General Discussion

Well, I've finally been able to read all three of Mòxi?ng Tóngxiù's novels and dang, I could really see the progress of her writings from the first novel, SVSSS (Scum Villain Self Saving System) to the most recent complete one, TGCF (Tain Guan Ci Fu/ Heaven Official's Blessing).

I personally really, really love Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed). It was the only one of the three that I actively cried when I first watched it and even subsequent watches made me cry. Man, ep 11 hurts so much >.< I don't know how many times I've rewatched it because I just adore it so much!

But book 2 and 4 for TGCF was difficult to read. The raw emotional turmoil Xie Lian went through especially in the 4th book was especially heartbreaking. But the animation for the donghua is just gorgeous. The transitional scenes are a bit abrupt but the animation makes up for it ^^

SVSSS was... alright compared to the other two. It was the author's first book and the translations are a bit off (since it's a lot of internal dialogue and meta dialogue so it translates weirdly) but it was a short book. I'd never thought I'd like 3D animation but I weirdly like the 3D adaptation. It looks very final fantasy like.

What do you guys think of any of the three novels/shows/live action adaptations?

@StormCaleum
OH MAN can i friend you??? LOL i never have anyone to talk to about this stuff

im almost finished reading scumbag system and i already kinda miss LBH and SQQ their relationship is just really funny/cute/sometimes concerning to me. the animation is....interesting? i definitely don't hate it and SQQ is funny as always hahaha

haven't read MDZS but i watched the animation and a bit of the live action. The emotions i had....it really killed me uuuggh ;;; whyyy
and the little chibi shorts they have going on rn is just so freakin adorable

i haven't read or watched anything about heaven's blessing although i have heard of it. Would you say it's pretty similar to the writer's other works?

@KNK

Totally! I barely have any friends who are into MDZS/SVSSS/TGCF

Heaven Official's Blessing is more similar to MDZS than SVSSS in terms of writing style and plot/character wise. It's just a lot longer at 1.1 million words. MDZS was roughly 400k-500k words depending on if you read the little extra stories at the end. I'd def recommend Heaven Blessing, especially the book if you have the time. It's divided into 5 books with 1,3,5 in the present and 2,4 in the past regarding Xie Lian's backstory (which is really dark at some places) but a fun read over all.

I liked SVSSS but it was a bit of an odd read for me since it was the author's first book and you could really tell she was slowly evolving into her current style. LBH has some truly staggering abandonment issues. All through the book, my Yandere senses were tingling whenever I read the scenes with him in it after the Endless Abyss arc.

Oh gosh, MDZS killed me. It popped up in my recommended feed and I was like, huh, this kinda looks like the King's Avatar animation. I watched it in one night and have no regrets. Oh gosh, ep 11 was a killer. I emotionally relate to Jiang Cheng on a spiritual level with the parents that didn't love each other and the inferiority complex.

@StormCaleum
1.1 million words ???!!! jeez wth ;;; is it still ongoing or has it ended (you dont have to answer if theres spoilers or anything)

and yesss the yandere vibes are strong...but LBH is the only ive ever actually liked. i can totally see the similarities between their other works too. i appreciate how they haven't stopped writing villains that have more than the typical evil exterior. hard to hate when their backstories are so sad


also its kinda funny bc i had the opposite experience. i was watching MDZS and King's Avatar popped up for me as a rec by yt (good choice YT!!!). I also binged everything in a day or two XD i was NOT prepared for everything to end up so tragic tho...the lotus pier arc uuggh

Jiang Cheng is so so so misunderstood :,((( he lost everyone important to him just like WWX and just bc he doesn't want to show it to others doesn't mean we can't feel it....again with the emotionsss

everyone's just trying to do their best man T_T

also i listen to the ost of MDZS religiously...like its just so good??? wwx theme ahhh ;;;

@KNK

It's ended and completely translated ^^ I ended up binge -ing it in three or four days? Worth the eye strain afterwards :P

I'm not sure if you've finished Scum Villain but Zhuzhi Lang (Snake boi) reminds me so much of Wen Ning. Like, I would love to see those two interact awkwardly. They are both adorable cinnamon rolls that must be protected at all costs

I think Jiang Cheng is one of the most tragic characters in the series. I mean, WWX's story is tragic especially his slow fall from grace - from cultivation to demonic cultivation and all the actions that came from that. But Jiang Cheng literally has his entire life uprooted when WWX came into his life (from his dad favoring WWX, directing causing his mom to become more aggressive) to his entire sect - everything he'd ever known, the sect that he'd eventually take over - burnt down in a night because of WWX's actions. Not to mention the death of pretty much everyone in his fam save for WWX and his nephew, the one person other than WWX that he can trust. This constant dynamic between jiang Cheng and WWX hurts so much cuz at the beginning, they were brothers, the Twin Prides of Yunmeng. And over the course of the story, due to their different views and attitudes on life and other people, they slowly drift apart to the point of no return. And that's the saddest part to me >.<

I have only so far finished MDZS and boy was it a slippery slope.

"Who are all these pretty men a mutual is posting on Tumblr?"

-Search for source after a week-

-Watched The Untamed on Netflix-

-Watch the anime on Youtube-

-Currently up to date on the manga-

-About chapter 30 of the novel-

I started on the manga of Heaven's Official Blessing but am finding it a little hard to follow. I feel like I am missing things. I watched the first episode of Scumbag System but my heart was tired of Chinese censorship blocking the relationship part of the story so I feel like from now on I'll read the novel instead.

SVSSS is actually my fave out of the 3!
i know others generally prefer MDZS or TGCF, but SVSSS was a very fun read (^_^)
i especially loved the meta aspects of the story, and i loved most of the character dynamics! although tbh all the canon/implied ships aren't my thing (forever stuck in rarepair hell!!!!!!)
i love MXTX's stories but my biggest! grip! is female characters either don't get enough screentime/appreciation or end up getting killed off (-_-);;

@StormCaleum
i'd like to think there's still a part of jiang cheng that understands everything that happened is not solely wwx's fault and they're both just victims of circumstance...

obviously they can't get back to their past relationship and i can imagine that whenever jc sees wwx he can't help but recall those past painful memories but when you remember how close they used to be its just :,(((

@StormCaleum OH MY GOSH FELLOW MXTX FAN... I got into MDZS first from my boyfriend and while it was rather interesting I didn't really relate to any of the characters- TGCF on the other hand had me falling HARD for the hualian dynamic and I went through a really intense kin phase with both Hua Cheng and He Xuan, but I really love both series and CQL!! I live in Hong Kong so there's a pretty big fanbase for them here + lots of merch which I'm absolutely grateful for ;;v;; I just recently got hualian postcards + the mdzs art book [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/764718393898696746/781495033320439838/image0.jpg[/img]

@swanbrosia OMG The post cards look absolutely gorgeous! My eyes are blessed, my crops watered! I've heard about KFC in China (not sure if it was mainland or Hong Kong) and how they collaborated with TGCF to decorate their stores with Hualian, and even serve special foods/drinks based on them! Have you seen any of it in Hong Kong? The closest merch I have to any of MXTX are literally paintings I did of them :P I did two (technically three) pieces for TGCF as well but MDZS is still my absolute favourite. The casting for CQL was very well done especially for Xiao Zhan. I'm like, XZ is WWX, he embodied and played the part so well ^^ I ended up falling deep into the XZ fandom and (impatiently) watching the drama 'The Wolf' and waiting for the eng subtitles to drop since I'm illiterate in Chinese >.< [img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/06c7d38955634ecde5e65b62de888786/9b22bcc17a7ccbeb-84/s2048x3072/4206973b1f325e54e6db70e24ffa9c4caef237d3.jpg[/img] @KNK All I can think about was that one convo JC and WWX had where it was after JC got the Jiang Clan to rescue WWX from the Tortoise of Slaughter Cave, and his dad scolded him for his behavior, for not understanding the Jiang Sect's principles. When WWX was like 'Gusu Lan clan has its twin Jades but we're the Twin Prides of Yunmeng. I'll stick by your side as my father did to yours - till the end of the line.' And then EVERYTHING happened and I'm still not over how they never reconciled their relationship. I get it, it's totally in character and makes sense given the story progression and character arcs, but it doesn't make it hurt any less >.< @hexmancer SVSSS was the most recent one I read (I went from MDZS to TGCF to SVSSS) and it was a fun, fast, easy read compared to the word counts of the others. LBH is adorable but he's half yandere, half ??? so I'm like, should I read this character/ story as Yandere or focus more on SQQ's PoV? I totally agree with you with the female characters getting killed off >.< When Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli was killed off, I was just like 'You just killed off the last family WWX had' and I was just heartbroken when WQ/ WN and the entire clan of Wen in the Burial mountains were killed off in a heartbeat. It took 3 days of moping to continue on watching. @Lunartwist Agreed, MDZS was one slippery slope full of twists and heartbreak around every corner but it was one fun ride ^^ I haven't read the manga for TGCF (I've seen images from it and they look gorgeous!) but I'd recommend to read the translated novel for all the info, details and stuff that the Donghua, Manhua and (possible) live action adaptation, had to cut out for either censorship or time.