This is a delightful wuxia drama which I almost skipped because I wasn’t very fond of Yu Menglong after The Love Lasts Two Minds. However, the overwhelming positive comments on the MDL page urges me to watch for myself, and I’m glad I did. The storyline of this drama is very typical of the old days wuxia stories whereby wǔ shù (martial arts) practitioners leave their sects and go to the world for experience and do good deeds by helping anyone in need.

The Story
This is a story about a very young girl, Zhan Qinghong (Xing Fei aka Fair Xing) leaving her home and sect with her closest friend/maid to see the world. She comes to meet Lin Fang (Yu Menglong) who is the most handsome man in the country. Lin Fang doesn’t date women but somehow he falls head over heels in love with her secretly. For her, she falls in love instead with another man, Wen You (Merxat Yalkun) with whom they have gone through life and death together, helping and saving each other. Their romance continues for more than half of the drama before they separate due to circumstances beyond their control. Zhan Qinghong is devastated but Lin Fang is there with her all the time helping her getting through her pains and heal. She begins to fall in love with him. Together, they discover a greater conspiracy and eventually save the country.

I really enjoy watching wuxia stories like this about wulin, having all wulin virtues and values with “yi chi” as the utmost quality. Many of the wuxia heroes would sacrifice themselves for this virtue. Like the government providing a formal law and order for the country, wulin provides an informal law and order for people in the “jianghu” (pugilist communities). In this story, the flexibility of wulin is interlaced with the discipline of the government military, making it a formidable soldier with an intriguing story of supervillains, ingenious super doctor who can cure anything, mysteries, treason, espionage, conspiracies, battles, and more.

As with many wuxia dramas, the logic and dialogues are at times over-simplistic, shallow and repetitive, and yet, there are moments they are deep, endearing and intelligent, especially when it comes to the principles of sword fighting and the duty of wulin.

The Characters and The Acting
Zhan Qinghong is a forthright, naïve, happy-go-lucky girl with “yi chi” being her main calling. With a pair of forever-wide-open eyes and a frozen smile, Xing Fei’s portrayal is cute at the same time receiving a lot of criticisms from viewers. Despite this (flaw or not), Xing Fei gives the viewers an air of energy and as Zhan Qinghong, with her everything-is-good charisma, she always manages to turn anything bad into good. Together with her best friend maid, they create silly and happy moments, making the viewers laugh out loud; their dynamics are incredible and endearing, and earn the honor of being called stupid and dumb from Huo Yang (Zhang Kaitai). Flanking Lin Fang's side, Xing Fei makes a convincing protector, and her sword fighting choreography is also beautifully executed and very believable.

Lin Fang is an intelligent and meticulous strategic thinker. Having a sickly body due to poor health (he has been poisoned), he doesn’t know any wukong (martial arts), but he understands the principles of wukong as his father was one of the prominent wuxia heroes leading the wulin as its “Mengzhu” (united master). He outwits everyone and becomes the “Mengzhu” himself and has two top fighters, Wen You and Zhan Qinghong, flanking his sides as protectors. I have not been impressed by Yu Menglong because of his poor performance in The Love Lasts Two Minds, but in this drama, he seems to have improved slightly. Perhaps it’s the character that he’s playing, he still seems rather stiff, moving not unlike a robot. Despite this, I still love the Lin Fang character. Though sickly, he’s a mastermind of everything, always a few steps ahead of the antagonists. He feels like Mei Changsu (Nirvana in Fire) without the latter’s charisma. In later episodes, Lin Fang does transform into a more animated person, joking and moving around more freely and naturally.

All the other cast members’ performances are equally good and believable, in particular Tong Chun Yip (aka Kent Tong) who portrays the supervillain Wang Dun and Merxat Yalkun who portrays Wen You, each bringing out life in their characters on the screen.

There are multiple very adorable second couples here, with one couple ends in tragedy. My favorite couple is of course the Huo Yang / Xiao Lan pair with a super handsome cool guy and a direct innocent silly girl. The pair is simply hilarious and brings a lot of colors to the scenes especially when things are going intense.

My Verdict
This is absolutely a very well told story deserves our attention and precious time. It has all the tension and suspense coupled with silly actions and dialogues from the main characters. The cinematography is great and the CGI is convincing. Perhaps the only obvious flaw (among others which I don’t really mind) I find is the attention to details in particular the unmatched wedding gowns worn by our main characters. Overall, this is a very wonderful wuxia story with a lot of romance.

Enjoyable watch. Don't miss it!