Equal Opportunity Blogger 🇵🇸

The first indication that the mystery cultivator staying at the inn is Mu Qing is that he gets incredibly pissed off at being described as weaker than Xie Lian.

Hua Cheng dispersing the illusion of the inn with the gold foil palace. Man just looked completely unbothered, moisturised, in his own lane, flourishing–

Xie Lian’s little speech about Mu Qing’s character flaws is much, much funnier with the knowledge that he's saying it directly to Mu Qing’s face. Let it never be said that Xie Lian can't be a petty bitch when he wants.

Jun Wu’s manipulation of Xie Lian when he asks him to temporarily take his place as emperor is deeply unsettling. Especially when he brings up White No-Face. Cool, cool, rub in the trauma you caused him.

That one ghost that suggested stabbing Xie Lian to confirm he's a puppet is lucky Hua Cheng didn't immediately snap them in half, frankly. (I mean, they probably got dispersed in the ensuing bloodbath, but you know what I mean.)

I misremembered and was under the impression that our party of 3 had made it some distance into Mount Tonglu before Rong Guang and Kemo showed up. But no, it's pretty much immediately after they enter the mountain.

Xie Lian didn't know that the Rain Master was a woman.

Banyue calls Pei Junior “Pei Xiu-gege” and I find this unreasonably adorable.

Pei Ming asking Xie Lian about the cursed shackles and Xie Lian retorting by asking why Pei Ming never forged another spiritual weapon. Yeah. Yeah…

Little Xie Lian asking why the Crown Prince of Wuyong didn't become a god and accidentally giving Mei Nianqing trauma flashbacks. “However, when the state preceptor heard him, his face turned quite the shade.” Yeah, no fucking wonder. System, play “Pompeii” by Bastille.

We get confirmation that He Xuan does in fact have acting skills considering his fifty-something clones act nothing like him. Which makes his decision to have his Earth Master persona be so close to his actual personality so much funnier.

I find it interesting that Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen are compared to Feng Xin and Mu Qing with the “one mountain has no room for two tigers” idiom, considering Feng Xin and Mu Qing have managed to successfully rule over the South for eight centuries, whereas Yin Yu’s worship declined almost immediately after Quan Yizhen’s ascension. I mean, there are reasons why it worked out for one pair and not the other, but I think it proves that sometimes the mountain can support two tigers, as it were.

Jun Wu’s little comment to Ling Wen about Quan Yizhen's “new armour”. Man fucking knew what it was, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Yin Yu of all people ended up with the Brocade Immortal in his possession.

Perhaps it's fitting that Yin Yu in the present has a shovel, the way that man kept digging himself deeper. He just made all the wrong choices (and I can't blame him, either). My heart breaks for the poor lad.

‘“I know you can't die, and that you aren't afraid to die.”’ Hua Cheng of course knows this better than anyone else (save Xie Lian himself).

Hua Cheng doesn't get around to answering when Xie Lian requests he also not get himself into danger. ✨Foreshadowing.✨

survived a less-than-ideal home life

been yeeted off a city wall

joined the army

mastered the dao

died

lingered on as a ghost fire through the strength of his stubbornness

accompanied Xie Lian for pretty much the entirety of book four

fought his way from ghost fire to Supreme, which is frankly a terrifying amount of level grinding

decoded an ancient language and religion based on ancient artifacts and temples

while fighting for his survival in Tonglu

became a master sculptor

became a master painter

became the ruler of the Ghost City

okay actually while we’re at it, let’s talk about the Ghost City–there is… a semblance of order? functional economy? it’s a little lawless but everyone there absolutely adores Hua Cheng and that’s not the kind of relationship you build in thirty seconds

studied up on 800 years of heavenly drama, apparently

picked Yin Yu off the street, I guess

became acerbic best buds with He Xuan

looked tirelessly for Xie Lian

eventually found Xie Lian

(waves vaguely) the entirety of the plot

died again (ish)