AH

I think it was episode 15?

There used to be three kingdoms. One of the three kingdoms (Xuan Yuan) defeated one of the others (Sheng Nong) in war so that it's territory became part of Xuan Yuan. But Gong Gong (he has a different name in the drama - he's XL's adoptive father), one of the generals of Sheng Nong, refused to accept defeat. His army is camped out in no-man's land and keeps fighting even though there isn't really anything left to fight for. The Emperor of Xuan Yuan sent his eldest grandson (ZX, the boy from the first episode) to the third kingdom (Gao Xing in the novel, and I think it's Haoling in the drama) as a hostage to prove his promise to not invade that kingdom. XY (the FL) is the eldest princess of Gao Xing / Haoling. She is also the granddaughter of the Emperor of Xuan Yuan through her mother. ZX and XY are cousins (but refer to each other as brother and sister).

XY was sent to Jade Mountain because she was in danger (the reason why is a very big spoiler so I'm leaving it out). After 70 years of waiting for someone to bring her home, XY escaped on her own. When XY escaped Jade Mountain, she happened to hear rumours about her mother and father that made XY believe that her father didn't want her and had abandoned her. So she ran away to the place where her mother died. She was hunted, which caused her to discover her transformation abilities. But her transformation abilities were difficult to control and ended up alienating her from regular people - forcing her to hide in the mountains for 20 years instead until she was captured by the 8-tailed fox for 30 years. After XY escaped, she wandered as WQL until she arrived in QS town. She liked it, so she chose to settle down there.

It's a very useful linguistic ambiguity for dramas with cross-dressing and gender-swapping ^^

TSJ concluded that XY was a woman before he was fully healed.

Verbally, the word for "he/him" and "she/her" in Mandarin are the same. "Ta" in both cases. It's just the written form that differs. It's a bit like "fiancé" and "fiancée" in English and French. When Jing says "ta" out loud, it's ambiguous. The subtitler has to decide how to write it (as "he/him" or "she/her") if they don't have a copy of the script.

In the novel, the masculine written form (he/him) is used when TSJ speaks about XY, when XY thinks about herself, and by the narrator whenever referring to WXL until XY regains a female form.

Thanks for the link!

A manga in addition to the novel and drama? This feels like a repeat of the snowballing multi-media obsession I went through with the Untamed ^^"

One year to wait now. I don't want to think about how many re-reads and re-watches there will be from now until then. I can't believe I only discovered this story 11 days ago.

Edit: Okay, the summer airing date maybe isn't from a trusted source? I'll stay tuned.

I definitely think it's worth it to read the novel.

The drama gives us more XL scenes (e.g., showing XL feeling it when XY's leg is broken and when her hands are beaten, watching TSJ carry XY out of the ocean, the infamous walk alone in episode 34) but the novel has way more physical intimacy between XL and XY.

I felt like the drama sent really mixed signals in that scene. I agree they didn't make it seem like XL was unsure about whether XY was a woman or not (especially given his voice over in episode 4), but then what is he reacting to when he stops biting her if not a suspicion or realization that she's a woman?

If it's the fact that she seems like she's about to fall unconscious (so *not* erotic!), then why on earth does he hold her shoulders and look intensely into her half-awake eyes, look down at her chest, hold her chin, and trace his finger down her neck to her chest like that? It's such an odd transition.

Since the bite and blood sucking part isn't erotic, the finger tracing after just feels very weird and out of place. Like what's going through his head?

I'm stopping myself from writing paragraphs and paragraphs of spoilers here, but I don't think XY ever *really* hates XL at any point in the whole novel. I'll leave it at that.

To your question, there are two points in the novel where XY lays on top of XL for a while: once when they are floating in a lake and once on a beach. They didn't show the first instance in the drama, and I will be very surprised if they show the second instance. If they do, it will be in part 2.

There are also scenes coming up in episodes you haven't seen yet that they changed in the drama. In the novel, XL embraces XY and is physically close to her in those scenes, technically on a bed. And in the drama they handle it differently.

ZX when he feels XL bite XY through the poisonous bug connection:

"Xuan was laying on the pallet and suddenly bolted upright and touched his neck. Xiao Liu was still alive!

In the beginning there was a sharp pain like teeth biting through the flesh. But gradually, the pain transformed into something odd. In the pain there was a sensation of numbness, a shivering feeling of bliss, as if someone was sucking, and licking, and lightly kissing.

Xuan felt his mouth turn dry and was suddenly very angry. With such severe injuries, was that guy crazy or what the heck was he doing?"


And then the scene switches back to XY and XL:

“Xiang Liu raised his head and stared at Xiao Liu, blood staining his lips, his eyes darkened, his breath slightly labored. Xiao Liu was initially sitting sprawled like a man but suddenly he slid down and unconsciously wanted to cover his chest, but he immediately stopped himself and continued to sit sprawled open.

Xiang Liu’s hand moved down from his neck, tracing his jawline, down his clavicle…”


And later, when XY talks with ZX:

“Xuan got up and left, and when he arrived at the door, he suddenly turned around “When you have time, you can come drink with me at the shop.” Xiao Liu smiled “Sure.” Xuan raised his eyebrow and smirked “And when you’re hurt, you might want to restrain your urges!” ”

Way more so in the novel. They really changed it in the drama.

That confusing scene when XY is in the healing pool (after she realizes ZX's identity and saves his life) where XL bites her and then they have that conversation about XY being a woman vs a man? In the novel XL definitely isn't questioning if she's a woman. He already concluded that she was a woman when they first met. When XY insists that she's a man, XL smiles and asks if she's a man, how did she lure out the Jiu Jiu (Fei Fei in the drama)?

So what was actually going on there? All signs indicated that XL was turned on. And based on ZX's reaction to what he was feeling through the poisonous bug connection, he really thought XY was also enjoying some horizontal fun time.

And most of the bite scenes have descriptions of XL's lips on XY's neck, and make a point of specifying that, after the first moment of the bite, XY is feeling blissful sucking and kissing sensations, not pain.

I mean this sincerely and not as a diss - prepare your heart for disappointment. Everything I've seen so far suggests that the drama is going to follow at least the general outline of the novel ending. Better to be prepared now so you can hopefully appreciate some parts of the ending when it airs.

XL is my favourite character and I have (mostly) come to peace with his ending. It's heartbreaking, but very well written and fairly satisfying in its own bittersweet way.

FFB shows up right in the middle of the ceremony and very publicly asks XY to come with him. Because he invokes her promise, she has to go with him. FL's guards try to stop them, but the humiliation for FL is already bad enough without causing even more of a scene. If XY is willing to walk away from their wedding, FL is not going to try to stop her and look even more pathetic. So he orders his guards to let her go (and plots to kill her later....).

Visually, DFC and XL are perfect opposites, like Yin and Yang. Black and white. Blue and red. Fire and ice. But in other aspects they are pretty similar. https://youtube.com/shorts/JW4oAw-Llzo?feature=share. I wish this also included DFC's full-moon appreciation scene!

The novel never specifies how many lives XL has left at any given time. We don't know if he lost any lives when he was a slave in the death match arena, if he lost any lives when he wandered in the North before joining Gong Gong, or if he lost any lives on the battlefield before the drama begins. He's over 600 years old and not exactly the type to worry about health and safety, so there's a good chance he probably lost at least one at some point.

He uses one life to bring XY back from the dead in chapter 22 of the novel, which is referenced in both chapter 22 and chapter 26 of the novel. That's the revival you're referring to that's been shown in the drama.

He also definitely uses up at least one more life later in the story (something related to the poisonous bugs that hasn't been shown yet). That's confirmed in the novel.

He might also use one or two more lives to help bring two people back from the dead, but that's not confirmed in the novel. It's only speculated because XL had to use a life when he revived XY in the scene you mentioned.

So by the final battle he has definitely used up at least two lives for things that are covered in the novel. And might have used up two more on things that are covered in the novel.

And in his final battle, given the circumstances (XL starts out heavily injured with no means to heal himself, faces insane odds, and doesn't want to survive the battle) XL might lose several lives in short succession.

TSJ knows that XY doesn't care about his injuries at all, and at that point in the drama he had the means to greatly reduce the appearance of his old injuries if he wanted to. But he chooses not too. His injuries used to make him feel inferior, but I don't think that's what he's thinking about in this scene.

He says FFB would be better for her than him because of all his complicated family matters that keep getting in the way of him being able to be with XY openly the way she wants and deserves. The engagement he can't escape, the torture-happy brother he always has to watch his back for, the clan that won't allow him to marry someone with XY's position (as Kali_01 said, they refuse to be seen as "taking sides")... Although FFB is a concubine-born second son from a lesser clan with no money or connections, he doesn't have the constraints that TSJ has. And after 10 years he proved to be very good at keeping XY company and enjoying a care-free lifestyle with her.

I wouldn't say "mad". She attributes the heartache to XL (thinking that he is causing it, which he might be) and wants him to stop.

The poisonous bugs themselves never give heartache, so there is nothing that would "trigger" them to do so. They only provide a connection between XY and XL, so that's one's heartache (among other things) can be felt by the other. And XL can control that connection, so that XY won't feel things through it unless he wants her to (or he momentarily loses control of the connection).

When XY's heart hurts when she looks at TSJ after they separate, she blames XL. But she can't know for sure that XL is causing her heartache in that moment. XY's feelings for TSJ are strong enough to cause her to fall ill, which definitely has nothing to do with the poisonous bug connection, so her feelings could certainly cause her intense heartache - with no need for XL to interfere. It's possible she's wrongly blaming XL in that moment.

If she's right, and XL did intentionally cause her heartache through the connection in that moment, it seemed like the heartache was inflicted to create a romantic moment between XY and TSJ. XL spends much of the rest of the story working to ensure that XY ends up with TSJ (not because XL doesn't love XY - but because he loves her selflessly, and wants her to be with someone like TSJ).

In episode 34, it's not just the heartache scene that gives TSJ an opportunity to treat and be close to XY. XL takes XY to the death matches with the intent of inspiring XY to continue believing in the possibility of a happy ending with TSJ, despite his current circumstances. At the end of their evening together, he scares XY - making her back up and making TSJ move to protect her. XL's efforts are a success - XY ends the night with TSJ, inspired to keep believing in the possibility of their future.

Jing telling XL/FFB that XY is getting married and XL being surprised is a worrying change from the novel.

In the novel, XL knew about the engagement for a long time and wasn't surprised by it (or at least, he wasn't in front of XY), but when they got engaged XY and Feng Long didn't discuss a wedding date. So it didn't feel all that final.

When they finally do discuss setting a wedding date years later, XY takes a piece of poisonous ice essence and carves it into an ice crystal ball with a beautiful scene inside, depicting a mermaid reaching her hand out to a merman who is stoically looking out of the ball. It takes four years to seal it. She ends up sending the ice crystal ball (wrapped in a demon bear pelt) and a letter to XL to tell him that her wedding will take place in two months.

There is another scene where XL overhears people gossiping about XY's upcoming wedding in a brothel. XL leaves and walks out into the misting rain to a riverbank, and stares at the river for a long time before looking down at the ice crystal ball in his hand. He takes a finger and touches it to the mermaid's outstretched hand. But the crystal separates them - they are from two separate worlds, and can never truly be together.

I don't see how they can keep the original parts from the novel and also have Jing be the person who first tells XL about XY's marriage. And the ice crystal ball is important. It features in the epilogue.