And it doesn't disappoint fans, their chemistry is strong and abundance. They knew each other pretty well by now so there's no hesitation and have strong familiarity in their acting. Their close friendship and the interaction is pretty comfortable. Liu Yu Ning has gained experiences and involve in many great dramas recently, he is no longer a newbie because LuSi helped him to gain his notoriety in Long Ballad. Flowing storytelling, little humor, happiness and heartbreaking episodes aren't far between like forcing us to be happily blushing and terrified in a moment away. The writer(s) of this drama is smart, female oriented drama with serious volume of masculinity where LYN comes in to role, so it doesn't bore me with female ethics but rather combination of action, self journey and love story. One thing though, the writer(s) seems to determine to kill everybody that's close to Duan Wu - none survive...(wth I have beef to pick with the writer). Ep23-onwards, the big number of head-peace & trinkets start to overwhelm. What we can see are big hair and burst of colors bling ornaments/jewelries, LuSi natural beauty is gone replaced with cheesy show-girls beauty standard. They also use their own voice...

This time around, we can enjoy maturity of YuNing's acting as Yan Zi Jing, his misty eyes are real, passionate glances and caresses on LuSi's shoulder shown affection. Nothing is fake - all sincere. Although he's over her head tall, he manage NOT to look giant over anybody. He can be cynical or sweet as well, his facial muscle seems to know how to work it, great expression. He smiles quite a lot in this drama (than Long Ballad). His life goal is to take revenge to those people who killed his family, a high-risk businessman on the side. The love story is open & carefree rather obscure one in Long Ballad.

Tang Xiao Tian (Zhang Jin Ran) came in joining 2nd ML whose in love with Duan Mu (LuSi) at the first sight although she's only a pearl diver aka a slave under duress. As a gentleman scholar who is Prince Ying's study buddy, he has job to go around the country to investigate crimes, bribery, thefts, all wrongs in the country so he can give recommendation and/or uphold justice for the Kingdom. He's a handsome guy & rightfully a scholar. While Yan ZiJing endeavor in revenge, Jin Ran works hard to find the bad guys. Su Mu Zhe should have picked this guy.

Zhao LuSi (Duan Mu/Su Mu Zhe) has good acting. Her dance is seductively mesmerizing, her dive is what divers do, her terrified look on the abuse, tears that break heart. Her tiny figure seems the cutest besides tall LYN & TXT, she doesn't have muscle so when she did manual labor scenes she appears tiny fragile. One thing she needs to do better is she needs to take vocalization lesson, she's great when doing cutesy scenes otherwise she sound like misplaced (ep1-10). Because of the hardness of reality, she changed personality to pursue harsh business endeavor. I want details, if Duan Mu go through so much painful experience and ocean-diving - her appearance doesn't show that. She still has flawless skin, healthy hair, cherry smiles. Dry crack darker skin, dry rough shorter hair should be from frequent diving in salty sea water. Bitterness, & distrust mostly from all the abuse, hunger, determine, and strong.

I am pretty sure besides these 3 actors (& Kang Ju guy) the rest aren't worth mentioning. The story on the middle are pretty slow, about business competition or jealousy (I want to slap Zheng Si guy the acting is so S***ty bad) after the pinnacle ep 18 and drop to nothing. The producer fill it with fillers to lengthen the episodes. This drama can actually finish in 32-35 episodes instead of 40. It isn't great like LLtG but I always love ZLS & LYN...it's a winner for both of them.