Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

Jing went to feel for her pulse but felt nothing.

 AH :

He put his hand on her back and continued to push spiritual power into her. “Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao……”

...

No matter how much power he transferred to her, her pulse never started again.

Actually I was confused about the origin of the power that XY felt. It sounds reasonable to attribute that power as Jing's power which @AH painted in green. However, when Jing came, he checked. Her pulse had stopped, meanning the heart had "stopped" beating. 

 AH :

She really had no strength left, so that even the weak sole flame that was keeping her heart beating was too much to sustain. Even with another heart guiding her heart, still the heartbeat grew weaker.

Suddenly power coursed through her, unending streams of power that allowed the weak heartbeat to continue beating.

So, the moment she felt the unending stream of power to her, her heart still beated weakly. After she got that extra energy, she could send her heart to hibernate mode as following excerpt. 

She couldn’t hear it, couldn’t see it, couldn’t even feel it, but she felt sad because the spiritual power was so sad and devastated. Even the power was crying and Xiao Yao couldn’t even imagine how heartbroken the owner of the spiritual power was.

Xiao Yao wanted to see who was so sad but didn’t have the strength. She could only follow the guidance of the other heart and slowly locked herself up. Just like a flower blooming, the reverse process was to return to being a bud, into a seed, back into the soil, laying in the Winter to wait for the Spring to arrive.

The heart turned to sleeping mode - stop beating

So, When Jing transfered power to her, she was already in hibernation mode (modern term may called it as clinical death). ---> He came after she had received the unending power.  ---> It is likely that stream of power came from other person.

Xiao Xiao and other guard came later ---> CX's guards can't not be the origin of that power stream either.

Only one option left: It could be only from XL. 

Moreover, the moment she got the unending power, her heart was super weak. Could she sense external force well, especially she also felt the emotion of that power owner. Who had emotion connection with her? It's XL again. Jing had sent power to WXL for pain-relief before. There was no mention that WXL could felt Jing's emotion at that time. 

In term of recognizing XY's injury, XL must be the first one who got the signal via Lovers' bug. But he had to travel 8-10 hours to Shen nong peak from QS Town. He could guide her heart via the bug. So if that unending power stream was from him, the only explanation is  that he could also send power via bug connection. IS THAT POSSIBLE? HOW COULD XL send energy using lovers Bugs (as a kind of bridge?)

BTW, Jing came to the site first because Qingqui is nearby the site (1 hour or less from Ziyi). Of course his power also help protect XY from the fire.

 H19279:

Actually I was confused about the origin of the power that XY felt. It sounds reasonable to attribute that power as Jing's power which @AH painted in green. However, when Jing came, he checked. Her pulse had stopped, meanning the heart had "stopped" beating. 

From what I gathered, XL used the bug connection to help XY keep her heart beating first, before TSJ arrived. He did so by using his heartbeat to guide her heartbeat through the bug connection. Not by transferring spiritual power to her. He succeeded, but XY's heart was beating very, very faintly. Like a weak flame that was about to be extinguished at any moment.

She could vividly sense her heart slowly weakening, but just as it was about to stop, she heard another heart beating. It was strong and powerful, leading her heart so that it wouldn’t completely stop. It was like a sole flame in the palms of the hand, seemingly about to be extinguished at any moment, but still flickering weakly with life.

And when TSJ arrived, XY had no strength left. Her heart was beating even more faintly and was about to stop completely, despite the guidance of XL's heart through the bug connection. So TSJ could not detect a pulse. That's when he transferred his power to her. 

Chapter 21:

Jing went to feel for her pulse but felt nothing. His entire body was shaking and he tightly embraced Xiao Yao and tried to use his body warmth to warm her icy cold body.

He put his hand on her back and continued to push spiritual power into her. “Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao, Xiao Yao……”

...

No matter how much power he transferred to her, her pulse never started again.

Chapter 22:

She really had no strength left, so that even the weak sole flame that was keeping her heart beating was too much to sustain. Even with another heart guiding her heart, still the heartbeat grew weaker.

Suddenly power coursed through her, unending streams of power that allowed the weak heartbeat to continue beating.

She couldn’t hear it, couldn’t see it, couldn’t even feel it, but she felt sad because the spiritual power was so sad and devastated. Even the power was crying and Xiao Yao couldn’t even imagine how heartbroken the owner of the spiritual power was.

Xiao Yao wanted to see who was so sad but didn’t have the strength.

Although TSJ's power was enough to keep her heart beating (just barely), her heartbeat was still so faint that it was undetectable, so TSJ could not feel a pulse and believed she was completely dead. 

Then XL's heart guided XY to lock herself up. I'm not sure, but I think that might have been about her mind, to conserve her remaining life force, not her heart. XY seems to be unaware of what is happening outside her own mind after that point, until many, many healing sessions have passed and she begins to regain her awareness. 

She could only follow the guidance of the other heart and slowly locked herself up. Just like a flower blooming, the reverse process was to return to being a bud, into a seed, back into the soil, laying in the Winter to wait for the Spring to arrive.

On Sheng Nong Mountain (when XY's mind is "locked up"), even the best doctors of Dahuang could not detect XY's pulse at all. Like TSJ, they believed she was dead. But CX remained convinced that her heart was still beating very faintly. And I think he was right: it was. Thanks to XL guiding XY's heart and all the power transferred by TSJ and CX's people to her. 

Xiao Yao had no life but with the power being continuously transferred to her, her body remained soft and warm rather than cold and stiff. Even though no pulse could be detected, Zhuan Xu felt that her heart was still beating slightly.

But that state was not sustainable. XL said that XY was almost out of time. If XL didn't intervene and start healing her with his essential blood soon, XY would die no matter how much spiritual power CX's people transferred to her.

Xiang Liu calmly said “She’s almost out of time.” If it wasn’t for so many powerful people transferring power to Xiao Yao, even by the time Xiang Liu rushed here it would have been too late. It was by Zhuan Xu’s seemingly pointless effort that he managed to secure a lone shred of chance for Xiao Yao.

 H19279:

@ AH,

no pulse means  heart stops beating..  i don”r think TH means the heart beated so weakly that Jing couldn’t detect in that case.

I think that's exactly what she meant, which his why she included this line:

Even though no pulse could be detected, Zhuan Xu felt that her heart was still beating slightly.

I think the sad power that she heard was jing's to be honest, but the bottom line here is that that wasn't enough to keep her alive, what kept her alive and the one who eventually brought her back to life was XL. I think the whole scene is important because it's foreshadows the roles that each ML played în her life. Jing is the one who chose to die alongside her, CX is the one who, by going after them, made the world a safer place for her and XL is the one that made her experience love and the excitement of life. 

@windiaaa

I personally kind of agree with with this analysis, what always bothered me is why XY never thought of XL before attempting suicide, it honestly makes no sense and it's so out of her character. Even if she didn't care enough to think of him as in regards to his life that's going to end too because of the bugs connection, how come she never asked herself if killing herself is really going to be possible, since last time when she was on the verge of dying he rescued her. When she wake up the first thing that came into her mind was that XL saved her again,  but how come this possibility never crossed her mind before attempting suicide? I am sure that there must be a reason for the lack of any insides about XL and that TH hide them on purpose, but I can't figure it out why. 

"Xiao Yao thought about it, if one couldn't love and live freely then death would be a form of letting go. She said, "I want to see the Royal Mother."

She couldn't live freely (maybe) because of CX, but she also said that she couldn't love freely. Why is that? She was living with Jing for 42 years before dying, so to me it doesn't really make sense to link Jing to being able to love freely. Maybe because CX didn't allow that to happen anymore? Maybe because Jing was dead? Maybe, but I am not convinced. Letting go of what exactly? She lived without Jing for a few years already, maybe she did hold out hope that he wasn't dead and he will eventually come back, but If that's the case than why kill yourself? Or let's say she came to accept that Jing was indeed dead, but if she really believed that than what's the point of thinking that she is unable to love freely? Why even take that into consideration NOW? Idk, the key word here is "freely" (unless the english translation differs), but this whole sentence "couldn't live and love freely" reminds me more of "your blood line already made that decision for you" and less about Jing. Also the fact that, as I said, she never shared any thoughts about XL before killing herself, so could this be the answer, could this be targeting XL? 

"one thing to remember is that xy did not commit suicide because of her love for Jing (Jingger claims this)" 

Totally!

 blabla100:

I think the sad power that she heard was jing's to be honest, but the bottom line here is that that wasn't enough to keep her alive, what kept her alive and the one who eventually brought her back to life was XL.

XL, TSJ, Xiao Xiao and CX's other people collectively kept XY alive. 

If TSJ had not transferred his spiritual power to XY, she would have died. If he had not protected her body from the flames, she might also have died.

If Xiao Xiao and CX had not ordered a series of other people to continuously transfer spiritual power to XY until XL arrived, XY would have died.

If XL had not guided XY's heart to keep beating through the bug connection, XY would have died.

If XL had not used his essential blood and one of his extra lives to heal XY, XY would have died.

I agree that XL made the biggest contribution to saving XY. But I think it's important to acknowledge that XY would have died if any one of the other components above did not happen. XL did not save XY alone. It was a collective effort. 

 blabla100:

I personally kind of agree with with this analysis, what always bothered me is why XY never thought of XL before attempting suicide, it honestly makes no sense and it's so out of her character. Even if she didn't care enough to think of him as in regards to his life that's going to end too because of the bugs connection, how come she never asked herself if killing herself is really going to be possible, since last time when she was on the verge of dying he rescued her. When she wake up the first thing that came into her mind was that XL saved her again,  but how come this possibility never crossed her mind before attempting suicide? I am sure that there must be a reason for the lack of any insides about XL and that TH hide them on purpose, but I can't figure it out why. 

XY definitely wasn't her normal self and definitely wasn't thinking straight after she confirmed that CX killed TSJ. She was so angry and hurt and bent on getting revenge for TSJ that she shot arrows at CX. One arrow killed his winged mount. Another ended up in his hair. She very nearly killed him. And then after she calmed down slightly she decided to poison him and to kill herself. 

Tbh I think "XY was not in a sound state of mind and didn't think about anything (not even XL) other than getting revenge and killing herself" makes a lot more sense than "XY thought about XL before trying to kill herself, but decided to proceed anyway without caring about how her decision might impact him". 

 blabla100:

"Xiao Yao thought about it, if one couldn't love and live freely then death would be a form of letting go. She said, "I want to see the Royal Mother."

She couldn't live freely (maybe) because of CX, but she also said that she couldn't love freely. Why is that? She was living with Jing for 42 years before dying, so to me it doesn't really make sense to link Jing to being able to love freely. Maybe because CX didn't allow that to happen anymore? Maybe because Jing was dead? Maybe, but I am not convinced. Letting go of what exactly? She lived without Jing for a few years already, maybe she did hold out hope that he wasn't dead and he will eventually come back, but If that's the case than why kill yourself? Or let's say she came to accept that Jing was indeed dead, but if she really believed that than what's the point of thinking that she is unable to love freely? Why even take that into consideration NOW? Idk, the key word here is "freely" (unless the english translation differs), but this whole sentence "couldn't live and love freely" reminds me more of "your blood line already made that decision for you" and less about Jing. Also the fact that, as I said, she never shared any thoughts about XL before killing herself, so could this be the answer, could this be targeting XL? 

Why not look at that line in context?

-----

Chapter 49:

Xiao Yao smiled bitterly, such deadly poison couldn’t even kill her. Having the bug connected with Xiang Liu was like giving herself nine lives. But what was the point of living like this?

Sir Bi saw Xiao Yao’s devastated expression and gently said, “Why don’t you stay on Jade Mountain for awhile? The Royal Mother doesn’t have much time left. Even if the Black Emperor didn’t bring you, we were going to bring you here.”

Xiao Yao stared in shock at Sir Bi who replied calmly, “Don’t feel bad. Death is a natural part of life.”

Xiao Yao thought about it. If one could not love and live freely, then death would be a form of release. She said, “I want to see the Royal Mother.”

...

The Royal Mother said, “All the girls seem like good people, why do they want to be the Royal Mother?” She was about to pick another picture up when she paused and looked over at Xiao Yao and asked, “Xiao Yao, have you thought about the future?”

Xiao Yao was startled. “What?”

The Royal Mother leisurely said, “Sometimes the world is so big that anywhere can be home, sometimes the world is so big but nowhere to go and death is a release. Jade Mountain isn’t a good place, but it is cut off from the rest of the world. Xiao Yao, do you want to become the next Royal Mother and govern Jade Mountain?”

The Royal Mother’s expression was as if she already knew everything. Xiao Yao’s eyes teared up. The entire world belonged to Zhuan Xu and there was nowhere she could go to hide from him. Only Jade Mountain, cut off from the entire world, gave her a place to rest.

Xiao Yao replied, “I do!”

...

Shui Hong looked at Xiao Yao and sighed, “Can’t believe the one person who didn’t want to be on Jade Mountain the most now wants to stay here forever.” Shiu Hong picked up the items and walked off.

Lie Yang landed on a peach blossom branch. “Xiao Yao, being the Royal Mother means you will never be able to leave Jade Mountain for the rest of your life and must be alone forever. Have you really thought it through?”

Xiao Yao said, “I thought it through. The world may be vast but there is nowhere I can go now. Being the Royal Mother is my only resting place.” In the past she greedily sought out the sights and sounds of the outside world but now that she lost everything, nothing mattered to her anymore. She was tired and wanted only a peaceful spot to putter around for the rest of her life.

Lie Yang grew silent and Sir Bi wanted to object, but couldn’t find a reason to. Perhaps reaching this point, growing old on Jade Mountain really was Xiao Yao’s only choice.

...

Zhuan Xu was devastated and enraged as he continued, “The Royal Mother cannot step one foot off the mountain. She must be alone for the rest of her life! You are drawing your own prison cell until you die! Even if Jing is dead, even if you don’t love me, your life is still very long and the world very vast. You can still find someone to spend your life with! Is there no one left in this world that is worth your staying for?”

...

Zhuan Xu grabbed Xiao Yao’s hand tightly like he was never going to let go. “Why?”

Xiao Yao smiled so casually, like this had nothing to do with her. “Zhuan Xu, how can you not know why? I could have lived like an ordinary girl, marrying and having kids, living a simple, happy life. You took it all away from me! I can’t kill you, I can’t kill myself, I can’t even leave! The whole world knows I am Qi Yo’s daughter, the whole world is under your rule – if I can avoid people trying to kill me, I still can’t avoid your forces to bring me back. Zhuan Xu, the world is so vast but you’ve pushed me to the point of being with you or having nowhere else to go!”

“If you don’t become the Royal Mother, I can give up…….”

Xiao Yao shook her head. “Zhuan Xu, I’m tired, let me rest now!”

Zhuan Xu tightly held onto Xiao Yao’s hand pleading, “Xiao Yao, if you don’t become the Royal Mother, I will give you any freedom you want. Go anywhere you want!”

Xiao Yao got on her knees and raised her head to look up at Zhuan Xu, “Gege, please I beg you to remember all we shared and agree to let me be the Royal Mother. Give me a place to rest.”

Her expression was placid and in her dark depths there was no love or hate anymore, just nothingness.

...

Xiao Yao stared at the peach blossom forest and remembered when Jing proposed to her. It was on Cao Ao Peak on Sheng Nong Mountain, which didn’t have any peach blossom trees, but Jing knew her parents pledged their love under peach blossom trees so he used his power to conjure up thousands of miles of peach blossoms and as the petals rained down he nervously asked, “Tu Shan Jing wishes for Xi Ling Jiu Yao’s hand in marriage.”

Xiao Yao reached out her hand and caught a few peach blossoms and smiled.

...

Xiao Yao walked directly to the altar without looking anywhere else and the Royal Mother asked, “As custom, I shall ask one final time – once you are Royal Mother you cannot get married or ever leave Jade Mountain. Do you still agree?”

Zhuan Xu yelled “Xiao Yao—" with tears in his eyes, pleading with every fiber of his being.

Under the peach blossoms falling around her, Xiao Yao seemed to spot Jing and she tightly clenched her hands around the petals in her palm as she smiled at him and said, “I agree.”

-----

On the surface level, "If one could not love and live freely, then death would be a form of release." is about the Royal Mother, who is about to die after living on Jade Mountain for hundreds of years, unable to be with the people she loved and unable to live freely. So death is a form of release for her. 

Obviously, on a secondary level, it is also about XY. TSJ is dead. XL did not choose her and even cut ties with her. CX knew about her fear of abandonment, all the hopes she had for a life with TSJ, and her feelings for TSJ, and yet he betrayed her in the cruelest way possible by killing TSJ. And the Yellow Emperor knew, but didn't tell her. Even XL knew, and he didn't tell her for six years. She has "lost everything, and nothing mattered to her anymore."

At this point, she is trapped. She cannot love XL or TSJ freely. She "could have lived like an ordinary girl, marrying and having kids, living a simple, happy life" with TSJ, but CX took that away from her and she cannot escape from CX. So she felt like death was her only option. But when that didn't work (because of XL's intervention) the Royal Mother offers her another option: she can escape from CX by becoming the Royal Mother and staying on Jade Mountain.

XY accepts that very depressing fate until TSJ returns and restores her hope of being able to love and live freely again. She leaves Jade Mountain with him, and they get married. Ultimately, after XL's death (and thanks to his intervention), XY still decides to run away with TSJ to a place that is beyond CX's reach: the ocean.