Chapter 572

Inside the cinema, the big screen darkened once more as the end credits began to roll, but the lights in the theater flickered on.

Generally speaking, when the lights come up like this, it means the movie is truly over.

The audience did not stand up; they sat quietly, feeling a sense of loss, yet also feeling that this was how it should be.

It wasn't explicitly stated in the film, but for some reason, the audience had a premonition: "The Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan series is over!"

The Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan series by Xu Mingyue and Xu Youyue began with *Legend of Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan*, reached the pinnacle of Wu Xia with *The World's Number One*, and finally drew to a close with *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*.

In the Jianghu of this series, Xu Mingyue presented a magnificent world, filled with schemes, deception, love, and hatred... and now, it had all come to an end.

"Goodbye, Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan," Meng Qian thought to herself, her eyes red.

Even though the ending of this film wasn't the most tragic among all the twins' movies, she still felt a deep sadness.

It felt like saying goodbye to an old friend who had accompanied her for a long time.

But many things in this world are like this; there is always an end.

"It's over."

"Let's go, time to go home and sleep."

Just as some audience members were preparing to leave, a melody suddenly began to play amidst the end credits.

Many in the audience stopped in their tracks instantly.

It was a national-style song, one the twins hadn't released yet; it was called—"Jianghu Laugh."

It was originally the theme song for *The Return of the Condor Heroes*.

When Xu Mingyue's first line of singing echoed through the theater, some of the audience who had already stood up sat back down, while others remained standing where they were.

Yet, not a single person left the theater.

This was Xu Mingyue's new song, after all, which came with its own built-in attraction buff.

In fact, this song was strangely well-suited to the Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan series.

"Jianghu laughs, grievances end,

People trade blows, smiles hide blades,

The red dust laughs, laughter is lonely,

The heart is too high, it cannot reach,

The bright moon shines, the road is long,

People will grow old, but the heart does not,

Cannot love, cannot let go,

Cannot forget, your kindness..."

At the same time, images appeared on the big screen.

A naive Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan was rescued from the brothel by Hua Hua Wuque; she looked up at him with stars in her eyes, and thus, her love took deep root.

But her love was destined to be fruitless; her father schemed against her, and her stepmother bullied her.

She endured all of this in silence, waiting for her chance.

The twins' singing continued to echo in the cinema:

"Seemingly flowers yet not flowers, mist yet not mist,

The surging river water cannot be held back,

A body of heroism and ambition, an iron-willed pride,

It turns out the hero is lonely!"

The footage cut rapidly: Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan killing her sister, her father, killing Xiao Yu'er, killing Hua Hua Wuque—kill, kill, kill, kill—until she finally ascended to the throne.

She killed until only the title of the show remained.

Between heaven and earth, there was no one left who could make her feel anything.

Loneliness.

Solitude.

But she had no regrets.

She held the supreme power of the world; no one could ever bully her again.

But what was the price?

Perhaps only Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan herself knew.

"Jianghu laughs, love is carefree,

Zither or flute, pour the wine,

Laugh at the sky, forget it all,

Carefree as the wind, light and drifting..."

The scene switched, and images from *The World's Number One* appeared.

At the beginning, the four great secret agents of Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow rode forward on tall horses, each with a determined gaze.

Then came Zhu Zhu Wushi, Gu Gu Santong, Suxin, Cao Cao Zhengchun...

Subsequently, classic scenes flashed by.

Such as Shangguan Haitang bathing, Guihai Yidao crashing the wedding to take Shangguan Haitang away, Liusheng Yagyu Piaoxu's snow drifting through the world, and Zhu Zhu Wushi completely breaking down upon seeing Suxin's head.

These images reminded the audience of the poem: "Imperial ambitions discussed amidst laughter, nothing beats a drunken stupor in the human world."

Power, wealth, even the ultimate martial arts manuals that the people of the Wu Lin chased so frantically—in the end, perhaps none of it compared to a single drunken stupor in the human world.

Immediately after.

The song reached its conclusion.

The screen played a montage of *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*.

Yu Yu Huatian, Zhao Zhao Huaian, Ling Ling Yanqiu, Jin Jin Xiangyu... character after character appeared, scene after scene of classic moments.

It finally froze on Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan riding a camel into the distance.

Together with the song "Jianghu Laugh," which was full of the atmosphere of the Jianghu, they became a swan song.

Meng Qian and Yang Ying's eyes grew even redder. If everyone had only been guessing about the end of the Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan series before, now it was almost certain. With the song "Jianghu Laugh," the twins had drawn a perfect period for the Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan series.

Not until the song finished did many audience members begin to leave.

As they left, they were all chatting about the plot of the movie and Xu Mingyue's new song.

"This is the best Wu Xia movie I've ever seen! Honestly, *The Martial Arts of One Person* can't compare to this."

"The pinnacle of Chinese Wu Xia cinema has arrived!"

"The fight scenes were so well done! The background music was also amazing!"

"When I heard Ling Ling Yanqiu's flute at the end, I couldn't help but feel sour and wanted to cry; the tears were really about to fall."

"Super shocking! I didn't expect Wu Xia could be filmed like this; a single inn told the story of the entire Jianghu."

"I liked the poem Lady Jiang Lady Jiang Yuyan recited at the end the most—heroic, grand, and free-spirited. It instantly elevated the scope of the movie. Did they write it themselves?"

"I've never seen it anywhere else. Such a classic poem couldn't possibly have no history."

"No need to doubt it, it must have been written by Xu Mingyue. Think about the classical version of *Journey to the West*; they can write masterpieces like that, so I'm not surprised they wrote a poem like this."

[Redacted]

"??? This broken road can even be driven on."

"This last song is super good. Xu Mingyue is truly a master of music; writing songs is truly awesome!"

"Indeed, when the song started, I was stunned. The flavor was just right—full of the Jianghu spirit!"

"Once the song is released, I'm definitely downloading it!"

"With this 'Jianghu Laugh,' Xu Mingyue will probably slaughter the music charts again in January."

"Be confident, remove the 'probably'."

"..."

"Jianghu Laugh," a song with a beautiful and extremely catchy melody, had an influence far greater than any other song in the Liu Liu Tianxian version of *The Return of the Condor Heroes*.

The night was very deep, but a new storm had just begun to form.

Coincidentally, *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate* and *Lost on Mars* finished airing at almost the same time.

As sisters in the same dormitory, after Yang Ying and Meng Qian met up with their two other roommates who had watched *Lost on Mars*, they naturally couldn't help but discuss the movies.

Meng Qian was the first to ask for their thoughts on *Lost on Mars*.

Wang Jing, a mature woman with wavy hair, said: "Hmm... it mainly tells the story of an astronaut who loses contact with his team on Mars and then tries every possible way to return to Earth. Overall, it's not bad. The biggest surprise is that our Chinese Space Agency appeared in this movie! It's simply awesome! The United States has always been biased against us, but this time, they actually turned into a positive character for once." Wang Jing was a little excited, her beautiful eyes darting as she asked: "By the way, how was Xu Mingyue's Wu Xia film?"

Meng Qian knew that Wang Jing always had high standards for movies. If she said it was "not bad," it meant that, at the very least, Wang Jing considered the movie to be above average. This couldn't help but make Meng Qian worry for the twins, but then, she was filled with confidence.

What kind of level is this! How dare they compare the quality to *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*?

She had seen the quality of that movie, so she was exceptionally confident.

Meng Qian's mouth curled up slightly, and she smiled: "The greatest work in the history of Wu Xia cinema, bar none!"

With these words, she bragged on behalf of her husbands first!

As she finished speaking, Wang Jing's mouth fell open.