Just random stuff~

[MDZS Holiday Gift Exchange 2018]

(Click on pics for better resolution)

For @shionumi. I had fun with this one, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did creating it, too! 

Happy holidays, and may this family of three bless you with happiness and shenanigans all the way~

Wei Wuxian: Well… you know what they say. [shrugs] You are what you eat.

魔道祖师 经修版 (Mo Dao Zu Shi revised edition) – The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/The Founder of Diabolism

Chapter 100 – 表白 (Biao Bai) – Confession

The strand of Guqin string was impeccably thin, further coated with a particular varnish, it was near impossible to catch with the naked eye. Adding on the fact that Wei Wuxian was previously in a state of mental turmoil and in no mood to pay attention to others, was the string then able to wrap itself around his throat.

Wei Wuxian exclaimed, “Lan Zhan, don’t! Don’t retreat!”

Yet, within an instance, Lan Wangji had without any reserve, already taken five steps back.

Jin Guangyao commended, “Perfect. Then, moving on, if you could please put Bi Chen back in its scabbard.”

With the clang of metals, Lan Wangji had again, immediately done as he was told. Wei Wuxian spat in rage, “Don’t push it you!”

Jin Guangyao responded, “I’m ‘pushing it’, with just these little requests? I was going to continue by asking Han Guang-jun to seal his own spiritual core, what would you call that then?”

Wei Wuxian angrily exclaimed, “You…”

Before he could finish, an acute pain akin to the slicing of his flesh could be felt around his throat, accompanied by a sensation of a thick liquid substance sliding down his neck. Seeing that, Lan Wangji’s face flashed a deathly white while Jin Guangyao continued, “How could he not obey me? Think about it, Wei-gongzi, his life is currently in my hands.”

Lan Wangji clearly bit, “Do. Not. Touch. Him.”

Jin Guangyao maintained, “Well then, Han Guang-jun, you know what you should do.”

After a moment, Lan Wangji replied, “Okay.”

Lan WangJi heaved a deep sigh. He raised his hands and in two heavy gestures, he sealed his own spiritual core.

Jin Guangyao spoke gently with a smile, “This is honestly…”

Lan Wangji continued to stare motionlessly, “Let him go.”

Wei Wuxian interrupted, “Lan Zhan! I, I have something to say to you.”

Jin Guangyao commented, “You can talk about it later.”

Wei Wuxian refused, “No, this is extremely urgent.”

Jin Guangyao remarked, “You can say it in this position then.”

Though he originally meant it as a passing remark, Wei Wuxian unexpectedly agreed, “That’s fine too.”

With that, Wei Wuxian amplified his voice to announce, “Lan Zhan! Lan Wangji! Han Guang-jun! I, earlier I, sincerely wanted to bed you!”

“…”

“…”

“……”

The moment Jin Guangyao allowed his hand to slip, loosening the string weapon around his neck, Wei Wuxian impatiently threw himself at Lan Wangji.

His earth-shattering confession sent a shock through Lan Wangji’s body, stunning him dazed, unable to react at all to the circumstances and causing his usual, stoic expression to be replaced by the rare look of bewilderment and confusion. This was not the first time Wei Wuxian had wrapped both arms around his waist, tightly holding him in an embrace, but this was the first time Lan Wangji body had resembled a dead log, stiff to a point where he had not even an inkling of an idea of where to place his hands.

Wei Wuxian spoke, “Lan Zhan, what I just said, did you hear it loud and clear?!”

Lan Wangji’s lips trembled, after a pause, he spoke, “You…”

Whenever he spoke, it was always concise and straight to the point, never had it been inarticulate, yet at this moment, his speech was disjointed and filled with hesitation. After another pause, he spoke again, “Just now, you said…”

It was as if he wanted to reiterate it, to reassure himself that it wasn’t misheard. However, to Lan Wangji, that way of phrasing was honestly, a challenge to teeth out. Seeing this, Wei Wuxian instantly and without hesitation prepared to repeat himself, “I said, I sincerely wanted to…”

“Ahem, Ahem!”

Aside, Lan Xichen had his right hand in a fist, covering his lips. After a period of consideration, he sighed, “…Wei-gongzi, you really picked the right time to say such a thing and a right place too.”

Wei Wuxian apologised with complete insincerity, “I’m really sorry, sect master Lan, but I honestly couldn’t hold it in for a single second anymore.”

As if unable to hold it in any longer as well, with a turn of his head, Jin Guangyao yelled urgently, “Haven’t we found it?”

The respond came from one of the monks, “Sect master, you had it buried too deep originally…”

Jin Guangyao flushed a pale greenish-white, ghastly and horrible looking. Despite that, he had not reprimanded his subordinate and only bit out another order, “Quicken the pace!”

As he finished, a sudden, deathly bright white streaked across the sky that was instantly followed by a loud, roaring thunder. Sparing a glance at the sky, Jin Guangyao’s expression deepened. Within the next moment, slanted raindrops began drizzling down. Wei Wuxian was still holding onto Lan Wangji, initially he was planning on letting his emotions explode and to spew out the thousands and millions of things he wanted to say, but the ice-cold raindrops skirting across his face had a sobering effect, allowing him to regain a slight composure.

Jin Guangyao turned to Lan Xichen and spoke, “Ze Wu-jun, it’s raining, let’s head inside the temple for shelter.”

Albeit having him under control, towards Lan Xichen, he was still extremely courteous, without a hint of ill thought, as if nothing had changed except for being a little more polite than usual. Jin Guangyao made it difficult for anyone to develop a temper against him as he was so full of smile. Not to mention, Lan Xichen was a man without a temper in the first place. Jin Guangyao took the lead in stepping over the doorway to enter the temple, while the others followed behind him. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had visited this place in the morning. The main foyer was spacious and held an imposing air, the red walls and golden paint seemed newly coated and showed signs of being frequently taken care of. The cultivators and monks were excavating in the back of the temple, it was unclear how deep they had gone already, yet they were still unable to retrieve what Jin Guangyao had originally bury in there. Wei Wuxian unintentionally raised his head to steal a peek but was left slightly stunned.

The statue of the goddess that was situated on the worshipping altar was peculiar looking, its facial features were less graceful and kind as what it should be and instead bore crisp and beautiful features. What really stunned him was that this statue had subtle features that appeared familiar looking, resembling a particular someone. And wasn’t that someone be the Jin Guangyao that’s just standing off to the side?

Normal-looking at first glance, but once Jin Guangyao was placed beside it in comparison, the resemblance became harder and harder to deny. Wei Wuxian began to think, “Could Jin Guangyao be that narcissistic? That being admired by over hundreds of top cultivating sects was not enough for him, he had to, on top of that, also sculpt a statue of himself to pass off as a god to receive the prayers and incense of millions of commoners? Or is this some kind of demonic cultivation method that I’m not aware of?”

Lan Wangji’s voice suddenly rang next to his ear, “Sit.”

Wei Wuxian instantly reeled in his straying thoughts. Lan Wangji had managed to find four praying mats laying around the temple, he gave two to Lan Xichen and Jin Ling, and left two for Wei Wuxian and himself. However, both Lan Xichen and Jin Ling inexplicably moved their praying mats to a farther corner of the temple and had both somehow agreed to gaze into the distance without speaking to each other.

Jin Guangyao and his lackeys had already moved to the back of the temple to check the progress of the excavation. Wei Wuxian pulled Lan Wangji aside to sit on their praying mats. Unsure if it was because he was still in a sort of trance, Lan Wangji only sat steady after a sway of his body followed by the force of the tugging. Wei Wuxian slightly calmed his emotions before beginning to survey Lan Wangji’s expression.

His line of sight was lowered, not divulging a hint of what he was feeling. Wei Wuxian knew, that relying plainly on what he confessed previously was probably not enough to convince Lan Wangji. Having been mentally and emotionally tortured with a smile by a notoriously oblivious person for so long, it was only reasonable that he was harbouring doubts about all of this. As he finished this consideration, Wei Wuxian felt his chest constrict, the pain in his heart gave him slight tremors and he dared not continue down this train of thoughts. The only thought he had left was to vigorously feed him more medicine, to fix this.

He spoke, “Lan Zhan, you, look at me.”

His voice was still tight, Lan Wangji replied, “Mn.”

After taking in a deep breath, Wei Wuxian spoke in a low voice, “…I have a really bad memory. There are many things in the past, that I completely don’t remember. Including during the Nightless day, whatever happened within those few days, I don’t remember even a single thing.”

Hearing that, Lan Wangji’s eyes began to widen.

Wei Wuxian stretched out both hands and tightly grasped onto his shoulders, continuing, “But! But from now onwards, everything you say to me, do to me, I’ll remember it all, I won’t forget a single thing!”

“…”

Wei Wuxian went on, “You are especially good. I like you.”

“…”

“Or putting it in another way. Interested in you, love you, want you, unable to leave you, do as you wish ‘you’.”

“…”

“I wish to go on night hunts with you for the rest of my life.”

“…”

Wei Wuxian lifted three fingers, he pointed at the sky, the earth and his heart and spoke, “And I wish to bed you every day. I swear, this is not an impulse and I’m not teasing you and even more so, is that this not a form of gratitude. In short, just disregard any other rubbish nonsense stuff, this is just me sincerely liking you, liking you to the point of wanting to sleep with you. Unless it’s you, I don’t want anyone else, it has to be you. You can do whatever you want to me, however you like to do it, I will like all of it, as long as you are willing to, with me…”

Before he could finish, a sudden gust of wind billowed in, extinguishing all of the candles that lit up the temple.

Without notice, the light drizzle of rain had transited into a heavy thunderstorm and the lanterns which were hung outside the temple had been smothered by the downpour. The surroundings were left in an abrupt pitch blackness.

Wei Wuxian was unable to let out a single sound anymore. Within the darkness, Lan Wangji had already wrapped him in a tight embrace, shutting him up completely.

Lan Wangji was panting, his breathing rhythm in a mess and his hoarse voice rang out next to Wei Wuxian’s ear, “…Interested in you…”

Wei Wuxian hugged back tightly and responded, “Yes!”

Lan Wangji continued, “…Love you, want you…”

Wei Wuxian raised his volume, “Yes!”

Lan Wangji repeated, “Unable to leave you… Unless it’s you, I don’t want anyone else… it has to be you!”

He repeated the words Wei Wuxian said to him, his voice trembling with his body, to the extent that to Wei Wuxian, it gave off a false signal, as if he was about to cry.

With every statement, his arms around Wei Wuxian’s waist tightened slightly. Although it hurts, and although the arms behind him kept tightening, barely allowing him to breath, Wei Wuxian wished for more and regretted that he couldn’t use even more strength.

His vision was blurred.

Their chests were plastered tightly together, their two beating hearts would be heard by the other and it was unavoidable. Wei Wuxian could clearly feel Lan Wangji’s violently thrashing heart, that broiling heat about to burst out of his chest and the disillusioned drip of what felt like a single tear which landed in the crook of his neck.

In this moment, rushed footsteps could be heard approaching the main foyer, which was from Jin Guangyao and his lackeys who left previously, returning to their spots. Two of the monks were shielding themselves against the strong wind, one on the left and one on the right, they gathered strength in their feet to heavily shut the door back up. Meanwhile, Jin Guangyao fished out a piece of fire talisman, lighting it in flames with a gentle blow which allowed him to use it to rekindle the candles, where now, a row of yellow glow became the sole source of light in this desolated temple. Suddenly, two crisp knocks could be heard against the main wooden doors.

Someone was knocking on the doors. Everyone within the temple were high on alert as they glanced towards the doors. The two monks responsible for closing the door quietly pointed their swords towards the entrance, prepared to face the enemy. Jin Guangyao, without a change in expression asked, “Who is it?”

A voice sounded from outside the door, “Sect master, it’s me!”

It was Su She’s voice.

Jin Guangyao made a gesture at the two monks who then lifted the lock of the door, allowing Su She to enter while striding against the heavy wind and rain.

The flames upon the row of candles began dancing with the wind, dimming and brightening sporadically and the two monks immediately forced the door shut again. Su She was drenched from the storm and wore a grave expression, with lips frozen purple, his right hand carried a sword and his left carried a person. Upon entering, just as he was about to dump the person on the ground, to his side, he caught sight of the two silhouettes of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji still attached together.

Su She had recently suffered at the hands of the two, his expression instantly took a turn. He unsheathed his sword and looked towards Jin Guangyao who wore an impassive look, indicating that this two were currently under his control, prompting him to calm down.

Jin Guangyao asked, “What happened?”

Su She replied, “I saw him along the way here and thought he might be useful later, so I grabbed him.”

Jin Guangyao stepped forward for a closer look and asked again, “Did you hurt him?”

Su She responded, “He’s not hurt. He fainted from the scare.” As he spoke, he hurled the person to the ground. Jin Guangyao advised, “Min Shan, don’t be so heavy handed with him, he can’t handle the scare nor the fall.”

Su She hurriedly acknowledged, “Yes.” He then hurriedly lifted the casually discarded body and carefully placed him next to Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen had been steadily observing this person, after lifting away the strands of wet hair obstructing his face, he could see that this frightened unconscious individual was indeed Nie Huaisang. He was probably caught by Su She when on his way back to Qinghe after his recovery at Lianhua Wu.

He raised his head to ask, “Why do you want to capture Huaisang?”

Jin Guangyao replied, “Another sect master in my hands would better serve to keep the others in fear. But please rest assured, Er-ge, you know how I’ve always treated Huisang, once the moment is opportune, I will definitely let all of you go without hurting even a single strand of your hair.”

Lan Xichen dully responded, “Should I trust you?”

Jin Guangyao answered, “Up to you. To trust or not to trust, Er-ge, you still can’t do anything about this.”

At this moment, Su She directed his icy cold gaze at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

He laughed and snorted, “Han Guang-jun, Yiling Patriarch, can you believe it, we meet again in such a short time span. But the situation seems to be reversed. How is it, what’s it like?”

Lan Wangji maintained his silence. He had never felt the need to pay heed to such senseless provocation. While Wei Wuxian thought to himself, “How has it reversed. In the Burial Mounds, you were running away, right now, aren’t you still hiding and running away?”

However, Su She had been holding his anger back for years, even without retaliation, he could enrage himself with his own words. He then turned to Lan Wangji and spat vehemently, “Now that it has come to this, when are you going to stop carrying your arrogant air of pretending to be calm and unperturbed?”

Lan Wangji continued to be silent. Lan Xichen was the one to speak this time, “Su sect master, when you were understudying with our Gusu Lan sect, we haven’t once mistreated you, why do you need to pick on Wang Ji.”

Su She replied, “How could I dare pick on Lan er-gongzi, the genius since young? I just can’t stand that arrogant expression of his that he always wears.”

Even though Wei Wuxian knows that a person’s hatred can stem from pure nonsense, yet he was unable to hold back a wave of unfathomableness, he questioned, “Did Han Guang-jun ever say he feels that he’s amazing? If I remember correctly, doesn’t Gusu Lan sect have a sect rule that says ‘haughtiness and arrogance is banned’?”

Jin Ling chimed in, “How do you know the contents of Gusu Lan sect’s house rules?”

Wei Wuxian scratched his chin and answered, “After copying it too many times, it left a memory.”

Jin Ling opened his mouth to ask again, “Why do you have to copy the Gusu Lan sect’s house rule out of the blue, it’s not like you…” Originally, he had wanted to say, “it’s not like you’re one of them”, but before he could finish it felt a tad bit incorrect and he held back his tongue with a blackened face.

Wei Wuxian laughed, “Could it be Han Guang-jun’s icy, icy cold face that he has been wearing since young, had caused Su sect master to think this way? If it really is because of this, then wouldn’t Han Guang-jun be wronged to death. He clearly wears this face to talk to everyone. Su sect master, you should count your lucky stars for not understudying at Yunmeng Jiang sect.”

Su She asked in a cold voice, “Why?”

Wei Wuxian continued, “Otherwise you’d be angered to death by me. When I was young, I sincerely thought to myself every day that I’m some universally shocking, one-of-a-kind talent, like real god damn amazing. And I don’t just think about it, I even talk about it everywhere.”

A vein popped on Su She’s forehead and he spat, “You, shut up!” Just as he wanted to strike down, Lan Wangji wrapped his arms around Wei Wuxian, using his body to diligently shield Wei Wuxian. Su She stopped in his track and while he was pondering on whether to continue striking or to retract his hands, Wei Wuxian popped his head out from Lan Wangji’s embrace and advised, “Su sect master, you should hold your hand, Lian Fang-zun still has a certain amount of respect towards Ze Wu-jun, if you harm Han Guang-jun, can you guess if Lian Fang-zun would be happy or not?”

Initially, Su She had also considered this point and was more inclined on holding back, but now that Wei Wuxian had intentionally brought it up, he felt exceptionally sullen. In the end, he still felt unsatisfied and added a few more sarcastic remarks, “Who would have thought that the Yiling Patriarch who strikes fear in both the light and the dark would also be afraid of death!”

Wei Wuxian shamelessly added, “Well said, well said. But, I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t really want to die yet.”

Su She laughed coldly, “Playing with words, hilarious. Fear of dying and not wanting to die, are they even different?”

Wei Wuxian nested in the crook of Lan Wangji’s arm and spoke, “Of course they’re different. For example, if I said I don’t want to leave Lan Zhan’s embrace, compared to I’m afraid of leaving Lan Zhan’s embrace, how could they be the same?”

After a moment of consideration, he spoke again, “Oops, sorry, I take that back. I feel like it could be, in fact talking about the same thing after all.”

Su She’s face turned a shade of green. Wei Wuxian’s original intention was to anger him, at this, an unexpected sound of soft and gentle laughter could be heard from above him.

So soft and gentle that makes one question if they had misheard it.

However, Wei Wuxian fiercely lifted his head and was absolutely, clearly faced with a Lan Wangji who wore a slight smile that had yet to dissipate from his expression; a bland smile which resembled a warm glow that could melt winter snow. At this, not just Su She, even Lan Xichen and Jin Ling were stunned stiff.

It is public knowledge that Han Guang-jun would forever wear a face as cold as ice and snow, he never smiles as if his face was unable to show interest and no one has ever saw him laughing, not even the slight raise of his lips. No one would expect to be able to see his smile in such dire circumstances.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes were, in that instance, widened beyond belief.

After a pause, he gulped and felt something flip in his throat, “Lan Zhan, you…”

Just then, another crisp knock could be heard from the entrance to the temple.

Su She unsheathed his sword in a single motion and asked in alarm, “Who?!”

No answer came except for the fierce blasting open of the two wooden doors!

Breaking down the door in entry in this stormy weather, a silhouette wrapped in purple static plunged straight towards Su She’s chest, propelling his body backwards. Su She heavily collided with a thick red pillar, spewing out a mouthful of fresh blood on spot. The two monks guarding the entrance were also struck down by the forceful break-in, unable to stand anymore. The purple silhouette entered the doorway and approached the main foyer in steady steps.

Outside the temple, the storm continued brewing yet this person had not many signs of being out in the rain as only his robe bore a darker shade of purple than usual. In his left hand was an umbrella, as the rain continued to hit its surface, water splattered around it, in his right hand the icy, purple glow of his ring continued to sizzle. The expression he wore was even darker than the stormy night sky.

Translator’s note on words in bold:

Guqin – A type of Chinese string instrument

His life – The ‘his life’ here is referring to Wei Wuxian. It’s akin to saying, for Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian is his life.

Gongzi – Honorific for a young guy from a prestigious family

Nightless Day – An event which took place in Wei Wuxian’s past life (If you wish to know more about this, I suggest going onto the spoilers forum for MDZS and posting questions there!)

Do as you wish ‘you’ – As Wei Wuxian was confessing, all of his phrases ended with a ‘you’. This last phrase means that you can do whatever you want with me. It flows better in Chinese (随便怎么你)

Lifted three fingers – Lifting three fingers is the gesture for solemnly swearing

Qinghe – Direct translation: Clear River; it is the residing area for the Nie sect.

Lianhua Wu – Direct translation: Lotus pier; it is the residing area for the Jiang sect.

Er-ge – Second brother

I made a Mo Dao Zu Shi 3rd Anniversary Tribute MV ^^ 

I’ve been consuming straight-up yaoi and BL for 8 years at this point and I have to say that Mo Dao Zu Shi (with the possible exception of Saezuru Tori) is literally the best one I’ve ever read. Not even from a BL/yaoi perspective but its own plot is also intriguing and dramatic and GOOD but what I love most is the fact that the love between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji is the most rewarding, fulfilling shit I’ve ever seen, AND its a central pillar of the plot.

The relationship of plot vs romance in most plot-heavy BLs as one or the either usually gets tacked on cheaply as an afterthought, but MDZS blends in both aspects similarly and throwing in some amazing world building, characters, horror and gut-wretching humor to boot. I’m heavily biased because I’m a sucker for xianxia.

I binged all of ExiledRebels’ translations and sought out all the spoilers (though i have yet to watch the donghua) and I don’t want to spoil much but even though the slow burn is slow, you can feel its amazing presence throughout the whole course of the novel. Every action and piece of dialogue flows so nicely.

And my god, the characters are amazing. A huge shoutout to Wei Wuxian, hands down one of the best ukes but CHARACTERS ever with all his shamelessness, humor, pride and kindness and Lan Wangji’s firm dedication and patience. The latter is the type of loyal love interest I ADORE because you feel like regardless of what shit goes down in the plot they remain loving regardless–(the only other two characters I “trust” in this way are Doumeki from Saezuru and Ye Hua from Eternal Love.)

I could gush so much more….

One common complaint about MDZS is that its too complicated-filled with longass flashbacks, tons of characters and multiple, similar names for each, and a bit of a genre shock if you’re not familar with Chinese wuxia/xianxia (which by the way is the coolest/prettiest genre ever?). I legit threw my phone when it skipped from a huge cliffhanger to a flashback. But you get ahold of the names quickly if you’re paying attention, and all of the timeline falls into place. It’s so satisfying and heartrending all at once and Wangxian is the couple you never knew you needed.

I recommend the novel most of all. Wei Wuxian’s lively descriptions and internal narrations are the best and there’s no censorship as opposed to the manhwa/donghua/upcoming live action adaption.

Inasa’s character description mentions that he wears short sleeves even during winter. And I can imagine him being stubborn about it, wearing a T-Shirt in a blizzard, perhaps. “My blood is boiling hot, I can take any cold!!”

Even Shoto with a quirk like his, seems to like wearing wool, ear muffs and scarfs. He would probably advice Inasa to wear something warmer so he doesn’t get sick. 

YES YES YES 

I love Zuri already! can’t wait!!!

I am risking nothing

I AM SORRY FOLLOWERS, I LOVE MY MOMMY

Will not risk.