No Paths Are Bound: Part Two

by Cataclysmic_Calamity

Part 2:
The 800 Year Gap: Chapters 15 - 40

A re-telling of TGCF where Xie Lian has his cursed shackle placed in his eyes, blinding him. And yet, through all of his struggles; there is always someone watching over him.

Genres: Fan Fiction

798 pages, ebook

Published September 8, 2022

Reviews

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

And no one mourns like a ghost.

Reread August 6th, 2025

Jesus. I don't know why I'm such a crybaby, but I cried a lot during this volume. Again and again.

And like I said before—so many beautiful quotes and moments.

This masterpiece needs a little bit of editing, just a tiny bit. Sometimes, the author seems to forget Xie Lian is blind, there a a few moments like that. But they're honestly nothing compared to HOW FUCKING GOOD this is.

Read it, guys. You won't regret it.


First read March 13th, 2025

Wow. Just wow. This volume was so fucking good!
New characters and their stories were amazing, even the secondary ones. Nothing felt forced, everything fitted so organically with the original. I feel like not as many authors can take a book and remake it into something that is not just fun to read, but that tugs at your heart just as much as the original novel.

Zhao Beitong, Fai and Xiang, Bao, Shuo and Yanlin, Xiong Li and Lan An... Every little additional storyline was brilliant. Every scene we got during the 800 years was so, so worth it.

I'm so emotional and I consumed this volume so quickly I can't even say everything I wanted to...

I cannot tell you how many times I cried. And how many quotes I highlighted. I so love it when fanfiction becomes... more. I hope this story will get wider recognition.

[Maria Drago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes:
- I found it odd that HC had a companion while he was in Mount Tonglu. I think it's more dramatic if he's in there for years on his own, going crazy and making statue after statue. (Later I will come to appreciate all of the details added to the workings of the Kiln.)
- HC aloof coldness was not coming through. I love him as a stone cold bitch who only shows kindness and gentleness to his prince; someone who does good only because it's for the person he likes. So seeing him rescuing people left and right out of the literal goodness of his heart... ew. LMAO.
- So Jun Wu thinks he's Xie Lian's ancestor (grandpa??) but it's actually Mei Nianqing (Guoshi) who had a kid with Zhao Beitong. And then she became HC's teacher and gave him her butterflies!
- Ok Zhao Beitong's story is actually really interesting and I'm amazed with how on earth the author came up with all this lore. Fascinating how she also came up with meaning behind the butterflies, the eye patch, the name "San Lang." (Which I'm still a bit iffy on, but we'll see.)
- I'm so here for the 800-years arc. Xie Lian is more sassy than anticipated and Hua Cheng more magnanimous, but the events themselves are super believable. I especially loved the scene where HC receives his title of Crimson Rain Sought Flower.
- THE MARRIAGE PROPOSAL TO XL BAHAHAHAHAHA
The dad: "He's NOT A WOMAN. That is a MAN!"
The besotted son: "... And I'm OPEN-MINDED."
- Holy, the tension between FX and MQ in chapter 23?? I couldn't quite understand what was happening; it seemed like some unrequited feelings on MQ's part, and FX having feelings for XL. But then it seemed insinuated that FX knew about MQ's feelings and they maybe had a thing??
- HC's battle with the martial and civil gods is SO BADASS. I thought the scene would cut away during the spoken debates but the author went ALL OUT and threw down the sickest philosophical political verbal throwdown.
- And then it got even MORE COOL when he burned down all those temples, simultaneously testing the limits of his power. FUCK That was awesome.
- Yo why was I getting emotional when Fai and Xiang were leaving to gi to hell. Damn.
- Love the recurring phrase, "No one mourns like a ghost."
- BRO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHI FAMILY LORE?? THEY WERE CURSED BECAUSE THEY SCATTERED THE ASHES OF FAI AND XIANG HOLY SHIT. Also i find it so funny that HC met the Wind Master when he was a little girl. Big Brother Shi Wudu is so cute. Anyway, I love the foreshadowing for everything in the Black Water arc.
- Xie Lian mentioned a beauty pageant incident??
- The foreshadowing is PRISTINE. He Xuan as a little kid playing with building ships, complaining that they keep sinking? MA'AM.
- I love how perceptive Pei Ming is. He seems like someone who can read people well, even if he doesn't always understand why or can't put the whole picture together.
- At first I felt a bit weary when I realized we were about to delve into a whole lotta Black Water arc background info, but it was actually kind of fun seeing everything set up, all the tense foreshadowing. I also only just realized the significance of Shi Wudu being the Water Master and He Xuan being a water demon.
- From the first description of HC's dream of XL, I became convinced that XL is having these dreams too because he's acting too naturally. And then it was CONFIRMED. Mwahahaha.
- BRO HUA CHENG AND HE XUAN SEEING EACH OTHER'S MEMORIES IN THE KILN-- HX LEARNING ABT HC'S FIXATION AND HC SEEING THE MEMORY HX HAS OF XL AND GOING OVER IT AGAIN AND AGAIN AFSHSKLOEHRBNXLAOW
WILL THEY REMEMBER AFTERWARDS?? THAT'S NOT PART OF THE CURSE, RIGHT??
Brooo and that's how HX finds out about where his life went wrong, seeing HC's memories of Shi Wudu...
And then HC having his faith renewed seeing his god still out there, happy at least...
- I absolutely do not understand the kiln lore, but it is HELLA skillfully created
- I love the not-time travel; it's just gazing into the future. And then when they went even further, I KNEW it was gonna show MDZS. I don't understand why, but sure. Also, I'm convinced that the little kid that called HX(?) papa must be his son with Shi Qingxuan (BECAUSE GREEN EYES). And I love the foreshadowing of him falling in love with Sho Qingxuan and realizing he does still have a heart against his better judgment and having to struggle with his revenge plot.
- Okay the sibling dynamic between HC and HX is actually really funny. Though of course I can't help thinking that HX should really respect my boy HC more.
- XL's overall characterization is a lot more negative: very weary, a bit sassy, sometimes lazy. I'm not the biggest fan, but I suppose it humanizes him a bit? Idk, to me he's always been ethereal and very saint-like until HC comes and shows him that he doesn't have to be. And also, there are far too many instances of XL "watching" and "seeing" things or noticing visual aspects that he CANNOT SEE.
- I actually enjoy seeing people flirt with XL. It can be really funny (like with the insane marriage proposal), except when it's creepy, and even then I like seeing XL's spine. It was also lowkey funny to learn that he didn't quite understand how sexual exploits would work...
- Ok so somehow Lang Qianqiu doesn't know that his Guoshi is blind?? Sure. I'm more focused on the fact that he has a CRUSH and i KNEW IT HAHAHAHA but oh my god it's so sad that he finally found the courage to do it, and so cutely too, right on his birthday... the one that ends in complete and utter tragedy, compounded by the fact that he just confessed his love to the purported killer of his family...
- DAMN after the Gilded Banquet I cannot WAIT to see Lang Qiangqiu come back. I was never really into that arc but I think we feel LQQ's loss a lot harder this time after actually seeing them together, and things just got a whole lot more dramatic. Not to mention, HUA CHENG WHEN HE FINDS OUT LANG QIANGQIU WAS IN LOVE WITH XIE LIAN--
- Fucking hell, XL being buried alive is one of the most harrowing things I've ever read.
- I was a bit weary as we were led into the Banyue arc backstory, but it was just a single chapter. It's all so sad :'(
- Honestly I'm getting really into the the whole thing. I'm so excited for everything to come.
- I'm not into HC raising a bunch of kids and forming such deep bonds with them. Like, it's a nice detail to add, but really I just felt like it detracts from his unique bond with XL, and it's better when he meets XL as someone who really hasn't experienced warmth from any other person. A bit wild, a bit unsure, but very much single-mindedly focused on his one love like a fucking crazy person, because that's what our beautiful calamity is.
- LMAO not Black Water being a bit of a hoe HAHAHA. I would think he's too cold and crazy for that, but this story is all about leaning into the unexplored sexual side of things, so sure. Whatever. As long as Shi Qingxuan still sticks out like a sore thumb among ALL his other lovers.
- Yin Yu showing up is actually really funny. I just love how nervous he is and how he avoids his obsessive little stalker (he did NOT need to do Feng Xin like that LMAO), and the way he realizes that dressing up XL really does bring about rotten luck hahahaha. Yin Yu definitely doesn't get paid enough hahahahaha
- I'm confused with the whole thing with the city of Daqing (which seems like an early Wen tyranny, from MDZS?), and the two boys, Xiong Li and Lan An, who have huge Wangxian vibes, and it's not even subtle. (Ok i looked into it an Lan An was in fact the founder of the Gusu Lan clan. It's a cute nod to that, but I'm still concerned about XL being in this creepy place.)
- I have realized that we really haven't gotten to see Xie Lian's scrap collecting side. Where's my Scrap Collector-gege, huh?
- Xiong Li and Lan An's story is really cuteeee and omg they ascended togetherrrr <3 <3<3<3<3<3<3
And the way they both reject godhood to live together and rebuild their city and start an amazing cultivation sect ughhh I love this.

[Littlegreencake · Rating 4 out of 5]

El único arco que no me gusta es el de Gusu.

[Caitlen A. S. Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

honestly just brilliant.
in particular, i like the fact we get to see more of the both of their adventures during the 800 hundred year gap, but especially Hua Cheng and how Ghost City was formed.
im also just glad that Hua Cheng had other things going on, because DONT GET ME WRONG, i love him in the OG work. but.
the fact he didn’t have ANY other connections that weren’t Xie Lian made me quite sad and annoyed for his character.
so im glad that this fic makes up for that, even if a lot of them…don’t stay for the whole time until he finds Xie Lian.
i also liked the expansion of Xie Lian’s increasingly unstable sanity during and after the coffin thing…as other thing in the OG work that i was sad got missed out, and dint even get properly mentioned till the extras
(during the same story, it’s nice that the Lang Qianqui was more of a character you could have more empathy for)