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Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, self harm (sort of), child harm, incest subtext, ableism, ANGST
*adds "ableism" to list of warnings*
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 161-170
The name of this chapter is "This Jade Refuses to be Thrown Away: Brick 3"
Everyone fawns over Quan Yi Zhen...except Ming Yi (actually He Xuan/Black Water), who just quietly sits drinking his soup, spying on everyone.
Jian Yu: Look how quickly they change now he's got a little power. And his followers are as mental as him, only idiots would worship someone with brain damage.
Me: Oooh I hope you die really unpleasantly.
I do think Quan Yi Zhen is neuroatypical in some way but screw you, Jian Yu.
Shi Qing Xuan: Oh hello Yin Yu! Quan Yi Zhen was just saying he wanted to catch up with you!
Yin Yu: I'm going home, I'm not feeling well.
Shi Qing Xuan: Ok! SUP MING YI STOP BEING A LONER AND COME HANG WITH ME
Shi Qing Xuan ;_;
Jian Yu spouts more poison back at Yin Yu's Palace about how Quan Yi Zhen is stealing their glory etc. And then Quan Yi Zhen shows up- it's his birthday, and Yin Yu always gives him a present. Anyone else would have noticed how Yin Yu has been avoiding him lately but Quan Yi Zhen has no idea anything is wrong.
Yin Yu: Quick, help me find something! Get that Golden Exorcism bracelet we got last time.
Jian Yu: Ugh! Fine!
Quan Yi Zhen: Haha I heard someone mistook you for me at the banquet!
Yin Yu: Ha...ha....OH LOOK HERE'S YOUR PRESENT WHY DON'T YOU OPEN IT AT HOME BYE
Three days later Yin Yu is going through his things and realises Jian Yu gave Quan Yi Zhen the brocade immortal.
Jian Yu: It's fine, nobody can control him but you, and he doesn't seem hurt by it. Let's see how capable he really is ;)
Yin Yu rushes to find Quan Yi Zhen and is told he's in "A meeting of all the top ranking martial gods"...that Yin Yu wasn't told about.
Jun Wu: You seem distracted by Quan Yi Zhen's shiny new armour, Ling Wen ;)
Ling Wen, who can see that it's actually the brocade immortal: Mmmm >.>
Quan Yi Zhen finally comes out, and Yu Yin fails to persuade him to take off his armour without outright ordering him, which would look too suspicious.
Quan Yi Zhen: Oh also I got you an invitation to the Patrol of Martial Gods! :D
This is a highly prestigious affair that Yin Yu is blatantly unqualified for, and everyone will know he's only there because of Quan Yi Zhen's generosity. He gets so angry even Quan Yi Zhen notices.
Quan Yi Zhen: Did I do something wrong? :(
Yin Yu: DAMMIT I AM SO SICK OF YOU. GO TAKE IT BACK!
And so of course, he does.
Jun Wu: Quan Yi Zhen, you seem to be under some sort of geas!
Yin Yu, panicking: COME BACK.
Quan Yi Zhen: *immediately turns around*
Jun Wu: CAPTURE BOTH YIN YU AND QUAN YI ZHEN
Yin Yu: AHHHH. TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES!!
But the guards are preventing him from following the order, so Quan Yi Zhen becomes enraged and kills them D: Yin Yu, horrified, runs away, only to be caught by Mu Qing. (Ling Wen is quietly organising medical treatment and pretending to have no idea what's going on)
Yin Yu: STOP FIGHTING
Quan Yi Zhen stops and is immediately beaten and stabbed by the many gods attacking him. But he survives, and says "Yin Yu, what's going?"
Yin Yu: AHHHHHH GO DIE
So Quan Yi Zhen tries to kill himself, and is only stopped by Jun Wu chopping off his limbs and knocking him out.
Jian Yu shows up, is horrified to see what's happened, and to his credit immediately tries to take responsibility. But everyone assumes he's just taking the fall for his boss, especially since they all saw Yin Yu order Quan Yi Zhen to kill himself.
Jian Yu: WHY? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT WHEN YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SO PATIENT? AND WHY DOES HE GET TO STAY WHILE YOU ARE BANISHED???
Yun Yu, collapsing to his knees: Stop talking. Everyone. Just...stop.
Xie Lian: That's enough :(
(It really is. That was all a bit gratuitously tragic)
Outside, Yin Yu knocks Quan Yi Zhen out and then digs him free. Xie Lian decides it's probably for the best that Quan Yi Zhen not know who saved him.
Xie Lian: Maybe we should think of a way to get out of here?
Hua Cheng: Already? I wouldn't mind staying here with you :)
And then they hear someone talking on the other side of the wall, where Hua Cheng doesn't have any bugs. It's a strangely familiar voice, but from long ago. The man says "His Highness the crown prince is here. I don't want to take this step, I'm sure you're the same, but he's beyond saving."
The voice pauses, as if listening to someone else talk, and then says "Then let him end here."
And in that moment, Xie Lian recognises the voice as his old master, Guoshi.
(AND I BET HE'S TALKING TO JUN WU. Since he's apparently not Jun Wu himself, I wonder if Guoshi is the White Calamity, they were both in XianLe at the time of the face plague)
Xie Lian tells Hua Cheng that they should stay still and listen in. Hua Cheng pulls him closer saying "You stay still too" and Xie Lian can't help but be aware of how tightly pressed together they are and think it's maybe...not the worst thing ever...
(And no I don't understand how he's breathing, maybe Hua Cheng made them a little oxygenated bubble when I wasn't paying attention)
Guoshi: What about the other two? *pause* Thank them for their efforts, but there's no need to worry about the small fry right now. *pause* So that's everyone in the mountain right now? Let's bring them all to the Kiln, I'll think of a way to take care of them one by one. The faster the better, they have to be there within two days.
(It's hard to know how to summarise dialogue so laden with unknown meaning, so I'm basically writing down it all)
Xie Lian is a mass of questions, obviously, but one less obvious one is: how can they travel such a long way in two days? You can't use teleportation here.
Guoshi: Tell the other two we'll go to the Kiln together. We'll need everyone to face his Highness the Crown Prince. He hasn't awakened, but if he does...it's hard to imagine what he'll do this time.
WHICH CROWN PRINCE? XIANLE OR WUYONG?? STOP USING SUCH POLITELY AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE!!
They hear a loud bang. Yin Yu finally freed Quan Yi Zhen and sat down with a sigh, only for Quan Yi Zhen to leap up and pull off his mask. He was pretending to be unconscious, which is a pretty amazing lie for a guy like him.
(I think I forgot to mention that Yin Yu was wearing a mask, oops. WELL HE'S NOT ANY MORE)
Quan Yi Zhen, still bleeding from the head wound Yin Yu gave him: SENPAI :D :D
(Ok, he says "Shixiong", which means "older student from the same school")
Yin Yu: You've got the wrong person!! GO AWAY D:
They start running and fighting, causing the mountain to rumble.
Guoshi: What's that noise? *pause* Ah, I see. Kids these days. Well, I'll be off, see you at the Kiln.
Hua Cheng covers Xie Lian's ears and blasts them out of the rock, but Guoshi is gone. Instead, Yin Yu runs up all "BOSS HELP D:" and so Hua Cheng turns Quan Yi Zhen into a daruma doll. (I'm so glad I looked that up it's so much funnier looking than I was imagining)
There's an earthquake and Hua Cheng sends a grateful Yin Yu to investigate. He breaks open a hole to the outside world and to their shock they see everything receding behind them. The mountain they're in is travelling at a ridiculous speed- fast enough to reach the Kiln in two days.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON AND I LOVE IT
OHHHH. THE PERSON GUOSHI WAS TALKING TO...WAS THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF!!
Xie Lian: If that really was my old Master, and he was talking about me...what did he mean, awakened?
Hua Cheng: Don't think too much right now. He might not be your master, and that Crown Prince might not be you.
Hua Cheng what do you know.
Xie Lian: I have some baseless speculation, will you hear me out?
Hua Cheng: Very well, gege.
Xie Lian's theory: "The other two" are the other two mountain Spirits. And Guoshi is the fourth, "Birth".
Just like the four Guardian Gods of WuYong.
Just like the four Guoshis of XianLe.
Xian Le: Why did they come to Xian Le to teach me? Could it be that I'm actually...
Hua Cheng, grabbing his shoulders: I can swear, you're you. You're not anyone else. Trust me. Don't read too much into things.
Xie Lian: :(
Hua Cheng: Think back, what was Guoshi's background?
XianLe: All I know is that his name was Mei Nian Qing, but that must be fake. I always wondered why he didn't ascend...
Hua Cheng: Well, we'll take things as they come. Remember, I'm always by your side.
Xie Lian: :)
Xie Lian: So, your highness Yin Yu-
Yin Yu: Your Highness, there's no need to call me Your Highness.
Xie Lian: Then you can just call me by my name too, I haven't been a Crown Prince in a long time.
Yin Yu, glancing at Hua Cheng: I can't D:
And then there's a loud crack and out of nowhere...Pei Ming appears!
Pei Ming, holding up the now cracked femur: This brother helped me dig my way out. He might have been a man, but he was a good solid man.
And then Pei Su appears, dusty but unharmed, holding Ban Yue who is holding the two pots.
Pei Ming: Looks like this mountain spirit doesn't think we're tasty and spat us out.
Xie Lian: Or someone told it to spit you out. But where's Ling Wen?
Hua Cheng: The butterfly keeping him paralysed got eaten by the mountain. He's free.
And sure enough they find a large hole where she blew herself free. But they're all going to the Kiln anyway.
Pei Ming keeps slapping the Quan Yi Zhen doll when Xie Lian isn't looking, much to Yin Yu's distress and everyone else's indifference. But then Pei Ming is distracted when Pei Su collapses from lack of food and water. Xie Lian has gotten so used to starvation he barely notices any more.
Looking out the "window", Xie Lian notices what looks like a giant creepy face. Hua Cheng says it's a river and city with another temple. They all decide to leave, to look for clues and food.
Yin Yu widens the hole, Xie Lian ties everyone together, and Hua Cheng covers them with butterflies.
Pei Ming: Wait, what's with the red string between you two?
Xie Lian: This...this is a spiritual device for contact.
Pei Ming: Won't it get inconvenient?
Hua Cheng: Good point *the string between them vanishes* Now it's more practical.
Xie Lian, not sure why he's so sad to lose the string: Oh. Well, let's go!
They land in what seems to be an empty plain. But then Hua Cheng smiles and breaks open the ground to reveal the city below, trapped under a layer of volcanic ash, and tunnelled out by demons.
...and then I got excited and read to the end of this section, and then went to bed. I've woken up very sore today and kind of want to just read ahead without concentrating on summarising, but I know I'd regret it the moment I hit a complex plot point and had forgotten who everyone was.
Speaking of which,skygiants wrote a much more accurate summary of the whole thing with Ban Yue, Pei Su, and Kei Mo and now I can ship Ban Yue and Pei Su with no regrets (except for them being dooomed)
Anyway. Hua Cheng explains that the string is now invisible and can stretch to any length, but as long as the other person is ok the knots will remain tied. THAT'S NOT FORESHADOWING OR ANYTHING.
They're both adorably shyly pleased about having this connection to each other.
Hua Cheng: I know you can't die, but you can be hurt. Don't go around touching dangerous things.
Xie Lian: You too, ok?
The two of them explore the city while everyone else works together to find food and water for the unconscious Pei Su. Hua Cheng explains how he taught himself WuYong writing using shared characters and context clues, since afaict it's just an old dialect of the language they speak.
All the people have turned into ash covered "statues" a la Pompei. They find a family of parents holding their baby, all wearing protective amulets: a gold plate hung with what look like bones, unexpectedly inscribed with the "the ominous star", usually considered a bad omen: the Star of Glowing Befuddlement (Mars) in the Heart Constellation (Scorpio). Hua Cheng translates the inscription as "Saint Born Under The Ominous Star": it's considered lucky because their Crown Prince was born on that day.
Just like Xie Lian.
The translator says a bunch of interesting things about the negative symbolism of Mars in Chinese astrology that I can't find any sources for online amongst all the "Western Astrology with a vague Chinese gloss" results >:( But it means War in the bad way, along with death/pestilence etc, which is interesting compared to Western Astrology seeing it as War in a more neutral/good way (Chinese astrology's equivalent Manly Star seems to be the sun), and ironic considering Xie Lian's whole..everything.
This temple isn't burned, and has murals on all the walls. In the first, WuYong's generals argue that WuYong should escape the coming disaster by taking over the other nearby countries, but the Crown Prince rejects it.
In the next mural, the generals ignore him and the WuYong soldiers massacre their neighbours. A furious Crown Prince is shown sucking the soldiers into pillars of golden light.
Pei Ming, flatly: How touching. But if one kingdom must perish, you can't help but choose your own. Those soldiers would have died from rage at their own crown prince.
Xie Lian, laughing sadly: ...yeah
Hua Cheng: >:(
And in the third mural the Crown Prince MAKES A BRIDGE TO HEAVEN.
Pei Ming thinks this is ridiculous but Hua Cheng argues that it's doable, given a god's power to bring people with him into heaven and a local population of a few tens of thousands. Xie Lian agrees.
He and Pei Ming agree that Pei Su is too weak to continue with them to the Kiln. Xie Lian knows that Pei Su will hate having been reduced to this when he used to be a young martial god with an infinitely bright future, but this is how exile should feel- mistakes must be punished.
Yin Yu takes too long returning from a search for water, so Xie Lian makes a protective circle around the others with his bandage RuoYe and goes off with Hua Cheng to search.
(side note, afaict the first translator used two words for all two character names, while this ones seems to give places and things one word smushnames, thus the change from Xian Le to XianLe)
They find an underground river, but Hua Cheng warns him not to drink (having been fine with Pei Su drinking it), and Xie Lian realises it's full of TERRIFYING WHISPERING MUTANT CORPSE RATS WITH GLOWING RED EYES IN THE DARK.
They ate the bodies of the dead and now whisper their dying thoughts: "I'm burning!" "I can't move!" "YOUR HIGHNESS, SAVE ME".
And only Xie Lian can understand them. Hua Cheng can read the WuYong dialect but has no idea how to speak it.
Seeing Xie Lian's distress, Hua Cheng repeats the sounds from memory...and Xie Lian can't understand a word. Someone put the memory of those voices in his head, someone who spoke the WuYong tongue, and hearing the rats reproduction made Xie Lian experience the emotions directly.
It seems that magical recordings have the same effect as the original voice in a way someone simply repeating the words doesn't.
But who could have put that memory in his head? Guoshi is the obvious answer. But it could be anyone who Xie Lian trusted without question, yet had total control over Xie Lian and made him deeply afraid.
Xie Lian thinks of two such people: Guoshi and Jun Wu. (But not his father, who he loved but was not led by)
There is also one other person who he feared that much: White No-face. He's never admitted this weakness to anyone, but Hua Cheng is very supportive.
And there is one person he trusts even more than the others. Obviously, it's Hua Cheng, but Xie Lian is embarrassed to say so and Hua Cheng gets pouty and jealous, thinking it's Feng Xin or Mu Qing, lol.
And then...Xuan Ji appears with Gu Zi!
Me: Oh, that's the escaped female ghost whose name I didn't recognise! Ah, she's the evil bride from Book 1! I wonder why I forgot her so completely.
Xuan Ji: *is Xuan Ji*
Me: OH GOD I WANT TO FORGET HER AGAIN
This whole section was pretty unpleasant for me for multiple reasons, but let's get through it.
So! Xuan Ji was a powerful female general who was in a relationship with Pei Ming, but things broke down, and she blamed it on her being too strong for him, so broke her own legs, crippling herself permanently. Weirdly enough this did not fix their relationship problems, and there was some stuff about being on different sides of a war and her passing him secrets, or not, or something, and it all ended in her dying and becoming a vengeful ghost.
She shows up in Book 1 as a mysterious ghost in a bride's red dress murdering any brides she encounters out of jealousy. She is a VERY UNPLEASANT mixture of cunning strategic genius and mindless jealous fury, lots of stereotypical Spurned Woman Hysterical Screaming about Pei Ming etc. Plus a limp which is described in a very Scary Yet Pathetic Cripple way. UGH MXTX WHY.
She's been stuck babysitting Gu Zi by Green Goblin, who assumes that as a woman she will like and be good with children which she Is Not.
Also Green Goblin has captured Yun Yi, who has successfully passed himself off as a minor minion of the Rain Master who has perfectly innocent reasons for reeking of Evil. And it makes sense, because it turns out Green Goblin is the demon who was stealing and eating the Rain Master's farmers, he has them all locked by some magic password as he eats them one by one.
It turns out that Xuan Ji was actually the general of the Rain Master's country, YuShi. But she seems to despise the Rain Master as having been weak, and agrees with Green Goblin that it's a surprise that eating a couple of YuShi farmers has caused so much hassle.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng see Gu Zi trying to persuade his dad to stop eating people, and Green Goblin does actually try to avoid doing it around Gu Zi. For a moment it looks like Green Goblin actually cares about Gu Zi, as he fails to convince Xuan Ji that he has any good reason not to just eat the kid, but eventually it becomes clear that he mainly just likes having someone to boast to about how awesome he is who'll go "WOW DAD YOU ARE SUPER COOL" to everything and mean it.
Xie Lian is uncomfortably reminded of childhood conversations with his own father, which feels weird when the "dad" is his awful cousin.
Hua Cheng draws away Xuan Ji with a recording of Pei Ming talking with Ban Yue that sounds flirtatious out of context.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng manage to convince Gu Zi that they want to help Green Goblin stop with the whole cannibalism thing, and he helps them manipulate Green Goblin into saying his password to release the prisoners...which is "DOG FUCKER XIE LIAN".
Farmers: So if we say that we're free?
Yin Yu, knowing Hua Cheng is watching: Yes but saying that right now would still be a bad idea.
But Xie Lian has no pride and says it a bunch of times...to no effect. Luckily Hua Cheng manages to get a recording of Green Goblin saying it onto a butterfly and frees everyone before Green Goblin can use his "set prisoners on fire" command, "HUA CHENG YOU FUCKER".
Hua Cheng turns him into a tacky looking green daruma doll.
But then, through the bug, they hear Xuan Ji attacking the temple where everyone else is hiding. Pei Ming doesn't recognise her at first, which doesn't help, but when he does remember he says he broke up with her because of the whole VIOLENTLY POSSESSIVE YANDERE thing which, fair.
She knocks down the roof on them to break the jar holding Rong Guang, who gleefully starts attacking from within the protective circle. She then tries to kill her "rival" Ban Yue, who looks tiny and weak until Xuan notices the aggression and murderous intent in her eyes.
The farmers pass each other melon seeds while they listen to this thrilling radio drama. Xie Lian is rather more concerned, but Hua Cheng says it'll all be fine.
And then Xuan Ji freezes as if petrified and there is the sound of clean hooves going click clack. A person riding a black ox appears.
Me: Ooh, the Rain Master!
The one riding the ox is a woman in verdant robes, her eyes clear, her expression calm as she approaches languidly, like she is watching something far away.
Pei Ming: ....Queen YuShi
Me: WHAT
Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, self harm (sort of), child harm, incest subtext, ableism, ANGST
*adds "ableism" to list of warnings*
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 161-170
The name of this chapter is "This Jade Refuses to be Thrown Away: Brick 3"
Everyone fawns over Quan Yi Zhen...except Ming Yi (actually He Xuan/Black Water), who just quietly sits drinking his soup, spying on everyone.
Jian Yu: Look how quickly they change now he's got a little power. And his followers are as mental as him, only idiots would worship someone with brain damage.
Me: Oooh I hope you die really unpleasantly.
I do think Quan Yi Zhen is neuroatypical in some way but screw you, Jian Yu.
Shi Qing Xuan: Oh hello Yin Yu! Quan Yi Zhen was just saying he wanted to catch up with you!
Yin Yu: I'm going home, I'm not feeling well.
Shi Qing Xuan: Ok! SUP MING YI STOP BEING A LONER AND COME HANG WITH ME
Shi Qing Xuan ;_;
Jian Yu spouts more poison back at Yin Yu's Palace about how Quan Yi Zhen is stealing their glory etc. And then Quan Yi Zhen shows up- it's his birthday, and Yin Yu always gives him a present. Anyone else would have noticed how Yin Yu has been avoiding him lately but Quan Yi Zhen has no idea anything is wrong.
Yin Yu: Quick, help me find something! Get that Golden Exorcism bracelet we got last time.
Jian Yu: Ugh! Fine!
Quan Yi Zhen: Haha I heard someone mistook you for me at the banquet!
Yin Yu: Ha...ha....OH LOOK HERE'S YOUR PRESENT WHY DON'T YOU OPEN IT AT HOME BYE
Three days later Yin Yu is going through his things and realises Jian Yu gave Quan Yi Zhen the brocade immortal.
Jian Yu: It's fine, nobody can control him but you, and he doesn't seem hurt by it. Let's see how capable he really is ;)
Yin Yu rushes to find Quan Yi Zhen and is told he's in "A meeting of all the top ranking martial gods"...that Yin Yu wasn't told about.
Jun Wu: You seem distracted by Quan Yi Zhen's shiny new armour, Ling Wen ;)
Ling Wen, who can see that it's actually the brocade immortal: Mmmm >.>
Quan Yi Zhen finally comes out, and Yu Yin fails to persuade him to take off his armour without outright ordering him, which would look too suspicious.
Quan Yi Zhen: Oh also I got you an invitation to the Patrol of Martial Gods! :D
This is a highly prestigious affair that Yin Yu is blatantly unqualified for, and everyone will know he's only there because of Quan Yi Zhen's generosity. He gets so angry even Quan Yi Zhen notices.
Quan Yi Zhen: Did I do something wrong? :(
Yin Yu: DAMMIT I AM SO SICK OF YOU. GO TAKE IT BACK!
And so of course, he does.
Jun Wu: Quan Yi Zhen, you seem to be under some sort of geas!
Yin Yu, panicking: COME BACK.
Quan Yi Zhen: *immediately turns around*
Jun Wu: CAPTURE BOTH YIN YU AND QUAN YI ZHEN
Yin Yu: AHHHH. TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES!!
But the guards are preventing him from following the order, so Quan Yi Zhen becomes enraged and kills them D: Yin Yu, horrified, runs away, only to be caught by Mu Qing. (Ling Wen is quietly organising medical treatment and pretending to have no idea what's going on)
Yin Yu: STOP FIGHTING
Quan Yi Zhen stops and is immediately beaten and stabbed by the many gods attacking him. But he survives, and says "Yin Yu, what's going?"
Yin Yu: AHHHHHH GO DIE
So Quan Yi Zhen tries to kill himself, and is only stopped by Jun Wu chopping off his limbs and knocking him out.
Jian Yu shows up, is horrified to see what's happened, and to his credit immediately tries to take responsibility. But everyone assumes he's just taking the fall for his boss, especially since they all saw Yin Yu order Quan Yi Zhen to kill himself.
Jian Yu: WHY? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT WHEN YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SO PATIENT? AND WHY DOES HE GET TO STAY WHILE YOU ARE BANISHED???
Yun Yu, collapsing to his knees: Stop talking. Everyone. Just...stop.
Xie Lian: That's enough :(
(It really is. That was all a bit gratuitously tragic)
Outside, Yin Yu knocks Quan Yi Zhen out and then digs him free. Xie Lian decides it's probably for the best that Quan Yi Zhen not know who saved him.
Xie Lian: Maybe we should think of a way to get out of here?
Hua Cheng: Already? I wouldn't mind staying here with you :)
And then they hear someone talking on the other side of the wall, where Hua Cheng doesn't have any bugs. It's a strangely familiar voice, but from long ago. The man says "His Highness the crown prince is here. I don't want to take this step, I'm sure you're the same, but he's beyond saving."
The voice pauses, as if listening to someone else talk, and then says "Then let him end here."
And in that moment, Xie Lian recognises the voice as his old master, Guoshi.
(AND I BET HE'S TALKING TO JUN WU. Since he's apparently not Jun Wu himself, I wonder if Guoshi is the White Calamity, they were both in XianLe at the time of the face plague)
Xie Lian tells Hua Cheng that they should stay still and listen in. Hua Cheng pulls him closer saying "You stay still too" and Xie Lian can't help but be aware of how tightly pressed together they are and think it's maybe...not the worst thing ever...
(And no I don't understand how he's breathing, maybe Hua Cheng made them a little oxygenated bubble when I wasn't paying attention)
Guoshi: What about the other two? *pause* Thank them for their efforts, but there's no need to worry about the small fry right now. *pause* So that's everyone in the mountain right now? Let's bring them all to the Kiln, I'll think of a way to take care of them one by one. The faster the better, they have to be there within two days.
(It's hard to know how to summarise dialogue so laden with unknown meaning, so I'm basically writing down it all)
Xie Lian is a mass of questions, obviously, but one less obvious one is: how can they travel such a long way in two days? You can't use teleportation here.
Guoshi: Tell the other two we'll go to the Kiln together. We'll need everyone to face his Highness the Crown Prince. He hasn't awakened, but if he does...it's hard to imagine what he'll do this time.
WHICH CROWN PRINCE? XIANLE OR WUYONG?? STOP USING SUCH POLITELY AMBIGUOUS LANGUAGE!!
They hear a loud bang. Yin Yu finally freed Quan Yi Zhen and sat down with a sigh, only for Quan Yi Zhen to leap up and pull off his mask. He was pretending to be unconscious, which is a pretty amazing lie for a guy like him.
(I think I forgot to mention that Yin Yu was wearing a mask, oops. WELL HE'S NOT ANY MORE)
Quan Yi Zhen, still bleeding from the head wound Yin Yu gave him: SENPAI :D :D
(Ok, he says "Shixiong", which means "older student from the same school")
Yin Yu: You've got the wrong person!! GO AWAY D:
They start running and fighting, causing the mountain to rumble.
Guoshi: What's that noise? *pause* Ah, I see. Kids these days. Well, I'll be off, see you at the Kiln.
Hua Cheng covers Xie Lian's ears and blasts them out of the rock, but Guoshi is gone. Instead, Yin Yu runs up all "BOSS HELP D:" and so Hua Cheng turns Quan Yi Zhen into a daruma doll. (I'm so glad I looked that up it's so much funnier looking than I was imagining)
There's an earthquake and Hua Cheng sends a grateful Yin Yu to investigate. He breaks open a hole to the outside world and to their shock they see everything receding behind them. The mountain they're in is travelling at a ridiculous speed- fast enough to reach the Kiln in two days.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON AND I LOVE IT
OHHHH. THE PERSON GUOSHI WAS TALKING TO...WAS THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF!!
Xie Lian: If that really was my old Master, and he was talking about me...what did he mean, awakened?
Hua Cheng: Don't think too much right now. He might not be your master, and that Crown Prince might not be you.
Hua Cheng what do you know.
Xie Lian: I have some baseless speculation, will you hear me out?
Hua Cheng: Very well, gege.
Xie Lian's theory: "The other two" are the other two mountain Spirits. And Guoshi is the fourth, "Birth".
Just like the four Guardian Gods of WuYong.
Just like the four Guoshis of XianLe.
Xian Le: Why did they come to Xian Le to teach me? Could it be that I'm actually...
Hua Cheng, grabbing his shoulders: I can swear, you're you. You're not anyone else. Trust me. Don't read too much into things.
Xie Lian: :(
Hua Cheng: Think back, what was Guoshi's background?
XianLe: All I know is that his name was Mei Nian Qing, but that must be fake. I always wondered why he didn't ascend...
Hua Cheng: Well, we'll take things as they come. Remember, I'm always by your side.
Xie Lian: :)
Xie Lian: So, your highness Yin Yu-
Yin Yu: Your Highness, there's no need to call me Your Highness.
Xie Lian: Then you can just call me by my name too, I haven't been a Crown Prince in a long time.
Yin Yu, glancing at Hua Cheng: I can't D:
And then there's a loud crack and out of nowhere...Pei Ming appears!
Pei Ming, holding up the now cracked femur: This brother helped me dig my way out. He might have been a man, but he was a good solid man.
And then Pei Su appears, dusty but unharmed, holding Ban Yue who is holding the two pots.
Pei Ming: Looks like this mountain spirit doesn't think we're tasty and spat us out.
Xie Lian: Or someone told it to spit you out. But where's Ling Wen?
Hua Cheng: The butterfly keeping him paralysed got eaten by the mountain. He's free.
And sure enough they find a large hole where she blew herself free. But they're all going to the Kiln anyway.
Pei Ming keeps slapping the Quan Yi Zhen doll when Xie Lian isn't looking, much to Yin Yu's distress and everyone else's indifference. But then Pei Ming is distracted when Pei Su collapses from lack of food and water. Xie Lian has gotten so used to starvation he barely notices any more.
Looking out the "window", Xie Lian notices what looks like a giant creepy face. Hua Cheng says it's a river and city with another temple. They all decide to leave, to look for clues and food.
Yin Yu widens the hole, Xie Lian ties everyone together, and Hua Cheng covers them with butterflies.
Pei Ming: Wait, what's with the red string between you two?
Xie Lian: This...this is a spiritual device for contact.
Pei Ming: Won't it get inconvenient?
Hua Cheng: Good point *the string between them vanishes* Now it's more practical.
Xie Lian, not sure why he's so sad to lose the string: Oh. Well, let's go!
They land in what seems to be an empty plain. But then Hua Cheng smiles and breaks open the ground to reveal the city below, trapped under a layer of volcanic ash, and tunnelled out by demons.
...and then I got excited and read to the end of this section, and then went to bed. I've woken up very sore today and kind of want to just read ahead without concentrating on summarising, but I know I'd regret it the moment I hit a complex plot point and had forgotten who everyone was.
Speaking of which,
skygiants wrote a much more accurate summary of the whole thing with Ban Yue, Pei Su, and Kei Mo and now I can ship Ban Yue and Pei Su with no regrets (except for them being dooomed)Anyway. Hua Cheng explains that the string is now invisible and can stretch to any length, but as long as the other person is ok the knots will remain tied. THAT'S NOT FORESHADOWING OR ANYTHING.
They're both adorably shyly pleased about having this connection to each other.
Hua Cheng: I know you can't die, but you can be hurt. Don't go around touching dangerous things.
Xie Lian: You too, ok?
The two of them explore the city while everyone else works together to find food and water for the unconscious Pei Su. Hua Cheng explains how he taught himself WuYong writing using shared characters and context clues, since afaict it's just an old dialect of the language they speak.
All the people have turned into ash covered "statues" a la Pompei. They find a family of parents holding their baby, all wearing protective amulets: a gold plate hung with what look like bones, unexpectedly inscribed with the "the ominous star", usually considered a bad omen: the Star of Glowing Befuddlement (Mars) in the Heart Constellation (Scorpio). Hua Cheng translates the inscription as "Saint Born Under The Ominous Star": it's considered lucky because their Crown Prince was born on that day.
Just like Xie Lian.
The translator says a bunch of interesting things about the negative symbolism of Mars in Chinese astrology that I can't find any sources for online amongst all the "Western Astrology with a vague Chinese gloss" results >:( But it means War in the bad way, along with death/pestilence etc, which is interesting compared to Western Astrology seeing it as War in a more neutral/good way (Chinese astrology's equivalent Manly Star seems to be the sun), and ironic considering Xie Lian's whole..everything.
This temple isn't burned, and has murals on all the walls. In the first, WuYong's generals argue that WuYong should escape the coming disaster by taking over the other nearby countries, but the Crown Prince rejects it.
In the next mural, the generals ignore him and the WuYong soldiers massacre their neighbours. A furious Crown Prince is shown sucking the soldiers into pillars of golden light.
Pei Ming, flatly: How touching. But if one kingdom must perish, you can't help but choose your own. Those soldiers would have died from rage at their own crown prince.
Xie Lian, laughing sadly: ...yeah
Hua Cheng: >:(
And in the third mural the Crown Prince MAKES A BRIDGE TO HEAVEN.
Pei Ming thinks this is ridiculous but Hua Cheng argues that it's doable, given a god's power to bring people with him into heaven and a local population of a few tens of thousands. Xie Lian agrees.
He and Pei Ming agree that Pei Su is too weak to continue with them to the Kiln. Xie Lian knows that Pei Su will hate having been reduced to this when he used to be a young martial god with an infinitely bright future, but this is how exile should feel- mistakes must be punished.
Yin Yu takes too long returning from a search for water, so Xie Lian makes a protective circle around the others with his bandage RuoYe and goes off with Hua Cheng to search.
(side note, afaict the first translator used two words for all two character names, while this ones seems to give places and things one word smushnames, thus the change from Xian Le to XianLe)
They find an underground river, but Hua Cheng warns him not to drink (having been fine with Pei Su drinking it), and Xie Lian realises it's full of TERRIFYING WHISPERING MUTANT CORPSE RATS WITH GLOWING RED EYES IN THE DARK.
They ate the bodies of the dead and now whisper their dying thoughts: "I'm burning!" "I can't move!" "YOUR HIGHNESS, SAVE ME".
And only Xie Lian can understand them. Hua Cheng can read the WuYong dialect but has no idea how to speak it.
Seeing Xie Lian's distress, Hua Cheng repeats the sounds from memory...and Xie Lian can't understand a word. Someone put the memory of those voices in his head, someone who spoke the WuYong tongue, and hearing the rats reproduction made Xie Lian experience the emotions directly.
It seems that magical recordings have the same effect as the original voice in a way someone simply repeating the words doesn't.
But who could have put that memory in his head? Guoshi is the obvious answer. But it could be anyone who Xie Lian trusted without question, yet had total control over Xie Lian and made him deeply afraid.
Xie Lian thinks of two such people: Guoshi and Jun Wu. (But not his father, who he loved but was not led by)
There is also one other person who he feared that much: White No-face. He's never admitted this weakness to anyone, but Hua Cheng is very supportive.
And there is one person he trusts even more than the others. Obviously, it's Hua Cheng, but Xie Lian is embarrassed to say so and Hua Cheng gets pouty and jealous, thinking it's Feng Xin or Mu Qing, lol.
And then...Xuan Ji appears with Gu Zi!
Me: Oh, that's the escaped female ghost whose name I didn't recognise! Ah, she's the evil bride from Book 1! I wonder why I forgot her so completely.
Xuan Ji: *is Xuan Ji*
Me: OH GOD I WANT TO FORGET HER AGAIN
This whole section was pretty unpleasant for me for multiple reasons, but let's get through it.
So! Xuan Ji was a powerful female general who was in a relationship with Pei Ming, but things broke down, and she blamed it on her being too strong for him, so broke her own legs, crippling herself permanently. Weirdly enough this did not fix their relationship problems, and there was some stuff about being on different sides of a war and her passing him secrets, or not, or something, and it all ended in her dying and becoming a vengeful ghost.
She shows up in Book 1 as a mysterious ghost in a bride's red dress murdering any brides she encounters out of jealousy. She is a VERY UNPLEASANT mixture of cunning strategic genius and mindless jealous fury, lots of stereotypical Spurned Woman Hysterical Screaming about Pei Ming etc. Plus a limp which is described in a very Scary Yet Pathetic Cripple way. UGH MXTX WHY.
She's been stuck babysitting Gu Zi by Green Goblin, who assumes that as a woman she will like and be good with children which she Is Not.
Also Green Goblin has captured Yun Yi, who has successfully passed himself off as a minor minion of the Rain Master who has perfectly innocent reasons for reeking of Evil. And it makes sense, because it turns out Green Goblin is the demon who was stealing and eating the Rain Master's farmers, he has them all locked by some magic password as he eats them one by one.
It turns out that Xuan Ji was actually the general of the Rain Master's country, YuShi. But she seems to despise the Rain Master as having been weak, and agrees with Green Goblin that it's a surprise that eating a couple of YuShi farmers has caused so much hassle.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng see Gu Zi trying to persuade his dad to stop eating people, and Green Goblin does actually try to avoid doing it around Gu Zi. For a moment it looks like Green Goblin actually cares about Gu Zi, as he fails to convince Xuan Ji that he has any good reason not to just eat the kid, but eventually it becomes clear that he mainly just likes having someone to boast to about how awesome he is who'll go "WOW DAD YOU ARE SUPER COOL" to everything and mean it.
Xie Lian is uncomfortably reminded of childhood conversations with his own father, which feels weird when the "dad" is his awful cousin.
Hua Cheng draws away Xuan Ji with a recording of Pei Ming talking with Ban Yue that sounds flirtatious out of context.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng manage to convince Gu Zi that they want to help Green Goblin stop with the whole cannibalism thing, and he helps them manipulate Green Goblin into saying his password to release the prisoners...which is "DOG FUCKER XIE LIAN".
Farmers: So if we say that we're free?
Yin Yu, knowing Hua Cheng is watching: Yes but saying that right now would still be a bad idea.
But Xie Lian has no pride and says it a bunch of times...to no effect. Luckily Hua Cheng manages to get a recording of Green Goblin saying it onto a butterfly and frees everyone before Green Goblin can use his "set prisoners on fire" command, "HUA CHENG YOU FUCKER".
Hua Cheng turns him into a tacky looking green daruma doll.
But then, through the bug, they hear Xuan Ji attacking the temple where everyone else is hiding. Pei Ming doesn't recognise her at first, which doesn't help, but when he does remember he says he broke up with her because of the whole VIOLENTLY POSSESSIVE YANDERE thing which, fair.
She knocks down the roof on them to break the jar holding Rong Guang, who gleefully starts attacking from within the protective circle. She then tries to kill her "rival" Ban Yue, who looks tiny and weak until Xuan notices the aggression and murderous intent in her eyes.
The farmers pass each other melon seeds while they listen to this thrilling radio drama. Xie Lian is rather more concerned, but Hua Cheng says it'll all be fine.
And then Xuan Ji freezes as if petrified and there is the sound of clean hooves going click clack. A person riding a black ox appears.
Me: Ooh, the Rain Master!
The one riding the ox is a woman in verdant robes, her eyes clear, her expression calm as she approaches languidly, like she is watching something far away.
Pei Ming: ....Queen YuShi
Me: WHAT
