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The Plot:
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The plot is basically the political intrigue between the two states: the State of Wu and the State of An...

There was a fierce battle between the two states, the Wu state was defeated by the An state, and Emperor Wu was taken hostage in An. Due to Emperor Wu's stupidity and arrogance, Wu was badly defeated... The An demanded ransom of 1,000,000 gold tales to be delivered by a Prince of Wu as envoy to release the Emperor Wu unscathed...
Both the states have their powerful spy/detective agencies.. the Wu's Six Realm Hall and the An's Scarlet Gaurds..

• Six Realm Hall consists of six paths and also skilled in Martial Arts:
1. Heaven Path: in-charge of royal security.
2. Human Path: monitors all the officials.
3. Asura Path: does work on prostitution to collect intel.
4. Hungry Ghost Path: good at making traps.
5. Animal Path: specializes in spying.
6. Hell Path: famous for assassination, resourcefulness and intel.

• Brief discription of positions in Scarlet Guards:
1. The Chief
2. Left and Right Envoy
3. Red Emissary
4. Purple Emissary
5. White Sparrow

Ren Ru Yi, the infamous former Left Envoy of Scarlet Gaurds 'Ren Xin' who faked her own death to escape from the bloody organisation and execution punishment decreed by Emperor An, due to a false accusation... Ren Xin was renowned as the best assassin of the world who never missed her target.. Ru Yi rejoined the Scarlet Guards as White Sparrow to seek revenge for her fallen friends and benefactors, but to avoid detection, she fled to Wu state and became a member of Wu State's escort delegation..

Ning Yuanzhou, the member of Hell Path of the Six Realm Hall, renowned for his excellent martial arts, intelligence and remarkable spying abilities... He was the part of calvary sent to battle with Emperor. After surviving the battle, he wanted to live a carefree life, so faked his own death, but could not succeed and was summoned back to become the Chief of Six Hall Realm with the mission of rescuing the Emperor Wu. He wasn't intended to accept the offer but to clear the name of his comrades (who were accused to betray the Emperor in war), he accepted it as the last task..

The escort delegation is dispatched from the Wu capital with ransom money and a Prince, who actually is a Princess, named Yang Ying, and very close to Ning Yuanzhou. Yuanzhou appointed as chief member of State's escort delegation together with Yu Shi San, Qing Zhao, Yuan Lu, Sun Lang and Ren Ru Yi.
The story is actually about their experience together, throughout the journey of saving the Emperor and innocent people from war to make peace in the world...

The plot is very interesting and captivating, there are no boring episode and paced well..

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Introduction to Main Characters:
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Ren Ru Yi (Liu Shi Shi): A former top-assassin of the Scarlet Guards, fearless, ruthless, and highly skilled in martial arts... A badass woman and beauty with brain. She has cold and aloof personality. Her intelligence is as high as her skills in martial arts... Used to work alone on the missions and relied on her abilities to make success... Always plans a step ahead of her enemies... Didn't know what the meaning of living, assassination and revenge were the only things she knew as meaning of life before meeting Yuanzhou... One of the best female leads to me so far...
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Ning Yuanzhou (Liu Yu Ning): Member of Hell Path and new chief of Six Realm Hall. A warm-hearted person, brave, kind, cleaver and a good leader. He understands the value and meaning of life, friendship, brotherhood and love... Aspired for a carefree life far from the royal court and politics... Has a sense of humour and calm personality... A top-notch martial artist and his intelligence is second to none... Skilled in assassination and spying... I don't even have words to explain more how great this character is...
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Yu Shi San (Fang Yi Lun): A free-spirited person, well-known playboy and master of makeup. Member of Asura Path of Six Realm Hall and knows his way around women. He can be said master of gossips and humour..hahaha! I guess, without him, the drama would be so boring... Mainly skilled in crossbow but can use every weapon.. brave, cleaver and loyal to his comrades... He stated it again and again that he is wanderer and does not want to stop for any woman even if he love her sincerely, and if he stop he will die... but still knows to respect women and his limits...
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Princess Yang Ying (He Lan Dou): An unrespected and unloved 16-year-old princess of State of Wu, seeking for love. She was timid at first and bowed down to everyone but her character shows the most development in the whole drama, from timid and crybaby to brave, cleaver, intelligent and mature...
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Yuan Lu (Chen You Wei): Member of Hungry Ghost Path. An orphan and 18-year-old young man raised by Yuanzhou, skilled in handicrafts and traps. He is an optimistic person and loyal to Yuanzhou. Treats Yuanzhou as his real brother and can do anything for his sake. He is the one everyone dotes on...
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Qian Zhao (Wang Yi Zhe): Member of Heaven Path, usually silent and skilled in attacks and medicines. He always bear a poker face but knows all the gossips around and never stand back in teasing someone...hahaha!
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Sun Lang (Li Huan): Member of Human Path and knows his way around animals and birds. Skilled in defence techniques and always the last one to know a gossip..hahaha!
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Li Tong Guang (Chang Hua Sen): A 22-year-old boy and the first disciple of Ren Xin, a marquis of An and General in An state army. He lead the army in battle and captured Emperor Wu alive. Has controlling, obsessive, impulsive, rude, cleaver and arrogant personality. Obsessed with his master and take many reckless decisions, disregarded many lives and rationality due to obsession, despite his cleverness. I hoped for his character development, throughout the drama, but whenever I was feeling like he get mature, everytime he did something that can not be digested..
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Some support characters are also worth mentioning like Empress Zhao Jie, Jin Mei Niang and Chu Yue...
This is one of the few dramas where I have more than one favourite character like Yu Shi San, Ning Yuanzhou, Ren Ru Yi, Qing Zhao, Yang Ying and Yuan Lu, they all are my favourites and I loved them all.... Almost every character get the sufficient time and development to shine and use their skills. They are not just fillers to the story but are very important to plot progression and balancing the seriousness of the story...

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Acting and Chemistry:
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This whole cast is new to me except Fang Yi Lun and I can't help but appreciating their tremendous acting abilities again and again. This is kinda refreshing for me to see Yi Lun in a completely different character from the previous one and he showed that he is an all-rounder and has versatility. Liu Yu Ning and Liu Shi Shi proved their excellent abilities. I am most impressed with the girl He Lan Dou who played Yang Ying...when she played a prince/boy I was doubting myself whether she actually was a girl or a boy in real!.. The main couple has decent chemistry, it's not top-notch but above good... They resolved their issues by healthy communication in no time, even if they have arguments and has healthy relationship...

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OSTs and Costumes:
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OSTs are so good and worthy to be played repeatedly...
Costumes are done so well for everyone especially the uniform of Six Realm Hall. But, the hair style Ren Ru Yi wore most of the time wasn't to my liking much...

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Conclusion:
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This drama focuses on many types of relationships other than the romantic love and has many plotlines... The brotherhood, the friendship, the love, the obsession, all are worth to be mentioned and portrayed beautifully...
There are many life lessons in the drama which add value to the personality of a person and quality of life...like respect for women and her feelings, brotherhood and loyalty...
Production is done well and fighting scenes are great while politics can be categorised as decent...

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Ending and Recommendation:
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I'm a little confused about the ending whether it's sad or happy 'cause I don't get what happened in the last five minutes... To be honest, the opinion on ending is a subjective matter here... For me, I think it's a sad ending but I'm fine with it. In my opinion, not every story needs a happy ending, sometimes tragedies are the most memorable and best fit with the situation...

As for recommendation, from my above thoughts, you might have guessed that this is a highly recommended drama from me... So go for it!

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