A wonderful story you need to see to believe
I found this a unique and wonderful series, which doesn't appear that way at first. Once it got past the opening scenes, it quickly became something special.It starts off ridiculously, but I wonder if that was intentional. The heroine wakes up in the body of a woman who is her but not her in a Jianghu (?) world, tortured and left to die in the desert as a challenge and a trap. The hero rides in and rescues her, avoiding all traps, sweeps her away, and thus begins the story.
That whole sequence is funny and over-the-top, with bad CGI and not-great acting. But that's not what the rest of the story is. It gets better and better, with everything, especially the hero - Yan Shao - and heroine - Feng Yi/Rong Shu Kuang - and their story weaving its way into your heart and firmly holding on. I don't really like 'wuxia' shows much, having tried several but not being able to get into them. This is more like 'Love Game in Eastern Fantasy' in its 'accessibility' - I love this show, and I think others who don't usually enjoy 'wuxia' dramas would like it as easily.
It's not long-winded, there are no heavenly realms or palace dynamics, no long-lasting misunderstandings, no annoyingly innocent, naive heroine with a baby-voice, and many other things that free it to be easily enjoyable. There is humour, fun and games, mystery (several all working in together) that you very much want to be figured out, a great romance between the heroine and hero, and very good fighting scenes - perhaps the best martial arts/fighting scenes I've seen in these shows. It laughs at itself and at other shows like it, which relieves tension and allows it to go and still do those things, but either in a better way - making it work beautifully - or without pretending it's realistic.
Gao Wei Guang is the perfect hero, although he's given terrible hair, capturing the part wonderfully. He's noble, gifted, sensible, protective, humorous, wise, active, thoughtful, honourable, brave, selfless.... as I said, the perfect hero. Xuan Lu is an engaging heroine, who acts just like we want her to. Being from our world, she has a certain freedom in the alternate world. Feng Yi is upbeat and cheerful, friendly, funny, active, curious, smart, genuine, and tenacious. She avoids misunderstandings and takes matters into her hands, instead of letting things just happen. Together, these two are perfect - they rely on each other, sacrifice for each other, tease each other, have fun together, help others together.... their relationship dynamic is fun, sweet, poignant, mature and genuine. It's both fun and endearing watching their journey together.
Supporting characters are well-defined, and well-acted. My gripe is with the three 'wandering masters' - both in their characterisation and acting. But they're not in it too much. The main (visible) villain, Shen Zui Tian, has a strong, good part, and the actor plays him very well. There's a great interlude in two of the later episodes where these 3 characters are thrown together, and it's great fun. He also has great hair, in contrast to our hero, which is annoying. There are some plot holes, which is to be expected, but they're not large and glaring.
It's truly a great series that is much more than it seems to be on the surface. Definitely recommend.
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