Chapter 804: "Dragon" Grand Finale Team Wipe? Fate Hidden in Names, Destiny Foretold from Birth

In the upcoming scenes, the actors playing the Celestial Masters were all genuine masters found by the Tianshi Association, each possessing real skills.

Among them, the middle-aged master with the highest "status" was actually a disciple of the Lüshan Sect, belonging to a very orthodox lineage of successors.

Therefore, watching these people film their scenes was truly another kind of eerie visual feast, offering the thrill of witnessing masters performing exorcisms and killing ghosts live on set.

Although Xiao He still didn't believe in the existence of gods and ghosts, watching them perform hand seals and duel with arcane techniques, using bizarre ritual tools from old Hong Kong movies to launch mystical attacks, he had to admit that these Taoist masters perfectly matched his fantasy of what Celestial Masters should be like.

Drawing talismans and brandishing swords on the spot, every move was fluid and seamless. Even wearing ordinary short-sleeved shirts, they still exuded the aura of formidable experts, making them feel like they belonged to a different world from ordinary people.

It wasn't just Xiao He—every time these scenes were filmed, many crew members would come to watch and let out exclamations of awe, feeling their scientific worldview being "shaken."

The only downside was that even when these Celestial Masters came to the set, they remained quite aloof. They basically finished filming and left immediately. Xiao He didn't even have a chance to chat with them, and the rest of the crew dared not approach the masters either, treating the supernatural with even greater reverence and caution.

Thus, these mysterious masters came and went in a hurry. Apart from leaving a deep impression of being "experts," they brought no major changes. Even the so-called "evil occurrences" that senior colleagues used to talk about when shooting ghost films never appeared on this set.

Maybe it was because there were too many masters here that any attracted "evil spirits" were scared away.

In the end, only Taoist Hu remained the friendliest. He even enthusiastically took on the role of Zhou Zhiyi's master, laughing and thanking Xiao He and the production team for letting an old man like him fulfill his acting dream.

Throughout this period of filming, Xiao He had been hanging from wire work nonstop.

His prop Peachwood Sword had been replaced countless times. Even Lyu Dun, the fattest member of the crew, had gradually slimmed down under the ever-increasing burden of his scenes. If not for special effects makeup artists like Feng Songyue stabilizing his appearance on set, Lyu Dun would have looked inconsistent from one shot to the next.

Yet, for some unknown reason, over the past few days, Director Zhuang Hongyi would stare at Lyu Dun for a long time after each scene, making Lyu Dun's hair stand on end.

"Director Zhuang, Director Zhuang, this is real fat I'm carrying! I never expected to keep losing weight while filming. Please don't look at me like that—I feel like you're terrifying right now!"

Lyu Dun whined pitifully.

Filming had already been exhausting lately. He really didn't want to face a temporary "weight gain" task after enduring such high-intensity work that felt like a diet.

That was something no human could do!

Xiao He, sitting on a small folding stool nearby, heard Lyu Dun's complaints and couldn't help but look over, staring at Zhuang Hongyi with curiosity.

The scenes during this period were all filmed indoors, and the place was like a natural fat-melting furnace. Just being stuck inside was unbearable enough. On the hottest days, they even had to run separate pipes to cool down the cameras, or the machines would be on the verge of shutting down. Let alone the actors, who were doing action fight scenes every day.

So Xiao He could fully understand Lyu Dun.

He even kind of admired Director Zhuang.

To have worn down a solidly fat man to a moderately chubby, sturdy build, Xiao He could only say Zhuang Hongyi was quite something.

"Ah, no, no. How could I be so impersonal?"

Zhuang Hongyi immediately denied it but kept staring at Lyu Dun. "I just suddenly had a new inspiration."

"Huh?"

Lyu Dun quickly covered his chest, trying to fight for his character's survival: "Director Zhuang, you're not suddenly planning to kill off my character, are you?"

"Ahaha—"

Zhuang Hongyi scratched his head and laughed but said nothing.

Instantly, several heads appeared before him.

"No way? Director Zhuang, are you really thinking about that?!"

Lyu Dun stared at Zhuang Hongyi in shock. Xiao He also looked at him and asked tactfully, "Didn't Director Zhuang say the three main characters would all survive?"

Of course, by the end, there weren't many left anyway.

If Zhuang Hongyi kept "stabbing the heart" of the characters, then "Dragon's" plot would just be a complete team wipe.

Cheng Jingyu, standing nearby, didn't speak but kept nodding along, clearly unhappy with Zhuang Hongyi's sudden urge to off characters.

The bond among this iron triangle had grown over time spent together. Now that they were all immersed in their roles, they naturally loved their characters deeply.

No one wanted their character to meet a tragic end.

That was just human nature.

Facing the complaints of the three main actors, Zhuang Hongyi remained perfectly composed: "Heaven is my witness, I never planned to wipe out the main team. You need to know, this version's ending is already the result of modifying the old script."

"There was an old version ending too?"

Xiao He's eye twitched, a bad feeling creeping in.

"That's right. In the original setup, I planned for two deaths and one blindness." Zhuang Hongyi said the cruelest words with the calmest face. "Names like Zhou Zhiyi, Wang Budao, and Chu Xin—I already hid the fateful omens of their own destinies within them."

—Fate hidden in names, half a lifetime already foretold.

"Zhou Zhiyi, who understands metaphysics and follows heaven's will, will die doing what he does best—killing ghosts. He dies deep in a cemetery, using himself as fuel. His soul will never be liberated, forever slaying the Dragon Monster and guarding the dragon vein."

"And Wang Budao, though his name means 'never fall,' is destined to fall just before dawn. He drains all the blood from his body, using a blood sacrifice to exchange one life for another."

"Chu Xin, because of her Yin-Yang Eyes, becomes a guiding light in the darkness. So she is fated to sacrifice herself as the lamp's wick, burning until the very end. Even if she barely escapes, her eyes are completely burned out, leaving her blind..."

"So 'Dragon' itself carries a metaphor, and the main team's names were never chosen at random."

Finally, amid the stunned gazes of everyone, Director Zhuang shrugged and looked rather regretful: "Sigh, so I'm still too merciful."

After hearing his description, everyone gasped.

...Director Zhuang, please just be a normal person!

Suddenly, no one dared to ask about Zhuang Hongyi's ideas anymore.

If Zhuang Hongyi really filmed the grand finale he had in mind, there wouldn't be a single peep from anyone—they'd just be waiting to get emotionally wrecked by the viewers later.

"Okay, Director Zhuang, let's just say—the more you modify something, the more problems you create. So why not just leave it as it is? I think the current state is really good."

Xiao He advised with unprecedented seriousness. "Director Zhuang, we've all seen the 'Corner Also' comic's grand finale. Back then, the main team was completely wiped out, all in the same cemetery. Weren't you so mad you ignored Yan Shaohan for months? We can't be two-faced! Look how much you hated the bad ending back then—how can you serve emotional knives in your own script? That's just immoral!"

"Yes, Director Zhuang, I think this current ending is just fine."

Lyu Dun chimed in.

Even Cheng Jingyu argued firmly: "Director Zhuang, a plot where only one person survives is way too tragic. A lot of viewers these days don't like watching such miserable, painful movies."

See, these plots couldn't withstand comparison.

Before, they thought the current plot, where the main team survived but barely won, was still tragic. But compared to Zhuang Hongyi's horrifying old version, they could honestly say it was the kind version of Director Zhuang at the helm.