I’m sure slick and soulless mega-producer Yu Zheng was just savoring all the slings and arrows shot his way during the filming of The Swordsman last year, when he cast actress Chen Qiao En to play the male Big Bad character of Dong Fang Bu Bai and gave the character a love line with hero Ling Hu Chong, who was coincidentally played by Chen Qiao En’s ex-boyfriend Wallace Huo. Of course the chemistry between them was there and still burning hot years after they broke up on good terms, which left us fans of the novel just pulling our hairs out in frustration. Even worse was seeing gorgeous Chen Qiao En versus the supposed leading lady Ren Ying Ying played by far less on the pretty meter Yuan Shan Shan. The drama premieres on February 5th and the cast attended their first media event this week to whip up the excitement. Forgot Wallace’s ridiculous blond hair for a moment, the biggest gaspworthy reveal at the press conference turned out to be a doozy – he changed Dong Fang Bu Bai’s character to a full blown woman from the get go, hence the reason he cast Chen Qiao En. Er, can a woman practice the Kue Hua Bao Dian martial arts skills? I doubt even author Louis Cha knows the answer. This now puts everything into context, and regardless of how uncanon it is, I am now shipping Linghu Chong with Dong Fang Bu Bai. Chen Qiao En and Wallace are going to burn up the screen together, mark my words, so why not just succumb now regardless of how crazy that makes the entire story. Though having a power hungry female big bad does add a different context to all the mad fighting for superiority. Yu Zheng revealed that the end product is 75% Louis Cha’s novel, 25% Yu Zheng’s own changes. I have now adjusted my expectations accordingly and will highly anticipate the completely ridiculous wuxia drama to come, which does look very pretty with all the bright colors and loads of whooshing CGI. Check out the latest trailer below complete with English subs. Continue reading →