Chapter 319: Illusory Divine Fire

The screen full of bullet comments left Bo Ge slightly stunned.

"This is too terrifying, right?" he couldn't help but say.

Such a grand spectacle, even for someone like him who had been hanging around Little Rotten Station for years, was something he had never seen before!

"Wait! 'Fog Hill of the Five Elements' is jointly produced by Luo Mo Studio and Tongguang Studio." Bo Ge suddenly remembered something.

Anyway, the main feature hadn't started yet, so he clicked pause and went to search for which people from Tongguang Studio were in charge of this project.

Upon searching, a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.

"It really is those three teachers!" Bo Ge exclaimed.

As mentioned before, Tongguang Studio was hailed as the conscience of Chinese animation; even when making children's or youth-oriented animation, they never produced shoddy work, and it was always filled with substance.

It was precisely because they were too conscientious that they were always very poor, eventually losing everything on a project, and only then were they acquired by Shen Shaoqiu, the boss of Xinyu who had a very discerning eye for investment.

Among them, the studio veterans in charge of "Fog Hill of the Five Elements" were the well-known 【Three Swordsmen of Chinese Animation】.

They were famous, partly because their technical skills were top-notch, but they didn't know how to do 3D.

Every animation the three of them were in charge of had a level of detail that left netizens stunned.

Back then, after Luo Mo gave He Yuanguang the script for "Spirit Cage," He Yuanguang felt it was a real pity to just let these three sit idle, so he approached Luo Mo, and that was how Luo Mo gave them "Fog Hill of the Five Elements."

And these Three Swordsmen were also famous because they were dubbed by netizens as the 【Never-Profitable Three Swordsmen】.

The animations these three cooked up never made much money.

Often, while they were in the middle of making them, the project would go bust because there was no money to make a sequel.

Only a boss like He Yuanguang, who had sentiment and cherished talent, would keep indulging them like this.

These three old guys were a bit like some maverick film directors; they would tell you the cost of the film before shooting, and maybe before they were even halfway through, they would run over to tell you they had spent it all.

What the hell is this!

Before the animation market had exploded, how could it withstand such tossing and turning?

These Three Swordsmen were just like novices decorating a new house; when buying floor tiles, they thought, "Let's buy better ones, it won't cost much more anyway," when buying a table, they thought, "Let's buy a better one, it's just a bit more expensive," and when buying a shower, they thought, "Let's buy a better one..."

A little bit here and a little bit there, and as it accumulated, the budget simply doubled.

So in the eyes of many investors, these weren't the Three Swordsmen, they were the Three Cheapskates.

After meeting the wealthy and generous Luo Mo, the three of them were no longer short of money. But when making "Fog Hill of the Five Elements," they only hired 6 more subordinates.

In their own words, it was because ordinary people couldn't meet their Requirement and couldn't complete their work.

The reason Bo Ge felt it was reasonable after seeing that it was a project led by these Three Swordsmen was that although most of their animations were forced to be cut short, they had a very loyal fan base.

Because the animation was made with such detail, and the lives of these three were so bitter, there was always a group of people who would leave a bullet comment after watching—"Thank you for your hard work!"

This had already become a convention.

Bo Ge knew about this, but he didn't expect that these Three Swordsmen would also have a day where they cleared the clouds to see the blue sky.

Clearly, the dense bullet comments at the beginning were because after their previous die-hard fans set the trend, the repeaters followed suit, creating such a terrifyingly grand scene!

"Perhaps many people posting 'Thank you for your hard work' don't even know their past," Bo Ge thought to himself.

Just like on Earth, a large portion of those who watched "Fog Hill of the Five Elements" probably didn't know the experiences of the director Lin Hun.

But that doesn't hinder everyone from being full of respect for the creative team, does it?

This animation could be seen at a glance to have cost countless efforts and a great deal of energy.

Even if there were no bitter stories behind it, just this dedication and this level of quality were worthy of this phrase—"Thank you for your hard work!"

Surely no one really thinks that behind every high-level production, it's all smooth sailing without any sacrifice, right?

………

………

After checking the team, Bo Ge took a deep breath and began to continue watching the main content.

The first episode was called "Illusory Divine Fire."

The opening scene started from high in the sky and went all the way down.

In the bullet comments, someone was posting: "Non-combatants, please evacuate."

One could see a seal rotating, clearly already opened by someone.

The Qilin walked out from the seal, and the entire art style was breathtaking.

It walked up to a man and asked, "Who are you?"

The man looked up at it, did not answer, and only said, "I'm taking something you have."

"Interesting," said the Qilin.

This man, wearing black tight-fitting clothes with gold thread patterns, was named Wenren Yixuan.

As the simple dialogue ended, flames emerged from the palm of his right hand.

The ink-wash art style didn't make one feel any softness at all; on the contrary, it made one feel incredibly cool.

"Too handsome!" Bo Ge's thought was just that pure.

Could this be the Illusory Divine Fire in the title?

Appearing right at the beginning, he must be the male lead, right?

He only heard him shout, "Fire Illusory!"

Once this ultimate move was unleashed, it gave Bo Ge goosebumps.

He was considered a veteran of chasing animations, watching whatever was hot, both domestic and foreign.

But this kind of art style was something he had only seen once in his life.

"National style combined with traditional Chinese painting, how could any Chinese person resist this!"

Bo Ge decisively tossed coins at this animation.

Wenren Yixuan alone was naturally no match for the Qilin, and just as he was struggling to parry, some of the other people of the Five Elements began to arrive on the scene.

The strange thing is, however, that the Wood Element, Earth Element, and Metal Element have no names.

Among the five elements, there are three men and two women.

The female characters consist of one loli and one imperial sister; who doesn't love lolis and imperial sisters?

As for the three male characters, the Water Element and Metal Element have an aura of coolness that gets higher with each one.

It turns out that the place where the Qilin is sealed is named: Giant Que Divine Shield.

One could see countless golden blades moving along with the Metal Element, and he spoke indifferently: "Since the shield has been opened, I shall just close it again."

Bo Ge began to wonder why the Fire Element, Wenren Yixuan, would want to open the divine shield and release the Qilin.

What exactly does he want to take from the Qilin's body?

And just as the great battle was underway, the Xiao Qilin actually slipped away.

In the end, the Qilin returned to the divine shield, but it snatched away Fire Aunt and Yuan Shu.

It made a Requirement that the Fire Element find the Xiao Qilin and bring it back, and only then would it return his kin.

The Giant Que Divine Shield closed once again, the screen dimmed, and the theme song began to play.

This was equivalent to laying out the main storyline from the very beginning.

The scene shifted, perhaps as time passed.

It was another long shot of distant mountains, full of ink-wash artistic conception.

The barrage comments surged again: "A visual feast!"

One could see a young girl carrying a basket running through the mountains, named Su Xiaoan.

Characters with distinct features began to appear, discussing a mysterious Medicine.

It seemed it could cure all diseases.

It could cure leg pain from rheumatism, it could cure difficult and miscellaneous illnesses, and a lecherous-looking man said: "Especially for my kidneys, it's a great tonic!"

The people of the village seemed to be making a living by producing this magical Medicine.

Everything was presented in a mysterious way, and the inner hall was even set as a forbidden area, which even Su Xiaoan could not enter.

The young girl Su Xiaoan ran around in the mountains and met three strange people.

The strange people were looking for the village and asked Su Xiaoan for directions. After she sensed something was wrong, she still pointed them in a random direction and then sprinted off to report the news, but unexpectedly she tumbled down the mountain path, lost her way completely, and crashed into a huge stone tablet.

She raised her head to look at the tablet and saw four large characters written on it.

——"Shenyin Wushan".

A magical energy began to sweep through the girl's entire body, and just as she was feeling this wonder, a duck raised its wing, wanting to touch Su Xiaobao's calf.

The barrage comments were instantly amused, calling this duck: "A role model for us all!"

Unexpectedly, the girl, having noticed, grabbed the duck; while she was screaming, her hand movements were incredibly rough, performing a 720-degree rotation on the spot, and she threw the duck away.

The duck flapped its wings, struggling in the high air, while in the pool below, a completely naked man emerged from the water, shaking the water droplets off his body.

The girl's expression changed instantly, and the art style suddenly went askew.

"The girl has great facial expressions," the barrage comments began to tease.

Wenren Yixuan, emerging from the bath with his eight-pack abs, locked eyes with the girl Su Xiaoan, and the girl was so scared she fell off the cliff, dropping toward the pool.

Just when everyone thought the cliché plot was about to happen, they saw Wenren Yixuan leap up, passing directly over the falling girl, and he grabbed the duck that was still flapping its wings nearby, pulling it into his arms.

Bo Ge, who had always been single, watched this scene, and his hands were truly out of control; he could no longer suppress his desire to post a barrage comment.

One could see his short fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard: "Well done!"

——In reality, I crave the bodies of the opposite sex; on the internet, I post "Well done."

The scene shifted at this moment, returning to the village.

One could see the leaders of the village gathered together, and the father of Su Xiaoan, called Third Brother, glanced at the note in his hand and said: "The Gathering Immortal Pill is not enough again; Boss told us to send some more over."

This Gathering Immortal Pill was the miraculous medicine everyone had been talking about at the beginning.

As soon as these words were spoken, many people showed troubled expressions, clearly hiding some unspeakable secret.

Third Brother just said indifferently: "Everyone just wants to live better."

A mysterious passage opened at this time, and no one knew where it led.

On the other side, Wenren Yixuan walked toward the village with Su Xiaoan, only because he had forced the girl to buy a duck.

Just at this time, those three strange people found the village and began to attack it.

The minions were no match for them at all.

On the water bridge outside the village, several of the leaders began to fight the three strange people.

Bo Ge watched the entire fight scene with great satisfaction; the movements were sharp, the techniques were fast, and when he played it at normal speed, he could barely see the moves!

Bo Ge rewound it and changed the speed to 0.5; after slowing it down, he actually still felt that every move was too fast!

"This... truly worthy of being the Three Swordsmen. Others would be desperate to drag out the duration with such expensive scenes, but you guys, in order to make the fight effects cooler, have made every movement at least three or four times faster than other animations!"

By the end of the fight, everyone realized that these were actually three monsters!

Just as the blade-like wings were about to pierce the Fifth Leader who was wielding a spear, a figure appeared and grabbed the wings with one hand.

A lazy voice came: "Such a fiery temper, friend."

Wenren Yixuan gripped the wings tightly, making it unable to move an inch, and said indifferently: "Oh? You look very familiar."

The next moment, the movements were still too fast to see.

As a viewer, Bo Ge didn't even know when Wenren Yixuan had grabbed the monster's neck.

The Illusory Divine Fire appeared at this moment, burning the monster directly until it revealed its original form.

The Illusory Divine Fire under the ink-wash art style, combined with the impassioned soundtrack, instantly ignited the atmosphere!

"Too handsome!"

"Damn! So handsome it's exploding!"

"God knows how many times I've watched this scene!"

In the footage, the Third Leader and the others, in a wretched state amidst the ruins, had trembling pupils and cold sweat pouring down, looking at the man before them in disbelief, and stammered out:

"Wushan... Fire Element!?"

(PS: First update, seeking monthly tickets. By the way, Christmas is coming soon; Xu Chujing's birthday is set for Christmas.)

(End of this chapter)