Tientsin Mystic Episode 15 Recap
> Tientsin Mystic Recap
Ding Mao and Gu Ying finally traversed the swamp, discovering a desolate hut in the uninhabited wilderness. Without hesitation, they burst into the thatched hut. Inside, they found no trace of Wu Laoxian, but a nearby shed containing peculiar white flowers caught Ding Mao's attention. He lifted a white curtain and peered inside, his vision blurring as he seemed to see the white flowers.
Ding Mao was drawn in and did not emerge until Gu Ying pulled him out with a sharp cry. Gu Ying commented that all men were alike, always wanting a second look at pretty things. She observed that the beautiful white flowers had a pervasive, enchanting scent, calling them "as ostentatious as an actress" and "bad news." Suddenly, Wu Laoxian appeared, first inside the hut, then vanishing and reappearing on the roof in a blink.
Gu Ying confronted him, telling him to come down, but he challenged her to come up. She climbed onto the roof, but he disappeared again, leading her to chase him. Ding Mao was also caught in the confusion, seemingly chasing Wu Laoxian along the river. Gu Ying, however, caught Ding Mao before he could jump into the river, realizing they were under a spell.
She recognized the alluring scent from the Juhua Grand Hotel, where Huang Yisuo had died, and revealed her mother had given her a "calming incense" which she claimed could break spells. They decided to split up to corner Wu Laoxian, Gu Ying along the river and Ding Mao by land. However, Wu Laoxian's illusionary techniques were too potent. Ding Mao found himself back in the hut, where he saw Uncle Hu calmly seated, with Wu Laoxian tied up outside.
Uncle Hu urged Ding Mao to kill Wu Laoxian as revenge for his father, claiming Wu Laoxian was a remnant of the Demonic Cult that he, Ding Mao's father, and Old Guo had once fought. Ding Mao hesitated, suspecting a trick, especially when Wu Laoxian transformed into his own reflection. Uncle Hu, however, insisted these were tricks of the Demonic Cult and continued to press Ding Mao to kill "him."
Meanwhile, Gu Ying was by the river, chasing a small boy playing with pebbles. The boy turned, revealing the face of a young Guo Deyou. He told her he had killed a human trafficker to save her, and therefore her life belonged to him, before attempting to strangle her. She cried out for Guo Deyou to wake up.
Guo Deyou, having learned of Wu Laoxian's whereabouts from the ghost market, rushed to the riverbank and encountered an older man, whom he initially believed to be his Master, Senior Tientsin Mystic. However, Guo Deyou quickly saw through the deception; his real Master would never smoke in front of him. Realizing he was under an illusion, Guo Deyou asked the fake Master to slap him to break the spell.
Upon escaping the illusion, Guo Deyou found himself on the ground, his face stinging, having seemingly slapped himself. Gu Ying also broke free from her illusion by cutting her ankle, as she observed bleeding seemed to be the only way to awaken. She hurried back to the hut, where she found Ding Mao holding a knife to himself, still in an illusion, while Wu Laoxian (also an illusion) watched on delightedly.
Gu Ying swung a stick at the illusory Wu Laoxian, who evaded it. She then quickly cut Ding Mao's ankle, causing him to bleed and awaken from his trance. The duo then staged a dramatic scene, with Gu Ying feigning death and Ding Mao pretending to be distraught. Guo Deyou arrived, and overcome with emotion, confessed his deep care for Gu Ying, lamenting that she insisted on involving herself in dangerous affairs.
Gu Ying and Ding Mao, unable to hold back their laughter, revealed it was a prank to elicit Guo Deyou's true feelings, much to his fury. Analyzing their experiences, Ding Mao speculated that they had unknowingly fallen victim to Wu Laoxian's hallucinogenic flowers. He explained that many plants and animals, such as mandalas, sage, certain fungi, tree frogs, and the "fork-toothed sea bream" fish, could cause hallucinations if ingested, but they had only smelled Wu Laoxian's flowers.
Gu Ying reiterated that only bleeding had broken her illusion, and therefore Ding Mao's as well. Soon after, a cry for help led them to a clearing where they found Huang Yu in a panicked state, with Wu Laoxian lying dead nearby. Captain Fu arrived with Mrs. Huang and police officers.
Huang Yu confessed to killing Wu Laoxian, claiming he was kidnapped by Wu Laoxian and acted in self-defense, using the Huang family's unique knot-tying and untying skills to escape his bonds. Mrs. Huang confirmed that the white flowers Ding Mao and Gu Ying described were "camel flowers," an important Huang family medicinal ingredient that could cause hallucinations, but was not potent enough on its own to induce such strong effects.
She also revealed that Gu Ying's "calming incense" was merely brown sugar and flour, confirming the "placebo effect" was at play. Ding Mao inquired about the illusion that could only be broken by bleeding. Mrs. Huang, after some reluctance, confirmed it was the Huang family's "highest secret art," deemed too dangerous and therefore no longer passed down to new generations.
She added that only the Head of the Huang family (which after Huang Yisuo's death, was now herself) possessed such knowledge, and since she had only just arrived, she could not have been the culprit. Captain Fu dispatched his officers to search the area for any remaining traps Wu Laoxian might have set, with Mrs. Huang, at Ding Mao's request, agreeing to assist with her expertise, leaving Guo Deyou to watch over Huang Yu.
Guo Deyou then skillfully cornered Huang Yu, first by mentioning the limestone powder he had secretly sprinkled outside Huang Yu's window. Since Huang Yu claimed to have been kidnapped from his room, the presence of limestone powder on his own shoes but not on Wu Laoxian's indicated he had left the house willingly.
Guo Deyou then revealed that the "fish knot" used to strangle Wu Laoxian was the same as the one found on Huang Yisuo, a knot that only the Huang family knew how to tie and untie. Huang Yu, realizing he was exposed, prepared to use the same technique on Guo Deyou.
However, Guo Deyou preemptively pricked Huang Yu's shoulder, using a needle coated with a concoction of tobacco leaves and puffer fish blood, which he described as a potent paralyzing agent. Huang Yu immediately felt his limbs growing numb and collapsed, acknowledging that he had been defeated by poison despite his lifelong study of medicine. Huang Yu then confessed his full scheme. Since childhood, he felt overshadowed by his elder brother, Huang Yisuo, despite his superior talent.
He was enraged when his mother chose his "dull" brother to be the Head of the family, especially seeing Huang Yisuo disrespect their traditional arts by flaunting their secret medicine-making techniques and publicly performing Western magic. To uphold the Huang family's reputation and claim leadership, he conspired with Wu Laoxian to stage a kidnapping and murder of Huang Yisuo, framing Wu Laoxian as the culprit.
After the deed, Wu Laoxian wished to return to the Huang family, but Huang Yu, seeing him as "shortsighted" and a liability to his plans for the "revival of the School of Magic," betrayed and murdered him to silence him. Guo Deyou later clarified to Ding Mao and Gu Ying that the needle he used on Huang Yu was not poisoned, but merely invoked a "placebo effect," leading Huang Yu to believe he was paralyzed and confess.
They pieced together that they had all initially fallen under the spell from incense burned at the Huang family mourning hall, with Guo Deyou being less affected due to holding his breath. Ding Mao concluded that Huang Yu used "The Art of Soft Bones" to hide in a large suitcase carried by Wu Laoxian, thus appearing absent from the crime scene.
Guo Deyou also revealed that Huang Yu was responsible for the death of Lian Hua-qing, his informant from the ghost market, who was killed by the "Immortal Rope," further connecting Huang Yu to the Demonic Cult. When they brought Huang Yu to the police station for interrogation, they found him in a state of complete mental derangement. He had confessed to his crimes, but now his communication ability was lost, behaving like a severely mentally ill person.
Captain Fu explained that they couldn't get any more information from him and would have to arrange a psychiatric evaluation before deciding whether to send him to prison, leaving the case once again shrouded in mystery.