Thread by @CATACLYSMICEVIE

sometimes i think back on how Hua Cheng said, "The heavenly emperor must hate him, he banished him twice," and Xie Lian's reaction was that it was 'A child's way of thinking,' but

Hua Cheng was absolutely CORRECT, he just wasn't BRAINWASHED.

and it says a lot that Xie Lian thinks the idea of someone taking up for him is childish. It's one thing for him to be aware of his mistakes, but he's been so CONDITIONED into this state of learned helplessness and self loathing that he can't even acknowledge what happened to him

because HONESTLY i think the character arc between Jun Wu, the Guoshi, and Xie Lian is an EXCELLENT metaphor for child grooming and breaking a cycle of abuse, but Xie Lian really couldn't do that until he had that emotional support from Hua Cheng

and it took him FIVE WHOLE BOOKS to really accept that support, to BELIEVE that it was there, and when hua cheng first expressed it to him, xie lian thought he sounded CHILDISH.

i'm done screaming but the way Jun Wu literally conditioned Xie Lian to isolate himself hurts me

also wait i'm also not done because can we also just acknowledge how FUCKED UP it is to give a 17 y/o godhood, tell him he can't see ANY of his loved ones, then lay the blame for the destruction of everything he's ever loved at his feet, and how EVERYONE in the heavens said: