Episode Summary
The Empress Dowager, angry that Li Shuang didn't poison the King of Annan, forces a confrontation. Li Wei arrives to negotiate peace but is killed when the Empress Dowager orders her archers to fire on him and her own men.Enraged, Jin An confronts the Empress, who reveals his secret identity as the Xuan Yi Ke.Just then, Mo Yin and Lu Xin arrive with Jin An's long-lost brother, Duan Aoze, exposing the Empress Dowager's treasonous motives.The episode ends with Li Shuang mourning her father.
Spoiler Alert
A Doomed Peace Mission
The episode kicks off with the Empress Dowager absolutely losing it. She's furious that Li Shuang didn't poison Jin An (who she still calls the King of Annan). So, she decides if poison won't work, war will. She's dead set on having him killed on the battlefield.
But Li Shuang's father, Li Wei, has other plans. He shows up at the Yao Kingdom's gates, not for a fight, but for peace talks. He's tired of the war. He tells Jin An that the people have finally had a year of peace, and that's worth protecting. Li Wei is even willing to offer his own life to secure peace between the two nations.
This is where it gets messy. The Empress Dowager isn't having any of it. She drags Li Shuang to the top of the city gate, forcing her to watch the chaos below.
The Empress Dowager's Meltdown
This woman has completely lost control. She orders her archers to fire on Li Wei. Jin An manages to block the first few arrows, yelling that you don't kill an envoy during peace talks.
So the Empress Dowager doubles down. She orders the archers to just fire indiscriminately into the crowd below. She doesn't care that her own captured soldiers are down there. It's absolute madness.
In the chaos, Li Wei takes an arrow for Jin An. He dies, telling Jin An that this act repays the blood debt between them. His final wish is for Jin An to let Li Shuang go free. Li Shuang, watching her father die from the gate, is completely shattered.
The Big Secret Is Out
This is the final straw for Jin An. He's enraged. He leaps to the top of the gate, grabs the Empress Dowager, and declares he's going to subject her to military law.
Backed into a corner, she starts screaming accusations. She calls Jin An a traitor for colluding with Li Shuang. Then she drops the bomb. She reveals Jin An's biggest secret to the entire court. He is the Xuan Yi Ke, the legendary Black-Clad Visitor that everyone fears.
The court officials are stunned. Jin An has no choice but to admit it. He confesses that he is the Xuan Yi Ke, but explains that he had lost his memory of that identity.He says he'll accept any punishment, but not before he deals with the treacherous Empress Dowager.
A Surprise Return
Just when you think things can't get any more dramatic, they do.
Remember Mo Yin and Lu Xin? Earlier, they were investigating that "Brain-Eating Powder" the Empress gave Li Shuang.They snuck into the Yao palace, and after Lu Xin got distracted by snacks, they stumbled upon a secret room. Inside, they found a tortured man chained up. It was Duan Aoze, Jin An's brother, who everyone thought was dead.
Well, Mo Yin and Lu Xin show up at court with Duan Aoze right in the middle of this standoff. Jin An is overjoyed to see his brother is alive.
With Duan Aoze present, the Empress Dowager's motive finally comes out. She hated their father because he always planned to give the throne to Duan Aodeng (Jin An), even after she had a son of her own.
Li Shuang, seeing the woman who caused her father's death, lunges forward to kill her. Both she and the Empress Dowager are restrained and taken away.
The episode ends on a somber note. Jin An brings Li Shuang to see her father's body. She doesn't blame him for what happened. She knows her father wouldn't want any more bloodshed.She just regrets that she spent so much time as a general and not enough time just being his daughter.
