If I thought the previous two episodes were well-paced, this one is pretty fast-paced and packed with things happening. The Demon Clan gets bolder with their movement against the Celestial Clan, while Li Jing shows that he’s a little more capable than the blase facade he puts on.
Recap
Si Yin meets Li Jing at the “pond” which is actually just a giant hot tub where he likes to hang out with his women. She’s been asleep for ten days. Meanwhile, Ling Yu has been self-harming while continuing to refuse to become Qing Cang’s godfather.
While Si Yin and Li Jing are speaking, Li Yuan shows up. Li Jing immediately throws Si Yin onto his bed and pretends that he’s only interested in her because she’s actually a woman. After Li Yuan leaves, Li Jing tricks her into admitting that she’s a woman, then reassures her that regardless of whether she’s a woman or man, his father doesn’t care about her. The only person he’s interested in is Ling Yu – he’s using him to get to Mo Yuan. Invitations for a ceremony to formalize the godfather-godson relationship have been sent out across the realms.
Li Jing tells Si Yin that he will help her escape. She wants to know why. He claims that he just felt an affinity for her when they met, and even if she doesn’t view him as a friend, he will view her as his friend. Si Yin agrees that because fate has brought them together, they will be friends first regardless of what happens between their clans.
Li Jing has Si Yin write a letter to Ling Yu that he will later deliver. He asks her for a favor: when she leaves, will she take Yan Zhi with her and take care of her for the rest of her life? Si Yin is quick to refuse and thinks he’s making fun of her and her cross-dressing disguise, but she won’t tell Yan Zhi the truth, either.
Si Yin visits Mo Yuan in a dream and asks him to come and save her and Ling Yu, but then takes it back – she doesn’t want him to fall into Qing Cang’s trap. Mo Yuan wakes up from his meditation upon realizing that she’s trapped in the Demon Realm.
The remaining disciples at Kunlun are ready to charge the Demon Realm to rescue Si Yin and Ling Yu upon receiving the Demon Monarch’s invitation, but Mo Yuan tells them that he will go to the Demon Realm alone. The other disciples are to prepare to seal off the mountain once he returns. No one is allowed in or out.
Li Jing finds that he can’t stop thinking about Si Yin. He drunkenly stumbles into her room, confesses that he likes her, then tries to take her clothes off. She manages to push him away and he passes out. He wakes up later with no memory of his confession and tries to insist that he views her only as a friend, because there’s no way a relationship between a Celestial Clan member and Demon Clan member would work anyway.
Yan Zhi finds Si Yin and reveals that she and Li Jing are planning to help her and Ling Yu escape soon. She looks like she wants to confess her feelings to Si Yin, but then decides not to. Si Yin guesses Yan Zhi’s intentions and feels bad for leading her on, but can’t say anything. Li Jing eavesdrops from behind a rock and wonders if he actually does like Si Yin.
Mo Yuan appears in front of Si Yin. They embrace, then go to rescue Ling Yu. Qing Cang himself shows up to stop Mo Yuan and his disciples from leaving, claiming that he is breaking the treaty between the clans by moving against him. The two fight. When Qing Cang tries to target the defenseless disciples, Li Jing flies in and defends them. He tells Si Yin to run – his father has the Donghuang Bell.
Lightning strikes in the distance – Si Yin’s heavenly tribulation is rapidly approaching. Mo Yuan rushes the disciples back to Kunlun.
After they leave, Qing Cang strikes Li Jing for acting against him. He threatens to kill Li Jing, but they both know he can’t. (We don’t know why, though.) Instead, he has Li Jing locked up.
Back at Kunlun, Mo Yuan seals Si Yin into a cavern and receives the heavenly lightning strikes meant for her. She sobs as she watches him suffer, then falls unconscious after transcending in a glow of white light.
When Si Yin wakes up, she learns that Mo Yuan has gone into seclusion again. She rushes to his cavern and kneels outside the sealed opening, worried that he was seriously injured because of her. She cries, ashamed that she was such a terrible student that she needed him to help her through her tribulation.
The golden lotus in the pond appears to have transcended as well. Its glowing spirit takes the form of a man who looks a lot like Mo Yuan, minus the facial hair. He tells Si Yin that Mo Yuan is gravely injured and that if she keeps crying like this (i.e. distracting him), he will enter psychosis. But Si Yin can’t hear him, because he’s not corporeal yet.
Si Yin begins to study in earnest and reads up on the Donghuang Bell, finding a passage that describes how when Donghuang appears, worlds will be destroyed. She’s distracted from her studies by the arrival of her fourth brother, Bai Zhen, who comes bearing news of her niece’s birth and who wanted to check on her after her tribulation. He senses that she has transcended to a new level of ability. Si Yin likes the sound of Feng Jiu’s name (literally “Phoenix Nine”), interpreting it as a phoenix flying through the Nine Heavens, but worries that it might affect her marriage prospects. Bai Zhen thinks she’s getting ahead of herself – the two of them are the ones whom their mother wants to marry off next, but neither seem very excited about the prospect of getting married to someone.
The Celestial Monarch laments that there aren’t many original gods left and most of the ones who are around have cut themselves off from the world around them. None of them will be much use in a fight against the Demon Realm. Zhe Yan is one such example – even if he had a change of heart and decided to fight, he wouldn’t be able to without his magical weapon, the Fuxi Qin, which is hidden beneath Kunlun Mountain. Dong Hua Emperor suggests that he should replace Qing Cang with a Demon Monarch who is easier to control. The second son Li Jing, who only cares about wine and women, seems like a good candidate.
Yan Zhi frees Li Jing and helps him escape the Demon Realm. He goes to Kunlun to be with Si Yin, ignoring warnings that the energy at Kunlun could harm his soul. He tricks his way into an audience with Si Yin, claiming that Si Yin views him as a brother. He tells Si Yin that he’s here to be with her. He’s thought it through and he’s willing to give up everything for her.
Si Yin is immediately uncomfortable with the situation, but Li Jing won’t be dissuaded. Ever since she left, he can’t stop thinking about her. He won’t ever love anyone else. Si Yin shakes him off and takes a step back, putting distance between them.
Commentary
I get that there are three full lives to get through in this show (I mean – it’s in the title), but I almost feel like things are moving too fast? Because of the time jumps, we have to fill in a lot of the blanks in the emotional journeys that the men are going on when they fall in love with Si Yin. We don’t actually see any real relationship-building and instead we just have to assume that either they’re happening off-screen, or everyone just falls in love with Si Yin without getting to know her? Si Yin’s reaction to Li Jing’s sudden confession seems very appropriate given the speed with which he went from being a stranger to being in love with her. He is moving very fast.
The Drama Llama 