Q, EXY & more confirmed for new horror K-movie
On the evening of September 15 (UTC+08), posts about a glaring blooper in episode 14 of The Journey of Legend emerged on Chinese social media.
In the episode, when Xiao Qiu Shui (Cheng Yi), facing a group of martial artists, said, "I didn't do it, so I won't admit it," his trembling right hand was shown clutching a script. On that script were unmistakable blue highlighter marks used to emphasize key lines — conspicuous and impossible to miss.
This led to criticism, with netizens commenting that this must have been a blooper mistakenly inserted into the final cut. Some argued, "If he's already officially filming and still holding a script, that means you haven't memorized your lines — that's unprofessional."
The hashtag "The Journey of Legend script blooper" quickly shot to the top of the trending searches, and along with it came a flood of criticisms directed at the C-drama.
That's not all. The show is facing heat for being of poor quality. The drama's cliff-jumping stunt with a flying horse and green-screen composite shots have also been criticized as having a "low-quality special effects" feel. Props such as damaged artificial turf and visible, unedited suspension wires further exposed production flaws, leading many viewers to complain that the show "looks even rougher than a short drama."
However, despite the criticism, The Journey of Legend is grabbing spots on lists of top trending shows. As of September 16, the show ranked first among all the dramas on air in China, according to Guduo rankings.
The rankings come with praise for Cheng Yi’s martial arts skills and it’s central theme that breaks away from the traditional binary opposition model of wuxia. Instead of a simple division between righteous and evil factions, the characters are shaped within morally gray areas. The protagonists are not flawless heroes, but rather complex individuals, each carrying their own wounds and obsessions. This approach deconstructs the heroic myth of traditional wuxia, shifting the focus to the inner struggles.
Viewers also praise that the most distinctive value of The Journey of Legend lies in its successful creation of a connection between costume drama and contemporary life. On the surface, the work tells stories of grievances and rivalries in the jianghu, but in essence, it explores universal issues faced by today’s youth: identity, belonging, the conflict between ideals and reality, and pressures from society.
The Journey of Legend tells the story of Xiao Ming Ming, who is a huge fan of martial arts novels, but his passion has been worn down by the tough realities of life. He experiences the martial arts world through the perspective of the protagonist of an online fantasy novel, Xiao Qiu Shui. He starts off as a young swordsman who has little skill and is impulsive by nature, but gradually grows into a hero who upholds loyalty and protects his family and country. After going through this adventurous journey, Xiao Ming Ming continues to write in his spare time, conveying through his novels the belief that people are united by righteousness.
Stream it on Viki, WeTV, and iQIYI.
Source: Jimu News, Guduo Media, Beijing News Network
