Why did I use square format? It was horrible to work with. But it’ll make putting it on insta easier, I guess. Most time was spent on that fourth page making Mu Qing look as much like the emoji as possible.
Feng Xin and Mu Qing have been friends for a long time before the events of the novel.
AND
Theywere working together through out a large portion of it.
What isn’t a theory and is fact:
Feng Xin and Mu Qing have been going on adventures together for a long time and are very close, whether they call that friendship or not.
Proof:
—–
“It’s been a long time since the three of us did something like this, huh!”
“Do you mean fighting side by side, or running for our lives?” Mu Qing questioned.
“Both!” Xie Lian said.
“We clearly do this all the time!” Feng Xin exclaimed.
“Really?” Xie Lian wondered.
But, when some things come out into the open, the mindset would be completely different. Xie Lian laughed for a moment,
——-
I think a lot of us misunderstood this exchange to mean “We, the three of us, have been doing this a lot lately.” But that’s not what it means. It means “We, Mu Qing and I, obviously do this all the time.”
That’s the only interpretation that makes Xie Lian’s next line make sense.
The fact that they go on adventures together all the time makes complete sense in retrospect. They know each other. As mortals they only spent something like 5 years together. Is that really enough for those two to speak to each other with their eyes, to seamlessly work together, to speak in unison? They don’t actually do that with Xie Lian, do they? Only each other.
So, why have they been so aggressive the whole book? The book is saying It’s because of Xie Lian.
Mu Qing thought Xie Lian hated him all these years (something fed by a certain other asshole).
—
“He told me that if I was suspicious, then even if you knew I didn’t do it, you would still go with the flow and not save me. Because you hate me, you wouldn’t believe in me.”
“He?” Xie Lian understood who this “he” was.
Mu Qing continued, “Even though I didn’t agree to help him, but everything he’s said, I’ve thought of it too. I’ve always thought deep down, you hated me, you despised me, so I, I’ve always…anyway, you don’t actually think that. I’m glad.”
———-
Mu Qing’s unfinished line is probably: “I’ve always tried to hate you back”, right? And he couldn’t. He tried but instead spent the book frantically protecting him, advising him, warning him.
Feng Xin eagerly wants to reunite with Xie Lian. So imagine when you’re like 20, you have a falling out a person you feel very complicated about. You never got along with that other guy so whatever.
But then Other Guy and you both end up in heaven together. And you hang out for 800 years. You become friends. Even if you don’t call it that, you are fucking CLOSE. Definitely this is the person you are closest to in the world. You go on fucking adventures all the time.
Imagine your associate of over 800 years (again, 800 > any amount of time Xie Lian spent with either of them) is eager to see the guy who hates you. But, and extra fucked up, you want to show Xie Lian how cool and nice you are now because you don’t hate him, you want him to forgive you and like you. (You bring him medicine, feel very smug when Feng Xin hasn’t even shown u- oh there he is.)
And then…Xie Lian and Feng Xin seem like they don’t, actually, like you. And Feng Xin forgives EVERYTHING Xie Lian does! You are fighting constantly.
Oh and some weird fucked up shit with a baby ghost or something. Absolute nightmare. You look terrible and Feng Xin seems to be believing every shitty thing about you.
This relationship is now in a crisis of epic proportions and the actual world is falling apart.
But from the outside, this looks like what Xie Lian remembers, which he repeats several times. Xie Lian assumed they were exactly the same as when he last saw them, and yes their followers fight. But do we see them fight about anything that isn’t related to the period when they were with Xie Lian? Do they mention any thing in the past 800 years that they dispute over? No. Nothing. Xie Lian is wrong about things about 50000 times a chapter. He has to constantly revise what he’s been seeing and this is one of the final massive revisions.
Doesn’t it make more sense that Fu Yao and Nan Feng appearing is a coordinated effort? They don’t give the other away, they arrive as one, they cover for each other. They work together to bully Xie Lian into a fucking dress, for fuck’s sake. How is that possible if they’re not friends, whether they call it that or not?
This also explains why the two don’t have a reconciliation scene the way that Xie Lian and Mu Qing do. They don’t need one. They were fine except for this clusterfuck of old wounds that, like most dudes, they hadn’t dealt with.
Anyway. Some stuff to think about it. Frankly, it made me a feel a lot better to know they weren’t alone all those years and at least had one another. So while you’re reading the new english translation, try to think about them through this lens of “these two have been together for 800 years and are working together”.
Per my last post, migrating onto this site with a backlog of material to share!
CANON VERSE
Further Precautions (T, 4.6k) Mu Qing is attacked by a virgin-detecting ghost and has to find a way to confuse it.
Need(le) (M, 2.4k) Xianle OT3. Mu Qing accidentally injures Feng Xin, but offers to stitch the wound.
Trespass (T, 2.4k) Feng Xin visits a Xuan Zhen temple. Mu Qing doesn’t try very hard to throw him out.
I Want To Ki** You (E, 25.2k, 5 chapters + potentially ongoing) Mu Qing discovers that Feng Xin is trying to kill him by destroying his cultivation.
Water falls, stones emerge (T, 3.3k) A small argument in a temple leads Mu Qing to confess some of his fears.
No smoke without fire (M, 8.1k) Xuan Zhen deputy OC x Nan Yang deputy OC; newly appointed junior official Yu Chen learns some things about his General.
Blooming Day (T, 5.1k) Hanahaki disease adapted to TGCF setting; Xie Lian ascends, and Feng Xin starts coughing up plum blossoms.
Learning Curve (E, 3.6k) Feng Xin gives Mu Qing an archery lesson.
Oasis (M, 3.0k) The desert is cold at night, so Nan Feng and Fu Yao huddle for warmth.
Ignoble Return (E, 4.6k) Nan Feng seeks out Fu Yao after they return from Banyue Pass. Spoiler free for manhua and donghua viewers.
AU
Bet On It (M, 24.4k, 6 chapters) Feng Xin and Mu Qing share a hotel room during a weekend trip to Las Vegas.
Money Maker (M, 24.6k, 6 chapters) Sequel to Bet On It; Hua Cheng recruits Feng Xin and Mu Qing to help him rob Jun Wu’s casino.
Xianle Immortals (T, 4.0k) Figure skater!Mu Qing and hockey player!Feng Xin.
Meow Mixer (T, 2.4k) Mu Qing wears cat ears at a party. Everyone is drunk.
Large, Extra Meat (E, 5.4k) Mu Qing orders a pizza from his rival delivery boy, but realizes he doesn’t have any money to pay for it.
