CHAPTER 483: CHAPTER 474: ACTRESS 41

Lian Xianxian, in a moment of urgency, resorted to all sorts of means to separate Lian Qianqian and that mortal. However, not only did her various tactics fail, but they also strengthened the bond between Lian Qianqian and the mortal.

Lian Qianqian refused to leave her husband. In desperation, Lian Xianxian began to stop at nothing, and even went as far as threatening Lian Qianqian with the lives of the mortal’s family to coerce her into returning to the rightful path of cultivation. As a result, Lian Qianqian, in a fit of anger, destroyed her own Immortal Root and became a mortal!

One could say that Lian Xianxian was a standard villainous female supporting character early on, one that readers loved to hate. But in the end, her character underwent a reversal; it turned out there was a reason why Lian Qianqian’s parents didn’t want the most likely one to attain immortality, Lian Qianqian, to fall in love with a mortal.

Four thousand years ago, when the Demon Path dominated the Mortal World with rampant destruction, turning it into a Purgatory, the Heavenly Ladder was destroyed by the Demon Venerable, preventing the Immortals from descending to help expel the demons. The cultivators of the Mortal World had to join forces with the Demons to resist the Demon Clan.

Among the demons, the strongest were the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox clan. The unity of humans and demons led, after a war lasting hundreds of years, to the ultimate destruction of the Demon Clan. The Demon Venerable was sealed by the Demon Suppression Sword, crafted jointly by human cultivators and demons.

The human cultivators and the strongest Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox clan guarded the sealed Demon Venerable to prevent him from breaking the seal.

However, as time passed, the human cultivators gradually died, and fewer and fewer could inherit the cultivation talent. Gradually, the human cultivators’ traditions were lost, and the task of guarding the Demon Venerable fell entirely to the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox clan.

Yet as time went on, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox clan could not attain immortality due to the broken Heavenly Ladder, leading many powerful foxes to die gradually. The seal on the Demon Venerable weakened, and the possibility of him breaking the seal and entering the Mortal World loomed large. The only solution was for another Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox capable of attaining immortality to emerge.

Even though the broken Heavenly Ladder meant that ascending to the Upper Realm was impossible, when a Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox attained immortality, it would unleash an unparalleled amount of Immortal Spirit Qi. This aura could bolster the Demon Suppression Sword to reseal the Demon Venerable for several thousand years.

Lian Xianxian knew this, which was why she desperately resorted to any means necessary when Lian Qianqian refused to return. She didn’t expect Lian Qianqian to be so engrossed in love, willing to forsake the Immortal Path and refuse to return, making the Demon Venerable’s emergence inevitable.

At the story’s climax, Lian Xianxian overhears the elders of her clan discussing sacrificing themselves to the Demon Suppression Sword to become its Sword Spirit, to extend the seal on the Demon Venerable. Lian Xianxian knew that if the powerful elders sacrificed themselves, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox clan would certainly be weakened.

In the end, Lian Xianxian secretly sacrificed herself to the sword, becoming the Sword Spirit of the Sealing Demon Sword! This final twist brought tears to the audience, nearly overshadowing the heroine Lian Qianqian in popularity.

However, this was the revised script from a previous life. In the original script Fang Jian gave Ning Shuangshuang, there was also a brother character for Lian Xianxian named Lian Mushi. The script depicted Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian as twins, identical in appearance.

Lian Mushi’s character was wise and elegant. Although he too used various means, his approach was mostly gentle, while Lian Xianxian’s methods were more about schemes and intrigues, ultimately only strengthening the relationship between Lian Qianqian and the mortal.

Lian Mushi was more understanding of human nature. He often set traps from a human nature perspective to entice the darker sides within Lian Qianqian’s mortal husband, nearly separating them several times. He even made the mortal husband misinterpret and hurt Lian Qianqian personally on several occasions.

In the end, it was Lian Qianqian who tearfully begged Lian Mushi not to separate her from her husband. Lian Mushi, seeing his sister’s pain, reluctantly let them be, and later, both he and Lian Xianxian sacrificed themselves to the sword to subdue the Demon Venerable.

Originally, Fang Jian intended for Ning Shuangshuang to play both Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian, but unfortunately, Ning Shuangshuang’s acting skills at the time were not up to par, and she could not portray Lian Mushi’s dashing spirit, forcing them to give up, leaving a regret in Ning Shuangshuang’s heart.

Now that she got the script again, Ning Shuangshuang decided that no matter what, this time she would bring the characters of Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian to life. Playing two roles is not something she fears; she believes that her current acting skills can handle it!

Because playing dual roles, particularly as male and female characters, is very challenging, Fang Jian ensured Ning Shuangshuang had plenty of time to fully focus on how to better portray both Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian.

Every day, Ning Shuangshuang stood in front of a floor mirror, script in hand, pondering the roles of Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian, continuously practicing how to interact as a man and a woman because the sibling characters have many scenes opposite each other.

This meant that Ning Shuangshuang sometimes had to switch from playing a man one moment to a woman the next. The hardest part of the transition was the significant difference in personality between Lian Mushi and Lian Xianxian!

Lian Mushi is a refined and graceful man, using more open strategies, often hitting the heart of the matter with a smile.

By contrast, Lian Xianxian is on the darker side, using methods that are not always above board, sometimes even reproachable -- had it not been for Lian Xianxian’s ultimate noble sacrifice, she would have been an entirely unlikable sinister character.

Such starkly polarized characters played by different genders are challenging to act. In her past life, Ning Shuangshuang couldn’t switch states fluidly or capture Lian Mushi’s demeanor, forcing her to abandon playing the striking character of Lian Mushi.

To grasp Lian Mushi’s portrayal, Jin An found many A-list celebrities and veteran artists to guide Ning Shuangshuang on how to play an elegant man. Unfortunately, Ning Shuangshuang, being a woman, always brought a hint of femininity to the performance, despite others’ instruction.

Ning Shuangshuang, determined not to accept defeat, didn’t want to leave any regret. Yet, despite her efforts to improve her acting, every recorded attempt still had a trace of femininity rather than the refined masculine aura.

Recording her performance thousands of times daily brought no progress. Occasionally, Ning Shuangshuang felt discouraged. However, her stubborn heart didn’t want this role to have any flaws; she was determined to portray a man with no trace of femininity.

To better understand what it feels like to be a man, Ning Shuangshuang came up with a drastic measure. She had her makeup artist transform her appearance into that of a man and even boldly cut her long hair into a man’s crew cut.

After shaving her hair, Ning Shuangshuang also applied a small voice changer to her throat and covered it with a layer of fake skin from the makeup artist.