#And lwj who isn't good with words and he doesn't know why they are behaving like that - and they don't share with him their problems -

[add1ctedt0you]

I am craving for a zcx' modern au, where, after years apart, jc, wwx and lwj encounter again. lwj and wwx are married and after some time, jc starts to hang out with lwj, but only with him (they are kind of exs... Or at least so lwj thinks!)

#Like the point of this au is that shit slowly becomes harder #In every universe wwx has to watch as a kid jc losing his dogs because of him. So that wwx internalizes that he brings nothing but trouble #and pain to jc. So yeah. He's married to lwj but jc wants lwj right? He's taking another thing from jc. And wwx doesn't want to hurt jc. #But he needs lwj too. And he doesn't know how to have both things. #And in every universe jc has to be told by wwx that everything that wwx did was out of duty! So that jc internalizes the concept that wwx #never truly loved him! Because jc is unlovable just like his mom! And his bad temper will force people to act out of duty rather than #genuine affection! and that wwx will lose things for him. out of duty obv #And in the middle we have lwj. Who is pampered in different ways by two men he loves! And then he can only watch as both slowly drift apart #from him. Their worst behaviors shining. #Look. lwj knows jc and wwx worst traits. And he can manage them! #But he has never handled jc and wwx together. While they are together. Because - and lwj never understood this before - jc and wwx bring #out of each other their best and worst qualities. In particular their worst self-destructive qualities #And lwj who isn't good with words and he doesn't know why they are behaving like that - and they don't share with him their problems - #doesn't know what to do #It's a mess. A beautiful fic in my head #Like. Both jc and wwx are carrying yzu and jfm' guilt on their shoulders #jc hates how his mother treated wwx (and it was because of him! Because she was scared for jc's future! And he knows it! ) #While wwx hates how jfm ignored jc (and it was because of him! Because jfm found wwx more likeable! And wwx knows it!) #zhanchengxian

[annalacerda17]

I don't understand how some ppl can read MDZS and come out of it thinking WWX was a war criminal, a villain or morally grey, somehow. I know a lot of ppl have talked about this before, but I still want to say a few words, so: the cultivation world was wrong and their opinion of WWX can't be trusted.

Like, MXTX isn't subtle about it. She structured her narrative in such a way as to make it clear what should be believed and what should be doubted from the very beginning. Even though the full truth only comes out later on in the story, MXTX will usually show us when the information isn't trustworthy by contradicting it in some small way right away.

The first thing we learn about WWX is his reputation, which is immediately put into question as soon as he wakes up in MXY's body. MXY thinks he's summoned a vicious ghost to take his revenge, but we're told right away that WWX was actually a very well behaved ghost who never harmed anyone and never sought revenge. Then we learn that if doesn't kill the Mo family, he'll die painfully and his soul will be destroyed - and WWX not only doesn't kill them, he saves the Lan juniors (when we know the Lan clan was one of the clans that contributed to his death) and aids them in their attempts to save the Mo family.

At this point, we readers should know that the rumors about WWX shouldn't be blindly believed. Even if we haven't seen exactly what happened in the past yet, we should know it couldn't be exactly how cultivation world said it. The more time we spend with WWX in the present, the more we should doubt everything we've heard about him from the rest of the cultivation world. I'd also like to point out that WWX is never prortayed as regretful and torn up by guilt. This is not a redemption story, as WWX was in the right from the beginning.

The flashbacks only further cements this, as each one deconstructs some of the rumors about WWX's first life.

The same is true for other characters. Like, we're told LWJ was WWX's enemy, but WWX himself says it wasn't so bad immediately after, and one of the first things he does on page is defend WWX from JC after he saw WWX controlling Wen Ning with a flute. So, naturally, we should doubt the veracity of such a rumor.

It's the opposite with JC, for example. The first thing we learn about him is that he had a role in WWX's death, and his first appearance confirms his intention to see WWX dead again even after he already died once.

In the flashbacks, that knowledge is supposed to color how we view his character. His behavior is toxic even as early as the first flashback, and we're supposed to treat it with due gravity, as we know it'll eventually get worse to the point of killing WWX and hunting down people he suspects might be him (and killing them even if they are proven to not be WWX). And MXTX is even more blunt when it comes to YZY. She outright says that what YZY says makes no sense but everyone just has to suffer her temper. Why does any reader still believe this woman's words about WWX?!

With LWJ as well. We know from his present interactions with WWX that he couldn't have disliked him as much as his past actions indicate if we take them at face value. For example, LWJ's jealous moments in the past could only be interpreted as such with the knowledge we have from the present storyline.

So, this isn't a redemption story or a story about grey morality. WWX was always good and righteous, and the narrative slowly disproves all the rumors about him. We, as readers, aren't supposed to come out of it believing in the mob. MXTX does an excellent job showing us that they have zero critical thinking ability and are all too quick to shove responsibility for anything on anyone but themselves.

#lan wangji #wei wuxian #mdzs #canon jiang cheng #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mo dao zu shi #reading comprehension