Katie Cruz

I watched this for Ding Yuxi so I haven’t had any huge expectations. I started this right after watching Melody of Golden Age because I’m a huge fan of him since Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. I was browsing MDL to see who’s the female lead. I noticed how she looked a bit older than him. When I checked their gap, I confirmed she was older. Anyway, the story starts with a woman in red dancing on a bridge. Her name is Chu Yu. A female general who fought at Fengling city along with her father who died in the war along 30k soldiers. The Wei troops come in after winning a war. The first one to come in was Wei Yun, the seventh son, and one of the generals of the Wei Army. She stops and professes her love for Wei Jun, the first son of the general. Wei Yun seemed to develop an interest in her from the very beginning when he saw her doing a sword dance up on the bridge. He’s always sneaking around whenever Wei Jun and Chu Yu meet. He’s very playful and carefree during this time. Chu Yu is not really in a relationship with Wei Jun. She only wanted his help to investigate the death of her father. She has the piece of mechanism of an octagonal crossbow that was used to kill her father and injured her brother, Linyang. The whole Wei army set off for another war with North Qi. Chu Yu shouted that she’ll wait for Wei Jun’s return. Wei Yun was looking at her when they were on their horses as they left the city gate. They draw sticks and Wei Yun got the rear guard. Of course. He was the one who was left behind while the father and his 6 older brothers go to Baidi valley. It was a stupid move, if you ask me. How did they underestimate their enemies? The battle was intense, and just like that, they all died. Ding Yuxi really delivered a great performance in this one. The emotions he has shown during the funeral procession was amazing. I was crying so much at that scene. Chu Yu came in a red dress saying she promised to marry Wei Jun, and she’ll become his widow of the first branch of the Wei family. She was doing this to get into the arsenal bureau to investigate. That was so wrong of her to do that. But she did help the Wei family by saving Wei Yun from prison. She endured a lot especially when they all knelt down outside in the freezing cold weather. As the episodes go by, I couldn’t really see them as a couple. He was always trying to get close to her, but she remains indifferent. I didn’t really see any chemistry between them. I did enjoy the friendships shared between all of them. The second male lead, Gu Chusheng, earned my respect for being a good official and he knew he was defeated by Wei Yun, so he didn’t do anything drastic to break them apart. He did try to pursue Chu Yu again, but failed. They all worked together to protect the Great Sui. I couldn’t stand the crown prince, but glad he had character development and had ascended successfully as the ruler of Great Sui. I hated his father, emperor Chunde. He tried so hard to separate Wei Yun and Chu Yu because his country needed a god of war, and in order for Wei Yun to be one, he shouldn’t have a weakness. No emotions. He’s so stupid. He even gave Chu Yu a title to trap her in the in the inner chambers, so she can never remarry. In the end, he makes Wei Yun guard the border for three years. He’s really something else. i admit, whenever Wei Yun makes his move to get closer to Chu Yu, it pisses me off when she dismisses him. Like OMG where is the fudging romance?? But then later on I realized, not every love story can be an instalove. Not everyone can fall for each other at the same time. In Wei Yun’s case, he fell in love with her first and was stuck in a one sided romance for quite a bit before romance developed. He decided to go for it. I was squealing with excitement when he told Gu Chusheng, “She could be my wife,” after Gu Chusheng reminded Wei Yun that she’s married to Wei Jun. He was like, “You said it yourself. It was just a cover, why can’t I marry her?” Damn. That was the start of him pursuing Chu Yu. His sister-in-law, Chun, reminded him that fatal knives are not just on the battlefield, but the words of people can kill her. Gossip went around town because their relationship was wrong to them. Anyway, we didn’t get to see a lot of romance, but it was an entertaining story. Episodes could have been shorter. Too much screen time for other couples. I didn’t really cared much about the others, especially her b-tchy sister, Jin. Glad she had character development as well. The most funny character goes to Lu Qiba. He’s the commander at Arsenal Bureau. He helped Wei Yun and Chu Yu so much. Everyone helped as well. The fighting scenes were so good, I love it. Wei Yun’s scenes were always a treat. I never dared skipped his scenes. He always looked like a little lost puppy whenever he was with Chu Yu. Song Shilan was another favorite of mine. He’s the son of a concubine who left his civil career for a military one. He’s comes from a military family, so it’s his deep
ambition to become a well known general. I love how the Song siblings all have a good relationship with each other. It’s really sad that the eldest Princess Chang Ming killed herself because she fell in love with the wrong person. What a tragic love story between her and Zhao Yue. This story tells us a lot of lessons about family, friendships, trust, passion, and love. We didn’t get to see the main couple get married or have any kids at the end which is okay. Not every story needs to end that way. Like I said, I watched this for Ding Yuxi, and that’s all it matters. I wasn’t disappointed with his performance here. There was one quote from Chu Yu that I loved:

“This is not a dead end. We will surely find a way out. If the road ahead is full of thorns, let’s cut through them. You and I are each other’s swords. Even if the sky falls, I will face it with you.”