INARTICULATION (MLM/MxM/M4M ORIGINAL)

Author Note

For all those who are unfamiliar with this genre, it is what people call Danmei (DON-MAY) , which tells tales that bask in the whole-heartedness of same-sex relationships between men. If this is your first encounter with this word, including other terms like Xianxia (SHE-AN-SHE-UH) or Wuxia (WOO-SHE-UH) , I would consider continuing to read this note.

These genres usually include elements of Daoist (DOW-IST) cultivation. The plot of Inarticulation does not rely too heavily on this work, but it would still better your understanding to continue listening.

Cultivators following this path in fiction can harness their spiritual energies after prolonged periods of meditation and peace within the mind and body. They release this energy in the form of qi (CHEE) .

There are variations of qi depending on the creatures, persons, and beasts in most works, though many traditionally stick to using a generalized term rather than demonic qi or spiritual qi . This relies entirely on the author's preferences in storytelling and worldbuilding.

This qi can allow a person to blast rays of flesh-shredding energy from the palms of their hands, or even allow them to speak telepathically with other qi users or just get messages to mortals. Other illusory spells may be cast, and bonds of spiritual flow can be shared to supply more qi to another individual. Any other uses created by the author will be mentioned and (hopefully) explained thoroughly to better the reader's understanding. It is a magic system of sorts.

This qi can also be used as fuel for a sword. Seriously.

One can investigate other works with similar worldbuilding systems to see that martial arts masters of this world fly on swords like hoverboards in futuristic works, or like the traditional witches on brooms in spooky western movies.

Storytelling in this genre can be very...indirect.

Most things revealed to readers will be done in a way that readers may have to squint to notice. This is not to say that lots of other novels are not done so similarly, but this must be noted so that readers are not lost upon discovering such a random detail in the story.

Books in this genre are extremely long, with most novels extending past hundreds of chapters with what often feels like just a bunch of fillers. Every avid reader would understand that something crucial must be hidden in each chapter, but again, they will have to squint to see it.

Names in this region of the world also make the storytelling experience much more different than any Western novel.

Since this story takes inspiration from Chinese culture and dialect, characters will be referred to using their birth and surname. Take our protagonist's name Wen Jingyi , which is written as a surname before the given name. He lives in the Wen family, and his birth/given name is Jingyi . The same goes for any other character in this story.

There may be some instances in which items or places will have two separate characters in their name. A notable item in this story, Baihu , has only one part to its name. Bing Chuan , the name of a freezing mountain, is one name. One Would technically be able to combine these two, but that would change the writing dialect entirely.

Without further ado, I must say: thank you for picking this book up.