Love Beyond the Grave - Recap Ep 9-10 - Fattening Up for the Slaughter
Previous recaps by u/bronzebellriver: Ep 1-4, Ep 7-8
Novel fan translation: Love Beyond the Grave
Ep 9: Duan Xu arrives back in the city with that head he dropped (did he ask He Simu to take him back to get it on her ghost lanturn? She'd be down).
I love a man covered in the blood of his enemies
He Simu muses that the sword has chosen Duan Xu to redeem him. Back in the capital, the former Duan Xu double, Fang Xianye, volunteers to deliver grain to Shuozhou:
He's the 3rd prince from Love Like the Galaxy!
Duan Xu doesn't let any of the generals touch him and asks He Simu to bandage his wounds. This is A Choice because she can't judge how hard she touches things so her medical care is... special. But hey, we get sexy wound care (and he's trying to hide his past, too many scars to explain):
She has to wait until he's healed to use one of his senses. We meet Duan Xu's sister: Duan Jingyuan
Why are you not translating the name tag!
She's going to send a satchet to her brother for the festival. She breifly sees Fang Xianye. The army is worried about Fang Xianye's arrival in Shuozhou as they don't trust him. Han Lingqiu decides not to ask any questions about his lost memories, so Duan Xu tells He Simu instead. Both of them were raised in a cult deathcamp, where they had to fight to the death to "graduate" and recieve their number (one person survives per year).
Duan Xu saved Han Lingqiu and erased his memory. Duan Xu talks about his attempts to retain his humanity while spending his entire life killing, He Simu thinks he's succeeded. What is normal anyway? asks the undead Ghost King?
He Simu's ghost buddy shows up (name???) and tries to give her a painting of a pine tree, but she's switched to plum blossoms. He's clearly upset about this.
I assume this man will become A Problem
Xue Chenying had made himself some money running errands and tries to buy food for He Simu. They see Fang Xianye, who starts handing out grain. Xue Chenying is annoyed and adorably loyal to Duan Xu:
Duan Xu does not care that his thunder is being stolen or that Fang Xianye is put in charge of the city. Xue Chenying talks about being part of the army, though he worries he won't see He Simu anymore. She says it doesn't matter, they are going to part anyway and she doesn't want him. Duan Xu finds this cruel, but she says she's leaving both of them once their sense trade deal is over.
Victory banquet!
Xia Qingsheng tries to confess to Meng Wan but fails. Afterwards, Duan Xu asks He Simu to take away his perception of pain because his wound hurts, but she said pain is important to mortals and offers Sexy Wound Care instead.
Ep 10: Duan Xu asks if he can call He Simu by her name, he's been calling her "your majesty" since learning her real identity. He Simu pulls 400 years of age seniority, so Duan Xu tells her to take his sense of touch so he can call her Simu. The first thing she touches is his face which means NOTHING
He Simu asks Duan Xu to bite her (girl has fun priorities). He does. On the neck. It's hot. Then they find out she can't use her ghost abilities. Duan Xu holds her down and tickles her in "revenge." She threatens to murder him when she gets her powers back.
Duan Xu wakes up the next day and tries to deal with the loss of his sense of touch. He Simu has been running around and destroying stuff while she touches it, making the servants think they've been invaded by strange rats. They go to the market so He Simu can touch stuff, she keeps squeezing and breaking random things and then Duan Xu has to pay.
The marshall of the army arrives. The other generals want to attack Youzhou, but Duan Xu disagrees and wants to capture two other cities instead, based on their ore and horses. The marshall asks to borrow He Simu for her weather prediction abilities. He Simu refuses and says her magic only works for Duan Xu. When the army gets angry, Duan Xu defends her and carries her away
I'm not rebelling, but... Mine!
Duan Xu puts sleepy He Simu to bed. The marshal says he sent Duan Xu as bait and didn't expect him to win. Fang Xianye visits the marshal at night and tells him that they have horse problems, so maybe they should take over that horse city? No downsides really...
He Simu dreams of her parents. Her father was the ghost king, her mother tried to teach her to understand mortals. She feels their hands in the dream.
He Simu wakes up and is like, "What is this air doing in my body!" "What is dreams?" "INSOLENT MORTAL!"
This whole episode made me smile so much my face hurts! She's so joyful about touching things! Did you see the bunny? Beautiful.
Novel bits: I read this novel a while ago and loved it but my memories are vague. But here is the scene right after Duan Xu kills 15
Duan Xu silently watched Fifteen. After a moment, he suddenly started laughing. Despite being injured to the point of staggering, he still stood straight, his laughter echoing eerily across the wilderness, tinged with a strong scent of blood. He laughed and coughed, coughed and laughed, as if he would laugh himself to death in madness.
Suddenly, a pair of cold hands caressed his face. In the midst of the madness, he lifted his head, the light in his eyes dissipating. Those hands lightly patted his face, and he heard a very calm and clear voice ringing in his ears.
“Wake up, you’re too excited.”
Wake up.
Duan Xu trembled, and the light in his eyes gradually returned. Amidst the fireworks, he finally saw clearly the devil before him: her beautiful phoenix eyes, the mole at the corner of her eye, her slightly furrowed brows, her pale complexion and indifferent expression, earnestly looking at him, this ghost. He blinked slowly, and suddenly, his blood-stained eyes held a different kind of moisture. Tears mixed with blood trickled down his cheeks, falling onto her fingers, disappearing into the darkness below.
Duan Xu cried.
He Simu thought, this was the first time she had seen this little fox cry.
Posted Mar 31, 2026, 11:44 AM UTC