peng-peng:
"Zhuan Xu held her hand: "I'm fine. Fenglong helped me block the first arrow. The second arrow hit a secret guard. The blood on my body is Fenglong's.""
If the arrow was meant for FLg , ZX would not be saying this. " helped me block.....
Fenglong used his own body "to block" the 1rst arrow.
The arrow was meant for ZX.
That does indeed suggest that CX was the intended target.
And yet if XL wanted to make everyone (or even just XY) think that he was targeting CX when he really only intended to kill Feng Long, and he had control of when he appeared and when he took his shots, and he had the ability to shoot arrows with unique trajectories, isn't it possible that he appeared, waited for the exact right timing when Feng Long was already moving to cover CX, and then shot his first arrow? And that if he wanted to hit CX he could have directed his first arrow to follow a unique trajectory so that it would still graze CX (as the poison was strong enough that only a graze was needed) despite Feng Long moving to try to block him? Or the same for his second arrow?
I'm not saying I think that this interpretation is more likely or compelling than the other. I'm just saying that it still seems like there is enough there to make this interpretation possible. And with Tong Hua that always makes me pause.
FTCU:
Xl DID intend to kill ZX from the start, even before XY figured it was her cousin whom she’s been looking for, for centuries. Didn’t xl use her to bring ZX out,then she realized ZX was her cousin in which she blocked the fatal blow which could’ve killed him by the way.
Yes, I agree. In chapter 5 XL tried to kill CX directly and in chapter 7 he worked with FFYY to try and kill CX again.
Although in both cases he did not yet know XY's true identity or the nature of her relationship with CX and CX's death would have had different political implications.
FTCU:
Also later in the novel, if FL was the intended target,xl is an assassin for hire no? He had many opportunities to kill him
If he killed Feng Long at a different time when CX and XY were not present, it would not have acheived all of the necessary things that XL needed to happen, and did successfully make happen, with XY in chapter 46.
FTCU:
FL took the arrow intended for ZX because he felt compelled to save him & also to atone for his sins(him going along with his sister’s plan to kill XY).
Yes, I agree that Feng Long had several reasons to protect CX in this situation.
Loyalty as his friend, brother-in-law, and Emperor. Atoning for helping Xing Yue try to kill XY. Trying to win merits so that he could beg CX to spare Xing Yue and treat her well.
FTCU:
Even in the plum assassination arc, if Jing hadn’t used his powers to keep her body from burning,will ZX or XL have a body to save? They’d have met her ashes,he took in the burn while he preserved her body.
I agree that TSJ often gets too little credit from some fans for the role he played in saving XY's life after her assisination in chapter 21. IMO, TSJ, CX (and his people), and XL each played a vital role in saving her. If any of the three had not done what they did, she would have died.