Mo Dao Zu Shi - Blog Posts
Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husband (from Jin Guangyao)–3zun’s gonna run this town, tonight. ✌
Sorry I only have sketches and WIPs now ☹️
Everyone was so upset about my previous drawing with them that I decided to draw something less sad. I hope this one doesn't make you cry.
Tw: blood, decapitation
everything has changed
my three cats 🐈
a redraw of one of my older works! i lav these three sm
jiang cheng + protecting wei wuxian “You can also not worry about dogs in the future. I’ll help you chase them away.”
this clip was so novelwwx coded that I had to drag myself out of art-block to do this
MDZS Drinking Tropes 🍶🍺
remember to drink responsibly! :^)
Jiang Cheng, the magnus archives au
oh hello mysterious vengeful man with trust issues and a missing family
[SUPPLEMENTAL]
•He got that Michael Crew rizz
•Was this my excuse to drawing Jiang Cheng with lichtenberg scars? Perhaps.
•Why is his mother's ring in the intitute's artefact storage? OH THE MYSTERY THE SUSPENSE
•He was left to live the single parent life in this one as well and damn he really tries to keep Jin Ling out of trouble, but the kid just goes looking for it.
•He is once again hunting down wwx so he can explain to him wtf is going on.
•YES JIANG YANLI AND HER MAN ARE MISSING OK NOT DEAD
Wei Wuxian, the magnus archives au
going on a rampage stopping creppy rituals is usually his and lwj's date night
[SUPPLEMENTAL]
• He's once again on his bullshit of believing everything is his fault and that he needs to fix everything.
•He went into The Lonely because he was trying to run away from his problems, because he felt powerless and helpless in the face of powers and creatures he could't possibly comprehend. But he escaped The Lonely so that could face his problems head on with the man he loved, he doesn't want to run away from anything anymore...... except for Jiang Cheng of course, he'll keep running away from Jiang Cheng.
•He's trying so hard to gently reconnect with his nephew without coming across as a suspicious dude who just happens to care a lot about his and his friends safety.
•Little Apple is a skeleton horse from minecraft in this au, cuz cool bone horse
The problem with being a gay who can do math is that your brain starts mathing the math
MXTX’s tentative novel: Death Gods Don’t Get Rest Days
It’s a suspense novel set in modern times!
The first chapter hasn’t been uploaded yet, but there is a novel description
Translation of novel desc:
What do to if your boyfriend’s too bad
★ This name is tentative, the official novel name will be changed, sorry to trouble everyone m(_ _)m
• International Practice, 1V1, Shou POV, HE.
• Heads-up: Completely Fictitious
• Anthology series, master plot. In addition, it will definitely be revealed, everything will change before it is revealed.
Everything is possible!!!
Concept (of the novel): Concept to be supplemented
Tags: Supernatural, Match Made in Heaven, Modern (place unspecified), Suspense, Drama
Main Characters: Yan Yue, Qiu Chi
Supporting Characters: Murderer, Victim, Melon-Eater (aka the person who views on the sidelines and doesn’t do anything)
Others: Qiu Chi x Yan Yue
POV: Shou POV
You have questions! We might have answers.
What is this collection?
As Maria puts it: this collection is a critical look at some of the things that we, the editors, think have made CQL such a hit around the world. Of course, part of that success comes from the webnovel MDZS and the show CQL themselves—we love the characters, the mystery, and the drama, who doesn’t?! However, the authors in our book also look at topics like translating danmei (both officially and unofficially), adapting danmei for new audiences, and interacting with fandoms and fanworks. The larger argument of the book is that all of these things played a huge role in CQL’s visibility and success, and we wanted to start making those moving pieces visible, especially for audiences who mainly watched CQL in translation.
You keep using the word “academic”—what does that mean, exactly?
Maria: Ok, not to get pedantic here, but this actually touches on some things that I’m really excited about for the book. Traditionally, academic work is written by people who have a deep expertise in the subject (signified by having a PhD and doing specific kinds of research), and then the work itself is peer-reviewed (i.e., sent to other experts in the field for them to evaluate whether it’s sound, original, and interesting enough to publish, without knowing who wrote it). And both of these things are true about our book—our authors have deep knowledge and the book was peer reviewed—but also. We specifically asked for chapters from younger scholars and from fans who also have deep knowledge about topics that academia doesn’t always know or value enough, and we include an interview from the fan-translator K. who did the Exiled Rebels translation. So the hope is that: this book is academic, and also—more!
Who are you?
Yue studies adaptation, fantasy, and popular culture texts using a feminist lens. She wrote an early, influential article about danmei adaptations and also has a book about feminist adaptations of Chinese fantasy.
Maria studies fanworks, contemporary fantasy, and genre literature. She’s scrambling to finish her dissertation right now.
How were the chapter spotlights chosen?
Voluntarily! The concept of a small social media promo was kicked around by some of the contributors and those interested in the idea filled out a short interview with what they wanted to share. We'll be posting about 2 introductions and 2 spotlights a day for the next week or so!
Are you making any money off of royalties from this book?
LOL not even remotely
Where can I find this book?
You can find our listing on Peter Lang’s website here. As for other retailers, a quick search should turn us up!
How can I access this book if I cannot buy it from Peter Lang / [book retailer of choice]?
As collection editors and contributors who signed a legal agreement with Peter Lang, we have granted Peter Lang exclusive right and license to edit, adapt, publish, reproduce, distribute, display, and store our contributions, and we must cooperate fully with the Publisher if the Publisher believes a third party is infringing or is likely to infringe copyright in the contribution.
That being said, these are academic papers, which means that contributors may make copies of the contribution for classroom teaching use! (These copies may not be included in course pack material for onward sale by libraries and institutions). Of course, any linking, collection or aggregation of chapters from the same volume is strictly prohibited.
(FAQ may be updated periodically!) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 6
Part 6 of 6, page 383 - end
♥️
Chinese is so fun. 让他追在我后面跑 I think translates better to “make him run away, but I’ll be in front so he’ll be chasing behind me.”
More under the cut.
And that’s it! The whole story.
Thank you for reading with me.
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 5
Part 5 of 6, pages 343 - 375
Helllo again! I love these Extras.
Here are a few places where I got tripped up in my reading — all minor adjustments to vocabulary or word order or dumb clarification for my sake because something felt ambiguous in English:
They’re just melting it.
More under the cut.
Not that you need to learn more Chinese time-system / ordinal-ranking stuff, but here it is if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavenly_Stems
When I first read “bodies strewn across the ground” I freaked out thinking that I had somehow missed a MDZS Extra about some terrible massacre; then I realized that in Chinese, there is a nice distinction between flesh bodies that are probably living, 肉体, and corpses 尸体; whereas in English it’s all just “bodies.” 🙁
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 4
Part 4 of 6, pages 193 - 267
We are now in the Extras!
I’m just here to provide a little bit of cultural clarification (ex: what it means for a gentleman to use his mouth and not his hands, and No it’s not a scandalous sexy allusion) and context (not all cabbages are just cabbages). And maybe complain about the occasional word choice and commiserate over how hard it is to translate sentence structure (Chinese feels much more flexible to me than English).
I remember back in the Firefly days, when I had to tell an acquaintance that “Mei Mei” did not mean “sweetheart” and maybe don’t call her boyfriend that. Not in public, anyway.
More under the cut.
For more about cabbages and pigs: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/好白菜都讓豬拱了
Yes, you can find places where 面面相觑 translates as “dismay,” but it’s more like “I look at you, you look at me, both of our expressions are blank and helpless (and surprised):” “What is going on with our HGJ?” “I don’t know. Do you hear anything?” “No. You?” “No. Wha?”
I don’t know. Maybe it’s the long-leaved orchids portrayed in so many Chinese paintings; maybe it’s another plant that goes by a similar name. An image search of 兰草 in Chinese is only moderately helpful. Fill in your own best background flora.
Xue Yang is definitely at least a full-height teenager by this time.
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 3
Part 3 of 6, pages 133 - 190
More under the cut.
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 2
Part 2 of 6, pages 53 - 131
More annotations to help reading-flow! And another useless comment about another beautiful illustration.
JC is being disrespectful again, referring to LWJ as something akin to “that Lan guy.”
He is not talking to LWJ, but is instead complaining at Jin Ling.
More under the cut.
(Really? A GRE-vocab word here, where everything else is common-usage words?)
Yah… JGY isn’t supposed to have a right hand anymore by the time of this illustration…
As if LWJ would ever “call out” to anyone under less-than dire circumstances.
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 1
Part 1 of 6, pages 1 - 45
I finished it! All of the Seven Seas English translation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / MDZS / 魔道祖师！ I don’t know if I’m happy or sad. I think I need to listen to the ♥️Audio Drama♥️ again.
This volume flowed a lot more smoothly than Volume 4, but there are still a few places I tripped and had to look back at the Chinese. Here they are, plus an unhelpful comment about the inaccuracy of one of the beautiful illustrations:
More under the cut
Just in case anyone can’t remember the names of all the musical instruments.
This is a minor word-choice quibble, but here it is. I think LWJ limped, as he was not hobbled, just injured.
Re my note at the top of this page: I think it’s similar in Western culture (I know I’ve been steeped in xianxia maybe too deeply when I forget the culture that I’m actually living in), but in Chinese culture it’s especially important to greet people by name/title, especially when you first see them, and again when you separate. It’s a simple, sweet way to acknowledge that you see them and respect them and appreciate them and support them; if they need help with homework or with reaching a high shelf, you’re here to help; if you’re the one who gets help and gifts and tasty treats, then you’re showing that you appreciate everything about them (and you’re ready for more cookies).
Each time I walk into my house it’s like a game of hide-and-seek where I have to find each family member and declare my presence (and demand affection in return); and each time I leave I yell “I’m leaving!” from the door (because I’m late and must go quickly!) so that they know that I am no longer available to help, but I will miss them all and love them from afar.
The illustrations are gorgeous. I don’t know if they would be so gorgeous if JC was holding his little umbrella overhead, like in the text, but you must admit that it’s quite a flex that JC can beat up many people with Zidian while keeping his head and shoulders dry.
You all remember the family / martial-family nomenclature, right?
MDZS Masterlist.
All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 10, pages 310 - end
This is it! The last of the annotations for this volume!
Another exhortation to read @boat-full-of-lotus-pods’s translation, and yet more clarifications to make the reading more comprehensible.
Yes, please read
And some more notes under the cut:
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 9, pages 293 - 309
Here begin The Edits.
My understanding, gleaned almost exclusively from reading tumblr, is that there are at least 3 versions of MDZS:
1) Original serialized story, published as it was written.
2) Cleaned-up story after the story was all done.
(I think this is the version that got published in Taiwan.)
3) Censored version, the only one that you can easily find online these days.
(This is the version that the ♥️Audio Drama♥️ is based on!)
While it’s awesome that Seven Seas didn’t censor MDZS, it’s also very sad that they didn’t incorporate all the sweet extra little scenes and adorable lines that MXTX added when she had to brutally cut out all the blatant physical intimacy (😢 that must have hurt 😢).
Here’s what to add back in, folks!
⭐️ 1)
WWX: “What do you want to do next?” He just barely restrained himself from saying “Whose house are you going to wreck next?”
LWJ furrowed his brow slightly and corrected WWX: “We.”
WWX: “Ok, ok. We.” (As in, “What will we do next, together.”)
LWJ nodded his head, and he even gave WWX the jujubes again. WWX wiped them on his clothes and took a few bites, thinking about how, in the middle of the night, Hanguang Jun wants Yiling Laozu to disturb the peace and make mischief with him.
If word of this got out, it would be disastrous.
Much more below the cut:
⭐️ 2)
After a moment, he tilted his head and asked, “How is it?”
WWX: “Hmm? What? How is it? … Good! Very good. I gladly bow down to your superiority!”
These were true statements. Even though he was drunk, Hanguang Jun’s handwriting was, as usual, exceedingly proper; WWX was ashamed at his own inferiority (re: handwriting) (handwriting is a big thing in Chinese culture).
LWJ nodded his head, and passed Bichen to WWX.
WWX: “…?…”
LWJ again tried to pass Bichen to him, and WWX accepted. He looked at the wall and noticed how there was a lot of space after the words “Lan Wangji,” then understood.
LWJ was waiting for him to write his own name up there!
LWJ stared at WWX unrelentingly, and WWX finally couldn’t take it anymore, saying “Ok, ok, ok. I’m writing. I’m writing.”
Resigned to this action (this fate), in the space after “Gusu LWJ,” he wrote “Yunmeng WWX.” Now, both of their names were side by side on the wall.
“Gusu LWJ, Yunmeng WWX, travelled here!”
⭐️ 3)
The sect rules of Gusu Lan were so strict, there was no way LWJ had ever had so much wild, crazy fun when he was little.
⭐️ 4) (an entire scene of Drunk LWJ exerting his dominance over a dog for the sake of WWX)
“Woof woof woof arf arf arf!”
Suddenly, an torrent of barking exploded like firecrackers in WWX’s ears. He screamed and instinctively jumped on top of LWJ: “Lan Zhan, save me!”
This household raised dogs?
In actuality, in the middle of this quiet night, WWX’s awful hollering and howling was much more terrifying than any dog’s barking. He was scared out of his wits, but LWJ’s expression did not change, and with one hand he held WWX and patted him soothingly, with the other hand he held his sword, then leapt lightly to the top of the wall; and from that position of superior height he looked down upon the wicked dog, and with a cold expression seemed to engage in a confrontation with it.
WWX had all 4 limbs wrapped around LWJ and his face buried in LWJ’s neck. His whole body was stiff, paralyzed. He screamed, “Don’t confront it! Go! Let’s go! Lan Zhan, get me away from here! Aughghghgh!!!”
While WWX was madly crying, the dog, upon seeing LWJ, had tucked its tail between its legs, extended its tongue, lowered its head, and was splayed on the ground crying; it didn’t dare bark anymore.
LWJ saw that he had achieved complete victory, then gently patted WWX twice more, held him tightly, then leapt down from the wall.
They had walked quite a ways away and didn’t hear a single bark; only then did WWX peel himself off of LWJ’s body. His eyes stared straight forward and his legs still trembled. LWJ patted his shoulder, expression focused on WWX as if asking if he was ok. WWX hadn’t fully calmed down yet, and with some effort took a deep breath, casually praising LWJ as he did so: “Hanguang Jun, you really are extraordinarily brave. Unparalleled!”
Hearing this, LWJ seemed to smile.
The moment was fleeting, and WWX thought that perhaps he was just seeing things. He was stunned.
A moment later, he sighed, rubbed his chin, and smiled. “Lan Zhan, now you know to regret not going to Lianhua Wu with me back then, right? Wait! Where are you going?! Don’t just run off!”
⭐️ 5)
WWX couldn’t help but tug on LWJ’s forehead ribbon. “You even order me around now?”
⭐️ 6)
WWX despaired. He gritted his teeth and pretended like everything was fine: “I’ll just help you pour over the bath water, ok? And the rest you can do yourself.” As he spoke, he made to dodge away from LWJ; suddenly, LWJ reached out and ripped off his sash.
⭐️ 7)
Seeing him this way, WWX’s heart inexplicably softened; he also felt it to be funny (Chinese doesn’t require subjects in sentences, so I’m not sure if WWX finds LWJ funny or the situation laughable or both). This person really has been this way since he was little — the things he wants, he would never say in words, but he would fiercely pursue with his actions. So, then, WWX dragged LWJ back to the tub, saying “Ok, I’ll help you bathe. Come here.” In his heart, he thought, “I’ve lost. I admit defeat. Ok, I’ll help him scrub a little — nothing more.”
⭐️ Alright!!
From here, pages 298 - 310, the edits were so many but also so subtle that I can’t just write them in. Instead, I highly highly recommend that you read the translation done by @boat-full-of-lotus-pods :
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 8, pages 267 - 288
More little clarifications :)
The Appendix has a “Time” section, but I always forget what each time period is called, so I wrote the times in here.
下不为例 is an awesome phrase. Nearly-literally, it means “this is not setting an example for the future.” Formally speaking, I’d translate it as “Don’t take this as precedent.” Here, I felt that “Just this once” conveys the feeling of the message best.
(“There will be no next time” is what I threaten my children with when they severely mess up, which is not the case here.)
More under the cut.
Please don’t refer to bone-bits as crumbs. I eat cookie crumbs with a spoon. I smoosh bread crumbs together and pop them in my mouth like little biscuits. I live off brownie crumbs for breakfast.
No bone crumbs, please.
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 7, pages 236 - 266
More little clarifications and one little rant.
(Lan Wangji wouldn’t use that many words if he could help it :)
More below the cut.
Hold on. I appreciate the beautiful illustration, but you’re illustrating to me that Wen Qing, a trained doctor fully prepared to do a 30+ hour surgery, decided to just lay her patient out on the ground in the open? No tent, no table, no water? No reliable light source?
And where in the world is Jiang Cheng!?!?
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 6, pages 210 - 234
More anti-slang, and a couple more clarifications.
More under the cut
Ok, so. This is weird, not because it’s incorrect, but because it is correct (but I don’t like using the word “strumpet” here).
The direct translation of “满身风尘” is “whole body wind dust,” implying that you’ve been outside for quite some time and are probably tired and dirty, most probably because of travel -- travel fatigue. Makes sense.
But 风尘 also refers to when women are driven to prostitution, likely because society is unstable or dangerous (like in times of war)(or just when times are hard). 风尘女 is another way to say “prostitute.”
So now I’m not sure whether MXTX was trying to say “besides the fact that the woman looked travel-worn,…”; or if she was saying “besides the fact that the woman looked like a prostitute (who hadn’t worked in 11 years?)(and is in normal clothes?)(and isn’t trying to beguile any new customers, either?),…”; or if she’s just conveniently using a word/phrase that means both at the same time in Chinese.
I don’t know why the translators chose “boy.” The Chinese is 少年, which is pretty obviously “youth” or “young person” or even “teenager,” but is definitely not a child.
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 5, pages 174 - 208
And so begins my “Please No American Slang!” tirade, plus a few more grammatical / vocabulary changes to make the story flow more clearly.
The Chinese for this is super funny. I could totally see Jin Ling staring at his JiuJiu, staring so hard that JC felt the stare and looked over to see his teenage nephew absolutely googly-eyed as he tried to Jedi-mind-trick / wish his JiuJiu into saying something nice to him.
Jedi mind tricks don’t work on JC, of course. (Wishes don’t work on him, either.)
More below the cut:
MDZS Volume 4 Annotations
Part 4, pages 152 - 174
More notes on MDZS vol 4! A few anti-slang, and then a lot of clarifications of sentences or words that I felt were strange or misleading or not as precise as they could be.
More below the cut!
