Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 AH :

I agree that TSJ was geographically the closest. However, as I noted above, we can't be certain that XL was the first to sense something. TSJ might have sensed that something was about to happen before the assassination even began. Re-reading chapter 21 now, I'm really starting to think that must have been the case.

As you mentioned, we know that TSJ was in Qing Qiu when he sensed the ominous feeling, that he went to little Zhu Rong's residence first, and that he had to track XY after he got to the cherry blossom forest. But we don't know exactly how long those steps would have taken. We do know that TSJ "furiously urged his winged ride faster" and "rushed", so those steps would have taken less time than they would have if he was going at a normal pace.

Ok, this is the discussion about who can detect or sense bad thing happen to XY in chapter 21. 

I would like to give some extra information from the book to clarify the timeline. 

What is the distance between Qing Qiu and Zhurong mansion? It was mentioned in chapter 20

From Zhi Yi to Qing Qiu, if taking a cloud carriage it was just an hour away. A winged ride was even faster, just half an hour. But the day Jing left it was heavy snow so the cloud carriage couldn’t be taken so Jing had to take the snow beast pulled snow carriage that would take multiple hours to arrive.

"Jing furiously urged his winged ride faster to get to Little Zhu Rong’s residence". Then it would take him much less than half Chinise hour  (meaning ~40 mininute, in our current time counting system maybe, 1 chinise hour = 2 normal hour). The cherry blossom forest is in the countryside of Zhi Yi, so It would take him about 10 min or less to get there. Yes, he heart a man crying but didn't see that person in or nearby the maze. The crying sound could be at the moment when Mu killed XY with the last attack (cherry petals), he might cry when he left the site (because the maze will be on fire, he had to leave). So it might be Jing about 50-60 minute from the moment he sensed the accident until he arrived at XY's spot.

How long did it take from the initial attack till the end of the wood-based maze attack?

First attack: chased by the plant, then she got impaled on her foot. That is a serious wound and it certainly hurt XY. Could XL sense this pain from her? Last time when XY got broken legs, he sensed it. 

All the cherry blossom branches started to move and reached out to wrap around her. Xiao Yao used her agility from living on the mountains to duck and dodge like a monkey but her powers were low so after some time of being attacked she had fallen down many times but continued to get up and keep on running.

Suddenly a blackened charred hand reached out from under the snow and grabbed her foot. She tried to use a dagger to stab the hand but the hand turned into a long spike and impaled her foot into the ground.

The cherry blossom branch turned into a giant hammer and came down on Xiao Yao’s head but she endured the pain and pulled her foot free and dodged so the hammer struck the snow and sent the snow flurries flying.

Second phase: she was attacked by 3 beast. She fought and killed them. It also took some time

3rd, attack by Mu: she was hung, she tried to argue with him to get more time, he cried to his family etc...

The total time for these three attack could it be longer than 50-60 min?

We know CX came to the site when the maze turned to inferno. So it would be 15-30 minutes after Jing

--------------------

There is no clear evidence about who sense XY's problem first, 2nd or third. But there is clear order written by TH. In chapter 21, she wrote XL's reaction first, then CX and finally Jing. Did she want to hint about the chronicle order of sensing XY's problem. It's possible. But maybe she had other intention. 

I think the order of sensing the problem is not as important as the certainty on XY's serious situation. How deadly could it happen to her? The reason is:

XL had the Lovers' bug --> He could sense her pain, her heart beat (while being chased/attacked, the heat beat increase substantially, via heart connection) and her scare (emotion connection). He knew exactly what was happening to her and her body. 

CX has sense of losing close relatives (his dad). Therefore, this kind of sense is reliable, had proof. He was quite certain that there was serious problem with XY.

On the other hand, the signal that activated Jing's sensation of something big about to happen just came from nowhere. Suddently XY's sachel fell. God or TH bestowed this signal for him. He was afraid of something big, perhaps bad happening to XY. However, we did have any clues if he had ever experienced such sensation for other issue before. In term of certainty, Jing's sense is lowest among 3 male characters. 

Did TH imply XL>CX>Jing in term of the certainty factor? Maybe she intended this.

@blabla100

The title of chapter 14 is taken from a poem.
The reason why Xiaoyao's heart was beating fast.

CHAPTER 14 There is no way to eliminate this feeling

1. There is no way to eliminate this feeling. From Li Qingzhao's "A Cut of Plum Blossoms and the Fragrance of Red Lotus Roots and the Remaining Jade Mat Autumn" . This poem was written after Qingzhao and her husband Zhao Mingcheng separated. It embodies the author's deep feelings that he could not bear to leave. It is a skillfully crafted farewell poem. " When the moon is full on the west tower , I board the orchid boat alone." Orchid boat is the elegant name of the boat. Being alone on an orchid boat means what you do, the scenery you touch, and the feelings you have on the boat from day to night. In the two sentences " One kind of lovesickness, two places of idle sorrow" , while writing about the pain of one's own lovesickness and the depth of idle sorrow, one infers from oneself to the other person, knowing that this kind of lovesickness and idle sorrow are not one-sided, but two-sided. In terms of aspects, we can see the connection between the two hearts. Everyone was on the boat, but my wife got on the boat alone. Hahahahahahahahahahaha I don’t even want to unravel the title anymore.

Chapter 9 Between the eyebrows, there is no way to avoid each other.

1. Between the brows and in the heart, there is no way to avoid each other: From " Royal Street Walk ·Autumn Nostalgia" by Fan Zhongyan of the Song Dynasty. It mainly talks about the bright moon like silk that can be seen every year today, and every year today At night, my sweetheart is thousands of miles away. The sorrow has broken my heart, and even if I try to drown my sorrow with wine, it is difficult to make myself intoxicated. The wine has not yet entered my mouth, but it has turned into bitter tears. It's late at night, the lights are out, and between the lights turning on and off, I have no choice but to lean on the pillow and talk and fall asleep. This endless loneliness really makes people taste the taste of loneliness and lovesickness. It seems that this agonizing wait is still far away. Even though my brows are furrowed and my mind is full of emotions all day long, there is no way to escape it. The author really didn't say lovesickness, but lovesickness is everywhere. Who is that person thousands of miles away?

 liddi:

What is confusing is how Xiao Xiao and the guards took turns to transfer 灵气 spiritual energy to Xiao Yao. Was it a typo? Perhaps. Or perhaps not. In that instance, they were actually transferring spiritual energy via the water jade pallet, which gathers the energy and protects the body (possibly converting it to spiritual power). As such, it seems that the water pallet works in a similar fashion as the blood spell covered seashell. Where then does the healing element come in? I think it is dependent on the person lying within. If that person were conscious and could summon his own powers, he could direct the spiritual energy and heal himself. However, if the person has no awareness, any healing would need to be induced by a third party. In Xiao Yao's case, she clearly was so close to death that her healing was dependent on Xiang Liu.

This term that you call spiritual energy was used for all CX's guard and the pallet regarding to transfering energy/power to XY. It was reapeated at least 5 times in that short scene. I don't think it is typo mistake. This booked was first published in 2013 and had major edited in 2019 and new edition in 2023. I don't think TH or the editor haven't seen such typo. 

Let's trust TH. It is what she wrote and meaned. 

You can see the similarity between the palled which was supplied spiritual energy continuously from CX's guard and the Shell in Guixui Sea (chapter 48). They both supplied spiritual energy to XY. Once again, this should be TH's intention. 

What is the different between XY in Chapter 21 and she in chapter 48? 

It is in chapter 48, her heart still bit which confirmed by the doctor. This means the heat beat is higher than doctor's detection limit. In chapter 21, doctors, Xiao Xiao, Jing all didn't feel the pulse which means the heat beat is lower than detaction limit In chapter 21, XY's body is almost in clinical death and later turned in hibernate mode. She was concious in the darkness (chapter 22). Before turning to hibernation, the body, organ still required material and energy to run/function. Later when she got enough power/force to lock-up herself (here I understood as body cells, body organ), her body would require much less energy to sustain. The healing process used XL's blood and it was very slow one. 

Her body organ required very little amount of energy to sustain in hibernation mode. 

XY got much more serious problem in chapter 21 than in chapter 48 where she killed herself with the poison. The poison can affect her organ, but her body is intact. It seems that the poison didn't break the blood vein because both CX's and XY's appearance looked fine (no bruise etc). Her poison tolerance can be higher than normal people because she had XL's blood in her body. Although she used 10 times higher poison than that gave to CX, that poinson didn't kill her in short time. And XL could regulate her heart via the bug. Since ther level of body damage is much less than in chapter 21, XL could woke XY after 1 blood treatment. 

I think we both agree that spiritual energy can be converted to spiritual power. We also agree that spiritual energy is consider as based essential energy. If it is a kind of based element, perhaps it is smaller, simpler and easier to get inside the body. And the reversed reaction can take place to convert spiritual power back to spiritual energy. Take this chemical reaction as example : O + O <---> O2. 

or the  reaction of glucose: Glucose + fructose <----> table sugar

When people eat glucose, the blood will take simple glucose much faster than when we eat sugar (first sugar has to be break down to glucose and fructose, then glucose penetrates in blood)

In my view, the water pallet coupled with spiritual energy or the blood spelled Shell works exactly as a mechanical ventilator. The body can absorb this basic simple energy to maintain the life (doesn't need to be heal) from the shell or the pallet. If you get my comparison/analogue term, you wil see that "gas/air" as 气 is easier and straight forward for imagination

 liddi:

And the one who comforts her is Jing, not Xiang Liu. Gah.

This is the reason why I fight hard for claiming the endless power to XY in chapter 22 is from XL. 

We all know that it required all of them to save XY but I don't like Jing robbed XY's work. I actually don't mind of him losing the spiritual power ownership to Jing's hand but I care for the emotion conveyed in that stream of power. If you read part 4 of my analysis you can see that TH already wrote exact the same phrase about the endless stream of power in chapter 21 through the doctors' opinion and in chapter 22 via XY's point of view

Those 2 doctor carefully examined XY. They empherized that her body organ were still alive because of unending power coursed through her. Once it stopped, she was completely dead. 

•  两个医师回道：“已死，五脏虽还有生气，但那全是靠着源源不绝的灵力在支撑，一旦停止输入灵力，五脏就会死透 (Chapter 21)
• "突然，源源不绝的灵力输入进来，让那点微弱的心跳能继续。她听不到、看不见、什么都感受不到，可是她觉得难过，因为那些灵力是那么伤心绝望。连灵力都在哭泣，小夭实在想不出来这些灵力的主人该多么伤心绝望。" (Chapter 22)

That means at that moment, in Shennong mountain, no Jing nearby, XY was lying on top of the pallet, there was strong, unending power going through her body. It can't be from Jing. It can't be from CX's guard (because they were not hearbroken). It can only be from XL. That stream of power was not only strong but also lasted for long time (unending feeling from XY and the doctor). Could it come from Jing?  Jing did not match both time point and power intensity. The reason XY could not recognize the owner of that emotion is by that time she didn't know she could feel his emotion. She actually didn't know they had emotion, heart connected with each other.

So, if it came definitely  from XL, this is very few time in the whole book that TH described XL's raw emotion to XY. He could be sad and devastated. Why not?

TH used the grass snake red dust method so well here, she wrote about Jing with the same, visible emotion matching with the emotion of this power. She hid XL. She deceived readers delibarately .

About the confusion why XL also used the same term-灵力 in his talk with CX

相柳平静地说：“她就快没有时间了。”如果不是有这么多灵力高强的人不停地给小夭输灵力，纵使他现在赶到，也不可能了。只能说颛顼奢侈浪费的举动，为小夭争取了一线生机 

There can be some reason: 

• He himself used the spiritual power to support his bugs (thus, support XY's bugs. )
• What did he see when he entered the room with XY inside? There was only CX and Xiao Xiao standing near the water pallet transfering a certain current of sth. CX ordered other guards out. Could XL distinguish the look of the stream that Xiao Xiao sent to the pallet? Did he fully know the mechanism of the water pallet. However, he was sure that Xiao Xiao had hight level spiritual power. He could speculate in that sentence to CX. And the talk can only be heard between XL and CX. He blocked other from hearing it. He did not share much of connection between him and XY.

P/s: Thank you Liddi for the text in chinese of the doctor and XL that I did not have yesterday

Chapter 15 Thinking about the past can easily lead to injury: Xuanyuan worships, Xuan goes to the song and dance studio to find Jin Xuan, Xiaoyao meets the black-haired Xiang Liu and goes to a banquet to get to know Fangfeng, and Beiyao uses her body to shield herself from danger.

This poem from "Revelation of Heartfelt Love" describes the daily life of a singer. She once had a sweetheart, but they all left her. In order to survive, she had to force a smile and was forced to sing. I really can't help but admire the author's precise use of words. Who here misses his sweetheart? Whose sweetheart has left him? Who can force a smile? Jin Xuan!

Chapter 16 Missing you and hating you, but you don’t know: Xiaoyao puts away the green plum wine and prepares a beautiful poison, Bei teaches archery, the two of them accompany each other, the left ear bets, Huang Di talks to Xiaoyao, Xiaoyao makes an appointment with Fangfeng Bei, Jing gives fish Dan Zi , Fenglong offered a plan, Yaojing painted a poisonous handkerchief, Yaojiejing played with the hair crown

1. From Liang Qichao's "Taiwan Bamboo Branch Poems " , the bottom of the acacia tree talks about lovesickness, missing you and hating you, but you don't know. What did the two of them say under the tree? The two of them were just practicing their archery skills under the tree. The two of them were just joking under the tree: why not not be the queen and play around with me. OK, as long as you can give up everything. Hahahahaha~

2. At this point, Xiaoyao is more angry because her brother let her get close to Jing. And when she was angry when Jing sent fish pills, it was Xiang Liu who was probably angry. Xiaoyao was also angry that Jing came at the wrong time and it had been too long. When Xiaoyao accepted the fish pill, she didn't listen carefully to Jing's talk about breaking off the engagement. So what was she thinking?

Chapter 17: Looking back, the road is long and difficult: Cangxuan anesthetizes himself, Xiaoyao dreams of her mother and father, searches for green plum wine among a pile of poisons, Xiang Liu visits her boudoir at night, and prepares to go to the Central Plains

1. " Jian Jia " from the Book of Songs of the Pre-Qin Dynasty, Guofeng, and Qin Feng is the same poem as Zai Shuifang. The meaning of this sentence is: Go against the flowing water to find your lover, the road is difficult and too long.

2. This means going against the grain. Cang Xuan gave up Xuanyuan and went to the Central Plains. His brother’s lover is Jiang Shan. Someone was supposed to steal the pictures and return to Qingshui Town, but then turned back and I don’t know who it was for? Yaoliuuu.....

Chapter 18 Green Plum Blossoms Lovesickness: Cang Xuan quits addiction, Jing sends green plum wine, Cao Ao Ridge, pulls Jing into the pool, Bei is extremely filial, Feng Long’s birthday, Xiao Yao takes Fangfengliu Shura away in the famous scene, Jing is thrown an arrow by Xiao Yao, Xiaoyao turns into red and attracts murderous intent

1. Xiaoyao loved drinking green plum wine when she was in Qingshui Town, so Jing kept making it for her. It’s not that I want to deprive myself of anything, it’s just that the wine starts with Xiangliu... the green plums are the acacia plums again...

2. Cao Wa Ridge, maple trees, the general's hut, simple layout. Whose configuration are these...

3. Go down to the pool to cross the air, Jing’s classic saying, you don’t have me in your eyes...

 H19279:

We all know that it required all of them to save XY but I don't like Jing robbed XY's work. I actually don't mind of him losing the spiritual power ownership to Jing's hand but I care for the emotion conveyed in that stream of power. If you read part 4 of my analysis you can see that TH already wrote exact the same phrase about the endless stream of power in chapter 21 through the doctors' opinion and in chapter 22 via XY's point of view

 H19279:

That means at that moment, in Shennong mountain, no Jing nearby, XY was lying on top of the pallet, there was strong, unending power going through her body. It can't be from Jing. It can't be from CX's guard (because they were not hearbroken). It can only be from XL. That stream of power was not only strong but also lasted for long time (unending feeling from XY and the doctor). Could it come from Jing?  Jing did not match both time point and power intensity. The reason XY could not recognize the owner of that emotion is by that time she didn't know she could feel his emotion. She actually didn't know they had emotion, heart connected with each other.

I understand your intent to claim the emotion as belonging to Xiang Liu, unwilling for him to be robbed even more than he has. Much as I agree that Xiang Liu would have been both terrified and desolate at the time as he rushed those long hours from Qingshui town to Shen Nong mountain, and would love to gladly attribute the desolate power to him too, I am not convinced it did come from him.

My reasons are this. The text says that she felt a steady stream of desolate power coursing through her.  She did not know who it belonged to, but thanks to this power, her heart had the strength to continue beating, after which she was guided by Xiang Liu's heart to lock herself up, reversing herself from a blooming flower to a seed hidden in the soil. After that reversal was complete, it no longer describes her being able to feel that desolate power anymore. Instead, she fell into a long period of statis, enveloped by darkness with no concept of time, but extremely conscious throughout. 

In my opinion, this is the timeline:

1. After her attack, Xiang Liu's heart kept her conscious and guided her weak heartbeat with his strong one.

2. At the time she lost all strength to sustain her heartbeat, Jing found her and poured his spiritual power into her - this is the desolate power she felt, which gave her renewed strength and enabled her heart to continue beating.

3. As Jing continued to transfer a steady stream of power into her even while the flames surrounded them, Xiang Liu was able to guide her to lock herself up and reverse the process until she was like a seed hidden in the soil, in darkness. 

4. When Xiao Xiao and the guards took over in transferring spiritual energy to the water pallet, she was already in limbo. There is no more mention of her feeling the sadness of a desolate power still coursing through her.

5. The physicians' description of a continuous stream of spiritual power being transferred to her has to do with the guards' efforts, which sustained the life signs of her physical body.

6. These efforts would have continued until Xiang Liu finally arrived and took her to the seashell. During the journey to the seashell, he too would have continued to transfer power to her, keeping her physically alive until such time when he could begin to heal her.

As such, I am still of the opinion that the power and desolation she felt came from Jing. By all means, that does not negate Xiang Liu's emotions in anyway, nor does it lessen his part in saving her. She was saved due to the joint efforts of all three men, but out of the three, he was the one who did the most and gave of himself the most to restore her back to life and health. Just my two cents.