The Unclouded Soul Episode Discussion - Episodes 30 - 32
It’s the episodes we’ve been waiting for - the wedding! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Ning’an’s daddy dearest is up to no good. The question is: Does Xiao and Hong Ye know? Let’s find out.
All Discussion Posts | Masterpost | Episodes 1 - 8 | Episodes 9 - 11 | Episodes 12 - 14 | Episodes 15 - 20 | Episodes 21 - 23 | Episodes 24 - 26 | Episodes 27 - 29 |
What really happened 100 years ago?
Hong Ye and Ning’an are betrayed (but really, they should have seen it coming…)
The episode starts out with the emperor asking Hong Ye to deliver him the Kunlun Mirror. He says he wants the Yuli Spring so both the demons and humans can enjoy immortality together. Um…Are Xiao Yao and Hong Ye buying this drivel?
They are! Hong Ye says he was planning on getting the Yuli Spring for Ning’an anyway. I suppose that is because the demons’ live spans are so much longer than a humans so he wants Ning’an to be able to live longer. But, even putting aside the plausibility of the emperor’s sudden benevolence, allowing an entire species of people, no, two species to drink the elixir seems…foolish and irresponsible? Think of the ramifications. Explosions in population. Depletion of natural resources. Chaos! War! Madness!
Ok. Breathe.
Then, in a baffling move by the production team, we are shown an animated sequence of Hong Ye finding the Kunlun Mirror. For a second I thought I had accidentally switched to one of my hidden objects games.
Anyways. By this time, under a big Wooden cutout of the character for “double joy”, Xiao Yao is finally showing some situational awareness. She remembers reading about Hong Ye breaching the capital city and injuring countless people. He was finally stopped when Princess Ning’an sacrificed her own life to kill him.
How could this tragic event have come to pass? Xiao Yao didn’t have long to wait for the answer, as she is summoned to the ancestral hall, where the emperor finally divulges his plan. He wants her to kill Hong Ye and rid the world of demons. The emperor tells her that he was the one who killed Ning’an’s mother.
And when Xiao Yao refuses to obey the emperor’s orders, the emperor puts an amulet on that makes her his puppet.
Ok. I just can’t with these people. How can Xiao Yao still fall for these tricks when she has the gift of foresight? Did I accidentally trip the time-reversing array and traveled back to 2018 when this type of plot is popular? Also, why is she even marrying Hong Ye? Her mission is to collect a drop of tear from Hong Ye so she can return to the present and give Hong Ye his powers back. Not to fulfill some princess-demon cosplay fantasy.
Then in the very next scene, Hong Ye tells Xiao Ming that while he is still wary of the emperor, he believes Ning’an. That’s one way to explain why you are too lazy to make sure you have every contingency covered, I suppose…(Meanwhile, from the Youku soundstage next door, Xie Huai An would like to have a word…)
Finally, at the wedding…
Hong Ye is waiting for Ning’an. In a darkened room, the emperor’s stooges are controlling Xiao Yao through a wooden puppet. After Xiao Yao finally arrives at the wedding hall, she utters the same words Ning’an said to Hong Ye once before and things starts going down exactly the way it went down before.
The Feiyu Guards incapacitates Hong Ye with an array. Hong Ye disintegrates before Xiao Yao’s eyes. And a single teardrop floats into Xiao Yao’s hands.
So now we know what happened all those years ago. And it was always Xiao Yao that Hong Ye loved. And she was never meant to change the past.
Well, at least Ning’an’s sorry excuse of a dad didn’t get his hands on the Kunlun Mirror.
What is happening now…
Bing Zhu is back and preparing to attack the demon valley while Pian Pian is back in the capital city performing some kind of elaborate dance that allows her to communicate with Bingzhu telepathically.
But first, A love confession and some astounding revelations.
Hong Ye, in the meantime, is squaring off against Qiong Qi, Ao He, and Teng She. But while the three evil demons are busy fighting over who gets to fight Hong Ye first, Xiao Yao arrives to crash their little party.
She tells Hong Ye that she really does love him and seals the deal with a kiss. And it was really nice of Qiong Qi, Ao He, Teng She, and Hei Wu to not interrupt and just gawk at them stupidly.
But all of a sudden hell breaks loose (did they only recognize Xiao Yao after the kiss?). Looking as if a light switched just switched on inside his head, Teng She shouts at Hong Ye not to touch his 姐姐 (older sister). Ao Hen tells Xiao Yao that after 10,000 years, she still does not know who really cares about her and Qiong Qi is calling himself Xiao Yao’s 老大哥(older brother). Hong Ye is confused. Xiao Yao is confused. And I find myself enjoying this immensely.
Then the demons win.
Thanks to Qiong Qi, Ao Hen, and Teng She. Despite being able to break through the barrier using the Lotus Array, the Feiyu Guards and Bing Zhu are no match for the trio of demons so ancient their likenesses are commemorated in stone over the valley.
Tan’er had to drag Bing Zhu away because he was unwilling to admit defeat.
But where was Hong Ye while Qiong Qi, Ao Hen, and Teng She were fighting the good fight? After telling the them that they should put aside their differences to defend the last sanctuary for the demons, Hong Ye just…decides to sit this one out? Or maybe he just decided to act like a leader for the first time ever. Let the others do the hard work.
Xiao Yao thinks the three demons of the apocalypse are cute.
Who can blame her? Qiong Qi, Ao Hen, and Teng She are basically putty in her hands. At her instigation, they help Hong Ye mend the barrier and endear themselves to the denizens of the Demon Valley so much that Hong Ye feels threatened. And in the first authoritative move I’ve seen from him all series, Hong Ye announces that he and Xiao Yao are consummating their marriage.
(The three ancient demons is yet another example of the writers telling us who or what something is without actually giving us the goods to back it up. These are supposed to be so powerful and evil that they had to be locked up for 10,000 years. But we have seen no trace of that evilness or any cruelty so far.)
And finally, our couple is married.
And all we get to see are glowing candles…😠
But time to do another tally.
Kunlun Mirror Fragments: 4 (love and separation)
Bowls of noodles cooked: 4
What is happening with our other couple?
Bing Zhu forms an alliance with Hei Wu - I wonder how that is going to shake out. But even while the future of mankind is at risk, Bing Zhu takes the time to have a virtual chat with Pian Pian and promises to make her a wooden figurine of herself.
Pian Pian goes deeper down the rabbit hole - Pian Pian spends most of her limited screen time generally acting like a mad woman.
She rants at a eunuch and after casting some elaborate voodoo spell at a map, concludes that there are actually 3 powerful demons on the lose and that is why they lost the battle for Demon Valley.
Gee. What would these people do without her wise counsel?
She almost gets caught up in…the emperor’s harem politics? I guess one of the emperor’s concubines is trying to pit her against another concubine. Ok. That came out of nowhere. But Pian Pian is not biting and also resists the urge to drink one of the maid’s blood. So it looks like so far she is still resisting the pull of Dreamshard. But for how long?
So what’s next and what happened 10,000 years ago?
I guess we will find out, as the three love-lord demons have decided to activate the time-reverse array again so they can show Xiao Yao how Hong Ye betrayed her 10,000 years ago.
So there you have it.
Looks like we are in for more angst and potentially a love…pentagon? Are you looking forward to it or couldn’t care less at this point? Sound off in the comments below.
Posted Jan 7, 2026, 6:56 AM UTC