Ling Yichen and Jun Moran felt the immense challenge this stage brought even at the very beginning of post-production. Despite their best efforts in preparation, inviting senior industry experts for guidance and organizing internal team training, the road ahead was still fraught with difficulties.

With the import of a massive amount of footage, the editing work officially began. Experienced editor Lao Zhang, after carefully reviewing the footage, frowned and approached Ling Yichen and Jun Mo Ran, saying gravely, "Director Ling, Mo Ran, while we have a wealth of footage, the shooting order of some scenes is somewhat chaotic, and the differences in lighting and color tones between different scenes are significant, which poses a considerable challenge to editing. Forcing the pieces together might severely compromise the continuity of the plot and the visual appeal."

Ling Yichen and Jun Mozhan exchanged a glance, a hint of worry flashing in their eyes. They knew that editing was a crucial part of post-production, directly affecting the pacing and narrative flow of the entire series. Ling Yichen pondered for a moment and said, "Master Zhang, could you first outline a general editing approach based on the script outline? Then, we'll have the special effects team work with you to adjust the lighting and color tones." Old Zhang nodded, though his expression showed difficulty, he still accepted this challenging task.

While the editors were diligently sifting through the footage, the visual effects team also encountered challenges. To achieve a perfect blend of ancient and modern elements, the effects artists faced a creative block when designing some key scenes. For example, in one scene where the protagonist travels through a time portal from ancient times into the modern world, the originally envisioned special effects consistently failed to deliver the expected impact.

Xiao Wang, the special effects coordinator, reported wearily to Ling Yichen, "Director Ling, we've tried various special effects solutions, from particle effects to lighting effects, but we just can't create that mysterious and breathtaking sense of time travel. What do you think we should do?" Ling Yichen patted Xiao Wang on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Don't be discouraged, let's think of a solution together. I think we can start from the emotional core of the story. This time travel scene is not only a change of space, but also a huge shift in the protagonist's state of mind. The special effects need to be able to highlight this emotional impact."

Jun Mo Ran added, "Yes, we can refer to some excellent science fiction and fantasy films and television shows for inspiration, but we also need to create our own unique style. How about we organize a creative brainstorming session and let all team members contribute ideas?" So, the entire special effects team gathered for a heated discussion. Everyone shared their opinions, proposing many novel ideas from different perspectives. After repeated trials and selections, a completely new special effects solution was finally finalized. In the new solution, the portal was no longer a simple passage of light and shadow, but a three-dimensional vortex composed of countless shimmering runes. When the protagonist traversed it, the runes rotated around it like vibrant stars, accompanied by intense light and sound effects, creating a highly impactful visual experience.

However, just as the special effects team was overcoming their difficulties, bad news came from the sound effects production team. Xiao Li, the sound effects supervisor, anxiously approached Ling Yichen: "Director Ling, some of the ancient creature sounds we carefully recorded for the show are seriously out of sync with the overall soundtrack. Furthermore, the sound effects in some battle scenes are too thin and fail to convey the tense and exciting atmosphere." Ling Yichen fell into deep thought after hearing this. Sound effects are crucial for creating the atmosphere of the story and must be resolved as soon as possible.

He decided to personally participate in the sound effects adjustments. Ling Yichen and the sound effects team meticulously analyzed the integration points of each sound effect and background music, optimizing everything from rhythm and volume to timbre. They also invited professional musicians to create a new, rousing soundtrack for the battle scenes, enhancing the music's depth and impact. Simultaneously, to make the ancient creatures' cries more realistic, the sound effects team conducted in-depth research into the characteristics of various ancient creatures, using advanced audio processing technology to re-edit and mix the original cries.

While resolving the sound effects issues, post-production time slipped away unnoticed. Ling Yichen and Jun Moran suddenly realized that the scheduled premiere date was drawing ever closer, but post-production was still lagging behind. They had no choice but to speed up their work, and the entire crew entered a state of intense overtime.

However, the intense workload gradually exhausted the team members, and their work efficiency began to decline. After working continuously for more than ten hours, editor Lao Zhang made some basic mistakes during the editing process, resulting in the loss of some clips. This mistake caused panic throughout the team, because re-editing these clips would not only take a lot of time but could also affect the coherence of the entire editing process.

Suppressing his anxiety, Ling Yichen reassured everyone, "Don't panic, everyone. We'll definitely solve this problem. Lao Zhang, take a rest. We'll get other editors to help restore these clips. At the same time, we need to readjust our work schedule, allocating work time and tasks more reasonably to prevent similar situations from happening again." Under Ling Yichen's direction, the crew quickly adjusted their work mode, adopting a shift system to ensure that each position had sufficient energy and time to dedicate to their work.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of everyone involved, the lost edited footage was finally recovered, and post-production gradually got back on track. However, just when everyone thought everything was moving in a positive direction, copyright issues loomed large again. The production team used some copyrighted music and special effects plugins during filming, but due to poor communication, they failed to obtain complete authorization in a timely manner. Suddenly, the copyright holder sent a lawyer's letter demanding that the production team immediately cease using the relevant materials and pay substantial copyright fees.

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