Groovykid

When I read the subtitles, I had to replay the scene because I doubted what I read!!

The excuse is actually annoying. The black fox only thrives on deep-seated hatred. What was there for him to hate ML for? His sister didn't keep him in the dark at all. She told him "this is the person who saved my life & indirectly saved your life", "he is a good person", "I will come back for you".

Thought there had to be a better translation. Hoping for a response from a mandarin speaker.

I love the analysis of Chu Jin's behaviour by the Chu older brother. Her behaviour towards her sister, FL was all levels of wrong. I was receptive of the 'jealousy & malice' she displayed at home when they argued, but allowing that Sun guy to humiliate her sister left me flabbergasted. Her mother said she isn't evil, but she can use her tongue to (or not use it) to destroy her sister. At some point, I even thought FL may be concubine-born, which will explain the mother's and sister's behaviour towards her when they seemed to adore the older brother.

Guys, Am I missing something? Why can't the FL and her brother just inform ML about what they are investigating? I cannot understand the maintained secrecy, now that FL knows that he is also inclined to investigate his father and brothers' deaths?
P.S: I am on episode 10 and I hope they don't bring in the arch of them 'separating first' or 'working against each other' when he finds out she kept deceiving him despite him seeking her reassurance that they are now family.

Feng Battalion and Emperor Chengyang are the MVPs. I can’t believe I felt most emotional at their reconciliation scenes.

Am I just out for blood? Or does it ring hypocrisy when Uncle Murong asks FSG to help save A'Yao. The guy has not even verbalised that he will stop trying to kill FSG. Asking the hunted to forgive the hunter seems pretty innocent to me.
Also love the revenge troupe. If you torture my loved one, I will torture you. If you kill my mother, I will kill you. Go FSG!
(I also like that this character does not go on a rampage and kill more people. Just an eye for an eye kind of guy).

That'll be a nice ending for them. I think their pride will suffer more if it was the princess who killed either of those weird brothers.

Can others see a similar behavioural pattern between ML's sister & Empress Zhang?

1. Love a man that loves someone else already, and insists you can change them to loving you.
2. Cry innocence when things are not looking good or others want payback.
(Why was the Empress surprised that the FSG or even the emperor would want revenge for their loved one's death?)
3. Go crazy and hurt everyone, including themselves, when things do not go their own way.
(The Empress telling her son that FSG wants to kill him so he can become Emperor! I am really not looking forward to the Susha princess' behaviour in the coming episodes!)

Maybe psychologists have a name for this behavioural pattern.

I really hope not. He has been such a cute brother.

It’s a dog eat dog world, I guess. As much as the emperor seems really power hungry because of his upbringing. The Zhang family members are equally as bad.
How can you kill his Empress and expect him to just forgive and forget? I actually praise him for being patient enough for the retaliation. Although he almost ran his son mad, wanting to ‘toughen’ him and use him for the revenge.
I mean, Father Zhang literally stabbed his wife to death in his presence and daughter Zhang immediately gave her condolences with no emotions whatsoever. And this was a woman he loved and married before they both conquered the world and the power games began.

I can see first Prince coming back to prove his innocence but i can’t see him eager to take the throne.
I think once his brother doesn’t go berserk on innocent people, he’ll happily allow his brother to be emperor.

Why do I feel like ML, although has good making for a wise emperor will still not take the throne? I just hope his brother doesn’t become ‘corrupted’ with all the deaths that are happening now and then go berserk. I still dislike the common plot of innocent ‘children’ going crazy by influence/events, as if they don’t have a mind of themselves. Case in point - Empress Zhang plotted to become the empress and got ML’s mum killed but suddenly feels horrible that the exact same retaliation can happen to her. If you can kill others, you should be ready to be killed too.

Yeah. That'll be very dark.

I thought so too, but still wishing she is. It'll be nice. I personally dislike plot outcomes where almost everybody the lead loves dies or gets killed.

Yes, I was happy to find out that the secret place is associated with his FSG's mum. I am still holding out hope that she is alive, although it sounds less likely now with Lord Ling's revelation.

Theory of Relations Between Empress, Former Empress, Lord Ling & FSG.

To begin with, I do think the Emperor low-key loves and takes pride in his son. I feel like as a child, he did not want to pamper him, so that Suige does not become an easy target and then cultivated this ‘hatred’ between them. But it is just annoying to keep that going when he is his pride and joy, and his greatest support. I do hope they make up before it is too late. They were obviously a close knit family before the former Empress’s incident.

Now to the theory, I used the word ‘incident’ because I am hoping that she is actually still alive. Might be a wild goose theory but these are my reasons:


1. She was a warrior. Even if she was plotted against, she would not have gone down without fighting fiercely.


2. The emperor forbidding the matter appears two-pronged to me, On the surface, it appeared he felt betrayed but didnt want the royal family tto be gossiped about, so he shut it down. But what if it is all a cover-up. She was badly injured and barely escaped with her life, so he did that to help her cover her tracks.


3. The theory in the latter part of No.2 will add up if:
A. She is recuperating or even leading that secluded place we heard about when Lord Ling came into the story.
B. Lord Ling is actually the couple’s secret messenger. Comes around once a year and the emperor turned out to be who he comes to take care of secretly.
C. Lord Ling sounded very familiar to FSG and his mum. I cannot remember hearing any previous interactions that suggest they knew each other. Well, apart from FSG’s knowledge of that healing pool.
D. FSG’s mum is the second person (well, the first) that Lord Ling had ever had to reconstruct their meridians according to LXY.
(There is definitely more to Lord Ling’s affection for FSG. He is always grumpy and harsh but never denies him anything or even reprimands him too much. He seems like FSG’s grumpy but loving uncle).

I really do hope I am right. Do not know if the novel touches any of these, or if it is completely different.

Nice episodes today giving us a new turn into the next phase of the series.

How did this stupid princess make XJS appear like a decent man? He kept checking she was certain of her decisions. Kept giving her the ‘opportunity’ to change her mind. No gaslighting or manipulation, whatsoever. The person he loves & grew up with shoots arrows at him to save your brother and you do not run in the direction opposite to him. What a fool!

Curious questions for novel readers.
1. It appears XJS does not know the identity of the masked man yet. Is that the case? I wonder what the heck he was promised to make him betray someone he professes (and still does) to love? Surely a rival statesman whom he does not know must have promised him more than taels of silver (and the war strategies) for him to be that cooperative from the start.
Or he is just a sociopath who is obsessed with power grabbing. That makes his pervert emperor who poisoned him (just him btw & not thousands of children/civilians) appear like a decent human being.

2. Is there a backstory in the novel to ML's hatred for XJS? It just seems very deep-rooted. Right from the start, he seemed to see through his facade. He didn't just treat him like a rival. Even when he was shot by FL's arrow, he appeared content that he had just lost to a rival. And when he had a chance to retaliate, he did so in kind. But I just feel his emotions were very different to XJS. He even called him a beast at some point.

I think he would have felt it as bad. IMO, his main issues are not expressing himself enough to HRY (too 'macho' for his own good) and focusing 'only' on obeying the rules.

My theories/guesses are that 'someone' tricked him away after he sealed her powers. Or maybe sealing her powers was the 'easier' punishment for her. He may have even gone away to take on more of the punishment. He just does not make sense to me that he left her high and dry like that, after coming to her to confess & ask that they stopped fighting.

The 'someone' may have also orchestrated all of HRY's sufferings after she was alone. I kept thinking she cannot surely suffer anymore. But instead she kept suffering even worse tragedies. Almost as if there was someone making sure it all happened. And I think BJS already suspected this when he went looking for the wandering cultivator and the main instigator. The latter was the one that says they wanted to plunder her riches but he went straight for Shi'an with a machete!! Just didn't make sense to me.