sid_guardian | Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 21 & 22

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Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 21 & 22

Welcome aboard for this week's chapters of our Guardian readalong!

Here are last week's chapters. You can find all previous discussions on the schedule post (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

Chapter 21: The Yanluo Kings want to use Zhao Yunlan's heart's blood as the Guardian Lantern's wick, but the yao storm the Yanluo Courts under the leadership of Fourth Uncle, and likewise the daoists and assorted other immortals who were present at Kunlun Mountain. Ghost Face and various gui break free from the Wangchuan, and Shen Wei's trap is sprung. Zhao Yunlan half learns, half figures out Shen Wei's plan, and Zhu Hong clarifies Zhao Yunlan's feelings for Shen Wei. Ghost Face blows himself up.
Chapter 22: Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi fight various youchu (including the fake rogue cultivator) with the combined might of fear stick and zombie powers, then escape to the top of the mountain, but end up in trouble there again anyway. Meanwhile, Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan and Lin Jing run into Daqing, escape from the Netherworld, and find SID and other people waiting for them. Shen Wei plans to re-seal the Four Pillars with the Hallows, and Zhao Yunlan tells Shennong's mortar to take his place and take care of his parents. Everyone comes together to help Shen Wei.

The corresponding part in the Chinese version on JJWXC/the fan translation starts a little less than half-way through chapter 102 and goes up to a little less than half-way through chapter 105.

Excerpts:

1) Zhu Hong defends Zhao Yunlan against the Yanluo Kings' designs

With only the barest hint of a smile, Zhao Yunlan looked back at them. Zhu Hong, on the other hand, exploded. The lower half of her body transformed into a giant snake's tail, coiling around Zhao Yunlan. The delicate corners of her eyes elongated to reveal a cold-blooded animal's vertical pupils. "Don't you know he's just a mortal?" she demanded.

Unfazed, Zhao Yunlan answered for them. "They're not blind. Of course they know. Besides, would they dare try to force my hand like this if I weren't mortal?"

Zhu Hong's scales were as red as blood; when she hissed in fury, her scarlet forked tongue flickered out. "Why not just say you want to take his life?!"

Zhao Yunlan snorted. "Just think how bad that would sound."

"All mortals age and die," chorused the Ten Kings. "It is a normal part of the Reincarnation Cycle."

That's right. It's nothing but a mortal body! Can't you give it up to save the world?

2) Shen Wei is caught out

A storm cloud descended on Zhao Yunlan's face. "Shen Wei, get the fuck out here!"

In response, Shen Wei slowly slipped out from behind the chamber's massive stone door. He looked far more anxious now than he had a moment ago during all his scheming and plotting.

When Zhao Yunlan's gaze fell on the crusted blood on Shen Wei's chest, his fist clenched hard enough that veins popped out on the back of his hand. He looked like he wanted to hit Shen Wei.

Instantaneously, Lin Jing reacted, grabbing Zhu Hong and covering her mouth as soon as Shen Wei appeared. Despite her confusion, he pulled her off to the side.

Zhao Yunlan stayed silent for a long time, and Shen Wei's anxiety grew by the second. Finally, Zhao Yunlan spoke. "Shen Wei."

Shen Wei was instantly reminded of Zhao Yunlan's exhausted words after he'd seen through Shen Wei's deception in the Great Divine Tree: "If you keep doing this, I'll really be angry with you." Panicked, Shen Wei took a step toward him.

"Stay over there," Zhao Yunlan said, voice very low. "Don't come over here yet. It's not time for you to reveal yourself."

3) Zhu Hong and Shen Wei have a rapprochement

There was an awkward silence between them until, after a while, Shen Wei suddenly spoke again. "You... You care deeply for him, don't you?"

The question made Zhu Hong feel as if something had been stuffed into her heart. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"Then... Then why did you tell me all this?"

Zhu Hong rolled her eyes. "I just want you to stop upsetting him."

Confusion flickered across Shen Wei's face for just a second. He seemed somewhat distracted. His brows knit together, and the glittering water of the pool beneath the Soul-Guarding Lamp reflected in his eyes. Zhu Hong had just about concluded that his soul had drifted away when he finally looked back and nodded at her.

"You're right," he said sincerely. "Many thanks."

4) Speech time for Ghost Face

An instant later, the mask split in two. The halves fell, revealing the face that was a gloomy mirror of Shen Wei's. Ghost Face's robe billowed like a flag in the wind, despite the still air.

"Very well," Lin Jing heard him say hoarsely. "You win. I can't beat you. You don't even deign to fight me... Very well."

Shen Wei stopped.

"You and I were born exactly the same. I don't understand how I was inferior to you. You're the solitary, noble Soul-Executing Emissary, while I'm the King of the Gui everyone wants to kill. That's all fine." Ghost Face gave a guttural laugh. "I merely hate that you're too despicable and cowardly to even fight me, instead choosing to humiliate me with these...these ants. You'll regret this! You think you've won without dirtying your hands? Yes, you'll regret this, my good brother."

5) Chu Shuzhi weaponises Guo Changcheng's fear

"Are you afraid?" Chu Shuzhi asked seriously.

Ever honest, Guo Changcheng nodded so vigorously that he looked like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Scared to death?" Chu Shuzhi continued. Guo Changcheng wiped his tears and kept on pecking. "That's good." There was zero sympathy in Chu Shuzhi's voice. "Keep it up."

That left Guo Changcheng speechless. Chu Shuzhi patted him firmly on the shoulder and adopted a creepy tone, pointing past him. "Look. What's that?"

Guo Changcheng looked where he was pointing and found himself staring straight into the eyes of a few youchu. With his fear primed by Chu Shuzhi, a bloodcurdling, inhuman scream exploded out of him. "Ahhhhhhhhhh-!!!"

6) Shen Wei addresses the crowd

Then Shen Wei addressed the crowd. "All those years ago, Kunlun-jun, the Mountain God of the Great Wild, sealed the Four Pillars. I was heir to the thirty-six mountains and rivers, but I was born in filth. I am unable to establish any connection with the Four Hallowed Artifacts, so I hope you will all lend me a hand. You'll have my deepest gratitude."

Having said that, he resumed his true appearance. He stood before them clad in the Soul-Executing Emissary's midnight robes, the full length of his hair spilling down around him. His innate demonic aura was unmistakable, as was his air of gentlemanly righteousness; a man at war with himself yet possessed of an elegance beyond compare.

No one could reject him.

7) Zhao Yunlan's request for Shennong's mortar

With his back to the pagoda tree, Zhao Yunlan glanced at the ground. All seemed completely peaceful beneath the tree, not at all as though something impossibly vast was being held down. He was out of cigarettes, so he reached into his dad's pocket and claimed the packet he found there.

He lit up, then briefly stood in silence, wreathed in smoke. After a moment, he said, "Actually, I have a favor to ask of you."

"I am at Kunlun-jun's disposal," Shennong's mortar said quietly.

"No, I mean it," said Zhao Yunlan. "I'm my parents' only son. By all rights, I should take care of them in their old age and see them off. I never imagined I'd run out of time, but here we are. White-haired elders shouldn't have to see their black-haired children off. Think of a solution for me."

More moments passed before the mortar said, "I... I confess I don't understand what Kunlun-jun means to say."

Zhao Yunlan snorted. "Don't play dumb. I think you know exactly what I'm getting at."

Shennong's mortar took a long look at him. "So in the end, is the Soul-Executing Emissary only able to uphold his vow because you've agreed to accompany him into death?"

Casually blowing a smoke ring, Zhao Yunlan asked, "Do you think I'm selling my body?"

Questions:

What do you think of Shen Wei's plans? Or of the way he acts towards Zhao Yunlan? Is it satisfying seeing all the different characters coming together again? Are you following everything that's going on? How annoyed are you that we don't learn how Lin Jing made it to the Yanluo Courts in one piece? Any thoughts about Ghost Face exploding himself, and what the drama made out of that? Which of the things that has a direct parallel in the drama is your favourite bit of adaptation?

(As usual, these are just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like!)

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So much is happening in these chapters, awesome excerpt choices! :D

"with the combined might of fear stick and zombie powers"

Heee, I love how you phrased that. :D :D

"How annoyed are you that we don't learn how Lin Jing made it to the Yanluo Courts in one piece?"

Mostly very confused, lol, good for him and all, but HOW? xD

"Which of the things that has a direct parallel in the drama is your favourite bit of adaptation?"

My first thought is Zhu Hong's branch! ♡ Though there may be other things. :D And I love both versions of the branch story a lot, which is rare because I generally do have a pretty strong preference for either the drama version (about 90% of the time xD) or the novel version.

On to my ~liveblog~ (which I wrote like a week ago and needed to re-read to even remember what I said ;D). Aaaand I apparently exceeded the comment length limit, so I'll separate it by chapter. xD

"The Soul-Executing Emissary guarded it for so many years, but now we have no idea where he is, or even whether he still lives."

Yes, telling Zhao Yunlan that Shen Wei may be dead is totally the thing that will make him like them better. /s :P

"The other Yanluo Kings landed before them; the flutter of their colorful robes in the air was like a flock of parrots swooping down."

This is such a fun description, and makes me wonder what their clothes look like in more detail. :D

“Why not just say you want to take his life?!”
Zhao Yunlan snorted. “Just think how bad that would sound.”

I like how this scene somehow ended up with Zhu Hong and Zhao Yunlan snarking the Kings together. :D

"The violent ghosts that had escaped Ghost City were wreaking havoc everywhere, and some were trying to force their way into the halls of the Yanluo Courts. Ox-Head and Horse-Face, standing on either side, held the doors shut. “My lord, we can’t hold them back much longer!”"
---
"A crowd of yao rushed in."

I'm assuming they rushed in through a different door that the violent ghosts don't know about. :P

"No matter how incompetent we might be, we could never permit you to treat the reincarnation of the ancient god with such impudence!"

Hah, it's not Zhao Yunlan who gets called impudent for once. xD

"The Crow tribe elder, who had so clearly severed her tribe from the other yao but was now back in the fray for some reason, had tagged along at the back of the crowd."

The 'for some reason' is just so funny to me, lol, what happened behind the scenes? The Crows just tagged along and didn't tell anyone why, and no one bothered to ask them or stop them? :D

“We know now why you had us all gather atop Kunlun Mountain. You secretly put a mark on each of us to attract the Chaos within the Place of Great Disrespect when it spilled over. You ensured everyone would suffer together! If the Netherworld had even an ounce of conscience, wouldn’t you have kept it securely underground?” (...)
The Q in’guang King was furious. “The Great Seal splintering is a catastrophe for all Three Realms! Why should the Netherworld bear the burden alone?!”

This sounds like the Netheworld admits to having done that? But later Shen Wei also admits to it, even more openly than that. So is this just one of the times when Shen Wei and the Netherworld actually worked together (which is what they're technically supposed to do :P), or is one of the admissions not true? Zhao Yunlan doesn't seem to think that they worked together. (“And on the peak of Kunlun Mountain… When the Netherworld had gathered everyone there, you also left marks on them all, right? That way, as soon as the Chaos beneath the Seal began to leak out, everyone got a taste of it, so no one could escape unscathed—and they’d all think it was the Netherworld’s doing.”)

"By now, everyone who was anyone seemed to be there, even the Arhats of the West and unaffiliated immortals from all the land."

So when the Magistrate was complaining the the immortals don't unite anymore, he wasn't exactly right - they still do, it's just that they unite against him this time. :P

"The current uproar in the Netherworld was due entirely to the fact that Shen Wei had released the bit of Chaos he’d captured into the Yanluo Courts, feeding into Ghost Face’s neurotic paranoia. Shen Wei’s ambiguous comments under the Ancient Merit Tree had made Ghost Face immediately suspect that Shen Wei was conspiring to make use of that scrap of captured Chaos."

Hah, so the plan for the bit of Chaos was to make Ghost Face think that there's some grand plan for the bit of Chaos. Neat! :D

"The very instant he surfaced from the water and saw the scene onshore, he realized he’d been duped, but it was already too late to leave."

It's not clear to me why it's too late to leave though - the people who fight him don't seem powerful enough to stop him from leaving? Is it just pride and not wanting to retreat?

“Were you the one who yelled ‘Chaos King of the Gui’ just now?”
Lin Jing hesitated. “I tried to pitch my voice higher.”

I'm probably missing something, but why was he trying to disguise his voice? :P

"Zhao Yunlan pointed at the bloody mess on Shen Wei’s chest. “Does it hurt?”
Shen Wei began to nod, but he only made it as far as lowering his chin before pausing and quickly shaking his head."

Oh yikes, I thought it wouldn't hurt after it was healed! This is a lot worse. D:

"Lin Jing developed a sudden, keen interest in the ongoing battle. He tugged on Zhu Hong’s arm and pointed. “Look, Benefactress, they’re fighting.”"

*SNORT* I think everyone has noticed, lol, Lin Jing, ily. :D :D

"Which means you already held three of the Four Hallowed Artifacts in your hands"

As much I still don't understand the details of how this happened, at least this much is clear, right? So was the life-borrowing case that brought them to the resort related to the Dial, or just a coincidence after all? If at that point Ghost Face didn't have the Dial anymore? (Or did he?)

"Unseen hands pressed against the rocky wall on either side of his body. Then an icy hand closed around his fist. Still invisible, Shen Wei murmured in his ear."

I'd rather they use this entire invisibility thing for something more fun than having a fight - the possibility is RIGHT THERE. :P (Why did he even turn invisible specifically at this point anyway? Just to be extra dramatic? :D) (After reading the deleted scenes from the original version: This is why I liked it better when Shen Wei turned invisible earlier. :P It's more consistent with actually wanting to stay unnoticed by anyone.)

"Belatedly remembering Shen Wei’s chest wound, Zhao Yunlan immediately stopped shoving and felt for Shen Wei’s chest, touching the dried crust of blood on his clothes. “You—”
Shen Wei’s hand closed over Zhao Yunlan’s, pressing it into his chest."

I like this image a lot. :D But really tho, there is no wound under the blood anymore, why does it still hurt? D: D:

“Sure,” Zhao Yunlan said, not batting an eye. “Everyone’s getting ten kilos of monk meat.”

I love that this is immediately after he leaves Shen Wei behind, because just a moment later Zhu Hong points out to SW that ZYL always talks shit he doesn't mean, and here he is, talking shit he doesn't mean. :D :D

“Director Zhao, I have to stay. My fourth uncle is still here.”

The shift from abandoning everyone for Zhao Yunlan to abandoning Zhao Yunlan!! And not just for her uncle but also to talk to Shen Wei. :D

"Shen Wei, hiding behind the lamp, wasn’t afraid of being seen. He allowed a hazy silhouette of himself to become visible. The look he gave Zhu Hong was a little lost."

This is so weirdly adorable, omg.

"I don’t understand what you guys are plotting half the time."

You and me both, Zhu Hong. xD

“Then… Then why did you tell me all this?”
Zhu Hong rolled her eyes. “I just want you to stop upsetting him.”

Aw?? ♡

OH YAY, Zhu Hong gets a mysterious and very important branch to grow!! :D And I'm really enjoying all the unexpected Shen Wei & Zhu Hong bonding. ♡

"Zhu Hong stumbled, nearly dropping it."

Hee, her human feet betraying her again? :D

"The branch of the Great Divine Tree failed to thrive when it was planted in the Place of Great Disrespect, most likely because the existence of the gui is anathema to it."

OH SHEN WEI. I think I remember enough to know that this is not the reason at all.

"Throughout all the years I’ve stood in Kunlun’s stead, I’ve done my very best, but I’ve been unable to care for it well. Millennia have passed, and this branch’s two small buds are all I have to show for my efforts. I’ve always regretted that deeply"

*WIBBLES* So he heals random plants instead because at least that works? ♡♡♡

“If you face danger, each bud will save your life once.”
After a pause, Shen Wei continued, “If you don’t use them, then once the dust settles, please plant it somewhere with beautiful mountains and flowing water.”

So he's just totally okay with her using them, like, that's literally the first option, omgg MY FEELS? ♡

"Zhu Hong’s guess was right on the money. Zhao Yunlan hadn’t gone far at all. He’d found a hiding spot by the opening of the Huangquan Road, and there he squatted, a growing number of cigarette butts littering the ground at his feet."

Oh Zhao Yunlan, what a beautiful mess you are. And Zhu Hong knows that, lol.

"Afraid of bearing the brunt of his anger, Lin Jing kept his distance. He was observing the fury of the battlefield with a pair of binoculars he’d scrounged from somewhere."

At this point Lin Jing just goes 'oh, hey, battle!' whenever Zhao Yunlan does anything. ;D

"Shen Wei looked frankly terrible. He was covered in blood. His glasses had long since fallen off somewhere. The hair on his forehead was a little long, brushing the bridge of his nose and nearly covering his eyes. All in all, he was a pathetic sight.

I am so glad that when Shen Wei looks exactly like this in the drama (including the missing glasses), they have not been fighting at all. ♡

"Finally, Zhao Yunlan let out a resigned sigh and opened his arms. “Come here,” he said, and Shen Wei pulled him into a tight embrace."

I do appreciate the hug though. :D

"Even a dog would go blind, seeing this, Lin Jing thought to himself. He pretended to not exist."

Lol, oh Lin Jing. Also, is this is a saying? And what does it mean - that's it's embarrassing, or annoying, or ridiculous, or all of the above maybe? xD

"Nevertheless, even tiny shards of Chaos were still tremendously harmful. Immortals and gui alike had to avoid the sharp edge of its destruction. Occasionally, someone was unable to evade it and was swallowed silently, leaving behind not even a single hair. After all, wasn’t the whole point of Chaos to return everything to nothing?

Why are the gui destroyed by Chaos if they're made of Chaos? (Because they're also made of soulfire?) And then there's also going to be a line later that says the escaped Chaos is making the gui stronger, so is this happening just because these specific parts of it are shards/weapons?

"Before the sound of his voice had even begun to fade, the golden light flooded the entire Netherworld. The little lamps on the Huangquan Road, having been extinguished at some point, were lit once more. This time, their flames were far brighter, as if a dragon of fire were snaking along the Huangquan Road, waving its tail."

Another one of the gorgeous images that this book does so well. ♡♡♡ Also yay, the yao kicking ass with their secret methods. :D

"The halves fell, revealing the face that was a gloomy mirror of Shen Wei’s."

I like gloomy better than ugly, and yeah, apparently Ghost Face is not doing well at all. (Why did he split the mask anyway? Just another dramatic gesture? :P)

"You and I were born exactly the same. I don’t understand how I was inferior to you. You’re the solitary, noble Soul-Executing Emissary, while I’m the King of the Gui everyone wants to kill. That’s all fine."

Um no, THIS is not fine, and he's looking for other problems (and creating them) because of how much this specific thing is not fine.

"You think you’ve won without dirtying your hands?"

Oh, OUCH, Ghost Face knows exactly what to say, doesn't he. (Not that Shen Wei even planned this specific thing. SW says "The yao probably brought it." - it doesn't sound like he knew the net was going to be a thing.)

Aaaand it's Ghost Face who turns into a bomb. I love the illustration btw, very Ye Zun. :D (Ooooh, and Ghost Face growing this large, and people looking up at him and being all tiny at his feet, makes me think that this why Ye Zun was in the tall pillar in the drama.)

"He shoved his fanny pack into Guo Changcheng’s arms. “We went through a lot of work collecting those, so hold on tight. Don’t drop it.”
Guo Changcheng’s hands were shaking like he’d suddenly developed Parkinson’s. All he could do was hug the bag tight to his chest."

This sounds like Zhao Yunlan handing him the Hallows in the drama. :D

“Scared to death?” Chu Shuzhi continued. Guo Changcheng wiped his tears and kept on pecking. “That’s good.” There was zero sympathy in Chu Shuzhi’s voice. “Keep it up.”

This is so funny and also noooooo, don't do this to this sweet cinnamon roll. xD But also what else would you do, he does have the best weapon. xD

"He ripped his jacket open, exposing an arm that had turned a weird shade of blue. He wiggled his fingers, making his joints creak stiffly, then got out a piccolo carved from bone and began to play."

I have no idea why his arm turned blue? (And does the stiffness have something to do with Lin Jing's fingers being stiff too? Or just because he's a zombie? xD)

"“I’ve already paid for my crimes,” Chu Shuzhi said. He reflexively glanced at Guo Changcheng and saw that he was too busy trying to deal with the endless swarm of youchu to listen to the conversation. Inexplicably, Chu Shuzhi found himself sighing in relief."

And not that long ago he bragged about cannibalism to scare GCC away - that's a big change!

"As a human, Guo Changcheng’s unique status among his colleagues meant that when he’d started at the SID, he’d only signed a labor contract. Since he wasn’t bound by the Order itself, he only vaguely knew about it and had never actually seen it."

Um, so in vol 1, chapter 3 ZYL says about GCC: “Besides, as soon as he was assigned, his name was on the Soul-Guarding Order. I thought he’d have some special powers!” Contradiction, or did no one tell GCC about this? xD

"Medium well."

*SNORT* What a paragraph. :D :D

"But in the next second, the hand came to rest on his head, as though comforting him. It patted his hair gently.
If a forensic scientist or other expert had been there, they might’ve been able to tell Guo Changcheng that this skeleton had belonged to a very young man, probably just over twenty years old.
The soul of the living, the heart of the dead—perhaps every corpse on the verge of turning to dust still held a fragment of a treasured memory."

At first I thought it was CSZ patting GCC's head using his ~~puppet~~ skeleton, but the rest seems to imply that the skeleton did it on its own? Is it supposed to Feng Dawei?

"The weird youth who’d been troubling them suddenly ripped off his human skin, revealing the huge monster underneath: a high-level youchu."

Soooo high-level youchu are VERY high-level, intelligence-wise.

"Guo Changcheng couldn’t even dial 110."

Yay, the translation kept the emergency number China-specific. :D

"Chu Shuzhi rammed the car right through the barricade, driving desperately for the peak; escaping somewhere higher up seemed to be instinctual.
After managing to calm down slightly, he recalled that, back when Buzhou Mountain had fallen, all the races were said to have climbed a certain primordial mountain in search of protection. The fragments of legend lodged in his memory seemed to be guiding him."

I would say getting the hell out of the area sounds slightly safer than getting stuck on top of a mountain that anything and anyone else can also climb to get them, but who am I to argue with ancient legends. :D

"He peeled off his drenched shirt and took a seat, half-naked."

At least GCC has something to distract him from all the scary stuff. xD xD

"Guo Changcheng got up in the second half of the night and insisted on taking his turn. It seemed unnecessary to Chu Shuzhi, but he looked at the little baton that never left Guo Changcheng’s hand, and then he leaned against the frigid wall of the cave and closed his eyes."

Aw, he has actual faith in GCC (or at least in his baton). ♡ And he does fall asleep!

"Guo Changcheng rubbed his eyes firmly, switched the flashlight on, and dropped a few more cows’ tears into his eyes."

Hah, I was right - it was cows' tears instead of a talisman so that GCC can reapply them himself. :D

"She looked dangerously close to falling off."

What would happen if the ghost fell off of the bridge? It's not like it would kill her? :P (I know they're trying to be kind to her because she's terrified, but it just doesn't sound like she's in any physical danger, is she?)

"The bridge was only meant to hold one person at a time"

That doesn't sound safe for something that is normally a ticketed attraction. D:

"They both stood sideways so Guo Changcheng could squeeze past, albeit with great difficulty."

He was afraid to even imagine the drop below the bridge, but now that there's someone to help, he's doing this. :D

"A small bow made of rainwater materialized in front of him, and he slowly pulled out a yellow talisman for summoning thunder and chasing away evil."

I like CSZ just casually making objects out of rainwater!

"A black shadow flung itself into Zhao Yunlan’s arms."

AW, worried and pissed off Da Qing is adorable?? :D And "Me-fucking-ow", lolol, which somehow sounds plausible when I try to read it as a yowl and not as words, but also I'm wondering what the Chinese version of it was, at least phonetically. :D

"Shen Wei seized both human and cat and threw them up the tree."

Lolol. (This makes it even more impressive that a while back Zhao Yunlan could make his body so floppy that it was hard for Shen Wei to pick him up. xD) Also he doesn't throw Lin Jing, lol! Who is very good at climbing trees, but ZYL and DQ are not bad at it either. xD

"By this point, he had pieced together about half of what was going on."

I love how 'no one fully understand wtf is happening' is being lampshaded so much. xD You and me both, Sangzan (and also Zhu Hong, a chapter ago). xD

"He ducked his head slightly, as if feeling a trace of shame for his sneakiness. “Extreme times call for extreme measures. My apologies.”"

Zhao Yunlan hates the hell out of the Netherworld ~~literally xD~~, I don't think he needs an apology for stealing from them. :P

"“This will hurt a bit,” he murmured. “Please bear with it.”
Something pricked Zhao Yunlan’s fingertip."

This is SO SOFT omg - pricking a fingertip doesn't generally hurt. xD

"Shen Wei leaned down and sucked Zhao Yunlan’s bleeding finger into his mouth."

♡_____♡ I am nothing if not disturbingly predictable. xD :D

"Wang Zheng and Sangzan exchanged a glance, and together, they walked beneath the Mountain-River Awl."

This is honestly so brave of Sangzan, having been imprisoned in it for so long. D: Especially since they are the first ones to walk up to any of the Hallows.

"Lao-Li, who had tied a string of tiny golden fried fish to the huge bone he carried, followed Daqing."

AW. Mostly because of what happens later, and also in general. ♡

"Should Kunlun-jun no longer be in this world, I will leave your father’s body and live on as ‘Zhao Yunlan’ for you."

I like this plan a lot better when it doesn't end up actually happening. :P

The 'for some reason' is just so funny to me, lol, what happened behind the scenes?

Lol. Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean, where multiple characters just quietly switch sides, and noone ever questions it.
She just snuck in along the back lines XD

they still do, it's just that they unite against him this time. :P

Ha, he can suck it!

I'm probably missing something, but why was he trying to disguise his voice? :P

I think he doesn't want to admit he was scared?
In the fan tl, this line is very different - he talks about yelling "quietly". I'll have to bust out the Chinese version again later.

I'd rather they use this entire invisibility thing for something more fun than having a fight

Me too, hehe.

Contradiction, or did no one tell GCC about this? xD

Good catch! I guess they know he would faint if he found out XD

That doesn't sound safe for something that is normally a ticketed attraction. D:

Oh, I have absolutely been on bridges that tell you to cross one at a time. If not save, at least it's realistic.

love how 'no one fully understand wtf is happening' is being lampshaded so much.

Right? At least it's not just us XD

"Shen Wei leaned down and sucked Zhao Yunlan’s bleeding finger into his mouth."

👀♥️♥️♥️

"I think he doesn't want to admit he was scared?
In the fan tl, this line is very different - he talks about yelling "quietly". I'll have to bust out the Chinese version again later."

Ahh, I didn't get it, that makes sense, thanks! :D (And also for the other versions, if you feel like checking! It's always fun to know the differences. :D)

"I guess they know he would faint if he found out XD"

Lol!! :D He seems to be very into the Soul-Guarding Order, so maybe his reaction would surprise them after all. :D

"Oh, I have absolutely been on bridges that tell you to cross one at a time. If not save, at least it's realistic."

Yikes! But then it's probably just for extra safety - I feel like if you let the general public in somewhere, you have to take into account that not everyone will follow the rules. So the actual limit is probably 3 people or something, but if they ever said it out loud, 5 people would try to cross. xD

"👀♥️♥️♥️"

IKR???? asdghsfgjdkgdjk;; This one sentence just went and hit every single one of my id buttons. ;D :D ♡______♡

So I checked the Chinese, and once again I'm more confused than before XD
The line is 我已經捏著嗓子叫了, for which google gives me "I've already screamed at the top of my lungs". Which is different from both the fan tl and offcial tl, although imo the official seems closer to the likely actual meaning.

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