#but the dark hair really accentuates how yingxing ages

[struggling-jpg]

I've seen a lot of different interpretations of Jing Yuan and Yingxing's (extending to Blade) dynamic over time. Personally, knowing what we know, I go for the idea that they were around a similar age with Yingxing being a bit older.

But I've been thinking about their friendship over the years, where they both grow up but of course, as a Xianzhou native, Jing Yuan stops at some point but Yingxing keeps aging. They argued and competed so much over the years and Yingxing's personality didn't change too much yet there's inevitable shifts.

Yingxing's hair grays and wrinkles appear on his skin, he isn't as energetic as he used to be. At some point, Yingxing and Jing Yuan don't look like friends who are close in age but a grandpa or elderly father and his adult son/grandson. And it isn't much of a big deal until everything falls apart and Jing Yuan is hit with Yingxing's mortality in the worst way possible (how unfortunate the man being a short life species had nothing to do with it).

And when Jing Yuan sees Blade hundreds of years later, Yingxing's body now looking as young as the General again, he feels conflicted. The past remains crushed and lost in the expanses of space.