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Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, suicide, dead babies, child harm, incest subtext, ANGST
*edits content note from "self harm (sort of)" to "Suicide"*
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 191-198, the second half of Book 4.
*makes previous post*
*grabs some snacks*
*opens this section*
*Fear Inoculum starts playing on the radio*
Chapter 191: No Grief No Joy; White Cloth Brings Calamity To This World
TW: Suicide Attempt; Suicide
*goes to do some housework*
*finally steels self to read*
AHHHHHHHHHHH
*stops reading*
Jesus Christ.
Ok, so. This is DEFINITELY from memory.
Xie Lian wakes two months later. He is clean and beautiful again. No Face gives him a beautiful black sword and strip of fabric. The sword used to kill him. The strip of fabric used to tie him down.
Xie Lian stumbles out and sees the body of the busker, who bashed himself to death against a rock by the river, the faces on his rotten body still letting out screams.
EDIT: the black sword is called Fang Xin and came up a heap of times before and I never mentioned it, oops. It's the sword Xie Lian uses in the modern day, or more accurately, carries around and tries not to use.
Xie Lian is bitter and angry. He nearly kills a rude audience member, and steals without compunction. When Feng Xin objects, Xie Lian drives him away.
Now he is no longer waiting for the axe of Feng Xin's abandonment to fall.
Now he can no longer hope, deep down, that Feng Xin would always stay.
His mother brings him her awful attempts at cooking, giving dishes fancy names like they used in the palace. Like Xie Lian himself does in the future. But now, he sends her away.
When his parents says they don't want stolen money, and apologise for being a burden, he tells them to go away, that he'll take care of everything.
The next day he wakes up and they've hung themselves by his white silk band. He lowers their bodies to the ground.
He sees the food he refused to eat sitting cold on the table and eats it all. And then he hangs the band over the beam again and attempts to hang himself.
But the band refuses. After being soaked with so much royal and holy blood and resentment, it has formed a spirit: what would eventually become his bandage RuoYe. Confused, it affectionately approaches Xie Lian.
He cries out for someone to kill him, but there's no one left.
AND THEN
IT GETS WORSE
He hears a parade for the YongAn king and becomes enraged. He sees himself in the mirror, and sees the mask, and instead of being horrified, he laughs. He gathers ghosts of the XianLe war and whips them into an angry frenzy of resentment towards YongAn.
A masked young man in black appears, clearly a resentful spirit. He recognises Xie Lian and declares his loyalty, kneeling. Xie Lian doesn't like being recognised under the mask (which is real now) but sees this loyal soldier only as a useful tool to be used :(
He says he has no name, so Xie Lian calls him Wu Ming (Nameless). It's clearly Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng: I swear to die following Your Highness.
Xie Lian: You're already dead. Come.
:(
They go to the Palace of YongAn. Hua Cheng destroys all the talismans guarding the angry farmer turned King, Lang Ying. At first Lang Ying says "White No Face, I've been waiting so long!", but is resigned when he realises it's Xie Lian.
Xie Lian gleefully pins Lang Ying down with the power of the resentful ghosts, only to hear the sound of a crying child. It's coming from Lang Ying's body. Xie Lian rips off his robe to reveal two crying faces, and Lang Ying tries to comfort them. Yet all they can do is cry.
Lang Ying says he doesn't have the human face disease, that this is his wife and child, that No Face said doing this would bring them back yet after all this time his wife never speaks.
There is no need to take revenge on Lang Ying. After so many years, the resentful sprits have sucked out most of his life essence, and have even started to form arms and legs from his body.
Xie Lian grabs Lang Ying in frustration, and a small red pearl earring falls to the ground. The one Xie Lian gave him years ago, trying to buy peace but too late to save Lang Ying's family.
Lang Ying whispers "I always wanted to say thank you for the pearl. Things would have been better if you'd given it to me sooner. Unfortunately..."
And then he dies.
The faces start to scream even louder. Xie Lian draws the black sword, but Hua Cheng gets there first, chopping the body to pieces saying "No need for your Highness to get your hands dirty."
A young man runs in crying "Uncle, what's happening?" It's the crown prince of YongAn.
Hua Cheng knocks him out, and kills his guards. And then Xie Lian tells him to set the palace ablaze. The two figures stand watching it burn, before Xie Lian coldly tells Hua Cheng they're going to Yang-Er Bay.
Before, Xie Lian came here exhausted, trying to fix the drought. But now his heart is light.
He sets himself up in the abandoned Palace Of The Crown Prince of XianLe.
Hua Cheng: Your Highness, the sprits are restless, you need to curse someone with them soon.
Xie Lian: Wait three days. The full moon will make it stronger. And don't call me that!
Every time the masked Hua Cheng kneels and calls Xie Lian "Your Highness", his heart jolts, as if he's being reminded of something irritating.
No Face appears. He tells Xie Lian his (identical) appearance suits him, and says he's created a proper mausoleum for Xie Lian's parents. He is happy and kind.
Xie Lian: Don't be so happy. Once I've wiped YongAn from the map I'm coming for you!
No-Face: Will you actually destroy YongAn? Why the delay, do you lack courage? Am I about to witness another of Your Highness's failures?
Xie Lian attacks but No-Face easily pins him down.
No-Face: You're like a sulking child. A pitiful god who couldn't protect his family or people and is now too useless to even avenge them.
No-Face slowly draws the black sword Fang Xin along Xie Lian's neck. "Would you like me to remind you what it feels like to be pierced by a hundred swords?"
Xie Lian: Why do you cling to me?
No-Face: I told you, I'm teaching you. And my third lesson is: if you cannot save the common people, destroy them. Only when you step on them will they revere you.
Xie Lian hears the voices of the dead screaming in his head.
No-Face: If you do not find another to curse, you will be the one they curse. Do you know what you will become then? You no longer have the choice to turn back.
And then I read about 15 chapters ahead until I hit a WTF OMG I NEED TO PROCESS THIS moment, and went back to write this all down.
To be honest I found how this all resolved a bit cheesy and obvious and don't feel like writing it in much detail. But I'll give a brief rundown.
Xie Lian sees that someone has left a flower on his altar and is angry. Hua Cheng takes his bad temper in stride, and seems perfectly happy to go kill random YongAn civilians on Xie Lian's behalf, but Xie Lian...decides to stab himself with the sword in the middle of the street? I'm not sure if he's deliberately testing the populace to see if they'll help (and if so to what end) but that's how it ends up working out. People realise who he is, and worry that by touching The God Of Misfortune they'll bring bad luck on themselves. Various people nearly help him but are stopped by their friends or wives.
No-Face smugly laughs that no-one else will help and pulls out the sword himself. Xie Lian just keeps laying there, and says No Face is blocking his view of the sky.
And then on the last day a passerby trips over his prone body in the rain and rants at him grumpily for being a trip hazard...then apologises for being so mean and leaves Xie Lian his bamboo hat for shelter.
Xie Lian gets up, and tells No Face to get fucked.
But it's too late, and No Face is just too much stronger than him. He's as strong as Jun Wu, but instead of being deliberate and careful he is vicious and resentful.
No-Face forms the angry spirits into a looming cloud of angry faces approaching the city.
So Xie Lian takes his sword and tells the passers by to stab him, explaining that he won't die and it will save them from the face plague. He shouts a very inspiring speech to No Face about how it's worth it even if he only saves on person, and trash like him wouldn't understand.
Someone nearly takes him up on it, putting the sword into his son's hand...but is berated by some of the people who were persuaded not to help Xie Lian before, who apologise for being so weak and say it's not right. And then Xie Lian realises that someone has taken his sword.
So instead, Xie Lian takes the spirits into himself. He doesn't know what will happen, but he doesn't mind. It hurts, and he feels his warmth being taken away soul by soul.
...and then it stops. He sees a figure in black, holding the black sword, and it feels like Hua Cheng is smiling under his mask. There is a familiar cry of pain. Hua Cheng is engulfed by the spirits, and then vanishes, his spirit dispersed.
No-Face: Ha. That was your very last believer in the world. Now give up, you can't win against me.
Jun Wu, descending in a blaze of light: If he can't defeat you, what about me?
He is a young martial god dressed in white armour, brimming with propitious aura. When the battle ends, there are traces of blood on his face, but he is victorious.
Jun Wu: Welcome back to the ranks, you were quicker than I expected :)
Xie Lian realises that the shackle around his neck is gone. He smiles bitterly.
Xie Lian: My Lord, I have one request. Banish me to the mortal realm once more. Even though the consequences weren't severe, I unleashed the face plague upon the world, and the one who received the punishment was...
He asks for two cursed shackles. One to seal away his spiritual powers, and another to disperse his luck. He will truly become the God of Misfortune, and his luck will flow to others, as atonement.
Jun Wu: It will be very embarrassing.
Xie Lian: It doesn't matter. I'm almost used to it by now.
And now that he's used to it, he feels that nothing can harm him.
Jun Wu: You would no longer be a god.
Xie Lian: Would a god be such a failure? If I'm not a god so be it.
Jun Wu: ...you've grown up. But I need a reason to banish you.
Xie Lian: It feels like you and I have never sparred with everything we've got.
Jun Wu: :D
And so he is banished within moments of ascending for the second time, after a huge fight with the Emperor of Heaven which no-one else knows was just a sparring match. Xie Lian notices curious heavenly officials in disguise watching him do menial work. He's creating bricks for the two bickering new Martial Gods of the region: Mu Qing and Feng Xin.
He's fired for his constant bad luck, even though he's the only one who gets hurt. With a resigned smile, he packs up his few possessions. He can always go back to busking by crushing boulders on his chest.
He notices a tiny red flower by the side of the road, and leans down and says to it "I hope we shall meet again."
END OF BOOK FOUR
Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, suicide, dead babies, child harm, incest subtext, ANGST
*edits content note from "self harm (sort of)" to "Suicide"*
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 191-198, the second half of Book 4.
*makes previous post*
*grabs some snacks*
*opens this section*
*Fear Inoculum starts playing on the radio*
Chapter 191: No Grief No Joy; White Cloth Brings Calamity To This World
TW: Suicide Attempt; Suicide
*goes to do some housework*
*finally steels self to read*
AHHHHHHHHHHH
*stops reading*
Jesus Christ.
Ok, so. This is DEFINITELY from memory.
Xie Lian wakes two months later. He is clean and beautiful again. No Face gives him a beautiful black sword and strip of fabric. The sword used to kill him. The strip of fabric used to tie him down.
Xie Lian stumbles out and sees the body of the busker, who bashed himself to death against a rock by the river, the faces on his rotten body still letting out screams.
EDIT: the black sword is called Fang Xin and came up a heap of times before and I never mentioned it, oops. It's the sword Xie Lian uses in the modern day, or more accurately, carries around and tries not to use.
Xie Lian is bitter and angry. He nearly kills a rude audience member, and steals without compunction. When Feng Xin objects, Xie Lian drives him away.
Now he is no longer waiting for the axe of Feng Xin's abandonment to fall.
Now he can no longer hope, deep down, that Feng Xin would always stay.
His mother brings him her awful attempts at cooking, giving dishes fancy names like they used in the palace. Like Xie Lian himself does in the future. But now, he sends her away.
When his parents says they don't want stolen money, and apologise for being a burden, he tells them to go away, that he'll take care of everything.
The next day he wakes up and they've hung themselves by his white silk band. He lowers their bodies to the ground.
He sees the food he refused to eat sitting cold on the table and eats it all. And then he hangs the band over the beam again and attempts to hang himself.
But the band refuses. After being soaked with so much royal and holy blood and resentment, it has formed a spirit: what would eventually become his bandage RuoYe. Confused, it affectionately approaches Xie Lian.
He cries out for someone to kill him, but there's no one left.
AND THEN
IT GETS WORSE
He hears a parade for the YongAn king and becomes enraged. He sees himself in the mirror, and sees the mask, and instead of being horrified, he laughs. He gathers ghosts of the XianLe war and whips them into an angry frenzy of resentment towards YongAn.
A masked young man in black appears, clearly a resentful spirit. He recognises Xie Lian and declares his loyalty, kneeling. Xie Lian doesn't like being recognised under the mask (which is real now) but sees this loyal soldier only as a useful tool to be used :(
He says he has no name, so Xie Lian calls him Wu Ming (Nameless). It's clearly Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng: I swear to die following Your Highness.
Xie Lian: You're already dead. Come.
:(
They go to the Palace of YongAn. Hua Cheng destroys all the talismans guarding the angry farmer turned King, Lang Ying. At first Lang Ying says "White No Face, I've been waiting so long!", but is resigned when he realises it's Xie Lian.
Xie Lian gleefully pins Lang Ying down with the power of the resentful ghosts, only to hear the sound of a crying child. It's coming from Lang Ying's body. Xie Lian rips off his robe to reveal two crying faces, and Lang Ying tries to comfort them. Yet all they can do is cry.
Lang Ying says he doesn't have the human face disease, that this is his wife and child, that No Face said doing this would bring them back yet after all this time his wife never speaks.
There is no need to take revenge on Lang Ying. After so many years, the resentful sprits have sucked out most of his life essence, and have even started to form arms and legs from his body.
Xie Lian grabs Lang Ying in frustration, and a small red pearl earring falls to the ground. The one Xie Lian gave him years ago, trying to buy peace but too late to save Lang Ying's family.
Lang Ying whispers "I always wanted to say thank you for the pearl. Things would have been better if you'd given it to me sooner. Unfortunately..."
And then he dies.
The faces start to scream even louder. Xie Lian draws the black sword, but Hua Cheng gets there first, chopping the body to pieces saying "No need for your Highness to get your hands dirty."
A young man runs in crying "Uncle, what's happening?" It's the crown prince of YongAn.
Hua Cheng knocks him out, and kills his guards. And then Xie Lian tells him to set the palace ablaze. The two figures stand watching it burn, before Xie Lian coldly tells Hua Cheng they're going to Yang-Er Bay.
Before, Xie Lian came here exhausted, trying to fix the drought. But now his heart is light.
He sets himself up in the abandoned Palace Of The Crown Prince of XianLe.
Hua Cheng: Your Highness, the sprits are restless, you need to curse someone with them soon.
Xie Lian: Wait three days. The full moon will make it stronger. And don't call me that!
Every time the masked Hua Cheng kneels and calls Xie Lian "Your Highness", his heart jolts, as if he's being reminded of something irritating.
No Face appears. He tells Xie Lian his (identical) appearance suits him, and says he's created a proper mausoleum for Xie Lian's parents. He is happy and kind.
Xie Lian: Don't be so happy. Once I've wiped YongAn from the map I'm coming for you!
No-Face: Will you actually destroy YongAn? Why the delay, do you lack courage? Am I about to witness another of Your Highness's failures?
Xie Lian attacks but No-Face easily pins him down.
No-Face: You're like a sulking child. A pitiful god who couldn't protect his family or people and is now too useless to even avenge them.
No-Face slowly draws the black sword Fang Xin along Xie Lian's neck. "Would you like me to remind you what it feels like to be pierced by a hundred swords?"
Xie Lian: Why do you cling to me?
No-Face: I told you, I'm teaching you. And my third lesson is: if you cannot save the common people, destroy them. Only when you step on them will they revere you.
Xie Lian hears the voices of the dead screaming in his head.
No-Face: If you do not find another to curse, you will be the one they curse. Do you know what you will become then? You no longer have the choice to turn back.
And then I read about 15 chapters ahead until I hit a WTF OMG I NEED TO PROCESS THIS moment, and went back to write this all down.
To be honest I found how this all resolved a bit cheesy and obvious and don't feel like writing it in much detail. But I'll give a brief rundown.
Xie Lian sees that someone has left a flower on his altar and is angry. Hua Cheng takes his bad temper in stride, and seems perfectly happy to go kill random YongAn civilians on Xie Lian's behalf, but Xie Lian...decides to stab himself with the sword in the middle of the street? I'm not sure if he's deliberately testing the populace to see if they'll help (and if so to what end) but that's how it ends up working out. People realise who he is, and worry that by touching The God Of Misfortune they'll bring bad luck on themselves. Various people nearly help him but are stopped by their friends or wives.
No-Face smugly laughs that no-one else will help and pulls out the sword himself. Xie Lian just keeps laying there, and says No Face is blocking his view of the sky.
And then on the last day a passerby trips over his prone body in the rain and rants at him grumpily for being a trip hazard...then apologises for being so mean and leaves Xie Lian his bamboo hat for shelter.
Xie Lian gets up, and tells No Face to get fucked.
But it's too late, and No Face is just too much stronger than him. He's as strong as Jun Wu, but instead of being deliberate and careful he is vicious and resentful.
No-Face forms the angry spirits into a looming cloud of angry faces approaching the city.
So Xie Lian takes his sword and tells the passers by to stab him, explaining that he won't die and it will save them from the face plague. He shouts a very inspiring speech to No Face about how it's worth it even if he only saves on person, and trash like him wouldn't understand.
Someone nearly takes him up on it, putting the sword into his son's hand...but is berated by some of the people who were persuaded not to help Xie Lian before, who apologise for being so weak and say it's not right. And then Xie Lian realises that someone has taken his sword.
So instead, Xie Lian takes the spirits into himself. He doesn't know what will happen, but he doesn't mind. It hurts, and he feels his warmth being taken away soul by soul.
...and then it stops. He sees a figure in black, holding the black sword, and it feels like Hua Cheng is smiling under his mask. There is a familiar cry of pain. Hua Cheng is engulfed by the spirits, and then vanishes, his spirit dispersed.
No-Face: Ha. That was your very last believer in the world. Now give up, you can't win against me.
Jun Wu, descending in a blaze of light: If he can't defeat you, what about me?
He is a young martial god dressed in white armour, brimming with propitious aura. When the battle ends, there are traces of blood on his face, but he is victorious.
Jun Wu: Welcome back to the ranks, you were quicker than I expected :)
Xie Lian realises that the shackle around his neck is gone. He smiles bitterly.
Xie Lian: My Lord, I have one request. Banish me to the mortal realm once more. Even though the consequences weren't severe, I unleashed the face plague upon the world, and the one who received the punishment was...
He asks for two cursed shackles. One to seal away his spiritual powers, and another to disperse his luck. He will truly become the God of Misfortune, and his luck will flow to others, as atonement.
Jun Wu: It will be very embarrassing.
Xie Lian: It doesn't matter. I'm almost used to it by now.
And now that he's used to it, he feels that nothing can harm him.
Jun Wu: You would no longer be a god.
Xie Lian: Would a god be such a failure? If I'm not a god so be it.
Jun Wu: ...you've grown up. But I need a reason to banish you.
Xie Lian: It feels like you and I have never sparred with everything we've got.
Jun Wu: :D
And so he is banished within moments of ascending for the second time, after a huge fight with the Emperor of Heaven which no-one else knows was just a sparring match. Xie Lian notices curious heavenly officials in disguise watching him do menial work. He's creating bricks for the two bickering new Martial Gods of the region: Mu Qing and Feng Xin.
He's fired for his constant bad luck, even though he's the only one who gets hurt. With a resigned smile, he packs up his few possessions. He can always go back to busking by crushing boulders on his chest.
He notices a tiny red flower by the side of the road, and leans down and says to it "I hope we shall meet again."
END OF BOOK FOUR
