r/MoDaoZuShi

Jin Guangyao's birth name is 孟瑶 (Meng Yao), where the second character, his given name, means "precious jade." There are a number of different words used in MDZS for jade, including 璧 (in the "Twin Jades of Lan"), or 玦 (in Nie Mingjue's name), but the fact that the specific character 瑶 is used in Jin Guangyao's name is particularly interesting because it appears in a very important scene in Jin Guangyao's backstory:

>A shrill scream suddenly rang out from the second floor, along with the sound of shattering cups and saucers. A jade guqin [瑶琴] tumbled end over end through the air and landed in the middle of the hall with a thunderous crash, breaking into pieces. The people drinking and making merry at the tables nearby were so startled that they broke out into a chorus of swearing. Anxin almost fell out of her seat. [Chapter 105]

This is the scene where Meng Shi is beaten, stripped, and thrown out onto the street by a customer at the brothel. Meng Yao tries to help her, only to be kicked down the stairs. It is a formative moment for the young Meng Yao that teaches him about the horrible cruelties visited upon those belonging to the lower-class with impunity, and is also implied to be one of the main reasons that he burned down the brothel ten years later.

In any case, let us return to the matter of Jin Guangyao's name. It seems that Meng Shi's choice of a name for her son was in part inspired by the musical instrument she played. But the guqin is not just any instrument. It is considered the most noble Chinese instrument and is associated with the refined, scholarly type that among other things supplied the bureaucrats who managed the country. Confucius himself was a master of the guqin, and he stated in the book of rites that "a scholar should not part with his qin or se (another type of zither) without good reason." Many other famous intellectuals, such as Cai Yong and Ji Kang, were masters of the guqin.

MDZS fans, of course, know the guqin as the instrument of Lan Wangji, which should come as no surprise after the discussion above; the Lan Clan are, as Wei Wuxian said, gentlemen among men, and none among them is more refined than Lan Wangji, so naturally he would wield this most noble instrument. Speaking of Lan Wangji, we must also mention the symbolism of jade, which as in the phrase "Two Jades of Lan" is associated with nobility and refinement. The character 瑶 specifically has a strong association with beauty and purity and is used to describe divine qualities, as in 瑶池, the Jade Pool of the Queen Mother of the West.

Meng Shi was always believed that Jin Guangshan would return to her as he had promised and bring her son to Jinlin Tai, where he would become an honored young master and escape the ill prospects of a boy born in a brothel. That was why she spent her hard-earned money that she might have saved towards buying her own freedom on cultivation and swordplay manuals so that her son would be successful in his future career. The name that she chose for him symbolized these wishes. She wanted her son to become as noble and refined as jade and to attain the high rank and scholarly achievements associated with the guqin. She could even bear the terrible sufferings that she experienced in the brothel, including having her own jade guqin shattered, because of the love that she bore for her son and the hopes that she placed upon him. Sadly, she would not live to see him fulfil them.

Heyo, I’m looking for for fics that explore Wangxian’s relationship after the story ends and their communication.

I love them but their communication lacked greatly (as we know) and I’m looking for stories that explore how they would grow together and communicate better and just have more of their sweet moments.

Angst is good, I love angst but as long as it has fluff and a happy ending.

Please let me know if any wangxian fics like this and I’d greatly appreciate it. Please and thank you and I hope everyone has a great day or night😁

If they were part of the modern schooling system, what academic subjects would the mdzs characters be good at?

I feel Lan Wangji would be the kind of student who would ace all subjects somehow but I have a feeling he would be a natural at literature specifically. He would also regularly study and perform well in all the subjects, like a student who's always prepared for any exam at all times.

As for Wei Wuxian I feel he would be really really good at a subject without trying really hard uk what I mean? Like one of those students who are just naturally talented at a subject without them having to put in extra hours. I have a feeling he'd be very good at STEM

Xue Yang would also be like Wei Wuxian but a little less focused. I think he kind of wouldn't care but if he put his mind to it, he'd be able to do it.

Lan Sizhui would also be good at literature like Lan Wangji.

I would loveee to know what you guys thinkkk!

Wei Wuxian would be extremely chalant even in his typing so I'd imagine he would type normally, like the first letter of every sentence is capital or all uppercase at times of frustration or joy.

Lan Wangji maybe would maybe type in lowercase or normally? He's not the type to yell even over text I'm assuming.

I'm curious to know what you guys think!

I need a fanfic it doesnt matter how much words but i want it to amaze me and keep me on my nerves XD

1- preferably modern settings
2- wwx is a mentally unstable
3- angst
4- toxic wwx ( i mean it is always lwj the toxic one so i want the opposite XD )
5- breakup than get together
6- i love it when we have a lot of characters

Please helpp i read one like this one and i cant move on

I am a bit lost when I think about WWX's age. Is he 36 like Lan Wangji, or 23 like when he died? Mo Xuanyu's body is 26-28, to add into the mix. Was WWX's soul sentient/conscious in those 13 years? Could it go through any kind of reflection while not anchored? Was it an intact soul already in the beginning after his death? Why was LWJ not able to find any of it in the Burial Mounds?

To me it feels like that WWX in his second life reflects to his earlier life with an ounce of wisdom and keeping a bit of sanitary distance to it. He does not come off as freshly traumatized. It feels like he digested all what had happened to him in some way. But how was it possible for him?

Hey sweethearts!

I'm researching the global readership of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation for an academic paper on untranslatability, paratexts and the likes for a seminar of mine, and I'd love to ask for help and hear some of your input.

How did the story first become popular and circulate globally ? (Before an official release was ever in talk)

How do you feel about the official Seven Seas English release using heavy glossaries, character guides, and footnotes to keep concepts and names in Chinese rather than replacing them with generic Western fantasy words? Do you feel these extra materials are necessary for global readers to appreciate the story's Daoist/Xianxia roots without "Westernizing" the text? Did having to refer to the glossaries, character guides, and footnotes make the reading experience richer, or did you ever find it confusing?

Would you rather these concepts were translated in English?

How did the early fan-translation community help you understand the Chinese cultural/cultivation concepts before the official books came out with glossaries?

Would you consider the novel a "world literature"?

Thanks for the input!!

There are so many talented artists and writers out there.

The fandom is fed daily not only by official content and merch, but also by dedicated creators who pour their hearts into the story. Even the official manhua artist gave us amazing fan comics with the extras.

I mean, I saw an AI-generated animation for the SVSSS fandom. I don't like it, but I understand. I get it.

I get that the story lacks official material because the manhua and donghua were discontinued, whatever. And the fandom isn't as huge as mxtx's other works so there might not be much fan work too.

Fine.

But what about MDZS? There is literally no reason to use AI for anything.

That is not even getting into the 'AI art' debate or people claiming it as their own.

Edit: as some people pointed out, the lack of content also doesn't justify gen-ai. I take back what I said about understanding the SVSS fandom. There's no excuse for AI. It's wrong and disrespectful in many ways.

If Lan Wangji had never met Wei Wuxian, maybe he would never question himself or the rules of cloud recesses and even if he did, it wouldn't be to the extent at which he did after being with Wei Wuxian and observing how he was treated.

When they met initially when they were 15, he strictly followed the rules of cloud recesses and Wei Wuxian defied them every chance he got.

Him following the rules is completely understandable on his part. He had only ever seen his uncle and brother rigidly following the 3000 rules and he didn't have any reason to rebel against them. Though it's also possible that he did question them considering everything that happened with his parents, especially his mother, but never voiced it.

But I do also feel that he was too young to fully comprehend and make sense of what actually happened with his mother.

When Wei Wuxian returned from the Burial Mounds and started cultivating with resentful energy, he was very disturbed by it and told him to come back to gusu with him.

I think during all the events of the sunshot campaign is where he started to actually question himself and his own morals.

In one of the adaptations, Lan Xichen tells Wei Wuxian at the confrontation in the temple about how Lan Wangji was "the perfect child" who never went against the rules and how for Wei Wuxian he threw aside all of that and fought first hand with 33 sect elders.

This was out of love for Wei Wuxian, yes, but it was also his wakeup call to question the rules that he was asked to follow ever since he was a kid. He was given a very black and white sense of what is right and what is wrong and Wei Wuxian single handedly questioned all of that.

I think Lan Wangji is at his core a person that is willing to learn and change opinions if given a solid reason. This and the regret he felt for not being by Wei Wuxian's side is what motivated him to do be better and was the reason he never left Wei Wuxian's side after his resurrection.

Had he not been like this, his relationship with Wei Wuxian would have been very different.

Do y'all have any recommendations where the main couple is Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang? I feel it's really hard to filter on AO3 to find fics like that.