The Problematic of the Unproblematic

SakiVI: In which Bayi gets up close and personal with at least three different people. Trotwood: This is true, so why weren't any of them more exciting? There was even nudity! Also, I'm disappointed. Where were the promised pancakes? JoAnne: How can you think of pancakes at a time like this? We had death AND nudity! kakashi: I am so tired. I read "why aren't any of them expecting?" That, plus nudity, made sense to me. Not sure about how to fit in the dead bodies though.  

Chapter 13, Part 2 - The Man of the Moon written by LalaLoop edited by kakashi With almost everyone asleep and having had enough of sword practice alone, Bai Qian started walking into the forest with a scroll in her hand so that she could feel occupied. Arriving at a lake, her head was full of thoughts of recent occurings.The night air was fresh and soothing. The moon shone against the dark sky, its silver reflection shimmering across the lake.

kakashi: I have a new favorite character and it's not Zheng Qiu Dong! Plus, we're getting started now. SakiVI: Yes, the next stage of weird stuff in Qiu Dong's life has begun. Panda: Drama picks up steam and I get a tad distracted by Qiu Dong's mop of hair. Literally a mop JoAnne:  Can I just push Qiu Dong off a cliff?  It would put us ALL out of our misery...

Chapter 12 - The Gathering of Immortals Part 3 written by LalaLoop consulting by MiniOrchid edited by kakashi On the same evening that Zheyan was checking the condition of Bai Qian’s eyes and was reminding her that the Fox Empress had not organized this Gathering so she could use the information she had discovered against someone with only good intentions in mind, Tianshu, Yehua’s trusted assistant, was said to have arrived at Eastern Forest with urgent news that needed her attention immediately

Trotwood: I'm trying to recover from having way too many desserts between Thanksgiving and my birthday. I'm feeling a bit queasy about that and about several of the dramas I watched this week. How come even the people I love annoy me? SakiVI: This week, I got banned from a Jaehyo chatroom by the teenagers in it. Also, I've been obsessed with my new Hobonichi planner. I'm now keeping a list of my dramas and the next episode to watch because I now plan my life, yay!  kakashi: Hahahaaa, tell me more, Saki! Banned? Also: TRIBES AND EMPIRES! I've kinda armtwisted Panda into recapping but of course, I will help her :D Regarding the chatroom, someone called Tabby blocked me from it.  And one of the comments was, "we can breathe in here again." Pffft. My Jaehyo Love was too much for them all!!! Regarding Tribes and Empires, if I like it, I said I'd also help out with recaps occasionally. JoAnne: I, of course, will contribute snarky asides and contrary op

SakiVI: In which we finally get some tomb raiding activity and spooky stuff, even though it's not technically in a tomb. kakashi: The first good episode. I wasn't even bored. Trotwood: Finally, we get some adventure. Look, Ma! We can fly! JoAnne: And then there's Fatty, the dumbass.

Chapter 29 written by LigayaCroft edited by Panda and kakashi Three mortal months later... "The saplings are growing perfectly," Huo Zheng beamed at Gun Gun as they knelt shoulder to shoulder over the plants Gun Gun had planted three months ago. "The roots are digging deep into the soil. You're a natural at this!" A-Li noted the look of absolute delight on Gun Gun’s face as his nephew's lips reflected Huo Zheng's smile. He sighed. It had become troublesome lately how Gun Gun had been extra attentive to Huo Zheng's happiness and needs. It seemed everybody— his nephew and cousin included— in this tiny village all served at Huo Zheng's pleasure.

kakashi: Uh-oh, tragedy. Lies, broken hearts and a prison sentence... is it really worth it, Qiu Dong? Panda: Heartbreak, prison, New haircut!! Good times ahead SakiVI: What an awful life he leads.   JoAnne:  Why am I the only one laughing? Between old lady stockings and people sentenced to work in fast food uniforms, the hysterical crying and fainting...my sides hurt.

Chapter 79 written by kakashi edited by Panda Ruoshui River. The place where he had sacrificed his soul for the realms, uttering those words - a promise, a sacred bond - that had compelled him to defy the Nothingness and to return despite the odds, despite the consequences. Also, it was the place where he had consoled a heartbroken Bai Qian over Ye Hua’s demise, even though his own despair had been so great, living on had felt like a punishment. His brother, his unfortunate, precious twin, who had suffered so much already even before being born - he had failed to keep him safe, despite his promise to their dying father.

Chapter 12 - The Gathering of Immortals Part 2 written by LalaLoop edited by kakashi “Word has it that the Man of the Moon never lies,” said Yanzhi as she pushed her sword against Bai Qian’s. “He is extremely knowledgeable, doesn’t speak very often, but when he does, every remark will be the absolute truth.”

kakashi: Looks like this week is the last crazy-busy week for me before Christmas! Touch wood! touch Trotwood! JoAnne: I swear something is wibbly-wobbly with time these past few weeks. Is anyone else feeling like you aren't getting much done and can't account for how long it takes to do things? Like you look up and hours have passed but you have 30 minutes of work to show for it? What was I doing the rest of the time ? Trotwood: Since this is the week of Thanksgiving where JoAnne and I live, I would like to thank everyone here and involved in this blog for putting up with me and my cranky, emergency planning self. SakiVI: It's Thanksgiving where I live too, not that I planned for it.  Happy Thanksgiving Saki and Trot and all y'all out there on the other side of the screen!

Chapter 28 written by LigayaCroft edited by Panda and Kakashi Before meeting his peers and teacher at Shuǐ Zhǎozé, Dong Hua had steadily built a reputation for himself as the warrior from the Blue Sea who turned out to be the greatest fighter the Immortal world had ever seen. It was a reputation he had built not from learned texts nor instructor-led fighting sessions but out of the strength of his fists. It was understandable then that before Shuǐ Zhǎozé, Dong Hua barely knew how to read nor write, and had been a far throw from the sophisticated, educated mystic he had evolved himself to in the years after he had abdicated the throne to Tianjun.

Chapter 27 written by LigayaCroft edited by kakashi and Panda Huicūn Day One (continued) After a day of talking to some townsfolk about hiring help to cut hardwood and bamboo trees for the new house he and Gun Gun had to build on their village-allotted space located behind the Huo land, A-Li and Gun Gun headed back to the guest hut. They walked into Huo Mao in the front yard as the old woman swept dried leaves into a pile using a makeshift broom made of long twigs. It was a messy pile, too, as every time she swung left, she scattered more leaves than she put into the pile by sweeping right. “Oh, pretty boys, you’re back.” She waved at them, further scattering the leaves on her tiny pile. “Does Mei Lin know how to cook?” A-Li and Gun Gun looked at each other in alarm. “She should not be left alone in the kitchen!” Gun Gun exclaimed, and rushed off. “Oh?” Huo Mao blind eye blinked. “All I did was I told Mei Lin that Huo Zheng did all the cooking in our house but sinc

Chapter 78 written by kakashi edited by Panda “In the year 262,000 after Father Immortal’s death, the immensely beautiful and wise Demon Ancestor Shao Wan led 574,732 Demon tribe soldiers against the Celestial host. The Celestial troops were seemingly disadvantaged by their size (counting only 389,522 soldiers at the beginning of the campaign), but were commanded by the God of War, Mo Yuan, Master of Kunlun Mountains, known for his strategic superiority, iron will, and victory in many battles. In the first weeks of the military campaign, after making only a very brief appearance and show of force, the Demon Ancestor used unconventional fighting tactics to her advantage. By splitting her own forces into small groups and attacking Celestials at the most unexpected times and seemingly out of nowhere, she managed to further decimate and confuse the Celestial armies. Shunning any direct confrontation with the God of War’s troops, she continued to fight a war of attrition from the s

kakashi: There's a lot of potential for tragedy in this drama, that much is clear after the second episode! I still very much like the way this story is told, the many subtle interactions and chance meetings, and apart from a few 101-villains, our main characters are complex enough to intrigue me further. Actually, I am most intrigued by our female protagonist. I hope they continue to write her well. JoAnne: I sort of feel like I'm in the Upside Down right now. SakiVI: what's the Upside Down? Second episode was better than the first, but I'm still ambivalent about this show.   Panda: Is Upside Down from Stranger Things? Yes, Stranger Things.  It's like a dead version of the world that the kids live in. What their world will look like when the Demagorgs and that big black thing take over.

SakiVI: In which one character dies. SorryNotSorry about that. And in which we learn Bayi has been withholding information about himself, but that he's going to let loose now. kakashi: Much too much of those three doltheads who act as if it were comedy, which clearly doesn't work. JoAnne: Well, maybe they'll be gone soon. Trotwood: I hope so, too. Not enough people have died. We are on episode 6 already. Where is my body count?!?!?!

Chapter 26 written by LigayaCroft edited by Panda and Kakashi Huicūn Day One Clang! Clang! Clang! A-Li had barely gotten any sleep when he was jolted awake by the sound of clanging metal from outside their tiny hut. As he blinked the remnants of sleep away, A-Li turned to check on his nephew who slept soundly a few feet on the floor away from him,. Gun Gun’s light snoring indicative of the emotional strain from the night before.

kakashi: Trying out a new format for this drama! I'll call them impression posts - no recaps, but thoughts and rambling about the episodes. This drama has 52 episodes... that's a lot. That said, the first one was unexpected, but captured me from minute 1 to minute 46. JoAnne:  While I spent the whole first episode thinking 'what the hell is this about...I thought it was a thriller, corporate espionage, high stakes business/govt intrigue kind of thing.' panda: I had the same first impression as Jo but once I settled into the fact that they wanted to show his journey from the beginning, I enjoyed it.  SakiVI: I thought what Jo thought. I was mildly irritated with getting two episodes of background, maybe even more.

Chapter 12 - The Gathering of Immortals Part 1 written by LalaLoop edited by kakashi Bai Qian was sitting at the desk in her room, her fingers tapping on its surface, where a flat piece of paper covered in Zheyan’s writing lay. The first few weeks at the Eastern Forest had been so exciting and wonderfully refreshing that Bai Qian had forgotten about almost everything. During the day, she would go with her mother to places in the forest, meet old deities and immortals. Then there would be small gatherings and banquets in the evening that would keep her occupied for hours, so many that sometimes she had the feeling her parents did not want to allow her free time to think about anything else.

Trotwood: I feel like I need to reboot and start afresh. I made the mistake of starting too many shows during a time that I know is always very busy in the fall and when I really need light-hearted fare or dark shows where I'm really not that invested in characters (like Korean dailies or lakorns). I think there will be a lot of dropping and maybe just reading recaps of things. For example, I reread Thumping Pike recaps just because they made me feel good. I have only one drama that makes me feel good, and that will be ending this week.😢 SakiVI: I'm glad two shows of mine will end this week. They've been really satisfying all along, and are both 12 episode dramas, which tells me Korean dramas need to cut down their episodes for their shows. kakashi: Yay! I'm watching something! JoAnne is scratching her head, but I like the drama .  JoAnne:  I don't feel like I watched many dramas over the week, but I did a lot of catch up this weekend.  Where is time going?  Am

The Kunlun Disciples by Miniorchid Name: 1st Disciple, Die Feng Animal : Midnight Blue Dragon Age : 158,000 Personality Type : THE DEFENDER “Protector”, ISFJ Hobbies: Papermaking and Scroll Binding Martial Weapon : Sword Strengths : Loyalty Weakness : Family and Li Ying Attraction : Wet Clothes (on Women) Drink : Tea Background : When Die Feng was only 3,000 years old, Mo Yuan happened to pass by the West Sea Kingdom and rescued his brother Die Yong from a wild sea serpent. After hearing Mo Yuan wanted to start his own school, Die Feng’s Queen Mother attempted to persuade him to take Die Feng as his first disciple. Shifu readily agreed. Die Feng felt very grateful and fortunate to be taken to Kunlun, where he, for the first time in his life, could express his full potential. Even at a young age, Die Feng had always naturally outdone his older brother, be it in studies generally, but also calligraphy, painting, or martial arts. His mother had always chastised him fo

kakashi: Cao Cao is revealed as ruthless father and he and Si Ma Yi look into each other's faces and recognize the other as formidable ... enemy? Potential ally? We will see. panda: Stakes get ever higher as alliances get solidified and lines get more formally drawn between the Cao brothers. JoAnne: Who will win in this deadly game of chess? Well, not chess. Go. What's the Chinese version of Go? Weiqi .

Chapter 77 written by kakashi edited by Panda “Ancestor, there is a Celestial messenger here to see you,” announced her guard. Shao Wan’s heart began to beat faster. Finally. She had been increasingly worried his damn pondering and agonizing slowness would jeopardize everything.

Chapter 25 written by LigayaCroft edited by Panda and kakashi “Huǒ Zhěng will be here soon. Then we'll see what we'll do with you, spoiled rich brats.” A-Li looked up at all the angry faces that stared at them with hatred, and could only bow his head in shame. Beside him, Mei Lin bristled with reined-in anger at the humiliation of kneeling on the ground before mortals. There was no doubt that if the land didn't absorb magick, all of these mortals would have been roasted by now.

Chapter 76 written by Panda edited by kakashi Dawn met him by the waterside. Ever since she left he could hardly stand to be in his meditation cave. He had tried shifting his meditation practice to other rooms at Kunlun but soon realized he needed a distraction, but one that was not too intrusive to help him concentrate. The sounds of the waterfalls calmed him, numbed him and made it easy for him to empty his thoughts, to focus . He had meditated from midnight till shortly before daybreak. After meditating, he had remained in his lotus pose and started to reassemble his previously emptied thoughts. He pulled up various threads of information and re-arranged them in his subconscious, planning strategies and ruthlessly analyzing who to use in what ways and who was of no use in the impending war.

Chapter 24 written by LigayaCroft edited by Panda and kakashi Twenty-threee immortal days ago… A-Li, welcome. I have been waiting for you. The greeting came four immortal days after they left Wuji Island. A-Li felt something shift and tear while meditating so he opened his eyes to look around his room. He was slightly alarmed to find that his surroundings had taken on a hazy appearance, almost like he was looking at them through a curtain of shifting sand which moved with him as he stood up and walked around. The sand particles felt light but weighted, warm yet cool to the touch. To his amazement, he saw the room replay scenes as they had happened in the past four immortal days.

Chapter 11 - The Lost Tune written by LalaLoop edited by kakashi “Why are you looking so miserable, son?” his mother gently put her hand on his. “I cannot bear to see you like this.” “I don't --” he closed his eyes, feeling more tired and empty than ever, “-- I don’t know… what to think.”

Trotwood: This week left me a bit drama cranky. So I decided to read this weekend instead of catching up. Then I realized that I had watched everything but Mad Dog and my still darling Avenger's club (no subs yet for me). SakiVI: I feel like I read too many subtitles in addition to all the documents I read for work. So I'm pleased for you that you took time to read. kakashi: Getting tentatively excited for Hunting Ground. JoAnne:  Meng!  My Meng!

Chapter 75 written by MiniOrchid and Chimera editing by Chimera Looking over his life, Die Feng couldn’t think of a moment he had been irresponsible. But today he had failed to live up to his standards, to perform his duty. He had failed simply because he no longer had the will to fight. And what resulted from that was all his fault. He had forsaken his duty of protecting those who laid their lives and trust in his hands. Just because of one moment of indecision...or was it distraction? All he could say for sure was that he had not been focusing on the battle the way he should have.

Chapter 23 written by Ligaycroft edited by Panda and kakashi Twenty-seven immortal days ago… The Thirty-Six Heavens would never know how much they were missing when they underestimated Lian Song as inferior to his two older brothers. But, alas, such was the usual case of those who were born last. Often overlooked and left to their own devices, the attention they lost was exchanged with freedom— and Lian Song would not have traded it for anything in the world. In fact, he had made it a complete art to look incompetent so as to purposely avoid onerous responsibilities.

Chapter 74 - Part II written by kakashi “Mo Yuan, a decision has finally been reached,” the Heavenly Emperor said from the height of his throne in the Dragon Hall, looking mildly sympathetic, “it took so long because opinions were greatly divided.” Mo Yuan nodded grimly.

SakiVI: In which people talk a lot, there's a mysterious map, woooooo, and the man-bear changes hands. kakashi: Maybe it's because it's been ages, but I really liked this episode!  Trotwood: Pfft. it's been ages. Life happened. Sorry. I didn't mean you. I meant that the only reason Kakashi would like this episode is because it's been ages. It was slow. You are NOT slow. JoAnne: Well she is slow, but no one minds at all.

Chapter 74 - Part I written by kakashi edited by Panda After carefully wiping the thin sheen of sweat off his brow, He Jing (河静) let his eyes wander around his home with quiet pride. It had taken him the better part of three days to be satisfied, but it finally looked sufficiently welcoming and festive. The sèung héi decorations were in place on the room furniture and the main door. With his own hands, he had collected red peonies from the fields and arranged them in eight pretty vases, five of which he had borrowed from the neighbors. At an auspicious date two days ago, the grandma from across the street had installed the bridal bed. Ever since, the bedside lamps had been kept burning. A plate of dried longans, lotus seeds, red dates, persimmons and a sprig of pomegranate leaves were placed on the new red bedsheets. They were of the best quality silk, embroidered masterfully with dragons and phoenixes in gold threads. The truth was, the sheets had cost way more than He Jing sh