The Journey of Legend: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 10

Introduction

The Journey of Legend is a unique story blending classic wuxia with a modern-day twist, with spectacular martial arts scenes. The protagonist starts as a modern man who transmigrated into a wuxia world. He undergoes compelling character growth, thanks to the strong performance from the leading actor Cheng Yi, plus a well-developed supporting cast.

I noticed that this wuxia story is not only long, but the plot is also unpredictable, with numerous surprises, twists, and turns. Therefore, I hope that my recap will help viewers who get lost during the protagonist’s journey to sort out which is important and which is filler. I followed the entire Xiao Qiushui/Xiao Mingming’s story, some of Li Chenzhou’s, and some interesting plot of supporting characters.

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Drama Info

Drama title: The Journey of Legend (Native title: 赴山海 )
Alternative title: Fu Shan Hai, Go to the Mountains and Sea 
Genres: Wuxia, Drama, Fantasy 
Aired: 11 Sep, 2025 - 26 Sep, 2025
Episodes: 40 |  Duration: 45 min.
Directors: Lin Feng ( 林峰 ) and Ren Hai Tao ( 任海涛 )
Screenwriter: Liu Fang ( 刘芳 )
Adapted from the novel "Shen Zhou Qi Xia (神州奇侠) by Wen Rui An (温瑞安).
Where to read the English translation novel: ScribbleHub
Where to watch: iQiyi, WeTV, Viki, YoYo TV, and YoYo English Channel

OST: Full album (fan audio - English translated)

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Trailer

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Synopsis

Xiao Ming Ming has grown tired of the daily grind of life, seeking to escape through an online fantasy martial arts novel. Suddenly, he finds himself pulled into the world of the story, where he becomes the protagonist, Xiao Qiu Shui. Initially overwhelmed, Ming Ming tries to leave, but is instead forced to continue on Qiu Shui’s journey. Can Ming Ming successfully transform himself into the story’s hero – and will he be able to apply the lessons he’s learned to his life out in the real world? (Source: Viki)

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Characters

Relationship Chart

After watching the drama, I have noticed that the relationship chart below is somewhat spoilery, especially for the hidden relationships that are revealed later in the drama. I won’t explain in detail who is who. However, to help viewers who get lost with the many characters, below is the color breakdown to identify the groups that are involved in the drama.

• Red – The Xiao family
• Blue – Power Gang
• Yellow – Shenzhou Sworn Brotherhood
• Purple – Tang Clan
• Orange – Nangong Clan
• Pink – Qu family
• Brown – modern world
• Green – royal family
• Grey – secret masters (their relationships are with question marks, thus they’re spoilery!)

Main Character

Supporting Characters

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My Rating

My rating for this drama was based on MyDramaList’s scoring system, which is from 0.0 to 10.0. For any drama/movie/show I completed, I gave a minimum rating of 6.0 to appreciate the hard work of the production team, and to adjust to MyDramaList’s overall score base. From 6.0, this drama has additional scores of:

1.0 for the story full of surprises, twists and turns, with modern world integration (1.0).

1.5 for Cheng Yi’s acting as three different characters (1.0) and colorful supporting characters with their hidden identities (0.5)

1.0 for the visualization (well-choreographed martial arts scenes)

Thus, my final rating is 9.5/10.

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Recap Episodes 1 to 10

Episode 1

I won’t elaborate on Xiao Mingming’s dreams and imagination. However, I think it’s important to pay attention to them, as they are the plot outline.

Xiao Mingming dreamed a good dream about a martial arts hero named Xiao Qiushui. He was awakened by a phone call from someone named Li Cai, asking about the update on his novel idea, “The Marvelous Hero of Shenzhou”. Li Cai gave Mingming the Magic Codex Interactive Writing System, an AI system that wrote the story for him. Mingming wanted his hero character to be the top-tier martial artist from the start. After putting in some key points and the character profile, he integrated his idea into the system.

Suddenly, the system warned him of a bug. The character’s setting was out of character. Mingming was transmigrated into the novel!

Mingming woke up at a brothel. A courtesan told him that he was the Third Master Xiao Qiushui. From now on, I would call the Male Lead Xiao Qiushui or just Qiushui. Thugs were chasing him. No worries, the martial artist Xiao Qiushui had a supreme lightness skill! Qiushi jumped out of the window… but something was wrong! He fell onto a vegetable cart, hahaha! Luckily, before he was beaten up by the thugs, his adoptive sister Xiao Xueyu showed up and drove away the thugs. Then she pulled Qiushui home to see their father, Xiao Xilou.

After being punished by his parents, Qiushui got updates on what had changed from the dream/imagination from his mother Sun Huishan (awww, she also looked like Mingming’s belated mother!). Firstly, he was his father’s least favorite son. Secondly, his martial arts skills were super bad, the lowest in the family. Thirdly, DO NOT provoke the Power Gang! And lastly, Crazy Yan, the top master in Mingming’s imagination, had disappeared from the martial arts world since he was a kid!

Oh well, there was still one cheat left: the Voidheart Codex, the world’s greatest martial arts manual! He remembered it was hidden in the Xiao’s family sword tomb. Qiushui went there to retrieve the manual. That was when he met the culprit of everything that had gone wrong: the Magic Codex Interactive Writing System! The Codex warned him that he had deviated from the original character setting and had to restart a new story. The Codex reprimanded him for using the so-called creative liberty to change a classic 1980 novel. The protagonist started as an ordinary person. He endured hardship, trained his body and mind, and ultimately became a martial arts master.

Qiushui wanted to quit, but the Codex told him he couldn’t quit; he had to finish the main mission, which started by going to Zihui and ended with becoming the Martial Arts Alliance leader. Or… if he could become the Huanhua Sect leader, he could use his own main plot without the Codex to interfere with him. The Codex then gave him the taboo: not to spoil key plot points to the others, or he would suffer the breakout of the Blood Boiling Cocoon planted in his palm, and eventually might kill him!

The first task he received inside the pouch given by the Magic Codex Interactive Writing System was to challenge the Gold and Silver Bank. In Mingming’s story, that event triggered the massacre of Xiao Clan. No way!

Had no cheat in the game, what to do? Qiushui would only lie low and run away after leaving the tomb. But the Blood Boiling Cocoon was activated and eventually killed him. The story was reset, and Qiushui woke up back in the time when he was just starting. He looked younger, and even his clothes were plain! He walked outside, and he saw Xiao Mingming’s university buddies approaching. At first, Qiushui was happy that they also time-traveled with him. However, he soon found out that these guys were Qiushui’s buddies, and not time-travelers. Qiushui decided to use his martial artist buddies, Zuoqiu Chaoran, Tang Rou, and Deng Yuhan, to ambush the Gold and Silver Bank!

Episode 2

The villain in this mission was Fu Tianyi, the demon of the Power Gang. Qiushui tried to scare his friends. However, even though he spoiled the fact that Tang Rou would be stabbed, his friends were too eager to do justice. They were so eager that upon arriving at Zigui Wharf, they didn’t bother to eat and dragged Qiushui out of the noodle stall, haha!

At night, Qiushui pretended he had a stomachache after eating a bun and needed to go to the bathroom. Zuoqiu Chaoran, Tang Rou, and Deng Yuhan didn’t want to wait for him and flew over the bank rooftop to enter. Poor Qiushui, he tried to climb and didn’t have any lightness skills at all, haha! Qiushui hid and watched his friends fight; however, he got scared when he saw blood and ran away.

Zuoqiu Chaoran, Tang Rou, and Deng Yuhan won the fight with the people at the bank, but they couldn’t find Fu Tianyi. The system forced the runaway Qiushui to meet Fu Tianyi, who was fishing by the river. This guy was scary; he could kill people with his thrown fishhook. He wanted to strangle Qiushui with the fishing line. Qiushui’s Huanhua Sword Technique was activated, and he used all his moves to finally escape Fu Tianyi’s clutches. Luckily, his friends arrived to help him, but Fu Tianyi was famous as Iron-Fisted Demon, and his iron palm was impenetrable. Qiushui asked his friends to hold Fu Tianyi’s arms and legs, and he used the Flower Rain Sword to stab Fu Tianyi’s heart, and he died instantly. It was the first time Mingming killed someone, he was shocked, and his hands trembled.

Qiushui suddenly remembered that, in the original story, when the Power Gang discovered that he and his friends had killed Fu Tianyi, they besieged the Xiao family and killed them all. He asked his friends to keep it secret, bought a small boat, bribed the boatman to shut up, put Fu Tianyi’s body on the boat, and set it on fire. Then the four of them left Zigui before dark.

After running a long way, the four finally found a place to eat. His friends didn’t understand why they needed to hide, since they did good for the people. Qiushui reminded them that by hiding, they had a chance to take down the enemies from the Power Gang one by one. His friends were excited about it that they wanted to form the Shenzhou Sworn Brotherhood right there and then. Qiushui was freaked out when he saw his friends cut their hands to swear by blood. Xiao Qiushui had no choice but to follow suit, including drinking the wine mixed blood!

Mingming didn’t understand why Qiushui’s three friends admired him so much. They recalled how Qiushui risked his life to save his friends one by one. Mingming was moved by Qiushui’s chivalrous spirit. Since he borrowed Qiushui’s identity, he made up his mind to protect his three brothers.

At night, while sleeping, Qiushui experienced excruciating pain from the Blood Boiling Cocoon because he gave a spoiler to Tang Rou, who was stabbed in the original story. Moreover, the Codex punished him with an increased difficulty level. Qiushui decided to change his mission to become the head of Huanhua Sect instead.

Episode 3

His friends reminded Qiushui that his father had already announced to the public that he would pass the position to the eldest son Xiao Yiren. No problem, Qiushui asked his friends to handle the publicity campaign for him to gain fame by challenging some martial artists to compete with him. But to find them was a pain in the butt, so after cracking their brains, they decided to have fun in a brothel.

Qiushui was nervous being in public, because of Power Gang, so they got a private room. Sure enough, while he was buying drinks, he saw members from Power Gang rush in looking for someone. Qiushui wondered if they had found out about Fu Tianyi’s murder. Qiushui went hiding in a nearby room. A man was meditating inside to heal his wounds. He set up silver thread traps. Qiushui was thrown out of the door by the traps, right in front of Power Gang!

Qiushui found out that the gang didn’t look for him, but for the man in the room. However, the man in the room seemed to be seriously injured and was obviously unable to fight them. Qiushui picked up the wounded man’s token and realized that his name was Feng Lang. He was the NPC Mingming created!

Feng Lang handed over his sword, and Qiushui quickly defeated the Power Gang. His friends arrived later and saw that he had subdued the gang alone. They spread his name to the guests as a publicity campaign.

Like meeting an old acquaintance, Qiushui took Feng Lang to the inn they stayed in and confirmed that the man carried Rainbow Sword, the weapon Mingming created for the NPC. However, Feng Lang didn’t know Qiushui at all. Qiushui called a physician for him. He was injured by the Noxius Beetles. After weighing some options for how to cure Feng Lang, they decided to go to Wonder Liquor Villa to obtain Nether Dew. There was a tight competition to get the rare liquor with a masked woman. Qiushui won the Nether Dew, but the woman snatched it out of his hand and threw poisonous darts at him. At this time, Tang Rou suddenly ran over from the side and introduced the masked woman as his older sister Tang Fang.

Episode 4

Tang Rou mediated between the two sides. They reached an agreement that they would feed the wine to Feng Lang first, and the rest would be for Tang Fang. She didn’t like her lil bro hanging out with Qiushui, so she asked him to promise that he would leave her lil bro before she took out the darts. Even then, she left one dart inside him as a reminder for Qiushui to leave Tang Rou in one month. The worst thing was that the wine was used up for Feng Lang. Tang Fang tortured Qiushui with the dart inside his body and demanded that he make an imitation of Nether Dew. Oh, I didn’t like this Tang Fang! She’s such a meanie!

OH MY GOD!!! Apparently, the guy named Feng Lang, whom Qiushui thought was his NPC, was an impostor! He actually was Liu Suifeng, the deputy chief of the Power Gang! It happened that he was chased by his enemies and hid in the brothel. He broke into a room where the real Feng Lang was and killed him. After knowing that his savior was Xiao Qiushui, he would continue to pretend to be Feng Lang and follow Qiushui, so he could get into the Xiao family’s sword tomb. Qiushui promised Feng Lang that his sister could help clear the remaining poison in his body.

From now on, I would called the Feng Lang impostor Liu Suifeng/Suifeng.

Qiushui went home with his three friends and Suifeng. He declared to his family that he wanted to be the leader of the sect. Everyone was shocked. His father thought he was crazy, but his mother secretly supported him. When she made him noodles, Qiushui was in tears, because Mingming’s mother always made him noodles, too. The noodles tasted the same, too. Qiushui told Sun Huishan that he hadn’t taste her noodles for a long time. Sun Huishan also prepared food for Qiushui’s friend. Seeing Suifeng, she felt that something was wrong.

The enemy within: Liu Suifeng!

Episode 5

Old Madam Wu, the Wanted Grandma, took refuge with the Xiao Family. She was being sought after in the martial arts world, especially the Power Gang. Although his parents didn’t want to say anything about the refugee, Qiushui already knew from the original story that Madam Wu was at his home, so he strengthened the protective measures. Sure enough, Suifeng secretly climbed the wall to the courtyard, but as soon as he touched the edge of the wall, the courtyard suddenly became brightly lit.

I won’t detail the middle part of this episode, as it was full of Qiushui’s attempts to garner support for himself to become the chief of the sect. He challenged his eldest brother in a martial arts competition. His mother hurriedly pulled Qiushui aside to practice.

The Xiao family’s martial arts competition officially began. Qiushui proposed to divide the competition into three stages. The first was internal strength. Yiren only picked up one of the magnets placed on the table, but Qiushui easily picked up all the remaining ones!

Episode 6

Hahaha, of course, Qiushui used a modern trick to pick up the magnets! Although he won the first round of the competition, his brother discovered that he had used a trick.

In the second round of the competition, Qiushui used the moves his mother taught her for defense, then used the sword to avoid two attacks. He lost the competition, and Xiao Xilou handed the headmaster’s token to Yiren to manage the sect on his behalf. The candidate for the successor was not determined. There would be another competition in half a year to determine the candidate. Suifeng witnessed the entire competition and determined that Qiushui was indeed a martial arts genius. He would surpass his father and brother, but Suifeng would not let the Xiao family live too long!

The Power Gang planned to attack the Xiao family with the excuse of seeking revenge for Fu Tianyi. The gang threw out Fu Tianyi’s body on the street, and Qiushui’s sword was placed next to him. Qiushui felt something was wrong. Fu Tianyi’s body had clearly been burned, but where had the gang found the body? Later, it turned out that the reason for the attack was not to avenge Fu Tianyi, but the Power Gang wanted the Hero Command Token, which was with Old Madam Wu.

Xiao Xilou said that the Xiao family had been eliminating evil and upholding justice, and was not afraid of the Power Gang seeking revenge, but he did not want to implicate everyone, and asked them to leave quickly. However, several disciples and Qiushui’s three friends expressed their intention to stay with the Xiao family. Suifeng also echoed them.

The battle between the Xiao family and the Power Gang was amazing, but unfortunately, there were too many in the gang (not to mention that there was Suifeng the spy!). Everyone retreated to the family’s stronghold, Sword Pavilion. Qiushui suspected there was a mole from the Power Gang in the household. However, his mother said that everyone who was injured should rest and recuperate before conducting an investigation. Qiushui was moved with the elders and friends who stuck with his family despite the danger. He realized the meaning of chivalry for the first time.

While Qiushui took his friends to mingle with the rest, Suifeng took the chance to control the family butler. After that, a servant reported that the woodshed was on fire. Qiushui realized that someone was deliberately creating a diversion! Someone wanted to sneak into Zhenmei Pavilion, where Old Madam Wu was staying!

Episode 7

Sure enough, the butler went to Zhenmei Pavilion, as per Suifeng’s order. Tang Fang, who also got stuck with the Xiaos because she wanted to rescue her brother, discovered the butler and fought him. Suifeng suddenly appeared and fought the butler, too, to keep his secret. The rest of the group arrived, and the butler committed suicide. Upon investigation of the butler’s errands, Qiushui found out that the water had been poisoned. Sun Huishan rushed to the Zhenmei Pavilion because she had just used the well water to make soup for Old Madam Wu. Luckily, the old lady had not drunk it yet. After this incident, Old Madam Wu officially appeared in front of everyone.

From the most wanted grandma, we got the back story about how she, who was not a martial artist, got the most wanted Hero Command Token.

The most wanted grandma

Because the well had been poisoned, Qiushui suggested that some people get out to seek rescue to save the drinking water. There was no other better way. Instead of sitting and waiting for death, it was better to get out and fight. Qiushui proposed to disguise himself as Old Madam Wu to distract the Power Gang. Of course, the spy Suifeng had sent a message to the Power Gang about the escape plan. Since Quishuo already suspected an insider mole, he killed the messenger, messing up the message that attracted all Power Gang members to show up. Unfortunately, the strength of Qiushui’s team was far from that of the Power Gang, and it was almost completely wiped out in a short time, and only he was alive! However, he was poisoned.

Quishuo supposedly put Old Madam Wu with Tang Fang and Suifeng’s team. Suifeng attracted his subordinate to capture the old lady, but she turned out to be a maidservant. Quishuo secretly changed the plan before setting off because of his suspicion of the mole. Tang Rou had brought the old lady out through the back mountain. Tang Fang and Suifeng both challenged each other, since they found out the other person had ulterior motives.

Tang Fang and Suifeng found the wounded Quishui. Luckily, his adoptive sister had already left him an antidote. Afterward, he rushed to Jinzhong with Tang Fang and Suifeng to meet with General Wu, Old Madam Wu’s son. However, at the meeting place he got a letter from the Wu family that the place was unsafe. He found out that the Sword King’s men were also searching for the old lady. Xiao Qiushui decided to change the meeting plan.

Episode 8

Oh man, this episode is so sad… I will just write about the ending, because almost the entire episode was about Qiushui and his friends trying to bring Old Madam Wu to meet her son, while many people from the Power Gang and the Sword King’s men chased after them. Adding to them was the spy Sui Feng.

At the end, Old Madam Wu safely returned to her son’s military camp. However, Tang Rou died after blocking the enemy’s sword for Qiushui! Tang Rou was the most enthusiastic and loyal friend of Qiushui. Why oh why did the drama have to kill him? After asking Qiushui to take care of his meanie sister, Tang Rou passed away.

Appreciation to Zhao Hua Wei ( 赵华为 ), who played Tang Rou

Episode 9

Poor Qiushui! After Tang Rou’s death, he blamed himself. He had saved Tang Rou once, but why did he still die? And how could he change the current situation?

During the battle in the last episode, Suifeng was also wounded and in a coma. An old illness caused his injury, and only Grandmaster Dayin could cure him. Old Madam Wu felt sorry for him and gave him the Hero Command Token, so he could get help from people while looking for the grandmaster. Tang Fang offered to go with him. She had a mission to save her sick father with the Voidheart Codex, which she was now searching for.

Qiushui’s friends wanted to avenge the death of Tang Rou, so he advised them to use a long-term plan. Firstly, he sent his friends to find two major sects to reinforce the Xiao family. Then, he dealt with Suifeng.

Poor Qiushui! One friend was dead, one ‘friend’ was a traitor

Yes, you heard it right. He was suspicious that Suifeng had been bought by the Power Gang. Suifeng drugged Tang Fang and Old Madam Wu’s servant, who guarded the Hero Command Token, and wanted to leave with the Token and Tang Fang. However, Qiushui showed up. Suifeng pretended to get hurt, and he accused the Huanhua sect, the Xiao family, and Xiao Xilu of being hypocrites. Suifeng wanted to take Tang Fang away, but Qiushui blocked him. Qiushui was no match for Suifeng. Luckily, General Wu Zhe’s soldiers were approaching, so Suifeng ran away with the Token.

Apparently, the Power Gang was not united. There were people in the gang that was fighting for the Token. Suifeng arrived at the headquarters after calling the leaders. He brought the Sword King tied up. He suspected some leaders took private orders without the permission of the Chief or him, the Deputy Chief. While the two sides were confronting each other, Li Chenzhou suddenly came out of seclusion and walked to the front hall with his wife, Zhao Shirong. Liu Suifeng presented the Hero Command Token to his boss.

Episode 10

Through Li Chenzhou’s memory, we saw a flashback to the fight over the Hero Command Token and the Voidheart Codex. The Token was forged by three major sects, so naturally, there were fingerprints of the sect’s leaders on the back of the Token. However, the one Sifeng snatched didn’t have the fingerprints. Chenzhou threw away the Token. HAHA! Apparently, after the Qiao’s butler’s betrayal was exposed, Qiushui planned not only to fake Old Madam Wu, but also the Token. The only ones who knew that he had forged the token were his parents, Old Madam Wu, and her trusted servant.

Li Chenzhou, the head of the Power Gang

After Tang Fang saw that Qiushui saved her from being kidnapped by Suifeng, she was very grateful and understood the reason her late brother admired and followed Qiushui. This Tang Fang was no longer a meany to Qiushui. She also wanted to avenge Tang Rou.

Qiushui rejected Old Madam Wu’s good intention to ask her son to help Qiushui by sending his troop. Let the matters in the martial world stay in the martial world. The Xiao family was in trouble only because of the grievances of the martial arts world. He only asked the old woman to send a message to his first brother, who was away investigating the Power Gang’s matter with his second brother and his adoptive sister.

At night, Qiushui dreamed about Tang Rou. In his dream, Tang Rou asked if there was a next life. If there was, Tang Rou wanted to be his sworn brother again. Awww! Qiushui woke up and found that he had a new mission. What?! He had to convert Feng Lang/Suifeng? This was crazy! How could he influence the second-in-command of the Power Gang? Qiushui had an even stronger ambition to be the Huanhua sect leader, so he was free to have his own script!

In order not to implicate more people, Qiushui bought a carriage and went back to Jinzhong alone. However, he was ambushed by robbers and Tang Fang saved him. Tang Fang refused to go back to her family and wanted to save the Xiao family instead. Their relationship got better.

Poor Qiushui, no sect wanted to help the Xiao. Only the Tang Sect was left, but Qiushui had no intention to disturb them because of Tang Rou’s death. Tang Fang suggested she go home with him to try. Maybe she could persuade her father to help. However, when they arrived at the Tang Clan’s home, both were trapped by order of Tang Song and Tang Qing, Tang Fang’s cousins. Qiushui was tied up, and Tang Fang was even chained.

Deng Yuhan returned to his home, the Hai Lin Sword Sect. His father also refused to help the Xiao family.

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Conclusion

Wow, things seem so difficult for Xiao Qiushui. Thanks for the stupid Magic Codex Interactive Writing System, which escalated the difficulty level because Mingming changed the character setting for an old classic wuxia! However, this was only a quarter of the whole story. I’m pretty sure our hero would find a way out. Let’s hope that he can save his family! We’ll continue to the second part of the series: The Journey of Legend: Recap Episodes 11 to 20!

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