Notable Actors/Actresses
Han Dong Jun: Wu Xin
Chen Yao: Liu Qing Luan (F) / Liu Xuan Hu (M)
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Xu Zi Yuan, Li Nan
Chinese Title無心法師
Network: Tencent Video
Episodes: 28
First Impression: 3/5
[Ep1] There's a cameo from Han Dong Jun's Never Gone buddy, Zhou Zi Yi. He's a monkey demon. He's running away from Wu Xin and plunges a weapon into his chest hoping to kill him. That's exactly what Wu Xin wants: to die. However, Wu Xin is heartless, literally, and doesn't die. He just makes a hole in his chest, ha. Then WX and monkey demon become quite chummy. He helps Wu Xin see his future. We see glimpses of Season One because that is the future but WX dismisses it. The monkey demon shows him another prophecy of how he will die: at the hands of someone in red. Really like the fighting sequence in the first eight minutes.
[Ep3] First case solved. It's a monster looking to avenge his valuable student.
The expressions WX makes after accidentally touching her breasts are hilarious. S/he threatens him that she is a male. And so Wu Xin has no choice but to cooperate even if his hand remembers the feelings of softness. She then switches her identity with her twin brother to meet Wu Xin again to confuse him.
[Ep5] Alright, so here's the gist of the twins: They're supposed to be one but were separated into two, hence the twins; she (Qing Luan) is a curse to others; he (Xuan Hu) is a curse to himself. QL brings misfortunes to others while her brother suffers from an incurable disease. Yao Chen impresses. Her acting as the male twin is quite believable. I really was confused in the beginning how she could look and act so much like a boy. And then when she switches back to female she's convincingly innocent and pure. Under their father's instructions they share one identity, the brother's (Xuan Hu). If they were to reveal their identity now after they took the imperial examinations they could be punished to death for intentionally falsifying their identity to the Emperor.
[Ep7] Wu Xin is imprisoned in a turtle suit by a elderly demon who suspects him of killing his villagers. Shang Qing Tian (a recurring actor of the Wu Xin series) informs them it's the doing of a sect called Zhang Ming. They're in pursuit of a longevity/immortal pill. They had prevented SQT from talking about their sect by cursing him to vomit whenever he wants to talk about it, lol. Now that they've angered the Zhang Ming sect they have to go into hiding. The twin brother and the rest hide in the palace while WX and QL roam outside.
Season One throwbacks: It's this episode WX discovers the ability of his blood to cleanse demons. It's also the origins of Yue Qin Luo's paper dolls from Season One as Wu Xin gives Qing Luan a paper doll to protect herself with.
[Ep8] WX casts a "I-see-that-you're-look-familiar" spell on Liu Qing Luan that makes everyone who sees her thinks she's familiar. What are all these convenient weird spells...
[Ep9] QL has one year left of her life before she has to live as her twin brother. She wants to fall in love and chooses Wu Xin as her fiancé candidate. She comes up with a contract and cheerily shows up at his door asking him to sign it. He's taken back and reminds her he wants to die and hence they're not a match. She tells him that's perfect for her because she only wants his body for a year; she'll provide the money, he'll provide his body. Additionally, she might just be the prophetic red lady who can kill him, albeit, she was born with a curse. (By the way, she was pretty prowess when she defeated the Zhang Min discipline.) She endlessly chases him around the table convincing him she might just be the perfect person to kill him. He signs it. And then the sky thunders above them. Wu Xin is a man of his words and takes her on a date. Her curse works like a charm. In one afternoon, he gets stabbed in the back, chokes to almost-death, and slips and falls flat on his face. Although Wu Xin doesn't die, he does feel pain. Thus begins their no-love engagement contract. Except QL is definitely in love. Meanwhile WX is just being nice.
The beginning of XH's path to evil. He hides the bell that has the ability to make the longevity pill.
[Ep11] They’re investigating the twins’ mother’s death. Here I am wondering what a hassle it is to film as twins. The actress has to change between her clothes, show different personalities and talk to herself/nobody.
[Ep16] They’re still solving YQL’s mother’s case. It’s spiraling into coup d’état against the Yue manor all for this unknown treasure.
[Ep17] Wu Xin volunteers to retrieve the treasure which Xuan Hu ends up stealing. This mysterious air enters his body and thus the Zhang Ming sect cannot harm him. In fact they need him in order to achieve their goal of making the immortality pill. This is also exactly what XH wants.
So who is this masked man? He's Bai Liu Li! He's evil?? Too bad Mike Angelo couldn't reprise his role. A little background on BLL: from Season One and Two he has always been a friend (and the only friend who stays with him for centuries) to Wu Xin. So it's a little surprising to see him torture Wu Xin.
[Ep18] We go back in time to when Wu Xin first met Bai Liu Li. On WX's search for death, he hires Bai Liu Li to kill him. BLL thinks he's crazy and flatly refuses him but WX cries and whines at his feet to accept his request. He believes BLL has the ability to kill him because he's this strong semi-demon. Initially Bai Liu Li is just plain torturing and enslaving him.
However, one day he brings home an infant and WX becomes the father/mother/nanny of BLL's child. Heh. It's pretty funny watching these two powerful men at the beckoning of this baby's every cry. Together they raise this baby until Bai Liu Li finds out the child isn't his. Despite that, there's one good thing, Bai Liu Li has begun to trust WX and decides to earnestly help him die. He goes to this mountain in search of a method to kill WX only to have himself almost killed. When he returns to his manor, Wu Xin had long left and he's stuck with an incurable black poison in his body that he has to rely on this hypothetical immortality pill. Bai Liu Li still feels betrayed to this day hence the torture he is putting Wu Xin under.
[Ep19] After QL discovers WX is being tortured, she goes to save him. Touched by her actions, he kisses her and asks if it's too late to accept her confession. It is. No matter how much she wants him, she had promised her brother that she would full heartedly help him find the immortality pill. Therefore no romances. This doesn't stop WX though. He tags along on the trip and shamelessly hangs onto her. Although Wu Xin doesn't have a heart, he sure has a lot of romances each season.
[Ep20] I thought BLL was going to ooze vengeance but him and WX are still as funny as ever. WX makes him super irritated then add on XH's constant need of his magic and that maxes out his patience. Meanwhile the real person to fear is Xuan Hu as he has taken the path of evil to become immortal.
[Ep21] As someone who's watched season one, it's soooo weird seeing Wu Xin and Qing Luan make out. I really don't know how I'm supposed to support these two. Meanwhile Xuan Hu is super jealous that his sister, his one and only family, is being taken away.
[Ep22] In this episode Qing Luan mentions she's the destined one to kill Wu Xin and she'll find a way to make sure to she'll rid his pain of immortality so that he won't be afraid to love anymore. She promises to be with him forever. Season one watchers: this has a creepy undertone for me because that's exactly what Yue Qi Luo does to him, haunt him forever and use all means to make him stay with her. Although the romance has turned up a notch, I much prefer watching the bromance between Wu Xin and Bai Liu Li. They're constantly bickering over nothing and yet there's this trust between them.
[Ep23] Bai Liu Li casually tells him he's going to die (because of him) to which WX bows his head and apologies. BLL then slaps him but says he didn't, heh. Because of that (non)slap, WX is possessed and is constantly...itching? I don't know what it is. It's BLL's petty way of getting revenge and calling it even between them. LOL but aw, he's going to die.
[Ep24] Xuan Hu falls off a cliff. Qing Luan jumps off hoping to save her little brother but XH uses his last powers to push her back up to safety. However, it's questionable whether he wanted to save her or just save himself because that power that sent her surging upwards also sent his soul to reside in her body. Now these twins are truly "one".
[Ep25] With XH residing in QL's body, it's not an entirely dreadful episode. Funny scenes ensue when Wu Xin goes on a date with Qing Luan only to have Xuan Hu reveal himself and kick Wu Xin's chair aside so he falls. A frustrated Wu Xin cannot retaliate against XH because QL always appears again. Poor Wu Xin. However, it's only a matter of time until QL's body will rot like Bai Liu Lin's if XH continues to share it. Xuan Hu and Wu Xin actually worked together to eradicate Zhang Min's soul from Bai Liu Lin's body. From Bai Liu Lin, Xuan Hu learns that the perfect body he should reside in is not his sister's, but Wu Xin's immortal body.
By the way, Season One's talisman makes if's full appearance here. And it's Wu Xin who introduced them. Additionally, Yue Qi Luo's iconic red coat is worn by Xuan Hu when he's zapping human energy to keep himself alive in her sister's body.
[Ep26] To protect Qing Luan, Wu Xin decides to take Xuan Hu into his own body. And now it's his turn to talk to himself. At least Yao Chen can finally take a break from talking to herself.
[Ep27] Dad sacrifices his life to exterminate Zhang Min's soul within him. At the end of his life, he finally gives a little love to his daughter, Qing Luan. However, Zhang Min just doesn't die. Neither does Xuan Hu. Now both their souls are living in Qing Luan's body but I think it's Zhang Min who has the control. XH's spirit vows that if Wu Xin doesn't protect his sister, he'll never let him live in peace.
WX does go to save her. It's his turn to sacrifice his life for hers.
[Ep28] Wu Xin manages to enclose Zhang Min's spirit in him but the evil spirit still escapes. It's BLL's turn to sacrifice his life to seal ZM's spirit. That scene was so short... ZM and BLL's death happened in less than a minute with a ton of smoke that covered the entire screen.
After all evil is over, Shang Qing Tian decides to create his own sect, one that eradicates evil (alluding to his Season One character: Chu Chen Xi). Meanwhile QL and WX return to their home.
Decades past and QL ages. She's an old lady now. She's grateful he spent a lifetime with her. Her only regret is she never lifted his curse, she never lifted his pain of watching his loved ones die one after another. At the brink of her death, she tells him she's finally found a way to lift his pain: to forget. It's his memories that make his immortality miserable and not the immortality itself.
After QL dies, WX was about to create a spell to erase his own memories but BLL appears again. However, he shows up as a spirit without a body (the way all Season One watchers are used to seeing him as). WX has now gained an immortal friend to spend the rest of his life with.
WX has successfully erased all his memories and begins a new life. In the streets, he pauses at a familiar silhouette, but he doesn't know who she is. Why is Qing Luan alive?? How does she become Yue Qi Luo? Yo.
[First Impression (Ep1-8)] Having watched Season One, it brings back the wonderful familiarity of this series. still as funny, still as kick-butt. Bonus, the CGI has upgraded bringing really cool combat scenes. It does pretty well as a standalone drama. He's got one purpose: he wants to die. Thus he embarks on demon missions for two reasons: to save people and to find a demon that can kill him. There's a little bit of romance as Liu Qing Luan harbors a tiny crush on Wu Xin. As a Season One watcher, I'm really curious how this romance will turn out because she's his one true villain in all the other seasons. So far I like it. It's hilarious at many moments. I'm not keeping a close eye on all the demon cases. I plan on casually watching this so won't be commenting on this too too much.
[Ending] What drove me to finish the drama was my curiosity of how Yue Qi Luo came to be. Despite sitting though 28 episodes, I don't think I got my obvious answer. Qing Luan from the beginning to ending stayed angelic. Xuan Hu, I assume, dies with Zhang Min. How Qing Luan is still alive makes me wonder if Qing Luan received the immortality from XH and ZM having simultaneously resided in her body. If she has indeed become "immortal", it's very different from Wu Xin's. Qing Luan does die, she just gets reborn every century. At least, that's my hypothesis for Yue Qi Luo's forever appearance in the Wu Xin series.
[Review] As a whole the story just wasn't interesting to me. Occasionally, I like the humour but most of the time I found it overbearing. The whole twin complexity and having to talk to oneself for a good half of the drama tired me endlessly. The plot kept spiralling and spiralling ultimately landing into a nugatory ending for our villains. I zoned out of this drama quite early. I reinvested when Bai Liu Li appeared and told myself to stay focused for Yue Qi Luo's origins. I did enjoy fleshing out my own ending for Yue Qi Luo though. The drama left enough hints to do that. The ending was good in an odd sense. I never supported the romance between QL and WX but watching her love him for centuries felt nice. She truly is the destined one for him. I just had to suppress all my memories of her previous heinousness.
[Rating Explained] It's so hard to rate this drama. I really liked the first episode and Bai Liu Li scenes. The ending was pretty decent. Everything else was mediocre. I watched it as an origin story. If it was a standalone drama, I probably would have dropped it.
Mini Recaps
[Ep3] First case solved. It's a monster looking to avenge his valuable student.
[Ep8] WX casts a "I-see-that-you're-look-familiar" spell on Liu Qing Luan that makes everyone who sees her thinks she's familiar. What are all these convenient weird spells...
[Ep11] They’re investigating the twins’ mother’s death. Here I am wondering what a hassle it is to film as twins. The actress has to change between her clothes, show different personalities and talk to herself/nobody.
[Ep16] They’re still solving YQL’s mother’s case. It’s spiraling into coup d’état against the Yue manor all for this unknown treasure.
[Ep20] I thought BLL was going to ooze vengeance but him and WX are still as funny as ever. WX makes him super irritated then add on XH's constant need of his magic and that maxes out his patience. Meanwhile the real person to fear is Xuan Hu as he has taken the path of evil to become immortal.
[Ep21] As someone who's watched season one, it's soooo weird seeing Wu Xin and Qing Luan make out. I really don't know how I'm supposed to support these two. Meanwhile Xuan Hu is super jealous that his sister, his one and only family, is being taken away.
[Ep22] In this episode Qing Luan mentions she's the destined one to kill Wu Xin and she'll find a way to make sure to she'll rid his pain of immortality so that he won't be afraid to love anymore. She promises to be with him forever. Season one watchers: this has a creepy undertone for me because that's exactly what Yue Qi Luo does to him, haunt him forever and use all means to make him stay with her. Although the romance has turned up a notch, I much prefer watching the bromance between Wu Xin and Bai Liu Li. They're constantly bickering over nothing and yet there's this trust between them.
[Ep24] Xuan Hu falls off a cliff. Qing Luan jumps off hoping to save her little brother but XH uses his last powers to push her back up to safety. However, it's questionable whether he wanted to save her or just save himself because that power that sent her surging upwards also sent his soul to reside in her body. Now these twins are truly "one".
[Ep26] To protect Qing Luan, Wu Xin decides to take Xuan Hu into his own body. And now it's his turn to talk to himself. At least Yao Chen can finally take a break from talking to herself.
[Ep27] Dad sacrifices his life to exterminate Zhang Min's soul within him. At the end of his life, he finally gives a little love to his daughter, Qing Luan. However, Zhang Min just doesn't die. Neither does Xuan Hu. Now both their souls are living in Qing Luan's body but I think it's Zhang Min who has the control. XH's spirit vows that if Wu Xin doesn't protect his sister, he'll never let him live in peace.
WX: Qing Luan, the curse to my immortality can finally be lifted. You are the destined one for me. I just never thought it would end in such a way.However, QL's voice penetrates his thoughts reminding him that death isn't the only way to lift his curse.
After QL dies, WX was about to create a spell to erase his own memories but BLL appears again. However, he shows up as a spirit without a body (the way all Season One watchers are used to seeing him as). WX has now gained an immortal friend to spend the rest of his life with.
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-8)] Having watched Season One, it brings back the wonderful familiarity of this series. still as funny, still as kick-butt. Bonus, the CGI has upgraded bringing really cool combat scenes. It does pretty well as a standalone drama. He's got one purpose: he wants to die. Thus he embarks on demon missions for two reasons: to save people and to find a demon that can kill him. There's a little bit of romance as Liu Qing Luan harbors a tiny crush on Wu Xin. As a Season One watcher, I'm really curious how this romance will turn out because she's his one true villain in all the other seasons. So far I like it. It's hilarious at many moments. I'm not keeping a close eye on all the demon cases. I plan on casually watching this so won't be commenting on this too too much.
[Ending] What drove me to finish the drama was my curiosity of how Yue Qi Luo came to be. Despite sitting though 28 episodes, I don't think I got my obvious answer. Qing Luan from the beginning to ending stayed angelic. Xuan Hu, I assume, dies with Zhang Min. How Qing Luan is still alive makes me wonder if Qing Luan received the immortality from XH and ZM having simultaneously resided in her body. If she has indeed become "immortal", it's very different from Wu Xin's. Qing Luan does die, she just gets reborn every century. At least, that's my hypothesis for Yue Qi Luo's forever appearance in the Wu Xin series.
[Review] As a whole the story just wasn't interesting to me. Occasionally, I like the humour but most of the time I found it overbearing. The whole twin complexity and having to talk to oneself for a good half of the drama tired me endlessly. The plot kept spiralling and spiralling ultimately landing into a nugatory ending for our villains. I zoned out of this drama quite early. I reinvested when Bai Liu Li appeared and told myself to stay focused for Yue Qi Luo's origins. I did enjoy fleshing out my own ending for Yue Qi Luo though. The drama left enough hints to do that. The ending was good in an odd sense. I never supported the romance between QL and WX but watching her love him for centuries felt nice. She truly is the destined one for him. I just had to suppress all my memories of her previous heinousness.
[Rating Explained] It's so hard to rate this drama. I really liked the first episode and Bai Liu Li scenes. The ending was pretty decent. Everything else was mediocre. I watched it as an origin story. If it was a standalone drama, I probably would have dropped it.
Rating: 2/5
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