Dashing Youth (2024): Rewatch [Episodes 11-12]

Welcome to the sixth discussion post for a Dashing Youth rewatch.

This post is for Episodes 11-12.

Ep. 1-2 | Ep. 3-4 | Ep. 5-6 | Ep. 7-8 |Ep. 9-10

!!! PLEASE USE SPOILER TAGS FOR ANYTHING BEYOND THE CURRENT EPISODES AND ANYTHING FROM BOTH BLOOD RIVER AND BLOOD OF YOUTH!!!

Infos about the drama can be found in the old masterpost.

You can also find a translated relationship chart here. If you download the picture it should be big enough to actually be readable.

And into the second quarter!

Ep. 11

New to the show:

Xiao Ruojin - Prince Jingyu, third Prince, so the younger brother of Prince Qing, but the older of XRF. BR >!Played by the same actor in Blood River.!< BoY: >!Same actor as Xiao Chuhe in BoY!<

Yi Wenjun - Not really new, but first time as an adult with her regular actor. Daughter of Tianqui’s Shadow Sect Leader Yi Bu. Childhood friend of BLDJ and YDZ. Later BoY >!mother of Xiao Yu and Wuxin!<

Luo Qingyang - head disciple of the Shadow Sect, Yi Wenjun’s shixiong, BoY: >!Becomes the Lone Sword Deity and Xiao Yu’s god-father.!<

Finals!

For this Liu Yue is joined by Mo Xiaohei, which seems to be an awkward mix, and later Lei Mengsha. (If this were an anime/donghua we would get a chibi version about the eight young masters academy time as students and I kind of want that now). The 16 candidates are divided into teams of four that all get a hint for a scavenger hunt. First team who gets the object wins. To have a better chance you have to snatch the clues from other teams. They also have to form the teams themselves and immediately everyone swarms Ye Dingzhi. He did gather a good reputation in the last days due to stopping a fight.

But YDZ is a true friend (you know, apart from not telling BLDJ who he really is) and chooses our brew-master. Yue Yao, after opposing joining up with Zhuge Yun, whom she seems to know more about, is the third team mate, because we stick the most handsome people together. There is a bit of a competition for the last spot on the team.

One of the challengers is Zhao Yujia, who did the face changing routine in episode 10. He turns out to be a badly disguised Wang Yixing (I’m face blind, the moustache threw me off first and last episode he also had that hood on). Now BLDJ’s comment in the last episode about his name makes so much more sense. ‘Jia’ means fake and BLDJ remarks that he would rather be called ‘Zhao Yuzhen’, ‘zhen’ meaning real in this context. Which obviously is already the name of Wang Yixing’s fellow prodigy disciple from Mount Wangcheng. Another one for the ‘false identities’ pile.

BLDJ and YDZ are much better at recognising him and he joins their squad. YDZ wants to have a demonstration of Yue Yao’s martial abilities (she only showed of her gambling skills after all) and she gets a short fight with BLDJ.

Li Changsheng appears and explains that the scavenger hunt will happen all over Tainqi. He also drinks the last jar of the once-a-months liquor BLDJ really wants to try right in front of him. Real troll, that master. The four teams get a staggered start into the competition.

Palace Interlude

YDZ gets a message delivered from Prince Qing, who demands BLDJ’s death for the advantage of joining his side. He really choose the least fitting person ever for this cooperation.

Two of his brothers, Xiao Ruofeng and Xiao Ruojin, Prince Jingyu, are playing go. They are weary of their elder brothers involvement in the exams but seem to be on good terms with each other. XRF asks after his (future) sister in law who we are introduced to in the next scene.

We see a grown up Yi Wenjun (and we finally met all three children from our little flashbacks) and her martial brother Luo Qingyang. She wonders about freedom and its correlation to happiness. As a future wife of one of Beili’s princes she certainly lacks the former, and maybe also the latter.

On the Streets

Our four people squad is out and about on the streets of Tianqi and their clue lets them seek out an armoury. YDZ also burns the small paper strip with the instruction to BLDJ. Not very surprising.

(Almost) nothing stays hidden

We finally get a full face reveal for Ji Ruofeng. Glad he doesn’t have to wear that mask at home. He and his Baixiao Hall are very intrigued about our group and their backgrounds. Yue Yao’s disguise is really good, it even holds up to their inquiries. Must help that she knows the real Yin Luoxia. Even more impressive because YDZ’s real identity as Ye Yun is noted as the most likely possibility for his background. And that he was the disciple of a Sword Deity, Rain Demon, while in Nanjue. So that was not all about lamb roasting. There is also confirmation that Prince Qing was behind his families downfall.

It’s interesting to see them coming to some right conclusions (YDZ), while they take Zhao Yujia for a pseudonym for Zhao Yuzhen himself, because nobody knows for sure how old that Mount Wangcheng prodigy is supposed to be. It’s a nice way to show that this information network knows a lot, but is not all knowing.

Meanwhile Zhuge Yun seems to have killed the person that recommended him for the exam, a fact nobody else in Tianqi knows yet. He is also met by Mo Qixuan and revealed to be Wu Zuo, another envoy of Tianwaitian. No wonder that he tried to pair up with Yue Yao for the exam. Or at least one of them, because Wu Zuo is in fact two people, the twins Zhuge Wucai and Zhuge Wucheng. The one posing as Zhuge Yun kills all of his team mates.

(Fun Fact: The actor of Zhuge Yun plays Qi Rong in the shelved TGCF adaption and I can totally see that with that grin)

More Swords

We get a nice shot of everyones favourite cdrama staircase! RIP. In this case it leads to the Black Tortoise Parlour and there is a demonstration of the lighters from this post. They get through a trap and into the Sword Tower where the celestial level sword seems to have an eye of its own. But before they can decide if anything there has to do with there clue or if they maybe went to the wrong place a four-pupiled guardian appears and challenges them. They try to escape, but in the end BLDJ distracts the guardian for the others to get away.

Ep. 12

Tea time and more swords

XRF and LMS get the news about the Zhuge Yun situation. They rush to BLDJ’s help because stopping the exam is hardly possible at that point in time.

BLDJ’s attempted sacrifice was for nothing, because none of his team members even thought about abandoning him.

Both YDZ and WYX show that they are already in the Unrestrained Phase of Earth, so more powerful than the other two, and try to fight the Guardian. But he doesn’t want to fight them and lets them go as a reward for their loyalty to BLDJ. That impressed him, which has been the whole point of the test here. BLDJ recuperates his injuries with YDZ’s help, but needs about an hour for that.

XRF and LMS also visit the parlour but miss out on the group, but learn that a group of candidates was found dead in the streets. It’s Zhuge Yun’s and allegedly he is also dead, which is soon found out to be a ruse. The Guardian also has a notion who he really is.

One of the Zhuge Twins and Mo Qixuan confront our quartet and Wang Yixing defends his group. Yue Yao gets short secrete exchange with Mo Qixuan, while Wang Yixing get support from YDZ. He has some impressive techniques, but also gets sort of possessed by using them. Fortunately he snaps out of that. The next to intervene is BLDJ. A short demonstration of Xichu’s Sword Song ends the threat for the time being.

Li Changsheng sits on top of a tower, as you do if you are a powerful master. He is confronted by Yue Luo from the Royal Academy, who accuses him of not caring for his future disciple while already knowing about Zhuge Yun’s background and connection to the remnants of Beique. Yue Luo senses the Sword Song being used, she has a past connection to Gu Chen who she thought dead for years only to learn that he actually only died a few month before this.

The Zhuge twins meet up and are confronted by LCS. He is not amused by their interference and decides that one of them has to die here. And the next moment there is only one of the twins still alive. LCS certainly can back up his reputation.

Two roads diverged...

Our quartet has acquired all the pouches due to Yue Yao snatching them from Zhuge Yun, which fits her cover story perfectly. All the poems connect to the four symbols/guardians, but the Azure Dragon isn’t mentioned by name. That leads to the conclusion, that the answer has to do with him. Qinglong Gate seems to be the place to go to.

There are two paths to go there and Yue Yao is to lure BLDJ one of them. But she seems to doubt the whole thing due to him being willing to sacrifice himself. So she chooses the other paths but gets into a big discussion about who should go which way. In the end she and BLDJ go left, while YDZ and WYX go right. Poor BLDJ would have liked to not split up at all but nobody asked his opinion.

YDZ and WYX encounter Zi Yuji and try to keep him busy for an hour, so he can’t catch up with Yue Yao and BLDJ on the other path. Both are injured from their previous fight which leads to Zi Yuji recognising that YDZ is also a natural martial artist. YDZ knows nothing about that and they try to flee.

Zi Yuji uses some kind of throwing star to hinder them and they land (WYX unconcious) right before Yi Wenjun. YDZ gets his own love at first sight while first meeting in adulthood moment. Yi Wenjun finds him familiar. She also knocks him out and protects both of them from Zi Yuji. Not because she is secretly a badass herself, but because the ever grumpy looking Luo Qingyan is nearby and his swords is decorated by the Shadow Sect sigil. Even Zi Yuji doesn’t want to meddle with the Shadow Sect.

Race to the finish line

Meanwhile Yue Yao and BLDJ race each other to the gate where they are met by four of the eight young masters and LCS himself. Yue Yao gives up the chance to be LCS disciple(not that this was her plan) and tries to leave but is stopped by Liu Yue. Seems like his chosen first disciple is her. She takes that position to stay closer to BLDJ and take him back to Tianwaitian another time.

BLDJ wants to wait for YDZ before there is any decision about LCS’s finale disciple. He is also of the opinion that LCS should take both of them in, because like their liquor and meat they are a perfect combination. That convinces LCS to wait. BLDJ’s also tells him about the promise to his first master, about hanging the jug of liquor at the highest point of Tianqi. Which seems to be were Yue Luo is dwelling. That wish makes way more sense that way. BLDJ’s confidence and plans seem to hit a note with LCS and he basically adopts him already, still waiting for YDZ.

No questions this time, I'm rather tired. But this drama really has more secret and hidden identities than all Anhe members combined.