ShortCircuit

Wen Qing and Wen Ning went to the Jin Clan and surrendered themselves, and the story says they were killed and burned into ashes. Obviously Wen Ning wasn't destroyed, though - and even WWX was suprised to see him when he called out (he didn't call him specifically, he just wanted something powerful that he could control in order to fight the Dancing Fairy), because WWX knew what happened to them before his own death.

Remember you're still in the flashback leading up to WWX's death. When you return to the present, he'll be with LWJ and the other survivors of that ordeal, and they'll take the time to finally follow the hints and discover what happened 16 years back. One of those mysteries is Wen Ning's fate so no spoilers right now, LOL, see for yourself - it's a lot more satisfying like that :)

I (and other watchers) told you this is a pretty complex story, it'll take time to see it in all its splendor, but so worth it. If you keep with it, you'll very probably like it after all :)

... Got myself trapped into another rewatch. I don't know how it happened. At one moment I was laughing with him in Follow Your Heart, then I was missing Tantai Jin's soulful looks and wanted to see it again. And now here I am. *sigh*

the beautiful one 😆

Look at you praising JingYan like that, he's going to blush and fluster about :D

TBH, there's no Yin Iron story in the novel, they added it to the drama because it was easier to then add the way Wen RuoHan created and controlled the puppets. It's an adaptation, after all. So the Yin Iron underplot might have been a bit scrambled in later edits - probably. The Yin Tiger Tally and its origin are canon, though, so they overpower everything LOL.

Keep in mind that older generation doesn't imply they were more powerful - just that they had their try and failed to destroy it. WWX is a genius, though, so why wouldn't he be able to control and/or destroy it, if it existed? The way to destroy the metal might've involved evil/undead qi, so maybe only someone unorthodox like WWX could have found the right way to deal with it. Not that they explain it away like that, since it was never part of the original story LOL.

Neither the Yin Tiger Tally nor Chenqing have too much power - the power comes from WWX and how he uses them. They're just channeling tools for his intention and they amplify his control and power... they're not particularly dangerous for anyone with some qi of their own (the only one hurt when touching Chenqing is YanLi, who isn't a cultivator. Both LWJ and JC can handle it with no problems, though they're obviously repulsed by the weapons' evil auras - told you, Spiritual Weapons are something different).

Xue Yang is a very moody killer. He will kill those who he thinks wronged him, but doesn't pay much attention to other people (until they "wrong" him somehow). He doesn't disappear, he's going to be busy killing off other small fry who offended him somehow and at the same time obsessing over how to get revenge against Song Lan and Xiao XingCheng. You haven't seen the last of him (and when you see him again his absence will be explained).

Yes it's Meng Yao.

Jin GuangShan has bastard children all over the place (and only the one legitimate, Jin ZiXuan.) As a matter of fact, Mo XuanYu (the one who sacrificed his body to call back WWX) is also one of his bastards. There are more, too. Meng Yao is his bastard son born to a prostitute (one that was a bit above the rest and had some education). JGS promised her he'd take her son and raise him up in a better station but he never did (he doesn't care about his bastards). He only took Meng Yao back and even gave him the wrong name (he should have a name starting with Zi or something, but he got a name starting with Guang, like the previous generation, LOL) because he doesn't care - but Meng Yao had done tremendous service in the Sunshot Campaign so he - JGS - wanted some of that fame. So he recognised him and took him into the Clan officially because it served his interests to have him as his underling.

All the bits of Yin metal are gone now and won't matter any more. What of them there were, WWX controlled and his Yin Tiger Tally is more powerful than them. The last bit was probably with Xue Yang (it's not told, but it makes sense considering what happens later, in the present timeline.)

He wasn't in charge of it, he made sure his hands were clean. He just delegated and insinuated what should be done.

So now you've had a little time to come a bit down from the NiF high... what's next? :D

The thing about wuxia and xianxia is that there are certain rules and a lot of dramas (and the novels they're based of, if any) have to follow them. The more creative author will obviously try to subvert expectation or create a conflict so momentous that you look past the cliches of the genre, but a lot of them either don't really bother (because the focus of the story is different, usually just the romantic plot) or are unable to create actual masterpieces. In wuxia, there's always a huge importance placed on the fight choreography, and in xianxia, you have to pay attention to the cultivation and usually the master-disciple relationship is the most important thing in life. (There's one Chinese proverb saying "a teacher for a day, a parent for a lifetime", and when you realise how big ancestral worship was and probably still kind of is in China, you get how much that matters. There are plenty of drama and novel conflicts where starstruck lovers can't be together because one of their clans did something to the teacher/master's clan and then tragedy obviously strikes.)

BUT. There are always some that do manage to walk that thread among cliche and new story. So if you mean to try out some more... (other than obviously NiF2 :D), then here are some recs (I haven't watched all possible dramas, so it's just from what I did watch).

Costume drama/historical (not actually wuxia or xianxia): Under the Microscope. It's short, based on a novel, still develops beautiful relationships, the characters are amazing, the actors are exceptional (you'll be introduced to Zhang RuoYun, don't miss him :D) and they manage to make a story about geometrical and geodesical measurements AND taxes as dangerous as it can get :D There are no emperors in this, but the powerplays are subtle and convincing. And the OST is also great! (HEA)

Wuxia - there are quite a few here. One of my favourites is the movie Hero, starring Jet Li. It's an older movie, but still has the very best cinematography, OST, cast (and acting), plot, and fighting choreography of all wuxia movies I've ever watched. It's about the first Qin Emperor (the one with the Teracotta Army and the underground mausoleum), and the numerous attempts on his life - and it touches on the concept of Tianxia (everything under heaven). That too is as close to a masterpiece as it can get. Highly recc'ed! (Sad ending, but not really unhopeful).

A very good wuxia drama is also Joy of Life. It's based on a transmigration novel, but very little of the transmigration comes into play in season 1. (Season 2 is also available but I haven't watched it yet. There will be a Season 3 that ends the whole story). The characters are amazing (Zhang RuoYun is in this one, and also some of the other cast from Under the Microscope, it's great to see them together in different stories, just to appreciate how good actors they are!) S1 ended in a cliffhanger, but there's a lot of politics and powerplays and also a lot more fighting than in NiF, and beautiful scenes and OST.

Also a bit older, Ever Night is a great wuxia, too. It's more fighting than anything, but also a bit of a mystery, and the stakes aren't as high as in the very best costume dramas, but the acting is very good, and the OST is amazing. There are a lot of characters, and a lot of intricate wuxia plots (like who's the best and what kind of levels they can reach and there's also a lot of training in an actual school, LOL) but LOTS of great fights (GREAT fights, needs repeating.) I recc this just to see how good fight choreography can be when enhanced with some pretty interesting characters :D (I mean, there are quite a number of eps spent concerning the ravishing calligraphy of a short note that tells someone to eat their chicken soup :D)

One of the newer wuxia dramas is The Blood of Youth (there's a prequel too but it came after TBoY, so I'd rec this one first). Also very good characters, good acting, strong plot, nice fighting (and the ML also lost his fighting skills due to a gruesome wound). It's more of a youth shounen-like type of drama, but still highly enjoyable.

And one of the very best bromances (still non-romantic :D) is Mysterious Lotus Casebook. There are three MLs who start at different points, there's tragedy and comedy and also lots of fighting, and some mysteries too - and a dog :D If you haven't seen him in anything, that's the drama you'd want to see Cheng Yi in :D (because he's worth it!)

Xianxia - well, the thing about xianxia is that there's always a love story. It's a staple. You can't miss it or it's not xianxia (except when it's danmei xianxia but then the censors will make them remove anything romantic from them anyway LOL). There are way too many xianxia, so here are just my absolute favourites from what I've watched (danmei not included):

Till the End of the Moon: this is practically the most abusive xianxia ever. And it's a love story obviously. But the cinematography is superlative, the FX are very good, they tried to involve elements of the Buddhist Cave System in Dunhuang (never EVER seen anything like it in any xianxia/wuxia/regular costume dramas, the colours are just the most beautiful thing ever), the MUSIC is great. And then they have Luo YunXi and Bai Lu as leads (I am not ashamed to say I have crushed on both of them LOL). It's based on a novel, too. You might take a look and see :)

Love and Redemption (with Cheng Yi again) - this is great if you can stay with it through the frustrating first half, LOL, when they just abuse and re-abuse the ML and the FL is just clueless and clutzy LOL. It kind of grows on you... or it did on me, mostly because Cheng Yi knows how to suffer hahaha.

For xuanhuan (this is fantasy with some xianxia or wuxia elements) I'd recc Douluo Continent (it's based on a novel and it's basically about a school for talented people with unusual gifts and fighting skills who go and fight with other schools... for reasons.) At least you'd get to see Xiao Zhan in something if not TU, though TBH the plot is not his best help here.

Also, definitely I Am Nobody would fit - this is FUN!! If you're never watching any other xuanhuan ever again, watch this one first! :D (The plot is based on a manhua, but they made it really work - great cast, great pace, great music, great acting - you'll get to see Peng YuChang, Hou MinHao and Bi WenJun, if for nothing else :D)

... And then there are the modern dramas :D

The whole From Dusk til Dawn extra. There are so many moments, but for some reason, that's the part I like best (just the two of them living WWX's dream life, him going on adventures and returning to LWJ every night, LWJ taking care of him and just that quiet loving life in all. That extra is perfection).

All of them look like runway models, but there's just something about that full-toothed carefree smile of XZ's that makes me fall head over heels for WWX :D

So, cultivation means using martial arts (and meditation) to first form a Golden Core made of qi energy in your body, then raising your own level with help from that ball of energy. All orthodox cultivators begin as disciples of a Master from a Clan of their choosing or that they were born into. The idea of cultivation is bettering yourself until you're the very best of fighters and then helping others - for orthodox cultivators anyway, or reigning over your lesser opponents, if you're a demonical cultivator (cultivation in itself is neutral, how one uses it is up to them).

Every orthodox cultivator will learn a specific way to get that Golden Core, and there aren't two the same. What is common though is that everyone has a sword. Fighting with a sword is the only approved way of fighting. The swords of powerful cultivators become Spiritual Weapons and usually will bond only with one master. Someone who can defeat a cultivator without using a sword is considered unethical by the orthodox clans (and usually they're demonical).

Even Wen Chao (and his older brother, Wen Xu - his head was hanging off that gate when YanLi and Jiang Cheng meet again after their ordeal) have their own swords. And that soldier just brings it back as proof that its master is gone. (You can go back to past eps and check what his sword looks like - but it's also red, the colour of the Wen Clan, and that's another hint. All the major clans are colour-coded, LOL).

PS Every clan uses swords, but the Nie Clan uses broadswords, a very un-elegant weapon, according to the tastes of the cultivation world (they were founded by a butcher, and his method of cultivating is always getting the cultivators to go mad. Even their broadswords get "mad" and instead of being kept in a Sword's Altar/Sanctuary as with most clans, they're given burial rites and spiritual chains then buried in their own sword tombs, just to make sure they don't get away and start butchering people on their own.) This will also matter later, when the campaign is over and Nie MingJue is left to deal with the aftermath for his own clan.

Jiang Cheng has a bit of a complex about his foster brother. Their father (one biological son - JC, and one adopted - WWX) always held up WWX as a standard for JC, who wasn't always praised or even recognised for what he actually did - I mean, you already saw it in action. Jiang FengMian praised WWX for killing off the XuanWu monster, but it was JC who ran for seven days to Lotus Pier and back to bring help, and also he led all the rest of the clans kids to safety - he never got mentioned. He's seeing WWX with eyes that are just a bit clouded with sibling jealousy and with an inferiority complex.

Also, he's a VERY straight arrow who thinks in patterns that he assumes are the only correct way of thinking. And since he would never even conceive of making use of evil energy for anything, he kind of assumes WWX wouldn't either. He also doesn't really know if what the Wen clan people said is true, and that WWX really was thrown in the Burial Mounds. He just assumes WWX was kept jailed somewhere and just escaped. (You also have to remember JC just got through two of the most catastrophic events of his life - his parents were killed and he lost his Golden Core. He does NOT want anything more troubling now, since he's just became a Clan Leader and has things to do. He wants WWX to be okay, so in his mind WWX is okay. WWX being who he is, he's bullsh*tting his way out of any inquiry about what happened to him while he was gone and that's the norm for him, so JC doesn't even worry about it).

The evil sword from the XuanWu monster is now gone (WWX used to carry it in his magical pouch - in xianxia, there are certain items that can store huge things somewhere in a magical space - things like pouches or rings and whatnot. LWJ also has one, in the first episode he was playing his guqin - a musical instrument - until the juniors called him, and then he put it away in his pouch). That evil sword's Yin metal was used by WWX to forge the Yin Tiger Tally (the amulet) and Chenqing (the flute). He doesn't really need either of them to use his dark amulets (he can just write them with his blood or his qi, if he wants to), but they're useful to concentrate the Yin energy in order to do bigger damage and recover faster. You already saw him in ep 2 using his Yin magic to call and control a Fierce Corpse (Wen Ning), and he was using a bamboo flute he'd cut out in two or three moves, LOL. Chenqing is just his flashier and more powerful tool. So is the Tiger Tally.

The OTHER sword, the one JC returned to him, is his original sword - Suibian/Whatever - that was with the Wen clan and that LWJ carried around and then passed over to JC to give WWX when they met him again. It's a whole different sword than the Yin metal one. And it's also a spiritual weapon, one that has a kind of sentience and looks only to WWX as a master (no one else can un-sheathe it). Suibian (the sword) will prove important later, even if WWX won't use it to fight anymore.

The genres and tags are added by MDL users, sometimes they can be misleading. This is xianxia (and not even the regular kind of xianxia, but danmei xianxia, that can be very different. Of course, because of the censorship, the actual danmei bits didn't survive... much).

You don't need to read the novel (though it's very good, and it already got an official English edition). All stories include some details that are verbally presented, in order to streamline them, or due to other reasons (like costs, for example, or too long timelines), just looking at it won't be enough...

He can't and won't explain. He'll lie about it, because nobody has ever escaped from The Burial Mounds (not even the evil spirits). But he used the Yin Tiger Tally he forged from the sword found in the old monster (the XuanWu tortoise), in order to survive and get out of it.

The problem is he can't tell about it because 1. he won't fight using a sword ever again and he can't explain why, and 2. if he admits to using the demonical energy, then he's outcast from the orthodox cultivator sects and won't ever be able to walk among them.

... Not that he manages to remain inside the clans anyway.

Part of the explanation comes in the present timeline (around ep 44 or so, IIRC). But also part of it becomes apparent the first time WWX is seen using undead energy - and that's in eps 19-20. LWJ already knows - he even warns WWX about what happened to cultivators who used that kind of demonic energy and WWX laughs it off.

3-33 IS the flashback to the origins of the story 16 years in the past, 1-2, 33-50 is the present. WWX's way of using undead energy was already explained.

The thing is - you should be actually watching it, not waiting to be engrossed. Every drama has its own way of explaining / exposing / showing how and why things happen, and you won't get flashy fighting or qi explosions or swords flying or final bosses in TU like in the regular wuxia. This is NOT wuxia, and for a xianxia that does NOT build on romance (like 99% of the xianxia out there), they do things differently. There are way too many details that all link to each other, and if you don't actually pay attention because you only care about the main leads, if anyone at all, then you won't understand why things go the way they go.

They DO show you everything, and then tell you some, too, but you need to pay that bit of attention or you'll miss it.

OR, if you want to see what a flashy (and still good) xianxia has to offer, there's always Till the End of the Moon, Ashes of Love, Love and Redemption, etc.

Wen Clan was not the most powerful but the most crazy AND Wen RuoHan could make puppets that wouldn't die and so he could control the lesser clans. The other clans (even the bigger ones) didn't form alliances until some of them were almost wiped out - because politics, and because Jin GuangShan is actually pure scum and only sees his own interests.

Wen Chao was HAUNTED by WWX all the way from the Burial Mounds to the last waystation where he dies, what the heck, they TALK about how someone is cleaning up the Wen soldiers from everywhere using demonic means (each and every one of them died by suicide and all of them used different means of suicide because just some magical / demonic charm.) It WAS explained, maybe you weren't paying attention. As to how WWX got so freaking powerful to kill off masses of people just using amulets - maybe remember he lived in the Burial Mounds for three months, gathering and learning to use undead energy, just as he took the time to explain to Lan QiRen in school to such length, that anyone who was paying attention wouldn't miss it...

Lan XiChen was hurt in the taking down of the Cloud Recesses. Someone's rescued him, but it took months for him to recover and no, not even Lan WangJi knew if his brother was at least still alive, nonetheless where he was. The elder, Lan QiRen, isn't a fighter, he's a teacher, he just waited out in the secret cave with the surviving disciples of the clan, what would he do in a battle, just up and die?!

All the main cast at the time was made up of newcomers, maybe with the exception of Lulu Xuan (YanLi) who had some fame already. All of them auditioned, including the leads, one of them had to insist to be given the chance to audition for the role because they overpassed him at first. They became well known AFTER the drama aired.

The story itself was streamlined so that most people could go along with it easily, since the timelines are pretty intertwined in the original novel.

You don't like it - or don't get it - and that's okay, don't force yourself through it if you're not enjoying it :)

*insert Ruby Rhod bzzzztt-ing all over the place*

Commercial?! Commercial!!

(I guess :D)

I think he's considered not sound of mind in front of the law, given he's (functionally) autistic. At the most they'd lock him up in a mental institution, but given he didn't actually do anything but hide the body and not tell anyone about it, there's not a lot to charge him with that would matter, anyway.

Hulu re-edited them so they're different length. It's the same total time for both.

Maybe because this isn't a wuxia either and the fighting isn't the point...