Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 blabla100:

The only thing a confession would have change would have been XY's ending, IMO. 

 blabla100:

I believe the ending would have been the same for XL.  I mean,  I don't see XL running away with XY în the end even if XY went begging him to do it. However, I believe XY's ending would have been different, that's why XL went to great lenghts to keep his feelings hidden from her IMO. 

 ZYHLJ:

But what if XY let him know that she'd rather have it once than never? I think a woman who is mature and strong enough would think that. Eventually she would look back on him with pain and more happiness and realize that she doesn't regret it. But if she misses him, I don't think she'll ever find another person in her life that she loves so much.

There is one thing that I agree with you is XL would protect Shen-nong army (his comrades and adorptive father) until their end. However, with his power, he was easily to survise them. As in the novel said he was the last one from Shen-nong army standing at the end. All of others were killed. How many lives did he still have by that point? One or more ? 

So, if he had a love one waiting for his return, he would have motivation to escape (which according to XY, he was capable of doing it if he wanted) or XY would try to help him to resurrect or rescue him at the very last minute etc. 

Living with memory of ceased comrades is not easy. As we can see there are a lot of war veterans suffered from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Their normal life will influence the recovery and their future. If the veteran is surrounded by love from partner, children, famility and friends, he/she would have motivation and better chance to have normal life after duty time

 solarlunareclipse:

After XL died, XY would follow him in death. It wouldn't matter if XL made her promise to go on living without him. She promised XL in Chapter 43 to stay alive even if TSJ is really dead, but she reneged on her promise by committing suicide to get back at CX for orchestrating TSJ's disappearance.

I think in one of the Fantic that we share here in which XY got known about what XY did for her. She divorced TSJ and return to Jade Mountain to clarify some info then manage to go back to the past at the point of the wedding with FL. 

In that fantic althought XL promised to spare 1 life for her but he failed to deliver it. She rescued/resurrected him. 

Since he had 9 lives, he could still die on the battle field as other members of Shen Nong Army but could escape and disappear. 

Moreover, it was not clear about the fate of Gong Gong in LYF. In the myths, Gong Gong died by heading to a mountain. The conversation of Xuan Yuan soldiers in the restaurant implied that Gong Gong was still alive. Thus, XL could have tried to escape and followed GG if he had really thought of his adorptive father. It seems to me he had no motivation to continue living with potential haunting by the death of his comrades and no love ones. 

 liddi:

千方相 Thousands of Directions   (Lost You Forever prequel) excerpt

Hou Tu* looked down at everyone and said with a smile, "The only ones in the Central Plains able to mobilise so many highly trained soldiers all at once to hunt me down, can only be Gong Gong's rebel army. However, Gong Gong's character is very upright and unyielding. If he came to Zhi Yi City, he would not stay in the background and have Xing Tian lead the attack. I believe the person leading the troops this time must be military advisor Xiang Liu."

"Lord Hou Tu is able to predict matters with great accuracy. It is indeed I who have led my troops to take your life." A man wearing a black cloak came out. He removed the cloak and black hair cascaded down his back, neither tied nor drawn up, save for a white forehead band. His robes were as white as snow, untouched by even a speck of dust and his features were delicately beautiful except for his very strange eyes which glowed red, making people fear to look longer at him.

With a clear shout, he vaulted on to a large condor and flew up. Golden feathers on top of the large condor's head stood up like a golden crown. The feathers all over its body were black** except for a pair of white wings.

Xiang Liu smiled and said, "I have long heard of the bravery of the black-winged snake. Today, I can see that it is not an exaggeration indeed. My white-winged golden condor usually feeds on venomous snakes, and is very adept in catching snakes."

Hou Tu smiled, "Military advisor, you sent Xing Tian to deal with me. Whom did you send to deal with Little Zhu Rong?"

Xiang Liu's eyes flashed with red light. "You need not worry. I dispatched fourteen people to meet up with Little Zhu Rong. After I have taken your head, I will bring it along with Little Zhu Rong's head to Xun Mountain to be offered up as a sacrifice to Zhu Rong."

While everyone's attention was on Hou Tu, Jiang Li*** made her escape.

The loud cry of the golden condor reverberated from the sky. It was said that Xiang Liu was a demon with nine heads and great spiritual power, was cunning and vicious. Jiang Li's heart trembled at the thought that the golden condor was the natural enemy of snakes. However, she did not look back, but crawled even faster. The faster she could escape, the greater the help it would be for Hou Tu.

Upon entering the thick forest, the sounds grew more distant. From time to time, lights of different colours flashed across the sky, illuminating the forest every now and again...

(At this time, Xin Yue and Feng Long were not yet born. Their father was being methodically hunted down by Xiang Liu, and very nearly lost his life. Zhuan Xu was unsure whether to advance or retreat, while Xiao Yao had just run away from Jade Mountain, and Jing had just started to learn how to manoeuvre between different conflicting powers... several hundred years later, everyone finally came together in Little Zhu Rong's manor...

In addition, Xiang Liu's appearance in this scene is fake, so its description is different from in Lost You Forever.)



* In Once Promised, Hou Tu, once a Shen Nong general, was the first to surrender to the Yellow Emperor. Out of the four great generals of Shen Nong, Zhu Rong (Yan Zhuan) burnt the mountain and died for his country; Chi You (Chi Chen) died in the great battle; Hou Tu (Luo Jia) led his armies and surrendered to Xuan Yuan; while Gong Gong (Hong Jiang) continued to resist to the end.  

** Furball was described as having black feathers all over, except for its wings which were white, and golden feathers on its head. This is different from Lost You Forever, which described it as a white condor. Unless even Furball's appearance is fake, just like Xiang Liu's.

*** 江篱 Jiang Li appears to be a new character in the story

Thank you so much for translating this liddi! There are a few details here that I think I will be incorporating into the LYF/Healer mashup story that is still bouncing around my brain. ^^

I didn't realize Feng Long and Xing Yue were at least 80 years younger than XY, CX and TSJ. Since TSJ is older than XY and TSJ and Feng Long were childhood friends I would've thought that TSJ and Feng Long would be pretty close in age. But maybe ~100 years isn't that much of an age difference for deity kids? Which makes me think... do we know the age difference between CX and XY?

I also didn't realize Hou Tu was a demon - a black-winged snake demon at that! Physically he sounds like a mix of Xiang Liu (snake demon) and Sir Bi (a fox demon with black wings). 

I did a search to get some ideas for what Hou Tu's true form as a black-winged snake demon could look like, because the logistics of a snake with wings but no legs seemed challenging. I feel like it could possibly look like a Nozuki, but with different colouring. 

@liddi

Thank you, liddi, for posting this. Seems that TH really planned a long series, a prequel and a sequel to lyf? Knowing this, the idea of having FFB revived în the next book doesn't seem that far fetched. For sure she had thought of something more than just having Jing and XY going on with their lifes.  We would had probably gotten some closure, same way once promised's fans got theirs în lyf. 

 blabla100:

Thank you, liddi, for posting this. Seems that TH really planned a long series, a prequel and a sequel to lyf? Knowing this, the idea of having FFB revived în the next book doesn't seem that far fetched. For sure she had thought of something more than just having Jing and XY going on with their lifes.  We would had probably gotten some closure, same way once promised's fans got theirs în lyf. 

You're welcome. Yes, it would appear Tong Hua intended for a far more involved narrative spanning 4 novels, which I still hope that she would decide to revisit one day. 

Were you referring to the rumoured 2nd epilogue about Fangfeng Bei, which we are all meant to take with massive ladles of salt? Certainly, the Guifang clan would be versed in the arts of bringing a person back to life, since they were clearly also in possession of soul-restoring herb plants which they gave Cang Xuan as a wedding gift. However, I can't see how Fangfeng Bei could be revived when he gave all his spiritual blood and spiritual power to Xiang Liu, unless a part of his soul still existed somewhere within Xiang Liu's demon core, since he was already a part of him. However, the rumours said that Xiao Yao did not recognise the awakened Fangfeng Bei when she met him, and he did not know her either because the Guifang clan sealed Xiang Liu's memories. Would we have closure with such an ending? Or would it make it all the more heartbreaking, because he had returned but they no longer knew each other, which meant she continued to miss him, bereft of hope of ever seeing him again. 

It reminds me of the drama ending of Scarlet Heart, which just brings the story to a whole new level of devastation because Ruo Xi, who wanted to forget everything when she died, came back to the present and realised she still had all her memories. And when she met what appears to be the reincarnated 4th Prince, he no longer remembered nor recognised her though she knew him. At least the novel just stopped when she died in the past, with no return to the present, which I think is far kinder.

Someone brought up an interesting point which I thought really made sense. In the novel, Xiao Yao told Jing she wanted to leave to the ocean, and find a beautiful island to call home. However, who would be willing to bet that in the end, she would end up going to a barren island where nothing lived and grew. I believe it would have happened.

 HeadInTheClouds:

Ok, so this is courtesy of nathsketh's who gave me help on how to tame Grumpy Pants' hair. 

Thank you so much to you and @nathsketch for the tutorial! Just in time to drag Xiang Liu back from the brink of utter shame. Will show my girl the steps and hope I get to share pictures of her Xiang Liu looking grumpy, elegant and dignified at the same time at last! 

 HeadInTheClouds:

And what on earth is my life coming to that I'm posting a tutorial on how to do my doll hair? :-)

It's all for a good cause, which will bring you bountiful good karma! My daughter and I thank you!

@solarlunareclipse

Xiang Liu must know what she is afraid of, he has always been able to see through her. Besides, do you think he never thought about why Xiao Yao insisted on marrying a man like Jing?

@liddi

"Were you referring to the rumoured 2nd epilogue about Fangfeng Bei, which we are all meant to take with massive ladles of salt?"

Yes, I am not saying that epilogue really existed, but I personally am not 100% sure that's bs either, especially because TH had a sequel planned too. I mean, I could see Guifang clan, a clan who specifically had the power to bring people back to life being added to the story with a purpose. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking from my part, who knows. But if that part about FFB being brought back to life was supposed to be in the second epilogue of LYF, it's not that far fetched to believe that the sequel was meant to start from that, maybe going as having him recollect the past or having XY finding out that he's XL, who knows, these are just assumptions. I haven't seen Scarlet heart 2 and I am not sure if TH herself wrote the script for it, but I believe that's the route they took for that sequel. Also, unlike Ruxi and XL to a degree, XY did say that given the choice, she would rather remember than forget. 

Again, very far fetched, but I could see a part of his core still existing în XY's blood, since FFB was part of XL and XL also gave spiritual blood and power to her too. Ofc, that goes against the theory of XY not being able to recognize him, but again, these are just assumptions and only TH knows what she had in mind for the sequel, but my guess is that she would have went for the FFB route, and not XL route, because XL belonged and went down with the army already.