The Untamed Episodes 41 – 50 Synopsis
Wei Wuxian, with Lan Wangji, close in on the mastermind behind all the deeds and schemes which had caused Wei Wuxian to be blamed for all the deaths on Qiongqi Path and Buyetian 16 years ago. Led by another hidden identity through a well-planned scheme which began with the sword-turned-blade-spirit found in the Mo Manor and Wei Wuxian’s resurrection, Wei Wuxian discover through Nie Mingjue’s memories the true face of Jin Guangyao and all he’s done to fulfill his ambition to rise to Lanling Jin Clan Leader and the highest position of Chief Cultivator.
With Wei Wuxian the only one to see these memories and Jin Guangyao’s skilfulness in adapting and manipulating situations, proving anything he saw through his Gong Qing technique is a case of his words against the view of others. However, in Wei Wuxian’s mind-entering investigation, he does discover a zither arrangement which—along with two witnesses personally knowledgeable about Jin Guangyao’s deeds—becomes the start of Jin Guangyao’s end, and Wei Wuxian’s vindication.
Episode 41
Entering the mind of Nie Mingjue sees Wei Wuxian learn Jin Guangyao’s manipulative nature in his schemes to rise to the top and maintain his position as clan leader of Lanling Jin Clan.
The early days saw Jin Guangyao in the Qinghe Nie Clan as a heavily bullied weakling working hard and diligently to serve the daily needs of his clan, like delivering water to thirsty disciples whilst they gossiped about his family background and humiliating rejection from his father, Jin Guangshan. ‘One can’t blame Jin Guangshan for kicking Jin Guangyao down the steps of Jinling Tai and not acknowledging Jin Guangyao when his concubine mother got with so many men,’ they gossiped.
Nie Mingjue seemed to be the first one to acknowledge Jin Guangyao for his abilities and not concern himself about Jin Guangyao’s family background. In recognition of Jin Guangyao’s diligence and hard work serving the clan at the time, Nie Mingjue promoted Jin Guangyao to Deputy General in front of the gossiping Nie cultivators.
“A real man stands up straight and does what’s right. The more nonsense people talk behind your back the more you must do to stop them from having anything to say about you,” Nie Mingjue had told Jin Guangyao this during that time. What Nie Mingjue seemed to have wanted Jin Guangyao to take from his words is to keep working hard to better oneself and one day it will silence all the gossip around him as they will have no choice but offer respect.
Instead of remaining upright, honest and true with the intention of rendering all those who speak badly of him speechless as a way to garner respect, Jin Guangyao seems to misinterpret this—or maybe purposefully ignores the first part of Nie Mingjue’s words—to mean killing them and carrying on to deceive and scheme to climb up to a position of power to get respect over the years.
The Qinghe Nie Clan Commander Jin Guangyao denied killing during Wen Chao’s invasion of Bujingshi (Episode 10) is revealed to be a deliberate act he made to rid him. A menacing look had crossed Jin Guangyao’s face when he thrusted a Wen Clan sword into the Commander. This was not revealed till now. What was also not revealed till now is the whole reason why Jin Guangyao got rid of the Commander. In Episode 10, it was suggested to be because of his disrespecting Jin Guangyao, but this isn’t the only reason. The other reason (and possibly the main reason) is that the Commander had seen Jin Guangyao speak to someone in the shadows and had confronted him about what intentions he was hiding.
The person in the shadows isn’t revealed; and whether Jin Guangyao was the person who let Xue Yang out isn’t confirmed. However, the suggestion is this person in the shadows is Xue Yang. Jin Guangyao was also seen telling Nie Huaisang he was going to check on Xue Yang when Nie Mingjue was busy fighting the Qishan Wen Clan. Very likely, he was off to release Xue Yang.
At the Battle of Buyetian (Episode 22), Jin Guangyao had appeared as Wen Ruohan’s trusted aid. His explanation for being found next to Wen Ruohan was because he was working as an informant to help the four great clans take down Wen Ruohan and his Qishan Wen Clan in the She Ri Zhi Campaign. Additional scenes showed Jin Guangyao mocking Nie Mingjue’s sorry state, Jin Guangyao killing Nie Clan cultivators who spoke back to him, him taunting and poking at Nie Mingjue’s scars over the way his late father died, and being disrespectful towards Nie Mingjue’s blade. Jin Guangyao had claimed his behaviour as needing to maintain a believable act in front of Wen Ruohan, but from the looks of things Jin Guangyao was taking advantage of the situation to act and say what he can’t say and do in normal circumstances.
With Nie Mingjue questioning Jin Guangyao’s character and motives and his association with Xue Yang, Nie Mingjue becomes Jin Guangyao’s next target with a gradual attack involving zither music. To help Nie Mingjue calm his mind, Jin Guangyao is initially guided and accompanied by Lan Xichen in playing zither scores, one which include the Qin Xin piece. Upon successfully learning the piece, Jin Guangyao is left to play the piece every day on his own.
Unknown to Nie Mingjue, this piece is different to the one Lan Xichen taught. It’s changed ever so slightly to cause him to go mad. This happens after a disagreement over the life imprisonment sentence that Jin Guangyao handed down to Xue Yang for killing 50 or so Chang Clan members. Right after Nie Mingjue kicks Jin Guangyao down the steps of Jinling Tai in a fit of anger for Jin Guangyao’s scheming and valuing his own life over the lives of others to achieve his own ambitions, the effects of the altered zither score sees Nie Mingjue try attack hallucinations of Jin Guangyao like he’s lost his mind. Nie Mingjue’s eyes start to bleed and his veins burst as small explosions all over his body is seen.
Jin Guangyao is next seen trying to turn Nie Mingjue into a ghost puppet using Xue Yang’s Yin Tiger Seal, revealing and confirming Jin Guangyao as the person behind Xue Yang all this time. But with only half a Yin Tiger Seal and Nie Mingjue’s apparently strong desire to resist, Xue Yang fails to control the former Qinghe Nie Clan Leader. Asked what Jin Guangyao wanted to do with Nie Mingjue, Jin Guangyao orders Xue Yang to kill him—which sees Xue Yang decapitate him.
Wei Wuxian is startled out of Nie Mingjue’s memories after this as his paper counterpart detaches from Nie Mingjue’s head. In doing so, he seems to have caught Jin Guangyao’s attention when the caps over Nie Mingjue’s eyes fall off, making noise. Wei Wuxian tries to get out of there as quickly as he can, but the strikes from Jin Guangyao’s sword has him struggle.
Coming across Suibian on a shelf (Suibian is the name of Wei Wuxian sword), Wei Wuxian jumps and stamps on the handle, desperately willing his sword to move according to his command. It takes some effort, but Wei Wuxian finally gets it to unsheathe and attacking Jin Guangyao well enough to allow Wei Wuxian to exit the room through the mirror.
Returning to his room a little unsteady in his steps, Wei Wuxian’s paper counterpart is met by Lan Wangji at door who reunifies Wei Wuxian’s consciousness with Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji head straight to Fengfei Hall following Wei Wuxian’s report of his discoveries. From the moment they stepped foot outside their room all the way to Fengfei Hall, Lanling Jin Clan guards/cultivators/disciples as well as Jin Ling blocked their way.
Unable to enter the hall to show Lan Wangji as well as Lan Xichen (who had joined them mid-journey to Fengfei Hall) the presence of Nie Mingjue’s head in the secret room as well as Qin Su, Wei Wuxian settles for calling out to Jin Guangyao to open the door. Jin Guangyao appears shortly, but not from the room, but from behind them, acting as if he wasn’t already aware why Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen was visiting so late.
Wei Wuxian brings up the secret room and Jin Guangyao’s treasures. Jin Guangyao doesn’t deny their existence, but he’s reluctant to let them in to have a look. However, Jin Guangyao seems cornered into letting them in when Lan Xichen insists. As someone Jin Guangyao respects and looks up to, Jin Guangyao seems to struggle to deny Lan Xichen (who Jin Guangyao regards as his Er Ge/Second Older Brother).
A long forgotten face, Su Minshan, enters. The force Outer Branch disciple of Gusu Lan Clan, currently the leader of his own clan in Moling, comes to Jin Guangyao’s aid, criticising Lan Xichen as going against one of Gusu Lan Clan’s most valued house rules: showing proper conduct. With Su Minshan being a former Gusu Lan Clan member, him apparently coming to Jin Guangyao’s aid, and Wei Wuxian’s criticism of Su Minshan’s daring criticism of the Gusu Lan Clan when Su Minshan was once an avid follower of Lan Wangji who defected, this Su Minshan is meant to come off as suspiciously familiar.
Episode 42
Jin Guangyao’s quick. In the time it took Wei Wuxian to return to his room to having Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen visit Fengfei Hall demanding to see the treasure room, Jin Guangyao’s shifted Nie Mingjue’s head and replaced it with an extremely sharp dagger from the Qishan Wen Clan. As Jin Guangyao explains when Wei Wuxian unveils the item, it’s a rare weapon which once belonged to Wen Ruohan but was later given to Wen Qing. The dagger is strong with resentment energy from having killed countless lives, which Jin Guangyao explains is the reason it is in the box behind a curtain (as opposed to being out in the open), sealed away by talismans.
However, Jin Guangyao didn’t hide Qin Su away, leaving her there with a scheme to rid her by having her take this dagger and plunge it into her abdomen, killing herself. Her gone, Jin Guangyao moves to do damage control and discredit the suspicion placed on him about Nie Mingjue’s head being in the treasure room.
After putting on a show of being distraught over Qin Su killing herself, Jin Guangyao pretends to not know why Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian/Mo Xuanyu had come wanting a look around the treasure room. He feigns heartbreak as he holds their actions responsible for his suffering loss.
With Jiang Cheng (and some of his disciples) arriving onto the scene asking about the situation as well, it has Lan Xichen summarise Lan Wangji’s investigations into Nie Mingjue’s blade and the discovery of Nie Mingjue’s headless body in Yi City.
Lan Xichen doesn’t get to mentioning what led them to the treasure room. Jin Guangyao inserts this on his own, knowing it’s because they suspected him of hiding the head, and it has Jin Guangyao feign hurt they could suspect him over an act such before expressing shock as he feigned not knowing Nie Mingjue was even dead (let alone be hiding a head).
Jin Guangyao lets the accusation go quickly enough, as his goal is to lead focus to Mo Xuanyu, which would ultimately lead to what appears to be his main goal of either ridding Wei Wuxian or exposing him as Yiling Patriarch. To do this, Jin Guangyao questions Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji how they knew the treasure room existed as it would allow him to move to accuse Mo Xuanyu of coming up with such easily exposed lies, because with the lack of head discovered, it was going to be hard for them to prove their accusations. And this is exactly how it happens as Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen are left unable to answer.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian is heard struggling to think of how he could reveal that he snuck into Jin Guangyao’s bed chambers, saw the head and a strange letter destroyed. In order to reveal all this, he had to reveal he was Wei Wuxian, which may still not be enough proof as it relies on others believing his word.
Failing to prove the accusations, it gives Jin Guangyao a reason to draw his sword against Wei Wuxian in order to make Wei Wuxian instinctively reach for his sword and expose the Yiling Patriarch’s return to the living. Wei Wuxian unsheathing Suibian will prove without a doubt Wei Wuxian is Wei Wuxian, because apparently shortly after he fell down the cliff at Buyetian 16 years ago, Suibian had sealed itself, rejecting anyone but its owner to unsheathe it.
Jin Guangyao initially fails to make Wei Wuxian take hold of his sword which sat on a shelf behind him. Lan Wangji had immediately rushed to protect Wei Wuxian with a block when Jin Guangyao moves to strike. However, Jin Guangyao achieves his goal when Su Minshan shortly follows with a strike which, as hoped, had Wei Wuxian spin around to take his sword and unsheathed it to stop Su Minshan from advancing further.
The revelation has Jin Ling try to deny that this Mo Xuanyu he appears to have befriended is the Wei Wuxian he hates and blames for his parents’ death. He brings up Jiang Cheng’s Zidian whip and how it didn’t react when it was used on Wei Wuxian on Dafan Mountain. The fact that Zidian didn’t react mean he isn’t Wei Wuxian.
Jin Guangyao explains it’s because of the Sacrificing Curse which uses another’s full spiritual consciousness as the price to heal an extremely injured person. Even if the person under this curse was whipped a hundred times by Jiang Cheng’s Zidian whip, it won’t be able to verify the person’s identity. To add another point to the fact the man behind the mask is Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao brings up how Wen Ning came on command on Dafan Mountain.
Jin Guangyao then moves to strike, setting off an attack which sees Jin Ling and Su Minshan follow with a strike. Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang and a couple of Jiang disciples remain in their places, though. Still, with the situation having escalated to an indoor attack, Wei Wuxian casts an incantation to distract them all to allow him and Lan Wangji to make their escape. They get as far as the grand steps to Jinling Tai before they’re surrounded by a large group of Lanling Jin Clan members with their swords drawn and pointed at them.
Not wanting to implicate Lan Wangji and ruin his upright and righteous reputation, Wei Wuxian pushes Lan Wangji away before moving to take the blame on his own. Jin Guangyao had caught up not long after the two were surrounded and looked to try free Lan Wangji from blame, too.
After having Wei Wuxian remove his mask, Jin Guangyao accuses Wei Wuxian of having played them all including Lan Wangji and Jin Ling.
Wei Wuxian moves to admit to Jin Guangyao’s charge, only to be interrupted by Lan Wangji who rejects having been played. Lan Wangji was not going to let Wei Wuxian walk the path all alone a second time. This time he was going to stand alongside Wei Wuxian even if it meant going up against them all and ruining his reputation: “‘The feeling of walking down the single-plank bridge till the end’ really isn’t so bad,” Lan Wangji tells Wei Wuxian. It was something Lan Wangji had heard Wei Wuxian say 16 years ago as he watched Wei Wuxian return to Fumo Cave with Ah Yuan, insisting on continuing down his chosen path and doing what he believed was right (Episode 29).
Lan Wangji offers a rare smile after quoting Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian smiles back, probably surprised Lan Wangji had heard him back then and was now insisting on joining him in going up against everyone in order to uncover the truth and get justice for the unjustly killed. Making sure Lan Wangji has no second thoughts, Wei Wuxian gives Lan Wangji one last chance to back out and save his reputation. Lan Wangji shows no intention of backing out: “You talk to much,” was Lan Wangji’s only response before an instruction to kill came from Wei Wuxian.
Together, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji manage to create an open path for them to escape. However, as they looked to walk out of there, Jin Ling stops them, his sword pointed at Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian tells Jin Ling he’ll explain the matter regarding him and Jin Ling’s parents slowly later and makes a move to leave to be met with a sword through his abdomen, in the same spot as Jiang Cheng had stabbed him during that fight they had to put on a show for the world to say Wei Wuxian had defected from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan (Episode 28).
Wei Wuxian is supported out of there by Lan Wangji with no further pursuit from the looks of things, and manages to return to Yunshen Buzhichu where Wei Wuxian recovers after blacking out mid-journey. Lan Wangji had injected some spiritual energy into Wei Wuxian on the roadside to bring up some clotted blood and keep Wei Wuxian conscious for a short time, but it appears Wei Wuxian lost consciousness after this as Wei Wuxian is next seen regaining consciousness in Jingshi at Yunshen Buzhichu, with Lan Wangji a short distance away playing his zither.
It doesn’t occur to Wei Wuxian that he is at Yunshen Buzhichu when he wakes, but when he realises this is where Lan Wangji had brought him back to, Wei Wuxian worried that Lan Xichen was going to find out he was staying there and (presumably) be against it. But as it turns out, Lan Xichen was the one who suggested Wei Wuxian be brought back to Yunshen Buzhichu to heal. Lan Xichen also assured Wei Wuxian he won’t let anyone know of Wei Wuxian’s whereabouts before anything is cleared up. No one will come by demanding to seek Wei Wuxian out as long as Lan Xichen is around.
Although Lan Xichen is helping Wei Wuxian, it isn’t to mean Lan Xichen believes him. Without solid evidence, it’s a case of Lan Xichen believing in Jin Guangyao wholeheartedly versus Lan Wangji believing Wei Wuxian wholeheartedly. Lan Wangji’s assurance that what he heard from Wei Wuxian is the truth when asked about the matter, and that what they all saw at the Fengfei Hall is an act is met with Lan Xichen arguing that neither of them actually saw Nie Mingjue’s head in the treasure room with their own eyes. Like Lan Wangji, who likes to think he understands Wei Wuxian and therefore trusts what he says is the truth, Lan Xichen likes to believe he understands Jin Guangyao and trusts him.
Troubled by the sight of the two brothers argue over the matter, Wei Wuxian interjects to see if Lan Xichen would be more convinced if he spoke more of what he saw, but Lan Xichen more or less rejects it as it still based on what he saw and not what they personally saw.
Seeing that to be the case, Wei Wuxian decides to give a rest to proving he saw Nie Mingjue’s head in the treasure room. Instead, he moves to talk about Qing Xin, the zither arrangement Lan Xichen personally handed to Jin Guangyao to learn and personally taught. In Wei Wuxian’s use of Gong Qing, Jin Guangyao had told Nie Mingjue the piece he played is not the same as the one Lan Xichen taught him. The changes he made had been behind Nie Mingjue’s loss of control during cultivation. Wei Wuxian’s hope seems to be that upon playing it, Lan Xichen as well as Lan Wangji might pick up something. Wei Wuxian seems to know at which point the arrangement is different but seems unable to figure out exactly what is different as, to him, it sounds the same.
Sure enough, after Wei Wuxian finishes the piece on his flute, Lan Xichen picks it up, noting a section of the arrangement was played incorrectly. Wei Wuxian assures Lan Xichen how he played it is exactly how Jin Guangyao had played it.
Wei Wuxian playing the score a second time, Lan Xichen confirms that the section didn’t sound different, but is definitely not part of the Qin Xin piece. It gives Lan Xichen the idea to take the discussion to the Forbidden Library in the Library Pavillion to look for the collection of strange songs. Picking out a collection called Luan Po Chao (Collection of Chaos), Lan Xichen has Lan Wangji play a piece to discover the tune is exactly from this collection of songs containing evil melodies. The melodies, if played with spiritual energy, can be used to harm others. People can go frail by day, become irritated, Qi and blood can expand, people can lose their five senses. Those with great spiritual power could take others’ lives within three notes.
Wei Wuxian doesn’t believe Jin Guangyao would go with such a powerful piece, but suspects he might use Qing Xin (and this section of music which appears to come from this Luan Po Chao Collection) played over months to tranquilise Nie Mingjue’s mind. Like a slow poison it sets off Nie Mingjue’s outburst.
Episode 43
At this point, it’s still just speculation how Jin Guangyao learned the piece of music from the Forbidden Library Lan Xichen’s never told Jin Guangyao about, but Wei Wuxian makes a convincing conjecture. As a perfect spy who infiltrated Buyetian and provided Lan Xichen a very detailed defence and strategy map of the place (Episode 22), it’s not beyond his abilities to scope out Yunshen Buzhichu to locate the Forbidden Library to discover this collection of evil melodies.
It’s also not hard for Jin Guangyao to learn what Lan Xichen describes as complicated and difficult piece. A page is missing from the Luan Po Chao collection. Wei Wuxian suspects it’s not because Jin Guangyao tore it out to take away to learn because Jin Guangyao has great memory retention. His ability to draw that map of Buyetian is proof of Jin Guangyao’s ability to recall. Rather, Wei Wuxian believes Jin Guangyao didn’t want to leave evidence behind if one day everything he’s doing comes to light.
With Lan Xichen’s view of Jin Guangyao so completely opposite to how he’s seen him all these years, Lan Xichen struggles to see Jin Guangyao in this kind of light, and asks if Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji could give him a bit more time to come to a conclusion about him and the situation.
Accompanied back to Jingshi by Lan Xichen (while Lan Wangji stayed back to visit Lan Qiren for an unspecified reason), Wei Wuxian takes the opportunity to ask about the many scars he saw across Lan Wangji’s back (Episode 33) and learns the answer to his question about whether Lan Wangji really believed him 16 years ago.
Lan Wangji not only believed Wei Wuxian, but he stood his ground against Jin Guangyao, Su Minshan and a large group of Lanling Jin Clan cultivators 16 years ago in order to stop them from searching Wei Wuxian’s Fumo Cave on the Yiling Burial Mounds. This act of his had his uncle, Lan Qiren, punish him with 300 floggings with three years confined to the back of the mountain in Cold Pool Cave, revealing the answer to Wei Wuxian’s other question about why it took Lan Wangji three years to go look for him after he fell off the cliff at Buyetian.
This retelling of Lan Wangji standing his ground for Wei Wuxian’s Yiling Burial Mounds explains why Lan Wangji had said walking the single-plank bridge didn’t feel so bad earlier. It’s because Lan Wangji had stood up against them all once before, 16 years ago.
Lan Xichen also reveals that while Lan Wangji was confined to the Cold Pool Cave, he had gone in once to advise Lan Wangji and was told that since Lan Wangji regarded Wei Wuxian as his bosom friend, he should believe in Wei Wuxian’s character. So, as it turns out Lan Wangji’s silence was just him choosing not to tell Wei Wuxian that he actually did believe or was willing to believe/show faith in Wei Wuxian back then when everyone was condemning Wei Wuxian.
Lan Xichen goes on to tell a story about his and Lan Wangji’s mother and father; how it was love at first sight for their father, but it wasn’t the case for his mother; as well as how their mother had killed their father’s teacher even. Despite their mother killing their father’s teacher, their father still married their mother against the clan’s opposition. Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji were only permitted to see their mother at Jingshi once a month, and in the case of Lan Wangji, continued to visit Jingshi even after their mother was no longer there (in other words, she died). Lan Wangji’s persistence in visiting his mother despite her no longer being there reveals his stubbornness, which is used to let Wei Wuxian know (we’re guessing) why Lan Wangji was this way with Wei Wuxian when he was practicing demonic cultivation as well as when Lan Wangji continued to look for Wei Wuxian after he died.
From reading a little about this particular scene (we had wondered why this scene felt like it didn’t make full sense which is how we got to reading about this particular scene), this story about Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji’s parents is a sort of rework of a scene in the novel that was originally between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. In this drama, it looks like this reworked scene focusing on the parents is used to talk about the differing views people have, what they see, what they believe based on what they see and how sometimes it’s hard to act with conviction because of what one sees and believes.
It all seem to work towards explaining Lan Xichen’s situation with Jin Guangyao and how (through his own admission) he is having trouble making a firm decision about Jin Guangyao. He seems to suggest how easy it was to advise others (he specifically mentions Lan Wangji, seemingly referring to the times when the Hanguang-zun was conflicted and in pain over watching Wei Wuxian cultivate Gui Dao Shu Fa), but when matters affected Lan Xichen personally, he found it difficult to act decisively.
A visit from Jin Guangyao the next day sees Lan Xichen witness first hand Jin Guangyao’s other face. Firstly, Jin Guangyao comes in wanting to return the jade permitting passage to Yunshen Buzhichu which Lan Wangji had given him. Seemingly because of Lan Xichen’s assurance to Wei Wuxian that no one will be allowed to search Yunshen Buzhichu and seek out the Yiling Patriarch, Jin Guangyao sees it useless in keeping the jade.
Not knowing Wei Wuxian had been under Lan Xichen’s protection this whole time (and is actually sitting right in the room behind a screen), Jin Guangyao attempts to frame Wei Wuxian for some activity at the Yiling Burial Mounds involving the reappearance of ghost puppets and the use of the Yin Tiger Seal to call the corpses. Jin Guangyao mentions a discussion with other cultivation families have been organised at Jinling Tai and invites Lan Xichen to join him.
Despite knowing this matter is a set-up, Lan Xichen agrees to attend. Lan Xichen also agrees to an invitation to send Nie Mingjue off in a final burial which Jin Guangyao thinks to mention just before he leaves to wait outside for Lan Xichen to join him after (unknown to Jin Guangyao) Lan Xichen has Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji leave for Yiling Burial Mounds whilst he heads for Jinling Tai to act together at the separate locations. “If [Jin Guangyao] really has other motives I will not tolerate it,” Lan Xichen expresses. The Zewu-zun is now not so confident in Jin Guangyao following some pretty clear evidence of an impending set-up against Wei Wuxian.
Preparing to set off for Yiling, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji stop for a moment to greet the rabbits Lan Wangji appears to have kept raising since Wei Wuxian rescued a group of them from the Cold Pool Cave 16 years ago. (We’re not sure if these rabbits are some immortal rabbits that can live for that long. Maybe they aren’t the same ones, but offsprings of the original group?) Whilst here, Wei Wuxian expresses how he knows this trip is ill-omened, but strangely he’s not afraid, likely because he’s going into this with Lan Wangji accompanying him as well as Lan Xichen working together with them from his end.
Leaving the rabbits, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji head towards the Burial Mounds with Wei Wuxian playing some tunes on his flute while sitting sideways on his donkey, Xiao Pingguo, while being led by Lan Wangji. After playing Wuji, Wei Wuxian tries to find out what the name of the song is and who had composed it. Lan Wangji answers that he had composed it, but he didn’t learn the name of the song. Lan Wangji looks to have told Wei Wuxian back in the cave where they killed the Black Tortoise of Slaughter (Episode 14), but it seems Wei Wuxian either missed hearing it because he lost consciousness back then or had forgotten since returning.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji stop by a modest, vacant, house to look for refreshments to run into former Lanling Jin Clan cultivator, Mian Mian (who we finally learn her real name is Luo Qing Yang), her child, Mian Mian, and her husband. Not knowing they knew the house owners, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had gone to hide initially to be called out when Wei Wuxian found the daughter’s name familiar.
Lan Wangji steps out first then Wei Wuxian. Luo Qingyang greets Lan Wangji with surprise and even greater surprise when Wei Wuxian appears before her. She calls out his last name only before stopping. Despite the family being told her thoughts about Wei Wuxian/the Yiling Patriarch that he’s a good person, she seemed not wanting to draw attention to Wei Wuxian’s identity.
Even after coming face to face, Wei Wuxian, with his poor memory (seemingly it’s a character trait: Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng together have drawn attention to it a few times) is seen taking a while to recognise the formerly known as Mian Mian, but he eventually does connect face to name.
Episode 44
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s encounter with Luo Qingyang has them learn her search for ghost puppets turned up nothing after hearing the rumours surrounding ghost puppets causing trouble outside the city.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s journey, on the other hand, has been full of ghost puppets according to Wen Ning. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had personally not encountered any the whole time, but only because Wen Ning (who had adorned himself in long flax-like grass and face smothered in mud to remain inconspicuous) had rushed ahead of them to clear all the ghost puppets before Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji encountered them.
The discovery that Wen Ning had been concerning himself with this matter has Wei Wuxian telling him to find a place to hide and not to worry about this. Wei Wuxian seems to just want Wen Ning to live freely, to not get himself into anything that could get him implicated. The wish seems hard to do as Wen Ning asks Wei Wuxian where he could hide. Wen Ning is the Ghost General people either fear or finds curious and enjoy harassing. A couple of times he was seen being harassed by people and children, requiring Wei Wuxian to pull Wen Ning out of the circle these people had Wen Ning in. Seemingly seeing his point, Wei Wuxian decides to have Wen Ning join them to Yiling and the Burial Mounds.
It’s a trip which has Wei Wuxian think of Ah Yuan again. Arriving at the marketplace, just outside Yiling Teahouse, the sight of the spinning toy at a market stall has him think of the age Ah Yuan would be if he was alive. Lan Wangji’s turn to face Wei Wuxian appeared as if he was going to tell Wei Wuxian that Lan Sizhui is Ah Yuan, but that continues to remain a secret for now.
Arriving at the Burial Mounds after fighting off a few ghost puppets, Wei Wuxian recall Fourth Uncle talking about the wine he made for him, Grandmother telling Ah Yuan to slow down, Wen Ning taking the blame for his actions, Wen Qing apologising and expressing her gratitude for Wei Wuxian’s protection. Pain seem to wash over him as he remembers.
The structures built have collapsed and his lotus flower garden which was seen thriving before he left for Lanling and Buyetian 16 years ago all withered, all destroyed by the siege which Lan Wangji had tried to protect (as told in Episode 43). Wei Wuxian seems sad about it, but also thinks it’s best he sees it all destroyed as he confesses that this place was the worst times in his, Wen Qing and Wen Ning’s lives. They shouldn’t relive it.
Ghost puppets appear just as Wei Wuxian calls Wen Ning to get going. The attack, which is quickly neutralised by Wen Ning and Lan Wangji, exposes Wei Wuxian’s vulnerability in such sudden attacks, and draws attention to the secret Wei Wuxian’s been hiding since switching to demonic cultivation yet again. Worried about Wei Wuxian’s defenselessness, Lan Wangji brings out Suibian for Wei Wuxian to use following the attack. Wei Wuxian accepts his sword with thanks, but it remains in his left hand (as oppose to switching it to his dominant right hand), suggesting he had no intention to use his sword as his weapon.
It doesn’t go unnoticed by Lan Wangji.
Wei Wuxian attempts to explain himself with the claim he’s not used to it as he hasn’t used the sword for a long time (which really doesn’t float since he used it days ago at Jinling Tai). The explanation not working, Wei Wuxian goes with the truth of his spiritual energy is low and that even if his sword is a treasured sword he can’t bring out its full power. He is right now a fragile man who requests Lan Wangji protect. Although this is the actual truth, Wei Wuxian still hasn’t told the complete truth as he leaves out the the explanation to why his spiritual energy is low.
As part of the scheme to rid threats to Jin Guangyao’s power and position, Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi plus disciples from various other clans are captured and tied up at Fumo Cave. What appears to be Jin Guangyao’s scheme to rid many of the clan leaders and cultivators of great and small clans, their kidnapping served to bring them all to the Burial Mounds, and with hope, they all end up dying by who they all believe are ghost puppets created and controlled by Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian, achieving Jin Guangyao’s goal to wipe out potential threats to his control of the cultivation world.
With a number of the disciples kidnapped and tied up in the cave being the same as the disciples who were led to Yi City and rescued by Wei Wuxian, these same disciples doubt it’s Wei Wuxian is responsible—especially how it’s also Wei Wuxian who had Wen Ning use his sword to untie them.
Su Minshan, who arrives onto the Burial Mounds with all the great clans as well as the smaller clans, try to tell a different story. With all the disciples returning to their elders’ side, Su Minshan tries to suggest the appearance of the ghost puppets, the kidnapping of the disciples and a recent attack on Jin Guangyao at Jinling Tai a couple days ago were all Wei Wuxian’s doing, meant to serve as an announcement to the world that the Yiling Patriarch has returned.
At this point, it’s becoming clear Su Minshan is one of Jin Guangyao’s people. There were suggestions of this last episode during the retelling of Lan Wangji protecting the Burial Mounds 16 years ago … Su Minshan at the front of the group of Jin Clan cultivators looking to search Wei Wuxian’s Fumo Cave. There was a hint Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan had developed an alliance when Jin Guangyao had invited Su Minshan to Jinling Tai’s banquet that followed the Bai Fengshan Roundup and Hunt (Episode 26), and now Su Minshan is looking to be guilty of having used one of the evil melodies from the Luan Po Chao collection to cause everyone temporary loss of their spiritual energy.
Right after a chorus of chants calling for Wei Wuxian to be killed for the 3000 blood debts they accuse him of owing because of the Battle of Buyetian, a second wave of ghost puppets attack the assembly of great and small cultivators. A couple strikes see the cultivators suffering internal injuries. Jiang Cheng’s use of his Zidian whip sees him bring up blood. Lan Qiren’s use of his sword see him spit out blood. Clan Leader Yao spits out blood, too. The only ones who was fighting and not bringing up blood are Lan Wangji, Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian (the reason to be revealed later).
Retreating to inside Fumo Cave, Lan Qiren manages to fix and activate the Defense Array in the cave to keep the ghost puppets from breaking the doors opened. With some time on their hands, Wei Wuxian invites them all to think what could possibly have caused them to lose their spiritual energy. He supposes it can’t be poison in their food as he guesses they probably didn’t have time to all share a meal together. Lan Sizhui chimes in, adding that it can’t be poison as, one, he’s never heard of any poison that could cause someone’s spiritual energy to break up, and two, if such poison existed everyone would be after it and offering a high price to get it and cause a reign of terror.
Nie Huaisang suggests maybe it’s the water they drank. A cultivator rejects the suggestion as no one drank any coming up the mountain. No one would dare drink water surrounding the Burial Mounds. Nie Huaisang then suggests the foggy air on the mountain, which Jin Ling rejects since the fog at the top of the mountain where the disciples who were kidnapped and tied up in Fumo Cave didn’t suffer any impacts to their spiritual energy.
The guessing and narrowing of possibilities seem to have Su Minshan feeling uncomfortable. He tries to end the discussion, but fails as Lan Wangji mutes his attempt, allowing Wei Wuxian to guide them to the answer with the mention of how Su Minshan was trying hard to appeal to everyone to remain outside fighting those ghost puppets like he wanted them all to die together. Wei Wuxian points out that such appeal is not how an ally should act, suggesting Su Minshan is their enemy and the reason behind their loss of spiritual energy.
Lan Wangji, Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui adds their bit, with Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui possibly unaware their additions provide incriminating points towards Su Minshan. After Wei Wuxian remarks how poor the relationship must be between the Moling Clan and the Gusu Lan Clan is, Lan Wangji provides how the Moling Clan is a branch that separated from the Gusu Lan Clan.
With Nie Huaisang appearing not up to speed with the history of Moling Clan, Lan Sizhui explains the Moling Clan was established by Su Minshan after he left Gusu Lan Clan. He mentions their specialty skills are like the Gusu Lan Clan’s with them being good in music. Su Minshan’s spiritual weapon is even the zither, an instrument similar to Lan Wangji’s seven-stringed zither.
Unhappy with the polite description of how Su Minshan left, Lan Jingyi argues the correct description is “Su Minshan was kicked out because he committed an act of betrayal”. If you remember, Su Minshan submitted to Wen Chao’s demands for knowledge on entering the Cold Pool Cave in Episode 11. This is what led Su Minshan to be kicked out of the Gusu Lan Clan. Lan Jingyi also adds the fact that Su Minshan hates being told he is an imitator of Lan Wangji and will turn on anyone who says that.
It all gives Su Minshan great motive to act against everyone. His skills in music which are known to be inferior to the Gusu Lan Clan is his attack. It’s not poison in the food, the water or the foggy air they may or may not have eaten, drunk or breathed in. The common thing they all did is fight ghost puppets.
Jiang Cheng doubted this suggestion, but Wei Wuxian’s revelation of the existence of a collection of evil melodies which can kill without leaving any traces sees the conclusion sound more probable. Su Minshan’s known inferior skill in his zither playing allows such pieces to be inserted without anyone noticing or finding it suspicious. It allows Su Minshan to continue to appear to be fighting a battle alongside everyone, but is actually attacking them secretly.
Su Minshan tries to argue that even if such piece of music existed, he never had access to the Forbidden Library which this piece is said to be found. Therefore, he could never have been able to obtain and learn the piece. Wei Wuxian helps Su Minshan see how it could be possible: Su Minshan didn’t have to go inside the Forbidden Library himself when his master (i.e. Jin Guangyao) had free access and makes the assumption (which really isn’t an assumption but without a doubt) that it was his master who taught it to him.
Episode 45
Su Minshan fails to explain himself when Wei Wuxian exposes the scheme Su Minshan and Jin Guangyao had in achieving the annihilation of several hundred cultivators and have it blamed on Wei Wuxian. Reminiscent of the Battle of Buyetian but on a smaller scale, they schemed to secure hundreds of cultivators descending onto the Burial Mounds for the capturing of disciples, unaware of the dangers which would see them all wiped out from this clever and undetectable form of zither attack from Su Minshan. Blaming Wei Wuxian for yet another mass death would be a natural expectation because of the notorious reputation he has, and Wei Wuxian would be left with no way to get them all to believe he didn’t do any of this.
Su Minshan tries to defend himself and Jin Guangyao against such accusations, stating no benefit or power gained in scheming and having so many die when Jin Guangyao is already the Chief Cultivator. Su Minshan cries slander.
Seeing as Su Minshan claims slandering, Wei Wuxian challenges Su Minshan to play the piece he played during the battle to drive away the ghost puppets. Unwilling, Wei Wuxian produces even more solid evidence: the two pages ripped from the Luan Po Chao collection Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji found in the treasure room that Jin Guangyao hid. It would only take a look from Lan Qiren to confirm if any part of the song Su Minshan played is in those two pages.
Su Minshan cries “it’s a trap” and unsheathes his sword to try stop Lan Qiren from getting the pages. Lan Wangji sends his sword flying to block the attack which has Su Minshan respond with blocking Lan Wangji’s sword. As someone who’s not supposed to have any spiritual energy, Su Minshan shouldn’t have been able to block Lan Wangji’s sword so well. Unintentionally, Su Minshan just exposed himself.
Su Minshan makes his escape, easily teleporting out of there after damaging the Defense Array with his blood, leaving them all facing a sea of ghost puppets to fight off. (Su Minshan teleporting technique also reveals he’s the Ghost-face man first encountered in Yueyang (Episode 36) and controls the second Yin Tiger Seal.) Wen Ning heads straight out to fight off the ghost puppets, but even he struggles with the sheer amount of them. It has Lan Sizhui run out to help, with Jin Ling following. (Jin Ling seems to always go wherever Jin Ling goes—we’re not sure if this is out of concern or out of the need to match up to Lan Sizhui).
Coming up with a plan to get the cultivators out, Wei Wuxian makes the decision to act as the target to lure the ghost puppets towards him with Lan Wangji and Wen Ning attacking. It provides the group of cultivators as well as the young disciples a clear path out of the Burial Mounds. For a time, everyone thought that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were done for with no sign of them joining the group when they make it out of the Burial Mounds. Many had recovered a good majority of their spiritual energy during their journey out, but none of the cultivators except Jiang Cheng gave thought about going back to lend a hand, dooming Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s survival. But, a short time later, Lan Wangji supporting a pretty depleted Wei Wuxian appear in the distance with Wen Ning behind them.
Lan Sizhui is the first to see as he takes off back towards the Burial Mounds, leaving behind the majority who only worried about their own health and safety. Surprisingly, Jin Ling shows a bit of concern, too. Wei Wuxian collapsing to the ground and passing out against Lan Sizhui’s shoulder, sees Jin Ling’s eyes wide with concern from a distance. Before that, he yelled at a cultivator for dooming Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s chances of survival to zero.
All escaping the Burial Mounds and at the dock preparing to head for Lianhua Wu, Wen Ning is seen approaching Lan Sizhui after he discovers from Wei Wuxian’s mutterings of “Ah Yuan” after he fainted. The muttering seems to have Wen Ning catch on to the possibility Lan Sizhui might be his distant relative, Ah Yuan/Wen Yuan. Asking a series of questions surrounding Lan Sizhui’s name (which Lan Sizhui introduces himself as Lan Yuan—his birth name); his parents—whether they were alive still (they’re not); and when Lan Wangji began raising him (when Lan Sizhui was around four or five); Lan Sizhui shows Wen Ning good evidence he’s Ah Yuan from his Wen Clan. However, it is a butterfly toy Wen Ning gifts Lan Sizhui that confirms Lan Sizhui is Ah Yuan. When Wen Ning goes to gift the toy he bought whilst passing by the market stalls, Lan Sizhui pulls out the one Lan Wangji bought him after Wei Wuxian couldn’t afford to actually buy 16 years ago (Episode 28).
The scene seems to see Jin Ling bubbling with emotions watching Wen Ning in front of him speaking so casually and happily. Lan Jingyi and Clan Leader Ouyang’s son, Ouyang Zizhen, found the exchange between the two amusing (after initially feeling cautious): “Who knew the Ghost General was such a natural socialiser,” Ouyang Zizhen commented with a laugh to Lan Jingyi. But to Jin Ling, although Wen Ning did save him at the Burial Mounds, Wen Ning is still the other person he holds responsible for the death of his father.
Jin Ling is seen half unsheathing his sword before being stopped by Lan Sizhui who gets a shove in response. Jin Ling appears regretful for shoving Lan Sizhui, but at this point he isn’t able to stand down. It gets Jin Ling criticised for having a temper and called ill-bred with no manners, for starting this fight which the young disciples clearly thought was pretty calm and civilised before Jin Ling’s threatening interruption.
The exchange has Wei Wuxian wake from his unconscious state inside a boat next to the dock to try calm Jin Ling and put his sword down. It takes a few soft calls persuading Jin Ling to listen, before, more or less, he does. After an outburst shouting that he will not put his sword down, Jin Ling drops to a crouching position and hugs his sword tight. Tears stream down his face, gathering looks of sympathy as he shouts—“This is my father’s sword. I won’t let go”—through wails. To put his father’s sword down is to let go of the grudge he has—which by the looks of things, Jin Ling is slowly but reluctantly and conflictingly appearing to be doing.
They all return to Lianhua Wu. Wei Wuxian included. It is the first time the Yiling Patriarch steps foot back at the place since heading to Lanling for the Bai Fengshan hunt (Episode 24) which saw the beginning of Wei Wuxian’s decision to rescue the Wen Clan and leave Yunmeng Jiang Clan in the name of what he believes is the right thing to do. Jiang Cheng doesn’t make it easy for Wei Wuxian to return as at every entrance, Wei Wuxian is made to wait until Jiang Cheng personally gave him permission to enter.
A discussion about the developments concerning Jin Guangyao, and through two unexpected guests, Jin Guangyao’s twisted marriage to Qin Su and the way which Jin Guangshan passed away takes place.
Through Si Si, a prostitute past her prime and disfigured in the face by merchant knives, she tells a story of her and a group of her friends having been hired to carry out personal service on an old man at the request of a very wealthy client. Though Si Si doesn’t know their names, the scene reveals the wealthy client to be Jin Guangyao while the old man is revealed to be Jin Guangshan. Tied up and apparently weak, she tells how the old man Jin Guangshan took only one breath before he never breathed again. He had died before they had even got into doing what they were hired to do. Despite Jin Guangshan having died, they were told to continue before all of her friends were killed. Si Si tells that only she was left alive and locked away for 11 years until she was saved by an unknown person who helped her to escape.
This person who let her go, Si Si isn’t able to say much in terms of identity, only that after listening to her story, he decided he can’t let the immoral man (Jin Guangyao) continue to fool other people. This saviour wanted to expose all the evil things he did and bring justice to the people he harmed.
Bi Cao, a personal maid to Madam Qin (Qin Su’s mother, husband to Yueling Qin Clan Leader, Qin Cangye), tells her story next. It’s a story which reveals a shocking secret to the true relationship between Jin Guangyao and Qin Su, as well as just how much of a womaniser, how much of a beast Jin Guangshan is. Rather than Jin Guangyao and Qin Su being husband and wife, they are actually (half?) brother and sister and Jin Guangyao apparently knew this before he married Qin Su.
Madam Qin had seemingly forgotten Qin Su was Jin Guangshan’s daughter. Meanwhile, Jin Guangshan appears to have been ignorant of the fact because Jin Guangshan had been drunk when he approached and forced himself on Madam Qin and seemingly forgotten such an incident happened. When Madam Qin finally recalled the incident, she had secretly gone to Jin Guangyao to reveal the details and begged him to call off the marriage, but unexpectedly, Jin Guangyao refused despite learning Qin Su is Jin Guangshan’s daughter because of his ambitions.
Previous supporter of Jin Guangshan, Clan Leader Yao, is heard finally cussing the former Lanling Jin Clan Leader, calling Jin Guangshan a bastard for not even sparing the wife of Clan Leader Qin Cangye, a loyal subordinate of many years. It doesn’t excuse Jin Guangyao’s actions and scheming, but the motive behind hiring Si Si and all those woman might be because of Jin Guangshan’s womanising ways which saw Qin Su (who was revealed to have truly fallen for Jin Guangyao) and Jin Guangyao to land in such a twisted relationship.
Episode 46
With Bi Cao and Si Si starting the ball rolling with the story about Jin Guangyao marrying Qin Su despite learning they’re half-related, other incidents which were explained to be the doing of others now look more like are the doing of Jin Guangyao. The death of Jin Guangyao’s son, Ah Song (courtesy name, Jin Rusong), was told to have been poisoned by a non-supporting clan leader, but now they see it makes more sense that it was yet another one of Jin Guangyao’s schemes to get rid of non-supporters as well as a son who will likely grow up showing abnormalities and (as Clan Leader Yao surmises) it’ll all come back to being blamed on Jin Guangyao for being the son of a concubine. Jin Guangyao didn’t want anything to threaten his command and position of power.
Finally, the actual person responsible for Jin Zixuan’s death is put into question, too. With a cultivator now believing Jin Guangyao is the one behind Nie Mingjue’s death, another cultivator brings up Jin Guangyao having gone after all of Jin Guangshan’s illegitimate children, ridding them a couple of years ago so no one could challenge Jin Guangyao’s current Chief Cultivator and Lanling Clan Leader positions. This second cultivator puts on the table that Jin Zixuan’s death might actually be Jin Guangyao’s doing, too: Jin Guangyao’s thirst for power may have led Jin Guangyao to kill off Jin Zixuan. For the Xue Yang’s Yin Metal, the cultivators also now believe it was Jin Guangyao behind Xue Yang’s escape in the past.
The truth is finally slowly coming out and the blame is finally going towards the right direction. Wei Wuxian is finally slowly being absolved for past incidents he didn’t cause nor had control of. Just earlier in the day, the cultivators were holding Wei Wuxian responsible for the ghost puppets and wanting to assert his power with them, calling for Wei Wuxian to be killed. Now, though, chants of “Attack Jinling Tai!” and “Capture Jin Guangyao alive!” are made. Wei Wuxian even gets a bit of praise upon Clan Leader Yao’s suggestion Wei Wuxian see to the Yin Tiger Seal that’s in Jin Guangyao’s possession. With a cultivator agreeing Wei Wuxian seeing to the Yin Tiger Seal matter, Wei Wuxian is said to be the best man for the job as “Nobody ranks higher than the Yiling Patriarch in this path of cultivation!” Wei Wuxian neither agrees or disagrees. He just walks out of the main hall of Lianhua Wu, shaking his head at the sudden turn of events.
While the truth and fake facade of Jin Guangyao is in the process of being revealed and unraveled, another truth is revealed. Wei Wuxian and the real reason he went down the path of Demonic Cultivation, practiced evil sorcery Gui Dao Su Fa and has such low spiritual energy is finally revealed. It’s because Wei Wuxian no longer has his jindan as he’s given it to Jiang Cheng.
After Jiang Cheng lost his jindan in what is suggested to be a reckless decision to go to Lianhua Wu to go up against Wen Chao and retrieve Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan (actual story is still yet to be revealed), Wei Wuxian gave up his jindan to save Jiang Cheng from a life of mediocrity which Wei Wuxian believes Jiang Cheng won’t be able to take. Unlike what Wei Wuxian led Jiang Cheng to believe, it wasn’t Baoshan Sanren who used her legendary skills to restore Jiang Cheng’s jindan. It was Wei Wuxian (with Wen Qing’s help) who gave Jiang Cheng a second chance to remain in the cultivation world and be where he is now.
Two days and one night Wei Wuxian had to remain awake for this risky and likely an excruciatingly painful technique of separating and extracting Wei Wuxian’s jindan from his veins and transferring it into Jiang Cheng. No one had ever attempted it. It’s unthinkable one would. Not only because of the 50-50 chance of success, but (as Wen Ning says to Lan Wangji after the revelation) no one would give up their own jindan for another. Only Wei Wuxian would.
Not knowing the sacrifice Wei Wuxian made, Jiang Cheng is seen throwing what comes off as every insult that comes to his mind. He calls Wei Wuxian paying respect to his parents and sister at the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall as dirtying their eyes; he calls both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji messed up people who he prefer they not appear before his eyes; and he makes a sarcastic remark about how Lan Wangji must make Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen so proud for giving no regard to ruining Gusu Lan Clan’s clean reputation when he sided with Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian was fine when the insults were directed at him, but when they started attacking Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian couldn’t turn and walk away letting the insults sit. He demands Jiang Cheng apologise. Jiang Cheng won’t. Instead, Jiang Cheng provokes Wei Wuxian more by suggesting Wei Wuxian was only demanding an apology because Jiang Cheng had insulted his intimate relationship with Lan Wangji.
This last insult sees Wei Wuxian grabbing Jiang Cheng by the collar, looking to give Jiang a beating. Out of respect for the loved ones in the ancestral hall, Wei Wuxian backs off, and is weaker after grabbing Jiang Cheng’s collar. Just by being near the angry Jiang Cheng was enough of an attack to have Wei Wuxian needing support from Lan Wangji as he walked away.
With Jiang Cheng unsatisfied with Wei Wuxian just leaving like that (he seems angry Wei Wuxian was coming and going as he pleased again), Jiang Cheng blocks Wei Wuxian’s path to grab Wei Wuxian’s collar, looking to make this fight happen. Wei Wuxian manages to turn away with Lan Wangji forcefully removing Jiang Cheng’s grip after Jiang Cheng refuses to let Wei Wuxian go despite being asked twice (first time, verbally; second time, through the grip Lan Wangji had on Jiang Cheng’s wrist).
Everyone is shocked to see Wei Wuxian bleed from the nose after this second confrontation, but no one suspects why. Not even after Wei Wuxian ends up collapsing shortly after do they know why. Jiang Cheng even goes on to unleash Zidian twice after seeing Wei Wuxian’s state in order to hold back Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji from continuing in their way. The attacks are both blocked: the first time by Lan Wangji whilst supporting an unconscious Wei Wuxian on the ground; the second time by Wen Ning who flies in to take the whip with his body.
It is through Wen Ning, Wei Wuxian’s sacrifice finally gets revealed. Against Wei Wuxian’s wishes to never reveal the matter, Wen Ning holds Suibian out in front of him and insists Jiang Cheng unsheathe it. Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand the meaning for Wen Ning’s insistence. Time after time, Jiang Cheng unleashes Zidian on Wen Ning, and time after time Wen Ning gets back up on his feet. After the third whip, Jiang Cheng finally obliges and unsheathes it. Unlike Lan Wangji who just couldn’t unsheathe Wei Wuxian’s sword no matter how hard he tried to show Wei Wuxian the sword had sealed itself in Episode 42, Jiang Cheng unsheathes it like it was his.
It all becomes clear the reason why all those times Wei Wuxian won’t carry his sword, why Wei Wuxian fell to the ground with one knock of Jiang Cheng’s shoulder (Episode 24), why Wei Wuxian had sent Jiang Cheng off on Yiling Mountain telling him he had just one chance and not to be so reckless again (Episode 18) and why he had to practice Gui Dao Shu Fa. It’s all because Wei Wuxian gave away his jindan and transferred it to him.
Everything Wei Wuxian did and took from others—the criticisms—was not because he had a choice, but because Wei Wuxian had no other choice. Wen Ning tells Jiang Cheng that without Wei Wuxian’s jindan—with low spiritual energy—Wei Wuxian just simply can’t support his sword for long once unsheathing it, explaining why Wei Wuxian can still hold up in a sword fight, but crashes into a very weak state afterwards. There was no way Wei Wuxian could step back into cultivating swordsmanship even if Wei Wuxian wanted to.
At this point Jiang Cheng’s in complete disbelief and denial, calling Wen Ning a liar despite him seeing the facts. Seeing as this is the case, Wen Ning challenges Jiang Cheng to take Wei Wuxian’s sword around and try have someone unsheathe it. He guarantees Jiang Cheng won’t find anyone anywhere who’ll be able to unsheathe it.
Finally out of Lianhua Wu, Lan Wangji and Wen Ning take a still very much unconscious Wei Wuxian to Lianhua Lake where, on a boat, Wen Ning takes this chance to ask Lan Wangji not to tell Wei Wuxian he had exposed his secret to Jiang Cheng (which Lan Wangji assures he won’t) before thanking Lan Wangji for taking care of Ah Yuan/Lan Sizhui all these years. In doing so, the story of how Lan Wangji came to raise Lan Sizhui is revealed: Lan Wangji had found the young Ah Yuan in Fumo Cave after going there to look for Wei Wuxian after the remaining Wen Clan handed themselves in and was turned to ashes (Episode 31/Episode 32).
Wei Wuxian wakes not long after, none the wiser about everything that went on. He’s only told they they fought their way out when Wei Wuxian asks how they left when Jiang Cheng was clearly so adamant on not letting them leave.
Wei Wuxian immediately moves to apologise to Lan Wangji on Jiang Cheng’s behalf and hopes Lan Wangji won’t take anything to heart. It’s typical Jiang Cheng temper. As Wei Wuxian notices they were on Lianhua Lake, memories of Jiang Yanli brings sadness as well as hunger. (Hunger always seems to follow when Wei Wuxian is sad.) With plenty of lotus seed beneath the water, Wei Wuxian plucks a few seed heads for himself as well as Lan Wangji and Wen Ning.
Lan Wangji being the honest type initially disapproves taking lotus seed from a place he knows must be owned by someone, but seemingly having just heard Wei Wuxian’s story about losing his jindan and possibly seeing the sadness in Wei Wuxian upon remembering Jiang Yanli, Lan Wangji indulges Wei Wuxian this one time and plucks a lotus seed head for him to eat. Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning and Lan Wangji end up plucking and feasting on a boat full afterwards.
The end of the episode moves to Yunmeng’s Yunping City after news from a Jin Clan Chuanxun Zhi Butterfly (a messaging butterfly) informs Jin Guangyao is in Yunmeng. Without further information where in Yunmeng, it only leaves Wei Wuxian to suspect Yunping City. He had recalled seeing a land deed for Yunping City in Yunmeng whilst in Jin Guangyao’s treasure room of the place. Following this lead, they make their way to Yunping City the next day.
Episode 47
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find themselves taken hostage by Jin Guangyao after their investigations of Guanyin Temple, a temple Jin Guangyao purchased in Yunping. Travelling to the Guanyin Temple during the day, they had hoped to return at night to see what the array formation they discovered was suppressing. However, they only got as far as seeing a group of Jin Clan Cultivators and temple monks welding bows and arrows and swords, appearing to be preparing for something, before the unexpected appearance from Jin Ling sees Wei Wuxian expose himself to stop Jin Ling from being shot with an arrow.
Wei Wuxian had no problems driving back attacks from the many Jin Clan cultivators with use of Wei Wuxian’s talismans, but finds himself caught around a zither string that danced in the air for a few brief moments before it wrapped itself around his neck for Jin Guangyao to grasp and pull around. Lan Wangji, who was poised to attack, is forced to surrender to Jin Guangyao’s demands to seal his own spiritual vein arteries against Wei Wuxian’s instructions to not do it, and submit to being taken hostage.
Lan Xichen also finds himself a hostage. He had appeared as if he was working with Jin Guangyao during Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s observation from the rooftop, looking to be still undercover, but—as Lan Xichen admitted to Lan Wangji—he was tricked by Jin Guangyao and have lost all his spiritual energy.
Jin Ling is eventually captured, too, brought back after Wei Wuxian had told him to run after blocking that arrow flying towards Jin Ling with his bamboo flute. Despite being Jin Guangyao’s nephew who Jin Guangyao appeared to dote on (Jin Guangyao’s the one who gave Fairy to Jin Ling and the one who always appeared to side with Jin Ling whenever Jiang Cheng scolded Jin Ling), Jin Ling’s safety isn’t guaranteed. Brought in front of Jin Guangyao, Jin Ling is warned to watch his actions: he better stay quiet and not recklessly run away.
Nie Huaisang, who Su Minshan had run into on the streets somewhere, is brought in unharmed but passed out. Jin Guangyao expresses he intends no harm to the Qinghe Nie Clan Leader, that Nie Huaisang will be let go (as will Lan Xichen) after all of this, but to ensure more caution against others acting out, Nie Huaisang was captured.
Of the great Clan Leaders, only Jiang Cheng had not been captured. He shows up on his own in a rather impressive manner similar to the way Wei Wuxian had showed up darker and more powerful to take down Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu in Episode 20. With Jiang Cheng’s Zidian, Jiang Cheng comes up top against Jin Guangyao’s ear-shattering zither attacks. However, when Jin Guangyao moves to expose the fact Jiang Cheng’s rise to clan leader position was only possible because he was given Wei Wuxian’s jindan, Jiang Cheng is caught distracted by his emotions and suffered strikes from Jin Guangyao’s sword. Ultimately, Jiang Cheng is made to sit down to join everyone else as he suffers a wound to his chest.
The promise to Wen Ning to not let Wei Wuxian know about telling Jiang Cheng about the transferring of Wei Wuxian’s jindan is forced to be broken. Wei Wuxian wasn’t so much angry or disappointed Wen Ning had broken his promise to never let Jiang Cheng know, but seemingly he worried more how Jiang Cheng felt knowing he sacrificed himself for him.
Wei Wuxian went from confusion to shock to concern when Jin Guangyao sadistically led to the fact that Wei Wuxian’s secret is no longer a secret. Beginning with what had happened the night before after Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji left Lianhua Wu, Jin Guangyao, tells of a tantrum Jiang Cheng threw. Seemingly listening to Wen Ning’s suggestion, Jiang Cheng had gone around asking everyone to try unsheathe Suibian. Jin Guangyao then continues to build with this simultaneous aim of humiliating Jiang Cheng, reiterating and reminding everyone how Wei Wuxian’s sword had sealed itself 16 years ago before mentioning Jiang Cheng’s inability to ever beat Wei Wuxian in anything with the suggestion that Jiang Cheng didn’t become Clan Leader on his own. Finally, without straight-out saying it, Jin Guangyao rhetorically asks Jiang Cheng how he rose above Wei Wuxian after the She Ri Zhi Campaign: “is it because of a certain jindan?”
The revelation sees Wei Wuxian seeking answers from Lan Wangji. As far as Wei Wuxian is aware, Wen Ning had his sword and his secret was safe from Jiang Cheng and everyone else. Lan Wangji reveals the events at Lianhua Wu and how Wen Ning, out of pity, had revealed his secret whilst he was unconscious. This has Wei Wuxian express how Wen Ning was supposed to not say anything, words which has Jiang Cheng move to have Wei Wuxian confirm what he did: “Don’t say what?” he is heard asking Wei Wuxian from a short distance where, not long ago, he was healing himself.
Episode 48
Even after learning what Wei Wuxian did to save Jiang Cheng from mediocrity with no ability to reach his peak, Jiang Cheng seemed to still hate and hold a grudge against Wei Wuxian—at least that’s what he appears to be showing at the beginning, complimenting Wei Wuxian’s selflessness in an angry and sarcastic tone:
“You’re really selfless. That’s so great of you. You gave it your all for some good deed and even suffered in silence without anyone knowing. It makes people feel touched. Should I kneel? Am I supposed to cry and thank you?”
Jiang Cheng definitely didn’t thank Wei Wuxian for his selfless act because it seem to remind him of how lesser of a person he is in comparison to Wei Wuxian. It reminded him of how his own father had regarded Wei Wuxian as being the one who truly understood the Jiang Family teachings and the one who carried the kind of attitude and air a Jiang should have and carry.
For defecting, for forsaking the Jiang Family in order to protect the Wen Clan and for leaving Jin Ling without parents, Jiang Cheng seemed to accuse Wei Wuxian for choosing outsiders, and for not being grateful to the people who took him in and who lost their lives because of him.
However, as Jiang Cheng continues, the anger might actually be with Wei Wuxian having not kept that promise he made to be right next to Jiang Cheng when he became Yunmeng Jiang Clan Leader. The promise was brought up after Jiang Cheng accused Wei Wuxian of choosing the remaining group of the Wen Clan over the Jiang Family without so much as a hesitation. The promise was again brought up at the end after Jiang Cheng asked Wei Wuxian why he didn’t tell him about the sacrifice he made for Jiang Cheng.
Underneath the bitterness over how much better of a person Wei Wuxian appear to be in comparison to Jiang Cheng, and amongst the accusation of Wei Wuxian betraying the Jiang Family, seems to be anger over this promise Wei Wuxian broke when he chose to defect and be a hero for the group of the Wen clan. This seems to be what Jiang Cheng focuses on in the end and what seems to upset him the most when all was said and done.
For breaking this promise, Wei Wuxian apologises. It’s the first apology said between them after all this time, one which has Jiang Cheng laugh at himself for seeking an apology from Wei Wuxian when things have turned out the way they have for Wei Wuxian. Recognising this apparent conceitedness in himself, Jiang Cheng tells Wei Wuxian he’s sorry for the way things turned out for him. It’s an apology which Wei Wuxian tells Jiang Cheng he needn’t say as everything that’s happened is already something he regards as from a past that feels like another lifetime. He tells Jiang Cheng to forget it all and not be entangled by it anymore. Tears are falling down Jiang Cheng’s cheeks at this point, tears which Wei Wuxian goes to wipe.
Jin Guangyao’s schemes and evil deeds are all revealed next. Out the back of the temple, Jin Guangyao’s been getting his men to dig up a coffin and finding not at all what he expected. What it was meant to be isn’t mentioned, but it was not meant to be Nie Mingjue’s corpse with the head reconnected.
Genuine shock crossed Jin Guangyao’s face at the sight as someone has clearly come before Jin Guangyao and switched what Jin Guangyao was expecting to find with Nie Mingjue’s corpse. As well as switching the body, this person had left suffocating and blister-causing poison in the there which released upon the coffin’s opening, which killed all the men that had been working on unearthing it and caused blistering wounds on the hands of Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan.
The poisoning leads to the discovery that Su Minshan is the one behind the Qianchuang Baikong curse inflicted on Jin Zixun with Jin Guangyao being the mastermind. Without what seems to be a stroke of luck, Wei Wuxian might have forever been stuck with being responsible for the incident, but it’s all revealed after Lan Wangji notices the many little circle hole-like wounds on Su Minshan’s chest which peeked through torn clothing while Su Minshan was busy applying medicine to his hand.
Jin Guangyao is left with no defence when Lan Xichen confronts him about the curse and the reason Jin Guangyao was so supportive of Wei Wuxian attending Jin Ling’s First-Month Celebrations 16 years ago (Episode 30). Back then, Jin Guangyao backed the invitation on the claim of allowing everyone to use the opportunity to persuade Wei Wuxian to return to the Yunmeng Jiang Clan and to the correct path of Immortal Cultivation as well as persuade Wei Wuxian to hand over the Yin Tiger Seal. But with the revelation it was all Jin Guangyao’s plan to use Jin Zixun’s hatred and his apparent intention to kill Wei Wuxian at Qiongqi Path to (as Jiang Cheng supplies since Jin Guangyao wasn’t) lure out Wei Wuxian, take out both successors to the Lanling Jin Clan Leader position and pin the deaths of Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun on Wei Wuxian.
The question about why Wei Wuxian had been targeted and made to take the blame is revealed, too; and it has nothing to do with any grudge Jin Guangyao has with Wei Wuxian because there wasn’t one between them. The reason is as simple as Wei Wuxian being who he is and it made it easy to scapegoat Wei Wuxian in order for Jin Guangyao to achieve his ambitious goals.
Chivalrous, daring and unrestrained is the nice way Jin Guangyao described Wei Wuxian. The not so nice way is that Wei Wuxian is someone who offends people wherever he goes and it’s this effect on people which makes it easy for Jin Guangyao to take advantage of Wei Wuxian in his schemes. Any mishap people encountered Wei Wuxian would be first on their minds. Regardless of what the real truth is Wei Wuxian would automatically be blamed. Arrogantly, Jin Guangyao adds that people like Wei Wuxian are fated to live a short life.
Jiang Cheng seems to come to Wei Wuxian’s aid, throwing back a remark about Jin Guangyao living a short life. Jiang Cheng also throws the “a son of a prostitute” label which lands Jiang Cheng in the firing line as Jin Guangyao points the misfortune Wei Wuxian suffered to being greatly Jiang Cheng’s fault. Jin Guangyao suggests Jiang Cheng’s attitude towards Wei Wuxian, his lacking tolerance for what happened and the bond that wasn’t strong enough between them played a huge part in sparking discord, leading to everything that happened to Wei Wuxian.
Jin Guangyao might have something there as just a few days ago or so, Jiang Cheng headed the forces against Wei Wuxian at the Burial Mounds looking to take Wei Wuxian down. But it doesn’t change the fact the schemes and the killings of so many innocents are Jin Guangyao’s doing. The true face of Jin Guangyao is finally revealed and they’ve got him in their hands.
The only thing to see to is the matter of getting Jin Guangyao to hand over Xue Yang’s Yin Tiger Seal. This task, Wei Wuxian easily achieves. Even though it’s someone else’s Yin Tiger Seal, even though Wei Wuxian doesn’t have Chenqing with him, Wei Wuxian is able to control the Yin Tiger Seal and conjure up the spirits and their resentment energy just by whistling a tune with his own two lips. The resentment energy slaps Jin Guangyao into a frightened and submissive state, showing Jin Guangyao that the Yin Tiger Seal still listened to Wei Wuxian and it served no point for Jin Guangyao to keep it.
Recognising this, Jin Guangyao takes it out of his sleeve and drops the Yin Tiger Seal to the ground. This happens right after Wei Wuxian first removes Jin Guangyao’s sword from his possession. Wei Wuxian couldn’t risk Jin Guangyao pulling a surprise attack on them.
The exact time Jin Guangyao began working with Xue Yang is revealed next, and it goes all the way back to when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji travelled to Qinghe following the capture of Xue Yang in Yueyang (Episode 10). Jin Guangyao had appeared unassuming, innocent and complicit to everyone back then, but behind it all he had been coveting the Yin Metal and the Yin Tiger Seal very early on and was already scheming away.
With Jin Guangyao’s secrets out, the Yin Tiger Seal handed over, Jin Guangyao seems to recognise his defeat. Knees falling to the ground, he appeals to Lan Xichen (who’s since had his spiritual energy restored and is now holding a sword to Jin Guangyao’s neck) to give him a lifeline. He tells Lan Xichen he has no intention to hold onto the Chief Cultivator position and plans to travel off to Dongying, never to return if only Lan Xichen would offer him a way to stay alive.
Episode 49
Given the chance, Jin Guangyao would always take it in order to continue on in his desire to obtain or maintain power. He is caught lying yet again in the end and it is to be his last lie as Lan Xichen’s trust in Jin Guangyao really is gone at the end of the episode. Before this, though, Lan Xichen looks to give Jin Guangyao what appears to be a chance to tell the truth about what had him plan the recent incident at the Burial Mounds, the reason why he married Qin Su despite knowing their sibling relationship as well as two past incidents he’s been accused of planning and had executed: the killing of Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixuan and why he did it.
He had no choice is Jin Guangyao’s reason for the recent Burial Mounds incident he schemed to have all cultivating families killed. It was either the cultivating families dying or him dying, and he chose the former after receiving a letter threatening to make his dark past and matters public. Jin Guangyao couldn’t see himself allowing such threat become reality as it would mean kneeling before everyone and being stepped on as he begged.
With marrying Qin Su, Jin Guangyao claims having no choice yet again as calling off the wedding would mean explaining why he was doing so after spending great efforts to getting Qin Su’s mother, Madam Qin Cangye, to agree to him marrying him as well as make the wedding to both Qin Cangye and Jin Guangshan’s satisfaction. It would mean revealing the incident of Jin Guangshan having forced himself on Madam Qin, that Qin Su is Jin Guangshan’s daughter and causing discord between them both, which only he would come out suffering.
The killing of Jin Guangshan and the perverse method he used to kill his father is all confirmed and admitted to.
Jin Guangyao also admits to planning the killing of Jin Zixuan. He had deliberately led Jin Zixuan to Qiongqi Path to go after Jin Zixun. Jin Guangyao had pretended to have had no idea of Jin Zixun’s intentions to ambush and kill Wei Wuxian over the curse Jin Zixun accused Wei Wuxian of casting on him. However, somewhere on the clifftop at Qiongqi Path, unknown to Jin Zixuan, Wei Wuxian, Jin Zixun, Wen Ning and all the disciples Wei Wuxian was accused of killing was Su Minshan playing one of the evil melodies which turned Wen Ning into the cold, killing machine which saw him thrust a punch right through Jin Zixuan’s body, killing him.
Bitterness towards how he was treated so poorly and without respect despite being from the same father as Jin Zixuan also was behind Jin Guangyao’s actions. Asked by a hurt Jin Ling why Jin Guangyao had to kill his father, Jin Guangyao reveals the day Jin Guangyao sought recognition as Jin Guangshan’s son was not only Jin Zixuan’s birthday, but Jin Guangyao’s, too. While a banquet was held to celebrate Jin Zixuan’s birthday that day, Jin Guangyao was kicked down from the highest steps of Jinling Tai all the way down to the lowest step.
As Jin Guangyao mentions, it wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t even as important as a strand of hair on Jin Zixuan’s head or that he wasn’t allowed to hold Jin Ling when he was a baby (suggesting the distrust Jin Guangshan has of Jin Guangyao) or the fact that Jin Guangshan used every means to take away his power that hurt the most. What hurt the most were the words he learned Jin Guangshan had told his concubines when they asked about Jin Guangyao—those words being that Jin Guangyao was not worth mentioning. When speaking about freeing his mother by buying her freedom, he found women, especially educated ones (presumably that refers to Jin Guangyao’s mother), are hard to handle, and didn’t want to buy her freedom simply because she will pester him for the rest of his life.
The stories seem to get some sympathy from Lan Xichen, but the sympathy as well as any minuscule amount of trust left all disappears when Jin Guangyao makes a move to wrap a hidden zither string around Jin Ling with the intention of taking him hostage whilst he makes his escape. Jin Guangyao tells Lan Xichen it will be the last time he lies and it won’t happen again when Lan Xichen calls Jin Guangyao out on it.
Whether Jin Guangyao really means it this time or not, he isn’t given the chance to escape with Jin Ling as hostage as Wen Ning shows up possessed by Nie Mingjue’s blade spirit, Baxia, looking to kill Jin Guangyao. The one to deal the blow that would see the beginning of the end for Jin Guangyao isn’t Baxia. The blade spirit only manages to take off Jin Guangyao’s arm in the end. The one to deal this blow is actually Lan Xichen.
Through the use of his black flute, Chenqing, and Xue Yang’s Yin Tiger Seal, Wei Wuxian was able to control, settle, return and bury Baxia back with its master Nie Mingjue. Wen Ning had tried his best to hold back Baxia from attacking Jin Guangyao as well as Jin Lin who had some of Jin Guangyao’s blood splatter on him which had caused Baxia to go after him, too. After Wei Wuxian’s shout of Wen Ning’s courtesy name, Wen Qionglin, Wen Ning was able to wake from Baxia’s control, stop with his bare hands the strike on Jin Ling before, with great effort, flinging himself and the blade towards a pillar where Wen Ning drove the blade into. But it’s not until Jiang Cheng came out with Chenqing did Wei Wuxian manage to have Wen Ning fully released from Baxia’s control and have the blade follow his command all the way back to Nie Mingjue’s coffin in the back of the temple.
Just before Baxia is lay to rest, it does make one kill: Su Minshan. As if coming to Nie Huaisang’s rescue (Nie Mingjue is Baxia’s master after all), the blade flies back to the front of the temple to thrust itself into Su Minshan’s chest before it is once again commanded by Wei Wuxian back to the coffin where Wei Wuxian puts with it the Yin Tiger Seal before placing a seal on it.
The chances of Jin Guangyao surviving the attack looked to be still possible. However, after what Nie Huaisang claims to be an attempt to make a move on Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao is stabbed right in the heart by Lan Xichen himself. As if not wanting to kill but was forced to do it, Lan Xichen had done so without his eyes open.
Episode 50
Nie Huaisang who had been nicknamed the clan leader who knows nothing is looking to be a clan leader who knows quite a lot and had plotted a scheme so well that even Jin Guangyao didn’t suspect Nie Huaisang to be the death of him.
Plunging the sword deeper into himself like the pain he felt didn’t compare to the pain he felt over Lan Xichen’s loss of trust in this area of their relationship, Jin Guangyao has Lan Xichen think of a time he’s ever wronged Lan Xichen. He mentions how it was he who helped Lan Xichen escape when Yunshen Buzhichu burned down: it was he who offered to help when the Gusu Lan Clan was rebuilding Yunshen Buzhichu. Jin Guangyao admits to doing all kinds of evil, but never in all these years had he done anything to or thought about harming Lan Xichen. Jin Guangyao tells the Zewu-zun that the most he did is have Lan Xichen suppress his spiritual energy (which he had him do earlier). Never had he ever oppressed the Gusu Lan Clan, either. He had always responded in support every time.
Judging from Lan Xichen’s silence, Jin Guangyao really hasn’t ever done anything to hurt or harm Lan Xichen. This then means Nie Huaisang had lied about Jin Guangyao making a move against Lan Xichen while his back was turned; and it’s quite obvious Nie Huaisang had lied at the end of it all.
In Jin Guangyao’s final act, he looked to try it again as he grips onto Lan Xichen’s shoulders to drag him to the back of the temple to undo the seal Wei Wuxian had just placed on Nie Mingjue’s coffin. Thrusting Lan Xichen’s sword further into himself, Jin Guangyao’s blood drips all over the coffin, causing it to explode open, resentment energy to escape all over the place and the whole temple to shake and begin to collapse. It appears as if Jin Guangyao had tricked Lan Xichen yet again, but in the end Jin Guangyao forcefully pushes Lan Xichen away towards the others who all quickly make their way out—save Wei Wuxian, who stays behind slightly longer as if to see that everyone makes it out, maybe to see to the situation in the temple as well. However, as the temple continue to collapse with Jin Guangyao showing no sign of leaving the temple (instead he heads back to Nie Mingjue’s coffin as if in defiance and wanting to challenge him in death), Wei Wuxian joins the others in getting out of there.
Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang sitting out on the steps of the temple, Lan Xichen appears to have been shaken greatly following everything that was said and revealed about Jin Guangyao. He admits that even up to the point of the night before he still didn’t understand him, which seems to have him come to a realisation that he who was often seen to be full of insight, understanding and wisdom no longer understands matters.
In an attempt to comfort Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang tries to comfort the Zewu-zun by suggesting no one can understand another person completely. He’s not wrong about that. Even Nie Huaisang was hiding a side of him from everyone. Lan Xichen moving to ask Nie Huaisang again about whether he really saw Jin Guangyao make a move behind his back, Nie Huaisang now says he isn’t so sure what he saw.
Nie Huaisang may appear to have lied and to come off more scheming and more unsuspecting than Jin Guangyao, but Nie Huaisang looks to be different from Jin Guangyao as Nie Huaisang only sought to expose Jin Guangyao for his deeds, but have no desire to climb the ladder. After everyone makes their way out of temple grounds, Nie Huaisang is seen picking up Jin Guangyao’s hat to give it a few brushes to clean off some of the dirt. There was no pleasure in Nie Huaisang’s expression after his success in ending Jin Guangyao’s reign. When Wei Wuxian sought to find out Nie Huaisang’s thoughts of going after the Chief Cultivator position nearer to the end of the episode, Nie Huaisang reveals no intention. He tells Wei Wuxian he’s a sensible person: things that he should be doing, he won’t have someone else do it for him; if it’s not something he can’t do himself then he won’t do it.
It’s reassuring as Lan Wangji has decided to take up the Chief Cultivator position after Jin Guangyao’s end left it vacant. It’s a decision which came as a surprise to Wei Wuxian. He naturally thought Lan Wangji was going to continue with him in his journeys now that he’s been freed from the Sacrificing Curse Mo Xuanyu put on him. But it was not to be. Like the vow Wei Wuxian made 16 years ago—to eliminate evil, protect the weak and maintain a good conscience—Lan Wangji reveals his vow was the same, explaining this was behind his decision to be the next Chief Cultivator.
Wei Wuxian had thought Wen Ning would go with him, too, but Wen Ning isn’t continuing on with Wei Wuxian either. He’s taken on Wei Wuxian’s suggestion to think about his future; and decided that he would first return to Qishan with Lan Sizhui to build a memorial tomb for their departed family members (Lan Sizhui reveals to finally remember he used to be a Wen and was cared for by Wei Wuxian as a child this episode). After that, Wen Ning would send Lan Sizhui back to Yunshen Buzhichu before embarking on a future path which he wants to try walking alone.
With neither Lan Wangji or Wen Ning accompanying, Wei Wuxian looks to be left with taking his future path alone, belonging to no clan or family. There was no intention from Wei Wuxian to return to Lianhua Wu despite the truth having been cleared up between him and Jiang Cheng nor was there any intention from Jiang Cheng to hold Wei Wuxian back.
Going a bit back to just before everyone left Guanyin Temple grounds, Jiang Cheng had hung around for a brief time, wanting to say something to Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng had stared at Wei Wuxian with a bit of a frown from his standing position that was some distance from Wei Wuxian who sat on the steps. According to Jin Ling—who had noticed on two occasions: once inside the temple and the second during this time outside—Jiang Cheng had wanted to say something to Wei Wuxian, but didn’t.
Through a flashback, this something is the whole story behind how Jiang Cheng ended up back at Lianhua Wu when it was occupied by Wen Chao that resulted in Jiang Cheng losing his jindan. Back in Episode 16, it was suggested Jiang Cheng had recklessly gone back to Lianhua Wu on his own to maybe face off against Wen Chao to retrieve the bodies of Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan. The flashback reveals that Jiang Cheng didn’t go back to Lianhua Wu in a reckless decision to face Wen Chao alone, he had done it to save Wei Wuxian.
In Episode 16, while Wei Wuxian was out buying medicine for his feverish Shijie as well as some fried pancakes for them all, Wen Clan guards had spotted Wei Wuxian from behind and was about to have Wei Wuxian turn around. Jiang Cheng was at a distance and saw Wei Wuxian in danger of being discovered and captured. The flashback doesn’t show Jiang Cheng lead the Wen Clan guards away, but the suggestion is, Jiang Cheng did lead them away as before the guards were seen called away by the other guards some distance behind Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng was heard in his thoughts saying that he was entrusting Wei Wuxian to take care of Jiang Yanli.
Wei Wuxian had said that cultivation was Jiang Cheng’s life, that he cared a lot about gaining and losing, that a state without his jindan would be regarded as a life that is over for him (Episode 17). Based on Jiang Cheng’s decision to sacrifice himself to save Wei Wuxian, it looked like Jiang Cheng was ready to accept whatever became of him. But not knowing this, Wei Wuxian ended up sacrificing himself for Jiang Cheng for the sacrifice Jiang Cheng attempted to make first.
Seemingly seeing no point in bringing up something which will do little to change everything that’s happened, the end for Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng is a small tear in one of Jiang Cheng’s eyes and a sad smile as he expresses a “take care” to Wei Wuxian who had long left Guanyin Temple.
On the hilltop surrounded by green mountains, Wei Wuxian is asked by Lan Wangji what his plans are next. Wei Wuxian’s answer? With one mount (that is, his donkey, Xiao Pingguo) and wine, he will travel the world and make the four seas his home. He then takes Xiao Pingguo past Lan Wangji to bid farewell: “Life will changed, water will continue to flow. I’m sure we’ll meet again,” he shouts.
It looks like Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are going their separate ways with Lan Wangji walking in the opposite direction. However, after some distance, Lan Wangji is seen looking back as Wei Wuxian’s words about coming up with a name for the song Lan Wangji composed crosses his thoughts. He had asked Lan Wangji to come up with one the next time they meet. Lan Wangji is heard in his thoughts saying he already has. The next moment we see is Wei Wuxian playing the song Lan Wangji wrote on Chenqing and Lan Wangji calling Wei Wuxian’s name. Whether Lan Wangji had returned to call Wei Wuxian back isn’t seen, but it’s suggested that possibly Lan Wangji had gone back to him as Wei Wuxian is seen surprised by the call which is followed by a smile that slowly spreads across his face as turns to see the person behind him.
Final Thoughts
And that’s the ending for The Untamed. It’s one of those open-ended endings that you can’t say is a sad one or a happy one! We sure hope on the other side is really Lan Wangji calling Wei Wuxian back to him to stay at Yunshen Buzhichu! Sixteen years ago, Lan Wangji as well as Lan Xichen had tried to bring Wei Wuxian to Yunshen Buzhichu (Episode 24 and Episode 25) only to be rejected time and time again because Wei Wuxian couldn’t leave Yiling Burial Mounds because he had the group of Wen Clan he wanted to protect. Now, Wei Wuxian is free to go wherever. For Lan Wangji to let Wei Wuxian go on his way just like that, surely Lan Wangji won’t miss this opportunity to do what he couldn’t do in the past!
Honestly, we don’t mind who calls Wei Wuxian back. It could be Lan Wangji or Jiang Cheng, we’d consider it a happy ending. As long as Wei Wuxian’s end isn’t him travelling the world alone. But if Wei Wuxian must travel the world alone then it better be what he wants, which we think might not be the case.
That last scene feels so much like one of those scenes where they both decide to go their separate ways to do great things, but secretly hope the other will hold the other back so they can remain together but neither say anything as they fear they’d affect the other’s resolve. To us, it felt like Wei Wuxian was waiting for Lan Wangji to hold him back, and maybe, there was a desire from Lan Wangji to ask Wei Wuxian to return to Yunshen Buzhichu with him. The whole dialogue where they tell each other which way they’re going, Lan Wangji asking whether Wei Wuxian knows where he’s heading and then Wei Wuxian announcing his leave with a smile while passing Lan Wangji before the smile straightens after Wei Wuxian is completely past Lan Wangji, it feels so much like they’re waiting for the other to do something.
We really hope that the last shot of Wei Wuxian turning around to Lan Wangji’s voice is Lan Wangji asking Wei Wuxian to go with him, else it’d really be a sad ending. : o( : o(.
We were pretty sad over the way Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng’s relationship ended, too. Before, when Wei Wuxian chose to save the remaining group of Wen Clan, their association with each other severed only in the eyes of others but they were still as close as before. Now it looks like they’ve really parted ways with both apparently deciding they’ve paid back what they owe each other, and in the case of Wei Wuxian, to the Jiang Family.
We would have loved to see a different kind of ending for Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, but we suppose the amount of guilt and indebtedness won’t ever allow things to go back to the way it was. Wei Wuxian can’t be fully held responsible for the annihilation of the Jiang Family and the Yunmeng Jiang Clan, but Wei Wuxian did provoke Wen Chao because he took a stand for Lan Wangji as well as Mian Mian which led to Jiang Fengmian, Yu Ziyuan and the Yunmeng Jiang Clan being targeted and annihilated. Wei Wuxian would have been the one captured by Wen Chao’s men had it not been for Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng’s attempt to sacrifice himself for Wei Wuxian led to Wei Wuxian making the decision to give his jindan to Jiang Cheng, which led to Wei Wuxian practicing Gui Dao Shu Fa and becoming the target of a scheme which caused the deaths of Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan.
Who owes who, who needs to feel guilty and who shouldn’t isn’t so clear. Maybe it’s why Jiang Cheng didn’t bring up his attempt to save him and maybe this is why Wei Wuxian wanted Jiang Cheng to just forget it all, let things all go and go their separate ways. To not leave it at that could cause endless feelings of guilt and indebtedness.
Anyway, we hope you’ve enjoyed our series recap of The Untamed. If you haven’t seen this drama, we totally, totally, totally recommend you do. If you’re like us guys, you might find the drama not catching your attention initially, but we suggest sticking with it. For us, the drama didn’t fully catch us until around Episode 14 when Wei Wuxian takes on the Black Tortoise of Slaughter with Lan Wangji as this is when the main story comes in and things start getting interesting as we watched Wei Wuxian take a stand, make sacrifices, get unjustly blamed and condemned, all to see him exonerated in the end. If only we could see the other side of that last shot and hear Wei Wuxian get asked to return with Lan Wangji to Buzhichu, or even see Jiang Cheng seek out Wei Wuxian and bring him back to Lianhua Wu in an extra scene… We would love to see Wei Wuxian take on the title of “the cool uncle” to Jin Ling (because we can so see Wei Wuxian as one), that would make the perfect ending.
Before we finish the recap, we thought we’ll list some of our favourite episodes, characters, pairings and mentions of a few past and upcoming dramas starring some of the cast we came across which you might want to look out for as well as our favourite/notable moments in pictures like previous recaps.
Favourite / Notable Moments in Pictures
EPISODE 41: Nie Mingjue kicks Jin Guangyao all the way down Jinling Tai steps for suggesting he is different and nobler than those Jin Guangyao sacrifices for his own great accomplishments.
EPISODE 41: Nie Huaisang runs in, witnessing Nie Mingjue attack his hallucinations created by Jin Guangyao, and is told Nie Mingjue no longer recognises them.
EPISODE 41: Jin Guangyao tries to turn Nie Mingjue into a ghost puppet using Xue Yang’s Yin Tiger Seal, only to be met with resistance. In the end Nie Mingjue is beheaded.
EPISODE 41: Wei Wuxian’s paper counterpart is discovered by Jin Guangyao. Jumping and stamping, Wei Wuxian tries to unsheathe his sealed sword, Suibian, to have it attack. Fortunately for him, Suibian listens, allowing Wei Wuxian to eventually make his escape out of Jin Guangyao’s treasure room.
EPISODE 42: Lan Wangji stands with Wei Wuxian to take on everyone. This time Lan Wangji will walk the single-planked bridge with Wei Wuxian.
EPISODE 42: Jin Ling stabs Wei Wuxian upon discovering he isn’t Mo Xuanyu.
EPISODE 42: Wei Wuxian laughs as he thinks back to how it was Lan Wangji who was always on his case 16-years ago when everyone feared and flattered him. Sixteen years later, when everyone hates and cast him aside and wishes he was dead, it’s still Lan Wangji with him. Lan Wangji is the only one who worried and cared about him then and now.
EPISODE 44: Lan Sizhui gets praise from Wei Wuxian for trying to fight off a group of masked men. The praise Lan Sizhui receives seems to have Jin Ling join the group who might just be trying to get some praise from Wei Wuxian, too (at least that’s what we think! : o) : o)). But look who’s standing protectively in front of Wei Wuxian? Lan Wangji, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi. Wei Wuxian’s made an impression on Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi! We like to think Jin Ling hides the fact he likes Wei Wuxian, too, but just struggles with wanting to hate him for the misunderstanding over his parents’ deaths.
EPISODE 45: Wei Wuxian uses himself as a target to attract the ghost puppets while Lan Wangji moves to keep them away from actually touching Wei Wuxian as a way to save everyone and allow them to escape to safety. To think they thought Wei Wuxian was behind the reappearance of the ghost puppets and the kidnapping of the young disciples, how wrong they were. Their enemy is not Wei Wuxian but Jin Guangyao and Su Minshan.
EPISODE 45: Jin Ling shows shock and worry as he watches Wei Wuxian faint after his battle with the ghost puppets on the Burial Mounds. Jin Ling’s grudge against Wei Wuxian looks to be dissipating.
EPISODE 45: Wen Ning suspects Lan Sizhui is Ah Yuan and has it confirmed with a gift he happen to get at the stalls which is similar to a toy he got as a child.
EPISODE 45: Jin Ling seems to want to put down his sword so much and let go of his grudge for what happened to his parents, but seems conflicted. Jin Ling seems to want to strike Wen Ning for his part in killing his father. He seems to want to continue to hate both Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning, but struggle to do it. Instead, he just hugs his father’s sword through wails.
EPISODE 46: Wen Ning demands Jiang Cheng unsheathe Wei Wuxian’s sword which is supposed to be sealed, and can only be unsheathed by Wei Wuxian. However, Jiang Cheng easily unsheathes it—to both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji’s shock. The sword which only recognises Wei Wuxian as its owner has recognised Jiang Cheng as its owner because the jindan inside Jiang Cheng is not his own, but Wei Wuxian’s.
EPISODE 46: Wen Ning tells Jiang Cheng that the only reason he has “his” jindan back is because of Wen Qing, Qishan Wen Clan’s best doctor, and Wei Wuxian who endured excruciating pain to have it transferred to him.
EPISODE 46: Sad and angry tears flow down Lan Wangji’s face as he hears about the sacrifice Wei Wuxian made for Jiang Cheng. The harsh words which Jiang Cheng had thrown at Wei Wuxian must feel so unjust to Lan Wangji’s ears now. Draping Wei Wuxian over a shoulder, Lan Wangji takes him out of Lianhua Wu.
EPISODE 48: Jiang Cheng apologises to Wei Wuxian which has Wei Wuxian tell Jiang Cheng he doesn’t want Jiang Cheng to say sorry to him. It’s the past. Wei Wuxian wants Jiang Cheng to forget. But if he can’t forget it, which Wei Wuxian knows he can’t with Jiang Cheng’s personality, Wei Wuxian tells Jiang Cheng to treat it as repayment to the Jiang Clan.
EPISODE 48: Wei Wuxian may not have his flute, Chenqing. The Yin Tiger Seal may be Xue Yang’s, but Wei Wuxian can still command it with whistling.
EPISODE 48: The trust Lan Xichen has for Jin Guangyao is all but broken as Lan Xichen’s first act after regaining his spiritual energy is hold his sword to Jin Guangyao’s neck. But hoping Lan Xichen will take their past relationship into account and show some mercy, Jin Guangyao kneels, admits his fault and hopes Lan Xichen will leave him a way to remain alive.
EPISODE 49: Jin Guangyao goes after Jin Ling. Jin Guangyao lies again after telling Lan Xichen it’ll be the last time he’ll do anything bad if only he is given one last chance to live.
EPISODE 49: Wei Wuxian uses Chenqing to control Baxia. All this time it looks like Jiang Cheng’s been carrying Chenqing around. How nice it is to see Wei Wuxian back with Chenqing and the Yin Tiger Seal! It’s also so nice to see that this time round, everyone—Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang—are all in support of Wei Wuxian and the use of Chenqing and the Yin Tiger Seal.
EPISODE 49: It’s a round of concern shown: Lan Sizhui to Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian; Wei Wuxian to Wen Ning; and Lan Wangji to Wei Wuxian. On a side note, Lan Sizhui seems to have recalled everything—who Wen Ning is to him as well as who Wei Wuxian is to him. As Wei Wuxian was commanding Baxia back to the coffin with Chenqing and the Yin Tiger Seal, Lan Sizhui seemed to have recognised Wei Wuxian as he grips onto the butterfly toy in his hand.
EPISODE 49: Lan Xichen thrusts his sword into Jin Guangyao’s heart based on Nie Huaisang’s claim Jin Guangyao was reaching to do something. Nie Huaisang’s looking not so innocent here as he had intentionally placed the medicine Lan Xichen had asked for inside his clothes so Nie Huaisang could make Lan Xichen turn his back to Jin Guangyao, wait for Nie Huaisang to bring it out, and make the claim Jin Guangyao’s making a move.
EPISODE 50: Jin Guangyao asks if Lan Xichen wants to die together with him. It appears as if Jin Guangyao had tricked Lan Xichen yet again, but in the end, as Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling, Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning make a move to leave, Jin Guangyao punches Lan Xichen away.
EPISODE 50: Jiang Cheng wants to tell him about his own sacrifice to save Wei Wuxian from the Wen Clan before Wei Wuxian sacrificed himself to save Jiang Cheng, but chooses to just let the secret remain a secret.
EPISODE 50: Wei Wuxian learns Lan Sizhui is the little boy, Ah Yuan, who he took care of and have been thinking about recently.
EPISODE 50: Lan Wangji has taken up Chief Cultivator position and isn’t going with Wei Wuxian as Wei Wuxian had thought.
EPISODE 50: It’s farewell between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, or is it as Lan Wangji’s voice is heard calling Wei Wuxian after going their separate ways.
Favourite Episodes
The Untamed had so many great episodes, cool, sad and heartbreaking episodes as Wei Wuxian goes from being a talented Immortal cultivator to being a rogue cultivator seen to have gone off to demonic cultivation after standing up against evil and wrongdoers. There’s something to like about most of them, like character development, relationship development, main story development. We particularly love the secret behind Wei Wuxian’s decision to cultivate resentment energy and watching Wei Wuxian’s ability to actually control dark energy of the Yin Metal Sword, leading him to smelt the Yin Tiger Seal and all the misunderstandings and Wei Wuxian’s end which all gets cleared at the end. Below are our five most favourite episodes.
Episode 14
Wei Wuxian is the only one to dare suggest using dark, resentment energy to suppress or eliminate evil at the Gusu Lan lectures and is the one who dare control it to take down the Black Tortoise of Slaughter. This is also the first time we got to see Lan Wangji worry about Wei Wuxian while Wei Wuxian fought hard to not succumb to the dark energy of the Yin Metal Sword. We got to see Lan Wangji try to nurse Wei Wuxian back to consciousness with his spiritual energy and sing Wei Wuxian the song Lan Wangji composed, Wuji, when a barely conscious Wei Wuxian asked to fill the silence. We would have loved to see Lan Wangji stay next to Wei Wuxian when they got rescued from the cave by Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan, but with Gusu Lan Clan under attack by the Wen Clan, Lan Wangji was already heading back. The next time they see each other, Wei Wuxian’s no longer able to walk the same path of Immortal Cultivation as Lan Wangji, having sacrificed his jindan for Jiang Cheng.
Episode 19
From a talented Immortal cultivator who is second to none to not being able to escape Wen Chao and his men, Wei Wuxian ends up thrown into the Burial Mounds in Yiling where the resentment energy is so thick and the place so full of corpses Wei Wuxian’s not expected to live. It’s so hard to watch Wei Wuxian so weak, but we know what comes next is Wei Wuxian refining and controlling this dark energy which makes this set-up episode very cool.
Episode 20
Like we said in our Episode 20 recap, Wei Wuxian returns darker, more powerful but hints at a big weakness. We love the way Wei Wuxian returns from the Yiling Burial Mounds in the mysterious way he did. The sweeping kills throughout Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng’s journey towards Yiling appeared so much the doing of a really evil entity. They probably never thought it would be Wei Wuxian’s work.
It’s the beginning of some good drama between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian as Lan Wangji is challenged to think what is good, what is evil, what is black and what is right. Before Wei Wuxian took the unorthodox path, it was always Wei Wuxian approaching Lan Wangji. It’s nice to see the reverse after this point. It’s a sign Lan Wangji cares about what happens to Wei Wuxian.
Episode 33
We could just feel Wei Wuxian’s maddening frustration at how Wei Wuxian is blamed for everything no matter if it was his fault or not. All this because of the threat they feel Wei Wuxian is, because he controls of the Yin Tiger Seal and because he chose to protect a group associated with the Wen Clan. But secretly they all covet the power of the Yin Tiger Seal.
We find it interesting how the moment Wei Wuxian loses all strength to fight them all is when Jiang Yanli dies. Not even seeing Lan Wangji’s arm streaming down with blood (which Wei Wuxian does notice as he hung and tried to tug free) trying to keep Wei Wuxian from falling to his death changed his desire to leave the world of the living. We suppose Wei Wuxian didn’t want to remain in a world so unjust.
We just loved Xiao Zhan’s performance in this episode.
Episode 46
Wei Wuxian’s secret about having given up his jindan to Jiang Cheng is finally revealed. When the cool action scenes got fewer and fewer for Wei Wuxian, with him no longer able to fight off the ghost puppets himself after the destruction of the Yin Tiger Seal, we had this very cool part of The Untamed to looked forward to. Fans of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji relationship can also see tears roll down Lan Wangji’s cheeks as he listens to Wen Ning explain to Jiang Cheng the sacrifice being the reason Wei Wuxian refused to carry his sword around, how he can’t support the sword for long and how Wei Wuxian’s insistence on his current path isn’t because he enjoyed others badmouthing but he had no choice.
Favourite characters
Wei Wuxian
Wei Wuxian is just too cool: he’s the dark power of the cultivating world but so full of good! When everyone failed to refine and control the Yin Metal, he goes a step further and creates the Yin Tiger Seal and uses it to do what he said he would do: to protect the weak, fight evil and maintain a clear conscience. This demonic cultivator who embraces unorthodox methods such as cultivating resentment energy and crafty sorcery to fight evil probably has more good and a greater sense of justice and is more virtuous than any Immortal Cultivator supposedly following the correct path.
Wen Ning
Wen Ning is scarily strong, fast, but so adorable when he’s not fighting evil with Wei Wuxian.
Favourite Pairings
We have too many favourite pairings in this drama and they all include Wei Wuxian! The amount of likeable pairings, we’re not surprised by how well The Untamed has captured us. No scene is boring with so many interesting pairings!
Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji
The Untamed is based on a Boy Love novel with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as a couple. This live-action version reworks the relationship to a more bromance kind of relationship with suggestions of the original relationship in the novel. Despite the rework, it’s actually hard to not ship these two. As people who enjoy watching romance dramas between a man and a woman, The Untamed does well to get us shipping Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji! : oD : oD.
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng
On the surface, Jiang Cheng is hot-tempered, but underneath he really cares about Wei Wuxian and thinks of him as family. As we mentioned already, how sad we felt when Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian parted ways the way they did. Why must they end like this?!
Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning
Together, Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning make such an unbeatable force against evil. Wei Wuxian had likened Wen Ning to a knife. It seems to be very true. Ever since Wei Wuxian gave away his jindan to Jiang Cheng, only through Wen Ning was Wei Wuxian able to fight off all the evil deeds committed against him. Wen Ning is both a loyal right-hand man and Wei Wuxian’s weapon.
Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling
We said it before, Wei Wuxian would make such a great uncle to Jin Ling. Wei Wuxian would teach him some cool fighting moves while instilling some good values and qualities to being a gentleman. Although Wei Wuxian comes off shameless and having a bit of an unrefined taste in racy novels, Wei Wuxian clearly values good values and character. It is the meaning behind Wei Wuxian’s choice of Jin Ling’s courtesy name Jin Rulan (金如兰). The third syllable/character, “Lan”/“兰”, means “orchid” which is a flower within The Four Gentlemen (四君子) which together symbolise the qualities of what a man of noble character should embody, qualities such as being virtuous, noble and benevolent. The orchid specifically symbolises humility and nobility.
Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing
This pairing, we swear has potential for development in terms of a one-sided loveline with how Wei Wuxian is the exact kind of person with the exact kind of character and strength to protect Wen Qing, Wen Ning and her clansmen. Jiang Cheng had asked Wen Qing why she didn’t go to him for help after the Wen Clan was subdued and killed once. Her answer was that Jiang Cheng may be able to protect her and Wen Ning, but seems to doubt Jiang Cheng could provide protection for the rest of her clan. With suggestions Jiang Cheng likes Wen Qing, it gives off this suggestion that the kind of man she would accept the heart from would be someone like Wei Wuxian. Whether Wei Wuxian would offer that heart is another matter. : o) : o).
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli
If Wei Wuxian’s temperament ever went off to the wrong side and had become demonic, Jiang Yanli probably had the best chance of bring Wei Wuxian back to himself. Jiang Yanli is like Wei Wuxian’s guiding light and when he lost her at the Battle of Buyetian, he effectively died with her that same day. : o( : o(.
Where to next after The Untamed?
Xiao Zhan Past and Upcoming Drama Project(s)
In our browsing of dramas from the cast of The Untamed, we were so happy and excited to see so many dramas filmed and due for release for Xiao Zhan! There’s The Wolf (2020), The Oath of Love and Doulou Continent (2020).
With The Wolf, Xiao Zhan isn’t the male lead in this one; but still, we’re really hanging out for this one. Xiao Zhan will be playing a bounty hunter with a secret identity of Crown Prince of Jin. Xiao Zhan’s rugged appearance makes us really excited to see him in The Wolf.
Modern drama, The Oath of Love, sees Xiao Zhan play a doctor alongside Yang Zi. This one is looking like a nice romance drama! What a great selection of dramas and range of roles to look forward to!
(Update 1 July 2021: We’ve now written a series recap for The Wolf. It’s a pretty good drama! You won’t be disappointed watching Xiao Zhan as second male lead Ji Chong. Ji Chong gets quite a lot of love from the writers!)
(Update 5 October 2021: We finally got to watching Douluo Continent about a couple months ago and have the first part of the recap written just in time to mark Xiao Zhan’s 30th birthday. Whoop, whoop! Check out our recap, Douluo Continent (2021) Series Recap, Episodes 1 – 5. We will be updating the series recap as we finish writing them! Please look forward to the series recap for Douluo Continent!
The Oath of Love – 余生,请多指教 (TBA) (Upcoming), starring Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi
Douluo Continent – 斗罗大陆 (2021) (Upcoming) – starring Xiao Zhan and Wu Xuan Yi
The Wolf – 优酷官方频道 (2020) (Upcoming), starring Darren Wang, Li Qin, Xiao Zhan
But until these upcoming Xiao Zhan dramas release, we’ve so far gotten our Xiao Zhan fix with Joy of Life. We started Joy of Life before The Untamed and didn’t finish the drama because it didn’t catch our attention, but after discovering Xiao Zhan plays a supporting role in Joy of Life as icy-cold spy Yan Bingyun, we went back to finish the drama.
Second attempt at watching Joy of Life, we found Joy of Life still not catching our attention for the most part. There’s a lot happening, plenty of politics, but for us it was slow moving. The slow pacing lasts 32 episodes. Had we not been waiting for Yan Bingyun to appear, which doesn’t happen until Episode 38, we probably would have skipped out again. But, we didn’t. We had managed to get as far as three-quarters way through. We had come in a second time for Xiao Zhan and his Yan Bingyun character which was frequently mentioned from early on suggesting the character’s significance in story, but we’ve yet to see Yan Bingyun physically enter the scene. We were determined to keep going to see Xiao Zhan’s Yan Bingyun character grace the screen and finish this drama.
We made it and the drama turned out to be pretty watchable for the last 13 episodes. The last scene between Fan Xian and Yan Bingyun (we won’t expand on in case anyone hasn’t seen Joy of Life and plans to watch) did make us want to see season two even. Joy of Life won’t be releasing any time soon it looks like as it’s only in its filming stage as we are writing this.
We now plan to get to watching Oh My Emperor! which we had always intended to watch, but have yet to get to it; but, Xiao Zhan shall get us to finally click in and watch the drama whilst we wait for his upcoming projects to air!
Our Song – 我们的歌
Xiao Zhan is not only an awesome actor, but also an awesome singer. In 2019, he participated in a singing variety show called Our Song, teaming up with Chinese singer Na Ying, giving us the opportunity to hear just how amazing his singing is.
Our Song – Episode 1
Xiao Zhan’s singing is so good that in Episode 1 of Our Song all the mentors were fighting to team up with him!
Na Ying and Xiao Zhan collaborations
All the songs he sings whilst a participant in Our Song. Listening to all the different songs and styles, it makes us wonder, why Xiao Zhan hasn’t released any tracks, yet? We will buy and download!
Wakin Chau and Xiao Zhan collaboration
We love this collaboration between Wakin Chau and Xiao Zhan. One of our favourites!
Wang Yibo Upcoming Drama Project(s)
Wang Yibo looks to be coming out with Legend of Fei next year which is based on the novel You Fei by Priest. He will be joined by Zhao Liying who we just loved in Journey of Flowers. We will definitely be keeping an eye out for this drama.
The Legend of Fei – 有翡 (2021) (Upcoming), starring Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo
Wang Zhuo Cheng and Zoey Meng Drama Project(s)
If after watching The Untamed and any of you have become fans of Wang Zhuo Cheng or Zoey Meng for their roles as Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing respectively, they’ve got a drama out together called Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos (2020)! Both Zoey Meng and Wang Zhou Cheng are noted to be playing main roles, but based on the trailer we watched and the promotional posters, their characters aren’t paired up with each other. Still, this will be on our to watch list.
Legend of Two Sisters In the Chaos – 浮世双娇传 (2020) (airing), starring Li Zhiting & Meng Ziyi
And that’s almost it for our recap on The Untamed! We’ll leave you off with Xiao Zhan’s version of The Untamed main theme song, Unrestrained / Wuji, on one hour loop – because who doesn’t love hearing Xiao Zhan sing? : oD : oD. We love Xiao Zhan’s version of Unrestrained so much we even went and purchased the track off iTunes so we could listen to it anytime, anywhere!
If anyone is interested in reading an interpretation of Unrestrained, we found the interpretation from Summer Waterlily interesting.
We hope you enjoyed our The Untamed Series Recap. Hopefully, it’ll get some who haven’t watched it to hop on the bandwagon and give this very popular, awesome drama a watch. Thanks for reading!
Unrestrained / Wuji – Main Theme – Sung by Xiao Zhan
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