#chenxiao — Public Fediverse posts

The Ingenious One is a slick wuxia with a classic story of vengeance, justice and hidden motives in a world full of people who are not what they are.
Season 2 is rumoured to drop this year, so I made sure that I watched it in time for its premiere.

#CDrama #CDramas #ChenXiao #TheIngeniousOne

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/the-ingenious-one-season-1-review/

The Ingenious One is a slick wuxia with a classic story of vengeance, justice and hidden motives in a world full of people who are not what they are.
Season 2 is rumoured to drop this year, so I made sure that I watched it in time for its premiere.

#CDrama #CDramas #ChenXiao #TheIngeniousOne

https://dramatea88.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/the-ingenious-one-season-1-review/

The Ingenious One (season 1) review

After 15 years of training by the mysterious Yun Tai sect, Yun Xiang leaves to seek revenge for his massacred family.

What he lacks in martial arts skills, he compensates by his huge intellect and ability to manipulate people to fulfill his plans. On his journey, he meets several people who would become his friends: Shu Yanan, a fierce female warrior, Jin Biao a master swordsman for hire, Su Ming Yu, a rich kid with martial arts skills and dreams of wandering around the jianghu like a hero.

As Yun Xiang investigates what happened to his village, he discovers frightening secrets, and realises that things are not what they seem, including Yuntai itself.

I had a lot of hope for this drama, so much so that I delayed watching it. Let me explain: sometimes there is a drama that you know you will love, but you worry it won’t be as good as you think. You delay watching it, hoping that somehow the disappointment won’t be so great.

Anyway, I am glad to report that The Ingenious One met all my expectations and then some. It had a lot of things going for it:

1. Great actors
2. Great fighting choreography
3. An absorbing storyline

It did stumble a bit towards the middle and the end, but it was a very slight trip and nothing that derailed the drama completely. I watched every episode with great interest and bated breath because it was that good.

The characters

• Yun Xiang (played by Chen Xiao): A disciple of the Yuntai Sect seeking vengeance for his annihilated clan. As he does not have any martial arts skills, he uses his wits to manipulate human hearts and strategize against hidden threats.
• Shu Yanan (played by Mao Xiaotong): A female warrior who joins his mission to navigate the dangerous undercurrents of the martial world and uphold justice.
• Su Mingyu (played by Tang Xiaotian): An rich young master with ambitions to be a hero in the jianghu.
• Ke Menglan (played by Xu Lingyue): A female gambling hall owner. She becomes one of Yun Xiang’s trusted companions, standing with the group to unveil the dark secrets of the past.
• Jin Shiliang / Jinbiao (played by Liu Guanlin): A fighter for hire who initially acts as Yun Xiang’s bodyguard but eventually becomes one of his most loyal friends.
• Mo Bufan (played by Peng Bo): A Yuntai disciple and a bank owner, Mo shares one thing in common with Yun Xiang: He may be a Yuntai disciple, but he has a heart.

What I liked

• The acting is stellar, of course, with Chen Xiao and all the other actors in the group. Everything was wonderful.
• The villains are very unique. Our team has a couple of big bads to take down every few episodes or so, and some of them are actually very intriguing and multi-layered.
• In every wuxia, the fight choreography is key. I am happy to report that it is actually really good and very fun to watch. Our heroes all look the part and feel like badass fighters.
• The team dynamics. In dramas like this, where a group of people find each other, that is a very classic wuxia trope. Whether the drama succeeds or not depends on the dynamics of the team and whether they can gel well together or are intriguing. In our drama, there is enough push and pull between the characters to make it fascinating to watch. Our characters don’t trust each other immediately; they all have their own agendas and are trying to suss each other out. This creates enough tension to keep things interesting for quite a while.
• The script is also very tight. While it doesn’t happen every time, most episodes end with a great urge to watch the next, providing enough momentum to propel the drama forward. Of course, towards the middle part, when everyone is finally trusting each other and they consider each other brothers, there will be a spanner or two thrown in the works to increase the tension. The writers understand that pretty well and knew exactly what to do.
  

What I didn’t like

As for the bad, honestly, I found very little to criticise. There were a couple of episodes where it felt as if it dragged a bit too long, but it wasn’t frequent enough to be a real bother. Other than that, there is very little to complain about with The Ingenious One.

What do I think about the ending?

Although I found the revelation of the Yuntai leader a little bit predictable—or maybe I’ve just seen these things coming because I’ve watched so many Chinese dramas—it is still very devastating for our hero. 
So many characters that we love end up perishing due to the high stakes. Because of how well they established the people in the team, it is really difficult to let them go. However, it is all very logical and meaningful, and I do love the ending. I love that the writers were not afraid to go there with some characters, but I did find Jin Biao’s resurrection a little convenient, though some clues were given that he did survive.

Final rating: 4 out of 5

A classic wuxia tale; if you’re a wuxia lover, you may just enjoy this!

I can’t wait for season two, which is going to come out soon, hopefully this year.

The Ingenious One (season 1) review

After 15 years of training by the mysterious Yun Tai sect, Yun Xiang leaves to seek revenge for his massacred family.

What he lacks in martial arts skills, he compensates by his huge intellect and ability to manipulate people to fulfill his plans. On his journey, he meets several people who would become his friends: Shu Yanan, a fierce female warrior, Jin Biao a master swordsman for hire, Su Ming Yu, a rich kid with martial arts skills and dreams of wandering around the jianghu like a hero.

As Yun Xiang investigates what happened to his village, he discovers frightening secrets, and realises that things are not what they seem, including Yuntai itself.

I had a lot of hope for this drama, so much so that I delayed watching it. Let me explain: sometimes there is a drama that you know you will love, but you worry it won’t be as good as you think. You delay watching it, hoping that somehow the disappointment won’t be so great.

Anyway, I am glad to report that The Ingenious One met all my expectations and then some. It had a lot of things going for it:

1. Great actors
2. Great fighting choreography
3. An absorbing storyline

It did stumble a bit towards the middle and the end, but it was a very slight trip and nothing that derailed the drama completely. I watched every episode with great interest and bated breath because it was that good.

The characters

• Yun Xiang (played by Chen Xiao): A disciple of the Yuntai Sect seeking vengeance for his annihilated clan. As he does not have any martial arts skills, he uses his wits to manipulate human hearts and strategize against hidden threats.
• Shu Yanan (played by Mao Xiaotong): A female warrior who joins his mission to navigate the dangerous undercurrents of the martial world and uphold justice.
• Su Mingyu (played by Tang Xiaotian): An rich young master with ambitions to be a hero in the jianghu.
• Ke Menglan (played by Xu Lingyue): A female gambling hall owner. She becomes one of Yun Xiang’s trusted companions, standing with the group to unveil the dark secrets of the past.
• Jin Shiliang / Jinbiao (played by Liu Guanlin): A fighter for hire who initially acts as Yun Xiang’s bodyguard but eventually becomes one of his most loyal friends.
• Mo Bufan (played by Peng Bo): A Yuntai disciple and a bank owner, Mo shares one thing in common with Yun Xiang: He may be a Yuntai disciple, but he has a heart.

What I liked

• The acting is stellar, of course, with Chen Xiao and all the other actors in the group. Everything was wonderful.
• The villains are very unique. Our team has a couple of big bads to take down every few episodes or so, and some of them are actually very intriguing and multi-layered.
• In every wuxia, the fight choreography is key. I am happy to report that it is actually really good and very fun to watch. Our heroes all look the part and feel like badass fighters.
• The team dynamics. In dramas like this, where a group of people find each other, that is a very classic wuxia trope. Whether the drama succeeds or not depends on the dynamics of the team and whether they can gel well together or are intriguing. In our drama, there is enough push and pull between the characters to make it fascinating to watch. Our characters don’t trust each other immediately; they all have their own agendas and are trying to suss each other out. This creates enough tension to keep things interesting for quite a while.
• The script is also very tight. While it doesn’t happen every time, most episodes end with a great urge to watch the next, providing enough momentum to propel the drama forward. Of course, towards the middle part, when everyone is finally trusting each other and they consider each other brothers, there will be a spanner or two thrown in the works to increase the tension. The writers understand that pretty well and knew exactly what to do.
  

What I didn’t like

As for the bad, honestly, I found very little to criticise. There were a couple of episodes where it felt as if it dragged a bit too long, but it wasn’t frequent enough to be a real bother. Other than that, there is very little to complain about with The Ingenious One.

What do I think about the ending?

Although I found the revelation of the Yuntai leader a little bit predictable—or maybe I’ve just seen these things coming because I’ve watched so many Chinese dramas—it is still very devastating for our hero. 
So many characters that we love end up perishing due to the high stakes. Because of how well they established the people in the team, it is really difficult to let them go. However, it is all very logical and meaningful, and I do love the ending. I love that the writers were not afraid to go there with some characters, but I did find Jin Biao’s resurrection a little convenient, though some clues were given that he did survive.

Final rating: 4 out of 5

A classic wuxia tale; if you’re a wuxia lover, you may just enjoy this!

I can’t wait for season two, which is going to come out soon, hopefully this year.

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