Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 13 & 14

[china_shop]

Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong!

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions in the schedule posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

Chapter 13: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan untangle the truth about the past. Zhao Yunlan recaps the whole saga back to Shen Wei to verify his understanding. Shen Wei recounts his promise to guard the Seal and stay away from Kunlun, and he confesses that he orchestrated all the visions and other events (including Zhao Yunlan seeing him drawing his heart blood) so that Zhao Yunlan would stay with him and they could die (ie, cease to exist) together. Back at the flat, they start making out, then stop to talk about the blood-drinking. They decide to live together like mortals for the next few decades.
Chapter 14: Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi stake out a motorway off-ramp in the freezing cold and search a number of buses to look for a ghost's missing daughter. Chu Shuzhi calls Daqing to ask about Guo Changcheng's flame-coloured merits. Chu Shuzhi slaps a talisman on Changcheng to check he's human. Changcheng finds the missing girl, and Chu Shuzhi arrests the kidnapper.

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are chapters 92 to 94.

Excerpts:

1) Primordial Wei looked for Kunlun before they met
“Actually, the day of my birth should’ve been the first time I saw you. But you were standing too far away, unwilling to take even a single step closer to me—as though I were something filthy. My eyes hadn’t fully opened yet, so all I could see was the vague shadow of a green robe.”

Shen Wei shut his eyes. Gently, longingly, he rubbed his cheek against Zhao Yunlan’s hand. “But from birth, I was more ferocious than my brother. I had consumed more of our brethren than he had. At that point, I could already hear, and could vaguely understand, what you and Shennong were saying…so right from the beginning, I knew exactly what I was. Later, I searched the world for you, resisting the temptation of the flesh and blood of the living. I ate only the things that crawled out of the ground—other gui, which I felt were just as disgusting as I was.

“I searched for you because I desperately wanted to ask you what life is.” When he said this, Shen Wei felt Zhao Yunlan’s grip on him tighten. “But then when I finally met you at the edge of that grove, when you were about to climb up Penglai… As soon as I saw you, the words all died on my tongue.”



2) Wei's deal with Shennong
“Then I confined your primordial spirit and went down to the Reincarnation Cycle to plead with my enemy, Shennong,” Shen Wei said. “He was the only one I ever begged for anything… At that point, the Reincarnation Cycle already had its own order, and the Netherworld had just been established with its own set of rules. I begged him to let you into the Reincarnation Cycle like a mortal. That way, even though you would never remember me, you would still exist. But he wouldn’t do it. He said primordial gods could not enter the cycle because it was his own primordial spirit that was supporting it. It could accept all sorts of souls—humans, yao, gods, demons—but it would not be able to hold the true Mountain God…unless he sealed all your divine powers himself and washed your souls completely clean, turning you into a mortal. If he did that, Shennong’s own primordial spirit would fade away too…like exchanging one life for another. His life for yours.”

“What did you agree to that made him do that?”

“I swore to protect the Great Houtu Seal forever. As long as I existed, the Seal would exist too. If the Seal broke, then I would meet my death along with the rest of the gui.” Shen Wei’s fingers were ice cold. “And…for all of eternity, I could never see you again. If I couldn’t help myself, then I would drain your life force and you would die, your souls shattering into a million pieces.”


[There's an enormous chunk I desperately want to quote here, omg. *resists*]



3) Negotiating the blood drinking
“Hey, wait!” Zhao Yunlan grabbed Shen Wei’s hand. “I’m not drinking your blood.”

“It’s no worse than a mosquito bite to me.”

“That’s all well and good for you, but it’s nowhere near the same to me.” Zhao Yunlan pushed him off and tried to feel for the bedside light, but his arms were almost immediately pinned. Shen Wei’s tongue flicked over his Adam’s apple, and Zhao Yunlan panted quietly, unable to hold it in. “Stop messing around.”

“Even if I dug out my entire heart, I won’t die at once. I’d still survive longer than the Great Seal.” Shen Wei’s voice was terribly low. The scorching heat of his breath caressed Zhao Yunlan’s collar­bones with each word. “I did consider it at the time—would it be more effective to cut out my heart for you? But I was afraid you’d be too badly frightened, so I only let you see my blood being drawn.”

After a silence, Zhao Yunlan said dryly, “Thanks so much for remembering that I’m a scaredy-cat.”



4) Chu Shuzhi and Daqing on the phone
Lowering his voice, Chu Shuzhi quickly asked, “And you’re sure xiao-Guo is human?”

“Mmph. Of course he’s human,” Daqing said. “Wang Zheng even has a copy of his ID.”

“I want to find his proof of birth, the kind that says, ‘x year x month x day, a live male infant was born’—the kind you get from a hospital,” said Chu Shuzhi.

“Huh?” Daqing exclaimed. “Holy shit. Humans are such weirdos. They have something like that?!”



5) Changcheng takes being 'killed' surprisingly calmly
Guo Changcheng’s reaction time was always a little slow, but by this point he understood that his soul had just left his body. According to his understanding, “soul leaving body” was no different from “death”—which to him meant that Chu Shuzhi had nearly killed him with a talisman. He cowered back against the car door. “Ch-Chu-ge… W-what’s this about…?”

“Are you human?” Chu Shuzhi asked.

Guo Changcheng gaped at him, not at all sure if Chu Shuzhi was being literal or insulting.



Questions:

Do you understand the primordial past backstory now? Who comes off worst in this real version of events? How do you feel about Shen Wei going to these lengths to deceive Zhao Yunlan and guilt-trip him into staying with him? What does it mean that Zhao Yunlan called Shen Wei his husband, rather than wife? Would you prefer to be on a stakeout with Guo Changcheng or Chu Shuzhi? Do you have any thoughts about how moments in these chapters affected or were remixed in the drama adaptation?

(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the readalong!)

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Comments

[facethestrange]

"What does it mean that Zhao Yunlan called Shen Wei his husband, rather than wife?"

Hah, I actually wondered for a second what it meant too but I didn't get to any conclusions, I just know that I like it a lot better. :D

"Would you prefer to be on a stakeout with Guo Changcheng or Chu Shuzhi?"

Definitely GCC because he's a sweetheart, but also both of them + Daqing, for maximum chaos. xD :D

"There's an enormous chunk I desperately want to quote here, omg. *resists*"

Hah, relatable. :D :D (Though I don't think there's such thing as quoting too much. xD :D) Awesome excerpts, all of them, btw! ♡

Liveblog time. :D

"Kunlun-jun could only lean slightly forward and carefully support him."

Aw, just like Zhao Yunlan helping the apparition of Shennong carry the heavy basket. :)

"There was a passive-aggressive note in the noise Kunlun-jun made in response."

I find this line really funny, like, he's so ~angsty teen mode~ that he's not even using words and you can still tell he's being passive-aggressive. :P

"All life fears death, and one shouldn’t joke about it."

For how much Shen Wei dislikes Shennong, he sure agrees with 'no joking about death' a lot. :P

"But I should tell you that the Great Divine Tree has borne fruit. Only two fruits have ripened in the last century. I gave one to my furball and saved the other for you."

Aw, I entirely forgot that Daqing has extra immortality on top of being a yao? :D :D

“There will be hope, though.” As they were about to leave, Shennong took another long look at the gui, who carpeted the ground. “If life could spring forth from even this most barren of places, surely nothing remains impossible.”

AW OMG! ♡ This is the exact opposite of inauspicious.

"From the lowest to the highest among us, from the cradle to the grave, all we can do is instinctively consume and plunder."

SRSLY SHEN WEI, just look at yourself and at how much you CAN indeed do a lot of other things, the entire time. (And not only after becoming half-god.) OUCH.

"Zhao Yunlan slung an arm around him from behind. “C’mon, get to the point. Less of this bullshit.”

Through the embrace, his body heat flowed into Shen Wei. It felt like the first sip of warm porridge after being frozen to the very bone. It was enough to make one tremble."

'Less of this bullshit' is indeed what I just said, LOL, and also this is the the sweetest damn thing. ♡♡♡

"Gently, longingly, he rubbed his cheek against Zhao Yunlan’s hand."

AWWW. ♡

"Later, I searched the world for you, resisting the temptation of the flesh and blood of the living. I ate only the things that crawled out of the ground—other gui, which I felt were just as disgusting as I was."

Oooh, food issues continue - eating other gui was the BETTER option after all.

"Only the wu ignored it completely. In their hurry to claim a spot on the mountain, they offered neither respect nor worship."

I would love to know more about the wu than this, like, what were even their characteristics?

"Back then, I didn’t understand anything. I didn’t understand what they were fighting about. I just thought it was wasteful that you killed without eating."

Damn, bb!Wei's view on wars is a whole lot smarter and more sensible than the people's who are waging the wars just about anyone else's.

"No sooner had she spoken than Kunlun-jun felt the immense pressure crash down upon his shoulders. But he didn’t move an inch. Not even the King of the Gui behind him noticed anything wrong."

Hiding any kind of problem from each other goes way back with these two. :P

"Two voices spoke as one, as the young king by Kunlun-jun’s side and Shen Wei by Zhao Yunlan’s side opened their mouths at the same moment. To Zhao Yunlan’s ears, the youth’s bright, clear voice and the man’s richer, lower timbre formed a strange duet."

This is so cinematic and I can practically HEAR it. ♡

"As he heard the entire conversation at last, Zhao Yunlan finally understood how Shen Wei had cherry-picked from such a compassionate, lamenting speech and given it a completely different flavor."

Why tho? So that Zhao Yunlan wouldn't know that everyone actually felt quite bad for the gui and no one blamed them all that much? Shen Wei just really WANTS to feel bad about being a gui, doesn't he. (I mean, in that line from before, yeah, he kinda really does. "For the first time, Shen Wei realized that he felt a kind of pleasure in saying it aloud. It was the kind of enjoyment someone might feel when squeezing their own wound or cutting into their own flesh with a knife.") OUCH.

And it's not even the gui who screwed up the whole world, it's the fall of the Buzhou Mountain/the sky, and the remnants of the war?? Which only stopped because the sky fell, lol, otherwise it would continue to screw up the whole world even worse. The gui just ate some people, which is honestly very tame compared to everything else that is happening at the same time. :P

"The earth gently quaked, steadied by the Mountain-River Awl. The Reincarnation Dial atop the Three-Life Rock began to spin, and the Merit Brush floated above the Ancient Merit Tree."

This is so neat!! (And then there's the Guardian Lantern too. :D)

"My soul fire set the Place of Great Disrespect alight. Its flame spurred the gui out of the mud, yet I left them to their own devices rather than caring for them."

AW! He just inherently IS the person who adopts entire species, or at least wants to. :D ♡

"Kunlun’s primordial spirit left his body; the mighty mountain winds swept past the little King of the Gui, who was crying himself sick. Then they both went down to the Huangquan River to guard the gate of the Great Seal."

OH WEI, BB. At least they still had decades/centuries before Kunlun had to leave for real. ♡

"Oh, right, I wanted to ask. Legend says the two of them were a couple. Is that true or false?"

LOL, he really is interested in "the romantic relationships of the great ancient gods" (the joke line that got removed from a few chapters back and is not in the official version), and not just his own. xD :D :D

"Kunlun-jun had a stupid gluttonous cat that unknowingly licked some of Chiyou’s blood. That meant Kunlun-jun had to come out and return the favor, and he finally agreed."

I wondered what the 'favor' related to the blood drinking was the first time this was described, and I'm still wondering, lol, but now I think that 'the blood blessed Daqing in some way' is probably the answer.

"He wanted to obliterate all the gui. Shennong couldn’t believe that soulless beings could possibly exist in the world. Without a soul, how could one be considered alive?"

Wow, someone doesn't fit his definition of a living being -> destroy them. HARSH. Very realistic, but damn.

“I swore to protect the Great Houtu Seal forever. As long as I existed, the Seal would exist too. If the Seal broke, then I would meet my death along with the rest of the gui.” Shen Wei’s fingers were ice cold. “And…for all of eternity, I could never see you again. If I couldn’t help myself, then I would drain your life force and you would die, your souls shattering into a million pieces.”

Um, so 1) the life force drain is a part of the promise, not something inherent? 2) Shen San did die, but clearly Kunlun's souls didn't shatter because he's still fine? Is the entire 'SW is inherently harmful to ZYL' thing a scam?

"and all of it to make you feel too much guilt to ever leave me, to make you joyfully and wholeheartedly choose to die with me."

And this is where I kinda wish Zhu Hong was more wrong when she was dissing Shen Wei. :P ("Forcing you to be unable to leave him!" she blurted. "Forcing you to feel like you could never bear to give up on him, until he’s all you can see and nothing else matters!")

But of course there is no question for Zhao Yunlan that he WANTS to stay, even after he learns the truth, so there's no forcing involved in the end. But Zhu Hong knew pretty much literally nothing about anything and she still got this right somehow. xD

"Such a heavy heart, full of such heavy calculations…” He sighed. “You sure are hard to take care of. Come on, we’re going home."

They're so messed up but this is SO SOFT. ♡♡♡

"Shen Wei’s tongue flicked over his Adam’s apple, and Zhao Yunlan panted quietly, unable to hold it in."

Oooooof, this is a GOOD makeout scene. ♡♡♡

"I did consider it at the time—would it be more effective to cut out my heart for you? But I was afraid you’d be too badly frightened, so I only let you see my blood being drawn."

ALSO THIS. ♡__♡

"It was as if Shen Wei weighed thousands of kilograms, but Zhao Yunlan distinctly remembered picking him up before."

I'm mostly just ignoring the ending because (unlike these two, clearly xD) I really don't care who tops, but now I want to see Zhao Yunlan pick up Shen Wei. :D :D (And I'm wondering if it's an actual scene I forgot. :D)

"He thought to himself that there must be something wrong with Guo Changcheng; seeing how elated he was, Chu Shuzhi couldn’t help but rain on his parade."

I adore GCC for being ELATED that he gets to endlessly wait outside in the middle of the night in winter. :D :D And lol, Chu-ge complains and complains, and then does what Xiao Guo says. :P

"Guo Changcheng instantly blossomed from a frost-wilted eggplant to a freshly watered sunflower and eagerly ran after him."

How did they even manage to convey this exact extremely specific vibe in the drama, lol, the casting was A+++ at all times. :D ♡

"In the mornings and evenings, it was still below freezing outside, and spending time out there would quickly turn someone to ice. Under the circumstances, Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi had little choice but to stay huddled in the car."

Oh hey, they get to freeze together in the novel too, just a lot less dramatically. xD :D

"And yet he was covered in more merits than you could see through. Collecting that many should’ve required saving the world seven or eight times."

I'm amused that there is apparently some relatively specific number of merits you get for saving the world. xD

Daqing's dream of eating an entire whale is hilarious, good for him. :D Or bad for him, being woken up, lol.

"At this point, Sangzan was clearly aware that “slutterer” was a rude word. He’d completely stopped saying it ages ago…except with Daqing. Sangzan, the troublemaker, kept cheerfully saying it to the cat, and even managed to pronounce it more and more like “slut.”"

Bwahhhhhhhhh. ♡ I love that this is where this situation ended up, and that Daqing doesn't mind, I guess because he knows that deserves it. xD Sangzan's glee is adorable. :D

"Fuck off, old corpse,” Daqing grumbled. “Are you looking to die?"

I think he already died. :P :P

“Of course,” Daqing huffed. “Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple—I’ve seen all the colors of the rainbow. When you collect all seven, you can summon Shenron to perform the acrobatic trick of tying himself into a bow in midair.”

:D :D My favorite Daqing quote from my first read. :D

“I want to find his proof of birth, the kind that says, ‘x year x month x day, a live male infant was born’—the kind you get from a hospital,” said Chu Shuzhi.

“Huh?” Daqing exclaimed. “Holy shit. Humans are such weirdos. They have something like that?!”

Daqing has some fantastic lines in this chapter. :D :D

"According to his understanding, “soul leaving body” was no different from “death”—which to him meant that Chu Shuzhi had nearly killed him with a talisman."

D: The whole experience doesn't sound pleasant at all, even without this part where he doesn't understand what's happening. (He is indeed surprisingly calm about it, probably because he's so focused on his mission that he forgets to be fully terrified. :P)

"Then he recited his prepared lines about needing to inspect the passengers, much as though he were reporting the news."

I adore him and his anxious diligence. :D

"After that, he passed the phone to the girl as though it was the most natural thing in the world. “Your mom’s out of her mind with worry! She called me in the middle of the night and asked me to find you. Here, speak to her.”"

Aw, he's passing on dead people's messages to the living in the novel too, just in a different way. :D

[autodach]

How do you feel about Shen Wei going to these lengths to deceive Zhao Yunlan and guilt-trip him into staying with him?

He’s fucking insane, and damn lucky that so is Zhao Yunlan. I’m loving these two❤

What does it mean that Zhao Yunlan called Shen Wei his husband, rather than wife?

In Chinese, I’m pretty sure he refers to himself when he says husband here. The line is
但是我得振振夫綱 – "But I have to be a good husband", according to google translate.

He calls Shen Wei his wife several times, using both 內人/neiren (in chapter 53) and 老婆/laopo (every other time).
He calls him husband only once, in chapter 80, using 老公/laogong. Unless I missed something

I think he just says whatever feels right in the moment. A good approach!

[facethestrange]

"He’s fucking insane, and damn lucky that so is Zhao Yunlan."

:D :D TRUE FACTS. ♡

"In Chinese, I’m pretty sure he refers to himself when he says husband here. The line is
但是我得振振夫綱 – "But I have to be a good husband", according to google translate."

Oh, that's so interesting, thanks! I like that the official translation just randomly called Shen Wei a husband one extra time. xD ("Spending our lives together is a nice thought, but I need to lay down some rules for my husband.")

"內人/neiren (in chapter 53)"

This was such an A++ pun, one time I actively liked the wife thing. :D (And the official translation just said "partner" here because you can't make a pun like that in English. :P Vol 2, chapter 6 ftr.)

"He calls him husband only once, in chapter 80, using 老公/laogong."
And I totally didn't pay attention to that (vol 3, chapter 2), probably because I was distracted by Zhao Yunlan being wonderfully inappropriate while he does it, lol - thanks for pointing that out! :D

[trobadora]

"But I have to be a good husband", according to google translate.

I'm not caught up, so no further comments, but this is so weird - when I plug the Chinese into google translate, I get "But I have to reassure my husband", with alternate suggestions "But I need to assert my authority as a wife" and "But I need to keep my husband in line".

[autodach]

Weird indeed. I also just found I get different results when I select traditional vs. simplified Chinese in google tl.
For traditional, it gives me "I have to be a good husband". For simplified it gives me "I have to reassure my husband".
My version is traditional characters, so that's what I plugged in initially. But they really shouldn't be different, right???

Other translators give results along the lines of "I need to assert authority/take control of the household". I thought that was vaguely the same direction as "be a good husband", considering gender roles and all that.

[trobadora]

That is so strange, traditional and simplified shouldn't spit out different translations, WTF???

I thought that was vaguely the same direction as "be a good husband", considering gender roles and all that.

Huh, I thought the "take control of the household" was more in line with "I have to keep my husband in line" - i.e. taking the POV of the wife. But I now we're in very esoteric territory, talking about the nuances of already-dubious translations, LOL.

[autodach]

I'm so confused. Everything I believed about simplified Chinese was a lie XD
We are way above my pay grade tbh.
For what it's worth, I checked the fan tl, which rendered this passage as "I need to reclaim my position as the man of the household”.

[trobadora]

These translators are programmed very weirdly, I have no idea how this sort of thing happens!

Thanks for checking the fan translation, I'm so behind on everything and still haven't managed to read these chapters ...

[trobadora]

Catching up!

But I should tell you that the Great Divine Tree has borne fruit. Only two fruits have ripened in the last century. I gave one to my furball and saved the other for you.

Oh, that's so neat about Daqing, his longevity isn't just due to his cultivation!

"Ah, little Kunlun, you don't understand. If one doesn't die, doesn't perish, then one cannot become a god. Perhaps once we're all dead, you'll understand."

And there's that line again! Also, a question - does the "we" in "once we're all dead" encompass Kunlun, or not?

"If life could spring forth from even this most barren of places, surely nothing remains impossible."

Aw! The gui as a symbol of hope! I like that.

What kind of shitty life is this? I think you're just senile.

LOL, and Kunlun is also right, this is shitty and will remain shitty because of Evil Worldbuilding™!

I'm glad we have ZYL to explain Shennong's intentions, because so much of this goes right over my head.

"He couldn't create the Reincarnation Cycle because there is only emptiness in Chaos. The gui born from Chaos don't have souls."

What even is a soul in this context? It's even 魂魄 in Chinese, as in both hun and po. *baffled*

But very effective quoting/repetition of that warning about SW!

From the lowest to the highest among us, from the cradle to the grave, all we can do is instinctively consume and plunder. The craving for the freshest flesh and blood drives us.

Yeah, that's very obviously not true, SW! It wasn't true about you before Kunlun changed you, and it isn't true about Ghost Face now. (We don't see enough of any other gui to be able to tell, right?)

I became an anomaly-neither human nor god, neither devil nor ghost. In all the world, I alone was entirely unlike anything else in existence.

Damn, he needs a hug, or fifty.

Zhao Yunlan slung an arm around him from behind. "C'mon, get to the point. Less of this bullshit."

Yeah, I'm with ZYL on this!

Actually, the day of my birth should've been the first time I saw you. But you were standing too far away, unwilling to take even a single step closer to me-as though I were something filthy. My eyes hadn't fully opened yet, so all I could see was the vague shadow of a green robe.

:( :( :( He's projecting so much of his self-hatred on Kunlun! And it all comes down to what he took away from what he heard from Kunlun's and Shennong's conversation when he was born, ouch.

Later, I searched the world for you, resisting the temptation of the flesh and blood of the living. I ate only the things that crawled out of the ground-other gui, which I felt were just as disgusting as I was.

So he did resist his supposed nature right from the start! And double ouch for his self-hatred projected on his own kind. :(

Of the humans, the wu, and the yao, the mountain could hold only two.

So that part was true, and oof, Kunlun basically tricked the wu into dooming themselves. Which, Kunlun himself (and ZYL after him) has no ground to stand on when it comes to disrespecting gods, even if they're your benefactor. Not to mention how long it took for Kunlun himself to even listen to Chiyou begging for help.

Shen Wei suddenly stopped for a moment. "'Up to the Heavens.' I despise that phrase."

The Heavens suck, yeah.

From Kunlun Mountain to the peach blossom grove, and from the grove to Penglai Mountain, I watched you save people, slaughter gui that were feeding upon humans, and get dragged into the war between the different races. We gui had always viewed each other as things to be consumed. We had no sentiment for our own kind. Back then, I didn't understand anything. I didn't understand what they were fighting about. I just thought it was wasteful that you killed without eating.

Glad to hear Kunlun was actually trying to save some people there. But also, Xiao-Wei's self-hatred aside, him seeing the fighting and killing as wasteful and pointless says so much about his supposed destructive instincts, LOL.

But look. Every day that they are alive, they struggle fiercely for warmth, food, power, riches, love, another day to live-anything you can think of.

I don't see how that distinguishes humans from other beings ...

"I don't understand what you're saying." Two voices spoke as one

I'm pretty sure past!SW said "I don't understand" but present!SW is saying "I didn't understand", only Chinese has no tenses, and so it's the same words. *g*

And that effect of past-and-present overlapping, and Kunlun's words then coming from ZYL's mouth is so cool!

Its flame spurred the gui out of the mud, yet I left them to their own devices rather than caring for them. I decided all on my own whether the gui should live or die. It truly is a great sin.

Same as making that decision about the wu!

Kunlun's primordial spirit left his body; the mighty mountain winds swept past the little King of the Gui, who was crying himself sick. Then they both went down to the Huangquan River to guard the gate of the Great Seal.

Aha, so that's how that hangs together.

Your lies are all over the place, but there's a glimmer of truth in every direction. Trying to make sense of it is giving me a headache.

I FEEL YOU, ZYL!!!!!!!

And I really appreciate ZYL reciting the history again, so we can see the sequence of events, even though too much is still up in the air as to whether it happened as we saw it or not.

Kunlun, my past life, was a little dumbass with zero filter who was barely out of diapers

Kunlun-jun was the type who's too lazy to rotate the ring of flatbreads around his neck to eat the next one

Hee! I love the way ZYL talks about Kunlun. :D

also, Kunlun-jun had a stupid gluttonous cat that unknowingly licked some of Chiyou's blood. That meant Kunlun-jun had to come out and return the favor, and he finally agreed.

I'm still not sure how Daqing licking Chiyou's blood qualifies as a favour that has to be returned.

he unfortunately got caught in the crossfire when Gonggong carried out the world's first suicide bombing

LOLOLOL!

And ZYL is right that SW has a grudge against Shennong, but is he wrong? I think he's right and Shennong dropped the soul fire on purpose.

He wanted to obliterate all the gui. Shennong couldn't believe that soulless beings could possibly exist in the world. Without a soul, how could one be considered alive? But since he was the one responsible for the gui's existence, he couldn't escape the blame. He wanted to 'fix' his mistake.

That's so confusing since earlier (and NOT in one of the faked visions!) we saw Shennong say the gui were part of the natural order, and speak of them as a sign of hope. WTF.

Then I confined your primordial spirit

Right. So easily said! How the hell did Xiao-Wei do that?!

"I swore to protect the Great Houtu Seal forever. As long as I existed, the Seal would exist too. If the Seal broke, then I would meet my death along with the rest of the gui." Shen Wei's fingers were ice cold. "And...for all of eternity, I could never see you again. If I couldn't help myself, then I would drain your life force and you would die, your souls shattering into a million pieces."

Ouch ouch ouch!

Now that the Great Seal is almost broken, I'm at the end of my road.

So is he saying the Seal breaking is inevitable at this point? He only has a choice about how he dies?

I deliberately placed fake memories in the Great Divine Tree to mislead you; I let you see me extracting my own heart's blood for you; I left you so that you would come down to the Huangquan River to find me, then led you to see the edited version of memories in the Great Houtu Seal...and all of it to make you feel too much guilt to ever leave me, to make you joyfully and wholeheartedly choose to die with me.

Yeah, unfortunately that doesn't clarify a lot about what's real or fake, or even his reasons for changing some of the things he changed in the fake visions ... including the crucial blinded dragon that tipped ZYL off!

"Even now, even after you have seen through every lie, I'm still forcing you." Shen Wei's voice was very, very low. "Will you choose to die with me and return to Chaos for all eternity? Or would you rather I strip away your memories of this life, so that you would never know or remember me, leaving not a single thread of connection between us?"

I need more explanations here, tbh - I'm still not getting it. If the seal breaks, SW dies, and he wants ZYL to die with him, all right. But what's the alternative? If the seal breaks, wouldn't everything return to chaos anyway, ZYL included? *confused*

Zhao Yunlan reached out and gently stroked Shen Wei's hair. "Such a heavy heart, full of such heavy calculations..." He sighed. "You sure are hard to take care of. Come on, we're going home."

Awww! ♥

"Hey, wait!" Zhao Yunlan grabbed Shen Wei's hand. "I'm not drinking your blood."

I'm honestly not sure why exactly ZYL is so resistant about this.

He tightened his grip on Shen Wei's waist, moving to push him to the side and flip them over...and nothing happened.

LOLOLOL!

At this point, Sangzan was clearly aware that "slutterer" was a rude word. He'd completely stopped saying it ages ago...except with Daqing. Sangzan, the troublemaker, kept cheerfully saying it to the cat, and even managed to pronounce it more and more like "slut."

Hee! So great that Sangzan gets his revenge. :D

And so fascinating that Chu Shuzhi is only now starting to figure out some things about Xiao-Guo, and looking into it all. I have no idea what it means that GCC apparently has turbo-powered merits, but I'm sure we'll find out. *g*

"Are you human?" Chu Shuzhi asked.

Guo Changcheng gaped at him, not at all sure if Chu Shuzhi was being literal or insulting.

LOL!

"Your mom's out of her mind with worry! She called me in the middle of the night and asked me to find you. Here, speak to her."

It's so cool to me that this is where they got drama!GCC hearing the last wishes of the dead from! And the girl's dead mother looking out for her is similar to Li Qian's dead grandma looking out for her, too, right?

Incidentally, regarding the girl - there's something weird going on with her name.

According to chapter 12/91, her name is Cui Xiuyun 崔秀云. (This is the same cui as in her village's name, incidentally.) But in chapter 14/94, her mother calls her Cui-er - 翠儿, with a different character for Cui, as if that were her given name. There's clearly a mistake there. And the translation faithfully preserves this, but because it's all "cui" in pinyin, it now sounds like the girl's mother calls her by her surname for some reason. *g*

Do you understand the primordial past backstory now?

NO. *flails*

[trobadora]

Version comparison:

• The order of scenes is a bit different in the JJWXC version - the SW-and-ZYL scene is interrupted after SW tells ZYL to choose, and only continues after the CSZ-and-GCC scene.


• The JJWXC version has two sentences right at the start of chapter 93 that aren't in the official translation:

  This answer made both the Kunlun Jun from that side of the memory and the Zhao Yunlan on this end fall silent.
  
  Suddenly, it was no longer important whether that ball of fire was purposefully thrown down by Shennong.

• Official translation:

  "We are Chaos," he said. "Chaos that can walk and move through the world.

  Fan translation:

  There's really no one who can clearly say what the ghost race is, when all's said and done; perhaps we're just a mutation of chaos, merely chaos that can run and move and nothing more.

• A small but crucial difference where the official translation says:

  At that point, I could already hear, and could vaguely understand, what you and Shennong were saying...so right from the beginning, I knew exactly what I was.

  The JJWXC version/fan translation has:

  At that time I already had the ability to hear and could roughly understand what you and Shennong were talking about. That's why I am different from him. From the time I was born, I knew what I was.

• After ZYL says trying to make sense of everything is giving him a headache, the JJWXC version/fan translation has a section that's not in the official translation:

  Shen Wei shut his mouth. He felt as though he was waiting for Zhao Yunlan's determination of "I don't want to see you anymore", just that no matter how much he waited, it didn't come. It was like he was hanging on to the edge of a cliff by a blade of grass, not able to beg for life or death.
  
  Zhao Yunlan glanced at him and suddenly said: "Shen Wei, do you know what the most difficult thing in life actually is?"
  
  Shen Wei turned to look at him.
  
  "It's that I married an awkward bastard of a wife with too many thoughts in his head without being able to bring even one thought to light...Eh, in other words, sooner or later you will be overwhelmed by your endless ideas."
  
  Shen Wei: "... ..."
  
  Zhao Yunlan: "That's right I'm talking about you. Right now I'm completely confused."
  
  Shen Wei seemed to hear a hint in these words although he didn't dare to confirm it. He fiercely looked towards Zhao Yunlan's eyes, his gaze immediately becoming so bright it was piercing: "And so?"
  
  Zhao Yunlan had long been trained by Shen Wei into a conditioned reflex. As long as Shen Wei was even a little bit sad, he would exhaust all efforts to coax him; however, if Shen Wei displayed a slight bit of maladaptive pressure and aggression, Zhao Yunlan would feel awful and would be unable to stop himself from trying to tease him, idly poke fun of him for a little.
  
  So Zhao Yunlan reached out and rubbed his own chin, displaying a serious expression as if he was a wolf with a big tail (t/n: a phrase used to satirize authoritative figures): "So? What happens between us will be based on the foundations of you receiving leniency for confessing. Comrade Shen Wei, all who want to play tricks on the masses will eventually be submerged by the waves from the masses revolting, do you understand?"
  
  Shen Wei's lips moved a little, but in the end he wasn't able to say anything-he probably already lost the ability he had when he was young to be able to straightforwardly express how he was feeling.



• When ZYL talks about Nüwa foreseeing humans bringing about a great war due to their contamination with the three worms:

  Zhao Yunlan paused: "Then that pretty lady had a case of persecution paranoia?"
  
  Shen Wei was not used to his casual manner. He was silent for a while but then felt that he wasn't wrong.



• In the JJWXC version/fan translation, the GCC section starts with:

  While Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan were at the foot of Mount Penglai in Shen Wei's memories, Wang Zheng and Sang Zan came up empty handed and called No. 4 Bright Avenue. Wang Zheng probably subconsciously felt that it wasn't a big deal for the Soul Slayer and their leader to be together and so in a light tone reassured everyone.



• The section about GCC's merits is slightly different in the fan translation:

  Guo Changcheng was not that old this year yet the merits on his body were so thick you couldn't see past it, like PM2.5 (t/n air quality number). Old monks who have given up worldly matters all their lives may not even be able to accumulate merit this thick. Unless it's like Da Qing said, he did everything in secret and didn't let others find out. Due to him not seeking rewards, the merits doubled...but even if it was like this, Guo Changcheng would have had to have helped old ladies cross the road every morning, noon, and evening.

• GCC's reaction when CSZ asks him if he's human is also different:

  Guo Changcheng looked at him, staring without knowing what to say. He didn't know what kind of question that was, feeling as though he did something so horrible, so unreasonable and unacceptable by the world to the point where someone would yell at him and say he's "not human". But after mentally recounting in detail for a moment, he realized that did not occur at all. Surely, he couldn't have committed crimes in his dreams?

• At the end of the GCC-and-CSZ scene, the JJWXC version/fan translation leads back to the SW-and-ZYL scene with the following transition:

  Fire light....
  
  In spite of Da Qing having mentioned before that that was the great merit from heaven when Nuwa created man, Chu Shuzhi couldn't help having some negative thoughts. He finally couldn't hold back any longer and pulled out his phone, dialing Zhao Yunlan's phone number again-- Chu Shuzhi already called it a few times when he was waiting in the car for Guo Changcheng. Those few times were all "in an out of service area", but only this time, that turned into "phone has been turned off".
  
  Did this mean Zhao Yunlan had already returned?
  
  Chu Shuzhi couldn't resist lighting a cigarette, and felt as though he had become softer. As soon as he thought of this, he suddenly had a bit of an idea.
  
  On this night, they guarded the entrance of the highway until 4:30AM, virtually pulling an all-nighter. In Shen Wei's memories, Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan also wandered the whole night.

• The very end of the SW-and-ZYL scene has one more sentence in the JJWXC version/fan translation:

  It could be said that the moral of this story was, despite being covered in sheep's skin-even if the sheep's skin was capable of blushing-it still couldn't change the fact that he was intrinsically a wolf.

[trobadora]

I just know that I like it a lot better. :D

You and me both! I'm really not fond of the "wife" thing (when it's not a pun).

For how much Shen Wei dislikes Shennong, he sure agrees with 'no joking about death' a lot. :P

LOL, I hadn't even thought about that, but you're totally right!

I would love to know more about the wu than this, like, what were even their characteristics?

巫 wu means witch or shaman, but I have no idea what that means in terms of a separate species of being. I'm more used to it being applied to humans.

Damn, bb!Wei's view on wars is a whole lot smarter and more sensible

*high fives* My thoughts exactly!

Hiding any kind of problem from each other goes way back with these two. :P

Haha, oh dear, you're not wrong.

Why tho? So that Zhao Yunlan wouldn't know that everyone actually felt quite bad for the gui and no one blamed them all that much?

I have so many questions about SW's edits to the truth! So many of them are baffling to me.

LOL, he really is interested in "the romantic relationships of the great ancient gods" (the joke line that got removed from a few chapters back and is not in the official version), and not just his own. xD :D :D

OMG, he totally is! LOL!

I wondered what the 'favor' related to the blood drinking was the first time this was described, and I'm still wondering, lol, but now I think that 'the blood blessed Daqing in some way' is probably the answer.

Oh, that's a cool idea, that may be it!

“I swore to protect the Great Houtu Seal forever. As long as I existed, the Seal would exist too. If the Seal broke, then I would meet my death along with the rest of the gui.” Shen Wei’s fingers were ice cold. “And…for all of eternity, I could never see you again. If I couldn’t help myself, then I would drain your life force and you would die, your souls shattering into a million pieces.”

Um, so 1) the life force drain is a part of the promise, not something inherent?

Huh, I didn't think that was the case, and I still don't think it is, but it sure does sound in this passage as if that were part of the deal he made with Shennong! How bizarre.

2) Shen San did die, but clearly Kunlun's souls didn't shatter because he's still fine? Is the entire 'SW is inherently harmful to ZYL' thing a scam?

I grow more confused by the moment, LOL!

"It was as if Shen Wei weighed thousands of kilograms, but Zhao Yunlan distinctly remembered picking him up before."

And I'm wondering if it's an actual scene I forgot.

I don't remember either, but I thought it must be!

[china_shop]

What even is a soul in this context?

A part of them that can reincarnate? /random guess

Yeah, that's very obviously not true, SW! It wasn't true about you before Kunlun changed you, and it isn't true about Ghost Face now. (We don't see enough of any other gui to be able to tell, right?)

But we know SW and Ghost Face are special / not like other gui. Is it wrong for SW to identify with the other gui, then, do you think?

> > Kunlun's primordial spirit left his body; the mighty mountain winds swept past the little King of the Gui, who was crying himself sick. Then they both went down to the Huangquan River to guard the gate of the Great Seal. > Aha, so that's how that hangs together.

Yeah, but it's weird how in the Seal vision, Kunlun treats Shen Wei like a stranger (and in some ways, like a random gui who's trying to escape the Seal) -- after they've been travelling around together and everything??

I'm still not sure how Daqing licking Chiyou's blood qualifies as a favour that has to be returned.

I think it's the combination of the kowtowing and Daqing calling attention to it by licking the blood? Kunlun couldn't just pretend to ignore it? Unfortunately, the god kneeling and kowtowing up the mountain every step of the way like he was worshiping heaven and earth was just a little too much, and also, Kunlun-jun had a stupid gluttonous cat that unknowingly licked some of Chiyou’s blood. That meant Kunlun-jun had to come out and return the favor, and he finally agreed.

including the crucial blinded dragon that tipped ZYL off!

Was he deliberately tipping ZYL off? I've lost track, LOL.

I'm honestly not sure why exactly ZYL is so resistant about this.

Idk, I totally get why this would be a hard DNW. Especially since can he even trust SW to say if it hurts him or not? Of course SW's going to downplay the cost to him. (But even if not, I think DNWing blood-drinking is completely fair. ;-p)

[facethestrange]

"巫 wu means witch or shaman, but I have no idea what that means in terms of a separate species of being. I'm more used to it being applied to humans."

Oh, very cool, thank you! :D But yeah, to be a separate species they also need to have some biolgical characteristics, not just a 'function' (and a pretty unclear function at that). We don't even know if they're humanoid - but probably not, since they're grouped with the yao so much.

"I have so many questions about SW's edits to the truth! So many of them are baffling to me."

Same! I really want to know how and why he decided what had to be edited, so that I can marvel at his wonderfully messed up thought processes, but that's the difference between 'this makes sense to Shen Wei and absolutely no one else' and 'idk why this makes sense even to Shen Wei'. :P

"Huh, I didn't think that was the case, and I still don't think it is, but it sure does sound in this passage as if that were part of the deal he made with Shennong! How bizarre."

I'm having many, many thoughts and questions about this now!

Is it ever indicated anywhere that Shen Wei's presence is harmful to any other humans? (Shen Wei's presence specifically, not any of the 'the gui will always drain the living' stuff, which is always part of some ancient myth or some straight-up lie or some 'of course everyone knows that' factoid. It's never anything tangible.)

He doesn't seem to be worried at all about sitting all day in a car and sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of humans during the road trip. Which obviously may be because it's not long enough. But he also doesn't seem to be worried at all about the people he teaches and works with - which obviously may be because they are physically farther away, but they do spend time with him in the same room every day for many years. He also learned how to drive (and the driving instructor is presumably fine) and probably did many other one-on-one close-quarters activities in his human life.

It's not the sex (even though that's around the time where the illness seems to start for Zhao Yunlan) because for Shen San it started a lot earlier, and it's unclear if they even ended up having sex at all before his death.

So if the physical proximity of a gui is not what kills people by default after all, does it really only affect Kunlun's reincarnations? And if so, is it because of the feelings Shen Wei has for him (which would make some sense - it's all magic after all, and he doesn't have feelings for any other human), or is it because he's cursed to specifically affect him (which would make even more sense if it was part of the deal and Shennong is an asshole)?

[china_shop]

The JJWXC version has two sentences right at the start of chapter 93 that aren't in the official translation:

Interesting that he has so little time for Shennong, but he takes his word for it regarding the place of the gui in the natural order (if that's where this fits?).

Zhao Yunlan glanced at him and suddenly said: "Shen Wei, do you know what the most difficult thing in life actually is?"

Shen Wei turned to look at him.

"It's that I married an awkward bastard of a wife with too many thoughts in his head without being able to bring even one thought to light.

LOL!

Guo Changcheng was not that old this year yet the merits on his body were so thick you couldn't see past it, like PM2.5

Hee!

Thanks so much for these! <3 <3 <3

[china_shop]

He’s fucking insane, and damn lucky that so is Zhao Yunlan.

Haha, so true! :D

Thanks so much for all the wife/husband references. <3

[china_shop]

does it really only affect Kunlun's reincarnations? And if so, is it because of the feelings Shen Wei has for him (which would make some sense - it's all magic after all, and he doesn't have feelings for any other human), or is it because he's cursed to specifically affect him (which would make even more sense if it was part of the deal and Shennong is an asshole)?

Or is it because there's something particular about Kunlun's soul / Zhao Yunlan. Maybe gui and gods are particularly unmixy things, and ZYL is juuuuust enough still a god that it's a problem? Wasn't there something about having to clean his soul so it could enter the reincarnation cycle? *digs around*

I begged him to let you into the Reincarnation Cycle like a mortal. That way, even though you would never remember me, you would still exist . But he wouldn’t do it. He said primordial gods could not enter the cycle because it was his own primordial spirit that was supporting it. It could accept all sorts of souls—humans, yao, gods, demons—but it would not be able to hold the true Mountain God…unless he sealed all your divine powers himself and washed your souls completely clean, turning you into a mortal.

So that could be why?

[facethestrange]

Ooooh, good thought!! So this would also make it part of the deal, but not intentionally assholish on Shennong's part. :P More like 'it can be done, but doing it has serious consequences'. Could be!

[china_shop]

Hah, I actually wondered for a second what it meant too but I didn't get to any conclusions, I just know that I like it a lot better. :D

It made me wonder if he'd accepted his role as bottom. ;-p

Definitely GCC because he's a sweetheart, but also both of them + Daqing, for maximum chaos. xD :D

Hee! Even though GCC would insist on staying on a stakeout in freeeeezing weather? ;D

(Though I don't think there's such thing as quoting too much. xD :D)

I didn't want to breach copyright too much. Heh.

I find this line really funny, like, he's so ~angsty teen mode~ that he's not even using words and you can still tell he's being passive-aggressive. :P

Ha, I know. I keep interpreting it as "uh-huh", but I don't know if that translates.

Oooh, food issues continue - eating other gui was the BETTER option after all.

/o\ /o\ /o\

Hiding any kind of problem from each other goes way back with these two. :P

Oh, true! Great point!

The gui just ate some people, which is honestly very tame compared to everything else that is happening at the same time. :P

LOLOL, you are firmly on Team Gui, I take it?

And this is where I kinda wish Zhu Hong was more wrong when she was dissing Shen Wei. :P

Oh, true. Great point! /o\

but now I want to see Zhao Yunlan pick up Shen Wei. :D :D (And I'm wondering if it's an actual scene I forgot. :D)

Was it after SW yeeted himself out of his body? (*is too lazy to check, sorry*)

I adore GCC for being ELATED that he gets to endlessly wait outside in the middle of the night in winter. :D :D And lol, Chu-ge complains and complains, and then does what Xiao Guo says. :P

Chu-ge can't help himself -- he has to look after GCC. :D

Oh hey, they get to freeze together in the novel too, just a lot less dramatically. xD :D

LOLOL!

[china_shop]

Haha, yeah, I keep trying to give Shennong the benefit of the doubt. Idek why. :D

[china_shop]

Damn, bb!Wei's view on wars is a whole lot smarter and more sensible
*high fives* My thoughts exactly!*

I feel like I'm missing something here. Because I read that line as SW thinking people should be eating each other if they were going to kill each other anyway. Is that what you're both agreeing with? o.O

Huh, I didn't think that was the case, and I still don't think it is, but it sure does sound in this passage as if that were part of the deal he made with Shennong! How bizarre.

I thought it was like a warning? Like, if Shennong is going to give up his life so that Kunlun can enter the reincarnation cycle, then SW isn't allowed to come along and fuck it up? (But like I said elsewhere, I keep giving Shennong completely unwarranted benefit of the doubt.)

[facethestrange]

"Because I read that line as SW thinking people should be eating each other if they were going to kill each other anyway. Is that what you're both agreeing with? o.O"

I read it as 'why would you kill anyone/anything you don't intend to eat?'. Like, he can't even fathom any other reason to kill someone. :)

"Like, if Shennong is going to give up his life so that Kunlun can enter the reincarnation cycle, then SW isn't allowed to come along and fuck it up?"

Oooh, I didn't think of that at all, it makes sense! It doesn't explain what about SW would fuck it up and how inherent it is, but Kunlun's soul simply being different/special, as you said, is definitely a good theory.

(On the other hand, Shen San's souls didn't shatter, and making him die early just to reincarnate again doesn't fuck up much of anything from Shennong's POV? It only makes SW suffer. So I'm still confused. :P Oooh, or is the effect cumulative - if Kunlun's reincarnations keep dying unnaturally, the souls would eventually shatter?)

[facethestrange]

"It made me wonder if he'd accepted his role as bottom. ;-p"

He's clearly trying to flip them over to ~the right configuration~ tho, so probably not. xD xD

"Even though GCC would insist on staying on a stakeout in freeeeezing weather? ;D"

Hee, I don't mind freezing weather all that much, and also I'm not CSZ with his crush on GCC so I could just go home if I had enough. ;D

"I didn't want to breach copyright too much. Heh."

AH, good point!

"LOLOL, you are firmly on Team Gui, I take it?"

Hahah, I may be. :D :D But also the literal rivers of blood, and the dead souls burning in the sun, and all the mass drownings and other horrors were caused by the wars and then by the Buzhou mountain being destroyed. The gui hunting because they were hungry is both a lot more understandable and a lot less apocalyptic, in comparison. :P

"Was it after SW yeeted himself out of his body? (*is too lazy to check, sorry*)"

I only skimmed, but it doesn't seem to be (SW stayed in bed until the ambulance came). ZYL does lead him to the room before, but that's not quite picking him up, just a lot of leaning. :P

[china_shop]

I read it as 'why would you kill anyone/anything you don't intend to eat?'. Like, he can't even fathom any other reason to kill someone. :)

Which really highlights how not-human he is, lol. (Okay, got it. Thanks! <3)

It doesn't explain what about SW would fuck it up and how inherent it is, but Kunlun's soul simply being different/special, as you said, is definitely a good theory.

Maybe his inauspiciousness would make Kunlun's nice clean soul all dirty -- that would fit with the general themes, right?

On the other hand, Shen San's souls didn't shatter

True, good point! It's always possible Shennong was talking out of his ass (how could he possibly know? it's not like this situation had ever happened before!) or making his best guess.

Oooh, or is the effect cumulative - if Kunlun's reincarnations keep dying unnaturally, the souls would eventually shatter?

Oh, maybe? That would make sense? (Maybe he'd get sicker faster every time, too? /o)

[china_shop]

He's clearly trying to flip them over to ~the right configuration~ tho, so probably not. xD xD

Lol, true. (It's a losing battle, Zhao Yunlan! Just accept it and enjoy it. ;-p)

and also I'm not CSZ with his crush on GCC so I could just go home if I had enough. ;D

Heeeeee! <3

The gui hunting because they were hungry is both a lot more understandable and a lot less apocalyptic, in comparison. :P

Good point about the wars and so on. But just because other bad things are happening, doesn't mean a lesser bad is okay? I guess I read the descriptions of the gui (except for SW and GF) as kind of appetites incarnate, with not much else going on. And given how voracious and inauspicious they are, I understand why Shennong (from a god perspective) might have qualms about having created them and want to stuff the worms back in the can.

I only skimmed, but it doesn't seem to be (SW stayed in bed until the ambulance came). ZYL does lead him to the room before, but that's not quite picking him up, just a lot of leaning. :P

Hmmm. That's all I can think of right now. ETA: Thanks for checking! <3 <3 <3

[facethestrange]

"It's a losing battle, Zhao Yunlan! Just accept it and enjoy it. ;-p"

I'm 100% sure he enjoys it a lot. :D :D He just grumbles, idk why, but good for him if he also enjoys all the grumbling. :P

"But just because other bad things are happening, doesn't mean a lesser bad is okay?"

It definitely doesn't make it okay, ITA. But imo it makes it a non-issue for the gods, or at least a very small issue, compared to all the others. Like, up to that point, when did the gods ever care how many humans or yao died, until it was so many that everything everywhere was littered with corpses? :P So imo any god freakouts about the gui are at least partially the god equivalent of moral panic.

"I guess I read the descriptions of the gui (except for SW and GF) as kind of appetites incarnate, with not much else going on. And given how voracious and inauspicious they are, I understand why Shennong (from a god perspective) might have qualms about having created them and want to stuff the worms back in the can."

Unfortunately that's not Shennong's reasoning, or at least not all of it. The main reason seems to be straight-up prejudice, and not what the gui did. ("He wanted to obliterate all the gui. Shennong couldn’t believe that soulless beings could possibly exist in the world. Without a soul, how could one be considered alive?") And he included SW, GF and all the other sentient gui in it too.