Xiang83

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The scores are great for majority of scenes, until we get to actual combat scenes and BGM of some sort is used. That's where I wish some restraint would be employed.

After TJOL, Fated Hearts, Dark River and Whispers of Fate, our Murong-Bobo has at least ten more unaired dramas coming up. I think he's the biggest winner of the current drama trends, followed by Chang Huasen XD

I wonder how A-Shui is going to turn out by the end of this drama. I want Shen Langhun to stay, rather than leave. Tang Lici has every right to be suspicious of A-Shui. The Tang Lici fanclub keeps growing, but he'll need them all for his future plans with bigger risks.

RMP isn't necessary. That one had massive issues.

LIP is valuable if you want to understand why Wangquan Fugui in Sword and Beloved makes certain decisions, whereby he is not just his mother's son, but also very much like his father at that age. To do so, you'd have to understand Dongfang Huaizhu and Wangquan Hongye in LIP, then the emotional resonance of the scenes in episodes 1 to 7 (and episode 11 onwards) of SaB becomes a lot stronger, including certain combat scenes of Wangquan Fugui. Storylines for LIP and SaB are very different. The acting for the cast in LIP is quite enjoyable, where relationships and individuals are fleshed out (such as Ding Yuxi's characters) before your heart gets ripped to shreds.

But understandably, such a plot involving so much people-focus is not everyone's cup of tea, if people expect action most of the time akin to the currently-airing Blood River.

Wangquan Fugui is also protected by his father being a capable leader of their clan plus also a solid leader of the Yiqi Alliance. Wangquan Hongye in LIP had to navigate stormy waters and wasn't in the same privileged position as Wangquan Fugui.

Put someone in a terrible position and when they must do the right thing, they must also weather the consequences. This far, Wangquan Fugui hasn't been put in such a position. He is much luckier than his father for now.

I'm not excusing anyone's behaviour in SaB. There are many angles to see. May you enjoy LIP!

Episode 4 – Murong-bobo! You’re alive! Didn’t Feng Suige and Fi Yixiao- Oops, wrong drama. To open this episode, Jiang Qingyu sets off nifty gadgetry with one move, hence the Floating Abyss (which clearly needs an oil tanker to ease all joints of tremendous creaking overworkage) is now sinking back into the sea. Adore the complexity and magnitude of the sets and the camerawork, especially when Tang Lici barges in, makes short work of a certain Jiang and then trusses up his selected turkey in pretty red ribbon, before having Jiang Qingyu flat as a sausage in a gloriously undignified manner on the ground.

This drama loves giving viewing clues about foreshadowing in the little details of an earlier episode, to link to a later episode. Because a certain Hua-Wuyan-pretending-to-be-Feng Chuanxiang couldn’t recognise the jade pendant in Tang Lici’s possession nor the poem, he was outed in one meeting with Tang Lici.

Flashback time, immersed in solitude on romantically desolate ruins recalling something more tragic and emotive than Wuthering Heights~ Liu Yan is not endearing himself with his mouth and initiative, even if he looks gloriously appealing. That song the entire time with the flashback is bittersweet fitting. Also, Fang Zhou doesn’t get enough screentime. All this ceases, when A-Shui shows up. Tang Lici obviously has massive trust issues with A-Shui. When he leaves A-Shui to herself, haunting slow notes of the pipa accompanies the beautifully forlorn landscape of loneliness, to segue to Liu Yan with his underlings.

Master Puzhu makes his entrance with his meditation beads! Stiff-lipped self-righteous follow-the-scriptures-only bore? I found myself very surprised at how quickly my opinion of this character changed over several episodes.

Tang Lici may know how to deftly manoeuvre Chi Yun to do things for him, but Chi Yun also knows which buttons to push, to get a certain fox to speedily protect his back and not retreat a single step. Yu Qifeng of the Sword King City gets more than what he has come for, in meeting Tang Lici and the Yanmen Sect.

Episode 5 has Tang Lici’s elaborate vessel transform more than window panels into a submersible. The CGI here is awesomely overflowing in water and waves and sequencing. Alas, Chi Yun is too seasick to appreciate it. At 16:02 my jaw may have dropped. Or was it 16:08? 16:24 to 16:27 was impressive, especially 26: 33 to 26:41. Shisan Lou is an amazing intricate construction of gadgetry and contraptions, and Tang Lici rejects a certain obsessed tower lord, before going to get Shen Langhun himself.

The music with the lasers somewhat ruined the moment. Zero music would have been better, merely the sounds of what is transpiring.

Goodbye, Murong-bobo. Bigger villain wants to maximise his flashy screentime as THE villain for the upcoming arc, so your time is done. This episode ends with Zhong Chunji understanding what a bunch of authoritative unattractive boors she is dealing with constituting the heads of the current Central Plains Sword Alliance, which her Shifu kindly sends her away from.

Episode 6 has evocative shots I enjoy very much, such as 03:55 to 03:57 after Zhong Chunji reminisces about her sad childhood, as it rains. Raindrops slowly drip off the ends of the parasol… Poignant. Her shifu Shao Yanping clearly adores her, and also sends her on her happy way with a new mission to Sword King City.

I hope Chi Yun and Tang Lici can continue exchanging teasing banter until the end of this drama, because their antics ribbing each other always brings a smile or a grin. Shen Langhun is excellent at more than catching fish, because his eyeliner is wonderfully drawn. Xiao Shunyao has very attractive eyes, and this drama happily emphasises that.

Then we get Shen Langhun using a certain special technique on Tang Lici, thereby understanding what happened in the past. We get kittens, a non-speaking Tang Lici clinging to wooden banister of the stairs, Liu Yan unsuccessfully tugging at more than heartstrings with Tang Lici, then Fang Zhou saves the day! How did Tang Lici change, from that non-verbose individual into the self-assured shrewd Tang Lici everybody else reacts towards today? Not expecting Tang Lici to flip the tables on him, Shen Langhun’s story is sweet and sad, whereby Liu Yan is at his creepy sadistic best accidentally doing face makeup for Shen Langhun followed by dropkicking him off a cliff. After that kind of attention, what a relief to see Chi Yun and Shen Langhun get along well without any undertones I might be missing.

I wonder if novel-Shen Langhun and drama-Shen Langhun will wind up doing the same thing to Liu Yan. But there are so many changes from the novel that I've simply decided to see where this drama takes me. It's also been a long time since I've decided to look at paintings again.

But it’s time to go into Sword King City and episode 7, where the main villain Yu Qifeng is going to show off. And who better than frosty impish Xue Xianzi charging in, to make him demonstrate his version of the Westwind Slashing Wildfire technique which everybody seems enthusiastic about? Not too hot on fire phoenix CGI at this point and the previous episode.

16:44 to 16:53 between Tang Lici and Shen-xiong is charming and quirky. A simple statement of a name results in cool shadowy entrance! That eyebrow! Very enjoyable to watch someone who understands the stage and commands a stage well. Also, his wirework is always very enjoyable.

It's a fantastical mesh of colours, stars and imagination colliding in a technicolour dream-like otherworldliness when Tang Lici enters a certain rift in the wall, where the golden fiery sword essence of Sword Phoenix Yu Xuanqing still awaits a successor.

As Shen Langhun fights Sword King Yu, Tang Lici succeeds and unleashes the true Westwind Slashing Wildfire for everyone to see.

30:40 is an exquisite palette of watercolours, as Master Puzhu walks alone and encounters someone to exchange blows with- Xifang Tao is late for their annual game of weiqi at Wenqi Pavilion. Petals are their pieces, hovering above a stone board with lines constructed of energy. Observations are succinct poetic sentiments as considered and diplomatic as each move laid down on the board. Windchimes tinkle with the leaves of nearby bamboo. Invisible fingers kiss fallen leaves and rustle petals into stumbling amongst dry wizened bodies, but do not disturb an open parasol resting on the ground.

Master Puzhu cedes the game to Xifang Tao because he is clearly too disturbed to concentrate. He is also likely to soon regret his words in this game.

Petals and stone do not meet, just as sky and sea are forever separated even when they appear to be harmonious on the horizon.

Master Puzhu meets Yu Qifeng at night. They go to the prison cell where Jiang Qingyu is held-

Zhong Chunji brings her senior Gu Xitan to meet her new friends aboard Tang Lici’s vessel. Shen Langhun is late for the meal, and he is not the only one. Candles are extinguished before they can start eating, and the episode ends on a fitting cliffhanger as Master Puzhu also arrives shortly after with a BGM that gives chills to match his entrance.

Ps. By this point, I'm wondering if A-Shui might be feeling morose because everyone has skills of a certain level but her.

Pps. This is the kind of drama whereby I have to rewatch episodes, to scratch more than the surface. Episodes 8 to 12 takes me back to the 80s and 90s with Director Tsui Hark, but that's for another comment summary.

Having watched episodes 1 to 13 this far, sentiments for this drama is akin to watching Herculean efforts of all involved creating a C-drama equivalent of the masterpiece《千里江山图》(One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains) by Wang Ximeng of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Mandarin link about this painting: https://zhiyuan.sjtu.edu.cn/html/zhiyuan/yishuguan_view.php?id=1&category=shanshui

English link about this painting: https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/one-thousand-li-of-rivers-and-mountains/

Thoughts on Episodes 4 to 7 in spoilers below:

Of course I am! I'm hunting for a drama with a good plot and good acting, and this looks like a good combo of action and adventure. The two leads won't disappoint. I will have to figure out how this fits exactly into the DmBJ series...

The directing and screenwriting for this drama (as of all seven released episodes) in terms of enabling Cheng Yi to fulfil the creative vision and enabling him to fully come into character as a strong balanced individual is much better here, compared to TJOL.

Wangquan Fugui is quiet, reserved, cautious, pragmatic, and quick-witted. Definitely better than the typical cold ML.

Cheng Yi cannot be faulted for TJOL. If you want to understand the screw-ups from the screenwriters, directors and post-production crew affecting how Xiao Qiushui came across in TJOL, my review can help:

https://kisskh.at/profile/Xiang83/review/497878

If you want to understand the full emotional impact of episode 1 (especially for the part between Cheng Yi as Wangquan Fugui and his father Wangquan Hongye), watching Love in Pavilion first would definitely help you register the full impact of the actions and acting of the actors for Wangquan Hongye and Wangquan Fugui across the first seven episodes of "Sword and Beloved", especially the lingering influence of Fugui's mother Dongfang Huaizhu. This drama's plot has a strong emotional core which is solidly anchored through relationships between Wangquan Fugui and others with him, and why Wangquan Fugui acts in certain ways definitely reminds me of his mother or father in the prequel. That said, Love in Pavilion is heart-wrenching closer to the end, and the style for the emotional core of that drama is different because of the storyline for that drama.

That said, the other two prequels are standalone series.

Thank you for informing me that this might indeed be the author's way of addressing personal father issues. I wouldn't be surprised. There is a lot of emphasis on the father-son relationship, which is crucial to that heart of the drama. Part of why this storyline works so well despite appearing simple when compared to say, Whispers of Fate? The relationships between ties of blood versus ties of non-blood are reflected accordingly across seven episodes, while bringing in the past. Easy to follow. Powerfully resonant without being overly schmaltzy or overdramatic.

It helps that Rumu and Cheng Yi are given time to react, the scenes for their reactions are well-controlled by the director and the actors know what they have to carry across, and their true emotions are revealed either in the voice and/or other poignant details. Voice actors here are crucial. The acting is also matching the VAs well. All that plus the final camerawork is edited in a manner such that their reactions feel personal to you, as if they are right in front of you and you are watching it happen. I am enjoying the camerawork, which lingers in certain ways on the scenery.

Wangquan Hongye in LIP was wonderfully idealistic and noble, yet pragmatic. He had to balance the finer trickier details of politics in his position, which Dongfan Huaizhu never had to contend with.

I have watched slasher fics and other movies with significantly higher body counts, and felt nothing. Those special individuals for the Mask Alliance were endearingly fleshed out, before they got wiped out. That is an episode I find very hard to revisit. And the music also haunts me. By the time a certain song came on near the end of episode 1 with that flashback, the waterworks were already unstoppable. It doesn't help that I am remembering the lyrics in Mandarin.

May you find cute baby birds hatching, since spiders might be much tougher and quicker where you are XD

I once saw a giant earthworm at least 30 cm long crawling across the cement while I was in Nepal. I thought it was adorable. My friend (male) thought it was very gross.

With that in mind, there are a significant number of people afraid of spiders and bugs, and the amount of consideration into finalising these bobble-headed cutesy animations acceptable and enjoyable to many children and adults definitely helps those who might be sitting on the fence because of this one detail. Some might want them to be less cutesy, but being too realistic in the appearance of the spider demon across two episodes would be too much for some viewers.

At least one song in this drama is something I am reflecting on, because at certain points it unexpectedly makes me think of Super Saiyan transformation in Dragon Ball XD (the first fight for Cheng Yi in episode 1). Just like the VAs for Cheng Yi and Li Yitong in this drama sound very similar to the VAs for the dongman, I wonder if the OP is also trying to make a bridge in a similar manner.

In episode 1 at 5:46, I would have preferred the atmosphere to speak for itself in silence, with only the sounds of wind and one pair of footsteps crunching across the ground. And when he encounters more than himself, how the sequence continues is enjoyable. One could argue whether a different BGM or a certain song should have been used at 12:46, but it doesn't detract from the scene.

Wangquan Fugui is very young and thus sometimes supposed to be passionate with the energy of youth (and his choice at the beginning of episode 3 somewhat reflects that), so perhaps the action music isn't completely off XD

# From one pivotal point, the plot expands. Starting simple and leaving a strong impression, the opening sequence was intriguing. A battle between Huo Dou the lantern demon and Wangquan Fugui was very enjoyable, due to CGI complementing enjoyable wirework where Cheng Yi capably anchors the fight with strength and grace. Episode 1: Unforgettable.

# Li Yitong’s spider demon is direct, resourceful, adorable, chatty due to curiosity and not overly-talkative. The animated half-human-half-spider form is very cute. Her development is realistic, and I liked the fact she must learn to walk on two legs when taking on human form in episode 3.

# Cheng Yi’s Wangquan Fugui isn’t cold. The storytelling which unfolds as per the directors gives me the impression that Wangquan Fugui is reserved and cautious due to the dangers and restrictions he is aware of, also compassionate (as seen through his interactions with Qingtong in episode 1 and 2), quick-witted, and knows when to be ruthless (episode 6 when he destroys the cultivation of Rumu’s father Quan Jingting). Because he has almost given up hope of changing his current lonely situation, his sadness fills his silences… Until a weak spider demon tenaciously pushes herself into his life, wanting to help Feng Tingyun and him.

# Spider demon #12580 shines in episode 2, the perfect complement to Cheng Yi’s subtle turns of expression and emotions. Episode 2 focused on their interactions and reactions is beautiful, as beautiful as the scenery woven by her for her friend Wangquan Fugui, and the song at 28:33 is wonderfully matched with her thoughts.

# As of episode 4, Quan Rumu is the perfect addition to this adventure. Rumu’s relationship with Quan Jingting is deftly interwoven with a significant flashback, during a present interaction between both actors. Despite Rumu’s asthma, Quan Jingting chooses to take his son to the Western Regions with him. And for more than ten years, Rumu wandered the desert… The rest of their story in this episode is crucial and nicely-compacted, without excessive emotion. And then Rumu meets Qingtong, whereby the fun truly begins. And we see the sweet cherished childhood friendship of Rumu and Wangquan Fugui.

# What a fight! Cheng Yi is really embodying Wangquan Fugui! Equally graceful in fighting or writing- For the sake of a name, dust somehow got into my eyes. Beautiful episode 5.

# When Rumu goes on about being cold in episode 6, I chuckled. Then Long Weiyun appeared, and he realised she had come to see him without waking him up… Now I want to see more of their story. Can this not end in tragedy?

# Camerawork and juxtaposition of past with present: Episode 6 at 24:56 transitioning to the past into 25:03 and beyond was masterfully done, from Wangquan Fugui’s POV. And like every episode of this drama, Wangquan Hongye somehow manages to lacerate his son’s heart again with words.

# In episode 7, definitely would have preferred two different people in the roles of Madam Yin and Quan Jingting. When it came to their scenes where the villains had the chance to shine with complexity, the end results are disappointing. Overacting and limited expressions for Madame Yin is spoiling this episode whenever she appears. This is swiftly compensated by the heartwarming brotherhood between Rumu and Wangquan Fugui, to dispel the poison which Qingtong was forced to feed him.

# Completing Love in Pavilion was wonderful and draining. With the final six episodes, a towel was necessary. To see the flashbacks in this drama’s episode 1 of what happened to the entire Mask Alliance was enough to almost induce some form of PTSD. My eyes became very watery in episode 1 due to memory dust.

Just as Zhang Yunlong was heart-breaking and mesmerising as Wangquan Hongye, Cheng Yi is well on his way to making Wangquan Fugui memorable. I could totally see Liu Shishi’s Dongfang Huaizhu and Zhang Yunlong’s Wangquan Hongye with Cheng Yi’s Wangquan Fugui. And this makes me sad they could never be together as an entire family.

Qingtong and Fugui are very sweet and amusing together. Hope to see more battles with Qingtong in them. Li Yitong pairs very well with Cheng Yi in this drama.

Looking forward to episodes 8 and 9!

“Atmospheric, eerie, fun and refreshing” was an unexpected start in experiencing episodes 1 to 7 of this drama (and the considerable efforts for animation in minimising arachnophobia was helpful):

What are you confused about?

Thank you for your praise! I enjoy the discussions that we engage in with others, which also adds to observations and final decisions. My only complaint is that I would have wanted something powerful on the guzheng for Fu Yixiao or a battle scene. 30 seconds of this on the guzheng would be apt: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1r2RoYgEdq/

Hehehehe, we all like our Murong Zhong. He has a lot of TBA dramas lined up as a supporting role, and it'll be interesting to see what he does. Chi Yun and Zhong Chunji are very fun together! They get along well as friends, and it's great to see how well they work together. I prefer the drama rendition of their characters this far.

That said, Episode 4 at 28:26 has Liu Yan playing the pipa. I also like the BGM throughout this episode.

So to compensate, I'll give you a different《水龙吟》on pipa which sounds similar to what Liu Yan is playing but has nothing to do with this drama: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1pz4y1878C/

The music is gorgeous. I'm also happy to see the pipa and guqin not being butchered whenever used as a prop piece or actually played by an artist. When Tan Jianci as Xiangliu played the guqin and plucked it in a certain manner while singing a specific heart-wrenching song in Lost You Forever, he did it correctly: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E8CsGYm8Pgw

I never finished watching that drama, but I enjoyed details like that.

This drama is a lot for anybody to take in. My maximum per day would only be two or three episodes, tops. Also, do you recognise our Murong Zhong from Fated Hearts here, as Vice-Leader Jiang Qingyu of Yanmen sect? XD

Since they changed a lot of things in the novel such as expanding Bao Shang En's role, it will be interesting to see A-Shui's place in this drama.

Write your own review! It's always fun to see what someone else thinks. The most important thing of watching a drama is to have fun, not to stress out.

Tang Lici is a celestial being. He adopts Fengfeng to try to understand what it feels like to have a child to look after, akin to when Fang Zhou took him in. As to why he is rubbing a certain portion of his lower stomach connected to the abdomen but Liu Yan's blade thankfully missed by going for the centre of his stomach, I chose not to say anything because that's for much later.

For Fated Hearts, I can see the five screenwriters are: 青枚（总）、武聪（总）、王晓丹（总）while 曹婷 and 陈辰 are not the main screenwriters.

For SLY, no screenwriters are listed and it's also mentioned in an article here: https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/2492353974/948e4db600101j5z6

As to gu zheng, I shared a guzheng piece not linked to this drama, which aptly expresses how I feel since sometimes words cannot describe. There is no score for it, just the bilibili link.

What do you think so far? If you haven't got the words at this point, here's a page of emojis to resort to: https://emojidb.org/cute-emojis