I keep trying to figure out what Minister Gao knows. He seems totally unfazed by Shen Wei's display of power, but this scene (and a later one which I'm trying to place) makes me think he doesn't know Shen Wei is the Envoy. Maybe he's just really easygoing.

Yeah, this scene both seems to suggest it, and it would make for a nice turn on the slightly awkward Minister if he actually knew the entire time. But I'm not sure either and confess it hadn't been a focus of mine on previous rewatches. I want to keep an eye out for this...

I'm interested in the gun thing. It's a dark energy gun, so why did it even hurt Zhu Hong?

A good question, I had that on my list too... But it does seem to indicate that Yashou can be hurt by it, when it's said later that humans can't?