I understand why the drama is the way it is; a lot of the events in rebirth are so fragmented. since I just speed-read the novel to understand the beginning.... before the drama
Rebirth is roughly 90+ chapters long after the icy lake event. The event leading up to that point is the majority of the novel, and it is so important to the narrative of the story, so they have to create some events, and certain events did happen in the novel, but they were placed at different points in time for the drama.
I honestly really enjoy the novel, and wish it could capture the characterization of Chu Qiao, Zhuge Yue, and Yan Xuan better...
Li Ce, however, was pretty spot on compared to the novel.
People who watch this who don't know the event leading up to the frozen lake, it's so hard to capture what happened with Chu Qiao and Yan Xuan, even with those flashbacks.
Talk of an S2 but nothing confirmed: https://weibo.com/2949989907/5291313282156642
Interesting, where would they start are they really gonna pick up from the fragment of JY that we never knew it fate that when into the space time rift?
Mostly people complaint because they only start watching and get hit by tons of plot which actually as much as…
Sure, there is nothing wrong with what you are saying. I have been in your shoes. Watching a show like Veil of Shadows while focusing on logic read into all the finer detail and try to make sense of what was shown to you.
I have said this before, the time loop and time travel in VoS are not the best, as many C-dramas have tried similar ideas with varying degrees of success.
But a story is always there to convey a message. Often, that message is more important than perfect logical consistency. At time you should think about what they trying to conveyed rather then what happen.
Mostly people complaint because they only start watching and get hit by tons of plot which actually as much as…
Ji Ling being one of the few characters who comes up with plans, stays one or two steps ahead of others, or can be a bit manipulative does not inherently make him the most clever character.
Those traits can also come from caution, secrecy, survival instinct, or emotional self protection. Someone who has lived under pressure for a long time often learns to anticipate danger and control situations. That is different from being naturally brilliant.
In Ji Ling’s case, many of those behaviors seem less like genius and more like adaptation. He had to hide who he was, maintain a false identity, and survive loneliness for years. Of course, he became guarded and strategic.
So I would say those traits show that he became skilled at surviving, not necessarily that he was the smartest person in the story.
Now, back to your original point about why he made the decision to give his Lonescale to Lu Wu Yi.
Because that is who he is as a character. He was saving the person who always saw him as simply Ji Ling, not Long Shen, not a false deity, just himself. She was the one person who eased his loneliness.
As much as LWY would do anything to save JL, Ji Ling would do the same for her. He is not a purely rational character who always thinks logically. He is driven by emotion.
When he became Long Shen, that was largely him trying to cope with everything. You can literally see it in the flashback when he leaves A’Wu behind and tells himself it is time to grow up. That moment shows the stoic persona was something he forced onto himself, not who he truly was inside.
Mostly people complaint because they only start watching and get hit by tons of plot which actually as much as…
“First of all, Ji Ling is the most clever character in the whole series, on a par with Bai Zhe.”
I don’t think this is an accurate characterization of Ji Ling. We see this from the moment he transforms into a human, and in the flashbacks to Ji Ling and Puppet Ji Ling, whom Ji Ling (Long Shen) describes as a younger version of himself.
He was innocent, bright, and curious. We see this through his interactions with LWH and Chi Wen. He comes across as childish, and that was most likely intentional. We do not see the shift into a more stoic person until the loneliness and the weight of immortality truly set in.
Even then, he was still the same person inside. We see this in the moments when Li Jie and Lu Wu Yi break through Long Shen's stoic persona.
As for the plans, they were never really his ideas. He was largely following what Chi Wen had set in motion. In one of the flashbacks during the drought, he was crying to LWY and told her, “This was good enough for me,” and for once, a fox acted like the Dragon Deity.
That does not sound like someone who is highly calculating or exceptionally smart. It sounds more like someone struggling with deep insecurity and impostor syndrome.
The story lost all its steam since the time rewind thing was introduced, I swear every episode is like 75%-100%…
I can help clarify some of the confusion if you want to talk about it.
But as for Shi Guang and Ji Ling, I think some people are still confused about the message behind it.
In the show, the Dragon Deity is used as a title.
You have WSG, the rightful dragon who, due to his birth, is destined to achieve greatness.
Then you have Ji Ling, a nameless fox who was, by chance, saved by Chi Wen and, by circumstance, ate the Dragon Scale out of love for YWH, his “adopted brother.”
Throughout the story, you have a variety of characters trying to defy fate, whether because of love or obsession. Xiaowei, Wu Zhi Qi, Hanba, and ultimately Ji Ling and Lu Wu Yi are the most obvious examples.
The flashbacks, the slow motion, and the rewinding of time showcase the helplessness of trying to do the impossible and truly defy fate.
For Xiaowei, Wu Zhi Qi, and Hanba we see how their story end
As you can see, most of them actually fail. Even for LWY, though, she gets a happy yet bittersweet ending because of Ji Ling’s actions.
But the LWY who went through all the countless time loops and endless sacrifices never actually made it out. She died along with all those memories when Ji Ling when back in time and kill the queen and remove her from the timeline.
Even Ji Ling gets to reconnect with LWY in maybe another life or another timeline. But is she really his A’Wu if the time loop never existed and LWY never went through all the events of the original timeline?
The show and the story were never disconnected, if you look at it through this lens.
Also are we sure that Ji Ling would have died when he tried to end his life without LWY? I mean we know that she…
The reality is that we cannot tell for sure; all we know is that he does not appear at the end in WSG timeline.
So we can assume he is not there. Does it truly matter what happened to him?
Not really, because without LWY, he would have died at some point.
and be consumed by Ji Can. But at the same time, we know it's serious enough that Ji Can send LWY back in time; we don't know how many times. to save him, so could he have died in that cave? sure. Could he have lived too? sure.
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since I just speed-read the novel to understand the beginning.... before the drama
Rebirth is roughly 90+ chapters long after the icy lake event. The event leading up to that point is the majority of the novel, and it is so important to the narrative of the story, so they have to create some events, and certain events did happen in the novel, but they were placed at different points in time for the drama.
I honestly really enjoy the novel, and wish it could capture the characterization of Chu Qiao, Zhuge Yue, and Yan Xuan better...
Li Ce, however, was pretty spot on compared to the novel.
People who watch this who don't know the event leading up to the frozen lake, it's so hard to capture what happened with Chu Qiao and Yan Xuan, even with those flashbacks.
I think this is what most people are caught up on.
https://mydramalist.com/761731-the-resurrection-painted-skin/discussions/150530-detail-timeline-of-time-loops
I have said this before, the time loop and time travel in VoS are not the best, as many C-dramas have tried similar ideas with varying degrees of success.
But a story is always there to convey a message. Often, that message is more important than perfect logical consistency. At time you should think about what they trying to conveyed rather then what happen.
Those traits can also come from caution, secrecy, survival instinct, or emotional self protection. Someone who has lived under pressure for a long time often learns to anticipate danger and control situations. That is different from being naturally brilliant.
In Ji Ling’s case, many of those behaviors seem less like genius and more like adaptation. He had to hide who he was, maintain a false identity, and survive loneliness for years. Of course, he became guarded and strategic.
So I would say those traits show that he became skilled at surviving, not necessarily that he was the smartest person in the story.
Now, back to your original point about why he made the decision to give his Lonescale to Lu Wu Yi.
Because that is who he is as a character. He was saving the person who always saw him as simply Ji Ling, not Long Shen, not a false deity, just himself. She was the one person who eased his loneliness.
As much as LWY would do anything to save JL, Ji Ling would do the same for her. He is not a purely rational character who always thinks logically. He is driven by emotion.
When he became Long Shen, that was largely him trying to cope with everything. You can literally see it in the flashback when he leaves A’Wu behind and tells himself it is time to grow up. That moment shows the stoic persona was something he forced onto himself, not who he truly was inside.
https://mydramalist.com/761731-the-resurrection-painted-skin/discussions/150530-detail-timeline-of-time-loops?page=last&p=3502622#p3502622
I don’t think this is an accurate characterization of Ji Ling. We see this from the moment he transforms into a human, and in the flashbacks to Ji Ling and Puppet Ji Ling, whom Ji Ling (Long Shen) describes as a younger version of himself.
He was innocent, bright, and curious. We see this through his interactions with LWH and Chi Wen. He comes across as childish, and that was most likely intentional. We do not see the shift into a more stoic person until the loneliness and the weight of immortality truly set in.
Even then, he was still the same person inside. We see this in the moments when Li Jie and Lu Wu Yi break through Long Shen's stoic persona.
As for the plans, they were never really his ideas. He was largely following what Chi Wen had set in motion. In one of the flashbacks during the drought, he was crying to LWY and told her, “This was good enough for me,” and for once, a fox acted like the Dragon Deity.
That does not sound like someone who is highly calculating or exceptionally smart. It sounds more like someone struggling with deep insecurity and impostor syndrome.
I know I can't convince people when it comes to their favorite actors or actresses.
Keep that in mind when watching it explain ALOT about each characters
But as for Shi Guang and Ji Ling, I think some people are still confused about the message behind it.
In the show, the Dragon Deity is used as a title.
You have WSG, the rightful dragon who, due to his birth, is destined to achieve greatness.
Then you have Ji Ling, a nameless fox who was, by chance, saved by Chi Wen and, by circumstance, ate the Dragon Scale out of love for YWH, his “adopted brother.”
Throughout the story, you have a variety of characters trying to defy fate, whether because of love or obsession. Xiaowei, Wu Zhi Qi, Hanba, and ultimately Ji Ling and Lu Wu Yi are the most obvious examples.
The flashbacks, the slow motion, and the rewinding of time showcase the helplessness of trying to do the impossible and truly defy fate.
For Xiaowei, Wu Zhi Qi, and Hanba we see how their story end
As you can see, most of them actually fail. Even for LWY, though, she gets a happy yet bittersweet ending because of Ji Ling’s actions.
But the LWY who went through all the countless time loops and endless sacrifices never actually made it out. She died along with all those memories when Ji Ling when back in time and kill the queen and remove her from the timeline.
Even Ji Ling gets to reconnect with LWY in maybe another life or another timeline. But is she really his A’Wu if the time loop never existed and LWY never went through all the events of the original timeline?
The show and the story were never disconnected, if you look at it through this lens.
So we can assume he is not there. Does it truly matter what happened to him?
Not really, because without LWY, he would have died at some point.
and be consumed by Ji Can. But at the same time, we know it's serious enough that Ji Can send LWY back in time; we don't know how many times. to save him, so could he have died in that cave? sure. Could he have lived too? sure.
Even then, the timeloop still persists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smyjEePxg7A&list=OLAK5uy_kGCOlMt7nHyBID3iVONAMn5etetPptzso&index=25
here it is , after listing to the whole song it so GJM it kinda funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU5ZBiom1Cw&list=RDlU5ZBiom1Cw&start_radio=1