The Dauntless Youths Episode 13 Recap
> The Dauntless Youths Recap
As the cave collapsed, Jiang Wenhuan and his allies rescued Jiang Wenfeng and other trapped soldiers. After personally bringing A Si to safety, Jiang Wenhuan rushed back inside for E Shun upon learning he had returned to the cave. However, he was intercepted by Ning Ziyu. In a critical moment, E Shun appeared and saved Jiang Wenhuan. Ning Ziyu, realizing he could no longer avenge his father and was utterly alone, succumbed to despair and took his own life.
Overwhelmed with guilt for previously doubting E Shun, Jiang Wenhuan sincerely apologized, admitting he had unfairly suspected him. The two opened up to each other and reconciled. Meanwhile, the Princess and her tribal members prepared to depart. Jiang Wenfeng bid them farewell, confirming that with the murderer of Chongyiwu identified and the tribe informed, relations between their nations would remain unaffected.
Jiang Wenfeng added that they had suffered a great disaster, but his efforts had protected the envoys, whose safety was paramount. The Princess expressed gratitude to General Jiang for uncovering the truth behind her husband's death and clearing the names of the two young masters. She reassured him that her father-in-law, Marquis Bei Bo, was aware of the situation and had instructed her to continue working with Donglu to protect Shangshan.
Gongsun Wuyu suspected that Ning Ziyu was not the true mastermind behind the schemes, believing his strategy lacked such depth. He found Kui Fang to be the most suspicious. A Si, upon waking, saw her household servants in mourning attire kneeling by the window. At first, she thought her father's death was a dream, but upon entering the main hall, she faced the grim reality of her Dad's passing.
An imperial decree arrived, stating that Mr. Li had colluded with rebels and conspired against their army. Considering his past merits, the decree ordered the confiscation of the Li family's assets and the reclamation of Kunqian Alley, but spared the family from full execution, citing Mr. Li's sacrifice. Jiang Wenhuan rushed to A Si's side, concerned for her, but she did not accept the decree. Instead, she ran to the mountain cave, hoping to find her Dad's body.
Outside the stone, she only found the beads her father had carefully crafted for her. Inside the cave, Jiang Wenhuan discovered sword-shaped stones entangled with red threads emerging from the ground. Jiang Wenfeng and Gongsun Wuyu soon arrived, identifying them as blood crystals. Gongsun Wuyu explained that these crystals, long thought extinct, were legendary in Donglu, growing in tombs and requiring the blood and bones of corpses to form. While harmless to the living, they could severely disfigure corpses.
To protect their ancestors, Donglu's people had burned the crystals a century ago. Jiang Wenfeng lamented their reappearance during their current ceremony, suspecting a major conspiracy. Gongsun Wuyu theorized that the deaths from the previous night had nourished dormant blood crystal seeds, causing them to emerge. They decided to excavate the unusual site to investigate further, also finding a half-torn ancestral edict from the Sheng'an ancestor. The fragment stated that the immortal elixir would appear when blood crystals resurfaced.
However, the missing second half left them uncertain of the full truth. Jiang Wenhuan wondered why, if Donglu was meant to guard the blood crystals, they had burned them, and Gongsun Wuyu suggested they might have merely buried some powder under the sacred statue, thus upholding the royal command while protecting the crystals in a place where no one would commit murder. However, the connection between the immortal elixir and the blood crystals remained unclear.
Gongsun Wuyu noted that the edict's material was a special leather from Zhongli, a state in Dongyi that had only joined Shangshan a decade prior. Lost in thought while holding her father's handmade ornament, A Si accidentally dropped it, revealing a hidden note. The letter detailed A Si's true identity: sixteen years ago, Ning Bohou, learning of the immortal elixir in Tu Village, led soldiers to search for it.
Mr. Li, then a bandit fleeing government soldiers, sought refuge in Tu Village by posing as a local. He had been out that fateful day, escaping the massacre of Tu Village. As he was leaving, he heard a baby crying from a box. Unable to abandon her, he carried the village's sole survivor, an infant girl (A Si), away and raised her as his own daughter.
When A Si fell gravely ill with a high fever, a fortune teller advised crafting a golden lock for blessings. While attempting to steal money for the lock, Mr. Li was caught and beaten. It was then that Ning Bohou found him, threatening him with a forgotten pouch from Tu Village and A Si's life, forcing Mr. Li to work for him.
From then on, Mr. Li became a pawn in Ning Bohou's schemes, managing the Kunqian Alley to smuggle weapons and intelligence. Mr. Li concluded his letter by revealing that all the strange events in Shangshan seemed to trace back to the Tu Village massacre and encouraged A Si to either investigate the truth or live a quiet life, affirming his love regardless of her choice. A Si, heartbroken but resolute, declared she knew what she had to do.
Meanwhile, Ning Bohou was alive, imprisoned in a mountain cave after being rescued by Kui Fang. A masked figure from Kui Fang revealed that the "giant" seen at the competition was Ning Bohou's eldest son. Ning Bohou was devastated that Kui Fang had transformed his son into a monster. The Kui Fang figure then told Ning Bohou that the immortal elixir he had been researching was, in fact, successful, a fact Ning Bohou was unaware of.
The masked figure then removed their mask, revealing their true face, terrifying Ning Bohou before brutally killing him. Elsewhere, a Taoist priest by the Shangshan King's side sensed the reappearance of the immortal elixir. The King was overjoyed, considering it the most important matter after years of searching. Although Lord Gongsun had reported trouble with Kui Fang, the King prioritized the elixir.
He immediately ordered the Prince's Camp to set out and find the medicine, appointing Jiang Wenhuan as the leader, a centurion of the Prince's Camp. A minister expressed bewilderment, wondering why such a crucial mission was entrusted to young princes like Jiang Wenhuan without senior officials accompanying them.
Another official explained that the King, having been wary of Ning Bohou's ambition to hoard the elixir and amass power, which led to the death of Ningzhou's heir, now trusted only the princes, who, as hostages, would be constrained by their home nations and thus less likely to keep the elixir for themselves. He assured the other minister that Jiang Wenhuan would be safe. Jiang Wenhuan was given a list of those who would accompany him.
Gongsun Wuyu and Jiang Wenfeng discussed that while the edict didn't explicitly state the elixir's location, its material—a special leather from Zhongli, a state in Dongyi that had recently submitted to Shangshan—was the reason for their mission. Gongsun Wuyu cautioned Jiang Wenhuan to be extremely careful on his journey to Zhongli, to which Jiang Wenhuan affirmed his commitment to his master's expectations.
