Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy 九州海上牧云记 - Episode 18 (Recap)

Panda: I must apologize for the break in recaps. I got swept up in movies and Prison Playbook for about a week and then RL showed me some “fun times”. I am back though and this is a very cool episode especially the beginning.
kakashi: Loved all the He Ye plus forest stuff.  I really dig that magician tribe.
JoAnne: I would love any tribe that could make me stop thinking about those disgusting Helan sibs.

Episode 18

In the forbidden forest, the horses and people are very clearly unsettled as the forest is very spooky. Helan bro eventually tells them to venture further on foot pushing HeYe to advance first. Alas, unknown and unseen, someone casts a spell on them and one by one in lots of cool macabre ways which involve plants and trees, members of the tribe get killed.
I wasn't very sorry
I love this forest.  I hope this isn't the only time we're in it.  You know, basically every drama from China that has a forest, the forest is really wicked cool.  Have you noticed that?  It's interesting to me because forests are not what I think of when I think of China, really.
Shaman however proceeds further into the forest seemingly drawn by a higher force (we later see him being marked by the Danyao people). When HeYe tugs on the rope tied around his neck, it comes back empty. He wants to go after him claiming he is the Shuofeng Shaman and an angry Helan Bro reminds him they are part of the Helan clan now. HeYe insists Han people never leave their own and two others are eventually dispatched to get him back but their horses come back alone.
Still not very sorry. So that once-cute Shaman...he seems so naive (and can't act), but I guess he's powerful?
Oooh, we like a secretly powerful puppy.  Very much.
An ominous cloud encroaches where the other horses are tied and HeYe yells to abandon the horses in disregard to Helan Bro orders. Furious, Helan Bro draws his sword and asks if HeYe is rebelling, not noticing that killer vines have crept up his leg till HeYe cuts it. You should have let him die!!!! Urggh
Now I'm sorry! for the killer vines. 
It was such a perfect opportunity to get rid of that dirtbag!  I was very frustrated.
Out of the forest, they count their losses. Their best horses are gone and they’re down to just nine men. The horses loss hurts Helan bro far more than the men and he wants to punish the men who abandoned the horses against his orders. HeYe speaks up for them which enrages him even more. HeYe tells him not to pick on them that he was the one who abandoned the horses and can find him better ones but Helan bro decides he wants the Legendary Werewolves instead.
He was testing He Ye. And since he does not behave like a servant at all, he just wants to break (or get rid of) He Ye. And these Werewolves, you can ride on them? Intriguing.
I hate him.  I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him.  I hate his smirk.  I want to wipe it off his face with a brick. Maybe a werewolf will do it for me.
It is a foolhardy challenge but HeYe accepts it. They are supposedly found in the place of all nightmares that even his father dared not talk about - The Black Forest. After warning Helan bro that if he dares hurt any of the former Shuofeng tribe people when he is away that he will hurt him, He Ye sets off.
But Helan bro could cut their hair. I'd like that. 
Or maybe lend them a comb, at least. A tub.  Some water and soap even.
The Black forest is also coincidentally (so very coincidental it's amazing) the topic of conversation between Muyun De and Yu’er. While explaining why it is so scary, he suddenly gets a premonition and walks to Muyun room where time slows and the fairy walks in.
Muyun De's skin is bad.
That's how you know this isn't a Korean drama.
She asks if he has thought of a name for her yet and he says he has. Before he can say it, Muyun De praises her beauty and suggests a name for her but she shuts him down and wipes his memory. She takes Sheng back inside the bead where he tells her he’s named her Pan Xi.
Muyun De, you scumbag - she isn't yours! Back off! I get a bad feeling about this. It's not good Muyun De has seen her and knows her... (this "she appears"-scene was VERY long, but also very beautiful)
But he doesn't remember her now, so no harm no foul? Why did Pan Xi appear when someone else was there, even?
Coming to, he has strong feelings of deja vu, walks into Sheng’s room and takes the bead but Yu’er takes it back from him. He then needles her about still staying with Sheng even though she’s past marriageable age and that it must be because she has feelings for him. He cajoles her into giving him the bead saying it will help save Sheng’s life. She refuses still though it’s apparent she is conflicted.
Yes, why is she there? Does she love Sheng? Or is it pity that makes her stay? 
I just assumed it was similar to Korea, and court ladies are court ladies for life unless given permission otherwise.  It's different in China?
Pan Xi tells Sheng she has no recollection where she comes from but that there is a voice that wants her to awaken Sheng. She teaches him about Desolation and says he should get his powers from there. He is happy because it seems if he learns to use magical powers without sensing the force of the Yufei star, he won’t bring destruction into the world but she isn’t fully confident about that. She promises to teach him occultism and gives him a test to crack back in the real world.
Nah, I'm not fully confident about that either. I kind of like that he's bringing destruction. He is so gentle, normally. Such a nice contrast.
I tend to think that his gentleness is a deliberate attempt to appease those who think of him only as a force for destruction.  It might be his inclination as well - he may truly desire peace and quiet and all that - but it's in his interest to appear as harmless as possible, anyway.
 
Sheng gets back and instructs Yu’er he doesn’t want to be disturbed for some days fending off questions from De if he’s learning occultism and the episode ends with Muyun He Ge coming to pay De a visit in his rooms.
Scumbag. 
Every time we see this room I just stare at the orchid tree and wish I had that.  I know they grow on trees in the wild, but I have never seen such an arrangement in someone's home.

Comments

HeYe should have let Helan bro die. He didn’t even thank him for saving his life, the ingrate. That relationship is already very strained, I don’t see it working out well.
Helan Bro wants to use him, I guess. Or is it their past friendship that's the reason why he doesn't kill him?
I think he wants to use him, but that means that as soon as he's not useful, or as soon as his usefulness is exceeded by the threat of his existence, Helan Bro will try to kill him. I don't think there's one drop of loyalty in that man's blood and I look forward to He Ye removing him from this earth. My bloodthirstiness in this matter makes me want to chew raw steak, that's how much I crave that moment.

I am still very curious why De can also see Pan Xi and hope that’s revealed later in the future. He is so good at the art of seduction, that man. Yu’er is completely under his spell.
That makes me angry. I wished for her to be smarter and this to be less predictable.
Oh right, that's why Pan Xi appeared. Normally people can't see her!  Yes, I want to know why Muyun De can see her and they better explain it. As for Yu'er, all she knows of De is what she sees of him with Sheng, so I can understand why she is fooled by him - but I don't think she's into him for herself. I still see everything she does as Sheng-centered.