Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 19 & 20

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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 19: At the Great Seal, Lin Jing discusses their predicament with Shen Wei and meditates effectively. At the police station in the mountains, Daqing and Chu Shuzhi meet up with Guo Changcheng. Daqing shifts into human form and tells Changcheng that the souls of the dead are still at the resort; Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi decide to go to find them.
Chapter 20: Zhao Yunlan goes to the court of the Ten Yanluo Kings with Zhu Hong and sasses the Kings. A reaper reports that the Great Seal has broken, and an earthquake shakes the court. Zhao Yunlan demands to see the Reincarnation Cycle. The Qin'guang King shows him the Soul-Guarding Lamp. At the Seal, Shen Wei comes out to Lin Jing as the Emissary, and Lin Jing pulls out the icicle. Shen Wei heals and reveals that he's been manipulating Ghost Face. Meanwhile, Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng search the resort for souls. (Guo Changcheng records a dead courier's last message.) They're joined by a rogue cultivator who tries to make conversation but has a disturbing shadow. A huge youchu bursts out of the ground.

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC and the fan translation are chapters 100, 101 and a little less than half of 102 (up to "Meanwhile, in the county less than fifty kilometers away, people were still completely clueless.").

Excerpts:

1) Lin Jing and Shen Wei strategise

“Don’t worry.” Shen Wei chuckled. “That Chaos King of the Gui has enough to deal with right now. As long as I have Kunlun’s divine tendon, he won’t dare do anything to me. We’re safe for the moment.”

“No, no, let’s figure out a way to save ourselves,” Lin Jing quickly said. “No magical tendon can staunch your wound. If Director Zhao ever found out I just sat back and let you bleed like this, he’d make me the main course of this year’s Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner.”

Shen Wei’s gaze softened at the mention of Zhao Yunlan. After some thought, he said, “If you must try something, please continue reciting your scriptures. The Great Seal originated from Nüwa’s merciful heart. If you’re sincere, it might help you.”



2) Chu Shuzhi explains that the Ghost Face problem is above their paygrade

Chu Shuzhi laughed helplessly. “Guo Changcheng, do you know who the Soul-Executing Emissary is?”

Guo Changcheng thought the Emissary was scary, but he had no real idea about his background. He shook his head.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Chu Shuzhi said. “My thousands of years of cultivation allow me to walk under the sun. All corpses and skeletons bow to my will, so those in the know flatter me with the title ‘Corpse King.’ The next level up for me would be a ba, or a ‘Corpse Immortal.’ But even if I attain that level, if it weren’t for Director Zhao, I’d still never dare approach someone like the Soul-Executing Emissary. At the bare minimum, I’d keep a good two kilometers away from him. Do you understand what I’m saying?” Chu Shuzhi paused, then continued, “We’re dealing with someone who can catch the Soul-Executing Emissary off guard. Even if he only managed that by being sneaky, it means his power is at least on par with the Emissary’s. Whoever this is, he’s too powerful. This isn’t something we can handle.”



3) Daqing finds his human body hideous and explains some gui lore

Daqing kept speaking. “I don’t know who sealed away my memories. I still can’t remember much from all those years ago. But when I went up Kunlun Mountain with Zhao Yunlan, the Great Divine Tree awoke something in me. Now I can take human form again. Even though transforming makes me hairless, and thus, hideous, I at least seem to be able to remember some things now.”

Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi, who were both hairless and, apparently, uglier than “hideous,” wore the same peculiar expression.

“The Netherworld officially calls the things we ran into today ‘youchu,’ but more accurately, they’re gui,” Daqing said. “I’m not exactly sure where the gui are from, but I know they’re linked to the demise of Fuxi and Nüwa. You heard Shen Wei. When the gui came into the world, not a single blade of grass survived in the Great Wild. But as far as I know, the gui don’t have souls, so even though they drink blood and gnaw on bones, they don’t eat mortals’ souls because there’s no benefit to it for them. I think what happened here must’ve been too sudden. All those people died before their time, so even though their bodies disappeared, their souls are still souls of the living. Since the Netherworld couldn’t reach them in time, those frightened spirits probably ran off somewhere.”

“Then I’m going to go find them!” Guo Changcheng said.



4) Zhao Yunlan is unimpressed with the Ten Kings' Hell Expo and has no more fucks to give

From the moment Ghost Face had stolen Shen Wei away right before his eyes, Zhao Yunlan had felt like a chunk of ice was ­weighing down on his heart. He’d felt completely detached from everything anyone said or did; none of it seemed real or consequential. Only now, after having been confronted with such an extreme sight, did his mind begin to clear. Belatedly, he felt his anger float to the surface, although no trace of it showed on his face.

Zhao Yunlan crossed his arms in front of his chest. Ghost Face had taken the Soul-Executing Emissary. Whether Ghost Face harmed the Emissary or the Emissary had gone to Ghost Face’s side, it was bad news for the Netherworld. What was more, while there might not be a clear prognosis for the Great Seal, it clearly wasn’t going to hold out for much longer. And yet even under these circumstances, the Ten Courts were still putting on such an unfriendly welcome, appearances be damned.

Years of experience working with the Netherworld told Zhao Yunlan that the dumbasses were obviously planning to ask something of him, but they were unwilling to swallow their pride to do so. Either that, or they saw no need to take a mortal like him seriously and had chosen the route of coercion and bribery.



5) Shen Wei is blasé about his chest icicle

By this point, Lin Jing had escaped his bonds. He recited a water-repelling spell and circled around Shen Wei many times before climbing the Ancient Merit Tree. “Hold on, let me take a look. I must have a wire or something on me that I can use to pick the lock.”

“No need,” Shen Wei said calmly. “All you need to do is pull the icicle from my chest.”

Lin Jing shuddered. “P-pull it out? Won’t you…”

“I’ll be fine, but thank you.”

Lin Jing’s palms were a little sweaty. “You said it, Shen-laoshi, not me. If I fuck you up when pulling it out, I… I… Can you sign a waiver for me first?”



6) Chu Shuzhi is softening towards Guo Changcheng, despite himself

The Corpse King had an extreme personality and was cold by nature; necromancy was a deviation from the norm to begin with, not accepted by the world. Chu Shuzhi was lonesome and arrogant, wholly unconcerned about his merits, so he never paid it any mind. He’d always thought “morality” was a facade, nothing but an excuse to hide behind. The purer and more beautiful something seemed, the darker it might be beneath.

Despite this cynical outlook on the world, he somehow managed to put up with Guo Changcheng. Maybe by now it was just habit.

Either way, looking at the soul bottles in his bag stirred an inexplicable feeling in his heart. It made him grumble that Guo Changcheng was being too kind for no reason, even as Chu Shuzhi followed him around to collect lost souls.



Questions:

How many points does Lin Jing get for a) attempting to communicate with a youchu, b) keeping calm and meditating on, and c) not falling out of the tree when Shen Wei revealed his Emissary identity? Where did the youchu learn human speech? How wounded would Shen Wei have to be to admit that he wasn't fine? Does the SID really only employ people who can hyperfocus, or is hyperfocus a side-effect of the Soul-Guarding Order? What do you think of the descriptions of the different hells? How adorable are Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng? How well are you following what's going on with the Seal and Shen Wei's machinations? And 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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