Finally this elf on a 2 year shelf saw the light of day. I watched this primarily because of LYN and his character as this was again a different role and character for him plus I believe this was his first real foray into martial arts characters. I also knew QJJ from a previous series and a few of the supporting characters. Ironically though they never had a scene together here LYN plays sworn brothers with ZME in Eternal Brotherhood and that was filmed back in 2021, while here the latter was Lucky's Shifu. In any case, I'm glad I watched this as it it was all about out with the ancient and in with the modern.

Pros: They didn't skimp on the martial arts here. That was my number one favorite thing in this entire series. Every episode had at least one great fight be it long or short, the quality was fantastic. From camera angles to the fights themselves. Everyone went all out. Considering they used some actual history here (which I only knew through speaking with others), it looked pretty authentic and believable. From costumes to sets everything was very well done, even the accents of the different region's characters was a nice touch. Favorite OSTs were LYN's and his with JF who played HQ (his lady love). LYN has a very wide range in his vocals so to have someone who can not only match him in harmony, Melody, and power, was impressive to say the least. They made the song sound like something from a powerful western genre.

When it came to favorite characters, I liked MSD aka ML or QJJ the best though ZBF played by LYN came in right on his heels. I like how we didn't know exactly when MSD switched sides because he was always so private and secretive about it, even struggling with it a bit. ZBF was morally grey because of his ambition but a protagonist nonetheless. He was willing to give everything up to live a peaceful life at the end, it's a shame they never got a chance. MSD and ZBF though started out on opposite sides, still respected each other and towards the end there was even a bond between them that was obvious. When these two would lock swords, it was a feast for the eyes. I'd rewind a lot of their fights because that's how awesome they were. Other favorite characters were Gege, LL, Lucky, Getai, the monks, some of the members of ZBF's sect that died, even HQ though she started off whining, she never wavered from her support of ZBF even choosing to die with him.

The story was ever winding and moving, you never felt bored or like it was dragging anywhere. They only found the treasure at the end but the entire thing was about it though with other things too. The ever changing alliances between good and bad also kept things interesting. Not to mention the cheesy introduction that was placed as the opening credits in some of the episodes. When good characters perished, they were given a send off of small clips and a song of how they affected us as viewers or what they wish had happened as opposed to what did. Some really left you feeling the way they died was unfair although you knew the body count would be large. Those clips left you teary-eyed. The show overall was good.

Cons: At first I wanted to add WJL to the pros as he was an important part of the trio and finding the treasure, I really didn't like the way they wrote the character at the end. He was the most stubborn of the three but also the most gullible, naive, and ultimately just plain stupid. He never evolved, in fact he got worse. It was like yes he could recite laws and scriptures but he never knew what any of them of them represented or truly meant. He was dumber than a donkey and it caused him to kill people without even thinking. I hated the way he killed ZBF and HQ (who was technically innocent in his charges to begin with); he executed them by gunfire and a battalion of people; ZBF was severely injured and WJL didn't even fight him sword to sword like he did ZBF's juniors but ambushed him; it was an embarrassment. He went back on his promise to MSD and ZBF in regards to the seal. He literally became the very thing he supposedly despised. The writers really did his character dirty. I would have understood if he never understood why the revolution mattered and stuck to his ways but the fact that he never really understood the very things he learned and became the absolute worse of himself, was de-evolution. In the beginning, he seemed funny because he was like a cat with nine lives, but at the end he just became a repetitive monkey and I was very glad he off'd himself.

LAJ who played the spy aka "lady love" of WJL was probably the worst character in terms of over acting and being horribly unconvincing. If it had been anyone but WJL, she would have been dead long before the third to last episode. I think she was miscast, simple as that. You had all of these actors in both good and evil roles that were nailing it and then you had her and it just fell flat.

Felt like the ending was rushed because they really had to step up the body count; so it took off with YHJ the money whore taking his sect mates, & officially betraying ZBF by severely wounding and nearly killing him twice (second time they were saved by MSD and Lucky), followed by the annihilation of the sect and ZBF and HQ's murders at WJL's and army's hands, bald asswipe general's death, then Lucky, LL, the Japanese spies, and finally WJL himself. All in a span of 2 episodes. Way too much, plus they located the treasure and still had time to give all of the good characters their send offs. They could have spaced that out way better.

Would I recommend it? Despite the flaws as each drama has something; I really enjoyed this one very much. If you like a good storyline, with great martial arts, this is the story for you. Enjoy it.