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TL;DR Version
Jie Li and Shang Que discover they share common pasts but very different worldviews. Orchid helps Jie Li escape, but gets caught by the Lord of Haishi City’s henchwoman. Orchid thinks Chang Heng rescues her and fixes the Destiny Book for him, but it’s really the Lord of Haishi City in disguise. DFQC rescues her for real, and she gives him the Destiny Book.
Recap
Chang Heng refuses to turn around so the giant glowing sky-eye restrains him. He’ll be stripped of his title and thrown in the Haotian Tower.
Jie Li is out at night when Shang Que shows up and is suspicious of her activities. An annoyed Jie Li goes into what a rotten day it’s been, and life too, starting with being an orphan. Shang Que perks up because he’s also an orphan.
But their similarities end there. Shang Que was rescued by DFQC and decided he didn’t want to be like the people who took advantage of him. Jie Li thinks it’s everyone for themselves and he’s just going to be used. She thinks he’s stupid, he thinks she’s cold-blooded. They don’t end on good terms.
The cauldron at the Soul Transforming Grounds is going strong. Rong Hao learns from his henchwoman that Jie Li is in the Silent Moon Palace where they can’t reach her.
In fake-Siming Hall, Jie Li is still angry with Orchid because of nearly dying repeatedly. Orchid wants to lend her the Bone Orchid so she can escape, but Jie Li wants her to come along as insurance. Orchid won’t leave without fixing DFQC’s Love Tree, but she’s guilted into going part-way. Problem is, DFQC will know what’s going on because of their connection.
Jie Li lends her the Heart-Hidden Pin that DFQC was trying to locate in earlier episodes. She explains the Moon Tribe ancestor Yannv and the Fairy ancestor Changhua were in love when the Moon Tribe was betrayed and expelled by the fairies. Yannv was so sad she broke up with Changhua, she made the hairpin to hide her feelings from her lover.
Still, they don’t get far before the Haishi City henchwoman finds them. Orchid gives Jie Li the Bone Orchid, sends her running, and then gets injured. DFQC, back at the Moon Palace, gets a matching injury right before Jie Li shows up for help.
Chang Heng appears to save Orchid first and she passes out. She wakes in Siming Hall. Immediately she agrees to fix the Destiny Book, thinking it’ll help clear her name once they know whose it is and why DFQC wanted it. Chang Heng leaves her to it, but after he leaves he floats up in the sky.
It’s Rong Hao in Haishi City but DFQC is already outside. Rong Hao orders his henchwoman to hold DFQC off until Orchid finishes. The henchwoman can’t do much against DFQC’s Hellfire.
DFQC finds the weird illusion water. It drops him into the strange, geometric world of Thousand Dreamland. There he sees infinite Orchid’s fixing the Destiny Book.
Orchid fixes the Destiny Book and sees the name of the mortal. She also sees something on her table that shouldn’t be there because DFQC previously destroyed it. When she proves he isn’t Chang Heng, the Lord of Haishi City removes his disguise and demands the Destiny Book.
DFQC pulls his sword and breaks through the illusion. Orchid says he’s there to save her but the Lord of Haishi City tells her DFQC is just after the book. DFQC appears with his rock music and stops the Lord of Haishi city from getting away. Before DFQC can reveal his true identity, the henchwoman distracts him by attacking Orchid, and they both escape.
DFQC is furious at Orchid for almost getting killed, but Orchid is happy because this proves he cares about her. DFQC destroys the cauldron and sends the Evil Spirit out again.
Trying to cheer him up, Orchid claims she fixed the Destiny Book for him and hands it over. DFQC knows this isn’t true. She tells him she knew it was an illusion because she saw something only the two of them would know. When asked about breaking his own illusion, he says he always knows the real her. And that’s why she can’t be out of his sight again.
She’s happy because he sounds like her master, and then she faints again.
In Xishan, Spirit Shattering Abyss, the henchwoman asks the Evil God Taisui for help healing Rong Hao. The Evil God is amazed that someone injured Rong Hao, who is protected by Evil Spirits, and excited that DFQC is a real adversary. As it rushes over Rong Hao to heal him, Rong Hao explains they’ve found the reincarnated fairy Xi Yun and will use them to help break the realm.
DFQC has brought Orchid to the hunting grounds in the Cangyan Sea. He notices her pin, which she tries to lie about. But he knows the history of the pin and wants it off of her. She refuses, and can’t answer him when he demands to know why she wants to hide her feelings now when it was okay earlier. He lays down in a sulk.
Thoughts
I think that Orchid doesn’t want DFQC to know her feelings because her feelings about him have changed. Probably she doesn’t know what they are, maybe it’s not love yet, but she’s aware enough to want to hide whatever it is from him.
And DFQC certainly proved that he cared about her and wasn’t just there for the Destiny Book when he protected her and lost his chance to learn who the Lord of Haishi city really is. Also, his fury at her nearly dying wasn’t just about his own life.
I love when there’s a part of the love story where the characters are clearly in a relationship, it’s just not clear what it is to them yet.
The use of the Hidden-Heart pin’s backstory for world-building, with a clear parallel with our main characters, is some nice writing.
Other nice writing, the set-up between Jie Li and Shang Que. Which is similar to Orchid and DFQC. In Siming Hall our main couple argued about the usefulness of emotions, revealing a conflict that wasn’t only about opposing goals but opposing worldviews. Here we have the same with Jie Li and Shang Que, with the interesting dimension that they had similar childhoods that produced different results. I like that the show takes time to have the characters have these conversations, along with the magic and action.
Which this episode also had! Again, the special effects don’t always look polished and some of the flying around in this episode had a rough feel, but I still feel that’s part of the show’s charm. The giant sky-eye, the Thousand Dreamland, the playing with slow motion and super fast motion, all look very other-worldly and cool to me.
I’ll confess, I’m not positive about who the giant sky-eye really is or what Rong Hao was talking about with Xi Yun. Hopefully in the next few episodes that’ll clear up.