The Vendetta of An

A brilliant revenge story with cold, calculating lead who does whatever it takes!

The Vendetta of An is a historical revenge drama set in a fictional past where, after the old emperor dies, Yan Fengshan, the ruthless commander of the Huben Army, seizes control of the empire by placing a young prince Xiao Wenjing on the throne as his puppet ruler. But his triumph is short lived. The new emperor’s older brother Xiao Wuyang launches an uprising, retakes the capital, and declares himself emperor, forcing Yan Fengshan and Xiao Wenjing to vanish amid the chaos.

Although the throne is reclaimed, the new emperor’s rule remains dangerously unstable. The Huben Army still operates from the shadows, and civil war feels inevitable. In desperation, the emperor turns to Xie Huaian, a young man renowned for his intelligence, tasking him with restoring order and uncovering the truth behind the disappearance of Yan Fengshan and the missing emperor.

Xie Huaian’s loyalty to the throne is driven by far more personal agenda, though. Years earlier, Yan Fengshan betrayed his father and massacred their entire clan, leaving Huaian and his younger sister as the sole survivors. Since then, he has lived only for revenge, waiting for the chance to return to the capital and destroy the man who ruined his life. But as Huaian becomes increasingly entangled in political schemes, power struggles, and imperial conspiracies, he begins to unravel an even deeper conspiracy that threatens the entire empire.

The Vendetta of An is a story packed with clever strategies, layered schemes, and constant deception. I had to pause several times just to discuss the characters and their plans with my watching buddy. I loved both the protagonists and the villains. Every character felt well-rounded, with believable motivations and distinct personalities, and for the most part, they were genuinely likable.

The male lead, Xie Huainan, played by Cheng Yi, was incredibly intelligent and calculating. I especially loved how utterly exhausted he seemed with life, yet remained relentlessly driven by revenge. That made him feel genuinely vicious at times. He was fully prepared to stain his hands with blood, and what I appreciated most was that he never tried to preach morality. In fact, none of the characters did, and I absolutely loved that.

This is an ensemble cast where everyone is driven by deeply personal motivations and ambitions. They betray, manipulate, and kill without hesitation, and the story allows them to be human, flawed, ruthless, and morally gray, without constantly forcing some “higher moral ground” message onto the audience.

The villains were especially compelling because their actions clearly stemmed from their past traumas and life circumstances. Their choices felt understandable, even when they were terrible, and their endings all came full circle in ways that felt satisfying and earned. The protagonists were just as interesting. I really enjoyed Xiao Wenjing's/Zhang Mo’s character development, Ye Zheng’s loyalty and steadfastness, and Gu Yu’s courage and determination.

Even some of the supporting antagonists, like Su Chang Lin and Wang Pu, were incredibly charming and strangely likable despite their borderline psychotic tendencies.

Although the male lead is repeatedly described by his enemies as “terrifying,” he is far from the only intelligent character in the story. His schemes may succeed, but his enemies are more than capable of striking back hard enough to throw him completely off balance. More than once, he is forced to sacrifice even his own life in order to see his plans through. The stakes always feel high.

The fight scenes were amazing, and I definitely replayed several of them while watching. The background music also fit the atmosphere perfectly.

There were a few aspects that threw me off a little, particularly parts of certain characters’ backstories and how some of them managed to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. Those moments didn’t always make complete sense to me. Still, aside from those minor issues, I loved almost every aspect of this drama.

If you enjoy smart political plots and revenge driven stories, I would definitely recommend this drama. It’s also a great watch if you’re tired of main characters who are overly preachy or unrealistically righteous. Xie Huaian is not a bad person, but he is far from morally self-righteous, and he never hesitates to manipulate others or spill blood in pursuit of his goals.

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Mysterious and Interesting

LIKE

Wow Xie Huai An predicted every step everyone will take and he prepared for years omg brilliant

The batch of casts wow awesome all my fav veterans

Liu Zhi Yuan’s attack was unexpected

This Wang Pu so good with his words wow

Yan Feng Shan's wits impressed

The minister and Gu Yu omgomg their fate how they survive

Wow Zhang Mo’s dad when I found out who

I like the battles where there are always wins and losses which is real not like always one side winning

Everyone’s hidden so deeply wow their intention

Wow one enemy down another one appears cool maaannnn this drama exciting

Wow Xiao Wu Yang so good his martial arts and this guy in the underground cave with hidden skill set when he kills people

Tie Mo King very ruthless! Strikes sharp and swift

The plot twist at the end wwwooooowww!

DISLIKE

Absolutely perfect nothing only the cliffhanger I guess

MUSIC - personal fav

长安月 Chang An Yue - 刘宇 Liu Yu
余岁长安 Yu Sui Chang An - 孟慧圆 Meng Hui Yuan

REWATCH VALUE

Shall re-watch someday when I free

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Raw Realism or Lazy Planning? How Cinematography Failed an Acting Genius

The Vendetta of An features some of the best acting I have ever seen in the C-drama industry. Cheng Yi completely sheds his usual roles to turn into a lethal, patient schemer, sometimes cruel. A glimpse of the genius we had seen in Sword and Beloved episode 34. His silent look was so dangerous at times that, as an audience, I could literally feel the chill seep through my body. His screen presence and restrained intensity are unmatched here.

What sets this protagonist apart is his incredible psychological duality. He is capable of unleashing moments of extreme, calculated violence, yet he is simultaneously grounded by an acute moral understanding and the heavy guilt of right versus wrong. Unlike other massive, highly-anticipated historical revenge thrillers that rush through rapid-fire plot twists, this narrative purposely slows down to expose the agonizing, frustrated wait of a strategist biding his time. This deliberate change in pace serves a purpose: it anchors the profound human cost of vengeance. His deep-seated bonds with his childhood friend and his sister—culminating in a raw, devastating emotional breakdown—felt incredibly real and heartbreaking to witness.

Imagine Vendetta of An without the wide angle gritty feel, see Ep 34 of Sword and Beloved and re-watch Vendetta again... This project was an absolute blockbuster in the making, but it suffered from what "seemed like" another deliberate production sabotage. May not be!! A big flaw was the use of wide-angle anamorphic camera lenses and poorly designed costume headwear and no base make-up. Rather than using the typical flattering face-lights to brighten up the actors' complexions, the crew used highly dramatic, harsh, naturalistic shadowing, for an actor who is a master at micro expressions. Feel raw realism" is often a lazy excuse for poor technical planning!! 😡

A sharp contrast exists between the seamless, tight execution of global hits like The Untamed or The Double and the fragmented pacing seen in The Vendetta of An. In the latter, the overarching structure often falls apart, leaving Cheng Yi forced to carry the entire weight of a production that seemed actively designed to slow him down. First rather than action you have conversations between the two protagonists and then you use wide angle camera, basically you are asking the ML to do magic!! Which he did... The data heavily reflects this massive tug-of-war between brilliant acting and flawed production execution. On one hand, the show was undeniably a massive commercial hit, surpassing a peak popularity index of 10,000 on Youku and topping the Maoyan charts during its run. However, blatant structural flaws deeply divided the audience, resulting in a criminally low initial Douban score of 6.9 that fails to reflect Cheng Yi's elite performance.

Watch it for a phenomenal, spine-chilling character study and authentic emotional depth, but be prepared for the production’s structural and aesthetic flaws.

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Showering Chang’an with Fire and Blood

Witnessing the slaughter of his whole family, Xie Huai’an is forced to fend for himself since 10years old, moving from place to place to evade his enemies the Hubei Army with a little sister in tow and losing her later, until he came upon the remote land of Huainan where he decided to be his home. Working quietly as a small registrar, he knew he had only two ways to live, to stay in remote place such as Huainan or head to the capital to become a court official. Opportunity finally came when the son of the previous emperor (elder brother of current emperor) marched forward and captured the capital. Hearing the survival of Lie Clan Xie Huai’an, the new emperor summoned him to the capital and appointed him as his sword, to hunt down Yan Fengshan, the commander of Hubei Army and most influencial court official, which aligned with Huai’an’s mission for revenge. He gladly accepted and thus began his journey of vengeance only to find himself embroiled with a much bigger struggle than his vendetta.

Tong Mengshi who played Ye Zheng was the one that led me to this show, to my surprise it’s another of Cheng Yi’s work that I have been meaning to watch since last year and had forgotten. Tong mengshi was awesome here! I missed Joy of Life’s Wuzhu, so it’s great to see him again with a main role and real dialogues than mere robotic phrases spoken. He was very good here, acting and action-wise. His fights were fierce and forceful, and of course bloody too. And man it is such a satisfaction to see Su Changlin being taken down by Xiao Wangyu, he was such a snob after hurting Ye Zheng so badly and for using Ye Zheng’s shimei, the arrogance was a real pain to watch!

Cheng Yi has gone back up again in my rating after his flop in The Journey of Legend. Yeah I am now convinced that he fits more with roles that doesnt need romance to prop his character. And his crying here is done remarkably well compared to TJoL. Although his character Xie Huai’an is more scholarly with no martial prowess whose moves rely more on strategy than brawn, he definitely doesnt shy away from physical fights. The ruthless stabbings, whether he as inflictor or receiver, are heinously brutal. Sometimes I forget that Xie Huai’an doesnt know any martial art, cuz he doesn’t rely much on his more athletic sword-wielding friends. He makes use of the surrounding people and situations well, and he definitely doesn’t need anyone to come rescue him. This character is someone that can be thrown into a river of fire (literally) and the next moment you blinked he’s already crawling out of it somewhere in the distance where you least expected it. That is why even the King of Tiemo sees him as his biggest threat, even bigger than the invincible Yan Fengshan or the current emperor Xiao Wangyu.

The sad scenes here are considerably touching and heartfelt. It was heartbreaking when Bai Wan was recounting her earliest memories of her brother when they were on the run, while the rest of the people who listened actually knew who her brother was and where he was located, exactly next to her! But nobody said anything, as Xie Huai’an is adamant that her sister won’t be dragged into his revenge mission. OMG I was so sad for her and Huai’an. So close yet also so far apart. Though I could not understand why she is included in the main cast when her role ceased to be part of the plot even before half of the show.

I really liked the way this story is executed, the ups and downs and unexpected hits that befell on our main characters with ML racking his brains to improvise and come up with twisty strategies. What’s more surprising is I became more invested in the deposed emperor Xiao Wencheng’s interaction with his oblivious elder brother who deposed him. I really like this fake Zhang Mo character, the screenwriter managed to turn him into a very likable one as opposed to the start of the show when he ruthlessly took down ML’s beloved pageboy. His transformation and growth looked much closer to reality when despite being able to grow some spine during his adventure with Xie Huai’an’s gang, he was still torn between saving his brother or the citizen of Chang’an against Tiemo’s assault, and reverted to his cowardly nature, which cost his brother a whole lot more than a simple promise of King of Tiemo’s “to let him stay alive,”. Fake Zhang Mo is a coward by nature, although I was dumbfounded when the plot turned that way, I had to admit that this is very much expected of him according to this preset characteristics. And I must say his devotion and worry for Xie Huai’an and the elder brother who usurped his throne was very touching, and his banter with Ye Zheng never ceased to be amusing.

Love the action choreograph! They worked hard on this. Even though the plot and its twists were barely at par with Nirvana in Fire, I had to say the show is overloaded with action after action more than NiF, eventhough our ML Xie Huai’an know squat of martial art. Ye Zheng, Xie Wangyu, Yan Fengshan, Wang Pu, Su Changlin…gosh I cant even list everyone down cuz there are so many characters who had executed the action scenes remarkably well. And boy the final battle against the big boss was so fierce and gripping!

The song by Sa Dingding is so awesome i keep hearing it in my head. The lyrics are forlorn yet prideful and the melody makes you wanna hum with it.

Be warned, this is a very dark and gory show, with plot so twisty I had to rewind quite a lot to get a grip of its flow. Blood is spilled senselessly onscreen episode after episode, AND there is no romance whatsoever. Consider yourselves warned.

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Intriguing from first episode

The twist and everything is amazing. Everyone is so calculative and have their own motives.
All the actors and actresses played their roles so well.
This drama will keep you on the edge of your seats.
Please watch for yourself and ignore the hater comments. They are even faster than actual fans. Who rates a drama upon the first episode and drops without actually continuing ?
I’m all for diff opinions but at least give it a try more than one episode.
Anyways I can’t wait for the ending. I’m suspicious on some of the characters but I’m so excited to see who is the big boss pulling the strings.
Each episode is a plot within a plot. People I believe are dead prob ain’t. I can’t even distinguish between good and evil at this point.

I HAVE COMPLETED IT. The senior actors did such a good job. I predicted some wrong and some right but the last episode was really the best. It was so calculative and I knew the dead Wasnt dead. Won’t spoil anymore but this drama beat chengyi’s other two drama. Best of 2025.

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I am absolutely loving it.

This is truly a must-watch drama. I am only on the fifth episode, but I already feel confident in saying this. It is not just another revenge drama; it is innovative, intense, and masterfully executed, with outstanding performances and breathtaking scenes that can leave even the most composed viewer speechless.

Do not be misled by negative comments or unsustainable comparisons. Cheng Yi is superb, delivering a performance completely different from his last drama, which does not even need to be mentioned.

In short, it is highly recommended. I am absolutely loving it.

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