Episode Summary
In episode 9, the team battles a giant clam at a lakeside. After Luo Ren discovers his blood repels the creature during a perilous rescue of Cao Yanhua, they devise a plan to hunt it. While searching for the missing Yan Jiuxiao, they find his body and the remains of Yi Wan San's father in the lake. Mu Dai volunteers as bait to lure the clam. During the climactic fight, a powerful second personality awakens within Mu Dai, turning the tide. The team ultimately defeats the clam using their blood and successfully retrieves the "Water Relic," while Mu Dai remains unaware of her transformation.
Spoiler Alert
The Seven Relics of Ill Omen, Episode 9 Recap: The Beast Below
A lakeside mission turns into a desperate fight for survival against a monstrous clam. When the team’s plan goes awry, it takes an unexpected transformation from Mu Dai and a bloody sacrifice to secure their prize: the Water Relic.
A Desperate Rescue in the Mud
The episode opens with the team in peril on the shores of a murky lake. Cao Yanhua is trapped in the mud, unable to move, as a monstrous, ancient clam emerges to attack. In a daring maneuver, Luo Ren, tethered to their Hummer, has Yi Wan San hit the gas. The vehicle’s momentum launches Luo Ren through the air, allowing him to snatch Cao Yanhua from the mud just in time. They speed away, but the creature gives chase, its massive tentacles lashing out. One tentacle wraps around Luo Ren, but as it slices his arm, drawing blood, the creature recoils in pain and vanishes back into the water, leaving the shaken team to wonder what just happened.
Confessions and Complications
Back at their base, Luo Ren discusses the clam’s aversion to his blood with Shen Gun, the mystic, who theorizes it’s connected to the Relics. As Mu Dai bandages Luo Ren’s arm, the team debates their next move. Yi Wan San, still haunted by his past, firmly refuses to participate in hunting the clam. Luo Ren, understanding his friend’s trauma, agrees their priority should be finding the missing Yan Jiuxiao.
Later, during a quiet moment, the emotional tension between Mu Dai and Luo Ren comes to a head. She asks him directly if he has feelings for her. Luo Ren admits that he is carrying heavy burdens and facing immense danger, but she cuts him off. "The best time for love," she insists, "is the moment you both feel it." She then lightens the mood, but the question hangs in the air. Meanwhile, Yan Hongsha finds a sleepless Mu Dai, who jokes that she’s back to being a "single sapling." Yan Hongsha promises to find her a new match, offering friendly support.
Skeletons in the Water
Using an underwater drone, Luo Ren scans the lakebed. The sonar reveals a chilling sight: a dead zone littered with animal skeletons and, shockingly, a human corpse. Yan Hongsha watches the monitor in horror, identifying the body as her Second Uncle, Yan Jiuxiao. As Yi Wan San maneuvers the drone’s robotic arm to retrieve the body, the giant clam attacks again, knocking the arm aside. In the chaotic feed from the camera, Yi Wan San sees the skeletal remains of his own father.
The grim discovery galvanizes the team. They are no longer just retrieving a body; they are on a mission of vengeance. Luo Ren formulates a plan: Cao Yanhua will man the tow winch, Yan Hongsha will monitor the clam’s position with the drone, and Mu Dai, to everyone’s surprise, volunteers to be the bait.
A New Self Awakens
Floating alone in a small boat, Mu Dai successfully lures the giant clam to the surface. Using her exceptional agility, she leaps from the boat as it attacks, but several tentacles snag her, dragging her toward the creature’s gaping maw. Just as she’s about to be devoured, Luo Ren throws a heavy net over the clam, and Yi Wan San guns the Hummer’s engine, pulling the net tight. Luo Ren rushes forward, stabbing at the beast with a steel pipe.
The clam thrashes wildly, nearly flipping the vehicle. In this moment of life and death, as Luo Ren fights to save her, something inside Mu Dai snaps. Her eyes turn cold and her demeanor shifts instantly—her dormant second personality takes control. She shoves Luo Ren aside, grabs the steel pipe, and with inhuman strength, plunges it deep into the clam’s shell. Wounded, the creature retreats into the muddy lakebed.
Victory in Blood
Thinking fast, Yi Wan San throws the Hummer in reverse, dragging the injured clam from the mud and using the vehicle’s weight to pin it down. As the team pries the shell open, Luo Ren spots the glowing "Water Relic" embedded inside. In a final, desperate act, the dying clam’s tentacles shoot out, ensnaring every member of the team.
The wound on Luo Ren’s arm bursts open, and where his blood splatters on the tentacles, they immediately retract. "Blood! It’s weak against blood!" he yells. Seizing the opportunity, Yi Wan San cuts his own palm, using his blood to free Cao Yanhua. In the ensuing chaos, Luo Ren lunges forward, wrenches the Water Relic from the shell, and secures it in a container.
The Aftermath
With the battle over, the group tends to their wounds and their grief. Yi Wan San quietly collects his father’s ashes, while Yan Hongsha burns paper money for her uncle. Luo Ren tries to ask Mu Dai about her sudden, strange burst of strength, but she has no memory of the event and seems confused, wondering how her sailor’s whistle ended up in his possession.
On their way back, they are met by the old village chieftain, who falls to his knees and confesses his guilt over not saving Yi Wan San’s father years ago. Yi Wan San helps the old man to his feet, telling him the truth: the village’s decline wasn’t a curse but the result of ecological changes. With the recovery of the water source, life can return. As night falls, the secrets of the lake have been brought to the surface, but the capture of the Water Relic signals the beginning of an even greater storm.
