The Thing I Think Some People Miss About Hua Cheng Because He Has This Whole Need To Be The Strongest

The thing I think some people miss about Hua Cheng because he has this whole need to be the strongest to protect Xie Lian thing is that he is perfectly content to let Xie Lian fight his own battles and beat people up. Hell he gets a little kick out if. Like I think some people think he’s got this step behind me kitten booktok boyfriend behaviour and he doesn’t. He is more than happy to let Xie Lian go full martial god and cheer from the sidelines because he thinks it’s hot (see the entire Ban Yue arc) like as long as the whatever the threat is won’t actually hurt Xie Lian or Xie Lian won’t hurt himself he will canonically just be in the back trying on pretty outfits for his geges entertainment offering him advice and support and watching him kick ass with heart eyes because that’s the guy he fell in love with. He adores Xie Lian martial side and thinks it’s very cool and sexy of him.

Tbh I think people should be more rabid about moshang. Like, talk about an artist falling in love with his creation, then upgrade it to infinity.

I mean, it is not like Shang Qinghua made Mobei-Jun and fell in love with him because he was so beautiful. Shang Qinghua designed Mobei-Jun to be what Shang Qinghua considered perfect. Every single flaw was included lovingly, every virtue, every inch of his body and face to be what Shang Qinghua found the most handsome, attractive. His ideal man. He made Mobei-Jun for himself, he made him with the intention to love him.

He told a history about a boy who was wronged, who had every ounce of kindness bleed out through a thousand cuts. Who took revenge on every single person who hurt him, even if by negligence. Made the whole world revolve around him, changed it to satisfy his readers.

And then made Mobei-Jun for himself. He made him silent, strong, mistrustful, arrogant, spoiled and beautiful and set him up for betrayal. Made his life tragic in that way authors do with their favorite characters.

(Luo Binghe was perfect in the eyes of the world. Shang Qinghua crafted Mobei-Jun to be perfect in his eyes.)

Can you imagine? If god made you solely with the intention to love you. Perfect in the eyes of god, literally.

And then Shang Qinghua became Mobei-Jun's servant. Mobei-Jun was both his King and his favorite creation. (As if god made himself a personal deity to worship.)

Their relationship was rocky (mountain sized rocks) for what amounts to decades. Shang Qinghua's perfect man was so incredibly flawed it made him near impossible to get along with, he was also destined to kill Shang Qinghua. And Shang Qinghua was far from perfect himself, he was also destined to stab Mobei-Jun in the back. What's more, Shang Qinghua wove those threads of fate himself.

(In the end none of that happened. But think about it.)

Even better, when put like that, Moshang sounds so poetic. And it could be!... If moshang was composed by anybody else other than Mobei "to get your man you need to beat him up at least three times a day" Jun and Shang "the best way to seduce someone is to be so pathetic and lame!" Qinghua.

Shang Qinghua is literally Mobei-Jun's creator but he's also his little minion going nice one, boss!, the LeFou to Mobei-Jun's Gaston. The sleazy car salesman to Mobei-Jun's Nepo baby CEO. The Connecticut Clark to his Malfina.

How, just how is it possible that I have to channel my inner truffle hog when sniffing around for moshang brainrot? Everybody should be losing black brain matter through their nostrils about them, and yet.

Okay, this could easily become Bingyuan if you consider it from Binghe's perspective. Starting at his head discipleship, Binghe had always been aware of Shen Yuan's distant admiration. Which kind of confused him? Because SY never acted on that admiration, unlike everybody else after they realized there was something to be gained from associating with him. But he supposed it made sense if Shen Yuan knew he couldn't get support in the first place (Binghe did feel a little bad about not protecting him from the abuse, didn't his mother raise him better? But the only person who couldn't easily fall out of Shen Qingqiu's favor is Ning Yingying, and it was made very clear early on that whoever consorted with Shen Yuan was doomed to his same fate). But that raised the question of why admire him at all? If Binghe were in his situation, he certainly wouldn't feel any admiration to someone who outright ignored his abuse, no matter how impressive they were (LBH was aslo aware of SY's sad? ...longing? looks but they were never outright hostile because SY cannot find it in himself to be truly hostile towards LBH). Cut to the Immortal Alliance Conference when everything is going to shit for Luo Binghe, and he's certainly going to be killed despite all his work in the sect when Shen Yuan is the one to stand up for Binghe. The only one. The person he's ignored and allowed to be abused for years? Yeah, that one. This certainly makes Luo Binghe have a paradigm shift, if not into outright love, then at least to 'a debt that cannot be easily paid back' feelings. He's going to be spending his time in the abyss thinking a lot about Shen Yuan to say the least.

As for how Shen Yuan gets out of that situation without being killed, ehhh maybe SQQ likes having him as a punching bag too much to get rid of him completely, or maybe YQY goes 'Alright, I draw the line at murdering innocent diciples.' Even still, things do get a lot worse for SY at the sect. Because of how he very publicly fucked up, his abuse becomes a lot more open then it already was, and also much worse. Maybe they start withholding a lot of meals from him, maybe the start sabotaging his cultivation even more to the point that it effects his health, idk. Then cut to the Jin Lan City arc, where Shen Yuan was brought for funsies or as a meat shield, who knows! (This also doesn't have to be Jin Lan City specifically but for simplicity let's say it is.) LBH finally comes back, Shen Yuan can't really find it in himself to care, and then the accusations on Shen Qingqiu are finally brought out. But then SQQ says that those crimes were all committed by Shen Yuan! Their faces look so similar, it would be easy to mistake one for the other, especially if multiple years had passed. And besides, that diciple had already been exposed for consorting with demons years ago! Surely it would be easier to believe that he would be capable of committing such heinous offenses instead of a well-regarded Peak Lord. (And despite Yue Qingyuan's and Shen Qingqiu's earlier misgivings about getting rid of SY, they're both on board this time because otherwise it's SQQ's ass.) After this, Shen Yuan sort of just... gives up. He could fight, but why bother? He knew this was coming for a long time, and he's just tired. While he's in the water prison, Luo Binghe breaks Shen Yuan out and they go on the run together. Thus begins the comfort part of the hurt/comfort where LBH makes SY lots of tasty meals and tries very hard to woo a very broken man.

au in which shen yuan got transmigrated as a kid, a few years before binghe's on the peak, and shen jiu sees this little guy who looks exactly like him, sharing a name with him, digging a hole desperate to get in- and is filled with incandescent rage.

just like with binghe, for shen jiu seeing a parallel of himself at his weakest makes him furious. he wants to smoosh this creature like a bug. he resolves to do the mature thing and ignore it and hope it will die of starvation when it fails to get into a sect; but then the worst imaginable thing happens.

Yue qingyuan tries to save it. Unacceptable. Yue qingyuan abandoned him as a child, and is now trying to rescue this creature? What's so special about Shen Yuan that he's earned the rescue Shen Jiu never received himself? What's so good about it? Shen Jiu can already tell that Yue Qingyuan will spoil it rotten on his peak, give him exactly the life of safety and support that Shen Jiu always secretly wanted and never got. So he claims the beast first.

In five years, when Lou Binghe arrives on the peak and is begrudingly accepted as Ning Yingying's newest shidi, Shen Jiu barely pays him any mind. He already has a little beast that he despises and takes out his frustrations on. Binghe's similarities to himself (And his perceived blessings that young Shen Jiu never got) pale in comparison to Shen Yuan's, and thus go entirely unnoticed.

Shen Yuan feels- complex, about it, because truthfully he's been holding out hope for Binghe to save him. If not in a protagonist's manner, then in the age-old method of a bully choosing a new target. instead...nothing changes.

Binghe doesn't interfere. He's a scared child who's just secure the better future he promised his mother he'd aim for before she died. He's got steady access to food and shelter, and he doesn't want to risk that. Shen Yuan can't blame him. But ah, as the years pass.... Binghe starts to rise in the peak. Without Jiu targeting him, his natural talents allow him many successes. More important, his skill at manipulation develops at a younger age- he knows how to win over his peers, how to appeal to the peak lord. He quickly becomes head disciple, respected and somewhat trusted.

He still doesn't save Shen Yuan. It's not that he joins in bullying him; that would be too OOC! Even Yuan would protest if something like that occurred! But he turns a blind eye to it all. When the other disciples steal his food, Binghe doesn't ensure he gets to eat. When the other disciples run him out to the woodshed, Binghe never demands they give him back his bed. He doesn't even bring Shen Yuan a blanket. To Binghe, it's like Shen Yuan doesn't exist at all. It's the only way Binghe can feel secure that it won't be him in such a position if he speaks up.

It's hard for Shen Yuan to not get a little resentful. Not just because- because of all his hopes he'd pinned, maybe, on the protagonist he'd admired so much saving him. Not just because it feels like he's taken on Binghe's suffering for him and an unwitting Binghe is ungrateful. (he knows this is a foolish thing to think, but it's how he feels regardless.) Not even just because Binghe is *head disciple* and that makes it literally his job to fix this sort of thing. But specifically, because if Binghe was the one suffering, there's a guarantee that at the end of this it would end. He'd get out from under Shen Qinqqiu's thumb and he'd go on to get his revenge and become a powerful and respected cultivator, and have lots of wives and lots of money and lots of food and a safe place to sleep... Shen Yuan is background fodder. He'll never amount to anything.

But he doesn't hate Binghe. He could never! He knows, deep down, that Binghe's just scared and he's adapted to survive this way and besides, Binghe is still really really cool. Shen Yuan likes getting to see how cool Binghe is up close, with his growth so unhampered. Binghe is amazing at fight, so clever in classes, an excellent musician already, a detective as clever as sherlock holmes on missions, a warrior without equal on monsterhunts. When he gets to see Binghe in action, as opposed to Binghe on the peak failing to save him- he can forgive anything, really.

Eventually Shen Yuan decides he's got to get out. He'll do the conference, try really hard, and see if he can transfer to another sect. Probably not, because his skills are awful; but even so he'll leave and become a rogue cultivator. It'll be hard, and he might starve, but anything is better than staying on the peak forever.

He assumed that Binghe, with all this unhindered skills-leveling, wouldn't get caught as a half-demon. Or that if he was, perhaps his relationship was close enough with the peak lord that it would spare him his fate from the novel. Instead- instead he sees exactly how it plays out. Binghe's control slips at the edge of the abyss, and the truth is revealed to the small group of disciples he was protecting (including shen yuan, for once!) and to a furious Shen Qingqiu.

The Peak Lord forced his head disciple to the edge of the cliff and goes to stab him through the heart.

Shen Yuan does something he'll regret, entirely on instinct: He tries to interfere. He tries to call out and save him. isn't this your respected head disciple? isn't binghe only here because he was trying to protect the disciples in his care?

It's pointless. Binghe still falls into the abyss. But it leaves shen yuan behind- already hated, already mistrusted, and now he's just defended a demonic spy who'd been hidden in their sect. His chances of living to see Binghe claw his way back out of the abyss are extremely low- at best, he'll see it through the bars of a cell at the water prison.

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au discussed with @slurmdog :)

i find the hc that shang qinghua's pre-transmigration name was also shang qinghua hilarious for multiple reasons. like first of all why would he do that. ur telling me his heehee inside joke self-insert oc was the fucking rat murder man???? the truest reflection of himself was some guy whose only personality trait was being a traitor??? and he made him serve his ideal man for like ~30 yrs before killing him off like it was nothing??? name a duo more iconic than a shitty porn writer and their unaddressed childhood drama that they deal with by making poor writing choices.

SECONDLY it is well established that the name in itself is a homonym for "attend tsinghua" which is fine and dandy for a one-off two-bit villain's name but is crazy to give to your own CHILD. like as shitty as airplane's parents were are you really telling me they looked at their newborn child, back when their marriage was still somewhat stable, and were like "let's give him the name "Goto Harvard." holy shit no wonder hes such a trainwreck, he was doomed from the start.

Go here:

Generate 1 Pokémon, doesn’t matter if you know anything about Pokémon or not

Based on looks + whatever knowledge you have about it, COULD YOU TAKE THIS POKÉMON IN A PHYSICAL FIGHT?

EA is a triple A gaming company worth billions. But BioWare? It's a subsidiary that is smaller than you think. (EA has about 13k employees, but BW has about 500).

Not pre-ordering or buying on the day of release isn't going to send a message to EA to improve its practices. It's only going to hurt BioWare and their remaining employees. (This isn't aimed at people who can't afford it, or don't like the game(s), or don't like what they've seen so far, or are very skeptical and want to hold off. I'm talking to people who are excited about the game and have the $60 to spare.)

Yes, there are things to criticize about BioWare and EA, I get it, I really do. What happened to Mary Kirby and those like her is awful. Fuck them for that, truly. The merchandise packages that don't include the game, kinda scummy. But if you don't take that as a sign that EA is pushing down, hard, on BioWare, then I don't know what to tell you. Do you think BioWare is somehow immune from EA's scrutiny? BioWare has two big misses in their recent history, after MEA and Anthem, they are on thin ice.

Will the game be buggy on release? Maybe. They do have a history of it. Hell, DAO is still buggy af, but we love it anyway. Will the game be bad? Possibly. There are story elements in each game that still piss me off to this day. It is a gamble, but if you like what you see and are excited, there is no reason not to support the franchise you love. Do you want more Dragon Age games? Do you want more Mass Effect games? If yes, then the best way to get more games is to buy this game.

The only thing that will happen if DATV sales suck, will be for EA to believe that Dragon Age games no longer sell and to nix or hold off on all future projects for it. By waiting for it to be on sale or pirating it, you could very well damn the future of BioWare and the DA franchise. You're not fucking up EA when you choose not to buy DATV, you are screwing BioWare, which is not the same as EA. BioWare can be dissolved, but EA won't. They won't care, EA will happily get rid of something that isn't making them money. EA is not gonna be hurt by DATV doing poorly in sales, they have their sports franchises that will always make them money. It will only hurt BioWare and the remaining developers. Do you like Weekes? Epler? Busche? Support them!

So if you are excited about Dragon Age: The Veilguard and want to see more Dragon Age games, don't let anyone convince you not to buy it, or pre-order it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing so. If you have the money and like what you see, I encourage you to buy it and show support for your favorite franchise.

(Those worried about the SAG-AFTRA strike, don't be, DATV isn't included in the strike. More here.)