Episode Summary
Night Raven turns Tang Lianyue's senior brother into a deadly puppet, and Su Muyu reveals he can only be stopped by death. The political plotting intensifies as Zhuo Qing and the Grand Prince scheme to make the Emperor suspect the Prince of Langya. The Emperor has a nightmare confirming his fears. Finally, Su Changhe proposes bringing the legendary Yellow Spring Pawnshop out of the shadows, but Su Muyu fears the chaos it would unleash.
Spoiler Alert
Awkward Introductions and a New Philosophy
Meet the New Friend
The episode kicks off with Tu Wan acting like he and Su Muyu are old pals. They apparently hit it off immediately. Bai Hehuai is standing right there, and you can tell he is not thrilled. He forces a smile and asks how they know each other. Tu Wan, with zero social grace, just says they met at a song and dance hall. The awkwardness is thick. Su Muyu looks completely done. He just grabs Bai Hehuai and practically yanks him away before Tu Wan can say anything else. Tu Wan is left standing there, totally clueless that he just stepped on a landmine.
Why We're Not Hiding
Later, Su Muyu has to explain things to a very annoyed Bai Hehuai. Bai Hehuai doesn't like their new, fancy place. He thinks it's too big and doesn't feel like a home. He asks Su Muyu why they aren't just lying low and opening a small, secret clinic. Su Muyu lays out his new strategy. He says they are being watched no matter what they do. Their every move is monitored. So, he figures they might as well live out in the open. Living boldly under the sun shows they have nothing to fear. I have to admit, it's a gutsy plan.
Night Raven's Deadly New Toy
A Rescue Mission Goes Wrong
The calm doesn't last long. Bai Hehuai uses a special snake left by Xin Baicao. It senses that Night Raven is close, so he goes off to investigate. At the same time, Mu Yumo runs to Su Muyu for help. Tang Lianyue is in serious trouble.
Su Muyu arrives to a nasty scene. Night Raven has captured Tang Lianyue's senior brother. He's turned him into some kind of puppet using his poisons. Night Raven is incredibly arrogant about it. He doesn't see Su Muyu's group as a threat at all. Tang Lianyue is horrified. She sees her brother being controlled and rushes forward to help him. But it's no use. He is completely under Night Raven's command.
The Only Way to Stop Him
Su Muyu has to hold Tang Lianyue back. He tells her it's hopeless. They have zero chance of winning this fight. He then drops a terrible truth on her. Once someone is fully turned into one of these "medicine men," there's only one way to stop them. You have to kill them by stabbing them through the heart. There is no cure.
The Royal Chess Game Heats Up
Princes, Pawns, and Poison
The political games are getting intense. Night Raven goes to Prince Xiao Yong and offers a partnership. He wants to use the prince's royal status for his own schemes.
We then see Zhuo Qing talking with his apprentice, who turns out to be the Grand Prince. They discuss the puppet problem. Zhuo Qing makes their real goal clear. Their main objective is to put the Grand Prince on the throne. The plan is to make the Emperor deeply suspicious of the Prince of Langya. If they can do that, the Emperor might change his will to name the Grand Prince as his heir.
Su Changhe then confronts Zhuo Qing directly. He figured out the Grand Prince is Zhuo Qing's student. Zhuo Qing just gives him a strange smile. He says they could be friends or they could be enemies. It all depends.
The Emperor's Nightmare
Zhuo Qing lays out the current power structure for Su Changhe. The Second Prince is out of the running. The Prince of Langya is too popular and powerful, which makes him a target for everyone in Tianqi City. Even the Emperor is afraid of him. This leaves the Sixth Prince as the main contender, but the real game is about taking down Langya.
We then see the Emperor himself. He's clearly shaken. He tells a courtier he had a terrible nightmare. In the dream, someone stabbed him through the chest. He knows it was the Prince of Langya in the dream. But he can't bring himself to say the name out loud. The paranoia is setting in.
The Future of the Yellow Spring Pawnshop
A Dangerous Idea
Back with our guys, Su Changhe finds Su Muyu helping Bai Hehuai design a sign for the new clinic. He can't help but smile seeing his brother so focused on something normal. This leads Su Changhe to make a bold declaration. He says the Yellow Spring Pawnshop has been in the shadows for too long. He thinks it's time for them to come out into the light.
Su Muyu immediately sees the problem with this. He's worried. The pawnshop is filled with priceless and powerful treasures. If the royal family finds out about them, their greed will cause huge problems. And if those items get scattered among the martial arts world, it would cause absolute chaos.
