Till the End of the Moon Episode 8 Recap
> Till the End of the Moon Recap
Yingxin confronted Tantai Jin, accusing him of causing her madness. Tantai Jin retorted that she had colluded with Tantai Minglang to kill him and that he had merely defended himself. He revealed that Minglang wanted him dead, made to look like a suicide. Tantai Jin had anticipated the plot, switched their food, and feigned unconsciousness. When Yingxin went to find her accomplices, the drug took effect, and she collapsed.
Chief Wu, known for his cruelty, found her there, took her away, and abused her, leading to her insanity. Tantai Jin stated he only intended for her to suffer the consequences, attributing her greater agony to her "petty kindness" for using a sedative instead of a deadly poison. Ye Xiwu, reflecting on this, lamented Tantai Jin's mercilessness, wondering if the Devil God was truly beyond redemption.
Tantai Jin then declared to Ye Xiwu that he once blamed himself but now understood the fault lay with the world. He vowed to never forgive anyone who had abused or tried to kill him, explicitly including her in that vow. The Sheng King furiously confronted General Ye over Tantai Jin's escape. He accused General Ye's daughter, Ye Xiwu, of shameless behavior with Xiao Lin, which had resulted in Tantai Jin being housed with the Ye family.
Now, less than a year later, Tantai Jin was gone. General Ye admitted his negligence but vehemently denied conspiring with Jing Kingdom or intentionally releasing the hostage. The King, displaying a pile of impeachment memorials, ordered General Ye imprisoned in the three interdependent judicial departments. Ye Qingyu pleaded to take his elderly father's place, citing his father's old war wounds.
The King, however, assured Ye Qingyu that the prison was "clean and spacious" and instructed him to retrieve Tantai Jin swiftly to clear his family's name. He issued a stern command: if Tantai Jin could not be captured alive, his corpse must be brought back, emphasizing that Tantai Jin must not return to Jing Kingdom alive, even if it meant sacrificing others. Both General Ye and Ye Qingyu reluctantly accepted the decrees.
Nian Baiyu brought Ye Xiwu her meal, insisting on watching her eat as per Tantai Jin's orders. Ye Xiwu, with her hands tied, feigned helplessness to get Nian Baiyu to untie her. She then deliberately dropped her food bowl and, when he bent to pick it up, struck him unconscious. She thought about finding a small boat to escape. Guards were already searching for her, puzzled as to how she could have untied the Ruo-River rope without a spell.
A flashback revealed Jing Lan'an had given Ye Xiwu a spell to undo the rope and told her that escaping depended on her own ability. When Ye Xiwu asked why she helped, Lan'an cryptically replied it was a favor to herself. Ye Xiwu, unsure of Lan'an's true intentions, focused on evading the search. Meanwhile, Tantai Jin consumed a demonic elixir despite its foul smell. Lan'an later visited him, noticing his heavy sweating and asking if he was unwell.
Tantai Jin dismissed her concerns and presented her with a "tawny daylily" hairpin. He explained that since he lost his mother young and had no one to give such a meaningful item to—tawny daylily being a metaphor for mothers—he wanted her to have it. He thanked Lan'an for raising him and for all her plotting on his behalf, then mused about his elder brother's reaction upon seeing him.
Ye Xiwu, needing to avoid the searching guards, hid among a group of dancers and quickly disguised herself. She heard the other dancers discussing their hopes of pleasing Tantai Jin. When guards came looking for her, she skillfully deflected their suspicions by having her fellow dancers vouch for them all being "young ladies."
When Lan'an summoned the dancers to perform for Tantai Jin, Ye Xiwu, despite not knowing how to dance, grabbed a harp and pretended to play, thinking she had successfully blended in. Tantai Jin, however, who could perceive her presence, was secretly watching. He deliberately singled out Ye Xiwu, demanding she perform a solo dance. Realizing she'd been exposed, Ye Xiwu seized the opportunity.
Approaching Tantai Jin during her performance, she suddenly grabbed him, threatening to strangle him if the ship wasn't stopped and she wasn't allowed to escape on a dinghy. Tantai Jin remained unfazed, telling her she couldn't escape and that he would "play with her to the end." He ordered Nian Baiyu to the dinghy and commanded the rope be cut, ignoring Ye Xiwu's frantic threats.
Tantai Jin swiftly disarmed Ye Xiwu, ordering his guards to capture her, specifically demanding she be taken alive. Cornered at the edge of the ship, Ye Xiwu defiantly rejected Tantai Jin's offer of prolonged life, reminding him of his earlier vow to kill her. Declaring she wanted no such "charity," she spat at him and leaped into the water. Seeing her disappear, Tantai Jin's stoic demeanor briefly wavered. He immediately commanded Qi Shuang to find Ye Xiwu, "dead or alive."
Meanwhile, Xiao Lin approached the Sheng King, requesting to take over the task of pursuing Tantai Jin from Ye Qingyu. He admitted that capturing Tantai Jin was unlikely but proposed using the pursuit as a pretext for his Dragon Guards to inspect powerful regional forces and curb tax evasion, benefiting Sheng Kingdom. The King, recognizing Xiao Lin's shrewdness, ultimately agreed. Xiao Lin further argued that General Ye and Ye Qingyu were indispensable military talents.
He also pointed out that Tantai Minglang's cruel nature meant Tantai Jin's return to Jing Kingdom would lead to internal conflict, which was advantageous for Sheng. The King, seeing the Ye family's continued value, decided on a lighter punishment, granting Xiao Lin this favor to deliver to the Ye family. Though Tantai Minglang had ascended the throne, he remained deeply troubled by Tantai Jin's existence.
His loyal subordinate, Fu Yu, questioned why Tantai Jin, being a hostage with no power base, bothered him so much. Tantai Minglang explained it was because his father, Tantai Wuji, had always been infatuated with Concubine Rou, Tantai Jin's mother. In a flashback, Tantai Wuji confessed to Minglang that his only unfulfilled wish was to see Tantai Jin's eyes, which resembled Concubine Rou's. This reignited Minglang's long-held resentment.
He bitterly recalled his mother's death during an autumn hunt, which he blamed on Concubine Rou's "witchcraft." Minglang also recounted a childhood trauma: after his mother's death, Concubine Rou became pregnant, and palace rumors suggested her son would be the future king. He then suffered severe burns from an uncovered charcoal pot in his chamber, which he believed was due to neglect from servants favoring Concubine Rou.
His father’s subsequent remark about his "ominous appearance" making him unfit for the throne fueled his hatred. Enraged by his father's unwavering devotion to Concubine Rou even on his deathbed, Tantai Minglang, confirming his own interpretation that "a man dies the way a lamp goes out," violently strangled the already frail Tantai Wuji to death. Meanwhile, on Tantai Jin's ship, Lan'an falsely reported that Qi Shuang had found Ye Xiwu on shore and was waiting at a ferry ahead.
Tantai Jin, believing this, disembarked to find Ye Xiwu but instead walked into an ambush. He was shot by a poisonous needle, blinding one eye, and then forced to ingest a demonic elixir. To his shock, Lan'an, who had orchestrated the trap, appeared and took him hostage.
Nian Baiyu attempted to rescue him, but Lan'an, identifying herself as the High Priestess, threatened to kill Tantai Jin if his guards did not surrender, forcing Nian Baiyu's men to lay down their weapons. Tantai Minglang, watching from a distance, praised Lan'an for her cunning "bloodless victory," confirming she had deceived Tantai Jin into docking. He promised to return her daughter, Fuya, to her as a reward.
Tantai Minglang, seeing Tantai Jin blinded and poisoned, mockingly commented on his resemblance to Concubine Rou. He then offered to gouge out Tantai Jin's eyes and place them before his father's memorial tablet. Tantai Jin, though weakened, defied Minglang, stating he accepted his fate but would not waste time on old grievances. Minglang dismissed Tantai Jin's words, bringing forth a pot of burning charcoal.
He revealed his own scarred body, attributing his suffering to Concubine Rou and Tantai Jin, and vowed to inflict similar pain upon Tantai Jin. Lan'an, disturbed by Minglang's cruelty, attempted to intercede, but he silenced her. Tantai Jin retorted that Minglang's pain was irrelevant to him and that his true target for revenge should be Tantai Wuji. Tantai Minglang, however, insisted Tantai Jin owed him and vowed to torture him until he begged for death.
Accepting his inescapable doom, Tantai Jin demanded to know why Lan'an betrayed him. Lan'an tearfully confessed that her daughter, Fuya, was the reason. She explained that having a child made her vulnerable, no longer "indestructible." Prince Minglang had helped her find Fuya after she was lost years ago, forcing her to choose between loyalty to Tantai Jin and her daughter's safety.
She stated that no one would choose Tantai Jin, given his "gloomy and hard to understand" nature compared to her "pure and beautiful" daughter. Tantai Jin, revealing he knew why Yingxin went mad, scoffed at the idea that Lan'an's betrayal was solely for a "traitor" like Yingxin. Lan'an clarified that Yingxin's fate was merely the final confirmation that Tantai Jin's heart was a "cold fish," devoid of human emotion.
She lamented that for Tantai Jin, her and Yingxin's betrayal was no different from anyone else's, asserting he cruelly exploited those who treated him well and ruthlessly killed those who didn't. She confessed that her greatest surprise was successfully using Ye Xiwu to trap him, explaining it was she who freed Ye Xiwu and then lied about finding her to make the ship dock. Tantai Jin dismissed her claims that Ye Xiwu was special to him.
Lan'an then bitterly reflected on the irony of using the one person Tantai Jin might care for to destroy him. When Tantai Jin asked if she regretted her betrayal, Lan'an, with a firm "no," recalled saving his life with her own fingertip blood in the cold palace years ago, stating that "what goes around comes around" and she was now making a choice for him. Disappointed and resolute, Tantai Jin then ruthlessly unleashed poisonous insects, killing Lan'an.
Following Lan'an's death, Tantai Minglang further taunted Tantai Jin, detailing the potent poison in his eye: it would spread through his meridians, causing him to vomit blood three times before dying. Tantai Jin, unfazed, thanked Minglang for the information and, in a desperate attempt to purge the toxins, defiantly cut his own wrist to drain the poisoned blood. Minglang, stunned by this suicidal act, called him insane.
Tantai Jin countered that he was merely curious whether the poison or blood loss would kill him first. As Minglang continued to mock his "pathetic" resistance, Tantai Jin, with a final, chilling warning to Tantai Minglang that he would never know peace again, engaged him in a fierce struggle. Critically wounded and weakened, Tantai Jin ultimately plummeted into the turbulent Mohe River.
