cw: violence and blood and gore

why Yan Xun out-Rasputins Rasputin, a thread

(mute now to avoid seeing aforementioned violence, etc.)

so at the start of this flight-from-the-city scene, Yan Xun is healthy

by the end of it, he has 2 wounds: an arrow to the side (arrowhead & shaft still embedded) and another one.

after he takes the arrow to the side, he fights for like 10 mins straight & offs 20ish enemies

the other injury he sustains during this fight is from a Heavenly Eyes ice arrow. now this thing LOOKS tiny but it usually kills people ded immediately, so the fact that he takes one to the chest and keeps ticking is bananas

the very next time we see them after capture, Xing’er and Yan Xun look a LOT more jacked up, and Yan Xun in particular is barely conscious. Xing’er gets worried about his injury from the ice arrow

anyway, looks like they got beat after capture OR their injuries stiffened later

during their talking-through-the-wall scenes in prison, Yan Xun is always breathless, and he’s in too much pain to eat, which isn’t a great sign (at this point he has learned that Xing’er isn’t her real name and has dubbed her, i shit you not, Ah Chu)

so if you’re me, at this point you’re thinking “Yan Xun doesn’t have much gas left in the tank” and “Yan Xun probably will not be in any more fight scenes until after he heals”

well, you would be wrong, because i was!

1st sign that Yan Xun just discovered a new power source: they have to kick his legs out from under him to get him to kneel

why? b/c he just realized ~someone~ in his family must’ve been assassinated b/c the imperial bells tolled a certain number of times (my guess)

so then they bring out 10ish boxes w/ the heads of all his family members (father, brothers, sister, etc.—only his mother is still alive) and tell him to ID the bodies, and we’re off to the races

so he gets punched here, kneed, whacked a couple times, then he headbutts Huai

smacked around a bit more

the guys in the red are about to be his main opponents

i think the fellas in the silver are meant to hang back and protect the royals in the box seats above

so he can barely get to his feet at this point

like, he’s struggling

so then, a moment later, Huai opens one of the boxes and shows him what’s inside. i’m sure you can figure out what it was. Yan Xun reacts thusly:

he sees the box on top of the altar and decides to go for it

Huai is also up there so i’m guessing he wanted to get him? idk. but look how he ends this moment. 3ish spears to the gut. if you’re me, you’re thinking “Yan Xun is DONE-done. finito. it’s OVER.”

it is absolutely NOT OVER

next, Huai decides not to let Yan Xun identify the heads in boxes after all? so you’re thinking “well Yan Xun is definitely dead after THAT” but guess what

so, at this point the pikemen are like “you know what? we no longer want a piece of this, we are good”

next he gets filled full of arrows but still manages to get up

and it’s not over yet! but i ran out of energy for this thread before Yan Xun ran out of energy for fighting the emperor’s troops apparently

did Yan Xun live or die? survive the scene or not?? what do you think??

later on, like 6 episodes later, a bunch of guys are riding out to ambush Yan Xun

and they realize he’s taking a different road than they thought and the leader goes “enh, we still have 9 guys—9 of us vs. 1 Yan Xun is still fine!”

bro you were AT the altar before, you SAW him

they were BOTH there
they sat in the box for the royals and watched Yan Xun WAX like 50 guys while he was half dead

like

dude.

just. wyd.

p.s. lol i feel so bad for horses when actors don’t know how to ride

protip if you ever end up on a horse & you don’t know what you’re doing: imagine that their mouth is as sensitive as yours

don’t jerk on the bit—keep the very lightest contact w/ the mouth and don’t yank the reins unless it’s an emergency! tiny movements of the reins will do.

don’t be this guy!

he is hurting that poor baby’s mouth. also keep your hands down low—close to the saddle and close to the horse’s neck.