I’ll have to break up the highlights for this episode because I’m getting sleepy.

More tomorrow.

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My favorite scenes

1. “Sketch”

In the previous episode, Ye Xiwu/Li Susu agreed to teach Tantai Jin a magic charm. Not surprisingly, he asked to be taught how she repelled the crows. He wasn’t going to use the spells on his crows because he could command them at will. But being bullied all his life, this trick would come in handy. More importantly, he wanted to sustain his energy without devouring demons (from Ep 5, 44:47). This is important to remember. He wanted self-sufficiency; he didn’t want to rely on demons but he had no choice because he never learned how to cultivate like Xiao Lin.

She refused his request on the grounds that he could accidentally blow up the house. But in reality, she didn’t want to teach him spells that could later kill people. Given his evil bone, she was wary of him misusing her lessons.

Note here: I like how they both have hidden agendas which have equal but competing validity. I like this set-up better than when only one of the lovers has a secret to guard. With Ye Xiwu and Tantai Jin, there’s double the antics, and double the angst to conceal their true motives.

So Ye Xiwu decided to teach him the innocuous magic charm “Sketch.” She wrote characters on magic paper and incanted the right spell before flinging the paper out of the window. Then, right before their eyes, the outside world was transformed into a flowery one. An imaginary butterfly landed on her, and she passed it on to him.

Note: Here are two reasons I like the “Sketch” moment. One, she showed him a fantastic, imaginary world that he could aspire for or escape to. Two, it moves me to think that he never experienced such simple joys until Li Susu came along. It’s as if he was restarting his childhood and he was fortunate that he had her with him to start all over again.

She explained to him that as a young girl, she was taught this spell so even when she was stuck in a small room, she could amuse herself with a different scenery. TJ thought that learning this spell was a waste of time. (Lol. In times like this, it’s easy to see that Tantai Jin never lost the haughtiness of a royal prince despite years of being bullied.)

She corrected him.

LSS: That’s not true. The immortals say that the heart, body, and mind are three different parts. When the three parts are unified, the golden elixir is cultivated. Empty your heart to unite soul and character. Calm your body to silence energy and emotions. Steady your mind then all three merge into one.
TJ: (that got his attention) But how do you unify them?

Ye Xiwu grabbed his hand and led him to the balcony.

LSS: Turn your energy into Qi and your body won’t move. Turn Qi into a soul, and your heart won’t move. Make your soul empty, and your mind won’t move. Destroy your desire for romantic love, and then you can understand the universe and all lives. This is the one and only way of Heartless Way.

Frankly speaking, her words sound like mumbo-jumbo to me.

But I’m still making a note of it because she said in particular that ROMANTIC love was NOT the way to achieve understanding of life and the whole universe. She said the HEARTLESS Way led to the path of enlightenment. To me, this sounds ominous. She was teaching him to detach himself from love and to renounce romance. Well, this doesn’t bode well for a happy ending, does it? If deification or apotheosis was the endgoal of TJ’s cultivation, will there still be room for love for LSS?

Then, she waved her hand and she turned the bright sky into a starry night. He looked awestruck.

LSS: (correcting herself) But I got carried away. All roads lead to the right way, and Heartless Way is just one of them.

Phew! That’s good to know!

TJ: Okay. I’ll learn it.
LSS: (thinking to herself) It’s a pity. I’ve looked into it. But the young Devil God doesn’t have an immortal bone. No matter how hard he works, there’s no way he can achieve immortality in this life. But as long as he doesn’t turn to the dark side, staying a mortal might not be a bad thing for him.

He kept practicing till past bedtime. He became frustrated but she reminded him that the “Sketch” charm will show him the “purest and most beautiful things” so his mind, too, had to be clear of all evil thoughts. To stop him practicing, she drew another charm. This time, she trussed him up like a turkey so he couldn’t move. He demanded that she untie him, but she just pushed him against the window and rested her head on his chest while patting him.

To his surprise, she fell asleep in that position.

TJ: (whispering) Ye Xiwu. Ye Xiwu.

I thought this was sweet because he was whispering instead of shouting at her to wake her up. His intentions and his actions were contradictory. If he wanted to wake her up, then he should have yelled at her to wake her up. But if he wanted her to continue sleeping and resting on him, then he shouldn’t call her name.

I guess he was in two minds about this situation. He didn’t think their position was proper but he didn’t really mind her resting her head on his chest.

He recalled what she said about love, that when one loves somebody, one wanted to be spend time with her.

He closed his eyes. His action could be interpreted in two ways. One, he could be clearing his mind of all extraneous thoughts. Or two, he could be reflecting on the meaning of love that Ye Xiwu taught him.

I just the latter.

When he opened his eyes again, he began to say the magic spell while looking at the magic paper. “The universe manifests in an inch of land. The soul follows the mind. Rise!”

And to his surprise, he performed “Sketch” for the first time. The beautiful night sky unfolded outside the window. Sigh. Too bad Ye Xiwu didn’t see it.

And he smiled. Sigh. Too bad Ye Xiwu didn’t see this either.

My comments:

a. Ye Xiwu said that the “Sketch” magic charm would only activate once he emptied his mind of EVIL thoughts. The fact that he achieved it tells me that he had no impure (cough cough raunchy, lewd, perverted) thoughts despite Ye Xiwu sleeping on him.

b. Moreover, this also indicates that Ye Xiwu has this “purifying” or calming effect on him. Hopefully, in the future, he could rid himself of evil thoughts with her at his side because she would motivate and inspire him to be better than his evil predisposition.

c. As Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” I like that his first step in his long trek towards cultivation was begun with Ye Xiwu/Li Susu at his side.

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Please don’t spoil the ending for me. Although I don’t mind a death-will-part-us kind of ending, it’ll definitely put a damper on my goal to finish this cdrama, and this review.