Guardian Readalong: Vol. 3, Chapters 23 & 24

[facethestrange]

Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong! ♡

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions in the schedule posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

• Chapter 23: The branch of the Great Divine Tree protects Zhu Hong who stayed behind at the Yanluo Courts. While she's talking about the branch with Fourth Uncle, it grows a third bud. The "youth" who turned out to be a gui throws Chu Shuzhi off the bridge. Guo Changcheng jumps after him, leaving the soul bottles behind.
  



• Chapter 24: During the ritual, lao-Li remembers and confesses that three hundred years ago he stole Daqing's bell to cure his bone cancer. Shen Wei uses the Hallows to reseal the Four Pillars. During the last step (the Soul-Guarding Lamp) Shen Wei erases all of Zhao Yunlan's memories of their relationship, and sacrifices himself.
  

The corresponding part in the Chinese version on JJWXC/the fan translation starts a little less than halfway through chapter 105 and goes up to the end of that chapter.


Excerpts:

1) The branch of the Great Divine Tree grows a third bud

Zhu Hong nodded at once, then made a small sound of surprise. She held the branch up in front of his face. “Fourth Uncle, quick, look!”

At the bottom of the branch, which was about two fingers thick, some of the dry bark had been pushed aside to reveal a spot of bright, fresh green. The branch had grown a third bud!

“What’s happening?” Zhu Hong gasped. “Didn’t Shen Wei say that in tens of thousands of years, it only ever grew two buds?”

“The name ‘Shen Wei’ is not yours to speak.” Fourth Uncle glared at her before continuing. “The Divine Tree atop Kunlun Mountain is as old as the Heavens and Earth. It’s the beginning of all living things. Back when Nüwa borrowed a branch from the Great Divine Tree to guard the entrance of the Place of Great Disrespect, there was murder in her heart, so the tree she planted was dead before it could even live. I wonder if this branch sprouting a new bud out of nowhere means that someone’s had a change of heart.”



2) Chu Shuzhi and Guo Changcheng fall off the bridge

With the Seal shattered, all the high-level gui were even more powerful than before. This one blocked Chu Shuzhi’s giant skull with a raised arm; a pinch of his fingers shattered it back into raindrops that splashed everywhere. An immense force struck Chu Shuzhi in the chest, sending his scrawny body flying right off the bridge. He began to fall toward the distant ground below.

Guo Changcheng didn’t stop to think. With no idea where he found the courage to act, he climbed over the railing and launched himself off the bridge toward Chu Shuzhi, as if committing suicide. The fanny pack he’d been clutching to his chest was left behind. The soul bottles it held all rolled out, scattering over the bridge’s surface.



3) Lao-Li's story

“Three hundred years ago, there was someone who fell ill with an incurable sickness in his bones. The pain was excruciating. Death did not come to claim him, but living was unbearable. These days, he’d probably know it was bone cancer. His family decided to burn incense and pray to the gods…”

(...)

“Eventually, he realized his visitor was no ordinary cat but a divine creature, able to communicate between yin and yang, fly into the sky, and dive into the earth. Then one day, the cat accidentally entered the wine cellar and fell into a tub of alcohol. While drunk, the cat revealed the secret of the golden bell he wore around his neck. He said it was a gift from his old owner that held half of his spirit. It could regenerate flesh and bone, and even reverse the Reincarnation Cycle… That man was almost at the end of his life. His terror of death was driving him nearly out of his mind.”

Icily, Daqing said, “So you tricked me for my bell and taught me a valuable lesson. Until then, this stupid cat didn’t know to be wary of people. I heard you lived out your life and were eventually buried outside Shanhai Pass. You lived a few dozen extra years. How was it? How did it feel?”

“Like a lump in the throat,” lao-Li said softly. “Like maggots in the bones.”



4) Shen Wei erases Zhao Yunlan's memories and sacrifices himself

The kiss was exquisitely tender at first, gentle and lingering. It wasn’t until Zhao Yunlan felt something stream out of his heart, quick as lightning, that he realized what was happening.

He began to struggle for all he was worth, but Shen Wei’s hands were like steel on the back of his head, impossible to escape. Zhao Yunlan’s heart turned to ice. Every moment between them—the day he’d met Shen Wei, all that time spent getting to know him, everything, right to this very moment—flared before his eyes like light reflected on water. It was the sensation of his own memories being mercilessly wiped away, one by one.

Shen Wei’s entire body burst into flames. As his long hair and robes ignited, he finally released his hold on Zhao Yunlan, who now lay unconscious. Shen Wei pushed him away through the air, and he landed in the arms of Shennong’s mortar, who stared at Shen Wei in shock from a distance.

Shen Wei took one final, deep look at Zhao Yunlan. Then the fire engulfed him utterly, and he vanished.

In the end, he himself pushed away the one he had struggled so hard to hold; it was he who broke their oath to die together, after all his meticulous scheming to extract that promise.



Questions:

How impressive is Guo Changcheng's courage now? Should Daqing forgive lao-Li? Do you prefer the novel version or the drama version of their backstory? How about the story of Zhu Hong's branch so far? Did Shen Wei's change of heart and self-sacrifice surprise you? How do you feel about what he did?

You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, or just comment without answering any of them at all! And if you see this post and you're not actually reading the novel, I would love to know what you think about any of this with limited context. :D

And here is the schedule, where you can sign up to host a post!

Comments

[trobadora]

Sometimes it's hilarious, like when someone puts on a mask and is suddenly two heads taller! But you learn to roll with the trope. *g*

[facethestrange]

I am learning so much about tropes I've never heard of, hahah, it sounds so weird and really fun at the same time. :D

[trobadora]

The first few times I saw Actor A pull off a mask and turned into much-shorter or much-taller Actor B, it was weird and hilarious, and now I'm barely even noticing any more, LOL.