Seven of Swords: Betrayal, Deception, Hidden Adgendas
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“You’ve figured everything out?” Hua Cheng asked.
“Xie Lian nodded. “Pretty much. In fact, I should’ve figured this out a long time ago. [She] really is incredible. I’d often overthink it and dismiss my own suspicions, and I wound up overlooking the most straightforward possibility.”
im going through my screenshots from books 3 and 4 and i just really loved the extent to which hua cheng is just fucking around in the first part of book 4, and specifically this moment where he's apparently using shapeshifting as a sort of fidget
[Image Description: A grayscale illustration of Quan Yizhen from the fourth volume of the English edition of Heaven Official's Blessing. He's shown in profile running after Xie Lian's step litter, a small sparkle in front of his eye. End Description].
The English tgcf art isn't often my favorite, but I need everyone to see this Yizhen from volume 4 immediately
I--ok this is so cool. I'm losing my mind but this series has already had a few times of giving me cool ideas and then going in a completely different direction so I'm gonna try to hold off on my excitement for a bit until we get an explicit explanation of what's going on.
What I HOPE is happening is "Ming Yi" has been a clone or disguise of Black Water/He Xuan the whole time, playing a long game gathering info to enact payback for Wudu meddling in his fate.
What it COULD mean is that Black Water/He Xuan captured him (or worse) and took over his appearance and has been pretending to be him since around the time the Reverend came back to haunt Qingxuan. Or that Xie Lian is using those names just trying to get across that's who he's aligned with and that they can't trust him.
I hope it's the first one because can you IMAGINE THE POTENTIAL OF AN ENTIRE FRIENDSHIP BASED ON LIES? AND MING YI THE ENTIRE TIME SAYING THEY'RE NOT FRIENDS AND EVERYONE THINKING THAT'S JUST HIS PERSONALITY BECAUSE HE STILL GOES ALONG WITH QINGXUAN'S ANTICS SO CLEARLY THEY ARE FRIENDS BUT HE WAS JUST GETTING CLOSE TO HIM FOR HIS REVENGE PLOT
OH OH OH AND THE POSSIBILITY OF MING YI/HE XUAN GETTING CLOSE TO QINGXUAN JUST FOR THE PLOT BUT ENDS UP BEGRUDGINGLY ACTUALLY BECOMING FRIENDS WITH HIM BUT HE'S IN TOO DEEP EVEN IF IT HURTS QINGXUAN HE CAN'T JUST GIVE UP ON GETTING JUSTICE FOR WHAT CAUSED ALL THE PAIN AND STRIVE IN HIS LIFE AND TO THOSE AROUND HIM, EVEN IF IT FOREVER RUINS THE FRIENDSHIP HE FOUND WITH QINGXUAN
Ok I failed holding back the excitement but THE POSSIBILITIES, JUST THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES
So this is a bombshell in and of itself, of course, but what really gets my mind racing is remembering from book 2 when Xie Lian asked if Hong-er's fate could be changed, and was told it was impossible.
Because here we see that it IS possible, at the cost of someone else's fate. And we know someone who, between that time and the current day, has lost quite a bit of good fate and luck, whereas Hua Cheng has (for all that he's a ghost) become very successful and lucky.
I might be off-the-mark here, but I can imagine Xie Lian giving away his fate to help someone else's. And while i can't imagine Hua Cheng being okay with that, the wind master is proof that the recipient of this kind of gift doesnt have to consent.