He is very good actor I watched a lot his drama and his movies
The story begins where any good jianghu story should begin, along a marsh by the rivers and a lake. The opening scene has a young couple holding a baby child. They are Huo Feiteng and his wife (played by the lovely Zhou Li) Yanzhu. Their peace is disrupted when a man suddenly rides in and tricks Yanzhu into leaving her husband and going back to her dad. It was all a trick conceived by her dad who hates Feiteng. The man had switched the authentic goodbye letter Yanzhu had written to a letter that denounced her love for Feiteng. Feiteng was saddened and filled with anger. Feiteng never discovered the truth and in his anger he chases down Yanzhu and confronts her with the false letter. He shows her the false letter and with a flourish of his sword destroys the letter and thereby destroys his relationship. To Yanzhu’s utter horror, Feiteng takes his son away from her and abandons her to her father and goes off to look for his mystical swords.
The swords represent supremacy in the martial arts world (wulin). Eventually the seeking for the swords would be the legacy he leaves his son. In his searches, Feiteng discovers a rare sword but then he must confront a rival in the form of a powerful Japanese swordsman. He too is searching for these swords. In a confrontation Feiteng and the swordsman have a spectacular fight and Feiteng is killed but out of a deep sense of honour for Feiteng the swordsman decides to raise and train Feiteng's son in the martial arts. Feiteng’s son (Nicholas Tse), Huyan Dazang becomes the lead protagonist of our story and takes up his father’s quest. Nicholas Tse's portrayal is charismatic. Typical of Gu Long protagonists, the actions of Dazang speaks louder than his words.
As our story continues, Yanzhu remarries and not much is said about how that happens but somehow she has a child with Huo Yuan but her deep love remains with Feiteng. Huo Yuan’s brother, (Patrick Tam) Huo Feng is also deeply infatuated with Yanzhu. Patrick Tam’s character in the opening scenes is very one-track. The focus is only on his infatuation but as the series develops the skill and subtle versatility of Tam’s performance is developed as his character, Huo Feng confronts and interacts with the other characters.
Tragedy strikes twice in the Bai family when Yanzhu discovers the truth of her father’s, Bai Sankong’s (brilliantly portrayed by Ji Chun Hua) betrayal and trickery regarding the letter. In a fit of despair, Yanzhu throws herself off a cliff while simultaneously Huo Feng accidentally stabs Huo Yuan who also falls off the cliff to disappear. They have fallen off the cliff supposedly to their deaths. The opening scenes set up everything for the coming events and the development of the martial arts protagonists. Before Yanzhu died she gave birth to a second child, Fang Baoyu (elaborately performed by Qiao Zhen Yu). Baoyu becomes our second main protagonist.
Meanwhile the two boys grow up in separate worlds. Huyan Dazang becomes a master swordsman under the tutelage of his Japanese master. Fang Baoyu grows up with his grandfather and is forced to watch from the sidelines because his grandfather Bai Sankong does not want him to know the martial arts.
In the wulin world changes are happening. The chancellorship is under the Wudang master, priest Chisong. But Chisong is a man with a past. Long ago he fell in love with a young lady and together they had a child. The child is Benyue (played by the pretty actress Yang Rui) who later is raised by Huo Feng. Huo Feng is like Chiu Liu Xiang from Gu Long’s other stories. He has become powerful in wulin and he lives on a boat with two lovely women.
In the course of the series we are introduced to several characters including the secretive, Mulang (Zhao Hong Fei), the lovely princess Tuochen (Annie Yi), the happy drunkard Jin Zuyang and some masters of Shaolin who are all wonderfully portrayed by an excellent supporting cast. The other lead character that needs to be mentioned is Pearl played meticulously well by the very beautiful Gillian Chung. Pearl is the main love interest of Huyan Dazang but she is also the daughter of the conniving and despicable Wang Dian played by Xu Xiang Dan. Wang Dian desires the chancellorship in wulin and with the help and support of Bai Sankong he manages to attain his dream. Bai Sankong is evil but never in a way the compromises his sense of honour and his love for his grandson Fang Baoyu and his daughter Yanzhu. The same cannot be said for the other main antagonist Wang Dian who comes across as a psychopath. It will remain debatable whether he redeems himself in the end or not.
The series follows four love stories cleverly woven together by the directors into the complicated plot. There is the stormy love story between Fang Baoyu and Benyue, the love between Huyan Dazang and Pearl (there is one very moving scene in a flower field), the strange love between Tuochen and Mulang and the complex love between Huo Feng and Yanzhu. Yanzhu had somehow survived and became the head of a powerful underground sect (Aqua Palace) and through much of the series she wears a mask/veil.
The martial arts scenes are a wonder to watch. The protagonists’ skills are carefully analyzed and mixed into the plot. Fang Baoyu discovers the tomb of his half-brother Dazang’s father. As he accidentally falls into a pit he finds a powerful secret manual engraved near the tomb. When Baoyu resurfaces from his undisturbed training he becomes powerful in the martial arts.
An important supporting character is Jin Yuzang, the happy drunkard. He fights with the drunken style and he bestows a special sword to Baoyu. The directors of the series take care to pay attention to the details of the martial arts as characters’ skills grow. The fights have a progression. For instance, Huyan Dazang’s killing stroke is eventually solved by Jin Yuzang. The key denouement to the story comes in episodes 26, 27 and then again in episode 36 which leads into confrontations to come at the end of our story. Of course, it is in the final episodes that everything is resolved. I hope this series is not underrated because it was a wonder to watch for the visual effects, scenery and acting. I was pleasantly surprised.
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