“Did you only keep me close to unlock your memories? Am I just a key to you?” Ling Yuan (voice breaking—rare for him): “You are the lock and the key and the door. You are the reason I have painted ten thousand canvases in a thousand years of darkness. If you cannot love me, at least hate me. But do not think I am indifferent.”

Xian’er laughs bitterly. “The Xian Eryuan fruit doesn’t exist, does it?”

“It does,” he replies. “But it’s not a fruit. It’s you . You are the Immortal Wish. Your love is the only key to breaking both our chains—or ending us forever.” This is where the drama turns intense. A third party appears: Luo Xue , a jealous ice phoenix who loved Ling Yuan in his immortal form. She poisons Xian’er with a “Petal of False Desire,” making Xian’er hallucinate that Ling Yuan is manipulating her and that her curse is a lie.