Laboring at Craft, Yet Not Beautiful; Heaven-Seeking Splendid Chapters
I believe everyone can see that the name Bai Yuxia had a destiny from the moment it was created.
But in my original conception, he would burn his life away to set the board in this part, dying in an immensely tragic fashion as he shouted, "My lord, may the white jade remain without flaw." Jiang Wang would then answer, "I need not be without flaw," embodying a further step toward "truth," and laying the groundwork for his invincibility in True Insight.
But as I worked through the actual plot, I realized that with the complexity of the times and the clashes among the characters, things could not unfold perfectly that way.
For a character like Bai Yuxia to die, it could not be as simple as deciding on a point and having him die the instant it arrived. He had to accomplish some great mission first. But in the Yue Kingdom at this time, he could not accomplish one.
His strength was limited. His strategic mind was certainly good, but not enough to wrestle arms with Gao Zheng. He also lacked sufficient intelligence, and even a sufficiently lofty perspective—under such circumstances, expecting him to take down Ge Fei, who had already become human, or Wen Jingxiu, who was just as clever but stronger, or even play a pivotal role in this game involving Huang Weizhen, was indeed unrealistic.
True Person Jiang had genuinely become quite significant now. His strength was enough in most places, and he cared deeply for his people—he kept a close watch on his shopkeeper. I thought of finding something to draw him away, and considered many possibilities, but none could follow naturally from the circumstances—how could he fail to stay alert after already suffering so many