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.
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
