A Lenda de Shen Li (2024)

A True Treasure for 2024 CDRAMALAND ✨

Well, well , well . I truly didn’t expect that I would actually finish watching a xianxia drama anytime soon , but here I am!
THE LEGEND OF SHENLI! Just as the title suggests, it was truly legendary.

This drama , to my surprise , actually had the best CGi , storyline and character development that I’ve seen in a while !
The relationship between the female lead (Shenli) and the male lead (Xingzhi) started in a very soft and amusing way and continued being a slow burn all throughout the episodes. I loved how Xingzhi, even though he knew Shenli’s real identity in the Mortal Realm , actually treated her with care letting her to show her vulnerable side and being the first who made her feel like a real Lady and not just a War Weapon.
The way they cared and helped each other was truly heartwarming to see .

The CGi and special effects really shocked me as well. All the realms were so well crafted. This has to be the best Heavenly Realm that I’ve seen before in other xianxia dramas . All the floating white clouds in the gardens and surrounding every place made it look really magical . The Gold and White pallete truly looks Heavenly . The flying scenes , the fighting scenes, the mystical creatures were all impressive as well and I truly appreciate the efforts they’ve put into it .

The storyline was mostly different than what we are used to see in xianxia , wasn’t it ?
For me it was really unpredictable and I couldn’t stop watching since I was dreadfully curious to see what will happen next .

The Characters were quite lovable and I really liked their development and their stories . Some worth mentioning ones are Furong ( who went from a careless playboy who only wanted to play and waste his time , to a true Diviner who saved people and fought in a war to defend the realms !) , Shenli’s Parents and their story which was very touching and emotional . Fenglai was absolutely adorable and naive , how could he play the part of King of the Chimeis? Even when he couldn’t really understand the meaning of ‘’daughter’’ he still rushed to save his daughter because his late wife cared about her..and that’s all he understood and wanted to protect. Him and Liyu’s love was pure and beautiful. So was his brief meeting with Shenli. I shed quite a few tears at that scene . Mofang is also worth mentioning. Even though he was forced into completing a mission by his evil ‘master’ he went against him all the time only to protect Shenli and never truly hurt her . I think we all felt pity for him in the end . Now I could go on about this all day since all the characters had something special which would make you get attached to them.

The OST was beautifully done too , I can’t go on without mentioning the opening track which was very unique but fit for Shenli’s fighter character. I got chills every time I heard it .

Beautiful Costumes , Hairstyles , Unique and creative Makeup and more importantly the happy ending that I’ve been craving for!
Get your phone’s storage ready because this drama has many aesthetic scenes !

10/10 From L.Alexandra !

Leia Mais

I can't believe their love story started with a chicken

Honestly this drama wasn't even on my radar until I saw so many people talk about it whenever a new episode is released. After seeing a few stills, I put it on my watchlist and still I kept putting it off until last week. Then I finally played the first episode and... well, I got a subscription and payed for the express episodes just so I can finish it today. Just a beautiuful love story between 2 heavily burdened people finding refuge in each other.

Gawd I can't even begin to put into words just how much I loved this drama. The music, the casting, the story, the cgi were all done so beautifully. With xianxia, I always expect a few (or several) loose ends and moments that didn't quite make sense (that is, moments that you would just attribute to magic to explain), but I don't think there were a lot of those for this one. We more or less got to see how everyone ended up (except for that one person whose love story is still vague, though that one was definitely on purpose no matter how much I wanted to know who his actual fated lover is), AND we got an ACTUAL happy ending!!!! Not the typical xianxia bs (open endings that show only a hope for future meetings or a revival that shows just the 2 leads making eye contact at the end and nothing else). No, we got a REAL happy ending!!! And an "epilogue" that lasts about 2 episodes' worth!!!! The drama could have ended at the middle of episode 38 and I would've already considered that an actual happy ending, but they gave us more than that!!!!

Just so many beautiful character stories all around. So many characters I found annoying or irrelevant that I ended up cheering for. Characters I hated but found myself relating to after a point (yes, I am talking about Goddess haha). Story was so good I was actually rooting for THREE couples other than the main couple, and all of them got decent screen time too!

The moments of humor that never left, making tense moments lighter and heartfelt moments even more heartbreaking. The love between Shen Li and Xing Zhi. The way they're both powerful individually and that never changed. The understanding between them, and the acceptance of each others' duties and responsibilities. The way they protect each other and support each other. Just... everything was so beautiful.

I can keep gushing about this drama for ages, but I'll stop here. If you're trying to decide of you should watch this drama, I highly suggest you give it a try. You might end up liking it as much as I do.

PS (and SPOILERS!!!!!): Don't you just love it when a stubborn/restrained man who suppresses his feelings almost loses the love of his life causing him to just snap and lose control? Followed of course by said man just holding on to that woman for dear life and never letting her go again. One of my fave tropes fr.

Leia Mais

The Sweet, Sweet Balm on My Xianxia Hatred LOL

Rated= 10~ 46/50 ~ 9.2
Scene // A unicorn, a trident and the Crystal Palace. I'm about to activate God Mode.


A Genuine 10

That Ashes of Love review is going to haunt me. First it was Immortal Samsara that blew expectations out of the water and now this just topped it. I had resigned myself to hating the genre. In fact, after the AoL review, I went through my 'to watch' list removing the xianxia stuff and I do believe, Shen Li was one of them. I was only determined to watch IS because I have a Cheng Yi bias. I also don't give out 10s easily. I only recently gave a 10 for a show that I haven't even finished yet, before my heart gave out, and again, it's because of Cheng Yi.

I don't have that excuse this time. I genuinely loved this. The story flow kept it's pace. I was invested from the start. I loved the leads from the start, it didn't get too melodramatic, there were no stupid love triangles or miscommunications and I cared enough about the side characters. And when things got heated or emotional, I felt it in my stomach.
That scene in the cave, I was feeling seduced ?That little random clip of the rhythmic movement of the waves with the dancing. Damn. Symbolism, I see you ?

What really turned this show from a 9 to a 10 was the depiction of the ML's God role. I have this thing in Xianxia's were the deities are always the assholes and I'm routing for the demons. This show pretty much sets you up that way, with the FL being an elite warrior demon God, running away from a marriage from one of the Heavenly Immortals. From the first few seconds I was running with her. I'd have been running too.
I had the ML sussed out early. To be fair, it's pretty obvious what's happening but when we really get to see him use his God powers, I could hear a choir of angels singing 'Hallejuah' in my head. Finally. FINALLY. A God character acting how I imagine a God to act. Aloof but kind, fearless because he knows he's the most powerful thing walking and has nothing to prove and unhurried because when you're eternal, what is time? He doesn't care that you've got all the legions of hell behind you, one snap of his fingers, boom, sit down. He was also hilarious LOL
Bringing in this idea that as a God, he can't have desires or be too in his feelings because of attachment, makes perfect sense in this reality. It's not just some stupid plot narrative to create drama. We can see why that kind of power can't be wielded for personal gain.
As for the actual romance, damn. I kind of felt it, I got caught up in my feelings a few times towards the end LOL

As for the villains, they honestly weren't too complicated or were even frustratingly evil. They were just the bad guys, which can be a nice comfortable watch if you struggle with anxiety. Everything keeps an even pacing and there's nothing majorly upsetting.

Would like to mention the side quest happening with one of the ML's fallen God friends. I kind of like the mystery happening here. Sometimes we do get a little side story happening in the back of the main plot but this was a whole other series happening and it really made me smile. He's obviously being trialled between the two women which makes me wonder what he actually did in order to fall in the first place LOL It served a purpose to the main plot while still holding a little of it's own mystery. It has that 'our stories are intertwining' feeling and I love when writers do that.

There was also an overall melancholy and wise approach to the nature of life and death. It touched me a little as well as how the characters, esp the ML, dealt with this eternal cycle. And as someone who believes in hope and looks for it in my entertainment, it was lovely seeing that hope restored in the ML, particularly in that ending scene. I was honestly waiting for it and am satisfied with the look on his face. The actor nailed it.

Music- There was a nice little mix happening here, I really liked it. They had some chunky guitars, softer, romantic vocals and as with MLC, I'm pretty sure they used the same track for an ancient tribal vocal happening in the back, off which I loved. It's like a deep throaty 'waaah' sound. There is one tribal wail backing track that really added to the 'wrath of God' feel when the ML was told something that broke his heart.

I'm pretty sure this is now my highest rated series so far. I will definitely be rewatching this one.

Leia Mais

masterful performances & strong start but couldn't fill up all 39 eps

I didn't know what to expect from this show but it quickly became a delight after the first couple of episodes.

Shen Li is the demon Azure Sky King, who flees from a forced marriage down to the mortal realm. There, while injured & helpless in her original bird form, she meets XingYun, a ginseng farmer living alone in near poverty, and who happens to also be the mortal manifestation of a sleeping ancient god XingZhi.

"I'm not stupid!" proclaims ShenLi at one point & indeed, she is not. She is a demon military commander who is revered not only by her army but also the citizenry she protects. She's also no-nonsense to a fault, empathetic only to those closest to her. However, the irreverent XingYun unbalances her as the first man she has ever had to depend upon with her life, & as a sickly weak mortal at that. She's drawn to him in spite of him always teasing her & never actually inviting her closer. The back & forth between the two is subtle & handled so skillfully by the veteran leads that you don't recognize the trope until it's already done. And it's very funny.

I've only seen Zhao Li Ying in The Story of Xing Fu which was a fantastic show. Her maturity lends to her strength & consistency in her performance & she's become someone I look forward to watching. Lin GengXin as XingYun/XingZhi was remarkable in maintaining a core personality between 2 different manifestations of the same character. He Yu as Lord FuRong, ShenLi's original betrothed, took a few episodes to find his footing in the role, but as the show progressed he turned into one of the funnier characters, even becoming likeable, alongside the ever entertaining Jackie Li.

All of this made for such a strong first half of the show that I was ready to give it one of my highest ratings. However, past Ep20, the pacing suddenly lagged & the story meandered for 6 or7 eps. Then came the backstory of ShenLi's origins & the late introduction of a new character, ShenLi's father. However, their reunion was puzzlingly brief & they didn't even hold a satisfactory conversation together. After such smart dialogue in the first half of the show, it made no sense that ShenLi couldn't say one word to her father when this was such a huge development. It seemed illogical with her character to not even make herself known to him when he was right in front of her, & he had to find out who she was from someone else.

The climactic battle to suppress a superdemonic foe & stabilize the universe was a cliched, long CGI light show. In fact, a lot of detail & effort was put into visually creating the fantastical realms but the heart of the characters, dialogue & story were significantly diminished. By that time I had no interest in the good vs evil routine. I just wanted to see what outcome ShenLi & XingZhi's relationship would face. Their fate ultimately held no surprises, secondary character arcs were left dangling (would've liked to see more FuRong/YouLan), & the story really ends with Ep38. Ep39 ran like someone forgot there was 1 ep left to go & had to slap together whatever story was left at the top of their head, which wasn't much. Why didn't the show just save some money & skip it? It could've been a 30 ep show with what story was presented.

After such a strong start it seemed this would be a very different kind of drama but the 2nd half unfortunately face-planted into a puddle of mediocre. So wildly inconsistent I truly can't decide whether I liked this show or not. I loved the first half; second half not so much.

Leia Mais

This drama was a delight for the eyes and ears.

The FL, Shen Li, is a petite and ballsy character with a masculine "yang" mindset. The ML, Xingzhi, is an aloof and esoteric character who has refined his ability to not be affected by his emotions over 1,000's of years and in the ensuing relationship demonstrates a softer more "yin" aspect.

Both characters are wonderfully written and brought to life on the screen. They have a development arc and their bantering and affection is very endearing. Supporting actors are also 3 dimensional and given sufficient exposure to assist with the overall story line.

There all the successful Wuxia elements of beautiful costumes, terrific dream like sets, over the top CGI, gorgeous lighting and beautiful settings. Comedic actors and situations break up the grimmer battles and villain actions so that it has good flow of interest despite the length. I liked the ending it has a modern twist and wraps up their relationship nicely so don't skip this.

Leia Mais

Obrovské zklamání!

Je mně líto, ale všechno je tady špatně!
Mizerné a přehrávané herecké výkony (mimochodem - po vynikajícím Princes Agents jde doslova o totální ztrátu prestiže hlavních aktérů), nehodící se zvuková stránka, scénář naprosto amatérský, příběh tuctový, grafika na dnešní dobu a špičkové standardy velmi slabá ...
Očekávání bylo obrovské a bohužel výsledek je doslova tristní.
Jde podle mě o naprostý propadák, jehož sledování je v současné obrovské konkurenci jiných skutečně vynikajících čínských dramat naprostou ztrátou času.
Za mě musím bohužel říct, že jde o obrovské zklamání!
Natočení tohoto seriálu jsou vyhozené peníze a jeho výsledek je opravdu smutný!

Leia Mais

Unique Relationship Dynamics with Crazy Chemistry

Story
Thought it was well paced. Appropriate amount of time was spent on each arc and I didn't feel any of the arcs being drawn out. Especially appreciated the start - never thought I would enjoy the relationship building between a man and his chicken that much! Some portions of the plot were of course slightly cliche and obvious but in general, felt that the writer kept enough mysteries for me to want more. Also loved the extra episode at the end just for viewers to enjoy the couple more! Thought the character building was great too as we can see Shen Li slowly becoming like Xing Zhi...

Acting
Amazing amazing performance by ZLY. Her apathetic gaze was integral to the show and she just looks absolutely stunning in her armor. LGX did a decent enough job for me as a supposedly cold and aloof god. Kind of wanted to see more cool sides of him.

Music
Loved all the OSTs added to my Spotify list

Leia Mais

A love story.

I loved this! It's just so perfect!

The acting is great. I dint understand why everyone keeps calling the actors too old and him too fat. It's beyond me. The man's a fine piece of man. They did such a good job. Their acting and chemistry was on point.

I love how above anything else, this is a love story. Most of it is focused on the interactions of our MC. There is a good backstory and plot that I really liked, but foremost it is a love story between 2 people who shoulder too much responsibility and who find understanding and unconditional love in each other.

Zing Zhi cracked me up. How can a however many thousands year old God be so silly? I loved how teasing he is. That man sure knows how to confuse someone though lol.

Shen Li is awesome. I loved her. Definitely not an annoying FL.

The story of Shen Li's parents was so tragic! I loved it though. I really wish Shen Li could have had a relationship with her dad. When he took her place in the end I cried my eyes out.

The line "I lost the 2 people I shouldn't have." ? I like to think she was meaning Zang Zhi and her father. I never really like Mo Feng.

Overall I definitely recommend this. It's just too sweet to miss.

Leia Mais

Interesting drama but a bit cliche

This was the first drama that Lin GengXin and Zhao LiYing reconvened, years after Princess Agent which they co-acted and was a huge hit. The sequel of Princess Agent never saw the light of day after much talk - I suspect it was pretty much toast. This drama was very much like a compensation and definitely appealed to their fans.

ShenLi was bestowed the title of General Bi Cang and was a powerful God of War. When pressured into a political marriage, she ran away and was seriously injured. She fell to the mortal realm reverting to her phoenix body and was mistaken as a chicken. A human chicken seller picked her up and sold her to Xing Yun, a sickly human.

Strangely Xing Yun seemed to be able to tell that she was a phoenix, spoke to her in her language and treated her injuries. Shen Li was suspicious of his identity and distrusted him. Aside from her clan trying to capture her, they faced threats from a human lord who was out to get them. Back in the celestial world, trouble was brewing. Unknown forces were gathering strength to take over.

Of course, there were plenty of secrets to be uncovered?. Why was Xing Yun well-versed in celestial battle formation and yet had no celestial power? What was ShenLi's mentor and head of her clan hiding from her? Who was behind the trouble in the celestial world?

On the whole, the story was interesting. However, having watched as much Chinese dramas as I have (many of which are fairy tales / xianxia) the story was somewhat cliche and felt very much like more of the same. Additionally, the ending was somewhat lame.

A rating of 8.7 is very high on mydramalist. While waiting for the rest of the episodes to be released, I was distracted and went on to watch In Blossom, with Liu XueYi and Ju JingYi as leads. This had a much lower rating of 8.1. But I thought it was more interesting. I felt that the fan base had a lot to do with it. With Lin GengXin and Zhao LiYing as the lead actors, it definitely boosted the rating of the drama. It rated this drama 8.5 and In Blossom 9.5 (the opposite to their ratings on this portal).

Overall, it is a very good production and is worth watching. This is especially true if you had not watched much of Chinese fairy tale dramas. Otherwise you might just felt the same as I had - cliche.

Leia Mais

What a beautiful Xanxia

I just love everything about this drama. The episodes though 39 were very enjoyable I couldn't even skip. The Ost the beginning was very captivating, I loved it too. The comedy was also on point despite the seriousness surrounding the story. Oh! And the chemistry between Shen li and our ancient god was sizzling...I recommend this drama anyday, anytime even in my sleep.

Lest I forget the costumes and CGI were also on point. They didn't miss a beat at all.

Kudos to everyone who made such a masterpiece. I hope the drama bags awards because it deserves it.

Apart from the FL and Ml my favourite character was Ms Jin and she deserved the last episode that was dedicated partly/mostly to her. She's so selfless and kind.

Leia Mais

Strangely Captivating!

I watched the FL in "Our Glamorous Time" and that was it. Nonetheless, she left a positive impression on me - pretty and a good actress. I was stoked to see high ratings for this drama and decided to watch it without further ado.

What I Enjoyed A Lot:
- I love a strong FL and an endearing ML who is just oh-so-smitten-in-a-good-way about his lady love.
- The ML is so cute too.
- Acting for both ML and FL are top-notch. The supporting cast is great too.
- Drama is full of ups and downs which make it exciting and suspenseful.
- Music is dramatic and matches the different scenes well.
- The CG is actually nice to look at. The cartoon phoenix is cute.
- The plot, though (to me) at times really kind of bizarre and unbelievable, comes together in the end. I am amazed and delighted at how everything ties up nicely.
- The snake spirit is so cute. I like the camaraderie between the ladies in the show.
- I like Mo Fang before the weird transformation.
- The happy ending is wonderful. I like.

What I Did Not Enjoy So Much:
- Poor Mo Fang and his battle with that weirdo with a one-track mind.
- The fixated weirdos in the drama who want to rule everything and create ghouls.
- Some parts were a little strange and perhaps, too long and perhaps, not needed.

Nevertheless, this drama is exciting and dramatic. Everything is quite nicely tied up. Everything is explained quite well. I like such shows which do not leave the viewers hanging and wondering what is actually going on. I highly recommend this drama! I like it very much! Both leads are "da bomb"! <3

Leia Mais