Fangs of Fortune (ep. 21 - ep. 24)
Yep, at this point I'm just going to stop making assumptions - the plot is twisting desperately and I'm loving every bit of it. I could feel it in my bones that Li Lun was too cunning to simply die like that (poor baby Bai Jiu got possessed, but he looks impressive in his demonic Li Lun-esque glow-up).
Also, are we not going to address the issue of our girl Wen Xiao waiting for 300 goddamn years to grow that magic tree trunk and didn't even get a kiss in return? Oh come on, she deserved at least that. I mean, it's a miracle she didn't go mad after that - the PTSD must be too real, but they kind of brushed off the whole thing, Zhu Yan and Wen Xiao kinda sorta got back together but didn't even have the time to do something about it with lots of other action taking place.
With Zhuo Yichen lying in a coma, at least the three of them stopped pretending not to love deeply care for each other. "He's not the boy he used to be. Now he has us." Yes, yes he does, finally Zhu Yan said it out loud. When Zhuo Yichen came to kill him with those two jugs of wine - he was so real for it D: Even ready to break his oath for Zhu Yan, being a swordsman and a Bingyi descendant and all. I mean wow. Pure unadulterated heartbreak. And that whole sequence was beyond beautiful - both visually and emotionally. I mean, who needs lovers when you have 'friends' like that? Our baby boy thought he lost Zhu Yan for good.
Also, you can get why Wen Xiao got so emotional after he fell into a coma, not leaving his side for a second, making our Great Demon here wonder what on earth was going on. The girl hadn't seen Zhuo Yichen for 300 years, for heaven's sake, I can't even imagine the agony. And she probably had plenty of time to redefine whatever relationships she had with other people a few million times. I mean the plot is intense in terms of one-thousand-ways-to-make-our-beloved-characters-suffer and it's delivering at full speed.
I still can't properly hate Li Lun, although he's a major ASS and would kill or use Zhu Yan if he had the chance. I mean, babe, grow some brains and stop colluding with the wrong peeps. It's beneath you. He's such a drama queen, though - still can't forgive Zhu Yan for hurting him all those years before, not noticing that he himself has already done much, much worse things to the other guy. Bitchy and vengeful - a perfect combination for an angry ex (I mean, you can call them friends all you want, but at this point, I'm not buying it XD). He is a bit childish, though, angry that other 'kids' don't play with him. Also, being a parasite taking over other people's bodies doesn't really help with making friends, either. A very conflicted character, I have a feeling he might still end badly being poisoned and all, and will either do something really BAD before he goes, to inflict some more pain or something very GOOD because deep down inside he's just hurt and still cares about Zhu Yan.
That whole Bingyi thing, though D: No wonder Zhuo Yichen had that nightmare about turning into a demon when he was a kid. Ancestor saying hi? Can't wait to see what happens next, but already sensing more heartbreak coming everyone's way.
