noor1234

Ep. 31: It's a good episode, thank god for all the cool ML FL scenes together - the spark is still there - especially the fight sequence where he riles her up with the zinger about 'your blade is nothing special' & 'your fighting skills haven't improved' (!!!) right after she says NOYB on his jealous comment on Song. Perfect sequence with him putting the blade in himself!!!! This ML throws sarcastic lines in the most calm voice possible - Exhibit A to Song: 'you've gotten in the habit of joking. Have you been reading novels?' (!!!!)

It's obvious ML is still keeping secrets from FL (why practise Zewei method? why not say hello to her?) & she still has awkward trust issues with him ('Master is right,' why not say hello to him?). FL still has to reminded by a random granny in a forest that he cares for her! (she has no faith in him nor knows him even now!) But it's good that the entire episode was full of their scenes together. Hopefully the drama will now have more of their scenes together than apart or anyone else's.

Btw, can anyone tell what happened to that incurable poison ML had from his mother? Is he still poisoned or cured of that? Because one reason he was searching for Jade sunflower was that it was the only thing that could uproot the poison. Now they've shifted to 'wild orchid' in Black Forest & not mentioned jade sunflower or his lifelong poison. Is he still poisoned?

Okay, thanks for the explanation, but I thought they'd fight monsters together & at least be happy to see each other - they are not. Plus, in that new proposal scene, she's still acting like a stranger at a distance, not as partners working towards a goal. That's a turnoff for me after so many episodes.

I'll watch the episodes today (31-32) - if there is no sign of partnership & mature progression in the ML+FL relationship (which I thought was settled in Ep.30 with a love confession, & FL's lecture to ML on safety, fear & trust issues both as a lover & as a leader), if they act like strangers still, if she acts aloof still, if he acts like a clingy ex still - if they still don't act like PARTNERS, after a one year break (& it was a break, not a breakup), there is no point in continuing to watch this drama. I'm not watching it to know who the man in black is - I can find it out by checking out the novel or any of the spoilers given in comment section. Currently this drama is a waste of time.

Ok, but she is also still refusing the proposal - what's up with that?!

@baekhyunoonaID I thought it was a mature way for her to show her love & make him feel secure so that he doesn't live in fear or distrust with her or others - BUT it's ridiculous that instead of picking up on the foundation they built a year ago etc., and 30 episodes, they are back to square one, strangers & she's still saying no & he's still in pursuit with sarcastic remarks. IMO she'll most probably get engaged yet again to someone else & she'll be fine with that! When they finally get together (maybe in the last episode) it will be a surprise & news to her & the viewers! Love story has to make some sense on some level. This story makes no sense.

So I just had the misfortune of peeking at the trailer for Ep. 32&33: in which ML is STILL proposing to FL AND she is STILL refusing. I thought they'd crossed this dumb bridge in Ep. 30 with her love confession. She is still offhandish, he is still in pursuit. If they are still at point zero, where's the plot progression in romance? This is extremely tiresome. Instead of being at least excited to see him, it's the same old get-away-from-me thing. Weren't they working towards the same goal of finding man in black (in separate ways) for peace, to end up together? At this point I think the FL needs to have her head examined, so does the ML. As well as the viewers for watching this never-ending going around in circles. What is her problem? (We all know what his problem is) & why still so detached AFTER Ep.30?

The first 30 minutes were dull & it was obvious that the ML was picturized better, in better light & frame than the FL. The production looks low budget unless he appears. Plus, the story is meh.

@dramaworldtraveler Did you not see ML holding the lighter 'pearl' that FL gave him? That's the light at the end of the tunnel - she is his light & hope in the darkness. I think they are together, a couple, even in separation - even though they are not at the same place & most probably haven't 'done' anything yet.

@megumi-h Um, actually no, in Ep. 29, before she leaves, she gets that painting created of both of them together as kids in a safe happy environ., - where he is still standing the next morning after she's gone. Under that canopy, she told him that she wants him to live without fear, without trust issues, without a cage & she wants the same for herself. She tells him she would've done the rescue even if she knew his plan, indicating he needs to trust her to not 'leave' him. She ALSO tells him 3 times that she loves him & how much she loves him & in what way she loves him. She then, tells him she has to go back home & then initiates kissing him. By doing so, she gave him safety, security & sense of belonging & hope, which he was unable to give to her, despite his obsession for her & all the ways he gave her to live with him (let's leave everything or let's roam the world or let's live in Carefree closed off border, etc.). She also showed him another way to rule in love & war - by making reliable alliances, not through fear or force but common shared goals of a better world.

I did not see it as back & forth or 'when will they get together', I saw it as 2 people making a decision to not make the future about themselves but about the entire Jianghu, & wait for the man in black to make his move - Remember, Nie Zhe's dying words were that 6 sects will enter a civil war. So focus needed to shift from their love saga to 'laying low' for a year to see what man in black does.

Since I cannot stand FL's parents, even though ML will eventually go to Louyong Valley when all is settled, I have no interest in seeing him with her parents.

Ep. 29 & 30: Pretty good episodes. Really liked the goodbye scene between FL & ML. FL's dialogues were very mature & gave the security that the crazy guy needed. No one else could've made this guy see the light like her. I really liked the 'separation' arc even though it is usually a huge turnoff. I like that both act nonchalant & 'have moved on with their lives' for appearances. I'm expecting fireworks or a verbal spitfire zinger when they meet again - it's clear during the 'tea' scene when ML is looking at Black Forest Marsh map that he is emotional over the expected run-in with FL, his eyes were worried & teary, he was wobbly with the teacup too (this is right before Guanyu told him she's gone with Song to G Sect). He expected it already - & acts cool. Loved it. It's like the good old days of first few episodes when both ended up at the same place for different reasons.

P.S. The duration of FL's punishment sequence was longer than the rescue! I cannot stand her mother & father (mr and mrs goody-two-shoes who wanted to kill ML in an ambush & lied to FL).

The man in black better be someone significant who has been in front of us for 30 long episodes - any lesser character introduced in last 2-3 episodes is not going to cut it.

Yes he is - at least she'll never have a headache with him around. He's a good catch IF she wants to be the wife of a sect leader who is logical & consumed in books & sect matters. She'll visit all kinds of people & families without fear. She will never be lonely. But Song can also make a good husband with anyone else. There's nothing exceptional that FL offers him that no other woman can. Song is not passionate, wild or futuristic in his thinking. He's stable.

On the other hand, she has had more martial adventures with ML. ML only wants her & she knows he'll be miserable without her. ML is extremely straightforward in his neediness & offers her ALL kinds of options - run away to see the world, be in that invisible Carefree mansion forever, 'when there's peace, we'll marry', 'we'll marry right now, peace can come later' etc. Plus, he has no family around, so she won't have a mother-in-law, no sect to adhere to, no one to answer to if she accepts him, she'll be free as long as she is in ML's cage - because a cage it will be, she can do whatever she wants, as long as she doesn't leave him!

Well, I'm sure she knew the risks of attempting to rescue ML - she could've gotten killed, the rescue could've failed, he could've died from his injuries - and I'm sure she knew her sect would think of her as a traitor & try to catch her & punish her. So in making the choice, she knew the risks. The main problem is that ML doesn't think of her as a partner, he doesn't trust her, he doesn't let her in on his plans, but expects her to be loyal & subservient & rescue him, with no regard to her personal choice, safety & liberty. It's a pattern they've had from Ep. 1, but what happened in Ep.27-28 is too much. He reduced her to a mere chess piece. This is not how you treat people you claim to obsessively love.

But he's doing it by lying to her & keeping things from her - he doesn't think of her as his partner, only as an object. That entire rescue sequence could've ended not just his life but hers, & it all occurred because he took a risk / gamble with his & her life. Result is FL is not happy. Her energy is drained & even I'm exhausted.

Ep. 27 & 28: FL's rescue of ML & her fight sequences were a thriller. Very well done. However, I now have a HUGE problem with ML - after he literally used her goodwill & love as a 'chess piece' when he gambled not only with his own life but that of FL's (because who could ensure that she'd escape alive with all these highly accomplished sect leaders & soldiers around?) - so that is a big turnoff.

You can literally see the energy & life drained from the face of FL - she loves this batshit crazy secret-keeper who keeps her on a 'need-to-know basis' & doesn't think of her as a PARTNER, only as an object of desire. Considering the severity of the odds against them, he doesn't trust her enough to let in on his plans. ML has been trying to find a 'peaceful & honorable' way to marry her by ending enmity etc. (& he says this all the time) BUT he does this by deceiving her over and over again.

AND now he wants her to stay in the invisible Carefree mansion (which can only be seen through a code / technique) and close the 'ABCD-whatev path' after which no outsiders will enter Hanhai Mountain - meaning she'll be cut off from her family (whom I don't like) unless they are brought to this place, & she won't work & travel like she could with a NORMAL guy, because ML will ALWAYS have enemies (Nie Zhe's son being one of them when he grows up carrying the Mu+Nie legacy 'generation to generation'!!!). I know it will all end well & happy by Ep.37, but right now I have a genuine headache. I don't like the ML.

Yup. (& FL did a good job too.)

Also, the pearl may or may not be something special - but the scene of him putting it on & then holding it tightly, meant that he believed he had won the bet - by getting FL to take his side & be on his side, that pearl being the confirmation he needed as in her coming to see him & indirectly tell him she'd move her world for him, was the light (hope) in the dark for him ('light in the dark' is what FL said that pearl was for, a coded message).

What are the odds of ML having a twin too? Just like his father? And for that twin be the man in black raised by someone from 6 sects - hence his martial moves resembling the sects not demons? Right now I'm rotating between the wheel chair guy, the security chief of Master & maybe the Master (even though someone has to explain why Master would allow a face-changed duplicate if he was really working with Nie Zie; BUT the move all 7 members were learning 20 years ago, had only one survivor & that was Master who was ill that day, so he is suspicious). I'm now thinking maybe ML has a twin.

Actually I think they were playacting & talking in code the entire time (because they knew there would be eavesdropping) - the only time FL showed what she actually felt was right after the kiss & the dialogue you just mentioned - when ML & FL put their heads together. They know tomorrow is a serious, make or break, life and death day for both, hence that was the way they could comfort each other. Everything else was a lie, an act for listeners. I think she gave him the snow beast saliva as pill & that pearl is to stop the meridian collapse.

Ep. 25 & 26: Very intense, very good episodes.

In Ep. 23, at 11:50 mark, when FL is making smiley sweets for ML, Shi Tiefeng comments that 'not all demon sect members are bad, such as the one who got us the Jade sunflower to heal' to which FL asks 'do you mean aunt's friend, the masked one?' to which Shi changes the subject immediately & leaves.

Later on, at 18:30 mark, the other Shi, Shi Tieqiao says a dying demon guy Lou Chengnan was rescued by Zhengming (ML's father) and brought to aunt. I think Lou lied - or thought he had been rescued by Zhengming when it was Zhengyang (LRY twin). Because there's only one person who would've trusted aunt to keep Jade safe - and it would be the painted-mask guy (LRY twin).

Plus, Shi Tiefeng could've easily taken Lou's name since he had built his burial chamber in Chang Fort, he didn't. They are also extremely well-informed about sects & Chang massacre despite being cut-off from the world. There's more to the story.

And the snow beast mountain couple specifically told FL & ML that aunt & masked man came in search of Jade sunflower & the masked man drew a painting of the aunt while there - which the mountain couple showed to the main leads.