Yun Tianhe: (as told to him by his father Yun Tian Qing what was believed by his mother Su Yu) Life and death are one's choices to make. This choice cannot be buried by the earth or altered by heaven. This is the meaning of "My life depends on me, not heaven."

*****Introduction: (Qionghua Sect 19 years ago, narrated by YunTianqing)******
The demons were rampant and the people were suffering. Qionghua Sect, the head of the Kunxu eight sects, that has been short of manpower and material resources for three generations, finally made the Wangshu and Xihe swords, the Yin Yang double swords.

19 years ago, the 24th Grandmaster Immortal Tai Qing wanted to use both swords to trap the Huanming Demon Realm. The war was protracted. At the critical moment, Su Yu, the host of Wangshu sword, was bewitched and suddenly withdrew the sword, causing the Wangshu sword's pillar to collapse instantly. Xihe sword couldn't withstand it alonealone, and it's host Xuan Xiao suffered the backfire of the sword's red aura. Grandmaster Tai Qing died in the battle and Qionghua sect was greatly undermined.

I, Yun Tianqing, a disciple, defected with Su Yu. Since then, Wangshu sword's wereabouts has been unknown.
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******Review******
The drama Sword and Fairy 4 is adapted from a Role Playing Game 'The legend of sword and fairy-4". Hence the storyline followed the game with few variation. Each series of the game is based on a theme. The theme of this one is 'Pilgrimage' which I feel is quite appropriate because the four main playable characters in the game and their counterparts in the series are on a QUEST.

Yun Tianhe (Chen Zhe Yuan) is searching for his Parents' background who died while Tianhe was quite young, leaving him an orphan at a tender age. He resided and grew up in Qingluan Peak that was a safe haven for demons and humans to cohabit peacefully. Han Lingsha (Ju Jingyi) is trying to find a miracle for 'longevity' as she comes from a family of Tomb raiders that are cursed to die young. Liu Mengli (Mao Xiao Hui) a beautiful adopted daughter of Liu family is looking for her 'origin'. Murong Ziying (Mao Zi Jun) is seeking absolution from his guilt of feeling responsible for his younger sister's untimely death due to his perceived negligence.

These four characters seemingly having different temperament and purpose come together and form a strong bond of friendship. It seems the series is geared towards young adults hence the romance between the characters of Tianhe and Lingsha though quite prominent takes the back seat to the friendship and bond between the four of them. Like many viewers, I too felt that the series could have been better if Ziying and Mengli were not shown to have unrequited love for Lingsha and Tianhe respectively. If the writers did not want to pair Mengli and Ziying, in my opinion they could have just shown their characters' growth and progress without making them pine for people who were deeply in love with each other.

At the beginning of the story, Tianhe who is oblivious to the world outside his home is living a carefree life when Lingsha intrudes and changes the course of his life. 19 years ago, Tianhe's parents had left the Qionghua Sect with Wangshu sword which is one of the Yin -Yang sword forged by Qionghua. Tianhe along with Lingsha accidentally touches the Wangshu sword and activates it power. With that action all the people who are looking to either possess or destroy the sword chase Tianhe as it is presumed that he is the new host of Wangshu sword. Tianhe who wants to know more about his deceased parents agrees to accompany Lingsha to Qionghua Sect. Lingsha has been promised a magical immortality elixir to save her and her family members' life by her employer if she manages to deliver the Wangshu sword to the Qionghua Sect safely.

Along their journey, Tianhe and Lingsha meet Liu Mengli who is the adopted daughter of Liu family but was entrusted to them when she was an infant by Yun TianQing, Tianhe's father so she too joins the duo, wanting to get answers about her background from Qionghua Sect. Ziying who is already a respected member and a rising star of Qionghua Sect, meets these trio on their journey and while solving bizarre occurrences together, develops a soft spot for them and later takes on all three as his disciples.

Upon reaching Qionghua Sect Tianhe faces contempt and disgust as it was believed that his parents were traitors who were responsible for thousands of death of Qionghua Sect members. Tianhe refuses to believe that his parents who were benevolent and virtuous would betray other people. Mengli to her dismay learns the truth about her origin, she momentarily feels as if her world has tilted and fears losing her friends' support. Ziying who firmly believed in black and white leaves behind his prejudice to embrace the reality that the race of a person doesn't matter, what matters is their choices and disposition. Lingsha learns to live her life to the fullest, irrespective of its span.

Another aspect that the series emphasizes on is trying to find answers for oneself, not to unquestioningly believe other peoples' version of past events. There is a stark contrast between the older generation in this series who are shown to be obsessed, filled with resentment and ambition, willing to sacrifice lives to achieve their goals AND the younger generation that gives more importance to compassion, bonds of friendship and living in harmony with people who are different.

My favorite character from this series is hands down elder QingYang (Zhang Fan). He pretends to be a little senile, only interested in making medical soups. However he always knows how to diffuse a volatile situation, providing solution and guidance to the younger generation without imposing on their free will. In my opinion that is true leadership and power. It's ironic that people who really deserve to lead are oftentimes otherworldly and detached.

Throughout the series there was another elemental theme of sacrificing one's self and own happiness for greater good. Most of the love stories in this series had a bitter end. To change the destiny of others, someone has to sacrifice. (I personally think that the writers can do better than send the message of sacrifice everything for greater good)

Overall: A good watch, the series has created it's own universe with interesting situations, references and creations. (If only the writers had avoided the cliché pining and one-sided love, it would have been much better)

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If anyone is interested in reading more about this universe, information on the four characters and some of the fascinating objects/artifacts/ creations in the series, do check out the thread started by me in the discussion section. Other members of MDL have also generously contributed information and written interesting posts in the thread.

Use the link below to the discussion section of this drama to read "Introduction to the drama and some basic explanation" started by me.

https://mydramalist.com/discussions/chinese-paladin-4/122607-introduction-to-the-drama-and-some-basic-explanation-of-the-beginning-of-the-series

Also leaving a Clickable link to "Introduction to the drama and some basic explanation" started by me as a comment to this review.