Introduction
The theme of star-crossed lovers in warring nations is not new. With their two nations on the brink of war, the protagonists must decide whether to choose their kingdoms or their love. However, amongst all Chinese historical dramas with such a theme, Shadow of Love is particularly captivating because of the intriguing fantasy elements.
Let’s see what exciting and weird supernatural vibe they have for the viewers in this drama!
Drama Info
Drama title: Shadow Love (Native title: 与晋长安 )
Alternative title: Yu Jin Chang An
Genres: Historical, Romance, Fantasy, Political
Aired: Aug 24, 2025 - Sept 7, 2025
Episodes: 38 | Duration: 45 min.
Director: Deng Ke ( 邓科 ) and Gao Cong Kai ( 高琮凯 )
Screenwriters: Ji Guang Guang ( 极光光 ), Lu Sen Seng ( 鲁森森 ), Sun Ting Ting ( 孙婷婷 ), and Su Zi Yan ( 孙紫嫣 )
Adapted from the novel "Yu Jin Chang An" (与晋长安) by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang (九鹭非香).
Where to read the English translation novel: MyDramaNovel
Where to watch: iQiyi and MangoTV
OST: Full album (fan audio - English translated)
Trailer:
Synopsis
Li Shuang, a female general of Taijin, takes in an amnesiac man she found by chance, and names him Jin An. An accompanies Shuang wholeheartedly, and the two secretly fall in love. However, when An remembers that he is actually the prince of an enemy state, the two devoted lovers have no choice but to take up arms against each other. Jaded of war, they decide to join forces to resolve the crisis and uphold justice (Source: iQiyi)
Characters
Relationship Chart
The main characters and some significant supporting characters are introduced below.
Main Characters
Song Yi ( 宋轶 ) as Li Shuang / General Zhenbei
Li Shuang is the adopted daughter of General Li Wei, the Grand General of the Taijin Dynasty, and a female general who has been stationed on the border for many years. She is frank and loyal, a true heroine in the court. She broke the shackles of “women cannot command troops”, wore armor, and galloped on the battlefield, showing her heroic and decisive demeanor.
Ryan Cheng / Cheng Lei ( 丞磊 ) as Duan Ao Deng / Prince Annan / Jin An / Xuan Yi Ke
The heir of the Western Rong, the King of Dayao, was originally named Duan Aodeng. He later lost his memory due to poison and transformed into a child. He was brought back by Li Shuang and given the name “Jin’an” (meaning “long-lasting peace and stability in the Great Jin”). At night, he transformed into a black-masked figure.
Bi Wen Jun ( 毕雯珺 ) as Su Mu Yang / Crown Prince
As the crown prince of the Great Jin Dynasty, Sima Yang and Li Shuang grew up together and were childhood sweethearts. However, due to Su Muyang’s status as the crown prince, he was married off to the prime minister’s daughter. Su Muyang never forgot Li Shuang, but his feelings were also mixed with a desire for military power, because Li Shuang held military power, which was crucial for him to consolidate the throne.
Shi Ce ( 史策 ) as Lu Xin
Lu Xin is a famous doctor in Lucheng. She is highly skilled in medicine, lively, agile, humorous, and straightforward. Lu Xin is Li Shuang’s best friend and the biggest supporter of Li Shuang and Jin An’s relationship. She also takes care of Jin An’s condition, before it was taken over by Mo Yin.
Supporting Characters
There are some supporting characters significant to the storyline.
Mo Yin (Darren Chen) – Wuling Mountain physician
Su Muli (Ji Xiao Bing) – Prince Li of Taijin
Emperor of Taijin (Ni Da Hong)
Duan Aoze (Du Chun) – Emperor of Yao State
Li Ting (Wu Yu Heng) – Li Shuang’s adoptive brother
Recap Episodes 1 to 8
Episode 1
Two bordering countries, Taijin and Yao, were frequently at war. Inside Yao the court was also turbulent. Consort Qin wanted to deceive Emperor Yao into being a puppet she could control, with the legendary long-lost elixir called Yulinglong.
Li Shuang, the female general Zhenbei from the Changfeng Army of Taijin, was ready to attack Yao’s military camp. Duan Aodeng, Prince Annan of Yao, received a message that his brother, the king of Yao, was in danger. His consort was ready to poison him. Aodeng sneaked out of the camp alone to rescue his brother.
When facing the dark sorcerer who was with Consort Qin, Aodeng got hit by poisoned darts, and he fell into the elixir. Jin Wujian, the sorcerer whom I would call Sorcerer Jin from now on, and Consort Qin thought he had died, but Aodeng emerged from the elixir. Yulinglong had entered his body. He attacked everyone. However, the elixir caused him extreme pain and out of control, so he fled.
Meanwhile, during the fight between Taijin and Yao, Li Shuang was surrounded by Yao Army. Suddenly, Aodeng, who was unconscious, woke up after sensing Li Shuang. He jumped out to save Li Shuang. The funny thing was, Aodeng was in a child’s body. After attacking his own army, he passed out in Li Shuang’s arms.
Aodeng had amnesia (yes, the screenwriter’s beloved drama trope). He only knew he was an adult, but in a child’s body. Because of the amnesia, Aodeng refused to say anything. He only sensed that Li Shuang calmed him down. Li Shuang was suspicious of him because he had such great strength, fighting the enemy’s soldiers alone. Also, he acted like a grown-up. Aodeng didn’t have any choice but to act like a child. Because he acted like a brat, Li Shuang punished him by not giving him the meal. However, she secretly gave him candies.
One night, Aodeng suddenly felt restless and hot. When he went to the river, he could see that his body had become an adult’s. Fearing that he would be accused as a spy, Aodeng ran away. He went to sleep in the forest clutching the candies Li Shuang gave him. The smell of the candies calmed him down, and he turned back into a child. Aodeng returned to the camp, citing that he had nowhere to go. But he wanted to be a soldier. Li Shuang then gave him a name: Jin An, with her wish: “May Taijin enjoy lasting peace and prosperity.”
Episode 2
Now we were introduced to the Second Male Lead, Su Muyang. So he was the Crown Prince, and had a history with Li Shuang? He pleaded with his father not to punish General Li Wei. Their army lost to battle. Finally, the Emperor ordered Li Shuang to find the spy who betrayed the country.
It was interesting when Su Muyang saw off Li Shuang’s little bro to visit his sister. He brought her a gift, but didn’t want to visit himself. He told Liting that he was afraid he no longer had the right to see her. I wonder what happened?
There was a spy in the Changfeng Army. No, not Jin An, he was the military supervisor. But Jin An heard strange sounds of birds in the middle of the night, and realized those were not birds but spies. Jin An was able to find out who the spy was and told Li Shuang, so she and her father, General Li Wei, wouldn’t be punished by the Emperor.
When Li Ting was kidnapped by the spy and some bandits who were in cahoots with him, Li Shuang decided to rescue Li Ting. Jin An wanted to go with her, but Li Shuang didn’t want a child to accompany her. After releasing her brother and letting her guards take him back, Li Shuang wanted to deal with the bandits, but she was outnumbered. Jin An sensed she was in danger. He changed into an adult body, wore a mask, and rescued her.
Sparks fly when they were hiding in the room from the bandits. They were so close to each other. Li Shuang felt that the masked man looked familiar. Jin An looked at the blood on the corner of Li Shuang’s mouth and suddenly felt a desire. He helped her capture the spy and told her the closest way to reach the camp. She was suspicious that he was from the camp. Jin An couldn’t control himself, sucked the blood on the corner of her mouth. She pushed him, and accidentally pulled his shirt, hahaha! Jin An was shirtless, and Li Shuang saw the blue marks on him. She wanted to take him to the camp, but Jin An escaped.
Li Shuang hurried back to the camp. She checked on Jin An, who had now gone back to his little body. This little Jin An was also shirtless, so Li Shuang saw a similar mark on his back. She wondered if her vampire hero was Jin An’s father.
Episode 3
Because Jin An was sick, he slept on Li Shuang’s bed. When they ended up sleeping together, he was very shy, haha.
Jin An overgrew a kid’s clothes to show us his abs, lol.
The funny thing was, he turned adult overnight. Li Shuang was shocked that a man was sleeping next to her, so she drew her sword and questioned Jin An. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door from some soldiers. These soldiers were controlled by Sorcerer Jin, who killed a commander and transformed himself into a soldier. The sorcerer was looking for Jin An. Li Shuang was busy fighting the soldiers. Jin An wanted to help, but he realized he no longer had the superpower, and ended up being taken by a soldier. Jin An saw a needle on the soldier’s head and pulled it. The soldier suddenly collapsed. He yelled at Li Shuang to pull the needles on her attackers, and all soldiers were subdued.
Li Shuang and Jin An agreed that the attacker must’ve come for him. They went to the place where they first met. They found a secret passage he felt familiar with. Furthermore, they arrived at the pool where Duan Aodeng fought the consort and the sorcerer, then fell into the Yulinglong elixir. The sorcerer was there, and he controlled a female corpse that had become zombie-like. She attacked Li Shuang and took Jin An. Suddenly, Jin An became strong again, and he killed the zombie.
Meanwhile, someone rescued the spy from the Changfeng military camp, and he fled. Li Ting, Li Shuang’s brother, discovered this and hurriedly chased after the spy. But the spy attacked Li Ting instead and kidnapped him. Jin An was hiding in the tree, and he used his last strength to kill the spy before his power disappeared.
Li Shuang took Jin An secretly to her mansion. He was taken care of by Lu Xin, a doctor. She was the Second Female Lead. I wonder what her role was in the drama, as she was one of the main characters.
Episode 4
After the doctor left, Jin An was scared that he was not at the general mansion, so he tried to sneak out. A female guard was guarding him with a big sledgehammer, lol. He ended up being chased by her and a bunch of female guards until Li Shuang showed up.
Li Shuang noticed that the zombie seemed to know Jin An. Jin An guessed that whoever controlled the zombie and the soldiers was after him. Earlier, Lu Xin told Li Shuang about Wuling Mountain, where people practiced magical stuff. She wondered if these cases were related to Wuling Mountain. When Jin An told her that his strength was erratic, sometimes he was weak, sometimes he gained superpower, Li Shuang punched Jin An to test him, haha!
In Yao, the late emperor, Duan Aodeng’s brother, passed away, so Consort Qin’s young son became the emperor. Prince Annan disappeared. However, the late Emperor apparently didn’t die. Consort Qin held him captive.
Jin An followed Li Suang to a war-torn village because he didn’t want to be alone with those savage girls who guarded the general’s mansion, haha. When Li Shuang asked Jin An to work with the other soldier to rebuild the village, they found he was super weak. Jin An figured out that being close to Li Shuang, he could smell her and gain his strength, but she didn’t want to sleep with him.
Episode 5
The spy’s case ended up complicated because there was a suspicion at the court that Li Shuang abused her power to silence the spy, who was a military advisor for the Changfeng Army. The Emperor demoted General Li Wei’s status because he secretly let Li Ting go, and nobody else from the Li Family could leave the capital.
Alright, the bed full of flowers Jin An made for Li Shuang, although beautiful was indeed creepy imo.
Jin An realized that sleeping next to Li Shuang didn’t cure his body pain. He guessed that perhaps what he needed was blood. He went to steal a chicken from a villager.
Li Shuang returned to the camp and received news from the capital about her father being demoted. Her subordinates all advised her to hand over Jin An as the murderer of the spy; otherwise, the Li family and the Changfeng Army would be doomed. Instead of taking Jin An to the capital, Li Shuang sent away Jin An.
Li Shuang and her advisors planned a scheme to lure out the remnants of the traitor to clear up the case that the spy was not innocent. The enemies wanted to steal the deployment map late at night. While Li Shuang was fighting the thieves in her room, her neck was slit by a sword. Jin An, who didn’t want to leave her but was hiding in a tree, smelled her blood and found a way to go in. He fought the thieves who ran away, but he was seriously injured for this.
Li Xin was back, taking care of Jin An. While Li Shuang and Li Xin were checking on the unconscious Jin An, he murmured “blood” in his sleep. Li Xin remembered reading ancient medical books that some martial artists were trained to drink blood from young, so they needed blood to sustain their lives if the medicines didn’t help.
While Li Shuang was medicating the wound on her neck using the cream Lu Xin gave her, suddenly Jin An woke up smelling her blood. He then bit her neck and calmed down. Li Shuang remembered Lu Xin’s words about the blood treatment in ancient medical books, so she let him suck blood from her neck. I assumed that was a lot of blood he sucked, because the next morning, when Li Shuang walked out, she felt light-headed.
Li Shuang came back to change Jin An’s dressing. He didn’t realize that he sucked her blood last night, so he thought his body had healed itself, and was afraid that if Li Shuang found out about it, she would kick him out. He saw the wound on her neck was worse than yesterday.
Episode 6
He finally found out that he drank her blood last night. They talked about this strange phenomenon because Jin An realized that it was not just drinking any blood; he had tried with the chicken blood last time; it had to be hers. It was like a blood oath. Not only that, the moment they met, he had a desire to protect her. Jin An wanted to verify one thing, so he picked up Li Shuang’s hand and placed it on his chest wound. As expected, his wound quickly recovered.
Prince Annan’s men sneaked into their leader’s funeral procession and discovered that the body had a disfigured face. They didn’t believe that Prince Annan was dead, so they told Prime Minister Zuo. Lord Zuo then disagreed with the appointment of two new, inexperienced generals. Consort Qin, who was now Empress Dowager, asked Sorcerer Jin to find Prince Annan.
Jin An started picking up his old habits subconsciously. One of them was when Li Shuang took him to the clothing store to buy him a new set of clothes. His previous life as a prince made him choose some fine clothes. He looked handsome, and the store owner said that he looked like a warrior. He started thinking that he might have been a martial artist in the past.
Episode 7
This stupid Li Ting wanted to be Jin An’s sworn brother, so they drank wine together. However, Li Ting put a drug inside Jin An’s wine because Li Ting wanted to take Jin An to the capital. Although Jin An had saved him, he was still the real murderer who killed the spy. Only by handing him over could he eliminate the emperor’s suspicion of the Li family.
On the way to the capital, their carriage was ambushed by Sorcerer Jin, who wanted to take Jin An. He transformed into the superhero mode and defeated the attackers. Li Ting now would worship him like a god, haha! Jin An told Li Ting not to tell Li Shuang. Li Ting returned with Jin An and admitted his mistake. He only wanted to do something for his family. Li Shuang suppressed her anger and felt a little relieved. Eventually, Li Ting left the camp to return home. But before that, he put his sister into Jin An’s care and told Jin An about his sister.
From Li Ting, Jin An and us were informed about Li Shuang and Muyang’s relationship. They grew up together and were childhood sweethearts. However, the emperor mandated that he marry someone else. Muyang still harbored feelings for Li Shuang. He often gave her biography books she liked.
Although this Muyang was a crown prince, his right hand was crippled. I wonder what happened. His mean brother, Sima Muli, seemed to be planning to take over the throne. He also meddled in the court to bring down the Li family. He wanted to kill Li Shuang. Especially since she was impeached because of what happened to the spy. Before she got the message of her impeachment, she took Jinan with her to Ninglan, which was a hub between Taijin and Yao. Jin An was so happy he got to go with her.
Episode 8
Jin An and Li Shuang arrived in Ninglan. They were poor, and the military budget was small. Jin An gambled and won a lot of money (somehow, I think he had a superhearing, since he could hear the dice and the fake bird sounds before). He spent a lot of money pampering Li Shuang, with a nice room, some furniture, books, and even a jade hairpin that he personally put on her head. He said that this was the first time he had given a gift to someone, and he refused to let Li Shuang take it off. They were so cute together, flirting and all, but of course, sweet times didn’t last long.
Li Shuang took a chance to do business for military provisions in Ninglan, so she left Jin An at the bookstore. Sorcerer Jin showed up and tried to sow discord between Jin An and Li Shuang. He told Jin An about the mark on his back, telling him that he had been implanted with a secret technique. Li Shuang kept Jin An by her side to use him. Li Shuang was the mastermind behind everything. He needed to untie the blood contract between him and Li Shuang. The sorcerer even went the extra mile by taking Jin An to peek at Li Shuang, who was doing business with a merchant. The sorcerer said Li Shuang investigated his background. Somehow, Jin An half-believed him.
When the situation got awkward between them, Lord Li Zhangyi from the capital arrived. He was sent by Sima Muli, who hated Li Shuang and wanted to blame the spy’s death on her. To protect Jin An, Li Shuang lied that she killed that guy. Lord Li ordered her to be stripped and punished with 30 strokes. Jin An was not supposed to see military affairs, but he could sense her blood because of the stroke. After seeing her being punished, Jin An stopped the punishment and said that he had killed the spy. Since Lord Li couldn’t show any imperial edict, he could only leave in anger.
Conclusion
Wow, what a mix of supernatural qualities of a Male Lead! As strong as Hulk, as mysterious as the Mystique the shapeshifter, and as bloodthirsty as the Vampire. With the Female Lead who is strong yet vulnerable, they navigate the palace intrigues and political espionage together.
Let’s continue to the next part!
