So I have this sinking feeling that maybe Uncle Jiang is already dead (or has died in the present story). Remember that the game starts at the cottage with the time or rather the rain droplets reversing. So it may be possible it's the young master going back to Bamboo Retreat and we are all just reminiscing the past with him.
It's just that I find it weird we have news that Aunt Han is alive via Yingying (and now Uncle Chen via the Jiangnan update on CN) but nothing about Uncle Jiang. Like what if, it was learning about Uncle Jiang's death that triggerred or led the young master to visit Bamboo Retreat (before the reverse, the cottage shown was already collapsed, nothing like the one we see now, which could mean the present time might be many years after the current game now)
So I replayed the entire Qinghe main story (Chapter One) and then jumped straight to that lost chapter "Dreams in Flames" and yeah, my sinking feeling about Uncle Jiang has been confirmed I think 😂😭 guys i think i have unlocked a future story update lmao *spoilers*
We met Uncle Jiang in a level below Blissful Retreat Dreamscape and he is basically our entrance to this dreamscape. He is labeled here as Mysterious Senior but that nameless sword is unmistakeable and the first sword clash with him is the same exact clash when we met that man in black at the start of the game.
Uncle Jiang's appearance here is the Uncle Jiang from the future (our future, the YM's actual present). Different clothes and a lot older. (Keep in mind that Uncle Jiang is only around 19 yrs older than the YM. He is only supposedly around 35 yrs old when he returned as a man in black but this Uncle Jiang from dreamscape looks like in his late 40's or early 50's.)
We also met this Uncle Jiang at a different place and cottage. And the YM dreams of real places only
(may be mashed together or with additional "flair' like Dasan Pass but still actual real places, with the exception of Heartseeker's but then again, the YM isnt exactly dreaming or was asleep then, he was having a "spiritual struggle within his psyche", the same way when Qianye placed him on a trance and we fought her black and white versions in our head. Also this is simimlar with the fight with moonlight master where we fight against our bygone self. Bottomline is the fantasy "dreams" happen in the YM's head, depicting his inner struggles. All else are dreams of real people who have lived in real places)
The place is nothing like Bamboo Retreat. So it's probably where this older Uncle Jiang has lived or where we found him (in the future).
If we connect it all together: Uncle Jiang's death is as huge of a blow as the burning down of his home, Blissful Retreat, that it made the YM revisit his home and go all the way back from when he was 16 yrs old (the start of the game). It's in the lower level of the dreamscape because at this point in time, the YM has repressed the event in his memory: he doesnt remember or recognize Uncle Jiang here at all. (Think of the same way the YM saw that pile of things, grabbed Yi Dao's sword, and asked "whose things are these".)
I think the biggest clue here is that the YM dreams of people from the past who are already gone, which helps him overcome or accept a loss. Think of Hexi and the people we meet there including even Huaijing the painter who we found in the present time as an old man already gone in an underground cave. (Note that this premise also applies to Wang Hou aka The Last Emperor or Emperor Ai but that will be on a separate post lol). Now, compare that to Aunt Han and Uncle Chen who only appeared in flashbacks aka when the YM is still very young, and never when the YM is a young adult or grown up. The only times Aunt Han appeared in a dream when the YM is grown up is when the Veiled Lady conjured an illusion and when the YM dreamed of an alternative universe where he became the heir of Blissful Retreat aka it never burned down and Yi Dao became one of Aunt Han's men, while Uncle Jiang is nowhere to be seen. (this seem to mean that the YM connects his relationship or meeting Uncle Jiang to the Blissful Retreat being attacked and burned to the ground. No Uncle Jiang = attack on Blissful Retreat never happening)
So where were we? Oh right, Uncle Jiang has died in a future story update lmao
