Whispers Of Fate— Worldview/Timelines and other details

Whispers Of Fate, the drama unfolds in two different realms and  two Universes.

The current universe in the drama is Universe A, with three Timelines; T1, T2, T3 

• Two different realm; 

1.  Tianren realm (Eng. Celestial realm, Another planet)
2.  Shenzhou (Eng. Divine continent, Earth)

• Shenzhou is futher divided into Eight maps;

1. Gumo Kingdom
2. Zhou Dilou 
3. Imperial Palace
4. Sword King City
5. Bilao Palace 
6. Fengliudian, the headquarter of Fengliudian is Xiuyu Pavilion
7. Central Plains Sword Association
8.  Piaoling Meiyuan

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Universe A 

The realm of Tianren is inspired from the "Tianlong Babu: The Eight Legions of Devas and Nagas". The emblem of the Tianren Realm is an eight-petaled lotus but the drama only features seven, as the bronze tree altars are seven-petaled lotuses.

The Chinese term Tianlong Babu (天龍八部) in Buddhist texts, literally means, Heavenly Dragons in Eight Divisions, The Eight Legions of Devas and Nagas are as follows: Deva (天), Naga (龍), Yaksa (夜叉), Gandharva (乾闥婆), Asura (阿修羅), Garuda (迦樓羅), Kimnara (緊那羅) and Mahoraga (摩侯羅迦).

The eight divisions are headed by “the gods” and “the dragons”, they are called “the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils” they are also called the Eight Divisions of Dragon Gods, the Eight Divisions of Ghosts and Gods. 

• Bai Nanzhu is the Asura king, the leader of Asura clan. Ye Mo and his mother also belongs to the Asura clan.
• Long Nv, the dragon lady is the leader of the Dragon clan (Naga), as her son Tang Lici is also from Dragon clan (Naga).
• Others are respectively, Yaksha (Ghost), Gandharva (Celestial musicians that feeds on scent), Garuda (A golden winged bird that feeds on a dragon), Kinnara (Half human half celestial bird), Mahoraga (Earth dragon)

A thousand years ago (from the current timeline, T3), there was a group of Demi-gods (Celestial beings) in Shenzhou, who naturally have a longer lifespan than mortals, the group longs for the eternal life and the ascension to true heavens. Later on, this group consumed by desires started looking down on mortals and no longer wanted themselves to share the same realm as them, they created a separate realm for them which is called 'Tianren Realm'.

The leader of Tianren realm, The Asura King (Bai Nanzhu) promised them eternal life and, using a secret technique, forcibly lifted the entire Tianren Realm, separating itself from the Shenzhou, leaving behind the ruins that became the Gumo Kingdom. He originally only wanted to lift the Celestial Realm into the space to have his own realm, however, he went too far and attempted to ascend to true heavens to satisfy his desires. Thus, such an act against heaven caused the Five Signs of Decay, leaving their lives hang by a thread.

"Five Signs of Decay for Devas" is an Buddhist concept. It refers to the five signs of decline that appear when Celestial beings (Devas) in the heavens are about to exhaust their lifespan and merits. It symbolizes that even the most superior and blissful state of existence cannot escape decay and death, which is a profound manifestation of the core Buddhist teaching of "all conditioned phenomena are impermanent."

It actually refers to the natural aging process that ascended celestials beings face, just like mortals. This is an inevitable process for mortals, but the Celestial beings couldn’t accept this.

In the drama, 'Five Signs of Decay' is a divine punishment carried out by the heavens on Tianrean realm for multiple efforts of defying the heavens. Where they lost their divine bodies, sequentially transformed into Monsters, and entered a state of decay, meant to die of old age. Tianren Realm was sucked into a void and they were permeated with a faint sense of death; unable to ascend to the true heavens, nor descend to the Shenzhou, they were like a pile of space debris needing the spiritual energy of Shenzhou to sustain living forever. They decided to return to Shenzhou but they were stuck there and couldn’t return back.

To end the Five Signs of Decay, they had a bulb idea where they decided to sacrifice the entire Shenzhou to save themselves. To carry out this plan, they consecutively created two Holy Sons (Ye Mo and Ajibaner Tangjia).

Holy son is the 'Special Celestial being' possessing a pure spiritual body and the qualifications for both, ascending to Godhood and descending to Shenzhou. Ye Mo and Ajibaner Tangjia were never meant to exist in the first place, their birth were against the will of heaven and they both were created just to satisfy the obsessions of Tianren realm for the eternal life.

The reason why Holy son have no emotions is not because they were born without emotions, but because since birth they were forced to cultivate on the path to have no emotions. Because if they continue to indulge in emotions, they would not be able to carry out the mission of sacrificing Shenzhou.

Ye Mo as the Holy son is a defected creation due to his linkage to the Asura clan (His mother being from Asura clan) and is incapable of practicing The Rebirth Sutra. Bai Nanzhu, knowing this then used all of spritual energy of Tianren realm and chose Long Nv from the dragon clan to give birth to the 2nd Holy son. As a result, Ajibaner Tangjia came out to be the most perfect creation.

[Bai Nanzhu’s "You are my most perfect creation" still echoes in my head]

• Both Bai Nanzhu and Ye Mo intended to take over the true spiritual body of Ajibaner Tangjia for their own ascension to Godhood.
• Ye Mo was sent to Shenzhou but Ajibaner Tangjia ran away from there and became the Tang Lici in Shenzhou.

✧ Core Martial arts of Tianrean Realm

1. Liúlí Wǎngshēng Pǔ (The Rebirth Sutra), is mastered by Tang Lici. It’s a technique that allows one to convert/manipulate natural substances for their own use, which is why Tang Lici could catch lightning bare-handed. 

2. Huàn Tiān Jīng (The Heaven-Changing Sutra), is mastered by Ye Mo. It’s a technique that enables one to control natural elements and alter the properties of matter. Thus, it can be used to set restrictions and bypass another's defensive techniques. Ye Mo tried multiple times to master 'The Rebirth Sutra' but failed, he could practice it but could not master it.

• In Ep5, Fang Pingzhai revealed the full name of 'The Rebirth Sutra',  Liúlí Wǎngshēng Pǔ, it states, 'May I, in my next life, attain Bodhi, with a body like lapis lazuli, clear and bright inside and out, pure and without blemish'. In Buddhism, lapis lazuli represents wisdom, inner clarity and the journey towards enlightenment, requiring clear precepts and a pure state of mind. The Rebirth Sutra places high requirements on the practitioner's character, state of mind and the physical body.
• Only Tang Lici and his mother had a pure state of mind in the entire drama.
• Tang Lici, who showed clear resistance towards killings, hated it and never lost his true nature could master it. Whereas Ye Mo, coming from Asura clan, who showed no resistance, accepted it and possessed evil desires could never master it.
• The Heaven-Changing Sutra bears a striking resemblance to The Rebirth Sutra, Both are about manipulating natural substances, leading mortals to mistake it with The Rebirth Sutra. The rumors that practicing The Rebirth Sutra causes one's body to explode, driving one to the madness and destruction is entirely wrong. The mortals had mistaken that The Heaven-Changing Sutra from Ye Mo (Yique Yin Yang) is The Rebirth Sutra. The Heaven-Changing Sutra is the one that possess this risk. Ye Mo started an evil cult in Shenzhou and made the mortals to practice it as an experiment and got them onto the path of madness and destruction, that's how the rumors that practicing The Rebirth Sutra is evil came to be.
• Fang Zhou didn’t practice The Rebirth Sutra but relied on Tang Lici to perform it within his body, to strengthen his meridians, which would transfer the evil energy to Tang Lici’s body. The Rebirth Sutra allows one to have their power absorbed by others; Tang Lici wanted to absorb the evil energy from Fang Zhou’s body. The same principle applies to the Heaven-Changing Sutra. In Ep40, Xifang tao had her powers absorbed by Gui Mudan using the Heaven-Changing Sutra to feed the Bronze piller.

3. Kāi Tiān Lún (The Heaven-Opening Wheel), is a shared technique between The Rebirth Sutra and The Heaven-Changing Sutra. Using The Rebirth Sutra with the Heaven-Opening Wheel allows the transmission of memories, empathy, and healing of injuries, while using the Heaven-Changing Sutra with it enables body-snatching and the absorption of another's power.

• The King of the Gumo kingdom wanted Ye Mo to use The Heaven-Opening Wheel to draw the miasma from the Shenzhou, so the common people wouldn’t get sick. But when using The Heaven-Opening Wheel, one’s mind is left open, allowing others to invade their consciousness and enables body-snatching (as Ye Mo possessed The Heaven-Changing Sutra). The Gumo kingdom was built on the ruins left behind, when Tianren realm was ascended, that's why the king knew the martial arts of Tianren realm.

Bai Nanzhu’s thinking process; he initially wanted to take over Ye Mo but coming to the realisation that Ye Mo is a defected creation, he gave up on him and threw him down to the Shenzhou as an experiment and created another one. He actually never intended to send Tang Lici to Shenzhou but himself coming to Shenzhou after taking over Tang Lici.

Ye Mo’s thinking process; he had always envied Tang Lici for possessing The Rebirth Sutra, whereas he himself, failed multiple times to possess The Rebirth Sutra, he wanted to take over Tang Lici to destroy both Tianren realm and Shenzhou to force out his own ascension to Godhood. His attempt to build the Bronze tree wasn’t to end the Five Sings of Dacays but to finish off both Tianren realm and Shenzhou for good. [Deleted part: Garuda was planted to spy on Tang Lici in the Tianrean realm by Ye Mo (the reason how Ye Mo knew about every move of Tang Lici and arranged the future accordingly)].

Ye Mo landed in the Gumo Kingdom. He was rescued by the princess of Gumo and was revered as the God. During this time he had a change of heart and forgot why he came here, he tried to help mortals but mortals deceived him, tried to covet his divine powers, imprisoned him, and burned him with raging fire for days. Although he couldn't die but his body fester and heal itself, under this torment, he went back to his original intention of destroying everything and unleashed the celestial fire that destroyed the Gumo Kingdom, leaving the princess behind (who is now Shui Duopo in the current timeline), then entered the Imperial palace, rising step by step to become the Imperial Preceptor, Yique Yin Yang. He embarked on massive destruction.

As the drama removing Garuda, Bai Nanzhu and the info regarding Ye Mo in Tianrean realm, it can be said that Ye Mo stayed dedicated to save the Tianrean realm at the cost of destroying humanity.

Ye Mo originally created two puppets (three if the drama did choose to provide information regarding Garuda); Gui Mudan and Xiao Shi. Gui Mudan shared an independent conscious from Ye Mo. While Ye Mo and Xiao Shi shared the same conscious. 

Ye Mo created Gui Mudan without emotions, who looks exactly like him, and entrusted him with various tasks. In the current timeline, Gui Mudan is out there finding a purpose in life (in a wicked way) and wants to free himself from Ye Mo. He later tried to betray Ye Mo by conspiring with Tang Lici but the betrayal failed.

Ye Mo created Xiao Shi by cloning himself, he is more like a shell for Ye Mo, an alternate body, a same person existing into two different bodies with the shared consciousness. After being defeated at the Tiandu peak, Ye Mo fell into a long sleep and woke up as Xiao Shi in the current timeline. 

Tang Lici’s thinking process; he simply wanted to live, live and live. He hated killing and just wanted to run away from the Tianren realm. He truly is the most innocent one in all this.

When Fang Zhou persuaded Tang Lici to learn martial arts, Tang Lici showed resistance to it. Even after being brainwashed daily by the Tianren Realm from a young age into a killing machine, he never lost his true nature and chose to escape. He disliked it. If he had even a hint of evil, he would have been tempered into a demon by the Tianren Realm and wouldn’t have escaped, nor would he have shown such strong resistance to martial arts. Tang Lici’s thinking process is futher explained in detail in the other discussion I made. Here

Not shown in the drama; Bai Nanzhu cannot take over the true spiritual body of Tang Lici unless Tang Lici is willing to let him, thus Bai Nanzhu heavily gaslighted Tang Lici into sacrificing himself for him; that sacrificing is a good things, he was asked to sacrifice himself all the time and locked up by Bai Nanzhu in a cage-like-room, he either spent his days locking up, craving wooden dolls all days or forced to be trained into being a killing machine. Surrounded by an abyss, he cried his heart out and looked up in hopes to be saved and freed but everyone only watched him from afar. Resulting in Tang Lici hating the Self-sacrifice and no longer wanted to remember the place he came from. Everytime someone spoke of Sacrifice to him in Shenzhou, it triggered his PTSD from Tianrean realm and the reason why clutched so hard on Fang Zhou. When Tang Lici was running away from the Tianrean realm after defeating Tuo Long, Bai Nanzhu was chasing him, they engaged in fights until Tang Lici finally killed Bai Nanzhu, Garuda interfered and kicked Tang Lici down on the Mount Li. And Ye Mo, standing on Tiandu peak all day and night, watched this live telecast.

Tang Lici, all injured and was picked up by Fang Zhou. 

In the first timeline (Original timeline), Ye Mo killed all the seven great masters, managed to took over the pure spiritual body of Tang Lici who just landed in Shenzhou (not shown in the drama), built the Bronze piller to destroy both the Tianren realm and Shenzhou, but he couldn’t have a break through; he couldn’t ascend to the Godhood as Tang Lici’s spiritual body was deprived of emotions. Failed Ye Mo, created "Inversion of Reality" and personally turned the wheel of time, which created a parallel timeline to the T1, Let’s call the failed Ye Mo from T1 as YM¹, and the parallel timeline as T2. And the clueless Ye Mo from T2 and T3 as YM² and YM³ respectively.

YM¹ travelled back in the time to the battle at Tiandu peak and possessed his own body, which is YM². No matter how much he tried he couldn’t reverse the time before the battle at Tiandu peak, everytime he reversed the time, he could only go back to his own body at Tiandu peak, killed the seven great masters, possessed Tang Lici and destroy everything and failing again to ascend. After multiple failed attempts, YM¹ had a bulb moment, he understood the key for Ascension is the pure spiritual body+ seven emotions. So this time, he designed an angsty time-loopy script for Tang Lici. Which further created T3. 

This time, YM¹ ultimate aim is TLC’s pure spiritual body possessing The Rebirth Sutra with the seven emotions.

• T1 is the original timeline.

• T2 is the timeline of multiple failed attempts of YM¹.

• YM¹ choosing a different direction and creating a pre-determined path for TLC is the T3.

• T1 became a base for mobius loop, with the Tiandu peak being a center point splitting T1 into two different timelines, T2 and T3, as shown in the image below.

• There are three time-loops in T3. 

Let’s divide the TLC into different versions;

• TLC¹ in T1 and T2, who was possessed by YM¹

• TLC² in T3 who was picked up by Fang Zhou.

• TLC³ in T3 (1st loop), the time travelling happened at 13th floor of desolation, possessing YM³ and saving Fang Zhou, at the same time, YM¹ also travelled back and possessed his own body. The YM³ in T3 (1st loop) has three conscious.

1. TLC³ conscious 2. YM¹ conscious 3. YM³ conscious.

• TLC³ in T3 (2nd loop), the time travelling happened at the Bronze piller with TLC³ and Gui Mudan combining their powers and travelled to the Tianrean realm, before the birth of TLC¹.

• TLC³ in T3 (3rd loop), the time travelling happened at the sea of reincarnation in Ep40, a complete reset, that created a whole new timeline, T4.

The current timeline in the drama is T3 with the three loops, with T4 being the ending.

T3 with 1st loop in detail;

Key figures; YM³, YM¹, TLC¹, TLC², TLC,³ Garuda, Bai Nanzhu, Xiao Shi, Gui Mudan, Tuo Long, Fang Zhou and other masters.

YM³ stands on the Tiandu peak looking at the sky all day and night, looking at TLC¹ fighting with Tuo Long, YM³ right here is possessed by the conscious of YM¹, YM³ and YM¹ conscious merged. Seven master arrived and engaged in a battle with YM³ (YM¹ conscious). TLC¹ engaged in a battle with Bai Nanzhu. TLC³ conscious arrived in YM³ body, YM¹ conscious allowed TLC³ conscious to take control over YM³ and save Fang Zhou. YM³ is defeated, TLC¹ was kicked down on Mount Li by Garuda. This time, TLC¹ was picked up by Fang Zhou so he became TLC² in T3 and not the TLC¹ from T1 and T2 who was possessed by YM¹.

• The one who died here is YM³ and YM¹ conscious woke up in Xiao Shi’s body in T3.
• The Gui Mudan in a sea at Tiandu peak is different from the Gui Mudan in T3
• Why TLC³ consciousness didn’t arrive into TLC¹ body but in YM³ body? Because the center point of Mobius loop is the Tiandu peak, in the 1st loop, time-travel could only happen at this certain point and since TLC¹ body was not present at this point, TLC³ consciousness landed into YM³ body, whereas YM³ body was present at this point so YM¹ consciousness landed into his own body.
• Why TLC³ consciousness only landed into YM³ body but not in someone's else? Because TLC³ is a Holy son, his consciousness could only land into the same entity as him and the only Holy son here, at this point is YM³.
• If the physical body dies then only the original consciousness dies with the physical body, the physical body is of YM³ and the original consciousness of YM³ is YM³. TLC³ consciousness got back to his time, whereas Ye Mo had a backup plan, a clone having 'shared-consciousness' (Xiao Shi), YM¹ consciousness woke up as Xiao Shi.
• [This is easier to understand if you have watched the taiwanese drama 'Someday or One day'].

TLC² spent seven years in Zhou Diluo under the care of Fang Zhou, and learnt the three characters classic and seven emotions. He now has a pure spritual body+ seven emotions. However after the death of Fang Zhou, TLC² implanted Fang Zhou’s heart crystal into his own body, meaningly walking on a self-destruction path.

YM¹ went crazy and entrusted Gui Mudan with the mission of preserving TLC² pure spritual body and feeding the Bronze piller with the black tuli. 

• Gui Mudan stole Fang Zhou’s coffin and destroyed it. 
•  Gui Mudan picked up an orphan girl, Xifang tao, adopted her as his most trusted puppet.
•  Gui Mudan approached Liu Yan, who is an expert in medicine and poison, cultivated Liu Yan into his puppet to trigger massive deaths that would generate black tuli and feed it to the Bronze piller.
•  Liu Yan and Xifang tao are the two most trusted puppets of Gui Mudan to stir chaos in the Jianghu.
• Fang Pinzhai disclosed to Liu Yan about Tang Lici going to Shui Duopo cottage (How did Fang Pinzhai know? (Side-eyeing to Gui Mudan) 
• Xiao Shi went alone to Baojing mountain to find medicine for TLC², afterall, Ye Mo cares for Tang Lici the most (sarcasm). It wasn’t just to find medicine but also to let TLC² enter into the Time-Space Canyon and witnessed the past of YM¹ in Shenzhou.
•  On the other hand, Gui Mudan made all the arrangements for TLC² to enter into "Inversion of Reality" to complete the 1st loop and become TLC³, so the TLC¹ coming to Shenzhou could become TLC².

Mortals cannot withstand the powers of Tianrean realm.

• Fang Zhou got his heart meridians damaged after being in a battle against Ye Mo. Liu Yan absorbed the half Rebirth scroll, but it wasn't obtained through orthodox cultivation, so his mortal body couldn’t withstand such power and gradually led him to madness and destruction. A Shui absorbed the divine stone of Tianrean realm and it ultimately damaged her heart. In the end, all three of them died.
• A Shui approached Gui Mudan to seek revenge from Tang Lici, Gui Mudan took the opportunity and cultivated A Shui into a tool, by inserting a divine stone into her blood and erased her memories, the divine stone caused her heart disease. 
•  Gui Mudan then arranged a wedding show of A Shui and Hao Wanhao which was massacred by Liu Yan disguised as Tang Lici (which we saw in the opening of Ep1) 
•  The purpose for the wedding show was to drag TLC² into Jianghu out of Jinye temple, so he could become the TLC³ who travelled back in time, and made A Shui a walking blood bank to preserve Tang Lici’s declining body due to Fang Zhou’s heart crystal.

The 1st loop in T3 closed here.

 Liu Yan awaken the inner desires of Zhong Chunji by giving her the Gu needle to make TLC³ into her puppet, Zhong Chunji’s intension was wrong but it turned out to be in favour of TLC³ and YM¹.

• For TLC³, as he gained a new insight was finally able to let go of Fang Zhou, thus he never actually blamed Zhong Chunji for anything but instead he told her that he understood her and that it was for his own good. The remaining power in Fang Zhou's heart crystal protected TLC³, which is why TLC³ said, "Fang Zhou saved me again."
• For YM¹, as Fang Zhou is finally gone.

Ajibaner Tangjia and Ye Mo, was like the two sides of a single coin, no matter what, their lives are intertwined with each other in every reality and every dimension. They, who were like brothers in some ways, became the Master and Disciple as Tang Lici and Xiao Shi, just like Fang Zhou and A Li in Zhou Dilou. 

Shui Duopo regretted saving Ye Mo who caused widespread destruction. Facing Tang Lici, Shui Duopo still saved him.

• NOTE: Gui Mudan and Ye Mo are different. Whereas Xiao Shi and Ye Mo are same.  Gui Mudan possessing Tang Lici means a puppet possessing Tang Lici and not Ye Mo himself, in this way, Ye Mo would lose to Gui Mudan. Ye Mo's plan is to have his own consciousness possessing Tang Lici or to have Tang Lici as Xiao Shi's master, guiding Xiao Shi step by step and awaken his innate goodness and the seven emotions, so Xiao Shi could be qualified to practice the Rebirth Sutra. Ye Mo's plan for Gui Mudan is the creation of Bronze piller by draining out the Shenzhou, and to insure the safety of Tang Lici’s pure spritual body. 

TLC³ having witnessed the past of  YM¹ and sharing the consciousness with  YM¹ in the 1st loop of T3, learnt the Heaven-Opening wheel technique and used it on Liu Yan. He shared his consciousness with Liu Yan and infused him with everything he had experienced since the death of Fang Zhou. At this time, TLC³ was kidnapped and imprisoned by Gui Mudan. After having words with Gui Mudan, TLC³ finally understood the thinking process of  YM¹ and all these messy timelines created by him. TLC³ thought he managed to stir the curiosity in Gui Mudan through his words and was conspiring with him against  YM¹. 

However, Gui Mudan, a puppet of Ye Mo, who was searching for human emotions, developed his own self-awareness and little schemes. He tricked TLC³ into eliminating his own birth from the Tianren realm. The Gui Mudan of this timeline was yet to mastered the Heaven-Changing Sutra. So no matter what TLC³ chose to do during this 2nd loop, he would have gained something,. Either he gained freedom from  YM¹ control or learned the Heaven-Changing Sutra, and if he got lucky, he could possess TLC³.

T3 with 2nd loop in details:

Let us call the Gui Mudan who was at the bottom of the sea as OLD GM, and NEW GM to the one from T3.

OLD GD had already mastered The Heaven-Changing Sutra but NEW GM learnt The Heaven-Changing Sutra from this loop.

Key figures; TLC³, Long Nv, NEW GM, Garuda, Tianren realm.

The 2nd loop took place at Bronze piller as TLC³ and Gui Mudan combined their powers together, and went as back in the time as before the birth of TLC¹.

• The common concept of time travel is divided into consciousness travel and physical travel. In Whispers Of Fate, it's a consciousness-based time travel (Soul migration) and not the physical one.
• Consciousness travel can be further divided into two types: one with a physical body (like a living person able to act) and one without (as in astral body).
• An astral body, is considered the vehicle of the soul, made of energy. A consciousness can use astral body when no living person is available is possess during time-travel. 
• Garuda is also a puppet of YM¹, planted to spy on TLC¹ in the Tianren realm, as in guarding the Star-Gazing Tower. (Ye Mo is really fond of puppets, creating multiple entities to get entangled with Tang Lici) The Garuda lord taught The Heaven-Opening Wheel to Ye Mo, the Garuda lord is the one with whom Garuda talked in the library while looking for the scroll, as ordered by TLC³. (This point was not shown in the drama)

Since both Garuda and NEW GM are puppets, NEW GM’s consciousness landed into Garuda’s body. There is no other Holy son in this timeline so TLC³ consciousness used an astral body. However, his body standing still at Bronze piller would be affected by whatever his consciousness go through.

A same timeline cannot contain a same object at two places, when TLC³ entered in the 2nd loop, the bone-cleansing silver bracelet on his wrist became invisible. The bracelet was a keepsake left by Long Nv for TLC¹. After Long Nv gave it to TLC³, the bracelet became visible on his wrist. In essence, it is the same bracelet. TLC³ also couldn’t take anything from this timeline to his timeline. The bracelet in this timeline remained here only with Long Nv and was given to TLC¹ after his birth. The drama just wanted to portray the emotions of a mother giving the bracelet to her child herself.

Long Nv was seen as entering the Star-Gazing Tower to absorb the spiritual energy of Tianren realm in order to give birth to Ajibaner Tangjia. 

The Star-Gazing Tower is a place where the spiritual energy of Tianren realm gather, due to which it’s the coldest place there and also the only place in the realm where the stars can be seen. 

She wasn’t allowed to leave the tower until she gives birth. After giving birth, her powers would be completely depleted, leading to her death. The mother and the son, who were destined to never see each other, finally met for once across the different dimensions that continuously intersects and loops. If something is meant to be, it will always find its ways.

As soon as TLC³ came to the realisation that he was tricked by NEW GM, NEW GM launched The Heaven-Changing Sutra on Long Nv, disrupting her meridians, knowing TLC³ would be needing to use The Heaven-Opening Wheel on her to save her.

• Because once TLC³ use The Heaven-Opening Wheel on her, NEW GM could use The Heaven-Changing Sutra on TLC³. 
• The Rebirth Sutra + Heaven-Opening Wheel = healing others (That TLC³ used on Long Nv)
• Heaven-Changing Sutra + Heaven-Opening Wheel= body-snatching. (The moment TLC³ Heaven-Opening Wheel combined with NEW GM’s Heaven-Changing Sutra, it triggered body-snatching).

During this body-snatching time, TLC³ turned the tide and used The Rebirth Sutra+ Heaven-Opening Wheel on NEW GM, infused him with emotions and memories. But NEW GM still couldn’t develop true feelings. A puppet would only disappear after developing true feelings.

In the cold and solemn hall, one stands, one sits. A sense of boundless loneliness hangs in the air. Yet, she could still ask him with a smile: "Do you want to see the stars today?" Such a casual remark carries a faint, inescapable sorrow. As if she knew everything her son had been through.

She could observe the fate of others by looking at stars, TLC³ asked if she could observe the fate of her unborn child. She replied she doesn’t want to because, in this way, she wouldn’t be so heartbroken knowing the suffering this child would endure in the future, and to obsessively try to change his fate, which she couldn’t. 

TLC³ finally agreed with this viewpoint, saying that watching it would make one feel obsessed and reluctant to let go.

"The name I give my child is Ajibaner Tangjia, I hope he knows that his birth was not a calamity, but a birth out of pure love in the midst of decay and decline, carrying his mother’s wishes."

She knew TLC³ is her son the moment she saw him and was worried if he could get cold. Before the fragments of time shattered, she only wanted to let him know that his mother loves him so much. Tang Lici was born out of his mother’s love and expectations. She was his salvation. He was a child his mother loved so unconditionally and exchanged her life for him; in the same way, Tang Lici exchanged his life for others to have another chance at life. 

• Tang Lici’s final words were: "Mother, you are  right. Once you see, obsession will grow; once you see, you will be reluctant to let go. A mother’s words indeed have a profound impact on her child.
• The Bone-cleansing silver bracelet is a Qiankun bag (Storage bag). In cultivation novels, it is called a 'Holding bag'. It refers to a magical item that allows cultivators to store a vast number of items in an extradimensional space. The owner can store and retrieve items with a mere thought. Tang Lici’s golden armour, flute, Guqin, is stored in the bracelet. The golden armour is made by his mother to protect him.

The 2st loop in T3 closed here.

The emperor of the current dynasty emptied the imperial treasury and gave the funds to his father-in-law, initiating the Wanqiaozhai, and following the example of Tao Zhu (a legendary figure known for his cunning and resourcefulness), hoping to generate profits to replenish the national treasury. The father-in-law, however, was not good at management and despite his best efforts, there was no improvement. One night, he was taking a walk in the peace garden, stroking the trees and sighing. (Where Tang Lici and Liu Yan first fought in the beginning of Ep2 and Liu Yan slit Tang Lici’s throat and threw him in the well).

Suddenly, he heard someone’s shout, saying that a person had emerged from the well.

Initially, the person was drawing water from the well, A moment later, a hand came out from the well, then a head, then a shoulder, and in an instant, Tang Lici emerged from the well. The father-in-law, having no son of his own, adopted him. Tang Lici made several achievements and generated massive profits and knows as the 'Master of Wanqiaozhai'.

• It’s a twelve years of journey of Tang Lici in Shenzhou. Tang Lici spent seven years in Zhou Diluo and four years (minus six months of him resting in Jinye temple) as the Master of Wanqiaozhai. And the remaining one year travelling across the Shenzhou.
• Do you know? The first line of 'Till The End Of The Moon' OST 寻常歌 (Ordinary Song) is "书致故乡人, 十二年春已过", “This letter is written to people back in my hometown, twelve years and springs have passed”.

The imperial Palace actually never cared about the princess. As Gui Mudan said to Xifang Tao, “They don’t care about whether the princess is real or fake; they just need someone to be the princess to consolidate their power”. The imperial palace, using the princess (Zhong Chunji), interfered in the affairs of the Jianghu. Gui Mudan tried to fool them but instead he was fooled by the Imperial palace. 

(To be continued)

Azure, thank you for this! Phenomenal post! I look forward to your continuations.

I have watched Whispers of Fate a second time and came to a stronger conclusion building on my thought process: We definitely needed at least 40 episodes without a squint-and-miss "romance" that satisfied the no-romance faction for this drama while using up unnecessary screentime. 

Azure, Bravo!!!! °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆ 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹❤️🩷💛💜🩵 I wish LYX and the rest of the cast could see this dedication of details which you have spent so much time over~ If they and the production team could use social media to share this thread of yours with international fans, I believe it would make such a gigantic impact for this unique drama being a classic that will stand the test of time. 

This continuation of your love for《水龙吟》brought tears to my eyes, when I read your tremendous efforts of love to share all this (if only we could get the producers to revise some scenes for some episodes, and have the Celestial Realm in there...)!

Reading this, I remembered how I felt, to watch Tang Lici speak to Liu Yan- Their final conversation just took me apart. I was already having too much emotional sawdust in my eyes over Chi Yun. I was also taken by surprise to feel more than that too, when Shao Yanping died for his Chun'er. And then, when Liu Yan was speaking... The moon is so beautiful- I rewatched that scene more than twice. Alen Fang was absolutely A-Li's A-Yan at that moment. Alen Fang is able to have unique magnetising chemistry with other members of the cast as well, which is overlooked.

 Blood on Liu Yan's nameplate was so poignant. My eyes were once again a bit too blurry to watch only twice, so I had to rewatch after rewatching.

Considering the hell Xifang Tao had survived as a child and then was brought up by a puppet, the fact that Puzhu even got through to her was amazing. She loved her foster father even at the end, and she chose the only option of freedom left to her.

I have so many more thoughts- And I will never forget Gui Mudan's love for his Xiao Kui.

The dragon is commonly seen in pictures such as Guanyin riding on a dragon. The dragon represents transformation, wisdom, purity, and protector of the Dharma, able to move between the human realm . and spiritual perfection. That is where Tang Lici sits for me.

 “决定你是谁的绝非你眉间的金瞳额印，而是你的一念之间，一心之隔，有能者更应该造福苍生。春绿雪去河又来，这世上没有白费的光阴。虽然希望有时候会破灭，不过新的希望会在破灭中重新诞生。新的希望，新的人，就在你身边。” 

Is these details are from novel?