The Legend of Shen Li (2024)

10

The best drama I have watched in a while. After watching many dramas, I was missing the magical spark, which made me fall in love with watching dramas.

Legend of Shen Li has an interesting start with a forbidden romance, strong FL, nice and graceful ML, cute side characters, quality music, action scenes and CGI. Occasionally the story feels like nothing is happening then boom, it gets interesting. Perhaps that's the only hindrance to not loving this.

The days I keep contemplating of dropping this show, it comes back with a banger episode that makes me swoon.
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Edit -

Loved the ending. So sweet. Worth the watch and the rewatch.

Things I liked
Shen Li's origin and her parents
Character Growth of Furong
Mofang's arc
Furong's Sister watching Furong's memories
The events leading to the wedding of Jin
Mortal realm scenes
Painting formation
ShenLi as Cluck Cluck

Things I didn't like
CGI fights though good were not my cup of tea

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A Fantasy Romance Reignited: A Review of "The Legend of Shen Li"

It's been far too long since I've been swept away by a fantasy romance drama. But "The Legend of Shen Li," a Chinese drama starring the captivating Zhao Li Ying and the ever-charismatic Lin Geng Xin, has reignited my love for the genre.

This epic tale unfolds across the three realms: the divine, the immortal, and the mortal. We meet Shen Li, a powerful yet compassionate ruler burdened by pain and duty. Xing Zhi, on the other hand, carries the weight of immense responsibility, leaving little room for personal desires. Their paths collide, and as they navigate the treacherous waters of the three realms, they find solace and strength in each other.

This drama is for those who enjoy fantasy-romance genre or Chinese mythology.

Synopsis:
Shen Li (Zhao Li Ying), a ruler of the Immortal world also known as Lord Bi Cang, is forced into a loveless marriage with a lord of the Divine realm. But it turns out the man she is to marry is a playboy and idles away his life. To escape this ill-fated marriage she tried to run away but is in-turn chased by the soldiers of the immortal world.
During her escape she experiences life-threatening injuries leading her to turn into her original form, a phoenix and falls into the Mortal world.
There, mistaken that she is a chicken, a butcher captures her and plucks all her feathers making it hard for her to escape.
A kind but sickly man, Xing Yun (Lin Geng Xin), finds her and recuperates her back from her ailing health and some how is the only one who understands her. To repay this man for the kindness he's shown her, Shen Li protects him from all threats and dangers. But her past soon catches up, forcing her to confront her responsibilities. Can love blossom amidst duty and destiny?
How will fate work between them? Are the gears already set and turning?

Personal remarks:
After the c-drama Princess Agents, I finally see the two leads reuniting in this wonderful drama. The storyline was so engaging I couldn't help but personally feel that 39 episodes is not enough. The actors performed beautifully and their on-screen chemistry is undeniable, creating a romance that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.
The plot unfolds with satisfying consistency, leaving no unanswered questions.
The supporting cast shines brightly, with each character bringing depth to the narrative. (Prepare to fall for the second male lead, Mo Fang!)
The direction and cinematography are top-notch, making the wait for this drama well worth it and the engaging plot, complex characters and thrilling fights made this drama a beautiful one!

I hope you all too enjoy this drama!

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This is wonderful. My favorite actress of all time. Love the overall cast.

Wah all the great actors are together. Halleluyah.. . It's hit and hilarious 🎊💯umma..We love it already. We specially I have been waiting for them together.. and also my favorite actors together in a wonderful drama. ❤But I must say princess agent should have a one more season...😢😊 This is already good. The beginning was hilariously funny 😆 I hope to see more happy scenes, but with that I know we will see some sad 😔 ones. Specifically the side characters I will love to much & then they die 😢😂. I know it will make me very emotional 😭. Here is hoping for a happy ending.. 🤞🏻🤞🏻. The leads have great chemistry. Congratulations 🎉 to all
I hope there will be a happy ending.

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More of the same…

For me, I would say this drama is a little overrated. It’s more of the same type of Xianxia that many of us CDrama watchers have seen many times before. It does have some high points that many shows within this genre doesn’t have.

The Good

Production quality was definitely higher than a lot of Xianxias but by no means perfect. The CGI was more polished, the costumes looked pretty well. I can appreciate that ShenLi did not have a million dangly bits and fake jewels hanging from her. The OST was one of the highlights as the music was very nice. The overall acting was good which I typically expect from an older cast. If this would have been played out by a younger cast, the perception may have not been received well by older watchers due to many younger actors having limited experience in acting. Although this was a serious drama, the comedy was well balanced through out.

The Bad

The plot is typical and predictable. These CDrama Xianxias tend to go through the same cycles and not too many of these stories offer anything new. This story was a character driven plot which they tend to be very slow and at times, not much was happening in most of the episodes. I found myself starting to skip through it towards the end. There were a lot of throwaway episodes that could have shorten this show down to 24 episodes. Although I liked the overall production, the skin smoothing and whitening was overdone and sometimes made them look too unnatural and unrecognizable. I would have also liked to see the actors dub themselves. With more CDramas doing away with dubbing, it’s refreshing to see the actors display their real talent. The credit in this drama goes to the great voice actors who can pull off different emotions in their voices.

I am a fan of the genre and will keep hoping and waiting for a new thrill. This one was average and I likely wouldn’t rewatch it. If you are a fan of the cast, it’s worth checking out. Make your own judgement.

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Gods and the Natural Law

I enjoyed this xianxia very much, thrilled to see that it got over 100 million views lately, to share in the excitement.

There was a sprawling cast, with over 70 characters that played a large or tiny but always significant role. Realms and Beasts composed a variegated tapestry that the ancient god, left lonely after the departure of his former many friends, still added to with his magic brush. The core was important, but not so much that it couldn't be lived without. Finally, the time of the gods ended but not our favorites', to enjoy peace and love, and mischief, that added spice, after the worlds shattering events they'd gone through.

The division of that world in Three Realms was explained in a fun "puppet theater" moment, to the Mortal assembly at the marketplace.

There were a lot of endearing and funny moments, some amusing birds, a Cluck Cluck (Kekeda) ; a mischievous Shush (Xuxu) parrot; grand phoenixes ; some fearful monsters ; an awful wizard and his ghostly but murderous ilk. There was banter and wars. Correcting a school of shape shifting Koi fry. Taming a lion. Playing leaf music.

That piece had many look for it : it was the tune, played on the Chinese flute "dizi",of one of the main songs: 不知返 (Bu Zhi Fan, No Turning Back) sung by Wang Heye ; the music, main songs and background music, was beautiful, composed by Yang Bingyin for whom this drama will become a signature work. The opening theme : 碧苍战歌 (Bi Cang Battle song) even got played on a televised full orchestra concert. Among the most remarked pieces of instrumental bgm were : See Vastness (见苍茫) , Invoke the River of Oblivion (引忘川) , and the clucking and mischievous Person Selling Three Things (卖叁之人) that accompanied Furong Jun's pranks.

Almost never a dull moment, despite the flashbacks to remind of key points or offer revelations.

The main cast was excellent:
Lin Gengxin at his best as full and manly, but considerate, God Xing Zhi,
Zhao Liying as an almost Goddess Athena-like immortal wielding her spear,
Xin Yunlai as Mo Fang, the ambiguous subordinate of Shen Li with a hidden past,
He Yu, as the ebullient "playboy" Furong Jun who grew out of his youthful pranks such as hiding a full armory in a Qiankun bag.
Zeng Li as Shen Muyue, the Master of the Immortal tribe and surrogate mother of Shen Li,
Liu Guanlin as the comically feckless Emperor of the Divine Realm, whose indecision triggered the events,
Li Jiaqi as the "Goddess of the highest Daoist Heaven" (Luotian) leader of the fangirls of Xing Zhi in Divine Realm, with blunt methods to get info, was grown enough to consider his personal as well as the Three Realms best interests.

I was puzzled that Huang ChengCheng was included in main cast, although his role as Wang Bao was the least significant.
Qiu Xinzhi as Liu Ming was also less impressive than his main cast status announced, and did not get much screen time.
Wei Zixin as Fu Sheng was not included in main cast, although his fear-inducing scenes were essential in many episodes.
Others not in main cast were remarkable :
Xuan Lu as Liu Yu, and Xu Haiqiao as Fenglai , played as secondary but essential couple,
Wang Yiyao and Zhou Junwei, as the Golden Lady and "cultivator", played another type of couple.
Dong Jie and Song Ningfeng, as Yun Niang and Zhou San Liang, announced one painful way to ascend to immortality,
Li Zifeng, Hu Dandan and Huang Yi played the recurring love triangle that was a cursed cycle, yearning for a choice and end.
Zhou Xiaochuan as Shun Bei ; Chen Zhen as Zhu Fei ; Yang He as Chi Rong ; Liu Yu as Qing Yan were some of the generals that served as necessary personnel for the military parts
Chen Lu as Rou Ya, Shen Li's maid, was lively and fun to watch.

Sometimes, deep reflections and thoughts were proffered : are gods still needed in our new age ? Do they need to be violently killed or cremated, or can they just retire and live for themselves ? Can those who have been put into power and accepted the duties, always be up to their tasks ?

I liked that the drama was a soft romance too, satisfying if not of the steamy sort, and that the marriage question was shown as not that necessary, as a political or society requirement, but just as a cherry on top of the cake, sealing the union in less flamboyant way as sealing an Abyss, but leaving room for sparks and continued slow burn but long lasting fire. This viral message to those who still see marriage as needed at a certain age, with desirable or not age gap, and body appearance in terms of height, roundness of face or filling the clothes as well as the shoes.

The God walking bare feet on the shards was one striking moment to show how despair and depression can hit even those that are relied on, taking them for granted, watching their moves and judging behaviors from below.

This drama actually went further than only pure entertainment.

I added as a companion piece a series of interlinked posts, that offer information about the drama, thoughts about xianxia realms and the abyss, an illustrated and complete characters' gallery with an alphabetical key to the 63+ portrayed.
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/yu-feng-xing/124265-notes-about-the-legend-of-shen-li-xianxia-drama?pid=3002697&page=1#p3002697

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best costume dráma 2024 !

I give this drama a well-deserved 10 stars, you must see it! I liked them very much in princess agent this couple is one of my favorites the drama has a very beautiful story the chemistry between the main leads is unreal crazy I love them ..zha liying is so beautiful in this drama I love dramas where women protect men this is exactly what I am I needed to see ... I have to admit that Zhao Liying is my second favorite ... the first and my idol is Dilraba, I love her and all her dramas, so this review is not because I am a fan of the actors, but because of the beautiful love story of the strong female lead. perfect scenes, beautiful music, and great talent, I've only seen 10 ep, but that's enough for me to rate it a definite 10! definitely one of the most beautiful costume dramas

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The Legend of Shen Li - a sugar hit that doesn't quite fill you up

In a Nutshell:
Zhao Li Ying (ZLY) plays the titular character Shen Li, a formidable and fearless General of the Immortal realm army. Her military prowess earned her the title of Lord Bi Cang and she is revered by everyone in the immortal realm. But being still female, she is forced into a political marriage with a playboy from the Heavenly realm. She gets injured while trying to escape and falls to the mortal world as a phoenix, her spirit animal form. She ends up in a marketplace for hungry peasants and is mistakenly sold as a chicken. She is bought by a seemingly carefree and aloof man, Xing Yun, played by Li Geng Xin (LGX), who surprisingly doesn’t turn her into a tasty meal, but instead nurses her back to health. As the most powerful warrior in the immortal realm, she finds her predicament and the doting care by this mere mortal humiliating and embarrassing. However, as Shen Li starts to appreciate his kindness and the simple pleasures of earthly life, she begins to develop feelings for her mortal saviour.

The Highlights:
• I will save you time: Episodes 22 – 29 are the best, followed by episode 1 – 3. Watch the other episodes if you have nothing else productive to do.
• The best executed episodes (see above) involve the mortal realm where Shen Li and Xing Zhi have the freedom to be themselves and just enjoy each other’s company. The cinematography, lighting, costumes, use of natural landscapes, and poignant soundtrack all make their mundane tasks so beautiful and give purpose to the simple surroundings. ZLY and LGX have less dialogue but this is where their acting skills shine, as they are able to sum up Shen Li and Xing Zhi’s raw and organic relationship with each other through simple interactions and subtle facial expressions.
• Beautiful costumes and loved all the outfits Shen Li wears!
• Loved the soundtrack and songs which perfectly captured the grandeur, passion and intensity of Shen Li as the warrior phoenix (the phoenix is the King of all birds in Chinese culture). The “Battle hymn of Bi Cang” will get you fired up to do anything!
• When used judiciously, the special effects/CGI were actually pretty good. Will definitely try and rewatch some of the episodes (especially ep 23 was epic!!) on a big good quality TV screen.
• The script stays faithful to its original novel “Accompanying the Phoenix".

The Lowlights:
• 39 episodes is too long for a drama that is based on a simple and predictable Xianxia story. The result is inconsistent quality where some episodes were well done (see above), some were mediocre, and others just so boring/nonsensical that I tuned out completely.
• We all know that ZLY and LGX can act! But unfortunately, the blinding bright colour palates and ridiculous smoothing filters meant ZLY was stuck in a dead-pan expression and LGX with a permanent look of constipation for most of the immortal / heavenly realm scenes, with only a few sprinkles of brilliance when the script demanded it.
• Some episodes were purely a bombardment of CGI and special effects with not much going on in the plot or character development to warrant such sensory overload. Special effects are meant to support and create the right atmosphere for the story, not serve as a tool to mask the lack of good writing or interesting characters.
• Some of the kissing scenes were really awkward and cringey to watch. I am not sure if it was the ill-placed camera angles or terrible lighting, but one particular "hot and daring" scene (pretty sure you know which one ...) looked like an amateur video cobbled together by a horny teenager in their bedroom.
• I felt like I needed a PhD in Chinese Mythology to understand how all the 3 realms interacted and the concept of rebirth/reincarnation and all the associated mythical animals and spirits. Reading the novel helps a bit. But the lack of world building means some pre-requisite knowledge of the Xianxia genre would help to understand some plotlines. Of course, one can always choose to turn brain off and just watch the show.
• Too much use of internal monologuing. Urgh … might as well read the novel instead!

The verdict:
This drama is like eating nothing but sweets all day - you get a nice big sugar hit, but at the end of the day still feel dissatisfied and rather empty inside. 6.5/10 – watchable but nothing groundbreaking.

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slow burn

I think there's a lot of overhype behind this drama. it's a little slow and dragged out. The story is decent but I find that it would be hard to binge watch this show cause some episodes are pretty pointless.

I think the hype is around the actors and visuals more than the actual story itself. the show does visually present well, with all the fights scenes and scenaries of the worlds.

The title character has these internal monologues that I find quite annoying at times as she's constantly doing it in every scene instead of talking to the male lead. She's also presented as being very brave and confrontational as she's always ready to fight. it's OK to be brave but her cockiness is quite irritating.

Overall there's not much drawing attention other than the look of the show.

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Is it possible to love Shen Li and Xhing Zhi despite watching several hundred dramas?

I do not review any series, films or programs. I watch it, evaluate it and move on. I'm not Asian, but I'm fascinated by culture, both Chinese and Korean. I've watched several hundred Asian series, so I have some knowledge. After watching American series, it's probably oversaturated with brutal, erotic and very predictable scenes. We have different tastes, different views, we people from Europe or America love what is fresh and beautiful. But back to Shen Li.
I have several favorite Chinese and Korean actors and actresses, and even if they make a lower quality series or movie, I will always watch it, out of respect for their work and commitment. He hadn't met the actors playing the main roles in this series before, I hadn't seen any series with them. Interestingly, the "poster" advertising the series on Viki scared me away because I thought that the main character was too serious for me, and interestingly enough, at that moment, she was even supposed to give up watching this drama. However, I know the work of the author of the novella, I have so far watched all her filmed novellas and I simply love LBFAD. Due to the fact that I have a very distorted taste when it comes to Chinese actors I like, I was afraid that I might just watch it and forget it, so I read the novella. The story is simple, very predictable, but written in such a way that I couldn't stop reading. It is a perfect story for the series, full of emotions, slow pace, but with great verve on the part of the heroine, as well as charming but well-thought-out slowness on the part of the main character. You have to forget that he is a typical male ML, he is definitely a character of someone quite unusual. At the moment of reading, I imagined them like Judy Hops and Nik Bayer from Zwierogrod and that was enough for me. I fell in love with both characters and now I had to face their actors. The story is not cliched, and despite many such reviews, I disagree, I find it fresh, timeless and very fairy-tale-like. When I started watching the series, the character of Shen Li was too energetic, too fast, too arrogant for me, but XHING ZHI was so charming in his slowness that I started searching through the actor's work because he immediately won my heart. And even though many people write that he is too heavy for this role, that he is too fat or too serious, I completely disagree with it. First of all, he's skinny, very skinny to me. Secondly, he has an attractive body structure, because he is a man, not a boy, so he must be tall. Thirdly, she looks perfect in these outfits and has a very interesting interpretation of the character. He is a truly excellent actor and great in this role (it's a pity that some people don't see what Gods look like in American or European productions, they are definitely more powerful and sometimes even obese :)) and they don't fly above the clouds) The chemistry between the characters is perfect, they express themselves complements, and their common dialogues are simply very accurate and give us lightness, sometimes a smile, and sometimes we just want XZ to read Shen Li's thoughts. From the beginning to the end, the series focuses on the main couple, but in the background we have characters from two different worlds, a simply caricatured life in the Kingdom of Heaven and a very hard, full of struggle life in the Kingdom of Immortality, where Shen li comes from. However, it is a kind of romantic comedy, so there is a lot of lightness in it, but don't let that fool you. I shed a sea of tears in several episodes. The music is simply perfect, don't think it's Bach or Chopin, but the recording of this music, the songs and the motifs are just incredibly coherent, and "Blazing Heart" just melts like butter. I still have the ringtone from the song from "LBFAD" on my phone, because in both films I see a lot of tribal elements, ethnic music and fitting into different worlds. The series is sometimes slow, but it is there to prepare us for new emotions, and most importantly, the series has a happy ending and a sweet episode of "life after" all the dramas, which gives a lot of solace to the viewer. This is a series for the viewer, with their needs and emotions in mind. This is not a series for critics, it is something that should be assessed by ordinary viewers and cdrama fans. By then I had already watched several episodes several times. I can't go to the next position because I'm still stuck in the XZ world, Shen LI. The inverted role of a strong woman is only apparent, despite her loneliness in the fight, he complements her with his loneliness in carrying the Three Kingdoms, and even though she is a typical woman of the 21st century, on her own, he gives her care, tenderness and is always there for her, without imposing anything on her. leading the situation. It allows her to be a woman, but it also allows her to be herself. She simply falls in love with him, because who would not fall in love with a handsome ancient god who is willing to freeze the sea for 10 days for his love? Which of us wouldn't want to be carried in our arms like a princess and fed by the man we love? This is a series that touches on women's emotions trapped in the fight for positions in the 21st century, this is a series for men who, even though they want to lock their beloved in a golden cage, must give her freedom, but be there for her and by her side in every situation. That's why I will watch this series not once, but definitely several times and I will come back to it whenever I feel too lonely and too unfeminine. I congratulate the actors on their great roles and I wish everyone to return to this drama with pleasure, but without thinking that it must be an Oscar-winning film. The special effects and the entire setting are very natural, don't expect the animations to be too coarse, everything has its place and level in this series.
That's why I think you can love characters that are so simple, timeless and perhaps predictable, but they touch our hearts so much. :)

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Redemption after PA

This was a very high budget drama with great fight scenes and CGI. It had an equal mix of humour and seriousness between the main leads; ZLY and LGX played their roles perfectly, and the banter between their characters was fantastic. FL's usual serious demeanor worked very well with ML's much more lax and teasing personality.

However, the humour completely missed the mark for me for the other characters. This affected the plot for me quite a bit as when the conflict actually came, everything seemed low stakes and not as serious since we've seen all these characters cracking jokes like two episodes before. The main antagonist was also a pretty bad actor so it was another thing I could not take seriously. To be honest, other than the main FL and ML, I didn't care about 98% of the side characters as most were just for comedy purposes or their characters weren't fleshed out enough for the audience to care about them.

If you're looking for a high-paced drama - this is most definitely not it. It's a slow burn with a slow moving plot but it's a beautiful production so you don't really notice it as much. It's also got a wonderful, no doubt about it, happy ending which is A+.

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Worth every second of the 7 years we have waited for this reunion

Im unable to rate this a 100/10 so I must settle for 10.
Like many others, there was no chance I would pass this drama up. Many of us have been haunted by the cliffhanger ending of the much beloved Princess Agents for 7 years. That couple, and their electric chemistry set the standard for many of us. So we came here eager and hopeful because the FL does not ever disappoint.

This shattered my expectations. Exciting, entertaining, engaging, incomparably romantic. The female lead was simply badass. So cool. So powerful. Her lover, the Ancient God, not your typical thin framed flower boy, but a full grown man, an extraordinarily powerful deity. A forbidden love, but inescapable nonetheless.

Show delivered in every respect. And we got the rare but thoroughly satisfying ecstatically happy ending for our unbothered love birds.

It was wonderful. I will watch this again, many times. No thread left hanging, and no crumbs left behind. This was epic.

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