So I've seen Chinese TikTok videos saying that Jing was saved by XL, that he used one of his lives to save Jing.…
In the drama, XL definitely did not sacrifice a life to save TSJ. As Dramaqueenvictoriaife mentioned, he protected TSJ's body from sea creatures without sacrificing one of his lives to do so. In the novel, XL played a much bigger role in saving TSJ's life.
In the drama, XL sacrificed one life to save XY's life in S1. Then he sacrificed two more lives in S2 in order to lure out and kill the Lovers Bugs to break the bug connection between him and XY before the final battle. We see two heads from XL's true form perish when he sacrifices those two lives.
In the final battle in the drama, XL's true form had six out of its original nine heads, with the three missing heads matching up with the three lives he sacrificed for XY. Over the course of the final battle XL lost all of his remaining six lives.
The two strolled around the streets before Xiao Yao took Jing to a restaurant and ordered a few Xuan Yuan classic cuisine dishes.
Xiao Yao was quietly eating when seven or eight soldiers walked in and the leader gleefully yelled out, “Shopkeeper, bring the best dishes and wine! Today I’m treating. Anyone here is invited! Waiter, give every table wine to celebrate the Xuan Yuan Army’s great victory today!”
Everyone in the restaurant got excited and started asking questions, learning that it was Great General Ru So who won the battle and a few diners laughed. “Isn’t the Great General Ru So constantly winning battles recently already?”
The lead soldier said, “This is not like any regular great victory! Nine Lives Xiang Liu is dead! You business people likely don’t know how powerful and vicious that Xiang Liu is…”
Coming so out of the blue that she could not brace for it, Xiao Yao felt a piercing dagger stab her chest and her ears were ringing. The pain in her heart exploded and the wine cup in her hand dropped.
Jing worried cried out, “Xiao Yao!”
Xiao Yao murmured, “It can’t be! It’s impossible! He can’t be dead just like this! I didn’t feel anything, I can’t feel anything anymore……” She suddenly remembered that the Lover’s Bug was removed by the Royal Mother so she obviously can’t feel the connection anymore. Xiao Yao’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed backward.
Jing grabbed Xiao Yao. “Let’s go back to Xuan Yuan Mountain first, let Miao Pu take the Grand Emperor’s badge to gather information.”
Xiao Yao was lightheaded and lead-footed, all she kept saying over and over was, “It can’t be.”
Jing ordered Miao Pu and appeared to say something to Xiao Yao but she couldn’t hear anything clearly.
Miao Pu rushed off, and it seemed like it was a short time, but perhaps also a very long time, when she returned.
Xiao Yao immediately asked, “That was a false report, right?”
Miao Pu replied, “General Ying Long said that Xiang Liu died in battle.”
Xiao Yao screamed wildly, “That’s impossible, I don’t believe it!”
Miao Pu was so frightened she didn’t dare say another word.
Jing brought in a bowl of the strongest alcohol and forced Xiao Yao to drink it all. He gently asked, “Do you still want to hear more? If you don’t want to hear any more I can drink with you.”
Xiao Yao held her head and said to Miao Pu, “Keep talking.”
“After the death of the Chi Sui Clan Leader, His Majesty ordered that the Army was to completely exterminate Gong Gong’s army at all costs. Great General Ru So commanded an army of 200,000 soldiers to surround and attack Gong Gong’s army. Under the unrelenting attack of the Xuan Yuan army, Gong Gong’s army retreated deep into the forest and refused to engage. General Ru So started to burn the entire mountain to force Gong Gong’s army to come out and battle and found themselves facing General Ru So’s army and also General Li Yuan’s army of 200,000 soldiers. Gong Gong led his soldiers into the ocean but General Ru So already anticipated Gong Gong would escape towards the ocean. He stationed General Yu Jiang and his water trained soldiers to lay in wait. He was ready to cut down Gong Gong when Xiang Liu somehow energized his nearly dead soldiers to fight to open a route for Gong Gong to escape. But General Ru So and Yu Jiang followed the entire way for days and nights until they caught up to Gong Gong on a remote ocean island. General Ru So had the island surrounded and used many ancient spells and weapons so that even if Gong Gong turned into a tiny fish he couldn’t escape. Yu Jiang insisted on landing on the island with his soldiers to attack and started a fierce battle with Gong Gong….”
Miao Pu’s voice got softer and softer. “One thousand Sheng Nong soldiers against 100,000 thousand Xuan Yuan soldiers, not a single person surrendered and every Sheng Nong soldier died. Yu Jiang is a top fighter among the Gods but he could not defeat the heavily injured Gong Gong. Later General Ru So ordered every single soldier to shoot their arrow at Gong Gong and with thousands of arrows shot at him, Gong Gong finally died. It was after his death that his true form appeared. It was the Nine Lives demon… General Ru So realized then that he was tricked.”
Xiao Yao bent over and her arms wrapped around her head as her shoulders shook uncontrollably. Miao Pu didn’t dare to say more but Jing gently stroked Xiao Yao’s back and said, “Keep talking.”
Miao Pu glanced at Left Ear and saw his emotionless face so she continued. “General Ru So, once he discovered he was tricked, did not fall into a rage. Instead he said happily, “With Xiang Liu’s death, the hardest part of the war is over.” Because Xiang Liu really killed so many of our men, I heard a lot of soldiers wanted to harm and desecrate his body to assuage their anger. But General Ru So whipped the men who rushed forward and ordered everyone to step back. Once everyone left the island, Xiang Liu’s body dissolved into black blood that destroyed every living thing on the island including blades of grass. Even the ground turned black. All the soldiers were frightened and even General Ru So was scared afterwards, if it wasn’t for his respect for this enemy likely everyone would have died alongside him on the island.”
Xiao Yao’s body collapsed on the pallet. If she didn’t believe it earlier, now she believed it. Only Xiang Liu could do something like that.
Can someone who read the novel please tell me how XL lost all his lives? Does it say in the novel?
In the novel, XL's true form doesn't lose a head when XL loses one of his extra lives. So at any given point in the story we don't know exactly how many lives he's lost / how many he has left.
XY sees XL's true form in chapter 43 and it has all nine heads even after XL sacrificed one of his lives to save her life in chapter 22. So that's how we know that the number of heads that XL's true form has left does not correspond with the number of extra lives that he has left in the novel.
Before the final battle in the novel we only know for sure that XL lost two lives. The first was in chapter 22, when he sacrificed a life to extend XY's life after her assassination. The second was in chapter 48, when he sacrificed an extra life in order to lure out and kill the Lovers Bugs so that he could break the bug connection between himself and XY before he died in the final battle. He had to break the connection to ensure that his death would not cause XY to die too.
We don't know if XL lost any of his extra lives before he met XY (e.g., in the slave death match arena, during the 100+ years he spent in the far north, or in the ~300 years he spent fighting with the remnant army before meeting her). We do know that Gong Gong (Hong Jiang) saved XL's life when he was nearly killed by a whirlpool after escaping from the death match arena (incurring the life debt that prompted XL to return to Gong Gong and fight with his army more than 200 years later). So presumably XL did not lose one of his lives in that situation.
Some fans speculate that XL might have sacrificed one of his extra lives to save TSJ's life between chapter 42 and chapter 49 (when XL created a jewel from XY's blood that was used to revive TSJ and might have taken other steps to save his life). They also speculate that he might have sacrificed one of his extra lives when he saved XY's life in chapter 48 (even though the details were quite different from when he saved her life in chapter 22).
In any case, he had somewhere between seven lives and one life remaining when the last battle began. As he told Sir Bi, it didn't matter if he had one extra or one fewer life when it came to facing the Xuan Yuan (Xiyan) army in the last battle. He chose to die on the battlefield with his comrades and continued fighting until he had burned through all of his remaining lives.
The final battle began with the remnant army (including XL) being burned out of the mountains that previously gave them a geographic advantage. They were forced to face 200,000 Xuan Yuan soliders under General Ru Shou's command (with another 200,000 Xuan Yuan soldiers under General Li Yuan's command available to provide support) in direct combat. Days later, the battle ended on an island where the last 1,000 remnant army soldiers (including XL) faced an army of 100,000 Xuan Yuan soldiers. Every single remnant army soldier chose to fight to the death and not a single one surrendered.
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In the drama, XL's true form does lose a head when XL loses one of his extra lives. So we always know exactly when he loses a life and how many lives he has left.
In S1, XL sacrificed one of his lives to save XY's life after her assassination. That is why, when XL's true form is revealed before he breaks the bug connection between himself and XY in S2, his true form only has eight heads instead of nine. That also tells us that XL never lost any of his extra lives at any point before he sacrificed one of his extra lives to save XY in S1 after her assassination.
In S2, in order to break the bug connection before the last battle, XL uses two more of his lives to lure out and kill the bugs. After that, XL's true form has six heads left.
When XL protected TSJ from the sea monsters, his true form had six heads left. And when XL fought in the final battle, his true form also had six heads left. So he did not sacrifice any more lives between breaking the bug connection and fighting in the final battle. In the final battle, he lost his last six remaining lives.
I'm gonna read the novel now.I usually read the novel and THEN the drama comes out, this is one of those rare…
An added benefit of reading the novel (on top of getting to read all the great XY and XL scenes in their unadulterated, original glory) is that there are a few fanfics out there that are intended to help XL fans get closure. And they'll make a lot more sense if you read the novel first, since the drama changed so many things.
Some fans seem to be under the impression that XL sacrificed one of his lives to save TSJ's life in the drama. But I don't think that was the case.
In the novel, TSJ was able to survive the wounds he sustained from TSH thanks to XY's pill, but he was unconscious from the moment he fell into the water after his battle with TSH and he disappeared for 7 years. CX only had his army search for TSJ for a few days. After that, XY was the one who told him to call off the search (with good reason) even though she personally continued to search for several more days. After that, no one searched for TSJ. The implication was that XL or a merperson under his command found TSJ and kept his body safe. Then (after six and a half years) XL used the blood that he obtained from XY to create a jewel and gave that jewel to a merman who used it to revive TSJ at the right time. Some fans even speculated that XL might have sacrificed one of his extra lives to turn the jewel into a life-saving jewel.
In the drama, it seems things were quite different.
I went back to watch the beginning of S2 Ep23 to count the number of heads that XL's true form had left in the last battle. In the drama, two out of the original nine heads disappeared when he sacrificed two lives to kill the Lovers Bugs and broke the bug connection between himself and XY. Another head had previously disappeared when he sacrificed one of his lives to save XY's life in S1. In the last battle, XL's true form still had six heads left. Which means he didn't sacrifice one of his lives to save TSJ's life. If he had done so, his true form would only have five heads left.
And since he used the jewel made from XY's blood on XY, he must not have used it to revive TSJ. And TSJ wasn't unconscious from the moment he fell into the water and as far as I can tell he wasn't missing for 7 whole years. It seems like TSJ was sucked into an undersea cave by a whirlpool while still conscious and had to escape from that cave himself, after taking XY's pill to help replenish his power. He managed to get out, but fell unconscious during or after his escape. XL found him and protected him from sea monsters, but only briefly. Just long enough for Lirong Chang to find TSJ's body. Which was possible because the search for TSJ never stopped.
It's all so watered down compared to what XL did to save TSJ in the novel and ensure that XY would have her "person to rely on"!
And, as one additional gripe from a novel reader about changes related to XL and TSJ, they changed the third figure that XL added to the ice crystal ball (to represent TSJ) so that the new figure is also a merman (like the originaal two figures that represent XY and XL) instead of a humanoid figure!
I made a post about it on the feeds and yeah that ending absolutely sucked. About the reincarnation, they showed…
I think Kaleidoscopic might be referring to the rabbit demon?
In S1 Ep1, WXL helped a rabbit demon (a former patient from her fertility clinic) give birth to a litter of cute little rabbit demons near the stone spirit's story telling circle.
In S2 Ep23, when the stone spirit tells the updated story of Dahuang, we see in the crowd that the same actress is playing a rabbit demon and she has a litter of young rabbit demon children with her (they have fluffy white hair accessories like the rabbit demon's ear's from S1 and they're eating carrots to emphasize what kind of demon they are).
So much time has passed, no one in the crowd listening to the stone spirit's story seems to even remember the events that took place during the drama when there was more than just one kingdom / one royal family (and the rabbit demon says those events took place a long, long time ago). So there is an open question. Is this the same rabbit demon from S1 with a new litter of children? One of her descendants? Or her reincarnation?
XiangLiu performed on her, his final hypnotherapy session, where he sealed or removed her memories of him 🤔,…
Sure, if you want to remind yourself of how it played out in the novel.
And thank you for the "expert" title! ^^
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Chapter 48:
Xiang Liu smiled and appeared not to take offense to what Sir Bi said and asked, “I have one favor to ask of you.”
Sir Bi said, “If I can do it, I will.” A gentleman’s friendship may be light as water, but a gentleman’s promise was as heavy as gold.
“I want to sever the remaining connections between me and Xiao Yao. In a bit, no matter what is happening, please do not interfere and just watch.”
Sir Bi replied swiftly, “I will!”
Xiang Liu waved his hand and Xiao Yao’s precious gorilla beast mirror flew from her arms into his hand. He stared at it for a long time and didn’t make any move.
Sir Bi stood to the side and silently and patiently looked on.
Xiang Liu smiled and explained to Sir Bi, “This is a gorilla mirror that’s saved some ancient stuff from the past. Not even sure if Xiao Yao already deleted it.” He waved his hand and the mirror clouded before clearly showing Xiang Liu’s face.
………………………………..
In a dingy room in Qing Shui Town, Xiang Liu was injured and couldn’t move. Xiao Yao snatched the opportunity to get revenge on Xiang Liu for being mean to her for so long. She used coal briquettes and drew seven eyes on Xiang Liu’s face, and together with his two eyes, it formed nine eyes so she could mock him for being a nine-headed demon.
At that time, Xiao Yao was holding the mirror with one hand so only her other hand was visible. Her voice was totally mocking as she said, “Take a good look, but don’t get mad otherwise you’ll interrupt the healing!”
Xiang Liu opened his eyes looking like he was going to kill her, but Xiao Yao wasn’t scared and instead rubbed the seven eyes while counting until she used her grubby charcoal hands to draw nine heads on Xiang Liu’s face. She cackled, “I still can’t imagine what nine heads look like, when are you going to show me your true form?”
Xiang Liu glared at Xiao Yao and silently mouthed, “I. Am. Going. To. Eat. You.”
Nine Lives Xiang Liu was renowned for being deadly, but with his face all blackened the scariness of his threat lessened immensely.
………………………………..
Xiang Liu watched to this part and then started laughing. From the moment he was born he didn’t have parents, and had to start surviving from that moment forward. He had no childhood or playmates or fun, and after he was an adult his reputation was so bad that no one dared to joke around with him. Xiao Yao was the first person who dared to play tricks on him, but do so without any real ill will or harmful intention.
Xiang Liu stared at his blackened face in the mirror for quite some time in a daze. Then he waved his hand and called forth the next memory.
To remove the bug from Zhuan Xu, he struck a deal with Xiao Yao and took her to Five Gods Mountain where he successfully planted the bug in himself. Afterwards the guards chased them, so he took Xiao Yao deep into the ocean where they explored for a long time.
Xiang Liu stared at the mirror recording of the colorful seashells, various fishes, the underwater fields……Xiang Liu in all white walking while Xiao Yao was right next to him, curiously taking all the sights in.
Whether it was Xiao Yao being so amazed at being under the sea or there were too many things to take in, she secretly recorded the memory without Xiang Liu knowing. She likely did so from behind him so his profile was always in view. Only at the last scene when he turned around to look at her did the mirror record his face directly.
Xiao Yao quickly put the mirror away so the memory ended on that ephemeral image of Xiang Liu turning to look at her.
…………………………..
Xiang Liu still clearly remembered the moment he discovered these saved memories in the gorilla mirror. He was shocked and amazed that Xiao Yao secretly recorded him, and that he wasn’t even aware of it. That proved he was completely relaxed at that time, and Xiao Yao could have had the chance to kill him.
Xiang Liu stared at the mirror for a long time before sighing, taking Xiao Yao to Five Gods Mountain felt like yesterday to him, but was really so long ago! His hand lifted to erase the memories but Sir Bi stopped him looking alarmed, “These are Xiao Yao’s most precious memories, you can’t!” Xiang Liu silently looked at Sir Bi until he remembered the promise he just made and slowly released his hand.
Xiang Liu used his power to rewind the saved memory in the mirror like turning back time. It was like things were going back to the way they were from the very beginning, but there was no way to do so with feelings and memories!
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Chapter 51:
Xiao Yao suddenly remembered something and hurriedly searched herself before taking out the mystical Gorilla Mirror she always kept by her side. Inside the mirror were two memories she saved, and now they were the only things she had left of him.
One memory was in Qing Shui Town when he couldn’t move because he was injured. Wen Xiao Liu captured him and used the chance to get revenge on all the times he was mean to her. Xiao Liu used the coal in the warmer to draw 7 eyes on his face, plus his 2 eyes, that gave him 9 eyes so she could make fun of him as a nine-headed demon.
The other memory was from deep in the ocean. Wen Xiao Liu and Xiang Liu’s reached a deal and Xiang Liu took her to Five Gods Mountain to remove the voodoo bug from Zhuan Xu. After removing the bug, they were chased by the Five Gods Mountain soldiers so they went deeper into the ocean to escape. That was the first time Xiao Yao experienced the beauty of the ocean depths and when Xiang Liu wasn’t paying attention she secretly recorded Xiang Liu as he was carefree and with his guard down.
Xiao Yao took a deep breath and used her power to turn on the mirror. But after swiping repeatedly nothing appeared.
Xiao Yao grew frantic. “It can’t be! It can’t be!…..” She anxiously used her power to look into the mirror. But no matter how many times she looked there were no memories of Xiang Liu.
Even the only thing he left to her was gone!
Xiao Yao could not believe it and she angrily kept trying the mirror. “How could this be? How could this be?……”
Suddenly she remembered, when she was unconscious Xiang Liu discovered the secret of the mirror and ordered her to erase it. When she woke up he never mentioned it again and she thought he forgot, but it turned out that when she wasn’t aware he had completely erased it all!
Xiao Yao stroked the mirror and said through tears. “Xiang Liu, in your eyes, am I really that meaningless? So you won’t even leave me a small memory!”
“Nine Headed Demon, I hate you!” Xiao Yao violently threw the mirror as her tears tumbled down her cheeks.
In Qing Shui Town, she was Wen Xiao Liu, he was Xiang Liu. They were always at odds, but when he got injured he would hide in her room to heal. She didn’t know when she started telling him about her painful past that she had never told anyone before.
In Xuan Yuan Castle, he was the dissolute playboy Fang Feng Bei, he was gentle and considerate, fun loving yet diligently and patiently taught her ten plus years of archery.
When she was asleep under the ocean for thirty seven years, they spent every night together. That was probably when Xiang Liu was the most tender and caring towards her. She was of no use to him to exploit and they have no reason to be on opposite sides of each other. So during that time it was just one person taking the other person through life together in the ocean. One person sometimes saying a few words here and there, the other laying forever in silence.
At her wedding ceremony in Chi Sui, he came to steal the bride from the wedding and made her go with him as payment for the promise she made. He also asked for 37 years of army provisions from Jing. All he gave up was his alter ego identity, but her reputation was thoroughly destroyed.
After that he was the General to Gong Gong’s army and she was Zhuan Xu’s little sister, every time saw each other even their words were like swords slashing at one another.
The last time they saw each other, because of Feng Long’s death, on the very Hu Lu Lake where they once played together she now wanted to kill him and he used Jing’s death to rile her up to get revenge for Jing. That night he nearly took all of her blood just to make a pill for healing. She hated him for being so cold-blooded and vowed never to see him again!
If she knew that it would be the last time they would ever see each other in this life time, she would have said something else. No matter how cold and harsh he was to her, she would never ever have wanted to say what she said to him.
Xiao Yao’s entire face was awash with tears and she lifted her head to stare at the sky.
Xiang Liu, why? Why? Why do you treat me this way? Why won’t you even let me keep one memory of you…..so our hundreds of years together, it was always just a transaction to you?
Xiang Liu died so boldly and left nothing behind, no parting words and even his body dissolved into poison. No one was there to answer Xiao Yao’s plaintive question.
XiangLiu performed on her, his final hypnotherapy session, where he sealed or removed her memories of him 🤔,…
Hmmm. I think XY was the last surviving person who really knew a side of XL that he didn't show to anyone else. But I don't think she was the only surviving person who knew that XL was more than the villain he was made out to be by some.
Lirong Chang knew him and knew that he was both XL and FFB.
Chenrong Yi (Feng Long's father) knew the sacrifice that he and the army had made for the former citizens of Chenrong. He deeply respected XL and felt guilty for it.
CX and the former King of Xiyan realized that XL was FFB and also respected his fight.
Ru Shou respected XL as an honourable adversary.
TSJ was grateful to XL for saving XY's life.
In the novel, Sir Bi was XL's long-time drinking buddy and knew several of the sacrifices that XL made for XY. Lie Yang and the Royal Mother also knew about some of the sacrifices.
In the drama, Ah Nian knows about several of the sacrifices that XL made for XY and the Royal Mother knows about some of them too.
Edit: And in the drama we got confirmation that Chubby did not die in the final battle. After 300 years together, of all the survivors he probably knew XL the best.
XiangLiu performed on her, his final hypnotherapy session, where he sealed or removed her memories of him 🤔,…
If I kept a diary, I'm sure I wouldn't like that. If the erased content was particularly precious, I'd probably be devastated. Just as XY was devastated when she realized that XL had erased the memories of him that she had recorded.
But it's not meant to be something that XY likes or appreciates in the moment. It's meant (along with everything else XL did) to prevent XY from mourning his death too deeply or for too long. So she could have that life of worry-free happiness that XL wished for her.
XiangLiu performed on her, his final hypnotherapy session, where he sealed or removed her memories of him 🤔,…
Adding to what Kokuto said, XL did not erase XY's memories from her own mind in the final episodes.
XL erased the memories of him that she had recorded in her mirror, so she would no longer be able to look at them after he died. The memories that XY had in her own mind (other than her memories of XL asking her his four questions in QS town) remained intact.
Can we talk the Queen Mother?I cannot remember her story, other than she lost someone.
Before she became the Royal Mother of Jade Mountain, she was sworn siblings with the Queen of Xiyan (CX's grandmother), before she became the Queen of Xiyan, and the second to last King of Chenrong, before he became the King of Chenrong. They had years of happiness and freedom together before each of them ended up in the coldest and loneliest positions in palaces ruling over their respective lands.
XY's mother lived with her for 60 years once, long before XY was born, and XY was also her disciple during the 70 years that she lived on Jade Mountain as a child before running away.
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In the drama, XL sacrificed one life to save XY's life in S1. Then he sacrificed two more lives in S2 in order to lure out and kill the Lovers Bugs to break the bug connection between him and XY before the final battle. We see two heads from XL's true form perish when he sacrifices those two lives.
In the final battle in the drama, XL's true form had six out of its original nine heads, with the three missing heads matching up with the three lives he sacrificed for XY. Over the course of the final battle XL lost all of his remaining six lives.
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Gong Gong = Hong Jiang
Xuan Yuan = Xiyan
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The two strolled around the streets before Xiao Yao took Jing to a restaurant and ordered a few Xuan Yuan classic cuisine dishes.
Xiao Yao was quietly eating when seven or eight soldiers walked in and the leader gleefully yelled out, “Shopkeeper, bring the best dishes and wine! Today I’m treating. Anyone here is invited! Waiter, give every table wine to celebrate the Xuan Yuan Army’s great victory today!”
Everyone in the restaurant got excited and started asking questions, learning that it was Great General Ru So who won the battle and a few diners laughed. “Isn’t the Great General Ru So constantly winning battles recently already?”
The lead soldier said, “This is not like any regular great victory! Nine Lives Xiang Liu is dead! You business people likely don’t know how powerful and vicious that Xiang Liu is…”
Coming so out of the blue that she could not brace for it, Xiao Yao felt a piercing dagger stab her chest and her ears were ringing. The pain in her heart exploded and the wine cup in her hand dropped.
Jing worried cried out, “Xiao Yao!”
Xiao Yao murmured, “It can’t be! It’s impossible! He can’t be dead just like this! I didn’t feel anything, I can’t feel anything anymore……” She suddenly remembered that the Lover’s Bug was removed by the Royal Mother so she obviously can’t feel the connection anymore. Xiao Yao’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed backward.
Jing grabbed Xiao Yao. “Let’s go back to Xuan Yuan Mountain first, let Miao Pu take the Grand Emperor’s badge to gather information.”
Xiao Yao was lightheaded and lead-footed, all she kept saying over and over was, “It can’t be.”
Jing ordered Miao Pu and appeared to say something to Xiao Yao but she couldn’t hear anything clearly.
Miao Pu rushed off, and it seemed like it was a short time, but perhaps also a very long time, when she returned.
Xiao Yao immediately asked, “That was a false report, right?”
Miao Pu replied, “General Ying Long said that Xiang Liu died in battle.”
Xiao Yao screamed wildly, “That’s impossible, I don’t believe it!”
Miao Pu was so frightened she didn’t dare say another word.
Jing brought in a bowl of the strongest alcohol and forced Xiao Yao to drink it all. He gently asked, “Do you still want to hear more? If you don’t want to hear any more I can drink with you.”
Xiao Yao held her head and said to Miao Pu, “Keep talking.”
“After the death of the Chi Sui Clan Leader, His Majesty ordered that the Army was to completely exterminate Gong Gong’s army at all costs. Great General Ru So commanded an army of 200,000 soldiers to surround and attack Gong Gong’s army. Under the unrelenting attack of the Xuan Yuan army, Gong Gong’s army retreated deep into the forest and refused to engage. General Ru So started to burn the entire mountain to force Gong Gong’s army to come out and battle and found themselves facing General Ru So’s army and also General Li Yuan’s army of 200,000 soldiers. Gong Gong led his soldiers into the ocean but General Ru So already anticipated Gong Gong would escape towards the ocean. He stationed General Yu Jiang and his water trained soldiers to lay in wait. He was ready to cut down Gong Gong when Xiang Liu somehow energized his nearly dead soldiers to fight to open a route for Gong Gong to escape. But General Ru So and Yu Jiang followed the entire way for days and nights until they caught up to Gong Gong on a remote ocean island. General Ru So had the island surrounded and used many ancient spells and weapons so that even if Gong Gong turned into a tiny fish he couldn’t escape. Yu Jiang insisted on landing on the island with his soldiers to attack and started a fierce battle with Gong Gong….”
Miao Pu’s voice got softer and softer. “One thousand Sheng Nong soldiers against 100,000 thousand Xuan Yuan soldiers, not a single person surrendered and every Sheng Nong soldier died. Yu Jiang is a top fighter among the Gods but he could not defeat the heavily injured Gong Gong. Later General Ru So ordered every single soldier to shoot their arrow at Gong Gong and with thousands of arrows shot at him, Gong Gong finally died. It was after his death that his true form appeared. It was the Nine Lives demon… General Ru So realized then that he was tricked.”
Xiao Yao bent over and her arms wrapped around her head as her shoulders shook uncontrollably. Miao Pu didn’t dare to say more but Jing gently stroked Xiao Yao’s back and said, “Keep talking.”
Miao Pu glanced at Left Ear and saw his emotionless face so she continued. “General Ru So, once he discovered he was tricked, did not fall into a rage. Instead he said happily, “With Xiang Liu’s death, the hardest part of the war is over.” Because Xiang Liu really killed so many of our men, I heard a lot of soldiers wanted to harm and desecrate his body to assuage their anger. But General Ru So whipped the men who rushed forward and ordered everyone to step back. Once everyone left the island, Xiang Liu’s body dissolved into black blood that destroyed every living thing on the island including blades of grass. Even the ground turned black. All the soldiers were frightened and even General Ru So was scared afterwards, if it wasn’t for his respect for this enemy likely everyone would have died alongside him on the island.”
Xiao Yao’s body collapsed on the pallet. If she didn’t believe it earlier, now she believed it. Only Xiang Liu could do something like that.
XY sees XL's true form in chapter 43 and it has all nine heads even after XL sacrificed one of his lives to save her life in chapter 22. So that's how we know that the number of heads that XL's true form has left does not correspond with the number of extra lives that he has left in the novel.
Before the final battle in the novel we only know for sure that XL lost two lives. The first was in chapter 22, when he sacrificed a life to extend XY's life after her assassination. The second was in chapter 48, when he sacrificed an extra life in order to lure out and kill the Lovers Bugs so that he could break the bug connection between himself and XY before he died in the final battle. He had to break the connection to ensure that his death would not cause XY to die too.
We don't know if XL lost any of his extra lives before he met XY (e.g., in the slave death match arena, during the 100+ years he spent in the far north, or in the ~300 years he spent fighting with the remnant army before meeting her). We do know that Gong Gong (Hong Jiang) saved XL's life when he was nearly killed by a whirlpool after escaping from the death match arena (incurring the life debt that prompted XL to return to Gong Gong and fight with his army more than 200 years later). So presumably XL did not lose one of his lives in that situation.
Some fans speculate that XL might have sacrificed one of his extra lives to save TSJ's life between chapter 42 and chapter 49 (when XL created a jewel from XY's blood that was used to revive TSJ and might have taken other steps to save his life). They also speculate that he might have sacrificed one of his extra lives when he saved XY's life in chapter 48 (even though the details were quite different from when he saved her life in chapter 22).
In any case, he had somewhere between seven lives and one life remaining when the last battle began. As he told Sir Bi, it didn't matter if he had one extra or one fewer life when it came to facing the Xuan Yuan (Xiyan) army in the last battle. He chose to die on the battlefield with his comrades and continued fighting until he had burned through all of his remaining lives.
The final battle began with the remnant army (including XL) being burned out of the mountains that previously gave them a geographic advantage. They were forced to face 200,000 Xuan Yuan soliders under General Ru Shou's command (with another 200,000 Xuan Yuan soldiers under General Li Yuan's command available to provide support) in direct combat. Days later, the battle ended on an island where the last 1,000 remnant army soldiers (including XL) faced an army of 100,000 Xuan Yuan soldiers. Every single remnant army soldier chose to fight to the death and not a single one surrendered.
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In the drama, XL's true form does lose a head when XL loses one of his extra lives. So we always know exactly when he loses a life and how many lives he has left.
In S1, XL sacrificed one of his lives to save XY's life after her assassination. That is why, when XL's true form is revealed before he breaks the bug connection between himself and XY in S2, his true form only has eight heads instead of nine. That also tells us that XL never lost any of his extra lives at any point before he sacrificed one of his extra lives to save XY in S1 after her assassination.
In S2, in order to break the bug connection before the last battle, XL uses two more of his lives to lure out and kill the bugs. After that, XL's true form has six heads left.
When XL protected TSJ from the sea monsters, his true form had six heads left. And when XL fought in the final battle, his true form also had six heads left. So he did not sacrifice any more lives between breaking the bug connection and fighting in the final battle. In the final battle, he lost his last six remaining lives.
In the novel, TSJ was able to survive the wounds he sustained from TSH thanks to XY's pill, but he was unconscious from the moment he fell into the water after his battle with TSH and he disappeared for 7 years. CX only had his army search for TSJ for a few days. After that, XY was the one who told him to call off the search (with good reason) even though she personally continued to search for several more days. After that, no one searched for TSJ. The implication was that XL or a merperson under his command found TSJ and kept his body safe. Then (after six and a half years) XL used the blood that he obtained from XY to create a jewel and gave that jewel to a merman who used it to revive TSJ at the right time. Some fans even speculated that XL might have sacrificed one of his extra lives to turn the jewel into a life-saving jewel.
In the drama, it seems things were quite different.
I went back to watch the beginning of S2 Ep23 to count the number of heads that XL's true form had left in the last battle. In the drama, two out of the original nine heads disappeared when he sacrificed two lives to kill the Lovers Bugs and broke the bug connection between himself and XY. Another head had previously disappeared when he sacrificed one of his lives to save XY's life in S1. In the last battle, XL's true form still had six heads left. Which means he didn't sacrifice one of his lives to save TSJ's life. If he had done so, his true form would only have five heads left.
And since he used the jewel made from XY's blood on XY, he must not have used it to revive TSJ. And TSJ wasn't unconscious from the moment he fell into the water and as far as I can tell he wasn't missing for 7 whole years. It seems like TSJ was sucked into an undersea cave by a whirlpool while still conscious and had to escape from that cave himself, after taking XY's pill to help replenish his power. He managed to get out, but fell unconscious during or after his escape. XL found him and protected him from sea monsters, but only briefly. Just long enough for Lirong Chang to find TSJ's body. Which was possible because the search for TSJ never stopped.
It's all so watered down compared to what XL did to save TSJ in the novel and ensure that XY would have her "person to rely on"!
And, as one additional gripe from a novel reader about changes related to XL and TSJ, they changed the third figure that XL added to the ice crystal ball (to represent TSJ) so that the new figure is also a merman (like the originaal two figures that represent XY and XL) instead of a humanoid figure!
In S1 Ep1, WXL helped a rabbit demon (a former patient from her fertility clinic) give birth to a litter of cute little rabbit demons near the stone spirit's story telling circle.
In S2 Ep23, when the stone spirit tells the updated story of Dahuang, we see in the crowd that the same actress is playing a rabbit demon and she has a litter of young rabbit demon children with her (they have fluffy white hair accessories like the rabbit demon's ear's from S1 and they're eating carrots to emphasize what kind of demon they are).
So much time has passed, no one in the crowd listening to the stone spirit's story seems to even remember the events that took place during the drama when there was more than just one kingdom / one royal family (and the rabbit demon says those events took place a long, long time ago). So there is an open question. Is this the same rabbit demon from S1 with a new litter of children? One of her descendants? Or her reincarnation?
And thank you for the "expert" title! ^^
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Chapter 48:
Xiang Liu smiled and appeared not to take offense to what Sir Bi said and asked, “I have one favor to ask of you.”
Sir Bi said, “If I can do it, I will.” A gentleman’s friendship may be light as water, but a gentleman’s promise was as heavy as gold.
“I want to sever the remaining connections between me and Xiao Yao. In a bit, no matter what is happening, please do not interfere and just watch.”
Sir Bi replied swiftly, “I will!”
Xiang Liu waved his hand and Xiao Yao’s precious gorilla beast mirror flew from her arms into his hand. He stared at it for a long time and didn’t make any move.
Sir Bi stood to the side and silently and patiently looked on.
Xiang Liu smiled and explained to Sir Bi, “This is a gorilla mirror that’s saved some ancient stuff from the past. Not even sure if Xiao Yao already deleted it.” He waved his hand and the mirror clouded before clearly showing Xiang Liu’s face.
………………………………..
In a dingy room in Qing Shui Town, Xiang Liu was injured and couldn’t move. Xiao Yao snatched the opportunity to get revenge on Xiang Liu for being mean to her for so long. She used coal briquettes and drew seven eyes on Xiang Liu’s face, and together with his two eyes, it formed nine eyes so she could mock him for being a nine-headed demon.
At that time, Xiao Yao was holding the mirror with one hand so only her other hand was visible. Her voice was totally mocking as she said, “Take a good look, but don’t get mad otherwise you’ll interrupt the healing!”
Xiang Liu opened his eyes looking like he was going to kill her, but Xiao Yao wasn’t scared and instead rubbed the seven eyes while counting until she used her grubby charcoal hands to draw nine heads on Xiang Liu’s face. She cackled, “I still can’t imagine what nine heads look like, when are you going to show me your true form?”
Xiang Liu glared at Xiao Yao and silently mouthed, “I. Am. Going. To. Eat. You.”
Nine Lives Xiang Liu was renowned for being deadly, but with his face all blackened the scariness of his threat lessened immensely.
………………………………..
Xiang Liu watched to this part and then started laughing. From the moment he was born he didn’t have parents, and had to start surviving from that moment forward. He had no childhood or playmates or fun, and after he was an adult his reputation was so bad that no one dared to joke around with him. Xiao Yao was the first person who dared to play tricks on him, but do so without any real ill will or harmful intention.
Xiang Liu stared at his blackened face in the mirror for quite some time in a daze. Then he waved his hand and called forth the next memory.
To remove the bug from Zhuan Xu, he struck a deal with Xiao Yao and took her to Five Gods Mountain where he successfully planted the bug in himself. Afterwards the guards chased them, so he took Xiao Yao deep into the ocean where they explored for a long time.
Xiang Liu stared at the mirror recording of the colorful seashells, various fishes, the underwater fields……Xiang Liu in all white walking while Xiao Yao was right next to him, curiously taking all the sights in.
Whether it was Xiao Yao being so amazed at being under the sea or there were too many things to take in, she secretly recorded the memory without Xiang Liu knowing. She likely did so from behind him so his profile was always in view. Only at the last scene when he turned around to look at her did the mirror record his face directly.
Xiao Yao quickly put the mirror away so the memory ended on that ephemeral image of Xiang Liu turning to look at her.
…………………………..
Xiang Liu still clearly remembered the moment he discovered these saved memories in the gorilla mirror. He was shocked and amazed that Xiao Yao secretly recorded him, and that he wasn’t even aware of it. That proved he was completely relaxed at that time, and Xiao Yao could have had the chance to kill him.
Xiang Liu stared at the mirror for a long time before sighing, taking Xiao Yao to Five Gods Mountain felt like yesterday to him, but was really so long ago! His hand lifted to erase the memories but Sir Bi stopped him looking alarmed, “These are Xiao Yao’s most precious memories, you can’t!”
Xiang Liu silently looked at Sir Bi until he remembered the promise he just made and slowly released his hand.
Xiang Liu used his power to rewind the saved memory in the mirror like turning back time. It was like things were going back to the way they were from the very beginning, but there was no way to do so with feelings and memories!
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Chapter 51:
Xiao Yao suddenly remembered something and hurriedly searched herself before taking out the mystical Gorilla Mirror she always kept by her side. Inside the mirror were two memories she saved, and now they were the only things she had left of him.
One memory was in Qing Shui Town when he couldn’t move because he was injured. Wen Xiao Liu captured him and used the chance to get revenge on all the times he was mean to her. Xiao Liu used the coal in the warmer to draw 7 eyes on his face, plus his 2 eyes, that gave him 9 eyes so she could make fun of him as a nine-headed demon.
The other memory was from deep in the ocean. Wen Xiao Liu and Xiang Liu’s reached a deal and Xiang Liu took her to Five Gods Mountain to remove the voodoo bug from Zhuan Xu. After removing the bug, they were chased by the Five Gods Mountain soldiers so they went deeper into the ocean to escape. That was the first time Xiao Yao experienced the beauty of the ocean depths and when Xiang Liu wasn’t paying attention she secretly recorded Xiang Liu as he was carefree and with his guard down.
Xiao Yao took a deep breath and used her power to turn on the mirror. But after swiping repeatedly nothing appeared.
Xiao Yao grew frantic. “It can’t be! It can’t be!…..” She anxiously used her power to look into the mirror. But no matter how many times she looked there were no memories of Xiang Liu.
Even the only thing he left to her was gone!
Xiao Yao could not believe it and she angrily kept trying the mirror. “How could this be? How could this be?……”
Suddenly she remembered, when she was unconscious Xiang Liu discovered the secret of the mirror and ordered her to erase it. When she woke up he never mentioned it again and she thought he forgot, but it turned out that when she wasn’t aware he had completely erased it all!
Xiao Yao stroked the mirror and said through tears. “Xiang Liu, in your eyes, am I really that meaningless? So you won’t even leave me a small memory!”
“Nine Headed Demon, I hate you!” Xiao Yao violently threw the mirror as her tears tumbled down her cheeks.
In Qing Shui Town, she was Wen Xiao Liu, he was Xiang Liu. They were always at odds, but when he got injured he would hide in her room to heal. She didn’t know when she started telling him about her painful past that she had never told anyone before.
In Xuan Yuan Castle, he was the dissolute playboy Fang Feng Bei, he was gentle and considerate, fun loving yet diligently and patiently taught her ten plus years of archery.
When she was asleep under the ocean for thirty seven years, they spent every night together. That was probably when Xiang Liu was the most tender and caring towards her. She was of no use to him to exploit and they have no reason to be on opposite sides of each other. So during that time it was just one person taking the other person through life together in the ocean. One person sometimes saying a few words here and there, the other laying forever in silence.
At her wedding ceremony in Chi Sui, he came to steal the bride from the wedding and made her go with him as payment for the promise she made. He also asked for 37 years of army provisions from Jing. All he gave up was his alter ego identity, but her reputation was thoroughly destroyed.
After that he was the General to Gong Gong’s army and she was Zhuan Xu’s little sister, every time saw each other even their words were like swords slashing at one another.
The last time they saw each other, because of Feng Long’s death, on the very Hu Lu Lake where they once played together she now wanted to kill him and he used Jing’s death to rile her up to get revenge for Jing. That night he nearly took all of her blood just to make a pill for healing. She hated him for being so cold-blooded and vowed never to see him again!
If she knew that it would be the last time they would ever see each other in this life time, she would have said something else. No matter how cold and harsh he was to her, she would never ever have wanted to say what she said to him.
Xiao Yao’s entire face was awash with tears and she lifted her head to stare at the sky.
Xiang Liu, why? Why? Why do you treat me this way? Why won’t you even let me keep one memory of you…..so our hundreds of years together, it was always just a transaction to you?
Xiang Liu died so boldly and left nothing behind, no parting words and even his body dissolved into poison. No one was there to answer Xiao Yao’s plaintive question.
Lirong Chang knew him and knew that he was both XL and FFB.
Chenrong Yi (Feng Long's father) knew the sacrifice that he and the army had made for the former citizens of Chenrong. He deeply respected XL and felt guilty for it.
CX and the former King of Xiyan realized that XL was FFB and also respected his fight.
Ru Shou respected XL as an honourable adversary.
TSJ was grateful to XL for saving XY's life.
In the novel, Sir Bi was XL's long-time drinking buddy and knew several of the sacrifices that XL made for XY. Lie Yang and the Royal Mother also knew about some of the sacrifices.
In the drama, Ah Nian knows about several of the sacrifices that XL made for XY and the Royal Mother knows about some of them too.
Edit: And in the drama we got confirmation that Chubby did not die in the final battle. After 300 years together, of all the survivors he probably knew XL the best.
But it's not meant to be something that XY likes or appreciates in the moment. It's meant (along with everything else XL did) to prevent XY from mourning his death too deeply or for too long. So she could have that life of worry-free happiness that XL wished for her.
XL erased the memories of him that she had recorded in her mirror, so she would no longer be able to look at them after he died. The memories that XY had in her own mind (other than her memories of XL asking her his four questions in QS town) remained intact.
XY's mother lived with her for 60 years once, long before XY was born, and XY was also her disciple during the 70 years that she lived on Jade Mountain as a child before running away.