Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie (Pingxie)

Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie in Ultimate Note

**Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie**, also known as **Pingxie**, is the relationship between the Lost Tomb television series characters Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie. They first meet in The Lost Tomb and continue their friendship into Reunion: Sound of the Providence 2.

## Background

Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie are often shipped together. They have their ship name "Pingxie" which is a combination of Zhang Qiling's nickname from the novel, "Menyouping" (闷油瓶), and "Wu Xie" (吴邪). Wu Xie often calls Zhang Qiling "Xiaoge (小哥)" a term that can be used to refer to a young man.

## History

### The Lost Tomb

   In Episode 1, Wu Xie was running from Ning and Hendry Cox's men that followed him all the way from Germany to Inner Mongolia. They wanted to take the antique ox head (that held a Silk Manuscript) from him. When Wu Xie was cornered at the edge of a cliff, he threatened to throw the antique over it if they tried to take it by force. Hendry Cox did not care and ordered his team to take the antique. When they moved closer, Wu Xie threw the antique over the cliff. Hendry Cox's men became even more hostile and Wu Xie, High Shao, and Wang Pangzi were forced to kneel on the ground while guns were pointed towards their heads. Suddenly the wind began to pick up and on the edge of the cliff, Zhang Qiling appeared holding the shrouded ox head antique seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Hendry Cox recognized him and told his team not to shoot. Zhang Qiling walked over and asked who owned the antique. Wu Xie hurriedly ran up to him and took it from his hands and said it was his. Hendry Cox ordered everyone to retreat and once they left, Wu Xie asked Zhang Qiling who he was. The other didn't answer and instead, walked away into the expansive desert.

   While at home, Wu Xie was working on translating both the silk manuscript he found in the cloth that wrapped the antique ox head and the rubbing he received from Chen Chengcheng. He got a text from his third uncle, Wu Sanxing, saying that he had a valuable item and to meet up with him. Wu Xie hurriedly went over to check it out but he was attacked by a robber wielding a knife. Zhang Qiling suddenly appeared and the robber lunged at him with his knife. Zhang Qiling easily disarmed him and sent the man running. Wu Sanxing came out to check on his nephew and thanked Zhang Qiling and called him Little Master (小哥/Xiǎo Gē). Wu Xie asked his uncle if he knew him but said that they had just met that day. While Zhang Qiling was walking away, Wu Sanxing pointed out the ancient sword on his back. It was the valuable item he had texted Wu Xie about but he had already sold it to the other.

When Wu Sanxing examined the silk manuscripts, he found that they detailed the location of a tomb. He wanted to explore it himself but Wu Xie didn't want to rob tombs. After this, things escalated between Wu Xie and Hendry Cox's men and they stole the physical versions of the manuscript. With a digital copy of the original, Wu Xie wanted to explore the tomb with his uncle but he stipulated that nothing was to be stolen for personal gain. Wu Sanxing agreed and gathered a team. Wu Xie and High Shao were joined by Wu Sanxing's team which included Pan Zi and Zhang Qiling. Together they headed to the tomb described in the silk manuscripts.

In Episode 2, the team was waiting for their guide to arrive to cross the river. Wu Xie and High Shao approached Zhang Qiling to greet him. Wu Xie happily commented that it was nice to see him again but the other did not respond. High Shao thought that maybe he didn't recognize them. Zhang Qiling was looking at the sky with a mysterious look on his face. Wu Xie asked him what he was staring at but he didn't respond again.

They traveled by boat on the water with a local boatman. They reached a narrow part of a cave when he disappeared leaving them all alone. Everyone but Zhang Qiling began to panic. Especially when something in the water had rocked their boat when it scurried by. Wu Xie took the opportunity to ask Pan Zi about Zhang Qiling's background. He said he didn't know much about him but that the other was an expert because of his elongated fingers. As they were discussing this, Zhang Qiling was reaching his hand carefully into the water and quickly pulled out a diving beetle. He threw it on the boat and told them that it was just a bunch of those in the water. He believed they were fleeing from something. He kept feeling that something big was moving towards them. They discussed ways of leaving the cave but Zhang Qiling thought it was already too late. They suddenly heard a noise and Wu Xie stood up seemingly in a trance. Zhang Qiling knew something was wrong with the noise they were hearing and told everyone to cover their ears. He knocked Wu Xie in the water and the others quickly joined him.

When Wu Xie breached the surface of the water, a dead body was hanging upside down while the corpse-eaters were feasting upon it. The corpse-eater went after Pan Zi who had come up out of the water. He managed to get it off of him but flung it right onto Wu Xie. It used its pinchers to stab Wu Xie in the neck. Zhang Qiling came up behind him, pulled out the guts of the bug, and threw it on the boat. Wu Xie and everybody else were able to get back on the boat. Zhang Qiling wanted to rely on the bug to get out of the cave. They began rowing out of the cave and soon arrived at the piled corpse site. They got further into the cave and standing amongst a pile of skeletons was a woman with long black hair in a white outfit. Zhang Qiling used the sword on his back to cut open his hand to spread his blood into the water and hit the zombie. She fell to her knees and the corpse-eaters scurried away. Zhang Qiling fell down onto the boat exhausted telling the rest to leave quickly and to not look back.

They had found the exit but Zhang Qiling was unconscious because he had lost too much blood. Wu Xie and High Shao helped carry Zhang Qiling to a nearby village. They found a guesthouse and Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling were to share a room. Wu Xie carried Zhang Qiling to the bed as the other was still unconscious.

In Episode 3, Wu Xie watched over an unconscious Zhang Qiling and saw the antique sword by his side. Wu Xie grabbed it but Zhang Qiling woke up and grabbed his arm to stop him. He let go of Wu Xie's arm without saying anything, took the sword, and held it in his arms. After waking up more, he asked Wu Xie where they were. Wu Xie told him they were in a guesthouse in a village and that he should rest. Later, Wu Xie brought back food for Zhang Qiling. He woke the other up so that he could eat and brought over water eliciting a "thank you" from him. He asked the other if he would be okay heading out the next morning. Zhang Qiling said he would be fine. The next morning, everyone found the entrance of the tomb and entered.

In Episode 4, Zhang Qiling became separated from Wu Xie when he went after Wang Pangzi who may disturb the unrestful spirit they just dealt with. He showed up to save Pangzi, Wu Xie, and Pan Zi from corpse-eaters. He continued to help them escape and get to safety but became separated while fighting a "Blood Man." Without him Pan Zi raised his suspicions about Zhang Qiling to the other two. He thought it was suspicious that Zhang Qiling knew the tomb so well. Wu Xie felt safe with him around but didn't know if he could trust Zhang Qiling. Zhang Qiling returned but they were also joined by Ning who was poisoned and had bit Wu Xie.

In Episode 5, Wu Xie lost consciousness from the corpse-eater poison he got from Ning's bite. Zhang Qiling fed him his blood to counteract it, but it would only work temporarily. They decided to continue to explore the tomb to find the main tomb chamber. They eventually found a small passageway, crawled through it and reached the end which was a cliff that overlooked the main tomb chamber. They found Wu Sanxing but Wu Xie started to feel unwell and fell off the cliff. Before he hit the bottom, Zhang Qiling jumped down, grabbed a vine, and caught Wu Xie. When Wu Xie woke up, he thanked Zhang Qiling.

They investigated the main tomb chamber but soon the Blood Man caught up with them. Zhang Qiling fought him off but he got away and went to attack everyone. Wu Xie pushed them out of the way and the Blood Man grabbed his throat. Ning shot the Blood Man who succumbed to his wounds but Wu Xie was struggling to breathe even after the man let go. There were burn marks left from the Blood Man's hand. Zhang Qiling went over to the green-eyed fox's corpse and took out a black inscribed object from its belt. It was a Qilin Blood Clot. Zhang Qiling was about to feed it to Wu Xie but Ning threatened to shoot Pan Zi if he did. She wanted it to save her friend. Zhang Qiling told her that he would help her find the rest of her team and gave the Qilin Blood to Wu Xie. Ning put down her gun when it was no longer of use to threaten Pan Zi. After that, Zhang Qiling left to go find the other companions.

In Episode 6, when Zhang Qiling returned to the tomb, Wu Xie and the rest found a hidden coffin with a man in Jade Burial Armor. The armor allowed him to live for thousands of years and he was still alive to that day. Zhang Qiling looked at the armored man and told him he had lived long enough before crushing his neck. Everyone became upset at Zhang Qiling for killing the man seemingly unprovoked. He told them that all of their answers in a small box. In the box, there was a record of King Lu Shang's life.

In Episode 7, Wu Xie continued to read about King Lu Shang's life. When he was done, Zhang Qiling told him it was a lie and that the Iron-Masked Scholar was the person in the armor. After some time, the head of the corpse started moving. Inside it was the king corpse-eater. It is the most dangerous corpse-eater because its poison kills just upon touching it. It starts following them and in a panic, Wu Xie kills it. Killing the king summoned the surrounding corpse-eaters and the group hurriedly climb up the tree to escape. A corpse-eater managed to reach Wu Xie and bit him in the leg which caused him to lose his balance and fall.

In Episode 8, Zhang Qiling saved Wu Xie and helped him escape the tomb. When Wu Xie and the others reached the top of the tomb, they climbed out to safety. They poured gasoline down to destroy the corpse-eaters and set it alit. But Wu Xie realized Zhang Qiling was not with them and began to worry. Wu Sanxing assured him that the other was very capable and probably made it out earlier. Later, Zhang Qiling was watching Wu Xie and the group when they made it out further.

After returning home, Wu Xie began to think about Zhang Qiling and how the other was so mysterious. He didn't understand why he joined their group when he seemed so familiar with the tomb. Chen Chengcheng thought he couldn't be trusted, but Wu Xie didn't think he could be their enemy since he saved his life. Wu Xie later talked to his uncle about the record of King Lu Shang that Pangzi managed to retrieve from the tomb. The record ended up being a fake and they suspected that Zhang Qiling put the fake in the tomb.

In Episode 9, Zhang Qiling only lurked in the background as Wu Xie and friends went to the Xin Yue Restaurant to find out more information about the Snake Brow Copper Fish.

In Episode 10, Zhang Qiling came to Wu Xie's rescue again and intervened when Wu Xie and the others upset the Xin Yue Restaurant staff. Later, Wu Xie was sent a photo of an archeological team with someone in it that looked like Zhang Qiling, except the photo was from twenty years ago. He asked his uncle about it since the other was also in the picture. Wu Sanxing recognized the photo and Zhang Qiling.

### Tomb of the Sea

Zhang Qiling has left Wu Xie alone to deal with the surrounding conspiracies that have finally reared their head. In Episode 2, a guide accompanying Wu Xie to Gutong Jing called Li Cu "Xiao Ge (小哥)." Upon hearing the name he would use to refer to Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie expressed his dismay and told the guide not to call Li Cu that. Moments later, Wang Meng told Li Cu about Wu Xie's friends, Wang Pangzi and Zhang Qiling. Wang Meng described Zhang Qiling as someone who doesn't like to talk. In a flashback, Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie, and Wang Pangzi were in the Xin Yue Restaurant fighting off guards. The same scene appears in Episode 28 of Ultimate Note. In Episode 3, when Li Cu asked where Wu Xie's friends were, Wang Meng remarked that Wu Xie seemed to be looking for Zhang Qiling.

n Episode 7, when Wu Xie and Li Cu were seemingly trapped in a tomb, Li Cu asked Wu Xie whether he was afraid going down tombs back in the day. Wu Xie said he was, but he was accompanied by two friends. When Li Cu asked him what happened to Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie told him that he went to his hometown. In Episode 18, while in Gutong Jing, Hei Yanjing, Wu Xie, and Li Cu came across a door that has a mechanism that needed to be solved in order for it to open. Wu Xie began to solve the mechanism but Hei Yanjing remarked that only Zhang Clan members know how to solve it. Li Cu was confused and thought Wu Xie's last name was Wu not Zhang. Hei Yanjing looked at him for a moment, then scoffed.

In Episode 20, Liang Wan started to remember a patient who experienced retrograde amnesia, just as Li Cu has. In a flashback, she remembered Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi were yelling in a patient's hospital room. She went in to tell them to be quiet. She saw Zhang Qiling's tattoo which was on the left side of his body, but she was escorted out by Wu Xie. The same scene appears in Episode 16 of Ultimate Note.

In Episode 23, Grandma Wu showed Li Cu around Wushanju. They went into Wu Xie's room where he had a ten-year calendar. The ten-years is in reference to the promise Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie made in *Volume 8* of the novel series. Grandma Wu commented that Wu Xie's time to finish everything is almost up. In Episode 24, Liang Wan started to ask Zhang Rishan questions about Zhang Qiling and wanted to know where he was. Zhang Rishan promised to answer her questions but she had to do something for him first.

In Episode 34, Hei Yanjing, Wang Meng, and Wu Xie are in the desert discussing how much Wu Xie has changed. Wu Xie remarked that he thought Hei Yanjing was different from before as well. That he was even part of the Zhang Clan. Hei Yanjing denied this because he still felt pain and those in the Zhang family don't feel pain. Wu Xie said that he was not like him, his heart stopped feeling pain long ago. The scene cuts to a flashback of Zhang Qiling shirtless, this time his tattoo is mistakenly on his right side. It is likely that a large reason Wu Xie had changed so much was due to Zhang Qiling leaving. When Wu Xie moved away from the two of them, Hei Yanjing called out to Wu Xie not to kill himself since he won't be able to explain it, likely to Zhang Qiling.

In Episode 44, Wu Xie told Su Nan that if he didn't make it out alive, he wanted her to go to Changbai Mountain and tell Zhang Qiling that he couldn't bring him home.

In Episode 47, Hei Yanjing began talking about Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling. He said that in the past, Wu Xie was innocent and naive. But then he met Zhang Qiling who changed his life forever. When Zhang Qiling left, Wu Xie could have gone back to being the naive little master three who ran his antique shop. But he tried to find Zhang Qiling in a lot of places and ended up at the temple in the mountains where he planned everything.

In Episode 49, Su Nan found a crying statue of Zhang Qiling in a temple in the mountains. Wu Xie told her that the statue was crying because he stayed with the most important person in his life for three days. Wu Xie started talking about Zhang Qiling and how he went to the temple to find out more about him. He looked at the statue fondly and commented that it had already been ten years but in his heart, it's like he never left. When Zhang Qiling gets back he knew the other has a bad memory and that when he sees Wu Xie again, it's likely he won't recognize him. He said it was okay, and he will definitely make the other remember him. To get him to remember, he, Zhang Qiling, and Wang Pangzi will set off on the same path they took before. Wu Xie then told her the background of Zhang Qiling.

In a flashback, Zhang Qiling was in the field of tibetan sea flowers and he looks back to find Wang Pangzi and Wu Xie waiting for him. They walk together towards the mountains with Zhang Qiling arms around the two of them.

In Episode 52, Wu Xie and Pangzi visited Pan Zi's grave. Pangzi wondered if Zhang Qiling had already come out a long time ago and left by himself. Wu Xie said that if he did do that, then he would have seriously offended him. Pangzi started talking to Pan Zi and asked him for his blessing to bring back Zhang Qiling safely so that the Iron Triangle was going to be reunited. Wu Xie interrupted him calling him a talkative old man. Pangzi wanted Wu Xie to smile just once and go back to his old, innocent self. That way, Zhang Qiling would recognize him.

## External Links

* Wu Xie & Zhang Qiling (Pingxie) at Daomu Biji Novel Wiki
* Pingxie at Baidu
* Pingxie on AO3

## Notes

1. ↑ In the novels, Wu Xie gives Zhang Qiling the nickname menyouping, often translated as "poker-face," because he is very quiet and doesn't like to talk.
2. ↑ In The Lost Tomb and The Lost Tomb 2, Wu Xie calls Zhang Qiling "menyouping." Menyouping in the novel is the name Wu Xie uses when he is thinking to himself. He does not call Zhang Qiling this name out loud. He uses "Xiao Ge" which is what is used in later adaptations.
3. ↑ To find out why Zhang Qiling left read *Volume 8* of the novel series translated by Merebear. *Volume 8* has yet to be adapted to television.