Grandmaster of Demonic Farming

@ninjakk

🧘🏻🍑🧋 Yoga, peach (which is entirely up to you 😉) & boba

I had way too much fun writing this one and you can tell.

Like, I categorically refuse to believe that Baoshan Sanren’s student have any fucking idea what the real world is like if they never left the mountain.

Which means that Jiang Fengmian met the weirdest fucking person. CSR probably insulted him three times within the first five minutes of speaking to him and seemingly only did one offense on purpose (asking why such a dressed up pretty boy was on a nighthunt in fancy clothes) and decided he found her honesty refreshing.

I want the antics of JFM and his Very First Friend with no (political) agenda, who asks a thousand questions about things he’d never even thought to reflect on and treats everyone equal—

(“Except assholes. They deserve it.”)

—and is a little petty and mean, a bit too much for people, especially polite company. She keeps making fun of him and when one day his temper does snap and he criticizes her back, she just pauses before breaking out in laughter.

I was just wondering if you had some insight on this. Thanks!

On some level, it can be considered a translation issue. But the real reason why WWX's characters, as well as countless other details in MDZS specifically (and Chinese novels broadly speaking), tend to be misunderstood on such a massive scale is... cross-cultural value mismatch.

Consider this:

1/ There is a tendency in the international fanbase to judge WWX (and other characters) on a modern Western moral standard. I don't have to tell you how illogical this is. Imagine if you come into the world of Game of Thrones and start spouting 21st-century judgment. You are likely to become human shishkebabs in less than five minutes. Most people who watch Game of Thrones or read the book understand that's not something you do unless you are a moron or looking to start shit. But for some reason, this is not the case for the MDZS fandom (and many other Chinese media fandoms out there). I'm not sure why this is the case. It might be because of the cultural distance making people not really realize they are coming into an entirely different world, and then they forget to check their modern expectations at the door. Like how tourists become obnoxious when they come to a foreign country, expecting the foreign country to cater to their whims.

I've once seen someone made an addition on TV Tropes saying WWX is a mass murderer that never got punished for his crime. I... I don't know what to say to that really. My expectation is that the person who wrote that is someone under 30, never left America, and never served in the military. For somebody who has never had this kind of experience, no amount of words will explain to them that for major parts of the world and for the vast majority of mankind's history, you have to be able to kill to survive. In fact, for most of our history, killers are our heroes. War is a reality that we live in. The ones who survive are the ones who win wars, the really accomplished killers.

2/ MDZS was not written for an international audience. That is to say, it's written with the expectation that it doesn't have to explain its intricacies and tropes to its intended readers. Because its readers already know. MDZS is xianxia danmei. Danmei has only had about 2 decades of modern history. But xianxia as a genre has stretched back millennia. Its tropes are very set. Chinese (and Sinosphere) readers don't need an explanation because we grow up consuming this kind of stories.

We don't need to be told in plain words to know WWX's only crime is to be possession of the Yin Tiger Tally, and the Jin's scheme is the real reason behind his tragedy. Because it's such a standard trope in our culture that there are millennia-old proverbs about it.

匹夫无罪，怀璧其罪 - pǐ fū wú zuì，huái bì qí zuì. Lit. The commoner is innocent, but his possession of treasure is a sin.

We don't need to be told that it doesn't matter if WWX goes along with the cultivation world's ceaseless demands (keep Suibian with him, consult more with Jiang Cheng before he does things) to know that none of that matters. Because none of those are actual rules, just trivial bullshit made up and used to socially isolate WWX and manipulate the public opinion against him. WWX's true crime is that he is alone. He is an orphan. No one will stand up for him. And unlike his big mouth, he's a real softie. Because if he wasn't then all of them would be dead ten times over with the kind of martial power WWX possess. Only WWX's good heart holds him back from really using his ability. Therefore, you can spit on him, you can cut him, you can trample on him without fearing retaliations.

Nie Mingjue has no sword. Ain't nobody try to lip him about it. Yu Furen has no sword. She uses a whip. Ain't nobody lip her about it.

WWX's undead cultivation is also not really the problem. That kind of cultivation is vanilla as girl scout's cookies. It's only made out that way because it's a method of cultivation that is very easy to learn and does not require enormous resources (i.e. caste issue, not class, caste) to cultivate. Which means it's a method that can be practiced far and wide by poor commoners. Which means it's an infringement on the cultivator House's power and financial base. That's its real crime. Not all that justice bullshit.

For many international fans out there, MDZS is their introduction to danmei (and xianxia). So they come in not knowing these things. They don't see the caste issues, the tragedy, the difference of philosophies and choices between WWX and JC. Their conclusion is built on ignorance and misunderstanding.

It doesn't help that most know little to nothing about Chinese culture which is a high-context culture, the polar opposite of most Western cultures (low-context culture). Something that may seem small and insignificant for a Western reader base can be a really big deal for the Chinese reader base, because it's inbuilt in five thousand years of history and culture. Like why Jin Guangyao buried his mother's corpse in the Guanyin temple and why he needed to reclaim it and take it with him when he tried to flee to Japan.

and it's not until wwx's cultivation is under control, his temper is pretty stable, he's not participating in a war or stalking enemy troops to torture them to death--he's living peacefully, removed from the cultivation world, and it's at that point that they come to kill him.

“Look how they’re laying on top of each other, do you think they’re…”

“They are both male!” Lan Wangji exclaimed.

Volume 1 of 7S, Chapter 6

Our sweet little babyji is as in the dark about certain positions as babyxian is at this moment in time. Adultxian as well to be honest! Which is just more proof the man never really paid much attention to porn, for all that he read it! But I digress!

Looks like teenji is yet to plunder the Lan library's porn collection! I wonder if this is the catalyst for him 'going down the rabbit hole'* and swatting up on such things.

*Pun very much, unashamedly, intended... because it amused me far too much not to share!

As much as I wanted to love the novel (original version), that r*pe jokes author threw in that extra chapter really put me off. She's so good creating the plots in her stories, but why did she has to put that jokes in? She was so insensitive about that issue.

I want to know your thoughts about this :)

Hi anon,

I'm sorry to hear you've been put off the novel, but each to their own.

So, you see the thing is it's not a joke to WWX and LWJ, they are just roleplaying to their kink. There are hints throughout the novel that WWX is not opposed to this forceful behaviour and he even makes a 'joke' about such things back when they are trapped in the Xuanwu's cave.

I think one thing that a lot of people forget is that this was a web novel on a site with author's notes and tags. So if the noncon, or in this case CNC (consensual nonconsensual), was an issue for readers, they might have been able to see this and not read on. It is also something often found in BL and she was targeting a specific audience who would mostly be aware of such things possibly appearing in her chapters anyway. Because of this, I don't think MXTX was being insensitive about such topics.

In fact, I think due to noncon and dubcon being a common trope in the BL genre, MXTX has (as she so often does) turned this trope on its head and actually made it something I would consider healthy. LWJ holds himself back from doing anything without WWX's consent (bar his momentary laps with the kiss, which he feels terrible about afterwards) and consent is actually a running theme throughout the novel. LWJ refuses to do anything WWX doesn't want - to the point he does not take him back to the Cloud Recesses in his first life. It only becomes CNC because WWX wants and encourages it at the end of the novel. Even the apparent dubcon bath scene where WWX thinks he's taken advantage of LWJ, was actually consensual because LWJ had sobered up before this point and it's subtly shown as such by LWJ's speech pattern changing from childish to a more forceful tone. Obviously LWJ's dream is technically noncon and was quite a shock to some, but this was a dream and you can't control dreams. I won't go into the dream scene because there is already a lot of meta on this and I'd just be repeating!

Overall, CNC is a part of WXs shared kinks and I actually found it refreshing to see it handled quite respectfully, in the sense of it being a kink that can have a bit of a bad rep. MXTX showed her readers how a loving couple can have such a kink, yet be so tender and sweet as well.

Naturally I understand why this might make some readers uncomfortable, especially if they are unaware such things are in a novel and it may be triggering. There is an argument here for some sort of warning being included for such content that may pose as a possible trigger and something indicating as such somewhere on the novel cover - as it does not have any on the official volumes I have. Especially considering some readers may have come from the CQL or donghua and aren't aware of such things being present.

Future Plans

Risa: Are you perhaps working on a novel? 

Moxiang: I have not a few works in progress, but because my creative process is slow, for the foreseeable future, no work has taken proper form. 

Risa: If you can write freely without worrying about reader’s reception, what kind of story will you write? 

Moxiang: Personally, I enjoy and pride myself in being able to satisfy myself and my readers at the same time. Therefore, I never thought about disregarding my reader’s reception. I really have not thought through something like this before, so I would like not to answer this question. 

Risa: What have you been doing recently? 

Moxiang: Recently, I’m into playing with slime. On my days off, I also want to play slime with my friends, or I think: “What do I eat today?” That sort of stuff. 

Risa: So cute. Ms. Moxiang, even though you are so busy, you still reserve time to sit down and talk to us. Such a wonderful opportunity. Thank you! Lastly, other than the stories that you are working on, is there anything you would like to tell your Japanese readers? 

Moxiang: Dear Japanese readers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. No matter if it is today or in the past, when I think about how my work has been translated into Japanese and read in Japan, I always feel an indescribable emotion in my heart. I am so, so happy. 

Furthermore, regarding my newest work, “Tian Guan Ci Fu,” I must apologize to all of you. Also, “Mo Dao Zu Shi” that we just talked about as well. Originally, there were no scenes where Lan Wangji visited the Burial Mound and the kiss on Bai Feng Mt. (Mount Hundred Phoenixes). These scenes were added on in the extra 50 thousand words edit in the new edition. But at the moment, the ‘Tian Guan Ci Fu’ that Japanese readers have is the old edition without the additional contents. For the foreseeable future, it will only be this old edition. I don’t know when the new edition will be ready or if there will be any further changes. I profusely apologize for this.    

Risa: We will work on this new edit with utmost seriousness. 

Moxiang: That’s right. We will treat it with the highest level of care. 

Risa: Kuohao-san, please say something to the audience waiting for the third season of the audio drama. 

Kuohao: The third season is progressing very nicely in both story and the Wangxian romance. It will certainly be very exciting. Many details will be gradually revealed, and there will be countless famous scenes between Wangxian! Please listen to it! 

Risa: Thank you both of you for today. I hope there will be future opportunities like this. 

Moxiang: To be honest, this is my first official interview. I am better at writing than speaking. I’m a little clumsy with my words. Today I was so very nervous. Thank you, Ms. Risa, for following and recommending “Mo Dao Zu Shi.” Ms. Risa’s Mandarin is excellent! I look forward to future opportunities to sit down and talk. Furthermore, I hope I will have more opportunities to connect with my international readers.  

-From Sichuan Province, China, November 28th, 2022-

Translator’s Note: with this done, I will take my time to reorganize all 8 parts of this translation into a single file, proofread, and edit it. My plan is to host this one file on a platform that can be easily stored and shared among the community. So probably Google Drive. I will post the raw Mandarin transcript of the interview too, for people who can read Mandarin to read it directly. 

I’m thinking whether I should put it on other platforms too, for safekeeping, because digital things can disappear randomly. I’m not sure where though. Tumblr and twitter are hardly suitable for archival purposes. AO3 maybe? If you have suggestions or advice, I would be very happy to hear them. 

Translator’s Note 2: recently I was told that my sharing this translated interview might be illegal and will negatively impact the fandom and make reprints of the magazine harder, that it will negatively impact fan etiquette. I concur this is a potential issue. So I would like to take a minute to clarify a few things. 

1/ This interview was conducted in Mandarin and then translated into Japanese by Subaru and printed for their May-June 2023 edition. This edition is now being scalped on Japanese web for 7-10 times its original price. 

2/ I originally got a single scanned page of the magazine (Japanese) and translated it with the help of my husband. I was waiting for further scans, but luckily, the actual translator (Mandarin to Chinese) working for Subaru posted the entire Mandarin transcript on weibo. Subsequent parts of this translation was made based entirely on this transcript. As my Mandarin skill is much better than my Japanese skill, this is reflected in the quality of the translation from part 4 onwards (something I intend to fix in the edit). 

So we have a situation where: the magazine is in Japanese and sold to Japanese fans. The Mandarin transcript is posted publicly on weibo to Chinese audience (although that might change at any moment). I am Vietnamese, living and working in Vietnam, translating from Japanese / Mandarin to English for an international fandom (my husband is American citizen working for Saudi Arabia… if that’s relevant to the issue). 

I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know how copyright laws apply here, or even if it applies at all. Again, if anyone has advice, suggestion, concerns, I would be open to hearing them.  

I did intentionally add in footnotes explaining lingual concepts and cultural, philosophical references, to potentially lean on Fair Use (if it applies). 

That said, I don’t want to negatively impact MXTX, so if I receive official request, I will take this translation down. 

Regarding potential fan etiquette, I don’t really participate in the international fandom, but I do know fandom politics can be difficult to navigate. It’s not really my place to gatekeep any body. As far as I’m concerned, if the story brings you joy, then that’s a good thing by itself already. 

So, I would like to ask anyone who read this translation to please keep this in mind. Fan translation is a gray area issue. Whatever you feel, please consider the wellbeing of the fandom itself, and to not potentially negatively impact Ms. Moxiang. If there’s anything you don’t like in this translation, please just chalk it up as my translating skill not being up to snuff. 

Sincerely,

Which creative works influence you: 

Risa: Please tell us which creative works influence you. 

Moxiang: Professor Jin Yong’s wuxia novels (*)! Professor Jin Yong is my number one teacher in the craft of writing. His skill in crafting wuxia stories, his artistic palate, the sheer intellectual depth and philosophical complexity of his stories and characters. Professor Jin Yong’s wuxia novels have a profound and immeasurable influence on all modern Asian creative professionals. 

(*: the legendary late professor Jin Yong. He’s not as well-known in English-speaking spheres due to the complexity of his works being very difficult to translate to languages outside of the Sino-Tibetan language family. But in Asia, he’s a literature titan. He’s comparable to Tolkien in that he laid the foundation and codified the tropes of wuxia as a modern genre (alongside Gu Long and Liang Yusheng) and brought about the first and subsequent wuxia waves, and that there’s also university courses and entire research field on Jin-Yong-ology. However, he’s a much more prolific writer, having produced 15 wuxia series, among which 14 are of comparable length or longer than the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit combined. 

It would be no lie to say there’s not a single creative professional in Asia that is not influenced by Jin Yong in some way, shape, or form. 

One of Jin Yong’s trademarks is the overwhelming, often obsessive, sometimes destructive love that his characters exhibit. There’s not one work of his that is not threaded through with larger-than-life romance, not just among the protagonists, but also among the villain characters. The trend of modern Chinese literature, especially wuxia and xianxia, to portray larger-than-life romance can be traced directly to Jin Yong’s influence. 

Interestingly, he’s also credited as having accidentally created the proto icon of danmei as a genre. 

I’m sorry. I’m so excited I want to cry. Professor Jin Yong is also my first teacher in the craft of writing. It turns out we all step in the footsteps of the giant, huh, Moxiang?) 

I also watch a lot of 90s Hongkong movies. Do you know “Shaolin Soccer’?  

Risa: I do know! 

Moxiang: Stephen Chow’s comedy movies, Tsui Hark’s wuxia, and fantasy horror movies. Lam Ching-ying’s walking corpse movies. I love all of these. 

Risa: That’s closer to jiangshi (*) than modern zombies.

(*: a type of Chinese walking corpse. The name literally translates to stiff corpse. Jiangshi is typically translated into Chinese hopping vampire in English due to their similarity to Western vampires. They are the dead that comes back to life. They suck yang energy from living people. They fear the smell of garlic. Etc… Jiangshi has real-life basis in an extinct profession in China: the corpse walker, i.e., people who made a living out of ‘walking’ corpses back to their home provinces in times of war and chaos. Corpse walkers are mentioned in Liao Yiwu’s historical book 'The Corpse Walker’) 

Moxiang: That’s right. That’s right. A hopping jiangshi. I watch a lot of such movies. Some movies are from before I was born, such as 'A Chinese Ghost Story’ and 'Sword Man’ (*). I have watched them more than ten times! If I meet someone who has never watched those movies before, I will enthusiastically drag them along while saying, "Let’s watch them together!” My novel bears obvious and immense influence from these movies… For example, the funny scenes in my story are very close to the atmosphere of comedy scenes from Hongkong cinema. Or the walking corpses in my story. My inspiration came from these undead corpses. In the novel, I mentioned using glutinous rice as a cure for corpse powder. This knowledge came from the movie “Professor Jiangshi” (named 'Mr. Vampire’ in English in the Wikipedia).

(*: Both of these movies are Tsui Hark’s movies and are counted among the top 100 best movies of Asian cinema. They are known for their fantasy elements, eroticism, and homoeroticism. These movies came from a time where Asian cinema was pushing boundaries left, right, and center. Swordsman and its spin-off were adapted from Professor Jin Yong’s The Smiling Proud Wander. The very same work in which he accidentally created the proto-icon of danmei. I wrote an essay about this as part of danmei history last year. I will make a separate post after this.)

Risa: To be honest, when I reached the part where glutinous rice was used to cure corpse powder in 'Mo Dao Zu Shi,’ I was moved.

Moxiang: Ah? A Japanese author saw the glutinous rice scene in my novel and linked it to jiangshi movies… That is so surprising! 

Risa: When I was young, I watched a lot of jiangshi movies. I love them! 

Moxiang: I feel increasingly close to Ms. Risa now. As for other foreign literature, Emily Bronte’s 'Wuthering Heights’ greatly influences me. When I read it during elementary school, I was shaking from excitement. Perhaps because of the influence of Wuthering Heights, that whenever I see complex, intertwining love-hate situations, I feel such joy and nostalgia in my heart. 

There’s also my favorite childhood mangaka Rumiko Takahashi! This kind of light-hearted, rowdy atmosphere where characters argue and rib each other is so cute! I especially like 'Ranma ½’. I think it’s the best comedy manga. Other than that, 'Inuyasha’ can only be described by the word romantic. Romantic! To this day, Kikyo is still a goddess in my heart. 

Risa: Although 'Ranma ½’ is a work that features China in it, what do Chinese people think about it? 

Moxiang: The first thought that comes to my head is 'charming!’ After that is probably fond familiarity. This work (Ranma ½) features many Chinese elements. I feel that the distance between our hearts is lessened.   

To be Continued (The next part will be the last) 

Creative Process: 

Risa: “Mo Dao Zu Shi” has not only sweet scenes but also painful scenes. After scenes of brutality, violence, and death, the characters might carefreely chat about nothing and everything, or there might be some lovey-dovey scenes. This is like treating readers with alternating pleasure and torture. Did you do this intentionally during your creative process? 

Moxiang: If I only write about sad, painful story elements, my readers will inevitably leg it. From the other perspective, joy and happiness are comparatively fleeting emotions. If I only write joyful, happy stuff, I would not be able to touch and move my readers to any significant depth. Therefore, I paid special attention to balancing both sides during my creative process. 

Kuohao: If you keep the same kind of tone throughout the story, the evocative effect will inevitably decrease. Readers will eventually become bored of it. But if you time it right, readers (listeners in the case of audio drama)’s emotions will go up and down along with the flow of the story. The pacing and structure of “Mo Dao Zu Shi” are incredibly well-timed. As a result, the audio drama script was not changed in any significant way and stayed loyal to the source materials’ strength. 

Risa: Do you feel pain when you write sad parts, and joy when you write happy parts? 

Moxiang: In the case of “Mo Dao Zu Shi”, I put myself in the position of an observer when writing sad parts, and focus on the development of the narrative. In the happy parts, I put myself among the characters and indulge in their shared joy. 

Risa: That’s so clever of you. There are so many ‘torturous’ (*) parts in the novel, so I thought perhaps it was very difficult. When reading “Mo Dao Zu Shi,” I feel that there’s a vast world populated by many people in Ms. Moxiang’s mind. Where does Ms. Moxiang’s immense imagination come from? 

(*: literally 'reverse/mistreat/torture.’ It’s a modern Chinese slang denoting sad story elements designed to 'emotionally damage’ the readers. Please check the note for the same word in part 3 of this translation)

Moxiang: If we are speaking of imagination, I feel that it’s important to visit many places and meet vastly different people. In other words, step out of the house a bit more. But in terms of building characters, observing people is of great importance, even more important is… to dig deep into your own heart. 

Before, when I was a young child, I read stories by Alexandre Dumas, Hugo, Balzac, and other world-famous authors. A writer staying in his room alone, talking to himself, laughing, and crying. A friend visiting him saw him in this state and became worried: “Is your mind alright?” But when the friend was about to leave, the author said: “Don’t worry about me. I’m just writing a story." 

Risa: The excitement of unraveling mysteries starting from the introduction of the story is a pleasure when reading Ms. Moxiang’s novel. The introduction carries details that, sometimes later on, become a key point in the second half of the story in unimaginable ways. There’s also a feeling of picking up hints and information purposefully left behind by the author. Is this a careful deliberation on your part during the writing process? 

Moxiang: As I said, I only start to truly write once I have completed the outline of the story. About 80% of the story is planned. 20% is inspiration that came up during the writing. I think that the story structure is immensely important.

..

Translator’s Note: In this part is a section concerning the audio drama by Mimi. Risa talked mostly to Kuohao. Moxiang only chimed in at the last bit to say the production quality was very high and she was very happy with it. So, for now, I’m not including that part here. Once I have completed the translation, I will reorganize everything into a single file, proofread, edit, and host it on google drive so that it can be shared with the community. 

..

Before writing "Mo Dao Zu Shi" 

Risa: Ms. Moxiang, please tell us how you started writing stories. What kind of stories did you write when you first started? 

Moxiang: The first time I started writing stories was probably while I was in elementary school. Along the way to my school was a bookstore selling books as big as a hand. I love buying the ghost story magazines there. Because of this influence, I remember writing lots of horror stories while in elementary school. Although most of them were just short parts and scenes and weren’t complete stories. The first story I completed was 'Tian Shi’ (lit. Celestial Master), a schoolyard romance story, during my secondary school. Even though it was just a WIP draft, it still got some of my classmates really riled up. "I also want to be a character in this story.” “I want to be in the same team as this heroine.” I got a lot of requests like this. 

Risa: Woa, I so want to read that story! 

Moxiang: the heroine, the heroine’s childhood male friend (let’s call him A), and a male classmate that suddenly appears (let’s call him B). This story is about these three. The thing I remember most about this story is: when I asked my classmates, who were my first readers, for their opinions (I still keep the draft now. Even though now it’s old and yellow); around that time, I wrote a romance between the heroine and B, but the result from all of my readers was: everyone liked A instead! I was so shocked! Everyone commented: “B’s love is so whatever! (*) We want to see A and heroine together!” (laugh). I could not understand it at the time, but now that I think about it, A certainly does have a charm of his own. Even though I wrote without any kind of plans or forethought at the time, after that, I started to realize: “The main character must be a person I love the most and has the most charm.” At the time, I looked at my classmates’ excitement and admiration for my story and felt so happy. As a result, my old notes are filled with old, incomplete stories. If I have a chance in the future, I would like to complete them. 

(*: Northeastern Mandarin slang 爱咋样咋样. A combination of Heibei-Shandong and Jiao-Liao Mandarin. It means 'whatever’ / 'don’t care’/ 'indifferent’)

Risa: To be honest, I have the same experience as Ms. Moxiang. I drew manga while in secondary school. My classmate said after reading: “I hope you can continue to draw.” I was overjoyed. Perhaps it is because of this kind of experience that I became a novelist. 

Moxiang: Me too. From the start, I also wanted to become a Manhua artist! Perhaps this is normal for people who want to become novelists. Because I never had the chance to learn how to draw, the result is that I chose to become a novelist. 

Risa: A, I feel the same! Ms. Moxiang, where do you get your ideas?

Moxiang: To put it simply, it starts from 'fulfilling a personal desire.’ For example, if it’s a detective or mystery story, then I want to fulfill my curiosity and solve puzzles. If it’s a romance story, then I want to love and be loved. If it’s a survival story, then I want to see survival in extreme conditions. To fulfill these desires, I think of how to best tell stories. To write a great story, one must have a foundation of intense desire. Of course, the amalgamation of multiple desires also works. In fact, 'desire’ is a 'thread.’ The story is the pursuit of this 'thread’ to the very end. Once you have found a strong desire, disregard everything else, the story starts there.   

Risa: So that’s how it is. 

Moxiang: I think that each author has different ideas. I personally build the characters first. Their personality, their destiny, and their emotions. Once a character with irresistible charisma appears and makes people fall in love with him (her), then they will surely love his (her) story too. Therefore, build the characters first, then weave the story. That is my process. Until now, I’ve only produced three novels. So I still find the process of structuring a story to be complicated. In terms of the structure and pacing of stories, I strongly recommend Robert McKee’s “Story”! You can learn the theory of writing craft.  

To Be Continued

Character’s Allure

Risa: Among the cast, my favorites are the Nie brothers. Nie Huaissang and Nie Mingjue. As I read, I constantly prayed that Nie Shi (House Nie) would not fall. 

Mo Xiang: Shocking! I have yet to see this kind of attitude toward the Nie brothers. In the place of Nie brothers, I deeply thank Risa! Nie Mingjue was created as a foil and reversed mirror image of the ‘extremely socially adept’ Jin Guangyao. Nie Mingjue is someone who would rather break but never bend. Jin Guangyao is someone who would rather bend but never break. One embodies unbendable justice. One is a cunning smooth operator. I thought about these two contrasting and contradicting kinds of characters and then created them (Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao). A cunning faker (*) like Jin Guangyao, once he meets a 'violent god’ (**) Nie Mingjue would become absolutely powerless and can only flee. Their situation would be quite interesting should I continue to write it. Although for them, it definitely would not be a fun time. 

(*: 狡猾 jiaohua: someone who is pretty/righteous on the outside but rotten inside, a faker, a pretty snake masquerading as a saint) 

(**: 凶神恶煞 xioengshen esha: a powerful, brutal, violent god that is consumed by the slaying of evil so much he starts to do evil himself. Someone who should be good but is consumed by rage and violence and becomes no better than the evil he seeks to destroy)

Risa: Nie Huaissang is extremely smart. Nie Mingjue still acts even though his body has been split into multiple pieces. I absolutely love these brothers’ opposing approaches to life. 

Moxiang: The more the character personalities contrast with each other, the clearer their conflict and transformation is portrayed. It also makes the story even more compelling and exciting. Nie Huaissang was built on the foundation of Nie Mingjue as a character. They both use sabers as their weapons. Nie Mingjue is more or less straightforward inside and out. Nie Huaissang, on the other hand, looks weak and cowardly on the outside but is actually immensely insightful, patient, and crafty on the inside. The characters of Qinghe Nie Shi were actually complete quite early into the writing. 

Risa: The characters of “Mo Dao Zu Shi” mature into different kinds of people depending on their relationship with their parents. In terms of lineage and family ties, what were your thoughts while writing? 

Moxiang: I think the environment a person grows up in is a very important factor. The parent generation’s joy and sorrow will create an increasingly greater impact on their children. Furthermore, children will inherit specific things from their parents. Only when you look at the profound yet incidental similarities between parents and children, you will see that family ties are something very real. 

Risa: Some characters in the book had a very difficult childhood. Jin Guangyao, Xue Yang, and Wei Wuxian. One type of character experiences misfortune in their childhood and then grow to become bad people. One character, on the other hand, steadfastly holds onto his good heart no matter what. Both types exist in the same book. 

Moxiang: To be honest, the character’s childhood was the last thing I considered. My creative method starts with imagining the zenith of a character’s life when they are shining brightly at the summit. Then I think about narrative developments leading to and from that moment, and then the character’s childhood as the finishing touch. After that, I fill out details on their parent generation. The parents mostly act as supporting characters. Their designs are based on the main cast, to contrast or to complete. 

For example, first, I think of what kind of person Wei Wuxian is. Then, I think of what kind of parents could have such a child. I base his parent’s characters on his character. 

Looking at it from within the story, it’s that parents will inevitably influence their children. But from a structural writing standpoint, it’s the children that influence the parents.        

To be continued (We are about… half-way through the interview transcript)

Risa Wataya: So that’s how it is. This is fascinating. Through the forehead band, I feel that I can understand the relationship between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. Furthermore, what does Ms. Moxiang think of the allure of each character?

Mo Xiang: Because the novel is told from Wei Wuxian’s point of view, it’s easy to understand why Wei Wuxian has such irresistible allure. From a holistic point of view, he’s incredibly “vivacious.” I especially like the part where they were in Xuanyu Cave (The Massacre Turtle Cave in some English translations). Wei Wuxian kept teasing and poking. While they were in there alone together, he kept provoking Lan Wangji. Amazingly he managed to provoke Lan Wangji into biting him? Wa! My readers grit their teeth and said: “There’s no need to be so charming ok! Please feel free to turn around and scram!” But before they even knew it, they had been enticed by him (Wei Wuxian).

In other aspects, Lan Wangji is Wei Wuxian’s opposite. He’s an elegant, refined gong who’s far removed from the petty squabbles of mere mortals. But he acts so cute (*) whenever he’s provoked and harassed by Wei Wuxian. I left many hints about him in the book. These hints require careful reading and interpretations from the readers. But such complexity and contradictions are what make the book enticing and exciting to read.

(*: ke ai 可爱: easy to love, cute. This description is typically used for children, small, cute animals, teenagers, very young women. It’s not typically used for adult men in China)

For example, outwardly Lan Wangji has always maintained a cold, silent appearance, but in truth, since his teenage years, he was already enraptured by Wei Wuxian. I think that deep in his heart, he is filled with yearning for the kind of freedom that Wei Wuxian inhabits so easily. Furthermore, these two people are deeply similar at the core of their personality. At the core of who they are, they are the same kind of person. This is also one big reason why they come to love each other so deeply.      

To be continued… (It’s long. Very long…)