He realized that, in this person's eyes, he was ultimately no better than those ordinary people of the same race.
But after the initial heartbreak, he felt no hatred towards the innocent bystander, only reluctance and regret for the person before him.
After the sealing ceremony was completed, his last words to Chi Yu were, "When I break the seal, I will come to find you..."
"To find you, and to be with you."
The story ends a thousand years later, when Gu Yuan awakens and searches for the fish in the pond. He searches year after year and finally finds it in an ancient book.
Historical records state that the man named Chi Yu sacrificed himself to protect Gu Yuan, after which his soul was scattered and he could never be reincarnated again.
It was only at this point that Gu Yuan understood the truth of the matter.
Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the library's curtains, casting dappled shadows on the floor as the breeze blew.
Tears gradually soaked the pages of the book, and the young-looking ghost wept and sobbed.
As if he had lost the support of his beliefs, his appearance gradually aged, eventually transforming him into a white-haired old man with withered fingers pressing on the pages of a book, reading each word aloud.
"You stinky Taoist priest, you lied to me again..."
As Yu Tang listened to the poignant story the author had created, his eyes welled up with tears.
It's as if through these words I can see those two pitiful people who couldn't have what they wanted, feeling helpless and heartbroken.
"How disgusting." But just as he got into the mood, he heard Qin Junyang on his shoulder complain, "That stinky Taoist priest is so hateful. He clearly doesn't care about Gu Yuan."
Otherwise, how could they have chosen those completely unrelated people instead of Gu Yuan when faced with a choice between two options?
And that was their just deserts! The blame lies with the king! He should have killed the king! Why choose to seal away the spirits?
"And in the end, he used his own life to protect Gu Yuan!" Qin Junyang's brows furrowed tightly as he said indignantly, "He even kept it from Gu Yuan! How awful! Gu Yuan was incredibly unlucky to have met him!"
"Sure enough, scammers are the worst!"
"And that Gu Yuan is such a coward! Why did he just sit there and wait for someone to come and kill him?"
Yu Tang's initial sadness was dispelled by Qin Junyang's words, and he asked Qin Junyang curiously, "If you were Gu Yuan, what would you do?"
Qin Junyang answered almost without hesitation: "I will capture that stinking Taoist priest! And then destroy this arrogant king!"
Chapter 8
Died for the villain for the ninth time (08)
Upon hearing his words, Yu Tang felt a chill run down her spine.
It really is a simple and brutal villain style, on par with the previous ones.
Just as Yu Tang was about to say a few more words to Qin Junyang, his agent Wang Tao came over and said that the makeup artist had been waiting for a long time and that he should hurry up and change his clothes and get his makeup done.
Yu Tang didn't dare to delay and quickly went to the changing room.
In the film, Chi Yu's clothes are very simple and plain, just a Taoist robe, which is tattered and dirty, with cloth shoes on his feet and a peach wood sword on his back.
It doesn't even have a blade, so it looks like it can't hurt anyone; in the eyes of the world, it's just a toy.
Looking at the equipment in front of him, Yu Tang couldn't help but smile as he recalled the mischievous Taoist priest from the script.
That's exactly how the other person should dress.
After thinking it over, he decided to change his clothes, but then he saw Qin Junyang still sitting on him.
Then he said, "Meimei, I need to change my clothes. Shouldn't you leave for a moment?"
"We're all men, what's wrong with looking at this?" Qin Junyang pointed out nonchalantly, "Besides, a person is just a pile of rotten flesh, made up of a skeleton, with blood flowing through it, there's no difference, why are you so concerned about this?"
Yu Tang twitched his lips, speechless.
Qin Junyang's argument was truly quite damaging.
He suddenly realized that winning over Qin Junyang might be the most difficult task in all these worlds.
After all, it seems that the young man has no such thoughts or desires for him at all.
Even if he wanted to seduce her, it wouldn't be easy.
"Hmm, it really is the same." Yu Tang resignedly changed his clothes, and Qin Junyang's favorability towards him remained completely unchanged throughout the process.
Afterwards, he followed Yu Tang to the dressing room. While the makeup artist did Yu Tang's makeup, he stood in front of the mirror at the dressing table by himself.
She tugged at her little clothes, combed her long, smooth hair with her fingers, and posed with her arms crossed, whispering, "Oh, I'm so pretty."
After playing like this for a while, when Yu Tang's makeup and hair were all done, Qin Junyang turned to look at the man who had taken the peach wood sword from her back, but suddenly froze on the spot.
Yu Tang didn't notice his unusual behavior. When he heard the director calling him, he reached out his hand to Qin Junyang: "Meimei, come up quickly, we should go."
Qin Junyang hesitated and took two steps forward, his eyes still fixed on Yu Tang's face, his expression puzzled.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Upon hearing Yu Tang's question, Qin Junyang seemed to only then realize what was happening. He quickly shook his head, stepped on the man's hand, curled up into a ball, and mumbled, "I'm fine..."
He didn't want to tell Yu Tang that he had almost cried just now.
My eyes felt sore, and I wanted to hug the man in front of me tightly and cry my heart out.
This feeling came out of nowhere, and he didn't want to say it out loud, lest Yu Tang laugh at him.
Yu Tang found it strange, but didn't press him for details. He simply put him on his shoulder as usual, patted Qin Junyang's head, and instructed him, "I'm filming later, so you'd better behave and not cause any trouble."
"Who would cause trouble?" Qin Junyang slapped his finger away. "They're not children."
But as he was saying this, when Yu Tang was hoisted onto the wire and repeatedly tried to jump from the roof, Qin Junyang had already forgotten what he said. He leaned close to Yu Tang's ear and said, "Oh dear, Tang Tang, you're so clumsy! You can't even do such a simple move properly. I don't know how you became a movie star!"
"The Taoist priests are as clever as monkeys; scaling walls and leaping across rooftops is child's play for them. Look at you, with your sluggish movements, you're practically a clumsy goose!"
Yu Tang's lips twitched, suppressing his anger as he said to Xiao Jin: What should I do, Xiao Jin? I want to strangle him!
"Hahaha!"
Xiao Jin laughed uncontrollably: [Host, don't be angry, just treat him like background noise and ignore him.]
Yu Tang took a deep breath, intending to take Xiao Jin's advice and ignore Qin Junyang's words. He diligently practiced maintaining the pose in mid-air, practicing a second and third time if he wasn't satisfied the first time, demanding a lot of himself.
Over time, Qin Junyang stopped mocking him and just kept his brows furrowed.
After practicing for about half an hour, Yu Tang finally regained the feeling of being suspended by wires. After landing, she drank a few sips of water, had the makeup artist touch up her makeup, and gave the director an OK sign.
The director nodded, gestured to those around him, and slammed the clapperboard.
Upon hearing this voice, Yu Tang, who was standing on the roof, instantly adopted a smug expression.
His upper body was clad in a loose Taoist robe, and his cheeks and neck still bore the rouge of kisses from courtesans. Standing on the edge of the roof, the little Taoist priest Chi Yu grinned and made faces at the people below, saying, "Come on, come on, you stinky old hag, you can't catch me!"
The brothel madam below was furious, jumping up and down and shouting in a shrill voice, "You little bastard! You dare to cause trouble at our Hehua Tower when you have no money! I think you're tired of living!"
"When I catch you, I'll skin you alive!"
The heavily made-up, fat woman kicked one of her henchmen and yelled, "You bunch of freeloaders! Get on the roof! Go up there! Grab him for me!"
A group of people frantically searched for ladders and climbed onto the roofs. Chi Yu, meanwhile, poured wine from a gourd into his mouth while stepping on the roof tiles and leaping from house to house. Watching the people struggling to stand on the rooftops and making a series of comical mistakes, he was amused and burst into laughter.
He toyed with these people as if he were playing a game, shouting out ditties in a drunken voice, leisurely traversing the rooftops, carefree and unrestrained.
Qin Junyang stood on his shoulder, looking up at the man's profile. From the start of filming this scene, he didn't utter a single sarcastic word. His gaze was deep, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
The camera follows the fish in the pond, capturing his every expression. Finally, the young Taoist priest escapes to the top of the city's tallest tower, leans against its spire, drinks the last drop of wine, twirls the gourd in his hand with a flourish, then puts it back at his waist. He clasps his hands behind his head, bends one leg, lies on the glazed tiles, and mutters, "What's there to ponder about life? It's best to enjoy life while you can. With wine, meat, and beautiful women, this life is enough..."
As he spoke, he didn't notice that Qin Junyang had slipped off his shoulder.
The tiny person instantly grew to normal size and then gently sat down beside him.
"Tangtang..." Qin Junyang stared at the man with a smile on his face, who was clearly already immersed in his role, and asked him, "Have we known each other for a long time?"
"Cut!" The director suddenly yelled "Cut!" Yu Tang and Qin Junyang were both taken aback.
"Yu Tang, you're amazing! One take, perfect!"
The director was lavish in his praise of Yu Tang.
This scene is crucial for shaping the young Taoist's character.
Moreover, Yu Tang was required to perform acting skills while being suspended by wires walking and running on the rooftops, making it even more difficult.
Yu Tang knew this, which is why he practiced so hard just now, trying to complete the filming of this scene without making any mistakes.
The director has seen Yu Tang's hard work, so how could he not praise him now?
But he didn't know that it was because he suddenly spoke that Qin Junyang was brought back to reality in an instant.
Yu Tang realized what was happening and asked Qin Junyang, "What do you mean, 'know'? Did you remember what happened a thousand years ago?"
"It's nothing, maybe I'm just overthinking it."
Chapter 9
Died for the villain for the ninth time (09)
Yu Tang could tell he was stammering, and was about to ask more questions when suddenly everything went dark.
Then, it felt like something was gripping my ankle, cold and slippery. Looking down, I saw a pale hand covered in slime!
He was in complete darkness; the tower spire and Qin Junyang had vanished. All he could see was that hand—no, more than one hand…
Amid Xiao Jin's scream, Yu Tang saw that behind that hand were hundreds and thousands of other hands, one after another, frantically climbing upwards, grabbing Yu Tang's ankles and calves. Just as they were about to go up further, Yu Tang suddenly felt someone hook his arm around his waist, and heard Qin Junyang's low voice in his ear.
"court death!"
The next instant, he fell into a cold embrace. A stream of black energy flowed out from Qin Junyang's palm, transforming into a giant dragon head that opened its massive maw and devoured all the thousands of pale arms!
The sticky arms disappeared, and the darkness faded away. Yu Tang felt her feet touch solid ground, but she was still being held tightly in Qin Junyang's arms...
The man's long, black hair brushed against his cheek, making it slightly itchy.
"Meimei, just now..."
"Yu Tang! Are you alright?!"
"Brother Yu, you scared me to death just now!"
"Who was in charge of the wire work! Come out here!"
"Yu Tang, are you hurt? Should we go to the hospital for a check-up?"