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TL;DR Version
Chang Heng learns that DFQC is back and connected to Orchid and hunts him down. During the awards ceremony, the fairies discover Orchid isn’t really a fairy, and accuse her of being the Moon Tribe. DFQC shows up to save her and carry her off to the Cangyan Sea, leaving Chang Heng to save the destroyed Fairy Realm.
Recap
With DFQC gone, Orchid is drunk and lonely. She passes out and DFQC and Shang Que check on her. Shang Que discovers she’s fully recovered and guesses her worry about DFQC was what was in the way. Now that he’s safe she’s recovered.
DFQC wonders if she’d feel the same about the Moon Tribe if she knew who he really was, and Shang Que looks afraid to answer. DFQC lets him off the hook and lets Orchid sleep rather than fix the Destiny Book. He carries her to bed and pulls out the Bone Orchid, a moon charm made with his heart blood that turns into a bracelet. It will protect her even when he’s not there.
Chang Heng shows up in Haishi City for Evil Spirit investigations. The Lord of Haishi City lies and blames the Evil Spirit on DFQC’s return, then connects him to Orchid. When Chang Heng leaves, henchwoman Die Yi questions why he shared that info, and the Lord of Haishi City explains that DFQC is too strong to go against alone.
DFQC lets Orchid rush off to the ceremony, confusing Shang Que who thinks they should be making her repair the Destiny Book. Then, Chang Heng shows up.
At the Fairy court, all the exam winners meet with the Great Turtle to have their real bodies checked and get assigned posts. When Orchid steps into the Great Turtle’s realm, it recognizes her as an old friend. Orchid doesn’t know what it means and it only gives her cryptic replies about her destiny before sending her back.
The fairies are disconcerted that it took her so long and there was no assignment when she returns. They have another fairy try, like the Great Turtle is having a software error, but it works fine. Then Orchid again, and still no assignment.
The immortals check Orchid’s real form and discover she’s not immortal or human. Yun Zhong accuses her of being from the Moon Tribe. The guards grab her, but because of the Bone Orchid she doesn’t know she’s wearing, they are blasted back by Hellfire. This does nothing to help her prove she’s not part of the Moon Tribe.
Orchid throws off the strange bracelet and loses her protection. Yun Zhong magically strings her up and tortures her for info about DFQC’s location. Orchid keeps saying she doesn’t know and she’s not Moon Tribe as she cries and bleeds.
DFQC leads Chang Heng from Orchid’s place to keep it safe while they fight with magic and swords. Rong Hao shows up and both go against him. DFQC looks more exhilarated than troubled by the double attack, but then he becomes aware of Orchid’s situation. He throws Chang Heng back and vanishes.
A spear about to kill Orchid is stopped in mid-air. Lightening and DFQC’s voice precedes his appearance, behind Orchid, with his glorious smoke-and-fire wings.
The immortals all attack, but their combined attacks are useless against his Hellfire barrier. Orchid revives, asking if he really is DFQC, upset he lied. He says he didn’t and that he protected her because she belongs to him.
He puts the bracelet back on her then steps outside the barrier to attack the cavernous room with Hellfire, causing chaos. After Orchid says no he stops, but Hellfire still burns around them. He carries her out, threatening to kill them if they stop him and promising future destruction.
Despite the costumes, his bridal carry is looking good. Outside the court, Chang Heng is there again and won’t give up. DFQC is stopped from killing him by Orchid and destroys a nearby tower that unleashes water and destruction on the city.
With Orchid in his arms again, DFQC taunts Chang Heng that he can’t save the city and her. Chang Heng wants to pick Orchid but has to watch DFQC’s back as he carries her away before running to rescue the city.
On a boat in Memory Loss River, DFQC uses Hellfire to warm Orchid to consciousness. She’s scared, both of DFQC and learning she’s on her way to Cangyan Sea, home of the Moon Tribe. She wants to go back to the fairies, but DFQC says she’s a traitor now. Orchid thinks she can explain it away but he won’t let her go. She cries, so he cries.
On a rocky shore, Shang Que shows up to give a military update. It’s not looking great for DFQC’s little brother and replacement, Xun Feng in various civil wars going on. Orchid tries to escape while they’re talking, but DFQC destroys the boat.
DFQC has Shang Que turn into a dragon so they can get a ride, and Orchid is having the worst day, screaming as they twist and twirl through the air at high speeds. Eventually, she collapses back into his arms, and DFQC looks like he might be enjoying this.
Thoughts
This is the episode that I think really hooked people when the show was airing. I was already enchanted probably since episode 3, when DFQC rescued Orchid for the first time from the cauldron in Haishi City. Still, his dramatic entrance to save her, revealing his existence to the Fairy realm, the glowing blue eyes and easy way that he fights back all the other immortals, all won this show an audience.
The look of the show in episodes like this is really stunning. Their fights with them twisting in the air, their movements jerky and strange, light flashing from their hands, look like the fights of gods. There’s also a video-game-like quality about their movements, like the old Street Fighter-type games with characters flying and hitting and stopping in physically impossible ways.
And the Great Turtle is something that they really could have screwed up with some kind of CGI monstrosity. Instead, it’s this strange, still, turtle-like form in the middle of a mysterious starscape. Maybe there’s some historical artistic reference for it, but I’m glad they kept it simple. Even the throne room, with hundreds of immortals that are clearly CGI, looks stylized and artistic rather than poorly done to me.
Back to the story, it’s a great episode with a lot of action, and DFQC getting to be awesome. Besides that, it’s the beginning of DFQC caring about Orchid’s feelings outside of getting something from her. Even though she’s finally at full health, he puts off the Destiny Book repairs because he knows she’s excited about the ceremony. His feelings still aren’t part of the equation, but he wants to accommodate her feelings after talking about how much they matter to her.