> A beautiful story of shameless cat , bird and a cunning fox.... The main storyline in this drama is NOT the budding romance between Wu Xia and Jiang Ci; and it is unfair to downgrade this drama because it "fails" to live up to the Romance genre it has been relegated (quite unfairly) to. It is a deeper story about family, betrayal, justice, a search for the Truth and vindication. It is Wu Xia's journey to clear his father's name and keep his war-torn people safe (much as they hate his father/family in their mistaken belief that his father betrayed them). But it also tells the story of Pei Yan's mother, Jiang Ci's teacher and jiang Ci herself. How Wu Xia finds love along the way, which changes him as a person - is secondary. Criticisms on the lack of kissing scenes and its reason for downgrading this drama are therefore frivolous and unjustifiable. So many Asian dramas (like Classic films of old) have shown that meaningful looks, great acting, a good script and fine Directing alone can project everything that explicit scenes (that leave nothing to the imagination) do. The scenes in Episode 37 where Jiang Ci re-unites with Wu Xia speaks volumes about their love - without a single kiss. The sets and costumes are beautiful. The fight scenes are what we have come to expect in CDramas - although some horse-riding by minor characters are obviously "staged" and quite embarrassing to watch. > To me, it was a deeply moving and emotional story, portrayed superbly by a fantastic cast. Allen Ren never over-acts his roles and once again, he portrays the angry and lonely Xiao Wu Xia focused on clearing his father's name, and protecting his people from continued slavery and exploitation, superbly. Having lost his entire family and suffering tremendous hardships, including slavery in his childhood and youth, he has made himself a powerful confidante of the Emperor in order to achieve those ends. I can therefore understand why he initially comes across as cruel and relentless. In character, he reminded me of Cui Xing Zhou in "Are You the One" - who many viewers initially vilified as well for the very same reasons. (I admire and respect Allen Ren's love for his own wife, which is his reason for stipulating no kissing/intimate scenes in his contracts.) Also this being an Allen show i was prepared for [spoiler] beautiful parting and not a happy ending ; love that they have done the deed incognito and birthed a beautiful boy [/spoiler] Jeremy Tsui as Pei Yan - Xiao Wu Xia's rival (in love and politics) matches Allen Ren in a brilliant pairing of rivals - and we vacillate in our support for one against the other - both good men at heart; but torn between doing what is right and what they are expected to do. In his pursuit of Jiang Ci, he displays much of the relentless, unpleasant scheming that was so much of his mother's character (for which she has been reviled). Yet there is an element of honour that saves him at the end but other he was ..... Landy Li as Jiang Ci ... brilliant. We love her intelligence, freedom of spirit, spunk and loyalty. We may find her constant meddling vexatious. But we hurt with her as she discovers how she has been used as a pawn by both men in her life. Her disdain for Wu Xia changes as she sees for herself what he is fighting for more noble than Pei . Also be prepared to hate regression of her character b/w 30-37 episodes... Pity she was not a free bird at end but she voluntarily shackled herself to this fate the moment she fell for the shameless cat. Emperor Liang the most [spoiler] vicious despicable cunning cowardly [/spoiler] emperor i have seen don't let his smile fool yourself. [spoiler] Loved that what he planned blowedup on face in the end , justice of Parricide and pushing an entire race into slavery to cover it up & having balls to justify that for the betterment of people [/spoiler] Cui Lang and second daughter of PM never understood why they couldn't get together at the end ; the writer must hate any [spoiler]happy endings [/spoiler] Overall a beautiful show and i knew what i am getting when its an Allen Ren show ; so it didn't deter my enjoyment even a bit and i was focused more on the journey and the process than the end result.