stay out of the lava part of the volcano if you dont want to get burned

[keltena]

My notes while reading Heaven Official's Blessing, chapters 126 through 180. (AKA the remainder of Book 3.)

“I suspect it might be the same person who sent that empty-shelled cultivator that led to the Banyue Pass incident.”

If that was true, then it did seem like there had always been a hand that had been pushing him to the heart of every case, every time.

Ah, I'd forgotten that part by now. Anyway, looks like you're dealing with one of those control freak villains who has to personally micromanage every monster of the week you meet, Xie Lian. Sorry about your life!

Naturally, the Water Master’s audacious deception in committing a fraudulent substitution, the Wind Master being a fraud, the Earth Master a fraud too, and that the Water Master’s head and body were separated, nowhere to be found—these four cases, each more explosive than the next, blew up the heavens like four bombs, raising a tidal wave that flooded the Upper and Middle Courts.

...Wow, yeah. Hadn't really thought about it, but they just lost most of their elements in one go, didn't they? Awkward.

All of a sudden, everyone was shocked and shaken; no one knew what to say in regards to the matter, and crickets filled the Great Martial Hall. Even Jun Wu’s hand didn’t seem able to support his head anymore.

Pfft.

He could feel Hua Cheng’s gaze on him as the Supreme continued to grill him. “Was there really nothing? Then, how did I calm down?”

Xie Lian softly cleared his throat, as if he was slightly embarrassed. “To tell you the truth, San Lang, please don’t be mad at me. Other than doing this…” He motioned at E’ming, who he was currently petting, and admitted, “I, also, cough cough, had a fight with you.”

“...” Hua Cheng looked at him suspiciously. “...we fought?”

Xie Lian held down this fort and watched him earnestly. “That’s right. Look, the hall is such a mess because of our fight.”

There was a pause before Hua Cheng puffed a sigh of relief and rested his head on his hand.

Augh. Xie Lian, no, just because you're a cute awkward romance protagonist doesn't mean you should lie to him about things he actually has the right to know!! This... okay, this almost certainly isn't going to come back to bite you, but good god you are a disaster.


I do genuinely love that, by the third gratuitous kiss-or-die scenario, Xie Lian is consciously going, "Okay, this is getting a bit out of hand, and I really shouldn't keep taking these excuses to kiss him without talking honestly about what's going on between us...

"...So from now on, I'm going to do the responsible thing and keep my distance while not talking honestly about what's going on between us."

He looked over and saw Lang Qianqiu enter the hall. Having not seen him for so long, his entire person had thinned a size, looking much gloomier. His eyes met with Xie Lian’s, then he turned away without a word.

:(

The one who'd responded was Feng Xin. For some reason, when Xie Lian saw him, he couldn’t help but feel an incredible sense of friendliness.

"For some reason".

suddenly, he heard the window creak. Someone had softly pushed open the wooden frame and hopped inside.

Xie Lian’s back was facing the window; he lay there on the ground on his side, shocked.

What kind of person would be so harsh on themselves as to come steal from Puqi Shrine? Wasn’t this just labour without any return?

Xie Lian...

Xie Lian rubbed his forehead, and opened that donation box to see that it was filled to the brim with gold bars. “Was it also you who filled the box last time?”

Quan Yizhen nodded.

Xie Lian asked, “Why are you giving me all this?”

“Because I have a lot,” Quan Yizhen replied.

Oh, huh! What was Shi Wudu's gift, then? Did we ever follow up on that?

“But has Your Highness ever heard? The martial god that ruled the west wasn’t always the Palace of Qi Ying. It was the Palace of Yin Yu.”

Oh, I recognize that name; it taught me a new idiom! :D A while back I asked if anyone knew how some of the characters' names were written, and spockandawe was nice enough to post a whole list of major character/place names in response. Yin Yu's name (引玉) seemed odd enough that I looked up the characters to see if they were part of a word/phrase I was unfamiliar with, and they turned out to be part of an idiom from The Thirty-Six Strategems: 拋磚引玉, lit. "throw a brick to draw jade", which means offering one's own worthless opinions/goods/deeds to draw out others' more valuable contributions, or (in the original context) baiting an enemy in order to exploit their reaction. One of the coolest new things I've learned in a while!

If one was to say that Yin Yu’s ability was enough for the heavens to send forth a Heavenly Calamity, a one in a million, then Quan Yizhen’s ability was good enough to pass three Heavenly Calamities, and there might not even be one in a million who could possess this potential. It was alright at the beginning, it wasn’t obvious, but the more time passed, the larger the skill gap was between the two. Quan Yizhen truly was asocial; not only did he ignore building relationships with fellow heavenly colleagues, he never tried to please his devotees either. In fact, other than Yin Yu, he didn’t bother to remember the names of any other heavenly officials at all, and was even audacious enough to beat up his followers, telling them to go eat shit. He was as out of line as they came. Yet, his domain grew bigger and bigger, and his followers increased. In comparison, the Palace of Yin Yu was losing its shine, and finally became restless.

... A very, very relevant idiom, evidently.

Not only could this Brocade Immortal suck blood and kill its wearer, it also had a wicked ability: whoever it was gifted to would obey any commands of the one who gave the gift.

Well that's a gift to fanfic writers if I ever saw one.


The sheer, absurd length of Xie Lian's back-and-forth with Ling Wen is giving me hot coffee flashbacks. Xie Lian, please.

this affair needed to be reported to court as soon as possible. Without thinking, he sent a message to the private communication array:

“Ling Wen, something’s happened! I…”

Ling Wen: “...I know.”

Xie Lian: “...So sorry to bother you.”

Beautiful.

“I might as well mention that Qi Rong feasting on human flesh was him trying to imitate He Xuan on purpose.”

Xie Lian was speechless for a moment, and thought, “How can feeding on humans be the same as feeding on ghosts?”

Then after pondering, he asked, “Then that forest of upside-down corpses? Could it be he was trying to imitate you?”

“Correct,” Hua Cheng replied. “Because he wanted to achieve the same bloody rain scenery but didn’t know how I did it, he simply and vulgarly hangs rows of dead bodies in the air.”

—oh my god, I never put that together until now. I'm dying.

In the long corridor, a black-clad youth was standing there blocking Lan Chang’s path, his expression dark. The moment Xie Lian emerged, he looked up slightly and was flabbergasted.

“It’s you?!”

Xie Lian came out the door. “Fu Yao? Why are you here?”

!!! yesss, I've missed him <3

“No no, surely not. Kids don’t know how to control themselves…so sorry, Fu Yao.”

Fu Yao watched him in disbelief, with his head full of mussed-up hair. “...Kids? You highness, do you really think I’m so blind as to not recognize who this is?”

Xie Lian replied innocently, “What are you talking about? This is a very normal little kid.”

Man, Xie Lian, your old friends don't exactly have room to complain given that they're catfishing you as we speak, but sometimes I think you enjoy trolling them a little too much. :P

“Thank goodness! Your verbal password hasn’t changed after all.”

Xie Lian soundlessly gave a dry laugh. Eight hundred years ago when he’d activated the verbal password for the first time, it was “just recite the Ethics Sutra a thousand times”; even eight hundred years later, it had never changed, and Feng Xin actually remembered. Xie Lian remembered the way Feng Xin had laughed until he was hoarse when he’d first heard that verbal password all those years back, and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, even though it wasn’t the right time.

God, this got me right in the heart, it's so sweet.

Feng Xin added, “And not just Ling Wen, but something happened to Mu Qing too. He was locked up at first, but he beat up and injured the guarding official and escaped.”

...Of course he did. Oh, Mu Qing.

Xie Lian tightened his hold and said gently, “Well, this and that are two completely different matters, personal affairs and business shouldn’t be mixed together. It’s one thing if he and I have a personal grudge, whether he’s committed a crime is another thing. Someone like Mu Qing, even though he’s narrow-minded, petty, sensitive and skeptical, has a bad personality, constantly guessing, doesn’t say nice things, likes to nag, always offending people and has a lot of people who dislike him, has no friends, can remember small, unimportant details for a long period of time…”

“...”

Xie Lian went on in one breath with a straight face, but in the end he concluded with, “...But I’ve known him since we were kids, after all, he’s still got principles.”

holy shit, xie lian

you can't just offer to help people and then murder them

Just then, there was suddenly a roar of crude laughter from behind them. Qi Rong was staring at Lan Chang’s face, and suddenly went mad.

“HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA I WONDERED WHO THIS WAS! ISN’T THIS, ISN’T THIS MY LADY JIAN LAN?”

—oh, dang, was I right with that wild guess? :D

Xie Lian spoke slowly, “Through so many years, I never knew if Feng Xin liked anyone. I never asked, and I never took notice.”

After all, he was the darling of the heavens since birth, high and mighty. Feng Xin so naturally spun around him like he was the world, so how could he possibly have his own life, his own heart?

Yeahhh, I got that impression.

Xie Lian immediately sensed something wrong, and instantly sat up too. The moment he saw, cold sweat covered his body. Silent and soundless, another figure was in the room. They were sitting by the table, there since who knows when, with a pot of tea already brewed, the scent of tea fragrant. And yet he had never even noticed!

Xie Lian couldn’t help but feel a chill go down his spine. He pointed Fangxin forward.

“WHO IS IT?!”

That man replied gently, “Don’t be afraid. Tea, Xianle?”

Are you having fun, Jun Wu. :P

Jun Wu replied slowly, “That’s right. Right now, the only way to remedy the situation is to send a martial god to infiltrate the gathering of ghosts at Mount Tong’lu.”

Since the start of slaughter couldn’t be stopped, then make sure that at the end of the slaughter, not a single one is left!

...See, I realize it's not the point, but this just makes me want to know what happens if a heavenly official wins the Ghost Hunger Games. Do you get to cross-class into Supreme Heavenly Ghost King? Do you just get a monetary award as compensation if you're not eligible? Do you just get banned from the premises for ruining the event?

Xie Lian felt both the figure and the way he walked was somewhat familiar, and straightened up.

“My good sir, you are?”

That man smirked and was about to answer when he suddenly bent down. Seeing this unexpected action, alarms went off in Xie Lian’s head and he watched him intently, preparing for any surprise attacks. Yet that man only leaned down and circled his two arms around the slender waists of two female ghosts.

Oh for fuck's sake, Pei Ming.

Xie Lian was also curious how ghosts would taste, and turned to Hua Cheng.

yeah i bet

The essence of evil Hua Cheng had transferred to him was undoubtedly the highest of quality, so there certainly wasn’t a real need to buy Ghost Scent Candies. Only, if he didn’t want anyone to discover the essence was only stained on the surface, then they might need to press their lips together like last time and exchange bodily fluids and air. Xie Lian immediately stopped himself from thinking on this.

Xie Lian: so allergic to intimacy, he experiences crushes as a pattern of intrusive thoughts about finding excuses to platonically make out with his friend.

E’ming, who tried so enthusiastically to offer itself up but ended up so blatantly rejected, weepingly hopped back to Hua Cheng’s side. Hua Cheng didn’t even spare it a look before he smacked it with a backhand slap.

“What are you crying about? Isn’t it because you’re useless? Trash!”

Hua Cheng, no, be nice to best sword!! And also yourself, assuming E'ming is in fact some facet of your psyche, because that sure as hell sounds like negative self-talk.

Pei Ming threatened, “You better not do anything unnecessary.”

Only, this threat was obviously very awkward. If a hostage was a complete person, Pei Ming could very well sink his fingers into their neck or skull when making the threat, and the picture would appear much more effective, like he wasn’t bluffing. However, right now they only had the lower half of a body in hand, so where could his hands go that wouldn’t be awkward and could still strike fear?

Pei Ming couldn’t think of a way, so he simply stepped onto the leg.

“Are you shitting me?” Ming’guang said.

Xie Lian also didn’t think this looked serious at all, and said courteously, “General Pei, stepping on legs really isn’t very convincing, can you maybe…make him think you’ve got him by something critical?”

“Your Highness, don’t say something like that so easily,” Pei Ming said. “If it wasn’t because I refuse to do something so classless, you think I’d want to step on legs? Why don’t you come grab him where it hurts?”

“...”

In any case, neither of them were willing to grab that kind of critical place.

“Nevermind,” Xie Lian said. “Then why don’t we do this!”

After huddling, the two of them each grabbed onto one of Ming’guang’s legs. Now this looked more threatening and unawkward.

I copy-pasted this entire passage because it is the best passage in the book. I will not be accepting feedback on this decision.

After he called out, E’ming suddenly flipped and flashed, becoming a streaming silver whirlwind, and successfully struck the broken sword. The Ming’guang outside the circle “ah”-ed; it seemed that hit wasn’t a light one.

Xie Lian praised, “Good E’ming!”

Pei Ming suddenly spoke up, “Wait, Your Highness. I think when you complimented it, it grew bigger?”

!!

omg :D

It was only some praise, no big deal. So Xie Lian said, “Very well. E’ming, listen closely: you are handsome and carefree, cute and kind, clever and intelligent, gentle and determined, number one in the world…”

He trailed off, then stopped. Pei Ming started clapping soundly. Outside the circle, Ming’guang had a face full of disbelief, and was crying furiously.

“WHAT KIND OF WICKED SPELL IS THIS? HOW COME I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT BEFORE?!”

I'm so glad. :D

Xie Lian was still puzzled when he suddenly felt cold on his skin. PA!, Pei Ming had tapped the scimitar on his face, and the hilt coincidentally pressed against his lips.

“...” Xie Lian removed E’ming from his face. His lips had been slightly numbed by the taps, and he rubbed at them, baffled. “General Pei, is there any meaning to your actions?”

“Of course. It’s very meaningful,” Pei Ming said. “Your Highness, please look down.”

Xie Lian looked down and was instantly speechless. E’ming had grown even longer!

oh we're doing this now, are we

Banyue, however, seemed to find Hua Cheng rather precious. She pulled at one of his little braids, speaking with deep concern.

“He seems to be sick. Should I put him in the pot to have him recuperate? Last time after I entered General Hua’s pot, I felt I recovered really fast.”

Banyue is great.

“N-no,” the skull said. “I didn’t see very clearly. It didn’t take long for him to kill us. I only faintly saw it was a black-clad man, very young, his face very pale…”

Huh. Who would that be; He Xuan, maybe? I can't see any reason for him to be here, but that seems about par for the course for this arc.

That skull said, “We…didn’t dare go east, which is why we chose the west. Because, on the road to the east, there’s a white-clad young man, who within a day, has already killed over two thousand ghosts. He’s far more terrifying than this one in the west…”

Now, that had better be who it sounds like or I'll be terribly disappointed.

Pei Su finally raised his head from the mud and croaked, “This, is…m, arks left behind by L, ord Rain Master’s Protection St, eed.”

“Pei Su-gege, your commas are all over the place,” Banyue remarked.

Pfft.

“Um…I’m sure I’m not as good as San Lang in this. But, the god worshipped by Wuyong, is it also their crown prince?”

Hua Cheng hugged his arms. “I think so, yes.”

Xie Lian frowned to think. “If my master knew of the crown prince of Wuyong, then he must also know that he ascended. So why did he tell me that crown prince ‘died’?”

I don't know, but I imagine the full story is scandalous. Considering where his story came up, maybe he followed a similar path to Xie Lian?

—OR, wait, maybe he became White No-Face?? That seems like it would jibe with the way Xie Lian's Guoshi talked about the subject.

“If the Emperor was here, then perhaps we could’ve asked if he knew of this kingdom; if he knew such a person,” Pei Ming said.

However, Hua Cheng said, “Maybe not. The Kingdom of Wuyong disappeared over two thousand years ago. In comparison, Jun Wu is only a young’un. They’re of completely different dynasties.”

...Oh, and here I was already going "aha, mayhap Jun Wu favors Xie Lian because he reminds him of the Crown Prince of Backstory!" Rude.

The gods of the previous dynasty were said to have faded thus. Some also said it was because they caused a great calamity and fought a chaotic battle, which was why they all fell from grace at the same time. But it couldn’t be proven, and it wasn’t important anymore; a few centuries later, Jun Wu was born, and created a new heavenly dynasty. Following right after him, a great number of heavenly officials of the new age ascended incessantly, filling the gaps for the worshippers, and gradually formed the stable Upper Court of today.

"It couldn't be proven, and it wasn't important" is an oxymoron in 90% of backstories and you know it, narrator. :P

Which meant, unless there were heavenly officials older than the one thousand five hundred year old Jun Wu, there was no one who could know of how the god worshipped in the Kingdom of Wuyong had been silently wiped from history.

...Or, you know, anyone older than that, heavenly official or no. Ghosts also fall under the "potentially immortal" heading, and a mysteriously lost kingdom with perfectly-preserved, isolated ruins seems like prime real-estate for the world's oldest restless souls. (...Although I suppose a lot of them would get eaten in the Ghost Hunger Games in that case, wouldn't they. I'm not sure precisely how ghost cannibalism works in terms of knowledge/memories/etc., but if the oldest Mt. Tong'lu survivor we know of is White No-Face, that may be a moot point.) Not to mention that, you know, Xianle's Guoshi obviously at the very least knew of it.

“I see!” Xie Lian exclaimed. “So the black-clad man who’s been killing all along the way…is Ling Wen in his male form.”

Oh! I guess that would account for it.


While we're on the subject of Ling Wen, I just need to say: It kills me that Ling Wen seems to have qualified for the Terrible People No One Else Likes club solely on the basis of her gender, despite being a legitimately terrible person in her own right. It's... it's almost poetic, somehow.

Xie Lian gave Pei Ming a brief account and went back into the temple with Pei Su to check. Sure enough, that wall earlier had become exactly the same as the other three burnt ashen walls; as if that mural had never existed.

Hua Cheng dropped his hand from the wall. “That mural was created by magic.”

Xie Lian nodded. “Perhaps the one who left it had concerns, and didn’t dare leave it for too long.”

So, someone's setting up one-time cutscenes for you specifically? That's not ominous at all.

Hua Cheng said leisurely, “The Kiln is a live volcano, and the heart of all Mount Tong’lu. When a new ghost king is born, that is also when it wakes.”

“A volcanic eruption?” Xie Lian asked.

“That’s right,” Hua Cheng replied. “So, all Supreme Ghost Kings are born accompanied by blazing fires, lava, and ruinous disasters.”

...Huh.

Now that I think about it, I guess they never actually said the giant evil mountain containing a "kiln" that becomes active every few centuries with catastrophic consequences was a volcano? Somehow I just assumed. :P

“Gege, wanna come here?”

He turned his head back to look. Hua Cheng was following closely behind him, his steps steady like he was flying. He was holding a red umbrella he had taken out from who-knows-where, and was smiling brightly at him from underneath it. Those fallen rocks were soundly crashing onto the surface of the umbrella, but Hua Cheng held the handle with a single hand without swaying!

Xie Lian instantly took cover under his umbrella. “Whew, that was close. Thank goodness for San Lang.”

I'm so glad. I hope the umbrella returns to save both their lives from a rain of something even more ludicrous in the finale.

Amidst the loud rumbling of falling boulders came another strange noise, approaching rapidly. GRK GRK! GRK GRK GRK GRK! Rapidly fast, growing closer and closer. Xie Lian thought this sound was familiar, like he’d heard it before somewhere, and he stopped his mad digging.

“This…COULD THIS BE?!”

Just as the words left his lips, a spot next to his feet suddenly caved in, revealing a black hole that was big enough to allow two people to drop in. Within the hole, the head of a shovel was raised, reflecting a bright white light.

The sacred shovel of the Earth Master!

Ah, there he is! I've missed him.

Xie Lian took a few steps closer, looking him over closely. This individual appeared to be a neat and tidy youth; considerably handsome, but only about a seven.

...Xie Lian, do you rate the looks of everyone you see? Why have you not been sharing this with me??

“Black Water? Your Highness, why do you think he’s Black Water? Their faces are different.”

Xie Lian looked back and replied doubtfully, “Because he’s holding the sacred shovel of the Earth Master. Besides, don’t we all know the key to a good disguise? This face is so boringly plain, not noticeable in a crowd at all, so it must be a fake.”

The trick to disguise was discussed before, and the face of this black-clad youth before them perfectly complied to the key component of an impeccable fake skin: boringly plain.

Even if one was to stare at his face for two hours, after a good night’s sleep, his appearance would be completely forgotten the next day, so no doubt this was a molded fake face?

“...”

However, a moment later, that black-clad youth said, “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but, I…I really do look like this.”

holy shit

please call back later, keltena is dying

(just like this guy who just got murdered by xie lian)

“...I’m sorry.”

He’d actually thought things so matter-of-factly. He’d actually said to this person’s face that he looked boringly plain, not noticeable in a crowd. It couldn’t be helped, that face of his really was too much of a model for the perfect disguise!

That black-clad youth was also feeling extremely awkward, and he waved his hand. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing, I’m already used to it…”

Ling Wen then said, “Your Highness Yin Yu, thank goodness for your assistance.”

Man. This book does a great job with characters' first impressions in general, but this might be the best one yet. It's such a great establishing note.

Hua Cheng noticed and exclaimed, “Gege, don’t touch!”

However, it was too late. When Xie Lian stood up again, he already had dangling in each of his hands a skull.

“Everyone, a question. Have we dug into a mass grave?”

I just burst out laughing at that last line. It's such a perfect encapsulation of a day in Xie Lian's life.

Xie Lian was about to speak, when suddenly, the faint sounds of tremors came from the distance.

He listened tensely and wondered, “Is someone throwing fists?”

This power and frequency, it was as if someone was throwing punches heavily at the body of the mountain.

Ah, we've finally found Quan Yizhen!

This scorpion-snake’s entire body was hung in mid-air; snakes didn’t climb walls, so how could it have slithered to such a height before crawling into a hole? Besides, there were many holes on this stone wall, so if it must slither, why pick such a small one? This “hole” was also strange; it was almost the exact same shape as the snake’s body, which was why it trapped it so completely.

Welp, we've officially reached Amigara Fault. In retrospect, maybe I should have expected this—it does seem like MXTX's style.

“The half-bodied man outside was probably also swallowed by the mountain spirit. The mountain-punching sound we heard must be him trying to escape, pounding at the stone walls. He and that scorpion-snake are the same; they weren’t swallowed fully, and were only half-devoured.”

Which was why the effect was exceedingly creepy.

“But, he’s not someone from the party that came to Mount Tong’lu with us,” Hua Cheng pointed out.

Xie Lian suddenly recalled that messy hair and said, “Wait, I know who that was. It was probably Qi Ying!”

The hair told you but the punching a mountain didn't??

Ch.159: This Jade Refuses to be a Thrown-Away Brick

!

I am unreasonably pleased with myself for tracking down that idiom now.

Xie Lian looked closely, and saw standing at the side of the hall entrance, behind Shi Qingxuan, was a low-ranking heavenly official responsible for receiving gifts from all the guests. His appearance was undistinguished, but fervent smiles covered his face. Shi Qingxuan crossed into the hall looking very pleased, and casually tossed him a small pearl as a tip. That heavenly official’s eyes shone, and catching the pearl with both his hands, he thanked My Lord profusely, looking every part a servant.

Xie Lian couldn’t help but comment, “...That’s Black Water? A Black Water with such a bright smile?”

“That’s him,” Hua Cheng said. “The smile is fake, that’s all. The man has at least fifty clones stationed throughout the Heavenly Court, each with a different identity. All so he could monitor over eighty heavenly officials of the Upper Court, and over three hundred heavenly officials of the Middle Court. Otherwise, with just the Earth Master identity, it’s far from adequate.”

God, how does He Xuan get better with every new detail? ♥*

My new headcanon for every single background character in the heavenly realms is that they're actually He Xuan, just because I can while being entirely canon-compliant.

* I initially typed "he's perfect, I'll take twenty", but then I realized that was literally possible in this context.


Yin Yu's backstory is generally fantastic, but the impulsive "GO DIE!" really does come off as contrived. I wonder if that's just the usual awkwardness that comes with this trope, or if it's exacerbated by reading in translation? "Go die" is really not a natural way to say "go fuck yourself"* in English, but for all I know it might be in Chinese.

* ...Yin Yu would no doubt still be banished in this case, but under much less publishable circumstances.

This voice was very familiar; he must’ve heard it before, and had heard it for a long, long time, not just once or twice. But since it was a long, long time ago, he couldn’t match the voice to the man instantly.

Ooh, is it his Guoshi?

...Yep, it is!

“Guoshi” added, “Is that all the people inside the mountain? In any case, let’s bring them all to the Kiln first, I’ll think of a way to take care of them one by one then. The faster the better, they must get there within two days.”

...Hm. If someone is specifically plotting to lead Xie Lian and co. to the Kiln, that pretty blatantly implicates Jun Wu as the one behind it. Is that who he's talking to in this scene?

After a pause, that voice continued, “Call the other two over, let’s go to the Kiln together. In order to face His Highness the crown prince, not a single one of us should be missing. Right now, he’s still not yet awakened. If he should wake…it’s hard to imagine what he will do this time.”

Well, that's ominous as fuck.

Xie Lian started, “Assuming that man is my master, the three mountains: Old Age, Sickness, and Death, have Birth missing. He can communicate with the mountain spirits. He’s a person, but the one conversing with him is a mountain spirit. In their conversation they mentioned ‘the other two’, and it might be the other two mountain spirits. There are four of them. I was thinking, do the three mountain spirits all possess human consciousness? Or perhaps, they were transformed from people from the beginning, and Guoshi was the ‘Birth’ who never appeared!”

He was thinking more and more, his heart beating rapidly in his chest, and he continued.

“Mount Tong’lu used to be part of the Kingdom of Wuyong. Birth, Old Age, Sickness, Death, they’re a set of four; coincidentally, the Crown Prince of Wuyong also had four Guardian Deputies; and there were also four Guoshi who taught me when I grew up in Xianle! Do countries typically have that many Guoshi? I didn’t think anything of it in the past, but now I realize there’s normally not that many. Do you think this is a coincidence? Or is there a deeper meaning in all this?”

...

That's a hell of a series of connections you just made all at once, Xie Lian. Are you sure you didn't peek at the script?

“Guoshi was Guoshi before I was born. I only know that he was called Mei Nianqing, but needless to say, that must be a fake name.

Huh, now I'm curious. What's obviously fake about it?

Upon the golden plate were engraved patterns, and Xie Lian lightly dusted off the ashes on the surface to look at the details.

“The ominous star?³²”

32 [熒惑守心] “The Star of Glowing Befuddlement Resting in the Heart Constellation”, aka “The Ominous Star” in this translation: Ancient Chinese astronomers believed Mars was unstable in both position and light, thus they called it “the Star of Glowing Befuddlement”. It symbolized “Ruin”, “Pestilence”, “Death”, “Famine”, “War”, and other such bad omens. The Heart Constellation in Chinese astronomy sits in the East by Scorpio, and symbolizes the Crown Prince, the Emperor, and depending on where in the constellation, the Commoner. Thus, when Mars enters the Heart Constellation and moves within it, it is often interpreted as foretelling major changes in politics and dynasties, the fall of greatness.

Huh, that's really interesting! So if I understand correctly, the phrase 熒惑守心 itself is as innocuous as something like "Mars in Scorpio", it's just the cultural/astrological meaning that's ominous? That would explain why people would unironically print it on a protective charm.

Xie Lian stroked that line of words, his heart slowly sinking. Since, on the day he was born, it was also the sign of the ominous star!

Of course it was.

A giant bridge, shining with white light, was held up by the Crown Prince of Wuyong and his four guardians, and the people on the ground were swarming towards the bridge with smiles covering their faces.

This Crown Prince of Wuyong had built a bridge that connected the heavens and earth, with the intention of bringing his people to the heavenly realm!

Damn. I'm with Pei Ming here, that's extremely valid. Guaranteed not to end well, don't get me wrong, but valid all the same.

“San Lang, you didn’t hear?” Xie Lian said. “It’s just ‘so hot’, ‘it’s suffocating’, ‘can’t move’, ‘save me’, and such…”

However, before Hua Cheng said anything, it dawned on Xie Lian.

That wasn’t right!

What those corpse-eating rats repeated was the hatred of the Wuyong people, so naturally, it would be in the Wuyong tongue.

So, why could he understand the Wuyong tongue?!

...huuuuh. That's an interesting mystery.


I really like Hua Cheng's approach to working out what's going on with Xie Lian understanding the voices. "You knew exactly what they were saying but can't understand the same sentences in any other context, so somehow you have the knowledge of what their words at that time meant without any of the accompanying knowledge a person who was there would have had" is nice logic. (The immediate jump from there to knowing exactly what happened is a bit too "read the script" for me, but I can deal.)

Pei Ming’s voice came. “His Highness’ spiritual device is pretty useful. I’ll have to forge one for myself too, sometime.”

“If you knew how it was forged, you wouldn’t say so…” Xie Lian thought.

I'm both eagerly anticipating and dreading finding out.

“Lord Rain Master, you said this white-clad young man had his head wrapped in bandages. Was he about ten years of age, or maybe a bit older? Either way, a scrawny boy.”

Yet unexpectedly, the Rain Master replied, “No. That young man was about sixteen or seventeen, and his body type was close to that of Your Highness.”

Well, that's characteristically ominous of him. :P

Xie Lian’s smile faltered.

To inquire after the background of a Ghost King was quite rude. To raise an inappropriate example, in Xie Lian’s mind, this kind of personal secret was no different than asking for the size of a man’s manhood. He instantly changed the subject.

I'm sure Hua Cheng would be happy to answer the latter question if he knew you were curious, Xie Lian, so that choice of comparison isn't helping your case...

They finally set foot on the Kiln.

The reason why this mountain looked like it was dyed in the colour of blood was because the forests on this mountain were all red. They weren’t maples, but they were crimson like maples; the colour of blood. Xie Lian could also smell the stench of blood. It seemed the nutrients of the plants here consisted of plenty of resentment and human blood.

Oh, that's lovely. It's a vivid and pretty image, an understated but emotional callback, and a creatively creepy twist on both of the above at the same time!

However, after Hua Cheng swept a look, he said, “It appears someone’s come before us.”

Within the grand hall there was only one mural. The other two, while the walls themselves were fine, their surfaces were already slashed and destroyed.

Welp. So either there's a third party trying to stop Xie Lian from seeing these cutscenes, or their creator decided to branch out into environmental storytelling. (That, or this temple just coincidentally got a prior visit from someone who really hates walls.)

A thought flashed, and Xie Lian instantly hugged Hua Cheng back.

Of course, he wasn’t hugging him because he was afraid. If there really was someone hiding there and they hadn’t noticed, then that meant it was someone powerful. If that person should notice anything off, then they might be forced to make a move. Thus, if it was only Hua Cheng hugging him, being so intimate, then it would easily arouse suspicion. If both of them were embracing each other, then it might appear more normal.

Oh good, Xie Lian got an excuse to hug Hua Cheng despite his issues about it. I'm happy for him.

“ARE YOU DONE—?!”

“...”

Which good brother dared to yell like this on such a steep and perilous snowy mountain?!

Xie Lian looked towards the sound, feeling dumbfounded. He saw that, within that world covered with snow, there were two little black dots currently in a brawl. One of them held a longbow, shooting arrows nonstop. The other held a sabre, swinging like a tiger, striking down every single arrow.

:DDD

I'd been wondering where the heck these two were! We've had practically the whole supporting cast except for my favorite people!

But just as those words left his lips, that man looked up. On his face was a white and chilling mask, half of it smiling, the other half crying.

...Not a reaction to this scene in particular, but I literally only just now realized that Xie Lian's constant refrain of "didn't know whether to laugh or cry" parallels White No-Face's mask. God damn it.

Within every cavern there was a divine statue; some tall, some short, some boyish, some youthful, the robes were ever-changing, the poses all different: reposing, standing, sitting composedly, sword-wielding, dancing, all sorts. The level of skill was different too; some of the sculpting work was rough and unrefined, while others were so extraordinarily exquisite they could be called otherworldly. They probably weren’t all sculpted by the same person.

...ohhh, that explains it. It took me 'til those last two sentences to get it. Hua Cheng did spend literal years in here...

Xie Lian, on the other hand, was tumbling about. “Hahaha, hahaha, hahahaha…”

The other two looked at him dumbfoundedly.

Fu Yao said, “Did you hurt your brain on the way down? Have you lost your mind?”

Tears were rolling down from the corners of Xie Lian’s eyes, and he said with much difficulty, “N…No, hahaha…what’s with these cobwebs…what are they…so ticklish, I can’t…hahahaha…”

When he fell down, that silk bed very gently caught him, and the cobwebs that came to bind him were also very gentle and tame. While they were apprehending him, they brushed softly here and there, like they were tickling him. Xie Lian curled into a ball, tenaciously fighting back.

“No, don’t, wait! Stop! Stop! I give! STOP!!!”

God, I can only imagine Mu Qing and Feng Xin's feelings watching this. Equal parts "what the fuck, why does HE get the friendly treatment" and "that is at least three different kinks and I have consented to seeing none of them".

34 “Fu Yao” / 扶摇 literally means to “take off/take flight”; figuratively, it means “someone who climbs the ladder quickly/is ambitious

Ah, I was wondering about that! "Nan Feng" was such a hilariously lazy portmanteau I thought there must be some kind of dumb wordplay in "Fu Yao" too, but I didn't know what.

It took Xie Lian a long while, but he still couldn’t remember, and he tugged at his earlobe, looking lost. “Were my earrings at the time red coral pearls? Did I lose one?”

The corners of Mu Qing’s lips twitched, and he said furiously, “You two even wrongfully accused me of stealing that pearl, how can you not remember something like this?”

...Oh, Mu Qing. :(

Mu Qing humphed. “I don’t need to see the faces of these statues to know what’s sculpted is you.”

“How do you know?” Xie Lian asked.

"... your highness do you seriously not remember WEARING CLOTHES"

Mu Qing could not believe his ears. “...Did he actually cast something on you to confound your mind? I think even if he was to write ‘suspicious’ on his face you’d suddenly become illiterate.”

To be fair, most people would become illiterate in the face of Hua Cheng's handwriting.

Feng Xin exclaimed, “This isn’t spider silk! This is…!”

It dawned on Xie Lian too. It was butterfly silk!

Ahh, right, of course. Lovely. Now that I think of it, butterflies and moths really are underrepresented in the silk trap industry, aren't they? It's always spiders.

Xie Lian came to an abrupt stop and hugged his head. “No…I can feel it. It must be the original one! Not only did he not die, he’s become even stronger. Something’s allowed him to be reborn…otherwise, how could he transform into Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s appearances so easily? It’s very difficult to impersonate heavenly officials, it should be nearly impossible to create their fake skins!”

Hearing his tone was going awry, Hua Cheng also stopped and turned around to clutch his hand. “Your Highness! Don’t be scared. It might not be that he’s become stronger. There’s another possibility, and it’s that he is very familiar with Feng Xin and Mu Qing! That’s why he could make their fake skins. This must be someone you all…”

I'm not sure that's reassuring so much as just ominous in a different way.

After a pause, Xie Lian asked, his voice flat, “You...don’t want to know...how I feel about this?”

“...”

Hua Cheng turned his head slightly, like he wanted to look back but at the same time was afraid to look Xie Lian in the eyes. So, only the two streaks of blood on his cheek could be seen.

“Will Your Highness...not tell me?”

Even his voice was cracked.

Xie Lian said, “I’m sorry. Something like this has to be said clearly.”

Hua Cheng didn’t need to breathe, but when he heard this, he still sucked in a deep breath.

Although his face was tragically pale, he still smiled and replied courteously, “That’s true. That’s for the best.”

He was like a criminal on death row, waiting for his sentence, and he closed his eyes. Yet unexpectedly, his eyes weren’t closed for long before they abruptly blinked open.

A pair of arms had circled around him from behind, and hugged him with force all of a sudden.

Xie Lian had buried his face in his back, and also didn’t speak. Though nothing was said, it was enough.

I'm feeling strong emotions about how perfect this hug is and thus will refrain from further words.

Feng Xin questioned, “Your Highness, why are you still with him?”

Mu Qing then said, “Didn’t I say he’s lost his mind? Completely infatuated.”

I mean... neither of those statements is individually wrong, but I feel like you've got the order a bit backwards. Most people would agree that Xie Lian lost his mind centuries ago! He just also happens to have met the man of his dreams now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Feng Xin was dumbfounded. “But how can the White No-Face still exist in this world? Wasn’t he killed by the Emperor?”

Oh, it was the Emperor who killed him? Hm. Given that Jun Wu himself is suspicious, I wonder how much we know about the circumstances of that death?

After all, he was the world’s first Supreme Ghost King!

Huh. The world's first? Do the Ghost Hunger Games only date back to him, then? Interesting.

He turned around to look at Hua Cheng. “White No-Face. Why would he come to Mount Tong’lu?”

“Perhaps his powers haven’t recovered completely, and he wants to borrow the Kiln to be reborn into this world,” Hua Cheng replied.

“If that’s the case, that would mean the him now is not…a Supreme?” Xie Lian wondered.

...Mm. The way this is presented makes me feel like it's supposed to be an accurate deduction, but it doesn't feel right to me, given we already know that someone is trying to lead Xie Lian, specifically, to the Kiln. I'd assumed the most likely explanation for White No-Face was just that the circumstances of his death were dubious in the first place. (He's mysterious enough that it seems plausible everyone was mistaken in thinking him gone for good; and while I know too little about anyone's motives to guess if Jun Wu is working with him or something else, I at least know he's both shady and personally 'killed' White No-Face.) But I'm less sure what to think now.

“Wait! The other things aside. San Lang, your…are your ashes properly hidden away?”

“A long time ago,” Hua Cheng replied.

Xie Lian nodded, but after a pause, he still couldn’t help but double check. “Are you sure it’s properly hidden? That place is secure enough? It won’t be found?”

Hua Cheng answered leisurely, “To me, it’s the safest place in the world.”

—oh goddammit, it's the glass ring, isn't it? I should've realized. (Seriously though, Hua Cheng, I'm sure Xie Lian won't actually mind but you really shouldn't do that without his knowledge.)

White No-Face was certainly pulverized and dispersed by Jun Wu. However, he clung on and left a wisp of a broken soul drifting in the mortal realm. Who knows how long he drifted, who knows when it happened, but he found Lang Ying, who possessed the same ghost body. He must’ve used some way to seduce or deceive Lang Ying into making Lang Ying agree to hosting him on his own body, otherwise, by his remaining weak soul, he might not have had the ability to devour Lang Ying. He stayed glued on Lang Ying’s body and slowly recovered, and the end result was what was before Xie Lian and Hua Cheng now: ghost devouring ghost, White No-Face ate his host Lang Ying.

Huh. All right, then, I guess that's that.

Xie Lian’s face instantly paled by a shade, the veins on the back of his hands popped and he slashed with his sword, shouting, “SHUT UP!”

White No-Face sidestepped and avoided the strike, but CLANG! The attack sliced through the sword gripped in the hands of his own divine statue. Now he’d done it; the God-Pleasing Crown Prince statue wielded a broken sword, and the statue itself thus became a ruined artefact.

Ha, very cute use of gratuitous self-inflicted symbolism, White No-Face. You get an A for that one.

“Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean ‘gone’?”

“He doesn’t want to follow you anymore. He left. Dead. What do you think?” White No-Face said.

“...”

Xie Lian first felt his heart drop, then immediately after a violent rage rolled up, and he struck. “STOP YOUR NONSENSE!”

White No-Face once again caught that blade effortlessly. “Fine, fine. I was talking nonsense. Don’t worry, I’ve already sent him outside the Kiln, so even if he wants to rush over now it’d be too late.”

holy shit, this guy is so shamelessly obnoxious it's killing me

please, please tell me he's like this for all his screentime. please.

“So sad, so pitiful.”

Xie Lian choked out a mouthful of blood.

White No-Face said, “Every time I meet Your Highness, you always look like this. Makes one ache. Makes one excited.”

Well. You're making this extremely weird, White No-Face, but you have my attention.

White No-Face lifted his face to look at his eyes, and he said warmly, “Your Highness, I think you might have misunderstood. There certainly will be a Supreme who will emerge from this Kiln, but, it won’t be me. It will be you.”

Ooooooh, that's exciting.


My bingo card as of the end of Book 3:



Book 3, unsurprisingly, covered a lot of ground. We've finally hit "some people?? use torture??? to cope??????" and earned both "Background relationships that make the main one look functional" and "I want a whole novella about the supporting characters" multiple times over (I admit those two are often synonymous for me), and by now I think our leads have shown enough disregard for onlookers' eyes (and for Xie Lian's plausible deniability) to be convicted for PDA crimes. Lastly, while I've been pretty strict about what I count as "slightly alarming yandere tendencies"—Hua Cheng is obviously plenty obsessive and open about his disdain for most other people in Xie Lian's life, but he's consistently willing to cede to Xie Lian's own wishes on the matter—the aggressive disregard for Xie Lian's concern for his friends' well-being tips the scale for me.