What a great action-packed and romantic drama!
Really enjoyed The Legend of Shen Li, a fantasy period drama starring Zhao Li Ying and Lin Geng Xin, who really captured my heart with their chemistry and fine acting in this forbidden love story.
Taking place in ancient times, The Legend of Shen Li is essentially a story about the forbidden love of Shen Li, Bi Cang Wang, the most powerful general of the Spirit Realm (Zhao Li Ying), and Xing Zhi, the only remaining god in the realms who is not supposed to fall in love. The drama follows the stories of the two leads who kept battling their inner turmoils and resisting their own feelings for the better good as they journey together to fight against evil.
Handsome Cool Female General and Stoic Male God With Deadpan Humor
As opposed to typical female leads who are often damsels in distress or portrayed as innocent and cutesy, Bi Cang Wang is a surly, bold and strong general who can fight extremely well and commands the army. In fact she is way more “manly” than Xing Zhi, whom she met when he was sickly and weak in mortal form. Loyal to her people, she has no qualms about using her weapon to fight for peace and sacrificing herself for her people.
I gotta say Zhao Li Ying is really perfect for this role. She has handsome features, which lends credibility to her role as a warrior in spite of her petite stature. Someone who looks too “cute” won’t look too realistic in this role. I also really like how they dress Zhao Li Ying in her role as Bi Cang Wang. It is regal and handsome, befitting of a general, yet it still retains some feminity, which makes Zhao Li Ying look both handsome and beautiful at the same time.
The reason why I find the interactions between our two leads interesting is because of their unique characteristics. In contrast to the hot-headed and bold female lead, the all-powerful Xing Zhi is cool-headed and stoic, and likes to make snide comments with a straight face. Lin Geng Xin also looks great as a god! His tall height and perfect features really help in giving him the perfect ethereal feel especially when walking in his flowy robes.
I really enjoyed the first few episodes of The Legend of Shen Li where Xing Zhi was a sickly mortal man taking care of a cocky and prickly phoenix who is Shen Li reduced to her phoenix form after getting wounded. It was a chance encounter that slowly ignited special feelings in Shen Li who was for the first time in her life, taken care of by a man.
Fight Scenes With NeZHA-Like BGM
Well, as our female lead is a warrior, there are certainly lots of scenes of her wielding her weapon and looking really cool flying here and there beating up demons. However I have a pet peeve about the background music that blares every time she makes her entry for a fight.
To me, it somehow reminds me of Ne Zha entering and quite kills the heroic atmosphere and I found it quite cringe-worthy. But other than the background music, the fight scenes are quite well-executed.
It might be just me, but I don’t find any of the background music or song nice either. Many of those romantic period dramas have really heartrending songs that match the mood perfectly and aid in making me weep a tear of two for sad scenes but somehow none of the songs in Legend of Shen Li managed to stir any emotions in me. Actually I can’t even remember a single song even after completing the drama.
*Spoilers ahead*
Sigh of Relief at the Happy Ending
In the final few episodes, I start to have a sense of foreboding that I might be looking at a tragic ending. After all, it seems quite befitting for two very self-sacrificing individuals with a weight upon their shoulders to protect their people to give up their couple relationship for a peaceful world. (Apparently Xing Zhi would be penalized and may lose his power if he falls in love, thereby losing the ability to protect the realms from evil.)
Thankfully my worries were unfounded and there was a little twist in the end where Xing Zhi was revived after a huge battle against the demons and led a happily-ever-after with Shen Li. Actually I think the series could have ended well at Ep 38 when Xing Zhi turned around and Shen Li ran towards him realizing that her beloved had miraculously woken up from the dead.
However there was an ep 39 which didn’t do much except for showing them attending a wedding as a couple. Well, I am not complaining at seeing more scenes of them being lovey-dovey, but I think it would have been a more beautiful ending if the final scene was of Xing Zhi and Shen Li walking towards each other amidst a beautiful backdrop.
All in all, it is an entertaining watch and I enjoyed it all. Next, I am going to dig up some past dramas of Lin Geng Xin and Zhao Li Ying to binge-watch!
Chasing Carefree 