#Gao Jicai

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 19

I don’t remember going as far in the series, so I wonder if Youtube has history of me looking at the Chinese subs to confirm my translations. I really don’t know, but oh well. So last episode, Zhao Ge got hurt because of Mu Yao’s scheme to bully her. Even though she’s punished, Feng Wu feels it’s not enough to make sure that Zhao Ge won’t be persecuted again and decides to go against Zuo Qingluan for the sword dance selection thingy. Even though she was planning on avoiding growing any feelins for Jun Linyuan, she ends up being helped by him to prepare for the selection.

Zuo Qingluan is really pissed at Mu Yao for hurting their sect’s reputation and Zhao Ge. Mu Yao is still jealous of Qingluan’s preference for Zhao Ge when she, on the other hand, keeps Qingluan at a distance. I was hoping for more backstory between Qingluan and Zaho Ge, but they didn’t feed us much more than what was given last episode.

Xuan Yi takes care of Zhao Ge. He’s also really pissed and promises her that Feng Wu will take revenge for her. Feng Wu is training really hard with Jun Linyuan towards that goal. Zhao Ge gets up because she wants to watch the competition and cheer for Feng Wu. She feels bad towards Zuo Qingluan because she’s herself not very skilled, her mom put all of her hopes for the sect on her talented senior sister instead. She must always win everything. She wants FEng Wu to win because has more meaning to her. Zuo Qingluan hears all of it. Xuan Yi encourages Zhao Ge to get better so she can improve her skills. Qingluan feels Feng Wu gets everything that should be hers. I actually fel bad for Qingluan. She doesn’t really have anyone by her side because she’s so skilled and has such a responsibility to perform well. It doesn’t give her any excuses to justify her poor choices, don’t get me wrong, but to some extent, she’s the pure product of what her master made her become.

Moment of truth. They aren’t allowed to hurt each other in this competition. Things aren’t looking so great for Feng Wu in my opinion, even though she improved by learning the technique Jun Linyuan taught her. But then Zuo Qingluan gets kind of poisoned on the hand she wears the phœnix blookd bangle and so she recognizes this as a technique from Jun Linyuan’s sect. Hence she goes harder against Feng Wu, releasing more power. I have no recollection of her making an iced phœnix. Anyways, that CGI isn’t really well done. The ice starts to propagate over Feng Wu, freezing her legs. It looks very fake. Qingluan says that back then, she should have killed her, basically but kind of in a nicer way.  She sends the iced phœnix over Feng Wu, but the coloured bird sends a fire phœnix from the ring to save her. Lots of suspense... Feng Wu off Zuo Qingluan’s ribbon from her arm and thus wins this challenge. But then, she notices the bracelet and it kind of calls to her, so she grabs Qingluan’s arm asking what it is. Feng Wu accuses her of having stolen her phœnix blood. Maybe that’s what the bird told her, I got distracted at that moment by my own handsome mister. Yu Mingye takes Feng Wu’s side, but then the empress arrives so she has to release Qingluan. Feng Wu asks the empress to reclaim her phœnix blood for her, but then the empress says she’s the one who gave that bracelet to Qingluan. So Feng Wu can’t argue any longer and in doing so accuse the empress. The boys are doubting Feng Wu, Zhao Ge also doesn’t believe Qingluan could have done something so bad. Only Yu Mingye fully believes her. So far.

Jun Linyuan actually believes Feng Wu, however he can’t really act freely in front of his stepmom. So he asks Feng Xun and Xuan Yi to investigate the matter for him. They promise to expose the truth.

Qingluan reports to the empress and asks for punishment since she failed to win. The empress brushes it off, she would rather like to see the bangle. Qingluan is reluctant to show it, but she ends up handing it over. The empress says that it is useless for someone to have it if it’s not compatible with them. However as long as Feng Wu doesn’t have it, it’s good enough, because as long as she doesn’t have it, she will never be accepted by the court as the consort princess. So she tells Qingluan to hold on the bangle and protect it. She is dismissed and as she leaves, her master is waiting outside for her. She takes the medicine the empress sent for Qingluan and scolds her for losing the competition, bringing dishonour on their sect. She’s not allowed anymore mistakes.

So it indeed was the bird that told Feng Wu about the phœnix blood. She feels disheartened because the empress protects Qingluan and she’s far too weak to be an opponent for the other girl. As she mops around, Jun Linyuan pays her a visit. At first, I thought she was inside the ring talking to the colourful bird, but he seems she wasn’t. Oooooh! It’s the place he took her to practice. The romantic dream like place. She’s mad because he doesn’t believe her. He says he does, but couldn’t say it in front of his stepmother before they gain some sort of proof. They can’t act rashly. He promises to be by her side forever and they look at the moon together. Cute. Almost.

The birthday celebration of the empress is finally there. Zhao Ge is now feeling much better and Xuan Yi gets closer to her before Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan’s performance. However, when the empress makes her entrance, she’s accompanied by Zuo Qingluan, which makes everyone wondering what is happening. Are we going to pronounce her as the Crown Prince’s fiancée? We’ll see. In any case, the emperor seems quite pleased. So far, I feel this character is really useless. He’s the big dude on top of everyone else, but he has no presence, doesn’t say anything very clever, doesn’t make any decisions. I don’t know. He would be almost even more useful sick in his bed, unconscious. Ah and of couse, Mu Yao’s beaming with joy because  Qingluan is favoured by the empress. As mean and narrow minded as she is, she makes me sad. Her idol, Zuo Qingluan, actually doesn’t care about her, but she still roots for her. I don’t think Qingluan is very nice to her disciple sisters. She’s rather only acting for appearances. It’s saddening to see how they all devote themselves for her, when she gives nothing true back in return.

Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan make their big entrance for the sword dance. Lots of close ups of their faces. I didn’t really need that, it doesn’t show any feelings or anything of the sort. They go into a demonstration of martial sword wielding of sorts. I think the stunt double for Feng Wu is actually male. I can’t quite confirm since they are wearing masks, but even so, it’s very obvious that they swapped the actors. I mean, it’s pretty rare to have actors do their own stunts, but you still have to make an effort so it doesn’t show too much. You can’t just slack because there’s a mask on their face... The performance is going well until something starts happening with the phœnix blood bangle. It pulls away Feng Wu’s mask as she’s standing on Jun Linyuan’s sword and she loses her balance. It doesn’t really make any sense to me. However, Jun Linyuan saves her from the fall, drops his mask and they keep going as if it was all planned. They wish a happy birthday (but more ceremonial) to the empress and go get changed. Then Madam Yan and her sister tell the emperor how she helped for Madam Yan’s delivery and that she’s the next head of the Feng family. The emperor asks if it isn’t the girl that was engaged to Jun Linyuan and the empress confirms it so. Then she motions Zuo Qingluan to come over to offer her present, some sort of very rare and expensive silk. They use that moment to plant the idea that she’s suitable for Jun Linyuan in the emperor’s mind. They’re likely about to bestow them to each other, but Jun Linyuan comes back right then with Feng Wu and he declares he has intentions of marrying her. That angers the emperor. As he walks towards them, he picks up the little book Feng Wu gave Jun Linyuan, with the drawings of him growing up. He seems to like it. He says that as long as she recovers her phœnix blood, he will allow her to marry his son. Jun Linyuan is overjoyed. Both the empress and Zuo Qingluan are really unhappy about this.

And that concludes this episode. I’m really confused about the story. One minute she’s in love with Jun Linyuan, the next she’s not, and then she is again. It’s lacking a bit of consistency for me. Hopefully it will get better? I think that what happens is that there is much more going on than they let on in the dramas and they perhaps edited out a lot from the novel? I don’t really know.

[yesdramas]

No matter what happens, I will stand by your side, protect you and be with you.

[his-catness-tchalla]

Xuan Yi being 100% done with Feng Xun's shenanigans

[baoshan-sanren]

[mackdaddyofthecravate]

May I plz set sail this ship

[sinistercakes]

Zhao Ge took a level in badass and teamed up with Xuan Yi to make a formidable battle couple.

[desideravitrend]

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 30 Final episode

Here it is, my last episode recap for Dance of the Phœnix. Latest news from last episode, Jun Linyuan died and Mu Jiuzhou has been caught by the mean and spiteful empress. All the surviving students of the Junwu Academy went missing. Feng Xun is gone I don’t know where, I might have missed a part where they said where he’s going on some sort of mission maybe. I really have no clue. Overall everything is a big mess and we have 46 minutes, including the opening and the ending, to solve all of this mystery. Without any further due, let’s see what is going to happen.

Feng Wu is completely down because of the news of Jun Linyuan’s death. She tells Zhao Ge that she can feel that he’s still alive somewhere. Zhao Ge tells her she needs to get her spirit back if she wants to go save him. Word is going around that the empress got Mu Jiuzhou and that she’s going to kill him for kidnapping the students or something like that. YU MINGYE IS BAAAACK. Briefly, but we see him and I’m sure we’ll hear more of him this episode. The students aren’t keen on going to save Mu Jiuzhou and all die. Understandable I guess. Feng Wu manages though to convince most, if not all, of them. Feng Xun’s back, Xuan Yi told him where they were hiding. I have a bad feeling about this. Not about Feng Xun, I love him, but who knows who could have tailed him, right?

So, one first mystery solved. Feng Xun was back home. There, he saw Zhao Ge’s mom and heard about why she can’t cultivate normally. It isn’t that her potential was limited from birth, but there’s some pill inside of her limiting her cultivation progress and taking it out would mean she dies. That’s the reason why she was always sent to the capital, so nobody would start to notice that she’s somewhat different. Her mom has been searching for a remedy to rid her of this. Xuan Yi says that Zhao Ge shouldn’t hear about this, however, she was nearby and heard everything. Once everything is solved, he will help her find a remedy, but he still doesn’t know that she knows.

The final battle is about to begin. At night they are infiltrating the palace. Gao Wei notices no one is on watch and first blames the people from the Dark Night court. Yu Mingye to the rescue! He saves Jun Linyuan who asks Yu Mingye to give Feng Wu her phœnix blood. But he wants to save Jun Linyuan first. He gives him a pill that makes him disappear and then he heads to the safe where the bangle is hidden. He gets caught in the act by his father, but in the end he doesn’t have to carry on his threat and kill his one and only son, so he lets him leave with the phœnix blood. Things are getting nasty at the palace and Feng Wu reaches the throne room where she meets with the empress. The Dark Night Court lord is mad at Feng Wu for making his son the way he is now (weak I guess), but she retorts he has no right to call himself a father and that Yu Mingye would have been much happier without him as a father. Their fight starts. There blood everywhere outside, it’s super violent. Feng Wu definitely isn’t strong enough to win over Yu Mingye’s dad. Feng Xun, Xuan Yi, Zhao Ge and Yu Mingye arrive to help. She needs to absorb her phœnix blood back, so they try to protect her. Meanwhile, the empress sends Gao Wei away. Go away Gao Wei hihihi. Yes, I think I’m funny.

Jun Linyuan, being freed, finds Mu Jiuzhou in his cell. He wants to save him, but Feng Wu can’t win along, according to her master. So Mu Jiuzhou transfers his powers to Jun Linyuan? Not exactly that it’s what’s happening, but it certainly looks like it. It wouldn’t be surprising either way, it wouldn’t be the first time it happens in a drama

Our friends are almost to their limit protecting Feng Wu, so Zhao Ge decides to use that pill inside of her to repay all the kindness Feng Wu showed her. This being said, it means she’ll die. Xuan Yi tries to stop her, but as she’s decided, he choses to leave alongside with her. And they disappear just like that. For the first time, they made me emotional. But that was enough to take down even just for a while the Dark Night lord. It makes Feng Wu kind of mad, you already know how she won’t stand for her friends being hurt. Yu Mingye’s daddy is mad too. Everyone is unhappy. But too late meanie. She gets her phœnix blood back, which makes her super fast now, faster than light. When she’s about to kill Yu Mingye’s father, he stops her. Then Gao Wei comes back with Feng Wu’s mom, threatening to kill her. Feng Xun kills Gao Wei when the mom bites his hand to escape. The empress seems sad. I don’t know if she has anymore feelings at this point. Like in every Chinese drama, a lot of people need to die near the end. Maybe she’s more angry than sad? Who knows with that lady, she lost all of her humanity. Feng Xun takes Feng Wu’s mom away. Jun Linyuan rushes in. Before dying, Yu Mingye’s dad notices that Mu Jiuzhou transferred all of his spiritual energy to Jun Linyuan. The empress rants about how it’s all because she was rejected. Then she uses the dark night court powers to commit suicide and dies holding Yu Mingye’s dad’s hand. Yu Mingye is sad. Almost no one survived.

Jun Linyuan and Feng Wu are getting married. Feng Xun scares off all the ladies that have taken a liking to him. I love this guy. So naive and tactless. Thank god. Mu Jiuzhou, Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan managed to bring back Zhao Ge and Xuan Yi. It’s strange though. Feng Wu doesn’t have her phœnix blood mark on her forehead. After her mom covered her head, she feels someone getting inside the room. It is not Jun Linyuan, but her master who came to take her away, back to where she comes from.

And... that’s it? What the heck? What kind of ending is this? We still have no explanation as to where she’s from. And what a day to take here back home. That’s super mean to Jun Linyuan to take his bride away on his wedding day, it should have been done much sooner than that. At some point, it is a befitting ending that she needs to go back, but I’m really not a fan of the when. I wasn’t too happy either with how easy it has been to defeat the empress and the dark lord. Even more so that suddenly it was implied that she might have feelings for him? That is very... I don’t know, it didn’t make any sense since she was so mad for being rejected by Mu Jiuzhou (though it made sense that the dark lord might hold feeling for the empress). I feel way too many people died for nothing during those 30 episodes. Anyways. That’s it for dance of the phœnix. It was quite the ride since we started this journey together, but we made it through. See you next time for my overall review and on to another show! The list only keeps getting longer and longer!

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the phoenix - Episode 29

This is almost it, there are only two episodes left before this drama comes to an end. It has been a long run since episode one and I kind of lost interest between when I started watching and now, but I am glad we made it all that way. With only two last episodes, I’m worried at lot of questions will remain unanswered, but who knows. I might be surprised.

Jun Linyuan takes Feng Wu out on a date in town. Shopping, eating out. It turns out that he’s not sending her to get her power, just over so she will be out of danger. So that’s why Jun Linyuan wants to spend some time alongside with her before she’s gone. Still thinking she’ll come back, she promise to solve all of their problems and that she will never let him go now that her heart chose him.

Jun Linyuan sneaks in the palace and finds the bangle holding Feng Wu’s pheonix blood. Before he can leave, he gets caught, facing the dark lord. He sends Jun Linyuan’s sword right back at his chest. Not sure it was enough for him to die.

Zhao Ge’s mom meets the Empress and says she won’t go against her. The Empress threatens a little Zhao Ge, because she’s too friendly towards Feng Wu. And she disclose that Jun Linyuan already died. However, I don’t really think he died, well because he’s the male lead, but also because it wouldn’t be any good for the empress to have him dead and then we need that plot twist at the end right? Zhao Ge tries to get her mom to side with them, but she won’t risk it to have to bear the death of all her disciples on her hands. Zhao Ge say she won’t remain idle and will protect her friends (and lover) but her mom says it’s too late because Jun Linyuan is already dead.

While Mu Jiuzhou is sending back Feng Wu, Zhao Ge comes to tell them the news of Jun Linyuan’s death. Upon hearing this, Feng Wu starts coughing blood from the shock. At the same time, some fighting starts to happen outside. Mu Jiuzhou sends Zhao Ge on the watch out and Feng Wu faints before he gets to heal her. A lot of the students in the Academy end up dead or injured. The masters of the tower where Feng Wu got the medicine to detoxicate Zhao Ge help the students too, for some reason that isn’t mentioned. However, the Dark Night Court Lort is here and it’s not going to be an easy escape. Xuan Yi sends Zhao Ge to flee alongside with Feng Wu and Mu Jiuzhou through the secret passage under the library, as for him, he’ll protect the Academy till the end. Zhao Ge wants to stay with him, but he pulls away. As long as she’s safe, he will be alright. He will buy them some time so she can protect Feng Wu as she promised. Very epic music going on with the battlefield. We already reached half of the episode and not much of consequence really happened to get things solved. I mean, was has started though, but there’s not much more leading to the ending of this drama to be honest. Unless Mu Jiuzhou and Jun Linyuan swapped appearances? Also where is Feng Xu? I wish Yu Mingye was there too. Rushed by Gao Wei since the empress wants everything solved as quickly as possible, the Dark Lord use some sort of powerful spell to kill everyone, but Mu Jiuzhou stops him from doing so, even though he hasn’t recovered all of his spiritual energy. Before they can fight, he sends everyone away and he’s taken into custody. He tells the dark lord he lost, but the empress wants Mu Jiuzhou alive so they just take him as prisoner. Since their hiding place could get discovered any time, Feng Wu takes them somewhere safer that no one will ever find: the beautiful place Jun Linyuan showed her.

The empress is angry because they can’t find all of the runaway students. The dark lord says they should use Mu Jiuzhou as bait and kill him if no one shows up. She agrees with that plan, even though she seems reluctant at the start. Then she pays a visit to Mu Jiuzhou in jail. She blames everything that led her to become the woman she is now on him. Everything now relies on Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan.

There we are, there’s only one episode left before the end. I wonder where Feng Xun went. I suppose Jun Linyuan is still alive somewhere since Mu Jiuzhou still places his hopes on him. Obviously, the empress scheme is going to fail somehow, I just can’t really imagine how for now, because Yu Mingye’s dad is a real boss. This guy’s really powerful, there’s no way Jun Linyuan or Feng Wu would be able to defeat him as of now. Enough speculations for now and I hope won’t be too disappointed by the ending of this show.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the phœnix - Episode 28

Like I said, last episode was rather useless in my opinion and I feel I’ve said that a few times in the last few reviews. Maybe it was to let us recuperate from episode 26 which was awfully sad and barely bearable to watch. However, there are three episodes left only, so there’s no time to waste. I hope they don’t drag on too long and rush everything last minute.

The episode starts off very strongly with a touching scene between Feng Wu and her mother. She knew all along that it wasn’t her daughter, but someone else, but she took her in as a gift from Heaven to replace her daughter and husband, now that she lost both. She gives Feng Wu the Phœnix sword, saying that everyone is by her side because she’s herself. Feng Wu says that the other Feng Wu told her to eat more and cover herself well. It made me very emotional. Poor lady. She’s so strong as a mother, being one to a daughter that she knew wasn’t hers, pretending not to know. That’s motherly love for you.

Xuan Yi persuades Zhao Ge to make up with Feng Wu. Since the old one is gone, never to come back, she should cherish her friendship with the one that is right here and hold in her heart the one that is gone. She doesn’t need to feel bad about getting along with the new Feng Wu. She’s ashamed of how she spoke to her friend, since she lifted her curse for her, helped her all the time. Thankfully. I was starting to think that Zhao Ge was a very ungrateful child with everything she did to Feng Wu and how Feng Wu actually never betrayed her, except by concealing her real identity. Which I would have done so myself. It’s kind of weird to go on to people saying by the I’m not the real me. It’s kind of confusing, no?

Feng Wu asks the colorful bird if it knows where does she come from, but he has no idea so he suggests she asks her master instead. At first, it lies saying that he’s the best cultivator there ever was, so there’s nothing to worry about his spiritual energy, but in fact by saving her, he lost about half of it. Before they can continue this conversation, Mu Jiuzhou comes and ask Feng Wu to have a walk with him. She feels bad for having his phoenix blood.

The other girls all want to become friends with Feng Wu now so they can learn from Mu Jiuzhou, but she sends them away when Zhao Ge comes over with noodles she made for Feng Wu. And just like that, they made up. Plus it kind of leads to Xuan Yi and Zhao Ge officially getting together. Their love story is kind of boring to me, so I don’t talk much about them, but I guess I should mention it.

The Empress controls the Emperor with some perfumed incense and only Xuan Yi’s grandfather dares to speak up when they discuss the fact that Jun Linyuan is now declared as a traitor. He noticed how the Emperor is being controlled and the Dark Night court lord is about to kill him, but the sneaky Empress feigns mercy in thanks of all the accomplishments the old man did for their sect. It looks like the Emperor is trying to fight back, but he isn’t strong enough. Obviously, now no one dares speaking up. Master Yan sends a letter to Feng Wu so they know what is happening at the court. Jun Linyuan decides to leave the academy, but the headmaster is strongly opposing it, because they are their students and they should protect them.

Mu Jiuzhou is waiting outside of the palace and sends a pouch to the Empress. She seems to start to waver, but the Dark Night court lord tries to bring her back to their scheme, it still works. She gives the charm back and says she won’t see him and no one will get in the way of her plans. However, he goes to meet him, Yu Mingye’s father I mean. He threatens him that he will personally kill him soon enough.

Mu Jiuzhou scolds the student of the Academy that don’t want to fight against evil and cultivates only for selfish desires. He tells them that those who think like this and won’t fight for good should now leave. Without the help of others, they can’t defeat the empress and the dark night court. They can only rely on Feng Wu’s strength. Mu Jiuzhou is going to send her back the next day so she can get her power back.

And that’s how it ends. Just as Jun Linyuan, I don’t really understand what is the plan, but oh well. I guess we’ll discover that next episode. Everything is settling slowly for the end, so it feels nothing much really happens during each episodes. I hope it won’t be rushed. It could be though.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 27

Last episode was emotionally very hard for someone as emotional as I am. I was totally heartbroken both by Yu Mingye and the wolf lady. I can even say that I was sad for Mu Yao even though I never really liked her. I’m not exactly ready to continue watching, but we are getting closer to the end of the series and I really want to get over with it after all this time.

The Empress is very mad that they let Feng Wu live. She orders Qingluan to grab all of Feng Wu’s family. She tries to resist a little, because she’s not comfortable hurting innocent people, but she gives in and obeys. The bracelet is taken away from her, in case they would get it back use it. The Empress orders Yu Mingye’s father to put everything on the line, because she won’t fail and Mu Jiuzhou should not ever be awaken, if so, he shall be killed alongside with Feng Wu.

Zuo Qingluan tries to make Feng Wu admit that she’s not the real Feng Wu. It doesn’t work. She tries to get her mom to say she isn’t, it doesn’t work. So she throws the ring inside a mirror, Feng Wu follows the ring inside. Jun Linyuan tries to rescue her, but once inside, there’s no way to get her out unless she faces all of her inner demons and if she fails doing so, she’ll die. Jun Linyuan decides to follow his lover. Zuo Qingluan goes in too, because what she can’t get, no one else will. Bla bla bla.

Jun Linyuan breaks his illusion of a meeting with his mother and breaks the one for Feng Wu, waking her up out of her dream of living happily with her family. He gets stabbed but Zuo Qingluan on her stead and Feng Wu stabs Qingluan back. Qingluan goes mad and they all leave the mirror without getting the ring back. Qingluan dies and right after, Mu Jiuzhou exits the mirror, breaking it to pieces. Empress very not happy.

Feng Wu confesses that she is not Feng Wu. Zhao Ge gets mad at her and leaves her. Jun Linyuan tells her to give her some time. Qiu Ling still thinks of her as her little lady. Feng Wu goes to see her mother.

And that’s all for this episode. The trials inside the mirror weren’t very interesting, hence the short review for this one. It felt a little bit of a filler episode. The only important thing to note is that Mu Jiuzhou is back and Zuo Qingluan died. And even though she was beyond redemption, she died a death beneath her. She deserved something, I don’t know... different. Like an epic fight between her and Feng Wu. But oh well. Who am I to decide what is to happen right? hopefully next episode is a little more consistent than that.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix -  Episode 26

We left last time with Feng Wu on the verge of death. Wolf lady is gone. Qingluan is beyond redemption. Jun Linyuan is accused of treason. It doesn’t actually sound good for the good people. I’m not going to waste more time on the introduction and let’s jump right in.

So, Yu Mingye’s father doesn’t stop him from getting in there to save Feng Wu and for the first time, he acts like a father to his son. However, getting close to Feng Wu to rescue her is quite the feat and while doing so, Yu Mingye lost an arm. She tries to convince to give up on her, but he’s quite determined still. Jun Linyuan arrives and use his sword to detract the lightning (yeah because I forgot to mention the lightning part) and she forgets totally about poor Yu Mingye. To this point, my eyes are already teary. So a lot happened. Jun Linyuan can’t withstand the lightning and falls down. So Feng Wu ends up meeting with her master who tells her that she has to fight for her destiny and that she isn’t responsible for what happens to her friends since nothing happening on this continent is dependant on who lives in it. She then meets with the original Feng Wu that tells her to take care of their mom, that they both are Feng Wu and that it’s not Feng Wu’s story, but hers. Feng Wu reclaims the phœnix blood from her master and summons a phœnix to break away the trap she’s in.

While Qingluan tries to defeat the wolf lady, something happens to the bracelet. Maybe Feng Wu is claiming back her own phœnix blood, who knows. I thought Mu yao would have left Qingluan’s side after what happened last time, but she comes to the rescue. This one is going to die because of Qingluan. Sad. In a way. I don’t especially enjoy Mu Yao.

Yu Mingye’s father cut ties with him. Everyone cares about Jun Linyuan and Feng Wu, but no one comes to take care of Yu Mingye. Poor guy was just abandonned by his father, he’s missing an arm. He breaks my heart. That’is it, I’ crying. No one cares at all about poor Yu Mingye, no one has spares a thought for him. How sad. He leaves all alone, not regretting his choices, only that he didn’t meet Feng Wu earlier on. That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.

So nobody died, yet, while fighting the wolf lady. Zuo Qingluan starts using her newly obtained powers but it kind of goes wrong and she has to leave the battlefield with Mu Yao. She goes into a grotto, trying to absorb once more the phœnix blood, but she’s still not compatible with it. Even though she told her not to, Mu Yao follows Zuo Qingluan in the cave and she confronts her about learning the ways of the Dark Night Court. She’s leaving to ask their master to save Qingluan, even if she gets kicked out, she’ll follow her. However, Zuo Qingluan kills her on her way out. How much do you bet that she will blame Feng Wu for that too? She doesn’t cry for long her deceased disciple sister and puts her hand in the cage with the black fume, I guess to gain even more power.

Feng Wu tries to save the wolf lady, but they are cornered. So the wolf lady... she... she sacrificed herself and made Feng Wu kill her so they won’t doubt her anymore. It was heart breaking to see her crawl to her two deceased babies. And then, when she finally breathes her last breath, she transforms into the last star piece. Feng Xun declares that all of this is a trap set up by the Empress. The soldiers don’t really believe it and ask for a proof. Feng Wu tells to take her back to the Junwu Academy and once she gets her ring back, she’ll awaken her master, Mu Jiuzhou, as a proof. All the students decide to believe Feng Wu. Zuo Qingluan seeing this is very unhappy.

Overall, this was a very heart breaking episode. I’m currently bawling my eyes out. I’m not going to say much more than that, because I am emotionally unavailable.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 25

I’m still not over with how much I hated last episode. The back story with the wolf lady and her babies made me very emotional and the little ones being hurt and no one taking care of them, just leaving like that is just... Seriously, how could the mom not go bersek after she lost her loved one too? Yu Mingye’s father is really a villain, but the Empress even more so because I’m pretty sure she the one orchestrating all of that disgusting stage, since she’s such in a hurry to throw out her husband.

So the Emperor tries to resist his villainess of a wife, but he has to soon realize that she’s working with the Dark Lord. He gets defeated quite easily, threatens that the crown prince won’t let her get away and she says that his little son won’t have rope line to hold onto and is in a very difficult position if he wants to survive. Something like that. She sits on the throne, very satisfied. I must say, I really hate her. But I love her outfits and hairstyles. It just kind of saddens me that they went the black route with her when everything else in her clan is white. I would have tried to go even whiter, even though she’s the bad guy, to show how people actually trust and respect her as their leader. But I guess it’s easier to have the meanie wear black.

Feng Wu and the others coming puts an end to the fight between Jun Linyuan and Yu Mingye, kind of. The Dark Night Court people are going to blow up the entrance to the mountain, even if Yu Mingye is still there because those are the orders of their leader. The wolf lady catches up to them. Jun Linyuan wants to run away. They’re about to explode everything and the demon inside. Feng Wu runs into the barrier just before it closes up, because she thinks the wolf lady doesn’t deserve this. Jun Linyuan doesn’t have the time to follow her and is blocked outside. Yu Mingye and Jun Linyuan try to break the barrier to rescue Feng Wu, but the wolf lady has a flashback from when Mu Jiuzhou gave her her freedom and she decides not to kill Feng Wu and become a demon again.

As she flees, Zuo Qingluan comes with guards and arrests Jun Linyuan, Xuan Yi and Feng Xun on the pretense that they poisoned the Emperor and plotted against him. For the first time, Mu Yao seems to try to contradict Qingluan for the right reasons, but she’s quite the weak character, so she doesn’t press on and Jun Linyuan doesn’t let his friends fight back the arrest. They accused them to team up with a demon and they say that the Dark Night Court stopped them. Lol. What a plan. I don’t like the Empress, but she plays smart. Qingluan takes Feng Wu’s ring away, saying that it’s a proof that Feng Wu is conspiring with demons. Qingluan hits Mu Yao. I think she might have lost her biggest supporter.

Qingluan and the guards chase after the wolf lady. I think she dies reliving memories of her and her past lover. Or maybe she faints. But I wish she died. She deserves peace now. Oh well. Short lived hopes. They just captured her and kept her for Qingluan to practice her skills. She tells the lady that they are the ones who killed her children, not Feng Wu. Seriously. Those were babies. They never did anything wrong. Poor wolf lady... I’m very upset. I can’t stand people hurting little ones.

Zhao Ge is back to normal. She doesn’t trust Qingluan anymore because she lost that right when she sent her on purpose to the mountain. She tries to convince Qingluan to stop before it’s too late and says that she would rather be with the others because they are innocent. Qingluan almost slaps her and sends her to detention with the others. Yeah, she really went too far down the wrong path, she can’t get any redemption anymore in my opinion.

Feng Wu is taken away to be killed by lightning. Yu Mingye has to watch.

The Empress summons Jun Linyuan for a meal. She reveals that she’s actually the one who stopped Mu Jiuzhou from ascending since he rejected her. She wants Jun Linyuan to work alongside with her. He refuses and threatens her with his blade. He runs away and she orders that he gets chased down for linking arms with demons.

The wolf lady escaped by slicing off one of her hands.

Yu Mingye asks his father to spare Feng Wu’s life because she��s the one he likes. However, it is too late. Meanwhile Huang Li saves Zhao Ge, Feng Xun and Xuan Yi from jail so they can go save Feng Wu. Yu Mingye’s father tries to stop him because it’s too late, but Yu Mingye doesn’t mind becoming ennemies anymore, no matter what he’s going to save his lady.

What a frustrating episode. I’m still upset about the babies. I think I won’t get over it before the end of this drama and might mention it all the time. Once again, I need to say how much I love Yu Mingye’s character. His struggles are so real to me, sitting between the person is truly is and the one his father and people expect him to be being so different. I’m glad he’s finally making a decision for himself and not someone else.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 24

Only 7 episodes left before the ending of this drama and I still have no clue as to how things are going to unravel. Probably too fast, as per usual. Last time, we left Zuo Qingluan trying to convince Zhao Ge that Feng Wu is a bad person. It still doesn’t make sense to me that Zhao Ge is only catching on now that Feng Wu is different and that the fact that she kisses Jun Linyuan rises her suspicions... Hopefully they will explain that in a satisfying way. I hope.

Zuo Qingluan tries to move Zhao Ge by saying that the imposter taking Feng Wu’s place is probably here with some scheme and that they have no way to know if the real Feng Wu is alive or not. Zhao Ge confesses that she has seen Feng Wu talk to her ring. Qingluan says that she needs Zhao Ge’s help to prove wether what she says is true or not. I’m not a big fan of Zhao Ge either. I get that Zuo Qingluan is her disciple sister and they grew up together, but it doesn’t make sense to me that she was so against her, always taking Feng Wu’s side saying that no matter what Feng Wu has always been nice to her, and now just because she heard Feng Wu talk to herself, she’s all in with Qingluan? The shift is too brutal without good enough reasons to justify it in my opinion. Anyways she agrees and steals Feng Wu’s ring while she’s taking a bath. They are trying to send her to some mountain inhabited by dangerous creatures. Very bad special effets on the said creatures.

So Zhao Ge ends up being there, looking for the witch that is supposed to take a look at the ring and tell of its origins. It’s a very creepy place. Feng Wu runs after her once she heard that it’s a very dangerous place and only Mu Zhoujiu defeated the monsters there. Feng Xun wants to go with her, but she sends him to look in the dorms and to tell Jun Linyuan that she lost her ring. Zhao Ge gets attacked by the demon. SUSPENSE!

Yu Mingye hears from his dad that Feng Wu has been trapped to that mountain and that she’s probably dead now. He wants to go save her, but is ordered to actually kill her if she managed to survive if he wants to keep his position in the Dark Night Court.

So the creature didn’t kill Zhao Ge, I guess that’s the witch. There’s a very bad acting scene, that is completely useless. I didn’t need to see Zhao Ge being “scared” and inside a creepy cave. There’s no point and it’s a waste of time, especially when the acting isn’t convincing at all.

Feng Wu bumps into the witch and follows her to Zhao Ge when she recognizes her clothes. In front of the cave, Feng Wu threatens her, but Zhao Ge tells her to hold back. Turns out the creepy witch is actually a wolf that cultivated for a thousand years. It helped Zhao Ge and she had a piece of her clothing because Zhao Ge used it to wrap her wound. Zhao Ge hands back the ring to Feng Wu, which scares the wolf lady because it belongs to Mu Jiuzhou. Feng Wu admits to Zhao Ge that Mu Jiuzhou is her master. Long story short, the “demon” went to live as a human, fell in love, they were against their love, the guy committed suicide, she was pregnant, Mu Jiuzhou sent her over there. Nothing very original. OH NO! I REALLY DON’T LIKE THIS!

Going back a little. Jun Linyuan and his underlings went to the mountain, they see Yu Mingye, Jun Liyuan gives him a little speech about how he gets to decide himself if he’s a good guy or not, not the blood in veins, Yu Mingye disagrees, they fight. Meanwhile, Feng Wu left the cave. Yu Mingye’s father puts the girls to sleep and creates a illusion of Feng Wu so the wolf lady can see her before falling asleep. Then, he gets in and spots the two cute little baby wolves! IT IS VERY OBVIOUS WHAT HE IS THINKING AND NO! I REFUSE. Of course, if he kills them, that will make mama very angry. She will think Feng Wu did it. It’s a very efficient plan. BUT WHY ARE BAD GUYS ALWAYS SO EVIL? You can be cunning without being cruel to poor beings that have NOTHING to do with your power struggle. Ugh. I swear if the pups don’t make it out alive, I’m so giving this drama a bad note.

I’m not sure if the pups are alive or not. IT IS VERY UNCLEAR! I don’t care about the lady getting angry at Feng Wu. I want to know if they’re alright. That is all that matter to me. I hope they’re just sleeping... Mom has gone bersek and is about to attack Feng Wu, but right on time Feng Xun and Xuan Yi gets to the cave. They stick her to the walls, grab Zhao Ge and run away.

Now the Empress is making her coup d’état, everybody against the Emperor. Of course. Everything is going to be rushed from now on. AND I STILL DON’T HAVE MY ANSWERS!

This episode seriously pissed me off. Zhao Ge is being awfully dumb. Xuan Yi thinks Feng Wu hurt Zhao Ge when she has only been HELPING HER from the start. Zuo Qingluan is beyond salvation now. Cute baby wolves were used IN A VERY WRONG AND BAD WAY. Yu Mingye is broken. There was nothing satisfying, I’m upset and I don’t want to watch, but yet I still want to see if the cuties are fine. I suspect they are not but... UGH. NO. This makes me so angry. WE DO NOT TOUCH BABIES. Human, animal, I don’t care, they’re precious and cute. AND THOSE ONES WERE FLUFFY BALLS. Just no. I’m not even a mom yet and it makes me SO angry. I’m burning. And I will stop right there because I’m just way too mad about all of this.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 23

Slowly but surely, we are getting near the end of this drama series and I am still unsure about if I can’t wait to put it past behind me or if I will regret it once it’s all over. You know, sometimes you complete a drama and you feel empty inside because it’s all done. I’m debating if this one will be one of those or not. Probably not if I am completely honest.

So, going on, more drama is awaiting us, with the fact that Feng Wu is an imposter being disclosed to a lot of her ennemies, thank you Zuo Qingluan for your service. Remember how Feng Wu was discussing with that girl how someone was pretending to be her? Well we still have no clue to who could that be (Qingluan, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense because she went there and noticed that the principal was dead) and she needs to hurry off because the colourful bird is calling her again to bring the second star piece to awaken her master. The tree next to him flourishes as he starts moving a little bit and from now on the bird will be able to get out of the ring too. There’s one piece left before Mu Jiuzhou can awaken.

Qingluan reports on her progress to the empress. She’s uneasy with the alliance between the dark night court and the empress so empress asks her who would she chose between the emperor and all that lives. Of course, all that lives. So the empress tells her about Mu Zhoujiu and how he actually didn’t fail ascending to deity, but was actually interrupted by the emperor. Basically, he had two friends, the emperor and Yu Mingye’s father, but then the emperor betrayed him after ten years of fake friend ship. According to the empress. Now they need to get rid of Feng Wu so Jun Linyuan will go against his father. I feel there was a LOT of lying in that story.

I am skipping a few scenes here that I found rather boring and useless, up to when the Master of the Biluo Palace comes to visit the Academy. While they are there, the master and some disciples witness Zhao Ge practicing and the disciples are impressed by how she improved. Mu Yao wants to humiliate Zhao Ge and suggests a little duel between the two of them, but she gets defeated badly. She tries to badmouth Zhao Ge, but gets scolded. I mean... She’s the daughter of your sect’s master, honestly that doesn’t sound like a smart move, especially when you lost. Results, you’re almost kicked out of your sect. Qingluan goes after Muyao to persuade her. They need to bring Zhao Ge to their side and defeat Feng Wu. She doesn’t care about her title, as long as she beats Feng Wu. Mu Yao doesn’t quite understand because she worked hard for it.

After half an episode, Feng Wu appears again. While she’s quarrelling with her bird friend, Zhao Ge hears her. She’s thinking oh no, what if Zuo Qingluan was right... But like... that’s very dumb. Why would she worry about that? It doesn’t change that Feng Wu has always been a good friend to her. She gets caught trying to leave and ends up inviting Feng Wu to some festival. However, Yu Mingye drags Feng Wu away (we should note that she doesn’t really resist being taken away). He takes her to a place so they can watch the fireworks together and plays the flute for her, leading people to believe they are a couple. He tries to get her to get together with him, but she’s not really giving an inch. She rejects him and he asks if they can at least remain as friends. She agrees. I actually like their chemistry better than with Jun Linyuan, but that’s my opinion. Poor Yu Mingye, he really breaks my heart.

I am going to go over the last few minutes of the episode very quickly. Basically, Jun Linyuan got Zhao Ge to take Feng Wu out, to see if she would feel moved by Yu Mingye. Why would you test her like that? To me that is pretty disgusting, you don’t do that to someone you like and said that they like you. Anyways. Zuo Qingluan still tries to bring Zhao Ge against Feng Wu. Lots of fireworks. Boring kiss between the two mains. And that’s about it. I don’t really get why is it so important that Zhao Ge leaves Feng Wu’s side, she’s still rather weak compared to other cultivators. Also, she doesn’t really has any influence on Jun Linyuan, I guess Xuanyi could somehow take her side, but he’s super loyal to Jun Linyuan so even if his love interest says otherwise, I don’t think he would go against him. Remember, Jun Linyuan knows that Feng Wu is trying to awaken Mu Jiuzhou, which is something very desirable. Oh well, dramas never end the way they should and they have to be at least somewhat annoying for us to always ask for more.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Episode 22

Hello hello! There was a big icing rain storm where I live last week and I got cut off from civilisation for far too long, which made me a little late on my posting schedule for this blog. As I am a little more busy than when I started blogging again, it might take a little more time to get exactly back on track and have a few posts made ahead of time, but I am working on it. Anyways, at least nobody are really expecting those posts, so it’s not like it matters that much.

We left Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan inside a cave, with a crazy and lost Wu Youdao trying to destroy all of the Junwu Academy in revenge for his lost lover I guess. Quite the unnecessary scenario in my opinion, but why should we say no to more drama?

So the door opened and Jun Linyuan pulls back Feng Wu that was trying to get on. He wanted to make sure everything was safe. Meanwhile, Wou Youdao is still desperately fighting the elder. He can’t win so he takes a pill that is going to triple his spiritual energy, but the downside is that once the effects are gone, basically, he dies. It also has the nice effect of making him go bersek. Yu Mingye is ordered by his father to not intervene. Xuan Yi comes right in time with Feng Xun to save his grandfather and everybody join forces to try and stop Wu Youdao.

Meanwhile, Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan are still going down some stairs in the secret passage way they found together. They end up in some sort of a cave that used to be occupied by a lady and they discover through a letter that was left that it was were Yunniang lived after the fire and the reason they never found her corpse, because she didn’t die in the first place. Nut now she left for some time as it’s all dusty. The letter is addressed to Wu Youdao.

Yu Mingye decides to jump in against his father’s order because Feng Wu would be sad if things keep going on. Everyone else is badly injured. Old Ba is coming over. Feng Wu and Jun Linyuan joins everyone as Wu Youdao is strangling powerfully Yu Mingye. Feng Wu shows him the letter, giving enough time to Yu Mingye to break free from Wu Youdao’s grasp. Even though it’s dangerous, Feng Wu rushes in to hand the letter, not being killed thanks to Jun Linyuan protecting her. She ends ups using spiritual energy to send the content of the letter to Wu Youdao’s mind. Yunniang asks him to forget about his revenge which makes him go back to normal. Before dying, he reveals to Feng Wu where is the thing that she’s looking for, but of course, it’s not for us to know. Yet. Really bad acting from Yang Chaoyue, I can’t really believe she’s that sad about Wu Youdao dying. Especially since he almost just killed like... everyone. Old Ba comes in and says it’s too and that she should respect his desire and let him go peacefully. The acting does get better when she’s not crying loudly anymore.

Feng Wu tells Jun Linyuan that she’s not Feng Wu and that she will probably have to go back where she’s from someday. Jun Linyuan says he guessed that much. He tried to convince himself that she changed because of the accident, but he knew within himself. He’s happy that she told him. He says that he also fell in love with her, ever since they met in the frosty forest. Extremely long streak of flashback. What a waste of time. And of course, Zuo Qingluan was lurking around and must have heard everything.

Old Ba gives medicine to the Emperor and the Empress invites him to stay over in the capital to teach at the Academy. He declines and suggest that if the emperor needs any treatment to ask Feng Wu, since he thought her some medicine. The emperor is quite pleased with Feng Wu and tells Old Ba to bring her along some other time.

Zuo Qingluan tries to tell Zhao Ge that Feng Wu isn’t herself, but she doesn’t believe her. Of course, that makes Zuo Qingluan hate Feng Wu even more. She reports back what she heard to the empress and she orders her to kill Feng Wu, because she’s impeding her grand plans. Then she introduces Qingluan to the Dark night court lord, so she can increase her power and absorb the phœnix blood.

Feng Wu retrieves the second star piece and a scroll on cultivation left by Wu Youdao. Now she only has one left piece to find and her phœnix blood. But they should still be on high alert, because they don’t think it was that simple about the emperor’s illness.

Seems like Qingluan accepted to receive more power through learning the ways of the Dark night court.

Once Feng Wu goes to the Academy, she talks with Huang Li. She says she really did see her, because she called her name and that person answered. But they never showed their face. So someone they pretended to be Feng Wu. I can’t really imagine Zuo Qingluan do something like that... unless the empress ordered her to do so? I don’t know, it seems quite strange to me.

Another very long episode where we don’t learn much more, one step closer to the ending. I don’t really get why they brought back Old Ba into the story, his input was very minor. Zuo Qingluan is probably with Yu Mingye the two most interesting characters in this story. I really dislike her, because the story antagonize her against Feng Wu the main lead, however I think she has much more depth. She’s the kind of villain that deserves a redemption arc in my opinion, but I guess there won’t be much time for that at this. See you soon for the next episode.