Sword Dynasty
Episode 16
Are we there yet?
This road leads to Lushan.
We need to take another path to Wushan.
Mr. Zhou, you are well-informed.
Do you know
why there are
so many soldiers of Heng and Xian along the road?
They're heading to Lushan, of course.
My father said that
during the last Lushan Alliance Meeting,
the Kingdom of Heng was not as powerful as today,
so we were beaten by Xian.
We begged for peace
and were forced to cede Liangshan County
in order to stop the battle.
Now the Kingdom of Heng has got the chance for revenge!
That's for sure.
The ostensible purpose of the Lushan Alliance Meeting
is to renegotiate the ceding of territory,
but in fact,
every state is ready for a military competition
after remaining dormant for years.
The result of the competition
will certainly influence the overall situation of the world.
We mustn't underestimate its significance.
That explains why these soldiers look so cheerful.
The world outside the palace
is indeed much broader
than what I've read in books.
I've told you in my letter that
Wushan is a dangerous place.
You still have time to get off and go to Lushan instead.
Don't you move.
Do you think
you can get off my carriage at will, kids?
Mr. Zhou…
As low-level practitioners,
you'd better stay in here.
Drive on!
Yes.
This trip has been planned
for the purpose of sightseeing.
So Wushan can also be a choice.
Your Majesty,
with the Lushan Alliance Meeting impending,
why do you still take so much trouble
to come to this place
in search of the Manglong Rudraksha?
I am the one who sets the date of the Meeting.
I came here because
the Rudraksha in the Formation has just ripened.
It can help me
reshape my golden body.
Isn't that the old King of Xian?
How can you laugh when our lives are in danger?
You told me in the letter
that it was going to be a dangerous trip.
But now we are merely bound with rope.
And until now,
he hasn't done anything
to hurt us.
That only means we're still useful to him.
Then why should we be afraid of him?
He makes use of us, and we make use of him.
You're right.
At least we won't be killed.
We…
We are "friends in adversity", aren't we?
It's a pity that your father is Yuan Wu.
We can never be friends.
Sort of.
We should go over now.
Some people have arrived before us.
Mr. Zhou,
we are outnumbered by them.
I'm afraid we don't have any advantage.
And they look very powerful.
We shouldn't be aggressive, that's for sure,
but since we've come for the elixir, too,
we mustn't let them go ahead of us.
Have you got an idea, Mr. Zhou?
In a while,
the stone door will open
after the eye of the Formation turns on.
You two enter through the door,
and I'll bring up the rear.
Remember,
get in there as soon as possible.
The time has come.
The stone door will close
as soon as I enter the Formation.
Stay here and wait for me to come out.
Yes.
The door is open.
Who are they?
Catch them!
Don't move!
Stop that.
It's impossible for you to open the door.
Only when the Formation is broken
will it open again.
Your Majesty,
is there any way to break the Formation?
I can go ask for reinforcements.
There was no Misty Rain Formation in Wushan at first.
When I passed by this place many years ago,
I found an elixir called Rudraksha.
So I set up
the Formation here
for fear that
someone might take it away.
This Formation only turns on at noon on this day of each year.
Once getting into the Formation,
no one except me can get out,
unless
they can break the Formation.
How can we do nothing
and let them take away the Rudraksha?
Enough.
Send out the signal for reinforcements.
I'll wait here with them.
If they are so lucky as to break the Formation,
I'll kill them and get the elixir.
Yes.
Mr. Zhou,
have you defeated the people outside ?
There's one or two left, I suppose.
Then they must be waiting out there,
and they might ask their fellows for help.
No big deal.
I'll be able to reshape my golden body
after I get the Rudraksha.
Who can beat me by then, even if he's a master?
Mr. Zhou,
Su Mu and I are low-level practitioners,
so I'm afraid we might be a hindrance to you
in the search for the elixir.
Yes, yes.
That's true.
So, in my opinion…
Ding Ning,
I know what an intelligent boy you are.
The Misty Rain Formation
is labyrinthine and unpredictable.
Taking you along
will make the journey safer.
The six paths
look the same to me.
Just take one at random and we'll get out.
That makes sense.
If that's so,
let's go this way.
We seem to have come back to the starting point.
Let's continue.
Follow me. This way.
Come on.
Hurry.
Mr. Zhou,
have you
come to this place before?
No, it's my first time coming here, too.
Stop chatting.
Let's find the way first.
Mr. Zhou,
we have already tried
all the six paths.
Look.
I made a mark beside each path we took.
Brilliant.
That's why I brought you along.
Otherwise we would
have been trapped in here.
It's labyrinthine inside this stone formation.
We hadn't lost the way upon entering,
but now it's impossible to tell the direction after going deep inside.
How are we supposed to obtain the elixir
if we can't get out of the Formation?
It's just
some grass that's blocking our view.
Let me break a path.
Wait a moment!
Hurry.
The Formation intruders still haven't gotten out
after so many hours.
That means
they've died in there.
Why are you sure they cannot get out, Your Majesty?
Everyone in the world knows that
the four states have their own specialties:
swords of Heng, metal vessels of Xian,
magic charms of Li, and spectral arts of Mo.
I used metal vessels of Xian as the body of the Formation,
and added magic charms of Li
and spectral things of Mo as the guardians.
Moreover, the Rudraksha
can be cut down only by swords of Heng.
So
the Formation is an assembly of the essences of all the four states.
Few people in the world
can break it.
That's brilliant, Your Majesty.
The basic magic charms of Li are taught
in most schools,
and as the body of the Formation,
the metal vessels of Li wouldn't break till the end.
But I was wondering
what the "spectral things" are.
A kind of strange plant
grown in the Formation.
The plant itself is nontoxic,
but
if any of its branches break,
the plant would emit a kind of poisonous gas.
People who smell the gas
will become numb, and then lose all the five senses,
and in the end choke to death.
But
since they can't break the Formation,
they have to wait
till next year in order to get the Rudraksha.
Let's wait for a while longer.
Ding Ning!
Ding Ning, I can't see things.
Ding Ning.
-Su Mu. -Ding… Ding…
-Su Mu. -Ding Ning.
-I can't see things. -It's all right.
I am by your side.
I… I'm so afraid.
I can't see things.
It's all right.
Don't worry.
Mr. Zhou,
Su Mu and I have inhaled too much poisonous gas.
I'm afraid we can't help you anymore.
We will be a hindrance to you
if you keep staying here with us.
How about you go out of the Formation to fetch the elixir,
and we wait here for you?
Ding Ning,
do you mean
that you have found a way out?
I just had a look at the Formation,
and found it is a little similar
to the spectral arts of Mo,
while the magic charms on the columns
seem to come from Li.
I didn't know
you have some knowledge
of these things.
If you have trust in me,
you can try to stand in the center of the six columns,
put your Internal Force
into the columns one by one,
and let the Internal Force pervade each column.
Then the Formation will break
if everything goes well.
Good.
I believe you.
Su Mu,
are you okay?
Mr. Zhou, go get the Rudraksha.
We'll wait here for you.
It's all right now.
The Formation is broken.
It is broken.
Mr. Zhou,
why are you doing this?
The mist hasn't cleared
above the stone pathway.
As an old man,
I'm a little afraid of the risk,
so you go first.
I can go first,
since you regard me as a threat.
But I want to take Su Mu along,
because he has inhaled too much poisonous gas.
I don't have much time.
Don't worry.
This might make you feel safer.
Let's go.
OK.
Su Mu!
Rudraksha.
I finally got you.
My years of hardships
finally paid off.
Now I can finally
reshape my golden body!
Reshape my golden body!
No, no, no!
No!
Come back!
No eye balls?
The flowstone plate?
The Formation is broken.
Why are you safe and sound?
It turns out you've been harboring malicious intent.
It's you who has malicious intent.
If you harm other people,
in the end you'll ruin yourself.
Ignorant boy,
how dare you hurt me!
The Nine-death Silkworm.
You are…
You've lived long enough.
So the rumor is true.
You
are his disciple?
I'm grateful that
you still remember my master
ten years after his death.
Su Mu inhaled the poisonous gas in the Formation
and passed out.
Rest assured.
This is the antidote.
He'll wake up soon.
Su Mu.
Ding Ning.
Get up.
Where is the Rudraksha?
It was eaten by Zhou Rongmo.
Zhou Rongmo.
He's still alive?
You're well-informed, sir.
That wicked man got carried away because of improper practice,
so he wanted to reshape his golden body with the Rudraksha.
Su Mu and I
were captured and taken here by him unexpectedly.
So sorry that
your elixir was ruined.
Never mind.
It turns out I'm destined to lose the elixir.
By the way,
where are you two heading for?
How about riding with me
in my carriage?
Thank you for your kindness, sir.
Judging from your attire, sir,
you must be a Xian citizen.
Xian and Heng are two different states,
and we are Heng citizens.
The upcoming Lushan Alliance Meeting
is concerned with crucial diplomatic affairs between the two states.
There will be gossip
if we are seen going together.
Good.
Very good.
With such decency and the sense of propriety,
you will become great men someday,
young boys.
I never ask people
to do things they don't want to.
Well,
Li Yunrui.
Here.
There's still some distance from here to Lushan.
Give them a carriage
so that they can have a comfortable trip.
Yes.
Thank you, sir.
There're two teams of guards
working shifts every night in Marquis Fang's Mansion.
Each team works a four-hour shift.
We can get in
after this team leaves.
I've found the right helper.
This is the secret passage.
A well?
It's the right way.
Although this place looks deserted,
it is the safest spot
in the whole Mansion,
because the secret passage is under this well.
It seems this passage
hasn't been found by Marquis Fang.
The passage
is known only to the Gongsun family.
Yuan Wu
rewarded Marquis Fang with this mansion,
but how would he choose
to live in such a dilapidated place?
You seem
to be very familiar with this place.
The Snow Garden used to by my residence.
I'm the youngest child in my family.
Parents always want their children
to live in safe places,
don't they?
I don't have parents.
Miss Zhangsun,
since you're willing to revisit your former dwelling,
I'd like to say something for the sake of master.
There's no need to mention about the past.
Master carried out the reform
because he wanted to cure the deeply rooted problems of the Kingdom of Heng.
He would never exterminate any one of the noble families
for the sake of the reform.
It was done by Yuan Wu.
It was Yuan Wu who…
Even if he did it for the sake of the reform,
what about me?
All of the victims were my family.
I'm sorry.
To tell the truth, I had been hating you for some time,
because I hate
those who betray love, like Ye Zhen.
And I didn't understand why you
chose to live shamefully under their control.
Only when you came to see me
did I know I wronged you.
I have never
betrayed my master.
I revisit this place today
because I respect him.
I know that
the Bashan Sword Field wouldn't have been destroyed
if not for the betrayal by Yuan Wu and Ye Zhen.
But this doesn't mean
I can forget
the damage he had caused to me.
You hate him,
but you also love him.
The well is deep.
Can you swim?
How can one not learn some skills
in such a troubled world?
Even if I couldn't swim at first,
years of service overseas
was enough for me to learn it.
I'll meet you by the Wei River
three days later.
No one's here.
We should be here now.
There's still some distance
from here
to Dafu Water Dungeon.
We should walk along this way.
Be careful.
They have probably set traps.
OK.
Put out the fire.
What's the matter?
There's a lot of oil in the water.
There're guards ahead.
This water passage
is fake.
They want to kill
the intruders by burning the oil.
It's as easy as "catching turtles in a jar",
and the same
as ten years ago.
Let's go backwards.
Wait a moment.
It seems we have been to this place before.
It's really hard to tell;
these places look very similar.
Look at these leaves.
When you're on the sea,
it's hard to tell the direction of the water flow.
But it's different here.
There's no wind,
so the direction of the water flow is solely decided by the height difference.
So you mean
we have been walking downstream?
You're right.
If they intend to
kill us by burning the oil…
And the water flows downwards…
It should be in the upper reaches.
So the Water Dungeon
should be in the upper reaches.
We should go upstream.
There's no moss on the wall,
so it should be newly built.
Look at the water flow.
The Water Dungeon
should be behind the wall.
That should be right.
Let's go back first
and come up with a plan.
You're really bold.
We've had a dangerous adventure today.
I don't know why,
but I felt strangely relieved
when you covered my eyes with the mask.
I had the feeling that
any danger would be turned into safety.
Perhaps you really are a blessed mascot.
I wasn't sure that I could come back safe and sound,
but you still followed me audaciously.
Pull over!
Get down!
Pull over!
Why is a carriage of Xian
showing up at this station of Heng?
They seem to be Heng soldiers.
What do we do?
Leave it to me.
Is this a station of the Heng army?
I did not know it's Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Please pardon my disturbance,
Your Royal Highness.
You are the Crown Prince!
You have done no wrong, General.
Please stand up.
Is my Father the King nearby?
Why are you in a carriage of Xian, Your Royal Highness?
Are you abducted?
There's a reason for that.
But now just take me to see my Father the King.
But this carriage…
Your Crown Prince was injured by poisonous gas,
and is still feeble now.
It's my fault
to delay Your Royal Highness in curing your injury.
Please follow me into the camp.
Please lead the way, General.
Yes.
You're the Crown Prince!
I was deceived by you for so long.