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ghost_valley2021-09-03 11:13 am
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2021-09-03 11:13 am
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 13
Ye Baiyi arrives! Disguise shenanigans! Truth or dare! All sorts of fun things, with some angst to make the delightful bits pop all the more.
List of Scenes
GX and CWN leave the restaurant. ZZS and WKX talk about them pairing up.
CWN quotes poetry and tells GX that he thinks wenzhou’s zhijiness is admirable. GX doesn’t know how to deal with this explicit admission of his interest in her.
Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao talk at night
The next morning, LQQ as Yu Qiufeng talks to Huang He about overthrowing Gao Chong/the Five Lakes Alliance
ZZS experiments with disguises, WKX flirts with him
Liu Qianqiao reveals she’d been disguised as Yu Qiufeng, has a flashback to talking to WKX about doing this, and angsts about her remaining feelings for Yu Qiufeng
Ye Baiyi arrives at Yueyang Manor. Gao Chong, Shen Shen, and Xiaolian greet him.
At night, ZZS sneaks into Yueyang Manor to chat with Chengling and reassure him
Gao Chong and his disciples storm Luo Mansion
The next morning, Gao Chong and Shen Shen are still at Luo Mansion. They’ve captured Luo Fumeng, the only dangerous ghost there.
YBY eats a lot of food, meets WKX and ZZS, and tells ZZS that he can’t be helped but he’ll think about it
LQQ talks to YQF about their past relationship and informs him that Yu Tianjie is dead
At night, WKX and ZZS play truth or dare
YBY takes ZZS outside to have dramatic conversations about identity and try and get a look at the Nails
Timeline or Something
This episode shows us three days and three nights.
When ZZS visits Chengling on the second night, he says it’s been “a few days” since he’d last seen Chengling. This is during the second night the show has explicitly presented to us since ZZS and WKX sent Chengling back to Yueyang Manor.
Chengling says the Heroes Conference will be held in “a few days”. This does line up with the show as presented. This does not line up with WKX’s dramatic declarations at the ghost council in ep10.
Recap
Last episode ended with ZZS, WKX, GX, and CWN having a meal! It was definitely not awkward. This episode begins with GX leaving that restaurant and CWN hurrying to follow her, but the scene quickly cuts away from them to return to ZZS and WKX.
ZZS comments on GX’s fondness for CWN, and tells WKX to stop being so annoyed by them pairing up, since WKX was the one who thought GX should have a husband anyway. WKX counters by asking ZZS about how true the things he told CWN were, and ZZS tells him to guess. They look at each other in a long moment of silence, and then the scene ends.
CWN and GX sit on the steps of Yueyang Manor, with CWN quoting poetry to GX. When she grumbles about it, he says he’s being emotional, and says that ZZS and WKX are so lucky to be soulmates even if the heavens are playing with them with ZZS’s illness. GX tells him not to worry, since WKX can’t just stay with a guy forever.
CWN disagrees, and tells GX a story about his Fan-shishu, who never married because he was always looking for his soulmate. CWN compares this to a sword and its original/most fitting scabbard. GX seems bored throughout this story, and doesn’t quite understand the metaphor. But she does say that she’s never seen WKX be like this about anyone else.
CWN reaches out very slowly to try and take her hand, and GX withdraws (and their song starts playing in the background), and they’re both very awkward for a moment before GX asks CWN about his master. CWN says he’s treated well, and that there aren’t many men in his sect. He’s looking forward to introducing her to them, because he likes her.
GX does not know what to do with his compliments, or him saying that he’s now understood the story about his Fan-shishu and the sword and the scabbard. So she calls him an idiot and runs away to insist to herself that she’s only here to take care of Chengling, join in the ghost valley fun, and learn how to be a better human.
The scene cuts to night at Luo Fumeng’s manor. She sits on a swing, and Liu Qianqiao comes to tell her to make sure to take her medicine. Luo Fumeng tells Liu Qianqiao that she won’t save her if WKX goes after her, then reminds LQQ to do her task well and come back quickly without causing any unnecessary trouble. As LQQ leaves, LFM reminds her to bring rain gear.
The next morning, Yu Qiufeng goes to talk to Huang He, who is very surprised to see him there. Which is fair, since this is Liu Qianqiao wearing Yu Qiufeng’s face, not Yu Qiufeng himself.
Yu Qiufeng says he’s there to give some gifts to the Beggar Gangs. Huang He asks if he knows Gao Chong has turned against the Beggar Gangs, and if Yu Qiufeng is okay with Gao Chong getting angry about this. Yu Qiufeng acts unconcerned about anything but the grief of losing his son. Huang He asks who he’s blaming, and Yu Qiufeng says it’s the Five Lakes Alliance (we get a brief flashback to when Song Huairen killed Yu Tianjie back in ep5).
Huang He points out that Yu Qiufeng has no proof, and it’s hard to overthrow the leader of the Five Lakes Alliance. Yu Qiufeng says he has another secret that will bring them down: the glazed armor being in the hands of the Five Lakes Alliance since before Rong Xuan’s death. He also says that they should make the Five Lakes Alliance hand the glazed armor over to the Beggar Gangs, and let the Beggar Gangs lead everyone against Ghost Valley. Huang He thinks to himself that Gao Chong and the Alliance are coming to an end, and the scene cuts.
ZZS is in his room at the inn, wearing fewer layers than one should in public, desk arrayed with various disguise elements!
WKX enters, dressed in a lovely lavender robe (still with that one layer of red underneath, which a lot of his outfits have). He asks ZZS what he’s doing, and we’re given our first glimpse of ZZS’s face, with a wonderfully awful fake moustache.
WKX asks ZZS why he’s disguising himself, and also tells him that this face is terrible. ZZS ignores his question and offers to disguise himself “like before” instead, which WKX says would be worse again. WKX adds that ZZS looks best as himself, and says to stop disguising himself at all. ZZS playfully tries to put the skin mask on WKX’s face instead, and WKX bats him away, saying he doesn’t need it either because he’s too handsome.
ZZS brings the mood back down by talking about plot, and how the heroes conference is coming up. He points out that Gao Chong hasn’t announced that Chengling gave his piece of the glazed armor to Gao Chong, so people are still likely to be watching Chengling. ZZS wants to disguise the both of them because their identities are known, but their enemies aren’t, and that’s not safe.
WKX says he doesn’t need a disguise, then realises that when ZZS was talking about disguising them he called WKX handsome and starts teasing him instead. WKX starts asking about what the disguise kit items on ZZS’s desk are, and ZZS tells him what two of them are before standing up, shoving his chair aside, and saying “If you want to know everything, why don’t you kneel down and pay your respect now? Call me Shifu and I’ll teach you everything.” which I understand is surface-level not horny but also it’s extremely gay of him considering WKX’s expression.
WKX does nothing of the sort. He stands up, gets into ZZS’s space, and keeps asking questions about the possibilities of transformation. ZZS says it’s easy to mimic appearance and voice, hard to mimic posture and way of speaking, so it’s best to know the person you’re turning yourself into very well (or that nobody knows the person you’re imitating). WKX says that he best he could imitate ZZS well enough to fool Chengling, and ZZS scoffs but gives WKX the opportunity to echo back his gestures. They both laugh, and the scene ends.
Yu Qiufeng sits in front of a mirror and quotes a poem that I think I mostly associate with the LQQ/YQF relationship in the novel, then takes off a skin mask to reveal he’s actually LQQ!
There’s a flashback to when WKX gave her orders in ep11. LQQ asks him why he wants this, and WKX says he wants to make others do the dirty work and “let those righteous men bite on each other”. LQQ clarifies that she wants to know why he’s asking her to do this, and WKX says he knows she’s been spying on Yu Qiufeng. The flashback ends with him saying “Die early and revive early” (早死早超生), which I’m pretty sure makes more sense with whatever the connotations of the actual Chinese are, but is distinctly leaning on the whole Ghost Valley metaphor/idea.
The flashback ends, and LQQ is still sitting in front of the mirror, saying that she thought she’d forgotten everything (about Yu Qiufeng) but actually hasn’t forgotten anything at all. She’s quite upset about this, and that she’s still into Yu Qiufeng.
We cut from that to Yueyang Manor. Gao Chong, Shen Shen, Xiaolian, and a few disciples emerge from the doors, and we’re given our first look at Ye Baiyi. He’s lounging on a construction frame, dressed all in white, and does not give a shit.
Gao Chong welcomes him as the Sword Immortal, and everyone else bows too. YBY is all like “are you talking to me?”, and Shen Shen’s mad about how YBY appears to be pretending to be the Sword Immortal. He snaps at Shan’er (Gao Shan, an oft-recurring disciple!) to ask where the Sword Immortal is, and is told that this is in fact the Sword Immortal.
YBY identifies Gao Chong and Shen Shen, and Shen Shen’s mad that he’s calling them by their names without titles of respect. Gao Chong just asks if he’s here on behalf of the Sword Immortal. YBY doesn’t directly respond, instead drawing his sword and using it to smack the Token of Honor at them. Gao Chong catches it, identifies it’s the real thing, and asks YBY his name.
title drop!
YBY gives his name. Gao Chong asks him what he’s doing, then gives the viewers an explanation of the Token of Honor and how it can be used to summon the Sword Immortal off Mount Changming when Ghost Valley starts causing harm to destroy Ghost Valley. YBY’s like “Yeah, I’m here, aren’t I?” and Gao Chong just continues going on about the heroes conference and how the Sword Immortal is “a celestial master and a famous senior” and YBY is very nice but they wanted the Sword Immortal himself.
YBY interrupts, basically going “Yeah, I never promised to show up to the conference; I’ll be there on the day we destroy Mount Qingya, it’s fine. Leave me alone.” And then he leaps away, and everyone’s left gaping at him. Gao Chong wonders to himself how YBY can be so young and powerful. He does not quite get to the whole “immortal” part of “sword immortal” as an explanation.
That night, ZZS sneaks into Yueyang Manor to visit Chengling. Chengling doesn’t recognise him at first, since he’s dressed like a Yueyang disciple, but as soon as ZZS turns to face him it’s obvious to everyone that despite how much he was playing with disguises ZZS did absolutely nothing to change his face. Chengling is delighted to see his shifu, and gives him a big hug.
ZZS says that it’s been “a few days” since he last saw Chengling. This is the second night we have been explicitly shown on-screen. I despair about the timelines. Chengling says he hasn’t been sleeping well, and that the heroes conference will be held in a few days. I question WKX’s dramatic speech at the end of episode 10. Anyway.
ZZS tells Chengling not to worry about the conference; he just needs to show up and then after that ZZS will take him away. Chengling tells ZZS that Gao Chong is going to announce Chengling’s betrothal to Xiaolian at the heroes conference. ZZS seems surprised by this, and Chengling asks him why Gao Chong is “still treating [him] well” despite having given up the glazed armor, and isn’t sure he wants to put Gao Chong in an awkward position by leaving with ZZS.
ZZS is also uncertain of what Chengling’s worth to Gao Chong is, because the idea of a positive familial relationship apparently can’t come to mind. He reassures Chengling that he’ll protect him no matter what, and then they’re interrupted by a Yueyang disciple knocking on the closed door and asking if Chengling’s done with dinner or needs anything.
ZZS disappears during that brief conversation, and we see him walking through Yueyang Manor’s courtyards thinking to himself. He’s considering how Gao Chong’s only child is Xiaolian, and how Gao Chong doesn’t need to be nice to Chengling. He then wonders if Gao Chong is changing his own nature, perhaps as a result of regretting how he acted towards Rong Xuan.
ZZS also specifically thinks “If I am not mistaken, lao-Wen is Rong Xuan’s son. I must find a chance to resolve their grudges.” as this scene ends.
At Luo Mansion, Yueyang disciples attack! As well as some white-clad disciples marching in Gao Chong’s wake.
They were present in ep9 too, whichtrobadora called my attention to in the comments, pointing out that they seemed to be following Shen Shen. Here, there’s not yet any sign of Shen Shen. There are also the more recognisable Yueyang disciples in white-and-brown with their swords on their backs.
The scene cuts to daytime, and both sets of disciples are looking around, making sure everyone’s dead. Gao Chong stands in the middle of the mansion, receiving a report that 47 ghosts were killed, and his disciples are glad to have vented their anger. Gao Chong says that the devils are a motley crowd, not dangerous at all.
He then asks how many on their side have been injured (four juniors dead, five severely injured, four minorly injured), and Shen Shen shows up! Those white-clad disciples are behind him now, holding Luo Fumeng prisoner. (Seeing the white-clad disciples next to Shen Shen does make me suspect they’re more likely his sect; the colors and silhouettes feel aligned.) He tells Gao Chong that “this demonic woman” caused all the casualties.
Gao Chong recognises Xisang Gui, and she just tells him to kill her if he can. Gao Chong orders his men to imprison her, and says that “This demon’s skull will be the sacrifice of the Heroes Conference” (according to youtube; the hanzi is “英雄大会以此魔头头颅旗” which feels less heavy on the “sacrifice” imagery and stronger on the “let me show off this cut-off head as proof of our might” vibes).
The scene cuts back to town, and we see YBY eating food! His table is covered with empty dishes. Everyone is clustering around watching him eat, and WKX and ZZS descend the inn’s stairs and ask one of the waitstaff what’s going on. The waiter is very impressed by how much food YBY can eat, and says he’s been eating for almost six hours.
WKX is delighted by YBY’s appetite. ZZS wonders to himself why YBY looks so young and feels like a peerless master. YBY finishes eating and asks who’s willing to treat him to this meal. Everyone is disconcerted and disappears, but YBY says he’ll offer his help to anyone who treats him, so WKX says he’ll treat him.
YBY asks for WKX’s name WKX gives it to him and asks for (and receives) YBY’s in turn. WKX then extends his hand for ZZS’s purse, and YBY asks who’s really treating him, because he won’t let ZZS do so. ZZS asks (politely, obliquely), why, and YBY says he can’t help ZZS. When questioned, YBY makes it very clear he already knows ZZS’s dying because of himself and there’s nothing YBY can do about it.
WKX and ZZS are both disconcerted. YBY says he’ll think about it, and tells ZZS to treat him to wine next time; he might have thought of a solution. YBY then walks away, leaving WKX and ZZS in silence.
The scene shifts. It’s raining now. Yu Qiufeng walks into his rooms, thinking about Yu Tianjie and how he hasn’t heard any news about him. From behind him, Liu Qiaoqiao speaks, calling him “Feng-lang” (郎; a distinctly affectionate suffix in this context) and asking what he’s upset about. Yu Qiufeng clearly wasn’t expecting this, and turns back to see her standing beneath an umbrella.
His first instinct is to begin to draw his sword. LQQ asks if he’s going to harm her, and he slowly sheathes it again. He calls her “Qianqiao” and says “You aren’t dead?”. LQQ responds with “Of course I’m dead” and goes on to talk about how YQF’s wife hit and stabbed her so “of course [she] died” but “the injuries weren’t fatal” (“didn’t kill me” might be more accurate?), so his wife stripped her, disfigured her, and forced her to parade through the streets for three days so that everyone knew that LQQ (finally giving herself the title “Green Siren”) had wronged her (by sleeping with YQF).
YQF does not like hearing this. LQQ rolls her eyes and asks him why she should stop telling him about this, considering the pain she’s suffered. She says she doesn’t deserve pity, but she shouldn’t take the blame for both their mistakes. YQF is very self-pitying in response and says he had nothing to say and even death cannot make up for his mistakes, but he still doesn’t want to hear her talk about this. He says he’s been suffering too, unable to take revenge on his wife because she bore him his son.
LQQ interrupts his pity parade and agrees that he should’ve died, because they’d made a promise to die together. She says she’s already a ghost, and asks “What about you?” In response, YQF grabs her with a hug, knocking her umbrella aside. He then says that he doesn’t deserve to die, and he’ll keep suffering and pining for her. This is apparently more affecting for LQQ than it is for me (or she’s a very good actor, but I’m inclined to believe the former), since she drops her umbrella at his words and starts crying.
When he releases the hug, she tells him to forget it, and that they both know he can’t harm her. He turns and walks under the eaves. From behind, LQQ’s voice shifts and she calls him “Leader Yu” (Yu-zhangmen [掌门], a generic sect-leader title) and informs him that disasters strike those who see ghosts in the daylight. As the Beauty Ghost (Yan Gui), she’s here to give an obituary notice to him: He’ll never see Tianjie again.
YQF asks her how Tianjie died, and then if she killed him. LQQ says she wanted to, but she was too late. She tells him that Tianjie died of the Soul-Winding Spell, and then—after he blames Ghost Valley—that the Hanging Ghost defected and that Ghost Valley is here to capture/kill him, so they have the same enemy. She says she’s here because of that, because this is better than making him suffer for the rest of his life.
At this point, he apologises and says he shouldn’t have suspected her, because he thinks she’d never harm him. He swears that he’d do anything for her, and she turns and walks away into the rain. She angsts about how she can’t let YQF go, and how she should drunk the Meng Po Soup/Waters of Lethe/Ghost Valley’s forgetfulness potion (Netflix calls it “Soup of Oblivion”).
The scene cuts to the inn WKX and ZZS are staying at. They’re playing truth or dare!
There’s also food on the table in front of them, but neither of them have taken any, because of course they haven’t. WKX gets to ask ZZS a question first, and—after a long lead-up about what YBY said earlier about ZZS dying—asks where ZZS got his internal injuries.
ZZS first wonders if WKX would believe him if he said it was karma (no), and then implies this is his atonement for his sins so that he won’t be punished so much in the afterlife. WKX jokes about how they’ll both be boiled in oil and twisted together into youtiao in the afterlife, then tells ZZS to stop avoiding the question. ZZS admits he caused his own injuries. WKX asks him why, and ZZS says he’ll need to win another question to ask that.
They play another round, and ZZS wins this time.
He tells WKX not to lie to him, and WKX asks when he’s ever lied to ZZS (which is a surprisingly good question; WKX avoids things, or uses “certain point of view” style arguments a lot, and jokes very often, but rarely outright lies). ZZS then asks if WKX’s surname is Rong. WKX’s first reaction is complete confusion. ZZS continues, leaning into his guess that WKX is Rong Xuan’s son and laying out why he thinks so. “I understand your feelings,” he ends with, “but—”
WKX cuts him off, asking if this is his question. He’s hurt and surprised that ZZS asked this as part of a game instead of simply asking him outright, and says (truthfully) that his surname isn’t Rong. He says he’d kill Rong Xuan if he saw him, too. Then he stands up and leaves, because they’re “provoking anger” instead of drinking or playing games. ZZS sits at the table, wondering if he was wrong, and wondering who else could have such a grudge against the Five Lakes Alliance.
Someone knocks on the door, and ZZS stands up to answer it. It’s YBY! He tells ZZS to follow him.
The scene shifts. There’s lightning in the air, but no rain yet. YBY leads ZZS onto a bridge, and says that he owes ZZS a favor because of the meal. He says he’s found a way to heal ZZS, but that ZZS can’t blame YBY if he dies during treatment. ZZS asks when he’d asked for YBY’s help, and this sparks YBY to grab his lapel, which turns into a brief (and delightful) sparring match.
When they spin away from each other and pause, ZZS asks who YBY is. YBY responds by recognising him as Qin Hauzhang’s disciple, and ZZS’s mostly mildly offended that YBY doesn’t call him “zhuangzhu” or by any other title of respect. YBY smiles, calls ZZS inexperienced and QHZ a hothead, and then tells ZZS to keep showing off his skills. ZZS admits he might not be able to defeat YBY, but says he still can’t tolerate disrespect to his dead master.
YBY did not know that QHZ was dead. This surprises him, and he recalibrates how long it’s been since he touched the mortal world and how many people have died. He then says he’d insult QHZ to his face, and ZZS draws his sword and invites YBY to fight him.
YBY, of course, recognises the sword and that ZZS inherited it from QHZ. He asks to see it, and insults ZZS for reacting like he thinks YBY might steal it from him. YBY reminds ZZS of his name, and ZZS realises that the Baiyi is the same as his sword’s name. He then wonders how old YBY is, because Baiyi-the-sword was forged a hundred years ago by Rong Changqing (not that he uses that name; he says “the Magic Craftsman”).
YBY doesn’t give him time to think about this, lunging forward to snatch Baiyi from his hand. He examines it while ZZS watches silently, and then tells ZZS that he gifted the sword to QHZ. He sighs over the loss of QHZ, then hands the sword back to ZZS. ZZS bows, apologises for his rudeness, and starts calling YBY “qianbei” (senior). YBY, in turn, starts calling him “that dumb brat’s disciple” and decides he can’t just let ZZS die when he treats ZZS’s wounds.
YBY demands to see ZZS’s wounds, and ZZS doesn’t let him. This turns into a fight, of course.
The episode ends when WKX arrives, catching ZZS in a Romance spin and then fending off YBY until they withdraw into another round of stalemate.
General Commentary
Another episode where, in some ways, much of my commentary and thoughts hinge on next episode! I’m quite aware of where this episode break is, but this whole Ye Baiyi sequence about the Nails is still one chunk of plot in my head. So I’m probably mostly going to talk about that next week.
That said, I adore Ye Baiyi. He’s fantastic, he’s such a dramatic presence, and he’s got such a different relationship with the powers and politics of the jianghu than anyone else. He arrives, and Gao Chong defers to him as the Sword Immortal. Zhou Zishu learns who he is and immediately acts respectful to him in a way he doesn’t bother with for anyone else, and means it. Those, along with everyone’s comments on his powerful aura, clearly position him as being a step above everyone else in skill and age.
It’s also cool and sad, on this rewatch, to see him here at the beginning. The show does a lovely job of slowly aging him over the course of the whole show, and seeing him here with completely black hair is striking when I can easily recall the streak of silver in it by the end.
The way neither Chengling nor Zhou Zishu can figure out why Gao Chong is treating Chengling so well makes me very sad. Gao Chong is not a bad man, especially by the standards of the jianghu. He’s flawed, yes, and one of those flaws is his difficulties communicating his more compassionate intentions, but he’s truly doing his best and does mean well. He leans towards violence, because that’s the society he lives in, but he thinks he’s doing the right thing by wanting to exterminate Ghost Valley.
But Chengling and Zhou Zishu are like “There must be a motive behind this” when there’s… really not, beyond wanting Chengling to have a good life. Gao Chong just sucks at stating that outright. I’m not sure Chengling or Zhou Zishu would believe him if he did say it outright, though, because Zhou Zishu has a lot of (justified) trust issues with authority figures, and Chengling’s been primed by his dad not to trust Gao Chong at all.
Luo Fumeng as a dangerous martial artist is lovely. I wish we saw her fight! Unfortunately, she needs to be captured for plot reasons and also because one martial artist can’t stand against a whole sect (or two?) or people determined to bring her down.
Speaking of one or two sects: if the white-clad disciples we see in the assault on Luo Mansion really are Shen Shen’s Mount Dagu Sect disciples, that’d be very cool! Shen Shen doesn’t have any obvious connection to his sect, to the point where I know I’ve had conversations about how and why his sect doesn’t seem to show up at all. So if they are in the show, just hiding in the background, it adds another layer to Shen Shen’s character. What do you think about this? (I’m going to continue looking out for them, and see if we get more specific answers once we get to the Heroes Conference itself...)
Truth or dare! Wherein Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing ask questions that they don’t want to figure out a better way to ask, and it’s not a game at all. Wen Kexing’s question is far less direct, and even though he refuses to let Zhou Zishu evade answering him at all, he does accept it when Zhou Zishu doesn’t let him ask a follow-up question.
Zhou Zishu, by contrast, is very direct and is making a lot more assumptions about Wen Kexing, to the point that his question is kind of more “Tell me I’m right about this theory” than “Is your surname Rong?”. It’s also repeating a question that Zhou Zishu had asked, in a less-charged way, in episode 6: Then, he’d simply asked “Is your surname really Wen?” and been told “of course it is”. I wonder, a little, if Wen Kexing’s so upset here partially because he’d already told Zhou Zishu that his surname really was Wen. Some of it’s also that Rong Xuan led to his parents’ exile, which led to their death, of course, but… this question implies that Zhou Zishu didn’t believe him back then, and that’s got to hurt too.
Despite the amount of time this episode spends on Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng, I don’t really have many opinions about them? Their plot sure happens. I don’t really care? I feel like I probably should, but I just don’t right now. xD
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Ye Baiyi arrives! He’s got quite a presence and a dramatic introduction. Do you remember what you thought about him during your first viewing? How do you think he realises Zhou Zishu’s marked his own death into his body just by looking at him?
2. Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng’s relationship frustrates me even as I understand how it’s an important plot element. What are your thoughts about them, and about what I’m pretty sure is the first mention of Ghost Valley’s Meng Po Soup/Waters of Lethe/forgetfulness potion?
3. What are your thoughts about the truth or dare game?
4. How does Gao Chong find Luo Mansion to attack it? Is this one of those things that comes up in an episode or two that I’ve forgotten, or is it simply never explained?
Next Time: Revealing the Nails! ANGST in the rain! Zhao Jing talks to Luo Fumeng in prison. Yu Qiufeng talks to himself (or, well, to Liu Qianqiao dressed as him). Huang He leads Danyang and Mount Tai sects to start the No Good Very Bad Heroes Conference Show.
List of Scenes
GX and CWN leave the restaurant. ZZS and WKX talk about them pairing up.
CWN quotes poetry and tells GX that he thinks wenzhou’s zhijiness is admirable. GX doesn’t know how to deal with this explicit admission of his interest in her.
Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao talk at night
The next morning, LQQ as Yu Qiufeng talks to Huang He about overthrowing Gao Chong/the Five Lakes Alliance
ZZS experiments with disguises, WKX flirts with him
Liu Qianqiao reveals she’d been disguised as Yu Qiufeng, has a flashback to talking to WKX about doing this, and angsts about her remaining feelings for Yu Qiufeng
Ye Baiyi arrives at Yueyang Manor. Gao Chong, Shen Shen, and Xiaolian greet him.
At night, ZZS sneaks into Yueyang Manor to chat with Chengling and reassure him
Gao Chong and his disciples storm Luo Mansion
The next morning, Gao Chong and Shen Shen are still at Luo Mansion. They’ve captured Luo Fumeng, the only dangerous ghost there.
YBY eats a lot of food, meets WKX and ZZS, and tells ZZS that he can’t be helped but he’ll think about it
LQQ talks to YQF about their past relationship and informs him that Yu Tianjie is dead
At night, WKX and ZZS play truth or dare
YBY takes ZZS outside to have dramatic conversations about identity and try and get a look at the Nails
Timeline or Something
This episode shows us three days and three nights.
When ZZS visits Chengling on the second night, he says it’s been “a few days” since he’d last seen Chengling. This is during the second night the show has explicitly presented to us since ZZS and WKX sent Chengling back to Yueyang Manor.
Chengling says the Heroes Conference will be held in “a few days”. This does line up with the show as presented. This does not line up with WKX’s dramatic declarations at the ghost council in ep10.
Recap
Last episode ended with ZZS, WKX, GX, and CWN having a meal! It was definitely not awkward. This episode begins with GX leaving that restaurant and CWN hurrying to follow her, but the scene quickly cuts away from them to return to ZZS and WKX.
ZZS comments on GX’s fondness for CWN, and tells WKX to stop being so annoyed by them pairing up, since WKX was the one who thought GX should have a husband anyway. WKX counters by asking ZZS about how true the things he told CWN were, and ZZS tells him to guess. They look at each other in a long moment of silence, and then the scene ends.
CWN and GX sit on the steps of Yueyang Manor, with CWN quoting poetry to GX. When she grumbles about it, he says he’s being emotional, and says that ZZS and WKX are so lucky to be soulmates even if the heavens are playing with them with ZZS’s illness. GX tells him not to worry, since WKX can’t just stay with a guy forever.
CWN disagrees, and tells GX a story about his Fan-shishu, who never married because he was always looking for his soulmate. CWN compares this to a sword and its original/most fitting scabbard. GX seems bored throughout this story, and doesn’t quite understand the metaphor. But she does say that she’s never seen WKX be like this about anyone else.
CWN reaches out very slowly to try and take her hand, and GX withdraws (and their song starts playing in the background), and they’re both very awkward for a moment before GX asks CWN about his master. CWN says he’s treated well, and that there aren’t many men in his sect. He’s looking forward to introducing her to them, because he likes her.
GX does not know what to do with his compliments, or him saying that he’s now understood the story about his Fan-shishu and the sword and the scabbard. So she calls him an idiot and runs away to insist to herself that she’s only here to take care of Chengling, join in the ghost valley fun, and learn how to be a better human.
The scene cuts to night at Luo Fumeng’s manor. She sits on a swing, and Liu Qianqiao comes to tell her to make sure to take her medicine. Luo Fumeng tells Liu Qianqiao that she won’t save her if WKX goes after her, then reminds LQQ to do her task well and come back quickly without causing any unnecessary trouble. As LQQ leaves, LFM reminds her to bring rain gear.
The next morning, Yu Qiufeng goes to talk to Huang He, who is very surprised to see him there. Which is fair, since this is Liu Qianqiao wearing Yu Qiufeng’s face, not Yu Qiufeng himself.
Yu Qiufeng says he’s there to give some gifts to the Beggar Gangs. Huang He asks if he knows Gao Chong has turned against the Beggar Gangs, and if Yu Qiufeng is okay with Gao Chong getting angry about this. Yu Qiufeng acts unconcerned about anything but the grief of losing his son. Huang He asks who he’s blaming, and Yu Qiufeng says it’s the Five Lakes Alliance (we get a brief flashback to when Song Huairen killed Yu Tianjie back in ep5).
Huang He points out that Yu Qiufeng has no proof, and it’s hard to overthrow the leader of the Five Lakes Alliance. Yu Qiufeng says he has another secret that will bring them down: the glazed armor being in the hands of the Five Lakes Alliance since before Rong Xuan’s death. He also says that they should make the Five Lakes Alliance hand the glazed armor over to the Beggar Gangs, and let the Beggar Gangs lead everyone against Ghost Valley. Huang He thinks to himself that Gao Chong and the Alliance are coming to an end, and the scene cuts.
ZZS is in his room at the inn, wearing fewer layers than one should in public, desk arrayed with various disguise elements!
WKX enters, dressed in a lovely lavender robe (still with that one layer of red underneath, which a lot of his outfits have). He asks ZZS what he’s doing, and we’re given our first glimpse of ZZS’s face, with a wonderfully awful fake moustache.
WKX asks ZZS why he’s disguising himself, and also tells him that this face is terrible. ZZS ignores his question and offers to disguise himself “like before” instead, which WKX says would be worse again. WKX adds that ZZS looks best as himself, and says to stop disguising himself at all. ZZS playfully tries to put the skin mask on WKX’s face instead, and WKX bats him away, saying he doesn’t need it either because he’s too handsome.
ZZS brings the mood back down by talking about plot, and how the heroes conference is coming up. He points out that Gao Chong hasn’t announced that Chengling gave his piece of the glazed armor to Gao Chong, so people are still likely to be watching Chengling. ZZS wants to disguise the both of them because their identities are known, but their enemies aren’t, and that’s not safe.
WKX says he doesn’t need a disguise, then realises that when ZZS was talking about disguising them he called WKX handsome and starts teasing him instead. WKX starts asking about what the disguise kit items on ZZS’s desk are, and ZZS tells him what two of them are before standing up, shoving his chair aside, and saying “If you want to know everything, why don’t you kneel down and pay your respect now? Call me Shifu and I’ll teach you everything.” which I understand is surface-level not horny but also it’s extremely gay of him considering WKX’s expression.
WKX does nothing of the sort. He stands up, gets into ZZS’s space, and keeps asking questions about the possibilities of transformation. ZZS says it’s easy to mimic appearance and voice, hard to mimic posture and way of speaking, so it’s best to know the person you’re turning yourself into very well (or that nobody knows the person you’re imitating). WKX says that he best he could imitate ZZS well enough to fool Chengling, and ZZS scoffs but gives WKX the opportunity to echo back his gestures. They both laugh, and the scene ends.
Yu Qiufeng sits in front of a mirror and quotes a poem that I think I mostly associate with the LQQ/YQF relationship in the novel, then takes off a skin mask to reveal he’s actually LQQ!
There’s a flashback to when WKX gave her orders in ep11. LQQ asks him why he wants this, and WKX says he wants to make others do the dirty work and “let those righteous men bite on each other”. LQQ clarifies that she wants to know why he’s asking her to do this, and WKX says he knows she’s been spying on Yu Qiufeng. The flashback ends with him saying “Die early and revive early” (早死早超生), which I’m pretty sure makes more sense with whatever the connotations of the actual Chinese are, but is distinctly leaning on the whole Ghost Valley metaphor/idea.
The flashback ends, and LQQ is still sitting in front of the mirror, saying that she thought she’d forgotten everything (about Yu Qiufeng) but actually hasn’t forgotten anything at all. She’s quite upset about this, and that she’s still into Yu Qiufeng.
We cut from that to Yueyang Manor. Gao Chong, Shen Shen, Xiaolian, and a few disciples emerge from the doors, and we’re given our first look at Ye Baiyi. He’s lounging on a construction frame, dressed all in white, and does not give a shit.
Gao Chong welcomes him as the Sword Immortal, and everyone else bows too. YBY is all like “are you talking to me?”, and Shen Shen’s mad about how YBY appears to be pretending to be the Sword Immortal. He snaps at Shan’er (Gao Shan, an oft-recurring disciple!) to ask where the Sword Immortal is, and is told that this is in fact the Sword Immortal.
YBY identifies Gao Chong and Shen Shen, and Shen Shen’s mad that he’s calling them by their names without titles of respect. Gao Chong just asks if he’s here on behalf of the Sword Immortal. YBY doesn’t directly respond, instead drawing his sword and using it to smack the Token of Honor at them. Gao Chong catches it, identifies it’s the real thing, and asks YBY his name.
title drop!
YBY gives his name. Gao Chong asks him what he’s doing, then gives the viewers an explanation of the Token of Honor and how it can be used to summon the Sword Immortal off Mount Changming when Ghost Valley starts causing harm to destroy Ghost Valley. YBY’s like “Yeah, I’m here, aren’t I?” and Gao Chong just continues going on about the heroes conference and how the Sword Immortal is “a celestial master and a famous senior” and YBY is very nice but they wanted the Sword Immortal himself.
YBY interrupts, basically going “Yeah, I never promised to show up to the conference; I’ll be there on the day we destroy Mount Qingya, it’s fine. Leave me alone.” And then he leaps away, and everyone’s left gaping at him. Gao Chong wonders to himself how YBY can be so young and powerful. He does not quite get to the whole “immortal” part of “sword immortal” as an explanation.
That night, ZZS sneaks into Yueyang Manor to visit Chengling. Chengling doesn’t recognise him at first, since he’s dressed like a Yueyang disciple, but as soon as ZZS turns to face him it’s obvious to everyone that despite how much he was playing with disguises ZZS did absolutely nothing to change his face. Chengling is delighted to see his shifu, and gives him a big hug.
ZZS says that it’s been “a few days” since he last saw Chengling. This is the second night we have been explicitly shown on-screen. I despair about the timelines. Chengling says he hasn’t been sleeping well, and that the heroes conference will be held in a few days. I question WKX’s dramatic speech at the end of episode 10. Anyway.
ZZS tells Chengling not to worry about the conference; he just needs to show up and then after that ZZS will take him away. Chengling tells ZZS that Gao Chong is going to announce Chengling’s betrothal to Xiaolian at the heroes conference. ZZS seems surprised by this, and Chengling asks him why Gao Chong is “still treating [him] well” despite having given up the glazed armor, and isn’t sure he wants to put Gao Chong in an awkward position by leaving with ZZS.
ZZS is also uncertain of what Chengling’s worth to Gao Chong is, because the idea of a positive familial relationship apparently can’t come to mind. He reassures Chengling that he’ll protect him no matter what, and then they’re interrupted by a Yueyang disciple knocking on the closed door and asking if Chengling’s done with dinner or needs anything.
ZZS disappears during that brief conversation, and we see him walking through Yueyang Manor’s courtyards thinking to himself. He’s considering how Gao Chong’s only child is Xiaolian, and how Gao Chong doesn’t need to be nice to Chengling. He then wonders if Gao Chong is changing his own nature, perhaps as a result of regretting how he acted towards Rong Xuan.
ZZS also specifically thinks “If I am not mistaken, lao-Wen is Rong Xuan’s son. I must find a chance to resolve their grudges.” as this scene ends.
At Luo Mansion, Yueyang disciples attack! As well as some white-clad disciples marching in Gao Chong’s wake.
They were present in ep9 too, which
trobadora called my attention to in the comments, pointing out that they seemed to be following Shen Shen. Here, there’s not yet any sign of Shen Shen. There are also the more recognisable Yueyang disciples in white-and-brown with their swords on their backs.The scene cuts to daytime, and both sets of disciples are looking around, making sure everyone’s dead. Gao Chong stands in the middle of the mansion, receiving a report that 47 ghosts were killed, and his disciples are glad to have vented their anger. Gao Chong says that the devils are a motley crowd, not dangerous at all.
He then asks how many on their side have been injured (four juniors dead, five severely injured, four minorly injured), and Shen Shen shows up! Those white-clad disciples are behind him now, holding Luo Fumeng prisoner. (Seeing the white-clad disciples next to Shen Shen does make me suspect they’re more likely his sect; the colors and silhouettes feel aligned.) He tells Gao Chong that “this demonic woman” caused all the casualties.
Gao Chong recognises Xisang Gui, and she just tells him to kill her if he can. Gao Chong orders his men to imprison her, and says that “This demon’s skull will be the sacrifice of the Heroes Conference” (according to youtube; the hanzi is “英雄大会以此魔头头颅旗” which feels less heavy on the “sacrifice” imagery and stronger on the “let me show off this cut-off head as proof of our might” vibes).
The scene cuts back to town, and we see YBY eating food! His table is covered with empty dishes. Everyone is clustering around watching him eat, and WKX and ZZS descend the inn’s stairs and ask one of the waitstaff what’s going on. The waiter is very impressed by how much food YBY can eat, and says he’s been eating for almost six hours.
WKX is delighted by YBY’s appetite. ZZS wonders to himself why YBY looks so young and feels like a peerless master. YBY finishes eating and asks who’s willing to treat him to this meal. Everyone is disconcerted and disappears, but YBY says he’ll offer his help to anyone who treats him, so WKX says he’ll treat him.
YBY asks for WKX’s name WKX gives it to him and asks for (and receives) YBY’s in turn. WKX then extends his hand for ZZS’s purse, and YBY asks who’s really treating him, because he won’t let ZZS do so. ZZS asks (politely, obliquely), why, and YBY says he can’t help ZZS. When questioned, YBY makes it very clear he already knows ZZS’s dying because of himself and there’s nothing YBY can do about it.
WKX and ZZS are both disconcerted. YBY says he’ll think about it, and tells ZZS to treat him to wine next time; he might have thought of a solution. YBY then walks away, leaving WKX and ZZS in silence.
The scene shifts. It’s raining now. Yu Qiufeng walks into his rooms, thinking about Yu Tianjie and how he hasn’t heard any news about him. From behind him, Liu Qiaoqiao speaks, calling him “Feng-lang” (郎; a distinctly affectionate suffix in this context) and asking what he’s upset about. Yu Qiufeng clearly wasn’t expecting this, and turns back to see her standing beneath an umbrella.
His first instinct is to begin to draw his sword. LQQ asks if he’s going to harm her, and he slowly sheathes it again. He calls her “Qianqiao” and says “You aren’t dead?”. LQQ responds with “Of course I’m dead” and goes on to talk about how YQF’s wife hit and stabbed her so “of course [she] died” but “the injuries weren’t fatal” (“didn’t kill me” might be more accurate?), so his wife stripped her, disfigured her, and forced her to parade through the streets for three days so that everyone knew that LQQ (finally giving herself the title “Green Siren”) had wronged her (by sleeping with YQF).
YQF does not like hearing this. LQQ rolls her eyes and asks him why she should stop telling him about this, considering the pain she’s suffered. She says she doesn’t deserve pity, but she shouldn’t take the blame for both their mistakes. YQF is very self-pitying in response and says he had nothing to say and even death cannot make up for his mistakes, but he still doesn’t want to hear her talk about this. He says he’s been suffering too, unable to take revenge on his wife because she bore him his son.
LQQ interrupts his pity parade and agrees that he should’ve died, because they’d made a promise to die together. She says she’s already a ghost, and asks “What about you?” In response, YQF grabs her with a hug, knocking her umbrella aside. He then says that he doesn’t deserve to die, and he’ll keep suffering and pining for her. This is apparently more affecting for LQQ than it is for me (or she’s a very good actor, but I’m inclined to believe the former), since she drops her umbrella at his words and starts crying.
When he releases the hug, she tells him to forget it, and that they both know he can’t harm her. He turns and walks under the eaves. From behind, LQQ’s voice shifts and she calls him “Leader Yu” (Yu-zhangmen [掌门], a generic sect-leader title) and informs him that disasters strike those who see ghosts in the daylight. As the Beauty Ghost (Yan Gui), she’s here to give an obituary notice to him: He’ll never see Tianjie again.
YQF asks her how Tianjie died, and then if she killed him. LQQ says she wanted to, but she was too late. She tells him that Tianjie died of the Soul-Winding Spell, and then—after he blames Ghost Valley—that the Hanging Ghost defected and that Ghost Valley is here to capture/kill him, so they have the same enemy. She says she’s here because of that, because this is better than making him suffer for the rest of his life.
At this point, he apologises and says he shouldn’t have suspected her, because he thinks she’d never harm him. He swears that he’d do anything for her, and she turns and walks away into the rain. She angsts about how she can’t let YQF go, and how she should drunk the Meng Po Soup/Waters of Lethe/Ghost Valley’s forgetfulness potion (Netflix calls it “Soup of Oblivion”).
The scene cuts to the inn WKX and ZZS are staying at. They’re playing truth or dare!
There’s also food on the table in front of them, but neither of them have taken any, because of course they haven’t. WKX gets to ask ZZS a question first, and—after a long lead-up about what YBY said earlier about ZZS dying—asks where ZZS got his internal injuries.
ZZS first wonders if WKX would believe him if he said it was karma (no), and then implies this is his atonement for his sins so that he won’t be punished so much in the afterlife. WKX jokes about how they’ll both be boiled in oil and twisted together into youtiao in the afterlife, then tells ZZS to stop avoiding the question. ZZS admits he caused his own injuries. WKX asks him why, and ZZS says he’ll need to win another question to ask that.
They play another round, and ZZS wins this time.
He tells WKX not to lie to him, and WKX asks when he’s ever lied to ZZS (which is a surprisingly good question; WKX avoids things, or uses “certain point of view” style arguments a lot, and jokes very often, but rarely outright lies). ZZS then asks if WKX’s surname is Rong. WKX’s first reaction is complete confusion. ZZS continues, leaning into his guess that WKX is Rong Xuan’s son and laying out why he thinks so. “I understand your feelings,” he ends with, “but—”
WKX cuts him off, asking if this is his question. He’s hurt and surprised that ZZS asked this as part of a game instead of simply asking him outright, and says (truthfully) that his surname isn’t Rong. He says he’d kill Rong Xuan if he saw him, too. Then he stands up and leaves, because they’re “provoking anger” instead of drinking or playing games. ZZS sits at the table, wondering if he was wrong, and wondering who else could have such a grudge against the Five Lakes Alliance.
Someone knocks on the door, and ZZS stands up to answer it. It’s YBY! He tells ZZS to follow him.
The scene shifts. There’s lightning in the air, but no rain yet. YBY leads ZZS onto a bridge, and says that he owes ZZS a favor because of the meal. He says he’s found a way to heal ZZS, but that ZZS can’t blame YBY if he dies during treatment. ZZS asks when he’d asked for YBY’s help, and this sparks YBY to grab his lapel, which turns into a brief (and delightful) sparring match.
When they spin away from each other and pause, ZZS asks who YBY is. YBY responds by recognising him as Qin Hauzhang’s disciple, and ZZS’s mostly mildly offended that YBY doesn’t call him “zhuangzhu” or by any other title of respect. YBY smiles, calls ZZS inexperienced and QHZ a hothead, and then tells ZZS to keep showing off his skills. ZZS admits he might not be able to defeat YBY, but says he still can’t tolerate disrespect to his dead master.
YBY did not know that QHZ was dead. This surprises him, and he recalibrates how long it’s been since he touched the mortal world and how many people have died. He then says he’d insult QHZ to his face, and ZZS draws his sword and invites YBY to fight him.
YBY, of course, recognises the sword and that ZZS inherited it from QHZ. He asks to see it, and insults ZZS for reacting like he thinks YBY might steal it from him. YBY reminds ZZS of his name, and ZZS realises that the Baiyi is the same as his sword’s name. He then wonders how old YBY is, because Baiyi-the-sword was forged a hundred years ago by Rong Changqing (not that he uses that name; he says “the Magic Craftsman”).
YBY doesn’t give him time to think about this, lunging forward to snatch Baiyi from his hand. He examines it while ZZS watches silently, and then tells ZZS that he gifted the sword to QHZ. He sighs over the loss of QHZ, then hands the sword back to ZZS. ZZS bows, apologises for his rudeness, and starts calling YBY “qianbei” (senior). YBY, in turn, starts calling him “that dumb brat’s disciple” and decides he can’t just let ZZS die when he treats ZZS’s wounds.
YBY demands to see ZZS’s wounds, and ZZS doesn’t let him. This turns into a fight, of course.
The episode ends when WKX arrives, catching ZZS in a Romance spin and then fending off YBY until they withdraw into another round of stalemate.
General Commentary
Another episode where, in some ways, much of my commentary and thoughts hinge on next episode! I’m quite aware of where this episode break is, but this whole Ye Baiyi sequence about the Nails is still one chunk of plot in my head. So I’m probably mostly going to talk about that next week.
That said, I adore Ye Baiyi. He’s fantastic, he’s such a dramatic presence, and he’s got such a different relationship with the powers and politics of the jianghu than anyone else. He arrives, and Gao Chong defers to him as the Sword Immortal. Zhou Zishu learns who he is and immediately acts respectful to him in a way he doesn’t bother with for anyone else, and means it. Those, along with everyone’s comments on his powerful aura, clearly position him as being a step above everyone else in skill and age.
It’s also cool and sad, on this rewatch, to see him here at the beginning. The show does a lovely job of slowly aging him over the course of the whole show, and seeing him here with completely black hair is striking when I can easily recall the streak of silver in it by the end.
The way neither Chengling nor Zhou Zishu can figure out why Gao Chong is treating Chengling so well makes me very sad. Gao Chong is not a bad man, especially by the standards of the jianghu. He’s flawed, yes, and one of those flaws is his difficulties communicating his more compassionate intentions, but he’s truly doing his best and does mean well. He leans towards violence, because that’s the society he lives in, but he thinks he’s doing the right thing by wanting to exterminate Ghost Valley.
But Chengling and Zhou Zishu are like “There must be a motive behind this” when there’s… really not, beyond wanting Chengling to have a good life. Gao Chong just sucks at stating that outright. I’m not sure Chengling or Zhou Zishu would believe him if he did say it outright, though, because Zhou Zishu has a lot of (justified) trust issues with authority figures, and Chengling’s been primed by his dad not to trust Gao Chong at all.
Luo Fumeng as a dangerous martial artist is lovely. I wish we saw her fight! Unfortunately, she needs to be captured for plot reasons and also because one martial artist can’t stand against a whole sect (or two?) or people determined to bring her down.
Speaking of one or two sects: if the white-clad disciples we see in the assault on Luo Mansion really are Shen Shen’s Mount Dagu Sect disciples, that’d be very cool! Shen Shen doesn’t have any obvious connection to his sect, to the point where I know I’ve had conversations about how and why his sect doesn’t seem to show up at all. So if they are in the show, just hiding in the background, it adds another layer to Shen Shen’s character. What do you think about this? (I’m going to continue looking out for them, and see if we get more specific answers once we get to the Heroes Conference itself...)
Truth or dare! Wherein Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing ask questions that they don’t want to figure out a better way to ask, and it’s not a game at all. Wen Kexing’s question is far less direct, and even though he refuses to let Zhou Zishu evade answering him at all, he does accept it when Zhou Zishu doesn’t let him ask a follow-up question.
Zhou Zishu, by contrast, is very direct and is making a lot more assumptions about Wen Kexing, to the point that his question is kind of more “Tell me I’m right about this theory” than “Is your surname Rong?”. It’s also repeating a question that Zhou Zishu had asked, in a less-charged way, in episode 6: Then, he’d simply asked “Is your surname really Wen?” and been told “of course it is”. I wonder, a little, if Wen Kexing’s so upset here partially because he’d already told Zhou Zishu that his surname really was Wen. Some of it’s also that Rong Xuan led to his parents’ exile, which led to their death, of course, but… this question implies that Zhou Zishu didn’t believe him back then, and that’s got to hurt too.
Despite the amount of time this episode spends on Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng, I don’t really have many opinions about them? Their plot sure happens. I don’t really care? I feel like I probably should, but I just don’t right now. xD
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. Ye Baiyi arrives! He’s got quite a presence and a dramatic introduction. Do you remember what you thought about him during your first viewing? How do you think he realises Zhou Zishu’s marked his own death into his body just by looking at him?
2. Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng’s relationship frustrates me even as I understand how it’s an important plot element. What are your thoughts about them, and about what I’m pretty sure is the first mention of Ghost Valley’s Meng Po Soup/Waters of Lethe/forgetfulness potion?
3. What are your thoughts about the truth or dare game?
4. How does Gao Chong find Luo Mansion to attack it? Is this one of those things that comes up in an episode or two that I’ve forgotten, or is it simply never explained?
Next Time: Revealing the Nails! ANGST in the rain! Zhao Jing talks to Luo Fumeng in prison. Yu Qiufeng talks to himself (or, well, to Liu Qianqiao dressed as him). Huang He leads Danyang and Mount Tai sects to start the No Good Very Bad Heroes Conference Show.
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"Who the fuck is that? He's insufferable! I love him!"
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2) Same. Like I get why he’s stuck on her, but not vice versa (and tbh I was more invested in Liu Qianqiao’s relationship with Luo Fumeng’s relationship). I do think it's neat how their conversation here foreshadows their ultimate fates.
4) I’m not sure. I wonder if ZJ had something to do with it (like if Xie’er found out from the Ghosts he’s working with and told ZJ who then told GC). On a semi-related note, I’m very sad Luo Femeng’s planned fight scene was a casualty of budget constraints.
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some thoughts, as a person who really doesn't know much chinese:
令 is a word I got fascinated by in Guardian and then have continued being interested in because it seems so flexible. xD Translating it as 'token' or 'order' makes sense to me; the general sense seems to be "command" and applying that to a specific object fits. (in guardian I encountered it being used in the phrase "the guardian order", in the sense of "this piece of paper which is the proof of your right to command". this is much more a novel thing than a drama thing. anyway. it gives me the framework for this use of 令.)
山河 is a phrase for "this land" I think? Which fits for the use YBY and the Alliance have, since the token is basically a promise that the jianghu will come together to defeat Ghost Valley.
(if you want something neat: this whole phrase relates to Chengling's name in hanzi [张成岭] in some fun ways, since the last character is the shan and ling characters put together.)
(the relationship between 'shan he ling' and 'word of honor' as show titles is tenuous, but present; I don't really expect anything stronger from cn->en titles, though!)
I get why he’s stuck on her, but not vice versa (and tbh I was more invested in Liu Qianqiao’s relationship with Luo Fumeng’s relationship).
Yeah! Exactly! LQQ and LFM's relationship is fascinating! Even the brief scene of them here has a lot more interesting stuff going on, with LQQ talking about LFM's medicine and LFM not wanting to talk about it but telling LQQ to come back quickly and remember an umbrella!
I wonder if ZJ had something to do with it (like if Xie’er found out from the Ghosts he’s working with and told ZJ who then told GC).
Maybe! That's possible, but I feel like I'd prefer an explanation that lets Gao Chong and/or Shen Shen (and their people) have more agency about this one thing... they aren't incompetent... (Though hearing how ZJ would explain knowing about this place to GC and SS would be interesting, I guess.)
On a semi-related note, I’m very sad Luo Femeng’s planned fight scene was a casualty of budget constraints.
YES
that would've been so cool...
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Aaaah I forgot how many cute scenes we get in this episode. The mustache scene is one of my absolute favorites, they can be such goofballs together. I also love the joy on ZZS's face when he surprises Chengling in disguise. It's a sweet moment, they really missed each other even though it hasn’t been that long.
It’s also cool and sad, on this rewatch, to see him here at the beginning. The show does a lovely job of slowly aging him over the course of the whole show, and seeing him here with completely black hair is striking when I can easily recall the streak of silver in it by the end.
I don't see this visual aging as sad, personally! Precanon stuff aside, I find his on-screen arc overall pretty joyful. He's lived a long ass time and by choosing to age he's finally getting to actually feel alive again after so many miserable years alone. He's eating everything he wants, he acquires some grandkids, he's getting into fights, he's finding emotional satisfaction in helping people he wants to help. It's not so different from ZZS leaving Tian Chuang, I think.
Despite the amount of time this episode spends on Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng, I don’t really have many opinions about them? Their plot sure happens. I don’t really care? I feel like I probably should, but I just don’t right now. xD
This is so fucking valid lolllll. I adore LQQ, but her ex is the biggest wet sponge in the entire series. Every episode I see them together my brain just goes “dump his ass” unprompted. He doesn’t even have to open his fool mouth.
3. I didn’t remember that ZZS actually tells WKX he caused his own injuries in this scene. Despite my overall feelings about WKX on the Nails reveal theme over these few episodes (generally I want to punch him, but that’s for next time), I gotta give him credit for not freaking the fuck out here. I don’t know if that’s because he still doesn’t quite believe it or what.
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I don't see this visual aging as sad, personally! Precanon stuff aside, I find his on-screen arc overall pretty joyful.
His on-screen arc is, overall, very positive! I think some of what I find sad personally is thinking about the streak of gray in Gao Chong's hair here and how it's in YBY's at the end. On YBY it's not wholly a metaphor for stress, but on Gao Chong it is, and man I wish YBY had been able to just hang out and eat food and chill and not get embroiled in everything too.
Every episode I see them together my brain just goes “dump his ass” unprompted. He doesn’t even have to open his fool mouth.
And he's generally a perfectly reasonable character when he's not having LQQ-related plot! They're both much more interesting on their own, really: the gestures at the politics of non-Five Lakes sects and YQF's emotions about Tianjie; LQQ's status among the ghosts and her relationship with LFM... All of that feels much meatier and more interesting than "old flame reconnection angst"...
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LQQ has way more chemistry with any woman on screen than she ever does with her YQF. (...dump him) I think that's not by accident either - Ke Naiyu hinted in interviews that she wanted her character to be shipped with LFM, not to mention the screenwriter did a stellar job of expanding the roles of women in the story. I cannot bring myself to care what YQF is doing in any capacity, which...for plot reasons I probably should but I'm drawing a complete blank on what else he does throughout the rest of the series oops?
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Hah, plausible deniability on the one hand, but they really do everything possible to make it romantic under the hood. I love this production.
She sits on a swing, and Liu Qianqiao comes to tell her to make sure to take her medicine.
Hm. I'm trying to remember if we ever actually learn what this medicine is for, and drawing a blank about it.
Call me Shifu and I’ll teach you everything.” which I understand is surface-level not horny but also it’s extremely gay of him considering WKX’s expression.
It reaches meme proportions!! I can't believe WKX let go of the opportunity to make his own innuendo. On a different level, though, I like this scene for ZZS falling into troll-y habits with WKX. The plot gets too serious later on for it much of it, where, even though they're still enjoying each other's company, there's an almost painful sincerity instead.
Gao Chong asks him what he’s doing, then gives the viewers an explanation of the Token of Honor and how it can be used to summon the Sword Immortal off Mount Changming when Ghost Valley starts causing harm to destroy Ghost Valley. YBY’s like “Yeah, I’m here, aren’t I?” and Gao Chong just continues going on about the heroes conference and how the Sword Immortal is “a celestial master and a famous senior” and YBY is very nice but they wanted the Sword Immortal himself.
I get that it's played for laughs and, like, people stuck in their ways, but the scene always seemed a little silly to me because of it: do people *really* not know it's YBY after he explains himself? Sighs.
Seeing the white-clad disciples next to Shen Shen does make me suspect they’re more likely his sect; the colors and silhouettes feel aligned
Oh, on screen evidence that his sect exists?? I'm still fairly ??? about how things work for him, given he runs off from his sect to look for Gao Xiaolian later and no one seems to think anything of it. But his disciples exist!!
Oh man, that Sect Leader Yu + Yan Gui scene is just gorgeously shot. It's one of my favourites even if the contents doesn't make me feel anything, but the picture of Yan Gui in crimson, that umbrella, and Sect Leader Yu all soaked is just such a pretty image.
Same with the bridge with YBY. So pretty.
And re: the title. You know what, I'm going to own it, I really like the translation of the title from Shan He Ling - which in the show represents an oath, more than anything, ZZS + WKX don't get to wander across jianghu - into Word of Honor. It's a figurative translation re: a concrete object and what it represents, and I will stand by it!!
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I'm not sure if we ever do? But if it does come up, I think it's when they're in the Scorpion compound. I know that LFM is out of it for quite a while, but it's hard to tell how much of that is because ZJ forced her to start remembering stuff and that sent her into a mental health spiral and how much is that she needed the medicine for mental stability to begin with.
Oh, on screen evidence that his sect exists?? I'm still fairly ??? about how things work for him, given he runs off from his sect to look for Gao Xiaolian later and no one seems to think anything of it. But his disciples exist!!
Yeah! Thank
Oh man, that Sect Leader Yu + Yan Gui scene is just gorgeously shot. It's one of my favourites even if the contents doesn't make me feel anything, but the picture of Yan Gui in crimson, that umbrella, and Sect Leader Yu all soaked is just such a pretty image.
Yes! It was really enjoyable to take screenshots of, even if I didn't care about the scene itself very much. xD
It's a figurative translation re: a concrete object and what it represents, and I will stand by it!!
I really like it too! It's a good title, and gets the mood/tone across properly. :) I like less-literal translations of things like this.