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foxghost · 1 year

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Joyful Reunion

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang Masterpost | Characters, Maps & Other Reference Index

Watchtowers of the Seven Stars

6. Dawn Wakes the Son Of Heaven’s Court

War banners stream in the cold arctic winds.

The Mongolian army is arrayed across from them; they’d gathered hastily beneath Dongshan hoping to stage an ambush only to run up against the one rare military talent of Southern Chen, the war god Li Jianhong — who has yet to face an opponent worthy of him.

Covered from head to toe in a set of black iron Qilin armour and wielding the Zhenshanhe, towering before this massive army, Li Jianhong seems like an unshakable giant.

The Mongolians file into ranks, stepping to either side, and Batu walks out from between them. He sneers, “You’re here just in time! Li Jianhong, first I’ll defeat your army, then I’ll have that duel to the death with your son!”

Li Jianhong smiles. “As long as I’m still alive, you won’t get a chance to challenge my son to a duel. Borjigin, can you really say you’re not the least bit scared?”

Batu stares at Li Jianhong standing across from him, and fear has already overtaken his whole innermost being. If the one who’d shown up today had been Duan Ling, had been anyone from Southern Chen, even if it was Lang Junxia he wouldn’t feel as tense as he does now.

But it had to be him — the memory of this man’s formidable strength the night they escaped from Shangjing is still fresh on his mind. Before his father died, Jochi had told Batu that he mustn’t invade Chen as long as Li Jianhong is still alive.

Even though the time isn’t ripe, Batu knows that this is the only chance he’s going to get.

However, any thought that he may get lucky is withering and dissolving before the sight of this formidable man the way snowflakes fall and melt in front of his face. But he has no other choice but to fight this battle.

Batu raises his sabre. Behind him, the warhorns blare.

“In consideration of your friendship with my son, should you chance to fall into my hands, I’ll remember not to cut you to pieces. All units —”

From the Chen army, the sound of warhorns is loud enough to shake the heavens.

“— Charge!” Li Jianhong shouts and follows these words by pointing the Zhenshanhe before him. The Chen side lets out a great roar as they charge at the Mongolian troops!

By the time Duan Ling comes out of the canyon and makes it onto the battlefield, the two sides are already enmeshed in the largest battle to happen between these two empires in the past ten years. Meanwhile, the Goryeon army is reorganising their troops, force-marching around the canyon so they can attack the Southern Chen army.

If Li Jianhong can’t defeat the Mongolians before the Goryeons get here, then he’ll be caught in the centre of a pincer attack; if Batu flees before the reinforcements arrive, then what awaits the Goryeon army would be nothing less than total annihilation.

“Dad —!” Duan Ling shouts.

Both sides have committed almost a hundred thousand men to this battle, and the battlefield resembles a giant, snow-covered meat grinder, swallowing up all of the troops. As soon as Li Jianhong comes into contact with the enemy, he gains an overwhelming upper hand, and yet the Mongolians are stubbornly resisting to the end, trying to hold out until the Goryeon army arrives so they can turn this defeat into victory.

From a distance, Duan Ling whistles, and Li Jianhong realises that his son has made it. Then, Duan Ling begins to merge his small number of elite troops into the rear formations of their army and starts attacking the Mongols. Now the Mongolians can resist no longer, and their ranks start to disintegrate.

Another whistle rings out. Lang Junxia rushes over on horseback, his long sword swinging out in a great arc, cutting down any soldiers blocking his way.

“Where’s my dad?!” Duan Ling yells.

“He’s holding off the enemy’s main force!” Lang Junxia shouts, “Once we rendezvous with them, protect the crown prince! Let’s charge out of this area!”

After Chang Liujun and Zheng Yan meet with Lang Junxia, their side’s strength increases exponentially. With an inadvertent glance, Duan Ling spots Batu’s banner. He shouts, “Northward!”

All three assassins draw their swords and escort Duan Ling as he rushes towards the enemy commander’s formation. Under Li Jianhong’s repeated assault, Batu’s main force has already been dispersed, separated from their leader.

Batu keeps howling “steady”, and he’s trying to get his troops back into some semblance of order, but that’s when an arrow slices through the snow above him, brushing by his cheek to bury itself into the banner pole.

Batu turns. Out of an entire army, he finds Duan Ling in an instant.

Separated by eight years of fluttering snow, like a dream that one can never wake up from —

— Duan Ling puts down his bow and says something to him, smiling, but they’re words he’s destined never to hear.

The formation around the commander breaks down suddenly as poisoned darts fly in every direction; Wu Du gets on horseback, and holding the Lieguangjian behind him, he spurs his horse towards Duan Ling with a smile. As they’re about to pass each other by, Wu Du flips over, leaping onto the back of Duan Ling’s horse.

“Come on!” Wu Du shouts.

Duan Ling wraps his arms tightly around Wu Du. Wu Du leads the assassins into the Mongols’ command formation as if stabbing through the heart of the Mongolian army. He doesn’t stay around to fight though; as soon as he makes contact he’s gone.

“You haven’t caught Batu yet!” Duan Ling yells.

“Don’t worry about him!” Wu Du shouts, “Raise the banner —!”

Behind him, Lang Junxia unfurls the crown prince’s banner. The fabric with a giant “Li” written on its golden silk ripples in the wind, and its dragon flies threateningly above the army. More and more soldiers are gathering by his banner, like tributaries forming a powerful stream. They snake through the terrain, howling as they tear through the Mongolian army, charging to join the rear of the Chen battle formation.

The defeated Mongolians flee into the mountainous wilderness. Right afterwards, the Goryeon army comes out of the canyon.

“Heed my command!” Duan Ling shouts, “Charge —!”

Under Duan Ling’s command, the rear lines of the Southern Chen army become its vanguard, turning to charge at the Goryeon troops.

Clad in steel armour and wielding the Lieguangjian, Wu Du descends like a god with Duan Ling in tow as he rushes towards the Goryeon army’s frontline.

Smiling, Li Jianhong shakes his head in exasperation, and holding the Zhenshanhe in one hand, he steers his horse around and stares at the great mass of his troops.

This same year, the alliance between Goryeo and Yuan is dissolved. The sixteen cities beneath Xianbei Mountains return to Chen.

Defeated, Borjigin Batu escapes and retreats to the lands north of the Great Wall.

Meanwhile, Li Jianhong takes his army north to fight Ögedei. Among his retinue are Wu Du, Lang Junxia, and Chang Liujun. He orders Zheng Yan to escort Duan Ling to Huaiyin, there to await the Son of Heaven’s triumphant return.

This translation is by foxghost, on tumblr and kofi. I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, it was reposted without permission. Do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

#相見歡 #fei tian ye xiang #joyful reunion #xiang jian huan #fox translates things

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violetdisasterzone · 1 year

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STRIKE THE ZITHER BY JOAN HE

FULL REVIEW - CONTAINS SPOILERS - CROSS POSTED ON GOODREADS RATING: 1/5 I had heard about this book well before release and was really looking forward to reading it. I don't like leaving such negative reviews, and I never have before, but for this I'm making an exception. To say I'm disappointed would be the understatement of the century. The writing was not good, the plot was impossible to follow, the characterizations were horrible - at times I found myself genuinely questioning how on this was published, much less how so many people were finding this good.

The premise itself was great -- a gender-bent retelling of Chinese history, a brilliant strategist caught in a tough spot, surrounded by enemies and forced decide what is worth sacrificing in order to survive -- what's not to like? Yet this potential was ruined practically from the beginning. We immediately jump straight into the action, and while normally that's how I like my stories to start, in this case it made the plot near-incomprehensible unless you were already familiar with the actual historical events the book is based on. This immediate jump to the plot also meant we were given no time to get to know the characters. Zephyr herself certainly fills the arrogant, witty strategist archetype. She fills it so well that she is nothing else - we know her only as full of herself, calling everyone 'peasants' every other line, and over-confident to the point that we are supposed to go along with anything she does, no matter the consequences, because it's all part of her master plan. We were barely introduced to the other generals or to Xin Ren, the lordess we are supposed to believe is deserving of Zephyr's fierce loyalty, before we leave them behind entirely. Why are we fighting this war at all? Why should we care about it? What is the point of any of this? All of these, of course, remain unanswered.

Here's a summarized list of illogical plot points that follow: -- Miasma's quick acceptance of Zephyr's sudden and dramatic change in loyalties, to the point that she trusts her word over the word of ALL of her own trusted advisors -- Zephyr has a sister and a tragic backstory now! -- Cicada being convinced to hear Zephyr out from only her saying "I never betrayed my lordess" -- The whole relationship with Crow felt like an imitation speedrun of every YA enemies to lovers trope. I did not feel anything between them at any point, and Zephyr's own contradictory thoughts and actions regarding him did not help to improve her characterization in the slightest. The way she spoke of Ren was 10x more romantic and emotional than any interaction we had with Crow.

And then, the big plot twist: Zephyr was never Qilin at all, and is in fact a god who was sentenced to being human for farting over the edge of the sky and causing a famine. Are you serious? Aside from being utterly ridiculous, this plot twist came out of nowhere, and entirely shifts the worldview we're supposed to have. The worldbuilding in this was already a bit confusing - it's a normal world, except they have qì, the extent/powers of which are never explained. But now Zephyr - oh by the way, she has 2 "real" sisters now, 1 of which is present for about 5 pages yet is spoken about as if she's a fully established character the one other time she'll be mentioned - is a god, and the Masked Mother is now the true antagonist, though her motivations aside from not liking Zephyr or her involvement in the human realm remain unexplained. The extent of the Masked Mother's intentions seem to be dragging Zephyr back to her domain and likely punishing her, which would potentially cause Xin Ren to loose the war - and, so what, exactly? Sure, Miasma is a crazy overlord and we don't want her in power, but I wouldn't exactly be emotionally devasted if Xin Ren's army didn't win, because we were given no reason to be.

For the rest of the book after the body swap, Zephyr lives as Lotus - a plot point which I absolutely hated. Did she really think hiding it from Ren was doing her a service? Did she really think it was completely okay for her to "become Lotus"? I don't think she once expressed actual regret for stealing her body, even after she was exposed to Tourmaline and Cloud. This entire part of the book was just a mess. New plot points were constantly thrown at us, and we were surrounded by characters that were portrayed as though we already knew them well, when in reality they had had maybe a page or two of presence 200 pages earlier. The last 30% of the book dragged on; every scene seemed either totally meaningless or so packed with action that I didn't even know how we got there. Many times throughout the book I found myself flipping back a page or a scene, wondering where I had missed the transition to the new content or the context for what was going on - but no, it just hadn't been written.

Ren's betrothal to her cousin was another odd detail that was completely irrelevant, the banquet and subsequent coup could have been carried out exactly as planned without that, and her ignorance about the whole affair did not increase my confidence in her as lordess. Not that that should have been necessary, considering we had been fighting (and watched Zephyr literally gave up godhood) for her for the last 300 pages.

And at the very end, we learn that Cicada wasn't actually on our side and has a whole plan of her own, which involves working with and, assumedly, betraying Miasma.

Here's some other more arbitrary complaints I have: -- What's with the names? Half our characters have Chinese names, and half of them go by English names? Reading "November" and "Dewdrop" in the middle of talking about Chinese war tactics really pulls you out of the setting. Maybe there's context I'm missing but where did these names come from? Why aren't we just calling them by their Chinese names? -- The fluctuation in writing style gave me whiplash. Half the time we were meant to take it fully seriously, and half the time it read like young YA in its immaturity. I knew this was YA when I picked it up, and there is nothing wrong with that tone. But the back and forth between tones just added to the disorientation. -- Plot twists aren't supposed to confuse the reader. Shock, yes, but there's a big difference between, ‘Oh my god, I totally didn't see that coming' and 'What is going on? Where did that come from?' There were so many twists in this, right up to the end, but none of them felt like they were actually pushing the plot forward, just twisting it up - literally. I think this book would have been greatly improved if it was longer and written as an adult novel. Given space to explore and define the worldbuilding, time to get to know our characters and what makes them them, and time for us to understand what is worth fighting for and why in this world, I really think this novel had a chance to live up to what I thought it would be. A more mature novel would allow the deeper themes to be explored, and the lack of more ridiculous plot lines and painful-to-watch choices made by our teenage protagonist would make both immersion into and affection for the world much more within reach. I don't know if I'll read the sequel to this - I'm honestly surprised I got through this one. I was just so excited to see Chinese historical fantasy represented in a Western YA novel that I couldn't give up. Overall, I'm just really disappointed.

#strike the zither #joan he #bookblr #book review #ya novels #ya fiction #ya fantasy #historical fiction #historical fantasy

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ktw-shu · 2 years

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A belated review of Marvel's Shang-Chi

First of all, it is a pretty good movie. Lots of fun action, great references to Chinese culture, and all the usual MCU tie-ins. But I found that I had expected... more. Warning - minor spoilers.

The village of Ta-Lo: The CGI team clearly did their research here, and there was a good deal of legitimate Chinese mythology at play in the local fauna. However, the traditional wuxia mysticism felt like it was being shoehorned into a setting reminiscent of Black Panther's technologically advanced Wakanda, with a result that ended up in a sort of no-man's-land rife with uncertainty and loose ends. Is Ta-Lo's only deterrence for discovery the shifting bamboo forest that "eats" trespassers? Have there been no attempts over thousands of years to build additional defenses around the Dark Gate? Why did their ancient civilization have skyscrapers but rely on archers as their main force? I loved seeing qilin and fenghuang on the big screen, but the literary bridge connecting this world to that of the Avengers was built half-heartedly at best.

The wushu: It's always great to see Michelle Yeoh and Tony Leung doing their thing, and there were a decent number of shots where the actors themselves did the action, instead of cutting to one of their top-tier stunt doubles - not something you see every day. But I found myself perhaps unreasonably disappointed by the martial arts on screen. I get that the gist of it was a struggle between Ying Li's taijiquan (which actually felt more like baguazhang) and Wenwu's bajiquan (with a splash of trickster flair); but more often than not, these styles were kind of washed out by typical marvel-style snappy fight sequences. It was good fighting! Just not quite as special as I had thought it would be. The weapons were also pretty cool - tiger hook swords and rope dart are traditional wushu apparatus - but they didn't really have anything to do with either Ying Li or Wenwu's respective fighting styles.

The archery: This was actually an extremely gratifying inclusion that I didn't expect to see. Most modern archers use what's known as a Mediterranean draw, in which the string is pulled back with three fingers and anchored somewhere along the jawline. Katy and the other archers of Ta-Lo are using a proper Mongolian draw, pulling the string with a thumb all the way back to the ear. My only nitpick is that in the mural depicting the Dweller-in-Darkness's original defeat, Ta-Lo's archers are using some kind of two-finger draw floating way past the back of the head that I've never seen before. That just felt a little bit sloppy for a piece of artwork that otherwise would have been a neat continuity nod.

The Chinese: The amount of Mandarin in the film was a pleasant surprise, and Katy's struggle to understand was deeply relatable. There were quite a few mistranslations, but I can more or less accept this as prioritizing the spirit of certain phrases over their literal meaning. I actually take more issue with Marvel's persistently using the outdated Wade-Giles system of romanization, rather than the almost ubiquitously accepted Hanyu Pinyin (e.g. Shàng Qì).

The sexism: Not that my background as a cishet male gives me any particular insight on this subject, but I found it ironic that Xialing, whose somewhat lackluster character development revolves around her father's disregard, is as a character more or less disregarded by Marvel in much the same way. She's presented as an exceptionally gifted fighter able to manipulate a complex weapon perfectly after seeing it handled from afar, as well as a shrewd businesswoman able to manipulate a complex underground organization after coming in as a complete stranger. She's all strength with no weakness; the façade of a perfect woman with no depth to support her. There doesn't seem to be anything Shang-Chi can do that Xialing couldn't do better, so the focus on the male sibling (even if he is the titular character) ends up feeling contrived. Their mother doesn't fare much better, introduced as a stalwart warrior able to fend off a legendary thousand-year-old warlord... only to die off-screen at the hands of small-time gangsters. Ying Li deserved better.

This is not at all meant as a knock on Shang-Chi. It's a solid movie, a credit to its actors, and definitely a step in the right direction for Asian representation in cinema. I just think it's missing that extra mile that would have made it truly incredible.

#movie review #marvel cinematic universe #shang chi #posting late because i submitted this to subtle asian traits a few days after opening weekend and it just disappeared

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character-fan19 · 1 year

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MLB Season 4 Character Analysis: "Qilin"

Introduction

Hey everyone, I'm back once again with a new season 4 character analysis and this time it's the racism episode, "Qilin". If you missed my previous post, you can find it here. If this is your first character analysis post then this is a series in which I analyze each of our favourite MLB characters' emotions and motivations in every individual episode of season 4 in order to give an overall picture of their entire journey throughout the season.

This episode was a pretty meh episode for me because I really wasn't invested in the story since I'm not really that into socio-political type of themes but it was really nice to see some focus on Sabine and what her daily life is like and how much of great mother she is. We also get to see Marinette's appreciation of her which only enforces the fact that she really is great mother. So let's go and see what this is all about.

Character POVs

Sabine

"I don't believe this! Are you people humans or robots?"

Starting off with Sabine, the most amazing mother in the world, we see right at the start of the episode how she keeps in touch with her Chinese heritage and how she always keeps prepared for all of Marinette's disasters, knowing her daughter very well (well, almost), setting a laundry basket at the bottom of the stairs for her to land into, keeping a sponge to clean up when she spills the milk and keeping a shoe magazine to remind her that she needs to buy new shoes. What could have gotten someone like her akumatized? An unreasonable/racist ticketmaster and an extremely dedicated police officer, that's who.

When she plans to wait for Marinette at the next bus stop when Marinette missed the last stop, the ticketmaster refuses to believe that she has a daughter who has her wallet and the bus tickets and harasses her right there and takes her to Roger the police officer. But even though he knows Sabine as both their daughters are in the same class, he doesn't believe her either and carries out his duty and the frustration of not getting through to these two is what let to her akumatization which she resisted at first but ultimately succumbed to it. But thankfully when Ladybug offers her the key to her handcuffs, she breaks free of Shadow Moth's control as it would be unjust not to trust her.

2. Roger

"I promise, Ladybug"

I get that Roger was in the wrong in this situation, but the ticketmaster was the real villain of the episode because at least Roger admitted his mistake at the end of the episode and agreed with Ladybug that law should be applied with humanity.

The problem with him is that as we've seen with him throughout the whole show, he is extremely dedicated to his job as a police officer and takes it very seriously. Even the reason he got akumatized back in season 1 was due to him just being dedicated to his job as a police officer. So it's no surprise here that Roger would put his job first in this situation and think about the law. He was a bit unreasonable but what's important is that he admitted that at the end and promised to wait for Sabine's daughter to come with the bus tickets.

3. Marinette/Ladybug

"The exact opposite of me. Do you realize Tikki, I'm more than a month late for Mother's Day! I wanted to make her something but with everything going on I barely had time to get started on it. It's such a bummer because today would've been the perfect day to make it up to her."

Lastly, we have Marinette who just wanted to do what she can to make it up to her mother for being so amazing and for not having time to make her a gift for Mother's Day which she feels really guilty about.

Due to all her duties both as Ladybug and as Guardian of the Miraculous which hadn't had the time to make her mother a gift which she really wanted to do so she tries to buy her some flowers to make up for it because it's better late than never but when she realizes that she doesn't have any money she uses her mother's money to buy her gift which she really didn't want to do but had to because she had no other choice and felt the need to do something for her. At the end of the episode, when she de-akumatizes her mother as Ladybug she manages to get her some flowers in order to show Sabine how much she means to her and tries to pay the fine as well but ended up failing at that as well.

Conclusion

Overall pretty average on characterization this episode and pretty meh. Again, it was nice seeing more on Sabine but other than that not much else going for this episode. As always, let me know your thoughts on this analysis and let me know if I missed anything in this analysis on any of the characters this episode. Until next time!

#ml character analysis #mlb characterization #ml season 4 #ml qilin #sabine cheng #roger raincomprix #marinette sugar #marinette dupain cheng

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mono-dot-jpeg · 3 years

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you're my baby [extras] - xiao, zhongli, & ganyu

summary; the extras that no one asked for

genre; headcanons, fluff, family dynamics i wish i had, zhongli best dad, paternal figure reader, baby xiao, baby ganyu, platonic, established relationship with zhongli, househusband zhongli canon

[she/they reader] [fem honorifics used]

masterlist | kofi

a/n; hey,,, im back after an eternity,,, im probably gonna go off the grid again and not post anything KSHDJSHDFHJ. anyways kokomi came home, i did indeed want her to come home but i did lost my guaranteed bc i lost the 50/50 to qiqi i think

not the point, she came home now and now im saving for whatever character i want ig idk, i have only like about a 23 pulls saved up so far, wtvr, hope you enjoy this <3

side notes: baba is dad in chinese :)

so now you had xiao and xiao was a little shit in the best way

sometimes he gets really clingy and he favors you a lot AND IT SHOWS

"mama!!"

"xiao please, i have to cook tonight for your baba."

nothing stops this small boy from getting his attention from his mama

and just like that, you have a xiao clinging onto you

you and zhongli were much better parents now after taking care of xiao for a long while

but it seemed like the family didn't stop growing, zhongli had found another child

ganyu, he called her

she was an absolute sweetheart, not as clingy towards you as xiao is

she tries her best to help out around the house even if you didn't need any

she lives by what zhongli had told her, "don't let your mama work too hard."

and she takes it very seriously.

despite being a small baby she somehow tries to manage getting you to relax once in a while

whether it was just taking a nap or just playing with her, she tried her best to keep you from working too hard

zhongli could not be more prouder

of course when you find out, you can't even muster being mad as you look at your husband and daughter with their cheeky smiles knowing that you can never stay mad for too long

now xiao and ganyu, the two weren't a handful at all, both easy to take care of and manage

however it took a while for xiao to get used to ganyu

it was like watching a kitten explore their surroundings

sometimes he would pat her arm out of curiosity, or even whack her a few times because he just wanted to

he used to whine when ganyu took your attention

ganyu ended up being a daddy's girl because of xiao's constant need for you

"well, like father like son. we both cherish you very much." zhongli would joke watching as xiao hugs you as tightly as he can

"i could say the same thing about me and ganyu, she seems to love you very much." you would quip back, smiling fondly at the young qilin hybrid

you smother both of them over the years

ganyu loves it very much

xiao loves it but he doesn't like to admit it

constant attention for both of them as you know of their situations

"ganyu you work too hard, come here, mama's gonna take care of you for a bit."

"but mama-"

"no buts. miss ningguang will just have to wait. your health is very important, im sure she'll understand."

ganyu really took that never making mama work to the end

she's always there to offer funds for you and zhongli if you needed anything

xiao kept the more dirty and heavy work out of your hands but his karmic debt was something he could not handle on his own unfortunately

"i'm here xiao.. you can always stay with us for a while if you need to, alright? i know it's very hard to deal with what you do, and i may not understand it very well.. but please know i'm here for you."

"..thank you mama.."

"anything for you and ganyu. i want you both to be happy."

#xiao genshin impact #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact zhongli x reader #zhongli genshin impact #genshin impact zhongli #genshin zhongli #zhongli x reader #zhongli #genshin impact ganyu x reader #genshin ganyu #ganyu x reader #genshin impact ganyu #genshin impact xiao #genshin xiao #xiao #xiao x reader

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selenuntius · 3 years

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DMBJ Scene Comparison: Book 6 Post-Meteorite

Bit of a vague title, but the gist of this is that I’m going to be looking at the chapter or so around when Xiaoge comes out of the meteorite in DMBJ 6 c.24, A Stone from Heaven, in the licensed TL and comparing it to the original. Feel free to follow along for the full context.

I will not be noting everything that’s different, just things that stood out to me, personally, for extremely subjective reasons. I will be mostly focusing on the things that I think are bad for characterisation.

If you’ve already seen me talk about this in other places, I will not being including any new information and you can ignore this post.

I’ve also looked at the scene where Xiaoge goes into the gate btw and the only difference that stood out to me is that they left out he smiled mysteriously (or meaningfully, but that also loses some connotation and mysterious is a decent approximation of the meaning here. I can’t think of many alternatives).

I didn’t say a word. I knew that it would be almost impossible for Qilin to be shocked by things that would annihilate anybody else. Whatever happened to him inside this meteorite must have been more terrifying than anything Fats or I could imagine. What could be so frightening that it would cause Qilin to break down as he had? Was it something that had hurt WenJin? Had she gone mad and was she trapped within the meteorite? If that were true, I had to get in there somehow and save her.

Now that we know where we are in the text, I’d like to show the difference between the licensed translation (or abridgement, as I like to call it at this point...) and the corresponding original sentences.

I knew that it would be almost impossible for Qilin to be shocked by things that would annihilate anybody else.

I didn't know what Menyouping was like as a person, but I could vouch for his mental fortitude [loose tl, could be better]. His type of person had achieved a certain level of mental strength. It was exceedingly difficult to shock him to this extent.

Whatever happened to him inside this meteorite must have been more terrifying than anything Fats or I could imagine. What could be so frightening that it would cause Qilin to break down as he had? Was it something that had hurt WenJin?

But I couldn't imagine what could be so frightening to make even someone as collected and rational as him break down. I knew that it definitely wasn't any sort of monster. No matter how scary a monster could be, it wouldn't be able to frighten him to this extent - after all, even I could overcome a fear of dead bodies. What he saw had to be a situation that was inexplicable to the extreme. Then, I thought of Wenjin. Where was she now?

Also notable here that although the licensed translation brings up Chen Wenjin a little earlier, the original does not, and he only remembers Wenjin now. Make of that what you will, but I think my conclusion is obvious.

Fats grabbed my arm. “What good will we be to her, if she comes out to find us all dead? And don’t forget about Qilin—even if you’re willing to die, he might not feel the same way. At least we’ll be able to save one of them. And we’ll leave some food in case Wen-Jin emerges.”

“All right, Fats. You win. We’ll leave—but which way should we go?”

This part is interesting because it’s melded together from a back-and-forth between Pangzi and Wu Xie. To summarise, in the original, Pangzi begins with talking about his plan for them to leave food for Chen Wenjin and how they’ll still make it out, Wu Xie responds, Pangzi brings up Xiaoge, and then Wu Xie agrees.

So the original scene would look something more like:

Fats patted me my arm. “I know you're soft-hearted, but I've thought this through. We'll leave all our food here, and get back outside without food. If we can make it back to the campsite, we can get more supplies. Also, I've actually left a packet of hardtack at every of the spots we rested. As long as we take the right path, we can still make it out. What good will we be to her, if she comes out to find us all dead?”

I waved him off, knowing what he had to say, and noticed that even though Fats was talking slowly and meticulously, his tone was very firm and the logic undebatable. Fats probably kept it to himself for quite a while.

“And don’t forget about Qilin—even if you’re willing to die, he might not feel the same way. At least we’ll be able to save one of them. And we’ll leave some food in case Wen-Jin emerges.”

I looked at Menyouping, and immediately acquiesced. Indeed, I was consumed by wanting everyone to make it out alive, but I might bring even Menyouping down with me in the end. Fats did have a point, and I realised that this may be the only way for us all to survive. I sighed, staring at the holes, and said, “All right, Fats. You win. We’ll leave—but which way should we go?”

Personally, I think these changes affect how Pangzi’s speech is perceived and diminishes Wu Xie’s struggle between his principles and reality. Pangzi’s speech is actually very thoughtful in my opinion. He understood how difficult it was for Wu Xie so he opens with a compromise of sorts, with them leaving food behind for Chen Wenjin when they leave. The fact that he probably held onto these thoughts for a while just further shows how well they know each other - Pangzi for knowing how Wu Xie would react to leaving Chen Wenjin, and Wu Xie for knowing Pangzi did that. Wu Xie isn’t entirely convinced yet - but he knows Pangzi’s right. What finally gets him to cave is Xiaoge and realising that his wishes for everyone to be alive and well aren’t realistic. Take notes everyone, this is going to be a recurring theme. By omitting some of his thought processes and just shortening the interaction, I think it paints Wu Xie as just indecisive rather than a principled but still rational person.

Just a short line that spells out their changed dynamic that was cut. This occurs when a sinkhole opens in the water and Xiaoge’s stuck:

We didn't manage to keep an eye on Menyouping just now. To tell the truth, it had always been him who was protecting us, and we weren't used to taking care of him yet.

Sure, this can be inferred from context, but why cut it? It’s not that redundant, is it?

Finally, there’re just a few smaller changes that frustrate me because, again, they make the characters feel a bit dumbed down.

“You may be right,” Fats admitted, “but what the hell is that?” He jerked his chin in the direction of his flashlight. Something was floating up from the middle of the pit. Fats reached out and grabbed at it.

There’s a missing line here. Pangzi warned to stay away, Wu Xie grabbed Xiaoge and instinctively backed off, Pangzi shone his lamp at it before seeing what it was then grabbing it.

“We’re dead, Fats. We can’t win against this monster,” I said. (c.25)

This isn’t general pessimism in the original. He's specifically telling Pangzi to not waste his energy trying to shoot the snake because they knew the gun was useless against even snakes smaller than it. Yes, earlier in the chapter Wu Xie does think to himself that they’re done for, but what he actually voices is very specific and driven by logic rather than emotions.

#dmbj books #daomu biji #dmbj #iron triangle #wu xie #zhang qiling #wang pangzi

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kae-karo · 3 years

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Kae kae! I wanna hear about your thoughts: what is your headcanon for what happened during that night between Kaeya and Diluc? So many people have different thoughts About what happened and I want to hear yours!

hi hi hello dear!!! oof okay okay well for me i do a lot of speculating based on fic and like. i'll write different things depending on what i want to do with a story, BUT here are my thoughts on what may have happened in canon:

first, the basics/what we know based on character stories - kaeya's vision story (x) is long as hell but worth a refresher read, cause it talks about kaeya's internal struggle between his duty to khaenri'ah and his loyalty to diluc and crepus, and how crepus' death upset the balance. while it doesn't explicitly state a resolution to his struggle, it does go on to talk about how guilt consumed him over the fact that he didn't share in crepus' final moments nor in diluc's grieving - he'd instead stayed back, reminded of 'that ancient plot' (which i think we can safely assume to mean his supposed purpose in mondstadt, in service of khaenri'ah)

the vision story goes into the bare bones version of what happened that night - kaeya admitted the truth of who he was, he expected diluc's anger, diluc and kaeya crossed blades only for a rush of elemental power to overcome kaeya as he received his vision

what i find particularly interesting here is this line about kaeya receiving his vision: "But now, for the first time ever, he was facing his brother as his true self."

vision lore speculation incoming, because i think that it helps us better understand kaeya's situation

we've since learned (thanks inazuma) that a vision responds to (and is inextricably tied to) a person's ambition - i know i've talked before about theories with regards to why certain people receive certain elements, since i believe (someone correct me if i'm wrong) we know now for certain that visions are handed out by the archon of that element

i've speculated in the past that the motivator for a cryo vision was the fear of losing someone or something dear to them (this works well for a few chars: kaeya - diluc, diona - her father, qiqi - her life) but starts to get a little forced if it's applied to other cryo chars

but with a bigger pool of chars and a canon explanation for why one might receive a cryo vision, i think my revised assessment works better: the ambition that a cryo vision responds to is a relinquishing of a past self in pursuit of one's true self. or, perhaps a less optimistic take, the relinquishing of a fantasy life for a more complex but truer one

ganyu, setting aside her life as solely qilin and accepting both halves of herself when she took up her position among the liyue qixing. rosaria, choosing to fight for her life against those who would use and control her. eula, setting down her learned grievances in pursuit of a life and a 'vengeance' that felt right to her. chongyun's persistent desire to become a true exorcist. ayaka's acceptance of her leadership role and diligence in her study of skills (that did not come naturally to her) in order to represent her clan. diona's eschewing of her childish desire for her father to be the man she wanted him to be in favor of attempting to accept her father for who he is (she offers to mix him a drink once she knows that he's safe). for qiqi i think it could easily be taken in a literal sense - her past life ended, a new, more complicated one began

for kaeya, his vision story says it all: he gave up his idyllic life of a pretty lie in favor of being honest with diluc in who he truly is, even though that only makes his life more complicated. as was stated in his story, he feels "he must live the rest of his life under the heavy burden of lies"

[unrelated kaeya aside: in his story 2, it says "On the contrary, he actually enjoys putting people into the difficult position of making tough decisions." perhaps you're projecting a bit there, hm kaeya?]

ANYWAY all of this was basically to say that i think kaeya admitted the truth of who he was and why he was in mond, and 'expected diluc's anger' because he'd kept it secret this the whole time. had lived a whole life growing up with diluc and chose to stay silent. and diluc just lost his father for fuck's sake lmao so he's definitely emotionally overwhelmed

bc in kaeya's character story 5, he and diluc are described as "knowing each other's thoughts and intentions without a word", which says to me that they...basically told each other everything? knew each other too well, but kaeya had still chosen to hide this from diluc. of course diluc would feel betrayed, and of course kaeya would expect him to - he knows him well, after all

but he saw this fight as his punishment, or perhaps losing diluc as his punishment, or (if you want to be especially grim about it) maybe even losing his own life as a punishment for his secrecy - ultimately, though, i can't quite bring myself to believe that diluc cares necessarily about kaeya's actual ancestry (or like...even his supposed duty to khaenri'ah), more just...that he hid this from diluc

and i think that kaeya receiving his cryo vision, the perfect combatant to diluc's fire (well, sort of lmao) wasn't necessarily what stopped their fight - i think it gave diluc the chance to step back and breathe and see kaeya for a moment, outside of his own anger and hurt, and recognize that he didn't want to fight. he just didn't want to like. process his emotions either lmao (diluc bb u have some issues)

and so kaeya left, burdened with this vision (he describes it as the 'stern reminder' that he must live a life of lies), and he and diluc never really...figured their shit out. diluc ran away, kaeya learned to live without him

and kaeya, to me, seems to have developed that mindset of like...'diluc is exactly as he was that night and has not changed'. ie he seems to act as though diluc is still secretly angry with him, in spite of the evidence that shows that...well, he's probably still not processing those emotions BUT it does show that he cares still, somewhere in there (in his vision story, it says "He did not discuss the past. But he did not deny his past, either." and i wonder if he has his ways of showing that he did care, and probably still does - like the vase, like his continued choice to remain in kaeya's presence when there seems to be no need in the 'a child's secret' quest)

askldfjklsdfj i hope this wasn't too excruciating to get through, i know i rambled quite a lot on some tangentially related theories but ty for the ask dear!!!

#genshin #genshin impact #kaeluc #luckae #kaeya #diluc #ask #anon

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ryukoishida · 3 years

Text

Qian Qiu/Thousand Autumns Fic: In which YWS experiences qi-deviation and SQ helps out.

Title: Down for You Fandom: Qian Qiu / Thousand Autumns Characters/Ships: YanShen Rating: NSFW Chapter: 1/1 Summary: [Post Canon] While experimenting with further improving Fundamental Records of Phoenix-Qilin, Yan Wushi suffered from sexually-driven qi deviation, which he tried to hide from Shen Qiao. When Shen Qiao finally realized what was wrong and offered to help, Yan Wushi felt conflicted. A/N: Another qi deviation fic? Yes. Let me join in the fun too please and thank.

---

Yan Wushi hated asking for help.

He viewed dependence on someone else as a weakness – a weakness that he as one of the strongest martial arts masters under the heavens had no need for. Even since he was young, he thrived on being on his own: with no other pupils to distract him, and no overbearing teacher to instruct him point-by-point, he was able to concentrate on his training and meditation in his own pace and direction that had taken him higher on the path to greatness and strength in the martial arts realm.

To Yan Wushi, other people were either nuisances for him to flick off like pestering flies or rivals worthy of challenging; friends were merely an unnecessary burden.

Taking on two disciples during the last few decades had not changed his perspective on this. He took on Bian Yanmei and Yu Shengyan knowing that their independent personalities would work well with his hands-off teaching method. And thankfully, both of his disciples turned out to be more than capable to handle themselves and sect affairs when he wasn’t around.

In short, Yan Wushi hated asking for help. He never saw the need, and so perhaps had forgotten how.

Subsequently, when Shen Qiao asked him what was wrong with the slightest hint of worry between his brows, out of pure habit, Yan Wushi smiled and replied lightly, if not a little breathlessly from the itching heat that was very slowly inching from his solar plexus to the rest of his body through his bloodstreams, “nothing, my beloved.”

Even speaking such few words proved to be challenging; his throat protested with a parched, sweet burn that could only be satiated with the touch of one person, and one person only.

But Yan Wushi didn’t dare ask. He’d already asked too much of Shen Qiao by being here with him, standing beside him as if they were equals.

Shen Qiao’s frown deepened a little, barely noticeable. The answer clearly didn’t satisfy the sect leader of Xuan Du, yet Shen Qiao was a patient man and was not one to force answers out of Yan Wushi until he knew his husband was ready to divulge. Heaving a soft sigh and aiming a knowing look at the other man, Shen Qiao only pressed his lips into a tight line and lowered his gaze back to the scroll he’d been reading.

It wasn’t the first time he’d experienced qi deviation. During the years in his training to reach the higher levels of the Fundamental Records of Phoenix-Qilin, Yan Wushi had suffered countless instances and variations of his qi running erratic in his meridian network – icy needles prickling his bones, bursting flames scorching his flesh, paralysis rendering him completely vulnerable – and he’d overcame each and every single one of them without anyone’s interference or assistance.

The slow-burning heat like molten lava crawling slowly up and down his limbs and prickling just beneath his skin was nothing he’d ever experienced before, but Yan Wushi was certain he could get through this troublesome phase with a few more days of meditation and rewiring of his meridian network.

“You will tell me if there is something wrong, will you not?” Shen Qiao’s gaze didn’t move away from the text on his scroll, but his voice was quiet and genuine with concern.

“Of course, Ah-Qiao.”

Three more days of silently suffering the gradually increasing discomfort of feverish sensitivity and the progressively difficulty of ignoring the pulsing desire running wild within his body that no meditation nor long soaks in cold water could suppress, Yan Wushi was desperate.

He wouldn’t allow his disciples or other servants near him for the last few days, and to Shen Qiao’s surprise, he’d even turned his own husband away, muttering something along the lines of not wishing to pass whatever illness he had to his beloved partner. Given any other day, Shen Qiao would have left him be, but Yan Wushi’s behavior had been too uncharacteristic even for the man’s eccentric personality, and that was the moment when the sect leader of Xuan Du couldn’t pretend to be oblivious anymore.

“Yan-zongzhu…”

After knocking on the door of their shared bedchamber in Yuxu Pavilion and receiving no reply, Shen Qiao gingerly opened the door and stepped in. Night had already fallen hours ago and the candles were burning low, the orange glow of the flames flickering when the evening breeze slipped in through the gap of the open door before stilling again.

“Yan-zongzhu?” Shen Qiao tried again, tone soft, making his way to the side of the bed, where Yan Wushi was lying on his back, blankets kicked messily to the side and clothing haphazardly loosened in a state of disarray. His breathing was shallow and harsh, skin flushed and streaked with sweat, exposed chest rising and falling in an abnormal rate that made Shen Qiao rushed the last few steps to the bed and reached out for his companion’s wrist.

He rested two fingers against Yan Wushi’s pulse point, attempting to get a reading, but before he could accurately diagnose the man’s condition, Yan Wushi pulled his arm away with a groan.

“Ah-Qiao…” Yan Wushi croaked out, his voice much hoarser and lower than usual from how dry the inside of his mouth was, and he cleared his throat, eyes fluttering open and head turning slightly to look at Shen Qiao. His pupils were dilated so that only a thin ring of red-brown could be seen. “As much as I appreciate your concern, there really is nothing for you to worry about.”

“Yan Wushi!” Shen Qiao’s patience was running thin, and Yan Wushi could tell because he was calling him by his full name. With quick reflexes, Shen Qiao caught his husband’s wrist again, this time using a bit more force to keep him in place as he tried to read his pulse once more. The palpitation was strangely rapid and inconsistent, with a rhythm that he wasn’t familiar with from any medical books he’d read.

Brows gathering into a deeper frown and lips tightening into a straight line, Shen Qiao placed his palm on the other man’s forehead, and was shocked at the burning temperature of his skin there. He continued his examination, gently feeling his cheek with the back of his hand, and then slender fingers were on the side of his neck – a man’s most vulnerable point, easily grasped and snapped into pieces – but Yan Wushi only craved more, Shen Qiao’s cool fingertips and innocent touches merely serving to ignite whatever was flaring wildly inside his body.

Shen Qiao detected a change in Yan Wushi’s breathing, and simply deduced that as being his condition worsening. He quickened his examination, his hand briefly resting on Yan Wushi’s sternum before sliding lower to his solar plexus, all the while focusing his own qi to the center of his palm to see if he could at least alleviate some of the discomfort and ease the stranded qi into flowing again.

“Hah…!” Yan Wushi jerked as the qi from Shen Qiao’s palm entered through his skin and into his meridian network. It had felt… good. Too good, in fact, that he was afraid he might lose control of himself if he didn’t stop what his dear husband was doing right now.

In his current weakened state, Yan Wushi had no real strength to push back, and so he resorted to his infamous verbal skills. Lifting up his shuddering arm, he covered the back of Shen Qiao’s hand, which was still laying lightly across his husband’s stomach, with his own, interlaced their fingers together and pulled that pale jade hand towards his lips, murmuring against his warm skin in a low voice.

“Ah-Qiao… my good Ah-Qiao… do not be angry with me,” Yan Wushi was using his best impression of an overly-affectionate cat. His saccharine tone shouldn’t be so effective on Shen Qiao, but when it was paired with the teary-eyed gaze, flushed cheeks, and strands of star-white hair stuck to his temple, Shen Qiao felt the initial heat of his frustration simmered away until nothing but a soft smoldering tenderness was left.

Shen Qiao sighed but allowed Yan Wushi to keep holding his hand.

“Yan-lang, I am not angry, but I wish you would tell me right away when something like this happen. If you were to…” Shen Qiao’s mind flashed to the memory of Yan Wushi’s lifeless body lying on the cold, hard ground after his last fight with Hulugu, and he squeezed his eyes close, shaking his head viciously to tear himself away from that nightmarish image. “No, you cannot do that to me again. Promise me that you will not hide yourself like this next time you experience another instance of qi-deviation, or anything else.”

“Call me that again, and I will promise you anything you want.”

“Call you…?” Shen Qiao realized belatedly that he’d been addressing Yan Wushi with the pet name he only used sparingly during their most intimate moments, and he felt his face heating up from embarrassment. “Yan Wushi, this is a serious issue. If you continue to jest around as if your life is a joke —”

“How could I treat my own life as a joke when there is someone who care so deeply for me?” Yan Wushi lightly kissed the back of Shen Qiao’s hand before smiling up at him, the expression so indulgent and gentle – so unlike the usual bold and wolfish grin – that it took all of Shen Qiao’s self-control to not combust on the spot.

“Y-Yan-lang, that is beside the point.”

Despite his cold words, Shen Qiao conceded but quickly continued as if that little scene didn’t happen, “it seems like the flow of your qi is stuck somewhere along the Conception Vessel, probably between the Huiyin point and Qihai point, but it is better if we have a physician take a look—”

“Absolutely not,” Yan Wushi was adamant about this.

“Yan-lang, now is not the time to be headstrong,” Shen Qiao tried to persuade his partner. “Who knows what will happen if we do not act quickly to resolve the qi deviation?”

“This venerable one will not let anyone else touch me other than you.”

“I do not know how to help you…” Shen Qiao said, powerless against the demonic sovereign when he was acting so childishly, “perhaps with acupuncture…?”

“I do,” Yan Wushi said quickly, “and it definitely does not involve needles.”

He internally shuddered at the thought of those sharp, silver, pointy metal bits entering his acupressure points.

“All right,” Shen Qiao acquiesced with a resigned sigh, “will you at least tell me how, then?”

“It is quite simple, really,” one corner of Yan Wushi’s lips curved up into a slight grin, and Shen Qiao suddenly had a bad feeling about this, “I just need Ah-Qiao to enter me and climax inside me while at the same time stimulate a few specific acupressure points on my body with your qi.”

“… pardon me?”

It was solely thanks to Shen Qiao’s strict upbringing that he didn’t instantly slap Yan Wushi across the face and leave.

Rather than repeating himself – because he was sure that Shen Qiao had heard exactly what he’d said – Yan Wushi guided his husband’s hand from his mouth and southward, past his chest and stomach, and finally let it rest on his crotch, which, despite the layers of clothing, was quite obviously stirring in interest, as it had been for the past few days no matter how many times Yan Wushi had tried to resolve this problem by himself.

“Please, Ah-Qiao, will you not help your poor husband out? You know I do not beg easily, but for you…” Yan Wushi grinded up against Shen Qiao’s palm, and even though that slight friction was not nearly enough to quench his yearning, knowing that it was Shen Qiao who was touching him down there was sufficient to make the demonic sovereign bite his lower lip to dampen the whimper that was slipping out prettily. His body trembled with want, aching to be touched; he had to internally force his own frame to remain in place instead of springing up like a predator to trap Shen Qiao within his arms.

“Yan-lang, you know you never have to plead with me if you truly need help, right?” Shen Qiao was not used to seeing this side of Yan Wushi. Even as young as Xie Ling and as mellow as Ah-Yan were, none of his split personalities had ever acted like this. From Yan Wushi’s own perspective, this kind of behavior was unbecoming, a display of weakness, a sign of disgrace, and so he would never have allowed himself to fall into this pathetic state.

Shen Qiao’s fingers were twitching from the heat emanating from Yan Wushi’s erection, so it was a wonder he was able to inquire in a calm tone, “but are you certain that this is the only way to redirect your qi?”

“My good Ah-Qiao, please… I… I need you to touch me or I am literally going to die.”

Now Yan Wushi was being rather dramatic, and they both knew it. Even Shen Qiao was trying hard not to crack a smile at that as Yan Wushi continued his lament.

“Is that what you want? Do you want your husband to die from something as ridiculous as sexually-driven qi deviation?”

“For someone who is supposedly suffering, Yan-zongzhu sure runs his mouth too much,” Shen Qiao’s inhibition had melted away, and his worry seemed to have alleviated somewhat as well, after seeing that Yan Wushi was still capable of his melodramatic antics. “Shall I put your mouth to better use?”

Shen Qiao allowed himself to be pulled forward and down until their noses were nuzzling against each other’s, their breaths mingling hotly while the sect leader of Xuan Du ran his fingers back up to his exposed chest, splaying his hand against the patch of warm skin there. Feeling his husband’s heart thrumming beneath his fingertips, Shen Qiao’s own chest felt full of emotions that were impossible to put into words, so he didn’t try – not when he could communicate those feelings through his actions.

“And what does Shen-zhangjiao suggest?” Yan Wushi whispered, each word branding against the other man’s lips like the sweetest poison.

Shen Qiao wordlessly closed the distance between them, first with a chaste kiss of lips gently touching, and then almost instantly flared into a wet, messy clashing of mouths, teeth, and tongues initiated by Yan Wushi. Before long, however, even the demonic sovereign was feeling the radiating waves of heat and languor struck his muscles once more, and Shen Qiao was able to regain control by trapping Yan Wushi’s wrists to his sides while he counterattacked with biting kisses and soothing licks along the side of his neck.

Red and violet bruises bloomed like sweet fragrant alyssum blossoms where Shen Qiao’s mouth roamed, and the mere thought of the pure and virtuous Shen-zhangjiao of Xuan Du Sect marking him thus was making Yan Wushi harder than ever, and he made sure to let Shen Qiao know by releasing needy, broken moans of “Ah-Qiao” and “hurry”.

Soon enough, Shen Qiao had Yan Wushi’s robes removed and pants halfway tangled down his muscular legs, and while Shen Qiao had been imbued with an intoxicating sense of new-found confidence that had allowed him to initiate the kiss, yet as soon as he had laid bare Yan Wushi, his eyes roaming along the expanse of tanned skin and taut muscles aching to be touched and marred, the Daoist found himself hesitating once more.

He’d been kissing his way down his husband’s hipbone and the junction between his hip and thigh, and Shen Qiao could smell the musk of Yan Wushi’s arousal, which only served to make his cheeks heat up more. He froze at the sight of his husband’s swollen and dripping cock.

“You know…” Shen Qiao started, gaze downcast, “I have never done this before, so let me know if you feel any discomfort or pain…”

As if Yan Wushi needed that reminder.

He’d been trying so hard to maintain the last thread of self-control he had, too, and one innocent comment from his dear husband had completely shattered what sanity remained inside of him.

“My good Ah-Qiao,” Yan Wushi breathed out, reaching for the other man’s hands, and their fingers interlaced as if it was the most natural thing in the world, “no matter what you do to me, I am certain that I will have nothing but praises for you.”

Shen Qiao shook his head once and laughed softly, the sound and his expression so tender that Yan Wushi couldn’t help but squeeze his fingers tighter before guiding those same calloused hands to where Yan Wushi needed him to touch.

His cock was slick and hot – almost abnormally so, which Shen Qiao supposed made sense since this was a symptom of qi deviation – but it didn’t diminish the fact that it was big, the shine of pre-cum drooling from the tip simultaneously tempting and intimidating.

Shen Qiao swallowed at the sight despite Yan Wushi’s generous words, and tentatively, he licked the tip and contemplated the responsive shudder that ran up Yan Wushi’s spine.

A good sign, Shen Qiao mused quietly to himself, and then he did it again – small, experimental flicks of his tongue against the velvety skin of the head as if he was tasting a new flavor of candy. Shen Qiao decided he rather liked it, especially the interesting reactions his gesture seemed to be kindling in Yan Wushi, the way he hissed impatiently and tangling his fingers into Shen Qiao’s hair, tugging to beg wordlessly.

Encouraged by his husband’s response, Shen Qiao took it a step further, and envelope the entire head into the moist cavern of his mouth, first delicately wrapping his lips around the tip and taking care to not let his teeth scrape against the sensitive skin there, then slowly swallowing Yan Wushi centimeter by centimeter until he found it hard to breath and his jaw began to ach.

“Gods, Ah-Qiao, you are going to be the death of me…” Yan Wushi murmured shakily, his hand cradling the back of Shen Qiao’s head gently while fingers idly played with his frost green hair ribbon. The cold silk felt like cooling water in the springtime against his fingertips, and it reminded Yan Wushi of that one night when he used that exact hair ribbon to tie Shen Qiao’s wrists while he had his way with him.

The memories didn’t serve him well, for a stream of unfathomable heat and prickling desire blazed down his meridian network and made his cock twitch in Shen Qiao’s mouth.

Shen Qiao’s eyes flickered up to check on his husband, and noticed that Yan Wushi had one arm thrown across his face in an attempt to muffle his moans. His hazel eyes darkened, and he resumed to sucking; where his mouth couldn’t reach, Shen Qiao made use of his hand at the base, pumping in time with the movement of his mouth and tongue and sliding wetly up and down Yan Wushi’s length.

Feeling his thighs beginning to shake at the anticipation of release, Shen Qiao pulled up but his hand didn’t let up its pace. He peppered contrastingly soft kisses along the inside of Yan Wushi’s thigh while his hand tugged in a tempo that was verging on brutal, but that was exactly what Yan Wushi needed.

It didn’t take long for him to climax into Shen Qiao’s hand with a choked groan, and strands of white landed on his own abdomen as well as on his husband’s still clean and meticulous robes.

“W-was that all right?” Shen Qiao asked, uncertainty tinting his hoarse whisper as he climbed back up to look at Yan Wushi properly. He was about to measure the man’s pulse again when he saw tear streaks down Yan Wushi’s cheeks. Heart seized up in a panic, he quickly dabbed the wetness away with his sleeve, a trail of apologies ready on his tongue.

Yan Wushi caught his forearm and planted a small kiss on the inside of his wrist.

“It was more than all right,” Yan Wushi assured him with a languid smile, releasing Shen Qiao’s hand and raising his arm up to brush his thumb against the other man’s red and abused lower lip, the colour so mesmerizing that he couldn’t help but pull Shen Qiao down for a brief but dirty, open-mouthed kiss before murmuring against his ear once they both ran out of air, “in fact, I think I am already starting to feel better, but you know this husband needs more, right?”

Shen Qiao nodded, biting his lip. After easing off of Yan Wushi’s body, he shrugged off his soiled outer robe and moved to retrieve the ceramic vial that he knew his husband kept inside a hidden compartment by the side of their bed. He fumbled with the stopper until it popped out, and he shakily poured out a significant amount of carrageenan extract into his hand.

The texture of it was a little off-putting – a sticky gel-like consistency that reminded him of… another kind of bodily fluid – but he wanted to ensure that he wouldn’t hurt Yan Wushi in the process. After all, Shen Qiao himself wasn’t very experienced, and though this whole ordeal was nothing but a medical treatment, the sect leader of Xuan Du still needed to ensure that Yan Wushi would not be wounded further.

“You will tell me if I am hurting you, will you not?”

The concern in his eyes was genuine. Everything about Shen Qiao was genuine, and Yan Wushi used to think this kind of naturally honest nature was the trait of an absolute fool, yet here he was, in love with a so-called fool.

Maybe he was the one who’d become a fool after all this time.

He didn’t have enough time to contemplate any further than that, because Shen Qiao was kissing him on the mouth when he didn’t answer.

“Yan-lang?”

Yan Wushi couldn’t find it in himself to tease his husband this time, so with equal sincerity, he said, “I will, Ah-Qiao.”

“Good,” Shen Qiao nodded with a small satisfied smile.

With his fingers slicked up with lubricant, Shen Qiao once again returned his attention to his present task. He knelt between Yan Wushi’s legs, which he had opened up slightly wider to more easily accommodate his partner, and carefully slipped the tip of his middle finger into Yan Wushi’s puckered hole.

Unaccustomed to the strange sensation down there, Yan Wushi instinctively wanted to escape from the touch by closing his legs together, but Shen Qiao steadied him with his other hand by firmly pushing against his thigh while pushing his finger further in until the entire digit was swallowed up by the warm tightness.

“Nnng… Ah-Qiao… it feels odd…” Yan Wushi exhaled with a tremulous murmur.

“Odd in a good way or in a bad way?” Shen Qiao asked, stilling his motion and lifting his gaze back up to Yan Wushi’s face to observe his expression.

“Undetermined,” Yan Wushi decided, letting his eyes fall close and breathing out to try to relax his body. The unyielding roiling waves of gnawing desire had subsided a little after he’d climaxed earlier, but with his qi still stuck, that unwelcoming stream of energy was beginning to gather at the pit of his stomach all too soon, causing his cock to stir again even though he hadn’t been touched there yet.

“Hm,” Shen Qiao only hummed thoughtfully. He opted to continue for now.

He pumped his finger in and out a few times to allow Yan Wushi to get used to the sensation before he increased the pace and added a second finger, crooking them in a shallow angle to find the correct acupressure points. To Shen Qiao’s delight, the gesture caused Yan Wushi’s breathing to quicken, his chest rising and falling in tormented groans. His cock lengthened and swelled with blood, and was soon back to its full strength.

“Haaah… Ah-Qiao, keep going…”

The fingering had felt good – so damn good – even though Shen Qiao claimed that he was inexperienced. He must have picked up some skills from Yan Wushi during their previous intimate nights, for after the early moment of embarrassment and hesitation, the way he manipulated Yan Wushi’s body with his slender and calloused fingers had become proficient and deadly.

“I am going to start transferring my qi through your acupoints starting from the Qugu point,” Shen Qiao said, trying to tear his eyes away from Yan Wushi’s debauched expression – silvery-white and ink-black hair sticking to his sweat-slicked skin, eyes squeezed close, head craned back to expose the strong line of his throat, and the occasional moans slipping past his throat – but as he shifted his gaze back to where his fingers were, still buried deep within Yan Wushi’s hole, which had turned dusty pink and glistening from the extract around the ridge, Shen Qiao was starting to question his ability to carry on this operation.

“W-what?”

The feverish desire had reached its new height so that Yan Wushi was unable to think clearly. He was only vaguely aware that Shen Qiao said something and that he needed something much bigger and thicker to fill the void that was verging on swallowing his whole being.

“Never mind,” Shen Qiao said and took a deep breath to regain focus. With attentive eyes and precise execution, Shen Qiao directed the qi inside of his own body so that it flowed in a gradual stream towards the tips of his middle and ring fingers; when he grazed upwards, he aimed the flow of qi to the Qugu point, which was physically the closest to where his fingertips were.

From there, Shen Qiao pushed his qi forward, testing the give of the entire trail of Conception Vessel before forcing it through to the next acupoint, up Zhongji and pierced through to Guanyuan.

“Yan-lang, how do you feel?”

Yan Wushi had been chillingly quiet since Shen Qiao had started transferring his own qi into his husband’s body, and his abnormal silence made the Daoist thought that maybe the demonic sovereign was rejecting his qi due to their different martial arts origins.

“Ah-Qiao…” he gasped, eyes hooded and the blood-red of his irises just a thin ring from his fully dilated pupils, “too… too much…”

Shen Qiao’s heart thudded against his ribcage at how wrecked Yan Wushi sounded. He’d never seen the man like this, even when he was lost in the deepest end of pleasure, and somewhere buried, hidden, and shaped by years of Daoist teachings and morals was an instinctive part of Shen Qiao that had woken up from seeing this vulnerable, intimate side of the usually self-assured and strong Yan Wushi, the cold, ruthless, selfish leader of Huan Yue Sect.

“Yan-lang,” Shen Qiao caressed his husband’s cheek in comfort, wiping away a stray tear that’d escaped his eyes, “we are almost there, just hold on for Ah-Qiao’s sake. Will you do that for me?”

Yan Wushi closed his eyes and shook his head, and his body seemed to suddenly stop being pliant as well.

Shen Qiao’s qi couldn’t advance further; if he kept forcing it, he might risk injuring the rest of Yan Wushi’s meridian system, and that was the last thing Shen Qiao wanted.

“All right, all right,” Shen Qiao cooed, gently taking his fingers out.

Yan Wushi sighed out with a shuddering breath, half in relief and half in lament at the dizzying empty feeling.

If this method didn’t work, he might need to find another way. Shen Qiao was nothing if not resourceful.

“Ah-Qiao, I want you…” Yan Wushi grasped Shen Qiao’s right hand and placed it pointedly against his husband’s clothed arousal, the fabric of which had already been darkened from spots of precum.

“!”

Shen Qiao shuddered when Yan Wushi weakly squeezed his cock through his trousers.

Well, Yan Wushi never had been one to beat around the bush, so Shen Qiao didn’t know what he’d been expecting.

“I —” Shen Qiao paused. Verbally expressing his affection for his husband still didn’t come easily to him, but there were rare moments like this that he found it to be the simplest, most natural thing to do. “I want you, too, Yan-lang.”

The candles were burning dangerously low, and a few had already extinguished, casting the room deeper into the night.

After removing the rest of his clothing, Shen Qiao folded the blanket into a make-shift cushion and placed it under his partner’s lower back before settling back between Yan Wushi’s legs. With one hand wrapped around Yan Wushi’s waist to steady him and the other gently parting the two mounds of firm muscles to reveal the slightly swollen hole, Shen Qiao lined himself up.

All this time, he’d been so focused on mending Yan Wushi’s meridian network that he’d been neglecting his own desire, and now that it’d been freed from the restraint of his undergarment, it was clear that Shen Qiao had been holding back.

He started slow – for both Yan Wushi and his own sanity.

The tip went in easily enough from the ample preparation and Shen Qiao’s own precum lubricating the first part of the entry. The velvet heat that instantly surrounded him was intoxicating, and if Shen Qiao had less self-control, he’d have immediately slammed himself in as deep and hard as he could, but in the end, he managed to reign in that flaring craving that was slowly but surely burning his logic and patience into ashes.

Resisting the urge to thrust all the way in took all of Shen Qiao’s willpower; his knuckles turned white from how hard he was grasping onto Yan Wushi’s hips, which would surely leave bruises that the demonic sovereign would later smugly show his embarrassed husband.

Little by little, Shen Qiao pushed himself into that addictive and delicious heat, all the time still observing for any ailing changes in Yan Wushi’s body. If anything, it seemed having Shen Qiao slowly fucking himself into him only made him more vocal.

“D-do not stop, please… feels good…” Yan Wushi wasn’t helping a bit as he wrapped his legs tightly around Shen Qiao’s waist, imploring for him to go deeper.

Seeing that he wasn’t causing his partner any discomfort, Shen Qiao steeled himself and plunged all the way in until he was fully sheathed. He panted harshly into Yan Wushi’s mouth, who slipped his tongue sloppily into the offered mouth and teased Shen Qiao with filthy kisses that had them both breathing hard.

Shen Qiao finally lost that last strand of calm composure. Foreheads touching, eyes clouded by ravenous hunger, and forearms caging Yan Wushi’s yearning body between his arms, Shen Qiao pulled out slightly and thrusted back in, with enough force to make Yan Wushi gasp and scrambling for purchase.

He did it again and again, skin slapping against skin, the sound seeming to resonate within the walls of their sacred bedchamber, each time more urgent and more fervent than the last.

“Mnnn…. Fuck, Ah-Qiao feels so good inside me…”

“Haah… ah… do you feel no shame, Yan-zongzhu?” Shen Qiao nuzzled the side of Yan Wushi’s neck and kissed him roughly there, leaving more small bruises and teeth marks that wouldn’t fade for days.

“Aww… what happened to calling me ‘Yan-lang’?” Yan Wushi chuckled, placing one hand against the back of Shen Qiao’s head. A soft tug on the ribbon loosened the elegant twist of hair that cascaded over Shen Qiao’s pale shoulders like ink splashing on canvas. “Did I perhaps unknowingly anger Ah-Qiao?”

Shen Qiao paused, leaving only the tip of his cock inside his partner, which instantly drove Yan Wushi to buckle his hips upward in a sorry endeavor to tempt Shen Qiao into moving. He gave Yan Wushi a pointed glare, though the intended effect was dampened by the blush spreading from his cheeks down to his neck and chest and the fact that he was, in fact, fucking Yan Wushi into their bed.

“You know what you did,” Shen Qiao mumbled, finding himself impossible to be truly mad at him in this current situation.

“Hmm…” Yan Wushi scattered soft kisses on the other man’s forehead, eyelids, the bridge of his nose, and finally licking the shell of his ear, he continued with a grin, “can it be that Ah-Qiao is flustered by what I said?”

“There is no need for you to be using such foul and explicit language,” Shen Qiao argued, turning his head away, but it only gave Yan Wushi the perfect angle to kiss down his neck and nibble his collarbone.

“Oh, but there is a need,” Yan Wushi countered, tightening his legs around Shen Qiao’s waist so that he was dragged back into where Yan Wushi needed him to be. The fullness that had at first felt overwhelming was now a welcoming sensation, and he could feel the few acupoints that Shen Qiao had sent his qi through had been cleared, but there were still two spots that he knew needed to be unclogged before his own torrent of qi could flow smoothly and safely. “I need to tell Ah-Qiao how well he had been treating this husband, do I not? And I cannot find the adequate language unless I am using those exact words. Is there something wrong with that? Does Ah-Qiao not like it when I give you compliments?”

“I-It is not like that!”

There was no use having a proper discussion with Yan Wushi’s twisted sense of logic, so Shen Qiao didn’t try to. Instead, he returned to his previous act, except this time he was thrusting in with more force and fire, almost like he was wordlessly taking his own personal vengeance against Yan Wushi’s body.

“Haaah… Ah-Qiao!” Yan Wushi groaned, casting a half-hearted accusatory glare at the other man when Shen Qiao hit the spot that made him see stars and his hole contract around his husband’s length. “… just because… just because you cannot see yourself winning the argument against this venerable one does not mean you should stoop to such low m— nnnng!” Distracted by the sudden onslaught of flickering flames licking down his back and in the pit of his stomach, Yan Wushi hadn’t noticed the fingers placed strategically across his abdomen until he felt a hot stream of foreign qi invaded his meridian network – just as Shen Qiao’s cock was sweetly, torturously invading his inside.

The pleasure that bloomed and erupted from the coil seated deep within him was blinding; it was wonderful and terrifying, devastating yet cherished. Yan Wushi hardly noticed Shen Qiao’s climax when he was still convulsing and quivering from his own release; thick ropes of milky white cum landed and splattered messily on his own chest and tainted Shen Qiao’s unmarred skin.

His mind was blissfully blank for a brief moment while he waited for Shen Qiao to come down from his high. He sensed more than knew that he was filled to the brim with his husband’s seed, and that the last acupoints had been broached to allow his qi to flow effortlessly again.

The last candle burned out, and the room sank into complete darkness except for the hint of watery light from the crescent moon outside.

“Yan-lang?” Shen Qiao wanted to pull out but an arm thrown carelessly around his lower back stopped him from doing so. He heaved a soft sigh but remained in Yan Wushi’s embrace, laying his head against his husband’s chest despite the sticky, sweaty mess they’d made of each other.

“Hmm?” his voice rumbled in the dark, like the earth trembling beneath Shen Qiao’s feet, the sound irritatingly lackadaisical yet strangely kept his heart and mind at peace.

“Your meridian network…?”

“Thanks to Ah-Qiao’s magnificent medical skills, I believe my qi deviation has been treated and my meridian network perfectly restored,” Yan Wushi said, playing with a strand of Shen Qiao’s hair.

Shen Qiao exhaled in relief.

“Though to be certain that it is entirely healed, we might need to have the same treatment performed again, under Shen-zhangjiao’s skillful practice, of course.”

“Yan Wushi!”

Shen Qiao slapped him on the bicep, which only made Yan Wushi snicker harder.

When his laughter finally died down, and he could hear Shen Qiao’s breathing mellowing, Yan Wushi combed his fingers soothingly through his husband’s slightly tangled locks and murmured against the crown of his head.

“Shen Qiao.”

“Hmm?” he mumbled sleepily.

“Ah-Qiao.”

Shen Qiao opened his eyes blearily and pushed himself up just enough to look at Yan Wushi, who was gazing at him with bright eyes and a tender smile.

“Yes?”

A bit of his lucidity returned at the sight of Yan Wushi’s expression.

“I promise you,” Yan Wushi held onto Shen Qiao’s hand and placed a kiss on the back of it, “from this day on, I promise that no matter what kind of problems I may encounter, Ah-Qiao will be the first to know. In return, will you promise to stay by this venerable one’s side no matter what may become of me?”

“Silly Yan-lang,” Shen Qiao pecked him lightly on the forehead before making himself comfortable on Yan Wushi’s chest again, “always.”

#thousand autumns #qian qiu #yanshen #shan he jian xin #yan wushi #shen qiao #bowie's crappy writing

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Lost Tomb Lewks, Part 5

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Content)

Warning: Spoilers for The Lost Tomb Reboot Season 1

Look 21: belongs to Liu Sang, and it’s one of my very favorites. Liu Sang’s actor, Liu Chang, has the face of a pre-Raphaelite nymph...

...and a body built like a brick shithouse.

The very slender plot explanation for this epic bod reveal is that Liu Sang is changing into his working kit, and Pangzi is razzing him for having a tattoo-in-progress of a qilin, to match his idol. But the tattoo is not nearly as interesting as...everything else about his torso, frankly.

This look features a six-pack you could shred cheese on, eye-catching trapezius muscles, and prominent clavicles. Liu Sang’s exquisite physical presence provides an interesting contrast to his bitchy demeanor and selfish personality, which are prominent at this point in the story.

Later he will get whumped into a proper sense of Wu Xie adoration being a beloved and devoted part of the team and many viewers’ favorite boi, but that process hasn’t started yet.

Liu Sang’s watch is fancier than Wu Xie’s watch. It’s...round, and it tells time.

(more behind the cut!)

As befits a professional model an antique dealer, Liu Sang’s working outfit is flattering and cool, with a snug olive green coat with black detailing, and khaki pants that are either dark blue or darkest grey. Like everyone else on the scene, he’s got shit kicker boots and tactical gloves to go with the rest of what he’s wearing. Unlike everyone else, his hair has auburn highlights, which go well with the warm tones of his skin.

In later episodes we see that the jacket has a big X on the back, which looks cool and is a bold choice for a guy who is headed into dangerous places with companions who don’t like him.

While underground, he accessorizes this look with a whistle, used for mapping via sound waves. Not to be objectifying on main but...

OP might have given the whistle its own gifset, over here.

Product-placement Interlude: This orange drink looks refreshing and delicious! Just like the sort of thing everyone would like to drink, pass around, discuss, and point with.

Look 22 is Wu Xie in his spelunking gear, but this time with “oh crap, I’m blind” eye coloring.

This look is a good one for when you are getting ready to become possessed or crazy or being overtaken by a crustacean allergy so that you try to kill your bro with a shovel.

It’s also a good look for when your bro wants to troll you about your good looks by waving fire in your face.

Excellent fourth-wall break, Pangzi. We do love Zhu Yilong’s eyelashes out here in fandom land.

Look 23 is Princess Mute’s blue hanfu. It’s a bit worse for wear, after centuries underground and floating around in the water, but it’s still got a nice color and it looks ethereal and pretty when she’s being pulled up out of the tomb. Too bad she has to go spend her future days in a crate. Princess Mute is one of my favorite crustaceans characters in this wacky show.

Look 24 is Wu Xie’s black undershirt. We’re meant to believe he’s wearing this under his other shirt and that it came out of the tomb looking this good.

It looks like it might be machine-knit rayon, based on the sheen and the small folds and wrinkes in the fabric, as opposed to the larger folds you see with something made of cotton. Anyway it’s got a nice fit and it looks comfortable.

Look 25 is Wu Xie’s party outfit, which is hard to see, like every damn thing in this show, but has some interesting details. The jacket has a darker color for the placket and around the collar, with triangular insets at the shoulders.

It has flap pockets and at the waist it has straps with buttons in place of a belt, reminiscent of a vintage miltary or marching band uniform, although I can’t recall the locale or era.

This outfit is suitable for kicking back with your friends and family. Wu Xie is an interesting hero, because he is extroverted, friendly, fast-to-warm-up, and rarely in a bad mood, even when dying. In this scene he plays pool, sings, drinks, roams around chatting with friends, graciously receives heart eyes from Liu Sang, and then sits down for a long, friendly talk with his uncle.

It’s nice to see a hero whose troubles are primarily situational, and who isn’t struggling with a hidden dark side. I don’t personally relate to Wu Xie as much as I relate to an obviously traumatized character like Liu Sang, but Wu Xie is a lot of fun to watch and to root for, and it’s clear why his friends value him so highly.

Look 26 is Liu Sang’s new glasses, which are gorgeous, and are perfect for giving Wu Xie heart eyes. Liu Sang is much too young to need this much lens real estate [says middle-aged OP from behind her large trifocal lenses] but they look great on him.

More Lewks coming soon!

#the lost tomb reboot #reunion: the sound of the providence #liu sang #liu chang #wu xie #zhu yilong #dmbj #lost tomb lewks #canary3d-original #my gifs #the lost tomb spoilers

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icharchivist · 2 years

Note

Heyy quick question what is ur light grid? I saw the post abt babu getting his lights knocked out so i would love to know some references 💝

Oh yeah sure!!!

though it's possible that in my case it's also a combo of summons and chara since i'm extremely Crest centered

under cut bc i ended up showing my Main Light Set Up + My Bubs set up + My Lucilius HL's set up if you need it too! hope it helps!

for my Main Light Team this is what i use

it's for general content and also perfect for Osiris

-Main Character is Relic Buster, focusing on Full Burst Damages.

I'm at level 30 of Mastery. and i filled all of my EM node in ATK related stuff.

-Main Allies: Percival (Light), Aglovale (Valentine), Noa (Grand)

-Sub Allies: Halluel and Malluel (Summer), Silva (Light)

About the Weapons:

-Core of the grid: Main Hand Xeno Sword due to its CA with ATK boost. Opus, 3x Lumi swords, Cosmo sword, Astral weapon, Seraphic Harp, Bahamut dagger nd Ultima sword.

-Everything is max uncapped except for the 5* of the Opus and the Ultima. +marks boost HP and ATK of selected weapons and summons which affect the whole grid.

-Note that the skills i added to the Opus are the CA boost, and to the Ultima a Skill DMG boost

-Cosmo Sword a necessity since i run with 7 swords and Cosmo multiply the stats of its given weapon

About the Characters:

-Percival, Aglovale and Halluel/Malluel are crest characters who get stronger with the amount of crest they get, and they boost the whole party depending on the number of crest on people (Percival is boost to skill damage, Aglovale is buff and debuff, HalMal are regular Attack boost). With this set up i have 5 crest for everyone by turn 2

-Noa boost CA gain, Silva in the back activates her CA if a Full Burst is realized in the front

About Summons:

-Heimdallr's summon adds crests + has a sub aura of boosting attack up to 15% depending on crests

-Luminera, Lucifer, Qilin and Belial are max uncapped. For those first three it means a boost in stats, for Belial as i only use him for sub summon, it means 30% cut to health/Supplement DMG of 30k per hit.

-The Star, in subsummon, is uncapped to 3* and gives a sub aura of Amplifying Light Allies's DMG against Dark Foes by 5%

-Metatron gives an unwordly boost to your attack for 3 turns upon call. I use it always as first turn Full Burst with Relic Buster, second turn Aglovale's solo CA from his 3rd skill while his s1 activate twices to fill the CA bar of others, by turn 3, everyone except Aglovale has a full CA and i use Noa's s3 to fill Aglovale's CA for a full burst. Once this is down i basically have a major advantage on everyone.

-Meta also gives a boost in HP as subaura

-Qilin is there as safety for longer raids in case i need it to reset Noa's shield when i'm on Auto

For Bubs, specifically in a leeching sense, ie: only entering at the end with a Qilin support summon, using skills only, no turn:

NOTE that i tweaked it a bit after seeing your ask realizing i could do better. Let's hope it'll be enough,

-Main Character is Monk as it gives a boost to skill damage.

My Master Lvl 9 which so far adds +500 ATK and +4% Skill DMG cap, and i've filled my EM points on multiple ATK nodes

-Main Allies: Percival (Light), Io (Grand, 5* unlocked), Aglovale (Valentine)

-Sub Allies: Shiva (Summer), Halleul and Malluel (Summer)

About the Weapons:

-Main Hand here is just my most powerful Fist Light, which happens to be the Revenant Weapon for Seox, which i had forged in Light to beat his ass.

-Seraphic is gone because Bubs is a NULL element and as a result Seraphic is useless. Seraphic gives a tiny boost to health and atk in general and a massive boost when it's against enemies from the weak element you fight against. Since Bubs is null, this aura loses it's imporance so i booted it out to make sure to keep Xeno's boost to Light Atk, and Bahamut Dagger since my front like is fully humans who benefits from the boost, + the Ultima Sword for its sword bonus Percival and Aglovale take + the Skill DMG bonus

(once again int his: everything is max uncapped except the Opus and Ultima which are at 4*)

About the Summons:

-Summons are the same except for my personal Qilin replaced by Belial bc Belial has one of the highest ATK cap of the game once he's fully uncapped, along with Lucifer and Bahamut. his sub Aura of 30k supplemental DMG per hit still applies.

-Artemis as sub Summon boost in HP, the Star is honestly just here to be pretty since his aura is useless against a NULL element

-Use a max uncapped Qilin as summon friend. It gives a 50% boost on all elemental ATK aND on Skill DMG, + a 25% Boost to skill DMG cap. Basically it's your friend on Skill DMG oriented teams. Qilin's call resets all of your skills completely

About the Characters:

-The core is the character and skills input.

Summer Shiva is here for his sub aura that boosts Light ATK, Halluel and Malluel are here for their sub aura boosting ATK depending on crests on characters.

First is to activate Percival's s3 to give everyone crests, then Io's s3 that eats 25% of her CA to give herself typhoons which multiplies the ATK of all of the party.

then activating all of Aglovale's skills in order, s1 gives crest to everyone, s2 debufs, s3 resets all of his skills, so reactivate s1 and s2 then

Then activate all of the remaining skills. My Main skills are damage skills that hits hard to start with. Activale Percival's Petrify before his s1 since his s1 activate twices if the enemy is Petrified.

Once all skills are consumed, summoning your friend's Qilin to reset everyone's skills and enter the skills again in that order. If Io's CA hasn't refilled yet, skip her until Aglovale's s1 manage to give her a CA charge boost (since at 4 crest Aglovale boosts everyone's CA by 25%)

As long as the priority is boosting the ATK with Io's Typhoon and Charging in crest with Percival and Aglovale, the party is quickly at 4 crests at least, therefore benefit of an ATK boost both from HalMal and from Heimdallr's summon.

A note: Percival has a Perpetuity Ring, and all the others have at least a massive stats boost coming from rings and earrings which makes them even more powerful in raids.

oh and if you want it:

Faasan: Impossible

-Main Character is Spartan: as you want to defend yourself and everyone.

My Master Lvl 1 which so far adds NOTHING, and my EM is filled on Defense and HP

-Main Allies: Noa(Grand), Fif (4*), Aglovale (Valentine)

-Sub Allies: Mishra (SSR), Lily (Holiday)

About the weapon:

-Boot out the Seraphic because Lucilius is NULL too and it will be useless. in my case i added a Lumi Sword bc High HP + will be multiplied by Cosmo Sword.

Once again everything is max uncapped except the Opus and the Ultima (both at 4*)

About the Summons:

-You NEED Health. So Belial cannot be there. Lucilius will give you a 30k of plain damage upon entering the raid and will lock away your summons for two turns. Make sure you have enough HP and don't rely on your summons.

-Lucifer for High HP + Healing, the Carbuncle are here to tank some of Lucilius's Attack. you need Light if you fight with Light, Dark if you fight with Dark, else of the element you're weak against if you fight with an elemental (ex: Water if you go in with Fire)

-Sub summon are Artemis for her 15% Health Boost, and Heim' to boost Crest Attack since Aglovale will boost everyone on longer turns than the others set up

About the Characters:

-DO NOT have characters of the same race in your line up, at 25% Lucilius wipe out your party if you do.

-I have Fif as a healer who also can protect MC especially from dying, Noa as a protector for his shield and his debuff, and Aglovale as the raw attacker who also gives buff and debuff, as well as Veil. The three of them can deal with the debuff Faasan will send your way

-Sub allies are for the direst needs, here they're both healers to support the party if someone fall up front. Note that a LOT of times if one of your chara dies at all, Lucilius unleash The End which kills every characters in every party from every players in the room, so do not rely on your backline since there's only slim windows where you can afford to lose a front line chara.

-Support with MC. Phalanx and Clarity can be used to protect and debuff the whole parties in the raid, so synchronize and take turn to cast it.

-Gravity to be cast on Lucilius's body

-Hardened Shield works as a Delay as well as a shield for MC

SO YEAH those are my 3 Major Light Teams and i hope this can help you a bit at least on what to aim at!

but yeah it's likely my raw power comes from crest set up so, do as you may with it o7

Take care o7

#ichareply #anonymous #ichafantalks gbf #ichablogging gbftips #i hope it's not too confusing DLKJFDLKF

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ninjakittenhaswords · 3 years

Text

OCtober 2021- Day 1: Journey

It's gonna be little snippets here and there featuring some of my OCs, but I think this is gonna work out. Alright, we're on day one. Here we go.

Prompts by @oc-growth-and-development

Day 1: Journey

It had been miles since she started. Her feet felt heavy hours ago but she had to press on. She just had to make sure the distance between her and her destination could be as short as possible. She would be on the mount that was given to her, but she wasn't about to burden the steed with the full body of armor she had on after it had been on its feet for hours alongside her while carrying supplies.

What she'd give to be in her feral form and just so easily glide across the skies like she used to. Alas, not many would react well to a chromatic dragon like her. Yeah she was chromatic. The visible scales on her face, acting like freckles, had darkened with age. The glamour gave her a little extra help to hide her horns and her bright orangish-yellow eyes with feline-like pupils.

It took her a moment to turn and see her steed had slowed down and sat itself down, heaving breaths through its nostrils. Lady Crimson sighed softly and went back to the qilin in disguise. "I'm sorry," she breathed softly. "I don't mean to push you. I just want to get there as soon as possible. The mythical steed just gave a huff and grumbled in tiredness. It'd be a couple more generations before the peaceful qilin would ever speak to anyone, but Crimson at the very least understood the beast's emotions. "I know."

The dragon in humanoid form looked around before spotting some soft lights not too far. "Come on. Just a little further. We’re going to need some food and rest anyways.” The qilin let out another huff before it got up, following the samurai woman holding the reins. Moments later, they found the source of the light. A tavern. The sign that hung on the outside read “The Lucky Griffin” or otherwise known as “Quincy’s.”

Funny, it feels like she should know that name. The glamoured up dragon lead the steed to the stables nearby where mounts of other types were resting. She could’ve sworn she just walked past a big canine. “Here. Rest here.” She spoke softly enough to calm the beast. “I’ll let the owner know of you here.” She told the mount, taking the gear off of them. The kirin just nickered and set its foot down. The samurai lady chuckled softly and set the gear outside the stall.

The beast laid itself down, tucking their legs beneath themselves. Crimson took herself away from the warm stables and let herself inside the tavern not too far. Inside, the lights gently shined making the tavern give a warm and welcoming feeling. Something she hadn’t felt since she left her original realm and while her teammates were on the far corners of the world.

She held her helmet to her side and walked further in, taking a seat. Along the way, she noticed the diversity of characters. There were some that looked human, others reptilian, half-orcs, half-elven and more. It comforted her that she wasn’t going to stick out like a sore thumb like she usually did.

She took a seat that was along the bar and let out a sigh before jumping a bit when she heard a voice chirp at her. “Oh hello, traveler.” She looked to see the owner who had dark hair tied up with a strand framing one side of his face, some goggles at the top of his head, and a red kerchief on his front, wrapping around his neck. She gave a polite smile back to him.

“Welcome to Quincy’s. What can I get for you tonight?”

Yes I did have to add Quincy. He’s a wonderful character on TikTok and Instagram. Y’all gotta watch him.

#oc-tober #october 2021 #ninjago oc #ninjago ocs #dragon samurai oc #oc: lady crimson #fanfic #fanfiction #ninjago crossover #crossover #crossover au #dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd oc #friend’s oc #oc: quincy #quincylk #Quincy’s Tavern #ninjakitten’s writing

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foxghost · 4 years

Text

Joyful Reunion, Chapter 17

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang Masterpost | Characters, Maps & Other Reference Index

Book 1, Chapter 5 (part 3)

Duan Ling is a bit overly thrilled; when he’s with Li Jianhong, life is entirely unfettered. However big the world is, they’re free to do whatever they like, never having to worry about anything no matter where they go. Li Jianhong will even occasionally let him steer the horse and run wildly all over the plains.

“Wanna ride the horse on your own for a bit?” Li Jianhong asks, sounding genuinely interested.

Duan Ling does somewhat want to try it — he’s never ridden a horse on his own before, but he’s a little afraid if it means Li Jianhong won’t be there to protect him.

“Come on then!” Li Jianhong jumps off the horse and casually smacks it on the hindquarters. The horse immediately whinnies and bolts off like a shot. Duan Ling is so startled he starts yelling at the top of his lungs, turning to call out, “Dad — !”

Li Jianhong waves at him. He whistles loudly, and the warhorse leaps right past a brook, galloping away at top speed. Duan Ling keeps yelling over and over; he finds it rather exciting at first, but by the time he looks back again Li Jianhong is nowhere to be found and now he’s suddenly panicking. He tries to turn the horse around, but the war-horse won’t listen to his commands. Duan Ling yells, terrified, “Stop running! Dad! Where are you, dad?!”

The war-horse charges into a forest and Duan Ling nearly falls off. He wraps his arms tightly over its back and cries out sounding like he’s on the verge of tears.

“Dad —! Where are you?!”

The cadence of the whistling rise, fall, and stop. Li Jianhong appears from behind a tree and looks at him cheerfully.

Duan Ling nearly faint dead away. He gets off the horse at once and throws his arms around Li Jianhong to wrap him in a tight hug.

“Its name is Wanlibenxiao.” Li Jianhong gives the divine steed a pat, and it lowers its head, snorts, nudging Duan Ling with its nose. Duan Ling let out a sigh of relief only then.

“It’s a Wusun horse.” Li Jianhong holds Duan Ling’s hand, and takes the reins with his other hand as he explains, “Your dad saved the King of Wusun beneath Mount Qilin. They gave me this horse as thanks.”

“It runs so fast. It nearly bucked me right off.”

“On my escape from the snowy desert, it was the one who saved my life.”

At midday Li Jianhong and Duan Ling are pushing their way through the forest when Duan Ling spots a lot of fruit he does not recognise. “What is this?”

“Winter cherry.” Li Jianhong gives it a passing glance. “Too sour. Don’t randomly eat wild fruit and mushrooms off the side of the road. The more colourful it is, the more likely it is to be highly toxic.”

“I won’t eat it. And what kind of tree is this?” Duan Ling possesses an extraordinary level of curiosity, and over time he has discovered something rather crucial — no matter what question he asks Li Jianhong he’d be given a convincing answer, and not Lang Junxia’s typical ‘don’t ask, you’ll find out in the future’.

“Desert poplar. The young ones look like willow trees, but once they unfold they’re extremely resistant to drought.”

Li Jianhong is nearly omniscient. Duan Ling thinks to himself, what am I even studying for? If I don’t understanding anything all I have to do is ask dad.

Duan Ling asks, “Are we going to sleep outside tonight?”

“Well that won’t do.” Li Jianhong declares firmly, “In all likelihood, my son ought to be able to get a hot meal in Huaide before sundown.”

“Where’s Huaide?”

“A place in Xinzhou.”

“And where’s Xinzhou?” Duan Ling is practically completely ignorant about the world.

“The founding Liao emperor chose Shangjing as the capital and established the Shangjing Road as one of the nineteen main roads, and southward on Shangjing Road goes to Xinzhou; farther south from Xinzhou and you reach the great wall.”

Duan Ling knows about the great wall. “Past the great wall you’ll get to Yubiguan, and if you keep going south after that you’ll reach Zhili,2 then taking the Hebei road southwards …”

“Precisely.” Li Jianhong dodges a branch. “You’ll reach Shangzi, and Runan. Nowadays that’s all Liao territory.”

“Is the entire Chen empire farther south?”

“Land north and south of the Yangtze went to Chen.” As though ancient memories have been called to the fore, Li Jianhong heaves a sigh. “In Xichuan, Jiangnan, and Jiangzhou.”

“You said before that we’ll return to the Chen empire, right?”

“Do you really want to go back?” Li Jianhong asks.

They’ve exited the forest before they know it. Li Jianhong picks up Duan Ling, helps him onto the horse, and they canter along the stream. On horseback, Duan Ling says, “The headmaster says the south is very beautiful. It’s too bad I’ve never seen it.”

Duan Ling has no idea that imagining a distant paradise of peach blossoms that he’s never seen before is far too strenuous for him.

“Those who travel far are guests, and they all miss home.” Li Jianhong gets on the horse as well. “Those in the south miss the north, those in the north miss the south; all Han have the same idea. It’s true. The south is quite beautiful.”

Little by little, the past five years Duan Ling spent in Shangjing has helped him understand a lot. He has realised that when the iron hoofs of Liao cavalry went south, the Han had to leave their homeland against their will. Each Han living in Shangjing is holding onto this one dying breath hoping from the bottom of their heart to one day return to the south.

“Did our family also die out when the Liao military marched south?” Duan Ling asks.

“What?” This question has interrupted Li Jianhong’s line of thought. Beneath them their horse trots along, not too fast and not too slow. Li Jianhong pats Duan Ling’s head and answers, “Our family is still around, but there aren’t that many of us left.”

“Who else is there?” Duan Ling has never thought that he’d have relatives too, but today he suddenly gets the sense that he’s just like every other person: he has a father, a mother, uncles and aunts and other relatives, such as that ‘fourth uncle’ his father spoke of but that he himself has never met.

“Your fourth uncle and your fifth aunt are both still around. Now, dad’s going to tell you, but just keep it in your heart, my son. You mustn’t tell anyone.”

Duan LIng nods, so Li Jianhong continues, “Your dad comes in third. I had one eldest brother who died before reaching adulthood. Second was an older sister, not a daughter of the principal wife, and she died young too. My younger brother, the fourth, is still in Xichuan. He doesn’t have children yet. Your fifth aunt got married off to Jiangnan.”

“What about your dad?”

“Still around. He likes your fourth uncle, but he doesn’t like me … gup!”

That’s why Li Jianhong’s feelings toward the south is so complicated — Duan Ling gets it now. At the same time what he can also feel is Li Jianhong’s avoidance of the past; so thoughtfully, he does not press him with any further questions.

At spring’s end and the onset of summer, Jiangzhou is paved in snow white viburnum, eight blossoms to the end of each branch full of life, set off against a solitary spring mountain backdrop paired with a clear sky so blue it looks freshly washed. Occasionally there’ll be multicoloured kites rising in the distance, its image reflecting off the mirror-like lake, and when the lines twist and break they fly off after the birds to vanish at the end of the mountain forests.

Dressed in a long azure gown, Lang Junxia leads his horse along the meandering plank-lined path downhill. He passes by the city of Jiangzhou without entering, merely stopping by the shore of the Yangtze River to scoop up a handful of southern water for a drink before boarding a long-distance boat. The boat will go north along the river, enter the Xichuan province beneath Mount Yuheng, making a detour around the difficult Roads to Shu3 as he heads toward the southern Chen capital.

He speaks very little along the way; when the other guests disembark he steps off the boat also, to stand next to the shore, bowing down to drink a handful of water. Three months later, Lang Junxia finally arrives in the city of Xichuan.

The city walls are verdant and lush, coloured with greenery. When autumn comes it will be covered in blooming cotton roses.

Once inside the national capital, Lang Junxia makes his way to a bookshop in the west quadrant. He twists off the rusted lock easily, and the inside is covered in dust. He finds the horse a place to rest first and feeds it some hay, then he unties his travelling cloth bundle from his shoulder before pushing the door open and entering the book shop — then his steps abruptly stop.

There is a masked assassin standing beneath the drab sunlight. It both seems as though he’s waited for Lang Junxia for a long time, and that he just got here.

The assassin is tall and sturdily built, standing over nine feet tall; he will not look less stalwart if standing next to Li Jianhong. With a sword in his hand he’s planted there in the main hall like a mountain range. His eyes, showing above the mask, are staring intently at Lang Junxia.

“Greetings,” the assassin declares the first phrase.

Lang Junxia puts his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

“My name is Chang Liujun,” the assassin states the second phrase, and slowly he reaches up at his mask with his fingers, pulling it down to reveal a handsome face.

“I’ve come to kill you,” Chang Liujun finishes with the third phrase.

Lang Juxia doesn’t wait for Chang Liujun to raise his hand before drawing his sword, but Chang Liujun already had his in hand; he was waiting precisely for this moment to make his preemptive strike. Lang Junxia only manages to get his sword half out of its scabbard before Chang Liujun’s Baihongjian rings through the air, a line of sword force suddenly looming right before his eyes.

This moment is the closest to death Lang Junxia has ever been in his entire life.

And yet Chang Liujun, who has had everything perfectly planned, never expected that even with such meticulous design Lang Junxia can still manage to slip away from the one strike that certainly should have ended his life — Lang Junxia raises his left hand and lowers his right, and Qingfengjian, three inches drawn, is abruptly returned to its scabbard. With a resounding boom, his internal qi surges out in a wave and at once locks Chang Liujun’s blade in place.

Lang Junxia pays dearly for this one move. He follows it by gripping the scabbard with his left hand, and with the momentum of turning to avoid their collision, he drags Chang Liujun with him as he turns; the two reverse position and each pushes out a palm at the same time — Lang Junxia with his right and Chang Liujun his left.

The left hand is ultimately weaker than the right hand; as their palms connect, Chang Liujun’s stone-shattering form is received by Lang Junxia at a near touch, then defusing it with a soft force, he redirects it against the wall. With a loud crash the entire wall collapses beneath Chang Liujun’s strength.

Blood sprays from Lang Junxia’s right hand, and crashing through the door he fades into the crowded marketplace, vanishing without a trace.

Chang Liujung takes two steps forward, and bends down to pick up a finger from the floor. He then puts on his bamboo hat. Upon his return to the chancellor’s estate, he throws the little finger for the dog to eat without a second thought, puts away his sword in his room, and returns to the study through the corridor.

Mu Kuangda is currently writing a memorial earnestly beseeching the emperor to abdicate his throne so he may enjoy the rest of his twilight years in peace.

“I failed.” Chang Liujun comes to a stop behind Mu Kuangda.

“If you weren’t always announcing those three phrases before you make your move,” Mu Kuangda calmly observes, “he probably couldn’t have gotten away. Where did you injure him?”

“His right hand is missing its little finger.”

“Then let’s send a letter to the general. I’m sure he’ll be quite happy.”

The northern county of Huaide is hidden deep among the Altyn-Tagh’s ranges, and it is a place one must traverse on one’s way into the mountain forests or while heading towards Shangjing. Its county town encompasses a wide area, its villages and countryside scattered deep in the mountains, with winding, spiderweb-like footpaths connecting them back to the town. Now happens to be the spring season where all is lush and the mountains are bountiful, thus Huaide has become a place where goods are bartered.

This is the first time Duan Ling has ever been anywhere aside from Shangjing and Runan. His eyes are brimming over with curiosity as he looks around him, sitting astride on horseback with Li Jianhong, passing through the marketplace outside a hamlet.

“Hey! Tiger skin and tiger bones, want some?!”

“Where are you from?”

“Want candy?”

Duan Ling daren’t answer. He glances at Li Jianhong.

“What? If you want something, just take it. You don’t have to look at me — of course I’ll pay for it for you.”

“I can’t talk to strangers, can I?”

Li Jianhong starts to laugh. “There’s no such rule. You want to talk, talk. Talk to whomever you like.”

Thereupon Duan Ling comes to an herbal medicine vendor and inquires curiously, “What is this? Is it an ox bezoar?”

The vendor’s spread is full of strange plants and rare herbs gathered in the valleys of the Altyn-tagh, and a piece of ox bezoar the size of a hen’s egg has attracted Duan Ling’s attention. Li Jianhong merely gives it a passing glance before handing over the money to buy it for Duan Ling.

“It’s not that you can’t talk to strangers.” Li Jianhong leads the horse by the reins and walks slowly next to Duan Ling through the marketplace. “It’s that in an unfamiliar environment, you need to know what you should say and what you shouldn’t say in order to fulfil the purpose of protecting yourself.”

Duan Ling makes an affirmative noise — he understands that Li Jianhong is teaching him how to deal with people and conduct himself.

Li Jianhong continues, “Society is made up of all kinds of people. Even if you don’t go around hurting other people, it may well be that other people will try to harm you.”

“Then how am I supposed to know what I should say and what I shouldn’t say?”

“When you don’t have a task to accomplish,” Li Jianhong explains, “you can say anything. But you must observe the person you’re speaking with, and be vigilant in case the other party has bad intentions. Do not speak of wealth to the poor, do not discuss poverty with the rich, do not argue opinions with men, do not grow desires towards women.”

“When you do have a task to accomplish, you can’t let just anyone know who you are. You must be constantly on your guard.” Li Jianhong adds, “When the circumstances demand it, you’ll also have to invent another identity in accordance with the local environment. Places of ill-repute such as inns are a mixed crowd, so when it comes to important things, you must remain tight-lipped. Especially with the innkeeper and the waiters, and random people — you mustn’t let them know what you’ve come for.”

Duan Ling only kind of gets it. He nods.

“When it comes down to it, one must not let greed take root while on a journey. Don’t go around coveting what doesn’t belong to you and you’ll be saved a lot of trouble.”

Li Jianhong brings Duan Ling to an inn for food and lodgings, and tells the waiter that they’ll be staying for the night, handing over his personal identity papers to the innkeeper for inspection. Currently things are complicated in Liao with all the tribes travelling all about each with their own standard for documentation, so the innkeeper can’t see anything odd about the papers either, thus he instructs his workers to get a high quality room ready.

”Dad, are we going to keep travelling tomorrow?" Duan Ling lies in Li Jianhong’s lap, while Li Jianhong leans back against the headboard with his arms around Duan Ling, still lost in thought.

“You don’t want to go?”

Duan Ling replies eh, a bit sleepy, and shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

Li Jianhong kisses Duan Ling, and Duan Ling turns to his side, buries his head in Li Jianhong’s shoulder and nuzzles him this way and that. Li Jianhong airs the thought, “What, not happy?”

Duan Ling doesn’t say anything either, just keeps nuzzling him. Li Jianhong says, “You just want attention, huh.”

Li Jianhong holds Duan Ling down on the daybed and tickles him until he’s laughing aloud and struggling back. When they’re face to face, Li Jianhong stares at Duan Ling’s eyes, then taking his hand he lets it rest on his own cheek. And closing his eyes, he gets lost in his thoughts again.

Bleary-eyed, Daun Ling stares at Li Jianhong’s face groggily. He runs his fingers over Li Jianhong’s profile, his lips, and leaning on Li Jianhong’s shoulder, he gradually falls asleep.

There is commotion outside; when Duan Ling opens his eyes again, it’s already morning. The noise startles him, and thinking it’s people hunting them down he asks, “What is it?”

“Nothing much.” Now that Duan Ling is awake, Li Jianhong gets up to wring out a towel to help him wash up.

Turmoil had descended upon Huaide overnight, with many retreating from the northeast road dragging their entire families with them. They’re all yelling, “The Mongols are coming!”

“Let’s go! Everyone, this way!”

Duan Ling has never seen anything like this before. He anxiously surveys Huaide’s main road outside the inn and finds it densely packed with refugees as far as his eyes can see. Duan Ling and his father are having noodles inside the inn, but Li Jianhong doesn’t seem phased at all by this unusual sight.

“Stay out!” The innkeeper looks rather displeased, making the waiter go outside to drive off the refugees; in times of chaos those without money can barely move an inch. Duan Ling glances outside from time to time, and finds a child about his own age with a much younger child, and looking dirty and dishevelled they make their way inside.

“Want some?” Duan Ling takes a flatbread, giving it to the older child. “Rest for a bit.”

“Outside! The lot of you, outside!” The waiter says.

Li Jianhong shoots the waiter a look. Just a look, and the waiter dares not speak again.

“I’ll take one for my little brother.” The child bows. “Thank you very much. Safe journey to you, sir.”

Duan Ling can’t help feeling a pang in his heart at the scene of them together. The child understands their social position though, and only takes up a little corner to feed his little brother flatbread.

Li Jianhong takes another piece of flatbread, pries it apart, and soaks in a bowl of mutton soup for Duan Ling.

“Where’d you come from?” Li Jianhong asks offhandedly.

“Huchang,” the child answers.

“Oh? Has the city been captured?” Li Jianhong asks.

“It won’t be long now.” The older child says, “The Mongols are coming, and everyone’s worried they’d massacre everyone in the city, so they’re all running to Shangjing. Could you give us some water please, guv’nor?”

Li Jianhong picks up the pot to pour tea, and gives the child a cup of tea. The child takes a few big gulps first before feeding it to his little brother.

“Where’s your mom and dad?” Duan Ling asks.

“We got separated.” The older child says, “If you’re heading north, can you ask around for us …”

“We’re heading east.” Li Jianhong says, “You need not worry. The Mongols haven’t made it here yet. Presumably your parents are okay.”

The older child gives him a nod. “Do be careful on your way east as well. Mongol troops are all over the mountains and the plains.”

“Let’s go.” Li Jianhong settles the bill for their food and lodgings, and leaves the inn with Duan Ling. They get on Wanlibenxiao, then going around the road they tear away from the village.

I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

Zhili was just the old name for Hebei, however that wasn’t its name until the Ming dynasty. Before that it just meant wherever the capital is. ↩︎

The Roads to Shu ran mostly up and down mountains. ↩︎

#相見歡 #fei tian ye xiang #joyful reunion #xiang jian huan #fox translates things

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