General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Journey of Legend (赴山海)

The Journey of Legend (赴山海, also known as 神州奇侠, Shen Zhou Qi Xia) is a 2025 Chinese wuxia television series adapted from the novel Shen Zhou Qi Xia (神州奇侠) by the Chinese writer Woon Swee'oan (Wen Rui'an, 温瑞安). It stars Cheng Yi and Gulnazar, was written by Liu Fang and co-directed by Ren Haitao and Lin Feng, and premiered on September 11, 2025 on Tencent Video and iQiyi in 40 episodes.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Source material	Adapted from Wen Rui'an's wuxia novel Shen Zhou Qi Xia (神州奇侠), written in the late 1970s¹^•⁴
Premiere	September 11–26, 2025, Tencent Video and iQiyi, 40 episodes of about 45 minutes²^•³
Lead cast	Cheng Yi in a triple role (Xiao Mingming, Xiao Qiushui, Li Chenzhou); Gulnazar as lead actress⁴^•³
Production	Co-directed by Ren Haitao and Lin Feng; chief screenwriter Liu Fang; jointly produced by Tencent Video, iQiyi, Straw Bear Pictures (稻草熊影业), Yehua Film and Television, and Tongle Film and Television¹^•³
Peak heat	Tencent Video in-platform heat 26,846 (September 14, 2025); iQiyi heat 8,936 (September 12, 2025)⁴^•³
Ratings	Douban 5.9/10 (468,571 users) versus Tencent Video 9.3/10 and iQiyi 8.0/10; MyDramaList 7.8; Viki 8.9³^•²^•⁵
Cumulative playback	Maoyan cumulative valid playback of 1.642 billion as of October 26, 2025³

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The series uses a transmigration frame. Xiao Mingming is a present-day office employee whose firm creates an AI-driven immersive writing platform capable of placing users inside narratives of their own making; when he feeds in a wuxia outline, he turns into that story's leading character, Xiao Qiushui.² Through Xiao Qiushui's perspective he travels the martial world, growing from a young, impulsive swordsman with subpar skills into a reliable hero who protects his family and country.¹

The adaptation departs from its source. The original novel Shen Zhou Qi Xia, written in the late 1970s, was not a transmigration story; the series added the modern "slacker" Xiao Mingming, who enters the book and becomes a novice Xiao Qiushui who has even forgotten his qinggong (lightness skill), breaking the "overpowered protagonist" convention.⁴ Xinhua's commentary identifies the wager between Xiao Qiushui and Liu Suifeng, deputy leader of the Power Sect (权力帮), over whether the jianghu gathers "for profit" or "for righteousness," as the core thread running through the series.⁶ The death of his sworn companion Tang Rou is the turning point that pushes Xiao Qiushui from a youth focused on survival into a hero who protects his companions and shoulders responsibility.⁶

Cast and characters

Cheng Yi plays three roles: the reserved modern office worker Xiao Mingming, the chivalrous young hero Xiao Qiushui, and the scheming sect leader Li Chenzhou.⁴ Gulnazar heads the lead starring cast alongside Li Kexin, Xu Zhenxuan, Liu Mengrui, Ding Xiaoying, Zhang Junning, and Zhang Xiaochen, with Julian Cheung (张智霖) and Lü Songxian (吕颂贤) among the special guest stars.³

Production

The series was jointly produced by Tencent Video, iQiyi, Straw Bear Pictures (稻草熊影业), Yehua Film and Television (烨华影视), and Tongle Film and Television (童乐影视), with Ren Haitao and Lin Feng as co-directors and Liu Fang as chief screenwriter.³^•¹ Ren Haitao is a student of director Lin Yufen, who worked on Mysterious Lotus Casebook (莲花楼); Lin Feng is a former action stuntman brought in for the series' wuxia action. Liu Fang also wrote Mysterious Lotus Casebook and received a Magnolia Award nomination for it.⁴

Filming began with a ceremony at Hengdian World Studios in Dongyang, Zhejiang on May 18, 2024, wrapped on October 25, 2024, and the series obtained its distribution license on April 8, 2025.³

Release and reception

The series premiered on Tencent Video and iQiyi on September 11, 2025 and ran through September 26, 2025.²^•³ It streamed internationally on iQIYI International (iQ.com) with English subtitles¹ and on Rakuten Viki with subtitles in Simplified Chinese, Greek, Portuguese, and seven other languages, rated PG-13.⁵

Reception was polarized. Fans praised the "true wuxia" action, inventive fight scenes, and a mystery structure they compared to Inception, while general viewers criticized plot logic, slow pacing, and visual effects.⁴ The rating gap between platforms reflects this split: a Douban score of 5.9/10 from 468,571 users as of October 24, 2025, against 9.3/10 from 762,000 users on Tencent Video and 8.0/10 from 247,000 users on iQiyi.³

By the numbers

Within one hour of premiere, the series' Tencent Video in-platform heat surpassed 26,000, the fastest such breakthrough of 2025, peaking at 26,846 on September 14, 2025.⁴ The iQiyi heat peak was 8,936 as of September 12, 2025, and the series reached a maximum 29 percent market share in Yunhe's valid-playback rankings, placing first.³ Maoyan data cited on September 16, 2025 put cumulative valid playback at 225 million; by October 26, 2025 the cumulative figure had reached 1.642 billion.⁶^•³ On international databases, MyDramaList users scored the series 7.8 (3,329 users)² and Viki users 8.9 (2,822 users).⁵

How it compares with other recent wuxia serials

The series shares key personnel with Mysterious Lotus Casebook (莲花楼): screenwriter Liu Fang wrote both and earned a Magnolia nomination for the earlier series, and director Ren Haitao's lineage runs through Lin Yufen, who worked on it.⁴ Commercially it outperformed that series in advertising: as of September 21, 2025 it carried 111 total ads on Tencent Video (4.26 per episode, 27 brands, 866 seconds) and 154 ads on iQiyi (5.92 per episode, 32 brands, 1,384 seconds), against Mysterious Lotus Casebook's 53 total ads and 11 brands on iQiyi.⁴ Xinhua framed the series as part of a "new wuxia" (新武侠) trend that reinterprets classic wuxia spirit with contemporary narrative.⁶

Pre-release recognition

Before broadcast the series received several "most anticipated drama" honors, including Most Anticipated Work at Tencent Video's Starlight Awards on January 4, 2025 and a New Beijing News 2025 most-anticipated series listing on January 9, 2025.³

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026