It is probably fairly obvious from my previous post that the drama veered off quite a bit from the novel so naturally, the ending in the drama is nothing like the ending in the novel.
• In the drama, our hero’s “father” was the big villain but in the novel, Wuji’s master, Lord Chang Qing was the villain. (Lord Chang Qing rules over the sect of Qing Chang as the spiritual leader of all the lands, so Lord Chang Qing, in essence, control the whole world.) Until his Master showed up towards the end of the novel, there really was no one that could go up against our hero. Like I mentioned in my other post, there was no one that could hurt or outsmart our hero in the novel. The biggest obstacle to our two leads’ relationship from beginning to end has always been one thing- our heroine’s desire to go home back to her own time, back to her dying mother.
• To realize her hope of time traveling back to her own time, Fuyao has been gathering special tokens from all over the land and finally has the chance to receive an audition with Lord Chang Qing…after she passes through a special test that could cost her life.
• Fuyao tries to ditch her friends so she could face the dangerous test alone but both of our male second leads end up finding her anyway. (Zhan Beiye and Pei Yuan who are both in love with our heroine.) So where is our hero? At this point, Fuyao finally figures out Wuji’s second identity that makes his title as the crown prince of Tian Quan seems insignificant- Lord Chang Qing’s favorite pupil… the one that is supposed to be the Qing Chang’s next leader. Knowing that the help Wuji has provided her thus far would already make him a traitor to Qing Chang, Fuyao sends our hero away and insists on making the rest of her journey without him.
• Trying hard to ignore the unsettled feeling growing in her as she watches Wuji ride away on his horse, Fuyao comforts herself by remembering Wuji’s assurance that he is his master’s favorite pupil so there is no way Lord Chang Qing would punish him very hard, if at all.
• Puzzled at first when she finds herself crying for no apparent reason when she spots a blood stain on a patch of snow, Fuyao becomes scared for Wuji’s safety once Yuan Bao (our hero’s pet) screams with grief. (Yuan Bao is connected telepathically to our hero, so when he would’ve rushed off to his master, Wuji ordered Yuan Bao to not only stay by Fuyao’s side but to keep her from finding him.)
• Due to Lord Chang Qing’s determination to kill our heroine in the “test”, Fuyao and friends had several close calls and only manages to narrowly pass the test. However, during the test, Fuyao was able to see a vision of Wuji and saw with her own eyes how his limbs are pierced through by chains, imprisoning him in an ice cave. Her heart breaking at the sight of Wuji dying, Fuyao runs towards the vision of Wuji while yelling his name.
• Time to explain why Lord Chang Qing was so set on killing Fuyao. Our heroine was a lotus that had been nurtured carefully by First Lord of Chang Qing. The lotus was so precious to the First Lord of Chang Qing that he nurtured it with his own energy until the flower finally developed a consciousness. Because of the lotus, the First Lord of Chang Qing ended up fighting against the whole Chang Qing sect (yap, the one HE created) and forcefully rip the fabric of time in order to send the lotus into the modern time so she would be safe. (That’s why our heroine was from the modern time in the novel.) To the sect of Chang Qing, the lotus (Fuyao) was the evil thing that caused the downfall of their greatest leader so it is the mission of every subsequent Lord Chang Qing to make sure that if the lotus ever shows up again, it would be destroyed before it could take down their next great leader. (Interestingly, the First Lord of Chang Qing had no expectations that his reincarnated self would continue his story with his precious lotus. He just wanted his precious lotus to have a blissful existence so the decision was completely up to our two leads if they would fall in love with each other or not. We know this because later on, the First Lord of Chang Qing didn’t choose to pass on his own memories (thus his feelings towards the lotus) to Wuji so our hero is free to make his own decisions.)
• Wuji’s master had placed great expectations on our hero because Wuji is actually the reincarnation of the First Lord of Chang Qing. Yap, the same one that started this whole thing. Hoping that pushing Wuji to the brink of death would force him to give up on Fuyao, Lord Chang Qing ends up being the one to give up on his pupil when it becomes obvious that Wuji is just as stubborn as the First Lord of Chang Qing. Here is an interesting conversation between our hero and his master:
As the chains were raised up, Wuji lets out a long breath and “slowly comes to.”
Seemingly not surprised to see Lord of Chang Qing, Wuji mutters “Master…”
After a long moment of silence, Lord Chang Qing asks “Afer suffering so much…are your thoughts clearer?”
Not answering until an expression of anger flashes across his master’s eyes, Wuji asks instead “Master…are you taking care of yourself? Your face…looks kind of pale…”
Visibly moved by Wuji’s question for a brief moment, Lord Chang Qing returns back to his cool manner and answers “I am fine. You better think this through. Once you are the new Lord Chang Qing, then no one can treat you like this anymore. Kill or be killed. Don’t you understand?”
Smiling weakly, Wuji changes the subject “Master…she is following all the protocols to come up to make a request. Why…do you insist on killing her?”
“What a stupid question!” A furious Lord Chang Qing yells “That woman is a demon! She was born to make trouble for Chang Qing. We are charged with the duty to protect this world so how could we allow such a creature to live?!”
“Demon…” With a low laugh, Wuji asks “But…what if she just wants to leave? Since she wants to leave anyway, why not just let her go?”
Unmoved, Lord Chang Qing replies “You can keep staying here then. But nothing will change the result. Tomorrow I will announce my decision. If she dies in the test then I will free you and you are still the chosen heir. But if she survives then you will be killed. You will never be with her in this life.”
Giving his master another gentle smile, Wuji says “I never…dared to hope that I would be able to be with her in this life anyway.”
Puzzled by Wuji’s tone that is strangely devoid of resentment or regret, Lord Chang Qing leaves in a huff “You should just pray that she dies in the test.”
• A brief explanation on why the author used a quotation mark around the wording “slowly comes to” when describing Wuji. Unsettled even though Wuji had all his power taken away by his master, his body badly hurt, imprisoned in an ice cave that most wouldn’t be able to physically handle even for a short time, there were still a few in the Chang Qing sect that wants to kill our hero especially knowing that Lord Chang Qing is really hoping his pupil would still be the next heir. When Lord Chang Qing pays Wuji a visit, he became furious when he saw a giant eagle belonging to a senior member in Chang Qing standing right on top of Wuji’s chest. Knowing full well that Wuji’s weakened body could very well die just from the prolonged pressure from the giant eagle standing on his chest, Lord Chang Qing rescues an already “unconscious” Wuji from the bird. So why all the quotation marks? Because our hero was never in danger from the bird. Quite impatient to just stand on a human, the ferocious bird was quite tempted to kill Wuji…that is until our hero opened his eyes and the giant eagle was promptly intimidated into meekly covering our hero with its body for warmth. Horrified by Lord Chang Qing’s surprise visit, the eagle’s owner had silently commanded the eagle to leave but the intimidated bird instead did our hero’s bidding and obediently resumed its position on Wuji’s chest so when Lord Chang Qing walks in, it would look like his “poor pupil” was close to death.
• Giving up hope on Wuji, Lord Chang Qing decides to make our hero’s “nemesis” Tai Yan his heir. Immensely pleased with Tai Yan when she reports that she had personally killed Fuyao and hands him what supposedly contained our heroine’s life energy, an overjoyed Lord Chang Qing promptly decides to reward Tai Yan by transferring Wuji’s power over to her. Smiling with mild amusement as he looks over Tai Yan’s memories which are filled with youthful attempts to compete with our hero (I guess the whole power transfer things opens up Tai Yan’s mind to him), Lord Chang Qing shakes his head and thought “Why is it all about Wuji?” Tai Yan leaving Chang Qing to chase after Wuji…she stabbed him with her sword…the late night whisperings between Wuji and her…her kneeling in the ice cave caring for his wounds…her sobbing in her room in secret…wiping away her tears and show everyone a smiling face as she tortures Wuji.
Belatedly realizing that he had been tricked all along, Lord Chang Qing tries to cut off the transferring of energy to Tai Yan but by then, it is too late. The energy Lord Chang Qing took into his body that was supposedly Fuyao’s was of course not our heroine’s but was from another source that would ensure Lord Chang Qing’s downfall.
• Greedy for control over everyone in Chang Qing, Wuji’s master has made sure every member of Chang Qing had a Datura (a poisonous flower, but we are obviously not talking about an actual flower here, but a seal in the shape of the vein flower) implanted as part of their energy so he can sap all of their power at will. Unwilling to be controlled by his master, Wuji had been planning for a LONG time to free himself and Tai Yan was always an important part of his plan. For years, everyone in Chang Qing had thought Tai Yan is Wuji’s nemesis but of course, Tai Yan was always secretly working with our hero and creating the necessary distractions to allow our hero to put his plan in place while keeping Fuyao off his master’s radar.
• Wuji finally kills Lord Chang Qing but it was at a steep cost to himself and was only conscious long enough to thank Tai Yan for everything she has done over the years and plea with her to help Fuyao now that she is the new Lord Chang Qing. Holding a dying Wuji in her arms, Tai Yan comes to the realization that as much as she wants to live the thing she wants more than life itself is to have Wuji stay alive. Transferring everything she just received from Wuji’s master over to our hero, Tai Yan dies as she listens to the glorious music of Wuji’s beating heart. Tai Yan is such a memorable tragic character. In the novel, Wuji was imprisoned for 9 months so Tai Yan suffered 9 months of hell where she had to pretend to take joy in torturing Wuji by day and sob out her pain by night in secret. Tai Yan is also the one Wuji send to protect Fuyao whenever she can get away without arousing suspicion.
• With Wuji as the new Lord Chang Qing, of course everything was solved in an instant…at least when it comes to Chang Qing.
• Sneaking into the Chang Qing’s temple after giving herself to Wuji just hours before, Fuyao is moved to tears to find Wuji already there waiting for her knowing full well that their night of passion was Fuyao’s way of saying goodbye. Finally back to her own time and her dying mother’s side thanks to Wuji, Fuyao misses Wuji terribly and becomes frantic once she finds out from a mysterious stranger that Wuji will die in three days time if she doesn’t go back to him. Horrified by her sense of disappointment when she goes back to the hospital to find her mother actually looking healthier, Fuyao is overwhelmed with guilt. Driven almost to breaking point by her guilt, Fuyao finally decides that she will stay by her mother’s side for however long her mother still has left then kill herself afterward in hopes that her spirit will have a chance to be reunited with Wuji.
• Recognizing her daughter even if she is in another person’s body, Fuyao’s mother drugs Fuyao then tell her “Who else but my daughter would have such vibrant eyes? Such a shame I can’t wake you up and see those eyes again. Fuyao, I miss you so much but I can’t tell you either that I know who you are.” If she admits that she knows then she can’t do what she is about to do. She can’t make Fuyao live the rest of her life in remorse.
“You are having a hard time right? I am the reason you are having a hard time. Fuyao….you are truly such a kind-hearted child. Go, go where you want to go and do what you want to do.” Gently caressing Fuyao’s hair, Fuyao’s mother smiles “I saw your happiness. I saw the man who devotes his whole being to loving you. What more can a mother ask?” Death is just a long slumber. Now that she knows her daughter is happy she can finally close her eyes in peace. Placing a gentle kiss on Fuyao’s face, Fuyao’s mother whispers “Go…I love you. Forever.”
• Fuyao’s mother turns off her oxygen and dies. After burying her mother, Fuyao also kills herself…which was the way she could go back to Wuji according to the mysterious stranger. Fuyao does make it back to our hero in time and we get our happy ending…at least for our two leads. All the male second leads (all were kings) were in love with Fuyao and they all died refusing to make anyone their queen. (I REALLY like the fact that the drama changed this particular part of the novel.)
I can’t say I was all that impressed with the novel’s ending. I liked the part where our hero outsmarted his master but the author kinda overdid it with the tragic self-sacrifice thing (as this particular author is wont to do throughout the story) that it really overshadowed Fuayo and Wuji’s happy ending. I would’ve been plenty happy if the novel ended with the mother-daughter being able to reunite in a dream instead of the somewhat awkward way of getting our heroine back to her time THEN back to our hero again. All in all, there were some parts of the novel I liked more than the drama but the drama did quite a bit to fix the parts of the novel I didn’t care for as well.
Oh, one more thing I want to mention. In the novel, Fuyao’s mother was a lowly palace maid and was forced to hide Fuyao when she found out she had been impregnated by the emperor…especially knowing that if the empress (who was prone to jealous rage) was to find out, then both herself and her daughter would be killed in the cruelest way. Spending the first few years of her childhood locked away in her mother’s closet so no one would know of her existence, Fuyao meets young Wuji by chance. Promising to take Fuyao away with him, young Wuji ended up regretting for the rest of his life after he chose to go back to Chang Qing for a short period of time instead of whisking Fuyao off right then. (To be fair, young Wuji was trying to figure out a way to take Fuayo back.) Mistakenly believing Fo Lian to be the little girl he met, Wuji pushed for his marriage with the princess. However, by the time Wuji meets Fuyao again, he has already figured out that Fo Lian cannot be the little girl he had met in the palace and had the engagement broken off.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Oh no, that’s horrible, thank goodness the drama didn’t have any kind of obsessed second male lead storyline. Has the author ever disclosed why the second male leads stories ended this way? I just want to know, what’s the logic behind it. As you rightfully point out, this twist of events undermines Wuji and Fuyao’s happy ending.
Thank you for all the novel/drama comparisons.
So, it was love at first sight for Zhan Beiye and there really was no going back after that. As for the doctor, well, his story is a bit more involved. Pei Yuan was actually involved in Fuyao’s mother’s death (It was a really cruel death where our young heroine was forced to watch. The trauma caused our heroine to block out the memories) so while he loves Fuyao but he also feels like he has no right. I think some authors just like to create heroes/heroines where everyone they meet falls in love with them.
The novels ending is so much better than the dramas ending…What r ur thoughts on the dramas ending? Any explanations for this dissapointed fan?
The drama really diverged from the novel very early on, so while it did use some elements of the novel’s ending (ie. our hero being tied to an ice block, a faithful friend of our heroine dying to give her time to get away) it was obviously nothing like how the novel ended. To be honest, I am at a loss what to think about the drama’s ending. Part of me thinks I should treat the drama like a completely different story from the novel but then the show does use a lot of stuff from the novel so it is difficult to not compare the two. For example, Xiao Qi’s death is really sad in the show but I thought the novel did a much better set up. In the novel, our heroine had a not so faithful follower who tends to abandon her at the first sign of trouble then promptly promise that he would never do so again AFTER the danger is past… This particular not so faithful follower ended up keeping his promise to our heroine at the end of the novel so while his death was really sad but it was kinda cool in a way too.
To answer your question, I was okay with the ending but there were certainly parts of the novel I wish the show had used. So what parts of the ending were disappointing to you?
I don’t even understand the drama ending. Are they dead? In heaven? What did he engrave?
Yes i too do not get the ending. Are they both dead or still alive in the firmament?
I missed the engraved part as well. My best guess is that I think Wuji had engraved something in the leaf necklace he gave to Fuyao. When Wuji gave the necklace to our heroine, he had made a reference about it I believe but don’t quote me on this one.
As for them being alive or dead, the answer is pretty certain that they are both alive. I think Wuji’s little love speech confused people with its talks of mortal worlds and hell. However, all that was just Wuji waxing poetic about nothing can stop him from being with Fuyao. If one takes Fuyao’s question to Wuji about his willingness to still be with her in a world filled with chaos, we could even summarize that our leads are talking about ruling their respective kingdoms together…which is what happened in the novel.
In truth, the show’s ending really didn’t make a whole lot of sense even from the show’s own logic. The show made a big deal that Wuji is the ONLY person that can kill Fuyao…but that part never came up since our hero was tied to the ice block most of the last episode and by the time the demon came out, he was beaten up so bad I am not sure he could’ve killed her even if he wanted to. I think what the show was trying to say at the end is that Fuyao’s love for Wuji was what gave her enough strength to fight the demon’s possession of her body and eventually gave her enough power to “kill” the demon by stabbing herself.
So, yap, thay are still alive and well…even according to the Chinese version of wiki sites.
I just read the introduction to the novel and it is the exact words that Wuji recited at the end there on the red bridge. Also, in the new drama, rise of phoenixes, it’s indicative that the heroine is a descendant of Fuyao. I also believe they are alive, but that mumbo jumbo Wuji was going on and on about at the end there did confuse a lot of people. Lol
I have been dying to read an English translation of the novel but as of yet one doesn’t exist. There is a very beautiful & poetic translation up to Chapter 20, volume 2 by trackest.
Have you read any of her translation? I was wondering if the novel was written as beautifully as her translation is.
What really feeds my satisfaction & curiousity is the novel summary here.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I just checked out the Fuyao translation on the site you suggested. It is indeed an excellent translation…enough to make me feel like I really should leave the novel translation to the professional. 🙂 Anyhow, to answer your question, the translation is really close to what is in the novel, so yes, the novel is quite beautifully written…but then, most historical C-novel is. Chinese novel usually employs a lot of imagery and awesome poetry like descriptions…which makes translating them REALLY difficult and that’s why I skipped out by doing the novel summary, wisely leaving the actual translation to those much smarter than myself.
One really important discovery for me is that not all translations are equal. I’ve been paying dramafever,com $4.99/mo to watch Blossoms & Fu Yao.
I stumbled across one of my fave Fu Yao scenes on Youtube & the translation was different. I don’t have the money for viki.com but I am amazed!!! They included maybe 40% more translations than dramfever….. There are lines of dialogue spoken by our H/h that they didn’t translate. They translated background conversations, signs, songs, and included extra explanations of idioms in parenthesis where needed. I’m just going to have to sit thru the ads.
Ninja – if you know of other places to watch Chinese dramas that have outstanding subtitles, pls let me know.
Grumpy & robbed!
Ahh…that’s too bad about the translation differences. I guess you will have to sit through the ads. The ads are painfully many in numbers though. I think they try to make it so bad that you are then willing to hand over whatever they charge just to end the torture. Sorry, I don’t know any other big sites that do subs for C-dramas. I am secretly hoping Netflix will join the party…
Thank for this!
TBH FuYao lost me early on. I watched some 20 odd episodes before I got tired of the heroine acting naive and getting kidnapped, stabbed, poisoned by all & sundry every few seconds. Didn’t she get some great martial arts skills? How did she end up being such an airhead all the time?
Because of FuYao I watched the other Legend story with great trepidition. But was in this case pleasently surprised. For a web series, the episodes were long but interesting…then came the ending and I wanted to smash something in the nearest wall! Thabkfully I’d already found an awesome translation of the book on the web by then….it is still getting translated but around 550+ translated chapters are already published.
After reading it I wondered if the lead characters and even some of the side ones, of the drama had gotten a chance to play the charcteristics of their respective novel counterpart, this drama would have been phenomenal!
If I may be bold enough to ask….can you do the same for Legend of Yun Xi that you did just now for Legened of Fu Yao….the ending comparison?
Where, where, where are the 550+ translated chapters posted?
Please share asap!!!
Thank you!
What is the other “Legend …” web series/drama (?) being referred to in the prior message?
The other Legend series is the Legend of Yun Xi that just ended its 48 episode run!
It is seemingly based on a book called Poison Genius Consort (PGC) which ‘m currently reading on volarenovels. I’m not aware of the policy of sharing external links here so m not sharing that.
Hope this helps.
I missed the Legend of Yuan Xi when it came out for some reason…and now that I know about the ending…then there is no reason for me to go check it out now. I did peak at the novel it was based on and unfortunately, the novel’s style wasn’t the type that could keep my interest. Still, I did skip to the end to read the ending for your sake. So, the show made quite a few changes to the story. For example, our heroine time traveled from the modern world in the novel, Bai Yang Qing is NOT our heroine’s father in the novel but the big villain who tried to trick our heroine into believing he is her father, Gu Qi Shao is actually fairly chummy with our hero in the novel so no fighting over our heroine there, Gu Bei Yue didn’t die in the novel either. I am not quite sure why the show chose to go the tragic route for the ending because the novel definitely ended happily. In the novel, the big villain (Bai Yang Qing) kidnaps our pregnant heroine but thanks to quick thinking on our heroine’s part, our hero eventually finds her. A big fight ensues then the heroine’s mysterious and VERY powerful father shows up. (The real father actually came from another realm.) Thanks to our heroine’s father, the big villain is easily disposed of after our hero gets a beating from his father-in-law. (The author did make it pretty obvious that out two lead could have taken care of the villains themselves but this way, some birth secrets can be explained.) Our hero goes back to rule over his kingdom while our heroine is of course his queen. I guess the show didn’t like the novel’s super happy ending and decided to go the other way to the extreme.
Thank you so so much! I’m eternally grateful! I would have committed some seious harikiri if even the novel had gone off road after setting the two up so brilliantly!
I don’t understand why they decide to adapt novels into books if they can’t stick to it? Why don’t they simply create their own stories and save us the heartburn!!
But thank you once again!
Hi … can you share the link to the book translation to English ? Appreciate if you could . Thanks
Ninja-Reflection, thank you! Now, I can sleep peacefully tonight knowing the true ending/true story.
Thank you again for doing this. I don’t know how you get the time but I’m forever grateful. Now my question is, I hear in the novel they have triplets. Is this true? Any chance of a translation of the time after the big fight?
Sorry, no plans on translating that part (it’s not really part of the story, especially since the author comes right out and said it was more just her having fun.) However, here is a general summary: After Fuya comes back to her body from her own time, much to her dismay she discovers that she is not only VERY pregnant but it is almost time to deliver. Quite frustrated to skip right from being a single lady to now a pregnant mother who is about to pop, our heroine has a little crisis but was of course soon soothed by our hero. The BIG day finally comes and Fuya ends up delivering triplet consisting of two boys and one girl. Outwardly looking calm but his true emotion belied by the fact he tripped twice while making his way to Fuya, our hero is overwhelmed once he realized Fuya has given them THREE babies at once. (Immortals usually have a very difficult time having kids so this was a miracle and our heroine now has the collective admiration of the court officials.) The little princess is a daddy’s girl right from birth. Watching her daughter who is only a perfect angle to her father, Fuya shakes her head as she watches our hero sits holding his sleeping daughter two hours at a time simply because any sign of him leaving makes his little girl pout in distress. As for the two other babies? One is a big strapping lad who gets in trouble wherever he goes. With a daughter being a daddy’s girl and a troublemaker son, Fuya takes great comfort in her remaining son who seems to be gentle and innocent…that is until one day she watches this son wiggles out of his dirty diaper, wipes his bum on the sheets until he is clean then rolls away…then watches as her sleeping troublemaker son roll and plants his face right into what her other son had left behind. Crying flood of tears inside, Fuya asks “Why has none of my children inherit my bright, merciful, kind, saint-like personality?!”
That just made my day. Thank you
I prefer the drama over the book coz the author gave the ML intelligence over the top but in the drama he seems more human than god. But I also hate some part of the drama especially the FL and someone already pointed it out. The ending of the drama seems so abrupt. On the last episode, some scenes seems so long. They should spend those time to explain more to tie all the loose ends but not the last five minutes to listen to Wuji reciting a poem and give us a suspenseful ending. Thank you, Ninja for translating the ending of the book so at least we can have some closure.