throughthenight11

I wonder how he will kill off the other, harder characters!

He is! I think also the presence of the supporting characters which are well-played by veterans helps flesh out his character, the same way CY bouncing off of theirs fleshes out their own characters as well.

CY enjoys being challenged and I hope that this drama will be given the love that it deserves and at the same time an opportunity to be given even better scripts and crew.

XHA is a person who is so full of contrasts - he is impatient yet also patient, petty yet magnanimous, filled with hate and at the same time love, too cautious yet also bold, and he is fuelled by revenge yet also worn down by that same vengeful emotion. I'm sure it was a big task to try to digest and then bring to life the complexity of his character, and I'm sure that CY learned a lot with this role. XHA goes beyond being a "villain character", and maybe anti-hero isn't even the right word to call it, but he for sure is layered and deep and it takes a lot of talent to be able to bring someone to life such personality and then play off of the energy of so many other characters.

Also I'm very grateful that the script and the production crew genuinely wanted to tell a good story. There was a lot of creative narration told through both dialogue and motion picture in this drama, and the storytelling reminds me of when I watched The Longest Day In ChangAn. I hope it keeps up its pace. How many more does XHA have to kill? Lol.

And to put into perspective how luxurious the entire cast for this drama is, we are already 6 whole episodes and nearly a quarter of the way into the drama, but we haven't even seen Zhang Hanyu, Ni Dahong AND Han Tongsheng yet, and both Liu Yijun and Wang Jinsong have still only had a total screen time of maybe 5 minutes lol.

I knew that this was my most anticipated CY drama for a reason and so far it hasn't let me down yet. I just realized that the revenge plot point is much heavier in this drama because most of the people that XHA wanted to serve revenge to were at some point people with whom he'd bonded with and with whom he'd formed memories as a child, so the betrayals run deeper and more bitter. So in addition to hatred we can now feel the underlying pain that XHA is carrying because these were people that XHA had thought he could trust. I also love the way their deaths have been poetic - it was very thrilling to watch.

Please do! XHA needs it! When he said he had planned to humiliate someone....a character who's petty AND a near psycho....not a very good combination for the rest of the characters haha

As a Cheng Yi fan this drama is giving me such a whiplash because XHA is so similar yet so different from LLH as a character. Both had something tragic happening to them in the past, both have been wisened by those events but in very opposite ways. LLH learned to let go but XHA held on to his hatred and is bordering on unhinged, taking pleasure in seeing the way his enemies meet their demise. But also there are already nuances to his character - he has a bottomline when it comes to the innocent, and there is a fascinating juxtaposition between his seemingly righteous principles and his....well, unrighteous means of revenge lol. I very rarely see characters who are so openly shameless and arrogant about their desire for revenge and it's refreshing to see someone so publicly hateful in the eyes of the audience and willing to make his enemies suffer. Oftentimes I see more of the characters' pain instead of their hatred, but XHA just....despises and loathes more than anything and so I am caught laughing at his simply shameless hatred hahaha.

The storytelling is definitely presented in a mature way, and I personally can't wait for Zhang Hanyu to show up. I loved shows like Nirvana In Fire and The Knockout so to see Cheng Yi in a drama where he got to work with such veteran uncles who played supporting roles in those dramas is exciting to say the least! I'm so proud that he could keep up with them, as evidently seen in the way Cheng Yi held his ground in his scenes with Yu Kang. It makes me more excited for his scenes with Zhang Hanyu which will definitely be filled with condescending stares lol. It also makes you feel that good supporting actors really do play a role in how a drama turns out, but I digress.

The production is really nice too, and I love love love the musical scoring! There's just something about the way drums are used in this drama that elevates the scenes that deserve to be highlighted. I hope they keep it up! Also, not every scene has a background music (I'm sorry FSH) and the color grading is not bad too!

Looking forward to the coming episodes!

He has the prince, Li Chenzhou seems to tolerate him and is willing to help (as in the case of Tang Fang's dad) even if it's only in the name of mutual exploitation and maybe he will have Crazy Yan in the future too. We'll see 😂

MDL has a really low bar when it comes to ratings lol I would have given it more credibility during the earlier years but I've found that it really isn't a measure of a drama's quality, much less when it comes to cdramas. I would trust Douban scores more. That website is plagued by fandoms as well but the locals are critical of their domestic shows and so passersby go there to give genuine ratings too. I would give a cdrama with a Douban score of at least 7.0 a try, but a cdrama on MDL needs to have AT LEAST a 9.0 score in order for me to even find the energy to try 😂 Anything with a score below that and it's like a minefield that's filled with both extremely good and horrific dramas lol.

That being said, I very much believe that you should't let scores affect your viewing experience! You should enjoy what you enjoy watching and if you do, you will eventually find kindred spirits with whom you can enjoy watching the same genre and styles!

I agree! I feel like part of why Cheng Yi's dramas have a long tail effect and why his characters leave a lasting impression on audiences is because he places great importance on shaping his characters. It's why people still fall in love with Yu Sifeng and why Li Lianhua is very beloved. And I believe that Xiao Qiushui will have that effect on people too - he may not be as dashing as Yu Sifeng or as cunning and wise as Li Lianhua but he is someone who stands on the side of chivalry and righteousness and he does great and good things through sheer hard work and determination.

For real! It feels like every petty disagreement is met with a clash of swords which really takes me back. Also it's really a drama that wishes to impart meaningful messages to its audiences and tries to connect with modern audiences by adding the transmigration element and I appreciate that a lot!

It's part of why Cheng Yi's fight scenes are widely considered as superior. Also his movements are powerful and sharp yet graceful, reminiscent of a warrior who was truly trained and has the intent to fight. Others may look graceful in fight scenes but the gracefulness is all that there is, almost like they're simply dancing instead of fighting.

No one knows how much the budget of the production is, much less a staggering 1.3 billion 😂 my first suggestion is that you need to learn to sift through what rumors you should believe and not believe and then set your expectations from there lol

But tbh I've learned to treat anyone who talks about the production quality in here as white noise, mostly because it's not what I care about, although I do know that there are people whose experience is maybe dimmed by....the production.

As for the script, I'm loving it so far! So I can't really complain 😂

Ah I'm so happy for him 😭😭😭😭😭 he finally has a 1v1 win under his belt! He will only grow stronger from this point forward!

Can someone please confirm if that fight against Kang Chuyu is Qiushui's first win ever in a 1v1 fight that we've witnessed 😭

Can someone please confirm

Ah thank you! 🥹 One of the best things about stories about growth is the messages that are imparted the story and the characters themselves. It's easy to get lost in figuring out the plot but it's nice to discuss the more emotional aspects of the drama too.

I can no longer count the number of times that I've cried up to this point and now I believe that my eyes are just faucets lol.

The past few episodes really showed the difference between who should be considered a leader not just for the Xiao family and Huanhua Sect but also in general. Starting at Guangling, notwithstanding how the both of them wanted to save their family, Yiren still very much cared about how the Xiao family's image would be affected, while Qiushui merely wanted to expose a member of the Power Gang. I still gave Yiren the benefit of the doubt then. But there was a difference between how Yiren treated Qiushui after the massacre and how Qiushui treated his brothers after they had spat him out. There was a difference between how they decided to move forward after the massacre too - one decided to force other people's loyalty and the other decided to first and foremost honor the deaths of his fallen comrades. And in the end, those differences were how Qiushui managed to find and draw the Changge sword while Yiren couldn't. It was a very nice way of laying it all out. To be very honest I was really touched by how Qiushui paid respect to his fallen comrades - it just really shows how pure and righteous his heart is. And it paid off - he had so many people still believing in him, not leaving him and even going to great lengths to help him.

Secondly, the Xiao Xilou's words really brought forward the core of this story. "A broken sword can be reforged. A withered flower will bloom again. Even if the body is destroyed, it's just a new beginning." It's so beautiful how this applied in so many aspects of the story - Qiushui's martial arts and meridians, his broken family relations and the current state of the Huanhua sect. They've hit rock bottom right now, but it's all another chance to start anew. It's another chance for a new dawn to rise. Another theme that we can learn a lesson from!

Lastly, I'm so proud of Qiushui! Even before the most recent two episodes, I was already proud of him! He tried so hard to save his family and the Huanhua Sect and fight the Power Gang, even when the Power Gang kept intercepting them, even when the Sword King framed him and Qiushui was so broken he couldn't move his limbs, even when his brothers didn't believe him, even when he was kidnapped by Liu Suifeng, even after being tortured by poison, he never gave up! He stayed fierce, passionate and desperate to save his family and fought until the very end. Even when he was given the option to leave the book because he had already completed his mission to become the Huanhua Sect's leader, he decided to stay and see everything through, to avenge his family! Such amount of chivalry and righteousness is very admirable and rare even in the jianghu. He deserves every ounce of respect that people are giving him. He is my babie okay I'm very proud of him! 😭

Yes! I also believe that while we expect characters to make correct, reasonable and mature decisions, it is also human nature to sometimes not make the right decisions. And there is art in exploring the consequences of wrong choices in dramas.

To me I think that one of the joys of watching dramas about growth is the way we can savor the development of the character. We may not always be impressed with Qiushui as a character but the journey for us as viewers is to see how Qiushui learns lessons and grows through the challenges and tragedies that come his way. Sure, he's miserable and sure Im annoyed sometimes but when it pays off in the future episodes it will be very satisfying! I also like that this drama explores themes that are relevant in the wuxia genre and how they're juxtaposed over a man who has modern principles and ideals. Just like MLC and Li Lianhua, the themes - chivalry, family and friendship - send a message that touch the hearts of its viewers. And CY seems to like these kinds of dramas where he is able to explore human logic, complexities and nuances through the roles that he portrays.

In short, I am here for the ride 😂

Also when he couldn't move any of his limbs because of the Sword King, his eyes showed that he was still fierce and stubborn, unyielding and resolute that as long as there is a chance, he will find a way to expose Qu Hanshan. Quite a scene especially compared to when he first entered the novel and just wanted to lie low.