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"I also want to live an easy life where I don't need dark arts or the Stygian Tiger Amulet to protect the people I care about. But I can't. Whatever, it's my own choice. I don't care what others say. I know what I should do. And I believe I can control it."
— Wei Wuxian standing his ground to Lan Wangji on his decision to practise demonic cultivation
Wei Wuxian finally has a chance to talk to Wen Ning, but the effects of the Devil's Mark overwhelms him. As he passes out, he thinks back to when he ran into Lan Wangji at Yiling and successfully awakened Wen Ning's consciousness. A year later, things seemed to be looking up when Wei Wuxian was unexpectedly invited to Jin Ling's one-month celebration, but things went horribly downhill from there thanks to a vengeful Jin Zixun...
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade: In the novel, when Lan Wangji informed him of Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli's wedding, Wei Wuxian went on a rant driven by his sadness about not being there for the latter on the happiest day of her life. In this episode, however, he didn't act distraught after finding out and merely thanked Lan Wangji for the news while looking bittersweet.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Wei Wuxian removing the Skullpiercers from Wen Ning's head and interrogating him occurs later on in the novel.
- Adaptation Distillation: The flashbacks of Wei Wuxian's reunion with Lan Wangji and the ambush at Qiongqi Road are simplified to focus on the most important elements while fitting into the episode's runtime.
- To focus on Wen Ning getting back his consciousness and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian's conversation about the latter's demonic cultivation, majority of the interactions between Wen Yuan and the protagonists from the novel aren't shown in the episode.
- The episode puts more emphasis on the Jin clansmen attacking Wei Wuxian and the tragic encounter with Jin Zixuan during the Qiongqi Road incident, thus leaving out the part where Jin Zixun destroyed the box containing Wei Wuxian's gift for Jin Ling like in the novel.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: When the Jiang siblings paid a visit to Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng wasn't seen telling Wen Ning to stay out like in the novel.
- Ambiguous Situation: Besides clarifying that Jiang Cheng did not kill him during the First Siege, Wei Wuxian doesn't give any more details about how he died.
- Blood from the Mouth:
- The shove from an out-of-control Wen Ning sent Wei Wuxian flying into the wall, and the hit was bad enough to make him cough up blood.
- Getting impaled in the chest by Wen Ning was severe enough for blood to drip out of Jin Zixuan's mouth just before he died.
- Bullying a Dragon: Despite being fully aware of how powerful and dangerous Wei Wuxian is as a demonic cultivator, Jin Zixun still had the balls to bring several low-level cultivators and clear the area of corpses in an attempt to ambush the Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian. Had it not been for his cousin, Jin Zixun would have been dead meat.
- Catch and Return: When the Jin Clan cultivators fired a volley of arrows at Wei Wuxian, the latter deflected all of them using resentful energy and sent them right back at the shooters.
- Dirty Coward: Jin Zixun freely mocked Wei Wuxian from a distance while having a hundred men do the attacking for him. But when said men were taken down, Jin Zixun could only run with his tail between his legs.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: Although he was unwilling to fight him, Wei Wuxian warned Jin Zixuan to not push his luck when the latter arrived at Qiongqi Road to try and defuse the situation.
- Downer Ending: Putting aside happy flashback in The Stinger, the episode ends on a very bleak note with Jin Zixuan dying and Wei Wuxian watching in horror while the former breathed his last.
- Foreshadowing: Wei Wuxian mentioned a few times to Lan Wangji that the Stygian Tiger Amulet can cloud the user's consciousness and awareness of their surroundings if it absorbs too much resentful energy. This is what exactly happened at the end of this episode when he lost control of his demonic cultivation and unintentionally led Wen Ning to kill Jin Zixuan.
- Girly Skirt Twirl: In The Stinger flashback, Jiang Yanli flaunted her wedding attire to Wei Wuxian while twirling around.
- Go Out with a Smile: Jin Zixuan spent his last moments telling Wei Wuxian that Jiang Yanli was waiting for him with a gentle smile on his face before he fell over and died.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Downplayed. Despite demonic cultivation being seen a morally grey method of fighting, Wei Wuxian told Lan Wangji that he didn't regret taking it up as it was the only way he could protect the people he cared for. He also made it clear that he would have taken up a safer way if there was one.
- Is That Cute Kid Yours?: The crying Wen Yuan was clinging to the confused Lan Wangji's leg when Wei Wuxian found them. The on-lookers assumed Lan Wangji was the boy's father as a result (not helped that Wen Yuan was instinctively calling out for his dad).
- Just Following Orders: Wei Wuxian reassures Wen Ning that he isn't to be blamed for anything that happened 13 years ago, since he was just following his commands.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Wei Wuxian suspected that Jin Zixuan was in on his father and cousin's plans to have him killed and/or steal the Stygian Tiger Amulet for their own gain. However, Jin Zixuan's reactions strongly implied that he had no idea about it.
- Not So Stoic: The usually composed Lan Wangji looked visibly confused and lost when Wen Yuan cried while clinging to his leg and call for his father.
- P.O.V. Cam: Wei Wuxian's final moments before passing out from the effects of the Devil's Mark are shown from his point of view. His eyesight gives away once Lan Wangji arrives at the scene, and the audience can see the lower half of the latter's body while he shouts out Wei Wuxian's name.
- The Stinger: The post-credits scene is a flashback of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli visiting Wei Wuxian to show him the latter in her wedding attire and to let him decide Jin Ling's courtesy name.
- Wham Line: When Lan Wangji finds Wei Wuxian just before the latter passes out, he calls out, "Wei Ying! Wei Ying!" Note that this happens in the present time instead of the past — this puts a new light on their previous interactions following Wei Wuxian's resurrection, with the audience now confirming that Lan Wangji knew who "Mo Xuanyu" was all along.
