AmericanoLover

Who said I was disagreeing with your own opinion I'm just adding more onto your statement about the glass half full and empty perspective for onlookers to read because there are new comments asking about the ending everyday...is two paragraphs really too long to read for a place meant to hold discussion about a show. If you read my whole reply you would see that I used your perspective as an example of the different levels of interpretation one could have but I did not say it was wrong...? I even praised it

The ending scene contains alot of callbacks to several moments from the show as well so it was definitely intentional to go that route. One of the very few cdrama open endings out there that want the audience to go back and rationalize the ending by figuring out what TLP is supposed to truly represent. I've seen many dramas with open endings that cannot be thoroughly rationalized to the level of TLP because this story meticulously planned things out for this very moment. One of the core messages is to always see the good out of even the worse situations (Shi Ying and Zhu Yan embodied this optimism throughout the whole show) so I think viewers were actually meant to approach the ending with this perspective. After all TLP's story uses prophecies and fate to show the drastic difference in outcomes of characters who decide to approach things glass half empty or half full. And of course it's only the optimistic side that WINS in the end which is why it only makes sense narratively for them to be able to reunite once again. Paralleling this aspect back to the audience: those who choose to see the ending half glass empty will feel like crap and think they wasted their time while those who see it half glass full will feel a lot more hopeful and are more likely to genuinely appreciate the story for what it is. The true winners are the viewers who actually take their time to think back on the whole show and not just downrate it for not fulfilling their expectations.

It's very commendable that TLP stands out from the rest by being a drama that chose not to completely spoonfeed everything to the viewer so those who decide to go deeper (or even slightly alter their perspective in accordance to the drama's themes) will benefit the most from noticing all the carefully planned hints and parallels sprinkled throughout the show. Or in your case just relate it to Shi Ying's core characteristics and values. Definitely surprised me that this is not a show meant to be one and done after the first watch, you really need to re-evaluate the whole thing in order to understand the real meaning. I can compare it to being like one of those videogames that contain multiple endings in which the full scope of the story is only figured out when you play every possible route. And that is why TLP is still high on drama charts even after its completion mid-July. If the open ending actually works with the story and was not only done just for the shock value then it doesn't really deserve all the flack it's getting.

I see people say the script or plot is a mess compared to other shows and I'm like: where? Because the story is pretty straightforward to me at least and I'm not the brightest when it comes to figuring stories out myself but I can come up with an explanation for the reasons behind several moments in the show. Not even a hard story to follow but people are too caught up in their perception of the FL or the romance development they miss so much on the first watch and drop the show too early. Such an undeserved response from the international crowd, there must be a reason why it's being highly rated amongst domestic audience and I have some theories why haha. Really glad that TLP is really a drama that breached fan circles over there though and became the undefeatable top drama of July. It is thanks to the auto translated reviews that I got to figure out the true meaning of this drama after all.

Xu Yao was name dropped since episode 1 by Shi Ying before his flashback starts and was stirring conflict from the shadows controlling the Sage/Xing Zun the whole time. We just didn't know its true identity or black cloudy form so viewers were tricked into believing Xing Zun was the big bad. Xu Yao got rid of Xing Zun as a vessel in ep 31 because Shi Ying was hot on its trail while searching for the Sea Emperor when it was trying to get Kong Sang and the Merfolk to fight each other. Xu Yao's ultimate goal is to obtain the two divine rings to destroy the world but it needed the blood of the Sea Emperor and that's why it needed Zhi Yuan to lead him to Su Mo. Xu Yao's "surprise" appearance was also intended by the god because the point is that it wanted to trick everyone into a false sense of security after the Merfolk all evacuated. It all might seem fast paced because the drama had to make the last two eps into 90 minutes each but to say Xu Yao was never hinted at is completely wrong.

Something else I noticed in my rewatch is that the bgm that plays in the final scenes is the exact same one from the spiritual realm scene in episode 20. And we know that he was actually there in his own realm and not just her imagination. Correct me if I’m wrong but this is the only other time in the drama that uses the same climactic part of the bgm from the finale. This must be a bgm reserved only for their real reunions 👩‍❤️‍👨

She tells the wishing tree to keep blooming until her master comes to fetch her. And what is the final scene we get in the drama? 😭 That’s right it’s Shi Ying coming to fetch her like he promises. It just makes sense that the final reunion scene is also a callback to the one in episode 20 with even the same bgm being used and her line about fetching.

This is just my personal interpretation but I also find it a coincidence that the Wishing Tree has flowers of two contrasting colors and in a way that can symbolize how their relationship is like Yin and Yang which is shown through their hurt me/save me dynamic. This couple was destined to be opposing forces but when you put them together they balance each other out and this reflects the main ideology behind Daoism in which “True harmony comes from balancing the opposite forces of nature, called YIN and YANG.” This belief just describes Shi Ying and Zhu Yan so well I can’t…Something else that is kinda coincidental is that the Wishing Tree’s contrasting flowers could also represent how Shi Ying and Zhu Yan’s love was still not fully realized so they just existed separately on the branches. And then the tree they reunite under in the final scenes just so happens to be one with PINK flowers. I know it’s the tree from the beginning of the drama but associating the color of the flowers to the different stages of their relationship makes it more meta. To have them reunite in the end beneath a tree containing flowers of the color that results from combining red and white can symbolize how they have truly become one in mind,body, and spirit. I'm telling you guys they plan out these details so well for the viewers to interpret in their own way.

Now that is has been around 2 weeks since I finished this drama I just want to say I'm so grateful for the ending they went with for this adaptation which might be a very unpopular opinion here haha. Because without this type of "open" ending I wouldn't have been given the incentive to go back and dig through the drama to see how its themes, messages, characterization, and subtle hints were all laid out to support my theory on how he ascended to immortality for the "happy" ending. Of course you don't have to believe he became immortal like I do as the themes still work out either way you interpret it. I just really think this is one of those dramas that use your own mind against you which I never would have expected from the premise that comes off as the usual Xianxia romance.

I just know that I wouldn't have rewatched or thought twice about this drama if we were given an explicit ending. I've loved Xiao Zhan's other works but none have ever impacted me in this way after airing because they all ended peacefully and therefore did not motivate me to search for my own answers. I know people are tired of open endings but I believe TLP made proper use of its open ending (compared to other recent releases) by giving viewers a reason to look back at certain parts with a different perspective in order to figure out the true purpose of the story. Not all open endings are done just for the sake of it, sometimes they work and in TLP's case it did with all the subtle hints I found. I typed out and shared that 11k word analysis for anyone who is willing to seek out more answers about the ending like I was. If you wanna take everything you watched and be done with the show that's also fine. But I'm just very surprised how TLP ended up not being a drama meant to be quickly binged and forgotten after completion. It's gonna be one that sticks with me forever in a good way.

They said they dropped it but was able to describe their opinion on the romantic scenes and plot in another comment?

https://kisskh.at/discussions/zhu-yan/109977-spoilers-a-super-long-winded-analysis-on-why-i-believe-the-ending-actually-makes-sense omg its this post about the ending 😭 the other one isn't too important

They did get their happiness just not in the way you expected for them as a novel reader. Sorry but most cdramas have erotic stuff taken out if it doesn’t translate well to modern standards and censorship. They have sex in the temple right? No way would they allow that to get past censorship lol

its right up there in the recent discussions section

To be fair I made that discussion post the day after I watched the finale high on my emotions to comfort myself and little did I know that was only at the beginning of my journey of comprehending the real meaning of this drama. After I made that post and read tons of other people's perspectives I decided to figure out the intentions behind the story writing decisions and the end result was the 20 page dissertation I posted that explained why the drama actually has a happy ending. It is a happy ending once you dive deeper into the themes of the drama and no one can change my mind. I wrote that essay for the viewers who are willing to see other angles

I have more evidence to support abiG's reply above. In the post I made in the discussion section I broke down how there were several story elements laid out to hint that only Shi Ying was destined to be the only mortal in his world to achieve the real state. This is really not something any cultivator can just do so I'm not sure why you are distinguishing between reach/enter it's either you achieve the real state or you don't, no in between. There is more to the real state than just being adept at magic otherwise it undermines the monumental groundbreaking significance behind it. In the case of cultivation dramas like this one that borrow ideas from Buddhism/Daoism/Confucianism, I concluded that the highly revered 'real state' is more like a state of being where one's mind, body, and soul are at peace and harmony with oneself and the world and that is how they are able obtain immortality. Based on my understanding of the 'real state' if Zhu Yan actually achieved it then she would not have been so overwhelmed by Xu Yao's influence which led to Shi Ying absorbing Xu Yao in her place.

Zhu Yan's use of the strongest defensive and offensive spells as well as understanding the Star Revival Blood Oath were a showcase of her true potential as a powerful cultivator. But like abiG said being a powerful cultivator is not the same as achieving the real state. Shi Ying had practiced cultivation for years and was already known as the most gifted prodigy in forever so it would not make so much sense for Zhu Yan who had to relearn from the basics to be on his level. She is strong because of how quickly and naturally she mastered cultivation but Shi Ying will always be on a completely different level. Zhu Yan's power progression is more like lvl 1 > lvl 10 while Shi Ying already started off as lvl 10 and would only reach further heights from there. Comparing her likeliness to the emperor also does not work because in my analysis I also broke down how Xing Zun achieving the real state and then immortality was uncovered by Shi Ying to be a HUGE lie meant to prevent the characters from suspecting him as the Sage. Xing Zun was a phony so that makes Shi Ying's achievement of the real state even more unprecedented in his world.

I know it's an overload of information but I think it's important to note just HOW significant and elusive the 'real state' is meant to be in the context of their lore. It also doesn't help that the drama doesn't explicitly tell us everything about it so these are still just my conjectures based off what we have been shown from the characters and the events. I don't mean to make you feel bad for your original claim it's just that story wise Zhu Yan is not meant to be thattttt strong even if she's the heroine and it was only Shi Ying who was truly destined to achieve the real state that allowed him to return through the Snowy Rosa at the end.

I will do what I must to restore this drama's reputation

Like you said people can fully enjoy the drama if they just understood the plot

Thanks for waiting on this analysis of TLP and its ending and why I believe it is framed to be a happy ending based on the central themes of the story and the characteristics of the Xianxia genre that might have been overlooked on the first watch. It's going to be a super long read because I had to cover a lot of material placed throughout the show to thoroughly back up my points. This analysis was made in good fun and is for the people who are either confused about the ending or are open to hearing a more optimistic interpretation of it. I just really love this drama and think it deserves more appreciation among international fans. Too many people were fixated more on the shocking ending that it framed how they viewed the overall plot and characterization—which is not fair on the drama that I discovered to be more complex within its storytelling than I assumed. I wonder how many people who were here at the beginning of this drama are still camping on this discussion page to see this lol.

Being able to analyze TLP in retrospective way helped me figure out the major themes which completely changed how I viewed this drama and now I can’t believe how many important details and hints I missed on the first watch. What I took away from this drama has made me appreciate it 10x more and I can see why Chinese media sources are praising it as a breakthrough in Xianxia storytelling.

If you're interested in possibly seeing the drama in a completely different light like I have you can check out the post I made in the discussion forum above.

Oh…8 pages is nothing ;) because I had alot of ground to cover

I haven't forgotten about the analysis on the ending I teased days ago it's just taking me so long to write because I keep realizing more stuff that has me re-editing and adding more... it'll be a long read.

Usually in these settings the characters are addressed by titles/courtesy name/nickname so Yao Yi would be her real name but Chi Zu Fei Li is her title of sorts. It's also why Zhu Yan has her own title/nickname that I forgot

Nah dont worry my theory is based on how the show is leaning towards HE in its own way based on its themes

Interest check...does anyone want to read my theory why the ending actually works for this drama? It will take me a long time to type it out because I would have to explain plot points that might have been overlooked by many (including myself) on first watch. What I pieced together made me rethink what I originally took away from this drama and made me appreciate it and Shi Ying's character 10x more so I am eager to share if anyone cares lol. It is only thanks to the debates and confusion I read over here that I was able to think about the story in a retrospective way.