Chapter One “Record of Nine Thousand Vicissitudes” is a very popular Xianxia novel. It tells the story of the two teenage boys who overcame all kinds of difficulties together and finally reached the peak of the cultivation world together, becoming legends.
The novel was suitable for all ages since the author and protagonists were very upright. The love between the two teenagers was based on friendship, brotherhood, and the bond between disciples of the same sect. The two protagonists were bosom buddies, comrades who have lived through life and death adventures together. Their affection for each other was both deep yet light-hearted. However, their relationship was not one of romantic love.
However, the so-called “rotten women” (fujoshis) see rot everywhere. They saw this as a gay relationship. The author of the original novel wrote that the friendship between the two teenagers was deep as the sea but also somewhat ambiguous.
Zhangsun Zijun’s frosty demeanor only thawed when he was with Yi Xichen while Yi Xichen was a handsome young boy who was pure on the outside but saucy on the inside. Countless sparks flew between the two of them.
Yi Xichen liked to tease Zhangsun Zijun again and again until his face turned red, making him sigh in exasperation. When they were in danger, Yi Xichen would rather sacrifice himself and save Zhangsun Zijun. That time when Zhangsun Zijun was invaded by devil qi and went on a murderous rampage, only Yi Xichen was able to restore him to sanity, preferring to let himself get hurt rather than injure the other person. However, at the end of the novel Zhangsun Zijun and Yi Xichen were just sitting under a thousand-year-old banyan tree, smiling at each other after playing a game of chess. This made countless readers cry out in unbearable thirst. As a result, countless fan works came into being.
In the fan forum, one of the hottest fanficts was “Bondage Play in the Vineyard”1written by “Golden Eggs and Silver Goose.”2 The fanfiction was set in the same world as the original story but the characters were OOC to the extreme and it was very Mary Sue-ish. Most of the story consisted of H scenes. Zhangsun Zijun, who was mature and prudent in the original work, turned into a s.e.x machine who was perpetually in heat. Yi Xichen, who was a little roguish and sly but still honest and kind-hearted in the original novel, turned into a lovely, delicate little angel whose role mostly consisted of saying lines like “ah, ah, don’t, don’t, faster, faster, you’ll break me, ah!” Moreover, he was a shou pursued by ten thousand suitors who wanted to see this flower bloom!3
As one might imagine, this type of Mary Sue story was very controversial. Although there were numerous critics who held it in contempt, many thirsty readers also enjoyed its spicy hot H content.
One day, after Golden Eggs and Silver Goose updated, there was an anti-fan who commented sarcastically: “Great G.o.d,4 do you really think it’s good to write characters this way? Have you ever wondered how scary it would be if the protagonist in the original story really turned out the way you wrote him?”
At the exact moment when this comment was submitted, lightning from the heavens struck the ground and a white light flashed through the window …
Something magical happened!