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ghost_valley2021-09-10 12:47 pm
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2021-09-10 12:47 pm
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 14
One of the things I’ve realised lately, while doing these posts, is that the scenes that are hardest for me to work through on this rewatch are the ones I’ve revisited for fic reasons. Mostly this is because those scenes exist in my head in the fic-version, where I’d changed things! And all of these introductory YBY scenes have that problem, and some of the Heroes Conference will as well. It’s interesting. I have no idea if any of y’all are experiencing this (or something similar; with likely different sets of scenes, regardless) yourselves!
List of Scenes
YBY wants to look at ZZS’s injuries, WKX and YBY fight, ZZS finally relents and lets them see his scars.
YBY offers the cure of “I’ll take away your martial arts” and ZZS refuses it.
ZZS and WKX argue over whether or not ZZS living longer is worth it; ZZS walks away.
GX learns what happened to LFM’s manor.
WKX angsts in the rain; GX tells him about the attack; WKX breaks his xiao and leaves.
Mount Tai Sect allies with the Beggar Gangs.
Zhao Jing visits LFM in prison.
WKX drinks. LQQ asks him if she can rescue LFM; WKX tells her to just investigate.
CWN’s dashixiong arrives.
Shen Shen’s at the Five Lakes Monuments, presiding over the final set-up, when Mount Tai Sect arrives and starts challenging him.
LQQ (pretending to be YQF) enters Yueyang manor.
LQQ runs into YQF; he is angsty but agrees to help her rescue LFM.
Huang He and Mount Tai Sect accuse Shen Shen of killing Ao Laizi; Fan Huaikong defends him.
Gao Chong arrives, and WKX looks forward to the show to come.
Timeline or Something
The remnants of a night, and then the next day. There’s no evidence that there’s more than one day, but also it feels like it’d be entirely possible there’s a night that we aren’t shown. Or that’s implied but I can’t actually tell if that one shot of the sun near the horizon is it rising or setting or just for drama. So honestly probably there’s another day between Sad Breakup Times and the Heroes Conference? But who knows.
The next few episodes are going to linger on this day, anyway, because the Heroes Conference is here.
Recap
This episode begins with YBY wanting to look at ZZS’s injuries, which leads to a fight. WKX arrives partway through, defends ZZS, and then demands to know what’s going on. YBY calls him a brat, WKX says he doesn’t like YBY, and ZZS tells them to stop fighting. They listen, at least for long enough that ZZS can try and tell YBY he doesn’t want his help, which WKX thinks is ridiculous.
While asking why ZZS’s being polite to YBY, WKX also calls YBY a “boy toy” according to the youtube subs, which is one of the more delightful translation things going on here. (小白脸, xiǎobáiliǎn, is the chinese phrase. I remember when this episode first aired and we went ‘really?’ about it, being told that boy toy really wasn’t a bad translation of the phrase. Netflix says “pretty boy”, which is also fun.)
YBY thinks it’s very silly to be called that, but goes back to asking ZZS how long he thinks he’s going to live if he doesn’t want YBY’s help. WKX asks ZZS what he’s talking about, and if he’s right about that, and YBY suggests he take off ZZS’s clothes and see. WKX does not like this suggestion, but does ask ZZS for confirmation.
ZZS doesn’t say anything, and YBY takes over. He says that ZZS’s meridians are drying out, and death is coming for ZZS, and nobody can save him. WKX asks, again, if YBY is telling the truth. YBY asks WKX who he is, who his master was, and what the martial arts he’d used were. WKX shouts back that his martial arts are called “beating my son on a rainy day just because I can”, which is nonsense but also meaningful nonsense both in sense of “yeah that sounds like Ghost Valley” and being perfectly aligned with WKX and YBY’s bickering dynamic.
YBY and WKX begin fighting then, which is absolutely lovely.
Lightning continues to flash in the night, but the rain hasn’t yet come. ZZS urges them to stop fighting, citing the oncoming rain, but it doesn’t work. YBY and WKX bicker, and that gives ZZS a chance to jump over and physically separate them and end this fight. ZZS comments that “one of you doesn’t respect seniors, and the other doesn’t love juniors”, which is very much the WKX/YBY dynamic and why it’s so fun to watch them interact.
ZZS says that “Life and death are up to fate”, and then YBY interrupts him to say that he loves fighting against fate, and tells ZZS to take off his clothes and let YBY see what hurt him. WKX continues going “wtf” and hoping that YBY can heal him. ZZS finally tells WKX who YBY is (the Changming Mountain Sword Immortal), and WKX calls YBY “old ghost” (老鬼) while demanding to know if he can heal ZZS.
YBY asks again if ZZS would let him treat his wounds, and ZZS doesn’t respond. In that silence, WKX grabs at his robes and tries to open them to look.
ZZS doesn’t fight him off as strongly as he did YBY, but he resists and is distinctly annoyed by having “two men pulling at [his] clothes in the middle of the night”. But it does lead to him saying “You want to see?” and opening his robes himself so that they can see the ordinary scars on his body and also the well-healed marks of the Nails.
WKX and YBY both look at them in surprise, and YBY recognises them and how the Nails are holding his meridians in place. He asks whose idea such a clever and cruel thing was, and ZZS (having just put his robes back on properly) says it was his. YBY laughs, says “You’re really trying to kill yourself”, and tells ZZS to come with him. ZZS does, without even a backwards glance at the still-stunned WKX.
WKX follows them anyway, and YBY’s surprised that he did. ZZS ignores this, and just asks YBY for his opinion. YBY examines ZZS’s pulse, WKX breathlessly asks if YBY can help, and YBY says (very cockily) that he can help anyone; he can even bring the recently-dead back to life for a bit. There’s a distinct hope in WKX’s voice as he asks for YBY’s help, and WKX says he’d do anything YBY asks if it would help ZZS.
ZZS is less certain about all this. YBY tells ZZS that he could give ZZS another ten years, and ZZS’s surprised by this. Then YBY tells him the catch: he’d lose his martial arts. YBY says that ZZS should only have about a third of his power right now, and it’s only hard to bear at night because all of his energy is swirling about. But YBY says that once he removes the nails, his power will crush his meridians, and so he’d need to remove ZZS’s martial arts in order for this to work.
WKX asks if there’s any other way, and YBY blithely suggests he go look for the soul of the Master of Healer Valley and bring him back, but it’s clearly a joke to him.
ZZS again says that life and death are up to fate, thanks YBY for his trouble, and then leaves.
WKX follows him, and YBY shouts after them, wanting first for ZZS to stop and then to know why WKX keeps following ZZS. ZZS ignores him, but WKX snaps back that his relationship with ZZS is none of YBY’s business. YBY shouts after ZZS that WKX is bad news, then sighs and watches them go. He talks about youth and the young, sighs, and then the scene ends.
The long-threatened rain arrives in a downpour. ZZS stands on a balcony, WKX behind him, looking out into the rainy night. I should someday learn the names of the soundtrack songs, but one of them is playing throughout this scene. WKX asks ZZS how much time he has left, and ZZS says “at least two years”, which is just barely true.
ZZS tells WKX to not say “such stupid things” (which WKX hadn’t quite said yet, presumably about not wanting him to die). ZZS reaches out to WKX’s shoulder, and WKX knocks his hand away, calling him (for once) “Zhou Zishu!” with a lot of emotion. ZZS defends his choice, in that his martial arts are core to his identity, and WKX begs him to stay alive (and says he’d find a way to recover ZZS’s martial arts).
ZZS says “I would rather live freely for ten days than live against my own will for ten years,” which the very fact of the Nails in his body is proof of. He says it’s already, and that there’s still enough time for them to taste all the wine in the world, and tells WKX to come/let’s go. WKX doesn’t follow after him. He says he understands, and tells ZZS about how he played instead of practicing martial arts as a child, that he’s spent his whole life living in the wrong moment. Which isn’t quite the same as what ZZS’s talking about, but WKX wraps around to “I can’t have what I want; it’s too late to save the one I want to save”.
ZZS, who finally hit his emotional breaking point, turns and asks (using WKX’s full name) if he’s done yet, and shouts that he’s the one who’s about to die, that he’s wasted his whole life and turned himself into a joke, and wonders who WKX’s acting sad for. ZZS says he rescued himself, and that if WKX’s telling him to drag his death out longer, then getting to know him was pointless.
Then ZZS leaves, and WKX doesn’t follow. The last lines of the song, about being together, play very sadly over the rainy thunderous night.
The scene cuts to GX entering a building. One of the devils [shi shi gui / corpse-eating ghost?] is there, eating food, and a lot of Luo Fumeng’s girls are there as well. The devil asks GX why she took so long, and she says that she went to Luo Mansion first, and only saw “the code phrase” [pointing here, presumably] on the way back. GX asks what happened, realises asking this guy is useless, and asks where LQQ is. She doesn’t get an answer to that either.
The girls are injured and crying. GX kneels down next to one of them—Yun Zai, one of the two girls GX rescued, and who we last saw in ep6—and asks where Hong Lu is. She doesn’t get an answer, either about that or the other two names she specifically calls out in increasing emotion/desperation (Zhu Zhu and Lan Xin), because Yun Zai is too busy crying.
The devil guy is about the only calm person here, probably because he didn’t know any of the girls. He tells GX that Gao Chong and men from the Five Lakes Alliance raided Luo Fumeng’s manor at night (calling LFM “crazy woman” [疯婆娘, fēng póniáng]). He says he was there at the time (but apparently escaped, and wasn’t even seen by Gao Chong’s forces based on what was said last episode) and that LFM would “cut off a piece of [his] flesh for each [girl] that died”.
GX’s still processing the idea of Hong Lu dying despite not deserving it, and feels responsible for the girls she rescued and who she didn’t keep safe. The devil asks if it’s time for mourning, and thinks that GX has been too affected by “the humans” and shouldn’t care if a few maids died. GX says he doesn’t have the right to scold her, then asks if he attracted attention and led GC’s forces to Luo Mansion.
The devil doesn’t think she should blame him, and says that Wuchang Gui, Happy Ghost, and Lovelace were all nearby and didn’t do anything. He thinks that one of them might’ve sold LFM out. GX pauses for a moment, then runs out.
The scene cuts to WKX sitting on a bridge playing flute sadly in the rain. He’s deep in his angst. GX, who has an umbrella, comes to find him. She asks him what happened, holding the umbrella over him now, and he just quotes poetry back at her. His face is blank. GX is crying and telling him about how “Aunt Luo’s” manor got raided, and WKX’s expression doesn’t change at all, even as she asks him what to do.
He asks her why she’s crying, since he isn’t, and wonders if she’s crying for him. He laughs, and stands up, still seeming to ignore GX.
WKX tells GX that “he’s about to die” without specifying ZZS and raises his voice as he complains about how he’s almost completed his revenge but ZZS’s about to die, and wonders why he even followed him to begin with. GX asks who “he” is, then answers it for herself.
WKX quotes more poetry, hitting his xiao into the palm of his hand, and then smashes the xiao as he reaches the last line. He launches himself into the air and into the rain, and GX watches him go, still crying.
The scene switches to the next day. Mount Tai Sect’s disciples are at the Beggar Gangs’ base, all clad in white mourning headbands and rough mourning over-robes and asking for Huang He and his people to help them (implied: because Mount Hua, YQF’s sect, won’t). The leader of this group of Mount Tai disciples (and, apparently, now the sect leader too) is Qing Song (specifically not Qing Bai, who had been the leader of the group under Ao Laizi).
Huang He is acting like a good guy here, being respectful to the Mount Tai sect and mourning Ao Laizi’s death. The disciples all say they’ll follow Huang He’s lead, and Huang He says he’ll lead them to defeat the Five Lakes Alliance however necessary.
Mount Tai Sect departs. Tao Hong and Lv Liu appear from inside the beggar sects’ building. Tao Hong asks about Huang He’s plans, and Huang He says he’s moving slow because they’ve waited so many years already, so another little bit won’t hurt. He says he needs one more thing from them, though, but we don’t get to hear what that is.
The scene cuts to LFM in prison. She’s standing, chained up, and a little blood is trickling from the corner of her mouth. Zhao Jing comes to visit her in her cell. The Yueyang disciple who unlocked the door for him says that LFM won’t talk, but Gao Chong won’t let them torture her because she’s a woman, and tells Zhao Jing to do whatever; they just really need more information about why Deng Kuan is still unconscious, and anything else is a bonus.
Zhao Jing dismisses the disciple, leaving him alone with LFM. She curses at him and says she’s not scared of what he’ll do. He asks if she recognises her, and she calls him “that fake righteous dog” and asks what he wants. Zhao Jing exposits about the Meng Po Soup, which the jianghu thought was merely a rumour, and reveals that LFM used to care about him. She has no idea how he even knows her name.
According to ZJ, he betrayed her and turned her from a noble girl into a ghost. He’s really playing this like he might deserve sympathy. Special effects imply LFM might be remembering things. ZJ reaches out to touch her, and she tells him not to. Surprisingly, he listens. He says he owes her in this life, but that they shouldn’t meet if there’s another one.
He leaves, special effects continue, and LFM screams. ZJ walks down the prison’s hall as her scream echoes.
The scene cuts to WKX (wearing plain blue robes) drinking. LQQ comes to see him and says she’s finished the preparations. WKX tells her that “the Department of the Unfaithful’s side mansion was attacked” and that Xisang Gui was captured. LQQ is surprised, and wants WKX to rescue her. WKX says it’s not the right time to fight yet. Instead, he tells her to turn into YQF and investigate. He thinks Gao Chong will kill her during the heroes conference, so she’s safe for now.
LQQ asks if he wants her to break into the prison LFM’s held in, and WKX is scornful of her martial arts being good enough to allow that. He just wants her to confirm LFM’s alive. LQQ continues wanting LFM rescued, and WKX brushes it aside. He says he has a plan, though! During the Heroes Conference, when Gao Chong’s busy, he’ll do something. LQQ says more praise for WKX, he pours himself more wine, and he tells her to leave.
WKX is sad to himself about not being understood, and starts drinking straight from the wine jug.
The scene changes to Yueyang, where CWN is utterly delighted that his dashixiong is here! Mo Weixu is talking to Zhu Yaozhi, one of the recurring Yueyang disciples, when CWN runs up to them. Mo Weixu calls CWN ‘monkey’ [猴儿, Hóu’er], which is very cute, and tells him to quiet down. Zhu Yaozhi calls CWN “Casanova Cao” in the youtube subs, which is “曹大情圣 (Cáo-dàqíngshèng)” in the hanzi, which seems to have a similar enough teasing connotation about his love life.
CWN tries to keep Zhu Yaozhi from telling Mo Weixu about his relationship with GX, but apparently it’s too late to keep Mo Weixu from learning such things. Zhu Yaozhi takes his leave, after another teasing comment. CWN does admit that he’s met a girl he likes, but Mo Weixu has more important matters. He tells CWN that his father (Mo Huaiyang, the Qingfeng Sword Sect’s leader) left to return to Mount Qingfeng, and so Fan Huaikong will be representing their sect at the conference instead.
CWN wonders why, but there’s no time for an answer before Zhu Yaozhi pops back over to tell CWN that GX is sick and at the medics for treatment, but he shouldn’t worry because Xiaolian is with her. Mo Weixu thinks he’s too anxious about this, and doesn’t have enough ambition, and CWN responds by saying his ambitions are to marry someone he loves. Mo Weixu scolds him, saying he’s stepping out of line. But then he tells CWN he can go, and CWN runs off.
We cut to the Five Lakes Monument, site of the Heroes Conference, and a thundering sky. They’re still setting things up. Some disciples are cleaning the monument, others are bringing in jars of wine. Shen Shen is overseeing. Shen Shen stares at the monument, and tells Gao Shan to clean the monument better (despite how disciples are already working on that; the base is clean but the main structure isn’t yet).
Shen Shen says that the conference will start at noon. He’s very concerned with how things will look. Yellow paper, the sign of Ghost Valley, starts raining from the sky. Shen Shen tells everyone to be on guard, a disciple runs off to tell Gao Chong, and Shen Shen is not happy about this.
Mount Tai disciples walk on-screen, carrying baskets full of the yellow joss paper and tossing it. Yueyang disciples (and plausibly Mount Dagu ones in white) back away from them as they approach. The beggar sect runs in from the side as well. Shen Shen is very confused by Mount Tai sect being here like this.
Qing Song calls for the Mount Tai disciples to destroy the Five Lakes Monument, and so they start throwing rocks at it. This doesn’t seem very effective, but—especially as the beggar sect joins in—it sure is surprising.
Wine jars break, the Yueyang disciples are trying to ward off rocks with their swords, and the chaos is starting up.
The scene cuts to Yueyang Sect Manor. Yu Qiufeng enters, saying he’s here to see Shen Shen, who happens to be gone. YQF says he’ll wait inside. That one disciple who’d run off to tell Gao Chong about Ghost Valley’s signs at the Heroes Conference arrives, and the disciples who’d been blocking YQF’s way all run off towards the Heroes Conference.
YQF, of course, runs into Yueyang Manor, and we get confirmation that this is LQQ because she’s wondering why Ghost Valley’s at the Heroes Conference and if this is WKX’s plan. LQQ is here to rescue LFM, regardless of what WKX said or thought.
Unfortunately, as she nears the place LFM is kept, she meets YQF! They are dressed exactly the same. The only distinction between them is expressions and voice. I do love scenes like this for the acting and camerawork involved, even if I don’t really like it when LQQ and YQF are interacting. (And, tbh, since everything is overdubbed anyway then having LQQ’s voice coming out of YQF’s mouth feels less odd than it otherwise might.)
YQF knows about LQQ’s skill at disguises, and asks her why she’s disguised as him. In return, she asks him why he’s here, and if it’s for the Glazed Armor. She pulls out a piece, and offers it as a bribe to ask him for his help rescuing LFM. It’s one of the pieces WKX made duplicates of, so it’s not a hardship to give it away. YQF is surprised that LQQ’s master is Xisang Gui, and LQQ says LFM rescued her and took her into Ghost Valley.
LQQ asks if he’ll help, and YQF doesn’t accept the Glazed Armor bribe. He says he owes her too much, and will do anything she says or asks, so he doesn’t need it; he’ll help her anyway. YQF asks her to take off her disguise, but then he’ll take her to the Yueyang Sect’s prison.
The scene returns to the Heroes Conference, where rocks continue to be thrown and Shen Shen is ineffectually shouting about killing people who keep throwing said rocks. Mount Tai Sect says they’re here for him, and they draw their swords.
Shen Shen shouts at them again, but then Huang He draws his attention and a bunch of other sects start arriving! Huang He accuses Shen Shen of killing Ao Laizi and stealing the Glazed Armor and asks him to admit to this crime.
Shen Shen, of course, is like “No, that was Ghost Valley”, and the youngest of the Mount Tai Sect disciples refutes this by saying that the assassin laid blame on Shen Shen.
We get a flashback to the Mount Tai sect finding Ao Laizi’s dead body. Wuchang Gui shows up to laugh at them and inform them that he’s there “on orders from the leader of Mount Dagu Sect to kill all of [them]”. Qing Hua, Mount Tai’s youngest disciple, runs at Wuchang Gui with a sword, shouting that he’ll kill him. Wuchang Gui smacks him, almost killing him, and the rest of the disciples charge Wuchang Gui.
Qing Hua says that his seniors all died that night, and he’s the only survivor. Presumably this means there are no more Dayang kids either, since they were in that group. Alas, that whole sect is gone. That sucks.
Huang He calls for Shen Shen to defend himself against this accusation. Shen Shen says he’s being framed, which is true, but Mount Tai Sect doesn’t believe him.
(WKX watches, fanning himself.)
Mount Tai Sect believes Shen Shen chased Ao Laizi quite a ways, and Shen Shen’s like “What? No?” and really isn’t a good enough liar to fake this kind of confused shock. They get into another round of argument about how Mount Tai Sect talks about Ao Laizi’s glazed armor, but Shen Shen thinks it’s still Lu Taichong’s (even though he’s dead and gave it to Ao Laizi), which Huang He interrupts to point out that Shen Shen clearly has grievance and definitely did at one point attack Ao Laizi.
Fang Huaikong, Qingfeng Sword Sect elder, interrupts Huang He to tell him not to tangle up two different events. Shen Shen doesn’t take this help, because he’s too busy being upset about how the Danyang Sect was part of the Five Lakes Alliance but the Mount Tai Sect wasn’t, and how Lu Taichong’s glazed armor and last disciples should’ve stayed with them instead of Mount Tai.
This just upsets Mount Tai Sect more, of course. Fan Huaikong keeps trying to pacify people, and brings up the question of why an assassin would actually point to his master. He suggests they wait for Gao Chong to arrive and clear the air.
Various sects, which are given names even if their leaders aren’t, shout their approval of this plan.
Gao Chong, with impeccable timing, arrives. He’s up on a raised stage, surrounded by his disciples. In the watching crowd, we’re shown ZZS, wearing a veiled hat.
From his observation post, WKX says that the main character has now arrived, and the drama is going to start.
Gao Chong accepts responsibility for Ao Laizi’s death. Not because he killed him, but because Lu Taichong giving Ao Laizi the glazed armor led to Ao Laizi’s death. Gao Chong calls this “loyalty” according to the youtube subs; “此乃大义” (cǐ nǎi dàyì) is the hanzi, and poking at that makes me think that “loyalty” doesn’t really capture the entirety of what ‘dayi’ means? “Righteousness” seems to be coming up in the dictionaries more? And that’d fit with who Gao Chong is (and what he wants the Alliance to be). Gao Chong says he respects Ao Laizi very much (implied: because of this dayi).
WKX recites the rhyme about ghosts on Mount Qingya, and (as the episode ends) asks them not to disappoint him with this play.
General Commentary
So much of what Zhou Zishu’s demanding here is agency and the right to choose his own life and what he’s willing to deal with to live freely under his own will. I get why Wen Kexing (whose earliest trauma is all about people he loves dying too early) is desperate for him to live longer no matter what, but in the end I’m on Zhou Zishu’s side about demanding his own agency and ability no matter the cost in pain and shortened life. (It helps, of course, to know that there is a solution in the end...)
There’s just… so much angst going on in this episode… and I have no brain space for it apparently? I dunno! The Nails stuff is “resolved” for now. The Heroes Conference tension is building, and building, and it’s not gonna break for a while.
Some of it is that I don’t really want to think about Zhao Jing and Luo Fumeng’s past relationship much, or Yu Qiufeng and Liu Qianqiao… It’s all very good plot, and the way their relationships do and don’t reflect each other (and the way that Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao’s is more interesting than either) is neat. But I don’t want to think about it much, especially not here, where we haven’t yet gotten the fullness of what Zhao Jing and Luo Fumeng’s relationship was, just the first hints of how Zhao Jing was shitty to her.
I think it’s interesting that we see Wen Kexing’s grief, but once Zhou Zishu leaves we don’t see him again this episode (except those brief glimpses of his veiled face). Whatever processing he’s doing, it isn’t for us. (But also: Wow I want to know what he’s doing/thinking between when he leaves and when he arrives at the Heroes Conference; lovely room for fic there!)
Fun thing for a rewatch: Knowing that Gao Chong gave Mo Huaiyang the Glazed Armor and that being why Mo Huaiyang wasn’t there for the conference! Which is probably a good thing, tbh, because Fan Huaikong is a more empathetic person with better conflict-mitigation skills than I recall Mo Huaiyang being shown to have.
We don’t see Chengling at all in this episode! I miss him.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. ZZS’s choice to live with the Nails because his martial arts is too important to sacrifice! WKX’s desire to keep him alive longer! Their very understandable dramatic break-up because of this! Thoughts, feelings, and other opinions?
2. The Heroes Conference begins! How did all the sects arrive at once here? Did Huang He arrange it, or did they also hear about the drama starting up when Gao Chong was alerted? Or is it simply close enough to Conference Time that they were all planning on being a bit early and arrived right on time for drama instead? (Also, how can WKX even observe all the nonsense? He’s quite a distance away on his little watchtower! Cultivation superpowers?)
3. The contrast between when LQQ and YQF met last episode, and Zhao Jing and LFM this episode is quite something. Any thoughts about that, or about all the implications of what Zhao Jing says here? (We’ll hear the full story later, of course.)
Next Time: The Heroes Conference! WKX and ZZS talk. LQQ and YQF rescue LFM. Long Xiao arrives. More Heroes Conference!
List of Scenes
YBY wants to look at ZZS’s injuries, WKX and YBY fight, ZZS finally relents and lets them see his scars.
YBY offers the cure of “I’ll take away your martial arts” and ZZS refuses it.
ZZS and WKX argue over whether or not ZZS living longer is worth it; ZZS walks away.
GX learns what happened to LFM’s manor.
WKX angsts in the rain; GX tells him about the attack; WKX breaks his xiao and leaves.
Mount Tai Sect allies with the Beggar Gangs.
Zhao Jing visits LFM in prison.
WKX drinks. LQQ asks him if she can rescue LFM; WKX tells her to just investigate.
CWN’s dashixiong arrives.
Shen Shen’s at the Five Lakes Monuments, presiding over the final set-up, when Mount Tai Sect arrives and starts challenging him.
LQQ (pretending to be YQF) enters Yueyang manor.
LQQ runs into YQF; he is angsty but agrees to help her rescue LFM.
Huang He and Mount Tai Sect accuse Shen Shen of killing Ao Laizi; Fan Huaikong defends him.
Gao Chong arrives, and WKX looks forward to the show to come.
Timeline or Something
The remnants of a night, and then the next day. There’s no evidence that there’s more than one day, but also it feels like it’d be entirely possible there’s a night that we aren’t shown. Or that’s implied but I can’t actually tell if that one shot of the sun near the horizon is it rising or setting or just for drama. So honestly probably there’s another day between Sad Breakup Times and the Heroes Conference? But who knows.
The next few episodes are going to linger on this day, anyway, because the Heroes Conference is here.
Recap
This episode begins with YBY wanting to look at ZZS’s injuries, which leads to a fight. WKX arrives partway through, defends ZZS, and then demands to know what’s going on. YBY calls him a brat, WKX says he doesn’t like YBY, and ZZS tells them to stop fighting. They listen, at least for long enough that ZZS can try and tell YBY he doesn’t want his help, which WKX thinks is ridiculous.
While asking why ZZS’s being polite to YBY, WKX also calls YBY a “boy toy” according to the youtube subs, which is one of the more delightful translation things going on here. (小白脸, xiǎobáiliǎn, is the chinese phrase. I remember when this episode first aired and we went ‘really?’ about it, being told that boy toy really wasn’t a bad translation of the phrase. Netflix says “pretty boy”, which is also fun.)
YBY thinks it’s very silly to be called that, but goes back to asking ZZS how long he thinks he’s going to live if he doesn’t want YBY’s help. WKX asks ZZS what he’s talking about, and if he’s right about that, and YBY suggests he take off ZZS’s clothes and see. WKX does not like this suggestion, but does ask ZZS for confirmation.
ZZS doesn’t say anything, and YBY takes over. He says that ZZS’s meridians are drying out, and death is coming for ZZS, and nobody can save him. WKX asks, again, if YBY is telling the truth. YBY asks WKX who he is, who his master was, and what the martial arts he’d used were. WKX shouts back that his martial arts are called “beating my son on a rainy day just because I can”, which is nonsense but also meaningful nonsense both in sense of “yeah that sounds like Ghost Valley” and being perfectly aligned with WKX and YBY’s bickering dynamic.
YBY and WKX begin fighting then, which is absolutely lovely.
Lightning continues to flash in the night, but the rain hasn’t yet come. ZZS urges them to stop fighting, citing the oncoming rain, but it doesn’t work. YBY and WKX bicker, and that gives ZZS a chance to jump over and physically separate them and end this fight. ZZS comments that “one of you doesn’t respect seniors, and the other doesn’t love juniors”, which is very much the WKX/YBY dynamic and why it’s so fun to watch them interact.
ZZS says that “Life and death are up to fate”, and then YBY interrupts him to say that he loves fighting against fate, and tells ZZS to take off his clothes and let YBY see what hurt him. WKX continues going “wtf” and hoping that YBY can heal him. ZZS finally tells WKX who YBY is (the Changming Mountain Sword Immortal), and WKX calls YBY “old ghost” (老鬼) while demanding to know if he can heal ZZS.
YBY asks again if ZZS would let him treat his wounds, and ZZS doesn’t respond. In that silence, WKX grabs at his robes and tries to open them to look.
ZZS doesn’t fight him off as strongly as he did YBY, but he resists and is distinctly annoyed by having “two men pulling at [his] clothes in the middle of the night”. But it does lead to him saying “You want to see?” and opening his robes himself so that they can see the ordinary scars on his body and also the well-healed marks of the Nails.
WKX and YBY both look at them in surprise, and YBY recognises them and how the Nails are holding his meridians in place. He asks whose idea such a clever and cruel thing was, and ZZS (having just put his robes back on properly) says it was his. YBY laughs, says “You’re really trying to kill yourself”, and tells ZZS to come with him. ZZS does, without even a backwards glance at the still-stunned WKX.
WKX follows them anyway, and YBY’s surprised that he did. ZZS ignores this, and just asks YBY for his opinion. YBY examines ZZS’s pulse, WKX breathlessly asks if YBY can help, and YBY says (very cockily) that he can help anyone; he can even bring the recently-dead back to life for a bit. There’s a distinct hope in WKX’s voice as he asks for YBY’s help, and WKX says he’d do anything YBY asks if it would help ZZS.
ZZS is less certain about all this. YBY tells ZZS that he could give ZZS another ten years, and ZZS’s surprised by this. Then YBY tells him the catch: he’d lose his martial arts. YBY says that ZZS should only have about a third of his power right now, and it’s only hard to bear at night because all of his energy is swirling about. But YBY says that once he removes the nails, his power will crush his meridians, and so he’d need to remove ZZS’s martial arts in order for this to work.
WKX asks if there’s any other way, and YBY blithely suggests he go look for the soul of the Master of Healer Valley and bring him back, but it’s clearly a joke to him.
ZZS again says that life and death are up to fate, thanks YBY for his trouble, and then leaves.
WKX follows him, and YBY shouts after them, wanting first for ZZS to stop and then to know why WKX keeps following ZZS. ZZS ignores him, but WKX snaps back that his relationship with ZZS is none of YBY’s business. YBY shouts after ZZS that WKX is bad news, then sighs and watches them go. He talks about youth and the young, sighs, and then the scene ends.
The long-threatened rain arrives in a downpour. ZZS stands on a balcony, WKX behind him, looking out into the rainy night. I should someday learn the names of the soundtrack songs, but one of them is playing throughout this scene. WKX asks ZZS how much time he has left, and ZZS says “at least two years”, which is just barely true.
ZZS tells WKX to not say “such stupid things” (which WKX hadn’t quite said yet, presumably about not wanting him to die). ZZS reaches out to WKX’s shoulder, and WKX knocks his hand away, calling him (for once) “Zhou Zishu!” with a lot of emotion. ZZS defends his choice, in that his martial arts are core to his identity, and WKX begs him to stay alive (and says he’d find a way to recover ZZS’s martial arts).
ZZS says “I would rather live freely for ten days than live against my own will for ten years,” which the very fact of the Nails in his body is proof of. He says it’s already, and that there’s still enough time for them to taste all the wine in the world, and tells WKX to come/let’s go. WKX doesn’t follow after him. He says he understands, and tells ZZS about how he played instead of practicing martial arts as a child, that he’s spent his whole life living in the wrong moment. Which isn’t quite the same as what ZZS’s talking about, but WKX wraps around to “I can’t have what I want; it’s too late to save the one I want to save”.
ZZS, who finally hit his emotional breaking point, turns and asks (using WKX’s full name) if he’s done yet, and shouts that he’s the one who’s about to die, that he’s wasted his whole life and turned himself into a joke, and wonders who WKX’s acting sad for. ZZS says he rescued himself, and that if WKX’s telling him to drag his death out longer, then getting to know him was pointless.
Then ZZS leaves, and WKX doesn’t follow. The last lines of the song, about being together, play very sadly over the rainy thunderous night.
The scene cuts to GX entering a building. One of the devils [shi shi gui / corpse-eating ghost?] is there, eating food, and a lot of Luo Fumeng’s girls are there as well. The devil asks GX why she took so long, and she says that she went to Luo Mansion first, and only saw “the code phrase” [pointing here, presumably] on the way back. GX asks what happened, realises asking this guy is useless, and asks where LQQ is. She doesn’t get an answer to that either.
The girls are injured and crying. GX kneels down next to one of them—Yun Zai, one of the two girls GX rescued, and who we last saw in ep6—and asks where Hong Lu is. She doesn’t get an answer, either about that or the other two names she specifically calls out in increasing emotion/desperation (Zhu Zhu and Lan Xin), because Yun Zai is too busy crying.
The devil guy is about the only calm person here, probably because he didn’t know any of the girls. He tells GX that Gao Chong and men from the Five Lakes Alliance raided Luo Fumeng’s manor at night (calling LFM “crazy woman” [疯婆娘, fēng póniáng]). He says he was there at the time (but apparently escaped, and wasn’t even seen by Gao Chong’s forces based on what was said last episode) and that LFM would “cut off a piece of [his] flesh for each [girl] that died”.
GX’s still processing the idea of Hong Lu dying despite not deserving it, and feels responsible for the girls she rescued and who she didn’t keep safe. The devil asks if it’s time for mourning, and thinks that GX has been too affected by “the humans” and shouldn’t care if a few maids died. GX says he doesn’t have the right to scold her, then asks if he attracted attention and led GC’s forces to Luo Mansion.
The devil doesn’t think she should blame him, and says that Wuchang Gui, Happy Ghost, and Lovelace were all nearby and didn’t do anything. He thinks that one of them might’ve sold LFM out. GX pauses for a moment, then runs out.
The scene cuts to WKX sitting on a bridge playing flute sadly in the rain. He’s deep in his angst. GX, who has an umbrella, comes to find him. She asks him what happened, holding the umbrella over him now, and he just quotes poetry back at her. His face is blank. GX is crying and telling him about how “Aunt Luo’s” manor got raided, and WKX’s expression doesn’t change at all, even as she asks him what to do.
He asks her why she’s crying, since he isn’t, and wonders if she’s crying for him. He laughs, and stands up, still seeming to ignore GX.
WKX tells GX that “he’s about to die” without specifying ZZS and raises his voice as he complains about how he’s almost completed his revenge but ZZS’s about to die, and wonders why he even followed him to begin with. GX asks who “he” is, then answers it for herself.
WKX quotes more poetry, hitting his xiao into the palm of his hand, and then smashes the xiao as he reaches the last line. He launches himself into the air and into the rain, and GX watches him go, still crying.
The scene switches to the next day. Mount Tai Sect’s disciples are at the Beggar Gangs’ base, all clad in white mourning headbands and rough mourning over-robes and asking for Huang He and his people to help them (implied: because Mount Hua, YQF’s sect, won’t). The leader of this group of Mount Tai disciples (and, apparently, now the sect leader too) is Qing Song (specifically not Qing Bai, who had been the leader of the group under Ao Laizi).
Huang He is acting like a good guy here, being respectful to the Mount Tai sect and mourning Ao Laizi’s death. The disciples all say they’ll follow Huang He’s lead, and Huang He says he’ll lead them to defeat the Five Lakes Alliance however necessary.
Mount Tai Sect departs. Tao Hong and Lv Liu appear from inside the beggar sects’ building. Tao Hong asks about Huang He’s plans, and Huang He says he’s moving slow because they’ve waited so many years already, so another little bit won’t hurt. He says he needs one more thing from them, though, but we don’t get to hear what that is.
The scene cuts to LFM in prison. She’s standing, chained up, and a little blood is trickling from the corner of her mouth. Zhao Jing comes to visit her in her cell. The Yueyang disciple who unlocked the door for him says that LFM won’t talk, but Gao Chong won’t let them torture her because she’s a woman, and tells Zhao Jing to do whatever; they just really need more information about why Deng Kuan is still unconscious, and anything else is a bonus.
Zhao Jing dismisses the disciple, leaving him alone with LFM. She curses at him and says she’s not scared of what he’ll do. He asks if she recognises her, and she calls him “that fake righteous dog” and asks what he wants. Zhao Jing exposits about the Meng Po Soup, which the jianghu thought was merely a rumour, and reveals that LFM used to care about him. She has no idea how he even knows her name.
According to ZJ, he betrayed her and turned her from a noble girl into a ghost. He’s really playing this like he might deserve sympathy. Special effects imply LFM might be remembering things. ZJ reaches out to touch her, and she tells him not to. Surprisingly, he listens. He says he owes her in this life, but that they shouldn’t meet if there’s another one.
He leaves, special effects continue, and LFM screams. ZJ walks down the prison’s hall as her scream echoes.
The scene cuts to WKX (wearing plain blue robes) drinking. LQQ comes to see him and says she’s finished the preparations. WKX tells her that “the Department of the Unfaithful’s side mansion was attacked” and that Xisang Gui was captured. LQQ is surprised, and wants WKX to rescue her. WKX says it’s not the right time to fight yet. Instead, he tells her to turn into YQF and investigate. He thinks Gao Chong will kill her during the heroes conference, so she’s safe for now.
LQQ asks if he wants her to break into the prison LFM’s held in, and WKX is scornful of her martial arts being good enough to allow that. He just wants her to confirm LFM’s alive. LQQ continues wanting LFM rescued, and WKX brushes it aside. He says he has a plan, though! During the Heroes Conference, when Gao Chong’s busy, he’ll do something. LQQ says more praise for WKX, he pours himself more wine, and he tells her to leave.
WKX is sad to himself about not being understood, and starts drinking straight from the wine jug.
The scene changes to Yueyang, where CWN is utterly delighted that his dashixiong is here! Mo Weixu is talking to Zhu Yaozhi, one of the recurring Yueyang disciples, when CWN runs up to them. Mo Weixu calls CWN ‘monkey’ [猴儿, Hóu’er], which is very cute, and tells him to quiet down. Zhu Yaozhi calls CWN “Casanova Cao” in the youtube subs, which is “曹大情圣 (Cáo-dàqíngshèng)” in the hanzi, which seems to have a similar enough teasing connotation about his love life.
CWN tries to keep Zhu Yaozhi from telling Mo Weixu about his relationship with GX, but apparently it’s too late to keep Mo Weixu from learning such things. Zhu Yaozhi takes his leave, after another teasing comment. CWN does admit that he’s met a girl he likes, but Mo Weixu has more important matters. He tells CWN that his father (Mo Huaiyang, the Qingfeng Sword Sect’s leader) left to return to Mount Qingfeng, and so Fan Huaikong will be representing their sect at the conference instead.
CWN wonders why, but there’s no time for an answer before Zhu Yaozhi pops back over to tell CWN that GX is sick and at the medics for treatment, but he shouldn’t worry because Xiaolian is with her. Mo Weixu thinks he’s too anxious about this, and doesn’t have enough ambition, and CWN responds by saying his ambitions are to marry someone he loves. Mo Weixu scolds him, saying he’s stepping out of line. But then he tells CWN he can go, and CWN runs off.
We cut to the Five Lakes Monument, site of the Heroes Conference, and a thundering sky. They’re still setting things up. Some disciples are cleaning the monument, others are bringing in jars of wine. Shen Shen is overseeing. Shen Shen stares at the monument, and tells Gao Shan to clean the monument better (despite how disciples are already working on that; the base is clean but the main structure isn’t yet).
Shen Shen says that the conference will start at noon. He’s very concerned with how things will look. Yellow paper, the sign of Ghost Valley, starts raining from the sky. Shen Shen tells everyone to be on guard, a disciple runs off to tell Gao Chong, and Shen Shen is not happy about this.
Mount Tai disciples walk on-screen, carrying baskets full of the yellow joss paper and tossing it. Yueyang disciples (and plausibly Mount Dagu ones in white) back away from them as they approach. The beggar sect runs in from the side as well. Shen Shen is very confused by Mount Tai sect being here like this.
Qing Song calls for the Mount Tai disciples to destroy the Five Lakes Monument, and so they start throwing rocks at it. This doesn’t seem very effective, but—especially as the beggar sect joins in—it sure is surprising.
Wine jars break, the Yueyang disciples are trying to ward off rocks with their swords, and the chaos is starting up.
The scene cuts to Yueyang Sect Manor. Yu Qiufeng enters, saying he’s here to see Shen Shen, who happens to be gone. YQF says he’ll wait inside. That one disciple who’d run off to tell Gao Chong about Ghost Valley’s signs at the Heroes Conference arrives, and the disciples who’d been blocking YQF’s way all run off towards the Heroes Conference.
YQF, of course, runs into Yueyang Manor, and we get confirmation that this is LQQ because she’s wondering why Ghost Valley’s at the Heroes Conference and if this is WKX’s plan. LQQ is here to rescue LFM, regardless of what WKX said or thought.
Unfortunately, as she nears the place LFM is kept, she meets YQF! They are dressed exactly the same. The only distinction between them is expressions and voice. I do love scenes like this for the acting and camerawork involved, even if I don’t really like it when LQQ and YQF are interacting. (And, tbh, since everything is overdubbed anyway then having LQQ’s voice coming out of YQF’s mouth feels less odd than it otherwise might.)
YQF knows about LQQ’s skill at disguises, and asks her why she’s disguised as him. In return, she asks him why he’s here, and if it’s for the Glazed Armor. She pulls out a piece, and offers it as a bribe to ask him for his help rescuing LFM. It’s one of the pieces WKX made duplicates of, so it’s not a hardship to give it away. YQF is surprised that LQQ’s master is Xisang Gui, and LQQ says LFM rescued her and took her into Ghost Valley.
LQQ asks if he’ll help, and YQF doesn’t accept the Glazed Armor bribe. He says he owes her too much, and will do anything she says or asks, so he doesn’t need it; he’ll help her anyway. YQF asks her to take off her disguise, but then he’ll take her to the Yueyang Sect’s prison.
The scene returns to the Heroes Conference, where rocks continue to be thrown and Shen Shen is ineffectually shouting about killing people who keep throwing said rocks. Mount Tai Sect says they’re here for him, and they draw their swords.
Shen Shen shouts at them again, but then Huang He draws his attention and a bunch of other sects start arriving! Huang He accuses Shen Shen of killing Ao Laizi and stealing the Glazed Armor and asks him to admit to this crime.
Shen Shen, of course, is like “No, that was Ghost Valley”, and the youngest of the Mount Tai Sect disciples refutes this by saying that the assassin laid blame on Shen Shen.
We get a flashback to the Mount Tai sect finding Ao Laizi’s dead body. Wuchang Gui shows up to laugh at them and inform them that he’s there “on orders from the leader of Mount Dagu Sect to kill all of [them]”. Qing Hua, Mount Tai’s youngest disciple, runs at Wuchang Gui with a sword, shouting that he’ll kill him. Wuchang Gui smacks him, almost killing him, and the rest of the disciples charge Wuchang Gui.
Qing Hua says that his seniors all died that night, and he’s the only survivor. Presumably this means there are no more Dayang kids either, since they were in that group. Alas, that whole sect is gone. That sucks.
Huang He calls for Shen Shen to defend himself against this accusation. Shen Shen says he’s being framed, which is true, but Mount Tai Sect doesn’t believe him.
(WKX watches, fanning himself.)
Mount Tai Sect believes Shen Shen chased Ao Laizi quite a ways, and Shen Shen’s like “What? No?” and really isn’t a good enough liar to fake this kind of confused shock. They get into another round of argument about how Mount Tai Sect talks about Ao Laizi’s glazed armor, but Shen Shen thinks it’s still Lu Taichong’s (even though he’s dead and gave it to Ao Laizi), which Huang He interrupts to point out that Shen Shen clearly has grievance and definitely did at one point attack Ao Laizi.
Fang Huaikong, Qingfeng Sword Sect elder, interrupts Huang He to tell him not to tangle up two different events. Shen Shen doesn’t take this help, because he’s too busy being upset about how the Danyang Sect was part of the Five Lakes Alliance but the Mount Tai Sect wasn’t, and how Lu Taichong’s glazed armor and last disciples should’ve stayed with them instead of Mount Tai.
This just upsets Mount Tai Sect more, of course. Fan Huaikong keeps trying to pacify people, and brings up the question of why an assassin would actually point to his master. He suggests they wait for Gao Chong to arrive and clear the air.
Various sects, which are given names even if their leaders aren’t, shout their approval of this plan.
Gao Chong, with impeccable timing, arrives. He’s up on a raised stage, surrounded by his disciples. In the watching crowd, we’re shown ZZS, wearing a veiled hat.
From his observation post, WKX says that the main character has now arrived, and the drama is going to start.
Gao Chong accepts responsibility for Ao Laizi’s death. Not because he killed him, but because Lu Taichong giving Ao Laizi the glazed armor led to Ao Laizi’s death. Gao Chong calls this “loyalty” according to the youtube subs; “此乃大义” (cǐ nǎi dàyì) is the hanzi, and poking at that makes me think that “loyalty” doesn’t really capture the entirety of what ‘dayi’ means? “Righteousness” seems to be coming up in the dictionaries more? And that’d fit with who Gao Chong is (and what he wants the Alliance to be). Gao Chong says he respects Ao Laizi very much (implied: because of this dayi).
WKX recites the rhyme about ghosts on Mount Qingya, and (as the episode ends) asks them not to disappoint him with this play.
General Commentary
So much of what Zhou Zishu’s demanding here is agency and the right to choose his own life and what he’s willing to deal with to live freely under his own will. I get why Wen Kexing (whose earliest trauma is all about people he loves dying too early) is desperate for him to live longer no matter what, but in the end I’m on Zhou Zishu’s side about demanding his own agency and ability no matter the cost in pain and shortened life. (It helps, of course, to know that there is a solution in the end...)
There’s just… so much angst going on in this episode… and I have no brain space for it apparently? I dunno! The Nails stuff is “resolved” for now. The Heroes Conference tension is building, and building, and it’s not gonna break for a while.
Some of it is that I don’t really want to think about Zhao Jing and Luo Fumeng’s past relationship much, or Yu Qiufeng and Liu Qianqiao… It’s all very good plot, and the way their relationships do and don’t reflect each other (and the way that Luo Fumeng and Liu Qianqiao’s is more interesting than either) is neat. But I don’t want to think about it much, especially not here, where we haven’t yet gotten the fullness of what Zhao Jing and Luo Fumeng’s relationship was, just the first hints of how Zhao Jing was shitty to her.
I think it’s interesting that we see Wen Kexing’s grief, but once Zhou Zishu leaves we don’t see him again this episode (except those brief glimpses of his veiled face). Whatever processing he’s doing, it isn’t for us. (But also: Wow I want to know what he’s doing/thinking between when he leaves and when he arrives at the Heroes Conference; lovely room for fic there!)
Fun thing for a rewatch: Knowing that Gao Chong gave Mo Huaiyang the Glazed Armor and that being why Mo Huaiyang wasn’t there for the conference! Which is probably a good thing, tbh, because Fan Huaikong is a more empathetic person with better conflict-mitigation skills than I recall Mo Huaiyang being shown to have.
We don’t see Chengling at all in this episode! I miss him.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
1. ZZS’s choice to live with the Nails because his martial arts is too important to sacrifice! WKX’s desire to keep him alive longer! Their very understandable dramatic break-up because of this! Thoughts, feelings, and other opinions?
2. The Heroes Conference begins! How did all the sects arrive at once here? Did Huang He arrange it, or did they also hear about the drama starting up when Gao Chong was alerted? Or is it simply close enough to Conference Time that they were all planning on being a bit early and arrived right on time for drama instead? (Also, how can WKX even observe all the nonsense? He’s quite a distance away on his little watchtower! Cultivation superpowers?)
3. The contrast between when LQQ and YQF met last episode, and Zhao Jing and LFM this episode is quite something. Any thoughts about that, or about all the implications of what Zhao Jing says here? (We’ll hear the full story later, of course.)
Next Time: The Heroes Conference! WKX and ZZS talk. LQQ and YQF rescue LFM. Long Xiao arrives. More Heroes Conference!
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re: YBY's treatment skills - Thank you for the lovely breakdown! I do not think I have much to say, beyond it being a really good explanation of all the ways YBY fucked up. :)
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He does indeed get to call it out, I cheered a little the first time around! This whole scene is so fascinating to me, there’s a lot packed into a short amount of time. I spent a lot of time thinking about it after this episode aired. For this in particular I was thinking along the lines of medical consent and violations of disabled bodies, eg. forcing someone to provide visual proof. There’s so much overlap between this and other forms harassment and violence that I just think it’s a really interesting and effective storytelling choice. The scriptwriter may or may not have done this intentionally, idk! I'm inclined to think it may be intentional because in the novel Wu Xi does ask for consent to examine and treat him at a narratively similar point, but he comes in so much later in show.
Ah, thank you!! I love YBY, but...MAN. He has been on that mountain too damn long. Just because you read a wuxia med school textbook once does not mean you're any good at practicing medicine lololol.