My highlights of this episode:

1. JBZ’s and MY’s crises of conscience result in a shift in their plans and strategies.

JBZ feels guilty for using Fairy Ruo to free himself of his hatred (i.e., revenge on the gaoler of Sunken Abyss) and terminating all contact with her after he set her free. He acknowledges that he never cared about her life at all. As for his fellow prisoners, he feels guilty that he exposed MQ’s secret operation in the Sunken Abyss. His whistleblowing led to their mass slaughter. MQ fed all prisoners to the NBs so no one could accidentally reveal the secrets of Sunken Abyss.

Although JBZ is disconsolate, blaming himself for these outcomes, the following day he devises a strategy to fight back.

Given the Abyss’ poisonous vapors, it’s been an excellent base for MQ’s operations. Originally, the Heavenly Grief poison was manufactured in the Abyss, but MQ has switched to breeding NBs there. Both productions use orphans, widows, seniors, and disabled people — in short, the marginalized people in society. As JBZ used to be one of them, he offers to refine the NBs himself.

Meanwhile, MY feels guilty for using a “heart imprint” to steal the Golden Millet Dream from JBZ. But he was one step ahead of her and has safeguarded it with a “blood seal” (lol. I don’t know what that means because I haven’t reached that episode yet).

Ordinarily, MY would have strategized, without a second thought, on how to get the blood seal. But after feeling the impact of the heart imprint and listening to JBZ’s heartaches, she can no longer put her needs before his. Her life is no longer her number one priority.

When viewers question why she doesn’t just ask JBZ to unseal the GMD for her, the answer is here in her conversation with her cat 27.

MY: I found the GMD. However, he put a blood seal on it. I couldn’t get it.
27: A blood seal? Then, he’s the only one who can undo it. It seems like JBZ is still wary of you. Then, we… Why are you crying, Ming Yi?
MY: Twenty-Seven, I thought I would be happy when I found the GMD. I should feel fortunate that I am able to find it here. But… (remembering all the spirit tablets and Fairy Ruo’s plant that suddenly materialized in the spirit well)

Those hundreds of plaques and that single memento from Fairy Ruo must have stabbed at her conscience. There she was, worried about her death while JBZ was blaming himself for the deaths of multitude. She was only focused on herself while he must carry the weight of all. It was the heart imprint that moved her to share his burden.

Remember what I said about the umbrella scene? It isn’t about sheltering him from the rain; it’s about getting drenched together in the rain. I personally thought it was a great insight into marriage. Most of the time, we think of marriage as a protection (e.g., an umbrella) when sometimes, no amount of protection can save the couple from dire circumstances. It’s better to think of marriage as commitment. When all protection fails, the married couple are still committed to weather the storm together.

MY: That’s enough from me. Twenty-Seven. Right now, there’s one thing we should do.
27: Destroy the NB army and deal with MQ, right? What about you? We can steal the GMD and cure you first. Then, we’ll have a greater chance of winning. Am I right?
MY: Twenty-Seven, if you were in my shoes, who would you choose? A bad person who is alive or a good person who is dead?
27: Ming Yi, I’ve always wanted you to become a good person who’s immortal.

I like 27’s answer. He was pointing out the false dichotomy in MY’s argument. MY thinks she’s a bad person if she insists on curing herself first before dealing with the imminent threat from MQ and his NB army. She prefers to be a good person even when it means dying for the greater good.

2. JBZ begins refining the NBs.

MY doesn’t want him to refine the NBs himself and offers to do it. Refining the NBs entails being in seclusion and weakening one’s spiritual veins. She thinks as he’s the strongest fighter in Jixing Abyss, he must always be on standby to defend the realm and repulse an attack from MQ and his army.

JBZ won’t brook any argument. lol. Of course! If he allows MY to be the NB vessel, then she loses all her Spiritual Veins and we won’t have a story. Her continued survival is called a PLOT ARMOR. However, in the drama, it’s couched as JBZ showing care for her. I find it funny that her cat 27 must impress this on the viewers.

27: Is JBZ really using himself as a vessel? Does he not trust you or does he not want you to be hurt?

Hmmm… don’t you think that 27 is always gauging JBZ’s feelings for his boss MY? He’s probably doing this, not because he’s interested in romance, but because he wants to know if JBZ will help MY’s health situation.

MY: He is currently cultivating in seclusion in the Spirit Well. However, he has never said anything to me. Instead of not trusting me, it’s more probable to say that he doesn’t want to see me hurt. What he thinks of me now isn’t important. He must pass the first stage. This medicinal powder can treat the wound on his hand. I still need to make some nourishing medicine to maintain his spiritual power at its strongest.

See that? She’s truly an encyclopedia. Not only does she know the method of refining NBs, she covers herbal medicine and supernatural remedies as well.

And I like that moment when he drinks the potion that she’s concocted for him because it answers 27’s question earlier. The fact that he broke his long-standing rule not to drink anything he didn’t make himself means that a) he does indeed trust her, and b) he doesn’t want MY injured by the NB refining.

There are three steps involved. He accomplishes two in this episode.

MY: There are three steps before you become a NB vessel. The further you get, the more dangerous it is. Step one, cultivate your spiritual powers to strengthen your own core. Step two, absorb the NBs to your core remotely and you’ll have a NB core inside you. Step three, use yourself as a vessel to contain the NB core and refine it. This is the first stage. You will exhaust all your spiritual power and feel extremely weak. Remember not to leave Wugui Sea.

Step two is trickier because it blows their cover away. MQ will know for certain that JBZ is behind the NB heist.

MY: It’s time to begin the second step. You need to use a Teleportation Array to send your core to the Sunken Abyss and absorb the primordial spirits of all NBs. However, this step will expose the presence of the spellcaster. Please teleport your core back as quickly as possible. Otherwise, everything will be in vain.

In other words, his core will function as a magnet to attract the NBs away from the Abyss and MQ’s control and transfer them into his Spirit Well. Unfortunately for him, MQ and his boss, Lord Jingxi/Chao Yu, are both present to witness his confiscation of the NBs. But more unfortunately for MQ, he gets whipped by Lord Jingxi for not anticipating JBZ’s brilliant move.

3. Situ Ling’s reunion with his abuser, his eldest brother

Two things:

a. True to form, the first thing that Chao Yu does at their first meeting is to whip Situ Ling/Chao Yuan.

A whip is an interesting choice of weapon in cdramas. I saw it used extensively by the heroine in that other cdrama I was crazy about, “The Legend of Female General.” For me, however, a whip in cdramas isn’t a weapon like a dagger, sword or gun.

You see, nne of the characters whipped in a cdrama actually died from a severe flogging because there wasn’t enough blood loss. Instead, the whip is often used in the story as an instrument of intimidation, humiliation, and/or punishment – not death.

So, when Chao Yu whips his youngest brother Chao Yuan/Situ Ling, he’s humiliating him for the absence of Spiritual Veins and intimidating him not to try any tricks behind his back. He wants to inflict pain, but not kill his little brother. I guess, he’s afraid that their father, the Emperor, will disinherit him if he kills Chao Yuan/Situ Ling.

b. We see the backstory of Situ Ling’s relationship with Fuyue for the first time. The reason she idolizes him (like he idolizes MY) is because he once rescued her from Chao Yu by distracting him and taking a whipping. Fuyue returned to him to check on him.

Chao Yuan: Why didn’t you run? Are you hurt? Why didn’t you run? Dumb fox. If you are doing this to pity me, stop crying. When I can change all of this and celebrate my victory one day, you may cry.
FY: But…
Chao Yuan: Are you trying to say that I’m weak now? I know that. I’m still far too weak now, but someone once told me that if I could think about it, I could make it happen. It’s the same. Think about it first and live on. Nothing can stop us in the future. (petting her head) Even if you’re just a little fox.

My comments:

a. Chao Yuan/Situ Ling is playing the long game. He doesn’t mind the hardship because he’s focused on his long-term goal which is to acquire the GMD.

b. His original goal was to acquire the GMD so he can grow his own spiritual veins and become worthy of Ming Xian’s favor, or to equal Ming Xian in honor and glory. But after he discovers that Ming Xian is Ming Yi and that she’s stricken with the Heavenly Grief disease, he has now a more urgent obsession to find GMD to cure her.

c. I like his emphasis on using brain power (“to think”) instead of brute force (because he has zero) to make things happen. We can see his shrewdness particularly in his dealings with MQ. He differs from his brother who looks down on MQ and has no qualms showing his contempt, physically. But despite having a low opinion of MQ himself, Situ Ling hides it and pretends to be servile to get his own way. Unfortunately, in these dramas, being invariably conniving, underhanded, and manipulative eventually corrupts the character’s core. That’s a trope in cdramas.

d. I’m pasting what I wrote in the open thread here: I get that Fuyue’s one-sided love for SL perfectly mirrors Situ Ling’s one-sided love for MY, and that their so-called “love” suspiciously sounds like “savior/saved romance complex” but the drama didn’t have to drill these into my consciousness every. single. time. So annoying!

e. At this point, I like Situ Ling’s devotion to MY. But it’ll turn dark in the end. Oh well.

4. MQ schemes to strike back at JBZ for stealing the NBs.

His goal is to discredit and remove JBZ as warrior for the Jinxing Abyss at the tournament.