Episode Summary
Kunwu reunites with his family's former followers, only to learn they are undead soldiers. General Lin reveals the tragic history of the Kun family's demise, which is tied to a mysterious well and a skinless corpse in a crystal-filled cave. While escaping an ambush by the State Preceptor, Jiang Wenhuan is injured by the crystals and loses his strength. Kunwu rescues him, and the group fights their way to temporary safety. In the capital, the State Preceptor seizes power by placing the King under house arrest.
Spoiler Alert
A Not-So-Warm Welcome
The Kun Family Reunion
So, Kunwu finally tracks down the old guard of the Kun family. You'd think it would be a happy reunion. It's not. The moment they see him, they all fall to their knees and start bowing. It's intense. But Xin Jia isn't buying the celebration. He just saw these same people acting like mindless zombies. He's clearly freaked out, and honestly, so am I.
General Lin cuts the weirdness short with a warning. He tells Kunwu he has to get Qingqing far away from Zhongli. This wasn't just advice. It was a direct order from Kunwu's own father. Kunwu, of course, wants to know what really happened to his family.
A Story About Zombies and Well Water
General Lin takes us back to that horrible night. Kunwu's father was summoned to the palace. He waited outside all night but never saw his son. He finally stormed the bedchamber. Inside, he found his wife had gone completely insane. She had just enough sanity left to tell him two things. First, she "found the thing." Second, he needed to kill their daughter. He had no idea what she was talking about. In the end, the general killed his own wife.
Lin then explains the source of the madness. Everyone who was there that night drank from a specific well. The water made them crave blood. It also made them immortal but not really alive, just like him. To prove his point, he has Kunwu touch his chest. There's no heartbeat.
The Mountain of Secrets
The Crystal Corpse
Jiang Wenhuan asks if Lin has ever heard of an immortality pill, but the name means nothing to him. Instead, Lin leads them all into a mountain cave. Inside, they find a dead body that hasn't decayed at all. It's covered in strange, glowing crystals.
Xin Jia, ever the curious one, reaches out and touches a crystal. Nothing happens to him. General Lin realizes the crystals are harmless to normal people. They only hurt the undead ones like him. It's a weapon designed to control them. Looking closer, Xin Jia notices the corpse has no skin. This triggers a memory for Kunwu. His mother said a Saintess had to be burned and her skin used for a ritual. That missing skin is definitely important.
An Ill-Fated Escape
While the team is in the cave, the State Preceptor is busy plotting. He sends a letter to Shangshan. He's confident he can ambush and kill all the heirs on Qingluan Mountain. His soldiers are already on their way.
Our group finds an exit at the back of the mountain and starts to climb out. General Lin slips during the escape. He almost falls right onto the deadly crystals below. Jiang Wenhuan manages to catch him just in time. But in the process, Jiang Wenhuan gets a nasty scratch from one of the crystals. He brushes it off. When it's his turn to climb, he suddenly collapses. He has no strength left.
Kunwu refuses to leave him behind. He climbs back down into the cave and ties himself to Jiang Wenhuan. He starts hauling both of them up the cliff. Just then, the State Preceptor's soldiers attack, firing arrows into the cave. Kunwu gets hit but doesn't stop climbing. They both make it out alive. The whole group then fights off the soldiers together.
A New King and a New Plan
Shifting Loyalties
After the battle, General Lin formally removes his Kun family crest. He decides to go undercover and follow Kunwu from now on.
The State Preceptor is furious that his ambush failed. He immediately orders more troops to guard every exit on Qingluan Mountain. He's determined that none of them will get out alive. Then, he makes his big move. He accuses the King of being negligent and letting the heirs escape to the mountain in the first place. He uses this as an excuse to place the King under house arrest. The State Preceptor announces he is now the acting ruler. He just seized the throne.
The episode ends with Jiang Wenhuan waking up. He's weak and injured in an old, abandoned house on the mountain. The group is hiding there for now. E Shun has told the other heirs a modified version of the truth. He explained the frame-up but left out the part about General Lin and his men being undead.
