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TL;DR Version
Jie Li is secretly ordered to put blood on Orchid’s Bone Orchid. DFQC and Orchid are finally happy but his brother and people aren’t. DFQC tries to shut them up by taking punishment, but for them to marry she must endure worse punishment. He tries to get her out of it, but she argues for him to respect her and allow her to take responsibility. Reluctantly, he agrees.
Recap
Rong Hao’s henchwoman won’t explain anything to Jie Li, but will guilt her about how long she’s been undercover and how no one will support her once they know the truth. The henchwoman vanishes before Shang Que shows up.
Jie Li lies about why she’s there, going into her sad past and helpless situation. Shang Que promises to defend her and she makes the fair point that he can’t do much about DFQC. But Shang Que promises to bear any punishment with her. She believes he’ll find out she’s lying and won’t forgive her, and he points out she’s already lied plenty.
When Jie Li pledged her allegiance to the Lord of Haishi City in return for protection, she was given the Heart Eroding Pill to prove her loyalty. They held onto the antidote to ensure her obedience. In the present time, she puts the strange blood on Orchid’s Bone Orchid.
DFQC heads out for his Mountain and Moon Festival date with Orchid but is stopped by his brother and subjects. They are supplicating outside the palace and demanding he not be with Orchid. DFQC is so far from interested in listening to them that he tells Xun Feng to regard Orchid as his sister-in-law. He’s going to marry Orchid.
Xun Feng and everyone is horrified, but DFQC refuses to give in. She will be his Moon Queen. Meanwhile, he’s willing to endure the Bone Devouring Spike as punishment for failing to rescue the trapped soldiers. Everyone protests, Xun Feng helpfully exposits that it’s the worst punishment in the Cangyan Sea, causing immeasurable pain as the active spikes pierce through the body. DFQC gets them hammered into the back of his head.
Then he goes on his date with Orchid, who has been waiting for a long time. But since the spikes become active at midnight, he promptly collapses.
Shang Que has to keep Orchid from going into DFQC’s bedroom to see him against his orders. She then emotionally blackmails Shang Que into explaining what happened. DFQC doesn’t want her to see him in pain. Orchid cries and waits outside.
Our Devil kicks his doctors out, sweats, and stands on the balcony. In the morning he puts his outer robe over a sleeping Orchid. She wakes up and hugs him. He takes her to their cliff and presents her with countless treasures and a key to it all, confusing her into thinking he’s afraid of dying.
They have a brief fight over who gets to talk first. Orchid wins. She proposes and gives him a bracelet. DFQC is too touched to speak and puts the bracelet on, accepting her proposal.
Xun Feng is here to ruin things again. He points out that Yannv, the first ancestor who was betrayed by her fairy lover, forbade such marriages. Anyone who insists on getting married must enter the Fuju Cave. DFQC pulls Orchid away.
In the throne room, he’s declaring that he will abolish this rule, but Orchid shows up to disagree. DFQC refuses but they keep arguing just the two of them. She wants to do it not just for him, but to atone for her people and prove herself to his people. He doesn’t want her in pain, because the Bone Devouring Spike isn’t the worst torture, the Fuju Cave is. He feels she’s suffered enough for him.
She doesn’t want him to underestimate her. He’s the Moon Supreme and he’s made many choices for them, but if they are to be married then she needs to take responsibility. When she asks for his respect, he’s quiet, but we see her hands being squeezed in his.
Orchid meets with Xun Feng to ask for something to stop DFQC from suffering when she is in the Fuju Cave. Xun Feng is ready with Dream of the Nine Mysteries in his pocket. It’ll numb DFQC’s pain. When she takes it, promising to give it to DFQC, Xun Feng yells that he just wanted her to give up. His brother won’t forgive him if she goes through with this.
Orchid gives DFQC some wine, and he remarks on this being the third time she’s poisoned him. Still, he drinks at her urging.
Orchid goes into the creepy statue, and the scary red light we’ve seen from DFQC memories fills the room. Orchid starts screaming.
Thoughts
Another great episode. Here we start out with Shang Que and Jie Li talking about what they are willing to do for each other. The episode then moves on to DFQC and Orchid, and what they must endure in order to be together.
Fights between characters can be miserable and annoying, but this one is so well-motivated. They’re yelling but they aren’t trying to hurt each other. In fact, they are both really trying to save the other from further pain. Orchid wants her chance to prove herself, especially since DFQC just took on the Bone Devouring Spikes. DFQC doesn’t want to see her hurt, he knows how bad the Fuju Cave is from experience, and how much worse it is than the spikes. There’s no good outcome so the argument feels like it’s important.
Really, a Fairy and a Devil have one of the better relationship fights I’ve seen in dramaland.
A small negative of the episode is Xun Feng’s shallow character. He’s possibly the weakest of the important characters, with Yun Zhong a close second. Despite what he’s gone through recently he still acts like a petulant child and it would be nice to see him do more than force plot forward.
Maybe it was even worse because Orchid shows her character growth big time in this episode. Early episode Orchid wouldn’t have fought Shang Que to see DFQC. She wouldn’t have argued with DFQC to have more responsibility and more suffering so she could be with him properly. Early episode Orchid just wanted to maybe pass the immortal test so she could be near her crush. Now she’s proposing to DFQC before he can propose to her. It makes the last 28 episodes feel like they really mattered.
Also, still with the gorgeous fantasyland visuals. Orchid and DFQC kissing on the bridge, backlit by the giant full moon, was magical.