Reblog With One Creative Goal That You Would Like To Pursue In 2025 In The Tags

But ... that read is complete inane?? As in ... single-brain-cell level? It says explicitly in the text that while the Jin clan BUILT the watch towers, they are manned by members of several sects EACH?* Exactly BECAUSE Jin Guangyao doesn't want to recreate the supervisory offices? Trust me on re-reading I paid an inordinate amount of attention to everything Jin Guangyao does. This was a good thing for everyone (except people near Yi city, which by total coincidence *cough* had no watchtower near it).

And let's just say that this is a great point to prove how useful they were? Because shit like that didn't go down in other places that did have one.

*Exact words from 7 seas, volume 2, page 183: "These watchtowers were distributed in remote and impoverished lands, and every watch tower was allocated a number of sect disciples from various clans."

gonna be honest here chief a lot of "uhhhh Ackshually the watchtowers are Bad because xyz" does not read like you guys critically analyzing the text or even drawing from irl historical precedent.....but rather you guys seething and coping that jgy (the villain!!!!!! who is Bad!!!!!!!! excuse you!!!!!!!) dared do something that could possibly be described as having a positive impact on the world

Dye Their Flowers With My Blood - The Thunder and the Sunshine

How to cross a burnt bridge.

TGCF meets John Dowland

Okay, but this isn't the ultimate He Xuan song, I don't know any more.

Hello! Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to five other writers 🥰

Haha, this is fun:

Air (and the sequels): Because a massive ton of research went into my first ever hard sci-fi fic. That thing had so many comments on the original platform, too, but it no longer exists, which makes me a bit sad. (Star Trek, K/S)

Avenge the Living, Heal the Dead: Because I'm really, really proud of this one. There will be a sequel, too. (TGCF, Beefleaf and Hualian)

Counting Blurry Stars: Because it has what must be the most wholesome pair of greenflasgs in history. (Yuri!!! on Ice - it's marked incomplete, but I thought it was finished at the stage it's currently at, haha.)

Dye Their Flowers With My Blood: Because it's the fic my younger self would have loved: A redemption story for at least one of a group of villains. (Inuysha, but a Shichinintai fic.)

Tug-o-War: Because it took me ages and the thing fought back, but I love what it became. (Witcher x Chronicles of the Raven; several rare-pairs: Hirad/Ilkar, Thraun/Will [which I'll tell everyone who listens is canon], and Regis/Shani, which blindsided me a bit.)

I want the golden dice. I haven't tried Tactician and I don't have a guide. Yes, I know this is a bad idea and I'll need one eventually.

ANYWAY, meet Black Water, borrowed from Heaven Official's Blessing because Honour Mode needs a) pragmatic character and b) someone who can die and come back because I want to do this with one person.

In that vein, the first autosave is secured elsewhere. This is the only time I'm doing it, I just don't want to go back to character creation.

Let's see how this goes.

It's bloody 7 A.M. and I was not ready for this.

it just wasn’t meant to be

We found a book, but nothing to open it with.

We also met a bunch of chatty ogres, and I intend to ask them for help.

Why not.

Lae'zel is nervous.

At least someone is kind.

... Ouch.

I have fought and lost a small internal battle today. The result will be a Huaibao oneshot. I'm going to read through it tomorrow and send it to my beta as a surprise. Once it's back, I'll post it to Ao3. The name will be Nothing Sweeter Than His Peace.

Mini-fic or Prologue - who knows?!

Okay, I have drafted a prologue for the Xiyao fic I threatened earlier today. My friend likes it, so I took a second glance at it, smoothed out a few wrinkles, and now I'm throwing it here.

I have no idea if this can function because I have yet to read the books, so I can't tell for certain if I will use it all - and if I do, it might not be the prologue so much as part of a chapter, all of that is written in the stars. But since Ao3 doesn't allow placeholders (nor should it) and I don't know when I get to write the whole thing (although that I will write it certain), I'll at least put this fragment of questionable permanence here for the time being. I will announce when I post the actual fic to Ao3.

No Bonds Can Hold Me

‘Maintain your own discipline. Train your body and your mind. Store your inner wisdom deeply.’

Second nature. All of this was second nature to a man who had lived by these rules his entire life. Now discipline eluded him, his mind refused to focus on what mattered, and his inner wisdom was torn to shreds. There was almost nothing left of the man he had been … before. And if there was nothing left, what was the point of him? ‘Do not act impulsively.’ That rule had saved his life several times over recently. To what end? He had broken so many others: ‘Do not grieve in excess. Do not bully the weak. Do not associate with evil.’

Am I the evil? The voice that existed in his thoughts only perforated his meagre attempt at meditation again, stripping away another layer of his strength.

Seclusion had done nothing to erase the guilt and the pain and the grief, to silence this voice. It lived in his heart as constantly as its beating. It hadn’t helped compose his mind, hadn’t let him accept that what was done was done. Every time he started out asking himself, ‘How could I have acted any differently?’ the question quickly degraded into the much simpler and much more destructive, ‘How could I?!’ The blood on his hands and clothes was long gone, but he could still feel it sticking to his skin any time his eyes closed, could smell its cloying scent, so much, so much of it.

‘Be gentle and content in adversity.’

Slowly, Lan Xichen opened his eyes. It was, indeed, done, and yet he knew there was one path not yet taken. ‘Do not act impulsively. Do not fall to evil.’ But was an act he had chewed over time and time again for more hours than he could count impulsive? Was saving a soul evil?

He hadn’t allowed himself those thoughts at first, but now that he did, he felt calmer. ‘Have a strong will and anything can be achieved.’ His path was laid out before him and he would walk it openly and with determination. He needed help, and he wasn’t afraid to ask for it. Beg for it, if he had to.

‘Don’t be unreasonable.’ What was one more rule broken anyway?

The voice in his head that kept repeating his name like a broken mantra could only be assuaged by returning it to the real world. It was his fault that it had been silenced, so it had to be him that did all he could to restore it. (‘Uphold the value of justice.’) And if that proved impossible, he should earnestly consider following it into oblivion, the way he had been prepared to.

Lan Xichen stepped out into the darkness. (‘Venturing out at night is prohibited.’) He had tried to silence the call that only he could hear, but now he welcomed it, let it guide his steps and fuel his spirit. Lan Xichen, Lan Xichen … ‘Yes,’ he thought, conscious of the cool air surrounding him and the light breeze rustling his robes, ‘I still hear you. I’m not grieving for you. I’m coming for you.’

I'm reblogging this from you just to let you know you're no longer alone because ... Jin Guangyao.