Previously…
In Veil of Shadows: Drama Recap Episodes 14 to 16, thankfully, our leading characters were finally able to get out of those illusions!
The image featured the Dragon Deities: Will the real dragon stand up?
Recap Episodes 17 to 21
Episode 17
The second Dragon Deity’s power didn’t go to Chi Wen but to Shiguang. In his spiritual consciousness, Shiguang saw his nine brothers. The real Chi Wen was not the current Chi Wen!
Each dragon son swallowed each of Jiu Ying’s nine heads. Chi Wen was tasked to seal each brother with the heads, but who would seal him? He suggested that he would find a suitable vessel in the Shilin Sect, so he could transfer his consciousness into the vessel and seal his dragon form. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find one. The brothers took off one reverse scale each and formed the 10th dragon son.
Chi Wen showed up with the bound Yuan Wuhuo, and asked Bai Ze to take Yuan Wuhuo and Shiguang back to the Sect. He took Wuyi to destroy the petrified statues as per Wu Zhiqi’s last request. Wuyi washed his dirty hands and was tempted to steal his ring. She dropped that idea. Chi Wen was quietly relieved, because he had tested her. She even still kept his handkerchief, which he had used to dry her hands last time!
Shiguang wanted to know what Wangyan’s role was in the massacre back then, so he used the Moon Summoning Pearl to call her. Wangyan told him that every full moon, all sect members were summoned back and dipped in the Primordial Sacred Spring. Their thoughts were revealed, and they went through rebirths that rejuvenated their bodies and restored their memories and emotions.
One day, the Oracle Stone delivered a prophecy and ordered them to wipe out the entire Flood Dragon Tribe. They thought the massacre was wrong. However, when the next time they were rebirth in the Spring, a part of the memory had been erased. The Fox Queen didn’t say anything, so Wangyan investigated herself. She went back to the place and saw the massacre and her own traces. After the illusion, she realized that her Sect was controlled by Jiu Ying. Chi Wen gave her a necklace to hide her memories and emotions, just in case Jiu Ying erased them. Shiguang was heartbroken when she said that those memories she put away included him. He was more shocked when Wangyan was a double agent for Chi Wen. She had to stay close to Shiguang to get the prayer beads.
Wangyan acknowledged that she fell for Shiguang while they were in the illusion. She offered for them to rekindle their relationship by giving the Pearl and the Necklace. Shiguang harshly refused, stating that those memories belonged to his parents, not them. In tears, Wangyan left.
Wuyi and Chi Wen were still by the river. It was almost full moon, and she would be forced to go back to her Sect. She worried that his plan with Wangyan would be exposed. She didn’t want to betray the Sect, but she understood why Wangyan wanted to break free. Chi Wen mentioned the day when Wuyi met Ji Ling, after her mission killing a child. Before she probed further, she was summoned back to her sect.
Wangyan was summoned, too, but she refused and wanted to cut her tail off. Luckily, Shiguang showed up. He acknowledged his feelings for her and pleaded with her to fight Jiu Ying together. He promised he would find her and Wangyan disappeared in his embrace.
Episode 18
After Wangyan vanished, Shiguang tried to find her using the Pearl but failed. He went to ask Chi Wen’s help, but the Formless Moon Palace was impossible to break into. Bai Ze, Jin Zheng, and Hua Qi entered with their detector to locate Jiu Ying’s fragment, and it pinpointed Shiguang! To suppress Jiu Ying’s influence, Chi Wen urged Shiguang to wear Bai Ze’s Eastern Purple Lightning bracelet.
Out of three Jiu Ying’s fragments, one was in Shiguang, and the other two were in the Formless Moon Sect. Shiguang wanted to go to that place to rescue Wangyan, and invited them to join him and get the other two fragments. However, his Dragon Deity’s Power inside him was not strong yet. He had to gather the other Power.
Wangyan was interrogated by the Fox Queen, and she addressed her as Jiu Ying. Jiu Ying coldly revealed that she transferred one fragment into Shiguang through Wangyan during the illusion. The Queen would keep Wangyan alive as she was Shiguang’s weakness.
Wuyi finally found Wangyan in the prison. Wangyan apologized to Wuyi that she had kept secrets from Wuyi. She didn’t want Wuyi to follow her because the path she took was dangerous, and the enemy was frightening. Then Wangyan revealed that the Queen was Jiu Ying. The real Queen, after she died, was not reborn. Jiu Ying pretended she was the Fox Queen, and executed killing missions with the disguise as “maintaining balance.” Wuyi tried to release Wangyan but failed.
Chi Wen and Bai Ze went with Shiguang. Of course, the foxes (minus Wuyi and Wangyan) didn’t let them in. Chi Wen used Xiao Wei’s power to block the foxes. Shiguang and Bai Ze went to the prison but couldn’t break into it. Shiguan’s only two Dragon Deities’ Power was not enough. Bai Ze decided to return his Dragon Deity’s Power to Shiguang. The real Chi Wen had given it to him before, so it was just right to return it.
After Shiguang got the third Dragon Deity’s Power, his spiritual conscience revealed that the current Chi Wen was actually Ji Ling, a fox demon. Chi Wen was currently sealed in the Dragon Abyss. He granted Ji Ling his identity and power to act as a decoy until Shiguang was ready. However, Chi Wen warned Ji Ling that Jiu Ying might try to use Shiguang to kill Chi Wen. Now we knew that Ji Ling never had his own power. He had to borrow powers from others and store them in the Ring.
Ji Ling became greedy and didn’t want to give up his fame and prestige. So, he worked together with the enemy, Jiu Ying. Jiu Ying put her fragment in the little Shiguang during the massacre of his clan. However, he couldn’t transform into a dragon (perhaps Xie Lingxi’s protection?). So Jiu Ying sent her subordinates, the twin butterfly demons, to devour the mortal Yuan Wuhuo, who was dying of the Wasting Sickness in a remote cave. He was the former Demon Hunter Commander of Shilin Sect. After being in a pupa stage for decades, Li Jie first came as a human. He had amnesia and finally collapsed in front of the Shilin Sect Temple. He only knew he had a brother he had to find. Yuan Wuhuo came second, as a butterfly demon. Could I say Li Jie was the “waste product” of the combination between the butterfly demons and the mortal Yuan Wuhuo?
While Shiguang and Bai Ze were rescuing Wangyan, Ji Ling and Jiu Ying had a meeting. Ji Ling proposed that Jiu Ying let Shiguang release his lover. When their love became deeper, they would kill Wangyan. Shiguang would be heartbroken. Jiu Ying would control Shiguang. As the tenth son of the Dragon Deity, Jiu Ying would meet the real Chi Wen and kill him to release his true form. The only thing Ji Ling wanted from this cooperation was to retain his identity as “Chi Wen”.
Episode 19
With the three Dragon Deity’s Power (and Jiu Ying’s “permission”, of course), Shiguang rescued Wangyan. Behind the scenes, Jiu Ying told Ji Ling that everyone could go but Wuyi, because she was Jiu Ying’s favorite. Ji Ling could see through Jiu Ying’s scheme. While in the illusion, he saw a drawing relic of Di Zhu, and she looked like Wuyi. Ji Ling concluded Jiu Ying created Wuyi from Di Zhu’s image to retain emotions and memories of the entire Formless Moon Sect. Therefore, if Jiu Ying still wanted Wuyi to spy on him, let her go with him to the Shilin Sect.
Back to Li Jie and Yuan Wuhuo. Yuan Wuhuo was dying from the Heavenly Stick and tried to take over Li Jie’s body. They fought, and Li Jie won. Yuan Wuhuo dissipated. However, Ji Ling was still wary if Li Jie was Yuan Wuhuo. He took Li Jie to retrieve the Mountain Demon Blade. Only the owner could pull it out, and Li Jie did.
The next mission was to locate Han Ba, the fourth great demon to get the Dragon Deity’s Power. Great demons: Xiao Wei, Wu Zhiqi, Bai Ze, and Han Ba. Wangyan remembered the past mission which connected to Han Ba, but her memory was seemed erased by Jiu Ying.
Ji Ling told Shiguang his true identity was that of a fox demon, and he had to guard the Shilin Temple until Shiguang showed up. He longed to be free. Wuyi overheard the convo, and Shiguang left the two alone for a time to confess. Since I found out Ji Ling had worked together with Jiu Ying, I didn’t trust whatever he said. Ji Ling told Wuyi that he created Ji Ling puppets to reminisce about his carefree past and youth. The two then exchange love tokens.
However, while with Bai Ze, Ji Ling revealed that the three Jiu Ying’s fragments resided inside Shiguang, the Oracle Stone in the Formless Moon Palace, and Wuyi. So, Wuyi must die!
Episode 20
Shiguang, Wangyan, Ji Ling, Wuyi, Li Jie, and Youchi went to Luo’an to search for Han Ba. He was now hiding and disguised himself as an inn owner, Yan Bi. He seemed to know Wangyan. However, when Han Ba saw Ji Ling, he disappeared into the inn. On the other hand, Li Jie and Youchi were followed by a woman named Mulong. She once went to the Shilin Temple praying for her sick great-grandma, Suyan. Li Jie went out to give her the message from Ji Ling.
Han Ba admitted that if he returned the Dragon Deity’s Power now, his injuries would be uncontrollable and cause severe drought in the world. He asked them to help his inn assistant, who was Mulong. She was a stutterer but loved writing stories. He begged the group to help her finish the ending in one day.
They spent the night at the inn. At night, everyone had nightmares. When they woke up, they heard a woman scream. A person in black attacked Mulong with a spell known only by the Formless Moon Sect, and she became mute. Shiguang, Wangyan, Li Jie, and Youchi came to help. Shiguang and Li Jie even fought the person, but Shiguang’s Dragon Deity Power didn’t work on that person, and he seemed to know Li Jie’s move. The four suspected Wuyi who didn’t come out, so Li Jie and Wangyan checked them out. It turned out they slept together. Once the two left, Ji Ling covered for Wuyi, who dressed in black. Outside, the other four and Han Ba discovered Mulong’s draft was missing. Nobody knew what she wrote about.
Wangyan managed to trigger Mulong’s response, and she brought out a painting. A woman, who looked like Mulong, was crying on a swing, and another woman, who looked like Wangyan, comforted her. There was a man in the background who looked like Han Ba. The painter was Cui Jun. Shiguang used his Dragon Deity’s Power; he and Wangyan were instantly transported into the painting!
Episode 21
Shiguang and Wangyan entered a workshop with a woman who looked like Mulong. Her name was Suyan, she was Mulong’s great-grandma. Suyan was betrothed to Cui Jun, the painter, but she only regarded him as a brother.
The demon Hanba lived in a tree at Suyan’s workshop. He showed up, and they fell in love with each other. However, Suyan didn’t talk. Not that he was mute, but if he talked, he would cause drought in the land.
Then Shiguang and Wangyan saw the past Wangyan on a mission. She cast her spell on Suyan’s family, so everyone regarded Wangyan as Suyan’s sister. The current Wangyan finally regained her memory, but she remembered she had talked to Wuyi. “Wangyan” then made Suyan sleep and tricked Han Ba into pouring his love for Suyan in words. Soon, drought came. Suyan’s mother was killed because she fought with her neighbors over water. The drought brought conflict and unrest. Jiu Ying fed on those.
The Shilin Sect demon hunters, Si Feng and her brother, came to capture Hanba. He agreed but asked “Wangyan” to erase Suyan’s memory of him. When Suyan woke up, she avenged the death of her mother. She was injured, but Han Ba used his power to save her. Her then-husband, Cui Jun, knew what had happened and then painted the event.
Shiguang and Wangyan realized that Wuyi had altered Wangyan’s memory. The words Wangyan remembered spoken to Wuyi were actually what Wangyan said to Suyan. Therefore, the man-in-black who stole Mulong’s draft was none other than Wuyi!
The draft was now with Ji Ling, who knew that Wuyi was the man in black and had stolen the draft. Ji Ling couldn’t use Xiao Wei’s power to make Wuyi confess, so he could only threaten her to tell Wangyan. Wuyi didn’t want Wangyan to find out the secret. Secretly, she had trained her power, so now she was even stronger than Shiguang, Li Jie, and Ji Ling. She confessed she was neither a fox nor a demon.
When the Formless Moon Sect massacred the Flood Dragon Sect, Xie Ling Xi annihilated them. They were reborn, but before that, Jiu Ying took their body fragments and pieced them together to create Wuyi. From Wangyan, Jiu Ying took her heart. Wuyi also confessed that Jiu Ying put a fragment into her. The other members’ memories were altered, so they thought Wuyi was always with them.
Wuyi also confessed to Ji Ling that she had the power to reverse time. She went through countless loops to look for the draft, attack Mulong, and fight with the others. However, this power would eventually kill her. Ji Ling promised he would stay by her side no matter what would happen.
TL;DR
- The true Chi Wen sealed Jiu Ying’s true form in the Dragon Abyss and tasked Ji Ling to be the decoy, until Shiguang became the Dragon Deity.
- Wangyan decided to rebel from her Sect. Shiguang got the third Dragon Deity’s Power from Bai Ze and could rescue Wangyan. However…
- Jiu Ying let that happen because she conspired with Ji Ling, who was greedy and wanted to keep his “Chi Wen” position.
- The group went to look for Han Ba, who had the Fourth Dragon Deity’s Power.
- Wuyi’s dark secret revealed.
What would happen with the sisters after all these dirty secrets? Let’s continue to the next part!
