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TL;DR Version
DFQC and Orchid hit an impasse over his duty to kill the entire Fairy Realm. Meanwhile, a hopeful Chang Heng goes to the mortal realm in the hope of meeting up with Orchid. DFQC and Shang Que also head that way, because that’s the only way to kill Chi Di Nu Zi’s primordial spirit. Orchid has figured out something is up and follows with Jie Li.
Recap
DFQC wants to thank Orchid for giving him his feelings back by killing everyone in Shuiyuntian so she can go home. Orchid is stunned and excuses herself. Oblivious, DFQC leaves with the orchid she tried to give him several episodes ago. Alone, Orchid feels ridiculous for thinking she could change him.
Shang Que wants to be punished by DFQC for failing to find the missing fragment of the Chengying Sword needed to kill Orchid. His heart wasn’t in it. DFQC isn’t interested anymore either and comes up with an excuse to give up. Shang Que is going to dump the remaining fragments, but Xun Feng sees them and takes them for himself.
This entire time Chang Heng has been imprisoned in Haotian tower. Dan Yin shows up to convince him to apologize to Yun Zhong and get out, but he won’t renounce his love for Orchid. To reassure him, Dan Yi tells him about seeing him marry Orchid twice in the Tianji mirror, once as a mortal and once as an immortal. Chang Heng convinces her to help him escape to Yunmeng Lake so he can meet up with Orchid and destiny. Dan Yin follows him into the mortal realm.
Recurring dreams of a family she can’t remember and think about what the Great Turtle said send Orchid to an ice cave. Apparently nearly freezing to death will reveal her true form. DFQC brings a blanket and tells her she’s a Xishan Orchid and the most important person in the realms to him.
Orchid can’t get past him wanting to destroy Shuiyuntian, even for her benefit. She brings up how he’s the Moon Supreme and she’s no one, so he should treat her that way. DFQC wants her to give up the Fairy Realm for him, and she asks if he can give up his responsibilities as Moon Supreme for her. He’s upset and leaves.
On top of the sword in Xuanxu, Xun Feng has brought the reincarnated baby Chi Di Nu Zi for his brother to kill. DFQC can’t do it. Xun Feng tries, but the primordial spirit doesn’t vanish when taken from the body.
While helping Orchid clean, Jie Li asks about what happens when immortals go to the mortal realm to experience hardships. Orchid explains that if they don’t experience hardship and complete their fate their cultivations are damaged or worse, their primordial spirit turns to ash. The higher up the immortal, the harder the hardship. That’s why they rarely do it.
Orchid is wondering at Jie Li’s curiosity but Jie Li puts her off. Once Orchid is gone, DFQC and Shang Que appear. Since she got him the info, Jie Li asks DFQC to stop threatening to kill her.
DFQC and Xun Feng work with the destiny book to figure out when to kill Chi Di Nu Zi. Xun Feng asks why DFQC hasn’t killed Orchid, and DFQC says he can’t but doesn’t explain why.
Orchid knows Jie Li didn’t ask those questions for no reason and is putting the pieces together. The destiny book belongs to the mortal Xie Wan Qing, who is doomed to suffer a sad fate. But because of everyone’s interest, Orchid figures Xie Wan Qing must be a reincarnated high immortal. The name reminds her of someone she knew, but she doesn’t know who or why.
From Jie Li, Orchid finds out the guys have gone to the mortal realm and Lucheng City, where Xie Wan Qing is fated to experience hardships. Orchid drags Jie Li with her after them and is almost immediately discovered. DFQC is still angry and ready to get rid of them, but Jie Li makes up a lie about Orchid wanting to walk with DFQC.
The couples split up, and Jie Li saves Shang Que from being swindled over some sugar candy. When he tells her he wanted the candy for her, she promises to be the only person to swindle him in the future.
Things are awkward between DFQC and Orchid even over tea. He’s snappish about her pointing out their inequality. She isn’t saying much because she’s afraid of making him angry but that makes him angry
Jie Li convinces them they need to act like mortals. DFQC wants to kill the emperor so he can be the most powerful person there, and Orchid and Jie Li have to keep reminding him they can’t change mortals’ fate. Jie Li gives him a backstory about being noble and rich and more powerful than the emperor. Orchid will be his gardening maid and Jie Li an accounting maid. Orchid thinks it would be nice if these were their real identities.
With that decided, they get a new house and mortal clothes.
Thoughts
Parts of this episode confuse me. Where did the baby Chi Di Nu Zi come from? Is that an immortal, or the baby version of the mortal? Why do they need to wait a certain amount of time before they can try to kill her? I don’t understand all the fantasy rules at play here.
Maybe I’ll figure this out over the next few episodes, but honestly, it’s not that important to me.
What is important is the further developments between Orchid and DFQC. How amusingly heartbreaking that she’s helped him so much and he wants to help her, but his solution is terrible and unacceptable to her. This, to me, is the most heart-wrenching episode up to this point because of how insurmountable the problem feels. There are no silly contrivances or miscommunications or evil second leads keeping them apart. This is a fundamental issue that comes from within the characters. Neither can give up who they are and they are each a huge threat to the other.
Orchid recognizes this better than DFQC I think, and it sends her into a flurry of confusion about her own identity. To me it appears she’s avoiding her feelings for the first time. To be fair, it’s hard to love someone threatening to kill everyone you’ve ever known. Rather than deal with that, she’s trying to solve the mystery of her identity. She even tries to use being a no-one as a way to get DFQC to let her go.
At this point, DFQC is definitely in love with her and knows it, but his love is dangerous and scary. He thinks he can approach it the way he approaches being the Moon Supreme, with a lot of violence and killing. Luckily he’s played by super young, baby-faced Wang He Di, so we can still like him in these moments.
But despite all this serious, heart-wrenching stuff, they aren’t avoiding each other entirely and now they’re on to new adventures!