# Yu Zhao Ling (玉昭令)
**Yu Zhao Ling** (玉昭令) is a 2021 Chinese costume fantasy romance streaming series adapted from the novel *Kaifeng Zhiguai* (开封志怪) by the web novelist [Wei Yu](https://www.edgepedia.org/wei-yu) (尾鱼), directed by Zheng Weiwen (郑伟文) and starring Zhang Yishang (张艺上) as the immortal Duanmu Cui and Guan Hong (官鸿) as the constable Zhan Yan. It was produced as an iQIYI original and released in two seasons, of 32 and 20 episodes respectively, between March 30 and May 31, 2021.[1](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/ZGohXGVm) • [2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) • [3](https://hualiu.yapy.jp/drama/yu_zhao_ling/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / English title | 玉昭令 (Yu Zhao Ling); listed in Japan as No Boundary[4](https://filmarks.com/dramas/13476/18524?vod=2) |
| Source novel | *Kaifeng Zhiguai* (开封志怪) by Wei Yu, whose novel *Banyao Siteng* was adapted into the hit drama *Rattan*[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) |
| Director | Zheng Weiwen, director of *The Untamed* (陈情令)[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) |
| Lead cast | Zhang Yishang as Duanmu Cui; Guan Hong as Zhan Yan; with Wang Yifei (Hong Luan), Gu Zicheng (Wengu Weiyu), Yang Ze (Shangguan Ce), Wang Yinuo (Zhang Long), Ao Ziyi (Jiang Mo / black cat), and Xie Junhao (Jiang Yi / Jiang Wenqing)[1](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/ZGohXGVm) • [3](https://hualiu.yapy.jp/drama/yu_zhao_ling/) |
| Release | Season 1 (32 episodes) premiered March 30, 2021 on iQIYI; season 2 (20 episodes) followed on May 10, 2021[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) • [5](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_25ur5j5azl5.html) |
| Budget | Planned investment of 220 million yuan, disclosed by the parent company of the production firm in a reply to the Shanghai Stock Exchange[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) |
| Reception | Season 1 scored 4.5 on Douban; season 2 showed no rating; season 1 left Maoyan's top-ten heat ranking within a week of premiere[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) • [6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and story
The story follows Duanmu Cui, a powerful immortal from Penglai who volunteers to descend to the human world to manage supernatural threats, founding a sect called Xihualiu (细花流) to stop demons from crossing into the human realm. To learn human customs she cooperates with the local prefecture, and her counterpart is Zhan Yan, a reserved constable of the fourth rank who serves the prefect. The two begin as mutual antagonists, then become partners solving strange cases, and gradually fall in love across the boundary between human and immortal.[7](https://www.iq.com/album/ebqt6ioen0) • [8](https://lujustar.com/intro-200609/)
The iQIYI synopsis places the story in the [Song dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/song-dynasty), with [Bao Zheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/bao-zheng) (the "new Bao Qingtian") presiding over Kaifeng prefecture and dispatching Zhan Yan to work with Duanmu Cui.[7](https://www.iq.com/album/ebqt6ioen0) Japanese-language synopses of the same series instead describe the setting as the early Ming period and the capital as Qifeng, opening with a series of bizarre murders in which victims' bodies are found desiccated, and with the detective chief Zhan Yan discovering that three victims all had ties to the courtesan Cuiyu of the Baihua broth.[9](https://www.hulu.jp/no-boundary) Later in the story, Duanmu Cui recovers memories of a past entanglement with Gu Chang a thousand years earlier, falls into the abyss realm Chenyuan, loses her memory, and Zhan Yan follows her there to win her back, drawing both into a larger conspiracy spanning the immortal world and the nine prisons of the abyss.[5](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_25ur5j5azl5.html)
## Production
**Casting and crew.** The series was directed by Zheng Weiwen, a Hong Kong director whose previous drama *[The Untamed](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-untamed-tv-series)* (2019) had made stars of [Xiao Zhan](https://www.edgepedia.org/xiao-zhan) and [Wang Yibo](https://www.edgepedia.org/wang-yibo), and it shared that production pedigree in promotion. The leads, Guan Hong and Zhang Yishang, were young actors with some name recognition but not top-tier traffic stars; Guan Hong was known from the 2018 remake of *Meteor Garden* (as Huaze Lei) and *The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty*, and Zhang Yishang from *Love the Whole World*.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) • [8](https://lujustar.com/intro-200609/) • [4](https://filmarks.com/dramas/13476/18524?vod=2) Filming ran from November 30, 2019 to June 2, 2020, and like *The Untamed* the production shot in Guizhou.[8](https://lujustar.com/intro-200609/) • [10](https://www.qulishi.com/article/202104/499211.html)
**S-level designation and budget.** The platform rated the series at its highest tier, S-level (also called "super web drama", a designation for projects whose investment, production, and marketing reach the industry's top level). The production company Yuheng Pictures' parent, Shanghai Longyun Media, disclosed the budget in a reply to an inquiry from the [Shanghai Stock Exchange](https://www.edgepedia.org/shanghai-stock-exchange): a planned investment of 220 million yuan, of which already-invested amounts included 80.62 million yuan for cast and crew, 13 million yuan for the IP and script, 20.35 million yuan for costumes, makeup, and props, 3.43 million yuan for site rental, and 14.36 million yuan for production affairs, with the remainder earmarked for post-production and promotion.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) A later report noted that promotion alone was said to account for 73.47 million yuan, nearly a third of the budget, and that the 13 million yuan rights fee for *Kaifeng Zhiguai* was unusually high for a Wei Yu property, since the author's better-known novels included *Yuanqi Zhuangling* and the *Rattan* source novel.[6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html)
## Reception
**Ratings and heat.** Season 1 premiered on March 30, 2021 exclusively on iQIYI and scored 4.5 on Douban; season 2 went up on May 10, 2021 and displayed no rating at all. Season 1 fell out of Maoyan's top-ten heat ranking within a week of its premiere, and season 2 dropped below thirtieth place.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) • [6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html) The low profile was such that some viewers did not know the series had aired, or that a second season existed, despite Wei Yu's IP carrying real market appeal at the time.[6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html) A Taiwanese entertainment roundup listed it among the worst novel adaptations of the first half of 2021, giving a Douban figure of 4.7 for the series.[11](https://www.beauty321.com/post/41007)
**Criticisms.** Commentary at the time focused on the leads. Viewers criticized Zhang Yishang's appearance as inconsistent and Guan Hong's acting as stiff, and complained that the romance line was forced: a supposedly formidable immortal was written as a clumsy, inconsistently powerful heroine, while the male lead spent much of his screen time in slow-motion poses with little emotional range.[12](https://www.qulishi.com/article/202103/498031.html) • [10](https://www.qulishi.com/article/202104/499211.html) A later retrospective on the screenwriter Zeng Zhen's work described the core problem as the loss of the novel's spirit and the collapse of characterization: the production spent heavily on visual details such as the ancient sword Jue and the qiankun pouch, but the pacing dragged, mysteries were routinely resolved as the work of demons, Duanmu Cui was reduced from a decisive war goddess to a scatterbrained heroine, and Zhan Yan was mocked as a "moving backdrop".[13](https://ent.sina.cn/2026-03-07/detail-inhqcymr1769558.d.html)
**Context in the 2021 market.** The series' underperformance coincided with a broader cooling of the Chinese web-drama market: effective plays across all platforms in the first half of 2021 totaled 157.5 billion, down 36 percent year on year, and platform data suggested romance plots needed to establish the couple's relationship within three episodes to hold audiences. The veteran screenwriter [Kang Liang](https://www.edgepedia.org/kang-liang), an industry mentor for a university's directing program, reacted to the first season's 32 episodes by asking whether it really had a second season.[2](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html) The case became a reference point in discussion of S-level projects that failed to earn their budgets, since the platform had committed top-tier money to a series that generated little attention from premiere to finale.[6](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html)
## Distribution
Beyond iQIYI in China, the series has been distributed internationally under the title No Boundary, streaming in Japan on Hulu, U-NEXT, and FOD, and available on WeTV and other services.[4](https://filmarks.com/dramas/13476/18524?vod=2) • [9](https://www.hulu.jp/no-boundary) • [14](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/v7yj8ycia87xsqb/s0036o1nc7w-EP21%3A_No_Boundary) Japanese releases include DVD box sets and rental volumes.[3](https://hualiu.yapy.jp/drama/yu_zhao_ling/)
## References
1. [玉昭令剧情介绍（1-32全集）大结局, 电视猫](https://www.tvmao.com/drama/ZGohXGVm)
2. [烂剧的诞生, 南方周末 (2021-08-05), 参考网](https://m.fx361.com/news/2021/0805/8759951.html)
3. [中国ドラマ「玉昭令」のあらすじ・キャスト・放送予定, 華ハオ](https://hualiu.yapy.jp/drama/yu_zhao_ling/)
4. [玉昭令のドラマ情報・レビュー・評価, Filmarksドラマ](https://filmarks.com/dramas/13476/18524?vod=2)
5. [玉昭令 第一季, 爱奇艺](https://www.iqiyi.com/a_25ur5j5azl5.html)
6. [你可能没听过的《玉昭令》花了2.2亿，这合理吗?, 界面新闻 · JMedia](https://www.jiemian.com/article/6323664.html)
7. [玉昭令 第一季, iQIYI International](https://www.iq.com/album/ebqt6ioen0)
8. [2021陸劇》玉昭令｜官鴻、張藝上主演電視劇介紹, 陸劇星球](https://lujustar.com/intro-200609/)
9. [玉昭令, Hulu Japan](https://www.hulu.jp/no-boundary)
10. [《玉昭令》翻车了？有哪些值得吐槽的地方？, 趣历史网](https://www.qulishi.com/article/202104/499211.html)
11. [網評2021上半年10部最糟的「小說改編陸劇」, BEAUTY美人圈](https://www.beauty321.com/post/41007)
12. [《玉昭令》昨日正式开播, 趣历史网](https://www.qulishi.com/article/202103/498031.html)
13. [编剧曾珍过往参与的作品《玉昭令》口碑如何, 新浪](https://ent.sina.cn/2026-03-07/detail-inhqcymr1769558.d.html)
14. [玉昭令第21集, WeTV](https://wetv.vip/zh-cn/play/v7yj8ycia87xsqb/s0036o1nc7w-EP21%3A_No_Boundary)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Sp to Z*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license