocent, did more to speak up than JC. He’s in a similar position of being a young, inexperienced sect leader, with Cloud Recesses having been burnt down and his father killed, but he still spoke up, so JC does not have that excuse.
JGS’s manipulation of JC during the scene in Ch.73 is very deliberate, in separating WWX from the Jiang Sect, it takes away any last lines of support WWX might have, and takes away the Jiang Sect’s power.
(After all, WWX could walk into a party he wasn’t invited to and demand they hand over their prisoners, and no one could stand up to him. A Jiang Sect with WWX supporting it is too powerful. That’s why JGS wanted them separated)
Being a disciple of the Jiang sect was the only official status WWX had, once that’s taken away from him, he loses what little entitlement to respect he had - people can accuse him of anything, attack him unprovoked.
JC, unfortunately, didn’t try to do anything more for WWX - he told him ‘Nobody would speak for them, and nobody would speak for you either!”’
But, LXC speaks up for them, and mianmian and LWJ speak up for WWX.
It’s not that nobody will - its that JC refuses to.
Back to WWX’s societal position, at this point, JC hasn’t let go of the possibility of WWX returning to LP - but that’s the only way in which he’ll allow WWX to be in his life - by his side, as his subordinate, as per the promise.
When WWX made that promise, it was to calm JC down after one of YZY’s rants about how WWX will always be better than him. This is why he holds onto it so dearly, its his assurance that, at least in this one aspect, WWX can never surpass him, he’ll never be anything more than the son of a servant.
I think this little bit of dialogue between WWX and JC about JGY is really revealing in this aspect.
‘Wei WuXian, “Isn’t Jin GuangYao here now? Jin GuangYao seems so much better than him.”
Jiang Cheng finished wiping his sword. After he scrutinized it for a while, he finally put Sandu back into its sheath, “So what, if he’s better? No matter how much better he is, no matter how clever, he could only be a servant who greets the guests. That’s all there is to his life. He can’t compare with Jin ZiXuan.”’ (Ch.71)
I think this might be one of the most revealing pieces of dialogue regarding WWX’s and JC’s relationship. While WWX is in the Jiang Sect, JC has this assurance, that no matter what, WWX can never compare to JC, because JC was born with status and power that WWX can never surpass.
This is why its so unbearable that WWX broke the promise, why he finds it impossible to try to maintain a warm relationship with WWX after he leaves (after all, the defection was supposed to be for show, JC was never supposed to stab WWX).
JC did want him to come back, did want to have a relationship with him, but the trouble is, he’ll only accept him in this one specific way.
When WWX deviates from this position where he would always be below JC, he declares WWX an enemy of the cultivation world.
This is a magnum opus.
devotion is always an act of beauty. // how to love a god part ii, natasza stark
never understood the whole showing up at your high school reunion revenge fantasy cause like really? high school?? I don’t want anyone from that time in my life to have any idea where I am or what I’m doing. do not perceive me I am dead to you and you are dead to me
I’m a big fan of Hua Cheng and He Xuan being friends but absolutely refusing to act like it. They do things for each other but exclusively because they owned the other something and don’t want to be in debt. He Xuan was there at Hua Cheng and Xie Lian’s wedding but only because as a Ghost King it would be polite of him to show up. Hua Cheng lets He Xuan eat for free at any banquet at Ghost City but he keeps adding the food on He Xuan’s tab. They meet up once every two weeks to have tea together and bitch about how annoying most people are for no other reason than the fact it’s beneficial to exchange information with your fellow Ghost King. No friendship going on there. None whatsover. Nope.
TGCF meta: Trauma, compassion, and what it means to truly know something
It happened! It happened! It finally happened! The idiots confessed! Finally, Hualian’s shared brain cell can stop wallowing in denial!
Okay, I know we like to joke about Xie Lian being a dumb jock with no emotional intelligence, but I beg to differ. He’s deeply wounded, broken and scarred in ways that make it hard for him to internalize others’ love and care for him, but he is still deeply empathetic, and damned if he ain’t a smart cookie.
I think Xie Lian knew Hua Cheng was courting him. Pretty much from the get-go.
He ‘knew’ this fact like one ‘knows’ that it would be better to have 8 hours of sleep, or that our friends don’t secretly hate us. He ‘knew’ this in his rational, deductive mind, but couldn’t let it seep down to his heart, couldn’t let it be true on an emotional level.
“But what about the ‘special person’ Hua Cheng is supposedly into?” you might ask. “Doesn’t Xie Lian think Hua Cheng loves someone else?”
Well, yes. And no. I think Xie Lian knows at least in part that this person is him, but at the same time, he cannot accept that the figure in Hua Cheng’s mind is truly who he is. It’s certainly no stretch of the imagination for Xie Lian to think this way: Back when he was first constructing Puji shrine in Chapter 13, we have the following exchange:
Xie Lian lightly coughed once before saying, “Ah, this monastery is for the Xian Le Crown Prince.”
Everyone was miffed, “Who is that?”
Xie Lian said, “I……I also don’t know. I think he’s a Crown Prince.”
The crown prince Xie Lian once was is now alien to him; he no longer knows who that naive, idealistic young man was. I think Xie Lian believes that this ‘special person’ is an idealized version of himself, someone long dead and past. All of this tension leading up to the confession is less about Xie Lian coming to realize that Hua Cheng is attracted to him, and more about Xie Lian being able to reconnect with his past self and believe that he is worthy of love, whether or not he measures up to an abstract ideal.
I think Xie Lian became aware very early on that Hua Cheng was interested in him, maybe even as soon as he learned of the identity of the hand that reached out to him in the bridal carriage. At first, he was suspicious of the demon king’s motives, as should be expected of him. However, once he grew used to Hua Cheng’s unyielding devotion, his coping mechanisms and lack of self-confidence began to kick in and deflect the attention: as they do, when one has internalized negative self-talk to the extent that compassion cannot absorb, that love can only bounce off of one’s shell.
It is fitting, then, that the confession happens in Mount Tonglu, a cursed place where Xie Lian is forced to reckon with his trauma and dive deep into his paralyzing self-doubt. It’s here, through all the pain, that Xie Lian can reconnect with the part of himself that he thought lost, the part that Hua Cheng coaxes out with his steadfast presence.
And what is this part?
I think that if Tian Guan Ci Fu can be summed up in a sentence, Mei Nian Qing has it best: “When humans ascend, they are still human; when they fall, they are still, human.” Although Xie Lian has become vastly wiser since the time the head priest said those words, I’m not sure he truly understood them until Hua Cheng entered into his life: until then, he was either an arrogant young man who believed himself infallible, or a walking shade whose only purpose was to survive: infinitely, irredeemably fallible.
It is Hua Cheng’s love that reconnects Xie Lian with his inner humanity.
Elaboration on this theory under the cut, along with nitty-gritty textual evidence.
Keep reading
morally grey does not mean “is bad but also sad”
a character that is morally grey will not burn the world down because it makes them feel powerful, they’ll do it because they perceive something about it to be broken. moral ambiguity has nothing to do with a character’s past, and everything to do with the relationship between their actions and their intentions.
Great distinction!
A character who does bad things because they’re sad, betrayed, or hurt by their circumstances may be sympathetic, but they aren’t necessarily morally grey.
A character becomes morally grey when there’s a sense of truth, goodness, or justice in their purpose, but the actions they take to achieve that purpose are troubling, even amoral.
wow relevant
glimpses of Hua Cheng’s true form 🦋 | Heaven Official’s Blessing Special Episode
if you could have lwj say fuck once in the entire duration of mdzs/cql where would you put it
i personally think "you fucking told me yourself" would be pretty funny
@jnling
@trans-axian
for several people
@ling-wens why would you hide this absolute treasure in the tags
presented without comment
drunk lan zhan should have sworn at least once
@mylastbraincql xuanwu cave shenanigans
Added something to this perfect post
Always love it when lwj literally owns su she
Hua Cheng: When I meet my god, I’m going to give him my ashes because if he doesn’t want me, then there’s no point for my existance.
He Xuan: …do you take constructive criticism.
Hua Cheng: Absolutely not.
Xie Lian: Hi, Mu Qing!
Mu Qing (internally): Taizi Dianxia, the person I admire most in this world, my first crush, someone I looked up to and wanted to be friends with for years but could never seem to be good enough for or at an equal status with.
Mu Qing: The fuck do you want?
Pei Ming: Your Highness, do you know what an orgasm is?
Hua Cheng [spits out water]: What the fuck-
Xie Lian, completely serious: When you fold paper to look like birds and stuff.
Shi Qingxuan: no, that's oregano
He Xuan: If I had a coin for every time I thought about revenge, I’d have one coin because it’s all I think about.
Hua Cheng: Is that why you’re so fucking broke?