this may be an unpopular opinion but i actually love hualian because i do not think they can be neatly dichotomized as "the jock" and "the "nerd" (those are heavily american tropes anyway, but i digress). they are equals in every way. a thread:

it's easy to see xie lian as "the jock" and hua cheng as "the nerd" because xie lian is a martial god and hua cheng is an artist and scupltor. however, the beauty of hualian is that they are nearly equally physically strong. see for example that hua cheng can take on jun wu.

hua cheng beat 33 heavenly officials. half of them were martial gods that he singlehandedly destroyed in single combat. hua cheng stepped on a spiritual array and crushed it in one blow. hua cheng fought in the sinner's pit while carrying xie lian and not allowing his feet

to touch the ground. hua cheng destroyed qi rong's nest and rained blood over it. hua cheng survived 10 years of carnage at mt. tonglu and came out a ghost king - but he was so strong that he was given the opportunity to ascend to heaven.

he ripped out his own eye despite the pain, from which e-ming was born. he goes nearly toe to toe with jun wu and helps xie lian defeat him.

and we see that hua cheng is a talented swordsman, which he has in common with xie lian. no need to mention e-ming, a scimitar that is utterly terrifying to everyone except xie lian. in fact, hua cheng's love of swords and swordsmanship is something that he and xl bond over.

hua cheng collects an entire armory of diverse weapons and swords for xie lian, and he knows how to use those weapons and has full knowledge of them. this demonstrates that he is as sword-savvy as xie lian.

like xie lian, hua cheng also engages in physical and manual labor. he carves a new door for puji shrine. he farms alongside the puji villagers. and it's easy to speak of the statues hua cheng carves as if they just appeared, but carving statues requires physical strength

indeed, hua cheng gains the ability, both physical and material, to protect xie lian, which is a great parallel to how xie lian protected and saved him when hua cheng was a child.

so that's one of the things i love about them - they're equally strong, equally inclined to physical, martial, and athletic pursuits, and equally enjoy wielding swords and geeking out over weapons.

then, it's true that hua cheng is knowledgeable and artsy. he's very clever. but so is xie lian. xie lian demonstrates his cleverness throughout tgcf. his intelligence is more subtle than hua cheng's, a fact that xie lian's enemies and acquaintances alike are surprised by.

xie lian knew hua cheng's true identity from the moment he met him, he knew fu yao and nan feng's true identities from the moment he met him, he figured out the truth about jun wu and ling wen on his own, he figured out the perpetrator of the bride disappearances and murders

(that it was xuan ji) on his own, he figured out the secret of the fetus spirit (cuo cuo) on his own, he figured out the truth about black water (he xuan) on his own, and he was the one who realized the connection between mnq and the prince of wuyong on his own.

xie lian is indeed incredibly intelligent, and the reason it shocks his enemies and acquaintances sometimes is because they underestimate him and because xie lian is modest about his intelligence rather than flashy. but hc has always known that xl is very smart.

and even on the creative front, we see that xl and hc share that in common too! both xl and hc demonstrate knowledge of various myths, legends, figures, and cultures. xl's knowledge is only outdated bc he was detached and disconnected from heaven for 800 years,

but that doesn't mean that he isn't smart. we also know that xie lian enjoys poetry and reciting it, and in fact probably knows more poetry than hua cheng, who only ever recites his favorite poem! moreover, xie lian is a musician, which makes him a creative.

and even though hua cheng is quite artistic, creative, and clever, he's not good at calligraphy. for all that this is a running joke in the fandom, it's odd that people don't acknowledge that xl can teach hc calligraphy because he used to be an actual guoshi.

hc and xl are both educated. the difference is that hc had to educate himself (and simply didn't bother teaching himself calligraphy) because he grew up poor, whereas xl was educated because he was the crown prince of xian le.

hc is more cunning than xl, but that doesn't mean that xl can't be sly. for the most part, xl comes up with actual plans to confront the different people he conflicts with over the course of tgcf. we see that he tries desperately in book 2 to bring rain to his people,

coming up with the solution of beseeching yushi huang, the rainmaster. both hc and xl have ruled in their own capacities, which means that they have the intelligence typical of leaders. and they've both dealt with chaotic situations in their nations (bc ghost city is chaotic

in general, lol, while xl had to deal with a very, very complicated socioeconomic and political situation that had no neat or easy solution). thus, another thing i love about hualian is that they're equally nerdy, equally creative, equally intelligent, and equally clever.

just like hc could defeat literary gods in debate, xl's intelligence is on par with hc's. so on the intellectual front, they are clearly equals.

and honestly? i love that they're both masculine but break tradition masculinity in specific ways.

i like that xie lian is a martial god who also happens to be of ethereal beauty, referred to as one of the treasures of xian le. it's yet again something that makes his enemies underestimate him, and makes him being a martial god more interesting.

i like that hua cheng is very elegant, fashionable, and flirtatious. he's a powerful and dominant ghost king, but he's also really artsy.

hua cheng and xie lian both perform physical and manual labor, but they also both perform domestic labor. hc cooks and cleans. xl also cooks and cleans - he may be bad at cooking, but he /enjoys/ cooking for his loved ones. and xl is very, very good with children.

they're both masculine but secure in their masculinity and untroubled by rigidly conforming to masculine tradition, which truly makes them equals in every possible way.

anyway, i love hualian precisely because they can't be typecast into typical cliché tropes and because they can't be dichotomized in the way fandoms or novels typically dichotomize couples. the biggest dichotomy between them is the god/ghost one, but even that is disrupted

by the fact that hua cheng almost ascended, xie lian descended and almost became a calamity, and now both of them are worshipped together. it truly encapsulates the fact that they're equals, that their worshippers must worship them as a set.

any power imbalance that could have emerged from xl being older/a prince, and hc growing up in poverty/being younger/being his worshipper, is disrupted by the fact that hc's whole arc is him building himself up and growing strong to protect and take care of his beloved, while

xl can finally trust someone again and be taken care of and, for once in his life, be supported and vulnerable. even their aesthetics show how equal they are. hc and xl are associated with flowers - hc is "crimson rain sought flower" and xl is "the flower crowned martial god"

i know that hc is grouped with the redblacks, but he wears silver vambraces and silver chains as well, so his full aesthetic is silver, red, and black, while xl's full aesthetic is red, white, and gold. even their color schematics and motifs overlap.

i love how equal they are and how they were quite literally made for each other.