Xiang Liu and Xiao Yao’s Story and Romance

 chen358:

So I've seen Chinese TikTok videos saying that Jing was saved by XL, that he used one of his lives to save Jing. I'm confused someone explain to me please, did XL not save him?

Xiang Liu did save Jing from being devoured by sea monsters, but he did not use one of his lives to do so.

Xiang Liu had 6 lives left by the end. He gave 1 to save Xiao Yao during the 37 years under the ocean, and 2 to kill the Lovers bug. 

Xiang Liu did not give one of his lives to save Jing - what he did was to frighten away sea monsters that wanted to eat the unconscious Jing with his true form since the sea monster no longer feared him at first as he was no longer the nine-headed demon king of the seas, but only a "crippled six-headed demon". Doing so expended his spiritual powers, so he was even weaker by the time he fought in the final battle.

At the final battle, he still had 6 lives left (as evidenced by the 6 heads), and he still managed to fight for 6 days and 6 nights before he finally died.

 chen358:

So I've seen Chinese TikTok videos saying that Jing was saved by XL, that he used one of his lives to save Jing. I'm confused someone explain to me please, did XL not save him?

XL saved Jing but he did not sacrify one of his lives for that

I was in transit and my brain was doing that thing where it starts playing around with AU ideas as a coping mechanism... 

This time the premise was an AU where XL returned to Gong Gong to repay his debt but instead of becoming Gong Gong's adoptive son and developing bonds of very deep, true affection and loyalty with him and his comrades to the point of being unable to leave them and choosing to die with them on the battlefield, he instead became Gong Gong's disciple who devotedly advised and fought with Gong Gong and the army throughout the war but was able to create a full life for himself outside of the army and to live on after the final battle. 

After XY's assassination, TSJ's coma progresses much faster than in the novel and he dies long before XL is able to heal XY enough to wake her up. When XY found out that TSJ's soul willingly sought death, she was filled with mixed emotions, including anger, and a feeling that choosing to die and leave your responsibilities + people who care about you behind is a selfish choice while choosing to live is the more difficult and admirable choice. 

XL/FFB still takes XY to see Left Ear win his freedom after 40 years of perseverance. But instead of inspiring XY to perservere with the no-longer-living TSJ, this experience motivates XY to want to save all the demons that are enslaved and forced to fight for their lives / kill each other for sport. The two of them go all Scarlet Pimpernel / Zorro / Batman. By day, they seem like ne'er-do-wells with no goals or ambitions beyond enjoying life's pleasures. By night, she and XL/FFB start to go on raids where they break out demon slaves and help get them to safety and freedom. 

With TSJ's death and TSH running the Tushan clan's businesses / supporting CX's uncles, CX's campaign for the crown prince position stalls (largely due to money problems). CX encourages XY to entertain Feng Long's interest, so she doesn't reject him outright. But she keeps him at arms length and is not in danger of committing herself to an unwanted marriage. As time stretches on, XY opens a medical clinic and begins to use it as her own HQ for her nighttime escapades - a mix of freeing enslaved demons, deities and mortals and publishing pamphlets and other documents under a penname calling for the abolition of slavery / the abolition of forcing slaves to fight. Over time, XY unintentionally creates her own network and a found family of people (mostly demons, including Left Ear, but also a few deities) who stay with her not because they are too weak to leave her (like Lao Mu, Ma Zi, and Chuan Zi) but because they choose to be with her.

XY uses Feng Long's interest in her (which is still much more about self-interest on his part than it is about actually falling for XY) to encourage him to get his father to update the Autumn Tournament to become much more inclusive and expansive. With the demons slaves constantly being freed, the slave death matches are pretty much non-existant. The updated Autumn Tournament offers deities, demons and mortals from all classes and all kingdoms an opportunity to test their skills and show off their fighting talents. 

Maybe XY's true identity also still comes out at some point, she learns the truth about her parents, and is able to be at peace with her identity. Or maybe not. By this point her found family has long made her feel secure, wanted, and loved to the point where she has made significant progress towards healing and moving past her abandonment trauma. But perhaps her true identity finally puts Feng Long off and gets him to stop pursuing marriage with her. 

When CX eventually takes the throne many years later, XY influences him into officially eliminating slavery (which, of course, takes a great deal of time and energy and is not something that he is able to fully accomplish in a sustainable way over night, but he does eventually succeed).

And since this is my nice, happy little AU, CX and Ah Nian's marriage unites Xuan Yuan and Gao Xing with no war bewteen Xuan Yuan and Gao Xing required. 

Gong Gong is still Gong Gong I guess... but instead of XL choosing to fight in the last battle, Gong Gong makes him promise not to fight and to instead live so that he can personally ensure that the ashes of all the fallen remnant army soldiers are returned to Shengnong and there is at least one person who will pay respects to them after their deaths. XL fulfills Gong Gong's last wish, honours and mourns him, but is not haunted by Gong Gong's memory / death or the memories / deaths of his countless comrades to the point of misery. He is able to focus most of his attention on the good life he has and the still-living people around him that care about him and that he cares for. 

Eventually, XY and XL reach a point where they both have achieved everything they set out to do.

At one point, XY spent all her energy fighting against her cruel fifth uncle, who was tasked with finding and punishing the anti-slavery vigilantes and also spent decades trying to kill CX or destroy his viability as a candidate for the crown prince position. But at long last CX was on the throne, the world was peacefully united, and slavery was eliminated. 

XL loyally repaid his debt to Gong Gong, honoured him as a disciple should, and fulfilled his last wish. 

So they both feel ready to leave the capital (and Gong Gong / CX) behind for a freer life. 

XL/FFB and XY have an exchange that is a bit similar to the one they had back in chapter 16, before XY knew that FFB was XL.

-----

After they entered the residence, Xiao Yao jumped off her winged horse and sighed. “My version of the wild Princess is so different from Ah Nian’s. With the entire street staring at me, my first instinct is to wonder what I did wrong. Is this a side effect of doing too many bad things in my past?”

Fang Feng Bei asked half seriously half in jest, “Why don’t you not be a Princess anymore and go wander the world with me?”

Xiao Yao giggled. “Sure! If you can let everything go first.”

Fang Feng Bei chuckled while Xiao Yao stared at him. She felt like she called him on his bullshit. When she was wandering the world being a con artist, he was likely home tickling his maids!

-----

And a bit similar to the one that XY had with TSJ after XL's death in chapter 51.

-----

Xiao Yao wearily closed her eyes. “Jing, I want to leave!”

“Where shall we go?”

“To the ocean! The millions of miles of ocean and unending horizon. Xiang Liu said there were endless uninhabited and uncharted islands, perhaps we can find a beautiful island to call home.”

“Sure!”

-----

The conversation between XY and XL is earnest, and they agree to leave everything behind to explore the ocean's many islands and to wander the edges of the earth together. Maybe, along the way, they'll find a place they like and choose to settle down there. 

Much less dramatic and entertaining than the original story. But it's the nicer, softer alternative story my brain needed I guess. ^^"

 AH :

I was in transit and my brain was doing that thing where it starts playing around with AU ideas as a coping mechanism...

That's awesome, AH!  And trying to wipe out the evil of demon slavery AND a happy ending.

I can't see XL as Zorro / Scarlet Pimpernel, but I can definitely see Fang Feng Bei have a great time with it.

 AH :

Tbh it feels like a somewhat worrying sign that this story still has a death grip on my brain even after S2 has finished. Can't move on just yet. ^^"

Apparently, I've got a permanent room in the Hotel Dahuang.   I'm getting ready to rewatch season 2.  lol

I just had a thought ... what if they announce a remake of Once Promised?   O_O

 AH :

A feel like a good AU offers a chance to resolve the things that bothered you the most in the story and the slave death match situation bothered me so much.

This is true.  It should be called Fan Fix.  ;p

 AH :

And yet these two are the same person! ^^

But yeah. I know what you mean. This AU!XL by necessity couldn't be exactly the same as OGNovel!XL.

This is true.  Especially since he could rocking the sea shell with XY all along!

Gorgeous! Is this official merchandise?

 windiaaa041293:

♥️

 HeadInTheClouds:

If it is, my wallet will abandoned me for life 🤣

Mine is staring daggers at me too 😅 Meanwhile, I'm still hunting for Mao Qiu...

The First two, I'm not sure if they are official merchanise. 

Not every seller have Mini Chubby Listed. I gave you the links to two players that have Mini Chubby, but it's not in stock at the moment. Maybe it will come back in stock soon.

Chubby 1

Chubby 2

Mini Chubby 1

Mini Chubby 2