The Sun in the Dark Episode 16 Recap
> The Sun in the Dark Recap
After witnessing their past and present lives within the Divine Sword, Yixi finally understood. The prophecy stated that the Night Deity must be sealed into the purest soul vessel, and a powerful cultivator would transform into the Divine Sword and its spirit, enabling the Sword Master to slay the Night Deity. Furthermore, an individual with supreme cultivation could absorb the sealed Night Deity from the soul vessel, converting its power into their own.
Yixi's senior, who possessed the ability to glimpse the future, had discovered this possibility, but also saw the great ambition in their senior brother, Wan Guchen, and decided it must be kept secret to avoid disaster. Yixi realized the Night Deity's power could be transferred to another's body, and she remembered everything from their past. Distraught, she questioned if their fate would always be the same, eternally separated with her losing her memories again.
Wan Guchen assured Yixi she would not suffer the same fate. After twelve hundred years, he had finally found a way to save her: he would transfer the Night Deity's power from her body into his own, so she would no longer be its vessel. He then planned to pass all his cultivation to her. Yixi vehemently refused, asking if he expected her to kill him.
She insisted there must be another way, but Wan Guchen was resolute, stating he must proceed regardless, as they had searched the Three Realms and found this to be the only method. He then commanded Yixi, as her master, to remain and cultivate, forbidding her from leaving. Soon after, as Wan Guchen absorbed the Night Deity's power, he succumbed to it and collapsed, prompting Yixi to panic and plead with him not to die.
When Wan Guchen awoke, he found himself within the Divine Sword's realm, realizing the Night Deity's power had awakened prematurely. He discovered that the Night Deity had fully taken control of Yusheng, who had willingly surrendered her body to prevent Wan Guchen's plan from succeeding. The Night Deity, speaking through Yusheng, mocked Wan Guchen, boasting of Yusheng's gullibility. Wan Guchen, desperate, offered his own body as a vessel, but the Night Deity scornfully refused, preferring to watch them suffer eternally.
In a brief moment of lucidity, Yusheng begged Wan Guchen to kill her. Unable to bring himself to do it again, Wan Guchen watched in agony as Yusheng chose a different path. She severed her nine tails, declaring that she had transferred all her spiritual and demonic energy into them, thus rendering herself unable to harm him. Heartbroken, Wan Guchen questioned her sacrifice, knowing it meant the loss of all her cultivation.
Yusheng simply affirmed that her master mattered more to her than anything. Still, the Night Deity remained trapped within Yusheng, taunting Wan Guchen, who could only lament why their endings always brought such sorrow. Wan Guchen realized he now possessed a portion of the Night Deity's power. He understood that the divine-demon exchange technique within the Divine Sword could indeed transfer the Night Deity into another, but it required the other person's cooperation.
Since Yusheng would not willingly allow it, he resolved to wait for the next lifetime. He decided he must conceal his true purpose from Yixi, vowing to use the fragment of Night Deity's power he now held to become a "false Night Deity." He publicly announced his resignation as Sword Master, relinquishing his position and leaving the immortal sects.
The Immortal Lord rebuked him for abandoning his duties for Bai Yixi's reincarnation, but Wan Guchen retorted that he had always kept his promises regarding the Night Clan and Night Deity, leaving them to handle such matters for the next three centuries themselves. To truly complete the divine-demon exchange, Wan Guchen knew the only way was to transform himself into the Night Deity, enduring the suffering in Yixi's place.
He willingly subjected himself to three centuries of heavenly thunder to destroy his immortal bones, three centuries of Night Energy's searing pain to rebuild his flesh and bones, and three centuries of Night Fire consuming his heart to reforge his bloodline. Yixi, witnessing his agonizing transformation into Ye Chenyuan, desperately cried out for him to stop. After three centuries, his appearance was completely reshaped.
He declared that no one would recognize Wan Guchen; only the reviled Night Deity, Ye Chenyuan, scorned by the Three Realms, would remain. Ye Chenyuan announced his plan to break the cursed fate, beginning with his return as the new Night Deity. He swiftly asserted his dominance over the Night Clan, claiming the sword crystal to manipulate the future Sword Master's actions.
When confronted by immortal guards for breaching sacred grounds, Hua Yuying defended him, declaring him the Lord Night Deity. Despite initial skepticism from an immortal general who had fought the Night Deity for fifteen centuries, Ye Chenyuan's display of the Night Deity's power convinced them. He declared his name, Ye Chenyuan, and stated that the sword crystal now belonged to the Night Clan.
His ultimate goal was to obtain the Divine Sword, remove all threats to the Night Clan, and lead them to dominate all Three Realms for eternity. Everything proceeded according to his plan, and the third step was to wait for Bai Xiaoying. Bai Xiaoying finally found him, and within the Divine Sword's realm, she witnessed the truth: it was she who killed her own mother, and Ye Chenyuan had merely absorbed the Night Deity's power into himself to save her.
She saw his internal struggle, vowing to make her hate him and to be the person she hated most in this life. He explained his actions, using the Soul-Binding Rope to absorb all the Night Deity's power from her, resolute in bearing all the suffering this time. Bai Xiaoying finally understood he wasn't spewing demonic energy at her, but sacrificing himself to draw the Night Deity's power from her.
She overheard his internal monologue about how he needed to absorb the demonic energy faster, so she could obtain the Divine Sword, become the Sword Master, and ultimately kill him, for her salvation. She saw his anguish as the power erupted prematurely, fearing he would lose her. He urged her to hold her breath and focus, determined to protect her this time. He expressed his heartache at making her suffer, apologizing for it, and then urged her to kill him.
Bai Xiaoying refused, stating that a gentleman does not take advantage of another, insisting that he owed her his life. Bai Xiaoying then confronted Ye Chenyuan, questioning why he had saved her, and he feigned cruelty, stating he kept her alive to prolong her suffering, unwilling to let her die so easily. Hua Yuying, however, understood his true emotions, knowing he was angry that his deception made Bai Xiaoying hate him.
Bai Xiaoying, piecing together the timeline, confronted him about his alleged twenty-year seclusion and the truth of her mother's death. Ye Chenyuan maintained his indifferent facade, claiming he cared nothing for the world's accusations. Hua Yuying, in turn, told Ye Chenyuan that he had learned nothing in fifteen centuries if he chose to deceive Bai Xiaoying and then grew upset when she didn't love him.
Ye Chenyuan explained his final plan to fully absorb the Night Deity's power from her before the Divine Sword awakened. He then tested her, asking if she would still kill him if he were truly the Night Deity. Bai Xiaoying vowed to prove he was not.
Driven by his painful memories of watching her die repeatedly, Ye Chenyuan resolved to do something to completely break her heart, so she would hate him, viewing it as the only way to change her destiny. He urged her to hate him, to kill him, and let everything end. Bai Xiaoying finally realized the vast scheme Ye Chenyuan had orchestrated was all for her, to reunite with her, and she vowed not to let him succeed in his self-sacrificial plan.
She confronted him, asking if he intended to hide everything until his death. Ye Chenyuan, with a pained "I'm sorry," admitted he had deceived her for six lifetimes. Bai Xiaoying questioned if it was worth waiting alone for fifteen hundred years, transforming himself into the reviled Night Deity.
Ye Chenyuan asserted his purpose, stating that he was the true vessel of the Night Deity, that it was his fate, not hers, and he no longer needed her to bear the burden. He confessed his unbearable pain from watching her suffer and die countless times, helpless to intervene, and declared that this time, he would not endure such agony again. He apologized profusely and then urged her to complete the final step: to kill him.
He explained that if she did not act, the demonic energy would completely consume him, rendering all their efforts futile and plunging the Three Realms into bloodshed. Bai Xiaoying refused, stating that after all they had endured and with her memories restored, she could not possibly kill him. She would rather abandon the Three Realms than see him die.
Despite her desperate pleas for him not to leave her alone and for him to live, Ye Chenyuan made his ultimate sacrifice. He used the Divine Sword on himself, believing only his death would allow Bai Xiaoying to truly live.
Returning to the immortal realm, Bai Xiaoying was met with effusive praise from her Master and other immortals, who lauded her as a hero for slaying the "wicked Night Deity" and becoming the new Sword Master, even offering her the title of War God. However, Bai Xiaoying, disgusted by their ignorance and her Master's pleased expression, calmly declared that she remembered everything from the past fifteen hundred years. She then revealed the shocking truth to the Immortal Lord: Ye Chenyuan was, in fact, Wan Guchen. The Immortal Lord was stunned.
