Ancient Detective (侠探简不知, lit. Hero Detective Jian Buzhi) is a 2020 Chinese mystery show.
Jian Buzhi(簡不知) is the son of the late master of Shenji Valley, an order in the martial arts world specialized in detective work. His father died in a great battle against the killer Devil Wang Hua, a battle that left almost everyone but Jian Buzhi dead, and gave Buzhi amnesia. He's left to find the pieces of his past in his father's notes, and suspects that there is more to this case than he currently knows. As he sets out to find the last other survivors of the Battle of Shenji Valley to learn more, he keeps running into mystery after mystery.
As a detective, he stops to solve each and every mystery, which makes him the target of many dangerous enemies that would rather not be exposed. And despite spending his time in the martial arts world, Jian Buzhi has no martial art skills to speak of. Fortunately, he is able to make himself valuable friends, such as Zhao Wohuan(赵我还), an inexperienced swordsman determined to outshine his father's legacy, and the attractive ex-assassin Zhan Shiqi(展十七).
The series contains examples of:
- Acquitted Too Late: Jian Buzhi realizes that there's something wrong with the story Mr. Yin gave when he confessed, only to discover his body when he goes to ask more questions.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Jian Buzhi is actually Wang Hua, but after his amnesia he truly takes on the the traits of the Jian family. His motives in the past are a complete mystery.
- Amnesiac Hero: Jian Buzhi lost all his memories during the battle of Shenji Valley, which becomes his driving quest.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Jian Buzhi dismisses the possible existence of the supernatural, such as zombies, ghosts, or fox demons, despite living in a Wuxia story with Supernatural Martial Arts. He is correct to do so.
- Bluffing the Murderer: In Mr. Prescriptor's case, Jian Buzhi uses two bluffs to lure out Mr. Yin. First he claims that the victim left a Dying Clue at the crime scene, and then also has one of the witnesses claim to have knocked at Mr. Yin's door, revealing Mr. Yin wasn't in his room at the time of the crime when he agrees with her false testimony.
- Bluff the Imposter: On Puppet Island, Jian Buzhi outs Puppet Li as an imposter by claiming that there was a girl that wanted to thank him for replacing her elbow. The real Puppet Li would know that it was a man whose elbow he replaced.
- Brought Down to Normal: Fairy Sheng has pills that can temporarily suppress martial art powers, which Jian Buzhi uses to spike the final toast in honor of Puppet Li's victims, making The Summation a lot safer.
- On a more permanent level, Jian Buzhi used to be a martial artist before being injured during the battle of Shenji Valley.
- Closed Circle: No one can escape Puppet Island until the mystery is solved, because Zhao Wohuan damaged the only boat on the first day before the killings started. In other cases Jian Buzhi tries to enforce this because the suspects tend to want to leave once the investigation begins, which would make it too easy for the killers to escape.
- Cut Himself Shaving: Wild Monk pretends to sustain a head injury falling down the stairs in his hurry to report Mr Prescriptor's death.
- Deadly Game: Puppet Li runs a game on Puppet Island, where the contestants try to solve a riddle of his, and the winners will get all his treasure, supposedly. No one's ever returned from playing Puppet Li's game.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The real Ye Xiaoxiao died years ago, but his identity was stolen by a serial identity thief who steals the identity of people that impress him. Fortunately he's a fast learner, so he has all the medical expertise that the original Xe Xiaoxiao had.
- Determined Doctor: Gong Que believes in healing anyone, regardless of who they are, or how they got hurt (as long as they can afford her rates), which earns her the scorn of other physicians because she heals even Ten Killing Gate assassins.
- Dying Clue: Jian Buzhi finds an unfinshed character that Ah Jie appeared to write in his own blood before his death. The group use this to accuse Zhan Shiqi, but Jian Buzhi realizes it's not a very conclusive evidence, especially considering that he could've also been writing zombie (for Corpse Walker Shen Lin), Min (for Zhong Yuanmin), or Chi (for Eldest Master Li Chi). And the killer turns out to be none of those people since the victim was mistaken about his killer's identity.
- Feed the Mole: During Chief Wang's case, Jian Buzhi realizes that Zhong Dadan is an enemy spy, and gives him false information to lead the enemy into a trap that will allow Chief Wang to reclaim his position.
- Forged Message: Hanyue Villa didn't send out any invites for a tournament, but they decide to hold it anyways when all the contestants arrive. The invites were actually sent out as part of a murder scheme by a third party.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Gong Que falls for Jian Buzhi, who is oblivious to her feelings and confides in her his own feelings for Zhan Shiqi. Gong Que is heartbroken, but helps him and later heals Zahn Shiqi for him. When she returns, she even agrees to sell out the Ten Killing Gate assassins she knows if it'll let him receive proper treatment for his illness.
- Killing Intent: Zhan Shiqi developed the ability to detect this as an assassin, so she's able to protect Jian Buzhi from an attack on his life. Jian Buzhi also has this ability to a lesser extent.
- Left Hanging: They never do solve the murder of the original Ye Xiaoxiao during the show.
- Meaningful Name: Buzhi (不知), used as a personal name by the Amnesiac Hero, means "I don't know."
- Mystery Magnet: Any time Jian Buzhi is introduced to a group of new characters, a few of them are bound to get murdered soon.
- Never a Runaway: The Living Bian Que is assumed to have left during episode 12. His corpse is found in the next episode.
- Non-Action Guy: Not only did Jian Buzhi lose all his memories, he also lost all his combat skills. Fortunately, he still has his intelligence, so he's developed detective skills.
- Sima Dang is a member of the historian's guild, who record the going-ons of the martial arts world, but aren't allowed participate in combat. As such, while he has the martial arts skills of levitation and super speed, but only uses them for noncombat applications.
- Obfuscating Disability: Ming Yue pretends to be mute while on Puppet Island, and takes advantage of the Cute Mute aspects of her disguise to get closer to Zhao Wohuan.
- Obfuscating Postmortem Wounds: Mr. Prescriptor is stabbed several times after his death. The initial assumption is that the killer just really hated him, but in fact, part of the killer's trick to convince Mr. Yin that he was the killer. Mr. Yin stabbed the alleged the supposed Mr. Prescriptor several times, so the killer had to stab the real corpse to match.
- Parasol of Pain: Zhan assassins weapons are modified everyday items, so Zhan Shiqi uses a parasol as her weapon of choice.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Mr. Prescriptor and Mr. Yin are killed by the Wild Monk, because they killed beggar children by testing their medicines on them, and showed no remorse when confronted about it.
- Poison and Cure Gambit: Shen Lin uses poisons that only he can cure to get people to do what he wants. He first uses this to win the first round of the contest, and then on the Jian Buzhi to force him to solve the case before nightfall, but he's murdered before he can give Jian Buzhi the cure.
- Resignations Not Accepted: The martial arts world looks down on leaving your martial arts order. The Ten Killing Gate assassin order in particular doesn't allow it, and keeps sending assassins after Zhan Shiqi for leaving, even though she keeps killing them.
- Eldest Master Li was actually killed by his younger brother for trying to leave Hanyue Villa.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The killer of Puppet Island presents himself as a ghost once Puppet Li's game is solved in order to conceal his identity.
- Sequel Hook: The show ends with a plot twist that's told only to the audience, and the introduction of a new villain.
- Strong, but Unskilled: Zhao Wohuan is a self-trained martial artist who comes from a storyteller background. His style involves wielding an oversized sword and announcing his attacks. While he has raw strength and potential are noted by the experienced martial artist, he fails to keep up with those with formal training until he gets an instruction manual for a proper technique.
- Summation Gathering: Jian Buzhi does this every time he solves a case, complete with dramatic pointing.
- Sword Cane: Fairy Sheng has a sword hidden in his cane, as does the leader of the begger sect, Hu Bayue, making both men more dangerous than they initially seem.
- Together in Death: The first case ends with Master Li killing Wu Ling'er when she attempts to kill him to avenge her fiancé. Master Li then orders for her to be buried together with her fiancé.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Sima Dang takes pride as a historian, and will not write down anything he knows to be a lie as a matter of principal, even as payment for Jian Buzhi's medical treatment.
- He gives in after being moved by Gong Que, who gave him a list of former patients from the Ten Killing Gates, information for which the Ten Killing Gates would have marked her for death if it was revealed publicly.
- You Are Number 6: The Ten Killing Gate assassins don't have proper names, just titles that indicate their rank. Zhan Shiqi's rank is #17.
- Younger Than They Look: Although he doesn't look it, the Man with a Thousand Faces has been stealing identities for over sixty years.
- Chief Wang undergoes surgery by Ye Xiaoxiao's junior in medicine, Rejuvenation Hand, to look younger.
