BanxiTheCommentaryGrrl

Though I absolutely adored the donghua, I had a different experience watching the live-action. For me, this series was my favorite of the three related dramas, partly because it leaned into a darker tone. I loved that it focused on an assassin group and the seedy underworld of martial arts. I also liked seeing my favorite characters and scenes from the donghua reinterpreted in live action. But as the episodes went on, it became harder to stay engaged and I felt like a pendulum, being interested in the story one minute and finding it sleepy at others.

To get into the heart of things, the first 13 episodes felt almost like a direct rewatch because it followed the donghua so closely. When the show moved into new story content, I enjoyed the new characters and the political conspiracies, but they didn't evolve as much as I hoped. The fight sequences were some of the best I’ve seen, and the visuals were genuinely thrilling. Still, after a while, there were only so many cycles of conflict before the pacing began to feel repetitive. I think the series could have been reduced to around 25–30 episodes by condensing the reused donghua material and tightening the plot. Overall, this didn't fully work for me but I did enjoy certain elements and the performers did a great job.