Introduction
Now the readers saw all three characters of Cheng Yi: Xiao Mingming, Xiao Qiushui, and Li Chenzhou. I had introduced you to Xiao Qiushui in Part 2 Introduction and Li Chenzhou in Part 3 Introduction.
We knew in the first episode that Xiao Mingming had transmigrated to the novel world, into his created character Xiao Qiushui. Xiao Mingming was originally an ordinary person who loved martial arts novels. His edges had been smoothed by reality, living a seemingly ordinary life as a corporate slave. Xiao Mingming wanted to be an author, not a ghost writer for his boss.
We also found out in Episode 29, in the third part of the article series, The Journey of Legend: Recap Episodes 21 to 30, what actually happened to Xiao Mingming in the real world before his transmigration. We want justice for him. Will he get it by the end of The Journey of Legend ( 赴山海 )?
Recap Episodes 31 to 40
Episode 31
As much as the Deng siblings and Qiushui wanted to blame Suifeng, the story didn’t match. Deng Yulan told Qiushui that she saw Suifeng sneak out of the courtyard at the second watch (9pm). She knew the person was Suifeng because he tapped her acupoint. Meanwhile, Yuhan visited their father to bid farewell at the third watch (midnight). There was only one possibility: someone else had entered Deng Qingfeng’s room after Suifeng and killed him! Qiushui found a piece of paper inside Deng Qingfeng’s mouth with the word “Tieyi” written on it. That was the name of Constable Tieyi, Xiao Xiliu’s loyal subordinate. The Constable was supposed to be dead during the battle in the Sword Manor, but his body was never found. Qiushui felt guilty because it seemed Deng Qingfeng’s death was connected to the Marrow-Disrupting Finger technique that killed his parents. Yuhan comforted Qiushui, stating that he wouldn’t back down and would still accompany Qiushui in investigating after he buried his father.
Hmm… we found a more interesting thing about Li Chenzhou in this episode! We knew he was a prince, right? So he was the Emperor of the Great Qi’s brother. But His Majesty was a paranoid person. He worried about Li Chenzhou’s influence as the Power Gang’s leader. So, every time Li Chenzhou entered the palace, he was tortured. At this time, His Majesty summoned him again to the palace. There was a memorial of accusation against him. Zhao Shirong begged her husband not to go. Li Chenzhou assured his wife that as long as he was still useful to the court, His Majesty wouldn’t kill him.
On the way to the Fei family, Qiushui overheard that Fei Yuqiao would retire in three days. According to Jianghu world law, once someone retired, any secrets they had would be brought to the grave. Qiushui rushed to the Fei family’s home. At the front gate, he bumped into his archenemy, Liu Suifeng. Qiushui brought a letter from Prince Liang.
Fei Yuqiao received both Qiushui and Suifeng. After Qiushui identified himself, he asked Fei Yuqiao about the Marrow-Disrupting Finger. Fei Yuqiao would have his grandson’s coming-of-age ceremony tomorrow, and he promised Qiushui to tell him afterwards. Meanwhile, Suifeng’s visit was to find the man who used the Thousand-Faces Mask, who impersonated his boss last time.
The next day, many guests gathered at the Fei Family’s Mansion. Fei Yuqiao announced that the Fei family would retire from the martial arts world and would only engage in business and scholarly pursuits. I don’t understand this Fei Family matter with the Thousand-Faces Mask. Long story short, not only Suifeng, but many guests and even Fei Yuqiao’s two grandchildren, who were expelled from the family, demanded the Mask. Qiushui could not bear to see the old and the young being bullied, so he ended up challenging the people who wanted to Mask. After everyone left, someone reported to Fei Yuqiao that the Fei family’s ancestral tomb had been dug up. Earlier, Fei Yuqiao told the people that he had buried a scrap of the mask in the ancestral tomb to represent his dead son, whose body was never found.
Episode 32
Fei Yuqiao, his grandson, Qiushui, and Suifeng went to the ancestral tomb. The grave dug up belonged to Fei Yuqiao’s son or the father of his grandson. The skeleton wore a mask, but Fei Yuqiao said the mask was fake. The real Thousand-Faces Mask was made of human skin; thus, if the user died, it would dissolve. Fei Yuqiao finally admitted that five years ago, he accidentally killed his own son using the Marrow-Disrupting Finger, because he wore a Thousand-Faces Mask impersonating the Great King Zhu’s assistant. Since then, he had never used the finger technique again.
Qiushui asked Fei Yuqiao, What grudge did the Great King Zhu have that he framed Fei Yuqiao? The old man said that when investigating for the court, his son discovered that the Great King Zhu was Constable Tieyi. Suifeng, who was quiet the whole time while Fei Yuqiao and Qiushui were talking, guessed that Great King Zhu spread rumors of Baicao Valley. He probably also used the Mask to impersonate Li Chenzhou to order the killing of the Shaolin and Wudang leaders.
The Emperor of the Great Qi was apparently crazily paranoid; he made his own brother drink poisoned wine to control him, because His Majesty suspected that Li Chenzhou sent supplies to the front line for his own benefit. Li Chenzhou left the palace in pain. Prince Liang rushed to him and said that he had found out about the accusation memorial. Was Prince Liang their other brother? Li Chenzhou shouldn’t come to the palace. The latter said that he didn’t mind that he got a bad reputation, as long as the country was peaceful and prosperous. Prince Liang disagreed. If Li Chenzhou dies, who would continue his legacy? Omg, I had a bad feeling for Li Chenzhou’s fate!
After Li Chenzhou left, the Emperor summoned Constable Tieyi. Now we knew he was still alive, and it turned out that the so-called Water Gang Great King Zhu was just His Majesty’s existence to restrain the Power gang. Ugh, what a despicable emperor!
Seeing that Qiushui had a sense of justice, Fei Yuqiao decided to meet him again secretly. He revealed his true form, which was marred by numerous bruises. Fei Yuqiao explained that each time the Mask was used, it would cause damage to the internal power and bring irreparable bruises to the face. Fei Yuqiao also warned Qiushui that Constable Tieyi also stole the Mask and used the Marrow-Disrupting Finger. Fei Yuqiao begged Qiushui to find Constable Tieyi and destroy the Mask. After they departed, the masked man showed up and demanded that Fei Yuqiao tell him the antidote to the Mask’s side effect. When Fei Yuqiao stated there was no antidote, the masked man killed him.
Qiushui returned after a detour to meet his friends, the Four Thugs, who reported that they saw Constable Tieyi’s dead body. They found the dead body, alright, but Qiushui remembered that the record on Constable Tieyi in the original story seemed different. Just like the VoidHeart Codex. The original Codex was hidden in the coffin, but now it had been destroyed. Qiushui was suspicious that something was fishy with the death.
Qiushui returned home. His friend Zuoqiu Chao Ran reported that the Qianji lock behind the Sword Cottage had been opened in advance when he and Yuhan collected dead bodies after the attack. His father only told three people about how to unlock the Qianji lock: he and his brothers. Then dawned on Qiushui who the masked man was! It was his second brother, Xiao Kaiyan, who was also R, and also Xiao Mingming’s enemy in the modern world: Li Nan!
Although Qiushui didn’t believe it, everything suddenly made sense. With a heavy heart, Qiushui paid respect to his parents and went to face Kaiyan, who was in a restaurant. Omg, this was heartbreaking!
Episode 33
Qiushui demanded to know why Kaiyan killed their parents. Kaiyan said their parents favored Yiren and Qiushui, nobody cared about him. Therefore, he wanted to prove to the world that he was better than his two brothers and eventually dominated the entire martial arts world. Qiushui looked at his crazy brother and knew that it was useless to say more. He just told him that he would never let Kaiyan succeed and left. Suifeng, who secretly followed Qiushui, finally understood the truth.
We found out what actually happened to Kaiyan. Not long ago, Li Nan from the modern world transmigrated into his soul. He coaxed this loser to be a hero. Since Li Nan knew the story Mingming wrote, he told Kaiyan to go to the Sword Tomb and secretly learned the Voidheart Codex under Li Nan’s guidance.
Later, when the Sword Cottage was besieged, Xiao Xilou and Sun Huishan found the traitor Tieyi, so they tied him up. After Kaiyan discovered this, he seriously injured Constable Tieyi and absorbed the Marrow-Disrupting Finger skills the Constable had. Sun Huishan tried to stop her son, but Kaiyan accidentally killed her when pushing her away.
Xiao Xilou arrived later. Constable Tieyi, who was seriously injured, blamed the Xiao family for being hypocritical, because Kaiyan learned the Voidheart Codex and killed his mother. Xiao Xilou was shocked and questioned Kaiyan. Li Nan’s words influenced Kaiyan’s thoughts, so he killed his father, too. Later, Kaiyan collided with the Great King Zhu from the Water Gang to steal the Thousand-Faces Mask from the Fei family tomb. Kaiyan pretended to be Li Chenzhou to order Suifeng to kill the Shaolin and Wudang leaders. He killed Deng Qingfeng, Yuhan’s father. Kaiyan eventually killed the Great King Zhu also, which was witnessed by the Four Thugs, and replaced him. Of course, Kaiyan also killed Fei Yuqiao.
Suifeng reported to his boss everything he found. Unfortunately, Kaiyan had the emperor’s support because he impersonated the Great King Zhu. Thus, the Power Gang couldn’t do anything to Kaiyan. They decided to work together with two powerful sects, the Shaolin and Wudang. Suifeng didn’t want to embarrass Li Chenzhou, so he decided to apologize to both sects for killing their leaders by mistake, even if he had to pay with his life. Suifeng received the mandate from heaven to kill the enemies of the Great Xi.
Qiushui also took some actions by sending a letter to Shaolin and Wudang to remind them about this impostor, who happened to have the Thousand-Faces Mask, so he could impersonate anyone. He also told Yiren that Kaiyan was the killer of their parents, secretly learned the Voidheart Codex and destroyed it, and impersonated the Great King Zhu. Yiren didn’t believe Qiushui, although he remembered Kaiyan was suspicious of some things.
Episode 34
Yiren sneaked into the Great King Zhu’s residence and found the Thousand-Faces Mask. He challenged Kaiyan, but the latter still played victim and blamed Great King Zhu, who was already dead, and Qiushui. Kaiyan lied that he wanted to bring glory to the Xiao family, even using Yiren’s sword to stab himself, and pretended to be sincere.
Qiushui received an invitation from Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei, which jointly launched Heroes Gathering to select the Martial Arts Alliance Leader at Changban Slope. They heard about the Emperor’s decree, so they wanted to unite to protect General Wu and resist the Northern Wasteland. The Power Gang and The Water Gang would attend, too. If Kaiyan, as the Great King of Zhu, were selected, it would bring about the destruction of the entire nation. Sancai warned Qiushui that the power of the eight masters in Qiushui’s body had not yet been fully integrated. Qiushui said that he would expose Kaiyan’s true face even if he died.
On the day of the competition, Qiushi successfully tore off Kaiyan’s Thousand-Faces Mask, which he wore as the Great King of Zhu. However, Kaiyan stabbed Qiushi. Yiren then stabbed Kaiyan, but Kaiyan blew Yiren with his palm, learned from the Voidheart Codex, and left the arena. Yiren died because his meridian was electrocuted. Qiushui asked his brothers from the Shenzhou Brotherhood to bury his brother and rushed to the Martial Arts Alliance Leader at Changban Slope.
Qiushui arrived and stepped onto the arena, together with other challengers from various sects. Suddenly, Crazy Yan showed up! Some people who still remember Crazy Yan’s appearance were shocked because Crazy Yan had not only not grown old, but had become even younger and more heroic. Crazy Yan declared that the Hero Command Token should belong to him. Qiushui denied it, stating that the Token should belong to those with deep virtue, while Crazy Yan was just a madman. Crazy Yan saw that Qiushi was a brave young man, so he proposed to accept Qiushi as his apprentice, but he had to kowtow to him. Qiushi refused, stating he only kowtowed to heaven and earth, the ruler, his parents, and his master. Crazy Yan forced him to kneel using martial arts skills, while Qiushui used his internal energy to gradually stand up. Other people helped Qiushui to free himself from Crazy Yan, but he ran away. Later, because of Qiushui’s bravery in fighting Crazy Yan, they selected him as the Martial Arts Alliance Leader in unison. However, when they wanted to give him the Hero Medal Token, Crazy Yan showed up again and snatched it away!
Episode 35
Lol, Crazy Yan really wanted to make Qiushui his disciple, so he kidnapped him and took him to the meeting between the leaders of Shaolin and Wudang. Crazy Yan said if Qiushui wanted to unify the martial arts world of the Great Xi, he must eliminate the gap between Shaolin and Wudang.
Long story short, with Crazy Yan and Qiushui’s persuasion and fight, both leaders of Shaolin and Wudang agreed to integrate both schools of martial arts, and by combining rigidity and softness, they could stand invincible forever. Seeing that Qiushui was young but had a chivalrous heart, they were willing to support him as the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance.
After knowing that the Shaolin and Wudang martial arts skills in Qiushui ‘s body collided with each other, Crazy Yan transmitted his internal power into Qiushui to neutralize it. However, due to excessive consumption, Crazy Yan soon vomited blood. Qiushui took Crazy Yan to his adoptive sister’s clinic for treatment.
Episode 36
Both the good guys and the bad guys worked hard in this episode. Qiushui arranged for Deng Yuhan and others to follow and protect General Wu Zhe on his way back to the Capital. Liu Sufeng and his assistant Red Phoenix destroyed many of the Eagle Flute Sect’s strongholds. Red Phoenix intercepted the correspondence between the Eagle Flute Sect and Northern Wilderness. Li Shenzhou learned that the Northern Wilderness was preparing to gather hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers to bypass the Xianren Pass and go south, lurking in the Great Xi.
Kaiyan used the Tang siblings to kill the old Lady Tang and Tang Yaoshun, Tang Fang’s father. Tang Fan couldn’t fight them because her energy was severely depleted after healing her father. Tang Clan was now under Kaiyan’s control.
Li Shenzhou’s health deteriorated because of the poison his brother kept feeding him. No matter how much medicine he took, his health was worrying. He met with Qiushui and intended to hand over the Power Gang token to Qiushui to rebuild the new martial arts world. Qiushui refused the token, stating that once everything was over, the world didn’t need a martial arts leader anymore. Only then did Qiushui learn that Li Chenzhou had to drink poisonous wine every time he met the Emperor, and now he was seriously ill. Liu Suifeng had already guessed that his boss was dying from the poison.
Crazy Yan, who moved into Xiao Xueyu’s clinic to heal his old wounds, was wanted by many martial artists because they thought he had the Voidheart Codex. When they broke into the clinic, Crazy Yan and Xiao Xueyu ran away. Crazy Yan successfully escaped, but a poisonous dart hit Xiao Xueyu, and she could not move. Xueyu blew the whistle she had always carried with her. Crazy Yan heard the sound and felt a sense of familiarity. The golden flying swallow in his hand was activated and led him to find Xueyu. When he carried out Xueyu, Crazy Yan accidentally saw the butterfly birthmark on the back of her neck, and realized she was his younger sister Yuan’er, whom he had been searching for. DUH, everyone had been looking for her, and turned out she was just under Qiushui’s nose!
On the way to the Tang Sect to find a book containing the secret method of continuing the pulse for Li Chenzhou, Liu Suifeng and Red Phoenix rescued Tang Fang, who was controlled by Tang Song and his sister. Qiushui, under the guidance of Herbal King, took the hypnotic needle that controlled Tang Fang. Only then was she conscious and remembered that Tang Song killed her father and the old Lady Tang. Meanwhile, Suifeng brought the secret book to Li Chenzhou. That was the Tang Sect’s medical secrets to detoxifying poisons. The Herbal King also acknowledged that it was only the Tang Clan who knew how to detoxify poisons, but Li Chenzhou refused it and didn’t even touch the Herbal King’s strengthening pill. However, Suifeng secretly asked Red Phoenix to purchase the medicinal ingredients.
Episode 37
The Tang Sect’s secret medicine book stated that in order to save Li Chenzhou, there was a need for a living medicine vessel. Liu Suifeng secretly wanted to be this living medicine vessel to save his boss. He began to take medicine constantly according to the records in the Tang Sect secret book, and intentionally turned himself into a medicine man. Although he knew that after becoming a medicine man, he would be neither human nor ghost, and his life would be worse than death. After the drug took effect, Liu Suifeng suffered all kinds of torture.
I can’t believe this, Crazy Yan, who was supposedly the top martial artist at this time, could be tricked by Kaiyan, who was disguised as General Wu Zhe! Because the real General Wu Zhe was in danger when he entered the Palace, Crazy Yan begged him not to enter the Capital using the Hero Command Token that represented the entire jianghu. At this time, Kaiyan, disguised as General Wu Zhe, took the Token. He immediately tore off the Thousand-Faces Mask. Crazy Yan then realized that he had fallen into Kaiyan’s trap. The latter absorbed Crazy Yan’s partial internal energy and wanted to kill him. Xiao Xueyu ran over and stood in front of him. Kaiyan said that he wouldn’t kill her brother at this time, but she had to marry him! He had had a crush on his adoptive sister for some time.
The real General Wu Zhe was ambushed on the way to the Capital, so he asked his subordinate to take the tiger talisman away in advance and hand it over to Qiushui.
Suifeng went to the Power Gang HQ to drug his boss so he could cure him. However, his boss already knew what he would do, so he drugged Suifeng first. Li Chenzhou told Suifeng to find his own life from now on and no longer be trapped in the Power Gang and past grievances. Suifeng fainted before he could answer. Zhao Shirong saw her husband off to the outskirts of the capital. A carriage from the palace came to meet him. Li Chenzhou told his wife not to worry, and then calmly got into the carriage. Why I had a bad feeling that Li Chenzhou would sacrifice his life and would disband the Power Gang? Especially after meeting Qiushui, who said that after everything was over, there was no more need for a leader in the martial arts world.
Episode 38
Poor Xiao Xueyu! She poisoned Kaiyan, and upon finding out, he killed her! Qiushui received the wedding invitation and rushed to the wedding place. He found out that she was dead. Crying, he held his adoptive sister’s hand and found that she was holding the Hero Command Token tightly. He took Xiao Xueyu’s body home. Kaiyan, who ran away, found Crazy Yan and wanted to absorb the rest of Crazy Yan’s internal power. The latter committed suicide to prevent Kaiyan from taking over his body.
After Qiushui brought Xueyu’s body back home, he discovered that she had written the Voidheart Dodex on her sleeves. Crazy Yan had taught his sister while they were imprisoned, and she had desperately memorized it. After burying his adoptive sister, Qiushui vowed to take revenge.
Returning home, he played the long zither, which caused the leaves to fall. Qiushui thought of the past: the happy times of his family, the loyalty and enthusiasm of his friends, and the Jianghu friends who gave their lives for chivalry. He had more insights into life now, and the playing became faster and faster. Qiushui found that upon learning the Voidheart Codex, he could integrate the essence of heaven and earth to use. It was necessary to feel the mystery of the heaven and earth to completely master the Voidheart Codex.
When Li Chenzhou entered the palace and expressed his concerns about the Great Xi. The emperor was furious because he thought that Li Chenzhou was interfering, and General Wu Zhe had not returned to the palace, so he must have colluded with the Northern Wilderness to rebel. Li Chenzhou said that the General had been framed, and the people of the Northern Wilderness had already occupied Xianren Pass. Sooner or later, they would enter the Great Xi Kingdom. After saying that, he drank the poison wine and left with a note. Outside, Zhao Shirong was waiting early as usual. Li Chenzhou smiled gently at his wife, but then he vomited blood. Zhao Shirong ran forward, only to catch her husband, who suddenly fell into her arms.
Episode 39
Li Chenzhou was dead! His wife asked Suifeng to notify the elders of the gang to hold a river burial three days later. Suifeng wanted to avenge Li Chenzhou, but Zhao Shirong asked him to preside over the funeral, since she would go to seclusion in the distant mountains. She warned Suifeng that people would definitely make trouble on the day of the funeral. Li Chenzhou wrote a will before entering the palace, and told Suifeng to bury the military talisman with him.
Kaiyan was informed that Li Chenzhou would be buried with the military talisman. He decided to find out whether Li Chenzhou was really dead, and to seize the military talisman.
Sure enough, on the day of Li Chenzhou’s funeral, there was an attack from outsiders and insiders, who rebelled. The two sides immediately launched a fierce battle. Tang Fang, who attended the funeral to see off Li Chenzhou, was able to avenge her father by killing Tang Song and Tang Qing. Tang Fang killed Tang Song and Tang Qing and avenged his father. Liu Suifeng personally dealt with the rebellious elders. Just as the Power Gang won and returned to the funeral hall, Kaiyan suddenly arrived and used his powerful internal strength to seriously injure everyone present.
Kaiyan suspected that Li Chenzhou was feigning death and walked into the coffin to find out. When he opened the coffin and prepared to take the military talisman, Li Chenzhou suddenly jumped out and struck Kaiyan with a heavy palm. Kaiyan used the moves of the Voidheart Codex, and Suifeng stepped forward to block it, as he knew his boss was still weak. He was on the verge of death on the spot. Kaiyan took the military talisman and left. Luckily, Suifeng didn’t die.
Ah, apparently this tiger tally was a trap. Tang Fang discovered that Kaiyan had already gathered the Northern Wilderness army. So, Zhao Shirong arranged for Tang Fang to sprinkle poison on the tiger tally. Meanwhile, Qiushui broke into the Water Gang HQ to save General Wu Zhe, and Prince Liang led the army to Xianren Pass to support the Shenzhou Brotherhood who would fight the Northern Wilderness army.
Kaiyan knew that Qiushui wanted to save General Wu Zhe, so he arranged for the General to be moved out of the Water Gang HQ. On the way to the escort, Li Chenzhou and Zhao Shirong suddenly intercepted the prison cart. However, they fell into Kaiyan’s trap. There were powerful martial arts masters attacking them. Zhao Shirong was hit by a sword and was on the verge of death. Li Chenzhou quickly killed the masters. When he was holding Zhao Shirong and preparing to rescue General Wu Zhe, he was hit by a palm by the person who impersonated the General. Li Chenzhou’s weak body was quickly defeated. Before he died, he still held Zhao Shirong in his arms. When Liu Suifeng led people to arrive, the two had already lost their breath.
I cried a lot at their deaths. I was also angry. How could the screenwriter write a stupid death for them? Zhao Shirong was supposedly powerful and healthy, but she was stabbed by a sword? And Li Chenzhou was killed by a nobody?
Episode 40
The real General Wu Zhe was still imprisoned in Water Gang HQ. Eventually, Qiushui broke into the place alone to save the General and face Kaiyan. The latter didn’t take his little bro seriously at all, because he had the Voidheart Codex. Guess what, Qiushui already learned the true Voidheart Codex! The two could not avoid a fight. Qiushui’s moves were smooth and flowing. In the end, he used a horizontal zither as a sharp blade and seriously injured Kaiyan.
Qiushui told Kaiyan that the highest level of the Voidheart Codex, aka Forget Love Book, was to have [compassionate] love. What an irony. When Kaiyan secretly learned about it, he didn’t understand it because his heart was full of selfishness and hatred towards his family. When he was dying, he was still delusional, seeing his family praising him as the best.
“When there is no self in one’s heart, only then can you understand heaven and earth. By showing compassion to others, only then can you connect to all living beings.” (Xiao Qiushui)
After releasing General Wu Zhe, the two of them rushed to the Xiaren Pass. They killed the Northern Wilderness king. Qiushiu and General Wu Zhe immediately boosted the morale of the troops and repelled the Northern Wilderness in one fell swoop.
The Emperor had just received a secret letter and learned that he had been deceived by Xiao Kaiyan. He hurriedly ordered his brother to rescue General Wu Zhe. Then, a victory report came from the palace. The General had led his troops to severely attack the Northern Wilderness Army. The Emperor ordered to reward him and Li Chenzhou heavily, but was told that Li Chenzhou had already sacrificed himself on the way to rescue the General. The Emperor was in tears.
Darn it… this was a Chinese drama after all! No justice for the Emperor, he was alive and well, since Chinese dramas couldn’t distort their ‘history’ by killing an emperor of a certain dynasty. Meanwhile, the Emperor slowly killed his own loyal brother because of his paranoia!
In the evening, everyone lit a bonfire outside the military camp to celebrate the hard-won victory. They also paid tribute to the soldiers who died in the battle to defend the Great Xi. Everyone’s face was filled with a happy smile.
Xiao Qiushui sat quietly to enjoy the moment, then the wine cup slipped from his hand, and he died. It turned out that Qiushui knew well that using the Voidheart Codex at the highest level had its consequences. It used all of his body’s internal strength to unleash the immense power, but it damaged his meridian and depleted his life. He paid with his life!
In the modern world, Xiao Mingming was still in a coma in the hospital room. His university friends, Deng Zhe (who was Deng Yuhan in the wuxia world) and Li Chaofan (who was Zuoqiu Chaoran), were visiting him. Deng Zhe said that Li Nan’s spy work was investigated, and he was arrested. However, before he was sentenced, he died two days ago. Suddenly, Mingming’s vital signs were getting worse. Hospital staff were rushing. The scene panned to the group photo of him and his university friends. Then an outburst of colorful and brilliant fireworks. Finally, we saw Mingming or Xiao Qiushui (?), wearing all whites and carrying his zither and sword, walking towards the brilliant afterglow of the setting sun. THE END.
Conclusion
After all the tears I shed during the last few episodes, now all the emotion had subsided, and it was time to analyze the ending. There were different opinions about the ending.
Most opinions inclined towards a sad ending, in which not only Xiao Qiushui and Li Chenzhou, but Xiao Mingming were also dead. There are many signs: Xiao Mingming’s vital signs were dropping, Li Nan died in the real world as Kaiyan died in the wuxia world, and the last scene where Xiao Mingming/Xiao Qiushui was walking towards light (which usually symbolizes going to heaven/afterlife).
Some said it was an open ending. Xiao Mingming was still comatose and went to his next story, the real Xiao Qiushui’s story that was not interfered with by Li Nan’s transmigration. In Episode 19, when Qiushui retracted the Changge Sword, he thus became the sect chief. The Magic Codex Interactive Writing System gave him an option to quit and return to the real world (waking up from a coma) or continue as another character. He chose neither and continued as Xiao Qiushui because he wanted to save his family and his friends who were still in danger. Before he destroyed the Codex, it warned him that he would never leave the system. Since Xiao Qiushui died, Xiao Mingming still had to stay in the system, and most likely relive Xiao Qiushui.
There was also an alternative ending, which was a happy ending, based on cut scenes found in a Reddit post titled: Does anyone else feel distraught after finishing Journey of Legend. One of the deleted scenes showed Xiao Mingming being spotted playing guqin in the library. In an interview, the leading actor Cheng Yi also mentioned two different endings.
No matter whether Xiao Mingming died in real life or stayed in a coma and wandered to another story, the essence of wuxia is to emphasize complex themes like the true cost of justice, the nature of sacrifice, and the conflict between the individual (selfishness) and society (selflessness). Li Chenzhou sacrificed for the Great Xi Kingdom, Xiao Qiushui sacrificed for his family, sect, and his country, and Xiao Mingming sacrificed by staying in the system and learned about justice, loyalty, bravery, and a strong sense of duty.
Cheng Yi’s acting definitely created a lasting emotional impact on the audience!
