Previously…
After all that happened towards the end of Part 5, Generation to Generation: Drama Recap Episodes 24 to 28, do you think Mu Qingyan could redeem himself in this part?
He should, because this is the final part of this recap articles series!
Recap Episodes 29 to 37
Episode 29
Cai Zhao met Uncle Xue and got a sad story about Mu Zhengyang, Qing Yan’s uncle, who was close to. Qing Yan said he didn’t feel sorry for his uncle, since his father was dragged into his uncle’s bloody action. At night, he showed her the garden he had secretly built after she left the Li Sect for the first time. In turn, she gave him paintings of her home valley. Cai Zhao confessed her love to Mu Qingyan, despite the fact that he had deceived her; she would still choose to save him. However, a path paved with corpses is not the way home, but it would leave him with nothing. She didn’t want to be locked away, nor did she want him to be locked away. She hoped that he would be happy and trust the people around him. But she had to go home. Then she kissed him goodbye.
The next day, Cai Zhao returned to the Qingque Sect. She surrendered her aunt’s Sunshine Blade and her grandfather’s wristband and declared she was unworthy of the family legacy. As per protocol, she received seven lashes from the Bone-Piercing Python Whip, followed by a year of isolation at the Thousandfold Cliff. While receiving punishment, Cai Zhao filled her memories with her aunt and Qingyan, who gave her the endurance to bear the pain. She thought with accepting this fate, she could get redemption. After almost dying from the lashes, her master secretly gave her medication. Meanwhile, at the Li Sect, after receiving a report from Steward Chen about Cai Zhao’s situation, Qingyan tearfully ordered everyone not to mention her name again.
Episode 30
While in her confinement, only Yuzhi was allowed to bring her meals and essentials. Cai Zhao filled her lonely days by writing stories. Yuzhi proposed to Cai Zhou again but was rejected (again), citing that she wouldn’t forget her first love. One year went by, it was time for Cai Zhou to leave her confinement… and meet Qingyan again. At this time, because Yuzhi’s father, Song Shijun, suddenly transformed into a corpse slave!
Episode 31
To look for the antidote for Song Shijun, Cai Zhao, Fan Xingjia, and Yuzhi ventured to Blood Swamp Forest. They were chased by Yang Xiaolan’s father, as ordered by the man in black. Remember Yang Xiaolan? She was their junior sister who was forced to marry by her father. Yuzhi was poisoned by the chasers. The disciples also got stuck in the maze and fog. That was the time when they were rescued by Qingyan, who was with You Guanyue and Shangguan Haonan.
The plant that neutralized Yuzhi’s toxin was called Night Orchid, which could only be found deep in the forest. Qingyan guided Cai Zhao to look for the plant, and they met an old woman, who thought they were Mu Zhengyang and Cai Pingshu! This Night Orchid was also the ingredient for the Ziwei Technique. Knowing that Qingyan also wanted it, Cai Zhao tried to fight him with her blade. But she couldn’t kill him. After Qingyan left, the old woman knocked the sense of Cai Zhao that Qingyan actually cared about her, willing to risk his life to go through the dangerous fog and maze.
Episode 32
The next day Cai Zhou asked Qingyan earnestly to stop practicing Ziwei Method, as he would only live for three years. It was clear that she worried about him. She offered that if he stopped, they could start over again. Although Qingyan practiced it to fight the man in black, who killed his father and Uncle Chang, Cai Zhou said he didn’t need Ziwei Method to find the culprit.
Episode 33
Well, Qingyan didn’t want to wait too long after they reconciled. The next time, he went with a grand procession to Luoying Valley to officially propose to Cai Zhao. With such a theatrical display, Cai Zhao, who knew Qingyan better, asked him aside about his real intention. Qingyan explained that the Chang Sect was massacred because the man in black looked for the Purple Jade Sunflower. Now, Qingyan spread a rumor that the Purple Jade Sunflower was amongst his father’s relics. By offering it as a betrothal gift, he intends to lure the man in black out of hiding. I particularly liked Qingyan’s luxurious costume below.
Well, Qingyan seemed to have already studied Cai Zhao’s family, since the gifts were meticulously selected to win them over. He instantly won their favor. Qingyan stayed at her place as a guest, and Cai Zhao gave him a tour of her home and around Luoying Valley. While seeing Qingyan playing marbles with Cao Han, who had already called him brother-in-law, she suddenly recalled an object she used to play with when she was small. That was the Purple Jade Sunflower!
After looking around the place where her aunt used to live, Cai Zhao couldn’t find it. Qingyan suggested that the aunt might put it somewhere else for safekeeping. Cai Zhao remembered her aunt’s best friend, who was now a nun. She, Qingyan, Yuzhi, and Fan Xingjia went to the nunnery. Sure enough, the Sunflower was there!
They used the Sunflower to heal Yuzhi. After that, they were ready to destroy the object. Suddenly, the nunnery was attacked by the man in black and his men. During the fight, the object was taken, and Cai Zhao was injured. Qingyan took her back and used his inner strength to heal her, despite his own fragile state. After she woke up, both felt that the man in black was strangely familiar!
Episode 34
At first, Cai Zhao didn’t want to admit it, but eventually she agreed with Qingyan that the man in black was none other than Master Qi! Master Qi asked Fan Xingjia to bring back some Night Orchid for him, despite it needed to be burned down. She went to find her master, and just when she left, Qingyan coughed up blood and fainted.
The past about Mu Zhengyang and Cai Pingshu was also revealed, through Mu Zhengyang’s letter buried under his graveyard. When Mu Zhengyang was rescued by his twin brother from Nie Hengcheng, he hid in the library, where he found the info on Ziwei Method. The Method was very powerful BUT needed blood from a direct relative, or the practitioner would die in three years. Knowing that Nie Hengcheng didn’t have a child, Mu Zhengyang wanted to trap Nie Hengcheng to practice the Method and die. He and Cai Pingshu went to look for the Purple Jade Sunflower, the Snow Scale Beast’s saliva, and the Night Orchid. He was the one wearing a mask when Cai Pingshu went to the mountains to look for the saliva. While the group fighting Nie Hengcheng, Mu Zhengyang proposed to Cai Pingshu. Things went wrong (as it was said that the Skin-Painted Demon caused the loss). Angry, Cai Pingshu confronted Mu Zhengyang, who felt guilty and let her kill him. Aggrieved, she didn’t want to wait for three years and went to fight Nie Hengcheng alone with the Disintegration Technique. Cai Pingshu spent the rest of her miserable life from the Disintegration’s effect, as well as a grieving heart of her lover’s death.
Li Yun Rui with fake mustache and goatee
Episode 35
As we knew, the Ziwei Method needed blood from a direct relative. In Master Qi’s case, it meant Lingbo. Lingbo finally realized why her father never wanted her to leave. Her mother sent her away through a hidden passage. Master Qi killed Yin Sulian because she didn’t want to reveal their daughter’s whereabouts. Lingbo and Cai Zhao witnessed the horrific event from their hiding place. They were discovered, but Lingbo threatened her father with her life to let Cai Zhao go. Lingbo was captured and ready to be sacrificed.
While Qingyan, Cai Zhao, and Yuzhi confronted Master Qi, You Guanyue and Shangguan Haonan tried to talk to the Six Beichen Sect to fight Master Qi together, who became very powerful and unstoppable because of the Ziwei Method. Cai Zhao’s parents managed to reason with their fellow elders to unite with the Li Sect for the sake of a common enemy.
Episode 36
We found out that Uncle Chang had been suspicious about Master Qi. After saving Qingyan, Uncle Chang taught Qingyan martial arts and everything about his family, including his late son Chang Ning. Knowing that the dangerous place is often the safest, Uncle Chang had Qingyan seek refuge with Master Qi as Chang Ning, since Uncle Chang was certain that Master Qi could not easily kill a sect heir.
Master Qi, Qi Yunke, had been secretly in love with Cai Pingshu. However, he was betrothed to Yin Sulian, and she was betrothed to Zhou Zhizhen. After Cai Pingshu’s engagement broke, she fell in love with Mu Zhengyang. Master Qi was enraged because nobody cared for Cai Pingshu and started killing his fellow brothers, as the man in black. He also coveted Ziwei Method. Cai Zhao forgave him because he spent thirteen years accompanying her aunt before she died.
Finally, Cai Zhao managed to kill Master Qi, but not without the expense of Qingyan’s life. He fell into a coma after the fight. Qingyan practiced the Disintegration Technique to fight the Ziwei Technique. Master Qi’s lackey, Uncle Li, committed suicide. He felt guilty since Yin Su Lian was always good to him. Yang Xiao Lan fought her own father, and Fan Xingjia helped her kill the father. Yuzhi killed her own brother after their father denounced Song Xiuzhi as the Song Clan heir.
Episode 37
With Master Qi’s death, things gradually went back to normal. Qingyan woke up from his coma. However, his time was short, and he handed the Li Sect leadership to his two trusted aides, You Guanyue and Shangguan Haonan, and they should work together with Yuzhi, who was now the leader of the Six Beichen Sects. He asked Cai Zhou to be buried under the peach blossom trees in Luoying Valley, just like Cai Pingshu, so he could see her often. In his final moment, Cai Zhao carried his body on her back and left with the Ping bird to see the valleys. Uncle Lei then pronounced Qingyan’s death.
Everyone mourned the passing of Qingyan. The next time, when Cai Zhao was watering the garden at the Li Sect, she was shocked to see him. He had used Disintegration to force his inner power to surge and gave it all to Cai Zhao to fight Master Qi, while the poisons remained. The Disintegration and the poisons neutralize each other, so he was resurrected. But Qingyan no longer wanted to be the leader of Li Sect; he wanted to live a peaceful life as his father had wished. He married into the Cai family. Cai Zhao also had no wish to be a martial artist, and she gifted the Sunshine Blade and the manual to her bestie, Yang Xiaolan, to help her secure her position as the sect leader.
First I thought this was only Cai Zhao’s dream
Qingyan and Cai Zhao finally got married with a big feast in Luoying Valley. The wedding guests, we could guess by now, were: Lord and Lady Zhou (Zhou Yuqi and Min Xinrou), Dai Fengchi and Lingbo (I assumed they were together but hadn’t married yet), and the dazzling Song Yuzhi, still single, cos he was too busy with the Qingque Sect. The Li Sect’s leaders, You Guanyue (with Xing’er) and Shangguan Haonan oversaw the gift. Yang Xiaolan helped Cai Zhao with the wedding attire. Fan Xingjia was now Cai Zhao’s business manager.
One mysterious man showed up with a rare gift but left right away, and gave his name, which nobody knew: Wan Dazhuang. Cai Zhao, who was watching him from the balcony, suddenly remembered that it was the name she had given to her fake fiancé at the mountain inn. He was Qian Xueshen or Tao Xiaoshu! He used the Body Shift Technique, so nobody recognized him. Awww, I wish I could see the actor who played the character once again…
Fan Xingjia reported to Cai Zhao that there was a big business deal ahead. Yuzhi gave all the business in the Song Sect to her, because he was too busy with the Qingque Sect. Cai Zhao forgot about the auspicious time and wanted to close the deal with Yuzhi, but the always-possessive Qingyan pulled her back with a long red ribbon, reminding her that the auspicious time was here and she needed to marry him first before business with Yuzhi.
And so, finally, Mu Qingyan and Cai Zhao got married. THE END.
Summary of Final Part (Major spoiler not hidden)
- Cai Zhao confessed her love to Mu Qingyan, but she had to leave him.
- The Purple Jade Sunflower was found, the Chang Ning mystery was explained, the romance between Cai Pingshu and Mu Zhengyang was clarified, and the man in black’s identity was revealed.
- Final showdown with the man in black.
- Qingyan died but was resurrected.
- Cai Zhao and Qingyan got married.
Mini Review
- An important message I took from this drama is the idea of borrowed, stolen, or inherited identities. Many characters struggle against labels imposed on them by bigger (society) or smaller (sect) circle. For example, being branded as a “demon” or a “demoness/witch”.
- In my opinion, it’s not about messy editing/directing/storytelling. This drama has so many backstories and past characters, crammed into (only) 37 episodes.
- For comparison, other adaptations of the author’s works are Story of Minglan (78 episodes) and Love Like the Galaxy (56 episodes). Both have many characters and arcs, too.
- This drama should be split into two parts: the first part for the past generation, and the second part for the present.
- Besides, Li Yun Rui and Wan Peng are scene stealers.
- The Male Lead Mu Qingyan is an interesting character. Being a red flag, he’s surely unforgettable in dramaland. With mostly green flag MLs nowadays, Mu Qingyan is like a red flower in the midst of green pastures. He stands out.
- Zhou Yi Ran, is fantastic as Mu Qingyan. I will never forget Mu Qingyan’s smirks in the dark.
- The Female Lead Cai Zhao, with frequent flashbacks, is almost overshadowed by Cai Pingshu. She is a typical female heroine: sunny and righteous. Although, I commended her for tolerating Mu Qingyan’s schemes. It’s called love, I guess.
- Bao Shang En, she is cute. But she needs to work more on her facial expressions.
- The CGI of the animals (Peng eagle, Snow python, baby dragon) is amazing. The panorama of the wuxia world is breathtaking.
江湖夜雨十年灯
