Introduction
At the beginning of this recap series, The Journey of Legend: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 10, the readers were introduced to Xiao Mingming from the modern world and Xiao Qiushui from the novel world. This one on the featured image is Xiao Qiushui, and mostly we followed his adventure in The Journey of Legend ( 赴山海 ). This scene was taken from Episode 27 (Part 3 of the recap series), and Qiushui was holding the Changge Sword of the Huanhua Sect’s leadership.
I love Xiao Qiushui! He never gives up easily when facing difficulties and challenges. He is also an emotional person who is good at understanding other people’s emotions and needs. Lastly, Qiushui is not only highly skilled in martial arts but also has excellent wisdom and judgment.
Let’s continue his journey in his attempt to save his family!
Recap Episodes 11 to 20
Episode 11
Tang Qing ordered her men to search Qiushui for the Hero Command Token, but they didn’t find it. She hypnotized him and asked him where the Token was hidden. Qiushui told her it was in the bamboo forest outside the Tang Clan. However, they couldn’t find it even after digging up the entire forest! Qiushui already knew that he might be poisoned by the Tangs, so he asked Tang Fang for any antidote. Tang Fang rescued Qiushui, who was imprisoned. When the two were about to escape, they were stopped by Tang Song. Tang Song changed his previous arrogant attitude. Qiushui stated that he didn’t have the Token, it was with the Power Gang. Tang Song directly denied it. It was clear to Qiushui and Tang Dang that Tang Song had a contact with the Power Gang. Qiushui used the movement taught by his mother to take Tang Fang away.
The two rushed to the edge of the cliff, and Tang Song quickly chased after them. They had no choice but to jump off the cliff and land on a wedding boat. Since Tang Fang almost fell into the water, Qiushui pulled her and tore her sleeve. Tang Fang was angry because she had promised her deceased mother that the only man who saw her body would be her husband; if any other men saw it, they had to die.
The bride overheard them quarreling, so she gave them some advice for Qiushui to marry Tangfang, haha! Tang Fang directly agreed, since she needed Qiushui’s help to break through the Snare Formation in her sect to get Tang Song off her back. After that, she could marry him and divorce him later.
Power Gang was in a relentless pursuit and promised rewards here and there to anyone who found Qiushui and Tang Fang. It happened that Tang Fang was kidnapped with two silly guys who wanted to join the Power Gang, and they had already brought her to the Sword King’s subordinate from the Power Gang. Qiushui tricked those silly guys into believing that he was not the wanted Qiushui, and the subordinate would take credit for the kidnapped girl instead of them, so why not take the girl back and present her directly to the Sword King? The two agreed and took Qiushui to find Tang Fang.
Episode 12
The entire episode was dedicated to finding Tang Fang. So, I won’t elaborate on their search.
There were two other crucial things in this episode. Firstly, Qiushui reunited with friends again. Deng Yuhan apologized for not being able to bring reinforcements. Xiao Qiushui comforted him and told Yuhan not to blame himself. Yuhan had taken a risk and run away from home, yet he was still willing to help Qiushui. Qiushui asked them to go to Guangling Villa to find his siblings.
Secondly, Qiushui’s oldest brother, Yiren, received a letter from his father, instructing him not to defy the Power Gang. Xueyu felt that it was not their father’s style. After they carefully checked the letter, they found that it was not the pine soot ink that Xiao Xilou usually used. It was a fake letter! Luckily, Deng Yuhan and Zuo Qiu happened to arrive at the Guangling Villa and told them about what happened to the Xiao family.
After rescuing Tang Fang, Qishui and the two silly guys were chased by the villains, and fell into an underground cave after being hit by a mechanism. There was the sound of water in the cave. Qiushui guessed that there would be an exit. They had not gone far when he saw a man with messy hair locked on the cave wall.
There was not much happening in this episode, but these two silly guys, Qiu Nangu, the Iron Mouth, and Tie Xingyue, the Fart King, were comedic relief.
Episode 13
The man imprisoned in the cave was Du Yueshan, the leader of the Mengxiang Sect. Du Yueshan had been poisoned by the bat corpse poison of the Power Gang. Tang Fang said that as long as he released his internal force, he could detoxify. So the four of them joined hands to close the acupoints in all directions. Du Yueshan fell into a coma. When he woke up, he told his story of why he ended up in the cave. Qu Hanshan, the Sword King, had deceived him. When Du Yueshan knew that Qiushui was the son of Xiao Xilou of Huanhua, he told Qiushui that Liu Suifeng had a blood feud with the Xiao family.
Meanwhile, the Sword King and his men tried to smoke out Qiushui and the others. They needed to get out of the cave. Seeing the living water constantly surging, Qiushui guessed that there was an exit at the bottom of the pool. Since Du Yueshan had been imprisoned for many years, he knew there was a gap at the bottom of the pool. His Mengxiang sword technique could split the water to open the way. However, because he didn’t have internal strength at this moment, he couldn’t split it. Du Yueshan decided to pass his Mengxiang sword technique to Qiushui. Qiushui quickly mastered the Mengxiang sword technique, dove into the bottom of the pool and opened the waterway. Outside, they parted ways with Du Yueshan, who returned to his sect.
Du Yueshan from Mengxiang Sect. I believe he would be an ally to Qiushui.
Tie Xingyue and Qiu Nanshun witnessed Qiushui’s chivalrous acts along the way and requested to join the Huanhua Sect. Qiushui said that he did not have the final say, but they could join the Shenzhou Brotherhood. The two were very happy to hear this. Awww, as much as these two were silly guys and tested Tang Fang’s patience, I believe they would be Qiushui’s loyal followers and would help him to achieve the missions.
Unfortunately, after this situation, the rest of the episode was annoying. Suifeng decided to work together with the Sword King. Because of the temptation of the Hero Command Token, they put aside their grudges against each other. This Sword King pretended to be a righteous martial arts master to the outsiders. So, Qiushui’s eldest brother, Yi Ren, came to him asking for help. Qu Hanshan said that Qiushui had framed him as the Sword King of the Power Gang, and his reputation in the martial arts world had been ruined.
I wouldn’t elaborate on Yi Ren’s stupidity. Long story short, Qiushui was detained by his own brothers. They didn’t believe Tang Fang, and Qiushui’s two new friends, because they wanted to join the Power Gang in the past. Only Xueyu believed that Xiao Qiushui didn’t lie, but she could not openly become challenge Qu Hanshan without sufficient evidence. Qu Hanshan told Yi Ren he would help them if Qiushui admitted his mistake in framing’ Qu Hanshan.
Episode 14
Omg, this episode was even more frustrating than the previous episode. So, I would just be short as I fast-forwarded when watching it. Basically, Qiushui’s two brothers didn’t believe Qiushui and his friends. They rather believed Qu Hanshan. The only witness was Du Yueshan, but he was controlled by Suifeng, so he said that Qiushui learned the forbidden sword technique from him. With it, of course, the Xiao family was blamed, couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong by letting their son practice a forbidden technique.
Episodes 15
Somehow, Sun Huishan left a key to the Sword Cottage to Qiushui in his luggage with a farewell letter. The water source couldn’t last for a few days. The parents sent out Quishui and the young ones to give them a chance to survive. Oh my God, this was so heartbreaking. No matter what, the parents would be dead by the time they arrived there. Quishui begged again and again, must not let Qu Hangshan approach the Xiao family. Even he used the spoiler at a painful price of the stupid Boiling Blood Cocoon. The wise Xueyu thought Quishui wouldn’t joke about their parents’ lives. Finally, that stupid brother of his let Qiushi prove his innocence by meeting Qu Hanshan.
Qiushui was ready to sacrifice himself. He even sent away Tang Fang, who was imprisoned back in the Tang Clan by her cousins, but ran away. Qiushui swore to himself that even if he could not return to the real world, he would tear off Qu Hanshan’s ugly face at the cost of his life! He already anticipated that his stupid brother didn’t want to take him to meet Qu Hanshan, so he lied that he would apologize to Qu Hanshan. Qiushui forced out the Blood Boiling Cocoon to force Qu Hanshan to fight, thus exposing his identity as the Sword King of Power Gang. Finally, everyone believed that Qu Hanshan was the Sword King, but he and his people ran away. Before death, Qiushui requested that the two stupid brothers protect their parents. They were very remorseful. Yiren ordered Kaiyan to return home immediately, while he took his people to Jingzhong. The mansion housekeeper was left to bury Qiushui in Guangling Villa.
I know this was only 3/8 of the drama and Qiushui would come back alive (he probably faked his death?), but his sacrice was heartbreaking.
Poor Tang Fang was heartbroken when she finally escaped her cousins’ clutch and went back to find that Qiushui was dead. Qiushui left her lucky dart, the dagger given by Old Madam Wu for her to return, and a letter asking her not to take revenge. Tang Fang was angry because she was tricked by Qiushui into sending her away. She was also sad, because she had a crush on Qiushui and wanted to make him her husband since he tore her sleeve off.
At night, while Tang Fang was drinking alone to drown her sorrow at the Villa, suddenly she heard a loud noise from the mourning hall. When she arrived, the butler was lying on the ground, and the coffin was empty. At the same time, the dead Qiushui was taken to Suifeng! Suifeng forced him the Xuanhuang Life-Extending Pill of the King of Medicine, and he came back to life! Suifeng wanted to know the whereabouts of the Hero Command Token! After being tricked several times, he didn’t believe Qiushui was really dead. Haha! He just didn’t expect that Qiushui would abolish his martial arts skills to expose the Sword King.
Episode 16
Suifeng had tortured Qiushui worse than death, demanding Qiushui to tell him where in the world the Hero Command Token was. He even cooked poisoned roasted duck for Qiushui. Qiushui knew it, but still ate it hungrily. He said he wanted to die when facing Qu Hanshan last time, but Suifeng brought him back alive, unwanted. Qiushui bought time with Suifeng until his brothers reached their parents. He said Old Madam Wu never gave the Token, only asked him to find Crazy Yan’s sister.
Suifeng himself met with internal strife, which was the Sword King and the Snake King. The Sword King went to find Suifeng, asking for Qiushui, but Suifeng refused. While they were fighting, Qiushui escaped in the chaos. The Snake King went to kill the people of the Diancang Sect and framed Suifeng. Qiushui went to the woods and was discovered by Four Thugs: Yuwen Dong, Chang Wuqi, Meng Donglin, and Jin Bewang. They made a living by collecting corpses and asking the government for rewards. Qiushui said that it was easier to earn money from the living than from the dead. They wanted to attack him, but Suifeng arrived and took all of them back to his place and put them into the dungeon. Later, Suifeng went to the dungeon and threw the Xiao family tokens belong to Qiushui’s father and mother! Oh no!
Episode 17
Luckily, Tang Fang was to the rescue! She found out that the Tang Sect had kidnapped Qiushui, judging from the security mechanism set up. So after she found him, Qiushui explained that he was ill-fated and didn’t want to implicate her. Apparently, Qu Hanshan’s strike only sealed his breath, but didn’t kill him. Tang Fang cracked all the security mechanisms and gave Qiushui the antidote to Suifeng’s poison. Everyone then left the dungeon.
After Qiushui was in a safe place, Tang Fang returned the dagger and the golden swallow pin Old Madam Wu had given him before they departed from each other. We got the backstory of the pin. Crazy Yan and Old Madam Wu were good friends. When Crazy Yan rescued her son, Crazy Yan’s brother was killed, and his sister disappeared. Finding his younger sister became his obsession, and even provoked a bloody storm in the martial arts world. After being besieged by various sects, Crazy Yan was completely retired and left the pin to Old Madam Wu. She had searched for Crazy Yan’s younger sister for many years. Since she was getting old, she entrusted Xiao Qiushui to continue searching as he traveled the martial arts world.
Suifeng found out that Tang Fang had rescued Qiushui and where they went. He had a crush on Tang Fang because she rescued him when they were little. Talking about childhood connection/sweetheart/crush trope! Suifeng went to the place where Tang Fang had taken Qiushui and the Four Thugs, and revealed to her that he was her childhood friend. Apparently, he was a Tang. No wonder he knew the Clan’s security mechanism! We got to know Suifeng’s background and how he supposedly held a grudge against Xiao Xilou, Qiushui’s father. There seemed to be a misunderstanding here, but Suifeng didn’t care and wanted to strike Qiushui, even against the martial arts code of ethic, because Qiushui had already lost his martial arts skills.
The ‘love triangle’
Luckily, at this crucial time, Prince Liang of Daxi arrived. He had been friends with the Xiaos. Suifeng didn’t dare to anger the royal family, so he left. Prince Liang gave Qiushui and others horses so he could rush to see his parents. Meanwhile, the Shaolin and the Wudang Sects had already gone to help the Xiao family. Li Chenzhou ordered Suifeng to stop them immediately. These two Sects were very powerful, so Suifeng needed to outwit them. Qiushui and Tang Fang arrived during the battle between the Shaolin and the Wudang versus the Power Gang. However, because those two Sects were very powerful, the Power Gang played dirty and poisoned the masters of the sects.
Episode 18
Despite his weak power, Qiushui still fought the Power Gang with all his might. Seeing his determination to die, the two masters intended to transfer their power, but they were afraid the poison would affect Qiushui. Qiushui immediately knelt in front of the two masters, saying that he was already dying, if he could severely damage the Power Gang before his death and protect his parents, he would have no regrets. The three immediately sat down, and the masters transferred their power into Qiushui.
Qiushui became super powerful, and even Suifeng had a hard time fighting him. It seemed the poison didn’t affect him at all, because his internal strength was gone before the transfer, so the poison couldn’t latch on. Suifeng taunted Qiushui by throwing his father’s jade pendant in front of Qiushui. Qiushui remembered that his father had said that the jade pendant would not leave his body, so his father must have been dead. Qiushui no longer feared attacking Suifeng. Their duel was so cool!
Unfortunately, there were traitors. The two masters, although they were poisoned, wanted to help Qiushui finish off Suifeng, but one disciple stabbed them because he was with Power Gang. A leader from another sect who helped the Shaolin and the Wudang earlier was also from the Power Gang and stopped the fight between Qiushui and Suifeng. Suifeng was wounded by Qiushui’s shattered sword. Suifeng and the rest of the Gang ran away.
Qiushui broke his sword in two and threw the shards of the broken piece at Suifeng and wounded him
The two masters died. The useless brothers of Qiushui arrived with their entourage. Qiushui blamed himself for letting the traitor Feng Lang, who turned out to be Liu Suifeng from the Power Gang, into the Xiao Family. He killed their parents. His brothers cursed and beat Qiushui up.
Apparently, a mysterious masked enemy was taking advantage of the gang and the sect disputes. At this time, I would just name him the Masked Man.
Qiushui passed out from brokenheartedness, fatigue from fighting, and emotional distress from all that happened. When he woke up, he was in delirium and wanted to kill Deng Yuhan and Zuo Qiu, who were in front of him. After sobering up, Qiushui wandered in the courtyard, mourning his parents. Qiushui set up tombstones for Xiao Xilou and Sun Huishan. When he recalled the time when he had just taken on the identity of Xiao Qiushui, he felt that he could foresee the future and could prevent many things from happening. But as he went along, he found that nothing could be changed, and only his arrogance and ignorance were highlighted. He had tainted the heroic Xiao Quishui’s reputation.
Wait… I wonder if his parents really died, tho. This is not a xianxia where immortals dissipate when they die. There must be bodies, but we didn’t see them. Could it be that Suifeng lied to break Qiushui’s heart and secretly imprisoned the Xiaos somewhere? Or another person saved them?
Episode 19
This was the start of the internal conflict in the Xiao family.
Tang Fang comforted Qiushui while he was mourning his parents, but Qiushui was hopeless and asked her to return to the Tang Sect and not to waste time following him. Without rest, he carved tombstones for the brothers of the Huanhua Sect who died at the hands of the Power Gang.
Yiren reorganized the Xiao family and opened the door to recruit new members of the Huanhua Sect. He invited all the sects in Jinzhong. They congratulated and supported him, but when he wanted the charge rent for 100 years to rebuild the place that had been torn down in the battle, people disagreed. Some people questioned whether Xiao Yiren arbitrarily overturned his father’s rules. Xiao Yiren was even more furious when he saw that everyone did not take him seriously at all. After everyone left, Qiushui, who had witnessed everything in front of the door, said that it was never his father’s style to repay kindness with money. Yiren became angrier and blamed Qiushui for the death of their parents. Qiushui was already weak, and after another struggle in his heart, he fainted on the ground after walking a few steps. Prince Liang happened to pass by and took Qiushui to his mansion. Qiushui was in a coma for two days. When he woke up, Prince Liang offered him to stay in his private residence while they rebuild the Xiao family home.
Things got better after this. Some people from Guangling came to visit. They were grateful because Qiushui exposed Qu Hanshan’s true identity, and they repelled Qu Hanshan’s attack. They brought a large amount of timber and stone to help rebuild Huanhua in order to thank Qiushui for saving their lives. In addition, they also wanted to join the Huanhua Sect. Qiushui said that he was not the head of the family and had no right to accept disciples, but he welcomed everyone to join the Shenzhou Brotherhood.
Subsequently, there was a letter from Old Madam Wu, informing that her son had been cleared of his grievances and had won a victory in the northwest. Qiushui realized there was a plot change from the original story about the old lady. So the ending had been rewritten? In that case, his fate should also be restarted.
Xueyu researched the ancient medical books and found a way to connect the tendons and veins. She quickly treated her adoptive brother and connected 40% of the meridians. After he felt better, Qiushui practiced sword with his two best friends.
Seeing that Qiushui’s mood was also better, Prince Liang handed over a letter found in the Sword Cottage. It was left by Xiao Xilou for his three sons. From the time the Sword Cottage was besieged, he had expected that he wouldn’t live long. Therefore, he sent his three sons away on the pretext of seeking help. If he were to die, the Changge Sword, which the Xiao family had forged from the broken swords of loyal and righteous men, would find its master by chance.
Qiushui originally did not want to compete for the position of head of the sect, but Prince Liang tried his best to persuade him. Qiushui recalled the slaughter that had occurred in front of him not long ago and also felt that it was necessary to take on the heavy responsibility. Qiushui returned to the Sword Cottage, inserted his broken sword into the sword formation, and the Changge Sword appeared as expected. He took it off in one fell swoop and became the head of the Huanhua Sect. The Magic Codex appeared again with a reward: the right to choose a character with two options: First, choose another character and stay in the game. Two, exit the game and return to reality. Qiushui recalled that so many people had died because of him, and he chose neither and was determined to stay as Qiushui to avenge them one by one. The system gave a warning that his memory as Xiao Mingming would disappear, and he would be trapped forever in the system. Qiushui destroyed the annoying Codex with his sword.
Admiring Cheng Yi’s eyes, when Qiushui unsheathed the Changge Sword
Episode 20
Prince Liang congratulated Qiushui on becoming the head of the Huanhua Sword Sect, and promised to continue to look for ways to reconnect Qiushui’s tendons and veins.
Tang Fang finally returned to the Tang Clan. She asked her father if he knew about the method of connecting tendons and mending veins. Her father knew of Grandmaster Dayin at Biechuan Temple, who could do that. He guessed his daughter had a feeling for Qiushui. However, it was strictly forbidden for the Tang Sect to marry outsiders. It was up to her then. Her father also told her about Suifeng. Oh, now I know, Suifeng was Tang Fang’s half-brother. So, no secret crush as I guessed before. His mother was not of the Tang Sect, so her father had to let Suifeng and his mother go.
Qiushui found out that he and Xiao Mingming shared memories. The original story told him that the Voidheart Codex was in the Sword Tomb, so Quishui went to look for it in the coffin. There was a gap in the coffin wall, so Quishui used the dagger given by Old Madam Wu to pry it open. The dagger broke, and there it was… the Hero Command Token! With the three masters’ fingerprints! It is said that the Voidheart Codex was hidden inside the Token. Qiushui guessed that there should be some kind of clue.
The Hero Command Token, which had cost a lot of lives!
Li Chenzhou summoned Suifeng and was furious because he had killed the Head of the Shaolin and the Head of the Wudang Sects. Now they became the Power Gang’s sworn enemies. Suifeng then learned that someone had impersonated his boss and given him orders to kill the masters a few days ago. Although it was a trick, his boss thought that Suifeng had grown overconfident, that he couldn’t identify the disguise after having known Li Chenzhou for 15 years. With his arrogance, he could be easily tricked again in the future. In the end, the boss struck him with his palm to expel him. Either alive or dead after this, Suifeng had nothing to do with the Power Gang.
Tang Fang sent Qiushui a message about Grandmaster Dayin at Biechuan Temple. Before Qiushui took off, Prince Liang warned him about the turbulent situation in the area, since there was a war between the Power Gang and Zhu the Great King of the Liushan Sect. Since the Power Gang was at odds with the Wudang and the Shaolin Sects, Great King Zhu took advantage to win over people and occupied many of the Power Gang’s territories. At the same time, both sides were looking for Shao Liulei, who had betrayed the Power Gang in the past and helped Crazy Yan escape.
Qiushui took Deng Yuhan with him to the Biechuan Temple. After Grandmaster Dayin found out who Qiushui was, the third son of Xiao Family, he was willing to help. However, the Heavenly Acupuncture he used had only 50%. Qiushui took a chance and was cured! Yay!
Before leaving, Master Dayin also said that the wanted man, Shao Liulei was possibly hiding at the temple, too. Qiushui indeed found Shao Liulei, he appeared to be stupidly crazy, but was still powerful. Qiushui lied that he was Crazy Yan’s little brother, and his bro sent him to find the Infinite Pill. From their hiding place, Qiushui and Shao Liulei saw that the Power Gang and the Liushan Sect were facing each other. The annoying Red Phoenix, Suifeng’s subordinate, was there, too. Suifeng, who was kicked out of the Power Gang, was advised by Li Chenzhou’s wife to prove himself worthy to be taken back, instead of begging forgiveness or being killed by her husband. So, Suifeng sent Red Phoenix to find Shao Liulei, the traitor.
Qiushui lied to Shao Liulei that his ‘brother’ wanted to give the pill to him, because he didn’t have martial arts skills (he had just recuperated). Shao Liulei believed him. However, just about when Shao Liulei wanted to put it into Qiushui’s mouth, Red Phoenix came and snatched it away!
Conclusion
Heaven had sent blessings to the chivalrous hero! He finally obtained the sought-after Hero Command Token and the Changge Sword. But mostly, he met a lot more people in the jianghu who became his friends and allies. However, I have been waiting for his meeting with the Power Gang boss, Li Chenzhou! Let’s continue our hero journey to The Journey of Legend: Recap Episodes 21 to 30!
