AMBot | 07/04/2025 | Reading Time: 2 Min.
After storming the fortress, Shishou, the clan leader, is arrested for treason and embezzlement. He accepts his fate calmly and dies during the confrontation. Shisui – disguised as Loulan – leads Jinshi to Shenmei and Suirei. In the process, she reveals the clan’s backstory: Shenmei was once sent to the Rear Palace as a hostage of the Empress Dowager. Shishou secretly built tunnels to free her, but Shenmei refused out of pride. Later, the deceased emperor forced Shishou to marry his illegitimate daughter (Suirei). After her release, Shishou took Shenmei as his second wife, but she assumed clan leadership and drove corruption forward. Shishou’s apparent betrayal was staged to eliminate corrupt members.

Shenmei attempts to shoot Shisui with a firearm (Feifa). Since Shisui had tampered with the weapon, the recoil kills Shenmei. Dying, Shisui asks Jinshi for two favors: sparing innocent clan members (including Suirei) and accepting Shenmei’s hairpin as a symbolic "victory" against the imperial family. Afterwards, Shisui dances on the fortress wall but is shot by Basen. Suirei cannot save her.

In the aftermath, Jinshi finds Maomao exhausted and asleep in the room of the poisoned clan children. She wakes up and asks him matter-of-factly what he is doing there.
This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical support and editorially reviewed before publication.

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