selene💫

she/her | changes into different addiction once in a while

[cappucosmic]

Collecting his winnings

[foll0ws]

i've never tried anything like this before but who better try try new stuff with than hc and his Epic Aurafarming Moments

[foll0ws]

i've never tried anything like this before but who better try try new stuff with than hc and his Epic Aurafarming Moments

[vivernt]

[kitachett]

LISTEN, I just think Xie Lian should've been dressed up all pretty more often post 3rd ascension, okay? (I was legit so embarrassed drawing this jkafsjklg)

pspspsps I made an instagram and a twitter, though I'm still just slowly uploading older stuff so I don't get banned for spam lol

[moonnogginn]

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 💝

[moonnogginn]

Happy Valentine's Day!!! 💝

[madthebabs]

I can't stop thinking about them

[tgcf-sdeblog]

A post will say that Hua Cheng is a boring character because he has no personality, goals or likes outside of Xie Lian. This isn't what gets me upset the most, what does is that many responses that are supposed to be in defense of the character will say "Yes, he has no personality outside of Xie Lian but it's okay because that's the whole point! Xie Lian is his god!"

[ghost-kings-court-jester]

Okay so this stance bugs me so much because first of all Hua Cheng has a whole backstory yes it’s told through Xie Lian’s POV because he is the POV character but they were literally in the same timeline. Like do we get to see Hong’er’s home no but that wouldn’t make sense we’re in Xie Lian’s POV. We can still tell from the context that he was abused and he tells us as much. He joined the army, he helped at the sick bay and he defended Xie Lian’s temples. Then he died and his first few years as a ghost were also beside Xie Lian. They went through the worst period of their existence together that’s literally the whole point.

Then we cut to the 800 year skip and guys I need you to understand something the reason we don’t get a lot about Hua Cheng’s life is because it never came up because Xie Lian never asked! Xie Lian is very much a wanting to live in each moment kind of person so he doesn’t talk about his past either. Things come up sure but Xie Lian is also not offering that information up because he’s uncomfortable with talking about it which is why Hua Cheng doesn’t bring up their shared past either because he can see Xie Lian is uncomfortable and he doesn’t want Xie Lian to have to relive his trauma if he doesn’t want to.

When Xie Lian asks “Have we met before?” Hua Cheng would have told him except they were interrupted and Xie Lian never asked again. Hua Cheng doesn’t hide his feelings for Xie Lian or his worship but Xie Lian doesn’t ask about it cause he knows he’d be expected to bring up his past too and he doesn’t want to. In his mind Wu Ming is dead and gone so even if Hua Cheng was his worshiper from Xianle Xie Lian doesn’t want to disappoint him and lose the first friend he’s had in a very long time because he did something that Xie Lian finds irredeemable. Which is why he doesn’t want to talk about the past.

If Xie Lian asked hey when did you found ghost city? Hey why does E-Ming have an eye? Hua Cheng would tell him but he doesn’t so Hua Cheng doesn’t bring it up he also doesn’t hide his past. He brings up his enemies. He tells Xie Lian about Mt Tonglu and learning the language. He brings up places he’s been but they are both just happy living in the moment and being with each other. That’s where they are happy.

And like to say he doesn’t have a personality is insane. He’s a little shit. He crosses lines Xie Lian wouldn’t cross. He clearly has some kind of a relationship with Yin Yu and Blackwater even though Xie Lian doesn’t ask about it. He tears down gold palaces for fun. He gambles. He invents things. He teases Xie Lian. He is very honest about his emotions and feelings with Xie Lian. He isn’t surrounded in mystery at all he has a whole personality and it’s one that is compatible with Xie Lian’s because they understand each other and literally grew up together. Like they have the same trauma. It’s insane to say he doesn’t have anything to himself when he’s dripping in personality.

[hagelwolke]

they're sleeping, resting, enjoying each other's closeness....

[qifreyplushie]

greedy greedy

[retiredpeach]

[jasmine-does-wevertf-she-wants]

I think the reason TGCF is such a tough read for me is that XL suffers such horrific trauma but everyone seems to dismiss it except the narration and HC.

The narration doesn't spare us anything - we get a first row seat to the fall of Xianle, the turn of public opinion against the Crown Prince, the life of XL as a refugee, the horrific experience of being stabbed alive by a hundred people and then gaslit into it being your own fault for advocating for them, the abandonment of his closest friends and family when he can't live up to what he once was, almost becoming a calamity, seeing the futility of revenge, being the state preceptor of the state that overthrew your own, taking up the burden of mass slaughter and being nailed alive into a coffin for it, going back to war for a country you have nothing to do with only to be trampled to death when you try to save some children from the battlefield and then the actual plot. Every one of these instances are described vividly and in detail by the narration. We don't get to shy away from it. XL's life was fucking hard and tragic and we hear all about it.

But no one seems to take it seriously. Not even XL himself. He does not like to dwell on the past - understandably so, it's painful to read how much worse must it be to remember. But everyone else too. I am re-reading vol. 1 now and when it's revealed that General Hua is XL and why he died no one offers any sympathy that it must have been hard to die this way or that he at least saved some children. MQ makes a derisive comment on how it's his own fault for charging out like that and how he never learns to not stick his nose in trouble and the conversation moves on. Only HC seems to see things from XL's perspective, mood noticably souring when he learns of XL's suffering.

And it goes like this everytime. Something of XL's horrific past is revealed, XL tries his level best to focus on something else, someone else makes a disparaging comment and the plot moves along. And as a reader I sit there, trying to grapple with the magnitude of suffering that I am witnessing yet again, on top of everything else I already learned about XL's past and no other character is joining me in that process and that makes TGCF really hard to read for me. It's a novel full with trauma but the continuous dismissal that other characters treat XL with who is an exceptionally kind and resilient person and absolutely will not dismiss other characters the same way makes it traumatic in its own way. XL is the center of the narration, the reason everything unfolds but no character seems to have much care for what happens to him as a person. He serves a function for most of the cast and outside for that he receives almost no regard - except for HC.

Without fail HC will be upset about what happened - even if he already knew of it. He is my - and XL's - saving grace in TGCF because finally someone validates the horrors. What happened to XL was horrific and that no one acknowledges that says a lot about the universe they live in and how little they deserve XL. No wonder XL fell quick and hard. I need HC too to get through.

[sexybritishllama]

the secret to organising any kind of trip with your friends is to become the benevolent dictator. do NOT wait for everyone to provide a consensus on things before you book anything. do it and then ask for feedback after. do not ask people what they would like to do just tell them what is happening and let them all nod along like the sheep they are. this is the ONLY way to coordinate a group of adults in their 20s/30s

[sexybritishllama]

i have seen a bizarrely high number of replies to this post saying ‘okay but you have to take into account people’s preferences and dietary restrictions!!!’ so i just wanted to take the time to clarify that my original one (1) paragraph tumblr joke post was in fact an entirely comprehensive guide to trip planning, you should NOT take into account food allergies or accessibility or general basic preferences of your friends at all, there are absolutely no further nuance or considerations that need to be made beyond what i originally wrote

i have a friend with peanut allergies so every time we go somewhere i make sure to take my peanut car that is made up of thousands of peanut shells glued together and then for activities all of us take turns throwing peanuts at her and then we have peanut butter for dinner. everyone loves it

[kariidraws]

[quelmdn]

yushi huang 🩸

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

And this is why we don't take tiktok book "reviews" seriously now that we are in 2026

[mxtxfanatic]

Nothing about the tgcf romance was “slow” 😭