I certainly mixed things together!!! The drama is super vague about the events after the Nightless City (does WWX body fully disappeared because he commited suicide??!)… I thought nobody found WWX body cause LZ took the injured WWX away… also they mentioned the 1st siege of Burial Mounds few times in the drama… if there was no WWX body there, what was the point of Burial Mounds first siege?! Anyway, either the drama is very ambiguous or I confused the drama vs. the novel!!!

I wonder how he found his flute, he had it when he fell.
I think they were smart deciding LZ would go there to try to find him, I just wish they had showed us the entire scene because it would have been important. The drama version in which WWX chooses to jump and LZ tries to save him was much better for dramatic effect.
I have to find that part in the novel again I did not know LZ confessed anything then and if WWX was mad how could he have listened. Besides LZ wasn’t dumb, it was rather easy to understand when WWX returned he didn’t remember or know many things, he would never have acted silly and joked about some things if he knew.

@persianrose Yaaa. The drama doesn’t really explain much at all. In the novel his body was basically ripped apart and scattered (which was also vague as everyone says it was JC who killed him but WWX insists it was because his powers backfired and killed him. But he had also confessed that he doesn’t have any memories after Nightless City so who knows what actually happened) but I think due to the censors the drama had to keep his death and how he returned pretty vague. I’ve actually seen some theories that he didn’t even die. But what I think happened in the drama is this (since some is vague this is more my own thoughts):

WWX falls down the cliff and does die. JC goes down to make sure he is dead but cannot find any body, only old bones and his flute. Since no body was found the sects can’t confirm or deny if he is alive or dead so they go to search the Burial Mounds. LZ goes there to prevent them from searching. I don’t know if this was done thinking he was alive or done just out of love to stop everyone from trampling what was left of what was WWX’s home. While there LZ finds Ah Yuan. LZ’s uncle is furious at him standing against all the sects and punishes to 300 beatings + 3 years confinement. But ultimately, until he returned 16 years later, the last time LZ saw WWX was when he fell down the cliff.

@lixie You can actually see the flute falling before him, but ya his whole death was kinda vague.

And here is the chapter Chapter 99. And he may not have outright confessed anything but this was from the novel:

“With the ways in which he looked and talked to you when he saved you and hid you in that cave, even someone who was blind or deaf could perceive his feelings, which was why my uncle was in such anger.”

And than this:

He suddenly felt terrified. If Lan WangJi didn’t know that he couldn’t at all recall what happened in the few days after the massacre at Nightless City, if Lan WangJi thought that he knew about his feelings all along, just how horrible were the things he did after he came back?

Then, back at the inn, when he pushed him away so suddenly, was it also because… he thought it was another instance of spur-of-the-moment presumption?

1- Re WWX death: In the drama WWX defines his death as a dream… I’m not quite sure what’s the buddhist belief of death… but he certainly didn’t go to the afterworld or become a ghost hence it’s like he was in a deep long sleep while nobody was able to find neither his body nor his soul… Could it be that his soul was hidden using his domenic cultivation power?!
2- Re LZ receiving 300 beatings + 3 years confinement: it’s too harsh if it’s only for protecting WWX’s den!!!
3- I cannot buy the idea of JC killing WWX either, JC held a deep love for WWX beneath his hatred, vengeance, and insecurity… he might be able hurt him (verbally and physically), but he’s never able kill him!!

@persianrose For his death that’s definitely a good theory! The drama was definitely vague about some plot points. Like WWX death. What happened to him between those 16 years? Or did he really die? Why couldn’t anyone find his body? I personally think he did die and was just a wandering spirit. And I think the drama purposefully left what happened to his body vague because, well, he comes back looking like himself so it might have been confusing if his body was found and destroyed? 🤔

Ya, the drama for whatever reason felt the need to make the punishment ridiculously high. I mean in the novel the 33 lashes he received was already nearly a death sentence. And it doesn’t make as much sense in the drama since what he did wasn’t nearly as bad as what he did in the novel.

I personally think what WWX said is what happened, rather than what everyone else claims (that JC killed him). His powers backfired and basically tore his body and spirit apart. WWX also claimed a few times that’s what happened so I feel like he was quite sure about his demise.

I like hearing other’s theories and thoughts about what they think happened in the vague parts 😁 Shows how obsessed I am with this drama lol

@persianrose
I like this theory too. I always thought his resentment or madness was so much, along with his powers, that he was kept in a limbo, dead but not gone, so MXY was able to call him back to life.
I agree the change from 30 to 300 was ridiculous but maybe they changed the whip from novel to drama, which would make it easier to take.
JC did kill WWX, LZ was still holding him, JC is very impulsive and had been suspecting WWX was doing bad deeds for quite a long time, this was just after the sister died protecting WWX, I believe he would go crazy and kill him just like he did, that scene was perfect for me.
@trinpie
I always felt WWX didn’t want to blame JC for his death because he still loved him but even if WWX jumped, JC still made the choice for him, in the drama WWX removes his hand to avoid dragging LZ to death with him so JC still made the choice for him, killing him.
Don’t even get me talking about the vague parts of the drama! I’m still wondering about the evil curse that disappeared and their reunion in ep 33 and the crazy way he was just awake in his own body, without being shown LZ finding out his real body.

@lixie Oh I should have made it clear. When I was speaking of WWX death I was actually speaking about his novel death.

But in the drama I agree it was partly JC fault. LZ might have been able to save him but JC caused WWX to throw himself to his death to save LZ. To me it looked like JC was either going to break the rock, thus tumbling both WWX and LZ down, or was going to cut their wrists.

And yes, the whole curse thing was explained by a very vague single line. On my first watch I spent the whole rest of the drama thinking he was cursed lol So everytime he was weak I thought it was the curse