Please cover all trailer and other leaked spoilers - use the grey spoiler feature. Everything aired to date are fair game and don't have to be hidden so read this at your own risk.
No screentime rants please.
This is a bit of a wild plot theory but maybe no one died This is just starting to look a lot like Zhuge Liang's 空城计 Empty City Ruse to me.The Empty City Ruse is how Zhuge Liang tricked Sima Yi during 3 Kingdoms period. It is a classic of the 36 Stratagems of War, used in many dramas.
Maybe just like in the very beginning, this is all just a grift to lure Wufeng out into the open and killing them all off at once. To a much bigger scale, it is just like how they lured out the bride assassins into the open, using Ziyu's widely known reputation for being soft hearted. They want Wufeng to show themselves and attack thinking Gong family is vulnerable now that the foolishly naive playboy Ziyu is Sword Wielder. And the only one not in on it again is poor Ziyu. Just like when they were trapping the bride. The whole family is in the know except him.
That means the Gongs knew all along that
- Ziyi is a spy. They allowed her to know how naive and foolish Ziyu is.
- SGQ and YWS are spies - that is why they were both chosen
- Wuji has most likely turned against Wufeng and is helping the Gongs. She is faking all the murders loudly advertising Wuming to get SGQ and YWS and to show themselves.
- No one died, it is just a plan to let Wufeng think that the Gong family is torn apart by internal squabbling and the less competent younger generation has taken over and trap them when they come in.
- In the meantime, the Gongs have prepared lethal weapons and are lying in waiting for them to come all at once.
- It explains what SJ really wants - revenge for his mother and brother's death.
In history of course Sima Yi did think that Zhuge Liang may have been only bluffing but he did not dare enter the empty city bc if he was wrong, he would be decimated. In this case, I don't think Gong men is empty. Will Wufeng fall for it?