The Demon Hunter's Romance Episode 23 Recap, Plot

> The Demon Hunter's Romance
> The Demon Hunter's Romance Recap

Jiu Xuanye kept dodging the people trying to kill him. Sha Man painted a doppelgänger of Jiu Xuanye into the picture and led a group of people in pursuit. While fleeing for his life, Jiu Xuanye burst into the wedding of Chu Youhuang and Duan Banxia. The Xiangshan brothers noticed someone was trying to assassinate their eldest brother and immediately stepped in to help.

Duan Banxia curiously poked her head out to look and locked eyes with Jiu Xuanye for a long time but didn’t recognize him. Chu Youhuang realized that the group was not only after Jiu Xuanye but also targeting him, and they had ruined the wedding. Enraged, he ordered his men to fend off the assassins.

Sha Man screamed furiously and unleashed more soldiers into the soul battle, then transformed himself into the leader of the soldiers and commanded them to capture Jiu Xuanye. Chu Youhuang had just killed one version of Sha Man when another Sha Man appeared in official robes, angrily stopping him and accusing the uniformed men of committing murder in public. Sha Man claimed to be from the Dali Court and was carrying out orders.

He instructed his subordinates to arrest Chu Youhuang. When Chu Youhuang was captured, Sha Man punched him and knocked him out, then ordered everyone present to be arrested and raised his blade to kill Jiu Xuanye. At that moment, Duan Banxia kicked Sha Man away, fought off his men single-handedly, and came to Jiu Xuanye, asking if they knew each other. Jiu Xuanye told her they did indeed know each other and had once watched the moon together.

While searching for Prince Xinan, Sima Lingying passed by Tihu Book Studio and heard Sha Man angrily shouting inside about killing someone. She knocked on the door, planning to go in. Sha Man, who was about to insert more characters into the painting, was forced to stop but didn’t want to let her in. He lied and said the place was closed.

Unexpectedly, Sima Lingying kicked open the door, saw the Immortal's Guide inside, and realized Chu Youhuang had disappeared here. She then interrogated Sha Man about Chu Youhuang’s whereabouts. As Duan Banxia and Jiu Xuanye were leaving together, they were ambushed and had to separate, agreeing to meet at Simao’s house. Jiu Xuanye later returned home and realized that Simao among his brothers was the key.

He had long suspected Simao was the mastermind since the creator of this world wouldn’t just stay outside and observe. Jiu Xuanye was certain Sha Man was not the true master of the painting, as even unarmed, Sha Man was no match for him in combat. He concluded the real demon was within. Every time Jiu Xuanye woke up, Xiangshan and Xiangfeng remained unchanged, but Simao’s demeanor would shift. The first time, he showed concern for Jiu Xuanye.

The second time, he talked about going to work. From then on, Jiu Xuanye grew suspicious. Upon questioning, he learned Simao’s real name was Shen—an ancient divine beast who had developed spiritual intelligence. Shen had cultivated for a thousand years to reach his current power and, upon arriving in Guangping, fell in love with the place. He enjoyed sugar-coated haws, the fine wine, the beautiful scenery, and wandered every alley before settling in the underground city, painting everything he saw.

He painted for a hundred years, but could never capture the true divine charm of the Six Absolutes, so he devised a way to trap living people in paintings. Some were captured by him, but some came on their own. When he painted Fa'en Temple, he couldn't capture the image of the Tearful Guanyin. Then he met Tang Ruyun, who had come looking for Duan Banxia—her weeping face resembled Guanyin. But after painting her, she no longer cried.

One day, he saw her sending a letter to Duan Yingheng, which made her cry again. So he decided to bring Duan Yingheng into the painting so they could see each other every day but never speak, thus making Guanyin weep. Hearing this, Duan Banxia couldn't take it and stabbed Shen, but he was unharmed. Jiu Xuanye also exposed that Shen was not an ancient divine beast but a cowardly Yueworm.

He claimed to have seen the moon but didn’t dare look at it. On the fifteenth night, Shen was burned by moonlight and fled to the underground city, where he met his companion demon. The companion gave him a brush and an idea, and he painted Guangping City. However, he didn’t dare return to Guangping and could only paint from memory. Jiu Xuanye mocked him as a pitiful creature.

Jiu Xuanye had long found it strange that this world lacked a moon and that people only awakened when the moon was mentioned. Since no one ever talked about the moon, it hinted at Shen’s identity. Jiu Xuanye proposed that if Shen let everyone go, he would spare him. Shen laughed, thinking people outside suffered from emotional pain, while here, everyone lived happily and eternally—wasn’t that a joy? But Jiu Xuanye exposed it all as fake.

Shen asked what was real, claiming that everything Jiu Xuanye had was as illusory as moonlight in the mirror or flowers in water, that both inside and outside the painting were the same—just a dream. Realizing Jiu Xuanye had seen through everything, Shen attacked him. Duan Banxia struck back for him, but suddenly a strong wind blew in from Shenque and sucked Duan Banxia into a room, where everything spun wildly and flung her out.

Shen chased after her to kill her, but Jiu Xuanye used his bracelet to block the blade. Duan Banxia feared they couldn’t kill Shen, but Jiu Xuanye looked up—moonlight streamed from the sky, and everything in the painting began to vanish. Tang Ruyun was freed from the Guanyin statue and smiled at Duan Yingheng. Shen never dreamed there would be a moon in his dream. Watching everything disappear, he didn’t understand where the moon came from.

Jiu Xuanye told him that if sound from the painting could escape, then so could scent. So he had someone cook sheep lung soup—Yueworms’ favorite. The moon in the painting was actually a Yueworm. Shen smiled at the moon in the sky, saying it was beautiful, and eventually turned into a worm. Outside, Sha Man was also killed by Sima Lingying and turned into a pile of sand.

To her surprise, the painting in front of her gradually turned into blank paper. In that manga-like world, a girl ran as a bear chased her. The young Man Ying saved her, and blood stained his spear handle. He wiped it with a handkerchief. Twelve years later, the handkerchief still bore the blood, proving the Second Prince was still alive. Zi Kong stood there, recalling the scene and ordered his men to find the Second Prince.

Though twelve years had passed without a trace, Zi Kong swore to bring him back before his father made a move. He asked his subordinates for a Peach Talisman, planning to search for the Second Prince via the Wuyou River. Chu Youhuang recounted the events inside the painting to Sima Lingying and Wen Jian, also sarcastically noting that Sima Lingying had destroyed Sha Man purely by accident.

Jiu Xuanye’s bracelet had blocked a blade for Duan Banxia in the painting, and now in the real world, a crack had appeared in the imprint on his wrist—it couldn’t be healed. Duan Banxia kept making excuses not to return, and Ting Zhou also seemed reluctant. Duan Banxia suspected Ting Zhou had fallen for Chi Xue, but Ting Zhou claimed humans and demons were different, and she would never fall for a demon.

Duan Banxia blurted out that she didn’t mind being with one. Ting Zhou thought she was just being sarcastic since Jiu Xuanye wasn’t a demon. Duan Banxia said no more, but she remembered how, in the painting, when Jiu Xuanye blocked the blade for her, she saw that his shadow had the head of a bear. Sima Lingying invited Duan Banxia, Chu Youhuang, Jiu Xuanye, and the others to a meal. Chu Youhuang even picked out fish bones and handed them to Duan Banxia.

Episode 22 Recap

Episode 24 Recap

Related Posts