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ghost_valley2021-08-20 10:44 am
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2021-08-20 10:44 am
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 11
This is an episode with a bunch of torture in it, mostly implied but enough shown that it can still be a lot! It also has a lot of backstory! Most of the backstory will get expanded upon later in the show, too, but it’s all clustered together here too!
(Also I realised after taking screenshots that, for some reason, I’d biased towards choosing every image of Zhou Zishu smiling that I could.)
List of Scenes
Gao Chong at the Heroes Conference construction site
Luo Fumeng asks WKX to explain himself; WKX refuses
WKX talks to Liu Qianqiao and gives her orders
ZZS on the streets of Yueyang, angsting about being alone
Chengling receives a note signed “Xu”
Chengling attempts to sneak through Yueyang Manor at night; Gu Xiang finds and helps him
Qiao Luohan attacks Chengling and Gu Xiang, and kidnaps Chengling (ZZS follows)
WKX learns that Chengling has been kidnapped and starts chasing Qin Song
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan torture Chengling for information about the Glazed Armor
WKX tortures Qin Song for information about where Chengling is
ZZS catches up to Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan and starts fighting them
As ZZS’s injuries catch up with him, WKX arrives and joins in the fighting
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan flee; WKX, ZZS, and Chengling hear Drug Men coming
Xie-wang arrives to needle WKX about revealing his identity; ZZS creates an opportunity for escape
Shen Shen attempts to reassure Gao Chong
Chengling, crying, tells ZZS and WKX they’re the only people he trusts
Chengling tells ZZS and WKX about the Glazed Armor hidden inside him and why his father didn’t trust the rest of the Five Lakes Alliance
Gao Chong pays his respects to memorial tablets of his dead sworn brothers and friends, and mournfully reminiscences
Chengling attempts to get ZZS and WKX to talk to each other; ZZS’s internal injury acts up and WKX helps (and references his own Sad Backstory)
ZZS tells Chengling who he really is, and asks if Chengling still wants him as his shifu (Chengling, of course, does)
Timeline or Something
The actual episode takes place over a day and into the night, but it has so many flashbacks and references to the past.
There’s a lot of discussion of what happened twenty years ago, when Rong Xuan was poisoned and died.
ZZS mentions his own past, and that he was 16 when he became Siji Manor’s leader.
Recap
This episode begins with an overhead shot of the Heroes Conference stage being built! Gao Chong and Shen Shen are contemplating that big stone sword, and a Yueyang disciple comes to report on how well things are going and be happy about the idea that Gao Chong will become the chief of the jianghu again. Gao Chong doesn’t want to be that, though! He just wants to keep his people safe.
I had completely forgotten that scene existed, because it is very short and overshadowed by the next scene: Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao talking to Wen Kexing after the rest of the ghosts have departed.
Luo Fumeng addresses WKX directly, by name instead of title, to ask him why he’s “being crazy again.” WKX doesn’t look up from his fan as he responds “I’m always crazy. You’re probably more scared when I’m not.”
Luo Fumeng doesn’t back down, and in fact sounds angrier/more upset as she asks him why he killed Bai Wuchang and asked her girls to spread the rhyme about the ghosts on Mount Qingya.
Only when she asks what he’s planning does WKX look up, warning her not to “take tolerance as forgiveness.” Again, Luo Fumeng matches him, snarling his name right back at him in frustration.
Liu Qianqiao interferes by kneeling and asking WKX not to be angry, as one does with dangerous people in leadership roles, and trying to reassure WKX that this is because they care about him. Luo Fumeng scolds her a little, and sharply points out that Luo Fumeng herself is not afraid of Wen Kexing. WKX tells Xisang Gui to leave so he can give Liu Qianqiao private orders, but Luo Fumeng asks him “Do you think you’re powerful now?” and waits a beat (WKX’s face is… a lot… as he looks at her here) before stalking off.
WKX tells LQQ to stand up, and she tries to offer platitudes about LFM’s rudeness, but WKX doesn’t care that she thinks he has “deeper intentions” and says he just wanted to kill someone. LQQ continues, explaining about how Wuchang Gui wants to revolt and this was a warning, but WKX warns her off trying to guess her masters’ intentions.
WKX says “everything is in my control”, and then asks LQQ about her disguise skills and if she learned them from Siji Manor. LQQ says she did, but that she’s never been there; she simply did a favor for Qin Huaizhang when she was young and he taught her transformation skills as a result. WKX continues asking about Siji Manor, but LQQ deflects by pointing out that she’s a ghost and shouldn’t reminisce about her human life. WKX sighs, not into remembering he’s a ghost, and says a very angsty line about ghosts disappearing in the light.
There are a few seconds of silence before he turns back to LQQ. We do not hear him give her his orders, and the scene cuts.
ZZS wanders the Yueyang streets, drinking and looking quietly morose. He ends up at the doors to Yueyang Manor, and thinks sad thoughts about being alone and able to go wherever he wants, and wonders why he’s staying here.
Chengling returns to his room, finds another box of food, washes his hands, and sees a note slipped under the basin. It instructs Chengling to go to the northern garden late at night, and is signed “Xu”. Chengling is delighted, and also doesn’t want anyone to see the note.
The scene cuts to night. Chengling wakes up and sneaks out of his room, heading towards the northern garden. There are disciples patrolling, and the main hall is still all lit up.
One of the disciples catches Chengling and questions him; Chengling says he’s hungry and looking for food, and the disciple tells him that’s not allowed. The disciple offers to let the kitchen know what Chengling wants, and tells Chengling to go back to his room.
Fortunately, before this can escalate too far, Gu Xiang shows up and knocks that disciple out. She also wants to know what Chengling’s up to, but Chengling is much happier to tell her, since he assumes she was sent by ZZS and WKX to begin with. GX is very confused by this, since she has no idea what’s going on. The two of them make their way to the northern garden, where a servant sits. When they poke him to ask for information, he falls over, dead.
Gu Xiang and Chengling have about a second of shock before Pretty Arhat | Qiao Luohan leaps down from the roof at them.
Gu Xiang reacts in time to start fighting her. When they pause, Qiao Luohan asks GX how she’s related to Beauty Ghost (Yan Gui; Liu Qianqiao), and GX says it’s none of her business and then orders Chengling to run. This implies that Liu Qianqiao and Gu Xiang’s fighting styles are similar; either Liu Qianqiao taught Gu Xiang, or they’re both Luo Fumeng’s disciples and inherited her style. (Also, why does Qiao Luohan know Liu Qianqiao? I don’t recall if this gets brought up again later.)
Chengling takes a moment before he leaves, and he doesn’t actually go far. GX starts fighting Qiao Luohan in earnest. It’s a lovely fight, and one Qiao Luohan wins. She chases after Chengling, grabs him, and leaps away while Gu Xiang scrambles to keep up. There are also some Yueyang disciples arriving from the other direction.
As Qiao Luohan leaves, she calls for Qin Song to cover her, and his music sends Gu Xiang all the disciples stumbling to the ground.
ZZS, meanwhile, is drinking, pitying himself, and calling himself an idiot. He sees Qiao Luohan carrying Chengling and immediately starts following her.
Some Yueyang disciples rally, and Qin Song stops playing and starts fleeing. The disciples start searching throughout the town. Some of them run into WKX, and let him know that they’re looking for a thief, and describe the person they’re looking for. WKX recognises this as Qin Song immediately, and the disciples explain that he and another “thief” kidnapped Chengling. WKX very quietly starts freaking out—and without saying anything—leaps off because he sees someone running across the rooftops. It is, of course, Qin Song.
Hard cut to Qiao Luohan waking Chengling up by slapping him! He’s chained up nice and dramatically, but at least he’s got something to sit on. Qiao Luohan threatens Chengling and asks him where the Glazed Armor is, saying that she’ll stop torturing him once he tells her. Du Pusa’s lurking in the background too.
(During these scenes I’m always just like “Chengling, the cuffs are oversized. Chengling, you could just pull your hands out and be free. Chengling.” But I think we’re supposed to pretend/believe that they’re properly sized and tight around his wrists.)
Du Pusa suggests Qiao Luohan be gentler, but Du Pusa’s way of trying to get information from him feels creepier honestly. She also blows some magic dust onto Chengling’s face? He tells her not to touch him, and she (of course) doesn’t stop. Chengling is making as many “I’m hurt/uncomfortable” noises here as when Qiao Luohan was threatening to break his arm by stepping on it.
Meanwhile, Qin Song is attempting to run away and complaining about how his friends aren’t helping him. WKX takes the opportunity to ask Qin Song where they took Chengling. Qin Song doesn’t want to tell him, and as Qin Song charges to attack WKX, the scene cuts back to Chengling.
Chengling tells them he’d rather die than tell them where the Glazed Armor is. Du Pusa tells him she’s got plenty of things that’d feel worse than death. Qiao Luohan points out that their master (Xie-wang) doesn’t have time for all those hundred methods. “This boy looks weak, but he’s quite stubborn,” Du Pusa says, which is such an excellent summary of Chengling as a character. Qiao Luohan says she’ll take over with Chengling, asking Du Pusa to go figure out where Monster Jiang is (and why he hasn’t met up with Qin Song). Du Pusa doesn’t want to leave, preferring to watch Qiao Luohan work.
Qin Song collapses against a wall, his hand bloodied, and WKX threatens him with further tortrure in a very calm manner. He’s very nicely situated as Valley Master here, even as he references the healing arts his father taught him. The scene cuts as WKX demands once more to know where Chengling is.
The chair Chengling is chained to gets knocked over, and Qiao Luohan sits on the chair’s arm. She wets a piece of paper and holds it over Chengling’s mouth while Qiao Luohan pours more water on top.
After a bit, she lets Chengling breathe again, while Du Pusa praises her torture skills. Chengling says he’ll tell them now, but when Qiao Luohan leans in to hear his words he spits in her face. She slaps him, hard enough to knock out a tooth, but he seems very pleased with himself and says that he, as Zhang Yusen’s son, is not a coward.
Qiao Luohan grabs him, and seems about to do something, the door gets knocked in by some bodies. ZZS, sword out, quickly enters. Neither Du Pusa nor Qiao Luohan know who he is, and ZZS doesn’t introduce himself because “a bunch of stinky scorpions don’t deserve to know [his] name”, which is so delightfully scornful. Du Pusa’s surprised he knows about the Scorpions, and ZZS smirks about it.
Then ZZS attacks, charging through Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan to cut the chains binding Chengling. He pauses there for a moment before the fight begins in earnest. It’s really lovely to see ZZS fighting against skilled opponents; it really shows off the level of his martial arts as he fights them two-on-one. And then, as Monster Jiang barges in, three-on-one!
Qiao Luohan asks Monster Jiang where Qin Song is, and Monster Jiang says he couldn’t find him. ZZS, frustrated by the Nails’ effects on him, thinks about how he can’t afford to drag out this battle. They clash, and ZZS is clearly giving his all, but when he takes a moment to leap to where Chengling is there’s blood on his mouth. Chengling is concerned.
The Scorpion assassins want to know who he is (and think threatening him with Xie-wang’s wrath and ability to kill anyone he wants is going to have an effect), and ZZS stubbornly stands up and says “No-one can stop me from killing who I want and getting what I want” and throws out his arm, sending needles flying at the assassins. He’s got a mechanism on his wrist, and I don’t think I made the connection between this and the needles used to kill Fang Buzhi a few episodes ago the first time I watched this. Did he have this before, or did he steal/borrow this hidden weapon of TC’s from Han Ying?
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan dodge the needles, but Monster Jiang takes them straight-on and dies. ZZS isn’t doing too great, but keeps reassuring Chengling that it’ll be fine. Du Pusa wants to capture ZZS alive so that she can show him “what it feels like to want to die more than to live”, which is very funny considering ZZS’s whole deal.
Before they can do anything more, Qin Song’s mostly-dead body (he’s still breathing!) gets tossed through the door.
WKX stalks in, blank-faced and furious, and Chengling is the first one to break the silence because he’s so happy to see his Wen-shu. As much as WKX had been focusing on murder, now that he sees Chengling and ZZS his first action is to get to them as quickly as he can, throwing Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan aside.
WKX supports ZZS (Chengling had been, but as soon as WKX takes over holding ZZS he lets go), and asks “Who hurt you?”. Though he’s looking at ZZS, Chengling answers by saying that the assassins kidnapped him and hurt ZZS. (ZZS is very good at not answering questions by having other people around to answer for him.) WKX looks back at the door, where we see Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan escaping, and moves to follow. But ZZS stops him with a word, and also at this point it looks like WKX is possibly the only thing keeping ZZS upright? (He is fine, this is clear in the next shot, but right now he’s leaning on WKX a lot!)
WKX is not convinced by ZZS’s argument that they need to get Chengling out of here, and says he’ll destroy whoever hurt ZZS. But he still doesn’t let go to charge off, so his concern seems to be overriding his wrath at the moment.
A zombie growl echoes from outside, and ZZS leads WKX and Chengling to investigate. They find a bunch of drug men, and ZZS tells WKX to take Chengling and go. He doesn’t, of course, instead saying that “Dying together with you is also a fine ending.” ZZS scoffs, and asks, “Who wants to die with you?”, to which WKX smiles.
Xie-wang shows up then, saying “In life and death will you never part.”
(This whole exchange has a lot of resonance with the show’s ending, I think. Not a perfect parallel, but it’s not that far off, either.)
I also just love Xie-wang floating down from above, playing the pipa and wearing his lovely blue robes, to land in the midst of the drug men and very calmly talk about welcoming ZZS and WKX. Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan run in and tell Xie-wang what ZZS and WKX did, and he just scolds them about failing their mission.
Then Xie-wang addresses ZZS as “Zhou-shouling”, and asks him to introduce his friend. WKX responds by asking who Xie-wang is and wanting to know why he wanted Chengling. Xie-wang says he’ll introduce himself only if WKX does so first; he seems mostly interested in learning what WKX is willing to say, since Xie-wang follows that up with “Let’s make a bet; the loser needs to tell the winner his true identity.”
ZZS glances at WKX, clearly done with this (and not wanting WKX to reveal things he doesn’t want to reveal?), and—after calling Xie-wang more talkative than WKX—throws out some explosives? Smoke bombs? When the smoke clears, WKX, ZZS, and Chengling are all gone.
Du Pusa asks Xie-wang who they were, and Xie-wang calls them “a leader of Tian Chuang and a leader of the ghosts” [一个天窗之主, 一个恶鬼头子] (Xie-wang doesn’t use either of their formal titles, despite clearly knowing them, which is fascinating to me). As the scene ends, Xie-wang wants to know how they ended up together.
At Yueyang sect, Shen Shen tries to reassure Gao Chong that it’ll be fine and Chengling should be okay so long as he doesn’t tell them anything about the Glazed Armor. It is not as reassuring as he hopes.
In the woods, Chengling is crying because he’s so grateful ZZS and WKX came to save him. He hugs ZZS, who seems genuinely pleased about this.
WKX grumbles about Chengling calling him by a name that makes him seem younger than ZZS, whose only response is “Aren’t I older?”; WKX’s smile seems a little surprised here, but nobody focuses on that because ZZS’s attention goes back to comforting Chengling (by telling him that he shouldn’t cry about seeing them).
WKX and ZZS are both so proud of Chengling for not giving in to the torture; it’s so very sweet. He also says that he’s got so much to tell them.
The scene cuts to little pieces of meat being roasted over a campfire. Seeing as it’s actually edible food, it’s WKX cooking. He hands the skewer to ZZS, who hands it to Chengling. It’s very sweet and also means ZZS continues to not seem to eat anything.
Anyway. Chengling talks about how they’re the only ones who are “sincerely kind” to him; his uncles only care about the glazed armor, not him.
Chengling continues, saying that his uncles never treated his father like a real brother. He says that Gao Chong doesn’t care about getting revenge for Zhang Yusen and his family; he just wants to hold the Heroes Conference and it’s a convenient excuse. “Nobody ever really cared about me or what I want,” he ends with, and ZZS immediately asks him, “Then what do you want?”, because he really does care a lot about Chengling.
Chengling, the prototypical wuxia hero, says he wants to learn martial arts, get revenge, not need other people to protect him anymore, and continue the Mirror Lake Sect’s heritage. He says that last one is the wish of his father and brothers, but I’m pretty sure he also wants it.
WKX asks if there’s something that caused him to be so suspicious of the Five Lakes Alliance, and if he wants to tell them about it. When Chengling doesn’t respond, ZZS tells him to eat first; there’s no rush. That prompts Chengling to tell them, though! He tells them about how Zhang Yusen, the day Mirror Lake Sect was attacked, told him “Never trust anyone, no one is trustworthy”, and then immediately follows up with “I trust you”.
Chengling says he should’ve trusted ZZS and WKX from the beginning, instead of following the fisherman’s lead in wanting to send him to Zhao Jing. Neither ZZS or WKX say anything, but really the only one who thinks Chengling should’ve trusted them from the start is Chengling; they both know how poorly trust can go.
Chengling then reaches for his belt, saying he has the glazed armor with him. “My father was in a rush, so he cut my stomach to hide it in there,” Chengling says, as if this is a perfectly normal thing and not traumatic at all. “The wound healed, and it’s been with me since.”
He says he’ll take it out for them, like it’d be as easy as reaching into a pouch, and ZZS scolds him, since ZZS didn’t even say he wanted it. WKX follows that up with wondering why Chengling’s in such a rush; his father had been very careful, since hiding the glazed armor in Chengling’s body means that nobody can find it from a normal search.
Chengling agrees when WKX says ZYS must’ve lost trust in his brothers years ago. Upon being asked if he knows why, Chengling tells them his father gave him a letter, which he hid in the Buddha statue at the abandoned temple. ZZS praises him for managing to hide it with nobody noticing. Chengling says that “besides the receiver” nobody else should have the letter. WKX asks who it was for, and if Chengling remembers the contents.
The letter is for Ye Baiyi (who he calls “Changming Sword Immortal-qianbei”, which I think is cute). It describes how the sworn brothers were friends with Rong Xuan (who Chengling also calls ‘uncle’), and that Rong Xuan “became evil because of a mistake the five of them made”. They had a battle after arguing about the Combined Six Cultivation Method, and Rong Xuan won but was heavily poisoned and went crazy because someone had put poison on a sword.
Though the brothers should’ve been responsible, none of them stood up for Rong Xuan when the jianghu went after him. Zhang Yusen wasn’t present at the battle of Mount Qingya because his master broke his legs (a detail I keep forgetting is in SHL!) and locked him up. “[Zhang Yusen] could only regret living,” Chengling says, as the end of this story.
ZZS asks who poisoned the sword, and Chengling says he doesn’t know but the sword was Gao Chong’s. This scene ends on a shot of WKX’s sad face.
Back in Yueyang, Gao Chong opens up a secret door behind some cabinets and enters a shrine. Memorial tablets for other members of the Five Lakes Alliance are arrayed within, and some swords are set along the walls. Gao Chong lights incense as the camera drifts from Zhang Yusen’s tablet to those of Zhen Ruyu and “his wife” (I know she has a name, but the subs don’t give it).
Gao Chong apologises to ZYS for losing Chengling, and says he’s “waited for twenty years” (though uh when I look up the original Chinese [我苦熬了二十年], it seems more like “suffered” or maybe “endured” than “waited”? Which is a wee bit of a different meaning?) but all he’s heard about is the death of people close to him.
Gao Chong says that nobody ever believed his explanations (that he didn’t care about the titles he holds? that he’s looking for the truth?), and he doesn’t care what others believed but he’s still sad that Zhang Yusen didn’t believe him. He mentions that their children are as old as they were when they first met, and while he’s old everyone else is dead. He tells Rong Xuan his biggest regret is meeting him.
Then he calms, and kneels, and hopes that ZYS and LTC have met in the afterlife and might be scolding him or making fun of him by now. He laughs a little before it turns to tears. He invites them to do so, and the scene ends as the camera draws away.
Back in the forest, Chengling pokes at the fire, ZZS drinks, and WKX asks for some wine.
ZZS takes another swallow, then tells Chengling to pass his gourd over to WKX. Chengling is a good kid, so he does. And then, after a pause, he asks if they argued. When neither of them respond, Chengling asks them to not be mad anymore and tells WKX to comfort ZZS, quoting back WKX’s own words to him about how soft-hearted ZZS is and that “tough women like clingy men”.
ZZS tells Chengling to shut up, then asks WKX what nonsense he taught Chengling. Chengling grins, because he’s gotten them to interact again, and asks how WKX upset ZZS (it’s delightfully telling that he’s so sure WKX upset ZZS and not the other way around) and says he’ll apologise for WKX.
ZZS says “Okay”, and then promptly asks Chengling how the Scorpion Assassins kidnapped him instead of actually talking about his own emotions. Chengling explains what happened, and asks if ZZS sent the letter; ZZS says “Of course not”, because Yueyang Sect is the safest place for him to stay.
ZZS starts coughing, and WKX asks if his internal injury is acting up again. Chengling has apparently not actively realised he has such an injury, because he’s very concerned. When ZZS doesn’t answer, but coughs again, WKX immediately goes over and sits behind him to share qi.
Only once ZZS’s body seems settled does WKX start gently teasing ZZS about this injury being the only reason he can help such a skilled martial artist.
WKX brings up how he could tell how skilled and good ZZS was by his appearance, even when he was disguised. He’s never wrong about such things, he says, which is a lead-in to a flashback about what we will later see is his parents’ death. “I saw a dead body once,” he starts, and he describes how the shoulder blades told him how rare a beauty she was when she was alive.
He asks them to guess what happens next, and ZZS (quietly, gently) says that they should “let the past stay in the past” and “my condolences.” (Chengling does not seem to know what’s going on between them.)
ZZS asks WKX who he really is, and WKX calls himself Philanthropist Wen again (with an extended description of what that means). ZZS shakes his head a little at this.
Chengling passes ZZS back his gourd, still calling him “shifu”, and ZZS accepts it. After he takes a drink, he stands and asks Chengling if he sincerely wants ZZS as his master. Chengling stands, and says he does. ZZS tells Chengling that he can only repay Chengling’s trust with sincerity, and that Chengling should listen to ZZS tell him who ZZS really is before he decides.
For the first time, ZZS introduces himself as Zhou Zishu, “current leader of Siji Manor, and also the last.” (WKX looks very melancholy at this.) ZZS describes what his sect used to be known for, and how few people know about Siji Manor anymore because of ZZS’s “one mistake and helplessness”.
ZZS was 16 when Qin Huaizhang passed away, and says he couldn’t save the reputation of Siji Manor, so he took the disciples to follow the “Jin Military Governor, whom the Zhou family had served for generations”, and founded TC. He says he didn’t expect that “all of the fellow disciples from the Manor would become slaves to power”, and all 81 of them died until he was the only one left.
WKX, who’s looking down at the ground, asks if “Zhou-shouling” refers to the TC leader. ZZS says it does, and that it’s why “the Scorpion” knows him and why he knows where the Scorpions’ base (implied to be where Chengling had been kidnapped to) is. Chengling asks what the Scorpions are, and ZZS explains they’re a Jiangnan-based assassin organisation, as powerful in Jiangnan as Tian Chuang is in the Northwest.
Which leads Chengling to ask if “your Tian Chuang” is also an assassin organization. There’s a pause before ZZS responds, mostly to deny that it’s his anymore. (Whether because he left it or because it’s no longer the same organization it was when he founded it… either or both could be his thought here.) “Now, I’m just a normal person,” he says. “I spent half my life alone, doing things against my will and killing people I didn’t want to.” The camera shifts to WKX’s face briefly as ZZS continues, saying, “I wanted to wander the world until I die, but it seems like the heavens have other plans for my destiny.”
ZZS asks Chengling if he still wants ZZS to be his master, and Chengling says he does; he’s thought about ZZS this way for a while. There’s a beat of silence, and then WKX stands and tells Chengling to finish the formalities and bow.
Chengling does, and ZZS accepts him as the first disciple of the sixth generation of Siji Manor, and calls him an excellent disciple who will certainly ensure the manor’s lineage will continue. ZZS helps Chengling up, and says he’s very happy.
Chengling agrees, and ZZS smiles, and then looks at WKX, who nods back just a little, and the episode ends.
General Commentary
Fun fact I just now fully put together: In ep9, Qin Song was one of the people we saw during the “Everything goes to chaos and fighting over the fake glazed armor” sequence. I didn’t call him out there because I wasn’t sure it was him, but seeing his pipa again here makes me certain. It’s a gorgeous instrument! I really love the detailing/inlays on it!
Wen Kexing chasing after Qin Song is really neat because you can see how much longer Wen Kexing stays in the air than Qin Song. It’s a subtle way of showing the difference in their qi/martial ability, but once you notice it’s very effective.
I find the way this episode characterizes Gao Chong fascinating. We go straight from Zhang Chengling telling us that Gao Chong’s sword poisoned Rong Xuan to Gao Chong being very melancholy and respectful at the memorial tablets. He’s upset, sure, and shouts at Rong Xuan in particular, but the scene still ends with him accepting that they might be scolding him, and inviting them to. It feels like he thinks he’s failed them, for all of them to die, and he’s genuinely grieving them even in his regret and anger.
This is an especially striking contrast when remembering how Zhao Jing acts during the fairly-parallel scene he gets later in the show, where he’s drunk and wildly disrespectful to these very same memorial tablets.
I think it’s fun that Zhou Zishu begins this episode angsting about being alone and ends it by accepting Chengling as his disciple, which is a very effective way of ensuring that he won’t be alone.
The way Zhou Zishu understands Wen Kexing talking about his past here is also fascinating to me. Wen Kexing talks about seeing a beautiful dead woman, and Zhou Zishu reads his sorrow and how likely it is to be related to him personally. It’s interesting, too, how Wen Kexing asks if Zhou Zishu wants to know what happens next and Zhou Zishu refuses to invite him to continue—but then Zhou Zishu asks who Wen Kexing really is, and that almost-opening to know more about Wen Kexing’s past has already closed.
Wen Kexing offers his past to Zhou Zishu through jokes and anecdotes, but every time Zhou Zishu asks outright he laughs and turns it aside, reaching instead for a more lighthearted interpretation of what he wants to be seen as now. Zhou Zishu lets him have this, and even (earlier in this episode, with Xie-wang’s bet) protects him from having secrets pried out that he might not want to share.
(It’s no wonder, then, that in a few episodes Zhou Zishu uses a drinking game to ask who Wen Kexing is. However upset Wen Kexing might be about that pretense, Zhou Zishu has reason to believe that Wen Kexing responds better to games and deals than questions asked outright. Or at least, that it’s as good a lead-in as any to asking such a question.)
I love the color grading on the flashbacks here. I also love how different it feels in these sketchy detail-lacking explanations than when we get the full-on flashbacks later in the show. These same shots are used, but in full context and in full color, and the way that shifts the mood/tone of the scenes is striking.
The way Luo Fumeng talks to Wen Kexing continues to be fascinating. She’s so angry at him! And he just sits there sadly and snaps back at her, because she’s not really wrong but he can’t afford to accept that.
The thematic element of trust (especially in a master-disciple context) really gets a lot of play here, as Chengling says he trusts Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing and they’re both kind of like “...you trust so quickly, kid; that’s not always a good thing” with a quiet background sense of “Do I deserve this?” that neither of them ask outright. (It’s subtext in Zhou Zishu finally sharing his backstory with them, though! Does he deserve this trust? Chengling thinks he does, and that’s meaningful.)
Chengling’s trust in them is borne out through the show, of course, but there are other examples of master-disciple trust going awry: Cao Weining and his shifu (at the wedding), whatever you want to call Zhao Jing and Xie-wang’s relationship (trust broken in both directions, in various ways), the use of Deng Kuan to call out Gao Chong at the first heroes conference (and then, later, bringing him back as a witness for the second), Ye Baiyi and Rong Xuan…
I’m probably forgetting a few. (Zhou Zishu and Deng Pengju vs Han Ying? Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao? Both of those sets have some fascinating interactions regarding master-disciple kinds of relationships.) I’m not sure where I’m going with this, either; I just think it’s interesting.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. ALL THE BACKSTORY. I remember a lot of this in broad outlines, but less in detail. Are there parts of this that you’re surprised to learn showed up so early? Details you’d forgotten? Anything that’s framed differently here than it is later in ways you think are interesting?
2. Wen Kexing’s attitude shifts so much over the course of this episode. He begins as the Valley Master in full capriciously violent glory, moves through violence as a means to the end of saving someone he cares about, and ends reminiscing about his childhood and calling himself Philanthropist Wen. It’s really impressive to see all of that in one episode and have his character feel coherent the whole way through. I’d love to know your thoughts/feelings about all the aspects of Wen Kexing displayed here, and how the movement between them is shown!
3. I keep trying to frame a prompt/question about Zhou Zishu and/or Chengling and not quite managing it. I think there are like five question-adjacent things in the above text. Please tell me your thoughts about any of them! Or share your feelings about how good Chengling is, and how strong his will is, and how determined he is about what he cares about.
Next Time: More talk about the World’s Armory/what the Glazed Armor is for, including some more flashbacks! Yueyang Sect is suspicious of Gu Xiang! Zhang Chengling chooses to return to Yueyang Sect and give Gao Chong the Glazed Armor! WKX and ZZS have a really nice date!
(Also I realised after taking screenshots that, for some reason, I’d biased towards choosing every image of Zhou Zishu smiling that I could.)
List of Scenes
Gao Chong at the Heroes Conference construction site
Luo Fumeng asks WKX to explain himself; WKX refuses
WKX talks to Liu Qianqiao and gives her orders
ZZS on the streets of Yueyang, angsting about being alone
Chengling receives a note signed “Xu”
Chengling attempts to sneak through Yueyang Manor at night; Gu Xiang finds and helps him
Qiao Luohan attacks Chengling and Gu Xiang, and kidnaps Chengling (ZZS follows)
WKX learns that Chengling has been kidnapped and starts chasing Qin Song
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan torture Chengling for information about the Glazed Armor
WKX tortures Qin Song for information about where Chengling is
ZZS catches up to Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan and starts fighting them
As ZZS’s injuries catch up with him, WKX arrives and joins in the fighting
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan flee; WKX, ZZS, and Chengling hear Drug Men coming
Xie-wang arrives to needle WKX about revealing his identity; ZZS creates an opportunity for escape
Shen Shen attempts to reassure Gao Chong
Chengling, crying, tells ZZS and WKX they’re the only people he trusts
Chengling tells ZZS and WKX about the Glazed Armor hidden inside him and why his father didn’t trust the rest of the Five Lakes Alliance
Gao Chong pays his respects to memorial tablets of his dead sworn brothers and friends, and mournfully reminiscences
Chengling attempts to get ZZS and WKX to talk to each other; ZZS’s internal injury acts up and WKX helps (and references his own Sad Backstory)
ZZS tells Chengling who he really is, and asks if Chengling still wants him as his shifu (Chengling, of course, does)
Timeline or Something
The actual episode takes place over a day and into the night, but it has so many flashbacks and references to the past.
There’s a lot of discussion of what happened twenty years ago, when Rong Xuan was poisoned and died.
ZZS mentions his own past, and that he was 16 when he became Siji Manor’s leader.
Recap
This episode begins with an overhead shot of the Heroes Conference stage being built! Gao Chong and Shen Shen are contemplating that big stone sword, and a Yueyang disciple comes to report on how well things are going and be happy about the idea that Gao Chong will become the chief of the jianghu again. Gao Chong doesn’t want to be that, though! He just wants to keep his people safe.
I had completely forgotten that scene existed, because it is very short and overshadowed by the next scene: Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao talking to Wen Kexing after the rest of the ghosts have departed.
Luo Fumeng addresses WKX directly, by name instead of title, to ask him why he’s “being crazy again.” WKX doesn’t look up from his fan as he responds “I’m always crazy. You’re probably more scared when I’m not.”
Luo Fumeng doesn’t back down, and in fact sounds angrier/more upset as she asks him why he killed Bai Wuchang and asked her girls to spread the rhyme about the ghosts on Mount Qingya.
Only when she asks what he’s planning does WKX look up, warning her not to “take tolerance as forgiveness.” Again, Luo Fumeng matches him, snarling his name right back at him in frustration.
Liu Qianqiao interferes by kneeling and asking WKX not to be angry, as one does with dangerous people in leadership roles, and trying to reassure WKX that this is because they care about him. Luo Fumeng scolds her a little, and sharply points out that Luo Fumeng herself is not afraid of Wen Kexing. WKX tells Xisang Gui to leave so he can give Liu Qianqiao private orders, but Luo Fumeng asks him “Do you think you’re powerful now?” and waits a beat (WKX’s face is… a lot… as he looks at her here) before stalking off.
WKX tells LQQ to stand up, and she tries to offer platitudes about LFM’s rudeness, but WKX doesn’t care that she thinks he has “deeper intentions” and says he just wanted to kill someone. LQQ continues, explaining about how Wuchang Gui wants to revolt and this was a warning, but WKX warns her off trying to guess her masters’ intentions.
WKX says “everything is in my control”, and then asks LQQ about her disguise skills and if she learned them from Siji Manor. LQQ says she did, but that she’s never been there; she simply did a favor for Qin Huaizhang when she was young and he taught her transformation skills as a result. WKX continues asking about Siji Manor, but LQQ deflects by pointing out that she’s a ghost and shouldn’t reminisce about her human life. WKX sighs, not into remembering he’s a ghost, and says a very angsty line about ghosts disappearing in the light.
There are a few seconds of silence before he turns back to LQQ. We do not hear him give her his orders, and the scene cuts.
ZZS wanders the Yueyang streets, drinking and looking quietly morose. He ends up at the doors to Yueyang Manor, and thinks sad thoughts about being alone and able to go wherever he wants, and wonders why he’s staying here.
Chengling returns to his room, finds another box of food, washes his hands, and sees a note slipped under the basin. It instructs Chengling to go to the northern garden late at night, and is signed “Xu”. Chengling is delighted, and also doesn’t want anyone to see the note.
The scene cuts to night. Chengling wakes up and sneaks out of his room, heading towards the northern garden. There are disciples patrolling, and the main hall is still all lit up.
One of the disciples catches Chengling and questions him; Chengling says he’s hungry and looking for food, and the disciple tells him that’s not allowed. The disciple offers to let the kitchen know what Chengling wants, and tells Chengling to go back to his room.
Fortunately, before this can escalate too far, Gu Xiang shows up and knocks that disciple out. She also wants to know what Chengling’s up to, but Chengling is much happier to tell her, since he assumes she was sent by ZZS and WKX to begin with. GX is very confused by this, since she has no idea what’s going on. The two of them make their way to the northern garden, where a servant sits. When they poke him to ask for information, he falls over, dead.
Gu Xiang and Chengling have about a second of shock before Pretty Arhat | Qiao Luohan leaps down from the roof at them.
Gu Xiang reacts in time to start fighting her. When they pause, Qiao Luohan asks GX how she’s related to Beauty Ghost (Yan Gui; Liu Qianqiao), and GX says it’s none of her business and then orders Chengling to run. This implies that Liu Qianqiao and Gu Xiang’s fighting styles are similar; either Liu Qianqiao taught Gu Xiang, or they’re both Luo Fumeng’s disciples and inherited her style. (Also, why does Qiao Luohan know Liu Qianqiao? I don’t recall if this gets brought up again later.)
Chengling takes a moment before he leaves, and he doesn’t actually go far. GX starts fighting Qiao Luohan in earnest. It’s a lovely fight, and one Qiao Luohan wins. She chases after Chengling, grabs him, and leaps away while Gu Xiang scrambles to keep up. There are also some Yueyang disciples arriving from the other direction.
As Qiao Luohan leaves, she calls for Qin Song to cover her, and his music sends Gu Xiang all the disciples stumbling to the ground.
ZZS, meanwhile, is drinking, pitying himself, and calling himself an idiot. He sees Qiao Luohan carrying Chengling and immediately starts following her.
Some Yueyang disciples rally, and Qin Song stops playing and starts fleeing. The disciples start searching throughout the town. Some of them run into WKX, and let him know that they’re looking for a thief, and describe the person they’re looking for. WKX recognises this as Qin Song immediately, and the disciples explain that he and another “thief” kidnapped Chengling. WKX very quietly starts freaking out—and without saying anything—leaps off because he sees someone running across the rooftops. It is, of course, Qin Song.
Hard cut to Qiao Luohan waking Chengling up by slapping him! He’s chained up nice and dramatically, but at least he’s got something to sit on. Qiao Luohan threatens Chengling and asks him where the Glazed Armor is, saying that she’ll stop torturing him once he tells her. Du Pusa’s lurking in the background too.
(During these scenes I’m always just like “Chengling, the cuffs are oversized. Chengling, you could just pull your hands out and be free. Chengling.” But I think we’re supposed to pretend/believe that they’re properly sized and tight around his wrists.)
Du Pusa suggests Qiao Luohan be gentler, but Du Pusa’s way of trying to get information from him feels creepier honestly. She also blows some magic dust onto Chengling’s face? He tells her not to touch him, and she (of course) doesn’t stop. Chengling is making as many “I’m hurt/uncomfortable” noises here as when Qiao Luohan was threatening to break his arm by stepping on it.
Meanwhile, Qin Song is attempting to run away and complaining about how his friends aren’t helping him. WKX takes the opportunity to ask Qin Song where they took Chengling. Qin Song doesn’t want to tell him, and as Qin Song charges to attack WKX, the scene cuts back to Chengling.
Chengling tells them he’d rather die than tell them where the Glazed Armor is. Du Pusa tells him she’s got plenty of things that’d feel worse than death. Qiao Luohan points out that their master (Xie-wang) doesn’t have time for all those hundred methods. “This boy looks weak, but he’s quite stubborn,” Du Pusa says, which is such an excellent summary of Chengling as a character. Qiao Luohan says she’ll take over with Chengling, asking Du Pusa to go figure out where Monster Jiang is (and why he hasn’t met up with Qin Song). Du Pusa doesn’t want to leave, preferring to watch Qiao Luohan work.
Qin Song collapses against a wall, his hand bloodied, and WKX threatens him with further tortrure in a very calm manner. He’s very nicely situated as Valley Master here, even as he references the healing arts his father taught him. The scene cuts as WKX demands once more to know where Chengling is.
The chair Chengling is chained to gets knocked over, and Qiao Luohan sits on the chair’s arm. She wets a piece of paper and holds it over Chengling’s mouth while Qiao Luohan pours more water on top.
After a bit, she lets Chengling breathe again, while Du Pusa praises her torture skills. Chengling says he’ll tell them now, but when Qiao Luohan leans in to hear his words he spits in her face. She slaps him, hard enough to knock out a tooth, but he seems very pleased with himself and says that he, as Zhang Yusen’s son, is not a coward.
Qiao Luohan grabs him, and seems about to do something, the door gets knocked in by some bodies. ZZS, sword out, quickly enters. Neither Du Pusa nor Qiao Luohan know who he is, and ZZS doesn’t introduce himself because “a bunch of stinky scorpions don’t deserve to know [his] name”, which is so delightfully scornful. Du Pusa’s surprised he knows about the Scorpions, and ZZS smirks about it.
Then ZZS attacks, charging through Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan to cut the chains binding Chengling. He pauses there for a moment before the fight begins in earnest. It’s really lovely to see ZZS fighting against skilled opponents; it really shows off the level of his martial arts as he fights them two-on-one. And then, as Monster Jiang barges in, three-on-one!
Qiao Luohan asks Monster Jiang where Qin Song is, and Monster Jiang says he couldn’t find him. ZZS, frustrated by the Nails’ effects on him, thinks about how he can’t afford to drag out this battle. They clash, and ZZS is clearly giving his all, but when he takes a moment to leap to where Chengling is there’s blood on his mouth. Chengling is concerned.
The Scorpion assassins want to know who he is (and think threatening him with Xie-wang’s wrath and ability to kill anyone he wants is going to have an effect), and ZZS stubbornly stands up and says “No-one can stop me from killing who I want and getting what I want” and throws out his arm, sending needles flying at the assassins. He’s got a mechanism on his wrist, and I don’t think I made the connection between this and the needles used to kill Fang Buzhi a few episodes ago the first time I watched this. Did he have this before, or did he steal/borrow this hidden weapon of TC’s from Han Ying?
Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan dodge the needles, but Monster Jiang takes them straight-on and dies. ZZS isn’t doing too great, but keeps reassuring Chengling that it’ll be fine. Du Pusa wants to capture ZZS alive so that she can show him “what it feels like to want to die more than to live”, which is very funny considering ZZS’s whole deal.
Before they can do anything more, Qin Song’s mostly-dead body (he’s still breathing!) gets tossed through the door.
WKX stalks in, blank-faced and furious, and Chengling is the first one to break the silence because he’s so happy to see his Wen-shu. As much as WKX had been focusing on murder, now that he sees Chengling and ZZS his first action is to get to them as quickly as he can, throwing Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan aside.
WKX supports ZZS (Chengling had been, but as soon as WKX takes over holding ZZS he lets go), and asks “Who hurt you?”. Though he’s looking at ZZS, Chengling answers by saying that the assassins kidnapped him and hurt ZZS. (ZZS is very good at not answering questions by having other people around to answer for him.) WKX looks back at the door, where we see Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan escaping, and moves to follow. But ZZS stops him with a word, and also at this point it looks like WKX is possibly the only thing keeping ZZS upright? (He is fine, this is clear in the next shot, but right now he’s leaning on WKX a lot!)
WKX is not convinced by ZZS’s argument that they need to get Chengling out of here, and says he’ll destroy whoever hurt ZZS. But he still doesn’t let go to charge off, so his concern seems to be overriding his wrath at the moment.
A zombie growl echoes from outside, and ZZS leads WKX and Chengling to investigate. They find a bunch of drug men, and ZZS tells WKX to take Chengling and go. He doesn’t, of course, instead saying that “Dying together with you is also a fine ending.” ZZS scoffs, and asks, “Who wants to die with you?”, to which WKX smiles.
Xie-wang shows up then, saying “In life and death will you never part.”
(This whole exchange has a lot of resonance with the show’s ending, I think. Not a perfect parallel, but it’s not that far off, either.)
I also just love Xie-wang floating down from above, playing the pipa and wearing his lovely blue robes, to land in the midst of the drug men and very calmly talk about welcoming ZZS and WKX. Du Pusa and Qiao Luohan run in and tell Xie-wang what ZZS and WKX did, and he just scolds them about failing their mission.
Then Xie-wang addresses ZZS as “Zhou-shouling”, and asks him to introduce his friend. WKX responds by asking who Xie-wang is and wanting to know why he wanted Chengling. Xie-wang says he’ll introduce himself only if WKX does so first; he seems mostly interested in learning what WKX is willing to say, since Xie-wang follows that up with “Let’s make a bet; the loser needs to tell the winner his true identity.”
ZZS glances at WKX, clearly done with this (and not wanting WKX to reveal things he doesn’t want to reveal?), and—after calling Xie-wang more talkative than WKX—throws out some explosives? Smoke bombs? When the smoke clears, WKX, ZZS, and Chengling are all gone.
Du Pusa asks Xie-wang who they were, and Xie-wang calls them “a leader of Tian Chuang and a leader of the ghosts” [一个天窗之主, 一个恶鬼头子] (Xie-wang doesn’t use either of their formal titles, despite clearly knowing them, which is fascinating to me). As the scene ends, Xie-wang wants to know how they ended up together.
At Yueyang sect, Shen Shen tries to reassure Gao Chong that it’ll be fine and Chengling should be okay so long as he doesn’t tell them anything about the Glazed Armor. It is not as reassuring as he hopes.
In the woods, Chengling is crying because he’s so grateful ZZS and WKX came to save him. He hugs ZZS, who seems genuinely pleased about this.
WKX grumbles about Chengling calling him by a name that makes him seem younger than ZZS, whose only response is “Aren’t I older?”; WKX’s smile seems a little surprised here, but nobody focuses on that because ZZS’s attention goes back to comforting Chengling (by telling him that he shouldn’t cry about seeing them).
WKX and ZZS are both so proud of Chengling for not giving in to the torture; it’s so very sweet. He also says that he’s got so much to tell them.
The scene cuts to little pieces of meat being roasted over a campfire. Seeing as it’s actually edible food, it’s WKX cooking. He hands the skewer to ZZS, who hands it to Chengling. It’s very sweet and also means ZZS continues to not seem to eat anything.
Anyway. Chengling talks about how they’re the only ones who are “sincerely kind” to him; his uncles only care about the glazed armor, not him.
Chengling continues, saying that his uncles never treated his father like a real brother. He says that Gao Chong doesn’t care about getting revenge for Zhang Yusen and his family; he just wants to hold the Heroes Conference and it’s a convenient excuse. “Nobody ever really cared about me or what I want,” he ends with, and ZZS immediately asks him, “Then what do you want?”, because he really does care a lot about Chengling.
Chengling, the prototypical wuxia hero, says he wants to learn martial arts, get revenge, not need other people to protect him anymore, and continue the Mirror Lake Sect’s heritage. He says that last one is the wish of his father and brothers, but I’m pretty sure he also wants it.
WKX asks if there’s something that caused him to be so suspicious of the Five Lakes Alliance, and if he wants to tell them about it. When Chengling doesn’t respond, ZZS tells him to eat first; there’s no rush. That prompts Chengling to tell them, though! He tells them about how Zhang Yusen, the day Mirror Lake Sect was attacked, told him “Never trust anyone, no one is trustworthy”, and then immediately follows up with “I trust you”.
Chengling says he should’ve trusted ZZS and WKX from the beginning, instead of following the fisherman’s lead in wanting to send him to Zhao Jing. Neither ZZS or WKX say anything, but really the only one who thinks Chengling should’ve trusted them from the start is Chengling; they both know how poorly trust can go.
Chengling then reaches for his belt, saying he has the glazed armor with him. “My father was in a rush, so he cut my stomach to hide it in there,” Chengling says, as if this is a perfectly normal thing and not traumatic at all. “The wound healed, and it’s been with me since.”
He says he’ll take it out for them, like it’d be as easy as reaching into a pouch, and ZZS scolds him, since ZZS didn’t even say he wanted it. WKX follows that up with wondering why Chengling’s in such a rush; his father had been very careful, since hiding the glazed armor in Chengling’s body means that nobody can find it from a normal search.
Chengling agrees when WKX says ZYS must’ve lost trust in his brothers years ago. Upon being asked if he knows why, Chengling tells them his father gave him a letter, which he hid in the Buddha statue at the abandoned temple. ZZS praises him for managing to hide it with nobody noticing. Chengling says that “besides the receiver” nobody else should have the letter. WKX asks who it was for, and if Chengling remembers the contents.
The letter is for Ye Baiyi (who he calls “Changming Sword Immortal-qianbei”, which I think is cute). It describes how the sworn brothers were friends with Rong Xuan (who Chengling also calls ‘uncle’), and that Rong Xuan “became evil because of a mistake the five of them made”. They had a battle after arguing about the Combined Six Cultivation Method, and Rong Xuan won but was heavily poisoned and went crazy because someone had put poison on a sword.
Though the brothers should’ve been responsible, none of them stood up for Rong Xuan when the jianghu went after him. Zhang Yusen wasn’t present at the battle of Mount Qingya because his master broke his legs (a detail I keep forgetting is in SHL!) and locked him up. “[Zhang Yusen] could only regret living,” Chengling says, as the end of this story.
ZZS asks who poisoned the sword, and Chengling says he doesn’t know but the sword was Gao Chong’s. This scene ends on a shot of WKX’s sad face.
Back in Yueyang, Gao Chong opens up a secret door behind some cabinets and enters a shrine. Memorial tablets for other members of the Five Lakes Alliance are arrayed within, and some swords are set along the walls. Gao Chong lights incense as the camera drifts from Zhang Yusen’s tablet to those of Zhen Ruyu and “his wife” (I know she has a name, but the subs don’t give it).
Gao Chong apologises to ZYS for losing Chengling, and says he’s “waited for twenty years” (though uh when I look up the original Chinese [我苦熬了二十年], it seems more like “suffered” or maybe “endured” than “waited”? Which is a wee bit of a different meaning?) but all he’s heard about is the death of people close to him.
Gao Chong says that nobody ever believed his explanations (that he didn’t care about the titles he holds? that he’s looking for the truth?), and he doesn’t care what others believed but he’s still sad that Zhang Yusen didn’t believe him. He mentions that their children are as old as they were when they first met, and while he’s old everyone else is dead. He tells Rong Xuan his biggest regret is meeting him.
Then he calms, and kneels, and hopes that ZYS and LTC have met in the afterlife and might be scolding him or making fun of him by now. He laughs a little before it turns to tears. He invites them to do so, and the scene ends as the camera draws away.
Back in the forest, Chengling pokes at the fire, ZZS drinks, and WKX asks for some wine.
ZZS takes another swallow, then tells Chengling to pass his gourd over to WKX. Chengling is a good kid, so he does. And then, after a pause, he asks if they argued. When neither of them respond, Chengling asks them to not be mad anymore and tells WKX to comfort ZZS, quoting back WKX’s own words to him about how soft-hearted ZZS is and that “tough women like clingy men”.
ZZS tells Chengling to shut up, then asks WKX what nonsense he taught Chengling. Chengling grins, because he’s gotten them to interact again, and asks how WKX upset ZZS (it’s delightfully telling that he’s so sure WKX upset ZZS and not the other way around) and says he’ll apologise for WKX.
ZZS says “Okay”, and then promptly asks Chengling how the Scorpion Assassins kidnapped him instead of actually talking about his own emotions. Chengling explains what happened, and asks if ZZS sent the letter; ZZS says “Of course not”, because Yueyang Sect is the safest place for him to stay.
ZZS starts coughing, and WKX asks if his internal injury is acting up again. Chengling has apparently not actively realised he has such an injury, because he’s very concerned. When ZZS doesn’t answer, but coughs again, WKX immediately goes over and sits behind him to share qi.
Only once ZZS’s body seems settled does WKX start gently teasing ZZS about this injury being the only reason he can help such a skilled martial artist.
WKX brings up how he could tell how skilled and good ZZS was by his appearance, even when he was disguised. He’s never wrong about such things, he says, which is a lead-in to a flashback about what we will later see is his parents’ death. “I saw a dead body once,” he starts, and he describes how the shoulder blades told him how rare a beauty she was when she was alive.
He asks them to guess what happens next, and ZZS (quietly, gently) says that they should “let the past stay in the past” and “my condolences.” (Chengling does not seem to know what’s going on between them.)
ZZS asks WKX who he really is, and WKX calls himself Philanthropist Wen again (with an extended description of what that means). ZZS shakes his head a little at this.
Chengling passes ZZS back his gourd, still calling him “shifu”, and ZZS accepts it. After he takes a drink, he stands and asks Chengling if he sincerely wants ZZS as his master. Chengling stands, and says he does. ZZS tells Chengling that he can only repay Chengling’s trust with sincerity, and that Chengling should listen to ZZS tell him who ZZS really is before he decides.
For the first time, ZZS introduces himself as Zhou Zishu, “current leader of Siji Manor, and also the last.” (WKX looks very melancholy at this.) ZZS describes what his sect used to be known for, and how few people know about Siji Manor anymore because of ZZS’s “one mistake and helplessness”.
ZZS was 16 when Qin Huaizhang passed away, and says he couldn’t save the reputation of Siji Manor, so he took the disciples to follow the “Jin Military Governor, whom the Zhou family had served for generations”, and founded TC. He says he didn’t expect that “all of the fellow disciples from the Manor would become slaves to power”, and all 81 of them died until he was the only one left.
WKX, who’s looking down at the ground, asks if “Zhou-shouling” refers to the TC leader. ZZS says it does, and that it’s why “the Scorpion” knows him and why he knows where the Scorpions’ base (implied to be where Chengling had been kidnapped to) is. Chengling asks what the Scorpions are, and ZZS explains they’re a Jiangnan-based assassin organisation, as powerful in Jiangnan as Tian Chuang is in the Northwest.
Which leads Chengling to ask if “your Tian Chuang” is also an assassin organization. There’s a pause before ZZS responds, mostly to deny that it’s his anymore. (Whether because he left it or because it’s no longer the same organization it was when he founded it… either or both could be his thought here.) “Now, I’m just a normal person,” he says. “I spent half my life alone, doing things against my will and killing people I didn’t want to.” The camera shifts to WKX’s face briefly as ZZS continues, saying, “I wanted to wander the world until I die, but it seems like the heavens have other plans for my destiny.”
ZZS asks Chengling if he still wants ZZS to be his master, and Chengling says he does; he’s thought about ZZS this way for a while. There’s a beat of silence, and then WKX stands and tells Chengling to finish the formalities and bow.
Chengling does, and ZZS accepts him as the first disciple of the sixth generation of Siji Manor, and calls him an excellent disciple who will certainly ensure the manor’s lineage will continue. ZZS helps Chengling up, and says he’s very happy.
Chengling agrees, and ZZS smiles, and then looks at WKX, who nods back just a little, and the episode ends.
General Commentary
Fun fact I just now fully put together: In ep9, Qin Song was one of the people we saw during the “Everything goes to chaos and fighting over the fake glazed armor” sequence. I didn’t call him out there because I wasn’t sure it was him, but seeing his pipa again here makes me certain. It’s a gorgeous instrument! I really love the detailing/inlays on it!
Wen Kexing chasing after Qin Song is really neat because you can see how much longer Wen Kexing stays in the air than Qin Song. It’s a subtle way of showing the difference in their qi/martial ability, but once you notice it’s very effective.
I find the way this episode characterizes Gao Chong fascinating. We go straight from Zhang Chengling telling us that Gao Chong’s sword poisoned Rong Xuan to Gao Chong being very melancholy and respectful at the memorial tablets. He’s upset, sure, and shouts at Rong Xuan in particular, but the scene still ends with him accepting that they might be scolding him, and inviting them to. It feels like he thinks he’s failed them, for all of them to die, and he’s genuinely grieving them even in his regret and anger.
This is an especially striking contrast when remembering how Zhao Jing acts during the fairly-parallel scene he gets later in the show, where he’s drunk and wildly disrespectful to these very same memorial tablets.
I think it’s fun that Zhou Zishu begins this episode angsting about being alone and ends it by accepting Chengling as his disciple, which is a very effective way of ensuring that he won’t be alone.
The way Zhou Zishu understands Wen Kexing talking about his past here is also fascinating to me. Wen Kexing talks about seeing a beautiful dead woman, and Zhou Zishu reads his sorrow and how likely it is to be related to him personally. It’s interesting, too, how Wen Kexing asks if Zhou Zishu wants to know what happens next and Zhou Zishu refuses to invite him to continue—but then Zhou Zishu asks who Wen Kexing really is, and that almost-opening to know more about Wen Kexing’s past has already closed.
Wen Kexing offers his past to Zhou Zishu through jokes and anecdotes, but every time Zhou Zishu asks outright he laughs and turns it aside, reaching instead for a more lighthearted interpretation of what he wants to be seen as now. Zhou Zishu lets him have this, and even (earlier in this episode, with Xie-wang’s bet) protects him from having secrets pried out that he might not want to share.
(It’s no wonder, then, that in a few episodes Zhou Zishu uses a drinking game to ask who Wen Kexing is. However upset Wen Kexing might be about that pretense, Zhou Zishu has reason to believe that Wen Kexing responds better to games and deals than questions asked outright. Or at least, that it’s as good a lead-in as any to asking such a question.)
I love the color grading on the flashbacks here. I also love how different it feels in these sketchy detail-lacking explanations than when we get the full-on flashbacks later in the show. These same shots are used, but in full context and in full color, and the way that shifts the mood/tone of the scenes is striking.
The way Luo Fumeng talks to Wen Kexing continues to be fascinating. She’s so angry at him! And he just sits there sadly and snaps back at her, because she’s not really wrong but he can’t afford to accept that.
The thematic element of trust (especially in a master-disciple context) really gets a lot of play here, as Chengling says he trusts Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing and they’re both kind of like “...you trust so quickly, kid; that’s not always a good thing” with a quiet background sense of “Do I deserve this?” that neither of them ask outright. (It’s subtext in Zhou Zishu finally sharing his backstory with them, though! Does he deserve this trust? Chengling thinks he does, and that’s meaningful.)
Chengling’s trust in them is borne out through the show, of course, but there are other examples of master-disciple trust going awry: Cao Weining and his shifu (at the wedding), whatever you want to call Zhao Jing and Xie-wang’s relationship (trust broken in both directions, in various ways), the use of Deng Kuan to call out Gao Chong at the first heroes conference (and then, later, bringing him back as a witness for the second), Ye Baiyi and Rong Xuan…
I’m probably forgetting a few. (Zhou Zishu and Deng Pengju vs Han Ying? Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao? Both of those sets have some fascinating interactions regarding master-disciple kinds of relationships.) I’m not sure where I’m going with this, either; I just think it’s interesting.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. ALL THE BACKSTORY. I remember a lot of this in broad outlines, but less in detail. Are there parts of this that you’re surprised to learn showed up so early? Details you’d forgotten? Anything that’s framed differently here than it is later in ways you think are interesting?
2. Wen Kexing’s attitude shifts so much over the course of this episode. He begins as the Valley Master in full capriciously violent glory, moves through violence as a means to the end of saving someone he cares about, and ends reminiscing about his childhood and calling himself Philanthropist Wen. It’s really impressive to see all of that in one episode and have his character feel coherent the whole way through. I’d love to know your thoughts/feelings about all the aspects of Wen Kexing displayed here, and how the movement between them is shown!
3. I keep trying to frame a prompt/question about Zhou Zishu and/or Chengling and not quite managing it. I think there are like five question-adjacent things in the above text. Please tell me your thoughts about any of them! Or share your feelings about how good Chengling is, and how strong his will is, and how determined he is about what he cares about.
Next Time: More talk about the World’s Armory/what the Glazed Armor is for, including some more flashbacks! Yueyang Sect is suspicious of Gu Xiang! Zhang Chengling chooses to return to Yueyang Sect and give Gao Chong the Glazed Armor! WKX and ZZS have a really nice date!