Min Yan soon finds out that Wu Tong is more ruthless than he thought and struggles with guilt over what he’s done. Xuan Ji and Si Feng find that with Teng She’s power, rescuing Ling Long becomes more of a possibility.
Recap
Si Feng wants to know the real relationship between the God of War and Bai Lin. Did she really get cast out of the heavenly realm because of him? He doesn’t think she’d be that type of person. Teng She isn’t sure either, but that’s the story in the heavenly realm. He reassures Si Feng that Bai Lin has long forgotten about the God of War. He won’t try to steal Xuan Ji from him.
Si Feng glances toward where Xuan Ji is still trying to open the puzzle lock with his secret inside, and clenches his fist.
Hao Chen frowns at Si Feng’s hair, which has not transformed after going through the magical object. Maybe he was wrong about Si Feng and he isn’t a demon. Maybe the demon in Qingmu has to do with the demon outside Buzhou Mountain. He recalls the fight with Yuan Lang and how he dropped something. Hao Chen suddenly starts coughing again, but is soothed by some of Chu Lei’s magic. Chu Lei feels bad that Hao Chen got hurt because of Xuan Ji. Hao Chen mentions that the demon he fought dropped something during the fight. He wants to go back and look for clues, but Chu Lei suggests they send his spirit beast, Hong Wan, instead.
Chu Lei is interrupted by a report that some Tianxu demons have arrived at the base of the mountain. Min Yan is with them.
Ruo Yu reassures Min Yan that everyone will understand his sacrifice eventually, but Min Yan feels uneasy. He’s still not sure what’s inside the trunk that Wu Tong had them bring. (Hm… perhaps it’s the body of a certain Shaoyang disciple?)
Chu Lei calls Min Yan a traitor the moment he spots him. Min Yan approaches him and still greets him as his master, but says that he’s here as a representative of Tianxu Hall. Chu Lei continues to denounce him. One of the Tianxu Hall demons reminds Min Yan of what he’s here to do. Min Yan says he has a gift from Wu Tong. In exchange, Wu Tong wants them to leave Tianxu Hall alone. He also reveals that half of Ling Long’s soul is still at Tianxu Hall.
The demons approach the Shaoyang disciples, who strike and are unwilling to let them get close. A few of the demons get struck and drop the trunk, which spills open, revealing Min Jue’s body. The rest of the demons scatter.
Ying Hong checks Min Jue’s pulse and gives a sad shake of her head. Min Yan is in shock — it’s impossible that Min Jue is dead. Chu Lei strikes Min Yan with a strong burst of energy, knocking him back and continuing to denounce him, while Min Yan tries to say that he didn’t know and didn’t have anything to do with this.
Chu Lei says that he can’t believe he raised such a traitor and declares that he’ll kill Min Yan today. Min Yan closes his eyes, ready to accept death. Ruo Yu sees the magic forming in Chu Lei’s palm and decides to teleport them out of there with a talisman.
Min Yan is distraught over Min Jue’s death and thinks that Ruo Yu should have just left him there to die. But Ruo Yu reminds him that they both know he had nothing to do with Min Jue’s death and that there are still things they need to do. Who is going to save Ling Long if he dies? Min Yan still blames himself for being Wu Tong’s accomplice and vows vengeance.
Si Feng and Xuan Ji return from a grocery shopping trip to find a letter from Shaoyang detailing what happened with Min Yan and Min Jue. Min Yan has been expelled from the sect. There’s also a personal letter from Chu Lei, urging them to return to Shaoyang as soon as possible and telling them how they only have half of Ling Long’s soul.
Xuan Ji is determined to return to Buzhou Mountain and rescue Ling Long and Min Yan, but Ting Nu isn’t able to craft more candles because the materials are hard to find. She asks Teng She, who says that now that he’s bound to her, he can’t enter Buzhou Mountain anymore either. He half-jokingly says that she should chop off her arm, returning his freedom to him, and then he’ll take her there. To his surprise, Xuan Ji agrees, willing to do anything to rescue her sister and friend. Teng She gingerly pushes her arm down.
Si Feng has an idea. Pieces of soul can sense one another. Teng She should have the ability to use one half of Ling Long’s soul to call to the other half of her soul. Teng She is surprised he knows and makes sure to emphasize that only an immortal of his power has the ability to do such magic. Xuan Ji says they should leave immediately.
Min Yan and Ruo Yu return to Tianxu Hall to find Ling Long giggling while sitting in Wu Tong’s lap and drinking. Wu Tong gloats that now Min Yan will never be allowed back to Shaoyang. He’s seen through Min Yan’s act.
Min Yan demands to know why he killed Min Jue. Wu Tong reveals that he wasn’t the one who killed Min Jue — Ling Long was. Ling Long is surprised. Wu Tong reveals that she personally fed Min Jue the poisoned sticky rice cake. He makes Ling Long feed her “favorite food” to Min Yan. She asks him to let it go, but Wu Tong is angry that Min Yan would try to interfere with his “possession.” Ruo Yu kneels and begs for Min Yan’s life, but Wu Tong has a demon force feed Min Yan some sticky rice cake instead. Then he laughs — did Min Yan really think he would poison him? There’s still so much Wu Tong wants him to see.
Ling Long finds Min Yan drinking by himself and tries to get him to go outside with her. He ignores her, but she persists, and he eventually tells her to leave him alone and never show her face again. She’s offended that he dare speak to her that way. She also doesn’t understand why everyone keeps saying she’s not Ling Long. Min Yan angrily tells her the truth: that Wu Tong made her this way as a substitute for the real Ling Long, whom he will never have. She’s just a puppet. He tells her that she’s just a freak — not a flower demon and not Ling Long either.
She accuses him of lying, but he asks why she cried when he got hurt, why she recognized his dagger, why she speaks to him with such familiarity. Is he lying, or is it the part of her that is Ling Long remembering who he is?
She says that she’s going to tell Wu Tong to kill him now. He grabs her arm and tells her to go ahead. He can die and she can keep being a puppet until she doesn’t even know who she is anymore.
She throws him off and runs away, crying, until she finds herself back at the place where she grew as a flower. She suddenly remembers that her favorite color is yellow, because that was the color of her flower, not red. She changes into a yellow dress.
Flower demon Ling Long finds Wu Tong deep in thought. He’s trying to decide whether he should accommodate Yuan Lang’s orders to prepare troops for a major attack. The flower demon asks if he likes her new outfit. He smiles and says that she can do whatever she wants as long as it makes her happy. She beams and tries to ask more, but he gently sends her away because he’s busy.
Xuan Ji takes Si Feng and their spirit beasts through a back route to Shaoyang. She can’t let her father know otherwise he’ll never let her leave again. They find Min Xing and two other disciples mourning Min Jue at his grave. The other disciples are quick to vow to catch Min Yan and make him pay for his crimes, but Min Xing thinks that something isn’t right — Min Yan wouldn’t do such a thing.
Xuan Ji waits until they leave before kneeling in front of Min Jue’s grave and making her own promise to find out the truth and take revenge.
They sneak into Ling Long’s room, where Teng She casts his spell to call the other half of Ling Long’s soul back to her body. But it doesn’t work. The only reason it wouldn’t would be if Ling Long’s other half is bound to another body. He casts another spell to use this half of her soul to contact the other half.
The flower demon finds Min Yan and Ruo Yu and cheerfully boasts that she’s not a puppet. Wu Tong likes her for who she is. Suddenly, she freezes, and turns into a literal puppet as Xuan Ji’s voice comes out of her. Min Yan is so shocked he drops his basket.
Xuan Ji believes that Min Yan stayed to find the other half of Ling Long’s soul. He tells her that it’s in the flower demon doppelganger. She, Teng She, and Si Feng take turns speaking through Ling Long, telling Min Yan that in order to retrieve the other half of Ling Long’s soul, he needs to steal Wu Tong’s spirit bell. Teng She uses the flower demon’s body to write a spell into Min Yan’s back. The spell will allow them to communicate with each other through the Buzhou Mountain portal.
Teng She releases his hold on Ling Long’s souls and the flower demon regains consciousness. She ask to see the mirror piece again. Min Yan gives it to her, and she sees her origin, remembering how half of her real soul is still at the place where she grew.
Ruo Yu and Min Yan go with her to that location, where Ruo Yu coaxes the other half of the flower demon’s soul into a bottle that Min Yan holds hostage. They make a trade with the flower demon. If she gets Wu Tong’s bell, they’ll give her the other half of her soul.
Xuan Ji and her crew go back to the Buzhou Mountain portal. Teng She casts his half of the communication spell onto the portal and shortly afterward, Min Yan activates his own side. He shares the plan.
The flower demon distracts Wu Tong as he prepares to leave for a day and replaces his spirit bell with a fake. She brings the real bell to Min Yan and Ruo Yu. Min Yan tries to convince her to leave Tianxu Hall once she’s whole — she’s not a bad person. But she’s still devoted to Wu Tong.
Teng She works through Min Yan to extract Ling Long’s soul from the flower demon. Before Min Yan can put the flower demon’s soul back into her body, Ruo Yu slyly removes the spell linking Min Yan and Teng She. The connection breaks.
Ruo Yu reassures Min Yan that he knows how to replicate the spell to put the flower demon’s soul back into her body. But before they do, he wants to use her body as it is to acquire the spirit keys. Min Yan thinks that they should restore her soul first — maybe she would help them — and doesn’t like using the flower demon. But Ruo Yu manages to convince him.
The flower demon’s body brings Ruo Yu and Min Yan a box. Inside is the Feilong Seal, which Ruo Yu pockets. Min Yan wonders where the other spirit keys are, but Ruo Yu shrugs and says that they might be somewhere else. They’ve just put the flower demon’s soul back into her body and are preparing to leave when they get discovered by some demons.
The demons chase them outside, where Ruo Yu tells Min Yan to go ahead while he lures the demons away. He puts up a good fight but gets pushed over a cliff. Min Yan jumps in to try to save him, but the demons nearly overwhelm him until Teng She, Si Feng, and Xuan Ji fly in. Si Feng and Xuan Ji prepare to take Min Yan out first, and tell Teng She to go save Ruo Yu.
Commentary
Si Feng totally knows his history and his past. “Pieces of soul can sense one another.” He has a piece of Mosha Star’s soul, so he must have sensed the other piece when he was in Shaoyang’s secret domain, right?
Also Ruo Yu, Ruo Yu. He is totally working for Yuan Lang right now. His “self-sacrificing” separation from Min Yan seems like a convenient way to potentially fake his own death and then reconvene with Yuan Lang. But I can’t fault him too much, because he is being blackmailed, and he seems to actually care about Min Yan, too.
The Drama Llama 