Episode Summary
Tao Bo confesses he is Li Fengjie and that he wanted to curse Empress Wu, not kill Wuyang. Monk Chenkong is exposed as the real villain, Shen Yu, a former attendant obsessed with the Empress. Shen Yu confesses to the murders and his plan to use Wuyang in a ritual to resurrect the Empress. The episode ends as a body matching Wuyang's description is found.
Spoiler Alert
The Charcoal Seller Cracks
The Treasure Hunter's Tale
The episode kicks off right where we left off. Chu Yingtao has the old charcoal seller, Tao Bo, pinned. His tough guy act disappears instantly. He starts begging her to help find a golden tablet. He claims it's vital to the Tang Dynasty's future.
Just then, a man in black tries to bolt out the window. Chu Yingtao is on him in a second. The guy says he's a treasure hunter. He hands over the golden tablet right there.
At the station, the treasure hunter tells his story. He was hired by that "white-haired mountain man" to find a specific artifact. It was Empress Wu's golden tablet of atonement. He was supposed to deliver it at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. He also remembers the white-haired man from the tavern. The man acted obsessed with gossip about the Empress. But the treasure hunter saw him secretly put some powder in his own drink. He knew this guy was more than just a fan.
The Real Story of Li Fengjie
Lu Lingfeng and Su Wuming try to question Tao Bo. He refuses to talk. So Su Wuming lays out what he knows. He talks about an old event. Empress Wu once ordered a priest to throw that exact golden tablet into a valley to erase her sins. That tablet was an imperial object. It was meant to stay lost forever. So why did it turn up in a poor charcoal seller's shack? Su Wuming knows Tao Bo is hiding something big.
Tao Bo finally breaks. His real name is Li Fengjie. As a young man, he was a skilled fighter in the capital. He got mixed up in a case investigated by the legendary Di Renjie. At the time, Empress Wu wanted to get rid of a powerful official named Zhao Guogong. Her lackey forced Li Fengjie to falsely accuse the official of treason. The plan worked. Zhao Guogong was exiled and took his own life. This cleared the way for the Empress to seize total power.
Li Fengjie was eaten by guilt. He was also afraid the Empress's people would kill him to tie up loose ends. So he vanished. He became Tao Bo, the charcoal seller, and lived in hiding for years. He eventually climbed down that dangerous cliff to get the golden tablet back. He wanted to use it to perform a ritual. The goal was to curse Empress Wu's spirit so she could never be reincarnated.
Then he saw the dancer, Wuyang. She looks exactly like the late Empress. All his old hatred came rushing back. He decided he had to kill her. After he confesses, Lu Lingfeng sends him to the cells. Li Fengjie still can't believe he got caught. Master Fei tells him it was the "Jade Maiden Powder" that gave him away. He's furious at his own mistake.
The Monk is Our Man
A Comb and a Confession
Pei Xijun is looking after the injured Lao Liu. She's feeding him medicine and they start talking. Something in their conversation clicks. She has a sudden realization. The white-haired mountain man was Monk Chenkong in disguise.
The team rushes to Chengfo Temple. The monk is conveniently out. The head abbot lets them search his room. Inside, they find Wuyang's missing hair comb. That's all the proof they need.
At the same time, Monk Chenkong tracks down the medium, A Ling. He offers her a huge bag of money. He wants her to conduct a seance to contact the spirit of Empress Wu. A Ling sees the cash and agrees to fake it. She pretends to be possessed. But the monk isn't fooled. He sees right through her act and kills her.
As he's heading back to the temple, he literally runs right into Lu Lingfeng and the others. They spot fresh blood on his sleeve. He's caught.
The Empress's Biggest Fan
In the interrogation room, Monk Chenkong confesses everything. His real name is Shen Yu. He was once a personal attendant to Empress Wu. He was completely and utterly in love with her. When she died, he was destroyed. He decided to become a monk.
Everything changed when he met Wuyang. He became convinced she was the reincarnation of his beloved Empress. He started finding ways to get close to her. A secret romance began. Wuyang's guardian, Chi Ying, was very strict. So Shen Yu used A Mu to pass messages back and forth.
Wuyang actually thought about running away with him. But she started to notice something unsettling. He didn't see her. He only saw the Empress. He was treating her like a replacement. She was completely disappointed and broke things off with him.
The Full Plan Revealed
A Phantom Haunting and a Golden Tablet
Shen Yu explains his entire plan. It's been in the works for months. He used a species of bird that calls at night to create the illusion of a female ghost. This "haunting" was a cover. It allowed him to secretly build a mechanism behind the giant Buddha statue without anyone noticing.
He hired the treasure hunter to get the golden tablet. His grand plan was to merge Wuyang's physical body with the golden Buddha statue. He believed this ritual would summon the soul of Empress Wu back to earth.
The Truth About the Kidnapping
On the night of the lion dance festival, Shen Yu saw Wuyang get kidnapped. He followed the kidnappers. He used a drugged incense to knock out the guards. Then he took Wuyang to the Great Buddha Hall himself. He wasn't saving her. He was just taking her for his own insane plan.
He tried to "awaken" her memories of being the Empress. But Wuyang fought him. Things got complicated when Chi Ying and Tao Bo also showed up in the hall. Shen Yu used the bird calls again to scare them off.
He looked at Wuyang's face. She was defiant and calm. Her expression reminded him so much of the real Empress that he hesitated. He couldn't bring himself to kill her. In that moment of hesitation, someone snuck up behind him and knocked him out cold. The last thing he saw was another man carrying Wuyang away.
As for Kuai Wu's death, that was simple. Kuai Wu made some crude jokes about Empress Wu. Shen Yu couldn't tolerate the disrespect. He drugged the man to make him hallucinate ghosts, then personally threw him down the well.
An Unexpected Body
Master Fei listens to this whole confession. He sighs, saying it's a tragedy. Shen Yu had the skills of a great doctor but a poisoned mind. Just as they are processing all this, a guard runs in with news.
A woman's body has been discovered in the Ghost Market. Her age and description are a perfect match for Wuyang.
