Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (墨香铜臭) is a Chinese author well-known for her danmei (the Chinese equivalent of the Yaoi Genre) novels, and is one of the most successful authors of the genre. Her three published works are officially translated into English by Seven Seas Entertainment. All three have also received animated adaptations and comic book adaptations.
Her works so far include (in chronological order):
- The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong
- Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi
- Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu
- Si Shen Mei You Xiu Xi Ri (There Is No Rest for The Death God)note
Tropes commonly associated with her works:
- Because You Were Nice to Me: A common reason in her stories on how her gong eventually fell in love with their shou is they're usually the first ones to show kindness or treat them as their equal when no one else did.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Her stories have the Official Couples eventually achieving their happy ending together, but they first go through a lot of conflicts to get there.
- Friend Versus Lover: Each of her novels features the protagonist's love interest and closest (or formerly closest) companion being hostile towards each other. The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong has Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi has Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, and Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu has Hua Cheng and both Feng Xin and Mu Qing.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Her novels show how humanity at its best, worst, or in between, all the complexities behind a person's actions and beliefs, and the different kind of relationships that can be formed and broken under various circumstances.
- Happily Married: All the couples eventually elope in the finale or in the events following the finale.
- High Fantasy: Her stories all belong in the supernatural fantasy genre.
- The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong takes place in a traditional xianxia setting.
- Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu is rich with supernatural lore due to its presence of gods, ghosts, demons, and other otherworldly creatures. The locations featured in the novel each have a unique fantastical aspect, all of which play an important role in the plot.
- Downplayed with Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, which is more of a Low Fantasy as it's a deconstruction of a xianxia tale. However, while most of the story is mostly focused on human conflict, there's still a fair amount of supernatural elements that help drive the plot.
- I Will Wait for You: All of her stories include the gong (seme) holding a torch for the shou (uke) for a long time, with the length of time increasing with every novel. Case in point, Luo Binghe pined for 5 years, Lan Wangji for 13 years, and Hua Cheng for 800 years.
- Oblivious to Love: All of her stories shou (uke) appears to be oblivious towards gong (seme) romantic attempts. All of the shou (uke) only realized it when the climax came.
- Single-Target Sexuality: All of her gongs have some certain... intensity when it comes to their shous and never get interested in anyone else even after being separated for a long time.
- Spirit Cultivation Genre: Both The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi fall under the xianxia genre. Cultivation is still present in Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu, but the novel is more focused on the lore of humans who reincarnated into gods or ghosts.
- Tragic Bromance: If there are two best friends or two close siblings in any of her stories, don't expect them to have a happy ending, because either they fall out and never get to reconcile, one or both of them die, or both. The only exceptions are the Liu siblings in The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, the Lan brothers in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, and the Xian Le trio (Xie Lian, Feng Xin and Mu Qing) in Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu.
- You Are Not Alone: In the author's three (main) couples, one person in each couple either suffers from abandonment issues or went through being wrongfully ostracized and hated by everybody else, combined with losing everyone they loved. As such, their love interests are there to reassure them with this trope.
