"It was as though everyone else in the world had disappeared, leaving his poor little self behind, helpless and alone and at a complete loss about what to do. Guo Changcheng pulled the car over on the roadside, where he hemmed and hawed for a good, long while before finally gathering enough courage to follow the GPS into the nearest town."

This is honestly pure bravery - feeling like this and doing the the scary thing anyway, all on his own.

"Even with someone holding on to her, she managed to trip and stumble, falling against the hood of Guo Changcheng’s car."

Hah, another person falling against GCC's car (after the 'evil' half-yao) - no wonder the drama had a scene like that too. :D

"Their corpses would be long cold by then!"

Or just straight-up not exist.

"The young officer thought that was all perfectly reasonable and made sense, but the fact remained that this was a small local police station with limited manpower. What was more, rules were rules. No matter how reasonable she thought the crowd’s requests were, she couldn’t just go against regulations. She was overcome with frustration. Tears began to swim in her reddened eyes."

Aw, I adore her, a kid just like GCC (and seemingly with a similar personality), unable to do the right thing no matter how much she wants to.

"He pulled his work ID and keys from his pocket. Flustered, he tossed his ID to the woman’s friends and family. “Take my car and drive her to the hospital!”
The relative who’d caught his badge stared at it. “Huh?”
Guo Changcheng looked at what they were holding. “Oh! Sorry, wrong thing. Take these.”"

Omg I love Xiao Guo so much. :D :D :D So relatable too!

"Guo Changcheng finished speaking and wiped his brow, which had gotten sweaty despite it being the dead of winter."

He's doing SO WELL while being so terrified. ♡♡♡

"He pressed a hand firmly against his pants pocket, afraid that his fear of people would activate the little stun baton in his pocket and accidentally hurt the innocent crowd."

This is so precious, and also wouldn't he get hurt by it if it's in his pocket, and especially if he holds it the wrong way while trying to keep it in check? (Or, since it reacts to his fear, is it designed to never harm him, only other people?) It's a very good thing that he's not as terrified as he thought he would be. :)

"But at a time like this, when he realized that the people in front of him required his help, his words always flowed far more smoothly."

I'm happy that he knows that about himself, and also that CSZ has already noticed the same thing before. :)

"It was as if he’d been born to do this."

HAH. ♡

"A middle-aged man spoke up. “Boss, can I say something?”
“I’m not the boss…” Guo Changcheng sighed. “Never mind that. Please go ahead, sir.”"

Ahhh, this is one of my favorite parts of his crowd management skills (and they're all wonderful! ♡) - if he accepts that he's seen as someone in a position of power, then what the people see is that someone powerful is now going to take care of them, finally. And that does a lot more than trying to be modest.

"We all went out and searched for her in the middle of the night, and we went back and forth along her route to work a bunch of times. And then my dad and cousin disappeared too!"

So the process of whatever-happened-there was gradual? Or were the people at the resort imprisoned before everyone got incinerated (including the people who arrived later)?

"Guo Changcheng, however, stood frozen in place for a long while, unable to believe that he had actually done it."

AW. GOOD JOB. ♡

"Shen Wei, entangled in the black mist, was suffering from a renewed case of bullheadedness and flatly refusing to let go of Zhao Yunlan no matter what. He had the Soul-Executing Blade between his teeth, and the blade’s icy glint made his lips look scarily pale. He angled his head around to turn the blade on the mist.
Zhao Yunlan grabbed the blade from Shen Wei’s mouth. “Give me that.” He took the blade, completely unique in all the world, and slashed at the black mist wrapped around Shen Wei’s arm."

They are both such chaotic, heroic disasters omg. ♡♡♡ (And also this is a very different context for Shen Wei's pale lips! :P)

"But before Shen Wei could finish speaking, Zhao Yunlan proved that actions were faster than words."

Hah, so they both do that - just a moment ago (last chapter) it was Zhao Yunlan who didn't speak fast enough to stop Shen Wei from following a terrible idea. :P

"Don’t you realize that you don’t actually belong in the Reincarnation Cycle? That your status as Guardian essentially grants you protection?"

So the Guardian's duties were part of Shen Wei's promise to Shennong? I don't think Zhao Yunlan can know that if he wasn't told. :P

“You’re the squandering fool here, ready to cut off your arm or dig out your heart at the least provocation. Do you think you’re a gecko?”

♡♡♡! :D :D :D (To be fair, he kinda is. xD)

"Just as the shadow was about to touch the hem of his robes, a piercing white light erupted from the seal in Shen Wei’s hands."

Shen Wei seems to always use light when he does any kind of supernatural thing. I wonder if he realizes that this alone makes him a lot less dark than he thinks. :P

"Ghost Face, who had been lying in wait for some unknown amount of time, thrust an icicle over a meter long through Shen Wei’s back—right into his heart."

The origin of the drama icicle. :D (Also nice foreshadowing with Shen Wei saying that cutting his heart out is not going to kill him! And this is a special icicle, which is why he's even in pain at all - just removing his heart probably actually wouldn't do anything.)

"There was a whoosh as it kicked up a fierce gust of wind, vicious enough to hurt where it touched bare skin. The nearby reapers felt like they’d been collectively slapped in the face, cheeks burning with pain where they were exposed to the air. As one, they turned their faces away and backed up as the whip wrapped precisely around Ghost Face’s neck."

With this much intro about how swift and powerful the whip is, it sure doesn't sound like a fun thing to have around your neck!

"How dare this man, Zhao Yunlan, who was clearly no more than a silver-tongued mortal, not be terror-stricken or panicked?"

He has the power of IDGAF. ♡♡♡

"he had managed to slip his other hand between the whip and his throat before the whip had wrapped around his neck entirely."

Oh, it's Ghost Face's hardened limbs again. :D

"He saw a hard light in Zhao Yunlan’s eyes, burning even brighter than the soul fire that had once brought light to the entire Place of Great Disrespect."

I know the Lantern/Lamp thing is not even there yet, but this unrelated sentence reads so much like bringing light to Dixing!

“My dear Guardian, you truly have nothing to fear from me.” Ghost Face sighed. “I’m grateful for your soul fire, and thanks to his influence, I can’t help but…like you a little. There’s no harm in letting you live.”

My beautiful messed up ship is at it again. :D :D

"His pupils held the terrifying darkness of the abyss, and his thick lashes cast a bottomless shadow over his eyes."

This is dramatic and all, but also I love how much attention is drawn to Zhao Yunlan's eyelashes in the novel. :D (I always think of Shen Wei's eyelashes, rarely Zhao Yunlan's, lol.)

“‘Little snake’? I’m a little snake?! What are you, then? In my tribe, someone your age would still be nibbling their eggshells, you mortal brat!”

This has always been one of my favorite quotes. :D :D :D And it shows how old Zhu Hong is.

"Torrents of water seemed to be cascading all around him, but some sort of invisible dome surrounded him and protected him from drowning…at least for now."

An earlier description said that the water stops once you go down to the Seal, but now there is actually a dome? Maybe the water only stops for people who are supernaturally protected (the Emissary, Zhao Yunlan with the pearl/scale) and normal mortals wouldn't survive there without a dome?

“U-um, I only just got here. I didn’t know we had a rule against reciting scriptures. K-kindly forgive me. I’ll correct my ways at once.”

“I haven’t bathed in three days! Comrade, be mindful of your manners!”

“My Buddha is merciful. Please reflect on your table manners, benefactors.”

Lin Jing is the funniest character honestly, all of these lines are GOLD. :D :D :D I'm so sorry Lin Jing that you're in distress but you're hilarious, k.

And yay, the entire drama sequence with Lin Jing suddenly having a dying Shen Wei thrown at him, while both of them are imprisoned by Shen Wei's brother. :D

"Even with his forehead dripping with cold sweat and constant tremors running through his body, Shen Wei was courteous. He gave Lin Jing a slight nod."

Aw.

"Lin Jing rushed to the edge of the invisible dome. “What’s happening? Shen-laoshi, why are you here? Who hurt you?”"

So Shen Wei is outside the dome? From Ling Jing's POV it sounds like there's only water outside the dome, but Shen Wei is presumably not submerged in water? I was so confused the first time I read these descriptions, and I still am, a re-read clarified nothing. :P

"To Lin Jing, it was as though this other person was some sort of unfortunate imitation. Perhaps this was someone who’d gotten plastic surgery to look like his boss’s so-called wife—surgery by someone rather unskilled, that was. There was no question that this person was the ugly bootleg version."

This quote has always been so weird to me because both of the Kings of the Gui are supposed to be incredibly beautiful. Even if the 'more blood-stained = more beautiful' thing is true, then it should still make Shen Wei the better-looking one of two beautiful people, it shouldn't make Ghost Face ugly.

"As he spoke, his eyes sparkled with a strange light, as though he was both reluctant and yearning at once."

Such a Ye Zun vibe!

"The blow broke the skin inside his mouth on his gritted teeth."

More drama imagery - bloody mouths!

“Can’t you read? ‘Mountain-River.’ ‘Mountain-River.’ The thirty-six mountains begin with Kunlun Mountain. I inherited the Mountain God’s power and an inherent connection to the ten thousand great mountains. Why would I fight you for something…that has always been in my hands?”

I genuinely don't understand most of the other explanations (especially the ones about the Soul-Tempering Cauldron), but this is really cool. :D

“One more thing you might want to know. Remember the bait you used to lure me here? That wisp of Chaos you took from your own body? Where do you suppose it is now, after I sucked it away?”

This is cool too, thought I don't remember what it results in, lol. (Also I'm assuming this is the equivalent of tricking Ye Zun with the dark/light energy thing?)