phantasmoeru

[phantasmoeru]

Well, I did say this was a multi-fandom blog... Alright, let's do this.

The Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House

(and the symbolism therein, as recorded in the donghua)

I was snooping through the establishing shots of the Qing Jing Peak Lord's Bamboo House, and had to laugh as I always do at all the gay symbolism that managed to sneak its way inside. But then I looked a little closer, and was floored by just how much passive storytelling was packed into background assets. I talked about it at length over discord, and at the urging of others decided to make a shareable post on social media as well.

First, the shots which first piqued my interest in this topic years ago:

Shen Yuan transmigrates into the stallion-genre webnovel entitled 狂傲仙魔途 (translated as Proud Immortal Demon Way). The author's and his own usernames are dick jokes.

Notice the chrysanthemum vase, the cock vase, and the stallion statuette.

The stallion and cock are obvious nods to these jokes on their own, but for the uninitiated, the chrysanthemum is a symbol of gay sex between men, as the asshole itself is often euphemistically referred to as a chrysanthemum. This should have been Shen Yuan's first clue that not all is as it seems here! These are the personal quarters of Shen Jiu — the original Shen Qingqiu!

But let's move to the main room you first walk into upon entering the bamboo house.

There it is: the writing on the wall.

As the Peak Lord of strategy and the scholarly arts, Shen Qingqiu would naturally have calligraphy and paintings hanging everywhere! So let's break it down.

On the top we have 道㳒自然 ("Dao Follows Nature"), which comes from a Dao teaching by Laozi (founder of Daoism) meaning that life, death, the entire universe, the heavens and earth and everything outside and inbetween, all follow a set of laws referred to as the nature of things. Although unrelated to the Buddhist couplet below, it's certainly relevant!

Originally hanging in right-to-left order, I've arranged them to read left to right here to make things easier to keep track of. The calligraphy reads 西方竹葉千年翠；南海蓮九品香 and is a couplet commonly found in Guanyin temples. My classical chinese is not as strong as I'd like, but this translates roughly to "The bamboo leaves in Paradise are green for a thousand years / The fragrance of lotus flowers in the South China Sea is as thick as 9 sticks of incense."

The character 西 for West is used to denote the destination of enlightenment/purity: the buddhist Paradise (think Journey to the West). The South China Sea is where Guanyin was born. Upon the Lotus flowers is where Guanyin is commonly depicted as sitting. The "9 sticks of incense" though literal can also refer to the 9 tiers/grades of reincarnation lotuses with the 9th tier being the lowest, meant for those who in life committed the most evil of crimes — the 4 parajikas — and who can only manage a sincere Amitabha recitation 10 times and no more than this.

To put this in context with Shen Jiu (the same jiu as in 9/九), the 4 parajikas committed by the 9th Tier Lotuses Reborn (officially entitled the Lowest of the Low) are:

Sexual Intercourse

Stealing

Murder

Claiming attainments of stages of pure mental concentration that have not been achieved (in other words, rushing or lying about your cultivation/enlightenment, or maybe even becoming a Peak Lord without having formed a golden core beforehand).

From what we know in the context of the novel, Shen Jiu is innocent of at least the first of this parajikas, but the overall view of Shen Jiu in the eyes of others in the story is that he is guilty of them all. This calligraphy can be seen as a condemnation or a reminder for the character Shen Jiu, who even as the Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu is widely thought of as a scum villain and the lowest of the low.

Phew! That's a lot to unpack.

But if you turn your gaze to the original screenshot, you'll see to the right that there's a vase painted with a blue bird. This vase appears in several rooms of the bamboo house, and seems to be the image of a qingniao (青鸟; lit: Qing bird, wherein 青 can mean blue/green/clear-but-brackish black).

These qing-coloured birds are messengers and foragers of the Goddess-Mother of Paradise (Xiwang-mu 西王母, the "west/paradise" character from before, lit West-King(unisex)-Mother). They're a highly intelligent species who are exceptional in song (a good representative for Qing Jing's scholarly arts and pursuit of qin!), and the older ones might learn to speak human tongue. As a subspecies of luanniao (鸾鸟 lit: luan bird), they're thought to be related to The Phoenix and indeed thought to be the lifetime/samsara just before being reborn as a Phoenix.

If given to a "master" they don't like, the qingniao may refuse to pass messages or sing until they're set free, but if they do get along with you then they're loyal to the end.

As a point of interest, the Qing generation of Peak Lords uses the character 清, which is 青 ("colour of nature; brackish black, blue, green; young) + the radical for "water," resulting in the meaning of clear (as in water or heart; see-through); distinct; quiet (as in still); just and honest; pure; to settle or clear up; to clean up, expunge, or purge.

And as a bit of trivia, Liu Qingge's sword Cheng Luan 乘鸾 means "to ride the luan, take flight on the back of a luan." (Relevant, because the qingniao is considered a subspecies of luanniao).

With the Lords of both Qing Jing and Bai Zhan referencing this bird, I really wonder about its significance! It's spawning plenty of theories and headcanons for me.

Heading back outside for a moment, you'll find that in the Quiet Pool (清静小池 qingjing xiaochi (yes, the same Qing Jing the peak is named for)), there are lotuses, and on land there are flower shrubs which are either wide-petaled chrysanthemums (gay bottom jokes ahoy), or a type of peony, the king of flowers demarcating wealth and prosperity. Either way, a blossom fitting of our Qing Jing Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu!

My one regret is that I cannot get a clear shot of the fan hanging on the wall to try and translate the calligraphy on it. If anyone can snag one, please tag me! I also couldn't translate the paintings with poems hanging in Shen Qingqiu's bedroom (it's just too small and blurry for my bad eyes to make out). If I make another post attempting these things, I'll append them to this initial post in an edit afterwards.

#svsss #LET’S GO #ref

[phantasmoeru]

I just wanted to say this is available in print now here !!! https://www.inprnt.com/collections/hokaguteatime/svsss-moshang/

GRAB YOUR MOSHANG QUICK <3

The Prince and the Traitor (PIDW ! Moshang)

[phantasmoeru]

I just wanted to say this is available in print now here !!! https://www.inprnt.com/collections/hokaguteatime/svsss-moshang/

GRAB YOUR MOSHANG QUICK <3

Gladly

[phantasmoeru]

I just wanted to say this is available in print now here !!! https://www.inprnt.com/collections/hokaguteatime/svsss-moshang/

GRAB YOUR MOSHANG QUICK <3

Dumb moshang hours

[phantasmoeru]

I just wanted to say this is available in print now here !!! https://www.inprnt.com/collections/hokaguteatime/svsss-moshang/

GRAB YOUR MOSHANG QUICK <3

"When he saw Mobei-Jun gently kissing his hand, Shang Qinghua, somehow, felt like crying at the unexpected tenderness."

[phantasmoeru]

TFW your brother comes to drag you back into the depths but you got stuck in a soda ring again 

(late mermay contribution whoops)

[phantasmoeru]

Breath! 🥺🥺💕

Breath: share a snippet that makes you laugh.

You know, for all my proclivity for crack, I couldn't actually find anything funny in my currently active MXTX WIPS that I haven't already shared. So I'm afraid that you're getting a snippet from a Trigun fic sisterwife, and one that isn't even that funny 😔

“See?” said Nicholas to the bartender, shoving Eriks again and ignoring his yelp when that almost resulted in him spilling his drink. “For people like him, things can be that simple!”

“Well, we can’t all be people like him, can we?” said the man, glaring at Eriks who was now cradling his drink and whispering words of comfort to it. “Some of us have families, businesses, responsibilities.”

Nicholas shrugged. “Well, next time be smarter and get none of those.”

The bartender turned his glare to him. “What kind of priest are you?”

He winked. “The kind that survives.”

I was laughing so hard at the image of Eriks hugging his drink close like it was his baby and whispering, "Shh you're okay, you're okay. I'll protect you from the big scary man." 🤣

Thanks for the ask sisterwife! 💕💕💕

#ERIKS BBY HAHAHAHAHAHA

[phantasmoeru]

Don Juan stream!

Hi everyone! By request, I will be streaming the Takarazuka performance of Don Juan on Tuesday December 13, with English subtitles, at 8:00 pm Japan time! If you want to participate in this stream, please send me a message. Make sure to check what time the stream will take please in your own timezone. This can easily be done through a Time Zone Converter. So in short: Show?   Don Juan When?   Tuesday December 13 What time?   8:00 pm Japan time Where?   Send me a PM Don’t be shy and join us!

[phantasmoeru]

Caught.

#mxtx #svsss #moshang #mobei jun #sqh #art by me

[phantasmoeru]

The Prince and the Traitor (PIDW ! Moshang)

[phantasmoeru]

The Prince and the Traitor (PIDW ! Moshang)

#mxtx #moshang #svsss #mobei jun #sqh #art by me #pidw! moshang

[phantasmoeru]

Gladly

#mxtx #svsss #moshang #mobei jun #sqh #art by me #mbj

[phantasmoeru]

Happy GumroadDay !

With 5$ you can not only have my 11-page zine "Swim", but also a cute erotic coloring page that is included in it ! ( only 20 remaining so be fast 🌸🌸🌸)

https://gum.co/IlTmf

#zine #original art #gumroad day #wlw #artists on tumblr #art by me

[phantasmoeru]

Knives and roses.

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Knives and roses.

#art #original art #illustration #wlw #digital art #women eater comic #art by me

[phantasmoeru]

TLJ be like "HMmmMm Smelling some vinegar outta here"

Based on @grimfiendfyre 's post on TLJ and Moshang

#moshang #svsss #mxtx #mobei jun #sqh #tlj #art by me #doodle #i saw this post and #galaxy brain

[phantasmoeru]

Their kind of foreplay😂 (he likes it)

#mxtx #svsss #bingliushen #luo binghe #sqq #lqg #lbh #art by me