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Thanks guys! Wanted to try and make it more coherent without spoiling too much beyond stuff that's covered in the first episode or two. Hopefully it's a little easier to follow now.

It finally got approved! Thank you for noticing and commenting. I'd given up checking on it ^^

That scene (showing XL's anger) isn't in the novel. So we can't use the description of that scene in the novel to help interpret the same scene in the drama. But we can still make inferences. I think he was upset for a few reasons.

As you said, XY had lied to him. How? First, she insisted she was a man and that her WQL form was her true form. XL already knew XY was lying about both of those things, so I don't think he was too upset about that part. Second, XY told XL that she was an abandoned person with no means to protect herself, nowhere to go and no one to rely on. If XL allowed it, she wanted to be WQL for the rest of her life. XL was deeply affected by those words (the novel really emphasizes this in XL's epilogue), and they likely played a very big role in XL falling for XY. But when XL learns that WQL is XY, eldest Princess of Gao Xing who will be publicly presented to the world in an elaborate ceremony, all of that appears to be a lie. The grandness of the ceremony is the Emperor's way of showing that he cares about and values XY. And it's known that CX had been looking for her for centuries. So she is not an abandoned person. She has all the power of Gao Xing to protect her, she has a place (a palace!) to go to, and a father and brother-cousin to rely on.

As Kokuto pointed out, it turns out that she is also the granddaughter of his greatest enemy, the Emperor who defeated Chenrong and who he and Hong Jiang have been fighting against for centuries. She is also CX's sister-cousin, and he recently tried to assassinate XL. Meaning that, by association, she is his enemy, and also definitely not someone he could have a relationship with. To add salt to the wound, she lied to him about how she recognized CX and why she saved his life / prevented XL from killing him.

XL fell for XY, opened up to XY (he talked about things with her that he likely had never confided in anyone else, such as his feelings about Hong Jiang's cause or people finding him strange, and did things things with her that he likely never did with any one else, such as taking her to admire the beauty of the moon), and agreed to accept her poisonous bug into his heart (tying his life and his heart to her forever). But in that moment it seems to him like it was all built on a mountain of lies.

Oh yes, she was definitely testing / playing in that first instance. There's always a fine line between saying someone could have avoided something terrible that was perpetrated against them (getting flogged by XL's men / getting tricked and drugged by one's grandmother...). XY had been warned that XL was ruthless. If she'd used that information and not tried to play with / test XL, she might have avoided one of her floggings. But I don't ascribe blame to her for the extra flogging, and I think in the long run being herself probably helped her standing in XL's eyes. By the end of their first encounter (when TSJ is about to take her away) she's already starting to make him have to hide it when she amuses him.

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Xiang Liu kept staring at Shi Qi and Xiao Liu got nervous and actually grabbed Shi Qi’s face like a child would and yelled “Don’t you get any ideas about him. He’s mine.”

Xiang Liu was startled and was about to smile but stopped himself. He coughed a few times. “After investigating and confirming you are a citizen of Qing Shui Town and not a threat to the Sheng Nong army, you are free to leave.”

Kokuto summed it up well. The novel doesn't frame the information about the bug in the same way. In the drama, XL visits an old man who explains the bugs to him. In the novel that scene doesn't happen. XL already knows about the bugs (the novel doesn't explain how) and XY learns a little bit about the bugs much later in the story. XL isn't told by an old man that the bug requires his heart, and no one emphasizes to him that he has nine heads but only one heart. So I'm afraid I can't give you more details about that line in the drama based on content from the novel.

In the novel, the person who comes closest to saying that line is XY. When she feels heartache, she wonders how it affects XL. Because he has nine heads, she thinks he probably only feels 1/9th of her pain through the connection. But she wonders, since he only has one heart, if XL might feel 100% of her heartache.

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Xiao Yao said “I suddenly remembered the voodoo bug I planted in Xiang Liu. My body’s pain, he has to feel all of it. But what about my heartache? Does he also need to endure it? He said he has nine bodies so my pain isn’t too much for him to endure. But what about the heart? He only has one heart!”

As much as XY and XL definitely do play and test boundaries, I do think XY was 100% serious in that moment. XY has a very good reason for her condition (she doesn't want to agree to help XL harm anyone from Xuan Yuan or Haoling / Gao Xing, including ZX and her father) and is genuinely willing to die if XL is not willing to allow her that condition.

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Another twenty lashes were delivered and Xiao Liu’s entire back was covered in blood and he was in excruciating pain. Xiang Liu coldly looked at him and asked “Any more conditions?”

Xiao Liu was covered in sweat and his mouth was bleeding so he couldn’t say a full sentence “You…….can kill me, but I……..still…….have one condition.” Xiang Liu smiled with a corner of his mouth and said “Say it!”

“I….I won’t leave Qing Shui Town.” Xiao Liu understood that Xiang Liu was interested in his ability to make poison and as long as he didn’t leave Qing Shui Town then Xiang Liu couldn’t send him to kill the Xuan Yuan generals and officers. Nor could he send him to kill Gao Xing nobles and royals. Xiang Liu seemed to understand Xiao Liu’s thinking and just stared at him without any expression.

Xiao Liu had been acting a coward this entire time but this time he didn’t back down and looked at Xiang Liu straight back. The meaning was clear, if he didn’t agree then kill him now. After a moment, Xiang Liu said “Fine!”

This is another reason for you to read the novel. They cut out some scenes where XY bonds with RS when she is still in her WQL form, and then RS is weirded out later when she is in her XY form and acts friendly towards him.

Those scenes killed me because... well you know why. But I feel like you would enjoy them.

In chapter 2 and chapter 24, XY says XL uses the poisons she makes for him to train. They make him stronger. The fact that his body dissolves into massively toxic and destructive black blood after he dies... I don't think that was his reason for ingesting all those poisons. But I could be wrong. The novel doesn't specify one way or the other.

XL knows (or at least is very certain) that XY is a woman from the moment he first meets her, because of how she lured out Fei Fei. The drama confirms that by including a voice-over that shows XL's thoughts. He finds it interesting that XY is hiding the fact that she is a woman and that TSJ is hiding the fact that he is a high-ranking / powerful deity. We find out in the novel that XL had actually done business with TSJ for hundreds of years before TSJ disappeared, so XL recognizes him and seems to be very curious about why he's dressed so humbly, using a different name and acting as XY's servant.

XY knew she was trespassing on the Sheng Nong remnant army's territory. And her appearance was disguised. XL knew XY's appearance was a disguise but she refused to tell him her real identity. Based on all of that (plus the fact that she poisoned XL's condor and tried to poison XL), XY fully expected XL to execute her on suspicion of being a spy (a reasonable suspicion, since Xuan sends spies to try to kill XL). But XL decides to spare her life after she makes her speech about being an abandoned person. Getting whipped until she agrees to serve XL is a much lighter consequence than XY expects. It also sets up a moment where XY shows her strength of character by insisting on a condition (and being willing to die if XL won't agree to it). XL seems to respect her for it, and actually backs down and agrees to her condition. There's a lot going on in those short scenes!

Yes, that scene is in chapter 23 of the novel and certain details are spelled out a bit more clearly, and then we get XL's thoughts on giving TSJ to XY in the epilogue. We also see XL do more things to ensure they (TSJ and XY) can be together in the chapters in between.

Yes, it's definitely tragic.

In that scene that you mentioned, XL was not actually angry. He was putting on a show because: (1) he saw TSJ behind XY; and (2) XY was getting too close to him. He used false anger to prompt TSJ to step forward and to scare XY back towards TSJ. It works, and XY runs away with TSJ, leaving XL behind.

At this point in the narrative, the things XL plans to give XY before he dies (e.g., archery as a means to protect herself) include TSJ (a man she can rely on for her whole life). It was a selfless moment. Not a moment where he failed to control his anger.

The characters' words in the novel should definitely never be taken at face value. I felt like XY did believe him when XL kept pretending everything was a transaction to him. He was so consistent about constructing that narrative and insisting that was the nature of their relationship. And she definitely didn't know about him saving her life a second time or using a life to sever the poisonous bug connection between them.

But I can see what you're saying, perhaps she knew better and was frustrated with the pretence and his decision to maintain it even in death. Both options are so deeply tragic in different ways.

If I'm not mistaken, users can only post emojis when they use MDL on their phones. I have an emoji extension in my browser but it doesn't work on MDL.

The romance is not resolved in part one. If the drama follows the novel, XY will end up with TSJ in part two.

The novel's title is "Eternally Yearning for You" and Part 1 of the novel is called "Lost You Forever".

Part 2 (chapters 18 - 33) is called "Telling of a Sorrowful Love". Part 3 (chapters 34-51) is called "Missing You Without End". And XL's epilogue is called "Wishing You a Life of Worry-Free Happiness".

The author refers to CX (ZX in the novel) and XY as the ML and FL.

XY never has romantic feelings for ZX, but he has romantic feelings for her. Because of his own actions, ZX ultimately loses XY forever.

The title refers to CX losing XY.

At the end of the novel, XY remembers XL but she is not aware of most of his sacrifices and she believes that the things that XL did that she is aware of were things he did as part of deals to get a benefit (e.g., he saved her life in order to get a mountain peak from CX for the benefit of his fellow soldiers as their resting place) rather than things he did because he loved / cared about her.

If you see references to XY's memories of XL being erased, they are referring to the memories that she had saved in her mirror.

I wonder if at least one of those episodes might be an adaptation of the epilogue, which is from XL's POV right before his final battle. It shows him carving and sending off the big-bellied laughing doll and some similarly heart-wrenching content.

The romance is not concluded by the end of episode 39 (the end of part one).

If part two follows the novel (and most of us expect that it will), then XY will be with TSJ in the end.

Congrats on being comment #35,000 :)

In the novel, XY only ever loves ZX as a brother. Her feelings do not turn romantic.

This is comment 34,999 if you'd like to add #35,000.