maryxiah

I'm gonna risk personal attacks here, but I've tried Soompi and they're not friendly, very judgmental people.

Thank you to you too. I love having discussions on plot speculation and theory. Also, it's been fun reading and commenting on this platform, I think viewing experience is always enhanced by the company you have, which is every awesome people I've met here.

What Christine shared was just one of the plot speculation on youtube, I've seen plenty of those, practically like what we're having here. I can't watch another Run Yu, that'd break my heart for sure.

LOL, idk which is funnier, the fact that the op thinks Leo's smile is harassment and not funny, or your reaction to the comment.

Yay! Although it's not flattering that they say it's because of the pre-existing buzz of the AOL reunion, as if the story isn't the reason for the spot. :(

LMAO! That's kind of mean but funny. But I have been calling her 疯子 right from the start. XD

They're not following the novel closely so the plot will be different from the original source. I hope this won't turn into AOL because it's obviously very different than AOL.

Lord Lu is definitely one of the villains. I've seen scenes from the trailers where his wife, Tou's sister, is visibly upset at him, also a scene where Tou's dad is captured. The plaque clearly has something to do with someone from the government because of the gold and Lord Lu is the most plausible suspect.

I just think Mu Yuan has the right connections to pull off things in the martial arts world and help Lord Lu achieve his purpose. I didn't even suspect Mu Yuan before, but with the recent development where one of Lord Lu's men came to see him, I'm starting to see him in a new light. This doesn't necessarily mean Mu Yuan is evil, it's just that I believe he could be helping Lord Lu for the purest intention of helping Xue Zhi, which is in line with his current character. Also, didn't Lord Lu once basically saved Xue Zhi by asking her to help with the flood victims? He barely knew her yet specifically asked for her help? I'm starting to think it might be a favor for Mu Yuan.

As for turning dark, it could very well be due to jealousy and more, whatever the reasons, I want him to be a redeemable character cuz I like him right now. His sincerity towards Xue Zhi is admirable and it makes me feel for him on so many levels.

Hmm, I don't remember a dialogue where Lord Lu is hating on Tou, the only ones I remember are this, "Shang Guan Tou, it's not for you to decide whether you want to enter my game of go," and "The world belongs to the emperor, the emperor is superior to the martial arts world." My guess is Lord Lu has been plotting to take the throne from crown prince and he wishes to achieve that by eliminating the martial arts world from the kingdom, it's clear that there's an unspoken strain between the court and the martial arts world.

So my theory is, Lord Lu must have approached Mu Yuan before the start of the story for 2 reasons, one is the Nine Moves of God, second is the weapon production by Hall of Flames. Everyone in the martial arts world covets the great power of the Nine Moves of God, and what's better way to create chaos between all major sects than to flaunt around the scroll and have everyone dies fighting for it? Therefore, the thievery at the start of the story has been planned and planted by Mu Yuan because Hong Sheng was originally a member of Hall of Flames. However, how Hong Sheng reacted later might have been out of his control because obviously we're talking about the Nine Moves of God. And to fight the crown prince for the throne, I think Lord Lu needed to win people's favor and prepare weapons in advance to gain military advantage. Which is why Lord Lu needed Mu Yuan in the first place.

As for Mu Yuan's part in this plot, I'm thinking obviously everything Mu Yuan has done thus far is to help Xue Zhi in every way possible. This plot actually benefits Xue Zhi and Hall of Flames in many ways. For one, Xue Zhi faces great danger from the martial arts world due to her father's blood debt and Mu Yuan wouldn't be able to be there for her all the time. So by getting rid of the martial arts world, the threat for Xue Zhi's life is greatly reduced. Also, the Nine Moves of God is irrelevant without the Lotus Sutra, the one who trains for it without Lotus Sutra won't be able to truly master Lotus Wing but instead go crazy, so I'm thinking Mu Yuan wasn't worried about losing the Nine Moves of God because Hall of Flames has the Lotus Sutra. Secondly, Hall of Flames has established itself as weapon manufacturer as it produces 80% of the weapons to the government and martial arts world, so they basically don't need the martial arts world establishment, they could survive just being weapon manufacturer. And again, less threat on Xue Zhi's life.

Qing Mei as the true villain works on the surface of the story because he has a resentment against Tou right now, and he has trained for the Nine Moves of God. In the novel, someone else other than the true villain actually trained for the Lotus Wing (yes Lotus Wing, not Nine Moves of God). It was Qing Mei and Yuan Shuang Shuang (Shuang Shuang got the fake one while Qing Mei got the real one). Anyways, Qing Mei has a good motive to be the true villain, it's just that all that's been brewing in the martial arts world doesn't seem connected to Qing Mei. I'm talking about the thievery of the Nine Moves of God because clearly he doesn't know Hong Sheng prior to that and the plaques that was planted by Man Fei Yue by the order of the government or someone in the government.

I actually think it makes sense for Mu Yuan to be the villain, and it's been hinted in the trailers that he's gone dark when he pushes Tou off the cliff and when he attacks Tou with a sword (this is after Tou changed his name to Yu Chu Zhi because of the dark garb he's spotting). And I think a motive driven by an act of love is greater than a motive driven by revenge.

Edit: Although I like Mu Yuan’s character right now, I don’t think think making him the villain of the story takes away anything, he’s still Xue Zhi’s Mu Yuan ge. As long as his character arc is done correctly, it actually makes more sense with the current development. I’m just hoping he won’t be hurt too much later as it’s gonna break my heart to see him crumbles.

Ikr?! I was watching some bts and he was joking around, rapping and singing, and then the next pulling off emotional scenes like it's nothing. He's tugging at my heartstrings just by frowning his eyebrows, eyes red and breathe a little heavy.

They haven't officially released the song yet, probably this week. The title is "A Passionate Dream (一梦情深)."

Lol, to be fair, he's actually a very private person and the only person he's willing to be completely honest with is Lin Chang Rang, who I feel like, also his second dad. He might as well start calling him that because that's his future father-in-law right there. XD

"Hahaha! I can tell you are besotted with him! <3"
That I am, lol. I melt every time he says sweet lines to Yukee, not to mention how gentle he is towards her in the bts.

I understand, this drama is literally an upgrade version of the novel. However, upon reading some chapters, I did find Tou to be bearable, and I liked the fact that he seems to love Xue Zhi a lot. It makes me feel more for this drama because it's clear Tou only has eyes for Xue Zhi, can't say much for Xue Zhi because I feel like she's the drama queen in the novel.

A masochist huh? I haven't seen his other dramas, this is my second of him but I get the sense that he's always playing a tortured soul, can't blame him, he looks good in it. I see lots of comments on his weibo saying, "please stop torturing our Tou ge ge or Yun Xi." Lol

Found videos with Eng translations on them so you can enjoy the OSTs better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_iia8PYZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9MBvyFREj0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLwokcL5YoA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoW2LC1DEYo

The reason I said it could go both ways is because the character of the monk, Hong Sheng (I think he's Shi Yan in the novel), originally a member of Hall of Flames. In the novel, he's the lackey of the true mastermind behind all the chaos in Jiang Hu, essentially stealing the secret scroll, misleading some sect leaders with the fake scroll so they kill each other, and destroying Xue Zhi and Tou's lives. Since Hong Sheng is originally from Hall of Flames, he could very well be planted in Lu temple by Mu Yuan to steal back the Nine Moves of God during the hero assembly as it truly belongs to the Hall of Flames. Mu Yuan could have exposed Hong Sheng in order to clear Xue Zhi's name, what he doesn't know is Hong Sheng is still alive, his martial arts is destroyed but he still has the knowledge of the Nine Moves of God right? I think he trained Qing Mei in order to take revenge, maybe. Moreover, from the latest development, we see that Mu Yuan has a connection with Lord Lu, which is very suspicious considering some trailers show that Lord Lu is plotting evil. They could be very well the mastermind behind everything that's been happening in Jiang Hu right now. I don't understand Mu Yuan's motive as of now, because he clearly loves Xue Zhi too much to let any harm befall her, but he's quite suspicious right now.

It makes sense here that Qing Mei has a grudge on Tou, thus he has a motive to learn the Lotus Wing to defeat him, but in the novel, they're not really enemies, I couldn't detect any animosity between them, so that plot didn't make sense. If anything, Tou should be more jealous because Xue Zhi once had an infamous crush on Qing Mei, and when she rejected Tou (yeah, she rejected him in the novel lol), Tou thought it was because Xue Zhi was still in love with Qing Mei.

Either way, I hope Mu Yuan has a good enough reason to attempt killing Tou, not once but twice in the drama, and jealousy is not one of them. I'm so conflicted, I want the plot to move along so I can see the angst, betrayal and all the fun stuff, but at the same time, I still want more of the OTP's sweet moments, lol. Ah!

Nope, I wish I was native, then maybe I can plot ways to accidentally bump into Leo and get him to fall for me, haha. I'm half Chinese though, I learned Mandarin when I was in elementary school so I can speak and write but only enough to get by, I also understand Cantonese and a little bit of Hakka though I don't speak them.

Slow and steady is my kind of game too, makes the romance feel more convincing and credible. Shang Guan Tou and Xue Zhi are my current OTP. <3

If he's anyhing like his novel counterpart, he won't betray Xue Zhi, he is in love with Xue Zhi. And Feng Cheng isn't his biological dad, his dad is someone else in Huashan sect.

"I mean your explanation makes sense but maybe Luo Yunxi should have dialed down the intensity a bit at earlier on because I wasn't getting mixed signals from him, I really thought wow he is really into her."

Edit: I agree that Leo should have dialed down the intensity earlier on, many people have commented they found him rather creepy earlier on lol, I don't find it wrong or weird, I just chalked it up to him being flirty and living up to his womanizer reputation. Also, Yukee doesn't fit the beauty label here, she's more of a cutesy type, but in the novel, her character is supposed to be a real beauty, that could be a contributing factor that Tou might be attracted to her despite not yet falling for her.

In the first novel, after the fatal duel, Xue Zhi found a crippled and disfigured man on the duel site and thought this was Tou. She brought him home and took care of him as she thought this was her husband. Five years later, a woman showed up (she's not in the drama, but in the novel, she was Qing Mei's fiancee who has a crush on Tou, Oh hey, she's essentially Feng Zi haha.) and told Xue Zhi, Tou actually died in the duel and the man she had been taking care of wasn't Tou at all. After some time, Xue Zhi decided to marry Mu Yuan after all because he had been there for her, except this guy is actually Qing Mei (possibly changing his face with some sorcery lol) pretending to be Mu Yuan, the real Mu Yuan is the crippled guy Xue Zhi found at the duel site. Tou came back six or seven years later to see Xue Zhi married to Mu Yuan (he didn't know this was Qing Mei too) and was absolutely crushed, Tou's character took a dark turn as well until it is uncovered in the finale that Xue Zhi was a victim of circumstances and Tou finally reconciled with her.

I think the drama could go both ways because Mu Yuan does seem heartbroken when Xue Zhi turns against him after he pushes Tou off the cliff. After all he's done for her, that could drive him crazy with vengeance. The story is messy indeed, which is why I get everyone's grievances with it, but some fans seem to love the book as well, so I guess to each his own.