Mo Dao Zu Shi rereading commentary || Chapters 1-10 (Patreon)

Chapter 2: Reincarnation

Mo XuanYu’s grandfather was from a rich family of the area. His family was few in number, and, although he tried at it, he only had two daughters. Their names were not mentioned, but the elder one was the daughter of his principal wife, looking for a husband to marry into the family, while the younger one was the daughter of a servant. The Mo family originally wanted to hastily give her to someone, but an adventure awaited her. When she was sixteen, the leader of a well-known cultivation family was passing by the area, and fell in love with her at first sight.

It's interesting, Mo Xuanyu, who was born to a servant (or a line of servants) offered his body to someone who was in a similar position.

Wei Wuxian was a son of a servant living in a home who had its legitimate lady and her legitimate son, and while she treated him badly, Wei Wxuian and Jiang Cheng actually got along.
In the first chapter of the book we see people talk about Wei Wuxian's death, going on about how his own shidi, Jiang Cheng,lead a siege on him. They talk about How Wei Wuxian was ungrateful and hurt the family who took him in and that without them he would be nothing, mentioning the hate that sparked between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng.

Considering that Mo Xuanyu was treated badly both by the lady of the house and her son, seeking to get revenge on both of them, I wonder if he thought of Wei Wuxian being similar to him and being the best option to carry out his revenge. Maybe he thought that Wei Wuxian hated Yu furen for treating him badly, and eventually Jiang Cheng too, who eventually helped cause his own death?
I'm not implying anything, of course, it's just an interesting possible parallel.

Chapter 6: Arrogance Part 1

And so, their argument had turned to another direction. Wei WuXian passed them on his donkey, giggling and laughing. He didn’t expect that, after so many years had passed, he was still alive in the cultivators’ conversations. This was the so-called “much ado about Wei.” If there was ever a poll to find out whose popularity was the most lasting in the cultivation world, the winner would be no other than Wei WuXian.

To be honest, the cultivator wasn’t wrong. The Compasses of Evil in use today was the first version that he made, and were, indeed, not specific enough. He was in the middle of making improvements when his “den” was destroyed, so he had to put everyone through the inconvenience of using the imprecise version one.

This is the cultivators Wei Wuxian met near Dafan Mountain. They are searching for the evil being, waiting for the compass to point on it, yet nothing happens and one of them wonders if the compass is not so good, but another reminds him that it can't be wrong, because the one who built it was none other than Wei Wuxian himself! I just Love Wei Wuxian's reaction to hearing their conversation. To die knowing you're the most hated man on earth whom everyone blamed, the paths of whom everyone rejected, just to be reincarnated YEARS later to find out people still talk about you, and even defend your honor when it comes to inventions and your genius, AND EVEN USE YOUR TOOLS. No, that's just SOMETHING.

The fact that the cultivators defend his honor as being so genius as to never having the ability to make mistake in his inventions, and the way Wei Wuxian humbly reveals, that, no no, that one wasn't actually good, is such a beautiful glimpse into how society perceives somebody and the actual somebody shares the REAL behind the scenes of what happened. Like we all think that Leonardo Da Vinci was thing genius artist and inventor and engineer but if he would stand here in front of us he'd tell us about how they're not really that good, and how much he struggled, and than in all honesty, he'd just prefer to doodle penises on his scripts like he actually did.

And also how Wei Wuxian shares his working process, admitting that he did find faults with the object and was just about to fix it (I love his genius artist self so much!) but then it just so happened that they interrupted him by throwing a damn siege on his humble workshop hahaha

And the line "so he had to put everyone through the inconvenience of using the imprecise version one" is like, "Oh, I'm so sorry for not being able to perfect a tool you all blamed for being created by a monster but still apparently use it, because you decided to interrupt my work by DAM TRYING TO KILL ME."
Just amazing, really 😂

Chapter 7: Arrogance Part 2

Although the cultivation method that he used in the past was often criticized and, in the long term, it harmed the cultivator’s health, it could be mastered quickly. It was also especially attractive because there were no limitations as to the cultivator’s spiritual powers or talent, making it so that there were always people who secretly practiced it to find a shortcut. The boy presumed that, after being chased from the LanlingJin Sect, Mo XuanYu had chosen the dishonorable path, which was a reasonable conclusion to draw, saving Wei WuXian from a lot of unnecessary trouble.

This is important to me because I had a discussion with someone on twitter about Wei Wuxian's actual cultivation path. As you all might know, the cultivation world blamed Wei Wuxian for practicing the demonic path (therefore calling him "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation") when, in all honesty, he practiced a ghost path, which is easy to master, than normal cultivation and can be done by anyone.

Anyways, in this conversation, I argued that Wei Wuxian still took matters further than anyone who could "simply master" this method of cultivation, because he indeed reach a level of power, knowledge and possibilities that nobody could achieve, even those who tried to imitate him. I argued that it did eventually took its toll on him, because even Lan Wangji reminded him that it "harms both body and soul." But that person argued that nobody understood Wei Wuxian's real path, thinking that it was far worse than in reality, cause Wei Wuxian was practicing something very simple and not harming, but categorized as damnable and bad by the major sects who were afraid that if anyone could master that easy cultivation method of the ghost path, nobody would need them. And while I agree about that, this quote I share here now is evidence by Wei Wuxian himself, sharing that the cultivation method he used DOES have indeed the ability to harm one's health in the long run, which I think what Lan Wangji warned him all along, and that eventually was one of the reasons that lead Wei Wuxian to lose control over the fierce corpses, causing the deaths of Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli, and also causing him to lose his temper. Of course there's also the matter of him being ostracized more and more by the people around him and being blamed for things he didn't do all the time, but I think the reason why he lost temper eventually and how he decided to act in certain situations was him being finally affected by the methods he used, making Lan Wangji even more worried.

I'd love to know your thoughts about this. If I'm wrong, correct me!

Chapter 9: Arrogance Part 4

Everyone, following the donkey, ran in the other direction.

Lan SiZhui was breaking down, “That is not supposed to happen! The YiLing Patriarch had said before, that high-level ones eat souls, and only low-level ones eat flesh!”

Wei WuXian couldn’t help but to comment, “Why are you blindly worshipping him? Even his own inventions were a mess! No rules stay the same in all situations. You can think of it as an infant—when it lacks teeth, it can only eat congee and soup, but when it grows up, it would, of course, also want to eat meat using its teeth. Her powers had just risen greatly, so naturally she’d want to taste something new!”

Again, this is just like with the quote above about him commenting about his own inventions and findings.

The context: on Dafan Mountain, Wei Wuxian and the juniors see the goddess statue eating real flesh, and not just souls. Wei Wuxian himself was apparently the one who made a classification about creatures who eat souls and those who eat flesh and what does it say about their power. And apparently, disciples of GUSULAN SECT ITSELF study and know the classification made by the yiling Laozu. The way Lan Sizhui, the most responsible and smart junior of all of them, brought up by Hanguang Jun himself, is the one to mention things studied according to the man whose cultivation method was shunned worldwide, IS ASTONISHING.

And the way Wei Wuxian shits on his own reputation here hahahaha, correcting himself on the go like "I was wrong in my observations, apparently this is how they act instead!" Like, bro, chill, you only just now came back to life and you're already back into the science stuff. I LOVE THIS GEEK!!!

Chapter 10: Arrogance Part 5

Fortunately, his orders were clear enough. Wen Ning retreated quickly, disappearing into the dark and gloomy forest without a sound. Wei WuXian feared that Lan WangJi would chase after Wen Ning, so he backhandedly grabbed him instead. But, surprisingly, Lan WangJi never even looked at Wen Ning once, but stared at Wei WuXian the whole time. The two stood face to face, gripping each other’s arms, and stared.

HOLD ON HOLD THE FUCK UP HOW DIDN'T I REMEMBER THAT?!

When Lan Wangji hears Wei Wuxian play the melody he himself composed, and grabs his wrist strongly, forcing Wei Wuxian to drop his flute, that's the image we all remember right? But right after that, Wei Wuxian himself grabs Lan Wangji by the arm, fearing that he'll go after Wen Ning. And THIS is how they stand. BOth holding each other's arms and staring at each other. HELLO?!?!?!

This is such an iconic moment that was represented both in visual adaptations and in so many fanarts, but everyone focuses on Lan Wangji as the only one holding Wei Wuxian. I THINK I MIGHT HAVE THE NEXT ART IDEA YOU GUYSSSS

Although he was infamous, people had to admit that, before the YiLing Patriarch Wei WuXian had betrayed the YunmengJiang Sect, he was known for being a handsome young man and a refined cultivator skilled in the six arts. He ranked the fourth among all of the young masters in the cultivation world, being described as lively and cheerful. On the other hand, the ill-tempered Sect Leader Jiang ranked five, surpassed by him, so most people weren’t so bold as to mention the matter. Wei Ying was a frivolous and wanton person who loved to have tangled ties with pretty girls. Nobody knew how many female cultivators he had troubled with his charms, but it was yet unheard of that he was also attracted to men. Even if he wanted to steal a body and seek revenge… according to Wei Ying’s taste, he definitely wouldn’t have chosen a lunatic cut-sleeve who rode a donkey while eating fruits and painted his face to resemble a hanged ghost!

Someone else muttered, “It’s not him no matter how you look at it… The flute was also played horribly… This is definitely a case of blind imitation, hearing how inferior it sounded.”

During the “Sunshot Campaign,” the YiLing Patriarch stood on the battlefield and played his flute throughout the whole night, controlling the ghost soldiers as if they were a living army. He swept away all obstacles—whether a human or god was standing in front of him, he had defeated them. The sound of his flute was as if it was played by an immortal, absolutely incomparable to the terrible moans made by the abandoned son of the Jin Clan. No matter how horrible Wei WuXian’s character was, it was too insulting to compare them like this.

I absolutely love this part.

A bunch of cultivators, including Jiang Cheng, are trying to work out if Mo Xuanyu that stands before them is actually Wei Wuxian. After listening to the truth about Mo Xuanyu and comparing it to what they know and what they think they know about Wei Wuxian, they decide that there's NO WAY Wei Wuxian would choose to posses the body of a person such as Mo Xuanyu, because they are complete opposites. They throw so much "facts" about Wei Wuxian, making an actual debate of the issue, seeming to be so knowledgeable, drawing conclusions and shit.

AND MEANWHILE
The only person who knows the truth, knows that Mo Xuanyu here IS in fact Wei Wuxian, and he understood that not from anything that had to do with Wei Wuxian, but with HIMSELF. Because Wei Wuxian Mo Xuanyu just played the song he himself composed, that nobody else ever heard. Lan Wangji is the man who holds THE REAL KNOWLEDGE in this situation, and he stays silent.
this is glorious hahaha

Wei WuXian spoke, “Thank you for being so enthusiastic. However, your thoughts are quite off. Even if I am attracted to men, I don’t like just any type of man, much less follow anyone who waves at me. For example, I’m not interested in ones like you.”

Wei WuXian was purposely trying to disgust him. Jiang Cheng had always hated being defeated while compared with others, no matter how pointless the comparison was. If anyone said that he wasn’t as good as someone else, he’d be angered and not think about anything else until he won against the person. As expected, Jiang Cheng’s face darkened, “Oh, really? Then, may I ask which type you’re interested in?”

This is really interesting how Wei Wuxian knows Jiang Cheng's character enough to know that even if he uses such a "disgusting" (homosexuality) field of competition, Jiang Cheng (who is disgusted by homosexuals) would still fall for it.

This trait of a person who always tries to compare themselves to others, no matter the field, really exists in real life, and this is why I also love Jiang Cheng a lot (I know a lot hate him, but I can't), because his character, his story, his experience, are really believable. Constantly being pressured by his mother, who made comparisons between himself and others, eventually leads him to make those comparisons himself, and always being afraid that he's not the best in something.

Unfortunately, this trait is exactly the one my best friend has. Since childhood, her parents were very strict with her. Always comparing her with other children, or asking about the scores other kids got on the tests in school just to see how good or bad she did with hers (my family used to do it too), they sent her to drawing class always expecting high results from her. And she grew up to have a low self esteem, constantly wanting to please her parents and aim for approval. Her little sister was born when she was 10, and the more the sister grew up the more my friend realized that her parents changed their education method, and were SUPER easy going with her, on the verge of spoiling her. This developed a strong sense of resent from my friend, both to her parents and her sister. And till this very day, she sill compares herself with others who are better than her and finding a fault in them that makes her better. For example, she can find a popular artist youtuber and be jealous of the fact that she has a lot of viewers and subscribers, because she herself tried to create an art youtube channel and didn't succeed in it. But then she would conclude "but I am much more prettier than her."  It's like, she's having a mental competition with someone who doesn't even know they're IN the contest. And while the contest was about a one field my friend tried to compete in, and failed, she would immediately find another field where in her mind she's the victor.

Human behavior, and the experiences we go through that make us who we are, is a very interesting subject, and something I think that MDZS excels at portraying.


Well, that's it for now, see you at the next round of chapters!

MDZS rereading commentary || Chapters 11-20 

MDZS rereading commentary || Intro