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Well, this was suppost to be just about my MDZS thoughts...looks like I branched out a little...*shrugs* when have my thoughts ever stayed in one place! https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silent_Myosotis

[mxtxfanatic]

Another pro-reader tip for mxtx novels: they are all stories with clear-cut good guys and bad guys and a strong moral message, BUT you have to actually read what the story has to say about characters without taking anything at face value, relying on genre tropes, or using identities and statuses as shorthand to your understanding of the moral system and themes of the story. So no, most characters in her stories are not morally gray (though some are, most can be definitively categorized as either morally good or bad, and ALL of her main characters are definitively morally good), and no she does not write morally gray plots where “morality is just subjective!” If anything, the term I think people are looking for is “morally neutral” (meaning that the thing is not assigned a morality in and of itself) in many cases.

An mxtx character is never designated as good or bad based off their backgrounds or class: Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao, Shen Jiu, and Mu Qing all grow up outside of the elite class, but Mu Qing (eventually) and Wei Wuxian are unquestionably good guys while Jin Guangyao and Shen Jiu are unquestionable villains. Shen Yuan, Lan Wangji, and Xie Lian all grow up within the gentry class but are all good guys while Jiang Cheng, Jun Wu, and The Old Palace Master are bad. Likewise, life circumstances or tools don’t determine morality. In mdzs, the sword path (which is the orthodox one) is used to commit genocide by the general cultivation world just as easily as Lan Wangji wields it to protect the forsaken commoners. Wei Wuxian’s ghost path was created to protect himself before being used to protect others, but Xue Yang and the Jin Clan pervert it to cause mass destruction for their own wishes. In tgcf, Xie Lian uses his god powers to attempt to help the Yong’an people while the other gods simply collect worshippers to increase their power and oppress lesser gods. Every character I’ve listed minus the Old Palace Master has experienced intense trauma that has informed their lives and colors their morality, but it does not define why they have chosen to take on certain moral stances.

(This is not to say that mxtx doesn’t have certain tropes she dislikes, as she clearly hates the “dedicate their whole existence completely to another person” trope. Su She, a villain dedicated to Jin Guangyao, dies. Zhuzhi-lang, a sympathetic antagonist dedicated to Tianlang-jun, dies. Hua Cheng, A WHOLE LOVE INTEREST dedicated to the literal main character, dies a whopping three (3) times before he learns his lesson.)

Mxtx does not condemn those who stray from orthodoxy. In fact, every story she’s (currently) written is about the dangers of entrenched and unquestioned hierarchy and status quo giving way to corruption every time. She wants you to question the dominant narrative of the benevolent group who descend from on high to “save the ignorant masses.” She wants you to question the idea that the only people with the right of choice are those at the top of the hierarchy. She wants you to question the idea that even the smallest decision of “powerless” people does not matter in “the grand scheme of things.” She wants you to actually think about the story conventions that you accept as infallible and question whether or not it would make for good shorthand by which to understand well-written characters and story arcs (and also, hopefully, how society is structured at large). So if you find yourself reading an mxtx novel and siding with the mob characters or lamenting how x character was locked into making certain choices “against their will” or being unable to reconcile how a recognized trope led to an unexpected conclusion because “that’s not how it’s supposed to go,” then it may do you some good to stop and ask yourself “was this idea supported by the narrative that I read in the book, or is this an idea I’ve come to entirely from my own preconceived notions of how I wanted the story to turn out based on how other, similar stories have panned out?”

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

[annoyinglandmagazine]

Soap operas yearn for the level of chaos, scandal and general ridiculous melodrama of Mdzs. These losers have just won a military campaign of historical scale and they are still doing shit like whatever the Phoenix mountain nighthunt was.

Jin ZiXuan just yelling at full volume to his crush that he actually likes her and wasn’t being made to talk to her by his mum while the entire cultivation world watches in silence after randomly appearing one by one out of the trees to yell about other shit and threaten each other with swords. He immediately runs off while his mum chases after him to get him to pull himself together and try and have a normal conversation with her future daughter in law.

And Lan Wangji a few minutes previously kissed the guy he’s obsessed about while he was blindfolded and proceeded to have a breakdown in which he knocked down multiple trees in frustration, one with just his fist. All in full view of this guy who’s kind of still reeling from a kiss he is somehow convinced was a girl.

Nie Mingjue apparently had a pleasant day killing hordes of monsters (which they were all technically there to do but then they got distracted) and didn’t pick up on any of this.

[wanderingline]

Art for my dear friend @ninjakk's lovely fic The Frivolous Peach Blossom! In which Wei Wuxian is a reknowned mixologist trying to seduce Lan Wangji with elaborate cocktails... and more.

Behold! Lan Wangji's fantasies ;)

[ninjakk]

Look at this beautiful art for my latest fic! Isn't it just stunning 😍

[sunflower-galaxy-star]

married

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

They look so fucking soft!

[mxtxfanatic]

That little admission that anyone who defended Xie Lian after the collapse of the Heavenly Tower was beaten to death by hate-filled mobs reminds me of the throwaway line in mdzs about how anyone who said anything in favor of Wei Wuxian post-siege was silenced. It’s not that the “mob” in mxtx novels is truly a monolith where everyone revels in participating in evil uncritically; it’s that anyone who dares to go against the grain and publicly question the dominant position is violently suppressed. It’s not that there’s no Mianmian in tgcf’s vol. 2; it’s that every one of them was a nameless individual murdered in the name of baseless “retribution.”

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

I might be stupid but these two comparisons in the tags explained it perfectly to me! XD

[helpmeimblorboing]

I feel like people misunderstand the title of Mo Dao Zu Shi, or of what Wei Wuxian does as “demonic cultivation” (mo dao). It’s not. It is, however, what most people in canon THINK he’s doing

Mo dao messes with the cycle of reincarnation, which is why the Yiling Patriarch becomes so reviled. The term mo dao is actually used only ONCE in the novel - when Wei Wuxian notes that people called him “the grandmaster of demonic cultivation”

It uses living humans, extracts qi out of them, and involves the destruction of golden cores, brainwashing, and effectively vampiring living beings for the sake of power. It doesn’t use ambient resentment, it creates it by harming others.

The reason we’re continuously told (by people who know nothing of Wei Wuxian’s path) that he’s at risk of going insane is because that’s what mo dao does. It warps the mind and body because the source of resentment is within the user

Wei Wuxian calls his cultivation “the ghostly path” or “ghost cultivation” (gui dao). Hell, the only other person shown to match his expertise on the subject - Xue Yang - also calls it gui dao. Xue Yang !! He’d be delighted to call his actions demonic !! If he’s insisting on calling it “ghostly”, then that tells us that the difference matters

So what is gui dao ? First of all, we know that it doesn’t mind-control people as a baseline - that’s why Wei Wuxian ended up dying the first go around. We know that it utilises pre-existing resentful energy in the world to direct the dead

We know, also, that it requires a certain level of understanding of the dead. One of the spells Wei Wuxian creates is literally named Empathy.

We know that the power source is usually external (the Burial Mounds, the Stygian Tiger Seal), and that it, most importantly, doesn’t create demons. It creates ghosts and fierce corpses. And because of this, it likely doesn’t prevent reincarnation.

Why is the distinction important ? Because the former is what mo dao does. It creates mo.

We’re told the difference - very intentionally - in one of the earliest parts of the story, when Lan Qiren asks Wei Wuxian the difference between gui (ghosts) and mo (demons) and yao, and gets the correct answer

There’s foreshadowing littered all across the earlier chapters, actually. I might make a post on that some day

[helpmeimblorboing]

Something I haven’t heard many people point out in their write-ups about MDZS are the somewhat direct parallels associated Wei Wuxian’s sword.

The most important thing to notice about these parallels is the name of the sword - pretty infamously, Suibian - “whatever”, or, more accurately, “as you wish”.

This phrase can be seen as a more informal version of a very famous, and ancient, Chinese phrase - Ruyi, also translating to “as you wish”

The most famous association with this phrase is… as a lot of you may know, the one, the only, Great Sage Equalling Heaven - Sun Wukong’s very own Ruyi Jingu Bang, the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod.

So !! Sun Wukong. Mischievous yet immensely powerful being, who ended up trapped for an extended period of time due to how much people despised him, only to be freed and - at the side of a man well-known for his self-restraint and monklike traits - achieving his own happy ending. Oh, and despite being rather explicitly capable of wisdom and patience, both are remembered in pop culture as being impatient and impulsive.

What else ? Oh, maybe that said monklike character’s restraint is also symbolised most prominently by a headband-like item.

So… now, where to begin ? Let’s start from the very beginning - the fact that both Sun Wukong and Wei Wuxian are not people incapable of success via traditional Daoist means - Sun Wukong achieved immortality via Daoism (as well as a whole slew of other powers), and Wei Wuxian was clearly an extremely accomplished cultivator before he lost his core.

No, in each case, it was something else that caused them to break with traditional power structures - Sun Wukong was humiliated by the Jade Emperor by being made effectively a heavenly stable hand, and Wei Wuxian ? Well… I think we all know that story.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Let’s backtrack slightly - am I suggesting that Suibian is a parallel to the Ruyi Jingu Bang ? No. I am suggesting that both Suibian and the Yin Tiger Tally are a parallel to Wukong’s mythical staff.

> The Source

How ? Let’s start with the source of the infamous Ruyi Jingu Bang. Originally a measuring stick used by the infamous Yu the Great to tame the Great Flood (much like how Wei Wuxian used the Yin Tiger Tally to “tame” the Burial Mounds), it ended up submerged under water, discarded and unused, in the palace of Ao Guang, the Dragon King, a pillar of black iron (!!)

In the third chapter of the Journey to the West, we see Sun Wukong travel to this palace to pick out a new weapon. He returns with the Ruyi Jingu Bang in hand.

Now, I would say it’s a coincidence that both weapons were retrieved from under water, from the domain of a creature heavily associated with the Divine Beasts (with Ao Guang being the Azure Dragon of the East, and the Xuanwu of Slaughter being… well, a corrupted form of the Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise), but… well, it isn’t.

Another thing to be noted is that the Ruyi Jingu Bang is constantly sought after by… well, almost every demon who fights our Motley Crew. But none can wield it, because none are Sun Wukong. Guess which weapon is sought after by every antagonist in MDZS ? And guess which weapon never gets truly replicated by anyone, with the most they ever manage being a pale shadow of the original ?

(Side note : This also kind of reflects Suibian, which seals itself away to anyone who isn’t Wei Wuxian. Like with the Ruyi Jingu Bang, it acts as a kind of “identifier” for Wei Wuxian’s “essence”, as seen in the infamous scene with Jiang Cheng)

> The Macaque

Side note, the Six-Eared Macaque, the devious and cunning - and most prominent by far - antagonist to our hero Sun Wukong, who is said to resemble him to such an extent that only the purest authority in the world - the Buddha himself - can tell them apart, wields his own “mirror” to the Ruyi Jingu Bang - the Suixin Tiegan Bing, the Acquiescent Iron Pole Arm.

So, what am I implying ? Well, Suixian literally means “as the heart wishes”, while Ruyi means “as one wishes”. The latter is meant to symbolise the “true mind” (Zhenxin), a mind that has achieved mastery over the physical world through discipline and wisdom. Meanwhile, the former represents the “deluded mind” (Wangxin), a mind led by its desires, wants, and delusions.

Moving on, Jingu means “golden hoop”, while Tiegan means “iron pole”. Again, the former represents discipline - famously the Jingu is the golden band bound around Wukong’s forehead, keeping him in check - while the latter, fixed, unrefined, and prone to rust, represents the stubborn human mind.

Finally, Bang means “staff”, while Bing means something more along the lines of “weapon”. While the former is a common, humble weapon, befitting a Buddhist monk, the latter is explicitly a tool of conflict and destruction.

Why do I bring up these parallels ? Well, I’d say it’s pretty clear that, symbolically, Jin Guangyao - or, arguably - Xue Yang is the Six-Eared Macaque to Wei Wuxian’s Sun Wukong, don’t you think ?

Sure, superficially, the two resemble each other almost exactly. All three are orphans who were left on the street to fend for themselves, who suffered greatly in their early lives.

But that’s where the parallels stop - why ? Because while Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao are bound by the iron polearm of their own delusions, Wei Wuxian wields the metaphorical golden staff of mastery over such desires. Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang work to feed their own desires, while Wei Wuxian works to overcome them.

Finally in this section, let’s take a look at the names of each - Sun Wukong, and the Six-eared Macaque.

“Sun Wukong” is a name that was given to the Stone Monkey by his first master, Subodhi.

His surname “Sun” is a pun on the word “husun”, meaning “monkey” or… “macaque”. But the “animal” radical is dropped from it, creating a human surname. Similarly, “Wukong” means “awakened to emptiness”, referring to the Buddhist realisation that all things lack a permanent, independent, self.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, we have his counterpart - the Six-eared Macaque (Liù'ěr míhóu).

The most prominent thing to note is that the “animal” radical remains attached to his name, symbolising his continued “animal” traits. But far more intriguing is his title - “six-eared”.

It refers to a famous Buddhist saying - The Dharma is not to be transmitted to the sixth ear", which means that a secret shared between two people ought not to be overheard by a third. The Six-eared Macaque thus symbolises a being that has attained enlightenment not by proper work, but by “overhearing”.

So… how is the Macaque brought down ? Well, after he mimics Wukong, not a being on this Earth is able to tell the truth apart.

Till finally, the pair are brought to the Thunderclap Monastery, before the great Buddha himself, who identifies the Macaque and reveals his true nature. Similarly, Jin Guangyao’s perfect reputation is revealed in a temple to another Buddha (the Guanyin Temple).

Afterwards, the Macaque flees for his life, transforming into a bee. But he is captured by the Buddha in his golden alm’s bowl, which symbolises humility’s victory over the animal mind . Similarly, Jin Guangyao is cornered in the Guanyin Buddha’s temple, trapped by Wei Wuxian - the humble protagonist.

Finally, the Macaque is killed by Sun Wukong, which metaphorically kills his second heart, the one keeping him from Buddhahood, and frees the path for his ascension. Jin Guangyao, too, dies in the Guanyin Temple, and thus frees the path for Wei Wuxian’s happy ending

> Other Notes

What else ? Let’s see -

> While the Macaque could mimic Sun Wukong’s form superficially, he lacked Wukong’s “Vajra body”, and thus his invincibility. This can be seen in how the Yin Tiger Tally utilised by Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang is far from a perfect replica of the original, explicitly noted as not having the same seamless control

> Just as Sun Wukong achieved his happy ending - Buddha-hood - after travelling a great distance by the side of, and befriending, the revered monk Tang Sanzang, Wei Wuxian achieved his by travelling by the side of - and falling in love with - the revered cultivator said to be “like a monk”, Lan Wangji.

> Just as Sun Wukong is kept on the path of righteousness by the Jingu headband round his forehead, Lan Wangji - with his own headband - helps center Wei Wuxian and keep his stabilised

> Wukong is thrown into Laozi’s Eight-Trigram Furnace for 49 days, a trial that would have killed a lesser being. Far from being killed, Wukong emerged stronger, with eyes that would let him see through any evil, and thus metaphorically through the lies of the world. Similarly, Wuxian is thrown into the Burial Mounds for several months, a trial that would have killed a lesser being, and emerges stronger, with - the second time round - a deeper insight into the lies and hypocrisy of the cultivation world.

> We haven’t even tackled the greatest similarity between our two heroes yet - just as Sun Wukong was sealed away for 500 years as “punishment”, Wei Wuxian was dead - metaphorically “sealed away” - for 13 years as “punishment”.

> This deed was done by the orthodox cultivator world in MDZS, and the Jade Court (with the Buddha’s aid) in JTTW. This happened to Sun Wukong because he rebelled against the celestial bureaucracy, who deemed him “low-born” and “common” due to his birth as a stone monkey. Similarly, Wei Wuxian is deemed “the son of a servant” by the cultivation world.

> Also Sun Wukong’s declaration, “If heaven tries to suppress me, I'll split the skies! If the ground tries to block me, I'll shatter the earth!", really does sound similar to the many, many, similar declarations made by Wei Wuxian in the Burial Mounds, no ? (“If there’s no precedent, I’ll be the precedent”, comes to mind)

[helpmeimblorboing]

But that begs the question - is Sun Wukong the only one to be seen wielding an object by the name of “Ruyi” ? And the answer is no - there is another.

> The Pure One of the Present

The great Taoist deity, Lingbao Tianzun, the Heavenly Lord of Numinous Treasure, also wields a curved ceremonial sceptre - often seen in Buddhist art - that is called the ruyi.

Now, who is Lingbao Tianzun ? Well, he is one of the Three Pure Ones, the greatest deities in Taoism - similar to the Hindu Trimurti. He represents the Upper Heaven, and embodies the balance of Yin-Yang in a body, ruling over the present.

He is seen as deeply linked to the Lingbao school of Taoism, which introduced the idea of universal salvation over individual immortality - the idea that rituals should benefit all sentient beings and liberate ancestors from reincarnation.

Similarly, Wei Wuxian both founded a new school of cultivation - the ghostly path - and also acted in keeping with the idea that all beings deserve salvation, and should be saved.

He is associated, too, with the transition phase of the universe, from unstructured chaos to structured order, where “one” divides into “two”. He symbolises the balance between the Yin and the Yang… and… come on, do I need to go into detail as to why Wei Wuxian parallels that ?

Moreover, Lingbao Tianzun stands between the other two Pure Ones, occupying second place, between the Primordial Lord (who symbolises the past) and the Lord of the Way (the future). Thus, he is the lord of the present. Similarly, Wei Wuxian is very much defined by his ability to live in the now while still considering past debts and future consequences (and, yes, he does do that) - in addition, his life is divided pretty neatly into two periods by his death - his “past”, and his “future”.

So, if Wei Wuxian is the second Pure One, who could possibly be the first ? Well, as you might have guessed - Lan Wangji.

> Yuanshi Tianzun

Yuanshi Tianzun, the Celestial Lord of the Primordial Beginning, is the first and highest of the trinity, symbolising the primordial state of the universe - as “one” unified chaos - and the absolute unchanging state of the Dao before it began to divide.

Similarly, it can be seen that Lan Wangji, his life initially defined by the rigid and inflexible rules of the Gusu Lan’s moral code, represents something similar - at least, before he came into contact with Wei Wuxian, “the present”, and began to “divide”.

On top of that, he is often called the Jade Pure One. What material was Lan Wangji compared to several times over, again ?

But, most importantly, the union of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian symbolises the unification of Order and Transition, the rigidity of the former being melted by the latter, and the chaotic nature of the latter being balanced and stabilised by the former.

So… and then there was one. Who is the third of the Pure Ones ? Well… Lan Xichen

> Daode Tianzun

Daode Tianzun is the third of the Three Pure Ones, and perhaps the most famous - the deified Laozi, representing the future and the human connection to the Dao - and consequently, the manifestation of the Dao in the human world.

He is, of course, THE teacher, and is thus considered the most approachable of the Pure Ones, just as - in canon - Lan Xichen is seen as a warm and trusting counterpart to the feared Yiling Patriarch and the cold Hanguang-jun.

As you might have guessed, the third of the Pure Ones symbolises a more traditional order of Daoism - including the principle of non-action, “Wu Wei”, “going with the flow”, and “acting without force”. All very much things Lan Xichen is known for.

Finally, Laozi’s teachings focus on the cultivation of virtue (de) to align with the path (dao). Lan Xichen, as we see, follows this to a T, however superficially. He trusts those who seem to cultivate virtue - like Jin Guangyao - and mistrusts those who do not - like Wei Wuxian. Of course, he was miserably wrong about who was actually cultivating virtue, but… well, that’s why he ends up secluding himself, no ?

Also, Laozi famously became disillusioned with China and departed atop a water buffalo. Similarly, Lan Xichen became disillusioned with the world and disappeared into seclusion.

> Culmination

The story of MDZS can be seen to be a reflection of the Dao’s three phases and how they interact, then. The constant origin, the human application, and the transient change.

At the start of the story, we have a Dao that is “set” - the Origin, and the Application, lie together to form the Twin Jades. The cultivation world holds these up as the absolute zenith of power and the Dao. But they are missing one crucial third - change. Without the ability to change, and to see the Dao in the dark as well as the light, the cultivation world is stagnating.

That’s where, of course, our beloved Wei Ying comes in, injecting dynamic energy into the world like breath moving through a flute to produce a melody. And with this, the Dao is complete, at last.

> Calamity

If Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian - the two “arms” of Lan Wangji, Origin - symbolise two of the three phases of the Dao, we can see that Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang are their antithesis.

Just like Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao appears amiable and compassionate, calm in demeanour and manner. But while Lan Xichen acts with Wu Wei, his appearance and actions effortless to him, Jin Guangyao applies extreme effort and calculation to the same goal.

Similarly, just like Wei Wuxian symbolises the evolution of knowledge in relation to the Dao, Xue Yang takes that knowledge and twists it to his own ends. While Wei Wuxian acts to protect life, Xue Yang acts to corrode it. It’s important to know that we never see Xue Yang innovate his own creations, though we can be reasonably assured that he is intelligent enough to

So, what does this mean ? It means that De - virtue - matters more than Dao - the way. The latter is neutral, it is the former that decides where one ends up, a Pure One or a calamity.

[randomness-is-my-order]

i feel like one of the subtler bits of wei wuxian’s characterisation that is sometimes slightly skewed is that he is actually not the jump-into-the-heat-of-battle kinda guy, rather he’s one to hang back and observe before making a very clear and decisive move. look at the xuanwu cave predicament—wei wuxian did not immediately oppose wen chao, instead he stayed put as things escalated and once he realised how futile the situation was, he enacted a plan that was neither impulsive nor self-serving, but one that was optimal to benefit the most amount of people possible. similarly, he wasn’t pushed or blinded by his anger when wang lingjao came to lotus pier. even then, at the cost of himself (which imo, was much more calculated than people give him credit for but i digress), he chose de-escalation. same goes for the appeal he made to jin guangshan about the labor camps and same goes for every single instance of wei wuxian working his nighthunting and info-gathering knowledge to use before even approaching a danger-zone/haunt.

yes, wei wuxian is incredibly powerful and is formidable in battle but he’s not some violence-loving, battle-smug individual who would try to jump into the thick of things to flaunt his fighting prowess. the moments that people refer to as wei wuxian jumping the gun—the nightless city massacre, the ambush fight, opposing wen chao—are, infact, proof of how the battle is thrust to wei wuxian instead of wei wuxian thrusting himself into a battle. i would say that maybe the only example of wei wuxian getting heated into action is when he punched jin zixuan and even jin zixuan would agree to deserving those fists. i guess the reason i bring this up is because this sort of undermines another characteristic of wei wuxian which is his impeccable emotional regulation. if he was angered by every unjust circumstance and lost his wits about him as some of the popular fanon believes, wei wuxian would’ve never gotten as far as he did. it was because of his keen sense of seeing the truth in people and situations and then adjusting his own responses that helped him save himself and the wens for as long as he did and later stand tall before the cultivation world and show them the flaws in their mob logic. he’s not an emotionless man carefully tailoring his personality to suit his needs but he’s also not a emotionally volatile person pouncing at every opportunity to talk with fists instead of words. he’s as good at verbal sparring as he is at the physical counterpart of it and it’s always a bummer when his intellectual battles are reduced in favour of portraying him a certain, canonically divergent way.

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

The lemon thing has got to be my favorite tag comment ever!

[khattikeri]

the thing about wei wuxian’s victims is that calling them wei wuxian’s victims in the first place is nebulous.

that isn't to say those who died or were bereaved after nightless city or the first siege of the burial mounds weren't hurt by wei wuxian’s retaliation. but calling them "wei wuxian’s victims" while ignoring that cultivation society scapegoated and hunted him down, and that wei wuxian never attacked without being threatened first, is a massive oversimplification.

sure we have minor characters like the cultivator who lost his leg or the cultivator who lost his parents, and sure mxtx writes them as part of a mob of more unreasonable people who were largely not even present for these events, but the thing is... there are major named characters who were present, or who had loved ones there, and their grief and pain are given full attention by the story. they're called jiang cheng and jin ling.

my sister/my mother died at nightless city because of you! except no, jiang yanli actually died because an entirely different nameless cultivator stabbed her, and she intentionally pushed wei wuxian out of the way to protect him out of sincere love. it wasn't the first time. she already demonstrated this when she stood up for him and called him her blood brother in front of her fiance and his family at an event they were hosting, when she had zero backing support and could've easily been dumped and had her marriageability ruined for speaking out of turn.

who's to say that jiang yanli's death wasn't the only instance of cultivators dying at nightless city from friendly fire during all the chaos? we don't know. the one thing we do know for certain is that once it was all over, the survivors attributed the (dubiously counted) thousands of casualties to wei wuxian alone.

saying that wei wuxian was the sole cause is overly convenient for cultivation society. in particular the major sects politically did not want to help the wen remnants and were content to mistreat them in forced labor camps. they thought that wei wuxian was too dangerous with his unique ghost path of cultivation and use of resentful energy, so they gathered everyone up and tried TWO different times to assassinate him. the first time just killing wei wuxian alone. the next time, taking all the remaining wens out with him.

there's a lot left unsaid about these major battles and sieges which leads to a lot of our discourse as fans to begin with-- we have such limited information about all these major events of the past! and unfortunately for us, that's the point!

that's the thesis of the book! the details of the pain and grief you go through don't actually matter! regardless of it, you have to eventually move on. you have to actively choose good, to do what you think is right for the sake of doing the right thing, and not just to act based on your idea of fulfilling debts or deserving to be repaid a certain way!

what everyone claims as indisputable facts about wei wuxian are actually skewed not only by rumors, but by politics. mxtx doesn't depict these various randos to give them a brief beat of sympathy. nor does she do it just to make wei wuxian look better.

they are there because they are also angry and bitter, stewing in the past looking for someone to keep blaming (wei wuxian; the cultivation world decided thirteen years ago it would be wei wuxian) and demanding recompense from him. jiang cheng does the same for the entire damn book.

jin ling breaks the cycle; in spite of the rocky start he eventually chooses to trust wei wuxian and argue on his behalf even in front of his elders. even though he's the heir to a major sect. even though he has been taught his entire life to despise and be angry at wei wuxian for orphaning him.

mdzs is a complex story. it also happens to be a black and white story without gray morality. there are many what-ifs, actions that went poorly or circumstances that would've shifted the course of events if only things had gone well for everyone, but nobody acts in a legitimately morally grey way.

throughout the novels there is a clear delineation between good and bad, righteous and wrong; wei wuxian is clearly the former in both cases not because mxtx wanted to more easily depict her protagonist as a good guy, but because she consistently bases these dichotomies upon the fulcrum of hypocrisy.

supporting the use of resentful energy via ghost cultivation to kill your political enemies in wartime and then immediately turning on the person doing so for you once the war is over, blaming all evils on him and trying to get him killed because he's trying to help the few survivors of the opposing side (both because it's the right thing to do and to pay back a life debt he secretly owes that only two or three people know about, oops)-- that is hypocrisy.

if wei wuxian does it and we like it, it's expected of him and he deserves no praise, though he handles it all with charm and stride befitting the son of the illustrious cangse-sanren.

if wei wuxian does it and we don't like it, he's a murderous evildoer, the ungrateful and dangerous son of a servant (whose name we conveniently never say even though we all know who wei changze was).

mdzs is a book about the hypocrisy of the upper class. mdzs is a book about grief. mdzs is a book about society and rumors and politics and the pitfalls of chasing after what you are "owed". mdzs is a book about love and sticking to your own path and principles. wei wuxian is its protagonist, and by the novel's own values, he is indisputably good.

[ninjakk]

I'm always surprised when I see people outright condemn WWX for "being an asshole" when he is actually being so incredibly sweet and thoughtful. WWX is never an "asshole" anyway, he's one of the kindest, most empathetic characters in the novel! But I find it so odd how people could read his actions so negatively and come to such a conclusion when there is so much evidence to the contrary.

According to some, WWX bringing the rabbits to LWJ was just him trying to annoy the other. Now people can argue with me all they want, but I will never be discouraged that WWX gifted LWJ the two rabbits because he thought he was a little lonely.

On this day, he was once again swarmed by seven or eight youths to go out. As they passed by the Lan Library Pavilion, he took a glance up. Through the light-concealing yulan magnolia branches, he could see Lan Wangji sitting there alone by the window.

Chapter 7S translation

WWX looks for LWJ, hoping to spot him. It's obvious because he instinctively looks up at the very window of the room he sat with him in during his punishment. He was hoping to spot him! And luckily for him, LWJ was actually sat there looking back at him.

One thing I think is very apparent in the above scene, is the comparison between WWX being surrounded by others and LWJ sat alone. I don't think this goes unnoticed by WWX either, who is always very emotionally aware and certainly likes to make a fuss over LWJ - even in his first life!

So I think it's extra sweet when he brings him the bunnies a few hours later 🐇💕🐇

“This place of yours is weird too. No pheasants, but lots of wild bunnies, and they’re not afraid of people. What do you think? They’re chubby, right? Want them?”

It's just so cute how excited WWX is to present these two bunnies to him. He's so eager for LWJ to want them! Yes, he mentions cooking them, but I'm pretty sure this is a joke and a way to provoke LWJ into accepting the bunnies. After all it's totally within his character to "trick" people into doing something or accepting something they need or want. *Disclaimer! I'm not going to lie though, I think WWX would have barbecued the fluff balls if he truly thought LWJ didn't want them! That boy is hungry 😂

Wei Wuxian started snickering, sitting on the windowsill. “Now you want them? Look at you, always acting like this.”

Contrary to what WWX sometimes believes, he can read LWJ extremely well at times. He can tell, just like LXC did when he said he didn't want the loquat WWX was trying to give him, that he is saying 'no', but he really wants to say yes!

To me, the whole bunny scene is just adorable and shows how kind WWX is. How much he thinks about LWJ and just how desperately wants his attention! How anyone can think he's being horrible, is beyond me!

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

[ccoralilj-deactivated20260517]

my second prompt for wangxian gotcha against ice was wangxian with bunnies!!

[feels-of-an-asexual-anemone]

Does anyone else get emotional thinking about how LWJ and WWX were not a couple when WWX died, and in fact rarely saw each other and had very little involvement in each other's lives?

So when LWJ spent 13 years alone, he wasn't mourning the loss of a lover or a change to his daily life, he was just. Mourning a good man? Mourning that WWX didn't exist somewhere in the world. Regretting his own lack of action and living every day knowing that the rules he believed in, the society he was a part of, would destroy a light as bright as WWX's in fear. In jealousy.

Just. I know LWJ was in love with him, so of course WWX's death was devastating. But I think it's so important to LWJ's narrative that he didn't know WWX would ever return his feelings. He had no idea that they would be married some day. So in his grief he really wasn't mourning their future together, he was pure and simple mourning WWX's loss to the world. And that hits me hard

[my-random-mdzs-thoughts]

Well I wasn't before...but I am thinking of it NOW!

[danmei-confessions]

Gonna rant about the major problems I have with people in this fanom and thier piss poor reading comprehension:

People who argue wwx being morally grey totally missed the point of the entire book that was to do the right thing even when you don't get any kind of benefit out of it. Wwx only ever killed people who deserved it, while the antagonists killed and used people to thier advantage left and right. Jiang cheng did have power and capital (read the goddamn book it literally states ymj to be one of the strongest after sunshot campaign) and he chose not to do the right thing just to save his own self and his hatred against the wens, if you are gonna argue "oh but what was he supposed to do??" Wen Ning and wen Qing risked thier lives to save jc (they didn't have any more power either) they saved him knowing they are saving the enemy of their clan and found the bodies of his parents and Zidian, jc lead the seige and he is the ONE that betrayed wwx not the other way around. If this Fandom keeps missing these very obvious points of the novel just to uphold the fanon misinterpretations then I am indeed very disappointed. Mxtx herself says jc ISN'T the lil meow meow yall make him to be smh. Get reality glasses, see the novel for what it is. Mxtx says wwx and lwj are morally ideal ,not perfect, IDEAL. She says you should be like wwx in character and lwj in virtues. (This is not made up you can check her interviews)

I know jc stans are gonna be triggered but I don't gaf. It's the truth. Also don't even talk about consent of golden core transfer cuz wwx asked jc if he wanted a gc and jc agreed, he said he would do anything to get gc and wwx then sent him to the mountain also jc's life wasn't at risk for the transfer but wwx's was. As far as medical ethics are concerned the donor is allowed anonymity jc isn't entitled to know his name. Also jc repeatedly holds onto meaningless vengeance against wwx. Also jc is the one who projects his views onto wwx and No wwx is not the narrator of this novel.

I think the fandom lacks basic reading comprehension was clear when they didn't even understand that wwx isn't the narrator of the story must less an unreliable narrator.

.

[lovepsychothefirst]

In hindsight the popularity of using “demonic cultivation” for what Wei Wuxian uses is running counter to what is actually in MDZS being used. It is resulting in a lot of fandom confusion, particularly since demonic cultivation is a xianxia genre standard. But that’s not what is going on in MDZS.

The genre standard demonic cultivation revolves around stealing qi, absorbing life energy from others, possessing others to get access to their greater cultivation abilities, and in general much more assholery than what Wei Wuxian does.

The actual term used by Wei Wuxian and most of the narration in the novel is Guǐdào; aka Ghost Cultivation. It revolves manipulating the dead, using resentful energy as a power source, and to be absolutely blunt it is a form of necromancy. It is the “redirection” option in dealing with the dead; drain away resentful energy so that you can convince the dead to finally let go and be liberated. Either by getting the justice they were denied in life or having lifted the worst of their anger and attachment so they can think clearer.

Not demonic cultivation.

The very title “Mo Dao Zu Shi” is part of the subversion element and part of setting in motion assumptions about the story for the original Chinese readers who know the genre and what the usual tropes are.

Because calling it “Gui Dao Zu Shi” would give away too much from the start of what is actually going on.

Also per MXTX, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are “morally perfect” and as that is the intention given by the author herself, that means nothing Wei Wuxian does with ghost cultivation has to actually harm the ghosts in a way that would be morally wrong. Like destroying them, preventing them from reincarnating, that kind of thing. He does not hurt the dead. He’s honestly shown to be more friendly with the undead; he is endlessly kind to them in fact and even gentle. Polite too and that deserve marking because Wei Wuxian ignores most manners because he generally doesn’t care. But he puts that care into how he treats the gui (undead) he commands and works with. He gives them rewards for a job well done as shown in the Yi City arc!

The one who does use ghost cultivation to hurt both the living and dead is Xue Yang who is repudiated by Wei Wuxian; “Xue Yang has to die” is what he says and that is what he helps Lan Wangji do.

But the actual founder? The guy who made it and is the absolute master of it? Rejects that kind of thinking all the way through the story, even at his lowest.

[the-last-scythian]

Media Literacy Lesson Time:

Remember that scene during the Cloud Recesses lecture series where LQR asks about the definition of different types of creatures? There’s a reason it hits the way it does.

Demonic cultivation is called Modao. But WWX refers to his cultivation as Guidao. Mo is generally translated as “demon” while gui is translated as “spirit” or “ghost.”

In the lectures series scene deliberate emphasis is placed on the specific definitions for the difference between the types of creatures. Translations vary but generally speaking,

Gui: the human that are no longer living Mo: the living that are no longer human

Throughout the novel, there’s a running theme of natural cycles & the corruption thereof. Which is why the stating of the specific differences between gui & mo is so important.

Gui are a part of the natural cycle. Mo are a corruption of that cycle.

The fact that 99.99999% of the cultivation world doesn’t get that or doesn’t care (or both, mostly both) is the entire point. And alarming number of people in this fandom who don’t get that, well, we know how well that worked out for the cultivation world.

[hanguangjunn]

NEW WANGXIAN ILLUSTRATION FROM MDZS WEIBO

[sunflower-galaxy-star]

Blindfold kiss incense burner jp audio drama extra. Lan Wangji not knowing it's a dream and Wei Wuxian having some fun~

[storybookprincess]

so back when my little brother was in high school, my mom went as a chaperone for their senior year field trip to an amusement park. which, you know, brave move to volunteer to supervise a bunch of high school seniors let loose in a wonderland of rollercoasters and sugar

my brother and his friends in this field trip group were truly great kids. but they were not above run of the mill teenage boy shenanigans. it’s the end of senior year, you and all your buddies are at the amusement park, you’re naturally going to want to act like a complete moron

there was one kid in the group who was especially prone to goofing around. committed to the bit, some may say. my mom knew that if nonsense was going to break out, he’d likely be at the center of it

so she goes up to this kid at the very start of the trip and says “hey, i’m kinda worried about this chaperoning thing. this might be a lot to ask, but can you help me keep an eye on everyone? you wouldn’t have to do anything big, just be an extra set of eyes for me.”

friends, this kid proceeded to run their field trip group like the fucking us marines. everyone is at the meet up spots at the designated time. everyone waits in line for the rides like a bunch of boy scouts. the second the horseplay gets too out of hand, this kid is getting it back under control

it’s incredible how differently people act based on the expectations you set. instead of going to this kid and saying “hey, i know you’re trouble, so i’ve got my eye on you,” my mom went “hey, i know you have influence in your peer group, so i think you can help me.”

treat someone like a problem, they’ll act like a problem. but give people a chance to help, make them feel important, and they usually rise far above the occasion. it was a stroke of genius that i’m honestly still in awe of