it's a date! #justCQLthings

this is a cql/陈情令/the untamed side blog. Half-baked original analysis, image posts, mediocre linguistics, but also: quality reblogs etc.

[sandushengshou]

the untamed + text posts

[flower-of-the-desert]

goddamn, how do they always manage to hit so hard with the social commentary

But do you think how sad/frustrating it must have been for WWX to realise things were always going to end up this way. That no matter what he did or didnt do, once the public had made him enemy №1 that narrative would not change so easily.

I remember during the Yanli showing off her wedding dress scene he said to JC how he thought that everything would be fine if he and the Wens just stayed on Burial Mounds and didnt cause any trouble. Back then he still believed in the fact that there is justice and fairness in the world, that good people would eventually get their happy endings, that even if something went wrong he could still find a way to fix it. And I think he clung to that belief right up until Wen Qing and the others went to turn themselves in. The way he begged her to let him prove that he wasnt the one to placed the curse on Asshole Jin 2.0, that if only he could find the real criminal, the Jin clan and the rest of the world would not accuse him anymore and Wen Qing, I think, finally ripped off what was left of his innocent naivete that the world was a fair place and you could prove your innocence if just given the chance.

And so now he knows that it wouldnt have mattered. He could have gone and showed everyone that he didnt have the curse mark, that he wasnt building an army in the Burial Mounds, that he only turned to demonic cultivation out of need to survive and it would not have mattered one bit because it was more convenient for those in power to paint him as the villain, it was more convenient for others to point fingers at him and feel righteous as they condemned him.

But in a way, it is also freeing, I think, for WWX to no longer care what the public says about him. That he’s come to realise what matters more is that his conscious is clear and the people who are actually important to him know what kind of man he is.

[eldritchjackalope]

[marwoodlives]

A deleted scene from The Untamed: Jiang Cheng and Meng Yao.

Featuring Zanzan’s NG ヘ (。_ ☉ ╬)＼

[shijiujun]

Danmei Bookstore Masterpost - Where to Buy Your Usual Books

Heya guys! Okay so I get these questions really often - where to get digital or physical copies for danmei; there are plenty of guides for the digital copies so I’m just going to briefly mention other guides that have been done up and focus mostly on which “legit” bookstores you can get your simplified, traditional Chinese danmeis :DDDD And some familiar terms you might see. 

This list includes only links to the Chinese sources - With the exception of one bookstore, I’m clueless on if there are actually official EN translated sources. It’s not entirely exhaustive but it’ll probably help you to discern real from fake stores! 

—

Common Terms:

预售 yu shou — Pre-order; most danmei books published are usually pre-order when the listing is first announced, quite rarely do I see immediate sales

通版 tong ban — In stock; you’ll see this most often with traditional Chinese (Taiwan) prints, that are usually limited edition or available only during pre-order periods and are sold again after the pre-orders are all fulfilled

陆商 lu shang — Chinese bookstores

北美 bei mei — Literally translated is North America i.e. Via Lactea, the only store that currently sells uncensored Chinese and translated EN danmei for selected titles (see below)

无删(减) wu shan (jian) — Uncensored, no deleted parts

—

Why buy from China bookstores? They’re cheap, come with tons of freebies that vary from store to store. Pre-orders usually take about 2-3 months to deliver, but the content is censored. Still good to get for the artwork and freebies though! The ones below, unless otherwise stated, can be found on their Taobao official stores. Usually when a notable title is published, ALL of them will list the new title with varying freebies.

✅ 博库网 Boku Wang

One of China’s biggest general bookstores; they don’t take in every single danmei that comes to publish, only the major ones (e.g. Sha Po Lang, 2ha), but when they do, their freebies are out of this world XD

✅ 锦瑟闻香 Jinse 

One of the more reliable bookstores in terms of choice of artists and freebies. Recently I think Jinse got into an agreement with Chang Pei, one of the danmei online publishing sites, to make official danmei merch for certain titles. Got into a bit of trouble if I recall with the bigger artists for Sha Po Lang for using their art (with permission) but erasing the artist’s watermark (without permission) and had to scrap their initial plans 2 days before the book PO went live, but other than that, has been okay. Takes on every danmei set to publish in China

✅ 快乐图书 Kuaile

A hit and miss, but for major titles they’ve managed to get quite good artists and freebies made.

✅ 源创 Yuan Chuang

Also another hit and miss, more known for hilariously missing the mark entirely i.e. unable to get any artists to offer their art to them for book prints, but they’ve gotten real good at it recently. And their weibo admin is hilarious, users poke fun at the store for missing out on freebies but all in fun. 

✅ 天宇图书 Tian Yu

Mostly sells without freebies and art, only the book itself and its intended gifts inside. Helpful for when you don’t have space anymore for freebies or don’t like the freebies and just wanna have the book itself.

✅ 磨铁 Mo Tie

A really small bookstore but shines from time to time e.g. their print for 2ha.

✅ 翰联图书 Han Lian

Hit and miss as well, more hits than misses for artwork and freebies! Takes on every danmei set to publish in China

✅ 新华文轩网 Wen Xuan

Used to be more hit than misses, nowadays it’s mostly misses XD They’re still pretty reputable and is also a general bookstore, but their artwork/freebies recently have been terrible!!! Takes on every danmei set to publish in China

✅ 新视角 Xinshijiao

MY GODDAMN FAVE!!!! I don’t know how XSJ does it but they NEVER miss when it comes to art and freebies. They either get the best or second best always!!! Packaging is great, customer service is great~ Takes on every danmei set to publish in China

✅ 心诺 Xin Nuo

Had one of the nicer Sha Po Lang print box cases, but has a history of stealing art without permission for their freebies.

✅ 风入松 Feng Ru Song

This store does either the super big name prints or the super small ones, never the in between, hilariously, but their gifts are also pretty good when they do!! Feels a lot like an indie type of bookstore 

✅ 酷威 Ku Wei

Only does gifts for super big prints, otherwise they just sell books normally on its own.

✅ MANCOOL (China Address Only)

A bookstore accessible only on WeChat! They’re pretty cool; they don’t do prints for all danmei that come to publish in China in the pipeline, but they usually work in conjunction with one or two bookstores as mentioned above. They have their own freebies/gifts, and because they’re on WeChat, they sometimes to extra gifts via online games on gachapon!!!!

✅ 萝卜 Luo Bo

OOOMPPPPPHHHH okay Luo Bo is NOT an official bookstore or danmei seller, but their reputation is REALLYYYY GOOOOD. Their unofficial stores on Taobao and Weidian (China only) basically sell limited in stocks from Taiwan, so if you missed out on the Taiwan preorder, you CAN camp and wait for their notice and listing to buy them. Well-known in the Chinese danmei community for selling authentic/rare ones!

✅ 诚品 Eslite

Functions like Books TW, sells any Taiwanese danmei print if there’s stock e.g. TGCF or anything from Pinsin. General bookstore, ships internationally BUT if I recall, slightly more complicated to buy on Eslite than on Books TW as you have to input your passport number.

✅ Animate TW (Taiwan Address only)

Sells selected, popular danmei and BL works from China, Taiwan, Korea and more! Also sells merch. Recently more known for selling the TGCF Traditional TW prints.

✅ 博客来 Books TW

Ships internationally! My to-go for usual danmei prints or those from Pinsin that are not on pre-order. Shipping goes by DHL ($20 to SG for like 5-6 books), get it within the same week. Easy-to-use interface when checking out, just a tad bit more checkout pages than necessary but ain’t complaining. General bookstore in Taiwan, the biggest online one.

✅ 平心 Pinsin

OUR FAVE DANMEI PUBLISHER FROM TAIWAN!!! Super reliable, has a functioning site, knows how to configure landing pages for big pre-orders, has clear instructions in English on how to buy etc. Always makes deadlines for prints, and plenty of stock most of the time!!!

✅ 墨扉 Mo Fei

Known for uncensored version of Nan Chan and other nice titles - Site looks okay to use so far (much better than others tbh), but they do POs like once every two months or something! Takes about 6 months or more to print a book after preorder but acceptable so far

✅ 威向 Wei Xiang 

I’m actually super impressed with the range Wei Xiang has! They carry plenty of danmei books, old and new, known and unknown, and while their login account needs like some updates, their cart has the least number of pages I’ve seen amongst all the TW bookstores so far, easy check out too!

✅ 葭霏 Jia Fei 

GOD where do I start with Jia Fei. They’re notorious for taking 10,000 years to produce one book (*ahem* 2ha) and their customer service sucks. Their website is prehistoric, and you have to email or call in via Facebook to make any sort of orders via a third party argh IDEK. They’re terrible with updates after PO as well, the only saving grace is that they do take on some of the popular titles, which honestly is shite for international customers especially. Of course once you get the hang of it, it’s fine, or if you get the items through a GO, but yeah…. I’d take any other bookstore ANYTIME.

✅ 壹乐 Yi Le

So Yi Le is one of the newer players in the industry (since 2019) and only recently started to produce danmei regularly! They’ve got good covers, they select good titles, but their website is useless - You have to be on Weibo for updates XD

There are a few more lesser known ones like 顶狄社 Ding Di, 出格文化 Chu Ge, 槐安 Huai An etc., but the above are the more recognizable ones!

✅ Via Lactea (Canada)

Recently, this would be one of my favourite bookstores. They’re located in Canada of all places and sell BOTH uncensored Chinese and official, translated EN danmeis - but for selected titles only. I’m not sure how they managed to cut a deal BUT in terms of niche/small danmei prints, Via Lactea is possibly your best bet.

It has great covers, super aesthetic and artistic ones. Nothing is censored, and it comes with plenty of freebies as well, including some new epilogues or extras. They function like a China bookstore but with much better resources, and they take on smaller name danmeis!! 

Local shipping in Canada is cheap, and expensive anywhere else, BUT if you ship back to China to your warehouse or proxy, shipping is FREE, and you only have to pay for China warehouse/proxy to yourself.

They don’t have a huge team, so they contract translators to translate danmei, currently the speed seems to be two titles per year, and they’re also venturing into ebook versions, in both Chinese and EN.

✅ Cam Phong (Vietnam)

Vietnam’s main publisher of danmei, has done 2ha, TGCF and other notable titles so far! Their local artists do the covers really, really well!! Freebies are amazing too

✅ Clover Book (Thailand)

Thailand’s main publisher of danmei, has done 2ha and other notable titles, and also some smaller danmeis too!

✅ B Lab (Korea)

Sort of a new player for danmei prints, and they only do selected big prints e.g. TGCF and 2ha! 

✅ JJWXC 晋江

This one needs no explanation I think. Biggest online danmei, baihe and yanqing novels. Here’s how to support your fave authors at a low, affordable price.

✅ Gongzicp 长佩

The other well-known danmei online platform. While JJWXC has a bulk of all danmeis, Chang Pei actually has like 40% of danmei novels I think? Which is quite a lot. If it’s not on JJWXC, 90% chance it’s on Chang Pei

✅ Bilibili Manhua

Downloadable from App store or just read on desktop. First 30 chapters+ are usually free then they start charging, but it’s easy to get credits via App store or Play store.

✅ Bilibili Comics (EN)

Usually one or a few chapters behind the original Chinese version.

✅ Kuaikan Manhua

If it’s not on Bilibili Manhua, it’s on Kuaikan, for sure. Works the same way as Bilibili manhua!

[wangxiians]

the wangxian farewell that haunts me the most: this one

[phoenixrisesoncemore]

I need to talk about two things because this specific set of two lovely gifs is giving me feels: these two actors and why they both deserve awards for the amazing level of work they did in this series, and why this moment hurt me, still hurts me, and will continue to hurt me for the foreseeable future. Not that others haven’t spoken quite eloquently about these same things, but I’m going to explode if I don’t, too.

These two shots show two of the best examples I can think of of actors communicating what they are holding in. There’s a whole world of their interiority that we are being teased with, without words, with only a few muscle twitches; there’s emotion radiating off of both of them but neither of them moves much at all.

For LWJ, this is the outward expression of holding back a tidal wave. Is it the coloring or is that a hint of tears in his right eye? He’s been hit with the moment of recognition that Wei Ying is convicted in what he is doing, and that he cannot force him to turn away from his path without breaking that important principle of consent—a theme that is not pushed so hard in CQL as it is in MDZS, but which appears nonetheless. “I want to bring a person back to Cloud Recesses. Bring him back and hide him.” In CQL LXC is given the next line (because CQL LXC is the captain of the good ship Wangxian, and he knows): “But I’m afraid he does not want to.”

Here at the outskirts of the Burial Mounds is the confirmation that LXC was right and LWJ, if he wants to respect WWX’s autonomy, cannot do anything about it. The emotional gut punch is visible there in his throat and behind his eyes, aching to get out. This is the physical manifestation of a young man who can see possible futures collapsing, leaving him forever without access to the better possibilities.

The choice he doesn’t make—perhaps doesn’t fully realize he can make—is the choice to stay, to walk the single-log bridge next to WWX, to stay with WWX and A-Yuan, who together during their meal made him look the happiest he has looked since… well, ever (with the exception of the lantern scene). This LWJ is doing everything he can to honor his sect and his principles—to the point that he is prepared to return to Gusu to accept punishment, without question, for associating with WWX—while holding in tension what he knows to be true about WWX’s character and intentions. But his attempts to thread this needle will not end well.

Then there’s WWX, “born with a smile on his face.” Look at how hard and sharp his lips are, all the tension in his jaw and mouth; he looks like he could bust apart. How much does he believe what he is saying? Here he is again, reorienting his life to save others (this time, LWJ) and trying his best to smile through it. Here’s the person who might give you a limb if he thought it was the right thing to do, and then find a way to go on with his life as if it was no big deal.

How much is he hoping LWJ will stay because here is his zhiji, the person he trusts to judge him and his actions, beside him again, like family, and wouldn’t it be heaven to have that for himself? How much is he hoping LWJ will leave because that’s the best way he knows how to protect him: to make sure he stays far away, pristine and unsullied by association with the Yiling Laozu and his dirty tricks? This is, after all, the last time he will see LWJ until that fateful fight in Nightless City.

When LWJ chooses to leave, WWX will choose to tell A-Yuan—a little too loud to really be meant for just A-Yuan—that everyone has their own things to do which may lead them away from others, which is OK. It’s OK. It’s how it should be, and he won’t think any less of you for it, Lan Zhan, it’s for the best—he’ll walk the single-log bridge in the dark all on his own. WWX wants LWJ to hear him, and he does, but he still leaves. When LWJ gets a second chance he will proudly stand in front of the entire cultivation world and say “no, I’m walking the single-log bridge with you (like I should have done a long time ago).”

That so much is being communicated here without words, with only faces and subtlety, speaks volumes about Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo’s acting skills.

That’s hard.

That’s really hard to do, especially on as rushed a schedule as it appears applied to CQL.

I’ve mentioned before how much innate talent towards a Boleslawski Method acting style Xiao Zhan has: this shot alone shows some really impressive moment-to-moment acting work. In the span of a second, I count at leas three distinct actions being played (not saying that’s the method Xiao Zhan is using, but it is one I believe he would be a natural at). That and Wang Yibo’s ability to say so much with so little is honestly what hit this show out of the park for me. I would have stayed for the cunning “romantic tension disguised as ethical tension” trick, but the acting from these two in particular is just the icing on the cake.

[arisupaints]

Your tender offerings.

For roquen, because reading about all these tender touches tore me apart.

[arisupaints]

Christmas gift for a friend. 😌✨

[hunxi-guilai]

today’s freeze frame bonus of CQL is the fact that Lan Wangji was apparently reading the godDAMN《易经》 Yijing / Classic of Changes in the library while Wei Wuxian was copying his lines

like

SIR–

[arisupaints]

Happy birthday, Zewu Jun. I miss these simple times.

[fytheuntamed]

🍁 Untamed Fall Fest 2020 🍁

Content creators and appreciators alike are invited to partake in a month-long celebration of Mo Dao Zu Shi in its many forms. For the entire month of October you are welcome to use the above list of prompts to create the MDZS-related content of your choice! Reblogging this post is greatly appreciated, as this will spread the event to more people, meaning more content for everyone! Rules and a written list of the 31 prompts can be found under the read more.

Keep reading

[lanwuxianz]

Xian-gege, will Rich-gege come back again? Probably not. Why? There’s no reason why. In this world, everyone has their own things to do, their own paths to walk.

[theholeyness]

[ruanbaijie]

Together with you is my favourite place to be

@gimme-a-chocolate ‘s gif challenge

[thesweetpianowritingdownmylife]

Thinking about our favourite Lans and their relationship with the rules.

Lan Wangji: used to follow all of the rules, ALL OF THEM, to the letter, and if he ever found a contradiction between them he would have a stomach ache for days. of course, this is not sustainable so at one point he broke and stopped giving a shit.

Lan Xichen: has been exploiting loopholes from the time he could read. "it's not breaking the rules if nobody finds out :)". does whatever the fuck he wants at all times, never gets caught.

Lan Sizhui: will follow the rules he agrees with. otherwise, he is the embodiment of this gif:

[lieu-rey]

bunch of older sketches i decided to (kinda) finish lmao

[alienwlw]

make me choose ► @whereisyourcahier asked: drunk lwj at cloud recesses or drunk lwj after timeskip