Introduction
From the first recap, When Destiny Brings the Demon: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 6, we knew that Sima Jiao had promoted Liao Tingyan from his maidservant to his “walking air conditioner”. In this second part, the promotion continues to “personal assistant”, “body pillow” (when she was the otter), and finally, his cultivation partner, aka lover.
In my opinion, When Destiny Brings the Demon ( 献鱼 ) is the most romantic xianxia romance because there are so many sweet moments and kisses. One of those kisses I coined as the featured image for this second part!
Recaps Episodes 7 to 15
Episode 7
He’d only ever killed. The few he saved were for her.
Jiao took her out again. He knew that she didn’t want to witness another killing, so he took her down the mountain to eat and drink. While eating, she heard a familiar voice. It was her master from Serene Vale. He was bullied by some drunkards since their sect was poor and couldn’t afford to pay for the drinks he supposedly spilled. It was their trick. Tingyan wanted to pay for her master’s, but she didn’t have much money. A drunkard struck Tingyan, and the master blocked it. Jiao struck the drunkard. Everyone bowed when Tingyan called “Grandmaster”.
Jiao used the truth spell to find out what the Serene Vale’s master wanted by telling Tingyan to work hard and not be lazy. This master was very honest and upright. He truthfully wished Jiao to be lenient to Tingyan if she didn’t do her job well and spare her life. Jiao was satisfied that this master was not greedy, so Jiao rewarded him with four spiritual veins.
Jiao knew these greedy people had been stealing the White Deer Cliff’s spiritual veins for cultivation. He took the opportunity to remind them. He said that any outsider who took the vein without permission, will be poisoned by the vein.
Jiao’s next target was Tian Wuya. He had been stealing the spiritual veins to cultivate. Next, Jiao cast spells on everyone who practiced the spiritual veins secretly, and they became crazy. Other disciples ran away, and outsiders didn’t want to join. Tian Wuya was the one who nailed the spiritual veins inside young Jiao with eight nails so he wouldn’t break the seal. The pain was unbearable. For this reason, Jiao was resentful and would definitely let the evil Tian Wuya suffer the consequences. Jiao inserted all eight nails pulled out of his body into Tian Wuya’s body, and Tian Wuya fell to the ground with bloody pain and died.
The demon master cast poison on Tingyan again. Her stomach pain was unbearable, so she looked for Jiao and fell into his bath pool. He asked her to bite his finger so she could suck his blood, but she was too weak. Finally, Jiao bit his own arm and did a bloody mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her, haha!
After Tingyan got better, she found that her cultivation level had increased greatly, and she actually had superpowers to fly, haha! Jiao told her that now she was in the SoulShift level. He tested her again with the truth spell. “Do you want to kill me?”, “Want to gain more cultivation?”, and “Then do you want to leave me?” For all three questions, she honestly answered no, although she was shocked by the last answer. He was happy with her answers and even smiled.
Spa time together!
Episode 8
It turns out I’m a player who cannot remain uninvolved.
Tingyan received a mysterious letter for the second time; someone wanted to meet her secretly. This time, the letter said that if she didn’t come, her identity would be exposed. Tingyan had no clue what secret identity she had. Jiao read the letter and told her to meet the guy.
It was the guy who kept giving Tingyan stomach aches, Yuan Shang. She didn’t know who the guy was; she thought he was a begrudging ex-boyfriend, haha! So she treated him so. The convo was hilarious. However, when Yuan Shang told her why she hadn’t killed Sima Jiao yet, she remembered all Jiao’s suspicions about her killing him. She realized that the host she was in was tasked to kill Jiao. So she told Yuan Shang all the positive things about Jiao, and that she would not kill him.
Yuan Shang tried to kill Tingyan, but of course, with Jiao hiding behind the scene, he couldn’t. Instead, Tingyan felt that she was powerful enough to get Yuan Shang’s staff that he used to poison her. When he asked if she fell for Jiao, Tingyan became self-conscious. She scolded Yuan Shang and left.
Jiao showed up in front of Yuan Shang, and using the truth spell, he could retrieve some info from Yuan Shang. When Tingyan came back, Jiao questioned her. Jiao knew her real identity was an assassin sent to kill him. She casually said that he sent her ex-boyfriend flying. Jiao asked what an ex-boyfriend was. She answered: “It’s someone who shouldn’t even exist, and might as well be dead.” Hahaha!
Mr. Shi wanted to kill Yuan Shang and blamed Jiao for the death. Luckily, Jiao knew about the plan and saved Yuan Shang. When Mr. Snake sent Yuan Shang back to his father, Yuan Che, the older master decided to work with Jiao. Mr. Snake told Yuan Shang to get closer to Mr. Shi to get his trust.
The identity of Tingyan being a demon was found out by Mr. Shi. Jiao asked Mr. Snake to investigate how he found out about Tingyan demonic identity. It turned out Ruling’s sister found out about it, and Tingyan was an incarnation of cold fish in the Demon Realm. With the inner elixir of the cold fish, they could break through the barrier. The sister’s convo happened to be heard by Mr. Shi’s disciple, who then told his master about it.
Meanwhile, Yuan Che received Jiao’s instructions and immediately ran to Mr. Shi, pretending that Jiao had killed his son. Mr. Shi suggested Yuan Che kill Tingyan because of her special identity.
Tingyan received an invitation from her master. Jiao didn’t want to go and told Tingyan that she would be killed there.
Episode 9
Unexpectedly triggering the “81 tribulation” cultivation mechanism.
Jiao knew very well that Tingyan walked into the trap set by Mr. Shi. Or to be exact, Jiao tricked Mr. Shi to lure Tingyan into the trap. Before departure, Jiao gave Tingyan a magic weapon. He secretly watched the party. The weapon broke the barrier and made Tingyan very powerful. She made a mess at the party. That was to trick the masters that she was indeed powerful demon and had to be eliminated by him. Tingyan ran away and met Jiao. Jiao then took her to another place… to die!
An annoying princess was not chosen to be Jiao’s servant at the beginning. To attract his attention, she built a flying pavilion near the Gengchen Immortal Mansion, singing and dancing every day. Jiao took Tingyan there and kicked everyone out, including the hostess. He left Tingyan to stay there while he dealt with the eight masters. She was like staying on a cruise ship, hahaha!
Jiao told the eight masters that he had already killed Tingyan with the worst method of death possible. After that, he kicked everyone out. However, Tingyan’s master stayed and begged to bury her body. But Jiao said there was no body… not even a soul. Her life lamp was turned off.
Mr. Shi didn’t believe the others who told him that Tingyan was dead. He wanted to check himself out, so everyone went to Gengchen Immortal Mansion. Earlier, Jiao took Tingyan, who fell asleep after having fun on the cruise ship. When the masters arrived, they found Jiao sitting there with the bloody clothes at his feet. Mr. Shi realized Tingyan’s clothing was the only smell of demon aura, so he believed Jiao. They left.
It turned out, Jiao turned Tingyan into an otter, hahaha! To be exact, another form (the modern) Tingyan remembered the most. He put a Form Changing Pill inside her drink, and Tingyan changed to an otter. It was the last animal she looked up online. Jiao said Mr. Shi wanted to kill her. No worries, she would change back in 3 months. Jiao was very fond of the otter and kept petting her, much to her annoyance, lol. Even Mr. Snake, whose name was He Nian Jiu, aka Er Jiu, as dubbed by Ruling, was jealous of the otter. Tingyan tried to tell him that the otter was her, but Er Jiu couldn’t understand her. Although Er Jiu didn’t believe Jiao killed Tingyan, his stupid brain couldn’t think that the otter might be Tingyan!
Episode 10
It’s always trouble going out in disguise with Grandmaster
Their next adventure was to Chiyan City, to find someone with a flame birthmark on his back. With his blood resonance, Jiao detected that the man was in a brothel. He didn’t let Er Jiu enter, haha! Jiao and Tingyan went in and spotted the man; his name was Yan Huan. Jiao put Yan Huan into his magic bag and turned into Yan Huan when he left.
This Yan Huan was a scumbag; he had many concubines and still went to the brothel. One of his concubines, Zhou Qing’er, followed him. He had a child with her, but he hadn’t named the baby yet. Tingyan felt pity for the woman and asked Jiao to say nice things to her.
Jiao went back to Yan Huan’s mansion and asked Yan Huan about the birthmark. Hearing it, Yan Huan was stressed out; even the truth spell didn’t reveal anything. Tingyan said he seemed to have PTSD, lol. After seeing Yan Huan’s many concubines, Tingyan wanted to meet Qing’er to tell her just give up on this Mr. Low Stamina (lol, what an ironic name!). Jiao changed her back to human form and told her to find out about the birthmark through Qing’er. Qing’er said that Yan Huan was a kind and righteous man. Tingyan returned and sighed that this Qing’er was a hopeless romantic. Jiao asked what that meant. Tingyan said: “It’s an illness in which one only cares about romance and nothing else.” He changed her back into an otter, so he could use her as a body pillow, haha!
One of Yan Huan’s concubines jumped into the well in desperation, missing her child. Qing’er went to look for Yan Huan again; her baby was now stolen. Tingyan quickly concluded that, although Yan Huan had many concubines, there was no child around. Where were all the children?
Jiao and Tingyan located the stolen baby. The housekeeper of the mansion stole the babies at the order of Yan Huan’s father. All have birthmarks. Jiao and Tingyan could see the connection between the Yan family’s mass production of babies with birthmarks and how the Sima Clan was forced to produce offspring by the Eight Great Palaces. Jiao explained to Tingyan that some people with the Fenshan bloodline might have offspring with outsiders, which was why he could locate Yan Huan with his blood resonance. Since Mr. Shi was also looking for people with this birthmark, he definitely wanted to gather the Fengshan blood as much as possible.
Episode 11
I think I’ve become a hopeless romantic.
While Tingyan was with Ruling, she was followed by Mr. Shi’s son and his people. Jiao knew it, so he changed her back to the otter. Jiao tested her honesty and asked who she was with. Tingyan worried that Jiao would be suspicious of Ruling, so she lied. Jiao then put the spell on her forehead for five days. As long as she opened her mouth, she would definitely tell the truth. A lot of people became angry with her words, and Jiao liked to see her expression mock people and be ridiculed.
Jiao was truly suspicious of Ruling, so he encountered her and used the truth spell he interrogate her. In fact, Ruling never told Mr. Shi that Tingyan was alive in Chiyan City. Ruling looked for Tingyan because she didn’t believe Tingyan was dead and was worried about her.
Because Yan Huan knew he was at fault, taking concubines for mass breeding, he didn’t have the will to live anymore. Jiao said he would help Yan Huan. First, with Yan Huan’s appearance, Jiao freed the concubines. Then he let the servants and concubines take treasures from the treasure chests for their allowances.
A servant told Tingyan about the Mirror of Reversal, which briefly reflected the opponent’s spell to them. Tingyan took it to deal with Jiao. She complained about the spell of truth and asked why Jiao distrusted people. Jiao had been lied to by the hypocritical eight masters and everyone else in the Eight Great Palaces. Tingyan used the Mirror of Reversal and asked if Jiao had put this truth spell to make fun of her. Jiao admitted that he cherished her so much and didn’t want her to get hurt. Then Jiao saw the mirror and he changed her back to the otter and threatened her that if she used it again, she would be a permanent otter, haha!
The next morning, Tingyan was contemplating Jiao’s moment of truth last night. Was that really a confession? She dismissed the possibility that Jiao fell for her. She drank a lot and got drunk as an otter. I had to screenshot this CGI otter, because it was so darn cute!
Jiao wanted to kill Yan Huan now because he was useless. Tingyan pulled him aside and said that killing didn’t solve all problems. Instead, let him elope with his beloved Qing’er. His father would come home asap, hearing that news. Sure enough, Master Yan, Yan Huan’s father, rushed home. After using the trust spell, Master Yan acknowledged that the Yan family also belonged to the Fengshan lineage. Every baby who was born with a birthmark was taken away by immortal envoys. If they were talented, they stayed in Baifeng Mountain. If not, they would be returned, like Yan Huan.
Episode 12
The real battlefield is inside the mean Grandmaster’s home.
This episode turned dark. Brave yourself…
At first, Yan Huan was happy to reunite with Qing’er and his baby. However, upon seeing that his daughter also had a birthmark on the back, he was devastated. This child would become a puppet for reproduction. He wanted to burn himself and the baby. Qing’er was so desperate to ask Yan Huan not to kill himself and the baby. Qing’er and Tingyan asked Jiao to help them with Yan Huan. Jiao was stunned. He could see exactly the desperation of his mother as he watched Yan Huan. Finally, Yan Huan threw the baby to Qing’er and burned himself to death.
Tingyan was shocked by the incident. She realized that if Yan Huan, who was only in his 20s, was desperate to the point of killing himself and wanted to kill his baby, too, she couldn’t imagine Jiao had suffered for 500 years. Jiao was even traumatized by the incident. He couldn’t even concentrate on his meditation because of the illusion of his mother and the baby. His flame was so hot that it turned into a fire sword that wanted to kill Tingyan if he didn’t hold it, and burned his hand.
The next day, Jiao disguised as Yan Huan and took a fake baby with Master Yan to Baifeng Mountain with the divine emissary. In Baifeng Mountain, Jiao saw the members of the Sima clan who were imprisoned there. It turned out that these people had been locked in dungeons and were forced to provide blood every day or have children. Jiao opened the shackles of the people imprisoned here, but they couldn’t escape. Mr. Shi set up a strong barrier that killed everyone who tried to escape. His soldier arrived to fight Jiao. He was no longer merciful and killed all of them and burned down Baisheng Mountain. The calamity in Baisheng Mountain affected Chiyan City with fire and earthquakes. Tingyan, who stayed in Chiyan City, saw that the whole city was suddenly trapped in the fire, and balls of flames fell from the sky. People were in panic everywhere. Tingyan ran looking for Jiao and found him covered in blood. He wanted to die. But Tingyan reminded him how much his mother wanted him to survive when she was dying.
Episode 13
She’s the Grandmaster’s “last hope”?!
Jiao changed clothes to black (he was posed as Yan Huan before). The other seven sects did not know the secret of Baifeng Mountain. Jiao asked Mr Shi if he was heartbroken when he saw his Baifeng Mountain being destroyed. Mr. Shi lied through his teeth because he didn’t want the other master to know. Jiao wanted to fight Mr. Shi to death, but he realized Tingyan, in the form of the otter, was tucked inside his robe. At least she was innocent and deserved to live. So Jiao decided to stop and flee with her.
Jiao was seriously injured. Suddenly, a light shone from his ankle. It transported them to Mindscape Lake. There was an immortal man fishing on the lake. He took the wounded Jiao and Tingyan to rest. He told Tingyan that he could distinguish between bad and good people, so even if she was a demonic cultivator, he knew she was a good person. The man told her that he met Jiao when he was young, and he knew Jiao was capable of destroying the world and the innocent people. Tingyan defended him that Jiao only killed bad people.
The immortal man said that one day, Jiao would have a turning point, a person who would change him. He also left a prayer bead tied on the young Jiao’s ankle to suppress his viciousness and help his mind clear. If he had a killing intent, it would give him unbearable pain. He said he couldn’t heal Jiao, but the bead was actually a medicine. If she could untie the bead, it would heal him. Of course, Tingyan easily untied the bead. The immortal man told her that she was Jiao’s one-time turning point, thus, the hope of all living beings. She had to guide Jiao towards the good and tell him to take care of the other Spirit Fires in the world. Tingyan wanted to ask more but the man suddenly disappeared. Tingyan fed Jiao with the bead. Although his wounds were subdued but he still didn’t wake up.
Luckily, although the man disappeared, the Spiritual Fire warned Tingyan that Jiao was dying. The Spiritual Fire didn’t want to die with him, so it told Tingyan to enter his spiritual mansion by connecting her forehead with his. The place was like hell, and full of bubble scars with every fragment of memory. Tingyan hugged Jiao’s soul core that was breaking apart. Finally, his core soul changed to Jiao, and he started kissing her.
Wait… inside Tingyan was hugging Jiao’s soul core, but outside, she was kissing him intimately!
After Tingyan woke up next to Jiao, the Spiritual Fire told her that she had pulled Jiao back from the gate of hell, but she still needed to do a few more. Haha!
In his coma, Jiao went into Tingyan’s spiritual manor. It was a garden, peaceful and pleasant.
Jiao finally woke up. He told Tingyan that he had a good dream. Tingyan thought that was because of the prayer bead. She took the chance to brag that she gave it to him. He said the best medicine was not the pill. Tingyan was confused. Then he swiftly sat up and put their foreheads together. They were in the garden again, kissing.
Episode 14
“Roleplay” amidst peril
Jiao and Tingyan woke up together. Did they do the deed???
TY: "Grandmaster, spare me. I can't take it anymore."
SJ: "No mercy... What? You dislike it?"
TY: (Looked down. SJ wanted to know the truth) "I dislike it"... (She thought the truth spell didn't work, because he was severely injured)...
SJ: "You said you dislike it."
TY: "Do you actually like it?"
SJ: "Without the Truth Spell, I can still sense if you speak the truth or not."
Hahaha… she liked it, because she lied. She was so embarrassed, so she ran away. Seeing his sweet expression, she wondered if he liked her, like that bratty Spiritual Fire said.
Jiao said that this beautiful Mindset Lake was only created by the immortal man. It would be gone in half a day. Therefore, they needed to move on. The man said there were other Spiritual Fires. Jiao said, one of them would be Mr. Shi’s Spiritual Fire he created by milking the Sima Clan in Baifeng Mountain.
Jiao used spiritual power to make the two invisible and went to Luo River Immortal District, where ordinary people and cultivators live side by side. Unfortunately, they were on the run; the people from the Eight Great Palaces were looking for them. So they changed themselves to arrogant siblings, Yong Lingchun and Yong Shiqiu, Master Mu’s grandchildren, who were part of the Shi family. The funny thing was, these siblings needed to go to cultivation school! The funnier thing was, their teacher was a little kid while the students were adults! Tingyan couldn’t believe that she still had to go to school even in an alternative world! Jiao let her stay in the class while he was looking for the Spirit Fire.
Episode 15
Love takes two to tango
So many kisses in this episode!!!
Her classmates invited Tingyan to attend a banquet, so she went because she hadn’t seen Jiao for days. Several people talked to her. Jiao finally arrived, and he took her away to a private dining room. He told her that, with her current cultivation level, she didn’t need to eat anything at all. She said, either enjoying good food or good sleep increased happiness. She teased him by offering food, but then ate it for herself. He took the food right from her mouth!
Tingyan was suspicious that he knew her thoughts even though he didn’t use the Truth Spell. He only heard hers, though. She thought that was because of their soul bonds. She wondered why she had cursed Jiao like crazy before, but he didn’t react. Could it be true love? Jiao didn’t react, so she asked if he could hear anything. He shook his head. I think he heard it, but he just didn’t want to admit it. Love was still a new thing for Jiao.
At bedtime, he wanted to sleep next to Tingyan. When she complained, he touched his forehead onto hers to go to her spiritual mansion, the peaceful garden, and fell asleep.
The next day in class, the cute little teacher taught students about the soul mansion. He warned them not to easily enter someone’s soul mansion because it was very private. A student asked about the soul mansion of a cultivation partner. Another warning from this cutie pie. Once someone was attached to another person in a relationship, it would become more and more intimate, and in the end, it would be inseparable. One died, and the other couldn’t live alone. Tingyan felt a chill when she heard this. Perhaps Jiao regarded her as his other half?
Now Tingyan was aware of everything Jiao did for her. One night, he said he would go out and asked what she wanted. She thought that coming home with gifts sounded like a married couple. Later, when he returned, he brought her a couple of magic mirrors. If they infused it with spiritual power, it could reflect on each other even for thousands of miles. Like a cellphone. He wanted a thank you. She kissed him. But that was not a thank you; it was because he was more than her boyfriend. She was too shy to say they were like spiritual partners.
Uh oh… this stupid Er Jiu was so smitten with Ruling that he didn’t know that she used him. She put a tracking device on his ankle and when he met Jiao, the tracking device sensed Jiao, and some people came to attack him. However, Jiao used the attackers as time bombs.
When he came home and was tired, he saw her moping because she had waited for him till late. He asked what she wanted, and she said “摸鱼” (mo yu), which had a double meaning. The literal meaning was “catching fish”, but what she meant was “slacking off.” He took her fishing instead in Cloudsky Lake.
Conclusion
Wow, so many romantic moments full of kisses. However, we know that their love still has to be tested in different realms and different lifetimes. How will they end up in the immortal realm? Let’s continue to part 3: When Destiny Brings the Demon: Drama Recap Episodes 16 to 24!
