#zhtext

WARNING: ZHENHUN NOVEL SPOILERS UNTIL THE END + HINTS ON EXTRAS

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‪[WARNING: ZHENHUN NOVEL SPOILERS; i was word vomitting my thoughts solely on the novel so some of my initial points may have a diff conclusion in the end haha; honestly just block #spoilers tag i just needed to let this out and hey if you have your own takes and the like about this I’M MORE THAN HAPPY TO HEAR AND DISCUSS THEM ❤️]‬

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I was wondering what it was about WeiLan that I love so much. Tbh, for me, Zhenhun wasn’t really very well written (which was expected of an old work of priest dating back in 2012). It had a good premise and a potential for great world building on the whole gods, ghosts, humans, and reincarnation thing — sure. But that’s where it ended. Potential. Because at the end, the explanation on what happened was too mystical and confusing despite its genre being fantasy in a sense as well. The thing with magical genre is that yeah it can have ~magical reasons~ on plot but that magic should have “rules”. For example, one of the nature of ghosts is inevitably sucking up the life force of ordinary humans — that “rule” then points as a reason why SW cannot get close to Kunlun’s reincarnations. The reason was magical in nature but it also adhered to rules making it more “logical”. Zhenhun did good in setting those boundaries early on until the last fight where (personally) suddenly everything’s awry. The explanation was all over the place. The rules were thrown to the dust.

Zhenhun also introduced SID and we don’t see much found family diving more into them. Zhenhun was all about WeiLan (not that im complaining lol) but it had all the chance to show more of Zhao Yunlan with SID, with his mom, with his dad, etc — basically all the connections he has as a human being. And that’s what Zhao Yunlan was then — a human. Sure, he had some cute interactions with them (with him coming out to his mom most especially!) but I feel we could have had more. Or wait maybe I’m just used to MXTX’s writings where we get to see the focus on everyone’s humanity. Ahh, that could be a reason for this feeling then haha. (Shen Wei not having deep connections with others made perfect sense bc 1) he’s a ghost — remember their nature; and 2) his devotion and focus was on the first and only individual he’s ever loved who gave him so much of himself as well.)

Basically, the world building and side characters had so much potential but we didn’t get much of it. The focus was literally on WeiLan — and this is why it’s easy to say that WeiLan was extremely well developed but the same sentiments can’t be said to Zhenhun as a whole.

Controversial/Unpopular Take (most probably): I think that Zhenhun was, first and foremost, the love story between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. It was difficult to empathize at first when we barely deal with the characters’ “humanity”. Zhao Yunlan returns as a god and Shen Wei never was human. They both are entities far from us. And then we think back and deeper to the both of them and suddenly our empathy is easily pulled with certain realizations.

I first thought “wow, shen wei’s really obsessed with zhao yunlan”. And then I recalled that shit bruh this ghost felt his non-existent heart beat for Kunlun the first time they met, this ghost spent hundreds of years with Kunlun who showed him teasing gentleness and how it was okay to be more than what his nature dictated of him, this ghost was given the gift of freedom with the bone from his god, this ghost was presented a future with a purpose with his god’s soul willingly and lovingly gifted to him, and this ghost spent 5,000 years watching and suffering in silence (because never again will he inadvertently hurt his beloved like in that shen san extra). Who wouldn’t go mad? Who wouldn’t be obsessed? And he’s not even human — he’s a ghost, someone who was literally born from the depths of hell, someone who doesn’t have a soul, someone who’s an abomination because they’re darkness personified. Remember the theme for ghosts? The more beautiful they are, the more terrifying they are. And Shen Wei’s beauty was one of the recurring things we are reminded in the story. Priest lets us laugh at Zhao Yunlan’s thirstiness for the most beautiful being. But Priest simultaneously subtly nudges us to remember that Shen Wei is also the most terrifying being here. Shen Wei’s nature is to destroy and devour and then Kunlun shows up and he strives to be “better” but while Kunlun serves as an outside factor for the change he wanted to himself, it should also not be denied that Shen Wei’s individual choice (the internal factor) is extremely strong here as well. Shen Wei started out with just solely focused on Zhao Yunlan but in the end, while his intensity on his beloved never diminished, we see him softening up to select people because of his experiences and Zhao Yunlan’s reassurances on his love for him. We see how much Priest improved as a writer with that Shen San extra. It made us empathize with this dark ghost easier. We are suddenly given a glimpse on what he experienced; suddenly the 5,000 years isn’t just some number but a reminder that it was nothing but pain and suffering for this man. We feel for this inhumane ghost; that while he’s not human in any form — the story of his love and devotion was something we can now understand as human beings.

Now, there’s Zhao Yunlan, our reincarnating god and Shen Wei’s most beloved. He was a human majority of the story and we see snippets of his connections which as I already said had so much potential but weren’t fully dived upon. At first he served as majority of the light tone and humor with how thirsty he was for Shen Wei, how he joked with his SID team, and how he’s weak against his mom and has daddy issues haha. And I kept on thinking “god he’s such a man-child why tf is shen wei in-love with him”. Then tiny hints are shown. Zhao Yunlan kept on trying to save the “girls” who kept on jumping off the building because while they’re fake, what if one really needed saving? Zhao Yunlan who keeps on threatening to cut his team’s bonus but has not really done that. Kunlun who readily sacrificed himself to save the world; Kunlun who took in this weird ghost king; Kunlun who took parts of him to gift this beautiful, terrifying ghost a chance, a future, and godhood. Fate even remakes him as a savior despite being human with the start of the foundations of the Guardian Order initially from Shen San. We now see that despite his asshole and rough exterior, Zhao Yunlan‘s core was a very kind individual — as a god and as a human being. And of course, all those mistakes and lies that Shen Wei made? Zhao Yunlan doesn’t excuse him (as much as i often joke how he’s the biggest shen wei apologist) as he explicitly calls him out on it and they try to improve from there each time. He opens his arms to him and welcomes Shen Wei home and this shows us the depth of his own love as well. Zhao Yunlan makes Shen Wei understand that it’s okay if he makes mistakes, that it’s okay if he isn’t really as “kind” as his facade is, and that it’s okay even if Shen Wei is an abominable creature. Zhao Yunlan shows Shen Wei that he doesn’t have to be perfect to be worthy of (his) love. This is what Zhao Yunlan’s story is telling us as well — that we too don’t have to be pure in order to have the “right to be loved”; and that our kindness can inspire others to be their best versions.

warning: might contain novel spoilers as im not following eng translations so idk what chapter it’s in

Tbh I really like Ye Zun and Gui Mian (Ghost Face) bc they’re such rat trash and apparently I adopt those kind of characters sometimes hahaha OKAY but hmm how to characterize Mianmian? This is a very interesting question bc it’s really difficult for me to answer. It’s difficult because he had sooooo much potential and was either thrown for “nonsense uwu plot” (cough drama ilu but also wtf cough) or thrown away LITERALLY (cough priest ilu but also fine this was one of your early works). I’m gonna do the characterization in parallel with Shen Wei bc, well, they’re alike.

Mianmian was said to be literally so alike with Shen Wei - they’re twins, they were both created through Kunlun’s soul fire, and they’re both the ONLY ghost kings (so top tier beauty, strength, power, ravenous hunger, etc) and the only difference between them is Shen Wei meeting and clinging on to Kunlun first. Priest lending us a taste of his dynamic with Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan in the Pillar arc was sooooo good BUT IT’S SUCH A TEASE BC BAM he wasn’t properly used anymore kfkbskfbskdbhg (one day, I’ll properly publish this fic of Kunlun having 2 ghost kings attached to him /sobs) I honestly see him as having hints of being extremely possessive both for Shen Wei and Kunlun/Zhao Yunlan as they were the relevant ones in his beginnings. I feel it was his character that was as invested as we are with weilan (albeit for diff reasons) lmao like c’mon he was the reason why plot started to move aka Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan meeting wherein Shen Wei had no choice but to be in constant contact with Zhao Yunlan.

as you already know i lowkey screamed about this ask yesterday hahahaha and i had to pause and take some time or else im gonna cry that im having zhenhun asks hahahaha (and i got your ficlet prompt!! imma write it soon hehe)

I’m gonna go with the easiest question first - my thoughts on the upcoming JP audio drama. Man, I was so skeptical when I saw that post on weibo and admittedly just scrolled past it. But then I saw some weilan personal accts I follow that shared it so I had to check JJWXC but couldn’t see it. And I had to bombard my friend to check it on their app despite her not being in the zhenhun fandom lmao (i owe her my first born’s hair lol) and the rest is history akdaskjf OKAY so I was honestly hoping maoerfm would take it and despite being very unlikely - i was also hoping zhu yilong and bai yu would still voice weilan given that they didn’t need VAs when they did the drama and also I love the two of them. I also really was hoping to hear the iconic lines as is from the novel (thank you xiao bai for recording yourself saying the confession scene on your own jfc long ge it’s just 2 words from you please keep up haha). BUT YOU KNOW WHAT - I’M TAKING WHAT I CAN GET FROM A NOVEL PUBLISHED WAY BACK 2012. I’m super excited for it! I hope they get really good VAs  and idc if they’re new or unknown so long as they capture novel!weilan very well. And I was informed that JP audio dramas aren’t like CN ones where there’s an online platform we pay for but they’re more on physical copies they sell and well looks like I’m back to JP shipping world now haha

[NOTE: WILL BE NSFW-ISH]

DRAMA HEADCANONS- well duh first of all that crap ending doesn’t exist hahahaha- weilan is def canon and istg kunlun taught past shen wei how to bj like all that lollipop references esp when they met with all that hair?? kunlun was past shen wei’s first and only lmao - this makes things interesting now bc present shen wei with zhao yunlan would def know the best ways to pleasure that man-child bc he already knew from the past hahahaha- it’s already obvious but while shen wei is reserved and all controlled in public, zhao yunlan always managed to make him snap and eyyy zhao yunlan ain’t complaining with that aggressive hot papapa (thirsty fckr lol)- the entire SID are their adopted children and the “kids” always run to shen wei when zhao yunlan threatens to cut their bonus- but also the “kids” are def way more scared of shen wei aka the infamous black cloaked envoy and runs back to their shameless man-child of a dad bc hey as much as zhao yunlan threatens them, he’s never really cut their bonuses and he’d save them in an instant anytime anywhere despite his teasing (shen wei though? they’d all get legit scolded and punished for bad moves haha he’s def the disciplinarian)- technically, ever since the secret got out between weilan, shen wei had been staying over on the apartment in front of his *coughs* bc 1) someone needs to make sure zhao yunlan doesn’t die of poison and bacteria from his pig pen of a place; and 2) zhao yunlan is there (already canon but let’s make it that he cooks and prepares his stuff everyday)- again, that crap end didn’t happen and they both have a happy ending

Hmmmm uhhhh im lowkey laughing here bc it’s a struggle to think of something lmao okok hmmmm okay so the only reason I even picked up the drama (much like most probably everyone else in my circle or that I know of) is that the actors’ chemistry just blew the roof. Both Zhu Yilong (Shen Wei) and Bai Yu (Zhao Yunlan) read the novel so a lot of the weilan scenes despite being just in the drama script would def had been influenced by the novel - my all time example for this is ep 1 where Shen Wei’s reaction to seeing Zhao Yunlan was sooooo intense. This doesn’t make sense in the drama story line (lmao they made SW only spend how long with Kunlun?? and SW was asleep for 10k years?? c l o w n e r y) BUT it makes sense in the novel so the whole mix of novel characterization shown by the actors were one of my favorites. 

Did the drama do anything better than the novel? Personally, it’s a no for me. At first, I was thinking of how they gave more story to SID members but those story lines were weak but like it was expected? I mean if WeiLan had a weak story in drama, what more for side characters? I also thought of Ye Zun (Gui Mian/Ghost Face in the novel) and while I’m happy he had a larger role and had more screen time in the drama, at the end of the day it’s still a big no for me. His plans of grandeur got defeated bc my rat son didn’t know there’s a mic broadcasting his sht?? lmao c l o w n e r y kdfskjbdg Also, how it was concluded he did all that bc he thought his brother didn’t care for him? such a weak foundation on his character AND LMAO don’t even get me started on how they destroyed shen wei’s character when shen wei’s character in the novel is at least half the core of the novel’s story and lol look how they weakened zhao yunlan so much even bai yu joked about it hahaha

But ok all I said were negative ones except how much I loved the actors’ portrayal (but again you know I lowkey understand bc censorship is stricter for their plot and the whole unexpected bankruptcy thing on their budget) - soooo GOOD POINTS hmm