Why would a secret organization on the verge of freedom suddenly choose to plunge back into darkness? The shocking finale of Blood River (暗河传) left audiences with this very question. After fulfilling their pact with Langya Wang by rescuing the emperor and neutralizing the zombie-like warriors, the clandestine group known as Anhe (暗河) stood at the threshold of legitimacy. Their leader, Su Muyu (苏暮雨), had secured a promise that his people could finally leave the shadows. Yet, in a stunning turn of events, he and his ally, Su Changhe (苏昌河), publicly executed the Crown Prince. This act seemingly destroyed their chance for a peaceful future. Their decision was not a reckless mistake, but a deliberate and powerful statement. It was a declaration that some prices for freedom are too high to pay, and that true autonomy is worth more than a life granted by those in power.
The Unforgivable Betrayal
For the members of Anhe, trust is a matter of life and death. The Crown Prince, Xiao Yong (萧永), first secured an alliance with Su Changhe, offering guarantees for the organization's safety. Yet, almost immediately after this agreement, he dispatched his uncle, General Dian Ye (典叶), to hunt down and eliminate Su Muyu and his injured companions. This blatant breach of faith proved he was an unreliable partner who viewed Anhe as disposable pawns. His actions were not just a political maneuver; they were a personal attack on their sanctuary.
The consequences of this betrayal were devastating. While Su Muyu was unconscious, recovering from his wounds with the help of his mentor, Zhe Shu, two of his closest comrades, Mu Qingyang (慕青羊) and Mu Xuewei (慕雪薇), sacrificed their lives to protect him. They died in a blaze, holding off the prince's forces. These individuals were not merely subordinates; they were family. Their deaths created a debt of blood that could not be ignored. The calculated nature of the prince's attack, targeting them at their most vulnerable, made his crime unforgivable in the eyes of Anhe's leaders.
The imperial court's response to the prince's larger scheme of rebellion was seen as a weak and unjust slap on the wrist. He was merely to be confined to the Qin Tianjian (钦天监), the imperial observatory, effectively retiring from politics. For Su Muyu and Su Changhe, this was an intolerable outcome. The man responsible for so much death and chaos, including the loss of their own family, would escape true justice simply because of his royal blood. This highlighted the fundamental inequality between the powerful and organizations like theirs.
A Message to the Powerful
Killing the Crown Prince was a strategic move designed for a world on the brink of chaos. Su Muyu was acutely aware that his recent alliance with Langya Wang (琅琊王) was a double-edged sword. While it offered a path to legitimacy, it also cemented Anhe's status as a tool for the powerful. With Langya Wang himself dying and the capital, Tianqi City, descending into turmoil, the promise of protection was becoming meaningless. The organization risked being passed to another master, forever trapped in the role of a disposable weapon.
The public execution of Xiao Yong was, therefore, a stark warning. It was a message directed at every noble and faction with ambitions for the throne: Anhe is not a tool to be wielded. By killing a royal prince in broad daylight, Su Muyu demonstrated that no one was beyond their reach. They would not be controlled, used, and then discarded. This act of defiance was meant to secure their future not through submission, but through instilling a deep-seated fear and respect. It was a declaration that they were a blade that would only be held by their own hand.
This was not an act of mere rebellion, but a claim of sovereignty. In the complex web of Jianghu and imperial politics, power is often negotiated through subtle threats and alliances. Su Muyu chose a more direct method. He showed that Anhe operates by its own code and administers its own form of justice. By making an example of the highest-ranking noble, he established a clear boundary. Any future potential partner would now think twice before betraying them, knowing the retribution would be swift, absolute, and fearless.
A Different Kind of Justice
At its core, this was a rejection of a system that placed royalty above the law. The Crown Prince had orchestrated a plot that resulted in the deaths of countless innocent people, all through the monstrous creation of the zombie warriors. Yet, because of his status, the official punishment was a comfortable confinement. For Su Muyu, this was not justice; it was privilege. It reinforced the idea that the lives of his comrades and commoners were worth less than that of a single corrupt royal.
Su Muyu's actions were a raw, powerful appeal to a higher law—the moral code of the martial world. He chose to enact the justice that the imperial court was unwilling to deliver. By stating, "Perhaps Anhe can never walk in the light, but at this moment, we have our own justice—Xiao Yong deserves to die!" he defined his own ethical stance. He refused to allow the prince's crime to be swept under the rug for the sake of political convenience, even if upholding this principle cost his organization its chance at legitimacy.
In the end, the decision to kill the Crown Prince, while sending Anhe back into the shadows, secured something more valuable than a sanctioned existence: integrity. They traded a borrowed, conditional light for the fierce and uncompromising freedom of self-determination. They proved that their loyalty was to their own people and their own code of honor. By choosing vengeance and principle over political expediency, they affirmed that some lines cannot be crossed, and that true freedom means being the arbiters of your own fate, even from the depths of the darkest river.
