ShortCircuit

The way he said "Thup" so softly. And I never would have bet that Thup will be the more aggressive one, LOL.

No jump scare this ep though. *sad*

The man's got style. He can't do it differently, it's in the Lan Clan 3000 rules set :D

"I want to do that with you everyday". - WWX.

Famous last words :D

Novel timeline - about a year after the Burial Mounds siege (because the remaining Wen people did not surrender, in the novel), XY takes his revenge on the Chang Clan (the clan leader had at one time caused his finger to be destroyed when he was a child), there's a clan conference about it, XY is caught and released by JGY. NMJ catches him at it, throws him off a stair and calls him "son of a whore". Two to three months later he was dead by a qi deviation.

The drama timeline is pretty much scrambled so much that it can't be easily seen - XXC, Song Lan and XY meet WWX and LWJ in their past lives (they do not, in the novel). NMJ is still alive at the Nightless City siege before WWX dies, just like in the novel, then soon (unreported when) LXC teaches JGY the mind-calming song, JGY gets access to the library and twists the music, NMJ eventually gets a qi deviation.

In the drama, the one who calls JGY son of a *** is a Nie individual whom JGY pretty much immediately kills, NMJ throws him out of the clan, he then becomes a hero at the end of the Sunshot Campaign (having presumably waited his time to get revenge on NMJ eventually, because NMJ sees through him) and the rest is the same.

There are a bit more details in the spin-off movie The Fatal Journey. There, the timeline of his death is about 2 months after he burns down NHS's art and fans.

Spiritual weapons always do that in xianxia :D

He's more at fault actually, than shown. But I'll leave that for you to discover :)

I know - he's frustratingly easy to love and try to defend for anything he does, even when he's wrong. I'm not saying he needs to be defended - just that he does do wrong once in a while and then has to deal with the mess he's caused. I love that in a character. He's only (drama/danmei/fictionally) human.

LOL, why does his hot blood get ahead - all kids are immortal (til they aren't anymore). He was in his immortal phase :D

Again, this needs a lot of context.

So, for one - arranged marriages in noble clans (in real history and in wuxia/xianxia) is the NORM. No matter how independent and willful he was, JZX WOULD have married YanLi if his parents had insisted. If he wanted it or not - didn't matter. Look at it from the other side - if this was the Jins insisting on the Jiangs to give them their daughter anyway no matter who she loved, they would have had to.

Because it's a marriage agreement, and it's pretty much as good as marriage (only missing the forms and rituals).

I am not trying to say he couldn't really love her, just that he acted like an obnoxious b!tch and wasn't entitled to do what he did just because she wasn't a cultivator. His own mother wasn't a cultivator. Most of the wifes of the clan leaders were not. Mme Yu was an exception, not the rule. So to reject her because she was not a cultivator, and "plain-looking" (or not as pretty as he would have liked - in the novel; not going to comment on how Xuan Lu is so pretty, because she IS, but the drama/novel said she was plain, LOL), and gallivanting around with a team of cheerleaders instead is not him being a rebel, it's him being a b!tch. Sorry, I'll stand on this hill til kingdom come, That YanLi was so in love she could look past his faults is not my problem, I'm a side judge of their situation.

Err, WWX is not bought and paid for just because he was taken in by JFM. Yes he was raised by the family, but he would have never inherited the clan leader's place. That was set apart for Jiang Cheng and there was basically no way WWX could have ever come in his place. Also, he did not directly cause them harm - and yes his actions eventually circled back to them being in danger but the Wens would have come anyway. Everything stemmed from WRH's ambition to rule all the clans and if there wasn't a WWX there would have been another reason or made up incident and they would have come and done the same as they did.

WWX himself realised that - in the snow Silent Room scene, he muses about how the world sometimes just needs a target and any reason will do. If it wasn't him, it would be another - and it was immediately proven when he was ~redeemed~ and JGY fell from grace at the same time. And nothing about it had anything to do with righteousness and the world recognising bravery and right or wrong.

RE: JC yes he is a complex character (one of my favourites TBH). He is impulsive and has an inferiority complex and feels unloved and at times he speaks before he thinks - but he was never more mature than WWX before the war. None of them were - they were almost children (15-16 when in school). All of them were basically consumed with dreams of being the top warrior, being admired and recognised by all, etc.

And TBH all of them are allowed to make mistakes - actually the story would've been bland if they were all perfect or rotten from the very beginning. That's why we all love character progress in a novel/drama, LOL.

Umm, no, JZX was a b!tch to YanLi about their arranged marriage. WWX is in the right. JC is being a little more diplomatic about it because (again) it's the whole clan on his name, but WWX is not a Jiang so he could speak freely.

First the marriage was arranged because JZX's mom and Mme Yu were the best of friends. But the Jiang Clan is a lot poorer (even before being destroyed by the Wen) and YanLi is NOT a cultivator. That's her worst aspect according to JZX. He always goes around with a gaggle of female Clan disciples, when nobody else does and the nickname "peacock" is hard-earned. He's a vain, stupid rich boy before the war. The fact she was a bit older than him and had only domestic qualities was a big no from him and he dragged the marriage for so long everybody was laughing at her for being side-lined. Rumours spread. The Jiang clan knew about his attitude.

Second, in the drama (at least) he rents that whole inn with no free places in the whole town left when the Jiang group has to go away and sleep outside the city because they forgot their invitation at the inn JZX chase them out of. He acted like he didn't even see YanLi, was curt, inhospitable - he didn't need to reject her so harshly and publicly. I wanted to slap him myself.

Third, the Jin (basically JZX and his dad) agree immediately to cutting off the agreement when WWX gets in trouble in Cloud Recesses, after that fight (again, because JZX and his group were impolite toward YanLi). They only wanted an excuse.

Fourth (and worst): during the war, when YanLi was stranded with her clan decimated, her brothers missing and her at the mercy of the Jin, she tried to help the only way she could - tending to the wounded, following the war camp, preparing meals for people INCLUDING JZX (though not exclusively for him). And she gave it to a hanger-on to present it to him particularly because there was no more engagement and she didn't want to press a closeness between them when he so clearly had rejected her, It wasn't even an one-time deal, that's what YanLi DOES, she makes soup, LOL. And what does he do?! Call her out on trying to "steal" the glory of working hard from his hanger-on, humiliate her in front of ALL THE CLANS there, tells her to remember her dignity - I SAW RED right there. YanLi's DIGNITY?? This girl who's keeping to herself in the worst time of her life, when even for civility's sake if not for old friendship one would do her the courtesy of giving her time to mourn, and she's STILL trying hard to help as she can - and he basically told her she's chasing him like a gold-digger and she has no dignity?!

It's a wonder WWX actually didn't kill him that time. If they were real people, (and I could have reached through the screen), I'd at least tried to beat him bloody, the bastard!!!!

She's a polite and quiet girl, well-mannered, soft-spoken, but she does have her steel spine (proof - her taking WWX's side when they slighted him in that Night Hunt). She knows what JZX is. He doesn't deserve her. It's just her bad luck she fell in love with him.

And I don't even buy his later redemption - yes he finally noticed she WAS worth all that, but I wonder would it have lasted. He wouldn't even interfere with the clans for his long-time friend MianMian. Would he have eventually fallen into his father's habits, as WWX and JC feared? There wasn't enough time to find out. But he had shown quite a lot of bad traits when a teen for me to trust him as an adult. Even if he now seems to have turned a page.

So yeah, I'm with WWX on this one.

As for WWX - HE IS TROUBLE, TM. It's because he COULD when he was a teen - he knew his limits (he's a hard drinker while LWJ is a lightweight - and don't forget he's not an alcoholic, LOL, they could use their cores to filter out toxins including alcohol. Just as LXC does :D)

I beg to differ as to JC being more mature in the beginning. Their difficulties are different - JC has to carry the whole clan and so he has to be political no matter what he truly wants, but WWX isn't so fettered - and I bet even if he were, he'd have found a way to do everything differently and according to his principles. Because "Attempt the impossible" - the Jiang Clan motto - is HIS motto.

I love that scene when he and JC are fighting and JC desperately tries to make him see he's already marked a pariah and there is no precedent for what he's doing and WWX calls back that "if there's no precedent, I'LL SET a precedent!" I love this character. *sigh*

I gave her a choice between this and Blossom and all the pretty really pricked her attention. She's only 6 in so far, she has a few more happy eps left, til she realises, it'll be too late. *cackling like old hags*

I don't really have a recovery drama, LOL for her, she'll have to suffer through. I can't even begin to think what would be a healing drama for her, either, I am so not really into picking comedies or something. And after all... what can seriously compare to FoF?!

After working on TL-ing it for my friend who isn't great with English (for TWO WEEKS, it's been occupying most of my free time) I'm happy to report that my friend is SMITTEN. She planned on watching one ep per day (because work and holidays and whatnot) and in this the second day she's watched 5 all at once and if it wasn't midnight around here she'd still be watching .

She also wants to get Yan An's phone number, I told her to get in line LOL. (Kidding, this is her first modern cdrama, it's been a shock for her. I'm absolutely basking in it, trying so hard not to tell her "I told you so" - well, I did tell her so a lot before, she never believed me.)

Now I need a plan for the meltdown to follow when she gets to the end LOL.

Chapter 1: Reincarnation

”REJOICE, Wei Wuxian is dead!”

This is how the novel starts, LOL. The original version is more faithful in that aspect :D

He dies in the first chapter (or is reported dead), then for 13 years nothing happens - people even guarded against him coming back, LOL - and then in chapter 2, he wakes up being kicked by MXY's thief of a cousin and it all goes on from there exactly like in the drama, until the first flashback.

Yeah, the extras to danmei novels usually get to show a lot of sexy times. Not that MXTX makes it too obvious (I'll tell you a secret, she doesn't really know how to write smut, LOL. But she tried.) It's usually not as clinical as MM fiction in the Western world, or even as in-the-open as some Japanese light-novels (definitely nowhere near yaoi manga levels). But it's there.

And then there ARE those danmei novels who CAN show it even while telling it and still make the story amazing. But little steps first, LOL.

The extras of any danmei novel (and MDZS is not an exception) is where the smut goes to live. Be warned, there is smut. A LOT of it. So I'd say, if you haven't read any danmei before, maybe still read the novel first then the extras.

The SE is the slimmed-down version. There are no extra scenes, just a few (not a lot) prolongued ones. Particularly the first time LWJ gets drunk, that's the only one that is seriously noticeably changed. And the final scenes re-arrangement is also noticeable. Otherwise no, it's pretty much the same with some details excluded.

Myself, I prefer the original (yes, including the ending, LOL).

LWJ never wanted the responsibility, LOL, the drama made him a leader because they wanted to sneak in that separation. He goes where he's needed and neverminds who's the boss (we all know he's the big boss LOL).

WWX post-MDZS is busy running around with the kids making them gather field experience points hahaha (and most of the times LWJ goes with them).

The quiet life is WWX's perfect imaginary wedded life. LWJ would rather be a lot more... energetic, so to speak :D

They do that in the extras, LOL. My favourite extra is From Dusk Til Dawn, where LWJ is basically a homemaker, waiting for WWX to come back from Night Hunting with the kids and Wen Ning (and giving Lan QiRen his daily stroke from anger, LOL), grading the students' homework (yes he gives them tests, hahaha~) while WWX brags about their adventures.

That's WWX's most fond wish - he wanted to live quietly with LWJ somewhere nobody knew them, with himself going out to work the fields and returning to LWJ's homemade dinner and clean and warm house (also in the extras, though hilariously in one of the most racier ones... because LWJ's dream life isn't as domestic at all :D)

All the juniors are flocking to WWX - he's the cool uncle who teaches them practical Night Hunting skills while also thinking out of the box. If that breaks any Lan Clan rules, weeeell~ It's been a while since he read them isn't it? :D

PS Ouyang ZhiZhen is also one of my favourite juniors - he's basically crushing so hard on WWX he's giving JingYi so many reasons to sass LOL.

Found out about Tu'er Shen, LOL?

TBH, the whole Yi Iron thing is only here, so I didn't really even pay all that much attention to it. The surname did raise an eyebrow, I wondered if they'd make him a legitimate heir to that ancestor, but it never went anywhere and the novel doesn't say anything either. It could be one of those homophones, though, when you say it the same but write it differently.

What's been established is that he takes WWX to be his senior (he even calls him ancestor very politely before trying to force his hand) in the demonic arts and looks up to him for... things he can't do.

And yes, the Yi City Arc - heartbreak. For ALL of them (including this bastard XY).

Doesn't matter, "someone" is afraid of bugs LOL. There's revenge upcoming, when you get to that BTS :D

Yup, that's the magic of danmei. All MXTX's works are like that, and TBH I later found a lot more that are so beautifully written.

But MDZS will always have a special place in my heart and on my bookshelves LOL.

THE PROPOSAL!~ Isn't it insane?! They LEFT IT IN. Were they blind?!

I approve, I 1000% approve of it :D

Are you reading the novel in parallel or getting ahead of the drama? Because those last few chapters go a bit differently (and no censorship, LOL).

Ah, don't worry, WWX is just as dumb as before so it's all wasted. Such is LWJ's life, LOL.