Chapter 135: Aftermath
Qi Di: “…”
Had they caught Lu Xu’s bad habits too?
[If you post ‘Binge-watched ten episodes of Phantom Realm, it’s awful,’ you might still save some face.]
[Hahahahaha, nobody cares, thanks.]
Many netizens hadn’t even watched the show yet, but they were thoroughly enjoying the drama.
[LMAO. The official account of Phantom Realm is acting all serious, but I can sense a hint of panic.]
[The show has a strong presence, and suddenly, a giant pile of crap sticks to it—wouldn’t you be scared if you were in their shoes?]
Qi Di was utterly furious. He was now more certain than ever—Lu Xu was born to counter him. Even though he was overseas attending an event, reporters still managed to track him down just for this.
“The Phantom Realm production team was the only one that didn’t like your post. Are you heartbroken? Upset? Do you have anything to say?”
Qi Di: “…”
Where did this idiot reporter come from?
That said, overseas Qi Di was indeed more composed than his domestic self. With great magnanimity, he expressed that it was his honor to introduce such an excellent show to the audience.
When the reporter asked if he would consider acting in dramas in the future, Qi Di instinctively responded with a firm “No.” A moment later, realizing he had reacted too strongly, he quickly added, “Every actor has their own strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I’m not well-suited to fast-paced productions.”
[Emmmm…]
[Well, let’s wish him luck in winning Best Actor first… but is that even possible?]
Qi Di was, of course, wholeheartedly focused on winning Best Actor—otherwise, he wouldn’t have spent so much on trending topics. Unfortunately, even in a low-profile, domestically obscure A-list film festival, the Best Actor award still went to someone else, not him.
That night, the top trending topic on the hot search list was—
#Qi Di: Defeated but Still Honorable#
Clicking into the topic, half of the comments were as stiff as an AI chatbot:
[Qi Di tried his best, but there was nothing he could do.]
[Wishing you a happy and wonderful day.]
[A beautiful day starts with hard work, just like Qi Di’s efforts—fragrant like a blooming flower.]
Lu Xu: “…Did Liu Rennong Studio run out of budget for PR?”
Xu Wen pondered for a moment. “Was Song of Tears’ PR campaign overseas too expensive?”
Song of Tears was never a profitable project to begin with. Submitting it for international awards required going through a series of procedures, especially since the production team was targeting an award that had no foothold in the domestic industry. Even if it were one of Europe’s Big Three festivals, at least Chinese filmmakers had some connections there.
The manager had no intention of defending Song of Tears. “It’s probably just too low-quality to qualify for the Big Three.”
Family tragedies were a common theme worldwide. Song of Tears lacked innovation, failed to achieve complete destruction or reconstruction, and ultimately resolved nothing—making its exploration of the subject meaningless.
At the festival, there were plenty of films with deeper themes, more suffocating tension, and stronger portrayals of collapse and rebirth than Song of Tears.
“So where exactly is the ‘honor’ in this?” Xu Wen wondered.
Lu Xu was equally puzzled.
…
All in all, after Phantom Realm, Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry, and Flames of War collectively slapped him in the face, Qi Di finally quieted down and stopped making a scene to disgust Lu Xu.
Whether he actually watched the tenth episode of Phantom Realm remained an unsolved mystery.
However, the production team expressed their full gratitude for Qi Di’s contribution to the show’s rising popularity. Their appreciation manifested in a very specific way—
The director of Phantom Realm deliberately watched the award-winning film from the festival where Song of Tears was nominated. He then wrote a detailed 10,000-word review, meticulously dissecting every aspect of the film and analyzing exactly why it had won.
While the Song of Tears team was marketing Qi Di’s defeat with honor, the Phantom Realm director used concrete action to prove that there was no honor in it at all. Song of Tears lost because it deserved to—its loss was an absolute, undeniable thrashing.
On top of that, the director even compiled a list of outstanding films that had been nominated for Europe’s Big Three and other A-list film festivals this year, stating, [Personally, I believe there were many films fully deserving of a nomination. Perhaps, for the sake of regional balance, certain films were included.]
[…A true scholar. This is what a cultured person looks like.]
[Regional balance? Even if I emptied my entire literary arsenal, I couldn’t come up with a more savage way to mock someone.]
[No foul language, yet somehow the insult cuts deep.]
[Only our own people can deliver burns like this. Hahaha.]
The Phantom Realm team had never intended to compete directly with Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry. The situation was clear—because Phantom Realm, Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry, and Flames of War were all high-quality productions, they attracted more and more viewers. The entire market expanded, allowing every drama airing during this period to benefit.
Further infighting would do no good for any of the three productions.
During Phantom Realm’s peak week, its popularity score surged past 15,000, reaching 15,700. Flames of War also achieved its best performance since airing—its score neared 13,000.
This was the pivotal moment in Phantom Realm —the long-awaited meeting between Xiao Shengyang and Lu Yao.
A plain and ordinary woman, and an exiled immortal from the heavens—the most unlikely pair in the world had finally appeared together in the celestial realm.
Lu Yao did not wail, “Do you know that our child is dead?” Nor did she recount the pain and suffering she had endured.
She only wanted to kill him.
To her, he was no different from any other immortal.
What did it matter if their love had once burned intensely? What did it matter if Xiao Shengyang had only regained his memories at this very moment? None of that was her burden to bear.
She wanted him dead.
Yet, Xiao Shengyang was still speaking of love.
With what right? To an immortal, it was nothing more than a fleeting moment in an eternity. But for a mortal, it had cost her everything—her entire lifetime.
Lu Yao fought with manic fury. The moment she split open Xiao Shengyang’s skull and demanded that he accompany their daughter in death, the murderous aura around her became uncontrollable.
Meanwhile, Phantom Realm’s popularity continued to soar.
At the same time, Flames of War reached its most harrowing yet emotionally powerful arc, showing audiences that even in the darkest moments, there would always be someone willing to stand up and shield others from harm.
Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry ranked second, still holding strong with a popularity score of over 14,000.
This episode marked the moment when Nie Yunzhang finally stepped onto the battlefield, beginning his journey as a legendary God of War.
The audience had expected a long, dull, and rigidly cold war narrative. Historical dramas often depicted battles in one of two ways—either an overdrawn, strategic slog or a glorified showcase of the hero’s might, where a single appearance from Nie Yunzhang would send the barbarian hordes trembling to their knees.
But Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry took a different path, highlighting the brutal realities of war.
The border citizens had been tormented, slaughtered, and forced to live in constant terror.
Nie Yunzhang did not fight because he was bloodthirsty or simply skilled in battle. He fought because if he did not win, the fate of those people would never change—their suffering, their bloody humiliation, would never end.
Nie Yunzhang was not a cruel man. He could not bring himself to enjoy a life of comfort in the south while countless innocents were displaced, selling their children just to survive.
Even if it cost him blood and tears—he had to win!
Though later generations would call him a God of War, Nie Yunzhang was still young and a noble by birth. The veteran generals in the army were not necessarily convinced by him, nor did he possess the so-called commanding aura where just by standing there, seasoned warriors would willingly hand over their power. Modern web novels no longer favored such an unrealistic approach.
Winning the army’s loyalty was a turbulent process.
But in the end, Nie Yunzhang proved himself and earned the respect of his subordinates.
What followed was battle after battle—whether it was using one route as a feint while secretly taking another or deceiving the enemy by striking from an unexpected direction—he fought so relentlessly that his foes no longer dared to invade. His name alone sent the barbarian tribes at the border fleeing in terror.
Because Qin Yu had poured immense effort into crafting the script, these war scenes turned out to be gripping rather than tedious. As a result, Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry maintained its strong momentum without any dip in popularity.
On the contrary, the war segments enriched Nie Yunzhang’s character, allowing the audience to witness his growth.
[Offering his undying loyalty to His Majesty—Aaaaahhh!]
[His charisma is off the charts. Ruthless to his enemies, compassionate to his subordinates… Were real historical wars actually this intricate? You can’t just brute-force your way through them.]
[Nie Yunzhang is unbelievably cool! From a privileged noble in the capital to a hardened general at the border—his character arc is phenomenal!]
Before Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry aired, Liu Chunfeng and Qin Yu had anticipated that the war-heavy episodes might lead to some audience drop-off. However, the response was overwhelmingly positive.
After Nie Yunzhang’s first battle, not only did film critics praise Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry as “one of the best war dramas in recent years”, but even military bloggers began analyzing the tactics he used in the show.
One such blogger admitted that he had started watching Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry just for fun—but as the war scenes unfolded, he gradually realized there was real strategy behind them.
The setup of tactics, allocation of personnel, and choice of battlegrounds all demonstrated that the screenwriter had not simply written things at random. Instead, they had deliberately recreated realistic war scenarios.
[??? Was it really this well done?]
[I feel a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I was too busy staring at Lu Xu’s face the entire time.]
[A bloodied young general… He’d make a perfect wife for me.]
[Face appreciation +1. I am, indeed, a shallow person.]
The military blogger’s analysis even gained recognition from relevant experts. One of them publicly acknowledged that Qin Yu had consulted them while writing Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry, confirming that parts of the script were indeed based on expert insights.
With a combination of popular actors, a meticulously crafted script, and gripping storytelling, Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry naturally maintained its strong popularity.
For all three dramas, this healthy competition generated an unimaginable level of hype. Viewers who had originally only intended to watch Phantom Realm found themselves unknowingly drawn into Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry.
[I really didn’t expect things to turn out this way…]
[Me neither…]
[Who would’ve thought that the only clown in this release season was Qi Di—who still couldn’t win Best Actor, even with Song of Tears.]
[Three dramas with a popularity score of over 13,000—has any platform ever seen this before?]
As Phantom Realm aired its finale, its popularity score soared to nearly 16,000, just shy of breaking past that threshold. Still, it was enough to dispel Qiao Mengyao’s streak of low-performing dramas since The Empress.
Flames of War had a shorter runtime than Phantom Realm, and its finale aired even two days earlier. On its final episode, the drama’s popularity soared past 14,000, marking the highest achievement in Zheng Xiao’s career.
[Hehehe! Successful transformation!]
Flames of War had been Zheng Xiao’s attempt at transitioning into a different acting genre, and the results far exceeded his expectations. Barring any surprises, he would likely continue pursuing more serious drama roles in the future.
Now, with Phantom Realm concluded, the biggest question of the season was how Lives Beyond Death the Chivalry would perform next.
[Will Lives Beyond Death break 16,000?]
[If it does, Lu Xu will probably be nominated for the Stellar Awards again.]
[…Wait, does he even have a drama that’s dropped below 15,000 in popularity anymore?]
