"Novel Plot, Characterization, why its unique from other Xiania" Discussion

Kaori Miyazono

24 hours ago

This discussion page is created to give a brief description of the novel, main leads characterization, some plot points analysis etc. by novel readers to present to the prospective viewers "what this drama story is based on, why we novel readers are so crazy about it, why this plot is called unique and the first of its Xiania kind". This page also provides a place for anticipated drama viewers who have read the novel to share their favorite parts and thoughts about the story and expectations about this drama. After all, "There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes" 😁

Any question/confusion about this novel, feel free to post here, the readers of this novel will explain it. 🤗

[P.S. The highlighted " " descriptions are scenes shared from the novel]

Kaori Miyazono

23 hours ago

1) What does the story concept here about the FL "Salted Fish (Xianyu)" or Laid back Girl means🧐 ?

First of all, many people might not be familiar with the chinese slang "Salted Fish". Its literal meaning is something like "being lazy like a fish drying in the sun on the beach😎 ". Many might have preconceived notion about it like its about a good girl, silly sweet heroine / weak FL/ troublemaker FL who somehow gets involved with a red flag big shot in Xiania and their romance filled with ups and downs. But NO, Being a salted fish means just being lazy, not having ambition but it doesn't mean that the FL is stupid and doesn't understand what's going on. From the time she got transmigrated to the Xiania world, she has taken the initiative to understand what's going on but only up to the level where it concerns her own survival and safety. For other things, she is unwilling to take any action or show unnecessary curiosity. She doesn't want to bother about things that's none of her business and just want to relax after ensuring her own survival. She was an office worker before and not an ambitious person so even after transmigration her mentality is like " finish work and relax and don't pry into something that's nothing to do with me to add overtime" 😁

Of course the FL will have her growth period and when necessary she will do what she needs to do without hesitation but she will never complicate things for herself and always have a leisurely mentality.

This is a totally different type of female lead- not a career oriented, not a weak female, not a self-righteous Mary Sue....Just a normal everyday life FL who wants to relax , have a peaceful life and stay away from troubles a total chill heroine 😉. So, this is an UNIQUE setting in the story.

Kaori Miyazono

22 hours ago

2) Brief Summary of Three Plot Arcs (Immortal, Demon, Human World):

I will explain just a brief outline, I think the details should be left in the novel and drama to enjoy 😉

Gencheng Immortal Mansion Arc:

The FL Liao Ting Yan (LTY) gets transmigrated to the Xiania world and is selected to be one of the 100 people who will follow the 500 year old ancestor to learn cultivation and serve him and that ancestor is our ML Sima Jiao. Sima Jiao is inside a huge conspiracy and the only one left in the Sima Clan. Sima were the people closest to god and born with natural cultivation talent, the power to tame and nurture Fengshan spiritual fire and their whole body, flesh, blood were natural spiritual treasure. The huge immortal sect was built upon the flesh and blood of the Sima People. This arc focuses on ML destroying the whole sect that was dirty and rotten to the core and getting revenge. The romance goes like "Fl feels like she is an outsider in this world 😏and ML feels she doesn't have any malice and greed towards me like others😮 - to their growing bond in daily simple interaction with Sima Jiao's revenge as backstory".

The Demon World Arc:

LYT got involved in the explosion at the end of first arc and then her memory when she first transmigrated (the first arc) was erased but modern memories were still there. The enemies of the ML kept brainwashing her that she was their family and Sima Jiao was her enemy. But it never worked because she contains her memory from the modern world, and her laid back personality is already formed.. So, she thinks she soul transmigrated into this body and what does the hate and family grudge have to do with her😑... Later she reunites with the ML after some events happen and when her soul space is unlocked she believes that they were lovers and she transmigrated long ago. There is zero annoying dragged out angst or anything; Sima Jiao never asked her to recover her memory and they started getting along just like before (Warm relaxing daily life like on old couple). Sima Jiao knew that he won't last long ..so he eliminated all the threats , transferred all his power to her, created a place with all the people, friends, pets, food street etc. things that she likes so that she can live well and comfortably like a lazy salted fish even if he is gone

The Human World Arc:

LYT becomes the new demon king after Sima Jiao is gone. She has been looking for his reincarnation and found it in the human world as a tyrant emperor. She conceals her identity and becomes his concubine and help him. Because the existence of Sima Clan was against the way of heaven so all Sima People were destined to die; that's why in the 2nd arc after the FL forcibly took back control when he was passing his power to her and FL then saved his soul and sent it to reincarnation so even after reincarnation his country always had natural disaster as a warning from heaven. Later, after all the closure, Sima Jiao was able to nurture a new spiritual fire that was given by his father in the first arc before his death, could conceal his aura from the way of heaven and even threaten the way of heaven because now there exists two spiritual fire one in LYT and new one in Sima Jiao so they are now the strongest existence in this world😎 ; so they finally reached a happy ending of travelling to various places, seeing beautiful scenery, FL eating delicious food, basking in the sun, relax and sometimes act for justice to maintain peace in the three relams 😁

Kaori Miyazono

21 hours ago

3) Relationship Dynamic:

First of all, lets get one point clear-both the ML and FL are the only one for each other, no past, third person love interest or ambiguity doesn't exist at all. Its different from other novels because both the FL and ML aren't shown as straightforward passionate or burning romance filled with tension ; its more about subtle details in their daily interactions. All the scenes show how their relationship develops and even the background fillers' scenes actually shows us why and how they can be together, every small detail shows us things such as how Sima Jiao became who he is today, how the FL and ML became closer bit by bit and how their natural relationship develop like an old married couple with a simple and plain daily life flow but extremely precious and touching. Every time, the little deer in LYT's heart starts to jump but then becomes normal bcz Sima Jiao acts like this is how it should be which feels so like "we are already together, what's the fuss about" feels damn sweet with a hint of pride from Sima Jiao 😍

For e.g. in the novel it said;

"She and Sima Jiao didn't spend much time together. If they were in love, it was not like the love of ordinary people. It seemed to be a natural thing, perhaps lacking some of the passion of young men and women. Liao Tingyan rarely felt shy at that time, because Sima Jiao acted so naturally. And Sima Jiao at that time was so smart and sharp that he could detect every emotion of hers. All the things that would make her feel embarrassed and uncomfortable were downplayed by him" 🥰

For e.g. another scene in the novel:

Sima Jiao hadn't been home for three days. Liao Tingyan stretched one hand out of the window, resting her head on her arm, and waving her fingers casually. Suddenly, a cold hand touched the back of her hand, like a piece of snow falling suddenly. Liao Tingyan looked up and found that it was Sima Jiao who came back. He held her hand that was stretched out of the window and said, "Why don't you sleep? "This should be a question, but he did not use a questioning tone. His expression had a kind of little pride that was all-pervasive, especially like a primary school kid. 😆No, what are you proud of? Liao Tingyan stared at him through the window for a while and declared, "I'm not waiting for you." Sima Jiao leaned in and kissed her. Liao Tingyan saw in the dim light that his lips had lost their bright red color and were pale. But his tone and gesture were the same as usual, as if nothing had happened.

For e.g. another scene in the novel:

"Why do you always look at me and laugh after a while? Was it like this before?" Liao Tingyan suddenly asked.

Sima Jiao raised his eyebrows: "Do I always laugh?"

Liao Tingyan: "Yes."

Sima Jiao shook his head, as if he didn't quite believe it, but didn't want to argue with her, so he just said, "Then I do."

In fact, it really does happen. Sometimes Liao Tingyan is just chewing melon seeds in a normal way. She accidentally dropped a seed, and the cracked melon seed kernel fell to the ground and couldn't be eaten. She showed a slightly frustrated expression, and when she turned her eyes, she saw Sima Jiao looking at her, as if he was amused by her expression, and smiled briefly.

Sometimes Liao Tingyan was watching the live broadcast with her legs crossed, and suddenly she was in the mood to stew a few trotters in the kitchen. She pouted unconsciously, and saw Sima Jiao next to her looking at her and smiling.

Sometimes she just changed her skirt, turned around, and observed the way the skirt floated up, and she would find that Sima Jiao was also looking at her and smiling slightly.

But she had only heard people say that Sima Jiao was a ruthless person, and had never heard that he loved to laugh.

Perhaps, only she knew this secret.

For e.g. another scene in the novel:

"Tonight he felt a splitting headache again, which made him irritable and want to kill someone. There were only two of them in the entire Bailu Cliff, so he came over, but after standing by the bed for a long time, he saw that she was sleeping soundly, and the boiling murderous intent inexplicably dissipated a little. He felt a headache again, so he simply lay down beside her. He still remembered that when he was in the central tower before, he had a rare good sleep when he lay next to this person.

He thought about what her reaction would be when she woke up, either frightened and trembling and unable to sleep; or like those people with other thoughts in the past, she would get close to him and expose her dirty desires. But he didn't expect that this guy was frightened, and then continued to sleep as if nothing had happened, as if it was normal for him to lie next to her in the middle of the night"

Kaori Miyazono

20 hours ago

4) Main leads Characterization (why we novels fans are so obsessed with this story)

The explanation about the ML and FL below focuses on romance because this story's main plot is about the relationship between FL & ML, and serious stuff acts as backstory.. as I said its different type of novel.

Our number #1 Xiania Romance Male Lead, Sima Jiao:

Sima Jiao only put a tiny bit pressure on her (of course without any actual harm) at the beginning of the story. And after he was sure she had no malice and greed towards him he always treated her very well and always thought about her safety and comfort. In the novel,

"She felt more and more that Sima Jiao stayed in this Chen Academy under someone else's identity, probably in large part because of her. After all, the academy is less utilitarian and chaotic than other places in Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Life here can be said to be leisurely, and this leisure is meaningless to Sima Jiao, but it is more meaningful to Liao Tingyan.

She can always feel Sima Jiao's "favor" recently, not only in terms of emotions, but also in what he does. In the past, when she and he were not so close in Sansheng Mountain, he would pay attention to take her with him before fighting with others to prevent her from being affected. This habit of protecting his own people has become more and more serious now. She directly stayed away from his battlefield and lived a peaceful life in a background that should have been bloody"

One of the main reasons for me liking this novel is that despite Sima Jiao's backstory he didn't become an yandere with extreme possessiveness. His love for her is actually quite healthy. In the scene when he passes the Fengshan spiritual fire to her at the end of second arc he says

"The sky wants me to die, but I don't want to give this life to it. I only love you in this world, so I will give it to you naturally." which doesn't feel like an romantic love declaration but something more deeper like you are the only one I have or the only bond I have left in this world so if not you so who should I give it to

Generally, according to how novels go, normally this kind of feeling for MLs of other stories with "tragic loner background being surrounded by enemies and FL being the only sunshine" MLs feel overly jealous even of their female friends and normal social interaction and sometimes goes on yandere mode to restrict their choice and freedom and also shows complex dark feelings like "she can get along with / is fine interacting with everyone but I only need her..blah blah blah" . Honestly speaking these things are far from being anything close to romance.

But here our ML Sima Jiao is such a conceited confident man that [while he was burning his soul , dying, passing the spiritual fire] when LYT said "Just wait, when you die, I will be a rich woman who has inherited countless inheritances. Once you die, I will support hundreds of wild men!" Sima Jiao laughed in the thunder, pinched her neck, leaned close to her ear and said, "There will be no one else, you will never forget me in your life. Yes, she will never forget Sima Jiao in her life. But how can there be such a man in the world who makes people love and hate him so much" 😤

Also, when they reunited in the 2nd arc and found that LYT forgot him, he never tried to forecfully recover her memory or put pressure on her because he was damn confident that even without memory she will still be in love with him. So, in the novel

"After holding her hand and looking at it for a while, he lowered his head and gently kissed her finger with the ring. He looked up at her: "I know you liked me before, and you still like me now. You will rely on me, believe in me, and want to be with me forever." ❤️❤️
Liao Tingyan: "..." You are quite confident, I didn't even know it myself. Sima Jiao stroked her fingers, "Because you are like this, and so am I "❤️❤️❤️

This is how manliness and confidence should be showed in MLs rather than "restricting the FL and manipulating her with MLs superior power position and wealth that flaunts how amazing a man he is and the FL is a great heroine to be able to move the heart of this kind man".

Another thing is that he never minded her interacting with other people and having normal social interactions like her friend Hong Luo and people of the farming sect and her pervious master and senior brothers. He even made arrangements to make sure after he is gone, she is surrounded in a safe and happy environment with people she can get along with. In the novel,

"Sima Jiao created a comfortable and worry-free environment for her. After she didn't have to worry about external things "Don't worry, it won't hurt. I leave this fire to you. Nothing in this world can hurt you in the future. I have killed all my enemies. What I leave to you are the things and people you like." 😍🥰❤️

So, totally avoiding the "cringy jealousy towards FL's interaction with other people and restricting her choice and freedom". What a healthy mindset Sima Jiao has towards relationship despite being a morally grey person. This contrast makes it even better. Sima Jiao really made me feel the saying that "loving someone is like growing a flower💐".

Our Female Lead Goose, Liao Tingyan:

When she first transmigrated in this world, she always thought of herself as an outsider. She thought that the killing, hatred and all things in this fantasy world has nothing to do with her a person from the modern world. So, when Sima Jiao used truth buff in the novel "Why don't you want to kill him? Because there is no grudge or enmity, and no reason."

So, Sima Jiao's analysis of her in the novel was " But the person next to him seemed to be afraid of many things, but that kind of fear was superficial, just like the fear of mortals seeing ghosts and being scared, rather than the fear of death from the bottom of their hearts. She said that she was afraid of the dead and it was not fake, but facing him, a man who would kill people at will, she could still sleep next to him so peacefully, which was really puzzling. Sima Jiao knew that he was unpredictable in the eyes of others, and the person next to him was equally strange and unpredictable in his eyes."

As it was said before, LYT is not a typical FL. In the novel it said,

"If Liao Tingyan is a career-oriented heroine, she may use Sima Jiao's help to improve her cultivation, and practice diligently every day, and actively seek various natural treasures and secret realms to hone and improve herself, and learn some alchemy and weapon-making techniques, learn array formations and invent, and lead another major reform in the world of immortal cultivation, help Sima Jiao to avenge grievances and revenge, slap him in the face and upgrade, and finally influence Sima Jiao, and the two of them will build the post-disaster Gengchen Immortal Mansion together and reach the peak of life.

If Liao Tingyan is a weak love heroine, she may play a chase and escape plot with Sima Jiao. What fear he is attracted to, he wants to escape but is caught back, she meets other people and is misunderstood by Sima Jiao, his identity is exposed and misunderstood again, and he is separated and misunderstood again. The two of them have a 50-episode sadomasochistic love drama of "you believe me, you don't believe me".

But the real Liao Tingyan is just a social animal who has no interest in career and love. The charm of life may lie in climbing to the top through one's own efforts, in the intense emotional collision, and of course in spending ordinary and satisfying days.

Rise up and work hard? Yes, but it's not necessary. If it makes life more convenient and quick, she is willing to learn a few more useful little spells, such as cleaning and dust prevention, and learn two self-defense spells, and learn at most three a day, no more. Anyway, she refuses to practice and explore the avenue every day.

Struggle with feelings? This is also a bit impossible. In modern society, all the classmates and friends around her are just getting along if they look good, and then leaving if they don't. After all, love only accounts for one-fifth of life at most. So Liao Tingyan didn't react too much to the emotional problems with Sima Jiao. She felt so tired just thinking about it, so she could only put it aside. Fortunately, Sima Jiao didn't have a love brain, and he wouldn't grab her and ask "Do you like me or not?" He was still busy with his things, and only had time to collapse beside her after work."

The FL's growth begins at the second arc, without Sima Jiao beside her and no memory of first arc, she is forced to survive in the cruel demon world.. This is the plot point where she actually develops a sense of belonging in this fantasy world, makes a friend, kill others to survive, takes revenge for her friend and from a modern law-abiding world person becomes a person of this strange world. In the novel,

"But no matter how high your cultivation level is, if your heart is a mortal, then you are indeed a mortal. This may be the reason why she can watch the fighting and death in the demon realm and the cultivation world, but can't stand the snow disaster and death in this country and place in the mortal world. You can accept the sacrifices in the ups and downs of life, but you can't stand the disasters in ordinary life. This is probably the psychology of all ordinary mortals."

At the end of 2nd Arc when Sima Jiao tries to burn his soul to transfer the fengashan spiritual fire to her, so that she wouldn't have to be like him and feel the burning pain of fire but LYT chooses to rather suffer the burning pain every month than not have Sima Jiao exist in this world and thus saved his soul. She becomes courageous, more involved in his world. During the time period before finding Sima Jiao's reincarnation in the third arc she remembers many memories of the first arc (remember she had amnesia in the second arc) when she first came to this world and what many of Sima Jiao's actions meant. In the novel,

"She remembered that when she was in Gengchen Immortal Mansion, Sima Jiao also loved to soak in the water. She remembered that at the beginning, he soaked in the cold pool, so cold that even she couldn't stand the cold pool, but later, unconsciously, he began to find a pool to soak in.

Why? It seems that it was because Sima Jiao wanted her to accompany him no matter where he was soaking. Was it because she couldn't stand the cold pool, so he just found an ordinary pool to soak in?

Many years later, Liao Tingyan suddenly understood the Sima Jiao who had been gazing at her by the mountain stream in the summer. Was his mood at that time the same as hers now?

Perhaps he was also suffering a hundred times more pain than she was now, but he could still lean there without showing any strange expression, smiled at her, stretched out his hand and said to her, "Come here." It was so calm that she felt that it was just a pleasant and lazy afternoon nap, an ordinary and comfortable time.

At that time, their pain was not mutual.
Seeing the look on his face as he looked at her, Liao Tingyan suddenly recognized what Hongluo had said - "He is obsessed with you."

In the past, Liao Tingyan sneered at this statement. Sima Jiao was crazy in the eyes of others, but in her eyes, this man was always rational, and even his death was clearly arranged. How could such a person be "obsessed". But now, seeing his gaze on her, Liao Tingyan suddenly understood.

- He is indeed obsessed with me" 😍

They really hold each other dearly. How much they cherish each other is reflected not in some gorgeous passionate heart stopping scenes but in the subtle details of their daily life ❤️❤️❤️

Kaori Miyazono

19 hours ago

5) What is the only or so called contradiction in this novel between the ML & FL (about Killing) ? (Is it truly a conflict or not- Let's understand)

First of all, one point I would like to emphasize FL of this story is not a self-righteous holy mother so, the conflict could not be considered a true contradiction at all. The novel directly laid this fact out in snippets between plot points, I don't know how the drama production staff handled this part but in the novel it was absolutely clear that FL was not against killing people but was not used to killing as she grew up in a law abiding environment. It was never a contradiction about morality. Even majority of modern people might not be used to seeing cattle or pigs being slaughtered, forget about people being killed. Even doomsday or survival novel MCs will need time to adjust. There are two types and FL of this story belonged to the (ii) category.

i)Being against killing means moral bottom line/ conscience doesn't allow it.

ii)Not used to killing means, not seeing killing, death, gore scenes as everyday norm which is the norm in Xiania world

In the first arc, when a conflict happens where the ML made her kill a person who hurt her..she had a nightmare about pig killing scene so her situation was like post stress and nothing do with morality. In the novel,

"In this world, maybe one day she would be forced into a desperate situation and kill someone to protect herself, but in this situation, she would not listen to someone holding her hand and forcing her to kill. She just refused to kill people. To be honest, she was not used to the rules of this world, but she did not mean to interfere with other people's behavior with her own standards. How could she plead for someone who hurt her? She knows this in her heart. Sima Jiao didn't understand why she reacted so strongly, "It's just killing a person."

Liao Tingyan knew he didn't understand. They were born in different worlds. Sima Jiao thought killing was okay, just like she thought killing was not allowed. Their concepts came from the universal concepts of the world they lived in, and they probably couldn't agree with each other. She understood that Sima Jiao was born in an environment where he would be killed if he didn't kill, so she didn't comment on his bloodlust, but only insisted on her idea of not killing unless she was forced into a desperate situation.

In her world, there are few people who kill people after all, and ordinary people have nothing to do with killing. Even in war, many soldiers suffer from mental illnesses because of killing on the battlefield and cannot relieve their stress. How could Liao Tingyan be unaffected?

He touched her eyes with his lips, a very unskilled comforting gesture. Sima Jiao still didn't think there was anything wrong with asking Liao Tingyan to kill someone, but he also felt a little regretful... This was the first time he experienced what "regret" felt like. It was very novel and a completely different kind of suffering from physical pain.

Although he didn't know what was delicious, she was happy to eat, and he felt better. Seeing that she was listless and couldn't eat these days, Sima Jiao was more uncomfortable than her. Moreover, he also witnessed the nightmare that Liao Tingyan said. He rested in her spirit house saw a group of people killing a pig in her mind. The pig was tied up and screamed earth-shaking and a group of blurry figures gathered to kill pigs

Sima Jiao: "..." It was really unique

This could not be blamed on Liao Tingyan. Apart from what happened a few days ago, the scene that impressed her most before was the scene of killing pigs at her grandmother's house in the countryside when she was a few years old. The shadow of her childhood brought by that scene was comparable to the sight of Sima Jiao killing people before. She subconsciously resisted killing, so the source of the nightmare became killing pigs. "

In the 2nd arc, when LYT was in the demon world she had to kill people to survive and got used to the rules of Xiania world. After the ML found out about it in the novel,

"However, in the past few days, Sima Jiao was very angry, disturbing the peace of Dongcheng.

Why was he angry? Because Sima Jiao knew that LYT had killed many people in these years, so he was furious - he forced her to kill someone once, and she still remembered the nightmare, and she cried like that. He promised not to let her kill people at that time, which meant that not only would he not force her to kill people, but he would also ensure that she would not need to kill people in the future.
But now? She was forced to learn to kill.

When LYT talked about the people she killed, her tone was flat, her eyes were not red at all, she did not mean to cry, and she did not seem to be afraid"

When LYT had a conversation with her friend about this she said that she didn't need to think about killing people to survive because there was someone to do that and later she got used to it because she was alone. In the novel,

"Liao Tingyan: "Be reasonable, friend, if there is someone around you who thinks for you, do you still want to think for yourself? If someone helps you do everything, do you still want to do it yourself? It's impossible."

So, the scene in the trailer where FL said "Killing is not option for me" and the so called conflict in the novel are actually nothing complicated at all. It is a sweet novel through and through and nothing gets complicated. Although, I don't know if drama adaptation of this part followed the novel, I hope it did.. because adding some unnecessary angst in this context will ruin the whole lighthearted tone of the story and affect the heartwarming relationship dynamic.