What have I not already said about this story?

This volume is ALL the payoff. The final mystery reveals. Wei Wuxian's blurted out emotional confession to Lan Zhan in front of most of their peers. (Iconic.) The Sizhui reveal. The smut. The bonus chapters of EVEN MORE SMUT.

They are geniuses and also dumbasses and I love them, your honor. ( )

A wonderful ending to a wonderful novel! It's been a great ride reading the official English translation for this, and I'm so happy to have this beautiful physical edition (and ebook for easy reading)!

I really enjoyed Suika, Lanyin, and Pengie's translation, though I'm not a native Chinese speaker/reader, so if there were any errors, I don't know them. Jin Fang's cover art is gorgeous and sweet, and well encapsulates the volume's contents: a somewhat tragic but also joyous and fulfilling ending, and a mix of Extras that have some really sweet Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian in them, among others.

Marina Privalova's interior illustrations are beautiful, but I again have some criticisms for inaccuracies, particularly the one of Jiang Cheng with the umbrella during the climax. It's hard to read, "the oil-paper umbrella he held in his LEFT hand. In his right hand he held Zidian" followed by "The oil-paper umbrella remained perfectly steady in his LEFT hand all the while", when the image next to it shows the umbrella in his RIGHT hand. In this case, perhaps the image was simply mirrored while being created or printed, by accident, and that has nothing to do with Privalova's efforts. What was more egregious is when Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are embracing, and there's this line: "Lan Wangji had seized him and pulled him into a tight embrace that sealed [Wei Wuxian's] mouth against [Lan Wangji's] chest." But the image accompanying it shows Wei Wuxian's face/chin clearly resting over Lan Wangji's right shoulder. This wouldn't be so odd, I guess, if in later paragraphs, it wasn't noted that the embrace was suffocating Wei Wuxian (because his mouth and likely nose is buried in Lan Wangji's chest), and that he also can't see, again, likely because his face is buried in Lan Wangji's chest. So his chin/head would definitely not be on Lan Wangji's shoulder. The art itself in both instances is beautiful. But these are details that were missed that just hurt the overall composition. Drawing fanart of the scene is one thing, but this is an interior illustration for an official release. This should be accurate. And it's frustrating that the MDZS English translation has so many of these, whereas the SVSSS and "Heaven Official's Blessing" interior illustrations really don't. That being said, while I imagine it's more of a marketing thing with the donghua adaptation and the live-action adaptation, the paired rabbits are supposed to both be white, but the cover has one black and one white, so it's not like Privalova is the only one with issues in their art.

The climax of the story is still absolutely wonderful. I really loved how Wei Wuxian cares so much for Jin Ling, and his attitude towards Jin Guangyao. I loved his open declarations for Lan Wangji, and their love for each other. Jiang Cheng coming to Jin Ling's rescue was so sweet, and his need to protect Wei Wuxian too was lovely. His pain is so heart-wrenching, and his old desire to just have Wei Wuxian at his side, still, is so hard. He's such a wonderful character. The tragedy of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen is also beautiful, and Nie Huaisang brings up so many wonderful questions. All in all, this story is so wonderful complex, tragic, funny, sweet, and just overall excellent!

Overall I don't like the Extras for MDZS as much as I did for "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System", since I think the SVSSS' Extras had more interesting story to them. The Extras for MDZS have some fun porn and humor, but some, like the one with Xue Yang and Jin Guangyao, felt a little boring (I honestly would enjoy stories with both/either of them, and there was a nice moment at the end where Xue Yang says something about all the things he'd do for Jin Guangyao, which was sweet, but most of the story was pretty boring). That being said, the stories with the Juniors were hilarious and fun. Seeing Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have such a good and sweet time together so much is also lovely. They deserve it. I also really loved the Extra set in the past where we see Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng with their comrades being young. It's very sweet.

I'm so happy to reread this, and I loved all the extras available in the special editions, particularly the comic version of parts of the second-to-last Extra. This is such a wonderful book! If you like mysteries, the supernatural, stories about class differences and conflicting philosophies, epic tragedy, and stories about men who are desperately in love with each other, and at least sometimes end up with the one they love, then this is the book for you! ( )