#puzhu

I would definitely watch this boyband 💜

Tao is behaving way out of character when she turned to the Sword Alliance to seek refuge under the guise of being completely swept away by her passionate whirlwind emotions for Pu Zhu. The whole act goes against her own advice to Xiao Hong previously as well as her personal outlook on emotions and emotional bonds, and as much as I have enjoyed all the mindless crumbs and endorphins, something Does Not Sit Right when this very bad, diabolical woman (affectionate) suddenly decides to be all the way on the other end of the spectrum on the good side.

In addition, even if she genuinely wants to turn over a new leaf, Tao cannot be truly free from the influence of Fengliu dian and the manacles of her godfather until Gui Mu Dan is truly dead and destroyed. It is as Tang Lici predicted. Just from this alone, it seems like her betrayal of the Sword Alliance is almost inevitable, just a matter of whether she will do so out of her own freewill or not, or even under pretense for some other hidden double agendas. She wears so many masks; does she ever mix them up? No wonder she says that she's tired.

And Pu Zhu - at this point it appears that his belief and faith in Tao's underlying goodness have been genuine and earnest, not a ruse to fool the enemy and catch them in their own trap. The man's character archetype does not seem to allow him to go along with trickery and conspiracies - he is so straitlaced and honest, he can't even lie or properly hide his forbidden emotions (lol). Expecting him to fake his feelings seems like quite an impossible undertaking given what we know of him so far. But I also don't doubt that he probably knows that Tao is not acting right and suspects that something else is going on. Man is virtuous and righteous, not dumb. It just feels that even when he knows that she is up to no good, he is still silently holding out for her to turn back, and he will be waiting on the shore for her.

Hoping that Tao does not drop the ball TOO hard and some things can still turn back around in the end, whatever her true motives are. Because I will eat my own shoe if she had not been affected AT ALL by Pu Zhu and his enduring compassion and sincerity towards her throughout the entirety of their interactions. My putao brainrot insists that Tao just keeps testing Pu Zhu over and over in her own way because the man seems too good to her to be true. She keeps wanting to push him as far as she can to see what it will take for that pure and good facade of his to break, for him to be dragged down from that high, sanctified pedestal into the mud, thus proving that she is right to doubt him all along.

aish, this ship is so BE-coded from the get-go just by this pair's character setups alone, BUTTT whumpy putao will also be interesting to watch. XDD

Hearing your girlfriend whom you thought abandoned evil to follow the righteous path tell everyone assembled "The path I'll walk in the Sword Alliance doesn't necessarily have to be decided by Master Puzhu".

Oof, critical hit.

Personally I would never betray Master Puzhu if I thought there was even the remotest chance we could create some offspring that would inherit his perfect profile.