[Word of Honor] Once, a Stunning Figure Shone Through the Shadows

This story is mainly about Zhou Zishu, who, while serving in the Window of Heaven, enters Ghost Valley to search for the whereabouts of the Colored Glaze Armor and meets Wen Kexing. A misunderstanding arises between them over the armor. After leaving Ghost Valley, they meet again, resolve their differences, and join forces to carry out a grand plan: eliminate Zhao Jing, destroy the Scorpion, kill Mo Huaiyang, destroy the Armory, and eradicate the threat for good. In my view, both Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing have self-destructive tendencies, but they take them to opposite extremes. Zhou Zishu's heart drifts aimlessly, with nowhere to settle. Though he always says, "I'd be a beggar for three years and wouldn't trade it for being emperor," he isn't truly detached from the world or content. He lives as if dead while still alive. The sun shines on him and he drinks fine wine, but neither can fill the loneliness inside him. He's simply looking for an ending to his absurd life that seems a little less absurd. Wen Kexing, meanwhile, has tied his entire heart to revenge. Revenge is his reason to live and his excuse to die. He lives as though already facing death, wanting to burn along with this corrupt world. He cannot find a moment's peace while alive: in sleep, he has nightmares; awake, he faces an even deeper nightmare. Yet he is unwilling to die and cannot die. Only dying in pursuit of revenge offers him an escape from this Sisyphean fate. That's why, after meeting Zhou Zishu, he tries desperately to seize that ray of light, hanging everything he has precariously on Zhou Zishu alone, as if walking a tightrope. His lack of confidence in Zhou Zishu, even his self-loathing, comes from the same place. He has no other ties left in this world, and I want him to have more. This is a story of two people saving each other, and helping themselves and others find salvation. There is no question of one being stronger or weaker, or of one giving and the other taking. They are evenly matched, meeting at just the right time. Let us raise a cup of wine and sing wildly together. To bask in the sun, and have someone call your name, is enough. Thesis: Meeting a worthy rival, stirring up the winds and clouds, deciding everything in a brief conversation, sharing life and death, and keeping a promise worth its weight in gold.