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"Although I had a bad reputation, I did no evil nor took any revenge. Am I that fierce of a spirit?"
— Wei Wuxian, trying to figure out why he was resurrected
13 years after his death, the "Yiling Patriarch" Wei Wuxian finds himself back among the living once more thanks to Mo Xuanyu, who summoned his spirit into his body to exact revenge on his abusive family.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The donkey Wei Wuxian rides on while causing mischief in the village doesn't show up until after the events of this episode in the novel.
- Adaptation Distillation: To take up less time, Wei Wuxian doesn't actively help Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi when they try to figure out what's going on like his novel counterpart. It still makes sense since he's trying not to expose himself.
- Adapted Out:
- Madam Mo's husband is absent in this adaptation, which decreases the number of people Mo Xuanyu wanted dead to three.
- In the novel, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi were accompanied by other Lan disciples for their mission. The episode omits them so it can focus on the two disciples in question.
- An Arm and a Leg: The malevolent spirit that acts as the episode's main conflict tends to remove the left arm of anyone it possesses before it moves on to its next victim.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Wei Wuxian does nothing but fool around after he's brought back to life, but when faced with a threat the audience is given a glimpse on why he's the feared Yiling Patriarch.
- Big Damn Heroes: Lan Wangji appears just as the evil spirit nearly gets the upper hand over Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with Wei Wuxian appearing at a full moon and summoning corpses with his flute. The episode ends with Lan Wangji also appearing at a full moon and playing his guqin to subdue a malevolent ghost.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the novel, A-Tong snaps his own neck in half after getting possessed by the ghost arm. In this episode, he immediately becomes a fierce corpse after his possession, and he's finished off by a possessed Madam Mo when she impales him in the chest with her bare hands.
- Dissonant Serenity: Wei Wuxian mostly keeps his cool throughout the whole ordeal with the vicious ghost even when everyone else is panicking. Even when in the midst of battle, he's unusually calm and even a bit cheerful. Unsurprising since, as the Yiling Patriarch and a former cultivator, the entire business with spirits and zombies is something he's already familiar with.
- The Dog Bites Back: The episode begins with Mo Xuanyu having enough of being abused and summoning Wei Wuxian in order to fix his problem. Since the characters In-Universe don't know that they're actually dealing with a resurrected Yiling Patriarch, the people in the Mo household think that Mo Xuanyu suddenly grew a spine.
- Driven to Madness: Some of the villagers state that Mo Xuanyu was abused so much that it took a toll on his mental state.
- Driven to Suicide: The ritual that Mo Xuanyu uses to call forth Wei Wuxian requires his life and the complete obliteration of his soul as a sacrifice, meaning he knowingly gives up both his life and his chance for reincarnation when resurrecting the latter.
- Establishing Character Moment: Wei Wuxian's initial scenes after coming back to life is his powerful yet wacky personality in a nutshell. After resurrecting, he goofs off for a good part of a day by embracing his new body's lunatic reputation and embarrassing Mo Xuanyu's abusive family. Later he secretly helps the disciples, showing not just his kind side but also just how capable he really is as the Yiling Patriarch.
- Evil Hand: The vicious ghost acts mainly through the left hand its current host.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Wei Wuxian quickly deduces from the three gashes on his arm that there are three people Mo Xuanyu want dead — Madam Mo, her son Mo Ziyuan, and the servant A-Tong — and each gash disappears when one of them dies. When he notices that all three gashes are gone even though only Mo Ziyuan was dead and A-Tong was possessed by the vicious ghost at the time, he realizes that the ghost has already moved on to Madam Mo.
- Extra-Long Episode: This episode runs for 35 minutes rather than the standard length of 24 minutes.
- Irony: Wei Wuxian notes that, despite being an infamous and feared figure in the cultivation world, people have no problem using his inventions in dealing with spirits and demons.
- The Gadfly: Wei Wuxian comes back to life... and proceeds to immediately cause havoc and annoy people.
- Mistaken for Murderer: Because Wei Wuxian is seen standing over Mo Ziyuan's corpse after having threatened him earlier, Madam Mo naturally thinks he killed her son. Even after she's proven wrong, she still continues to point the finger at Wei Wuxian.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Wei Wuxian completely goes along with his lunatic act, partly so his true identity as the fearsome Yiling Patriarch won't be discovered and partly because he's having a blast doing it.
- P.O.V. Cam: The scene is shown from the character's point-of-view twice in the episode. First is when Wei Wuxian first wakes up in Mo Xuanyu's body, and the second is when the vicious ghost creeps around the yard before possessing A-Tong.
- The Power of Blood: Mo Xuanyu uses his own blood in drawing a summoning circle to resurrect Wei Wuxian.
- Tempting Fate: When the Lan disciples call for help, Wei Wuxian mutters how luck won't be on his side if his "old acquaintance" is the one who'll show up. Sure enough, the senior who comes to their rescue is that very acquaintance, Lan Wangji.
- Too Dumb to Live: Mo Ziyuan is told to not touch the Spirit Attraction Flags. So he steals one. Naturally he's targeted by the demonic arm and dies. Wei Wuxian even lampshades his idiocy to Madam Mo.
- Tranquil Fury: When Madam Mo unjustly throws accusations at Lan Sizhui, the latter says nothing in response but tightly clenches his fists. Lan Jingyi's anger is more palpable.
