When last we left our problematic secondary characters, our team came together to face the Resentful Woman.
Finally, we learn what happened in Xingshan Hall 15 years ago
The Dowager Consort made a deal with cultivator Tao and a demon so that her son would become the crown prince. But she has to sacrifice her daughter, who may be the only person besides her son she won’t kill.
Her daughter agrees to be the “Saintess” for the “Blessing Ceremony” because that sounds better than human sacrifice. But we know that’s not what happens.
Present day the Dowager panics about a wedding I thought she wanted. At some point, she must have realized it was cursed. Everyone is gathered for the Princess and Marquis.
The Dowager goes after cultivator Tao with a sword, but he dissolves and the wooden statuette falls to the ground. An Incubus Demon appears from the statuette because Tao was just a puppet. It says everyone will die today.
A woman next to the Princess does magic, revealing that none of the people at the wedding are real. Then it’s revealed that she and the man next to the Marquis are Mu Yao and Fu Yi.
But wasn’t that demon the Resentful Woman?
Yes! I was confused too. Hold on. This is just a level 4 Incubus Demon, but resentment within the formation is making it stronger. Strong enough to magic them into the Dowager’s nightmare.
It’s a beautiful place. Even though it’s her nightmare, the Dowager pretends not to know anything. Mu Yao recognizes it as Qilin Mountain. A dream Dowager orders the mountain to be leveled, killing all the demons.
They move on to her second nightmare, this is all a dark fantasy A Christmas Carol. Dream her is with the Marquis’ father. He’s dying and wants the Dowager to be honest about his trip to the Qilin mountain, and if he was in love with a demon. She tells him he was never involved with a demon. He dies.
Even though she magicked him to make him forget, which led to his depression, the Dowager blames demons for his death. She asks Mu Yao if she would be okay with her brother being with a demon. Good. Question.
Next, they’re taken to Xingshan Hall, where Pei Yu replaced the Princess as the Saintess. The princess realizes the little girl is Pei Yun’s sister.
So it’s not just demons that are expendable to the Dowager, but everyone
Except her two children. She defends herself as flame engulfs the dream hall, killing 400 people, and leaving her the only survivor.
Cultivator Tao was from Qilin Mountain, and when it was leveled his daughter was killed. The wooden statuette was his daughter’s. Now his strange declaration of revenge makes sense.
They’ve figured all this out, but they need the Dowager to admit it or they can’t escape the nightmare. Smokey resentment monsters swirling around them attack the Marquis. The Dowager whines she did nothing wrong and tries to get the resentment ghouls to attack her, but they attack her daughter instead.
The Princess repeats that she’ll be the Saintess to make her mom happy, and the Dowager finally confesses to everything. Even how she covered everything up by closing the doors and burning everyone alive. She sobs that she’s sorry, and Fu Yi gets them out of the dream.
The Marquis and Princess are fine. They aren’t even the Marquis and Princess, they’re Sheng and Miao Miao in disguise. I missed them! Sheng scolds the Incubus Demon, and it’s agreed that it’s so evil there’s no point in trying to save it.
The demon is upset to have failed twice and explodes itself
And screams and cackles. But then it’s back. It’s breaking the formation, which it can do because Mu Yao’s father wove its core into the formation. When the formation breaks, it’ll explode and take half the capital. I’m not sure I understand. The important thing is that everyone could die.
Mu Yao wants to use her core to delay the blast and wants everyone to help, including Guo and his cultivators. All of them working together should neutralize the explosion.
Miao Miao contacts Guo, who flees with his men in terror. Heh.
Our heroes are losing energy. Sheng spits blood. Miao Miao and Cui Cui add their energy rather than escape. But then Guo’s men arrive dramatically to save everyone! Neat! Though I was hoping Sheng would demon or the sword would show up.
But they’re not enough, Cui Cui collapses, Fu Yi spits blood, and some of Guo’s men fall.
Miao Miao closes her eyes and is in the system world with the panda statue. She asks for the energy to save everyone. The system offers to unlock “Apocal Power” and warns that it can be destructive, and she needs to learn of its consequences before making her decision.
What are those consequences? I don’t know! But she makes her decision
She’s back and has a lotus on her forehead, like the one in Sheng’s Heart Lake, that sends energy into the formation, helping destroy it. Everyone lives! And notices her forehead.
She’s taken to the Astronomical Bureau, where Guo and his guys talk about it being a rainbow core, like the Mu ancestor. A scroll of the Mu ancestor is found, and she looks exactly like the woman in the portrait.
Everyone bows to her and thinks she’ll pull the sword out. I feel like a jerk for not guessing she’d pull it out. But then she doesn’t, despite some comical efforts. Everyone wants her to do it, which is sweet. And she gets a hug from Mu Yao when she feels bad about letting everyone down.
Mu Yao says she tried, so we just didn’t get to see it that time. No one invites Sheng, but he goes up. The weapon throws him backward as he pulls it out, and it’s not a sword so much as an impressive staff. I think it’s my bad for deciding it was a sword because of the stone.
Everyone resumes their bowing, and Sheng shoves Crescent back into the stone.
Turns out Pei Yun asked for the hero’s help. That’s how they knew what was going on. Despite this, Pei Yun feels guilty and does not want to face the Princess again.
Sheng also doesn’t want to face anyone. He walks around with Miao Miao while using an invisibility spell. Miao Miao doesn’t give him away, and when he reappears, she rests her head on his shoulder. Aww, I guess they’re together.
Mu Yao and Fu Yi take a romantic walk. She mentions that the Incubus Demon misled her into thinking it was the Resentful Woman. That explains that and also why it was so lame. It was a lame demon.
But she doesn’t understand why her father did that with the formation, letting an evil demon live. Why did the Dowager have their family token? Mu Yao is determined to face the Dowager for answers and wants Fu Yi to come. He hugs her, saying he’s always there for her. Aww.
A drunk Miao Miao convinces Sheng to tell Mu Yao the truth
He listens and nearly does it, which shows how in love he is, but he can’t find the courage.
He finds drunk Miao Miao is sprawled mostly on the floor of her room. It takes work, but he gets her into bed, and she whispers in his ear that she’s not Lin Yu. Their faces are kissing distance. Then she pretends like it’s a joke,
Sheng says she’s Miao Miao. And stares. And my heart flutters.
Miao Miao has a nightmare that because she won Sheng over, everything goes wrong with the system. She wakes up and discovers Sheng stayed with her for the night. He pulls out the letter she wrote to her father and sends it to her father, then pulls her into a hug.
They’re so cute and happy.
So next episode the angst returns?
We didn’t see what happened when Mu Yao confronted the Dowager. We don’t know the consequences of Miao Miao getting “Apocal” power, or having a rainbow core, or being a duplicate of the Mu ancestor. We don’t know the consequences of Sheng pulling out that weapon either.
And I’ve just remembered the cryptic statement the Dowager made several episodes ago, about someone in their group resembling someone. Did she recognize Sheng from when he tried to kill the Marquis’ father? That doesn’t seem right. Miao Miao and the Mu ancestor? Just Mu Yao and her father? That would be boring. I really don’t know.
Also, no one has said anything about Miao Miao nearly marrying the Marquis. I guess they’ve been busy, but I wonder if the bracelet will come up. Or is it just, “Remember that crazy week when Miao Miao suddenly wanted to marry that random stranger? That was wild.”
Who knows. I’m willing to bet Miao Miao’s nightmare is more than a nightmare. The system hasn’t forced her to do anything in a while, and things have been going well. It’s time for a new obstacle to send them towards that bad ending.
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