masterful performances & strong start but couldn't fill up all 39 eps
I didn't know what to expect from this show but it quickly became a delight after the first couple of episodes.Shen Li is the demon Azure Sky King, who flees from a forced marriage down to the mortal realm. There, while injured & helpless in her original bird form, she meets XingYun, a ginseng farmer living alone in near poverty, and who happens to also be the mortal manifestation of a sleeping ancient god XingZhi.
"I'm not stupid!" proclaims ShenLi at one point & indeed, she is not. She is a demon military commander who is revered not only by her army but also the citizenry she protects. She's also no-nonsense to a fault, empathetic only to those closest to her. However, the irreverent XingYun unbalances her as the first man she has ever had to depend upon with her life, & as a sickly weak mortal at that. She's drawn to him in spite of him always teasing her & never actually inviting her closer. The back & forth between the two is subtle & handled so skillfully by the veteran leads that you don't recognize the trope until it's already done. And it's very funny.
I've only seen Zhao Li Ying in The Story of Xing Fu which was a fantastic show. Her maturity lends to her strength & consistency in her performance & she's become someone I look forward to watching. Lin GengXin as XingYun/XingZhi was remarkable in maintaining a core personality between 2 different manifestations of the same character. He Yu as Lord FuRong, ShenLi's original betrothed, took a few episodes to find his footing in the role, but as the show progressed he turned into one of the funnier characters, even becoming likeable, alongside the ever entertaining Jackie Li.
All of this made for such a strong first half of the show that I was ready to give it one of my highest ratings. However, past Ep20, the pacing suddenly lagged & the story meandered for 6 or7 eps. Then came the backstory of ShenLi's origins & the late introduction of a new character, ShenLi's father. However, their reunion was puzzlingly brief & they didn't even hold a satisfactory conversation together. After such smart dialogue in the first half of the show, it made no sense that ShenLi couldn't say one word to her father when this was such a huge development. It seemed illogical with her character to not even make herself known to him when he was right in front of her, & he had to find out who she was from someone else.
The climactic battle to suppress a superdemonic foe & stabilize the universe was a cliched, long CGI light show. In fact, a lot of detail & effort was put into visually creating the fantastical realms but the heart of the characters, dialogue & story were significantly diminished. By that time I had no interest in the good vs evil routine. I just wanted to see what outcome ShenLi & XingZhi's relationship would face. Their fate ultimately held no surprises, secondary character arcs were left dangling (would've liked to see more FuRong/YouLan), & the story really ends with Ep38. Ep39 ran like someone forgot there was 1 ep left to go & had to slap together whatever story was left at the top of their head, which wasn't much. Why didn't the show just save some money & skip it? It could've been a 30 ep show with what story was presented.
After such a strong start it seemed this would be a very different kind of drama but the 2nd half unfortunately face-planted into a puddle of mediocre. So wildly inconsistent I truly can't decide whether I liked this show or not. I loved the first half; second half not so much.
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What it looks like with Perfect Yin Yang
Immortal God x Princess/Sky King of Spirit RealmCharacter Depth at its peak
Best showcase of Character Development
Ultimate Slow Burn
Down the lane, the epilogue is one of the best I have witnessed so far.
Beautiful Costumes
OST that makes you leave bits of it in your memory
Strong Mature Characters
Extremely strong Female Lead.
That one female Lead who bullies the bully. Talk about perfect flawless characters, making way into everyone's heart - Shen Li. She is the utmost centre and one of the four wheels that keep you attached to the drama. Personally, once I felt attached to her, there was no going back. With every decision, she exhibits knowledge and situational awareness appropriate for someone who has lived for 1000 years. Shen Li is such a well-written character, she will mark her presence in the minds of the ones who watch this. Her love for her realm and people in general is so tucking and foremost her love for Xing zhi. From the moment she knew there was no going back, her duties and his acceptance might have held her back but her feelings never changed. That in itself makes such a strong impact.
An extremely strong, non-serious funny male lead - Xing zhi. You will wonder how strong can characters be, coming across him. He will answer - Sky is the Limit. Some moments you just try to figure out what going on inside his head but can't. No worries, you will be engaged with all the questions in the first half and slowly decrypt them in the second half. decrypting him comes along with this... Talk about a well-built complex yet simple character. From the way he annoys her to the way he can showcase his love even without saying a word. That's what they say - Actions speak louder than words. Oh! you will love how verbal he will be about his love once he confesses.
The main story is eye-catching in the majority cases but imagine the side stories being equally engaging and heartwarming. The story of Qing Ye, Fl's parents and also their friends.
At most Kudos to Fu Rong's and You Lan's character development.
There are rarely such dramas where we can identify it from the set like their house, immortal realm, spirit realm, way oh heaven, west garden; things like her spear, few extremely catchy dialogues. This story is one of those.
A MUST WATCH.
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Loved it!
I just finished watched the last episode, 39 and it left me so satisfied and happy. For some reason a lot of Chinese dramas have a bitter end. Not this one.I loved the main leads. They were perfect for each other in every way, physically and emotionally. Some have said that Lin Gengxin looked too old and too muscular. I disagree completely. He is such a handsome, manly man and he played the role beautifully as did the beautiful Zhao Liying . They were a perfect Yin and Yang. How I wish they were a couple in reality.
Each and every episode kept me entertained and waiting anxiously for the next.
This drama is not one to miss.
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I thoroughly enjoyed watching it
This CDrama is my favorite show so far! The chemistry between the male and female leads is unreal! They are versatile actors who can perform both serious and comedic roles with ease. Additionally, the male lead is handsome and charismatic, which makes me giddy when he expresses his love for Shen Li. I also appreciate how well Shen Li portrays her fierce character and how she can soften up around the male lead. Their pairing is simply adorable! The soundtracks are also beautiful and always on point. The CGI effects are of high quality, making it a top-notch Cdrama. The actors are great and effective, and their chemistry is strong throughout the show. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and would rate it 10!!?Was this review helpful to you?
Fascinating, Enchanting, Magnetic
Zhao Liying & Lin Gengxin share an undeniable charisma whenever they grace the screen together. Their dynamic performances weave a spellbinding tale, leaving viewers utterly captivated by their innocent yet alluring chemistry. Every moment they share on screen is infused with a seductive allure that keeps audiences hooked. Their on-screen rapport brings the drama to life, ensuring there's never a dull moment in their presence.While the entire cast delivers commendable performances, it's the palpable chemistry between Lin and Zhao that steals the show. Their on and off-screen synergy infuses the narrative with authenticity, making it easy for viewers to immerse themselves in the story. Witnessing their natural and joyous collaboration, one can't help but wish for more opportunities to see them together on screen.
From the outset, it was evident that their partnership would elevate the drama to great heights, and they certainly did not disappoint. Their seamless harmony on screen is a testament to their mutual talent, leaving audiences yearning for more of their on-screen magic. Like a mesmerizing drug, their combined presence is utterly addictive, leaving viewers craving more of their enchanting performances.
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Cast Carries yet again!!! Beautiful Zhao Li ying and Lin Gen Xing - UPDATE
(REVIEW UPDATED)From Princess Agents to Legend of Shen Li, ZLY and LGX did it again!
Although the storyline took a bit to pick up, hands down CAST creates everything. The atmosphere, the heartwarming and dissonance scenes, everything, love and chaos, altogether meshed in one big pot of STORY. Absolutely in love with how the cast just carries through and through! You just can't help but follow through each character's (even side characters) story and their development, even if you hate them, the scenes worth grabbing attention.
(Will add more once finished!)
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UPDATE:
Finally done!!! OMG very very heartwarming ending, loved it. Yes I love that one of my fav characters got their own little 'special' at the end.
One thing I love about this storyline, although it had a very slow start and action only picked up around ep 19, everything flowed accordingly and nothing went amiss, no background storyline or even side characters were left out. The story was extremely coherent which is just so so great. A very satisfied ending and revival.
Each character showed their own display of strengths and weaknesses and IMPROVEMENT. There wasn't a single character left behind just because they were unimportant or side characters, even the back stories had me gripped like velcro. I'm especially invested in the backstory of Shen Li's parents.
Hands down to the cast, casting all amazing people and (Shen Li's parents actually fits ZLY, like I see the resemblance hahaha)
All in all, amazingness from ep 19 onwards, with a cherry on top. <3 ONTO THE NOVEL NOW
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How to live a simple and fun life! Love this drama message!
The content itself may not be that of an interest to many Xian Xia followers as it is quite a common storyline. But I appreciate the efforts of seeing things in a lighter easier perspective. Shen Li and Xing Zhi carry so much burden, realms to be protected, but somehow they are not absorbed and stressed by these heavy duties. They live their life quite meaningfully and in a fun way. Xiang Zhi's simple way of living is what impresses me most. One can be the highest in the world but it is hard to use his/ her power at a necessary time only like Xing Zhi is hard to do. He is quite of a character: powerful, simple, humorous and responsible. I like his character development. For Shen Li, she carries her duties quite seriously and she is nurtured by her master well even though she holds demon blood in her body. Until she meets Xing Zhi, Shen Li's life on her own is not worth to be told. Xing Zhi changes her perspectives about many things whilst both characters consciously and seriously take their responsibilities well regardless of their emotions. Shen Li's love towards Xing Zhi is shown subtly in her harsh and masculine manner. Xing Zhi's love towards Shen Li is quite simple and childlike. This is what I like most about this drama: simple, honest, and uplifting love like two kids in their first love.As a downside, I find Lin Gengxin a bit short of his portrayal on Xing Zhi but being not overdramatic may be the whole point of his character development. Hence, I have no complaint about this. For Liying, her eyes still lack a bit of caring and loving manner but again it may be deliberate to portray Shen Li, a macho in a feminine form. So yes as some critics say, this drama needs some hypes and more emotions but I enjoy watching this drama as it is:a lighter, funnier version. We don't need overdramatic videos but those who teaches how life can be framed in a different perspective to live a happy, healthy life.
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This deserves to be in the top 10 ratings
I normally don't give any reviews but I think this drama deserves to be in the 10 ratings. Story line was great. Strong female lead. Pace and character development were steady. Felt like I went on a journey with them.I was in love, felt pain of a losing a loved one, reunited with a loved one, felt a longing of a love, loneliness, desperation, cried of joy and separation, and fell in love all over again. I absolutely enjoyed everything about this drama. It is going to be a very long time until I get to watch something like this again. Every character was wonderful. Great cast.
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Was waiting for too long!!! You won't be utterly flabbergasted but also won't be disappointed a bit.
My short intro: I have been following MyDramaList for quite a while but this drama finally made me write a review. I am a big fan of fantasy/wuxia/xianxia/thriller/historical/romantic/political, etc. genres, so, believe me. Honestly, this drama made me open this site every day just to look at the rating, whether it is doing well or not. So, let's go.Let's START!!!
MUSIC: 10/10, made me repeat a lot of scenes just to hear the tracks. Not a big fan of the opening OST but it does entice the anticipation towards every episode. The drama has one of the best music BGM ost tracks ever. My favs among bgms are: See Vastness, The Wish of the Sad Soul, Reciprocity, Clear Dreams of the Mortal World and among the lyrical tracks are: Blazing Heart > Not Knowing to Turn Back > Hazy Sky.
CAST: Lovely, with the leads being the reason I will rewatch it someday.
ACTING: Wonderful, especially that of ZLY and LGX making me all flustered. The character of FengLai was acted excellently.
ROMANTIC SCENES: Few but surely, quality>quantity. One of them would surely take your breath away- it was one of the best in Cdramas I should say.
STORY: This is where it gets complicated. The plot sure has its uniqueness but follows the same route. A strong male and female lead, the realms, forced marriage, mortal life, betrayal, sacrifice, a corrupt/immoral/insane/evil villian, a naughty/helpful female villian, a happy ending and haha, your usual phoenix being one of the leads. But still, it was lovely. Episodes didn't feel as fillers whichever they were. It was overall, fast-paced. The portion of the story where the passage of time for Xingyun and him just living through was shown, was quite appreciable because it just made me think a lot.
WHAT I LIKED AND FELT NEW: I will always love the lead pairing no matter what their ages are. A lotta people tried to make a fuss about Kenny Lin's age but he is quite handsome and ZLY is such a youthful beauty with those sparkling eyes. Being a great fan of slow-burn, I quite liked the early romance. Loved Xingyun, the parental history of ShenLi and the concept of Chimei. The incidents of the Mortal Realm were quite interesting esp that of Qing Ye/Xiao He/Ye Shi. One of the best things was that although there were objections, there was unity in the realms and not the usual betrayal of your own kind. What I really loved was that ShenLi and XingZhi were very understanding and supportive of each other despite their appreciable strong conviction and values, so, there was no need of making unnecesary sacrifices. XingZhi expressed a righful amount of stubborness and playfulness which I loved and appreciated and although ShenLi was a female warrior, she was quite emotionally intelligent (not the usual clueless emotionally suppressed lead). Yes, the story didn't get boring after the romance. The highlight/uniqueness of the drama was the acceptance of one's natural tendencies despite the sense of responsibility, justice and values. It was good to see XingZhi complaining to Natural Law and getting his answer later. I was really happy that it didn't end up as a tragedy although I appreciate tragedies haha.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Haha, it is the best part. The not-so-unique story is the reason, it may not end up in my top 10 dramas list if I ever made one. Unfortunately, it can't par with Lost You Forever, Story of MingLan, Ashes of Love, The Story of Minglan, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom, Love and Redemption, Empresses in the Palace, The Untamed, EverNight, Joy of Life, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, One and Only, The Blood of Youth etc., in terms of one-of-a-kind so, the reason it can be watched is you wouldn't get disappointed (because it is better than the majority) and that for rewatch is because of the leads. I didn't appreciate the fast pace. I wanted to see the leads more and the new info got introduced kinda suddenly that you may not even notice the fillers. The character development of Mofang was not good at all. What happened to the Third Prince, I don't know. Was the story of Qing Ye a love triangle, or the addition of XiaoHe in the story was just a punishment of Natural Law or whom did he actually like? I don't know.
BUT Did I enjoy: Yes, it did get me hooked up. Was it worth it? Yes. It can surely be in my top 30 dramas ever. It can be in the list of these dramas for its rating: Love between Fairy and Devil (for me), Story of Kunning Palace, The Long Ballad, Who Rules the World, Word of Honor, The Starry Love, A Dream of Splendor, Bloody Romance, The Rebel Princess, etc.
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The best couple in Chinese historical drama series together again
The best couple in Chinese historical drama series.. They acted in 3 series together and their performance continued to increase... The first series I watched was Princess Agent. Seeing them together again in this series after a long time made me both very happy and excited.. the series When I first read the news about it, I was hoping that I would encounter a better series than Prinsess Agent. If we take their acting and harmony out of the series, although it is only visually rich, I would definitely not watch the series if another couple played it. Even though I do not like fantasy TV series, the fact that my favorite couple is in the lead role of the series makes it great. It is one of the factors that make people watch it.. After about 7 years, there should be a TV series on Prinsess Agent with the subject of the series they starred in together... As someone who loves watching this couple, I hope that we can have the pleasure of watching a new historical series together without waiting so long.. whatever. Even though I don't like the subject as much and find it simple, there are many people behind the camera. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the production and broadcast.Was this review helpful to you?
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Familiar formula but still enjoyable
Once you’ve watched many dramas like this, it is hard to be surprised by the storyline as most of them follow the same pattern (unexpected meeting, grow to fall in love, have to part, death which leads the other one to forget their principles, back to life, overcome evil) but this drama added it’s own spin on this pattern with an interesting though hard-to- believe* opening where the FL injures herself while fleeing an arranged marriage.Thankfully, this drama is on the new trend to give us happy endings which are not short and even used the last episode to play out a little side story which was enjoyable and let me have my feel good vibes for a whole episode as I loved seeing them live their happy life for a full episode!
The ML carried himself well as the last ancient god but I was struggling to see him he as a sickly mortal. Interesting to see how the drama chose to have a role reversal where the ML is the one who pines after the FL. It was fun to watch the FL being more matter-of-fact and let’s move on after having sex but it was a bit of out character for the ML to suddenly be so clingy & willing to throw caution to the wind when he was shown to be such a strong selfless character who put the 3 realms above his own interests during the first half of the drama.
As long as I turned off all these questions that kept popping up in my head, I was entertained with the above average CGI and sweet love story between the FL’s parents (I saw that coming a mile away so was just waiting to see how that part of the story would unfold and this drama delivered nicely)
*hard to believe on so many levels as the FL is shown to be the best fighter so how can she be so badly injured that she loses her human form. Also, she has a good relationship with her master so why were they not able to discuss the marriage alliance the same way they talked about other important issues? Didn’t really make much sense to send all the generals & soldiers to hunt her down and bring her back for the marriage as she can easily just not go through with the wedding by saying no in person during the wedding. Unfortunately, most dramas have this problem where logic is usually the first to go as long as it moves the story along in a nice way.
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What a beautiful Xanxia
I just love everything about this drama. The episodes though 39 were very enjoyable I couldn't even skip. The Ost the beginning was very captivating, I loved it too. The comedy was also on point despite the seriousness surrounding the story. Oh! And the chemistry between Shen li and our ancient god was sizzling...I recommend this drama anyday, anytime even in my sleep.Lest I forget the costumes and CGI were also on point. They didn't miss a beat at all.
Kudos to everyone who made such a masterpiece. I hope the drama bags awards because it deserves it.
Apart from the FL and Ml my favourite character was Ms Jin and she deserved the last episode that was dedicated partly/mostly to her. She's so selfless and kind.
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