Words can't describe how much I love Jin Ling's arc. He starts off as this wimpy kid that cries for his uncle at minor inconveniences and flaunts his wealth to step over the poor, he really earned himself the nickname of Young Mistress because he's a spoiled brat. And yet he learns about nuance more than the adults that were supposed to teach it to him.
He has the horrifying realization that the same person that killed your father can accept being damaged as long as they can save you. He realizes that doing bad things, even unforgivably bad things, doesn't necessarily mean someone will never be capable of good in their lifetime (or second lifetime). In the world of mo dao zu shi everyone is either a noble, pure hero or a dirty, scummy villain, regardless of how true or not this is.
That's why it takes the cultivation world years to turn on Hanguang-jun, their most noble hero and second son of a respectable lineage, but it takes them seconds to turn on Jin Guangyao, the son of a prostitute, and just a few years to turn on Wei Wuxian, the son of a servant and a rogue cultivator. Jin Ling learns at the same time as Jiang Cheng, his almost 40 year old uncle and father figure, that it's not that easy to find someone to blame and, sometimes, things happen for no reason.
I love Jin Ling, I love the Young Mistress, I love how his loneliness isn't over by the end of the book, but it's soothed by the presence of friends that are also children going on a similar journey; I love that he's still a wimpy kid that cries for his uncle, but now he has others to count on, including himself. His friends have all been saved by the Yiling Patriarch and the Ghost General; his friends have all hated the Yiling Patriarch and the Ghost General. I adore it.
I would like to remind everyone that Shang qinghua is, in fact, a peak lord.
Don't get me wrong, I love how pathetic he is in canon and even moreso in fanon. But still, he is very much a peak lord. No matter how mediocre his skills are, he would still be in the top percentage of cultivators.
Honestly, the more I think about him the worse I feel for him, and I know that to some extent he has gotten his happy ending, but we don't see much from it other than an interview confirmation that he and Mobei Jun had ended up together.
This is not going to be an in depth character analysis like I did with Mu Qing, I'm just ranting to get my thoughts out.
So first and foremost, let's start with his life before the transmigration. His parents divorced and he wasn't really wanted by either sides. That is already a painful thing to know and realise as an adult, let alone when you have time to internalise it ever since childhood.
As a writer, he had to abandon his own principles and artistic visions to make ends meet. I do think that Shang Qinghua does enjoy being a ragebaiter as a writer, based on the way he was reading the comments and his reactions to them in the Airplane extras (SVSS vol. 4 if you have the published books), but at the end of the story in book 3, the way he told Shen Qingqiu about how he didn't start out writing things like this and this was not what he wanted, it read so bittersweet to me, even if he said it jokingly. And while we could debate that you have to give some things up in order to follow your dreams, is it still your dream if you had to abandon what you actually wanted to do?
Also, the way he highlights that writing a novel is a lonely thing. We only see him as a shut in and he doesn't think back to having any friends at any point in the extras, so we can assume he didn't have any.
And, in my opinion, that doesn't change after the transmigration.
I read fics because I do love Moshang a lot, but I genuinely don't know how I feel about Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua's "friendship". I guess this is like shipping FengQing for me when in the books I said there was no love lost between them.
I don't think Shen Yuan cares much other than the fact that Shang Qinghua is convenient. Shang Qinghua annoys him on every turn, and Shen Yuan can't help but fall for the ragebait. He has Shang Qinghua help him with the mushroom body, but he doesn't think of him fondly at all. Once again, no love lost between them. I can't claim that Shen Yuan wouldn't help Shang Qinghua if the tables had turned, like when Shang Qinghua left Mobei Jun and he and Binghe took him in for dinner and a chat. So I think he would help, but he'd be a bitch about it the entire way. I don't know if I'd consider them genuinely friends, but maybe that's just my own standards.
And another thing is that how willing Shang Qinghua is to accept the abuse. We can argue that being hit by Shen Qingqiu's fan is one thing, that they are in a setting and they're both guys so then tussling is normal (? I still don't think it's healthy or good, but I also am a woman and therefore can't accurately judge how far guys are willing to go like that). But it is also a fact that he endured Mobei Jun beating him for years.
Shang Qinghua is portrayed as cowardly and thick faced, who will take whatever humiliation as long as he gets to survive at the end, but I genuinely think that this is something to think about a bit deeper. Because yes, he does get fed up and hits Mobei Jun back when he knows the demon can't retaliate, since Shang Qinghua is not stupid enough to fight the demon outright, but for the most part, he just takes it. He took the humiliating treatment in the Airplane extras. He took Mobei Jun kicking him and tossing him into his possible death on Maigu Ridge when he threw him into the cave to check what's inside, and then still went out of his way to save Mobei Jun when he flew after him on the sword. (Whether or not this was needed is another debate, because couldn't Mobei Jun just rip a portal in the air and teleport himself onto the ground? Food for thought for another day.) And he went and faced Linguang Jun to save Mobei Jun when it was almost certain death for him if Mobei Jun didn't miraculously push through everything.
Yes, I know Mobei Jun is his ideal man. Yes, I know that Mobei Jun probably changed after the Airplane extras. But Shang Qinghua had no way of knowing he would when he did all that. He just took the hits and helped anyway.
There is an argument to be made that Shang Qinghua knew what kind of man Mobei Jun could be like since he was the one who created him, but my counter argument would be that at this point the story had changed so much that there was no guarantee for that. Luo Binghe, the one Shang Qinghua spent the most time honing in the original novel, has changed, why is it impossible for Mobei Jun, a side character who was most likely not flashed out enough to show that he could be kind and caring, to turn out differently than what Shang Qinghua dreamed of? There were so many variables by the end that there were simply too many risks in my opinion.
It could be seen as romantic, that Shang Qinghua persevered for the man, and that Mobei Jun ends up changing for him, but... I don't know. I also want to argue that we can't judge Mobei Jun by modern, real word standards, because those are not the standards the SVSS universe abides by. He's a demon and even if he was human, the way he grew up would absolutely prevent him from understanding love and care and from knowing how to show it. So the same way we can't judge historical figures from hundreds of years ago by today's standards, I don't want to judge a fictional character by real word standards, but it's making it very, very hard. Maybe I'm just not cut out for dark romance. Honestly, at this point, I'm just bombing my own ships. (This will not stop me from shipping Moshang and reading fics about them, so I will gladly take my little hypocrite badge, thank you very much.)
Anyway, my point is, Shang Qinghua is... a very worrying character. I love him, I desperately want to give him a hug, but he is a very sad man.
So yeah. Shang Qinghua is a very sad character, and I love him so much. He needs a hug and sooooooooo much therapy.
He has pretty much subscribed to the low views everyone has of him. He doesn't have dignity, he doesn't have any pride, he just takes whatever harsh words or actions are thrown at him as long as he lives another day. And the worst thing is, we genuinely don't see any good to him. Shen Qingqiu doesn't consider anything good about him, and even when we read Shang Qinghua's own POV in the Airplane extras, it's so self-effacing. He's the lord of the "lame peak" that everyone bosses around, the other peak lords don't think anything of him, except maybe Yue Qingyuan who might somewhat recognise that he's useful because he probably understands how much trouble it is to handle logistics for the sect, but even then, it's most likely not fondness but the fact that he's trying to get taxes and logistics off his own plate. (Being a side character with no POV, we don't know his actual thoughts.)
Shang Qinghua has literally no self-worth and it shows deeply in his actions for the most part, until the very end of the Airplane extras.
The key to a good BingLiuShen fic is to have Shen Qingqiu misread every sign because he refuses to believe he is in love with Liu Qingge (becauses Liu Qingge is straight and he is married), have Liu Qingge misread every sign because he is autistic, and have Luo Binghe be the only one aware of anything in their dynamic.
My best friend bought me a full set of The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation for my birthday on Vinted, however, it's obviously a fake, where someone printed it out with bad formatting and then probably hand bound it.
I'm still very grateful for the gift, I'm very touched that she cared enough to remember me loving MXTX's other books and then go out of her way to look for them so I don't want to get rid if them, but I'd like to ask if someone would be willing to check if it's the right text inside if I send a pic of few pages?
Established bingliushen where literally no one else knows that they're already together even though they're not even hiding it
Binghe swings by during a peak lord meeting, and Liu Qingge chases him out. The peak lords think it's because Binghe is technically still banned: Shen Qingqiu knows it's because Liu Qingge is still mad that Binghe woke him up by biting his ass that morning
Liu Qingge, on his way home from a mission, notices a stall with pretty fans and starts examining them. The other cultivators on the mission share pitying glances, because "poor Peak Lord Liu; pining over a man who's smitten with another!" But actually Liu Qingge is staring at this One Fan because he's 95% certain it's one of Shen Qingqiu's custom-made ones, and now he's debating whether to check if Shen Qingqiu is at a nearby inn to confirm or just skip to fighting the stall owner for stealing his boyfriend's fan
Binghe calls Liu Qingge "husband". Everyone thinks he's being sarcastic, especially when Liu Qingge rolls his eyes. (He is rolling them because they're not married yet. "Yet," Binghe will repeat.)
Shen Qingqiu tries to convince Liu Qingge to "give Binghe a chance". Others think he's trying to get Liu Qingge and Binghe to become friends, oblivious to Liu Qingge's true feelings. In reality, Shen Qingqiu is trying desperately to get Liu Qingge to forgive Binghe for the second ass-biting incident and to let Binghe back into their bedroom (as Binghe has been exiled to his old room until further notice).
Bingliu starts dueling in public and everyone shakes their head and sighs, like "poor Shen Qingqiu. Will those two ever get along?" Not knowing this is considered foreplay in bingliu language. Shen Qingqiu is perfectly happy to let them tire each other out.
Liushen going through town on their day off, looking at matching couple's accessories together and buying a set. Sightings spark terrible rumors of a possible affair. Meanwhile, liushen was just looking for a reasonable gift for Binghe, who loves finding ways to match outfits/accessories with his husbands all the time.
Binghe whining and complaining to Shen Qingqiu about how "unbearable" Liu Qingge is. He is upset that Liu Qingge still won't forgive him for the ass-biting. It's not his fault Liu Qingge's ass is so shapely!
Liu Qingge embodying indoor/outdoor cat energy by basically wandering in and out of all of Bingqiu's properties as he pleases. He shows up for six hours one day and then a month in another visit, with a three month gap between the two. The entire time he's either at Cang Qiong or thrashing monsters in some random forest. The first time, he shows up to the demon palace unannounced while Binghe is holding court. Liu Qingge kicks the door down while some noble is airing their grievances and loudly declares Binghe's security detail is dogshit. He is covered in blood. He does not seem bothered by the meeting around him as he drags the carcass of some rare beast Shen Qingqiu asked for to the foot of the thrones. Unsurprisingly, the demon realm catches on much quicker to the situation.
online numbers can really fuck you up when it comes to your creative work because you're sharing something you worked on with all your heart but it's very important to remember there's actual people behind those numbers. even if it's 1. that's one whole actual person. that's a human being who said "haha nice". that's a connection with a REAL person with a REAL life and REAL thoughts and feelings and experiences. like. damn. that should mean something
I'm reading Book 5 of TGCF now, and I never really had strong feelings about Pei Ming. He was like minorly annoying about Pei Xiu and a bit overbearing big brotherly when it was not his place in the Black Water Arc, but generally, he was just there.
I do understand why people would look down on his womanizing habits and usually, I'm not into playboy characters.
But him sticking to his morals? Rejecting being a ruler? Being good at what he does? Breaking his sword with his own hands?
Damn, that's sexy.
Edit: SPOILER!!!!!!
I got to the part where he has interacted more with Banyue. He's not just a playboy, he's just plain misogynistic. On one hand, I'm like, sadly, it's time typical to think about women like that, on the other hand, fuck you, Pei Ming. Is he friends with Ling Wen because she has a male form too and hence exempt from the female population? Smh.
Edit 2: So I just finished Book 5. I'm somewhat conflicted. On one hand, I'm growing begrudgingly fond of you, General Pei. On the other, this because everyone keeps humbling him and he desperately needs that.
I also hope that at some point he shows more competence, because him being comedic relief is only cute for a certain amount of time. I was promised a Martial God, I want a martial god. (Even if they are just the jocks of the Heavenly Realm)
I will be back with a more in-depth character assessment once I finish the series. (I was originally only planning on doing that for Mu Qing, but I hope I will have more to say about Pei Ming too.)
*Him sticking to his morals despite Ling Wen picking the other side*: Damn, that's sexy.
*Jun Wu having to weaken him by the means of Xie Lian, because if I understood correctly Pei Ming's the second oldest martial god and he single handedly rules the North*: Damn, that's sexy.
*Him climbing out of the lava, wielding His Sword after discarding his pride*: DAMN. THAT'S. SEXY.
*Him going to kill the rats because he can't handle Yushi Huang beating him*: ... and now you ruined it.
My thoughts during book 8:
*Him not escalating the situation with Rain Master and willingly removing himself from the situation*: You have potential to be so sexy, keep going. Love that for you
Before we get started, there is one thing I need to make very clear:
Mu Qing is a bitter, petty little bitch with a horrible personality and if he was my coworker, I would also hate him.
That being said, I think he's one of the most human and interesting characters in this entire series, so he held my attention during the entire time I was reading the books. I have also read several posts over the course of the last 1,5-2 months I have been engaging with the fandom either praising or bashing him, so now this is my deep dive into his character. It's going to be a long one, so buckle up, people. And prepare for spoilers. Like, all the spoilers.
I have thought a lot about how to go about this post. Shall I go book by book? Chronologically? In the end, I decided the best way to go is by starting with the quote that I believe describes him the best and going from there, mostly chronologically:
"If I'd told you what happened, you never would've believed me anyway! Who'd admit to anything when that's the attitude they can expect? I wouldn't be able to explain myself if I did admit to anything, so I might as well not bother!" - Heaven Official's Blessing Book 8, page 21 [this, and from here on out, every quote and reference is from the 2023 Seven Seas physical publication, translated by Suika and edited by Pengie]
Most of the biggest problems Mu Qing faces comes from the fact that he's a condescending asshole and because of this attitude, he's naturally treated like a villain even when he doesn't necessarily give people reason to see him as one.
At the end of Book 2, when the first flashback arc starts, we get to see the Xianle Trio while they are in their teens. (Xie Lian is specified to be 17, Feng Xin and Mu Qing are not.) And one of the first scenes where we meet Mu Qing, he's already being questioned and then treated almost like criminal, even after we learn that he was "sabotaged" from carrying out his mission by other disciples, which has resulted in the first of the problems encountered at the Festival.
And when he's told off by Feng Xin for not reporting to incident, Mu Qing is once again bitched at when saying he did it trying to protect the camaraderie the others have. I interpreted this as the camaraderie Xie Lian has with the other disciples because it's clear that Mu Qing doesn't share it with them. And a few pages later we see why Mu Qing didn't report it when we see the disciples picking on him in retaliation. (Book 2, page 330)
The only person who is on his side the entire time is Xie Lian. We, as a reader, know that Xie Lian genuinely supports Mu Qing at this point in time, and Xie Lian even acknowledges their power imbalance. (Book 2, page 325) However, Xie Lian, despite his best efforts and (compared to like the king and Qi Rong) apparent class consciousness, he still doesn't necessarily understand Mu Qing to the point where he could put himself into his shoes.
It is said that Mu Qing had already had a bad relationship with the disciples. We don't know where this came from or how the feud started, we just know that it's there. We also don't know if the State Perceptor's dislike started when Xie Lian brought him in or even before that, when Mu Qing was just an errand boy. So while Xie Lian had the best intentions, I do think it's understandable that. Mu Qing's attitude doesn't change towards the others, just as the others' attitude doesn't change towards him. (This is once again something Xie Lian acknowledges on page 327.)
Mu Qing is 16-17 at this point, and he's already basically a hedgehog stuck in defense mode. Now give it 800 years of people only proving to him that nobody will ever be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, it is a clear path to him becoming the way he is.
Now to get back to my point that while Xie Lian is much more understanding about his status than other royals, he's still unable to fully comprehend Mu Qing's situation.
Book 6 (there must he earlier quotes, please let me know if yes, but this is the one I remember), page 128: "He never expected someone so close to him to leave just like that. Xie Lian has always believed in forever - friends would always be friends [...]"
Xie Lian truly thinks they are friends, first and foremost. Mu Qing doesn't have this privilege at this point. I have read posts where people said that Mu Qing was terrified of Xie Lian and Feng Xin during the flashbacks; I don't necessarily agree with this. While I do believe that Mu Qing had a healthy amount of fear that is expected of a servant, he would've never dared to speak to Xie Lian the way he does (like when he accuses Xie Lian of not keeping his promise and asking why he shows up in the bad moments, both from Book 2), and he wouldn't have dared to fight with Feng Xin the way he does.
I think he knows that he has some leeways with the two of them and he abuses this knowledge relentlessly, but he's not in a position to forget the fact that he is, at the end of the day, a servant. This is because we know that Mu Qing is capable of holding his tongue when he needs to. We see this with the State Perceptor and I think it's shows on the mountain where Xie Lian wants to cultivate after his banishment, because it's said that Mu Qing actually gets along with the other Lower Court officials. (Book 6, page 198) We could say that this is because they are bullies and horrible people, but we also know that later on, Mu Qing doesn't get along with anyone. Not with those who have good personalities and not with those who have bad ones. So chances are, he held his tongue to get what he wants. (I'll get back to this incident later on.)
What I think one of Mu Qing's most defining characteristics is, is that he's actually good at understanding the gravity of a situation and he will pick the fastest route to a solution. This may not be the kindest route, this may not be morally correct route, but it will solve the situation and it will solve it as soon as possible.
This will come off kind of rude, but throughout the flashbacks, I kept thinking that within the Xianle trio, Mu Qing is the common sense. In my native language, common sense is often referred to as 'a sober, poor man's mind' because those people will chose the most straighforward answer and that's why I think this is Mu Qing's role in their dynamic. Xie Lian has an optimism and moral high standing that comes with the fact that until the war, he never had to make hard calls. I think this is why he struggled so much during the war. And Feng Xin will blindly follow Xie Lian and is the very definition of a yes man. Feng Xin doesn't think for himself, he just nods to whatever Xie Lian says. Mu Qing does not. The reason why Mu Qing is portayed so antagonistically of because he tends to poke holes into Xie Lian's ideas. (Most of the first half of Book 3 is this, and he continues to present the worst possible case in Book 8, on pages 67 and 145 about Hua Cheng's survival.) Now this may be my own biases showing because I also tend to be the person who point out the weak points of any plan and asks questions about them when someone is being too idealistic in my opinion and I will confirm that most people understandably don't appreciate it, but I think that when you're in such a situation like a war, preparing for the worst is the best thing to do.
Throughout the flashbacks, Xie Lian is always praised for looking for a third route. (Book 2, page 370) But there are situations, like a war, where a third path doesn't really exist. This is not a critique on Xie Lian, but my opinion.
And this where we get to two of the most controversial Mu Qing moments: him suggesting testing the disease on people (Book 6, page 178) and unleashing the disease on Yong'an (Book 6, page 204).
This is very problematic thing. (DUH.) What my problem with this discussion is, is that it's not a Mu Qing morality question. It's about the morality of war which is a much, much deeper discussion.
Throughout that entire exchange there were one thing going on in my head on loop and it was this quote from Pat Barker's 'The Silence of the Girls': "Great Achilles. Brilliant Achilles, shining Achilles, godlike Achilles … How the epithets pile up. We never called him any of those things; we called him ‘the butcher’."
This is not to say that Mu Qing is Achilles-like in his martial prowess (yes, he's a god and yes, he admits in Book 8 that he sometimes thought he and Xie Lian were on a similar level of skills, but we, as readers, know their levels are incomparable), but it is to show that kindness does not win wars. The people we regard heroes are the ones who won the war and therefore shaped the way history remembered the tale. Achilles is remembered as one of the greatest heroes in mythology, but he was the villain for Troy. We can debate amount of blood on Oda Nobunaga's hands or any kings's or general's hands who united their country. We can discuss how the USA defeated the nazis and was the hero, and then argue about the atomic bombs. These very hard question to consider, because as easy it is to say there is an objective right and wrong, but in war, it is not always so black and white.
And in TGCF, Xianle, and therefore our trio, is on the defensive. They are not the perpetrators of the war. Yes, the people of Xianle were cruel to the people Yong'an, but does not change the fact that in the armed conflict, they are on the defensive and the trios job first and foremost is to protect the kingdom. And when you do that, you have to make the hard calls and then accept the judgement that comes with it, which is what Xie Lian was unable to do, because he would not accept that their situation only presented bad outcomes and no third route.
So I personally believe that all arguments about these specific points is not necessarily a Mu Qing problem. Because Xie Lian as our main character and The Hero, he's presented to us as the objective right in a situation where everyone is only presented with objectively wrong choices.
However, Mu Qing never once claims that these are good decisions. He knows he comes off cold-blooded (Book 3, page 179). He also never once passes judgement over what Xie Lian was willing to do during his banishment because he knows what it's like to be in that situation and not only understands it, he relates and says he would've done it himself. (Book 8, but I don't have the page number right now, I will update when I find it.)
Mu Qing is very much a 'kill or be killed' person a lot of times, and to him, achieving the goal absolutely justifies the means. We don't know what his plan was on the mountain (yes, I'm coming back to it now). He could've wanted to help Xie Lian and Feng Xin once he ascended, but we don't know that.
What we know is that he sent Xie Lian away, but then he also went to help and apologise. And while we're discussing this, we also can't ignore him leaving in the first place, so this next few paragraphs are going to encompass all of that. I will also not put specific pages for them as reference, but will put out a blanket statement that these are from the first half of book 6.
The first problem is him leaving, right? This is the number 1 thing both Hua Cheng and Feng Xin love to bring up against Mu Qing, because this is a novel about undying, blind devotion. It is undeniable that Mu Qing has Xie Lian to thank for everything. If he had not taken Mu Qing under his wing and brought him into the sect to train, Mu Qing would've died a servant during the war. And believe it or not, I think Mu Qing understands and honors that. Why else would he constantly help Xie Lian? Becoming a helping hand as Fu Yao, bringing him medicine, taking a cursed shackle, etc. Yes, he has left, but he did not abandon him. He's a typical tsundere character, but he was never out to get Xie Lian.
However, consider this, and this is going to be a very stupid parallel, but it puts things into modern perspective.
Jeff Bezos' child decided you have potential and puts you in a high position at Amazon. Awesome, great, you now have a future and some means to care for your sick mother. Others hate you for it and go it of their way to sabotage you, but you persevere because you know that this is your only way to a better future.
Then Amazon goes bankrupt. (Unlikely to happen, but walk with me.) You stick around despite your future being doomed and not being able to take care of your mother due to you doing everything regarding the company, except that now you don't even get paid. Whenever you bring forth an idea, you get shut down, because "that's not how we do things around here."
You are still expected to be grateful for the original opportunity and stay loyal to the company even though now everyone is starving.
Do you continue to work unpaid and unappreciated with no actual solution in sight or would you look for another job?
Because this is exactly what happens to Mu Qing. He does the cooking, the cleaning, the washing while also going out with Feng Xin and Xie Lian everyday to look for work, only to lose that money because the other two couldn't handle the humiliation and started a fight. When he brings up busking, he gets shot down because it's below Xie Lian. And then he's expected to just up and abandon his mother to fend for herself so he could care for the royal family.
While once again, I understand that the theme of this series is undying, blind devotion and loyalty, I think most people would've done the same thing as Mu Qing in this scenario.
Now let's get back to my corporate parallel.
You get new job at a competitor. (Good for you?) Except that during a meeting at an important client, it comes out that you have to sabotage your previous benefactor. Now comes the hard decision. You don't want to hurt him (because Mu Qing was not happy to send Xie Lian away. He hesitates and is clearly uncomfortable the entire time), but not doing it may very easily hurt your own position and cost you the job. (We don't know who those 33 officials were, but we know that the Heavens is not a kind place and Mu Qing is only a deputy. If those 33 said he sabotaged them to aid Xie Lian, what are the chances he gets thrown out? Not something mentioned in the books, but something to think about regardless.)
You choose yourself. Then you go to apologise and help in a way you can. They do not owe your forgiveness. And as such, they do not forgive you. So you leave.
And that's it. It's once again, a bad situation all around, but it is a very human situation, where it's easy understand Mu Qing's point of view and motivation. Did it hurt Xie Lian? Yes. Was it a major set back to his character? Absolutely. But I don't think Mu Qing is a villain for this. If anything, it just makes Mu Qing human.
Also one of my big thing is, and this may be an unpopular take, but I honestly think that Xie Lian in his youth had some sort of crush on Mu Qing. In Book 2, he calls Mu Qing a jade (page 328), in Book 6 right after Mu Qing leaves, Xie Lian goes on this tangent: "In all the stories he'd read, the hero and the beauty were a match made in heaven. They never parted and would remain true to each other forever and ever - and if they couldn't, it would be because they were forced apart by a tragic death and not because the hero preferred to eat meat whole the beauty preferred fish, or because the hero scorned the beauty for spending too lavishly and the beauty scorned the hero for his bad habits." (Page 128) And in the extra, where Land of Tenders poisoned Xie Lian statue leaves to where he wanted to be back then, while does go through Feng Xin, his final destination is with Mu Qing. (Book 8, page 273)
This may not have been a concious thing on Xie Lian's part, but if this were the case, I think it would make sense why it was Mu Qing Xie Lian so desperately wanted to forget. Who doesn't want to forget the guy who first broke their heart? Not to mention, who haven't tried to convince themselves that their ex wasn't as good looking as they originally thought? (Hence why Xie Lian goes on to say Mu Qing is not that pretty, too thin lips, etc. - I currently can't recall where exactly this was in the books, but I will update the post when I find it.)
And I also think this is why he judges Mu Qing harsher than the others. Because if you think about it, Mu Qing and Hua Cheng are not that dissimilar, and yet.
Hua Cheng is being mean and sarcastic to others? Silly San Lang, he's just like that. Mu Qing being mean and sarcastic? What a fucking asshole. Hua Cheng rejoicing in the suffering of others? It's okay, if Xie Lian likes him, nothing matters. (Book 1, page 300) Mu Qing rejoicing in the suffering of others? Burn him at the stake. Hua Cheng immobilising Xie Lian for what he believes is to be in Xie Lian's good (Book 2, page 224)? Understandable. Mu Qing doing the same in the Cave of the Ten-Thousand Gods (Book 6, page 59)? Despicable.
And they both cling to life with all the power they have. Except Mu Qing does it for himself and Hua Cheng does it for Xie Lian. And yet, they both chose to die for him when the moment came. (Whether or not this actually happens is a different matter, the intent was there for Mu Qing in Book 8, page 56). Mu Qing was fully ready to sacrifice himself despite how much a few pages before he was fighting tooth and nail to stay alive. (Book 8, page 39)
So yeah, and with the almost full page long tangent Xie Lian goes on about Mu Qing's flaws (book 5, page 56), he also can't deny that despite everything, Mu Qing is not a bad person.
This paragraph has a very specific phrasing to show that Xie Lian is very aware of Mu Qing's kindness, even if the others are not willing to believe in it.
"That's was quite true - as far as everyone else was concerned, Mu Qing would never do anything of the sort. He was hardly considered the type to help another out of the kindness of his heart, protect and cherish children, or perform anonymous good deeds." - Book 5, page 50
And this is what we also see shows time and time again. We see his kindness when he gives the cherries to the children (Book 2, pages 340-341). We see this in the fact that he tried to help Jian Lan and Cuocuo, even if things didn't work out the way he wanted to (Book 5, page 71). We see how he steps up to help reassure Lang Qianqiu when he's unsure to believe Xie Lian that they will be fine (Book 8, page 317). And while he also has a stake in that, so it can't be considered selfless, he does also step up to do Heavens finances after the war before Ling Wen comes back. (Book 8, page 121).
Yes, Mu Qing is a petty person. Yes, Mu Qing is hypocritical - he's the kind of guy who wholeheartedly says 'Eat the rich, and that includes your favourite celebrities!', fully ignoring the fact that he's now also one of those celebrities. (Gods= celebrities of ancient China? I have no better comparison.) He's smug, he's sarcastic, he's short tempered, pessimistic and distrustful. He's objectively a horrible person to be around.
However, he's also incredibly self-aware of this, and because of this knowledge, until the very moment when he's about to die, he never, not once, expects good will from others. He's strictly on an "I'll do it myself" mindset, and even when someone offers him help, like Xie Lian does in the investing the child spirit (Book 5, page 55), he's unwilling to take it and will lash out instead. To him, being on his own and expecting the worst from others is a safety net. He doesn't know what to do with kindness, so he'd rather take the punch and roll with it.
And I believe this comes from the fact - and from this point on, this is speculation because we don't have much from Mu Qing's perspective, - that Mu Qing thinks he's still below everybody else. That no matter what he does, he will never amount to anything other than someone they hate. He genuinely believes that even Xie Lian, who's vows don't allow him to hate, despises him so bad that he would let him die. (Book 8, page 55-56) We know that Xie Lian considered them friends (and you now know my theory about Xie Lian's extra feelings), but Mu Qing only ever saw himself as a charity case. Because to himself, he can become a god, he can be worshipped within the top 10, and he can do anything, but he will always be nothing more than the poor boy who only amounts to as much as Xie Lian gives him.
And as for Hua Cheng and Mu Qing, while I do think that Mu Qing genuinely believes that the war was no place for a child like he says in Book 6, page 66, I do think that there was 100% the jealousy of Xie Lian complimenting Hua Cheng and wanting to train him (Book 3, page 158) and the fear that he will be now the new protege and therefore Mu Qing would be discarded. We know that Xie Lian wouldn't do that, but since Mu Qing doesn't think much of himself other than being a servant, he most likely still thought himself disposable, because in a kingdom like this, servants were sent away or executed on the whims of anyone, let alone the god of a crown prince finding someone better. But that's about it.
And I think both this and his previously mentioned comfort in being hated shows in his relationship with Feng Xin. Now, I love the fanon version of FengQing, I'm eating up every single fic on AO3. But in the canon version, there is no love lost between the two of them, in my opinion. Feng Xin is the first person to question Mu Qing on every turn and to attack him for the slightest thing. He doesn't give him the benefit of the doubt, nor is he willing to deescalate anything. The only times he's willing to concede that he may have judged Mu Qing too early and too harshly is after Xie Lian talks to him about it. However, he's still worried about Mu Qing when he falls in Book 8, page 36 and does save him on page 57, but I think that for them it's not about friendship, but the fact that they are the constant in each other's lives. They don't care for each other as friends, they don't have love for one another, but if they lost one, suddenly the world would get off its axis, so they'd rather have the other hate them and hurt them than to be without it.
So to conclude: Mu Qing is a bitter, petty little bitch with a horrible personality and if he was my coworker, I would also hate him. He's also one of the best written characters in this novel, which is why I believe he's so divisive. I love him, I loved his character arc and overall, he was one of the most interesting characters I've read of this year thus far.
This wasn't intended to be a post to defend him. You can hate him if you want to, not everyone has to like the same things. But I wanted to get my thoughts out because he has been occupying my mind since I first came across this story and now that I had all the info I could have, I wanted to lay them out. You can disagree with me, that's fine, I'm not going to fight you in the comments.
But I personally love him, support all his rights and especially encourage all his wrongs. He's a petty bitch, but he's my petty bitch and he could always be worse.
following the "mobei jun has been unsuccessfully beating/courtinf shang qinghua for years", I think liu qingge should have a, ahem, reputation in the demon realm. he's constantly going into the demon realm and beating the shit out of EVERYONE. humanoid and more monsterous, male, female, everything in between. demons think he is the most promiscuous, slutty person alive. this also results in demons tracking him down in the human realm to try their hand at wooing (beating) him, which just perpetuates this rumor. nobody tell him though, he would be mortified if he knew.
I can’t believe I have never thought about how Quan Yizhen was so unhinged by constantly sneaking gold into XL’s donation box because he was nice to him and Yin Yu and him using that unhinged behaviour when he learns about how much Hua Cheng has done for Yin Yu.
I'm reading Book 5 of TGCF now, and I never really had strong feelings about Pei Ming. He was like minorly annoying about Pei Xiu and a bit overbearing big brotherly when it was not his place in the Black Water Arc, but generally, he was just there.
I do understand why people would look down on his womanizing habits and usually, I'm not into playboy characters.
But him sticking to his morals? Rejecting being a ruler? Being good at what he does? Breaking his sword with his own hands?
Damn, that's sexy.
Edit: SPOILER!!!!!!
I got to the part where he has interacted more with Banyue. He's not just a playboy, he's just plain misogynistic. On one hand, I'm like, sadly, it's time typical to think about women like that, on the other hand, fuck you, Pei Ming. Is he friends with Ling Wen because she has a male form too and hence exempt from the female population? Smh.
Edit 2: So I just finished Book 5. I'm somewhat conflicted. On one hand, I'm growing begrudgingly fond of you, General Pei. On the other, this because everyone keeps humbling him and he desperately needs that.
I also hope that at some point he shows more competence, because him being comedic relief is only cute for a certain amount of time. I was promised a Martial God, I want a martial god. (Even if they are just the jocks of the Heavenly Realm)
I will be back with a more in-depth character assessment once I finish the series. (I was originally only planning on doing that for Mu Qing, but I hope I will have more to say about Pei Ming too.)
