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Xin Mei jumped straight from Stage 1 to Stage 4: Nascent Soul after being enlightened impromptu WHILE mid-battle and arguing. What a Queen. 👑
There are eight cultivation stages before ascension: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deification, Void Refinement, Integration, and Mahayana with substages from Early, Mid, Late, to Peak. All completed within the mortal realm and progress happens through enlightenment. At EP4, Xin Mei's peak cultivation was revealed. When Time reversed, she fearlessly said that at 20, she reached the Peak of Golden Core Cultivation (Stage 3) not once nor twice, but three separate times. Yet she chose to stand at Qi Condensation stage. Not because she couldn't advance. Because she disagreed with the moral disciplines she was taught. She is a genius. She can easily move to a different threshold. But just like Lu Qian Qiao who wants to be human despite his power, she chose not to.
All her questions, all the debates she made, was her confessing she just refuse to take the side of cultivators who struggle to become powerful through blind eyes and detachment hiding away at the skirts of their sect masters. Their cultivation stages take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to finish. They claim it's to protect the weak mortals. But mortals live less than a hundred years. Isn't it contradictory to make a rule of not meddling in mortal affairs when cultivation itself relies on enlightenment from the mortal realm and its affairs?
XM's one of those FL that is a tough one to crack with her conviction, courage, and the ability to change the people around her. She is a junior in cultivation, but more powerful than anyone in morals. She confronted her simple-minded colleagues and started a moving debate about the consequences of the Immortal Pills. She dared to take responsibility for the corrupt officials she killed. She was never afraid to die fighting off cultivators who don't have their own guts or brain to think, those who just follow whatever their master spouts, bullying whoever stands below them.
XM is also comparable to Xia Xuan Zi when it comes to taking scores even to the smallest grievances. And even more so if good deeds and care are given to her. She fed a strange child everyday for two months, left to do her tasks, but decided to find her again to adopt her as a sister. Now that said adopted sister has killed a Void Stage cultivator. She even gave LQQ's adopted children a new home. Who knows what those children she gave kindness to will become in the future. And the humans she protected and helped travel towards a library full of real knowledge, to which if they succeed then the mortal realm's future where she wants to live with her lover will continue moving towards progress. She's productively investing in her own future.
You know that her gaining more enemies and getting bedridden for days is not entirely her fault. LQQ protecting her is also his choice, not hers, a way of taking responsibility since afterall, it was the injustice he faced that made her fearless to kill and fight to the death back then. Her badass fights from earlier eps was a core memory that a lot of viewers loved including me as well. But remember: when she found out LQQ's fake death and felt betrayed, she said she yield against the unjust rules and promised to never overstep again. If LQQ had not removed her memories, she could have finally reached the Golden Core threshold again but at the cost of her morals. And the plot of this drama might have turned in a completely different direction. What use is her good fighting scenes if you sacrifice good character arc for it? Besides, we'll probably get both soon.
I've seen people say XM feels "weaker" now or that her fighting spirit is gone. But here's the thing: those fights from early episodes? That was her at Qi Condensation, the lowest stage, taking down cultivators way above her level. Imagine what happens when she actually advances. And guess what? The preview for next episode shows she might reach another cultivation threshold. You know what that means. Golden Core XM? Nascent Soul XM? Don't lose faith in our girl.
PS: This was longer than I expected it to. I wrote this to state my standing, not to fight anyone.
She's trapped between two shameless people who have mastered the art of pretending to be injured/weak/dying because they know she'll drop everything for them. Every. Single. Time.
Meanwhile, all she wants is to go back to Wei County. Live near her friends and neighbors. Breathe, admire one painting, eat burnt flat breads and bitter medicines made by her lover...
But with two people who are totally bonkers for her?
Yeah. That plan's not happening anytime soon. 😭
Question: Why are the most obsessive ones always the most pathetic? Because it keeps working on her and I can't even blame her. 💀
BTW Zi Xuan is going to get a reunion with the Demon King from DOTWS whom was played by Liu Xue Yi cause he'd be the guest role 'Yuan Zhong' in this drama ~ 🥰 I am excited and hope to see some bloopers!
I seriously loved the novel for this, and I first noticed the changes made I honestly thought I'd drop soon. The drama still keeps me invested in its own and we're already past half of 40 eps yet I still haven't found a single thing to dislike. I wish the momentum and consistency remains the same till the end.
XM lost all of her family members, at first I thought it was 'time' or 'old age' that took them away from her, but War Demons actually played a part. Biological family or not, its clear XM remembers and still love those who treat her as family, despite them leaving first. I'm sure she already feel the same for LQQ. I can't wait for their reunion. 🥺
Their acting in the recent episodes are indeed PEAK.
He can feel. You listed solid examples. But here's the distinction I was trying to make:
He can feel for others. But he struggles to feel with himself. Especially in moments of personal emotional confrontation. He can empathize with others' suffering (letting her stab him, Wei county, Tai Yi, the pill's bloodshed). But when his own heart is on the line? With XM the one person he connects with through the spiritual sea? He shuts down.
For me, XM is like him. Both of them still don't know what they truly desire. Both are still lost on whether their path is right. That's why she kept questioning others, and why he found it so hard to just be honest. Until they met each other which made his will to be human stronger. And her still trying to make sense of the rules and expectations of everyone around her.
So instead of a blank canvas. Maybe a better metaphor is: He's a painter who can color everyone else's world but stares at his own canvas and sees nothing.
That's why he erased her memories. Not because he's emotionless. But because facing her pain, which he caused, was something he had no tools to handle.
He can draw without colors. But what meaning does it have if the one who should appreciate it, like XM, wishes to see it with colors? And he can't do anything about it?
For him, that's probably the part he hates the most about himself. Not the emptiness. But the powerlessness that comes with it.
Does that make more sense?
Genuinely appreciate your reply. It made me think deeper about him. 💙
When LQQ argued with XM, he only kept on asking what she wanted him to do. Because he couldn't say what he was feeling. How can he when his own emotions are strangers to him?
And when he walked away, his eyes clearly in disarray, he couldn't cry. Not from strength. From powerlessness.
He's a painter who can color everyone else's world but stares at his own canvas and sees nothing.
He erased her memories partly to hide his identity. Yes. But also? To avoid this exact situation. Him standing there, useless, while her emotions crash against his hollow chest. Unable to explain. Unable to empathize. Unable to be what she needs. Powerless.
He can draw without colors. But what meaning does it have if XM wishes to see it with colors and he can't do anything about it?
That's what he hates most about himself.
He left because he knew he could never give her the explanation or empathy or colors she wanted. Allowing her to stab him, might be his only way to let her know he wanted to be in pain like her, to console her.
And somehow that's more heartbreaking than any scream or tear.
💙 Updated (grateful and credit to the replies below.)
I see that you're still active on the comment section! I remember checking almost all links you share which has some fun clips from the cast. 😊
I just checked the page and it's so sad the MDL ratings decreased, I hope it doesn't decrease any more. Ratings on douban are the same, as I heared, it decreased a lot. There are mixed reviews but the fan wars happening, and also those not supporting the director might be the real cause.
Do you think the news about the second season is true?
But the character she will play here is the total opposite of kind and have a very emotional persona. I have not seen her in other dramas so it would be a new role of her for me to see her as kind of evil(if they follow the novel). Forget the others, I could tune in this drama just for her. 🌹
Knowing drama adaptations, its unpredictable when adapting from novel to the screen. Take this with a grain of salt.
Ohh I've seen VOS and I enjoyed the chemistry in that one as well. I even made a review! ❤ I also hope the chemistry between RJL and WHR surprises me. 🔥