PeachBlossomGoddess

In the show bc of budget, they are all humans and demons, orcs, elves etc are all just different races. But I think the Beizu clan nobility may have some super powers - hence the strange cave temple scene that only Ka Dan can enter etc. I am going to guess they shot all of that bc of parallels between Xiu and Si Yilin/Kadan's child. Like Xiu, he can probably also turn into a red-eyed monster.

It seems work place is a dangerous, treacherous place since ancient times. 😂😂😂

Yeah I think it still did well enough at the box office that they will go ahead with Part 3. Fingers crossed...

Lol - yups so there is a lot of that going on here. Even though the war and politics are intricate its actually well conceived and quite well told if you pay attention.

WS is supposed to be inspired by Cao Cao and Xiao Qiao also really existed but she was someone else's wife. Its like a fantasy 3 Kingdoms where Cao Cao is essentially defeated by a beauty trap.
There are many 3 Kingdoms inspired dramas. If you want to be super serious you can watch Three Kingdoms which is I think close to 100 episodes (I haven't watched it but I will one day). Or Advisors Alliance and its sequel Growling Tiger, Roaring Dragon which also sticks close enough to history but has many fictionalized parts. If you want something more of a Dumas plot you can try Secret of the Three Kingdoms.

I am waiting for streaming version bc I decided not to go to the theatre bc of the bad reviews.

Yes and the characters are opaque and there are lots of words beneath the words. It doesn’t help they didn’t have enough money to shoot many war scenes so a lot of gets told in dialogue. There is a lot of dialogue and you have to pay attention. I didn’t mind but it can lose or confuse viewers out for light watches.

Wow I didn't realize how beautiful Nashi is. I think I may have to un-skip Creation of Gods 2. One of the reasons the movie was panned was because of her but she is really not bad here at all.

@KhinSuShein links the Chinese version below. You will have to use Google translate as I am quite sure it hasn't been translated into English. You could also try to request it on Webnovel - it will be AI translated though. Tencent owns the IP for this and are trying to get all their novels eventually AI translated on WebNovel. It will be behind a paywall though.

I didn't read the book but I am going to guess that Xiu is part demon part human. We know he was adopted and in the novel Beizu are demons. So Si Yilin's child is also of the same mixed heritage.

I am a bit lazy to look them up but many of the poems quoted are quite famous and are translated and interpreted by renowned translators.

Yes me too. I also have to stop and look up archaic words, idioms and poems but I think its quite fun and it feels so much more authentic. Too many modern phrases just ruin my feeling of immersion.

Indeed 喏 (nuò/rě) is a distinct term for acknowledging orders by officials and servants during Tang dynasty. By Song dynasty this evolved into 唱喏 (chàng rě). By later Song/Ming 喏 became archaic and not in use anymore and responses like 是 (shì) - "yes", 知道了 (zhīdào le) - "understood" and 遵命 (zūnmìng) - "I obey" became more common.

I believe 嗻 (zhè) is a Manchu term used during Qing but lower ranking servants should use 喳 (zhā).

Yes this is written in classical language where deeper meaning is conveyed via word puns, idioms and poems by Li Bai and other living poets from that time. Most dramas nowadays are written in vernacular language which is bad enough but I draw the line at frequent use of modern phrases. Dropped so many allegedly high budget dramas bc they didn’t invest in well educated scriptwriters.

Yups - its even on her Wikipedia.

Douban 6.8 with 34k votes. Not bad at all considering the budget.
Note: Douban never released a rating for S1 so this can be considered the rating for both seasons, which makes sense.

So unfair. No one shamed and banned Tony Leung for the sex scenes. He was very much a part of them too.

In the US mini-series actors make a lot more money than in China, especially now with Netflix, Amazon and Disney all duking it out for audiences. They can do as well/better than movie actors.

No Liu Haoran has been minting one huge box office hit after another. The only dramas he's made since are the drama versions of Detective Chinatown.

Indeed ZRY didn’t choose a good debut movie but he probably didn’t have much choice. He is a pretty solid actor but what always elevates his dramas is his inclusiveness - he works with terrific casts all around and unlike ZYL he tries hard to connect with all of his co-stars so that the entire production’s performances are elevated.