Zhao Liying And Her Princess Agents co-star, Lin Gengxin, Will Reunite in Legend of Shen Li

Here's a fresh drama pairing from C-entertainment. Zhao Liying is touted to star in a new xianxia drama, "Accompanying The Phoenix", an adaptation of the novel, "Yu Feng Xing" by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. It will be marketed as "Legend of Shen Li"

And what's good about this rumored project of Zhao Liying is that she will be reunited with her Princess Agents male lead, Lin Geng Xin.

Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin

Lin Geng Xin, known by his English name Kenny Lin, has recently starred with Tan Songyun in the office drama, Master of My Own". 

Legend of Shen Li will be Liying's first costume drama since Legend of Fei (2020), which did not do well in the viewer's ratings.  

Liying's last costume drama hit was in 2018, The Story of Ming Lan, where she co-starred with her now ex-husband, Feng Shaofeng, with whom she has one child.

Princess Agents was a historical drama hit aired in 2017 starring Zhao Liying, Lin Gengxin, Li Qin, and Shawn Du.

Lin Gengxin and Zhao Liying in Princess Agents

According to the news, Accompanying The Phoenix or Legend of Shen Li, has a strong female lead character, which will suit well with Liying since she has been known for portraying strong female characters like in Princess Agents, The Journey of Flower and Story of Ming Lan.

Plot Summary:

During ancient times, as gods have died, only one god remains in the world. - Xing Zhi (Lin Geng Xin). He has lived alone for tens of thousand years.

Legend has it that during the great war between the worlds, he used his powers to seal the rift to bring back the order into the three realms.

Thousands years later, Shen Li (Zhao Liying) was born into the demon world. She is known as the Azure Sky Queen and leads an affluent life. However, on the occasion of her 1000th birthday, a political marriage has been arranged for her.

She is set to marry the 33rd grandson of the Heavenly Emperor, Fu Rongjun, in order to unite the Heavenly Realm and the Demonic Realm.

However, Fu Rongjun is not popular among the two realms due to his flirtatious nature. Shen Li does not want to marry Rongjun so she escapes. 

In the process of her escape, she returns to her original form of a phoenix and falls into the world of mortals with severe injuries. 

A mortal hawker picks her up and treated her until she becomes well. The mortal can only see her as a fat chicken. He plucks all the hair from her body and wings, locks up in a cage, and sold to the market.

Xing Yun walks through a crowded street with chicken vendors and notices the fat chicken. He then declares "I want this!". 

A Fantasy Romance

This is a xianxia or a fantasy romance genre and sounds interesting based on the novel chapters. So far, only Zhao Liying and Lin Geng Xin have been identified to be part of the production. 

I have personally read the chapters of the novel from the Free Web Novel, and I've enjoyed reading the first few chapters. Here's chapter 1.

CHAPTER 1 - Accompanying The Phoenix

The sky was black as the thunder roared and winds flew chaotically at a small town. The townspeople huddled in their homes, not daring to step foot into the mighty storm. Yet in the far west, the door was open as one man entered the tall courtyard. 

His hair and robes fluttering madly within the whistling wind as bamboo leaves swirled in the air. The weather turned bad. His lips curved as he tilted his head to the sky, black clouds allowing only a hint of silver light as it slowly disappeared among the landscape outside of the small town.

"Things have changed..."

The next day, Xing Yun, dressed in azure scholar robes, walked through the noisy road as street vendors constantly called out as they struggled to sell their products. 

Among those, one seemed to ring out exceptionally clear. "Selling young chickens! Very fat!".

His feet moved to a stop as he turned and walked to the direction of the booth. Soon, chickens appeared before him in crowded nests, and within them, one stuck out like a sore thumb.

The pure white, featherless chicken looked unhealthy, it's head bowed low as if it going to die any second. Somehow though, it seemed as if it had a proud and lively spirit within it.

Xing Yun stared intently at it, before breaking out into a wide smile, saying, I want this one!".

The shopkeeper took one look before shouting, "Ah! This chicken is far too ugly! I will give you a small discount for this one".

"No Need", Xing Yun dug out the money from his pocket to give to the vendor. "She's worth it. If I pay too little, she will surely get angry".

The shopkeeper stared blankly, "The chicken will get angry?". He touched his head as he watched the young man depart before shaking his head to count the coins. 

His eyes widened as he looked down at his palm. "Ah! You did not give me enough money for the chicken!", He yelled loudly at Xing Yun. 

Alas, Xing Yun could no longer be seen.