novelraw Chapter 108: God of War Sounds Farther Than "Man of Chu"
Chapter 108: God of War Sounds Farther Than "Man of Chu"
The filming for the Battle of Julu was officially wrapped.
After a brief moment of celebration, the entire crew immediately threw themselves into preparations for the next scene.
The atmosphere shifted abruptly from the clamorous clangor of weapons and armor in daylight to the deep silence of night.
The new scene was the main command tent of the Chu Army.
What was about to be filmed was a scene between Xiang Yu and Yu Ji on the night of the great victory at Julu.
Jiang Ci glanced at the pale blue light screen on his retina.
【Remaining Lifespan: 168 days, 2 hours】
Time was passing day by day.
He was acutely aware that the upcoming dialogue-heavy scene wouldn't directly harvest any Heartbreak Value.
Its purpose was to lay the groundwork.To set the cornerstone for the final "Unresolved Injustice" at Gaixia.
It was about shaping the core arc of Xiang Yu's character, the one that traversed both divinity and humanity.
Inside the tent constructed on the film set, lights blazed brightly.
Jiang Ci had already removed the heavy black and gold armor and changed into a set of dark, everyday clothes. He sat alone on a wooden couch in the corner.
He wasn't interacting with anyone.
He just sat there quietly, his back ramrod straight.
An aura of solitary isolation, forbidding to strangers, silently emanated from him.
The busy crew members setting up the scene around him instinctively softened their steps and lowered their voices by several notches when passing by him.
Outside the tent, as per Director Wei Song's instructions, hundreds of background actors playing Chu Army soldiers were erupting in waves of earth-shaking cheers and uproar.
Zhao Yingfei had changed into Yu Ji's costume.
A plain white silk dress, her long hair tied up with a simple wooden hairpin. Her face, free of makeup, carried a pristine, unadorned beauty.
Holding a bronze basin filled with clear water, she stood at a distance before the shoot began.
Her gaze was fixed on Jiang Ci's back, as steady and imposing as a mountain.
Even from over a dozen steps away, she could still feel the emptiness and exhaustion radiating from him.
Behind the monitor, veteran actors like Huang Shengqiu and Liu Hanyu hadn't left just because their scenes were done.
They stood with their arms crossed, watching with keen interest, as if waiting for a good show.
They all wanted to see.
How would this young man, who could embody the tyranny and indifference of the "Man-Butcher" to the bone, portray a "human" whose inner world was undergoing collapse and tearing apart.
"All departments, attention!"
Wei Song was conducting the final scene coordination through his walkie-talkie.
"Louder cheers outside the tent! I want that frenzy! Deafening frenzy! Loud enough to lift the tent roof!"
He intended to use the most extreme clamor to contrast the most extreme silence inside the tent.
Everything was ready.
Zhao Yingfei moved.
She didn't try to greet "Jiang Ci" or make any eye contact.
She stepped directly into the role of Yu Ji.
She walked gracefully towards that solitary back, her steps light and utterly silent.
Approaching him, she performed a graceful bow towards his back.
On the monitor.
One was silent as a mountain, the other stood still as water.
They hadn't even spoken their first line yet,
but the unique atmosphere between them, one that outsiders couldn't penetrate, was instantly palpable.
Satisfied, Wei Song picked up his walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button.
"Action!"
At the command.
The flickering candlelight inside the tent illuminated Yu Ji's figure as she slowly walked towards the king who belonged to her.
Jiang Ci remained in his seated posture, motionless.
He wasn't deliberately stiffening his face or making any superfluous movements.
He was simply adjusting his breathing.
Every inch of his muscles was in a state of minute tension.
He utterly ignored everything around him.
This powerful aura made everyone watching him feel a surge of instinctive awe.
Zhao Yingfei, portraying Yu Ji, walked to his side, gently placing the bronze basin on a low table nearby.
She wrung out a cloth, preparing to wipe away the bloodstains still on him.
At that moment, Wei Song behind the monitor sharply furrowed his brows.
Through the close-up shot, he keenly noticed Jiang Ci's body was trembling slightly.
Zhao Yingfei noticed it too.
She paused her action and spoke softly.
This was the first line of the scene.
"They are all calling you the God of War."
Her voice was clear and distinct.
Jiang Ci did not turn around.
He responded in a voice laced with extreme fatigue.
"God of War..."
He repeated the term, then slowly uttered the second half of the sentence.
"It sounds... farther away than 'Man of Chu'."
Zhao Yingfei's performance rhythm didn't falter in the slightest.
She walked to his side, knelt down, and began wiping the dried blood from his arm.
The moment the cloth, carrying a hint of cool moisture, touched Jiang Ci's skin.
Jiang Ci's body shuddered violently.
This extremely subtle reaction was precisely captured by the close-up lens.
"Too cold?"
Zhao Yingfei looked up, asking with concern.
Jiang Ci slowly shook his head.
He finally turned to look at her.
He raised his hands, which were still trembling slightly, and delivered the line that struck at the soul.
"It's empty."
He stared at his own hands as if they were still stained with un-washable blood.
"Today... these hands... sent many people away..."
"I listened to their screams, the sound of bones breaking..."
His narration held no emotion, as if he were speaking of something unrelated to himself.
"But my heart feels like a pool of stagnant water."
The set was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone was gripped by the sense of hollowness in Jiang Ci's performance.
Jiang Ci slowly raised his head, looking directly at Zhao Yingfei.
"Yu Ji, tell me..."
His voice, previously low, suddenly carried a fragile tremor as he spoke this line.
This wasn't technique.
This was the most genuine expression of a character's final line of defense completely collapsing.
"Am I still a human?"
In this moment, there was no longer the Hegemon's majesty on his face, nor the Butcher's indifference.
Behind the monitor, everyone held their breath.
Eagerly anticipating how Zhao Yingfei would respond.
Zhao Yingfei's performance exceeded everyone's expectations.
She put down the cloth in her hand, then used her own cool, clean hands
to gently envelop his fists, which were "stained with blood."
Then she delivered the earth-shattering line.
"Humans... grow excited from slaughter."
"Gods... grow indifferent from duty."
"But you..."
She looked straight into his eyes, filled with confusion and fear.
"You are grieving."
The word "grieving" pierced Jiang Ci's heart like a steel needle.
His entire body shuddered violently.
But he did not retreat.
Zhao Yingfei didn't either.
Instead, she met his suddenly sharpened, scrutinizing gaze, slowly stood up, and pulled him to his feet from the wooden couch.
She led him, step by step, towards the tent flap.
For him, she personally lifted the tent flap that separated two worlds.
Outside was the deafening roar of celebration.
Countless soldiers were fervently shouting "Hegemon" and "God of War" around bonfires.
The fervent flames illuminated Jiang Ci's face, still etched with confusion.
Zhao Yingfei, in a voice clear and firm enough to pierce through all the clamor, defined all his present pain.
"You are using a human heart to bear the karma that only a god can withstand."
Behind the monitor.
Wei Song, watching the two locked in each other's gaze, was utterly stunned.
Outside the tent flap was the mortal world.
Inside the tent flap was the altar.
And Yu Ji was the coordinate standing at the boundary between the altar and the mortal world, the only one who could hold him back, preventing him from completely falling into the abyss of divinity.
Jiang Ci, portraying Xiang Yu, tightly grasped Zhao Yingfei's hand in return.
He looked down at their intertwined hands and delivered the line in a low voice.
"This world... is too vast, too noisy..."
The candlelight inside the tent stretched their shadows long and intertwined.
"Only here, with you, can I hear the sound of my own heartbeat clearly."