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itsjustelian · 2 months

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BEEFLEAF THOUGHT (Mainly He Xuan thought but fuck it he's intertwined with Shi Qingxuan and therefore all He Xuan thoughts are beefleaf thoughts)

So so so, in my readings of tgcf and the wonderful mess that is all of the internet thoughts on it I've come to the personal conclusion that to become a supreme you have to have *big* feelings. Very big and very deep feelings.

Our big-brained, obvious example of this is Hua Cheng. Man's big feeling is devotion, love. He is absolutely besotted for Xie Lian. Would do anything for his God. We're so proud of him for it too.

But He Xuan? He's the only other real supreme we have aside from Hua Cheng (Jun Wu, I'm sorry, you're wonderful but Godhood fucks with a man) and the idea that his big feeling that turned him into a supreme was rage and hatred never sat quite right with me. It's not that hatred and rage aren't powerful enough emotions to make a supreme, and those being his emotions on the surface make him a wonderful parallel to Hua Cheng. But rage isn't really what fuels him. If it was, he'd have dissipated after the Blackwater arc. Taken his revenge and called it a day.

Yet, he sticks around. He *never* dissipates. He just sits at the bottom of the ocean for all eternity. Which doesn't sound like rage or hatred. I mean, you'd assume a calamity built on hate would continue his revenge path until all of heaven is gone and no one can have godhood because he couldn't. But he doesn't. He just... waits.

This isn't to say he wasn't angry, btw. He was absolutely angry, and he had every right to be. His desire for revenge had to come from somewhere, let alone the emotional payment to actually planning and pulling it off. I just don't think that was his greatest regret/feeling/desire at death. I mean, He Xuan had his whole life taken from him. All of it. His family, his fiancee, his passions, his work. Everything he worked towards and for got stolen from him by others. And while it's clearly very rage inducing for him (I mean he has a mental breakdown and kills everyone who's ever wronged him), the underlying feeling through it all was probably despair. He probably just wanted things to go back to how they were when his whole family was around and alive.

And this despair and longing doesn't just go away when he learns the truth of what's been done to him. He's still a person. He can't just throw away those emotions because new ones have taken center stage. But rage is a way easier feeling to work with than misery, so He Xuan defers to it. He jumps on the bandwagon of revenge against the people who wronged him once again and goes with it. And it gets him through Mt. Tonglu and up into heaven and right where he says he wants to be. Right up until he can execute his revenge. And then he just stops? And decides that he's going to be best friends with Shi Qingxuan for a few hundred years first? I'm no rage expert, but that doesn't sound very revenge like to me. Which leads very neatly into the point of this post, took me a while I know.

He Xuan's reason for sticking around is he wants to be loved.

I mean, look at it. He says he hates Shi Qingxuan's guts and wants him and his brother dead more than anything, but also spends hundreds of years hanging out with this person he hates so much when revenge is right there? He could have done it whenever. There was no logical reason I could wait to wait as long as he did. Unless he was enjoying Shi Qingxuan's companionship. And Shi Qingxuan clearly loved him (even just platonically. We love our friends in this house). And He Xuan hadn't had someone care about him that much since his death. It was probably insanely overwhelming and equally as wonderful.

And then he fucks it all by actually going through with the revenge but feelings are hard and he's clearly not great with them so oops. But but but, his great famous line during the Blackwater Arc is him telling Shi Qingxuan that they've used the wrong name. He, even if it's just subconsciously, wants Shi Qingxuan to see him as He Xuan, not Ming Yi. He, in some capacity, wants Shi Qingxuan to see and love He Xuan, not the mask he had on.

But then, after the revenge, he doesn't disappear. He straight up goes out of his way to return Shi Qingxuan's fan to them. To make something right. To return something to how it was before.

Except this time, he can't blame the people around him for the change. He can't turn his rage at the rest of the world because he's the one who ruined the only thing he wanted for himself. So he finally, *finally*, has to face this sadness and longing that's been plaguing him from the start. He got his revenge, he got all the anger out, and it still wasn't what he wanted. Because from the beginning, all he wanted was to be appreciated and loved and wanted and not have that torn away from him.

And he fucked it for himself in the end because lets be honest if he had a civil fucking conversation with Shi Qingxuan and didn't literally threaten their brothers life things would have gone SO MUCH BETTER.

Anyway, I'm crying now. If you read through my jumbled 2 AM thoughts all the way, thank you. I will edit this when it's not 3 am. and post it.

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Editing me: wtf was I on? I don't remember half of these thoughts??? I'm posting it because somewhere in this hot mess is a point I'm trying to make, and I'm not going to deny 2 AM Elian the chance to share it.

#theory #tgcf #tgcf thoughts #tgcf theory #beefleaf #he xuan #shi qingxuan #long post #this is incomprehensible

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scripted-downfall · 1 year

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Oblivious couples are so fun because they ensure that literally any question can go wrong. Like...

A: "Do you like anyone?" B: "No" A, internally: :(

A: "Do you like anyone?" B: "Yes" A, internally: :(

It never fails!

#oh god there are so many #destiel #hualian #fengqing #beefleaf #wangxian #steddie #deckerstar #gentlebeard #ineffable husbands #stopping here because no more thoughts brain empty

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tea-cat-arts · 1 month

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Beefleaf mermaid au painting + the concept doodles that got me here

My idea for the au was something like "Shi Qingxuan is chronically ill, so their brother hunted down mermaids to use their scales to make a medicine. The medicine worked, but then Shi Qingxuan found one of the surviving mermaids in the aquarium in their basement." No idea if I'll end up doing anything more with that idea though

#heaven official's blessing #heaven official's blessing fanart #beefleaf #beefleaf mermaid au #mermaid au #he xuan #shi qingxuan #he xuan's design was largely inspired by basking sharks #there's also some eel in there + miscellaneous other fish + just vibes #the eyes are pretty unrealistic given the low light environment but i figured i should give them human eyes for readability reasons #they do have square pupils though #also thought of doing a fox spirit hua cheng × just an immortal dude xie lian set in this same au #where xie lian rescued hua cheng from a hunting trap hundreds of years ago so hua cheng got attached #and also xie lian and shi qingxuan would become the embodiment of that old immortal vs new immortal post

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jumpinginmuddypuddles · 7 months

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i need to write a beefleaf fic with a scene that’s similar to that one from megamind. is, for some reason shi qingxuan and ming yi have to go investigate black water, and to keep up the farce, he xuan ‘kidnaps himself’ so he can also make an appearance as black water.

shi qingxuan is like PLEASE GIVE HER BACK😭😭 and he xuan has to keep up the ‘evil calamity’ farce so he goes full supervillain with maniacal cackling. like he goes into another room and starts screaming and making fighting noises 💀💀 “help me qingxuan!!😱😱”

please tell me you people see the vision

#ao3 #fanfic #my thoughts #ao3 author #ao3 stuff #tgcf #beefleaf #he xuan #shi qingxuan #heaven official's blessing #tian guan ci fu

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fauzhee10069 · 1 year

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TGCF Thought: My Difficulty in shipping BEEFLEAF

!!Major spoiler for non-novel reader!! TL;DR available at the bottom of the post.

⚠️ Warning!! for beefleaf shippers who do not wish to read any negative thought about this ship, just ignore my post. Believe in your ability to scroll down!

Asking to remove the tags will automatically referred to this post.

Clicking (...) -> block saves you more time than typing a complain in my ask box.

Beefleaf is a highly popular fan-ship besides fengqing and when I’m not actively hate or against it (as I don’t like gatekeeping), there are several factors that make it difficult for me to accept them as a pairing and these factors are greatly influenced by the canon material itself.

Initially, Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan were besties, this notion made fans’ natural attraction to take their relationship further as a pairing. The canon source implies that them being besties is perceived more from Shi Qingxuan's point of view.

He Xuan's initial motivation for infiltrating Heavenly Court was to investigate the cause of his tragic fate. Later, after he found the source/cause, he was getting closer to Shi Qingxuan on his mission of revenge.

Over the course of their relationship as besties, it is a feint on He Xuan’s behalf. MXTX goes even further that she told us: He Xuan has great talent on acting (Yin Yu’s flashback and iirc interview).

Flashforward to Black Water arc, He Xuan’s main target for his revenge is Shi Wudu because he is the active player. The revelation greatly shock Shi Qingxuan who was greatly unaware of this. Even more regretfully, He Xuan never expected Shi Qingxuan's innocence. So while he was acting as his bestie, He Xuan had been harboring the same hatred for both brothers.

To the point that he wished Shi Qingxuan's innocence is a lie (“tell me this is not true!!”), this becomes a great dilemma for He Xuan. Until several times he refused to believe that Shi Qingxuan did not know anything about this switching fate.

So doesn't that mean He Xuan loves Shi Qingxuan?

Not necessarily, because you don’t have to be romantically in love for having moral standards not to condemn innocent people.

Let's put ourselves on He Xuan’s shoes; for decades (hundreds of years in their case) you actively pretended to be his best friend while thinking of getting revenge on him one day. You have harbored and nurtured such feelings for years, is it easy to just let them go?

Oh, you’re innocent? Then I forgive you (understandably, have a nice day)

If you think so, then you are underestimating He Xuan's feelings, pains and what he has been through all these years.

Now, moving on Shi Qingxuan; for someone you trust as bestfriend and suddenly he frankly reveals his secret that all this time he has held grudges and hates you. Even though deep down you know you're innocent, you will still feel hurt, confused, and blame yourself.

Thinking him as your trusted friend for all the time who suddenly says that "I actually hate you"/”we’re not friends” is a shocking moment for anyone (which also happened to Xie Lian & Mu Qing in the 33 gods & auspicious land flashback).

The conflict in the Black Water arc is very deep:

Shi Wudu doesn't want punishment to befall his brother because he knows that he is innocent.

Shi Qingxuan also felt guilty for He Xuan's suffering even though he just knows it at that time, because it was undeniable that his fortune had belonged to someone else.

He Xuan refuses to believe that Shi Qingxuan is innocent, as he has always harbored hatred for the two of them and used to watching Shi Qingxuan enjoying the life and fortune that rightfully belong to He Xuan all along.

So the conclusion of this conflict is; He Xuan killed Shi Wudu and abandoned Shi Qingxuan.

Yeah, beefleaf shippers, you can’t get He Xuan to just forgive Shi Qingxuan all together and let them be the new pair of Water-Wind masters or Earth-Wind masters.

He Xuan still stripped Shi Qingxuan’s divinity and abandoneddisgraced him as beggar as he wants Shi Qingxuan to feel the suffering that he went through before.

And Shi Qingxuan (who even though you repeatedly said he is innocent and don’t deserves it) willingly accepts his new fate.

Another MXTX’s interview even said that Shi Qingxuan doesn't want his damaged limbs to be restored (which of course really saddens me as I love Shi Qingxuan as a character too but), this further strengthens that Shi Qingxuan feels guilty and does not deserve his fortune and divinity and he accepts the loss of them which were not his in the first place.

We may disagree with this outcome, but this is what those two characters (beefleaf) decided.

Now these two canon breakdowns that:

He Xuan is straight since he had female fiancée at some point in the past.

Albeit his godhood allowed him to be genderfluid, Shi Qingxuan is more comfortable as a man than woman as we can see during Paradise Manor infiltration arc, he switched back into his male form despite still dressed up as a maid and he would be more powerful in female form because in this timeline he was still active as the wind master (not losing his godhood yet).

The problem of ‘beefleaf’ portrayal

As I said at the beginning that I don't like gatekeeping, I also don't necessarily dislike beefleaf as a pairing.

But so far I'm having a hard time liking this couple due to their portrayal of most of the fans which is mostly uhm… problematic.

Most fans like to belittle He Xuan’s revenge and put He Xuan feelings & sufferings aside.

They progress that during He Xuan's act of being Shi Qingxuan's best friend, He Xuan has fallen in love with Shi Qingxuan.

They made He Xuan abandon his revenge journey just like that.

Bearing in mind that He Xuan's revenge is not merely to relieve his anger, but also as an act of filial piety to his family who had also become victims of fate switching carried out by Shi Wudu.

That is the meaning of the scene where He Xuan brings Shi Wudu's head to his family's urns as an offering, in Black Water arc.

The Black Water arc generally still happens with Shi Wudu’s still paying for his sin, but as for Shi Qingxuan, beefleaf shippers are back on the route: “oh, you’re innocent? Then I forgive you” aka. understandably, have a nice day.

No, it doesn’t work like that.

What make He Xuan forgive Shi Qingxuan so easily just because he supposedly falls in love with him?

Shippers might put the revelation of Shi Qingxuan’s innocence early, before the Black Water arc was supposed to happen, so that He Xuan can forgive Shi Qingxuan much early.

Worse that he just falls in love without knowing Shi Qingxuan’s innocence first.

But this creates further problems when He Xuan has to punish Shi Wudu, Shi Qingxuan's beloved older brother.

“I love you, I forgive you, but I have to kill your brother.” You expect that Shi Qingxuan will just nod off?

Okay maybe not kill him but… natural reaction from Shi Qingxuan would be begging for forgiveness, or at least leniency on his brother.

Or worse, wishing that He Xuan to just abandon his revenge, which again, you belittle his pain.

You can't just simply choose: your lover or your dearest sibling? This will put Shi Qingxuan in a great dilemma. Which might be good for a drama, but very complicate to make it a happy ending.

Most stories like this actually end in tragedy.

Another take is by having Shi Qingxuan and Shi Wudu embroiled in family quarrel, which generally ends with Shi Wudu ready to take the punishment. However it generally also ends with He Xuan granting leniency.

“Well, he needs to pay for his sin, but I won’t kill him�� like a husband comforting his distressed wife.

But for God’s sake, this is about He Xuan!! Not Shi Qingxuan!

He Xuan is the one who has the right to determine for himself how he will resolve his conflict with Shi Wudu, how much Shi Wudu will pay for his deed, he is the one who has suffered all this time, he is the main victim of this goddamn fate switching!!

And again, you belittle He Xuan’s suffering, of him losing his fortune, of him losing his divinity, of him losing his family!

Even worst that some fans babytrapping him and Shi Qingxuan!!

Yeah, they’re having baby, so He Xuan is not going to abandon Shi Qingxuan (and their unborn child) just like that (as in the canon).

“I have to take care of them, I can’t fail them/let them down, let's put aside this grudge for a moment for their sake…”

You belittle the tragedy of Black Water arc MXTX carefully made.

TL;DR beefleaf portrayals are mostly hardly believable, that’s what makes me hard to be convinced with their love story.

How can ‘beefleaf’ work better?

Let Black Water arc happens as in canon.

Therefore you value and acknowledge He Xuan’s past, his pain and his journey of revenge as it is.

And leave Shi Qingxuan with his current state post Black Water arc.

Therefore you respect his decision and acceptance.

Their romance does not happen in canon.

Doesn’t mean that their romance couldn't happen post-canon.

Their progress can be started from the post-ending. He Xuan has finished his revenge, has started to extinguish his hatred, has started to move on, to make peace with the past.

After his heart calmed down, make it a moment where his heart starts to ache for Shi Qingxuan, wondering what he is doing, thinking back whether they could start over.

As for Shi Qingxuan, it's very likely that he wants to avoid He Xuan at the moment. No matter how innocent he is, he had lived a life that was He Xuan's right, so his guilt won't just go away, he would be uncomfortable to face He Xuan.

This would be possible if it is He Xuan who opened his heart first. In the moment of their first meeting post Black Water arc, let Shi Qingxuan know that He Xuan has made peace with his past, that he is ready to move on, that he forgives Shi Qingxuan, offering Shi Qingxuan to let’s start over once again.

Let it happens slow, slow burn is beautiful.

Perhaps, Shi Qingxuan is ultimately willing to get his limbs restored.

And no babytrapping for God’s sake, let that happens after they truly reconcile.

Because that's the only thing I can see how beefleaf truly works.

So TL;DR you're free to ship beefleaf, but please make their progress more believable. Don't ditch/simplify the Black Water arc. Understand He Xuan's character & situation better. Don't underestimate his problem just for the sake of fluffiness. I'm looking forward for beefleaf content post-canon without excluding the after effect of Black Water arc and have them learn to cope it.

THE END

PS: If you still want Shi Wudu to somehow survive, do it.

But think about how to do it without putting aside He Xuan's pains and suffering as the main victim of his fate switching.

PPS: I’ll give you a free pass for ignoring Black Water arc if you write modern AU beefleaf.

#beefleaf #tgcf spoilers #tw negative #cw criticism #aku baper #he xuan #shi qingxuan #black water arc #tgcf meta #shi wudu #my thought #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #my rants #hate this post? just block me #tbh beefleaf has more complicated progress that will make it beautiful even more than hualian & fengqing #tgcf fandom kek bocil anjir

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neutronity · 10 months

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Heaven Official Blessing Thoughts

To avoid shouting into my friends' faces about this series, I'll shout some things here. Be warned, spoilers (sort of).

HuaLian is a god tier ship.

Why? Easy. Because it's another take on the fan ascending trope, which is hard to do well. It's a ship that at first, XL is a literal God who has asked a small hopeless and luckless child to live from him. Talk about an imbalance, right?

Well, sometimes those worshipful and obsessive relationships end in tragedy and darkness. But here, while Hua Cheng's obsessive worship never disappears, it becomes something that is consented to. Xie Lian knows of this, and he leans into it.

Add to that, Hua Cheng spent 800+ years growing himself to become someone worthy of protecting Xie Lian. He became matched in power and cleverness to the one who he devoted himself to.

When they finally reunite, Hua Cheng is Xie Lian's equal. Not just in terms of martial prowess either, but in terms of banter and intelligence and power. Hua Cheng might not have been working so hard to guarantee that he was a worthy partner to Xie Lian, but he sure became one.

Fate ordained that their paths would cross and they would be bound to each other by the red string of fate, but it was ultimately their choice too. Hua Cheng chose Xie Lian when he was still a fledgling god, and his choice never wavered. Xie Lian too chose Hua Cheng, over and over again. There is no doubt that although Hua Cheng would continue to protect Xie Lian, he never would force Xie Lian to be with him.

People say that these two invented love, but I think the thing that made this work so beautifully well is not the destined love, but instead the chosen love.

BeefLeaf is what ships are made of

MXTX does a really good job wading into moral ambiguity. The demon kings are good as much as bad, and the gods are as bad as they are good.

So when Shi Qingxuan finds out that his brother stole someone else's fate to make him a god, and that person lost so much because of it, we're faced with asking what the price of revenge is.

We also find out that Shi Qingxuan does not bear a grudge for what He Xuan does to his brother, and that he does not change who he is when he's stripped of godhood and becomes a beggar. He is still cheerful and gregarious, still makes friends easily.

A ray of sunshine who forgives the vengeance-driven (ghost) king of gloom? And once He Xuan has gotten his revenge, instead of fading away, he's still there fixing the windmaster fan? Delicious. Delectable. Scrumptious.

We also learn that most of the gods had abandoned Shi Qingxuan nearly the moment everything fell apart, even with how generous and gregarious he always was. Xie Lian is one of the only people who remains his friend.

He Xuan, even against his will, also can't help but remain friends with the former Windmaster.

It's not canon at all, but my BeefLeaf loving brain says He Xuan stays and takes care of Shi Qingxuan until Shi Qingxuan ascends again. And even though it's clear that they're married, He Xuan still denies it.

Banyue and Pei Xiu

Ghost/God pairings are just too good. We know what Jun Wu was going for in setting up Xie Lian to take the fall for Pei Xiu's banishment, but it's also clear to me that instead of making an enemy, Xie Lian's defense and protection of Banyue (and likely jogging Pei Xiu's memory of General Hua) earned Xie Lian another dedicated ally.

I don't think Pei Xiu ever told Banyue that he was in love with her. And honestly, a 200 year banishment into the mortal realm meant 200 years away from Heavenly duties so he could be with his beloved ghost girl.

Another not-canon, but I like to imagine Banyue decides to restore her land and the oasis, and goes the route of the kiln to do so, becoming the third kickass supreme in love with a god.

Ling Wen deserves a vacation

Yes yes, the grandmaster scholar bends the way the wind blows, but can we really blame her? Poor woman has not gotten a break in centuries because she is so damn good at her job that people mistake her for a man and Heaven falls to shambles when she's gone for less than a week.

She is a queen amongst gods, and even as she will stab you in the back if she has to choose between you and her survival? Well... maybe if you gave her a vacation and some rest here and there she wouldn't have to plot your demise, okay?

Xie Lian seems to be one of the only people who comments on this and actually insists she take a vacation, and Hua Cheng is basically the worst person in the universe to make an enemy of, so perhaps Ling Wen will determine that loyalty to Xie Lian is the best way to go, and even finds that she doesn't hate that fact.

What can I say, I am a Ling Wen stan.

#random tgcf thoughts #not even really meta #hualian #beefleaf #ban yue x pei xiu #ling wen is all-knowing

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