soTreeD

Some people might end up not even finishing the novel LOL
But those who do and the novels is very popular and successful, tends to make money from selling the IP to publishers or drama production companies.

As for editorial before publishing online, I don't think so... some web novels I seen have so many typos. Unless the IP is bought and they get properly published, some of them will be edited again, especially for BL themed books will have to censor some explicit scenes in order to get pass censorship.

But in China its very common these days for these web novels or just novels, to be adapted into dramas, just as nowadays many web comics are adapted into Kdramas as well... This is so that they can be certain that there will be a ready fanbase out there, ready to help with free marketing and discussion..

Xiaoyao didn't even poison him in the drama dream version lol
They just watered down everything...
In the novel, she poisoned him but gave him less dosage, and had told his doctor in advance how to cure it...
They were eating flowers from the same bowl, how did she make sure CX only took the flowers with the 'numbing' drug?? At least in novel, she had a heavier dosage because she started eating it before he arrived...

They really changed stuff that did not need to be changed, and in the end, nothing made sense anymore..

lol my friend likes CX too! We shouldn't have to be sorry for which character we like hehe

They really should have stuck with the novel version instead of this lame dream option. It really made me hate CX when he had the gall to slap Xinyue for something he himself was fully capable of doing.

I was telling my friend about the novel scene when Xiaoyao lost it... that was so epic... instead they gave us a strange dagger dance in a room, where its like nobody came in for 10minutes while they screamed at each other and chased around the room...

I lost it when I saw this sequence set to tango music... hahahaha

Well LYF finally ended.
I think the character who wins the 'no character development' award, is Cangxuan.
Not for the lack of screen time, he definitely was given loads of screen time for performance pieces, even added time when we definitely appreciated not seeing the back of his head, lurking everywhere...

I don't know how many times Cangxuan played his 'my mother killed herself in front of me' card during the series. Cangxuan never recovered from this. Did he even try? He just clings onto that forever, never once giving his heart to anyone not even to Xiaoyao. I know he was bound by his circumstances. But what he couldn't give Xiaoyao, he still wanted to keep Xiaoyao by his side forever. People look down on Xiaoyao for her fear of being abandoned, but isn't Cangxuan exactly the same?

And the irony is, i think in the novel, he actually told Xiaoyao, if any woman offered to die with him, he would reject her right away. Yet, he became fixated on Xiaoyao, because she was ready to lay her life down for him? So ultimately, CX did want someone like his own mother, who could die for him out of 'love'. Except for Xiaoyao, hers is out of familial love and loyalty to the promises to their elders.
In the 'dream' sequence where he said if they can't live together, he wants to be able to die with her in the same crypt, I shuddered.

I can't stand the decision of the drama team giving CX an easy 'out' just because Xinyue beat him to it. If only he was allowed to go the whole way, the drama would have made far more sense.

No he did not lose heads in S1 on screen, but I have seen weibo posts saying he lost a life in the cold North before.
But in the novel, during the scene when he rescued Xiaoyao from the whirlpool, he supposedly still has all 9 heads?
Honestly the drama is a big mess. Is it so difficult to just follow the novel properly?

Unfortunately that is not how things work in C Ent. Its such a horrible way to create dramas but bias and backstabbing is really common.

Exactly!!
But King of Xiyan can never go in person to negotiate... as you can see... it would be too risky... XL can try to kill him and everything will be a bigger mess..

I think the whole issue with the Chenrong army is, their own time was running out. Most of them also had no home, no family, no ties left.
Many of the soldiers were getting on in years... so if CX chose not to do anything about them and gave them a few hundred more years in the forest, actually, most of them might have just died of natural causes...

Why did CX decide to 'wipe them out' right now?
He was the kind who won't give mercy or leave loose ends. I suppose that is what many of the audience prefer?

For Hong jiang and Xiangliu, the higher level deity and demon, they could perhaps live for thousands of years more... what can they do when all their men eventually die of old age? Will they still try to kill CX?
Or call it quits at last, just leave together to roam the world?

Technically 3ML died for his own war.
What has it got to do with FL?

yaojing was really pushed to the lowest priority in this season 2.
So much important highlight moments not adapted from novel and so much ridiculous inexplicable changes from the moment they botched TSJ's amazing proposal.

So many people mourning for Xiangliu, let me mourn for Fenglong, who died way too soon.
That's why I really hate the pointless war of the Chenrong rebels. They dragged innocent lives along with them on their destructive road to 'glory'.

Xiangliu wanted to die for a long time, it was his own choice, but Fenglong who said he did all he wanted - did he really? - he had never even fell in love properly. Unless we count his love for CX haha ... Fenglong had so much ahead of him...

When you say vocal, do you mean more vocal about his love? Because I agree with that!

Xiangliu in the novel was way colder so the drama's overly sentimental version at times really put me off... he maybe 'courageous' in the way where he is 'ready to die' but he is really a coward in love, dishonest in his actions towards his love interest.
And if the defense is : 'I mustn't be too nice to her or she will fall in love with me, its for her own good' then won't he seem narcissistic?

Chichen had no problems expressing his burning love.
Instead of Xiaoyao's father, Xiangliu is really more like Xiaoyao.
Both of them after suffering all their trauma, they didn't dare to take the first step towards another person. Maybe Xiangliu had just been alone for far too much longer than Xiaoyao, he is incapable of too big a change now.

For me, if XL loved Xiaoyao that much, then ask her to choose him.
Don't just pine by himself.
Don't only touch her lovingly when she doesn't know it ( see its creepy even when I type it )
Don't let someone else take charge of providing happiness to your beloved.
That's just me. I have been done with the 'noble idiots' kind of trope since the 90s lol

"A less noble person would call his moves stupid but it would be nice if we lived in a world where his actions and decisions were the most attractive."
Yes agreed. Jing is really an ideal.
TH said as much when she said Tushan Jing is her 'love-letter to women'.

However, why would you think Xiaoyao didn't love Jing the most?
I thought even the evidence of the 'lovers' bug proved that Xiaoyao loved Jing.... All the heartache she was experiencing was punishment by the bugs for thinking about another man?

But don't ask me how the bugs test for 'fidelity'
Maybe they run periodic testing when the woman is pining for another man instead of the one the bugs are linked to, and it will react? 🤣

I even read posts saying the male lead was supposed to be Tushan Jing but she changed it to Cangxuan...
I didn't follow the online novel when it was started back in 2013...so I am not familiar with TH... but yes its not easy to write a male lead and not have him be the intended 'love interest' of the female lead... TH also aware that it will be difficult to adapt to screen due to this 'unconventional' plotline

Yes pls read the novel! Its really so much better for all the characters involved ... even Cangxuan now... I can't see how he is a 'good king' when all I get to see is him lurking around all the time, like does he even work hard? lol

I don't know if XL is her fav child but its clear that tjc is the one who brought in the investors to LYF... his shots look like they are from another drama lol
Even yangzi scenes can be lacking but his scenes spare no expense...

I am already watching Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty S2... S1 was great... now S2 is also not bad! lol

Tell us about it... all his good dialogue cut, given to other characters... scenes he filmed that were supposed to be highlight moments... cut into a few minutes...

Its not Jing didn't want to stand up for himself... its the drama team did not give him any chance...

Thanks for supplying us with popcorn, tissues... its been fun watching the drama with some of you drama fans!!

yaolius will not like how this post said Xiaoyao's bug turned into heartbreak bug...

but nice to see xiangliu fan actually appreciating the pain he has to go through while holding the bug instead of just some people still deluding themselves its still 'lovers' bugs

My theory is he has Greek origins, so he is just a titanium blonde... its au naturel ... 😂

I suppose even in xianxia world, black hair is the most common unless they are old? And his persona as FFB is still a relatively 'young' deity of 500-600 years old.

Although I wonder how old is Xiangliu... from description... maybe 800+? He appeared as a child after the great war and after going to the north, he went back as FFB and also to Hong jiang... but normally in lore, demons don't gain a human form that quickly... they take time to cultivate further and gain a human form perhaps after thousands of years... so maybe he is even older than that?

I wonder if he is just lonely for way too long... so he was just fighting his own depression.. and the army was his way to go out in a blaze of glory.

Let me add one more xianxia trope :
white hair don't lie.

TSJ's hair turned white after his breakup.
Xiaoyao's hair turned white after Jing disappeared.

Hair turning white is the sure sign of 'true love'!