One of the breakout BL donghuas in 2018 was Mo Dao Zu Shi, known as Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation in English. Adapted from Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novel, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation follows a demonic cultivator named Wei Wuxian who died 13 years ago. However, he comes back to life after a young man sacrifices his body to summon him and meets Lan Wangji -- who he once thought hated Wei Wuxian.
The first two seasons garnered numerous audiences both domestically and internationally. Two years after Season 2 ended, fans will finally see the conclusion of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's story in the third and final season, set to air on August 7. Here's what we are hoping to see before the end.
The Yi City Arc
At the end of Season 2, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's travels took them to a ghost town named Yi City. This arc is particularly heartbreaking: before the duo arrived, another cultivator named Xiao Xingchen, who went blind after tearing out his eyeballs to give to his friend, had been to Yi City. He takes to traveling around, helping villages exorcise demons and night-hunting as he goes.
When he arrived at Yi City, he met a young girl, also blind, named A-Qing. Shortly after, they rescue an injured cultivator who soon settles in with the two of them. However, this mystery cultivator isn't who he says he is and has a dark, twisted past with Xiao Xingchen.
Why Wei Wuxian Turned to Demonic Cultivation
Shortly after the fall of the Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian gets captured by the Wens. After daring them to kill him, he's thrown into the Burial Mounds which no one has ever returned from alive. He does come back, however, with a new path of cultivation that he created while he was in the Burial Mounds. Somehow Wei Wuxian survived the ordeal, but it's not clear how he did it.
Despite being told how dangerous demonic cultivation can be for his body and mind, Wei Wuxian never gives up on using it -- in fact, it seems to be his primary method. It warps his mind and emotions, making him think everyone is out to get him. Although Wei Wuxian regrets pushing people away in his first life, he doesn't regret creating demonic cultivation in the first place. Hopefully Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Season 3 will answer why he turned to these methods in the first place.
The Mystery of the Zombie Arm
Since the start of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have been trying to figure out who the zombie arm they found at the Mo village belongs to. The two have been traveling to wherever the arm points at to see where it might be leading them. Most recently in Season 2, they found a pair of legs from a dismembered body. Season 3 season will follow the duo as they search for the rest of the body and will finally figure out who it belonged to.
It wasn't a coincidence that the zombie arm appeared in the Mo village when the Gusu Lan disciples were there, nor that Wei Wuxian was summoned specifically by Mo Xuanyu. Someone has been pulling the strings behind the scenes, leading Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji about. Season 3 will surely reveal this conspirator.
Will Wei Wuxian Reunite With His Family?
Wei Wuxian is, by all accounts, a morally grey character. He had many awful things done to him and, in the name of justice, has done equally horrible things to his perpetrators as revenge. In an effort to save the innocent remnants of the Wen clan, he defected from the Jiang clan and turned his back on his shidi, Jiang Cheng. When he comes back to life, Jiang Cheng still hates him and even tries to capture him several times. Wei Wuxian has changed though, and is no longer the enraged Yiling Patriarch he was before -- is there any chance the two can be brothers again?
There are also two important young people in Wei Wuxian's life: his nephew Jin Ling and A-Yuan, the child he took care of back in the Burial Mounds. Jin Ling doesn't know Wei Wuxian is his uncle, nor that he had a role in his parents' deaths. It's also not clear whether A-Yuan is still alive since almost everyone in the Burial Mounds is dead.
A Happy Ending for Wangxian
Affectionately coined "Wangxian" by shippers, one of the biggest things fans want to see in Season 3 is Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji living happily ever after. The two had to endure several years of war, suffering, and misunderstandings as well as 13 years of separation -- they need their happy ending.
We most likely won't see anything truly explicit, so fans will have to look at the more subtle cues. The trailer shows more of their domestic side with Lan Wangji putting food in Wei Wuxian's bowl. We see Lan Wangji remove his forehead ribbon -- the very same one that Wei Wuxian once pulled in his youth, infuriating Lan Wangji. The two are seen bowing in the ancestral hall. In traditional Chinese weddings, couples have to bow three times -- once to the Heaven and Earth, once to their parents, and once to each other.
The third and final season of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation will air on August 7.
