ShortCircuit

You're almost there, soon it turns back to the present and everything's going to be okay. Hang on :)

Lan JingYi is the king of sass, LOL. Jin Ling is just a lil' miss (but he's entitled, poor kid).

They're all just awesome little ducklings and could never resist the cause of all disasters-waiting-to-happen WWX :D Kids love chaos anyway.

It's because he needs to ride that.

... I'll see myself out.

Everybody likes him, LOL. Wen Qing likes him, Wen Ning likes him, Wen Yuan likes him, everybody in Lotus Pier likes him, most of the people in Cloud Recesses like him (not the uncle, LOL), all the juniors like him - he's an easy person to like. We'll allow her, hahaha~

But he's LWJ's baby and that's settled :)

Well, from time to time LWJ also carries the guqin on his back, LOL. Like when he visits WWX after the Sunshot Campaign to play for him, he had it packed on his back. I don't remember that there's an explanation on why he sometimes carries it physically and sometimes not in the novel. Maybe the drama team decided to try more looks and the scenes came out well so they kept it like that, don't know.

Oh and LOL, the flying on swords thing also is a trope. But TU was produced as a web drama, in a time where cdramas weren't all that popular YET (there were some who were hugely popular world-wide before, but after TU, it all kind of exploded). So they didn't have the budget to actually get great special effects for sword-flying and monsters or whatnot (or maybe they got a bad CGI team, LOL). All the times you're seeing characters who seem to jump down from somewhere upon arriving at some place, they're ~jumping off their swords~ LOL.

LOL, that closeness between WWX and Wen Qing almost drowned the drama - the fans got an inside photo that they took to mean there were plot changes into making WWX a hetero guy and the drama a straight romance one (even if tragic, nobody cared) so they raised up a huge fuss. Tencent went and said they never intended for that to happen, bla bla bla, and in the end there was no straight romance to muddle the waters. Or just they changed the straight romance's love interest from WWX to JC, or it might be they were actually telling the truth LOL.

Now that I think about it, maybe that's part of what pushed the censors to relent a little, and so we got so much eye-love making between our definitely not really straight main charas, LOL.

Anyway - spoiler (or maybe motivation to read the story :D): A LOT of cultivators (some who wanted to be there and some who definitely did not) were at a certain place (not going to tell more because it'll happen mostly the same in the drama). For certain reasons, WWX was separated from LWJ, went investigating and got caught (remember he will be in Mo XuanYu's body, and even with his thesaurus level of demonic magic, he doesn't have the stamina his own body used to have. So he's a bit weaker now since he didn't have time to cultivate more.)

An important character (main villain) asks where's LWJ and WWX is wondering why would they all assume LWJ will be around him at all times (YES still that oblivious). At which Lan XiChen just tries to understand that there's no problem between WWX and LWJ and he says they spent their night in separate rooms - and the public unanimously GASPS LOL. When LXC establishes Cpt. Oblivious still didn't get a lightbulb moment he retreats politely, but main villainTM implies that poor LWJ still hasn't got his heart's desire. And then WWX FINALLY sees the light. So he forgets he's actually a prisoner and decides to dash to LWJ and tell him it's reciprocal, this sudden fire between them, but he doesn't get anywhere because obviously LWJ came there too.

And then main villainTM wants to move everybody somewhere else but WWX NEEDS TO CONFESS so MVTM says if he has anything to say he could say it right there.

So obviously WWX DOES EXACTLY THAT. In front of everyone present and LWJ's own older brother and numerous people he doesn't know, he loudly and unapologetically declares directly to LWJ that he likes, loves, admires him, he is the one, there won't ever be another, there's only him and they'll live together forever from now on and he'll let LWJ do *that* to him EVERYDAY, and a lot of things along these lines, LOL. Even the MVTM is struck mute (he usually doesn't get shocked).

And LWJ memorizes it all by heart, so that later, when he comes out a bit from the shock, he repeats WWX's promises one by one. (Still in public, still in the middle of danger, but who cares, he's entranced).

I tell you this is EPIC :D

The drama doesn't include any of the confession, but the circumstances around it are there, and even some little bit of implication to the truth (like MVTM tells LXC that LWJ won't refuse anything he orders him to do because he's threatening WWX's life.)

And only later WWX's words catch up with him and he realizes he over-promised and tries to finagle out of it and LWJ tells him that well, "everyday means everyday" LOL.

Also if you can believe it, later on, this shameless WWX only uses this knowledge to tease poor LWJ even more, LOL. I love this character.

Well, you asked. But seriously, it's so worth it. (And if you don't want to read the novel or have the time for it, there's an audio drama and they do sounds effects and it includes the confession. It might still be up on youtube somewhere :D)

Those are ships that people launch, not canon. Jiang Cheng is the king of eyerolls on anything over the limits of bromance (and he disapproves of that too LOL), there's zero chance he'd ever consider it.

But shippers are going to ship whomever they want.

LXC is not interested in anyone (in the novel) BUT he does have a person he considered a soulmate (zhiji / 知己, ~someone who knows me better than I know myself~, the concept doesn't necessarily imply anything romantic.) The drama pushed it a little bit over the edge of bromance just because they loved setting up contrasts (you probably noticed that already).

There are more than one pairing of brothers, more than one pairing of soulmates, more than one way to solve a certain situation, more than one reasoning to get to a truth, and so on, and so forth, and the book (and drama) subtly used counterpoints to show how it would all had gone down if the characters chose the other path.

OMG NO, LWJ confessing? It's such a beautiful mess, that confession, LOL. Want spoilers? What if you decide to read the novel though? :D

It was already explained, and it's not a spoiler.

The sword was with him, he got it in the XuanWu Cave, from inside of the Tortoise of Slaughter monster. It had swallowed it when it got trapped into the cave, and it stood inside it collecting malicious energy for ages. WWX had it with him always, but concealed into a Qiankun pouch (they get these magic pockets with basically unlimited space to store things like travel food, spare clothing, and the like - LWJ keeps his guqin inside. That's why people in wuxia/xianxia go all over the place not carrying any bags LOL). It released itself when the Wens threw WWX into the Burial Mounds and resonated with the resentment energy gathered there over time, calling out to WWX to take control of it or get controlled by it.

We don't see his choice but I think it's rather obvious what he chose.

The sword was made from Yin Iron, and in the drama is part of the missing load of this particular ore (the novel doesn't have that plotline, the sword is unique). WWX used its metal to forge the ChengQing (the dizi (horizontal) flute he now uses as a spiritual weapon) and with its special properties and his infused qi, he can control malicious energy and spirits, ghosts, ghouls, walking corpses and other monsters.

I guess there's not a need to explain it clearly to people who are used to wuxia/xianxia tropes, LOL, most of the other dramas of these genres show the same tropes and general rules, the rules are kind of set. To non-regular watchers, some parts might escape attention if you're not familiar with the tropes, though.

BTW, both WWX and LWJ have two spiritual weapons each - WWX has the flute ChengQing and the sword Suibian (Whatever, LOL) (that he stopped using to the dismay of all), and LWJ has the guqin WangJi (sounds like his name but it's written differently) and the sword Bichen (Avoids Dirt). Everybody else has at least two spiritual weapons of their own (Jiang Cheng for example has the sword Sandu (Three-Bane) and the whip Zidian, and so on and so forth.)

No, don't worry, the story is complete. The romance was censored though, and so there's that part - and the sweet moments included - missing or barely hinted at.

Or you could say SOME parts are missing (the extras in the novel, LOL) but those definitely wouldn't have made it into a non 18+ restricted drama, hahaha~

OHHHHH that moment when he says "I want to bring someone back to Cloud Recesses - bring him back and hide him away" - that's SO LOADED. I don't want to spoil it for you but that TOO is also a love declaration, directly and non-censored. The censors might not have had their brains on when they left that in. I LOVE this moment and the later reveal of its huge importance. But yeah, LXC is always an ally, LOL. Even if LWJ never said who he meant, LXC can't miss it. I STRONGLY recc' the novel, because WWX's confession deserves it, and something LXC says to him causes it.

WWX didn't mean to hurt him - it definitely is just something really private. And he can't, and won't say anything about the true cause of it all.

I've praised this drama to my best friend who has never watched a cdrama before and between this and Blossom she picked this one, LOL. And now I have to translate it for her so she best enjoy it. The visuals are among the best in any cdrama (or just drama) ever. And the soundtrack is great.

For OSTs, though (including BGM), there is the The Untamed OST, the Nirvana in Fire OST, the Three-Body OST, the Till the End of the Moon OST (pick quick from cdramas, there are more), or The Devil Judge OST, the Alchemy of Souls OST, the Goblin OST, the Buried Hearts OST (just a few kdramas OSTs) and a lot more...

You've made me remember this and now it's stuck in my head (again).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQWUZ8a2Ho

Yeah, LOL, people claiming this is a bromance or that the love story isn't quite clear in the drama probably equate love with kissing or at least skinship. Though there's a lot of skinship in TU, and more to come, LOL.

For TU, it's all in the glances and little smiles and little smirks. (LWJ smirking at WWX, OMG LOL. You'll see).

Yeah, LWJ is still smitten and WWX still oblivious hahaha~ Too bad they didn't dare do a complete adaptation (because censorship, boo!) because if that happened... there's no better confession than WWX's LOL, the shameless brat :D

The OST rules, alright. I still have it on my playlist and turn to it from time to time. The characters' songs are amazing too, and some of them aren't even played in the drama. I have lots of favourites there. And OBVIOUSLY LWJ's character song is called Bu Wang (Won't Forget) because he does. not. forget. EVER.

What was that old meme... Ahem.

My body is ready.

:D

He'll be back, don't worry. There's no explanation where his soul was after he fell from that cliff in Nightless City (in the book it doesn't go like that, we'll go by the drama), but he had time off somewhere so that everything isn't raw anymore even for him when he returns. He'll be right back to teasing LWJ into disbelief LOL before you know it.

OH AND THE SQUAD OF DUCKLINGS!!!!!

The ducklings are the young cultivators who appeared in the first two eps, WWX is a real magnet for them LOL. And them for him :D

Good things will come :D just tough it out through the dark times.

ETA Oops. The Yi City Arc also will come though. There will be some more dark times... :(

JC still loves WWX as a brother (you'll see, though that might go away very soon). He does understand him and THAT's part of the problem. The Jiang Clan motto is something like "do the impossible" and Jiang FengMian always said the only one who actually understood it and applied it was WWX. He does understand why WWX is doing this, but he also just doesn't agree.

The Wens did destroy his home, his family and his clan. He's still processing that loss, and he also has to navigate marital dealings with the most powerful clan remaining for his sister to find her happiness, he can't afford to tear up relations with the Jins. So he's balancing his family and clan's future against saving some of the same people who killed his parents and most of his clan. WWX can afford that loss - JC cannot.

JC also had some feelings for Wen Qing but could see she was right - they had no future together, they're not people who can stand up together in the wake of what the Wen Clan did. And they're still not even that close or involved with each other, so the relationship is easily strained. He knows only they got refuge for a while in Qing's country home, nothing else. And he did let her go when he found her in that dungeon. In his eyes, they're barely even (again, he's not just counting himself, but the whole clan. Wen Ning took him away and Wen Qing hid him for a while, but just before that his parents were murdered and their corpses hanged in their own home while the Wens were merry-making in front of them, and his own core was shattered by Wen ZhuLiu, His sister was living at the mercy and pity of the Jin Clan, being - as later evidenced - humiliated for her standing as a scion of a fallen clan. These weigh very heavily for him).

I don't know where you are now in the drama, but there'll be a scene, pretty soon, in the Burial Mounds, when JC comes to WWX trying to understand why he'd defect the "orthodox" Jianghu, and that's one of my favourite scenes, just for the way WWX answers - "If there's no precedent, I'll create that precedent!" That's something JC doesn't dare to to. That's why Jiang FengMian knew WWX truly understood the Jiang Clan motto.

WWX also is definitely NOT mad. Frustrated, tending to overreact and not so much in control of the malicious energy as he'd like to believe, but definitely not crazy. Whatever he does, he does it rationally, even if it only makes sense to him.

After the return to the present timeline, you'll love that first scene. There will be a little bit of soul-searching from LWJ about this moment of defection.

.... I just realised that I've watched this drama first in 2020 and since then maybe a few more times (and read the novel and watched all the versions of the donghua, and listened to the audio drama) - this is still one of the best danmei stories I've ever read/heard/watched. It just struck me I still think about it every once in a while, considering the characters' motivations and actions, LOL.

So yeah. If you still like it, this might be your future :D

It's not as simple as that, though. She could do it because they also insulted her and demeaned her value as a Jin Clan member. Whatever she would say didn't matter to them, she had to win her own honour based on being right.

Whereas Jiang Cheng in particular was basically helpless - one, because his sister is in love with Jin ZiXuan and that counts a lot, and second and most importantly, his whole clan was almost wiped out. He might be someone who stands among the mighty, but Lotus Pier was decimated and he NEEDS everybody to help him re-build it. It could be that he sees that WWX is right and they are all wrong BUT 1. these are Wen Clan people (who killed his family and clan, too), 2. he needs support to remain and rebuild his clan and home, and 3. he really is not that open-minded as WWX. He doesn't even KNOW yet that Wen Qing and Wen Ning helped him, he doesn't have anything to be grateful to them for (and WWX won't tell him). It's not the same - WWX is clan-less, a power on his own (so far), free-spirited and willing to take on PERSONAL responsibility for anything he wants to do. But JC's actions engage the whole clan, and if anything of the Jiang Clan was imprinted on him, it was that HE's the one responsible. He's the next clan leader. He can't afford personal emotions to intervene.

Then there ARE some personal hang-ups, too, as in, he always had a sense of inferiority towards WWX and as the younger kid (he's a bit younger than WWX IIRC) he always had to fight for his father's manifested affection and appreciation, while it seemed to come easy to WWX. Don't forget his mom was Mme Yu and she never really liked WWX. I'm not finding excuses for him, but I can see his point of view.

As for LWJ - what do you mean, find his courage? Remember who we're talking about. This is a very personal and PRIVATE feud that WWX just came into - LWJ is also pretty self-controlled and non-reactive, he does intervene when he feels he is a part of the solution. Otherwise, he'd be managing to involve himself - and by extension the Lan Clan - into actual strife with the only clan mostly un-affected by war (the Jins), and lose whatever anchor WWX would have in the orthodox Jianghu, therefore cutting him completely free. He's expecting to see his own BROTHER react in some way, because XiChen is the one making the decisions. LWJ will make his own decisions - privately.

You also have to remember all these guys are so very young. They don't look like it, LOL, but if you ever read the novel, you'll discover the school days were when they were around 16-17, and the Sunshot Campaign ends about 2-3 years after that. They have no practical politics experience, LOL. They all act in a restricted manner - and LWJ most of all - because this is what they have been taught as being proper.

Anyway, things will go bad but there will also be very bright moments. It's not long now til they come back to the present, and LWJ has matured a lot.

Spoiler tags, please, though :D Just in case someone else isn't there in the drama yet :)

Told you so :D

There was no need for a whole conspiracy, some of the police dealings make no sense - like there's no time lost and no consequences (legal or otherwise) for her being caught in the middle of actual killings - Kim HanSaem did a pretty fast switch between ten years of suspecting her to following her lead and caring about her wellbeing all the time, etc.

And I know the killer made sense story-wise, but power-wise, not so much. She's a small woman, yet she could put that painting tool through the neck of an adult man (who used to be a cop, and not a mild one, he would've fought), she could strangle the woman in the car herself, rig up the thing that made the mayor/counsellor whatever he was, fall from the top of the tower, etc.

And other than the dismembered victim, who shot the mayor anyway, and why? Because she said she didn't. Someone DID. The police forgot all about it, conveniently, because the murders were ~justified. Yeah right. And the most righteous cop, Cpt. Yang, ALLOWED six deaths because he felt the killer was maybe in the right - like, seriously??! Did his sense of right or wrong get a 404 error when it was about this one person? Didn't the rest of the kids he was taking care of deserve his continued presence and help, so that he would throw everything away, including his life, for this one person?!

So yeah - I guess the quirky profiler and the cynical but also idealistic cop would make a good match, but the quirks started becoming annoying by the end (the drama ended soon enough they didn't turn completely annoying), his puppy-like attitude started growing stale, too, once the psychologist and the patient started having moments outside of the clinic it was kind of clear the psychologist would be part of it all. So one thing in the drama's favour - they knew when its welcome would be exceeded and ended it in time.

I hope the last moments don't ask for a sequel because some things would definitely need to change in their dynamic, and I don't mean just her not being part of the police anymore.

Overall - the ML was kind of insteresting, the FL tended to come off as too strange. the police stuff fizzled out (TBH, I was all cheering for Choi San - LOL @the name - because he got the "he's in charge of CCTV" job down pat), but the first half was pretty good still. Too bad they didn't keep the same energy in the second half.

It started off well, but it got lost in the second half, like some of them do. The best thing about it was the transformation of the OP sequences though.

PS The music was pretty good.

Yeah but did you see those things?? I would've at least died. And then came back to haunt someone too, maybe.