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ghost_valley2022-02-25 01:43 pm
shadaras) wrote in ghost_valley2022-02-25 01:43 pm
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[WoH Rewatch] Episode 36
The end! It is here!
The epilogue/ep37 gets its own (much shorter!) post. :)
List of Scenes
ZZS says he’s gotta go after the World’s Armory
Beiyuan discusses the history of the World’s Armory
ZZS departs
Xie-wang and DPJ arrive at the armory
DPJ and Xie-wang learn that the key is fake
ZZS arrives! DPJ dies, Xie-wang’s mad
The avalanche begins
WKX arrives! He reveals the truth of the hairpin and saves ZZS
WKX complains about ZZS leaving him
Brief flashback to YBY arriving at the manor
WKX and ZZS enter the armory proper and find the Yin Yang Book on the floor
ZZS starts noticing lots of books about farming
Reaching the center of the vault and the Combined Six Cultivation Method’s text
ZZS puts together the original purpose of the vault
WKX’s explains YBY’s immortality and how the Combined Six Cultivation Method works
ZZS and WKX dual cultivate
WKX has flashbacks to the wenzhou relationship
Flashback to YBY explaining to WKX the price he’ll pay to save ZZS
WKX’s hair goes white.
ZZS grabbing WKX’s hands.
Timeskip to the future! Adult Chengling tells his disciples a story!
The end :D
Timeline or Something
This starts not long after the last episode ends, I assume. I can’t make the timeline make sense if it’s not like the same day.
Zhou Zishu travels “night and day” to get to the mountain. I am uncertain how many days this takes, but it’s multiple days.
All the stuff on the mountain presumably happens on the same day.
I’m not sure how long in the future the flash-forward is supposed to be! Nianxiang looks like she’s 6-ish probably? Chengling was also like what, 15-16 during mainline canon? For him to have a kid who’s like six, at least a decade has passed. Could be two decades! Who knows. Not enough information. Make up whatever you want, I guess!
Recap
ZZS, Chengling, Wu Xi, and Beiyuan are all sitting in a very pretty room.
Chengling asks ZZS why he didn’t kill Prince Jin. ZZS says that his relationship with Prince Jin is too complicated and he cannot honorably kill Prince Jin; it would revolt among the populace. Keeping Prince Jin bedbound is a safer answer.
Beiyuan agrees and affirms that Prince Jin and others of his ilk fighting amongst themselves is the way to keep the common people (relatively) free from strife (for now). Chengling refuses to understand; he only cares about saving ZZS.
ZZS says that his life doesn’t matter at all compared to righteousness and justice, and that he shouldn’t have brought up Prince Jin and his army at all. War is bad, ZZS doesn’t want to cause one, etc.
ZZS then says that Prince Jin will be attempting to find the Yin Yang Book, and he must stop Prince Jin from succeeding or else everything will be in vain. He doesn’t want to die with that regret, and thus he must go off. He apologises for not having stayed with Chengling long enough, and tells Chengling to remember something QHZ once told him: “A great [chevalier | 侠] is the one contributing to the country and the people.” (This kinda sounds like nationalism propaganda but okay.)
Chengling doesn’t have anything to say to this. ZZS gives him a hug and Chengling cries on his shoulder as ZZS says he hopes ZZS’s useless body can do useful things. ZZS then asks Wu Xi and Beiyuan to take care of his family, Chengling and WKX. They agree and understand.
Beiyuan says Prince Jin doesn’t want the Yin Yang Book, then explains that Prince Jin and Beiyuan are both “descendents of Shatuo” (unclear if this is a country, ethnic group, or both) whose ancestors did a great service to the nation and were accepted into the governing class. Beiyuan also says that this ancestral branch of the clan was “a subordinate of Tuoji imperial kinsmen” and they had once established a treasure vault with the secret for a long-lasting country inside.
Beiyuan goes on to describe how the glazed armor is likely the lock to that vault. Beiyuan also says that he’d thought these stories of the vault to be make-believe. But then he recalled how ZZS’s father was secretly killed by the former prince (presumably Prince Jin’s father), as well as that the former prince once told ‘them’ (Beiyuan and Prince Jin?) that he’d soon find the secret to a long-lasting country (but didn’t succeed in that goal). These happened at about the same time.
ZZS ties this together with how QHZ collected the glazed armor in his “younger years” and comes to the conclusion that QHZ’s friend in the story Long Que told in Episode 19 must have been ZZS’s own father. (Said story, for reference: QHZ and ‘his friends’ travelled around and found the glazed armor lock and its key. It wasn’t an easy process. After QHZ acquired all of the elements, he found nothing inside the palace, so he gave it to Rong Xuan’s group and they built the World’s Armory.)
A series of quick flashbacks to Long Que talking about the vault’s history, Han Ying telling ZZS about Prince Jin’s image of the Glazed Armor, and Han Ying telling ZZS about how ZZS’s dad was killed.
ZZS considers that fate has arranged everything.
Then the scene cuts to outside, where everyone bids ZZS farewell. Beiyuan calls the secret to a long-lasting country a groundless rumour. ZZS says it doesn’t matter; he still needs to go, just in case. He thinks it’s a worthy use of his life. (Which he says only has “a few days left”.)
Beiyuan tells ZZS that he’ll be traveling day and night, and can call upon the Ping’an shops if he needs anything on his way. As well, Beiyuan reassures ZZS that he won’t need to worry about anything here; ZZS agrees, saying he trusts Beiyuan.
Chengling kneels. ZZS tells him to repeat the lines he’s been taught: ZZS’s been seriously injured. Wu Xi and Beiyuan have taken him overseas to heal. WKX and Chengling should rebuild Siji Manor and wait for ZZS’s return.
ZZS scolds him for looking too worried, because WKX will pick up on that and figure out the lie. Chengling promises he’ll practice. Then ZZS rides off as all three of them watch, with various sad looks on their faces.
In the snowy mountains, a small army marches onwards. It consists of both Prince Jin’s men (led by DPJ) and Scorpions. Xie-wang has brought Zhao Jing along, even.
We get some cool dramatic shots of the exterior of the vault, which is covered in ice. Xie-wang and DPJ have arrived, and dramatically discuss the legend of the secret to a long-lasting country. Xie-wang tells DPJ that DPJ can open the vault, and hands him the Glazed Armor; DPJ is very excited about this.
DPJ approaches the ice, then calls his people to break the ice.
Xie-wang looks at Zhao Jing and asks if he’s happy. Zhao Jing cannot respond.
The ice shatters off after a few strong blows, revealing a door. DPJ pieces together the Glazed Armor and holds it up in delight. He places it in the lock and turns it until it clicks into place. Then he inserts what he’s been led to believe is the key. Nothing happens. DPJ waits for a long few moments before realising something’s wrong.
DPJ crieds out that the key’s a fake. Xie-wang runs over and shoves DPJ aside, saying that this is impossible. Xie-wang rattles the key in the lock desperately, then pounds on the door in a panic, and finally pulls the key out in disbelief.
ZZS chooses this moment to make his entrance, exploding out from behind a little ice monolith. He kills DPJ in a single blow. Xie-wang shouts ZZS’s name in anger, and the Scorpions and Tianchuang members surround ZZS, who ignores them in favor of paying attention to how Xie-wang’s complaining that WKX’s failed to keep up his side of the bargain and gave him a fake key.
ZZS asks why Xie-wang’s surprised; WKX made fake glazed armors, so why not a fake key too? Xie-wang doesn’t respond, instead asking where WKX is. ZZS counters by asking where Prince Jin is. Xie-wang threatens ZZS, but ZZS ignores him, instead sighing regretfully about Prince Jin not being here.
The avalanche begins.
The soldiers/Tianchuang members and Scorpions break and run. Xie-wang scrambles to reach Zhao Jing. ZZS stands in front of the door, staring up at the oncoming snow and making no effort to move.
As ZZS closes his eyes to embrace the snow, WKX arrives and plucks the Plot Hairpin out of ZZS’s hair. He passes a hand over it, revealing the real key, and throws it into the lock. ZZS stares at WKX like “WTF did you come from” as the door opens.
In the last moment before the snow arrives, WKX shouts for ZZS to run inside the vault.
Xie-wang and Zhao Jing appear to get buried. The men continue attempting to run, but it seems unlikely they’ll succeed.
Inside the vault, ZZS and WKX brush snow off their robes. ZZS asks WKX how he got here and how his injury is. WKX curses at ZZS and asks if ZZS cares about him, since he’s abandoned their promise to live and die together like this. ZZS asks how WKX came here, and WKX grumbles about how he had to trail after the army to find ZZS, since he didn’t know where the armory was.
WKX looks around the pretty ice cave. ZZS finally realises that WKX took the hair pin from him, and WKX explains how and why he’d given the key to ZZS. WKX explains that his parents disguised the hair pin, and it’s been safe from prying eyes (of Ghost Valley, of Xie-wang, of Prince Jin) this whole time. WKX was confident that ZZS would bring the hairpin here if he was planning on dying, because they’re gay like that.
WKX then says that YBY’s the reason he’s here at all, and we get a nice flashback to YBY bursting into Beiyuan’s manor. YBY curses all of them for fools, tosses aside the incense burner with Drunk-like-a-Dream in it, and wakes WKX up while Beiyuan, Wu Xi, and Chengling watch. Wu Xi protests that YBY shouldn’t do this, and YBY just tells him to shut up. “No one else could die before me,” YBY says, in response to the idea that WKX and ZZS promised to live and die together, and transfers a lot of qi into WKX.
In the present, WKX asks if ZZS considered how WKX would feel after he learned the truth. (ZZS should’ve, considering how he felt about WKX’s fake death. Unfortunately, they’re both idiots.) WKX walks away without giving ZZS a chance to respond.
They still walk towards the vault proper in sync, though. They open the doors and enter, looking around at the icicle-coated walls. WKX lights some lamps, despite ZZS’s worries that oxygen will be limited; WKX believes that if Rong Xuan and his crew practiced martial arts, there should be good air flow in here. (Somehow this doesn’t consider that the avalanche might’ve covered that channel.)
WKX then taunts ZZS about no longer being so eager to die. ZZS replies that a good life is better than death, and his eagerness to die was a thought from before he met WKX. They smile at each other, and then ZZS changes the subject to the Combined Six Cultivation Method. WKX says, essentially, that as long as there’s life there’s hope, and they begin to look around the vault.
Scrolls and texts are scattered across the floor. WKX literally knocks his toes into the Yin Yang Book everyone’s been so excited about. He hands it to ZZS, saying it might be useful after they get out. ZZS says they can’t get out until the snow melts in summer, to which WKX says he’d figured out ZZS’s plan on the way, implying that he might’ve had some plan of his own for how to get them out sooner.
They venture deeper in, with WKX saying he wants to figure out the secret of the long-lasting country and joking about demon-summoning artifacts.
Now the vault is covered in dust and cobwebs instead of ice. ZZS notices the secret techniques of a few sects, and then realises that there are also a bunch of books about farming and planting. WKX finds this strange. They continue on.
They reach the center of the vault, where a number of chests and bags are stored. As well, in the center of a large room, there stands a dais with the text of the Combined Six Cultivation Method in a box. WKX holds it up in delight. ZZS, meanwhile, is looking at how many grains there are here and wondering why there’s all this farming stuff and no coins at all.
WKX looks around too now, and in the background we can see shovels and hoes and the like. ZZS says the seals on the grains are all written in Tuojie script, meaning that they were already here when Rong Xuan built the armory. He then pokes at the grain, which is essentially dust, and sighs about how they won’t be able to live on it. WKX frowns and comments that the grain must’ve been here for a long time to become dust.
ZZS straightens up and says he understands everything now: the grains are the secret to a long-lasting country. After a moment, WKX catches on and says that, yes, farming and settlements are the best way to help nomadic people have a long-lasting country. (Which hinges upon a very specific idea of what “civilization” means, considering how successful nomadic people have been historically and the specific kinds of land required to make farming and other settlements sustainable, but is an unsurprising element of racism to see here.)
WKX is right that it’s funny that Prince Jin has spent so much effort trying to find farming tools, though.
ZZS realises that his father died because the former Prince Jin was furious that this storehouse was the secret. (There’s enough commentary about how ZZS’s father should’ve known better that I sort of wonder if QHZ was involved in how ZZS’s father died. But that’s beside the point.) The discussion WKX and ZZS have is mostly meant to establish that it makes sense that a warehouse was given to Rong Xuan to make an armory out of, I think.
ZZS’s still thinking about how they’re stuck here. He asks WKX how long someone could survive on snow and ice alone. WKX then explains that YBY’s been eating snow and ice for over a hundred years, and that’s why YBY’s been enjoying food so much (and aging) since he showed up in town.
WKX says that succeeding at the Combined Six Cultivation has many benefits (recreating meridians, immortality, etc.) but also downsides (needing to live in a cold place and only eat ice and snow to maintain life).
ZZS takes the text of the Combined Six Cultivation Method from WKX and examines it as WKX explains YBY wants the pleasure of food more than to keep living forever. Then WKX says that ZZS will need to live in cold places and only eat ice and snow, after this.
ZZS laughs and says he’ll need to think it through.
Immediate cut to ZZS and WKX sitting on the dais with the Combined Six Cultivation Method’s text spread between them.
WKX tells ZZS that it’s going to hurt to use this method to reshape his meridians. This pain is why the technique requires two people; this way, they can balance each other and provide support when one might collapse.
ZZS says he has the advantage of WKX then, since he’s losing his senses and can’t feel pain. WKX says he knew that, and that he’s been warned (by Wu Xi and YBY) that ZZS might lose his sight and hearing completely during this process. So long as ZZS focuses on the internal mechanics, he’ll be able to make it through and regain full use of his senses.
They begin the technique, which involves a lot of pretty circling of their hands, and then slap their hands together as golden characters spin around them.
WKX opens his eyes to look at ZZS. He calls ZZS’s name; ZZS doesn’t respond. WKX says that if he “confess[es] now, [ZZS] can’t say [WKX] lied” about what the result of this technique would be. He wonders why ZZS believes whatever WKX says. Then WKX’s hair turns white, the result of him giving all his qi to ZZS.
A flashback to YBY and WKX at Beiyuan’s manor. YBY tells WKX that ZZS is dying, but YBY has a method that can save ZZS at the cost of WKX’s life. WKX says that of course he’s willing to sacrifice himself for ZZS. YBY says he’s promised to save ZZS, and he hasn’t failed a promise yet, so he’ll transfer his Combined Six Cultivation Power to WKX.
In the present, WKX says he’s sorry. They tried to cheat each other, but WKX “wins”(?) as the one who doesn’t need to live on alone in this scenario.
There’s a sequence of wenzhou relationship flashbacks.
WKX’s eyes close. His voiceover tells us that one person performing the Combined Six Cultivation Method must act as a furnace refining and purifying qi before it goes into the other person. This allows that second person to survive the powerful qi of the technique. Unfortunately, it also destroys the meridians of the person acting as a furnace.
WKX starts collapsing. He has more thoughts about how he’s survived so much, and how he thinks it’s all because he had to make it until this day and save ZZS.
The technique comes to an end. ZZS opens his eyes and sees white-haired WKX. WKX’s hands slip from ZZS’s, and ZZS catches them as the music swells. Close-ups on sad faces. WKX’s hands slip further as the song ends.
Cut to Siji Manor and Chengling, all grown up! He’s telling this story to disciples. He says that “Zhao Jing and Xie-wang were forever buried in the snowy mountain” and the Scorpion sect dissolved after heavy losses. The disciples, of course, want to know about WKX and ZZS. Chengling tells them about the furnace aspect, but is interrupted by a child calling for her dad before he can confirm or deny any deaths.
Chengling picks up Nianxiang. Gao Xiaolian comes up behind Nianxiang and asks what they were talking about; one of the disciples explains that Chengling (their shifu) was telling them about the Combined Six Cultivation Power. Xiaolian tells Chengling to stop talking nonsense; it distracts the kids.
They all head off to eat dinner, and the episode ends.
General Commentary
I hated this episode when I first saw it.
(I have since come around to finding it really interesting if still somewhat personally exasperating.)
Not because of Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu getting a bad end or anything like that, to be clear (though that’s why a lot of people were upset about it). I was frustrated because it didn’t feel like there was enough build-up to anything. Like they hadn’t earned Ye Baiyi ex machina about the Combined Six Cultivation Method and there being a way to save Zhou Zishu after all. About the Glazed Armor being real, and the hairpin being the key, and the World’s Armory mattering in the end.
To give this context, I’d read Tian Ya Ke relatively early in the show, when I’d run out of episodes but wanted more Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing. I knew the ending of Tian Ya Ke and really liked it. (I think this is why ep35’s deaths annoyed me but were expected and inevitable for me.) So most of the things that I was immediately absolutely upset about are about how Shan He Ling and Tian Ya Ke care about such different story elements thematically.
And some of that’s about the format. Some of that’s about censorship and how the scriptwriters had to dodge around it. Some of it’s that Tian Ya Ke is highly focused on the Wenzhou relationship, while Shan He Ling chooses to spread attention out so that Xie-wang becomes a deuteragonist in his own right and Prince Jin/Duan Pengju/Tianchuang are an ever-present force instead of just “that place Zhou Zishu left” right at the beginning.
For this story, which is much more caught up in succession and heritage and the symbols thereof, it does make sense that we end up at the World’s Armory. It makes sense that the futility of the glazed armor in Tian Ya Ke is shifted to the futility of expecting the vault to hold anything useful for reignal purposes (though, yes, I wish that element had been introduced earlier or with more weight of foreshadowing) while still being the key to personal fulfillment.
There’s so much information packed into this episode, y’know? A lot of it is hinted at earlier in the show—there’s a reason the flashback elements work—but until you know what to look for it’s hard to see. So on a first watch, unless you’ve been paying careful attention all along (which I know I wasn’t, because I was obsessively binging it), it all comes out of nowhere.
This time, having gone through the whole show much more slowly (it’s been like eight months! that’s a long time!), I can see a lot more of the lead-up.
It does help with appreciating what’s going on, I think. So does knowing what the epilogue/ep37 is and implies.
I know a bunch of people find the ending (sans epilogue/ep37) unsatisfying. I found it abrupt, sure, but… I never found it particularly unsatisfying? Maybe that’s because the stuff I was annoyed by came earlier than the dual cultivation ending. Maybe it’s because I looked at that and went “so they dual cultivated, very gay, very good” and figured that so long as they don’t show A Body it’s quite possible to assume that Wen Kexing is only unconscious and/or Zhou Zishu saves him somehow anyway.
So at this point the thing I tend to think about with this episode and fix-its, instead, is Xie-wang. xD But he’s my favorite terrible murder boy, so that’s not surprising.
This is also an episode that I probably came around on partially because I had to study it so much to write When the Orchids Bloom, which hinges on me changing up what happens in the vault. Studying an episode from a structural point of view and pulling out all the key scenes and pieces of information that you need in order to write a fic built from it makes it a lot harder to just be mad about it.
okay other things:
Duan Pengju dies such a quick death. It’s so much more anti-climactic than he’d think he deserves, and it feels perfect.
If Zhou Zishu ever thought that Chengling would be able to lie to Wen Kexing for longer than maybe a day, his impending death fucked his mind up more than I think.
Xie-wang’s fury at Wen Kexing having tricked him with the fake key is so funny to me. He should’ve been able to see that coming, but he was blinded by his hubris and desire for power. Such is the story of so many characters in this show.
I love Ye Baiyi storming in and calling everyone idiots.
The dual cultivation at the end is just so pretty? I love all the characters spinning around them. I love them moving in sync. I’m pretty sure at some point someone told me that you could see Zhou Zishu mouthing “ai ni” back at Wen Kexing but I can’t remember for sure if that’s actually a thing or just something that people obsessed over.
The bird that flies by when we first see The Mountain? I’m pretty sure it’s one of those mechanical messenger birds. I can’t get anything resembling a clear screenshot of it, but it seems pretty intentionally metallic/plated.
Them both lying to each other about impending death does, at least, put them on equal ground even if they really do need to get better at communicating.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!
1. Have your feelings about this episode changed between the first time you watched it and now? If so, how?
2. What do you think about the final scene with adult Chengling? Was it confusing? Is it a happily-ever-after?
3. The end! What’s it like to think about this as the close of everyone’s stories? Is it satisfying? Is there anyone who you wish we’d seen more of?
4. Literally anything you wanna say about having gotten through this rewatch! Was it fun? Useful? Are there other things you wanna do now that it’s done?
The epilogue/ep37 gets its own (much shorter!) post. :)
List of Scenes
ZZS says he’s gotta go after the World’s Armory
Beiyuan discusses the history of the World’s Armory
ZZS departs
Xie-wang and DPJ arrive at the armory
DPJ and Xie-wang learn that the key is fake
ZZS arrives! DPJ dies, Xie-wang’s mad
The avalanche begins
WKX arrives! He reveals the truth of the hairpin and saves ZZS
WKX complains about ZZS leaving him
Brief flashback to YBY arriving at the manor
WKX and ZZS enter the armory proper and find the Yin Yang Book on the floor
ZZS starts noticing lots of books about farming
Reaching the center of the vault and the Combined Six Cultivation Method’s text
ZZS puts together the original purpose of the vault
WKX’s explains YBY’s immortality and how the Combined Six Cultivation Method works
ZZS and WKX dual cultivate
WKX has flashbacks to the wenzhou relationship
Flashback to YBY explaining to WKX the price he’ll pay to save ZZS
WKX’s hair goes white.
ZZS grabbing WKX’s hands.
Timeskip to the future! Adult Chengling tells his disciples a story!
The end :D
Timeline or Something
This starts not long after the last episode ends, I assume. I can’t make the timeline make sense if it’s not like the same day.
Zhou Zishu travels “night and day” to get to the mountain. I am uncertain how many days this takes, but it’s multiple days.
All the stuff on the mountain presumably happens on the same day.
I’m not sure how long in the future the flash-forward is supposed to be! Nianxiang looks like she’s 6-ish probably? Chengling was also like what, 15-16 during mainline canon? For him to have a kid who’s like six, at least a decade has passed. Could be two decades! Who knows. Not enough information. Make up whatever you want, I guess!
Recap
ZZS, Chengling, Wu Xi, and Beiyuan are all sitting in a very pretty room.
Chengling asks ZZS why he didn’t kill Prince Jin. ZZS says that his relationship with Prince Jin is too complicated and he cannot honorably kill Prince Jin; it would revolt among the populace. Keeping Prince Jin bedbound is a safer answer.
Beiyuan agrees and affirms that Prince Jin and others of his ilk fighting amongst themselves is the way to keep the common people (relatively) free from strife (for now). Chengling refuses to understand; he only cares about saving ZZS.
ZZS says that his life doesn’t matter at all compared to righteousness and justice, and that he shouldn’t have brought up Prince Jin and his army at all. War is bad, ZZS doesn’t want to cause one, etc.
ZZS then says that Prince Jin will be attempting to find the Yin Yang Book, and he must stop Prince Jin from succeeding or else everything will be in vain. He doesn’t want to die with that regret, and thus he must go off. He apologises for not having stayed with Chengling long enough, and tells Chengling to remember something QHZ once told him: “A great [chevalier | 侠] is the one contributing to the country and the people.” (This kinda sounds like nationalism propaganda but okay.)
Chengling doesn’t have anything to say to this. ZZS gives him a hug and Chengling cries on his shoulder as ZZS says he hopes ZZS’s useless body can do useful things. ZZS then asks Wu Xi and Beiyuan to take care of his family, Chengling and WKX. They agree and understand.
Beiyuan says Prince Jin doesn’t want the Yin Yang Book, then explains that Prince Jin and Beiyuan are both “descendents of Shatuo” (unclear if this is a country, ethnic group, or both) whose ancestors did a great service to the nation and were accepted into the governing class. Beiyuan also says that this ancestral branch of the clan was “a subordinate of Tuoji imperial kinsmen” and they had once established a treasure vault with the secret for a long-lasting country inside.
Beiyuan goes on to describe how the glazed armor is likely the lock to that vault. Beiyuan also says that he’d thought these stories of the vault to be make-believe. But then he recalled how ZZS’s father was secretly killed by the former prince (presumably Prince Jin’s father), as well as that the former prince once told ‘them’ (Beiyuan and Prince Jin?) that he’d soon find the secret to a long-lasting country (but didn’t succeed in that goal). These happened at about the same time.
ZZS ties this together with how QHZ collected the glazed armor in his “younger years” and comes to the conclusion that QHZ’s friend in the story Long Que told in Episode 19 must have been ZZS’s own father. (Said story, for reference: QHZ and ‘his friends’ travelled around and found the glazed armor lock and its key. It wasn’t an easy process. After QHZ acquired all of the elements, he found nothing inside the palace, so he gave it to Rong Xuan’s group and they built the World’s Armory.)
A series of quick flashbacks to Long Que talking about the vault’s history, Han Ying telling ZZS about Prince Jin’s image of the Glazed Armor, and Han Ying telling ZZS about how ZZS’s dad was killed.
ZZS considers that fate has arranged everything.
Then the scene cuts to outside, where everyone bids ZZS farewell. Beiyuan calls the secret to a long-lasting country a groundless rumour. ZZS says it doesn’t matter; he still needs to go, just in case. He thinks it’s a worthy use of his life. (Which he says only has “a few days left”.)
Beiyuan tells ZZS that he’ll be traveling day and night, and can call upon the Ping’an shops if he needs anything on his way. As well, Beiyuan reassures ZZS that he won’t need to worry about anything here; ZZS agrees, saying he trusts Beiyuan.
Chengling kneels. ZZS tells him to repeat the lines he’s been taught: ZZS’s been seriously injured. Wu Xi and Beiyuan have taken him overseas to heal. WKX and Chengling should rebuild Siji Manor and wait for ZZS’s return.
ZZS scolds him for looking too worried, because WKX will pick up on that and figure out the lie. Chengling promises he’ll practice. Then ZZS rides off as all three of them watch, with various sad looks on their faces.
In the snowy mountains, a small army marches onwards. It consists of both Prince Jin’s men (led by DPJ) and Scorpions. Xie-wang has brought Zhao Jing along, even.
We get some cool dramatic shots of the exterior of the vault, which is covered in ice. Xie-wang and DPJ have arrived, and dramatically discuss the legend of the secret to a long-lasting country. Xie-wang tells DPJ that DPJ can open the vault, and hands him the Glazed Armor; DPJ is very excited about this.
DPJ approaches the ice, then calls his people to break the ice.
Xie-wang looks at Zhao Jing and asks if he’s happy. Zhao Jing cannot respond.
The ice shatters off after a few strong blows, revealing a door. DPJ pieces together the Glazed Armor and holds it up in delight. He places it in the lock and turns it until it clicks into place. Then he inserts what he’s been led to believe is the key. Nothing happens. DPJ waits for a long few moments before realising something’s wrong.
DPJ crieds out that the key’s a fake. Xie-wang runs over and shoves DPJ aside, saying that this is impossible. Xie-wang rattles the key in the lock desperately, then pounds on the door in a panic, and finally pulls the key out in disbelief.
ZZS chooses this moment to make his entrance, exploding out from behind a little ice monolith. He kills DPJ in a single blow. Xie-wang shouts ZZS’s name in anger, and the Scorpions and Tianchuang members surround ZZS, who ignores them in favor of paying attention to how Xie-wang’s complaining that WKX’s failed to keep up his side of the bargain and gave him a fake key.
ZZS asks why Xie-wang’s surprised; WKX made fake glazed armors, so why not a fake key too? Xie-wang doesn’t respond, instead asking where WKX is. ZZS counters by asking where Prince Jin is. Xie-wang threatens ZZS, but ZZS ignores him, instead sighing regretfully about Prince Jin not being here.
The avalanche begins.
The soldiers/Tianchuang members and Scorpions break and run. Xie-wang scrambles to reach Zhao Jing. ZZS stands in front of the door, staring up at the oncoming snow and making no effort to move.
As ZZS closes his eyes to embrace the snow, WKX arrives and plucks the Plot Hairpin out of ZZS’s hair. He passes a hand over it, revealing the real key, and throws it into the lock. ZZS stares at WKX like “WTF did you come from” as the door opens.
In the last moment before the snow arrives, WKX shouts for ZZS to run inside the vault.
Xie-wang and Zhao Jing appear to get buried. The men continue attempting to run, but it seems unlikely they’ll succeed.
Inside the vault, ZZS and WKX brush snow off their robes. ZZS asks WKX how he got here and how his injury is. WKX curses at ZZS and asks if ZZS cares about him, since he’s abandoned their promise to live and die together like this. ZZS asks how WKX came here, and WKX grumbles about how he had to trail after the army to find ZZS, since he didn’t know where the armory was.
WKX looks around the pretty ice cave. ZZS finally realises that WKX took the hair pin from him, and WKX explains how and why he’d given the key to ZZS. WKX explains that his parents disguised the hair pin, and it’s been safe from prying eyes (of Ghost Valley, of Xie-wang, of Prince Jin) this whole time. WKX was confident that ZZS would bring the hairpin here if he was planning on dying, because they’re gay like that.
WKX then says that YBY’s the reason he’s here at all, and we get a nice flashback to YBY bursting into Beiyuan’s manor. YBY curses all of them for fools, tosses aside the incense burner with Drunk-like-a-Dream in it, and wakes WKX up while Beiyuan, Wu Xi, and Chengling watch. Wu Xi protests that YBY shouldn’t do this, and YBY just tells him to shut up. “No one else could die before me,” YBY says, in response to the idea that WKX and ZZS promised to live and die together, and transfers a lot of qi into WKX.
In the present, WKX asks if ZZS considered how WKX would feel after he learned the truth. (ZZS should’ve, considering how he felt about WKX’s fake death. Unfortunately, they’re both idiots.) WKX walks away without giving ZZS a chance to respond.
They still walk towards the vault proper in sync, though. They open the doors and enter, looking around at the icicle-coated walls. WKX lights some lamps, despite ZZS’s worries that oxygen will be limited; WKX believes that if Rong Xuan and his crew practiced martial arts, there should be good air flow in here. (Somehow this doesn’t consider that the avalanche might’ve covered that channel.)
WKX then taunts ZZS about no longer being so eager to die. ZZS replies that a good life is better than death, and his eagerness to die was a thought from before he met WKX. They smile at each other, and then ZZS changes the subject to the Combined Six Cultivation Method. WKX says, essentially, that as long as there’s life there’s hope, and they begin to look around the vault.
Scrolls and texts are scattered across the floor. WKX literally knocks his toes into the Yin Yang Book everyone’s been so excited about. He hands it to ZZS, saying it might be useful after they get out. ZZS says they can’t get out until the snow melts in summer, to which WKX says he’d figured out ZZS’s plan on the way, implying that he might’ve had some plan of his own for how to get them out sooner.
They venture deeper in, with WKX saying he wants to figure out the secret of the long-lasting country and joking about demon-summoning artifacts.
Now the vault is covered in dust and cobwebs instead of ice. ZZS notices the secret techniques of a few sects, and then realises that there are also a bunch of books about farming and planting. WKX finds this strange. They continue on.
They reach the center of the vault, where a number of chests and bags are stored. As well, in the center of a large room, there stands a dais with the text of the Combined Six Cultivation Method in a box. WKX holds it up in delight. ZZS, meanwhile, is looking at how many grains there are here and wondering why there’s all this farming stuff and no coins at all.
WKX looks around too now, and in the background we can see shovels and hoes and the like. ZZS says the seals on the grains are all written in Tuojie script, meaning that they were already here when Rong Xuan built the armory. He then pokes at the grain, which is essentially dust, and sighs about how they won’t be able to live on it. WKX frowns and comments that the grain must’ve been here for a long time to become dust.
ZZS straightens up and says he understands everything now: the grains are the secret to a long-lasting country. After a moment, WKX catches on and says that, yes, farming and settlements are the best way to help nomadic people have a long-lasting country. (Which hinges upon a very specific idea of what “civilization” means, considering how successful nomadic people have been historically and the specific kinds of land required to make farming and other settlements sustainable, but is an unsurprising element of racism to see here.)
WKX is right that it’s funny that Prince Jin has spent so much effort trying to find farming tools, though.
ZZS realises that his father died because the former Prince Jin was furious that this storehouse was the secret. (There’s enough commentary about how ZZS’s father should’ve known better that I sort of wonder if QHZ was involved in how ZZS’s father died. But that’s beside the point.) The discussion WKX and ZZS have is mostly meant to establish that it makes sense that a warehouse was given to Rong Xuan to make an armory out of, I think.
ZZS’s still thinking about how they’re stuck here. He asks WKX how long someone could survive on snow and ice alone. WKX then explains that YBY’s been eating snow and ice for over a hundred years, and that’s why YBY’s been enjoying food so much (and aging) since he showed up in town.
WKX says that succeeding at the Combined Six Cultivation has many benefits (recreating meridians, immortality, etc.) but also downsides (needing to live in a cold place and only eat ice and snow to maintain life).
ZZS takes the text of the Combined Six Cultivation Method from WKX and examines it as WKX explains YBY wants the pleasure of food more than to keep living forever. Then WKX says that ZZS will need to live in cold places and only eat ice and snow, after this.
ZZS laughs and says he’ll need to think it through.
Immediate cut to ZZS and WKX sitting on the dais with the Combined Six Cultivation Method’s text spread between them.
WKX tells ZZS that it’s going to hurt to use this method to reshape his meridians. This pain is why the technique requires two people; this way, they can balance each other and provide support when one might collapse.
ZZS says he has the advantage of WKX then, since he’s losing his senses and can’t feel pain. WKX says he knew that, and that he’s been warned (by Wu Xi and YBY) that ZZS might lose his sight and hearing completely during this process. So long as ZZS focuses on the internal mechanics, he’ll be able to make it through and regain full use of his senses.
They begin the technique, which involves a lot of pretty circling of their hands, and then slap their hands together as golden characters spin around them.
WKX opens his eyes to look at ZZS. He calls ZZS’s name; ZZS doesn’t respond. WKX says that if he “confess[es] now, [ZZS] can’t say [WKX] lied” about what the result of this technique would be. He wonders why ZZS believes whatever WKX says. Then WKX’s hair turns white, the result of him giving all his qi to ZZS.
A flashback to YBY and WKX at Beiyuan’s manor. YBY tells WKX that ZZS is dying, but YBY has a method that can save ZZS at the cost of WKX’s life. WKX says that of course he’s willing to sacrifice himself for ZZS. YBY says he’s promised to save ZZS, and he hasn’t failed a promise yet, so he’ll transfer his Combined Six Cultivation Power to WKX.
In the present, WKX says he’s sorry. They tried to cheat each other, but WKX “wins”(?) as the one who doesn’t need to live on alone in this scenario.
There’s a sequence of wenzhou relationship flashbacks.
WKX’s eyes close. His voiceover tells us that one person performing the Combined Six Cultivation Method must act as a furnace refining and purifying qi before it goes into the other person. This allows that second person to survive the powerful qi of the technique. Unfortunately, it also destroys the meridians of the person acting as a furnace.
WKX starts collapsing. He has more thoughts about how he’s survived so much, and how he thinks it’s all because he had to make it until this day and save ZZS.
The technique comes to an end. ZZS opens his eyes and sees white-haired WKX. WKX’s hands slip from ZZS’s, and ZZS catches them as the music swells. Close-ups on sad faces. WKX’s hands slip further as the song ends.
Cut to Siji Manor and Chengling, all grown up! He’s telling this story to disciples. He says that “Zhao Jing and Xie-wang were forever buried in the snowy mountain” and the Scorpion sect dissolved after heavy losses. The disciples, of course, want to know about WKX and ZZS. Chengling tells them about the furnace aspect, but is interrupted by a child calling for her dad before he can confirm or deny any deaths.
Chengling picks up Nianxiang. Gao Xiaolian comes up behind Nianxiang and asks what they were talking about; one of the disciples explains that Chengling (their shifu) was telling them about the Combined Six Cultivation Power. Xiaolian tells Chengling to stop talking nonsense; it distracts the kids.
They all head off to eat dinner, and the episode ends.
General Commentary
I hated this episode when I first saw it.
(I have since come around to finding it really interesting if still somewhat personally exasperating.)
Not because of Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu getting a bad end or anything like that, to be clear (though that’s why a lot of people were upset about it). I was frustrated because it didn’t feel like there was enough build-up to anything. Like they hadn’t earned Ye Baiyi ex machina about the Combined Six Cultivation Method and there being a way to save Zhou Zishu after all. About the Glazed Armor being real, and the hairpin being the key, and the World’s Armory mattering in the end.
To give this context, I’d read Tian Ya Ke relatively early in the show, when I’d run out of episodes but wanted more Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing. I knew the ending of Tian Ya Ke and really liked it. (I think this is why ep35’s deaths annoyed me but were expected and inevitable for me.) So most of the things that I was immediately absolutely upset about are about how Shan He Ling and Tian Ya Ke care about such different story elements thematically.
And some of that’s about the format. Some of that’s about censorship and how the scriptwriters had to dodge around it. Some of it’s that Tian Ya Ke is highly focused on the Wenzhou relationship, while Shan He Ling chooses to spread attention out so that Xie-wang becomes a deuteragonist in his own right and Prince Jin/Duan Pengju/Tianchuang are an ever-present force instead of just “that place Zhou Zishu left” right at the beginning.
For this story, which is much more caught up in succession and heritage and the symbols thereof, it does make sense that we end up at the World’s Armory. It makes sense that the futility of the glazed armor in Tian Ya Ke is shifted to the futility of expecting the vault to hold anything useful for reignal purposes (though, yes, I wish that element had been introduced earlier or with more weight of foreshadowing) while still being the key to personal fulfillment.
There’s so much information packed into this episode, y’know? A lot of it is hinted at earlier in the show—there’s a reason the flashback elements work—but until you know what to look for it’s hard to see. So on a first watch, unless you’ve been paying careful attention all along (which I know I wasn’t, because I was obsessively binging it), it all comes out of nowhere.
This time, having gone through the whole show much more slowly (it’s been like eight months! that’s a long time!), I can see a lot more of the lead-up.
It does help with appreciating what’s going on, I think. So does knowing what the epilogue/ep37 is and implies.
I know a bunch of people find the ending (sans epilogue/ep37) unsatisfying. I found it abrupt, sure, but… I never found it particularly unsatisfying? Maybe that’s because the stuff I was annoyed by came earlier than the dual cultivation ending. Maybe it’s because I looked at that and went “so they dual cultivated, very gay, very good” and figured that so long as they don’t show A Body it’s quite possible to assume that Wen Kexing is only unconscious and/or Zhou Zishu saves him somehow anyway.
So at this point the thing I tend to think about with this episode and fix-its, instead, is Xie-wang. xD But he’s my favorite terrible murder boy, so that’s not surprising.
This is also an episode that I probably came around on partially because I had to study it so much to write When the Orchids Bloom, which hinges on me changing up what happens in the vault. Studying an episode from a structural point of view and pulling out all the key scenes and pieces of information that you need in order to write a fic built from it makes it a lot harder to just be mad about it.
okay other things:
Duan Pengju dies such a quick death. It’s so much more anti-climactic than he’d think he deserves, and it feels perfect.
If Zhou Zishu ever thought that Chengling would be able to lie to Wen Kexing for longer than maybe a day, his impending death fucked his mind up more than I think.
Xie-wang’s fury at Wen Kexing having tricked him with the fake key is so funny to me. He should’ve been able to see that coming, but he was blinded by his hubris and desire for power. Such is the story of so many characters in this show.
I love Ye Baiyi storming in and calling everyone idiots.
The dual cultivation at the end is just so pretty? I love all the characters spinning around them. I love them moving in sync. I’m pretty sure at some point someone told me that you could see Zhou Zishu mouthing “ai ni” back at Wen Kexing but I can’t remember for sure if that’s actually a thing or just something that people obsessed over.
The bird that flies by when we first see The Mountain? I’m pretty sure it’s one of those mechanical messenger birds. I can’t get anything resembling a clear screenshot of it, but it seems pretty intentionally metallic/plated.
Them both lying to each other about impending death does, at least, put them on equal ground even if they really do need to get better at communicating.
Discussion Prompts/Questions
Please don’t feel limited to these. They’re starting points for anyone who wants them, not the only things to talk about!
1. Have your feelings about this episode changed between the first time you watched it and now? If so, how?
2. What do you think about the final scene with adult Chengling? Was it confusing? Is it a happily-ever-after?
3. The end! What’s it like to think about this as the close of everyone’s stories? Is it satisfying? Is there anyone who you wish we’d seen more of?
4. Literally anything you wanna say about having gotten through this rewatch! Was it fun? Useful? Are there other things you wanna do now that it’s done?
no subject
I think that's also a Return of the Condor Heroes reference.
Like I like that the legendary treasure turns out to be farm tools, but yeah.
1) Not really, tbh
2) It feels bittersweet imho - like Chengling has rebuilt Siji and has friends/family (Gao Xiaolian!) and disciples, but WKX and ZZS aren't there the way I suspect he imagined they would be.
3) It doesn't feel entirely complete (maybe partially because of where it cuts off as they go inside - I'm not sure if that was intentional or not), but it does work overall.
4) I really enjoyed this rewatch and discussing the episodes! A book reread/discussion would be neat, but I suspect would be a bit complicated now. Chichi is working on a translation, but it's still in progress.
no subject
Like I like that the legendary treasure turns out to be farm tools, but yeah.
Agreed. If it weren't so much about "nomadic tribes settling down" and more about "ensure that this knowledge never gets lost", I wouldn't find it quite so :/
2) It feels bittersweet imho - like Chengling has rebuilt Siji and has friends/family (Gao Xiaolian!) and disciples, but WKX and ZZS aren't there the way I suspect he imagined they would be.
Bittersweet is a good word for it, yeah. He has so many people! But not all the ones he would've wanted.
3) It doesn't feel entirely complete (maybe partially because of where it cuts off as they go inside - I'm not sure if that was intentional or not), but it does work overall.
Mm, I mean, to me the incompleteness is that we don't get full closure on WKX and ZZS (or on YBY!), but I can see the specific point it cuts also adding to that effect. :) Considering that they released ep37, I have to feel that leaving viewers a little off-balance so they'd think to see out the tag was intentional...
4) I really enjoyed this rewatch and discussing the episodes! A book reread/discussion would be neat, but I suspect would be a bit complicated now. Chichi is working on a translation, but it's still in progress.
Oh, did the full translation that used to exist get pulled? That's a shame!
I agree, it'd be cool to do a book discussion! I don't have the spoons for that right now, but if someone else wanted to take the lead there I think it'd be fantastic. :)
no subject
I'd assumed they were because of the JJWXC stuff, but now that I checked it looks like the ones I read are still there.