Anye Luo wants Ge'er dead

In this episode we learn more about Yin Xue's past from Grand Mentor/Elder/Yin Xue; fueled with rage and a desire for some revenge the mild mannered Zhongli chooses to begin undermining the current villa leaders by secretly taking back the Azhure Hall; Ge'er and company return to the bread stall and Anye Luo decides that Ge'er must die.....

1)We open to Elder who wishes to take Ge'er back to Misty Peak for her own safety.  however she refuses and he admits he knew she would refuse (which begs the question why ask?).  Ge'er chooses to return to Ping An, the heart of Top Blade City because her status as the Flame Villa's madame is such that no one can really afford to kill her in plain site at the moment without inviting heavy criticism or burning bridges with other branches.

2)Elder/Yin Xue suggests that they meet with Yu as he is their best ally.  Because Elder is weak and Youqin (whose name I have given up on spelling correctly sorry)  expended his inner force so it is risky however that leaves only Officer Hueng--and they need her as a body guard--so Youqin volunteers to go.  

3)Ge'er engages Elder in conversation and begins to ask him questions about Yin Xue--recall he said that Yin Xue was his desciple (this isn't untrue Elder WAS his Master however he is assuming his identity since he resembles father time).  She wants to know what he was like as a child, when did he begin training, why did he leave the mountain, why did he open a brothel, and did he have any family.  

4)Elder flatly states that Yin Xue was a ruthless killer who took innumerable lives (this exact phrase will be repeated many times for the remaining episodes).  She is shocked by this especially since he was his most gifted disciple (I don't know why this should shock her since Feng is a shining example of when disciples go rogue)
But Elder explains that he was so gifted that it led to arrogance and so he joined Dark River, and his age made him Anye Luo's senior.  However, because of his crimes, Yin Xue was punished by the heavens and ultimately returned to Misty Mountain and begged to be taken back.  His punishment?  The love of his life died because of him (which begs the question, who is Ge'er?)

5)We learn that Elder won't reunited with Ge'er because even though Youqin used all his inner force to prolong his life (15 years) he is still going to die in a few months (hence the rapid aging)--he doesn't want to selfishly reunited with her only to die again.  

6)MW, back at the villa Zhongli enters the Azure hall and apologizes to his men for essentially not taking a stand and asks them to follow him as their master.  He wants them to betray the Deputy Hall Master OR they can betray Zhongli and have him executed.  They agree to follow him.  He then sends out messages to have their men protect Lei and misreport so that no one is able to discover Ge'er's or Lei's location.  

7)At Ping An the townsfolk recognize her as bread seller girl; she introduces Elder as her husband's mentor.  At the same time, Wu Xia listent's to Wu Hen's report on Ge'er's arrival.  They can't kill her--too risky--so they decide to politely ask her to leave the city since she is travelling with a wanted criminal (Lei).  Ge'er receives the message and promises not to linger after Wu Hen delivers this request.  

8)Meanwhile, team evil meets with Anye Luo.  He reports that he is displeased with Feng for avoiding him.  He commands Li Yi to kill Ge'er, and Ge'er begs hims not to however Anye Luo explains that this is all Feng's fault for letting her escape in the first place (abusive and narcissistic---this guy is crazy).   Feng tries to reasonw with him and insists that he will lock her up so that she won't escape.  But the answer is still NO.

9)MW, as soon as team flame is escorted outside of the city, assassins descent to attack them.  Fortunately, they are saved by Azure Hall soldiers, who have been tracking Lei, and continue on their way.  Lei's goal is to meet up with phoenix at the beach, however she is running late.  The reason for this is because she is out and about trying to gain allies from other sect members.  Her reasoning wins.

10)Fast forward to Thunderclap headquarters and the branch leaders wish to rescue Lei.  Niang refuses their request to rescue him.  She reminds them that they forced him to leave, and once he returns, he will likely exact revenge (highly, HIGHLY unlikely).  Unsurprisingly, this argument does not persuade them.  They then tell her that the leader must be a blood relation (weak argument) and Niang reminds them of all the work she has done for them for the past ten years.  Now the insults start flying, and they accuse her of being nothing but a lowly maid.  In a fit of rage, Niang kills a sizable number before fleeing, promising them that they will regret this because she had intended on saving them (foreshadowing?)

11)The episode ends with Feng, who is interested in capturing Ge'er, appearing.  However, the person disguised as her is Hueng, and Lei appears with his clan, kind of like robin hood and his merry men.  He lets him go, but where could Ge'er be?

This episode received an 8.0 because (and this bothers me) Ge'er's character is growing and changing but sometimes they have her oddly 'dumbed down' maybe this is intentional and they want her to be still 'somewhat naive' or innocent but she is fairly intelligent and perceptive so I find some of her questions, for instance during her scene with elder, weirdly inconsistent.  Maybe I am being overly critical.

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