After years of rumours and changes, Qie Shi Tian Xia (且试天下) finally held a booting ceremony on 20 October. This drama is the highly anticipated adaption of novel of the same name by Qing Ling Yue and will be directed by Yin Tao (Love and Redemption, Under the Power, Listening Snow Tower). However, there was an absence of leads and no official confirmation at the ceremony. It has finally been confirmed today at the Tencent event that Zhao Lu Si will headline this drama. Her rumoured male lead is Yang Yang, but he is not yet officially confirmed.
Synopsis and Pictures:
Synopsis: A single seal determines the right to rule over the seven states. During turbulent times, when this seal goes missing, ambitious and talented youths set their eyes on retrieving it to fulfil their ultimate goals.
Dressed in white robes like the snowy moon, Bai Feng Xi is renowned for her unsurpassable grace, but unlike other females of her time, she’s not only carefree; speaking and acting in her own manner, but she’s also described to be as wild as the wind. Roaming the martial arts world, her encounters with the opposite, Hei Feng Xi is a tale to hear for many.
An exquisite handsome young man, in robes that reflect the dark moon, he is widely admired for being honourable, kind-hearted and tolerant. However, behind this façade is man shaped by the cruel environment he grew up in, to be calculative and cunning. It is this side that Hei Feng Xi willing allows Bai Feng Xi to see.
In the last ten years, their relationship has morphed in a manner that is hard to label. Enemies don’t accompany and support each other as they do, but friends don’t bicker and fight as often. Matched in fighting skills, how much do they exactly know about each other?
A sickly intelligent princess who is well versed in poetry and war strategies from a young age. Having the further accomplishment of having trained an army, as sole heir to the throne, she is forced to draw her sword and fight off the enemy. But how will she lead her people when she has no interest for that position?
A mysterious prince who has had to deal with the loss of his mother at a young age. What will be his choices during these chaotic times? With beauties all with their different political advantages, will he be one to have a harem?
A distinguished prince, who is unafraid to display his ambitions, with unmatched martial arts. Strong and proud with a king like arrogance to his demeanour, what will he decide to sacrifice for this world?
A man renowned in the martial arts world for his benevolence, admired by people as though he is a god. Someone who has otherwise not dipped into the political world, is it really as suggested that he lacks affinity with other people?
A noble princess, who holds the title as the prettiest person in this world. Will she support her own kingdom? Or will she docilely become puppet to someone else to fulfil her motive of becoming empress?
In this world of talented individuals, when only one person can be in the top position, who will win? Will their ties and relationships provide for companions or is this road as desolate and sacrificial as described? Most importantly, with the countless lives and anguish experienced what exactly will be most important to them?
Between the beauty and the world, what will they chose?
Pictures of Zhao Lu Si at the Tencent Event today:
And to bless everyone’s eyes, unrelated pictures of Yang Yang at some recent events:
Novel Spoilers:
Bai Feng Xi is also the sickly princess and Hei Feng Xi is also the mysterious prince. In the novel, they kind of know of each other’s identities, but they have an unspoken pact, where they don’t question each other about this suspicion. Long story short, they engage in a political marriage, but since they are rulers of separate countries, they have a certain amount of distrust towards each other and with this they also hide their pain and feelings from each other too. So this engagement drives them further apart, until Bai Feng Xi almost loses her life. Hei Feng Xi stops the battle and rushes to her side, using his martial arts cultivation to save her. This causes him to rapidly age, but it’s thankfully reversible. Bai Feng Xi then decides that she can’t continue this fight for the throne and leaves, but she comes back a few days later with the offer for him to come along. He accepts, so they end up leaving the throne to Huang Chao, the second male lead.
The novel is a mashup of wuxia and politics. The war and battles are actually the predominant part of the novel, so although I love the main couple to bits, they really don’t have all that many moments together. Also HFX knows very early on that he likes BFX, but she’s pretty oblivious to it and will like other people.
Thoughts:
My thoughts will be controversial, so if you are a fan of Zhao Lu Si, I would probably suggest to stop reading now!
I’ve had quite a few months to formulate my thoughts about this and believe me, I’ve gone through it quite a bit from denial to anger. At this stage I should be approaching acceptance now right? But I don’t think I am. No matter how I try to see it, I just can’t see Zhao Lu Si as Bai Feng Xi. Maybe I’m being shallow, since all I see is that she does not match the described appearance, but I also feel like this character is so different from the type she typically portrays. Maybe I should give her a chance to prove herself to be a versatile actress, but at the same time I don’t have high hopes having seen her acting in other shows.
I’ve been asked on several occasions who my ideal female lead for this show would be and it turns out that’s also not an answer I can give. Having read the novel, I did feel she was quite OP, so it’s possible that I set unrealistic expectations for this almost too perfect character. What I probably need is to be whacked back to reality, so I can set a much lower standard for IP casting. Normally, I would complain and then probably not watch, but with Yang Yang as male lead I really do have a certain dilemma, as my shallowness happens to like his face. I think visually, he definitely matches the character. Hei Feng Xi is a fairly complex character, so it would be interesting to see if he can pull it off. I still don’t know if my love for Yang Yang makes it worth committing to this series though, because I still feel like there’s no way they read the novel if they cast Zhao Lu Si.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Production company don’t care. Look what happened to be “General and I” by casting Angelababy…clearly they did not care about the message of the book in that the male lead loves the leading lady for her brain (she not suppose to be pretty).
I didn’t read this novel though, but I like these two actors (visually LOL).
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Speaking of angelababy.. Worse than the miscast of General and I is the series Yunge from the Desert. I still can’t get over how such a beautiful novel was completed ruined by the horrible casting choices…
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Lunge from the Desert was “scary”, and not in a good way. My first Angelababy drama. In one scene, I wondered how she could shed so many tears while her eyes remained so clear and bright without a trace of redness.
I’m guessing her leading men were picked for their acting skills, because a really good actor/actress can play any role, right? Unfortunately there were huge visual dissonances when some actors/actresses appear together. And the contrast in acting skills was clear.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Maybe Jiang Yiyi? I feel that her acting outshone Zhao Lusi in Love of Thousand Years. I think Zhao Lusi shines in cuter roles like in The Romance of Tiger and Rose. But anything with more gravitas she begins to falter.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I definitely think both her acting and looks outshone ZLS in Killing of 3000 Crows. But she is quite young, so I’m not too sure she can pull of the leading an army part of the novel.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I thought ZLS did really well in the emotional scenes in Dating in The Kitchen.
In any case, my shallowness likes her face too. YY’s acting is also questionable to me, so this pair is gonna be interesting to see if they can pull off their roles.
@Suzy, I don’t know JYY looks really YOUNG and the female lead here seems to be more mature. JYY only has a few scenes in LOTY also.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Haven’t seen ZLS in anything else but Dating in the Kitchen, but I agree that she can handle emotional scenes pretty well there (cue: ep 6, ep 9). That said, as I haven’t read the novel (not planning too), I can’t comment about whether she fits the character or not.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I wasn’t interested in the novel, but I’m excited for Zhao Lusi. She mentioned yesterday that people had been asking her to try different roles since she was getting typecasted. She is smart enough to take on this role despite being questioned about her acting abilities. Yes, she shines in bubbly and cutesy characters, but I also think she has the potential to take on roles with more depth. I agree with Judith that she handled the emotional scenes in Dating quite well.
As for Yang Yang, I am also shallow and like his visuals, hahaha.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I don’t think Tencent cares or not if the leads will fit the character.
From their recent casting choices for their big budget historical dramas, they just lump two popular leads together and call it a day. Most of the pairings are huge mismatch, and this is no different.
Maybe if these dramas flop they will realise popularity alone cannot carry a drama.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I have not read the novel. So the casting didnt evoke any reaction from me to be honest. But i remember there was another novel i read and the casting i totally disagree.. not just appearance but the whole vibe and aura from the actor was a mismatched.
From acting perspective, i like and dislike some of ZLS’s work. As wild and bold i did see a bit of that in her QianQian role. Theres some matirity in her Dating in the kitchen but i didnt finish the drama, wasnt my cuppa. Theres a lot of room to grow n shes still young..jus wonder if she could step up and deliver cz this role seems to need a lot of gravitas.
Im shallow too. I like YY’s visuals like evyone else but his acting is sometimes questionable to me. Doesnt invoke much emotion. His latest in Together was a tad cringey. Maybe he too will prove me wrong. But unless theres a confirmation, rumours shd b taken with a grain of salt.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Seems like YY has been working on his acting for some time. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
As for the female lead actress, being interested in taking a different type of role is not enough. She needs to be willing to put in a lot of effort understanding the role and expanding her acting range. Typical cdrama production environment means there won’t be much time for her to work on these while filming.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I’ve read the novel and neither leads are suited for the role. Female lead is devil may care and do whatever she wants in first half, then hyper competent/regal in ruling her country + leading her army. Male lead is black bellied schemer, stoic and elegant. The entire main cast (there’s two other male lead and one female lead that’s fairly important) are all incredibly OP, mary sue of mary sue, it’d be really hard to live up to that in live action. I hope they find a competent scriptwriter to adapt.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
What does OP mean? lol.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Overpowered. Means really really strong e.g super smart /super good in fighting..etc
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I am keen for ZLS taking on meatier roles bc I think she’s quite likeable onscreen and she has potential (check out her crying in this variety show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igix7veM3v8). Most of her dramas have been opposite actors who are just as raw as her…Yang Yang is probably not gonna help her lift her game lol. Hope her and her team can get her more mature roles/dramas even if they’re not necessarily FL.
The plot sounds like a “serious” drama, hopefully it doesn’t turn into a rom-com with unneccesary angst in the 2nd half.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
Only read some translated chapters but also don’t think she quite suit the character. Her acting is not bad though so let’s see if she can pull it off. Hope the scriptwriter and director won’t transform her character too much.
As for YY, I’m not a fan. It’s been years since I’ve watched any of his drama but I used to find his acting quite flat.
17 thoughts on “Qie Shi Tian Xia confirms Zhao Lu Si as Lead with Yang Yang Rumoured as Male Lead”
I read this novel and it was pretty solid story. I liked it better than I thought I would since it was very political but the thing that kept me hook was the characters and their relationship with each other. Now that I consider the main characters to the actor/actress they are thinking to cast – it’s a big miscast to me. I also doubt that the script can convey the nuance of their relationship; it’s what made the novel work because it wasn’t your typical “both falls in love with each other right away” or love story etc. I think I’ll just re-read the novel.