Things I either forgot or didn’t notice on my first readthrough of TGCF volume 1 that I noticed on the re-read:
By the gods, this man does not want to be here. Xie Lian’s first idea of how to get rid of his debt is something to the effect of, “Would you pay me to get banished again?” He considers scrap-collecting to be better than ascension. I can’t fault him for thinking that either, because heaven sucks.
Every time this man talks in the communication array, it is profoundly awkward. Ling Wen straight-up tells him to stop info-dumping about random shit in there. (I fully believe this man has a touch of the ‘tism, because that is a big fucking mood.)
I’m convinced Xie Lian figured out Nan Feng and Fu Yao by the end of the first mission, because damn, they are not subtle.
This makes it even funnier when they start fighting in the temple and he says that “your generals wouldn’t behave like this”. Xie Lian, my man, that’s a blatant fucking lie. You grew up with these two idiots. You know this is exactly what they’re like.
I forgot that Xie Lian tripping on his way out of the sedan is actually intentional. I had it in my head that it was just him and his chronic bad luck.
I cannot overstate just how much of a touch-starved gay disaster Xie Lian is. He meets Hua Cheng on Mount Yujun and thinks about how gentle and romantic this strange and obviously dangerous man is. He meets San Lang on the ox cart and is immediately blown away by how handsome he is – he compares his beauty to the fucking sun. He later gets distracted just from seeing the bottom half of Hua Cheng’s face in the Sinner’s Pit. He’s just immediately smitten. What a dork (affectionate).
Nan Feng and Fu Yao’s reactions to the state of Puqi Shrine are a lot more heartbreaking on a re-read. On the initial read, I thought they were just shocked that an Upper Court official would willingly live in such conditions. Now I know there’s an element of self-blame (and in Mu Qing’s case, a little bit of schadenfreude).
I love the foreshadowing of Fu Yao being confused that Xie Lian knows about Fangxin but not the Four Calamities. And Xie Lian lying his arse off about why he knows, because it’s not like he can just say:
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The narration keeps mentioning how long and slender Hua Cheng’s legs are, so therefore I must ask: is Xie Lian a leg man? In this essay, I will-
Xie Lian thinking that, if he were the state preceptor of Banyue and therefore controlled the scorpion-snakes, he wouldn’t have let Kemo and the others catch him. Sure, Fangxin. Sure you wouldn’t.
“There’s no banquet in the world that doesn’t come to an end.” Hua Cheng sure likes to quote Xie Lian’s words back at him, huh?
My head cannon for Heavan Officials Blessing is that once things calm down Xie Lian remembers that Hua Cheng gave Shi Qingquan spiritual power to active the soul swap
XL: so uh when you lent Wind Master some spiritual power did you uhh do it in the uh usual way
HC *thinks about how everytime he’s given Yin Yu spiritual power by palming him in the forehead* “yeah the usual way, why do you ask”
XL: “…”
The Xie Lian has to figure out why the idea of HC and SX kissing bothers him so much. Eventually he just comes to terms with it and just decides that’s just how San Lang is and that he still loves him.
It’s not until YEARS later he sees HC thunk Yin Yu in the forehead that he realizes he has misunderstood what the “usual way” means.
Are all sports animes Gay or did I just watch the gayest ones? So far I’ve only watched Yuri on Ice and Sk8 the Infinity but they were both gayer than a lot of romance animes I watch 😅
Evolution of Steel! Did you know steel is just iron with a dash of carbon mixed into it? It’s literally just iron with 1% carbon, which magically makes it more durable
Additional steel headcanon. Elders being self-sacrificial since the rust damage is already beyond repair… ahh it’s bittersweet
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