[meiniilh]

Imagine if Fangxin guoshi decided to go to the banquet just slightly later. When he gets there he sees Anle next to the already dead king, Lanq Qianqiu frozen in the doorway. Anle lunges for Lang Qianqiu, to try and take down the crown prince anyway; Fangxin moves insinctively, immobilizing Anle. Lang Qianqiu already knows the true culprit an the guoshi can't implicate himself.

Xie Lian would have to deal with the grieving LQQ and the chaos in the court, while also trying to protect his people without giving himself away. And meanwhile Anle is locked up, and having revealed his true colours is proudly boasting that Xianle nationalism, not helping his case at all. Xie Lian would feel so guilty for not getting there sooner and stopping Anle in time. He wants to protect Lanq Qianqiu, have him keep believing in everything he taught him, but he can't shield him forever.

Of course the Yong'an court is raging and advocating for the elimination of all Xianle people, wanting to convince the newly crowned, youg king, their greatest obstacle the rigid guoshi, who caught multiple ghost at the scene and no citizens other that Anle. They've never completely trusted this mysterious figure. Not the mention conflict between the citizens, and the Xianle people trying to defend themselves.

And Lang Qianqiu is caught in the middle of all of it. He has to deal with:

The death of his parents

Betrayel by his best friend

Being the king

The rebelling people

Investigating what exactly happend during the massacre; who we're those ghosts with Anle?

The only one he can rely on is his shifu, who is clearly stressed out of his mind too and not being entirely truthful (but he never has been). What decisions will he make after having his entire worldview turned upside down? Anle will soon be executed, but he still hasn't confessed the whole story.

The evening after the execution, during which Anle was suspisciously quiet, Lang Qianqiu is approached by his shifu who now somehow has a lead on the ghosts they've been chasing.

How do you think an au like this would continue? At the very least their reunion after Xie Lian's 3rd ascension will be really different...

[chuchu-glee]

Eyes squinted staring at a Shen Qingqiu art trying to figure out if it's Shen Yuan or Shen Jiu.

[princeofvelvet]

The Shi Wudu+Ling Wen friendship is so so so important to me

Shi Wudu trusted her, potentially since very early on in their friendship, to help him with the fate switch plan, which is not only risky and unheard of, but could get them both severely punished. This speaks to how much they clicked.

Shi Wudu recognizes her intelligence and potential. He personally visits her while she's locked up to tell her she's free and tells her he read her essay and he liked it.

They hang out!!! In their free time!!!

They are ride or die for each other. Your brother is in trouble? Pei Ming and I are coming with you and are going to help you save him no matter what

They tease each other!!

Both of them are aware their social standing could crumble at any moment. Yes, Shi Wudu was born into a good family, but after his parents died, he flipped his life completely and remade himself. Like Ling Wen, he sees his current position as something he worked hard for and must protect

This line: "Pinching her was like pinching Shi Wudu’s arm" is so cute 😭 Shi Wudu the big brother you are

They are proud of what they have accomplished and they know their worth

They are not out there doing crimeS. They did like maybe 3 crimes combined and it was either for self preservation or to save a loved one

[ghost-kings-court-jester]

Still not over Xie Lian being like, either this is a regular teenager or a supreme ghost is hanging out with me for some reason, and that’s crazy cause I’m just a little guy, and then the reveal happens. He outright asks Hua Cheng, " Hey, why are you here, my friend?” And Hua Cheng outright tells him that it was to see him, but adds, in the out “or because I was bored,” because like he doesn’t want to come on too strong here, but Xie Lian just goes, " Oh, it must be the second one” and just carries on. He walked so Maomao could run, I swear.

[greatnesswithoutenvies]

#Xie Lian and maomao he’s either in love with me or an eccentric must be the second one la la la la solving murder mystery time

[marichild]

making the same post everyone else has made probably again yes fucking insidious how often people will draw mdzs characters and color nie mingjue in as noticeably tan/darker/whatever as anyone else. "he spends more time outside" then stop being a fucking coward and make every other cultivator tanner than nie huaisang if your basis is that nhs is more pale by virtue of spending less time outside due to his distaste for serious cultivation or admit that you're being racist. for the love of god

[marichild]

(tags via @lost-cuuues)

THANK YOU. i was initially hesitant to bring up the central asian racism angle because while its quite clear that mxtx IS racist as fuck and i had heard there were racist elements to the nies before i wasnt sure how that played into the deal with the saber spirits & my knowledge on how it works with character designing is a bit limited beyond the basic stereotypes at the moment, so thank you for laying it out! i really appreciate it. also just. yeah genuinely re:nhs. it could not be more obvious. i *am* kinder to the deal with feng xin on account of the fact that tgcf itself says that he has "skin the color of wheat" but regardless its often VERY obvious how much liberties people take with exactly *how* much darker they make feng xin. genuinely insane to witness all around there's a reason why i refuse to go looking in the fengqing OR svsss in general tags anymore either.

[arsonisticscholar]

Why did I just now notice Shen yuan is a cucumber and Shen Jiu is a pickle

Shen yuan -> peerless cucumber -> cucumber

Shen Jiu -> pickle jar -> pickle

[scrap-god-xie-lian]

lol controversial take probably but…

I don’t really like the TGCF bonus chapters.

I really, really don’t.

There are some cute and funny parts yes, but for the most part the characters seem really OOC compared to everything that came before and it almost feels like the author forgot part of their characterization, especially towards Xie Lian and Hua Cheng.

I just don’t really vibe with it.

As always, no hate or anything towards those who do enjoy them, but for me personally it’s not my cup of tea

[whattheship]

[whattheship]

The fact that Xie Lian mashed his martial god title and his surname together to make the pseudonym "Hua Xie" suggests the possibility that he has, at some point, done the same trick with his given name.

What I'm trying to say is that, at some nebulous future point, I need to write a fic where he goes by "Hua Lian". Purely because I think it would be hilarious.

[questbedhead]

Look, Binghe's whole thing is that he's the genius protagonist who can always put the pieces together, of course he already knows that his Shizun and Shen Jiu are different people. He had five years to meticulously examine his spiritual pathways and literally pick Mu Qingfang and Qiu Haitang's brains, he has enough information to reach that conclusion.

By the Holy Mausoleum arc, he clearly sees that Shen Qingqiu has knowledge beyond what a human cultivator should be capable of, and by the end of the Bing-mei vs Bing-Ge extra, he knows where Shizun got that knowledge.

It's not a huge stretch to deduce that Bing-Ge is the man Shizun was running from in Jin Lan; a violent conqueror with a harem full of every woman his well-meaning teacher has ever tried to encourage him to romance. Once Shen Qingqiu confirms that he's met Bingge before, that inference would be all but confirmed. even without any knowledge of the system, he has gotten like 85% of the story straight.

The remaining non-system percent that he's still misunderstanding is that, due to Bing-Ge implying that they'd slept together, he probably assumes Shizun's past life was one of Bing-Ge's neglected wives. Whoops!

[confuzing]

Coincidentally another Shen Yuan has been living it up as one of Bingge's neglected wives for several years now.

Once Bingge finds him the misunderstanding ouroboros will be complete!

[quetzalpapalotl]

We need to appreciate Xie Lian's gap moe more...

[quetzalpapalotl]

There is this impression of Xie Lian as shy and easily flustered, but that is not quite right. Xie Lian's thick skind is one of his most prominent features, Xie Lian has no shame, he does things that he knows people will consider weird or improper for his station and he remains impassive at being an object of mockery. Xie Lian has cultivated this skin through the experiences of having fallen from grace and learning to live as a scrap collector with zero luck for 800 thousand years. He's learned to carry shame as well as he does pain.

He is only ever shy with Hua Cheng or with matters regarding Hua Cheng. That is because Hua Cheng's presence is so that it forces Xie Lian to face his feelings, just like how being with Hua Cheng makes him aware of his own pain once more. On top of that, Xie Lian likes Hua Cheng so much that he is actually deeply concerned with how Hua Cheng sees him, even when he has resigned himself to relationships being ephimeral, he doesn't want Hua Cheng to think bad of him and come to dislike him. And then is also because Hua Cheng stirs such feelings in him that he doesn't know how to deal with, even when he's normally a good taoist in control of his emotions and able to go with the flow, Hua Cheng makes him lose his cool.

Just like Hua Cheng has a side of him that's only displayed with Xie Lian, Xie Lian is the same way towards him.

[quetzalpapalotl]

I don't think that Hua Cheng loving Xie Lian unconditionally regardless of if his feelings are reciprocated and Hua Cheng approaching Xie Lian with the intention of courting him are mutually exclusive. Like yeah, Hua Cheng's stated reason to stay in this world is to protect Xie Lian and even if Xie Lian didn't want him, he would have stuck around at a distance to make sure he's safe. But Hua Cheng is also a greedy man characterization by his determination and for going for what he wants despite the odds. Yes, he is afraid of romantic rejection and of his feelings being too much of Xie Lian (in part because Xie Lian himself told him back then his beloved could feel burdened by them) so he puts off confessing until he can be sure Xie Lian loves him back, but he is trying to get Xie Lian to love him back.

The guys starts flirting with Xie Lian from the get-go. He makes Xie Lian call him "San Lang". In those early interactions he's sounding out how much of him will Xien Lian accept and what will Xie Lian allow and as Xie Lian keeps letting him get away with his familiarity, Hua Cheng gets even bolder. He keeps grabbing and manhandling him and getting all over his space. Hua Cheng gets possesive and jealous. He laughs at how Xie Lian acts at seeing him out without a shirt and knows Xie Lian is attracted to him. He outright proposes and takes it back immediately bc again, afraid. But yeah, marrying Xie Lian was always the plan. Hua Cheng is anything but passive and just because he would be content with a bare minimum doesn't mean he's not going to try to get the whole prize.

[itsatri]

forget angst. maid AU is the real peak of mxtx's multiverse

[kadaruu]

"i am slowly forgetting your face" trend but there is no face to remember at the first place

[its-aighost]

Xie Lian would not be Heavenly Emperor post cannon. Its counter productive to the entire plot! Jun Wu WANTED him to be heavenly emperor.

I also don't think Pei Ming or Feng Xin would not accept the position either.

Feng Xin just wouldn't want it,

and Pei Ming literally turned down becoming a King in the past. That man hates responsibility, running from it like its the plague!

Sorry to Quan Yizhen but, that poor fluffy child would basically only be emperor in name. He would be running off too much to even try and be emperor.

so, the only options are Mu Qing and Lang Qianqiu, who are both decent candidates. Lang Qianqiu already knows how to rule a kingdom, and Mu Qing, once he gets more confident in himself, would have good leader energy.

And before someone mentions Ling Wen or another god- Ling wen is already tired as hell being the #1 civil god. Give. Her. a. Break!!!! She would and could run heaven in the background though if it ends up being Quan Yizhen...

[kitachett]

So I had a dream that Pei Ming wrote several romantic poetry books to try to appeal to the ladies and they were all amateur trash. Pretty much every god talked shit behind his back about how awful/ cliche/ cheesy they were. Except for one of his books. It was titled 'Moonlit Water Lilies' and he genuinely fucking hated that book with his whole being, he regretted ever writing it because it was "sappy fake-romantic bullshit that doesn't even make any sense."

To his mortification, it quickly became his most beloved/ famous book and a literary classic in all three realms. Even the civil gods had respect for how beautifully it portrayed true love and heartfelt longing. They all not-so-secretly thought there was no way Pei fucking Ming wrote something so genuinely romantic. They all collectively agreed he must have had a ghost writer and that's why he's so prickly about the topic.

Pei Ming tried his actual best to destroy as many copies as he could find, just out of pure embarrassment, but the book became so widespread it was basically impossible so he gave up trying. Decades later mortals STILL made plays that were basically fan theories about the woman that stirred General Ming Guang's heart to the point he wrote a masterpiece like 'Moonlit Water Lilies'.

Ling Wen and Shi Wudu never once stopped giving him shit for the entire fiasco. Ling Wen would randomly quote a line from one of the poems in a sombre voice just to get a rise out of Pei Ming. It worked every time.

[This wasn't in the dream but I theorise the book was entirely poems about the rain master and when he realised she doesn't actually like him he got hella embarrassed lmao]

[neithoftheveil]

Coming to your dash shortly: a 7000-word essay (with citations!) on why Xie Lian didn’t fall in love with a dangerous, controlling person because Hua Cheng isn’t a dangerous, controlling person and for the love of god can we get rid of these takes where Xie Lian doesn’t have a backbone and Hua Cheng is an unrepentant asshole

[kitachett]

I headcanon that during He Xuan's time in Tonglu, after several years of being alone, the giant Xie Lian statue basically became Wilson from Castaway for him lmao