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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
So in case you were wondering why the rapid pace of reaction posts slowed down, it wasn't that I stopped reading. It was that I kept reading without pause until I was done, and then flailed and processed for a while, and then read some fic. IT'S GOOD :D
This specific part is really good, too.
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 199-210. WE ARE INTO BOOK 5. THE FINAL STRETCH.
So! We're back in the Kiln with No-Face and Xie Lian.
No-Face says a lot of gloating villain things about how they should be master and apprentice etc. "Oh, but the only ones who can guide you are Guoshi and Jun Wu, lol."
Xie Lian avoids that subject and asks if Lang Ying was the Crown Prince of YongAn from all those years ago, and yep. He got the human face disease and was banished by his family.
White No Face: So I told him who the monster was responsible for his condition, and he lent me a little of his essence :)
Xie Lian: You ate him!
No-Face: With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity. Staying in this world is suffering.
Xie Lian then guesses that No-Face is the Crown Prince of WuYong, which is why he can control the Kiln.
Xie Lian: Your Highness, why do you never show your face? Are you worried I'll recognise you? Or are you so ugly you can't stand yourself?
No Face gets angry, and things look grim, but somehow, impossibly, Xie Lian sees a huge face watching from the wall. He realises what it is, and smiles and casts a spell.
A stone fist comes out of nowhere to smash down on No-Face and break down the walls of the Kiln.
Xie Lian grabs his hat and rises on a hand the size of a house. The moment he reaches the surface he's hugged by a freaked out Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng: I couldn't get into the Kiln no matter what I did, and you had to come breaking out of it on your own. I'm really fucking...
Xie Lian: But we broke through together! Isn't this your greatest work?
Xie Lian is standing on a giant stone statue the size of several buildings, created from the strong stone of the Kiln. A giant stone statue of himself, created by Hua Cheng inside the Kiln, when he was all alone in the dark. Afaict gods being able to control and draw power from statues of themselves is a Thing, and this statue is especially powerful for reasons I didn't quite follow.
Suddenly, White No Face emerges, bringing with him a cloud of millions of resentful souls: the dead of WuYong.
Xie Lian makes chase, controlling the statue with a top up kiss of energy from Hua Cheng. The mountain spirits attack and Xie Lian confidently draws his giant stone sword...but it's only a hilt.
Hua Cheng: I'm sorry. Next time I will carve out every detail :(
They find Mu Qing, Feng Xin, Pei Ming, Pei Su etc, who are a bit taken aback to be greeted by a giant version of Xie Lian but climb up onto the proffered hand. Yin Yu reports that the corpse eating rats and resentful spirits are making their way to the border of Mount Tonglu...which has been opened to the outside world.
Hua Cheng that suggests all the martial gods transform into a giant sword because they're Voltron apparently. Yin Yu reluctantly releases Quan Yi Zhen from being a doll, he has no idea what's going on but isn't going to say no to being a giant sword.
It all works great but Xie Lian runs out of energy again, so goes up on tip toes for another kiss.
Pei Ming: Lol
Feng Xin: WHAT THE HELL
Xie Lian: I'M ONLY BORROWING SPIRITUAL POWERS. VERY PROPER.
Quan Yi Zhen: Oh, I see! That's borrowing spiritual powers!
Pei Ming: Don't do it too casually ;)
Feng Xin: YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT THAT WAY
Xie Lian: HAHAHA >.>
But then No-Face breaks the statue's leg and it collapses. Just when all seems lost....
Jun Wu appears! He was summoned by Rain Master when the borders opened. Everyone else was too distracted to think of sending a call for backup.
Xie Lian looks sadly at the broken statue, but Hua Cheng says he'll repair it.
Suddenly the resentful spirits are sucked into a teleportation array, and without Ling Wen's information network Heaven is useless to say where they went. Luckily Hua Cheng can say: they've gone to the royal capital and other fortified cities.
(Royal capital of where? Wouldn't there be one per country? Oh but this is kinda-Ancient-China so there's a single Emperor over everyone as well, I guess?)
Hua Cheng delegates to Yin Yu, while Jun Wu delegates to all the gods. Yin Yu is very self conscious about being in front of Jun Wu again. Quan Yi Zhen still clearly has no idea what's going on at all.
Yin Yu: *sigh* I'll take him and explain on the way.
Quan Yi Zhen: Yay :D
Awwww
But poor Mu Qing is sent back to house arrest.
As Hua Cheng and Xie travel to the capital, Xie Lian messages Jun Wu.
Xie Lian: Guoshi was your connection to XianLe. Did you notice anything strange about him?
Jun Wu: ...yes. Are you sure you want to hear?
Xie Lian: Yes.
Jun Wu: After XianLe fell, I realised he was ancient, maybe older than me. He seemed to want to awaken something in you. So I neutralised him.
The capital is protected by a shield created by the Aura of the King and various holy temples. But it's not enough.
Xie Lian has spent the last 800 hundred years coming up with a way to stop the face plague if he encounters it again. But he's never tested it, and it needs 500 willing human volunteers motivated by a desire to protect.
Hua Cheng: If you needed ghosts or un willing mortals I could help. I have worshippers, but can only force them with power or tempt them with benefits. I'm sorry :(
Xie Lian: You don't need to apologise. We'll think of a way together.
And then they encounter a group of people...the annoying monks and cultivators from before. They refuse to believe that Hua Cheng could be doing anything good, so refuse to volunteer, and instead follow behind spying "sneakily".
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng decide to try the slums.
In an abandoned temple they find people covered in sores and scratching for fleas, but huddled together. A beggar with a lame leg is dragging themselves around giving water to the sick, and then shouts in a rasping voice that everyone should at least listen to what Xie Lian has to say. He's gaunt and grimy, in tattered clothes and with the use of only one arm, but clearly seen with respect.
Unfortunately, the poor are not very motivated to sacrifice themselves to save a city that has done nothing for them. Only the lame beggar volunteers, saying "broken limbs won't be a problem, right?"
Everyone shouts at "ol' Feng" not to be a fool for no compensation. Suddenly it occurs to Xie Lian that Feng means wind, and he recognises the bright eyes under the filthy black hair.
It's Wind Master Shi Qing Xuan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY FAVE
THEY'RE OK
ISH
AND ALSO DISABLED NOW???
*clutches even more protectively*
Shi Qing Xuan, scratching at his flea ridden head: It must be because my style and grace are unforgettable haha. But I'm not the Wind Master any more.
Beggars: Ol' Feng you're friends with a little white face who was clearly raised in the lap of luxury? You bullshittin' again like when you went around saying you were a god?
Shi Qing Xuan: I'M NOT BULLSHITTIN'. I'M GOING TO GO HELP MY FRIENDS, ANYONE ELSE COMING?
And then he realises he's gotten Xie Lian dirty by putting his arm around his shoulders and gets self conscious. But Xie Lian doesn't care about that.
(I'm using 'he' since he seems pretty solidly in a male identity right now)
Xie Lian: Did Black Water change your fate after all?
Shi Qing Xuan: Oh, no, he didn't do anything. This was all...some carelessness here, some clumsiness there, but all my own doing.
After his brother Shi Wu Du's death, Shi Qing Xuan fell into a slump and barely heard anything Black Water said, and then found himself abandoned in the capital. He'd always loved to come to the city when he was a god, and knew it well, so decided to settle there.
*still kinda ships it shh*
(Also I didn't cry during Book 4 but am a little sniffly now. MXTX YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING WORSE TO MY FAVE)
Shi Qing Xuan points out that a free meal with no conditions would go a long way to creating good will, and they gather a hundred cheerfully hungry volunteers.
Shi Qing Xuan: I can call forth hundreds wherever I go. Maybe in the future I can establish a gang or something hahahaha.
Xie Lian's heart feels crumpled up, but open. Shi Qing Xuan has changed, but is also the same. Thank goodness.
It's still not enough people. But it's a place to start.
Hua Cheng blithely knocks out some patrolmen who think the crowd looks suspicious, which further improves good will. And then Xie Lian arranges everyone in a circle holding hands. The resentful spirits will be drawn to the nexus of life energy, but trapped in the circle while Hua Cheng and Xie Lian pick them off. Xie Lian explains that if the circle breaks they all will be infected, so if anyone wants to back out, now is the time. Some leave, but most stay.
Cultivators: You can't trust these men just because they promise you beggars food!
Hua Cheng: They're not here for food. They're here to save the world. Do you think beggars are unworthy to do that?
Moinks: We didn't mean...
Shi Qing Xuan: We all heard your disdainful tone!
And so now the beggars are all fired up with righteous indignation, and the cultivators feel defensive. Hua Cheng winks at Xie Lian. Sneaky bastard.
The spirits start their attack, and are sucked into the circle. When the spirits realise they've been trapped they try to terrify the beggars, but they encourage each other to stay strong and Hua Cheng's butterflies destroy the contorting mass of resentment.
Xie Lian notices the person next to Shi Qing Xuan is weakening, making him a target for a mass of spirits. But before the spirits can attack, they're stopped by a talisman! The cultivators have decided to help, now that they can see for themselves that Hua Cheng was telling the truth. They join the circle and call for reinforcements from their schools.
It looks like they might actually make it.
But then Xie Lian counts up the numbers and realises...there's an extra person. He has Hua Cheng get his butterflies to herd the spirits around the circle, giving everyone a fright...except one man, who stands unmoved.
Xie Lian pulls him out of the circle, only to realise...it's Guoshi!
He's not the older man Xie Lian remembers, and only looks to be about 25. Just As Xie Lian is doubting himself, Guoshi tries to strangle him, and then makes a run for it.
But he's stopped by a sword falling from the sky. It's Jun Wu. He says he's put a new barrier around Mount TongLu and trapped the mountain spirits, so decided to check on things over here. But No-Face has escaped.
Jun Wu says it will take seven days to fully cleanse the spirits here, and Xie Lian really wants to interrogate Guoshi right now. Hua Cheng says he'll take care of things.
Shi Qing Xuan: M-m-my Lord? You've come....personally?
Jun Wu: Lord Wind Master, how have you been?
Shi Qing Xuan: ... >.>
Guoshi: Wait, you're Shi Qing Xuan? Your name's terrible.
Me and Shi Qing Xuan: ???
Jun Wu goes ahead with Guoshi while Hua Cheng says goodbye to Hua Cheng.
Xie Lian: Thank you for all your hard work.
Hua Cheng: It is hard work *pout*
Shi Qing Xuan: Yeah you should reward us with a fancy meal!
Hua Cheng, twiddling with his braid: But what troubles me more is that gege is leaving me alllll allooone.
Shi Qing Xuan: Lol you sound like a lonely newlywed.
Xie Lian: Um. Can you...give us...a minute?
Hua Cheng looks at Xie Lian with an expectant expression. Xie Lian gathers up his courage, hops up on his toes, and kisses Hua Cheng on the cheek.
Hua Cheng pulls him close and says, in a pouting tone "Is that all I get when I'm not giving you spiritual powers?"
So Xie Lian kisses him properly.
Shi Qing Xuan: You know, on second thought I kind of feel weird about you guys kicking me out to say goodbye-
Xie Lian, rapidly untangling himself: TIME TO GO TO HEAVEN BYE
He's still blushing and rubbing his lips in Heaven.
The Great Martial Hall mills with gods, but the first one who Xie Lian bumps into is Lang Qian Qiu, the previously foolhardy general of YongAn who became bitter and angry when he found out Green Goblin had orchestrated the fall of his family. He turns away from Xie Lian and says to Jun Wu "I hear you've caught the Green Goblin, You should give him to me."
Jun Wu: Actually, he and the other ghosts were caught by Yin Yu of Ghost City.
Yin Yu has so little presence that Xie Lian didn't even notice him. But he realises this must be very strange for Yin Yu: he was too low ranked as a god to ever enter this hall. But now he's invited as a diplomatic guest, because he "fell" into work for a demon.
Mu Qing: First you should call forth that woman and have her witness that I didn't hurt the fetus spirit!
Jun Wu, rubbing his head: Can't we deal with Mount Tonglu first?
Mu Qing: Once you exonerate me I can help!
So Jiang Lin is brought out of prison to be questioned. Feng Xin has a complicated expression when he looks at her, and and even more complicated one when he looks at the child in her arms.
Mu Qing insinuates that she framed him because of Feng Xin's resentment. Feng Xin gets angry on both her and his own behalf, and they have to be separated.
Xie Lian: Surely the priority right now should be No-Face.
Jun Wu: Good point. Bring out the Guishu of XianLe.
Mu Qing: NO, I GOTTA- WAIT WHAT
First Xie Lian gives his report about everything he saw and learned about WuYong. Everyone mutters that they've never heard of it before.
Xie Lian: So the Crown Prince of WuYong is No-Face, right?
Guoshi: Yes.
Xie Lian: Where is he right now? Why did you try to kill me?
Guoshi: I didn't try to kill you. Would the one next to you (eg Jun Wu) have allowed me to succeed?
Xie Lian: What did you want to awaken in me?
Guoshi: It's not the time for me to answer these questions, and if I did you might not believe me. But I can tell you...that No-Face is standing in front of me.
For a moment Xie Lian thinks: Am I No-Face?? But then he remembers Hua Cheng telling him "You're you."
Jun Wu, seeing his distress, puts his hand on Xie Lian's shoulder. And then Guoshi lunges at him with Feng Xin's sword.
Naturally, Jung Wu halts the attack. But it's a magic sword, which reflects the true face of evil. And on Jun Wu's face there are three other small faces. Two are crying, and one is smiling.
JUN WU IS WHITE NO-FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I later remembered that I actually got 100% spoiled for this?? And then forgot?? Hooray for a terrible memory!
Jun Wu, grabbing Xie Lian's wrist in an iron grip: What did you see?
Xie Lian: ...your face...
Jun Wu: Ah a moment's carelessness and they've come out again.
Guoshi: EVERYONE, SEE! HE'S WHITE NO-FACE!!
Jun Wu: *sigh* You've disappointed me once again. Now I have to kill everyone, it's very inconvenient.
He raises a hand and Guoshi falls to the ground, looking as if he's being strangled. The doors slam shut. All the martial gods attack, and Jun Wu slams them to the ground.
Xie Lian tries to call for Hua Cheng but Jun Wu has cut off the phone lines.
And then the doors slam open, and in walks Ling Wen, wearing the brocade immortal.
Me: KICK HIS ASS LING WEN :D
Jun Wu: Rise and get to work. You know what to do.
Ling Wen inclines her head and smiles. "Of course".
Me: LING WEN NOOOO D:
And that's when I stopped reading reading for a while.
Ling Weennnnnnnnnnn ;_;
I mean I already knew she was pretty morally grey, and I knew there was no way she and Jun Wu weren't both at least vaguely aware of each other's plots. I'm not shocked, just... :(
ANYWAY.
Going back and writing up the earlier scenes I was struck by two things that totally went over my head the first time.
(1) Jun Wu saying of Lang Yin "With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity. Staying in this world is suffering." He was speaking from experience. I'm glad there's Hua Cheng and now Shi Qing Xuan as examples of disabled/deformed people who DIDN'T turn evil (even inadvertently like both Lang Yings) ASSUMING SHI QING XUAN DOESN'T TURN EVIL. WHICH HE BETTER NOT.
(2) Lotta white imagery around Jun Wu. Lotta clever playing around with colour imagery in general, and I'm sure much of it is going over my head.
Off the top of my head:
Red: Blood, demons, flowers, the red string of fate, marriage, good luck, bad luck, Mars (and thus the two Crown Princes)
Black: Death, rot, the remains of fire, storm clouds, evil, Yin (female energy)
White: Purity, heaven, bandages and illness, plain robes for the poor, cultivation robes, pure white royal robes, funeral robes, death, Yang (male energy)
Also gold for heaven and royalty but that doesn't seem to ever have any other contrary associations.
Also! Did you notice that Jun Wu was the one who gave Xie Lian the immortality that allowed No Face to torture him? I did, yay me. Still somehow thought they were two people working together but CLOSE ENOUGH.
Mu Qing: Wasn't he at large in Mount TongLu?
Jun Wu: Ling Wen is very useful, and only made an insignificant mistake, so I've summoned him back.
And then the fetus spirit jumps out of it's mothers arms and starts nuzzling Jun Wu's feet, as a troop of expressionless martial gods pour into the hall and take everyone back to their houses to be watched.
It took me a while to figure out what was going on with the fetus spirit and Jun Wu, I don't think it's ever fully explained but afaict he's the one who made it an evil ghost, and the persuaded it to frame Mu Qing out of loyalty. Created spirits seem to be instinctively loyal to the people who made them, plus Jun Wu can be very charming when he wants to be.
Pei Ming: Ling Wen, how heartless of you.
Ling Wen, patting his shoulder: You've known I was heartless from the day we met. How about it, wanna join? You're always welcome.
He laughs dryly but doesn't speak. These guys and their weirdly cute awful friendship ;_;
Xie Lian is special once again. He gets escorted to house arrest by Jun Wu himself.
All the junior officials outside are unconscious. Xie Lian can't think of what to do. Just as he's thinking "Hua Cheng will notice something's wrong and come save me" Jun Wu says "You must miss Crimson Rain Sought Flower. Why don't you ring him and chat? :)"
Xie Lian self-consciously uses Hua Cheng's verbal password for the first time, which is implied to be something dirty or romantic but MXTX never tells us what it is. Jun Wu tells Xie Lian what to say, listening in and warning him not to try any hints.
Hua Cheng: It's been two hours I miss you ;_;
Xie Lian: The emperor says if I complete a big pile of missions I get a three year break.
Hua Cheng: That's your perk. What about mine? How about you take your time to pay me back for all the spiritual energy I've given you ;)
Xie Lian: ...mmm...
Hua Cheng: So why did you ring me after only two hours? Did you miss me?
Xie Lian: ...mmmm.
Hua Cheng, softly: Me too. I want to go up there and whisk you away.
Xie Lian, touched, but not wanting Hua Cheng to be in danger: It's a mess up here, they'd probably lose their heads. Just wait a bit.
Jun Wu: It seems Xian Le has been living an exciting life down below ;)
Xie Lian: ...My lord, are you really connected to White No Face?
But he just leaves and doesn't answer.
AND THEN
I READ
THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BOOK
!!!!!
IT WAS GREAT
!!!!!
I was wondering if I really felt like writing the rest of these summaries but then realised it's the most efficient way I can squee to the widest possible audience (and in some cases complain. But mostly squee. And flail. etc) Which is why I started writing them in the first place!
I'll avoid spoilers. But one theme that I kept thinking about that's already pretty obvious is fathers and sons, plus other related relationships like teacher/apprentice, senior student/junior student (Shixiong/shidi, or senpai/kohai for my fellow weebs), older brother younger brother, king/advisor or general/soldier/commoner etc. And of course god/believer.
This ties in very much with Confucianism (as I understand it from researching Hakuoki fanfic, so don't treat me as a reliable source here) Afaict Confucius has a lot of similarities with Aristotle: the ideal society is strictly hierarchical with
pantheon of gods > philosopher king > generals and sages > noble born men > common men > women, and at every stage older > younger.
And in both ancient Greece and Ancient China (and pre-Meiji Japan), the ideal for both m/m and m/f relationships had the same structure: an older more powerful man moulding and coddling a younger less powerful partner who looked up to him as their superior. (Nobody cared about f/f relationships)
And of course, modern China has it's own hierarchical structure, and philosophies of power and relationships, mixing Confucianism, communism, capitalism, and other stuff I have only the vaguest handle on. MXTX is clearly drawing on all sorts of complex feelings about power, both social and personal, much of which is probably going over my head or coming across differently in my different cultural context.
But however it relates to the story MXTX was actually writing, I mostly like the story I've experienced. It flips these power relationships back and forth, and plays around with the messy fact that power relationships rely on unfairness but also exist for a reason, and that treating the masses of society like faceless tools is monstrous but also...the masses of society can be pretty monstrous as a group a lot of the time, even while being made of individual people who have as much value and potential as the people in charge.
I mean it still comes down a bit more on the "some people have the potential for greatness and some just don't" side than I personally enjoy, and not to spoil the ending but it doesn't involve a glorious humanist revolution against the concept of gods and kings in general. But (a) A Chinese writer has more reasons than most to be iffy on glorious 'egalitarian' revolutions and the like (b) one of the other themes of the story that I really like is that we never get to make everything perfect and fair and good. We just do our best and muddle along, inevitably fucking up, but with the hope to maybe make a little positive difference sometimes.
*reads a bunch of fic on AO3 and then some of the extras, wallows in feels some more*
*makes a file for spoilery reactions to put at the end*
Ok let's get back to it!
So as I mentioned earlier, I was told before going in that a LOT of people die or have bad things happen to them. And I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say that SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN, and characters I like will be in mortal danger, but obviously at this point I know whether they'll die or not in a way I didn't on my first readthrough. I don't want to fake my reactions or spoil things, so will I guess just say if I THOUGHT someone was going to die? And then we'll see if I was right :)
ANYWAY SO
Poor Xie Lian is shaken by all this and decides to clear his head with a bath. As he's lying in the water idly poking at his clothes he comes across a pair of dice Hua Cheng gave him once, saying "If you want to see me, it doesn't matter what you roll, I'll appear."
He knows it's pointless, Jun Wu has everything locked down, but rolls them anyway. And naturally gets snake eyes. (I wonder what the Chinese term is. Snake eyes works pretty well in context)
And then he hears a voice say Gege.
His own voice.
Jun Wu didn't block the soul swapping spell. But there's only one person who can connect with him that way right now.
Xie Lian: Lord Wind Master?! How are you using spiritual powers?!
Shi Qing Xuan: Crimson Rain Sought Flower gave me some cool magic candy! He said I should call you gege to make you feel better.
And it did.
Shi Qing Xuan: It was weird, he was chatting to you all smiles and then the moment he hung up his face went dark and he got me to swap over. Oh also, he keeps saying to put on some clothes. I don't know why, I'm transmitting everything but we're all men here.
Xie Lian: HE CAN SEE ME RIGHT NOW??? *rapidly puts on clothing* San Lang, how did you know something was wrong?
Shi Qing Xuan: He says 'Gege is so shy, if it wasn't anything major why would you take the initiative to recite my verbal password?'
Xie Lian explains everything going on with Jun Wu, Shi Qing Xuan is shocked but Hua Cheng just says "Not surprised. I already can't stand him."
Xie Lian: Can you stand anyone?
Shi Qing Xuan: He says 'Other than you, no". HEY. I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE. AND I AM A DELIGHT.
And then Hua Cheng says he has a way to get to the Heavens but will need someone's help.
Xie Lian: WHO IS IT??
But he's not shouting at them. There's somebody in his room!!
DUN DUN DUN
(I love cliffhangers when I'm doing them to other people and know what happens next :D)
(Also I'm just happy whenever Shi Qing Xuan is on screen. UNLESS SUFFERING IS INVOLVED. YOU HEARD ME MXTX)
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
So in case you were wondering why the rapid pace of reaction posts slowed down, it wasn't that I stopped reading. It was that I kept reading without pause until I was done, and then flailed and processed for a while, and then read some fic. IT'S GOOD :D
This specific part is really good, too.
Under the cut: SPOILERS for chapters 199-210. WE ARE INTO BOOK 5. THE FINAL STRETCH.
So! We're back in the Kiln with No-Face and Xie Lian.
No-Face says a lot of gloating villain things about how they should be master and apprentice etc. "Oh, but the only ones who can guide you are Guoshi and Jun Wu, lol."
Xie Lian avoids that subject and asks if Lang Ying was the Crown Prince of YongAn from all those years ago, and yep. He got the human face disease and was banished by his family.
White No Face: So I told him who the monster was responsible for his condition, and he lent me a little of his essence :)
Xie Lian: You ate him!
No-Face: With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity. Staying in this world is suffering.
Xie Lian then guesses that No-Face is the Crown Prince of WuYong, which is why he can control the Kiln.
Xie Lian: Your Highness, why do you never show your face? Are you worried I'll recognise you? Or are you so ugly you can't stand yourself?
No Face gets angry, and things look grim, but somehow, impossibly, Xie Lian sees a huge face watching from the wall. He realises what it is, and smiles and casts a spell.
A stone fist comes out of nowhere to smash down on No-Face and break down the walls of the Kiln.
Xie Lian grabs his hat and rises on a hand the size of a house. The moment he reaches the surface he's hugged by a freaked out Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng: I couldn't get into the Kiln no matter what I did, and you had to come breaking out of it on your own. I'm really fucking...
Xie Lian: But we broke through together! Isn't this your greatest work?
Xie Lian is standing on a giant stone statue the size of several buildings, created from the strong stone of the Kiln. A giant stone statue of himself, created by Hua Cheng inside the Kiln, when he was all alone in the dark. Afaict gods being able to control and draw power from statues of themselves is a Thing, and this statue is especially powerful for reasons I didn't quite follow.
Suddenly, White No Face emerges, bringing with him a cloud of millions of resentful souls: the dead of WuYong.
Xie Lian makes chase, controlling the statue with a top up kiss of energy from Hua Cheng. The mountain spirits attack and Xie Lian confidently draws his giant stone sword...but it's only a hilt.
Hua Cheng: I'm sorry. Next time I will carve out every detail :(
They find Mu Qing, Feng Xin, Pei Ming, Pei Su etc, who are a bit taken aback to be greeted by a giant version of Xie Lian but climb up onto the proffered hand. Yin Yu reports that the corpse eating rats and resentful spirits are making their way to the border of Mount Tonglu...which has been opened to the outside world.
Hua Cheng that suggests all the martial gods transform into a giant sword because they're Voltron apparently. Yin Yu reluctantly releases Quan Yi Zhen from being a doll, he has no idea what's going on but isn't going to say no to being a giant sword.
It all works great but Xie Lian runs out of energy again, so goes up on tip toes for another kiss.
Pei Ming: Lol
Feng Xin: WHAT THE HELL
Xie Lian: I'M ONLY BORROWING SPIRITUAL POWERS. VERY PROPER.
Quan Yi Zhen: Oh, I see! That's borrowing spiritual powers!
Pei Ming: Don't do it too casually ;)
Feng Xin: YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT THAT WAY
Xie Lian: HAHAHA >.>
But then No-Face breaks the statue's leg and it collapses. Just when all seems lost....
Jun Wu appears! He was summoned by Rain Master when the borders opened. Everyone else was too distracted to think of sending a call for backup.
Xie Lian looks sadly at the broken statue, but Hua Cheng says he'll repair it.
Suddenly the resentful spirits are sucked into a teleportation array, and without Ling Wen's information network Heaven is useless to say where they went. Luckily Hua Cheng can say: they've gone to the royal capital and other fortified cities.
(Royal capital of where? Wouldn't there be one per country? Oh but this is kinda-Ancient-China so there's a single Emperor over everyone as well, I guess?)
Hua Cheng delegates to Yin Yu, while Jun Wu delegates to all the gods. Yin Yu is very self conscious about being in front of Jun Wu again. Quan Yi Zhen still clearly has no idea what's going on at all.
Yin Yu: *sigh* I'll take him and explain on the way.
Quan Yi Zhen: Yay :D
Awwww
But poor Mu Qing is sent back to house arrest.
As Hua Cheng and Xie travel to the capital, Xie Lian messages Jun Wu.
Xie Lian: Guoshi was your connection to XianLe. Did you notice anything strange about him?
Jun Wu: ...yes. Are you sure you want to hear?
Xie Lian: Yes.
Jun Wu: After XianLe fell, I realised he was ancient, maybe older than me. He seemed to want to awaken something in you. So I neutralised him.
The capital is protected by a shield created by the Aura of the King and various holy temples. But it's not enough.
Xie Lian has spent the last 800 hundred years coming up with a way to stop the face plague if he encounters it again. But he's never tested it, and it needs 500 willing human volunteers motivated by a desire to protect.
Hua Cheng: If you needed ghosts or un willing mortals I could help. I have worshippers, but can only force them with power or tempt them with benefits. I'm sorry :(
Xie Lian: You don't need to apologise. We'll think of a way together.
And then they encounter a group of people...the annoying monks and cultivators from before. They refuse to believe that Hua Cheng could be doing anything good, so refuse to volunteer, and instead follow behind spying "sneakily".
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng decide to try the slums.
In an abandoned temple they find people covered in sores and scratching for fleas, but huddled together. A beggar with a lame leg is dragging themselves around giving water to the sick, and then shouts in a rasping voice that everyone should at least listen to what Xie Lian has to say. He's gaunt and grimy, in tattered clothes and with the use of only one arm, but clearly seen with respect.
Unfortunately, the poor are not very motivated to sacrifice themselves to save a city that has done nothing for them. Only the lame beggar volunteers, saying "broken limbs won't be a problem, right?"
Everyone shouts at "ol' Feng" not to be a fool for no compensation. Suddenly it occurs to Xie Lian that Feng means wind, and he recognises the bright eyes under the filthy black hair.
It's Wind Master Shi Qing Xuan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY FAVE
THEY'RE OK
ISH
AND ALSO DISABLED NOW???
*clutches even more protectively*
Shi Qing Xuan, scratching at his flea ridden head: It must be because my style and grace are unforgettable haha. But I'm not the Wind Master any more.
Beggars: Ol' Feng you're friends with a little white face who was clearly raised in the lap of luxury? You bullshittin' again like when you went around saying you were a god?
Shi Qing Xuan: I'M NOT BULLSHITTIN'. I'M GOING TO GO HELP MY FRIENDS, ANYONE ELSE COMING?
And then he realises he's gotten Xie Lian dirty by putting his arm around his shoulders and gets self conscious. But Xie Lian doesn't care about that.
(I'm using 'he' since he seems pretty solidly in a male identity right now)
Xie Lian: Did Black Water change your fate after all?
Shi Qing Xuan: Oh, no, he didn't do anything. This was all...some carelessness here, some clumsiness there, but all my own doing.
After his brother Shi Wu Du's death, Shi Qing Xuan fell into a slump and barely heard anything Black Water said, and then found himself abandoned in the capital. He'd always loved to come to the city when he was a god, and knew it well, so decided to settle there.
*still kinda ships it shh*
(Also I didn't cry during Book 4 but am a little sniffly now. MXTX YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING WORSE TO MY FAVE)
Shi Qing Xuan points out that a free meal with no conditions would go a long way to creating good will, and they gather a hundred cheerfully hungry volunteers.
Shi Qing Xuan: I can call forth hundreds wherever I go. Maybe in the future I can establish a gang or something hahahaha.
Xie Lian's heart feels crumpled up, but open. Shi Qing Xuan has changed, but is also the same. Thank goodness.
It's still not enough people. But it's a place to start.
Hua Cheng blithely knocks out some patrolmen who think the crowd looks suspicious, which further improves good will. And then Xie Lian arranges everyone in a circle holding hands. The resentful spirits will be drawn to the nexus of life energy, but trapped in the circle while Hua Cheng and Xie Lian pick them off. Xie Lian explains that if the circle breaks they all will be infected, so if anyone wants to back out, now is the time. Some leave, but most stay.
Cultivators: You can't trust these men just because they promise you beggars food!
Hua Cheng: They're not here for food. They're here to save the world. Do you think beggars are unworthy to do that?
Moinks: We didn't mean...
Shi Qing Xuan: We all heard your disdainful tone!
And so now the beggars are all fired up with righteous indignation, and the cultivators feel defensive. Hua Cheng winks at Xie Lian. Sneaky bastard.
The spirits start their attack, and are sucked into the circle. When the spirits realise they've been trapped they try to terrify the beggars, but they encourage each other to stay strong and Hua Cheng's butterflies destroy the contorting mass of resentment.
Xie Lian notices the person next to Shi Qing Xuan is weakening, making him a target for a mass of spirits. But before the spirits can attack, they're stopped by a talisman! The cultivators have decided to help, now that they can see for themselves that Hua Cheng was telling the truth. They join the circle and call for reinforcements from their schools.
It looks like they might actually make it.
But then Xie Lian counts up the numbers and realises...there's an extra person. He has Hua Cheng get his butterflies to herd the spirits around the circle, giving everyone a fright...except one man, who stands unmoved.
Xie Lian pulls him out of the circle, only to realise...it's Guoshi!
He's not the older man Xie Lian remembers, and only looks to be about 25. Just As Xie Lian is doubting himself, Guoshi tries to strangle him, and then makes a run for it.
But he's stopped by a sword falling from the sky. It's Jun Wu. He says he's put a new barrier around Mount TongLu and trapped the mountain spirits, so decided to check on things over here. But No-Face has escaped.
Jun Wu says it will take seven days to fully cleanse the spirits here, and Xie Lian really wants to interrogate Guoshi right now. Hua Cheng says he'll take care of things.
Shi Qing Xuan: M-m-my Lord? You've come....personally?
Jun Wu: Lord Wind Master, how have you been?
Shi Qing Xuan: ... >.>
Guoshi: Wait, you're Shi Qing Xuan? Your name's terrible.
Me and Shi Qing Xuan: ???
Jun Wu goes ahead with Guoshi while Hua Cheng says goodbye to Hua Cheng.
Xie Lian: Thank you for all your hard work.
Hua Cheng: It is hard work *pout*
Shi Qing Xuan: Yeah you should reward us with a fancy meal!
Hua Cheng, twiddling with his braid: But what troubles me more is that gege is leaving me alllll allooone.
Shi Qing Xuan: Lol you sound like a lonely newlywed.
Xie Lian: Um. Can you...give us...a minute?
Hua Cheng looks at Xie Lian with an expectant expression. Xie Lian gathers up his courage, hops up on his toes, and kisses Hua Cheng on the cheek.
Hua Cheng pulls him close and says, in a pouting tone "Is that all I get when I'm not giving you spiritual powers?"
So Xie Lian kisses him properly.
Shi Qing Xuan: You know, on second thought I kind of feel weird about you guys kicking me out to say goodbye-
Xie Lian, rapidly untangling himself: TIME TO GO TO HEAVEN BYE
He's still blushing and rubbing his lips in Heaven.
The Great Martial Hall mills with gods, but the first one who Xie Lian bumps into is Lang Qian Qiu, the previously foolhardy general of YongAn who became bitter and angry when he found out Green Goblin had orchestrated the fall of his family. He turns away from Xie Lian and says to Jun Wu "I hear you've caught the Green Goblin, You should give him to me."
Jun Wu: Actually, he and the other ghosts were caught by Yin Yu of Ghost City.
Yin Yu has so little presence that Xie Lian didn't even notice him. But he realises this must be very strange for Yin Yu: he was too low ranked as a god to ever enter this hall. But now he's invited as a diplomatic guest, because he "fell" into work for a demon.
Mu Qing: First you should call forth that woman and have her witness that I didn't hurt the fetus spirit!
Jun Wu, rubbing his head: Can't we deal with Mount Tonglu first?
Mu Qing: Once you exonerate me I can help!
So Jiang Lin is brought out of prison to be questioned. Feng Xin has a complicated expression when he looks at her, and and even more complicated one when he looks at the child in her arms.
Mu Qing insinuates that she framed him because of Feng Xin's resentment. Feng Xin gets angry on both her and his own behalf, and they have to be separated.
Xie Lian: Surely the priority right now should be No-Face.
Jun Wu: Good point. Bring out the Guishu of XianLe.
Mu Qing: NO, I GOTTA- WAIT WHAT
First Xie Lian gives his report about everything he saw and learned about WuYong. Everyone mutters that they've never heard of it before.
Xie Lian: So the Crown Prince of WuYong is No-Face, right?
Guoshi: Yes.
Xie Lian: Where is he right now? Why did you try to kill me?
Guoshi: I didn't try to kill you. Would the one next to you (eg Jun Wu) have allowed me to succeed?
Xie Lian: What did you want to awaken in me?
Guoshi: It's not the time for me to answer these questions, and if I did you might not believe me. But I can tell you...that No-Face is standing in front of me.
For a moment Xie Lian thinks: Am I No-Face?? But then he remembers Hua Cheng telling him "You're you."
Jun Wu, seeing his distress, puts his hand on Xie Lian's shoulder. And then Guoshi lunges at him with Feng Xin's sword.
Naturally, Jung Wu halts the attack. But it's a magic sword, which reflects the true face of evil. And on Jun Wu's face there are three other small faces. Two are crying, and one is smiling.
JUN WU IS WHITE NO-FACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I later remembered that I actually got 100% spoiled for this?? And then forgot?? Hooray for a terrible memory!
Jun Wu, grabbing Xie Lian's wrist in an iron grip: What did you see?
Xie Lian: ...your face...
Jun Wu: Ah a moment's carelessness and they've come out again.
Guoshi: EVERYONE, SEE! HE'S WHITE NO-FACE!!
Jun Wu: *sigh* You've disappointed me once again. Now I have to kill everyone, it's very inconvenient.
He raises a hand and Guoshi falls to the ground, looking as if he's being strangled. The doors slam shut. All the martial gods attack, and Jun Wu slams them to the ground.
Xie Lian tries to call for Hua Cheng but Jun Wu has cut off the phone lines.
And then the doors slam open, and in walks Ling Wen, wearing the brocade immortal.
Me: KICK HIS ASS LING WEN :D
Jun Wu: Rise and get to work. You know what to do.
Ling Wen inclines her head and smiles. "Of course".
Me: LING WEN NOOOO D:
And that's when I stopped reading reading for a while.
Ling Weennnnnnnnnnn ;_;
I mean I already knew she was pretty morally grey, and I knew there was no way she and Jun Wu weren't both at least vaguely aware of each other's plots. I'm not shocked, just... :(
ANYWAY.
Going back and writing up the earlier scenes I was struck by two things that totally went over my head the first time.
(1) Jun Wu saying of Lang Yin "With his appearance, neither man nor ghost, no one would treat him with sincerity. Staying in this world is suffering." He was speaking from experience. I'm glad there's Hua Cheng and now Shi Qing Xuan as examples of disabled/deformed people who DIDN'T turn evil (even inadvertently like both Lang Yings) ASSUMING SHI QING XUAN DOESN'T TURN EVIL. WHICH HE BETTER NOT.
(2) Lotta white imagery around Jun Wu. Lotta clever playing around with colour imagery in general, and I'm sure much of it is going over my head.
Off the top of my head:
Red: Blood, demons, flowers, the red string of fate, marriage, good luck, bad luck, Mars (and thus the two Crown Princes)
Black: Death, rot, the remains of fire, storm clouds, evil, Yin (female energy)
White: Purity, heaven, bandages and illness, plain robes for the poor, cultivation robes, pure white royal robes, funeral robes, death, Yang (male energy)
Also gold for heaven and royalty but that doesn't seem to ever have any other contrary associations.
Also! Did you notice that Jun Wu was the one who gave Xie Lian the immortality that allowed No Face to torture him? I did, yay me. Still somehow thought they were two people working together but CLOSE ENOUGH.
Mu Qing: Wasn't he at large in Mount TongLu?
Jun Wu: Ling Wen is very useful, and only made an insignificant mistake, so I've summoned him back.
And then the fetus spirit jumps out of it's mothers arms and starts nuzzling Jun Wu's feet, as a troop of expressionless martial gods pour into the hall and take everyone back to their houses to be watched.
It took me a while to figure out what was going on with the fetus spirit and Jun Wu, I don't think it's ever fully explained but afaict he's the one who made it an evil ghost, and the persuaded it to frame Mu Qing out of loyalty. Created spirits seem to be instinctively loyal to the people who made them, plus Jun Wu can be very charming when he wants to be.
Pei Ming: Ling Wen, how heartless of you.
Ling Wen, patting his shoulder: You've known I was heartless from the day we met. How about it, wanna join? You're always welcome.
He laughs dryly but doesn't speak. These guys and their weirdly cute awful friendship ;_;
Xie Lian is special once again. He gets escorted to house arrest by Jun Wu himself.
All the junior officials outside are unconscious. Xie Lian can't think of what to do. Just as he's thinking "Hua Cheng will notice something's wrong and come save me" Jun Wu says "You must miss Crimson Rain Sought Flower. Why don't you ring him and chat? :)"
Xie Lian self-consciously uses Hua Cheng's verbal password for the first time, which is implied to be something dirty or romantic but MXTX never tells us what it is. Jun Wu tells Xie Lian what to say, listening in and warning him not to try any hints.
Hua Cheng: It's been two hours I miss you ;_;
Xie Lian: The emperor says if I complete a big pile of missions I get a three year break.
Hua Cheng: That's your perk. What about mine? How about you take your time to pay me back for all the spiritual energy I've given you ;)
Xie Lian: ...mmm...
Hua Cheng: So why did you ring me after only two hours? Did you miss me?
Xie Lian: ...mmmm.
Hua Cheng, softly: Me too. I want to go up there and whisk you away.
Xie Lian, touched, but not wanting Hua Cheng to be in danger: It's a mess up here, they'd probably lose their heads. Just wait a bit.
Jun Wu: It seems Xian Le has been living an exciting life down below ;)
Xie Lian: ...My lord, are you really connected to White No Face?
But he just leaves and doesn't answer.
AND THEN
I READ
THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BOOK
!!!!!
IT WAS GREAT
!!!!!
I was wondering if I really felt like writing the rest of these summaries but then realised it's the most efficient way I can squee to the widest possible audience (and in some cases complain. But mostly squee. And flail. etc) Which is why I started writing them in the first place!
I'll avoid spoilers. But one theme that I kept thinking about that's already pretty obvious is fathers and sons, plus other related relationships like teacher/apprentice, senior student/junior student (Shixiong/shidi, or senpai/kohai for my fellow weebs), older brother younger brother, king/advisor or general/soldier/commoner etc. And of course god/believer.
This ties in very much with Confucianism (as I understand it from researching Hakuoki fanfic, so don't treat me as a reliable source here) Afaict Confucius has a lot of similarities with Aristotle: the ideal society is strictly hierarchical with
pantheon of gods > philosopher king > generals and sages > noble born men > common men > women, and at every stage older > younger.
And in both ancient Greece and Ancient China (and pre-Meiji Japan), the ideal for both m/m and m/f relationships had the same structure: an older more powerful man moulding and coddling a younger less powerful partner who looked up to him as their superior. (Nobody cared about f/f relationships)
And of course, modern China has it's own hierarchical structure, and philosophies of power and relationships, mixing Confucianism, communism, capitalism, and other stuff I have only the vaguest handle on. MXTX is clearly drawing on all sorts of complex feelings about power, both social and personal, much of which is probably going over my head or coming across differently in my different cultural context.
But however it relates to the story MXTX was actually writing, I mostly like the story I've experienced. It flips these power relationships back and forth, and plays around with the messy fact that power relationships rely on unfairness but also exist for a reason, and that treating the masses of society like faceless tools is monstrous but also...the masses of society can be pretty monstrous as a group a lot of the time, even while being made of individual people who have as much value and potential as the people in charge.
I mean it still comes down a bit more on the "some people have the potential for greatness and some just don't" side than I personally enjoy, and not to spoil the ending but it doesn't involve a glorious humanist revolution against the concept of gods and kings in general. But (a) A Chinese writer has more reasons than most to be iffy on glorious 'egalitarian' revolutions and the like (b) one of the other themes of the story that I really like is that we never get to make everything perfect and fair and good. We just do our best and muddle along, inevitably fucking up, but with the hope to maybe make a little positive difference sometimes.
*reads a bunch of fic on AO3 and then some of the extras, wallows in feels some more*
*makes a file for spoilery reactions to put at the end*
Ok let's get back to it!
So as I mentioned earlier, I was told before going in that a LOT of people die or have bad things happen to them. And I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say that SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN, and characters I like will be in mortal danger, but obviously at this point I know whether they'll die or not in a way I didn't on my first readthrough. I don't want to fake my reactions or spoil things, so will I guess just say if I THOUGHT someone was going to die? And then we'll see if I was right :)
ANYWAY SO
Poor Xie Lian is shaken by all this and decides to clear his head with a bath. As he's lying in the water idly poking at his clothes he comes across a pair of dice Hua Cheng gave him once, saying "If you want to see me, it doesn't matter what you roll, I'll appear."
He knows it's pointless, Jun Wu has everything locked down, but rolls them anyway. And naturally gets snake eyes. (I wonder what the Chinese term is. Snake eyes works pretty well in context)
And then he hears a voice say Gege.
His own voice.
Jun Wu didn't block the soul swapping spell. But there's only one person who can connect with him that way right now.
Xie Lian: Lord Wind Master?! How are you using spiritual powers?!
Shi Qing Xuan: Crimson Rain Sought Flower gave me some cool magic candy! He said I should call you gege to make you feel better.
And it did.
Shi Qing Xuan: It was weird, he was chatting to you all smiles and then the moment he hung up his face went dark and he got me to swap over. Oh also, he keeps saying to put on some clothes. I don't know why, I'm transmitting everything but we're all men here.
Xie Lian: HE CAN SEE ME RIGHT NOW??? *rapidly puts on clothing* San Lang, how did you know something was wrong?
Shi Qing Xuan: He says 'Gege is so shy, if it wasn't anything major why would you take the initiative to recite my verbal password?'
Xie Lian explains everything going on with Jun Wu, Shi Qing Xuan is shocked but Hua Cheng just says "Not surprised. I already can't stand him."
Xie Lian: Can you stand anyone?
Shi Qing Xuan: He says 'Other than you, no". HEY. I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE. AND I AM A DELIGHT.
And then Hua Cheng says he has a way to get to the Heavens but will need someone's help.
Xie Lian: WHO IS IT??
But he's not shouting at them. There's somebody in his room!!
DUN DUN DUN
(I love cliffhangers when I'm doing them to other people and know what happens next :D)
(Also I'm just happy whenever Shi Qing Xuan is on screen. UNLESS SUFFERING IS INVOLVED. YOU HEARD ME MXTX)
