LINKDING

summary: Feng Xin is not a bow. He is brittle. He can't bend, and that means one day he’ll break. / Feng Xin during the fall of Xianle. ➜ tgcf fic about feng xin ➜ set during the time of xianle's royal family in exile, focusing on feng xin's relationship with himself, and with xianle, and with jian lan ➜ ahhhh it's so good and heartbreaking, feng xin's desperate core of instability and of want, beneath his firm loyalty and dedication 😭 ➜ I LOVE this ➜ 2k words long

summary: After another day of tutoring children at Bai Jin’s cabin, Ling Wen sticks around to watch the sunset. There are no clouds, no thunder rumbles in the distance, and she’s getting restless. ➜ ummmm canonverse fic about ling wen and bai jin?? I'M YELLING omg! ➜ apparently the revised edition of tgcf goes more into the xuli backstory and you get to see more of bai jin, and this fic is based on that ➜ anyway holy shit I love seeing ling wen's perspective on a little slice of life scene back when bai jin was just a human with potential for ascension, and I love the way it's written, too! ➜ 1.5k words

Summary: It was easy to want what you couldn't have. Ever since her father had told her that she was destined for the royal harem, Jian Lan had been confident she'd make it to the rank of consort. But she'd also known that, in the meantime, she'd be having a passionate love affair with some unsuitable man around the palace. ➤ TGCF fic about the era after xianle falls to yong'an, when Jian Lan finds work in a brothel ➤ Jian Lan's perspective on her developing relationship with Feng Xin ➤ I love the sharpness, the awkwardness, the quiet ground-down miseries - and yet the grasping onto what hope and beauty and love that can be found in the midst of it all ➤ Jian Lan and Feng Xin are doing their best! I'm emotions ➤ and I love the gentle femdom that Jian Lan leans into when Feng Xin's women issues make it challenging for them to have sex <3 ➤ 5k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“I’d rather the devil we know. Wouldn’t you?”</blockquote> ➤ a tgcf fanfic about ling wen and pei ming, written for mxtx remix as a remix of my ling wen fic ➤ SHRIEKING. FLAILING. CLAWING AT MY FACE IN DELIGHT. I am so honoured that my fic could inspire this piece of absolute perfection ➤ the dynamics between Ling Wen and Pei Ming throughout are soooooo good. the affection and the insults combined, the way selfishness is manifested differently in each of them and the way it does and doesn't affect their connection ➤ ling wen nonsexually domming pei ming! ➤ the vibes of three tumours are so perfectly rancid! ➤ and the unofficial junior official chats! ➤ the way heaven in general thinks about ling wen's takeover! ➤ I'm just. blown away. this fic is EVERYTHING to me. ➤ 2k words in length

summary: <blockquote>“Tell you what,” said Yushi Huang. “I’ll make you a deal, Ling Wen Zhen Jun.” Almost no one used her title at all, even fewer with respect. She couldn’t quite read Yushi Huang’s tone. “If you can tell me exactly what this is,” she nodded to the creature curled in the corner, "and what it does, I will turn it in the moment we get back for tagging and proper categorization." Ling Wen raised an eyebrow. So the enigmatic Rain Master already knew the creature's properties. "And if I don't?" Yushi Huang smiled, infuriatingly gentle. "Admitting defeat so soon? How unlike you." Ling Wen drew herself up and inclined her head, knowing herself to be rising to bait but seeing no real reason to resist. "I accept your terms."</blockquote> ➤ tgcf space au featuring ling wen/yushi huang, HELLO ➤ yushi huang's deliberate mysteriousness, and the way she uses it to flirt and get the upper hand with ling wen! ➤ ling wen enjoying having something to research that's for FUN instead of for work! ➤ the interesting development of the setting, and ways the characters and backstories have been tweaked to fit! ➤ LOVED IT. ➤ 4k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>“This is…” Mei Nianqing’s gaze flickers between Jun Wu—tired, shackled, familiar—and the recently unmasked figure beside him. Two pairs of deep black eyes regard him from nearly identical faces. “...unexpected.” / Jun Wu experiences qi deviation and has to deal with the consequences.</blockquote> ➤ wow?!?! jun wu is such a disaster and this is amazing ➤ post-canon, jun wu has a qi deviation that splits off a younger version of himself as bai wuxiang ➤ mei nianqing suggests that jun wu can fix it by dual cultivating with himself. jun wu is NOT into it but makes it work with mei nianqing's help. ➤ 3k words in length ➤ thanks to @xieliansbignaturals@blorbo.social for the rec!!!

Summary: <blockquote>When Mu Qing glanced over at Xie Lian beside him, he was startled to find him already watching him. A small smile played on his lips. “You know, Mu Qing,” he started—and if Mu Qing didn’t know any better he would say he sounded almost shy— “no one else that I fight with feels like a challenge. You’re the best of them all.” Mu Qing’s throat was tight and his face was hot, like he was going to cry. His eyes were quite dry, though. “You’re the best. You always will be.” / Mu Qing can't seem to reconcile the simple facts of his relationship to the crown prince with his more complicated feelings for Xie Lian.</blockquote> ➤ mu qing pov from the xianle trio era ➤ ft. class issues and teen relationship drama ➤ xie lian is an enormous martial arts nerd and a naive but shining prince; mu qing is pining but hyper-aware of class boundaries and how everyone sees him; feng xin is ready to judge ➤ it's so great and succeeds so well at what it's doing, I love it ➤ I love the last scene, which it ends on, about xie lian's appearance after he ascends. perfect ending to the fic ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Qi Rong learns that Xuan Ji has set up a forest of upside down corpses for him. He goes to pay her a visit. (This ended up diving way more into Qi Rong's head than I expected)</blockquote> ➤ qi rong/xuan ji fic, 4k words in length ➤ there are some details that irritate me about the fic, but overall it's an intriguing piece and I enjoyed some of what it was doing with qi rong's voice! and it's a very galaxy brain ship too tbh

Summary: <blockquote>He saluted her in that way he sometimes mockingly did, as a loyal general ought to greet the sagest of chief ministers. “Come on, now,” she said. “You can do better than that.”</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“Never in my life,” Lang Qianqiu said, “have I seen such a pathetic creature.” Qi Rong felt a stab of vicious amusement. A fresh peal of laughter shocked itself from the recesses of his body. It rattled up through his diaphragm, convulsive and somewhat painful. “Pathetic?” Qi Rong’s voice voice emerged on a shallow rasp. “You, you think I’m — ohhh, now that’s fucking rich, isn’t it?” / Lang Qianqiu manages to capture Qi Rong. The question, then, becomes what to do with him.</blockquote> ➤ this really helped me make sense of qi rong as a full person; I'd struggled to understand him from just reading canon

Summary: <blockquote>He was close enough now to reach out and touch. So he did. Ignoring Qi Rong’s shrieks of fury, he caught him by the throat and bent him back over the altar. Jun Wu studied his features, comparing them to Xie Lian’s. “Your eyes are all wrong, of course,” Jun Wu said. Even at his lowest, Xie Lian’s were never so deranged. “But around the mouth, yes… and if you were better dressed…” / Unable to get his hands on Xie Lian, Jun Wu makes do.</blockquote> ➤ oof ➤ the jun wu/xie lian is by proxy

Summary: <blockquote>If Lang Qianqiu thinks back, she can vaguely remember her instincts screeching at her to bolt. She isn’t here by accident. She has no idea if Qi Rong set out to woo her with her hair-filled shower drain and fridge full of condiments. That Lang Qianqiu was wooed is her own baggage to unpack.</blockquote> ➤ OKAY FINE I guess I just enjoyed a qi rong ship!!

Summary: <blockquote>“Your highness,” White No-Face sighs. He sounds like a disappointed parent. “You’re harming your cultivation, to go around like this. Your cultivation demands purity.” “Fuck off,” Xie Lian says. (A very drunk Xie Lian is instructed by White No-Face to keep his cultivation vows. He decides to do the opposite.)</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>A post-canon Quanyin series, because I really needed a happy ending for these two and then we just kept going.</blockquote> ➤ series consists of: Then It All Goes Away Plain to See (Harder to Say) I'd Write Your Name in a Heart with the Hemorrhage Go I But For the Grace of You ➤ about difficulties in communicating even after you decide you're gonna try to have a better relationship

Summary: <blockquote>"Shh, shh, I know. It's alright. I can keep a secret. Female gods ought to look out for one another." Ling Wen didn't put much stock in this sentiment herself—she didn't owe anyone anything, just because they happened to be women in the male-dominated world of Heaven—but she figured Shi Qingxuan might, and sure enough, Shi Qingxuan relaxed a little, nodding quickly. She really was tremendously easy to sway.</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>“And I said something like, ‘If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try?’” Quan Yizhen stood up so quickly that his chair clattered over. “Yes!” he cried, hands slammed flat on the table in his excitement. “Yes, Shixiong, that’s what you said! Did you remember?!” “…No, it just…” Yin Yu stammered, unprepared for that reaction. “Isn’t that a normal way to respond?” He doesn’t think that way, Xie Lian had told him. He scrambled for a better answer, gesturing for Quan Yizhen to sit back down. How did one explain sarcasm to someone like this? / When Yin Yu returns to the world as a ghost, he’s forgotten everything about his former life. Has he been given a chance to start over again, or will the pain of the past just catch up with him?</blockquote>