#chen youwei

Whumpees: Wangquan Hong Ye played by Zhang Yun Long, Yang Yi Tan played by Zhai Xiao Wen, Zheng Zheng played by Ding Yu Xi, Jiu Huo played by Charles Lin, Li Qu Zhou played by Zhao Yi Bo, Li Zi Xai played by Chen You Wei, Deng Qi Yu played by Sun Zi Hang, Mu Mie played by Qin Xiao Xuan, Baimu Yao Jun played by Hou Ming Hao, Mu Xiao Wu played by Chen Ruo Xuan

(Lets just say this drama is now on the list of top 5 most PAINFUL dramas that I will never recover from 😂 )

Where to Watch: IQIYI

Genre: wuxia, romance, fantasy, romance

Synopsis: Dongfang Huai Zhu and Wangquan Hong Ye are the leaders of two major families, the Dongfangs and the Wangquans. In a time when humans and demons are in conflict, they work together to stabilize the situation in order to revive the Unity Alliance. On the seventh day of the seventh month, at the Bamboo Pavilion by the Huai River, their fates intertwine like the sheaths of two swords, never to be separated. They pick up the most heartwarming promise and tell a story that has endured for generations.

~~~~~SPOILERS~~~~~~~

Wangquan Hong Ye

Ep1- none

Ep2- mentions he’s been poisoned, mark on hand, inhaled too much poison mist, given medicine ; nightmare

Ep3- ear bleeding after hearing powerful music ; in bath, winces in pain, ear bleeding, seems unwell, attacked with music by FL, in pain, mentions he will soon collapse, bells in room depriving him of his senses, lost sense of smell, fighting FL, staggers, in pain, ears ringing, collapses to his knees, coughing blood, blurry vision, chest pain, hit with power, pushed into water, unconscious ; unconscious in bed, FL uses spell on him to share senses and hear each others thoughts, wakes up, notices his senses are gone when he gets too far from FL ; going through formation while blind and deaf with help of FL

Ep4- FL steps away from him, loses his senses ; meditating, wakes up, voluntarily takes poison ; walks away from FL, loses senses, FL heals him, cool fight

Ep5- none

Ep6- none

Ep7- wound on his wrist protecting FL, treated by FL, wincing in pain ; nightmare, treating wound on wrist, cured of “poison” turned out to be medicine 😂

Ep8- emotional whump at friends deaths ; drinking

Ep9- reveals identity to FL, emotional when she rejects him ; restrained by vines, possessed, forced to do bidding, fighting possession, possesion removed from him by Jiuhuo, knocked unconscious

Ep10- transported 20yrs into future to rescue FL ; fight with FL, hit with demonic power ; meditating to heal from demonic poison

Ep11- repeat of last scene ; nightmare, sweating, wakes up ; trapped in dangerous area with FL

Ep12- controlled by Jia Lan, in illusion realm, forced to fight FL ; stabbed in chest by FL, staggering, in pain, twisting knife, collapses (dies), spitting blood in real world, blood at his lips mentions he died in the other realm and will be stuck in a dream forever as living dead

Ep13- unconscious tied up to post, blood at his lips, wakes up, speaking weakly, flashback to previous ep, stabbed in chest with hairpin, grunting in pain ; still tied to post, FL puts mark on him that blocks heart meridian to control him ; FL tends to wounds, grunting in pain, aphrodisiac incense in room, stands with difficulty, dizzy, struggling to fight it, meditating to fight incense effects

Ep14- asleep in bed (pretending) ; FL activates mark on his neck, choking, chest pain, hit with power, knocked to his knees, in pain

Ep15- Jiuhuo choking him with power ; knocked to the ground by power, fight with Jiuhuo, brief flashback of dying fighting Jia Lan

Ep16- tough fight against Jiuhuo, blasted back by power, hits the ground and spits blood, using alot of power, knocked to the ground and spitting blood, hit in the chest, spitting alot of blood, on the ground in pain, fight against FL, stabbed in the shoulder, pinned against pillar, spitting blood, sword pushed in further, in pain, struggling to speak, pulls sword out of chest and throws it at FL, carrying FL into golden dawn, using alot of power to purify FL, passes out

Ep17- carried by FL, unconscious ; unconscious in bed, wakes up coughing, speaking weakly, worried for FL, sitting up, in pain, coughing, emotional seeing FL, pulse checked, mentions he has severe injuries, coughing, in pain, takes medicine ; emotional moment

Ep18- stabbed in the chest with Jia Lan power, falls to the ground, spitting blood, sent back to the past; falls to his knees, holding chest in pain, spitting blood, collapses, in bed unconscious, pulse checked ; awake, pulse checked, drinks medicine, emotional moment, pretending his wound hurts (comedic)

Ep19- none

Ep20- none

Ep21- brief fight with ZZ ; consumes snake demon core, passes out (comedic), in bed, very cold, frost on his face ; pulse checked, mentions energy is still unstable

Ep22- very cold, wrapped in blankets, nodding off, cuddles up to FL for warmth, covered in frost ; staying out late waiting for FL, covered in frost, in bed covered in blankets, drinking warm tea

Ep23- none

Ep24- none

Ep25- turned to stone, flashback/vision (younger) covered in blood, wounded, spitting blood, surrounded by bodies, cut on side, struggling to protect Zui, FL saves him from vision

Ep26- difficult fight, worried for FL

Ep27- finding herb for Qing Mu (not shown), wounds on his face

Ep28- none

Ep29- emotional moment with father in dream

Ep30- emotional moment with FL ; confronting Jiuhuo

Ep31- emotional finding father ; knocked back by energy, hits the ground, wound on his face, blood at his mouth, unsteady on his feet, difficult fight, coughing blood

Ep32- not shown

Ep33- covered in wounds, finds Yi Tan and Zui, possessed by FD (fox demon), in illusion, emotional, tries to kill himself, places his sword at his throat, saved by Yi Tan, emotional, fighting FD, using alot of power, sacrificing himself to kill FD, struggling, spitting blood, wavering on his feet

Ep34- in bed unconscious, mentions his spiritual energy is depleted, severe physical and mental trauma, no will to live, in nightmare seeing everyone that died, wakes up ; depressed, mourning his friends, crying ; doing sword dance, emotional, collapses to his knees ; depressed

Ep35- breaking in to save FL, hair turning white, mentions he lost his sword spirit, fighting Renfengs men, emotional ; says he lives in self blame and regret ; appears unwell, practicing sword, unsteady on his feet ; followed FL to confront Renfeng, takes hit for FL, weak, collapses into FL arms, blood at his mouth, in bed unconscious, mentions the hit caused internal injuries that might destroy his cultivation ; fighting, covered in blood, being persecuted by other families, depressed, practicing sword

Ep36- emotional moment with FL, sleeping in bed ; emotional finding out FL is pregnant ; worried for FL in labor, giving energy to FL, emotional ; emotional moment with FL

Yang Yi Tan

Ep1-3- none

Ep4- breaking spell chain, hit with backlash, on his knees, spitting blood

Ep5- none

Ep6- none

Ep7- drugged unconscious

Ep8- none

Ep9- emotional confrontation with grandfather, mentions he’s had a blood clotting problem since he was a child, flashback 12yo, given knock out drug and thrown into mine during winter, unconscious on the ground, wakes up, stumbling through mine as its collapsing, hit by boulder and knocked out, on the ground, gets up with difficulty, speaking weakly, forces his clairvoyance to emerge, mentions he was in a coma for a month afterwards

Ep10- none

Ep11- tough fight against Jiuhuo, using alot of power ; staggers suddenly, lies that he overused his clairvoyance fighting Jiuhuo, blood on his hand, sweating, wound on his side, tending to it, wound pressed on, wincing in pain, holding side as he stands, feeling dizzy, passes out in LI arms

Ep12- asleep sitting against cabinet, fed medicine mouth to mouth by Zui 😂, Zui uses power to wake him up to take medicine, passes back out, bleeding through bandages, mentions blood clotting issue, shivering in sleep

Ep13- (in Mu Mie’s dream) grunting in pain, covered in wounds, tearing out his own clairvoyant eye

Ep14- mentions he has severe internal and external injuries and used too much power ; given medicine to recover, mentions exhausting his power could cost him 10 years of life, flashback to ep11

Ep15- knocked to the ground by power and restrained, brief flashback of dying fighting Jia Lan

Ep16- using alot of power, knocked to the ground, spitting blood, hit by FL power, knocked to ground, spitting blood

Ep17- none

Ep18- fighting Jia Lan, blood at his lips, sent back to the past ; sad thinking about Mu Mie in future with Jia Lan loose

Ep19-28- none

Ep29- emotional finding out what happened to his father ; worried for Zui, fighting grandfather, choked, spitting blood, struggling to speak, thrown against tree, knocked out, controlled by demonic power, kills grandfather, worried for Zui, collapses ; unconscious against tree, wakes up coughing ; emotional moment with ML and Zui

Ep30- none

Ep31- being controlled by demonic energy from ep29, knocked back by energy

Ep32- controlled by FD, fighting Zui and Qi Yue, confronting Zui, stabs Zui and kills Qi Yue

Ep33- repeat of last scene, Zui places him in a dream, emotional, tells ML FD has control of his clairvoyant eye, weak, grabs blade to stop ML, rips out his clairvoyant eye, spitting blood, emotional, dies

Zhang Zheng

Ep4- FINALLY SPEAKS 😅 (not whump. But 3 episodes of appearance and nothing but bombastic side eye before his single line was torture for ME)

Ep20- flashback saving Qing Mu, bitten on the arm, wincing in pain when QM grabs arm

Ep21- brief fight with ML ; in pain, leg injured, bleeding, confrontation with mother about using his name, says Ran is already dead, limping

Ep22- eats food he’s allergic to, itchy neck ; mentions mother sold him as a child to the Zhang family to be a body double

Ep23- confrontation with QM ; talisman placed on him, weak, passes out, drug used to make him tell the truth, fighting the drug, emotional, tells QM to just kill him that he’s exhausted, scar shown from being bitten (ep20), flashback real ZZ in bed weak and sick, mentions he will die soon, emotional, in pain trying to sit up, takes medicine, in pain, medicine will give last burst of energy but accelerate death, took it to give Anaran identity, ZZ coughing blood, exchanging identities, emotional, emotional continuing to be questioned, ZZ tied up in the rain, hood over his head, about to be buried alive, AR coming to rescue him, ZZ at the end of his life, mentions he’s in pain every day due to pills, dying from pills is 100x more painful than to be buried alive, both very emotional, ZZ struggling to speak, ZZ gives AR charm he carved, emotional hug, fighting drug, weak, fever, leg bleeding, wound tended, wakes up alone in cave, head pain ; emotional confrontation with FL

Ep24- confrontation with mother ; mother feeds him (and says he’ll be under her control forever after this) ; confrontation with ML, emotional, (repeat of ep23 rain scene) ; in pain, black veins moving under his skin, emotional moment with QM, collapses, holding chest in pain, has demon poison, screaming in pain, barely conscious, QM healing him ; unconscious, wakes up, head pain

Ep25- confrontation with mother, hit in the back with talisman, collapses to his knees, holding his chest in pain, mother using demon controlling talisman on him, stands with difficulty, in pain as he forcibly removes and destroys talisman

Ep26- difficult fight, worried for QM

Ep27- worried for QM, emotional finding out what she did to save him, spitting blood and in pain transferring energy to QM, crying

Ep28-30-none

Ep31- knocked back by FD power

Ep32- unconscious on the ground, wakes up, gets up with difficulty, limping, seeing vision of ZZ grave, hit by power, dark energy entering him, controlled by FD, struggling against it, breaks free, fighting, hit hy QM, fighting QM, cut multiple times, grabs sword bare handed, hit in the chin, spitting blood, stabbed through the chest, spitting blood, sword pushed deeper, in pain, collapses to his knees, sword pushed even further, bleeding, gasping, speaking weakly, emotional, saving QM, speaking weakly, collapses into QM arms, dies

Jiu Huo

Ep9- woken up after 500yrs ; wound on chest from dragon bone, still won’t heal with his demonic power, continuous blood consumption required to ease pain

Ep10- hand injured after consuming blood from maid, struggling to control blood lust when FL is in room

Ep11- wound acting up, in pain

Ep12- telling FL about past, flashback covered in wounds, Jia Lan restoring his core, captured, restrained and injured

Ep14- weak, needing to feed, fight with FL, staggering, controlled by FL

Ep15- none

Ep16- tough fight against group, knocked back into pillar, hits the ground and spits blood, struggling to sit up, holding chest in pain, speaking weakly

Ep17- holding chest in pain, speaking weakly ; chained up, weak, confrontation with ML, hoarse voice, bleeding ; still chained, using alot of power, bleeding in pain pushing out dragon blood, breaks free

Ep18- blood at his lips, using alot of power fixing golden dawn, out of breath, brief fight with ML and FL ; using alot of power, freeing Jia Lan, escapes

Ep19-27- none

Ep26- mentions of severe injuries, cant use demonic powers or he wont survive

Ep27- confrontation with Jia Lan, coughing, speaking weakly, flashback after fighting dragon clan, covered in wounds, holding his chest, speaking weakly, spits blood, passes out, demon core shattered, Jia Lan protecting him, wakes up , worried for JL, tries to move, clutches chest in pain, JL gives him dragon emperors core, healed, worried for JL ; restrained, unconscious, poisoned, wakes up, hoarse voice, given energy, healed, hit with artifact, black eyes and veins on his face, struggling against restraints, worried for JL, emotional

Ep28- repeat of last scene, sealed in formation

Ep29- using alot of power, blood at his lips

Ep30- meditating to heal, spitting blood, holding his chest in pain, wound acting up, using power, chest pain, fighting, thrown back, hits the ground, spitting blood, knocked back, weak, struggling to get up, mentions its taking a long time to recover from broken spine, power is depleted, confronting Jia Lan, wound reveal on chest (sacrificed his core to fix golden dawn) emotional confrontation, slapped ; core being removed, stands up with difficulty, absorbing energy of all his men, confronting ML, mentions absorbing the energy is hastening his death but he has nothing left to cling to, emotional, sacrificing himself to fight ML, hit with extreme power, spitting blood, no longer immortal, emotional moment, collapses to his knees, spitting blood, remembering JL, dies

Deng Qi Yu (left) Li Qu Zhou (middle) Li Zi Xai (right)

Li Qu Zhou

Ep15- brief flashback of dying fighting Jia Lan

Ep16- (older) hit by FL power, knocked to ground, spitting blood

Ep18- (older) fighting Jia Lan, spitting blood, sacrificing himself to send others back to the past, hit in the chest, dies

Ep19- drunk, accidentaly drinks truth telling alcohol, passes out (comedic)

Ep21- consumes dog demon core

Ep25- struggling to use alot of power to protect LI and others, collapses ; wakes up on top of LI (comedic)

Ep27- finding herb for Qing Mu (not shown), wounds on his face

Ep32- trapped in illusion, flashback wounded in bed, covered in blood, weak, demon poison from his wounds, mentions brother sacrifice to save him, spitting blood, collapses to his knees, controlled by FD, cuts his own leg, stabs into other leg, wakes up from illusions, covered in wounds, crawling to his brother, legs crippled, struggling to move, screaming in pain, using alot of power, joining with his brothers power, using self destructive spell, on the ground, barely conscious, brothers talisman protected him, it was a life exchanging talisman, crying out for brothers death

Ep34- in a wheelchair, mourning brother, emotional, family worried for him, emotional

Ep35- in wheelchair, emotional

Li Zi Xai

Ep15- brief flashback of dying fighting Jia Lan

Ep19- drinking with Yi Tan

Ep32- fighting FD, covered in blood, hit in the chest and knocked to the ground, spitting blood, tough fight, flashback sacrifices right hand to save brothers life, coughing blood, fighting, knocked to his knees, using alot of power to protect Qu Zhou, spitting blood, puts life exchanging talisman on brother, joining with his brothers power, using self destructing spell, exchanged his life for brothers, dead

Deng Qi Yu

Ep15- brief flashback of dying fighting Jia Lan

Ep32- fighting Yi Tan, hit in the chest, knocked back into rock, knocked back protecting Zui, spitting blood, fighting, hit multiple times, knocked to the ground, spitting blood, controlled by FD, tries to kill Xui, Yitan stops him and stabs him, dies

Mu Mie

Ep13- nightmare about Ti Yan ; hit in the back, eating poisoned food, feeling weak, helped to stand and walk, shot in the back, collapses to his knees, FL helps him escape ; wakes up leaning against tree, standing up, grunting in pain

Ep14- none

Ep15- knocked to the ground by power and restrained

Ep16- caught by Jiuhuo, thrown to the ground and spitting blood, hit by FL power, knocked to ground, spitting blood

Ep17- mentions of being injured and used to much energy ; drinking with group, seems in pain, blood at his lips, collapses, unconscious in bed, pulse checked, friends worried for him, organs and meridians are shattered, love interest trying to heal him ; in bed unconscious, being tended to, feverish, talking in his sleep, LI emotional moment, wakes up, put back to sleep, crawling to LI, confessing love, weak, struggling, emotional, crying when LI disappears

Ep18- none

Ep19- emotional

Baimu Yao Jun

Ep1- grabs blade bare handed, hand bleeding, power attacked, spitting blood, collapses to his knees ; weak, holding chest in pain

Ep2- weak, helped to walk, bloody hand, removing demon core, spitting blood, speaking weakly, emotional moment with LI, dissipates

Mu Xiao Wu

Ep5- kneeling for a day and night, unsteady, barely conscious, blood at his lips, appears unwell ; limping ; limping to Yang Yan

Ep7- drugged, unconscious, captured ; in prison, tied to rack, wounds on his face and body, tortured, screaming in pain ; on torture rack, speaking weakly, blood at his lips, tortured ; tortured

If you squint real hard - you can see a throuple :D

I had so much fun with this drama. It's not particularly tropey and gives a very refreshing feeling with loveable characters, and a world that's not entirely black-and-white. We have morally grey good guys and bad guys with traumatic past, which makes the series more believable in terms of personalities and characters. 

Xiao Beiming, the protagonist, is not the type you'd fall for easily - he's calm, collected, very case-oriented. On the colder, more reserved side. Maybe it was just me, but I was more invested in side characters - the coroner, Zhuge Kongyun, and even the Huo lady who eventually joined their Scooby Doo gang. The plot twist with the antagonist was also nice, I really didn't see it coming)) and that character is also quite interesting.

Some of the things I found especially good about the show:

well-written, wholesome characters

good storytelling with nice plot twists

a whiff of the zhiji trope (courtesy of Zhuge Kongyun, bless the screenwriters)

stylish cinematography and overall character design

non-banal female characters that are more like partners 

0.01% romance, which frankly I found refreshing as well

on a different note, the main couple did nothing for me chemistry-wise, but the show centers around investigation, so that's more of a plus in my book

adorable coroner :3

Zhuge Kongyun with his flamboyant outfits and quirky personality (that, and the man has BRAINS)

I've known this dumbass coroner boy for 5min but