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ghost_valley2021-10-26 07:13 pm
rekishi) wrote in ghost_valley2021-10-26 07:13 pm
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[Tian Ya Ke (Re-)Readalong] Chapter 45-47, also a break
Hello!
Today it's:
Chapter 45 – Anticipation
Chapter 46 - Misfortune
Chapter 47 - Puppet
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
ZCL is actually The One. 😂 Poor boy. What's really interesting here is that we're seeing all the downsides of being extremely talented (and in this canon not quite bright, unfortunately). Since this story is told from the pov of the adults rather than the prodigy, it's quite a different story told than what we would see from the, say, 'typical' protagonist of that story. It's great, actually!
(Side note: In this canon, ZCL is his father's only son, rather than having brothers as he does in SHL. Huh.)
Those Nails. Srsly, ZZS, what have you done to yourself. I would ask what have you done to others, but he is one of very few who tortures himself for 4.5 years (recognizing it as torture, even). We also learn that the story so far has taken 1.5 years, so he's stood WKX' attempts at flirting for almost that long, which…. I'm not sure whether I feel more bad for ZZS for having to endure it or admire WKX for his sheer persistence when he gets so few results. Both? Both is probably best. Wow.
(ZZS has been wearing that mask around ZCL and WKX for at least a year. What.)
Overall, this is a very melancholy chapter: ZZS thinking about death and pondering whether these three years were worth it (especially now that he wants to live), ZCL dreaming about his dead family….wanting to forget them. Why does ZCL want to forget them in the first place? ZCL thinking back to the time he met ZZS and how alone he'd felt at the time, because to ZCL...ZZS is a good person. WKX finding ways to put his wants and needs into words.
(It hurts. It will never not hurt. Losing your family - of blood or of choice - will always hurt.)
This hits a lot of the story told in Qi Ye, interestingly, on the head: “Shifu, do you think that there are people who will kill others without any reason? I’ve thought a lot about it, is the reason why they want to kill my father because my father has done something evil?”
ZZS has killed…..a lot of people. Not always for good reasons, or the right reasons. For his (and HLY's) right reasons, perhaps, but objectively speaking, many of those people died for no good reason at all. TYK tells another story, tells the after of it, what happens to the people who do the killing who are also only people. It doesn't make excuses.
It doesn't turn even when WKX shows up. He gets his first look at the Nails, at how ravaged ZZS body is (wuxia physiology is wild, normal people would not be as good with physical activity if they were as skeletal as ZZS is described). What follows is one of my favourite quotes from the novel:
A while later, Wen Kexing finally asked, “I say, after spending so much effort all these years, I’ve finally found this one person that I have affinity with and is to my liking. Can you not die on me?”
There's so much wrapped up in that, about WKX and his life so far, about what he feels for and thinks of ZZS. Also about, in my opinion, reciprocity he feels coming from ZZS, because no one can be that persistent without at least something. It's so painful and so visceral… I love it so much.
Despite this heavy tone, I can't help but point out that ZCL vibes with every doctoral student every when he thinks he, in truth, had only wanted to open a dessert shop in the future, because I don't know anyone who got a doctorate and didn't think about this at least once.
We're really starting to dig into the meat of the story now, because by now pretty much everyone in the Wenzhou group (sidenote, where did JBY and WX head off to anyway?) around there knows who WKX is. Let's not forget that allegedly, Ghost Valley killed ZCL's parents and then WKX goes and asks ZCL if he thinks he is a good person. And ZCL just nods. Which…...yeah. (Also WKX tells a truth in the guise of a lie when he lays out his reasons for being in GV.)
So ZZS and ZCL fall into a pit and are confronted by a giant python. Yikes? Luckily(?) it's only a puppet snake, still seems pretty deadly. Just won't die of starvation in case not enough people fall into the pit.
It's hard to comment this chapter properly because it has a lot of fighting and walking around in the dark, actually. So we're leaving with...WKX to the rescue!
And unfortunately we're not just leaving with WKX coming to the rescue, I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger, because I'm taking an unscheduled break.
I realize it's a bit unfortunate to do this right before the end of volume 2, but I don't currently have the energy to sustain these posts on a weekly basis and read a novel in stages. I still hope to pick things back up eventually! I just need to drop this ball for now.
But if anyone wants to pick up from here or start from scratch or whatever, please feel free to do so. Thanks to everyone who audienced up to this point, it's been quite a ride!
Today it's:
Chapter 45 – Anticipation
Chapter 46 - Misfortune
Chapter 47 - Puppet
Chapter 45
- "A while later, he made a soft sound of surprise, and said, “This kid...unbelievably, his meridians are wider across than those of any ordinary person by nature. Could it be that he’s actually a wondrous talent?”
Zhou Zishu replied, “Indeed. I discovered it when I was helping him regulate his qi after he was injured by Enchanted Song’s shockwaves that time.”" - "Compared to before, the Three Autumn Nails of the Seven Acupunctures did not only hurt when they acted up now. The original sensation that felt like someone was using a small knife to rummage around in his chest appeared to have lessened, or it might have been that he had already grown numb to it. Conversely, there was a new, gradual sensation of something weighing down on his chest that caused his breath to stutter between exhalations, and it seemed to have grown more and more distinct over the past few days."
- "Death did not scare him--for the past twenty-odd years, it had not been easy for him to survive till today. All the techniques he had used to force Zhang Chengling to pick up gongfu were ones that he had suffered through when he was younger; he had suffered even more merciless ones, and he did not even have that child’s natural gift to stand that harshness without the slightest bit of damage. He had lived through so much, experienced so many events that he was unafraid of anyone or anything on this earth. If he was fearless in life, what was so terrifying about death? However, what agonised him were these three years, in which he had to count down the days as he awaited his death.
Chapter 46
- " Zhou Zishu took the chance to question, “So, what sin unforgivable by the heavens and commonfolk did the Valley Master commit back then, to have no other choice but to hide in the Ghost Valley?”
Wen Kexing did not mind his opportunistic interrogation, and simply replied unabashedly, “Me? I, naturally, was a more special case. I didn’t commit any crime, and simply entered it cluelessly. Until now, I don’t understand how such a good person as I am has coexisted with evil ghosts for so many years. I am truly the unsullied flower that remains pure despite having grown amidst mud, shining with a chaste beauty after clear water washes me clean.”"
ZCL is actually The One. 😂 Poor boy. What's really interesting here is that we're seeing all the downsides of being extremely talented (and in this canon not quite bright, unfortunately). Since this story is told from the pov of the adults rather than the prodigy, it's quite a different story told than what we would see from the, say, 'typical' protagonist of that story. It's great, actually!
(Side note: In this canon, ZCL is his father's only son, rather than having brothers as he does in SHL. Huh.)
Those Nails. Srsly, ZZS, what have you done to yourself. I would ask what have you done to others, but he is one of very few who tortures himself for 4.5 years (recognizing it as torture, even). We also learn that the story so far has taken 1.5 years, so he's stood WKX' attempts at flirting for almost that long, which…. I'm not sure whether I feel more bad for ZZS for having to endure it or admire WKX for his sheer persistence when he gets so few results. Both? Both is probably best. Wow.
(ZZS has been wearing that mask around ZCL and WKX for at least a year. What.)
Overall, this is a very melancholy chapter: ZZS thinking about death and pondering whether these three years were worth it (especially now that he wants to live), ZCL dreaming about his dead family….wanting to forget them. Why does ZCL want to forget them in the first place? ZCL thinking back to the time he met ZZS and how alone he'd felt at the time, because to ZCL...ZZS is a good person. WKX finding ways to put his wants and needs into words.
(It hurts. It will never not hurt. Losing your family - of blood or of choice - will always hurt.)
This hits a lot of the story told in Qi Ye, interestingly, on the head: “Shifu, do you think that there are people who will kill others without any reason? I’ve thought a lot about it, is the reason why they want to kill my father because my father has done something evil?”
ZZS has killed…..a lot of people. Not always for good reasons, or the right reasons. For his (and HLY's) right reasons, perhaps, but objectively speaking, many of those people died for no good reason at all. TYK tells another story, tells the after of it, what happens to the people who do the killing who are also only people. It doesn't make excuses.
It doesn't turn even when WKX shows up. He gets his first look at the Nails, at how ravaged ZZS body is (wuxia physiology is wild, normal people would not be as good with physical activity if they were as skeletal as ZZS is described). What follows is one of my favourite quotes from the novel:
A while later, Wen Kexing finally asked, “I say, after spending so much effort all these years, I’ve finally found this one person that I have affinity with and is to my liking. Can you not die on me?”
There's so much wrapped up in that, about WKX and his life so far, about what he feels for and thinks of ZZS. Also about, in my opinion, reciprocity he feels coming from ZZS, because no one can be that persistent without at least something. It's so painful and so visceral… I love it so much.
Despite this heavy tone, I can't help but point out that ZCL vibes with every doctoral student every when he thinks he, in truth, had only wanted to open a dessert shop in the future, because I don't know anyone who got a doctorate and didn't think about this at least once.
We're really starting to dig into the meat of the story now, because by now pretty much everyone in the Wenzhou group (sidenote, where did JBY and WX head off to anyway?) around there knows who WKX is. Let's not forget that allegedly, Ghost Valley killed ZCL's parents and then WKX goes and asks ZCL if he thinks he is a good person. And ZCL just nods. Which…...yeah. (Also WKX tells a truth in the guise of a lie when he lays out his reasons for being in GV.)
So ZZS and ZCL fall into a pit and are confronted by a giant python. Yikes? Luckily(?) it's only a puppet snake, still seems pretty deadly. Just won't die of starvation in case not enough people fall into the pit.
It's hard to comment this chapter properly because it has a lot of fighting and walking around in the dark, actually. So we're leaving with...WKX to the rescue!
And unfortunately we're not just leaving with WKX coming to the rescue, I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger, because I'm taking an unscheduled break.
I realize it's a bit unfortunate to do this right before the end of volume 2, but I don't currently have the energy to sustain these posts on a weekly basis and read a novel in stages. I still hope to pick things back up eventually! I just need to drop this ball for now.
But if anyone wants to pick up from here or start from scratch or whatever, please feel free to do so. Thanks to everyone who audienced up to this point, it's been quite a ride!
no subject
"Compared to before, the Three Autumn Nails of the Seven Acupunctures did not only hurt when they acted up now. The original sensation that felt like someone was using a small knife to rummage around in his chest appeared to have lessened, or it might have been that he had already grown numb to it. Conversely, there was a new, gradual sensation of something weighing down on his chest that caused his breath to stutter between exhalations, and it seemed to have grown more and more distinct over the past few days."
Ugh the nails are getting worse!
A while later, Wen Kexing finally asked, “I say, after spending so much effort all these years, I’ve finally found this one person that I have affinity with and is to my liking. Can you not die on me?”
This bit!
YBY continues to eat people out of house and home
" Zhou Zishu took the chance to question, “So, what sin unforgivable by the heavens and commonfolk did the Valley Master commit back then, to have no other choice but to hide in the Ghost Valley?”
Wen Kexing did not mind his opportunistic interrogation, and simply replied unabashedly, “Me? I, naturally, was a more special case. I didn’t commit any crime, and simply entered it cluelessly. Until now, I don’t understand how such a good person as I am has coexisted with evil ghosts for so many years. I am truly the unsullied flower that remains pure despite having grown amidst mud, shining with a chaste beauty after clear water washes me clean.”
I love their back and forth!
I'm a bit sad we don't get to see WKX and YBY bickering while stuck together (yet?)
WKX and ZZS finally reunite!