extrapenguin

As collected in the rewatchalongs of 2019:
Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10
Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15
Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20
Episode 21, Episode 22, Episode 23, Episode 24, Episode 25
Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 28, Episode 29, Episode 30
Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 33, Episode 34, Episode 35
Episode 36, Episode 37, Episode 38, Episode 39, Episode 40

On to the canon details!

The timeline

Dixingians' and Yashou's ancestors arrived on Haixing over 10k years ago – half the spaceship was Dixingians and half Yashou
Dixingians lived in Haixing for generations before the meteor
The meteor 10k years ago released 120 000 tons of energy onto Haixing and destroyed Dixing
The Awl was on the surface a century ago. No evidence on the other Hallows' disappearance – same time vs different time – or whether the disappearance was noticed immediately or only after delay.
Wu Tian'en has been employed by Huang Chaoyang for 20 years and 7 months. Wu Xiaojun disappeared 20 years ago. ("I watched him grow up as well" my ass, Huang Chaoyang!) The Envoy also sent Wu Tian'en upstairs on an expedition 20 years ago. I suppose this is maths-able as the expedition being 20 and change years ago, after which Wu Tian'en's wife took their son to search for dad, the wife died due to some reason, and then let's say 19 years and 10 months ago Huang Chaoyang made Wu Xiaojun disappear. This timeline would be very compact, and mean Wu Tian'en had one very crappy year.
Zhang Shi possessed Zhao Xinci 20 years ago, just before he founded the SID. (Shen Xi was alive and Zhao Yunlan old enough to use a cellphone.)
Zhao Yunlan's mother, Shen Xi, died "a long time ago",
Da Qing was hit on the head and lost his memories 10 years ago
Zhao Yunlan has been the SID Chief for 2-3 years by episode 1
Zhu Jiu and Shen Wei fight in episode 4, injuring Zhu Jiu, which means it's halfway between episodes 1 and 8
In episode 8 (very start of Hanga arc, books incident), one month has passed since Guo Changcheng joined the SID in episode 1! Also it's been half a month since Shen Wei injured Zhu Jiu in episode 4.
Episode 16 (Zhao Xinci visits the SID, Zhao Yunlan goes to hunt for Ding Dun in Dixing) is when Guo Changcheng's been at the SID for 3 months
In episode 20 (Zhu Jiu confrontation), Zhao Yunlan says Zhu Jiu's been the SID's nemesis for over half a year – so there's a gap of at least 3 months between episode 17 (Dixing visit) and episode 18 (Fight Club)
Episode 21 contains a day that is November 1st, according to the newspaper, but also the 26th according to another prop. It's also simultaneously Monday and Friday.
The Yashou High Chief is elected 3 months from episode 21 (which is ~10 days after episode 20); the election is in episode 37 (but there to ep 40 is days max)

The war 10k years ago

Shen Wei says that in the war 10k years ago, the Dixingians were defeated and the Yashou stayed neutral (or was he only talking about the plant Yashou?). (This would have made him the general of a defeated army, drawing up a ceasefire as advantageous as he could salvage from the situation.) Given that later on, we're shown that Dixingians were split between the alliance and the rebels, and Shen Wei was a general for the alliance, we can only conclude that Da Qing isn't the only one with Alzheimer's.
Shen Wei again tells us that the Flower Tribe didn't interfere in the war 10k years ago, and that he "already lost once". See above, unless he's referring to some metaphorical war where he lost his brother and/or Kunlun.
The Rebels are a militant faction of Dixingians, and the Alliance a three-race faction to defeat them (says the Alliance)
Shen Wei had 3000 subordinates at the start of the war, but that number has now dwindled to almost nothing
The legend of the Black-Cloaked Envoy was that he worked to make Dixing habitable again, but even before he awoke, there were disbelievers (like the Attendant)
Ma Gui didn't know wine/baijiu existed
Zhang Shi says he was born 9 900 years ago, so unless Ma Gui lived to well over 100, the war didn't actually happen quite 10 000 years ago (more like it ended 9 950 years ago).
As per Da Qing, the story told in Ancient Mysteries did really happen, but the details may have been altered by time

The Hallows

The Hallows only want to speak to the SID manager, i.e. Zhao Yunlan
Shen Wei thought that Li Qian and her grandmother's promise to stay with each other forever meant there was residual energy of the grandmother stored in the Longevity Dial, which would be interesting fodder for fic'The Awl can peel off a person's "essence" but also make a vanished one whole. (It also really likes putting people in pillars.)
Usage of the Hallows causes backlask in humans and Dixingians alike
Fourth Uncle says the Hallows have been "absorbing the energy of extraterrestrial asteroids".
Touching the Hallows too much will make one's body corrode from the dark energy
The higher-ups don't seem to know of the Hallows, since Lin Jing is stuck claiming that they're his personal collection of stuff he collects
In the Northwest sky, Kunlun wrote: "Stone that crumbles before it grows old, water that freezes before it gets cold, wood that rots before it's born, gold that melts before it's warm; that is what the Hallows are made of" – original Kunlun, or Zhao Yunlan during his month-ish in the past?
The Merit Brush can erase traces of dark energy (so neither Shen Wei nor technology can detect its use) as well as buff Dixing powers.
Merit Brush poem: "Despite praise or blame, I know my merit. Those who are the same in sympathy share it. Seize every chance to rise with the tide. Asses the circumstances, safely advance or abide."
The Merit Brush can be used to build energy reactors that break down the barrier around the Sky Pillar, not just buffing everyone's powers
The pillar cannot be destroyed while Ye Zun is within it.
The seal holding Ye Zun in place needs the Hallows to work
After the Hallows scattered, Dixing's energy depleted
The Hallows started to scatter when the Guardian Lantern's light went out (so the Lantern went out over 100 years ago?)
The Guardian Lantern either responds to probing with dark energy or otherwise feels different to its surroundings with it
The Hallows went through much chaos before coming to Haixing (but is this a lie by the Regent, or further proof that the Awl ran off much before the rest?)
Ma Gui says he thought the Hallows' abilities were just legends – so he didn't make the Hallows, he just found them somewhere?
The Guardian Lantern is about defeating evil through sacrifice, as per Zhang Shi

Dixing powers & dark energy

The Chu family are known as puppet masters, so Dixing powers must be at least somewhat hereditary
Zhao Yunlan was doing rather well hauling up Li Qian all by himself, so unlike what I've seen claimed, the fact that Li Qian rose very easily when Shen Wei came to help is no proof whatsoever about Shen Wei having super strength – two Zhao Yunlans would've likely raised her just as easily
Based on some of Shen Wei's comments, his teleportation has a distance limit, since he noted that if trouble struck in Dragon City while he was in the Northwest, he wouldn't be able to help.
Dark energy + Haixing energy = big kaboom
Weak-willed Dixingians can accidentally turn on their powers.
According to the Lord of Dixing's palace's books, humans corrupted by dark energy can get "unstuck in time" and see visions of the future
The Regent claims the change and evolution of Dixing powers has no pattern
Using his powers reinforced the suggestion planted within Guo Changcheng, so would that mean that Dixingians with powers are more vulnerable to Ye Zun's mind control?
Zhang Shi can use Dixing powers in Zhao Xinci's body

Dixing & Dixingians

Humans are cross-fertile with Dixingians; e.g. Lai Su is referred to as having Dixingian genes
There are different sticks of incense for contacting the Regent and the Envoy. The one for contacting the Regent doesn't care who lights it (we see Da Qing light it this time) re: taking instructions, and sends a shadowy servant construct to relay the message.
Zhu Jiu says to Sang Zan, "Trapped here for so many years without dying – which of us is the real monster?" Given that Sang Zan has been empillared for a century, this would imply that Dixingians' lifespans are less than a century (or that, at least, they would show significant signs of age at that point).
The Regent and Attendant were present "100 years" ago, which is at odds to Zhu Jiu considering Sang Zan a monster for being alive after 100 years – is Dixingian lifespan heavily variable? Do Dixingians only live long by doing unsavoury things? (Is time an illusion in Dixing?)
Dixingians use the toilet. (Chu Shuzhi goes to use the toilet and no-one finds the toilet use itself remarkable.)
Shen Wei's "field of consciousness" doesn't fluctuate, as if he were already dead. This might be a Dixing thing or it might be a dirt nap thing. A "field of consciousness" is not a real-world thing (I checked the hanzi).
Dixingians have some sort of astrology/divination/birth chart thing, since Zhu Jiu refers to having one
Dijun booklet is basically census; contains everyone's power and origin.
The average Dixingian doesn't have active powers
Zhu Long 烛龙 and Jiu Yin 九阴 are famous Dixingian heroes.
Zhao Yunlan "doesn't look Dixingian", though that's probably due to habitus or wardrobe, rather than pure physical features
Dixing doesn't have schools or hospitals
Everyone in Dixing knows that if one opposes the Regent, one will come to harm
The euphemism du jour for Yashou and Dixingians is "risky identities"
The Regent thinks An Bai will last only 4-5 years, so Lords of Dixing must usually last over 5 years.
Dixingians confined to Dixing because "Haixing's resources are scarce", except that it's been 10k years since the meteor.
Dixing closes for business when its Lord retires.
Zu Ma's growth stagnated when he started gaming on the phone (unless I misread the subs). Comparing with Zheng Yi and Wu Xiaojun, it seems that Dixingians grow up at roughly the same rate as humans, except that they can accidentally bind their dark energy into something, leading to their growth stagnating. (Zu Ma is at least part Dixingian, given how big a deal is made of Kong Jing being a regular human later)
Flowers and trees are not common in Dixing
Ma Gui prepared two passages to Dixing 10k years ago
Either all passages to Dixing or just the passage in Yashou lands are unstable when first opened
Dixing has its own energy (and Ye Zun ate all of it?)

Yashou

Snakes have different (more drug-resistant?) metabolisms to humans, but cats don't.
Hypnotism, even from the snake tribe, can be turned against its user.
Snake tribe boys have a little mark between the eyebrows. On men, this sort of thing generally signals the supernatural character of the man. (On women, it's just "she pretty".)
The euphemism du jour for Yashou and Dixingians is "risky identities"
There has been no Yashou High Chief for decades
Yashou Market introductory speech: "All beings begin imperfect. Out iwth the old, in with the new. At the end of the year, the tribes pray to the gods and the ancestors. There's a cloud between the mountains of the great wilderness called the pillars supporting heaven. The dragon god of water touches it and the seasons change."
The sacred wood has withered for 10 000 years. (So there haven't been any High Chiefs since Fu You?)
Fourth Uncle says snakes don't live long
Crow Yashou turn into their animal forms at death
Yashou are not under Dixing jurisdiction (but Shen Wei was 100% willing to extrajudicially kill Ya Qing)

Milieu

Dragon City is large enough to have "sides". The University is in the north, while the crime scenes in ep 4 are in the south.
The other clocks on the SID wall are also for imaginary cities, and I can only conclude that the entire planet uses solar time.
Dragon City has long roots, and has been there for hundreds of years. Perhaps even before the Hanga tribe formed?
Hints are dropped that the arrival of the Proto-Dixing-Yashou spaceship caused a technological breakthrough of some sort
There are portraits of Ma Gui in existence 10k years after he lived
The Reunion Festival of episode 20 is either the Mid-Autumn Festival (assuming, based on Guo Changcheng's age and birthday, that ep 1 is before May and thus ep 20 6 months later is before November), the Lunar New Year (if one interprets Guo Changcheng as having had his birthday already before ep 1) or a totally original Haixing festival unrelated to Earth activities
There's a forest on the east side of Dragon City
There are 119 Hua Yuzhus in Dragon City (Taiwan has 28 million people and about 4k people with the surname 华. Assuming a similar density of people with that surname in Dragon City and that all of them are called 华玉柱, we get a population of 826k for Dragon City. Now, since there must be people with the surname 华 who are not called 华玉柱, Dragon City is almost certainly a city with over a million inhabitants, probably several millions.)
In Dragon City, the sun sets fully in about 4 minutes – at 17:00 it's broad daylight, at 17:04 it's already night/darkish twilight
Dragon City is in the meteor crater

The SID

The SID library is/was mostly decorative
The SID has a robot spider
The SID has several databases of Dixing abilities they've encountered.
Wang Zheng gives Guo Changcheng a stamp so he can go through the barrier even if he's ever transferred away from the SID.
The SID has a hidden crossbow system.
Every current member of the SID staff except Da Qing joined while Zhao Yunlan was the chief of the SID. How the hell did Shen Wei deputize Chu Shuzhi's arrival so that his and Zhao Yunlan's first meeting would be in episode 1, instead of way before?
Zhao Yunlan is the third SID Chief. (Who was the second one?)
The SID has no cells
Zhao Xinci recommended Zhao Yunlan for SID Chief
If the dark energy gun's bullets hit a normal person, they suffer no damage
The SID was founded 20 years ago
Ya Qing can't get through the SID shield, so it must block Yashou as well

Bureaucracy

Senior Haixing officials' schedules are kept strictly confidential; Vice-Minister Guo can't access Director Zhao's
There's a portrait of Ma Gui on the wall of Minister Gao's office
Haixing Inspectorate was created a long time ago and has a portrait of Ma Gui on the wall, so some predecessor organ probably dates to 10 000 years ago
Minister Gao has higher-ups (as does Zhao Xinci, probably – Zhao Xinci got a promotion, which implies he's still in the middle echelons of bureaucracy)
All the passcodes used in the Haixing Department of Supervision building come from the lab

Characters

Zhao Yunlan is skilled in bomb disposal.
Da Qing and Zhao Xinci worked together for 10 years
Da Qing doesn't have (remember having) parents
Da Qing can tell Dixingians apart from Haixingians based on smell (though the ampule might've contained concentrated essence of Dixingian)
Guo Changcheng is 24 "this year", so he's probably still 23 at the start of the show
Guo Changcheng was born on the 10th of May, has the blood type O, his parents died in a car accident
Lin Jing has been at the SID for 3 years and was recommended by Professor Ouyang
Chu Shuzhi can drive a car. Despite the copious switching around of drivers, we never see Shen Wei drive a car.
Shen Wei doesn't understand how the Hallows work
Shen Wei needs to see a power to learn it
On Haixing, Shen Wei is restrained by the Guardian Writ (令 refers to orders, commands, and warrants, so it's likely a piece of paper that tells him what he is and isn't supposed to do.) and dark energy itself
Zhang Shi can use Dixing powers in Zhao Xinci's body
Zhao Xinci hasn't hugged his son for 20 years
Professor Ouyang and his friend Professor Zhou (Shen Wei's mentor and likely thesis supervisor) know about Dixingians
Professor Zhou "ran away" from the serum project, so he's still alive!
Zhu Jiu didn't even know the SID existed before they got the Longevity Dial
Zhu Jiu didn't yet have powers when he met Ye Zun.
Zhu Jiu has been in Dragon City for years, as per Zhao Xinci
There are records of Ye Zun's prior attempts at exiting the pillar
Ye Zun eats both people and miscellaneous crap like their guitars
Ye Zun can "borrow" powers (e.g. from the Nightmare Master), and maybe lend them as well (to Zhu Jiu)?
Ye Zun still has his cough – when he's cosplaying the Black-Cloaked Envoy, he starts coughing when he has the Lantern after he's tossed the barkeep

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

trobadora

Excellent collection!

From:

extrapenguin

Thank you! I hope you (and others) find it useful for future projects.

From:

maggie33

This is a fantastic resource, I'm adding it to my memories. Thanks. :)

From:

extrapenguin

Yay! I'm glad you found it useful. Have a sunshiney Ye Zun.

From:

cyberbrain

This is amazing!! Thank you so much for compiling this list! <3

I'm gonna flail about some of these points, I got way too excited when I saw them. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

The Chu family are known as puppet masters, so Dixing powers must be at least somewhat hereditary
Definitely! Also evidenced by the similarity in Shen Wei and Ye Zun's powers (both acquire others' abilities).

Based on some of Shen Wei's comments, his teleportation has a distance limit, since he noted that if trouble struck in Dragon City while he was in the Northwest, he wouldn't be able to help.
<3 <3 Yes, this so much! This is probably my favorite detail about Shen Wei at this point. He desperately needs a limit and this is one of the few he has.

Zu Ma's growth stagnated when he started gaming on the phone (unless I misread the subs). Comparing with Zheng Yi and Wu Xiaojun, it seems that Dixingians grow up at roughly the same rate as humans, except that they can accidentally bind their dark energy into something, leading to their growth stagnating.
A great point! I've often wondered how/why Dixingians can live for so long. What is their lifespan? The Regent has been around for a long, long time (iirc) but he's still younger than 10k years.
This is a bit of a digression, but remember when the Regent was apologizing to Shen Wei for forgetting because he's old? Every time I see that scene, I take it as the Regent calling Shen Wei old because Shen Wei is technically older than him. I wonder if it's just me.

Dragon City is large enough to have "sides"
Yaaaass!
I have a headcanon that goes like this: Dragon City has an "old city" part (central, where most of the government buildings are located) and "new city" part (everything that's not central; where Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei live). So in cyberbrainverse DCU would be located in the middle of the two, which would place it in the south-most side of the north side.

Zhao Yunlan is the third SID Chief. (Who was the second one?)
Zhao Xinci? Did you mean who was the first Chief?

Something I've noticed ~~and which keeps making me wonder if I'm insane,~~ is that Shen Wei's apartment doesn't appear to have a kitchen.

I don't get this part, I've always thought this was a plot hole: This would have made him the general of a defeated army, drawing up a ceasefire as advantageous as he could salvage from the situation.
Didn't Shen Wei get buried when Ye Zun got pillar'd? And then sleep for 10k years? Meaning he couldn't have led his army until the end of the war. Meaning he can't have had anything to do with the final peace treaty. So how can he be responsible?
This is easily fixed if we forget about Shen Wei's 10k year nap, I suppose.

From:

extrapenguin

He desperately needs a limit and this is one of the few he has.
Yes! Shen Wei is not omnipotent.

I've often wondered how/why Dixingians can live for so long. What is their lifespan? The Regent has been around for a long, long time (iirc) but he's still younger than 10k years.
At this point, my personal headcanon is that Dixingians live roughly as long as humans do, with maybe an extra decade or two and more outliers on the longevity end, but they have no idea what "time" or "years" are. It is a year from lava flow surge to lava flow surge! (Actual time period between surges: random and significantly less than a year.) And so on.

Every time I see that scene, I take it as the Regent calling Shen Wei old because Shen Wei is technically older than him. I wonder if it's just me.
Huh, this didn't occur to me at all! I always saw it as the Regent making excuses for himself.

Zhao Xinci? Did you mean who was the first Chief?
But Zhao Xinci founded the SID and was thus the first Chief...

Shen Wei's apartment doesn't appear to have a kitchen.
...oh dear. I assume it's merely hidden in a corner somewhere. No wonder Shen Wei immediately moved over to Zhao Yunlan's apartment – the siren song of the kitchen called!

Didn't Shen Wei get buried when Ye Zun got pillar'd? And then sleep for 10k years?
Yes and yes! Though the plot hole is more on the "descriptions from the start of the series don't match what actually happened in the past", as Shen Wei was on the side of the victors the whole time. In fact, if we're supposed to agree with the show that the war ended with Ye Zun being pillared, Shen Wei was the leader of the faction of Dixingians who ended the war! As for him and the peace treaty, it seems to have been signed by an underling in his name; given that he was the leader of the Dixingians in the alliance, I can see him being given responsibility over the millennia. And Shen Wei is exactly the type of person who'd enforce a treaty he didn't sign because people expect him to (and his own hangups are around destabilization, not stagnation). (That said, I should probably rephrase that bit of the post; the perils of copypasting from rewatchalongs and losing context.)

Oh, and to me, the dirt nap is not a plot hole, but rather a fix-it. If Shen Wei would have been awake for all 10k years, he probably would've gone bugfuck insane like Ye Zun, and he's too well-adjusted to have been awake and searching for Kunlun for long. And if he'd been awake all the time, Dixing's present state would reflect extremely badly on him. Plus time-traveling fish out of water Shen Wei is a wonderful thing that allows several lovely things, ficwise!

From:

cyberbrain

But Zhao Xinci founded the SID and was thus the first Chief...
True. But... didn't Zhao Yunlan come immediately after his father? ...Actually, I don't actually have a clear memory of anyone talking about this so I might just be confusing myself here.

Oh, and to me, the dirt nap is not a plot hole, but rather a fix-it.
Ah, I didn't mean to call his nap a plot hole. It's just hard for me to see it and the peace treaty stuff together. Though, you're right–somebody else could have negotiated and signed the treaty in his name and then, while he's sleeping, he could get pinned with the blame. It makes a lot of sense this way.
It's hard to take the descriptions from the start of the series don't match what actually happened in the past part, though. I mean, I agree, it's just hard to wrap my head around. I guess history will always get twisted, given enough time. It's rare to see this in a show.

Plus time-traveling fish out of water Shen Wei is a wonderful thing that allows several lovely things, ficwise!
Definitely!

From:

extrapenguin

But... didn't Zhao Yunlan come immediately after his father?
I ... am not sure? If he didn't, and Zhao Yunlan inherited Chu Shuzhi from mysterious SID Chief #2, that'd fix that plot hole, but at this point it's a logic puzzle. (

china_shop theorized last year that the second SID Chief got turned into the iguana we see in a terrarium at the SID.)

Ah, I didn't mean to call his nap a plot hole.
Sorry! I'm a bit tetchy over the subject following past interactions, let's say. (There was a period in 2018 when a large chunk of the fandom was all about dissing the drama and everything it changed from the novel, instead of, say, being a separate but active fandom of the novel...)

Though, you're right–somebody else could have negotiated and signed the treaty in his name and then, while he's sleeping, he could get pinned with the blame. It makes a lot of sense this way.
We did see someone else sign the Treaty in ep 35! He then followed it up by saying "The Black-Cloaked Envoy would've liked it" to Ma Gui and Fu You, but given the Alliance and my personal read on it, idk if it was written with Dixingians' well-being in mind, or if Shen Wei would've actually liked it and its effects.

I guess history will always get twisted, given enough time. It's rare to see this in a show.
It is! The real ???, though, is that Shen Wei's the one twisting it half the time. (Unless it's some combo of misinterpreting the translation + the translation being less/differently vague in some direction than the originals. I guess I should rewatch at some point for review of what Shen Wei claims.)

Shen Wei is a wonderful time traveling alien! He even managed to set up a community for himself, despite being supremely isolated in the past. He seems to have had a pre-canon micro-arc of setting down his glaive in favor of the brush/chalk, and I just want to continue that? Let him live in peace as part of the scientific community.