~ Chun Hua’s Calamity + The cause of Xiao Bai’s recent behaviour ~
~ From here on, I’ll be referring to the ‘Stone Lotus’ as ‘Xuan Bing Stone’. Not sure why I even called it ‘Stone Lotus’ before because there isn’t even the word ‘Lotus’ in the chinese text (玄冰石)! Maybe because the stone is lotus shaped 😂 (The corrections for the previous episodes will be done after I finish all 40 episodes and do an edit) ~
Synopsis:
Li Yu visits Feng Ming Manor because he had heard about Xiao Bai’s condition and wanted to see if he could be of any help but Cai Cai had her guard up against him, blatantly telling him that she didn’t know whether he was a friend or foe. Li Yu doesn’t take offense and instead asked how long Xiao Bai had been like that. After a moment of thought, Cai Cai replies that it happened the day after Chun Hua had left with Qiu Yue and Xiao Bai had returned the Xuan Bing Stone in anger. Cai Cai then decides to use her internal powers to guide Xiao Bai’s vital energy while Leng Ning guarded them both.
After taking a look at Xiao Bai, Li Yu concludes that he hadn’t 走火入魔[☆] but from his pulse, Xiao Bai’s psychic constitution was indeed in chaos. Li Yu tells Cai Cai and Leng Ning that Xiao Bai’s condition was weird and that he had never seen it before. Leng Ning then suggests that perhaps something went wrong with the Xin Fa and Li Yu adds that there must be a reason why Chief Xiao and Xiao Bai were the only ones to have mastered the Feng Ming Sword’s last move.
Meanwhile, Qiu Yue leads Chun Hua back into the city and gives her instructions to meet with Liu Feng who was returning from Pu Er’s. Before she left, he asked if there was nothing she wants to tell him. Chun Hua reacts coldly towards him, asking him why he would need to make use of a nobody like her if he knew so much. Qiu Yue admits to having made use of her but insists that it wasn’t completely the case, telling her that he likes her, he really likes her. Chun Hua turns away from him and stubbornly tells him that she wouldn’t like him anymore. Qiu Yue doesn’t believe her words and grabs her, forcing a kiss on her. When he finally lets her go and sees that she was crying, Qiu Yue once more tells her that he really likes her, asking if she doesn’t like him anymore, could she show him her heart? Suddenly, Chun Hua clutches at her chest and tells a worried Qiu Yue that she was hurting. Qiu Yue then sees the red flower-like mark on her palm and realises that she had been poisoned. Bai Hua Calamity. A hyper toxin that had no cure.
Qiu Yue returns to Qian Yue Cave to see that Ye Xing Zhu was still there and asked why she hadn’t run away. He then asked her about Bai Hua Calamity and learns that it was a poison that was specially for Qian Yue Cave’s leader. In order to achieve great things, the leader had to have ‘a heart as calm and still as water’ even when among a hundred flowers (beautiful girls). It’s a poison used to remind the leader that he couldn’t fall in love. If he did, the poison will spread from the heart to all the limbs and bones. At first, it would just be slight chest pains but if he continued to be troubled by love, he will suffer a pain akin to ten thousand ants biting his bones and eventually die. Ye Xing Zhu had initially been worried that Qiu Yue had taken this poison but after she told him everything about Bai Hua Calamity, he used his powers to move her to him and held her in a stranglehold. Qiu Yue reveals to her that it wasn’t him who had taken the poison but that Gu Xing Zhu had given it to Chun Hua so that Chun Hua cannot like him anymore. Qiu Yue was angry that she had let Gu Xing Zhu die, declaring that Gu Xing Zhu should’ve been made into a puppet and locked in the Ice Gorge to live a life worse than death. Ye Xing Zhu manages to choke out that she was willing to be locked in the Ice Gorge, apologising for her actions and adding that it was impossible for Chun Hua not to like him. Dazed, Qiu Yue lets go of Ye Xing Zhu and starts muttering to himself repeatedly, saying that it was impossible that Chun Hua didn’t like him, Chun Hua likes him.
It was night-time by the time Liu Feng returned to Feng Ming Manor and he had brought Chun Hua back with him. They went to Xiao Bai’s room where Cai Cai was taking care of him. When Chun Hua saw that he was still unconscious and questioned them about it, Liu Feng explains that they had blocked his acupoints because they were worried that he would hurt others or himself. Chun Hua then tells him to undo the block, saying that she wanted to have a few words with him. Cai Cai stops her, hesitantly telling her that they couldn’t do that because Xiao Bai was currently a little dangerous – Recently, he kept saying that he wanted to kill her. With nothing else she could do, Chun Hua unsheathes Xiao Bai’s Feng Ming Sword and reminisces the times she had spent with him. She was startled when the Feng Ming Sword emitted ominous dark sounds and after further discussions with Cai Cai and Liu Feng, they soon came to the conclusion that the cause of Xiao Bai’s current condition was due to the Xuan Bing Stone.
The next morning, Xiao Bai wakes to see Chun Hua resting with her head on the table. She was excited that he was finally awake and when she asked after him, he tells her that he was fine, it was just that his vital energy had strayed and he would be alright if he stopped using it for a few days. Chun Hua sadly tells him that he knew it was because of the Xuan Bing Stone but Xiao Bai quickly cuts her off, telling her that he was hungry. Chun Hua then turned to get him some food but before she left, Xiao Bai tells her that he would rather be unable to use his sword than to take Qian Yue Cave’s Xuan Bing Stone. Chun Hua leaves without a word and bumps into Liu Feng as she exited. She immediately grasped his hands, telling him that he had to get Xiao Bai to accept the Xuan Bing Stone. Liu Feng tries to calm her down, telling her that they don’t even have the Xuan Bing Stone with them.
Back at Qian Yue Cave, Qiu Yue sits at a table as he stares at his hairstick, with Ye Xing Zhu kneeling in front of him. He then asks her to help him put it on, commenting that he had worn this hairstick when Hua Xiao Lei first became his Chun Hua and saw him, reminiscing their time together. He drew circles on the table listlessly as he pondered – 春花秋月何时了 (When will the Spring Flowers and Autumn Moon end), it wasn’t possible for Chun Hua not to like him because she was his. Something finally clicked in his mind and he smiled, commenting that Gu Xing Zhu had done a good deed.
Later, Ye Xing Zhu reports to Qiu Yue that Xiao Bai had acted up again the day before and that Mr Shi was starting to become restless and plot against Xiao Bai but because Gu Xing Zhu had died, the poisons he currently had with him wouldn’t get him anywhere. She continues that she had went to the restaurant to investigate and in a secret room at the back kitchen, she had found the remains of approximately ten boys, adding that they must’ve been the failed puppets when Mr Shi had first started out and wasn’t experienced yet. Ye Xing Zhu then hands Qiu Yue a bottle of drug that she had found in the secret room, subsequently asking him if she should finish Mr Shi off. Qiu Yue rejects this suggestion because Chun Hua had told him not to kill wantonly. Besides, it would be more interesting to watch Mr Shi slowly become evil and to even have more witnesses to it.
Ye Xing Zhu then reports on her last finding, that Gu Xing Zhu had sought out Mr Shi before his death and had been promised a house and two shops. Qiu Yue scoffs at this, commenting that Gu Xing Zhu should have taken the Bai Hua Calamity himself, adding that he had always thought about bringing her away. Ye Xing Zhu immediately fell to her knees as she pledged her life to Qiu Yue. He then asked what she had been thinking when she had let Gu Xing Zhu go but she only replies, with tears in her eyes, that if he felt that it would dirty his hands, she was willing to kill herself. Qiu Yue tells her that it was interesting that he couldn’t understand her before but now, he seemed to be able to understand her slightly. Before leaving, he gives her a punishment of staying in Qian Yue Cave.
Back at Feng Ming Manor, Chun Hua checks up on Xiao Bai and once he sees her, he immediately walks over to her and pulls her into a hug, apologising for the whole situation with Fu Lou and You Si and asking if she would mind if one day, he were to be unable to use his Feng Ming Sword and can’t protect her. Chun Hua replies that she was alright with that but because she knew that he wouldn’t be alright with being unable to use his Feng Ming Sword, she tells him that they had to get the Xuan Bing Stone. Hearing this, Xiao Bai’s grip on Chun Hua’s shoulders tightened as he demanded if she was going to find Shang Guan Qiu Yue. Realising that Xiao Bai wasn’t himself at that moment, Chun Hua tries to break free from his grasp and leave but Xiao Bai pulls her into another hug before throwing her onto the bed. Chun Hua backs away in fear as Xiao Bai advances towards her with gleaming red eyes.
Before things could progress any further, Xiao Bai was knocked unconscious by Qiu Yue who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Fuming with anger, Qiu Yue conjures a ball of light as he shot death glares at Xiao Bai who was lying on the floor. His gaze softens when Chun Hua called out to him and he slowly retracts his powers before grabbing her wrist to check the red flower-shaped mark on her palm. He then smirks as he commented that she did indeed like him because the colour had remained the same.
Qiu Yue then brings Chun Hua back to Qian Yue Cave and locked her acupoints so that she wouldn’t be able to fight against him. Gazing at the mark on her hand, he tells her that he was the only one in her heart. She could lie but the Bai Hua Calamity couldn’t. Chun Hua kept her eyes closed in a bid to block him out but when he leaned towards her and told her that he was going to act frivolously with her, she finally opened her eyes. Qiu Yue then changes his tune, telling her that because Bai Hua Calamity had no cure, he wouldn’t let her emotions be stirred or act frivolously with her. Qiu Yue then unblocked her acupoints and her first words to him was to give the Xuan Bing Stone to Xiao Bai. Qiu Yue was frustrated that she would ask about another man and not have any question about an antidote for the Bai Hua Calamity, that she would protect Xiao Bai even though he was the one she loved.
走火入魔 – In modern day usage, it can be used to describe someone who has become addicted to / spellbound / totally focused on a particular thing with a one track mind. However in this context (and in other period dramas), it’s a term used in teachings of Taoism which refers to a person’s internal vital energy becoming a mess due to various reasons. For Xiao Bai, it’s because his Feng Ming Sword last move requires the Feng Ming Sword, Xin Fa and Xuan Bing Stone. Without the Xuan Bing Stone, the Feng Ming Sword started to bring about evil essences, causing Xiao Bai to start showing evil tendencies↩
Thoughts:
Gu Xing Zhu poisoned Chun Hua?!…I ain’t sorry for him anymore. Bye
In this episode, we see a new side of Qiu Yue. Confused / in doubt / in denial – “Xiao Chun Hua can’t possibly not like me. She likes me. She does like me.” – No screenshot could ever capture the full picture so…timestamp 12:43 💜
Ok I forgive all of Xiao Bai’s previous weird actions, what with wanting to tell Cai Cai that she was a good candidate for the position of his wife. I know that Chun Hua will get the Xuan Bing Stone because Qiu Yue loves her too much (I mean, he knowingly jumped into Gu Xing Zhu’s trap?!). The only problem would be getting Xiao Bai to accept it and I hope that happens soon because I miss the cute Xiao Bai.
← Episode 33 ♡ Introduction ♡ Episode 35 →
♢ Lyrics for “Unfinished Moment” ♢
of Nutmegs and Kookies 
In the novel, the Hundred Flower Calamity was called the Hundred Worms Calamity. And…it was Shangguan Qiuyue who poisoned Chunhua in the novel, not Gu Wan. The Hundred Worms Calamity would be fatal in six months without the antidote. This poison, unlike the Hundred Flower Calamity, had an antidote, but the antidote was difficult to make and took some time to concoct. Without the antidote, in six months, Chunhua would suffer the pain equivalent to a hundred worms eating at her insides, and eventually die of what sounded like internal organ damage. (The poison in the novel had nothing to do with stopping a person from falling in love.) Shangguan Qiuyue initially force-fed Chunhua this poison to get her to steal Xuan Bing Shi from Xiao Bai. Later, as he slowly realized his feelings for her, he used the poison to blackmail her to stay with him. He no longer wanted her to stay with Xiao Bai nor did he want her to steal Xuan Bing Shi anymore and abducted her back to Qian Yue Dong, He told her he would cure her, but the antidote was tricky to concoct. He asked her to give him some time to make it. He asked her to stay with him; he wouldn’t let her die and he promised to be good to her forever.
LikeLike
Woah…I never thought I’ll say this but drama Qiu Yue is a saint 😂
LikeLike
Yes, the drama definitely made Shangguan Qiuyue more palatable. I watched the drama first, enjoyed it a lot, so I searched for the novel to read. I didn’t like the novel that much because Shangguan Qiuyue was so evil to everyone, even the female lead. However, in a way, it made sense that Shangguan Qiuyue would be much more cruel than portrayed in the drama, since he would not have been able to rule Qian Yue Dong if he had been too emotional and kind. Qian Yue Dong was a world in which the fittest survived and the weak and kind died a gruesome death. He could have no weaknesses. In the novel, Chunhua was much more afraid of Shangguan Qiuyue than she was in the drama, and with good reason! He was not as playful with her in the novel, threatened her way more often, poisoned her, and then when he finally realized that he loved her and wanted her to stay by his side, he tried to rape her! Geez! Because he was frightening in the novel, it was quite a surprise that she chose him in the end. I think ultimately, she picked Shangguan Qiuyue because she felt that she owed him a debt of gratitude. Yes, in the novel, she had started to care for him, like in the drama, but I think she would have picked Xiao Bai if it were not for this debt of gratitude she owed Shangguan Qiuyue. Remember, she wanted stability, so Xiao Bai would have definitely been able to give her a greater sense of security than Shangguan Qiuyue would have been able to, especially since in the novel, Shangguan Qiuyue recovered his internal energy within a month and continued ruling Qian Yue Dong. I am sure being the wife of wulin’s hated demonic sect leader would not give her the stability she longed for.
As a random thought, the drama was very true to the novel when casting the lead actors for the drama. 🙂 In the novel Shangguan Qiuyue was described as very handsome, very tall. And Chunhua was very, very petite that the top of her head barely reached his shoulders. There was a scene in which a jealous Qiuyue forced a kiss on Chunhua, and he literally wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her entire body up so that he could kiss her (she was so short).
Another random thought… I thought Shangguan Qiuyue and his eldest son, Shangguan Xiao Xing, were a hilarious pair. If you don’t read the novel, you should at least read the epilogues on this father-son pair. Shangguan Qiuyue would dump his son into the ice gorge to get him to concentrate on cultivating his martial arts skills. Xiao Xing hated that, and each time he emerged from the gorge, he would threaten to tell his mother (Chunhua) what his father did. In reply, Shangguan Qiuyue would threaten to dump him back into the gorge immediately if he dared tattle to Chunhua. Xiao Xing would complain that his mother kept dressing him up like his father – long white robes. Shangguan Qiuyue would smugly say, “It’s because your mother thinks I am handsome, so she wants you to look like me.” Xiao Xing would snort in response. Chunhua and Shangguan Qiuyue also adopted a little girl because they wanted a daughter but only had sons. Xiao Xing would tease his little sister (more like flirting, because he knew she was adopted). Whenever little sister called him by his full name, he would huffily say, “Call me Big Brother.” Haha. Like father, like son, right? And Shangguan Xiao Xing was just as ruthless as his father when dealing with suspicious Qing Yue Dong subordinates who were attempting to rebel.
LikeLike
Wait…so you finished the novel even though Qiu Yue was so…different from the drama?
I’ve read the first three chapters but the tone of the writing is really playful so it’s difficult for me to imagine an evil Qiu Yue.
Oh my god a mini Qiu Yue XD
LikeLike
My Chinese is really bad, so maybe the lighthearted parts completely escaped my notice in the novel. I didn’t read the novel in its entirety. I skipped around the novel and mostly read the parts with Chunhua and Qiuyue. Shangguan Qiuyue did not have a lot of “novel time” in the book, by the way. He had a lot more screen time in the drama. Perhaps it was because they took out some of the unsavory parts and altered his actions, in addition to his larger screen presence, that Shangguan Qiuyue became much more likable in the drama. In the novel, he also teased Chunhua quite a bit (like in the drama), but he always had this underlying dangerous aura that made me nervous. I think he made Chunhua anxious in the novel, too. It was not really a sexual tension kind of anxious; instead, she was more frightened for her life in the novel than she was in the drama. In the novel, she had this constant nagging fear in the back of her mind that he might kill her or make her into a human puppet should he lose his romantic interest in her one day. That’s why I believe that Chunhua would not have chosen Shangguan Qiuyue over Xiao Bai had Shangguan Qiuyue not consumed his internal energy to save her life at the end. She married Shangguan Qiuyue, in part, because she owed him a debt of gratitude.
LikeLike
Ohh maybe that’s why drama Qiu Yue kept sneaking into Feng Ming Manor. He wasn’t supposed to be there 😂
I’ve read a bit of Chapter 4, where who I guess is Qiu Yue appears? He’s really silent and brooding, unlike the playful drama Qiu Yue.
Hmm…I doubt that Chun Hua (or anyone) would marry someone for a debt of gratitude if they were really frightened for their life?
LikeLike
Also, maybe because I didn’t read the entire novel from beginning to end, but I couldn’t quite grasp whether or not Chunhua loved Shangguan Qiuyue. In the drama, it was shown very clearly that she had fallen in love with him. If there was any doubt in the viewer’s mind or in Shangguan Qiuyue’s mind, then the Hundred Flower Calamity confirmed her love for him. But the Shangguan Qiuyue in the novel and the novel readers did not have the help of the Hundred Flowers Calamity poison in determining Chunhua’s true feelings in the novel. I got the feeling that she had come to care for him by the latter part of the novel, but she was always thinking to herself, “He might claim to love me now and swear that he would treat me well, but would he kill me once his feelings for me change?” If she had that constant nagging fear, then there would be no way for her to truly love him. Love is built on a foundation of trust, but if she was afraid of him, how could there be any trust? If you end up reading the novel, maybe you could let know me your thoughts on whether she truly loved him. Oh, and please let me know your thoughts on novel Shangguan Qiuyue vs drama Shangguan Qiuyue.
By the way, in the drama, when did you think Shangguan Qiuyue started falling in love with Chunhua, and when did he admit to himself that he was in love with her? I think someone asked Li Hongyi this question during an interview, and he looked at Zhao Lusi before answering, “From the beginning.” But I don’t think Shangguan Qiuyue loved Chunhua from the beginning…
LikeLike
I can’t pinpoint the exact time where Qiu Yue started to fall for Chun Hua but I believe that (even though he didn’t know it), he had fallen for her by episode 4.
In my opinion, Episode 1 Qiu Yue was still only just using her but as he interacted with her, from Episode 2 and 3, he unconsciously started to care about her. Even though there was that Qiu Yue-holding-Chun Hua-in-a-chokehold scene in Episode 4 (that had me so shook when I first saw it), now looking back on it, I think that was because he had just seen her acting all giddy over Xiao Bai and was jealous. Due to his inability to identify that feeling, he only knew that he didn’t like it and reacted like how he had all his life, with anger.
However later in that episode when He Xing Zhu tried to kill him, he remembered Chun Hua’s words that life was precious and spared his life instead of killing him like he usually would have. He wouldn’t have kept her words in his heart if she didn’t mean anything to him.
As for when he admitted it to himself…I would say episode 8? The flour scene and especially the later part, his expression when Chun Hua promised to be with him always, no further explanation needed. Episode 9 also confirms this for me because besides gifting her the Ice Silkworm Pearl, he got angry at Ye Yan for killing Hua Que, not because it would ruin his plans or anything like that but solely because Hua Que was Chun Hua’s brother.
LikeLike
If you consider the beginning as when he stayed by an unconscious girl because she looked innocent and even went on to name her, a name similar or that pairs with his then perhaps he really did start to love her at the beginning
LikeLike
I agree 😆🤣
LikeLike
…but he’s so hot so I forgive him
LikeLike
😂
LikeLike
I like Qui Yue’s drama version a lot but I’m a bit turned off by Chun Hua in the latter part of the series as she acts too ditzy and stupid and the fact that Qui Yue tolerates that make me loose respect for him a little there.
LikeLike