cyn lynn : Sword and Beloved


Cheng Yi: Wangquan Fu Gui	Li Yi Tong: Qing Tong

Guo Jun Chen: Quan Ru Mu	He Rui Xian: Long Wei Yun

Ken Chang: Wangquan Hong Ye (ML's dad)	Tan Kai: Quan Jing Ting (2ML's dad)

Chang Hua Sen: Fan Yun Fei	Zhang Kai Ying: Li Xue Yang

Tong Meng Shi: Zhang Qi	Jia Nai Na: Qing Li

Wang Hong Yi: Qing Cheng	Mao Xiao Hui: Guli Zhan

Celina Jade: Madam Yin	Yan Yun Jing: Feng Ting Yun

Fan Ming: Housekeeper Fei	Rao Jia Di: Snow Daemon


Main Story	Parent Story

Drama Overview & Review

[Drama Info] We have the third instalment of Fox Spirit Matchmakers:

1) Red Moon Pact (Yang Mi, Gong Jun): the original story. Gong Jun and Cheng Yi are cousin. Shen Yue is Gong Jun's mom, and therefore Cheng Yi's aunt.

2) Love in Pavilion (Liu Shi Shi, Zhang Yun Long): the parent story. Zhang Yun Long and Liu Shi Shi are Cheng Yi's parents.

3) Sword and Beloved (Li Yi Tong, Cheng Yi).

Timeline wise, Love in Pavilion comes first. Red Moon Pact and Sword and Beloved likely happen together. It won't be necessary to watch RMP first. Watching LiP would set up the background story for ML's father's behaviour, but I would assume you could watch this as a standalone as well.

Director Du Lin is involved in all 3 FSM dramas. Screenwriter Miu Wen Jing is in 2 – this one and Love in Pavilion).

It's not Li Yi Tong's first time being Cheng Yi's FL. They filmed 英雄志 (Hero Legends) together in 2023, which is sitting in the dust in drama dungeon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Wrapped in May 2024.

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[Main CP] Wangquan Fu Gui and Qing Tong. Their romance is like a warm bowl of soup: gentle, steady, nourishing. Never too hot, but for Fu Gui, this soup warmed him from the inside out. Their sweetest moments are all front-loaded in Ep1-13, and that early warmth is their emotional anchor throughout. [Skip »]

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[2CP] Quan Ru Mu and Long Wei Yun (Dragon). An OWYM romance with a doomed start.

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[3CP] Fan Yue Fei and Li Xue Yang. The ~~fox~~ puppy love is between Ep19-25. [Skip »]

Awwwww, proposal #101!

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~~Fan Yue Fei~~ Bro Fun. Fan Yue Fei has romance and bromance and any-mance. [Skip »]

Ru Mu: "When she slaps your left cheek, then you must immediately offer your right cheek or you won't get a wife."

Fan Yue Fei: “I’m so amazing. And I’m the only one with a wife among all of you!”

BILs and SILs xD

Déjà vu

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Villains. They're written with the depth of a puddle ~~or the weight of gas~~. Technically, Wangquan Hong Ye isn't a villain, but he might as well be.

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Ending Cliffnotes. Ep33-36. [Skip »]

In Ep33, 2CP Quan Ru Mu and Long Wei Yun, our star-crossed lovers, die separately. 2ML Ru Mu is killed by his father, Quan Jing Ting. 2FL Long Wei Yun chooses suicide because dragons do not stay widowed. She dissolves into dust because it’s also a dragon thing to reincarnate and reunite with their significant others in their next life. She doesn’t, however, avenge Ru Mu before disintegrating. Don’t worry. Bro (Fu Gui) got it covered and killed Quan Jing Ting.

In Ep34, ML Fu Gui appears to be corrupted by the Black Fox, but this is part of his plan. (We have another Cheng Yi vs. Cheng Yi drama)

In Ep35, FL Qing Tong realizes Fu Gui’s plan and sacrifices herself by removing her purified Emotion Seed so he can defeat the Black Fox with it. But Qing Tong without the seed will die. Fu Gui also sees through her decision and accepts her death. Their grief stays repressed because they must maintain the illusion that Fu Gui has fallen into darkness. She dies in his arms at the Pavilion he had asked her to draw at the beginning, the place where his parents fell in love.

In Ep36, Fu Gui dies defeating the Black Fox. With the last of his powers, he uses Qing Tong’s seed to grow the Tree of Love, restoring peace to the world. The only surviving couple is Fan Yue Fei and Li Xue Yang.

LIP service :'(

Qing Tong appears in her spider form. She survives because Fu Gui activated her Spider-Shut-Down-System, a life-preserving instinct that forces her into dormancy to avoid death – just like how Fu Gui’s father saved the Spider Queen’s husband.

Fu Gui should be very dead – dispersed into nature, appearing in every part of the world, maybe occasionally as a blue butterfly, and maybe his voice can be heard in the wind. (If you want to imagine a happier ending for yourself, he did absorb dragon power, and as we all know, yeah, it’s a dragon thing to reincarnate and reunite with their significant others. But that would be in their next life.)

It’s bittersweet. Qing Tong lives on, and as her name promises, she will be her Fu Gui shaoye’s “clear eyes” to admire the beauty of the world he protected with the last beat of his life.

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[Review & Rating] By cynlynn.