258 How The Enchantress Was Forged

After a break, shooting for the second scene began.

Why was this scene the highlight?

It was the most torturous scene, and the climax in the whole movie, the important turning point for Meng Changge entering the palace for revenge.

This was a crucial turning point, which directly set up Meng Changge’s character as well as the audience’s perception of her for the second half of the movie.

Because of the huge disparity in strength between the two armies, Meng Changge had still lost this battle.

She had watched with her own eyes her right-hand man, who had been through fire and water with her, go down under an enemy’s horse, his neck broke; she had watched with her own eyes her beloved little brother beheaded by the enemy, his head raised on the tip of a sword as an insult…

She had been separated from Sun Huanqing in the middle of the battle, and by the time she found him, she saw him pierced through by the enemies’ arrows…

She hadn’t even been able to bid him goodbye…

"Huanqing —"

The last string in Meng Changge’s heart snapped completely; broken, she dashed over, rolling and crawling.

She slumped to the ground, staring blankly at the body full of arrows in her arms, before screaming in utter despair…

Tears streamed down her cheeks, creating two wet trails through the blood which covered her face…

Everyone jolted with shock at Ning Xi’s sudden outburst; they had all been brought into the story, their minds and hearts fully engaged.

In the next second, Meng Changge picked up her sword, and fought wildly with the rest of the enemy.

Though the enemy outnumbered her, they were weak before her demonic fury, and she slaughtered almost a hundred of them single-handedly…

Ning Xi didn't use a stunt double, and acted the fight scenes herself. Her emotions were on point and her movements beautiful, and she exuded an exquisitely tragic air.

After the battle was over, she was the only living person left on the vast battlefield.

The entire battlefield was covered with blood and layer on layer of dead bodies, and the enemy’s broken flag fluttered in the wind…

Tottering, Meng Changge clutched at her chest before falling to her knees. She gasped for breath, her spirit weary and her strength exhausted.

After her extreme sorrow and rage were spent, she gently lifted her beloved’s head so that it rested on her knees, and cleaned off the dirt on his face with an emotionless expression.

This moment of silence was for post-editing to put together a series of images depicting memories of the two of them, but Ning Xi’s expression was enough to touch the audience even without images of the memories. The silence also wasn’t obtrusive, but made everyone follow the subtle changes in her expression as she recalled all the little details of her and Sun Huanqing together from the moment they met…

Shortly after, the memories ended.

Meng Changge’s eyes were empty as she stared into the distance —

That look crossed the battlefield, the snow mountains and grasslands, and over an endless desert, to a flourishing capital city. It flew over the palace walls into a palace hall full of artifice and treachery, and wandered into the golden palace of rotten pleasures, coming to rest at last on a corrupted emperor and his evil consort…

As if a strong gust of wind rife with the smell of blood had blown by, she lifted her chin and closed her eyes.

Gradually, the corners of her rosy, blood-red lips lifted unhurriedly, like peach blossoms flowering in winter.

Mystical, and extremely beautiful.

A smile that could level cities.

In the next second, that general who had protected families and guarded the country had already died. Born in her place was an enchantress who would destroy a nation and its people.

Generations of the Meng Family had been loyal to the country: her father, her three elder brothers, her youngest little brother, the love of her life — they had all died on the battlefield, while the emperor that she had dedicated her service to, the people that she fought to protect, were forcing her step by step towards her death…

This family, this country, this world, why did it deserve her protection?

If that was the case, then… let it all come to ruin!