Introduction
In a world where immortals, demons, and ancient powers are locked in an endless struggle, The Eternal Fragrance begins with what seems like a simple story of an orphan entering an academy—but quickly reveals itself to be something far more complicated and far more dangerous.
By reading the synopsis, I can’t help but feel a sense of unease about where this story is heading. It gives the impression that heartbreak might be part of the journey. And yet, despite that worry, I find myself unable to stop watching the first few episodes—drawn in by its rich xianxia world-building, the mystery behind the heroine’s true identity, and the emotional tension between the two leads whose relationship is shaped as much by destiny as by choice.
So instead of holding back, I’ll start recapping this drama. If you’re also interested in this drama, let’s brave this story together, episode by episode. We’ll slowly uncover what really lies beneath all the beauty, conflict, and sacrifice… and ultimately, see what kind of ending awaits them.
I'll write a complete review when the drama ends and move the drama details into it. 😊
Drama Info
Drama title: The Eternal Fragrance (Native title: 千香)
Alternative title: Qian Xiang, Thousand Fragrances
Genres: Xianxia, Romance, Drama
Aired: 27 Jun, 2026 - ??
Episodes: 33 | Duration: 45 minutes
Directors: Kuk Kok Leung (鞠覺亮) -
Screenwriter: Shao Si Han (邵思涵), Lei Jun (雷君), and Shao Xiao Yi (邵潇逸)
Adapted from the novel "Qian Xiang Yin" (千香引) by Shi Si Lang (十四郎).
Where to read the English-translated novel: My Drama Novel, Read the Drama,Where to watch: Youku, Youku @ YouTube, and Viki
OSTs
Theme song: 千香 (“Eternal Fragrance”) by Zhou Shen (周深) – Official MV
Full album playlist: Peachey Blossom (fansub Chi/Pin/Eng)
Trailer
Synopsis
When the celestial seas receded, the mythical Jianmu tree emerged, sparking a war between immortals, demons, and monsters. Following a temporal reset that altered history, the world was reborn. A century later, Lei Xiu Yuan seeks to protect his brother by approaching Xiao Bang Chui, an orphan from Qingqiu. They meet at the prestigious Chufeng Academy, where they develop a strong friendship and later romance. As they’re forced to confront their darkest fears, they discover that their meeting was no coincidence, and the mystery of Xiao Bang Chui’s true identity unfolds and she transforms into the beautiful Jiang Li Fei. As their connection deepens, they face the cruel reality of a world that forbids their union, and embark on a dangerous journey to challenge fate itself and restore harmony to the fractured three realms. (Source: Viki)
Characters
Main Characters
Song Wei Long (宋威龙) as Lei Xiu Yuan / Ye Sha
Ju Jing Yi (鞠婧祎) as Jiang Li Fei / Xiao Bang Chui
Supporting Characters
Ji Tong Zhou (Zhao Hua Wei)
Baili Ge Lin (Liu Meng Rui)
Ye Ye (Zhang Zhi Hao)
Baili Chang Yue (Zhu Li Lan)
Lu Li (Ye Sheng Jia)
Lan Ya (Zheng He Hui Zi)
Recap Episodes 1 to 4
Episode 1
Xiao Bangchui and Lei Xiuyuan met when she was busy running a swindling operation with her master, Wu Gen. She mistook him for a demon, but a group of men was apparently chasing Lei Xiuyuan. While Lei Xiuyuan was fighting these men while keeping Xiao Bangchui safe, Wugen watched them from his hiding place and realized that his senior brother had caught up with him.
I was not sure who Wu Gen’s senior brother was, but he scared the bejesus out of Wu Gen. He prepared a farewell letter, all his silver, and a pretty dress as a gift for his little disciple and disappeared. In the letter, Wu Gen told Xiao Bangchui to go to Chufeng Academy to find his senior brother. The portrait was unrecognizable.
Xiao Bangchui looked for her master and fell off a cliff onto Riyan, a nine-tailed fox, who was injured. Riyan was also chased down and disappeared after a bunch of immortals who pursued him arrived. Xiao Bangchui didn’t want to tell these immortals where Riyan had gone. Immortal Zhen Yunzi of Xingzheng Hall tried to force her to confess. Luckily, Immortal Dong Yang of Baicao Peak took pity on her. After defending Xiao Bangchui, he took her to Chufeng Academy and gave her an evil-warding bracelet.
Meanwhile, we found out the reason Lei Xiuyuan entered the Chufeng Academy. We also found out who had chased Lei Xiuyuan earlier: people from Longming Sanctuary. Lei Xiuyuan’s senior brother, Lu Shanhua, was severely injured by them. Lei Xiuyuan couldn’t abandon Lu Shanhua because Lu Shanhua had taken him in when he was little. He vowed to save Lu Shanhua, but carrying him on his back while running away was a heavy task. They soon were caught up by their pursuers. Zhen Yunzi rescued them. Lei Xiuyuan begged Zhen Yunzi to save his brother. Lu Shanhua’s heart meridians had been severely damaged. Zhen Yunzi explained that only Riyan’s blood, the nine-tailed fox, could cure him. Using a spell, he showed Lei Xiuyuan the face of Xiao Bangchui. Zhen Yunzi claimed that this little girl knew where Riyan was. Lei Xiuyuan had to find Xiao Bangchui, but he couldn’t tell the immortal sect his mission.
On the street, Xiao Bangchui saw the entourage of Prince Ying of Yue State, Ji Tongzhou, accompanied by Situ Lan Ya, Commandery Princess of Yue State. Lan Ya was Ji Tongzhou’s cousin and fiancée.
Seeing that the entourage was throwing coins out to the folks, Xiao Bangchui wanted to swindle the rich prince. She was broke because of the steep entrance fee. However, she was rudely pushed away by his guards. The Baili sisters, Baili Changyue and Baili Gelin, and their cousin Ye Ye, were among the crowd. Seeing Xiao Bangchui was mistreated, the three defended her. They were ready to fight with Situ Lan Ya and the Yue State soldiers, but Xiao Bangchui broke the fight with stinky manure cart.
The Baili sisters and their cousin ended up crashing at a dilapidated temple where Xiao Bangchui was staying because they were broke. The four introduced each other and made friends, but their peaceful night was interrupted by the arrival of Lei Xiuyuan!
Episode 2
Xiao Bangchui accused him of stalking her, but he calmly said he had stayed here and just woke up from the delicious smell of the chicken she had roasted. She couldn’t do anything else but let him into her little group and share the chicken with him, too. Ye Ye thought Lei Xiuyuan looked familiar and asked if he was from Gaolu and if he knew a certain General Lei, the military commander. Lei Xiuyuan denied knowing the general, and he was just a homeless and stateless wanderer, since Gaolu had long gone. Aha, Ye Ye apparently was a prince from Gaolu, and they had known each other since little.
The next day, the academy conducted spiritual-root testing at its gates. Xiao Bangchui didn’t have any spiritual root, but Riyan secretly helped her. Aha, this Riyan had been hiding inside her hair! Xiao Bangchui passed the test. Unfortunately, Lei Xiuyuan also knew that Riyan had been hiding within Xiao Bangchui’s hair.
Xiao Bangchui was suspicious that something was living inside her hair and threatened the creature to show up by cutting her hair. Riyan was forced to reveal himself. He explained that he needed to cultivate to recover, so he had to stay at Xiao Bangchui for two or three years. His bickering friend, Little Matchmaker, showed up, too. Their CGI was so cute, but they quickly disappeared when Lei Xiuyuan showed up.
Xiao Bangchui was suspicious of why Lei Xiuyuan kept stalking her. So she took him to a restaurant to eat and slipped a truth potion into his food. He admitted that he was only following her to survive and save his senior brother.
The restaurant bill was too expensive for Xiao Bangchui, so she shamelessly used Lei Xiuyuan, who was incapacitated from the potion, as collateral for the meal. The pavilion owner saw that Lei Xiuyuan was strikingly handsome he could use him for his theatrical show. Besides a free meal, the proprietor also paid her with a copy of the exam questions of Chufeng Academy.
But the copy of the exam questions was outdated, so Xiao Bangchui took the rich Ji Tongzhou and his guards to buy the current exam questions. Meanwhile, Lei Xiuyuan had been dressed up by the pavilion owner to perform as a Demon Lord for the show. To make it more dramatic, he pushed Xiao Bangchui from the balcony onto the center of the stage, where Lei Xiuyuan caught her.
Suddenly, numerous assassins from Longming Sanctuary appeared again to target Lei Xiuyuan. In this critical moment, with her wit Xiao Bangchui shouted that the assassins had come for Ji Tongzhou. He, Lan Ya, and his guards immediately fought the assassins, giving a chance for Xiao Bangchui and Lei Xiuyuan to escape.
That night, Xiao Bangchui overheard Ye Ye and the Baili sisters talking about Lei Xiuyuan. Although Lei Xiuyuan didn’t want to confess, Ye Ye noticed the Gaolu tattoo on his wrist during the spiritual-root examination. He was Lei Yuan, General Lei’s adopted son. When the Gaolu Tribe was massacred, the Empress ordered Lei Yuan to impersonate Ye Ye while the crown prince escaped. Ye Ye didn’t know Lei Yuan’s fate until he appeared as Lei Xiuyuan now. Xiao Bangchui felt a little pity for Lei Xiuyuan, having been hunted down since little.
Xiao Bangchui knew she didn’t possess any spiritual skills, so she approached Ji Tongzhou and proposed a partnership. Ji Tongzhou agreed on one condition: she had to help him rescue Lei Xiuyuan, who was detained in Yange Pavilion, to fulfill his obligation for the entertainment show. Ji Tongzhou had seen Lei Xiuyuan’s power during the spiritual-root examination, so he wanted Lei Xiuyuan to be is training partner. Eventually, they successfully freed Lei Xiuyuan.
During the second trial exam, out of jealousy, Lan Ya, Ji Tongzhou’s fiancée, pushed Xiao Bangchui to a different trial painting. Inside, she found herself in a world of endless snow and ice. She could only survive in the frozen landscape, using her talismans to dodge ice spikes. Ji Tongzhou was very angry at Lan Ya and tried to save Xiao Bangchui by melting the glaciers.
After escaping the ice spikes, Xiao Bangchui faced a tornado. Just as she was about to be swept away, Lei Xiuyuan arrived and rescued her. They had to jump off the cliff together. On the bottom, Lei Xiuyuan noticed that Xiao Bangchui was freezing from the earlier cold. He took her hand and transferred some of his spiritual energy to warm her.
At that moment, however, an evil thought crossed Lei Xiuyuan’s mind: If he shattered her heart meridians, Riyan would undoubtedly reveal herself to save her.
Episode 3
Just as Lei Xiuyuan was about to carry out his evil plan, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared. The scenery around them changed instantly into a forest. They successfully passed the first trial. The other disciples arrived. Ji Tongzhou thought that this forest was also a trial, so he warned everyone not to touch anything, as it might be a trap. Sure enough, at night, countless streams of black smoke swept in from all directions and dragged away some students. Ji Tongzhou quickly activated a magical array to protect the remaining students. However, this magical array had awakened a creature sealed within the trial grounds, causing the disturbance.
While running away, Lan Ya intentionally tied up Xiao Bangchui and fled with others. Luckily, at the critical moment, Lei Xiuyuan appeared and rescued her. The two fled together into a cave. Lei Xiuyuan sealed the entrance, but he actually wanted to harm Xiao Bangchui. However, she was afraid of the darkness, so she asked him to walk in front.
Suddenly, countless black birds burst out from deep within the cave. Lei Xiuyuan struggled to fight the flock. Xiao Bangchui activated the talisman Master Wu Gen gave her and drove the birds away. They managed to escape the cave.
The bird attacks triggered Lei Xiuyuan’s PTSD from the mysterious memories. The fragments seemed connected to a celestial maiden, and he wore a masked God of War. He pleaded with Xiao Bangchui not to leave him.
Meanwhile, Ji Tongzhou and the others were attacked by a nine-tailed fox. But this one was not Riyan and was very big and fierce. Xiao Bangchui asked the nine-tailed fox whether it knew Riyan. The fox immediately stopped attacking her. However, Ji Tongzhou launched an attack on it, so the nine-tailed fox swallowed Xiao Bangchui and Lei Xiuyuan.
Surprisingly, inside its stomach, they landed on fluffy white fur. Xiao Bangchui immediately realized that Riyan had created an illusion of a giant nine-tailed fox made of his single strand of fur. By destroying this strand, she destroyed the illusion, and they were all saved. The Chufeng Academy masters declared that every student passed the trial.
That evening, a messenger sent by Zhen Yunzi secretly met with Lei Xiuyuan. However, he didn’t want to kill Xiao Bangchui to capture Riyan. The messenger secretly implanted Soul-Destroying Threads into Lei Xiuyuan’s palm. That thread would capture Riyan and inflict backlash on Lei Xiuyuan, too.
The students were taken to Chufeng Academy by flying carriages pulled by divine deer. Xiao Bangchui was enjoying the scenery by leaning out of the window. Suddenly, Lan Ya pushed her out of the carriage. Poor Xiao Bangchui screaming while falling through the air. Ji Tongzhou was angry at Lan Ya but didn’t save Xiao Bangchui. Lei Xiuyuan leaped after her and caught her in his arms. They were both saved by Master Mo Yanfan who escorted them to the summit of the academy.
The academy headmaster and instructors were already waiting for the new student. After the welcoming lecture, the Headmaster Zuo Qiu asked Xiao Banghui to stay. Lei Xiuyuan was waiting for her outside the gate when Ji Tongzhou approached him. He guessed Lei Xiuyuan had gone to great lengths to enter because of his sworn brother, Lu Shanhua, and offered help. Although shocked by how much Ji Tongzhou knew, Lei Xiuyuan refused the offer.
Ji Tongzhou then asked whether Lei Xiuyuan had ever considered restoring the fallen nation of Gaolu. Lei Xiuyuan replied that Gaolu was already gone and that he had no interest in reviving it. Ji Tongzhou reminded him that Xiao Bangchui was far smarter than she looked was unlikely to be fooled by Lei Xiuyuan.
Inside the academy, Headmaster Zuo Qiu recognized that Xiao Bangchui was Wu Gen’s disciple. He then gave her a formal name: Jiang Lifei. He even gave her a name plaque. From now on, I will call her Jiang Lifei.
Episode 4
Ji Tongzhou was right about Jiang Lifei. She confronted Lei Xiuyuan. She drew a dagger and held it to his throat, demanding to know why he kept approaching her and who was behind him. Lei Xiuyuan couldn’t tell her the truth, or Lu Shanhua would not survive. He could only say that he was willing to repay the debt with his own life. Suddenly, he grabbed Jiang Lifei’s hand and drove the dagger into his own chest, and confessed that he had been coerced.
After that, Lei Xiuyuan passed out. Jiang Lifei feared that she would be branded a killer, so she decided to save him. When Jiang Lifei removed his clothing to treat the wound, she was shocked to discover his body covered in scars. She used her treasured medicine to heal him. Jiang Lifei correctly guessed that the old geezer who hunted down Riyan last time, Zhen Yunzi, had threatened Lei Xiuyuan with Lu Shanhua’s life.
While passing out, Lei Xiuyuan once again saw the mysterious fairy maiden, and she looked like Jiang Lifei. He woke up seeing her sitting beside him. Just then, Ye Ye arrived with Lei Xiuyuan’s uniform. He was embarrassed to see Jiang Lifei in Lei Xiuyuan’s room. She didn’t care and fetched her new uniform. She looked very pretty in a female dress!
The first cultivation training was sword flying. Disciples had to ride a flying sword to the dining room on a distant island, or they would go hungry. Poor Jiang Lifei couldn’t master her training and was starving. A magic vine pulled Jiang Fei into the water, only to be rescued by Lei Xiuyuan, who returned with a flatbread for her. Jiang Lifei caught a spirit fish and wanted to roast it. Ji Tongzhou arrived with food and warned her not to eat it. Before anyone could stop it, the spirit fish suddenly transformed into a streak of light and flew into Jiang Lifei’s body. After punching the boys, Jiang Lifei passed out. Lei Xiuyuan and Ji Tongzhou took Jiang Lifei to Ji Tongzhou’s room and stayed together to look after her.
The spirit fish was owned by Senior Brother Bu. He used a spell to identify the culprit. He summoned the spirit fish’s soul to track down the thief, which flew straight toward Jiang Lifei. However, they found out that Master Hu Jianian stole the fish. But he was a powerful master, even Senior Brother Bu dared not offend him. So, he dropped the matter.
This Hu Jianian was definitely suspicious. He seemed to recognize Lei Xiuyuan. However, Jiang Lifei wanted to suck up to the teacher because she learned that Hu Jianian had been teaching at the academy for thirty years. He might know the whereabouts of Master Wu Gen. When Jiang Lifei showed him the bad portrait of the senior brother given by Wu Gen, Hu Jianian’s expression changed for an instant, but he quickly denied recognizing the person in the portrait.
TL;DR
- Wu Gen, Xiao Bangchui’s master, disappeared and asked her to enter Chufeng Academy.
- Xiao Bangchui saved the severely injured Riyan, a nine-tailed fox. Riyan lived in Xiao Bangchui’s hair to recuperate.
- Lei Xiuyuan was told by Zhen Yunzi (the bad guy?) that Riyan could save his dying sworn brother, Lu Shanhua.
- Lei Xiuyuan wanted to kill Xiao Bangchui several times.
- At the Academy, the Headmaster changed Xiao Bangchui’s name to Jiang Lifei.
Let’s continue with Jiang Lifei’s academic life in the next part!
