[First Impression] Legend of Fei (有翡)

This post is a bit late…! But I’ve been busy watching the drama!!! So it just shows that I’m really enjoying it!!!

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! 

Title: Legend of Fei ( 有翡)
# of Episodes: 51
Release Date: December 16th, 2020
Where to Watch: iQiyi App, Viki, YouTube

Why did I start watching this?

I think it’s all a given why we want to watch this drama, right? It’s Zhao Li Ying’s comeback drama after taking maternity leave last year…! Plus, we get to see Wang Yi Bo romancing her.

Plot/Synopsis Recap

Zhou Fei is the daughter of Li Jin Rong, the current head of the 48 Fortress. Since she was young, she was trained by her mother alongside her cousins, Li Sheng and Li Yan. Although Li Jin Rong focuses more on training Li Sheng to be the next head of the 48 Fortress, Zhou Fei ends up being the one who displays better talent than her older cousin. This causes Li Sheng to feel jealous of her and he constantly challenges her to see who the better fighter is, which often causes more trouble to Zhou Fei.

When an intruder finds his way into the 48 Fortress, the entire 48 Fortress takes precautions and tries to find out who was able to cross the dangerous Ximo River, which is protected by the Spinning Wire Formation, a web of extremely sharp wires that cuts through anything. Both Zhou Fei and Li Sheng join in on the search for the intruder and they both end up fighting against the black clothed man, but he ends up being able to escape due to his excellent qinggong skills.

Later on, Li Sheng stumbles upon Li Jin Rong commenting on his lack of talent. This enrages him and instigates him to escape from the 48 Fortress. That night, Li Sheng makes a run for it and aims to attempt crossing the Ximo River. Zhou Fei intervenes, after being told by Li Yan, and tries to get Li Sheng to come back. The two end up in the middle of river and are surrounded by countless wires. Despite using their swords to help fight their way through, it proves futile and they are both unable to make a break. Suddenly, the intruder from earlier that day appears and he ends up helping the two of them…

And that’s a wrap!!!

Cast/Characters

You can find character descriptions for the main characters here.

Overall Impression

I’m sooooo happy that C-drama land decided to end 2020 with a good drama after the lack luster of dramas during the Fall season. Legend of Fei isn’t the most amazing wuxia drama overall, but it is probably one of the best ones in 2020. Given that Zhao Li Ying is the main heroine, and she is an amazing actress, Legend of Fei has definitely proved to be a fun watch for me.

For me, the best thing about this drama is really Zhou Fei. I love that she’s kinda the anti-heroine. She isn’t a bright and cheerful character and she doesn’t have any aspirations or big ambitions. She doesn’t really fit the ideal image of a female heroine. Zhou Fei is quite pessimistic and negative. And I think a lot of the reason why is because of how she was raised. Zhou Fei grew up with her cousins, Li Sheng and Li Yan. 10 years prior to the story, Zhou Fei was kidnapped and then saved by Li Jin Feng, Li Jin Rong’s younger brother and the father of the Li siblings. Growing up Zhou Fei always felt guilty for being the cause of Li Jin Feng’s death and tried not to stand out too much, especially when being compared to Li Sheng. She felt that she needed to give in to Li Sheng picking on her because she owed him and his sister. Not only that, but Zhou Fei’s mother, Li Jin Rong, was especially strict on her daughter. Towards the Li siblings, Li Jin Rong was lenient, endearing, and caring. But, towards Zhou Fei, Li Jin Rong always found fault in her daughter and constantly criticized all her shortcomings. Because of this, Zhou Fei grew up with no ambitions because she was used to holding herself back and letting others be in the spotlight. The only person she was close to and could talk about her feelings with was her father, Zhou Yi Tang.

Luckily, because she is the heroine of the story, we get to see Zhou Fei grew up from hiding her true self and taking pride in her talents and skills and proving that she is a true heroine. As the story progresses, Zhou Fei learns to take pride in her skills and talents and be proud of who she is. She starts to have aspirations for herself and learns that she also deserves as much support and acknowledgement as her cousins. Of course, this is partly due to Xie Yun’s influence. Although he doesn’t do much, Xie Yun does encourage Zhou Fei and does give her the support she needs to overcome her insecurities. And this is where I find their relationship to be very good and mature. I like that they’re not realy bickering couple or an overly cutesy couple. Their relationship is built on friendship and being buddies, which then blossoms into love—at least on Zhou Fei’s part!

As for Xie Yun, he is an interesting character. Although he portrays himself to be a carefree wanderer, he actually has a lot of hidden secrets. I won’t go into too much detail about that, but I find Xie Yun to be a fun character. He’s playful and a trickster, but he is very intelligent and knows how to adapt to situations well. For example, Zhou Fei doesn’t shy away from displaying her feelings. She likes confrontation and isn’t scared to say what she is thinking. However, Xie Yun is the exact opposite. He observes the situation before taking action and doesn’t do anything that crosses the line. He is also the main reason why Zhou Fei doesn’t get into a lot of trouble with ruffians along their journey—because he keeps her grounded. But, of course, when the situation gets out of control, he steps back and lets Zhou Fei to take control of the situation, especially if it involves fighting.

Anyway, while the drama mainly centers around Zhou Fei and her adventures. There are actually quite a lot of other characters that are introduced throughout the drama. To be honest, there is TOO MUCH. If I were to name them, it’d be too long and make this First Impression much longer than needed. But do know that each character that shows up actually plays an important role to the story, especially because most of them end up passing on their knowledge and skills to Zhou Fei after acknowledging her to be talented, just like her grandfather. Li Zheng is Zhou Fei’s grandfather and the father of Li Jin Rong and Li Jin Feng. He is the previous Southern Blade (Nan Dao / 南刀) and the one who created the 48 Fortress. Li Zheng was famous for his swordplay, Po Xue Dao (破雪刀), and was regarded as a top hero during his day. The drama showcases many flashbacks of Li Zheng and his occurrences with various martial artists during his days, especially after they all meet Zhou Fei. In meeting Zhou Fei, the former acquaintances of Li Zheng take note of the similarities between the two in terms of their personalities and talent for the blade. This causes many of them to believe that Zhou Fei will be able to carry on her grandfather’s legacy and become a famous heroine in her own right.

And aside from Zhou Fei’s adventures and meeting with her grandfather’s old friends, there is actually a bigger story that is slowly being unfolded. And this is the search for the three treasures, which is coveted by Yu Wen Zhi and the Di Sha (地煞) aka the Demons Manor. As of now, the current main enemies are Yu Wen Zhi and the Demons Manor, but I have a feeling that there’s another formidable foe that is slowly making his way up there (!). Anyway, Yu Wen Zhi is a member of the royal family who abuses his power in order to find the three treasures. He enlists the help of the Demons Manor to do his dirty deeds for him. As of now, we don’t quite know much about the treasures what kind of powers it holds. But we do know that one is hidden in the 48 Fortress (which is the reason why Zhou Fei got kidnapped as a child and had to be saved by Li Jin Feng), one is with Wu Chu Chu, and the other is with the Yin family, a martial arts family that once had deep connections with Li Zheng. Hopefully as the drama continues, we get to know more about the treasures and how it connects to the 48 Fortress and how this will affect our heroine’s journey.

Overall, I’m really enjoying watching this drama! It makes me love Zhao Li Ying even more because how amazing she looks as Zhou Fei. But the one who has impressed me the most is Wang Yi Bo. I found him sooooo stiff and awkward as Lan Wang Ji in The Untamed, especially in the beginning. And I wasn’t expecting his acting to be much better because he’s still relatively new to the acting world. However, he’s definitely gotten a lot better as an actor in this drama, and I find it a pleasant surprise. I’m not sure if it’s because Xie Yun isn’t cold and aloof like Lan Wang Ji and Wang Yi Bo just finds it easier to portray someone who is easy going and fun, but it doesn’t matter because I like Xie Yun. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how this drama goes and I can’t wait to see more of it…!