It was Princess Shu de who fancied Dou Shi Shu and gave him a rank when he dedicated a poem when her husband died, not the empress.   Lord Qing is the empress son, Crown Prince's mother passed away I think,  (I am not sure about that,  but empress is working to  get Lord Qing the throne).

 Liz Mathew:

It was Princess Shu de who fancied Dou Shi Shu and gave him a rank when he dedicated a poem when her husband died, not the empress.   Lord Qing is the empress son, Crown Prince's mother passed away I think,  (I am not sure about that,  but empress is working to  get Lord Qing the throne).

 

Crown prince's mum passed away. It was confirmed in the drama

I too think it is his brother Song Han.  He wants what his brother, I use that term loosely since they are not blood related, has to be the Duke.  I wonder who his actual mother is?

 Liz Mathew:

After ep 27,  isnt Lord Qing pulling all the strings, he told Ji Yong he will disclose about how Duke of Ding died and  Dou Shishu is  working for him.   and now that I see Han sucking up to Long Qing, I feel he will work under him and eventually turn out to be our mysterious Assassin. looser...!  

But now the mystery is what is Yi Jong planning... he is always with DZ..! 

It's Eunuch Wang who killed Song Mo in their previous universe.

 Cesia_07:

Well my assumption was right! I had been suspecting him since he shot the arrow,,from his ugly old face. Unless there is another tattoo man... Wang Ge is ordered to kill Song Mo by Prince Qing and he was there to do the job.

I just caught up with EP 28 and it was finally nice to put a face to the tattoo man

Theory 1- the stranger who said he was the writer of Book of Truth and guided FL on how to change fate, he's god? He was to correct their mistakes in their past life ? ML and FL were to be married for their fate to blossom. 2ML was to be a monk for his fate to blossom. Is 2ML also reborn? Yes, that would explain him as that monk handing over the Book of Truth to FL. 2nd- significantly given a magnifying glass. Einstein Time Theory used mirrors.He was the issue that rebirth was initiated. In Buddhism, 7 lifetimes  to achieve nirvana.Abbot had said he has initially no emotion and no attachment at his core.In past life, he became a monk because of bad outcome from  being a court official. In the present ,he still has ego for wanting to be famous and has attachment to FL.2^nd grave sin he committed in the past was helping PQ to become emperor,son of Heaven, PQ was unworthy. High possibility if he helped PQ to become emperor again,not only will he not continue path to nirvana but will fall to hell.

I was right that 2nd chance was 2ML to redeem his past mistakes to walk right back to cultivation.

Disappointed with no clarification and identification of the writer of the Book of Truth and many areas too..

@mparthur  ,Ending was predictable-yes. Tame-yes !

Expected white-haired,  eye-catching, breathtaking  awesomeness to re-appear at the final showdown !

Started strikingly with that image and should have ended , stuck in viewers' minds.

Expected 1 long, beautiful, heartfelt, heartwarming and meaningful poem quoted from the Book of Truth of mission accomplished and everyone's fates were blossoming like that whispering,wispy, wisteria and  as the poem ended,  the Book  of Truth was closed.

Unexpectedly, magnifying glass was meaningful in many ways ; zooming in big, zooming out,  small.

Started with a bang, ended in a murmur.

This info. is from the novel?  Didn't read the novel.

BTW, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All..