Remnants of Filth: Yuwu (Novel), Vol. 1

Format read: paperbackReading time: 7-8hTags: wuxia, xianxia, military fantasy, translation, trauma, found family, friendship, magic, lgbt (m/m), enemies-to-loversOwn a copy: yesReread likelihood: 10/10Recommended similar reads: ⭐ [b:Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang, Vol. 1 62145799 Stars of Chaos Sha Po Lang, Vol. 1 (Stars of Chaos Sha Po Lang, #1) Priest https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682111621l/62145799.SX50.jpg 97934661]⭐ [b:Golden Terrace, Vol. 1 62629580 Golden Terrace, Vol. 1 Cang Wu Bin Bai https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1663531919l/62629580.SY75.jpg 98392913]⭐ [b:The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 1 60583047 The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (Novel) Vol. 1 Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1664205970l/60583047.SX50.jpg 196767353]Review“Don't...” Gu Mang had once lost the power of speech, and now that he was scared, he spoke slowly and shakily. “Kill me...” Bestial light flashed in those azure eyes. He pleaded so clumsily, so painstakingly. “I...” His lips parted. “I...want to live...”Oh, Meatbun, what have you done. Once again, I am faced with a devastating piece of literature that I suspect will live in my brain rent free for an extremely long time.ErHa is Meatbun's masterpiece, hands down. Yuwu, however, is not any less emotionally impactful. While ErHa goes hard with all the triggers and all the warnings you could ever imagine, Yuwu is relatively tame in comparison. It's richness is really with the characters and how they slowly develop and evolve over the chapters. From the first page, we are introduced to the two leads, Mo Xi and Gu Mang, who were once the Twin Jades of the capital. Inseparable brothers-in-arms and equally powerful generals in their own rights, the pair also shared a secret, that of their intimate relationship. When Gu Mang defected to the enemy country of Liao and betrayed all the ones who loved and respected him, Mo Xi was left behind with a broken heart and a profound hatred for the man he once loved all-consumingly.However, not all is as it seems. Gu Mang was born a slave and expected to remain as such for his entire life. When the old emperor granted him freedom, Gu Mang was allowed to become the greatest general that Chonghua had ever seen. However, when the new emperor took up the throne, Gu Mang and his comrades were betrayed and reinstated as slaves. Gu Mang couldn't handle the fact that his fallen soldiers could not be properly buried because of this decree, and so, he defected to Liao with nothing but black hatred in his heart.Fastforward 10 years, and Gu Mang is slated to return to the capital as a prisoner of war. Mo Xi, who has been part of the border garrison for the last 2 years, has no desire to participate in whatever fate the emperor has in store for the traitor, yet when he finds out that Gu Mang has been sent to a horrible place in the capital, he can't help but feel worried about his old comrade and lover.Why did that make his heart ache so much...? Yes, true, Gu Mang had given him friendship and redemption, but Mo Xi had done everything he could to repay him–had nearly sacrificed his life to pull Gu Mang back from the brink! Did Mo Xi owe him anything else? [...] So many years of obsession, only to receive this emptiness... [...] Mo Xi closed his eyes, agonized. After so many years, he'd thought he had freed himself from this fixation, but in truth, he had been lying to himself. Gu Mang was too important to him. (pp. 110-111)To add even more suffering to his poor heart, Mo Xi quickly finds out that Gu Mang has come back from Liao completely broken: his core has been destroyed, two of his mortal souls have been removed, and he has no memory of the past whatsoever, let alone of Mo Xi.In true Meatbun fashion, the two leads go through inhuman amounts of emotional pain throughout the book. We see everything from Mo Xi's perspective, and since he is the one who is cursed to remember everything, we often have flashbacks of their happier times together and are brutally reminded how everything is different now. Gu Mang is very pitiful, not only because of the loss of his memories, but because of his inability to understand what is happening to him. He doesn't understand that people want him dead, or that he is the capital's most hated man. He doesn't understand why Mo Xi suffers so much when he is by his side, nor why Murong Lian, his old master, is so bent on torturing him into confessing to past sins he has no recollection of. Gu Mang lives his days like an animal, afraid of everyone and focused only on his basic needs of food, rest, and shelter.By the end of book 1, Gu Mang and Mo Xi have endured a world of pain, both physical and emotional, and there is no end in sight for either of them. Mo Xi wants to restore Gu Mang's memories, but doing so will probably destroy the simple-minded Gu Mang and plunge him into a world of hatred once again. However, if things remain as they are, Mo Xi's own hatred and deep sense of betrayal will continue to eat at him and war with his other side that wants to love and protect his shixiong despite the wrongs of the past.All in all, Meatbun weaves a slow and complex tale in Yuwu that takes a lot of time to digest. The events unfold very slowly, and there is little action to move the story forward, but the emotional reveals keep coming page after page, simultaneously building the suspense for the ultimate showdown and filling in the blanks of Gu Man and Mo Xi's pasts.