Chapter 100: Nineteen

Meng Zhiqiu keenly noticed the hands clasped between Ye Can and Lin Zixi. The corners of her mouth twitched as she gave a meaningful smile, then led her manager to their seats.

Ye Can felt a twinge of guilt. After Meng Zhiqiu sat down, she pulled Lin Zixi along and took the seat directly across from her.

Jiang Yue, who happened to be sitting right next to Ye Can, propped her cheek on her hand. She glanced at Meng Zhiqiu, then at Ye Can, sensing that something was off.

But with all three leads now present, the director began with some polite small talk before instructing the main cast to read their lines from the script.

In the main storyline of the Dongshan Chronicles, there were three key figures: Cang Tong, who had transformed into a demon; Yuan Xi, once a demigod; and the Rakshasa King Ying Gou.

The script’s world-building was roughly as follows:

A thousand years ago, in the Ten Continents Within the Sea, there was an ancient kingdom called the Xia Dynasty. At that time, priests who worshipped the deities held power over the dynasty. They cultivated countless Dao cultivators to battle all sorts of ferocious beasts and demon fiends, protecting the human race.

The Xia Dynasty was rigidly hierarchical, with the strong revered above all. Nobles enslaved commoners everywhere.

It was then that a strand of filth invaded the Ten Continents Within the Sea. Seeing the situation, it corrupted the high priest, tempting him to use human flesh as sacrifices. It absorbed the various impurities, ignorance, and foolish thoughts from mortals, converting them into its own power. Its goal was to control the Heavenly Dao and achieve divine greatness.

Under the filth’s corruption, the Xia Dynasty nurtured a king who delighted in slaughter and human sacrifice. Leading his forces, he waged wars everywhere, subjugating the small kingdoms of the various continents and the Hua Dynasty to the north. They slaughtered countless ferocious beasts and demon fiends.

The cruelty and bloodshed provoked the Heavenly Dao’s backlash. To protect itself amid the devastation, the Heavenly Dao descended a divine child to confront the tyrant who had birthed the filth.

This divine child was one of the female leads, Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi was born in a military brothel as a child of the gods.

Her mother was a captured princess from the Hua Dynasty, and her father’s name was unknown. From the day she was born, she caught the attention of the high priest, who had become the filth’s incarnation, and he began weaving a heaven-shaking conspiracy against her.

In the story, the Yuan Xi from a thousand years ago successfully slew the tyrant and toppled the Xia Dynasty, which had practiced human sacrifice. But she couldn’t eradicate the filth on her own. In the end, she sealed it inside Cang Tong’s body and tasked her with finding a way to destroy it.

Cang Tong had originally been a minor demon fiend born from a soul filled with resentment that refused to rest after death, merging with a wolf demon’s body. After Yuan Xi sealed the filth inside her, Cang Tong slumbered for centuries.

Centuries later, Cang Tong awoke and fully fused with the filth within her, becoming one of the world’s great demons.

Cang Tong struggled against the filth inside her for centuries. Even fused as one, she couldn’t even kill herself. After several more centuries, she discovered that only at the moment of achieving divinity could she separate the filth from her soul. Thus, she ascended time and again, attempting to undergo the heavenly tribulation and become a god.

After surviving ninety-nine lightning tribulations, the filth finally separated from her successfully—but Cang Tong did not ascend to godhood and depart.

She struck a deal with the deity who ruled over night and souls in the main world: she traded her divinity to resurrect Yuan Xi, whose soul had dissipated from the world, and remained behind to finish exterminating the filth.

Twenty years later, reborn as a human, Yuan Xi—raised by that deity—successfully reached the Golden Core Realm. After failing to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, she heeded her master’s command and set out for training in the mortal world.

Thus, after a thousand years, Yuan Xi landed on the Yingzhou coastline for the first time and encountered Cang Tong once more.

The script began twenty years prior, right after Cang Tong’s tribulation and ascension.

After the tribulation, Cang Tong obtained her divinity but did not ascend. Instead, she plummeted back to the mortal realm, where she met the deity who had come to earth amid blazing flames.

The deity named Yun Zhongjun was played by Mu Ruyi, a seventh- or eighth-tier supporting actress known for her refined aura.

Following the script and at the director’s cue, Mu Ruyi read her lines first: “The Night Lord asked me to bring her. King, the Night Lord has fulfilled her promise—you should honor yours as well.”

Cang Tong’s original identity was the king of a small nation. After becoming a great demon, she had become the Silver Moon Demon King who commanded the demon tribes in the eyes of the world. Yun Zhongjun’s address of “King” carried double meaning.

Ye Can had already memorized her script. Without glancing at it, she narrowed her slender eyes, suppressing all her excitement with restraint and forbearance as she said, “I will complete my mission, but you must take good care of her.”

“Twenty years from now, at the Yingzhou seaside when spring warms and flowers bloom, I will wait for her there.”

Yun Zhongjun smiled faintly. “Our pact is sealed, then. We shall meet again in twenty years.”

Twenty years later, on the eastern coast of Yingzhou, an immortal fairy arrived beneath the moonlight.

Under the silver moon, Cang Tong asked idly, “Sister, where are you from? How old are you? Are you married?”

Meng Zhiqiu adjusted her voice to portray a cool, ethereal beauty: “From Yingzhou. Twenty years old by virtual age. What is marriage?”

Cang Tong nodded and chuckled softly. “Marriage means… do you have a beloved in your heart, sister?”

Yuan Xi shook her head. “No.”

Cang Tong nodded knowingly. “But I do.”

“You’re so beautiful, sister—you must make a fine partner.” The demon king who awed the ten continents said this as she gently removed a ring from her finger and offered it. “To repay your life-saving grace, why not let me devote myself to you?”

Yuan Xi fell silent for a moment, staring at the proffered ring. “Weren’t you just saying you’re blind and came to Yingzhou to heal your eyes? How can you see me if you’re blind? How do you know I’m beautiful?”

Cang Tong smiled. “Sister has a kind heart, so she must be beautiful too. Even as a blind woman, I see more clearly than most.”

And just like that, the fairy new to the human world was roped in by what appeared to be a young, beautiful blind girl.

Script read-throughs were typically for the main creators to share their thoughts on characters and plot. Even with the outline set, more discussion and refinement in the early creative stages was invaluable for a collaborative project.

From the leads’ readings earlier, the writing team had already gleaned plenty of inspiration and planned to tweak the character designs after the exchange.

The leads offered plenty of feedback on the surface, and everyone parted happily. Then Director Guan Shengkai announced the end of the meeting.

Afterward, Guan Shengkai pulled Ye Can and Meng Zhiqiu aside with some advice: “Filming starts in a month. You two should live together during this time and really build that chemistry.”

“I want to see some romantic sparks flying on the first day of shooting.”

Ye Can was about to lose her temper on the spot, but Lin Zixi saw it coming and quickly grabbed her hand. Caught like that, Ye Can reluctantly mumbled an “mm.”

Meng Zhiqiu smiled. “Director Guan is right. I’d love to bond properly with Can Can.”

Guan Shengkai flashed an OK sign and grinned. “I know—I can always count on you two.”

With that, he led the directing team away first.

Seeing this, Meng Zhiqiu approached Ye Can with a smile. “Ye Can, we’re going the same way—ride back together? We’ll be spending a lot of time together from now on.”

No thanks—you look like you’re about to eat someone!

Kids these days are so blunt? She had only meant to settle scores over the blacklist incident, but Ye Can had outed herself right there.

She stated word by word, “Because she likes me. She likes me a lot.”

Meng Zhiqiu dug her nails into her palm, thinking this former wingwoman-turned-love-rival was way too brazenly cocky. As if—I could tell Lin Zixi likes Ye Can from a mile away.

Whether on set or in the show, Lin Zixi’s gaze on Ye Can brimmed with restrained affection. Meng Zhiqiu had realized it long ago—disappointing as it was, unwilling as she was to admit it, that was the truth.

Meng Zhiqiu said nothing, feeling her composure fray to nothing under Ye Can’s cockiness.

Ye Can watched her expression, hesitated, then said, “I know you’re a great person, but since she likes me right now, I can’t just hand her over.”

She wavered a bit. “Anyway, we’re together now. You don’t have a chance.”

Meng Zhiqiu ground her teeth at those words. Listen to this arrogant nonsense.

A stifled frustration lodged in her chest, sour and bitter.

Ye Can stared at her intently, eyes deep and shadowed. “Three years. In three years, you’ll have your chance.”

“After three years, I’ll be dead. If you still remember her, if you still like her then, be with her.”

Meng Zhiqiu’s mind blanked from the shock, struggling to process. “Ye Can… what do you mean by that?”

“Are you… suffering from some terminal illness?”