Title	The Blue Whisper
Credit	Croton Media
Media	Chinese Drama
Genre	Romance, Historical, Fantasy
Year	2022
Character Type	2 Yanderes

Merman Chang Yi was captured and sent into the Floral Valley by Fairy Shun De under the accusation that he had attacked her and injured her aides. As punishment, Shun De demands that the spirit masters of the Valley discipline Chang Yi such that he will: speak human words, sever his tail and never return to sea, and give up his spirit pearl to prove his undying loyalty towards Shun De.

Seeing this as a chance to break free from the Valley, Ji Yun He, a talented spirit master of the Valley volunteered to train Chang Yi along with Lin Hao Qing, the young master of the Valley. While Ji Yun He only intended to make use of Chang Yi, she quickly become moved by his pure-heartedness and innocence. Soon, she will have to make a difficult choice for both of their freedom.

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

Straight away I am sold by the beautiful sceneries this drama has to offer. How can the floral valley be this pretty?? Who is the CGI master in charge of this??

The story begins with Ji Yun He competing with Lin Hao Qing to determine the superior spirit master between the two. Ji Yun He turned out victorious, and was promoted to become the guardian of the valley. Behind the scenes however, she was cruelly punished by the Lin Cang Lan, Master of the Valley.

This highlighted the reason why Ji Yun He had always wished to escape from the Valley. She knew the Valley’s secret: every member of the Valley was inflicted with Frost, a latent condition that will erupt every month should the members not receive antidote periodically. The outburst is life-threatening, but Lin Cang Lan kept this a secret from the Valley members and ensured that they would not know of their condition.

Then came Chang Yi, captured and sent over by Shun De, who claimed that the merman had disrespected and attacked her. She demanded the Valley to help her discipline Chang Yi into a docile attendant for her. Upon fulfilling three conditions would she consider the training a success: one, for Chang Yi to speak human language; two, for him to sever his tail and never return to sea; three, to give up the merman’s spirit pearl to prove his undying loyalty towards Shun De.

Believing this to be an opportunity, Ji Yun He volunteered to discipline the merman along with Lin Hao Qing. Ji Yun He had intended to complete the three conditions that Shun De had set out, get her reward, and escape the Valley with her attendant Luo Jin Sang, a butterfly spirit. They had planned to save enough gold to buy a little island for themselves, and live a life of freedom thereafter.

However, the next few encounters with the merman sent Ji Yun He’s plan into disarray. The merman had an extremely pure and innocent character. He easily believed in the good of Ji Yun He. Although reluctant to recount his encounter with Shun De, he eventually revealed that he had saved her from drowning, but was forcefully captured to be made into her attendant instead.

The truth enraged Ji Yun He, and increased her guilt as she continued to coax Chang Yi into trusting her. Soon enough, Ji Yun He could not bear to see her plans through at the expense of Chang Yi. She began to care deeply for him, and did not want the wicked to ruin Chang Yi’s innocence. For that, Ji Yun He went to great lengths to protect him, even endangering her life in the process.

Unfortunately, Chang Yi still ended up giving everything he has for Ji Yun He. He spoke for her, told her his name, severed his tail, and even gave his spirit pearl to her. These acts were not done lightly. Severing his tail signified the betrayal of his clan, which would cause him to be denied from returning to the sea for eternity. His pearl also contains large amount of his powers. Losing both means Chang Yi is greatly weakened; he would never gain back the powers he once wield, and would never be able to return home.

Ji Yun He was determined to escape with Chang Yi together. However, she soon learned that the repeated tortures by Lin Cang Lan was because he was using her as a vessel to invent a way to cure the Frost. Lin Cang Lan had transferred both his and his attendant’s (Qing Shu, a nine-tailed fox spirit) spiritual powers into Ji Yun He to expel the Frost. The method was a success, but it was also too harsh for the body to bear. Although Ji Yun He will have a sudden burst of power, her body will slowly crumble from it, until her imminent death.

As the situation stood, Ji Yun He believed that the best outcome was for Chang Yi to at least attain freedom. With Shun De hot on their tails, it was unlikely for both of them to make it together. Even if they do, Ji Yun He will not live for long, and Chang Yi would be widowed shortly after their escape. It just didn’t seem worth it for Ji Yun He. However, the devoted Chang Yi would never agree to Ji Yun He’s idea. As such, she decided to keep her condition a secret from Chang Yi, lie and pretend to have betrayed him, whilst giving her all to protect him from Shun De and ensuring he does not fall into her clutches.

It was honestly hard for me to watch as Ji Yun He told pure and naïve Chang Yi how everything was a lie. No matter what Ji Yun He said, Chang Yi refused to believe. His eyes just starts to get more and more teary. Even when Ji Yun He stabbed him, he was still trying to deny what has happened. And when Ji Yun He finally pushed him off the cliff, he finally realized that it was over between him and Ji Yun He. As he descends from the cliff, he thought to himself that the warning by his father had actually been right, the land is filled with deceit; he should have never trusted anyone.

After sending Chang Yi away, Ji Yun He tried everything she could to stall time and prevent Shun De from reaching Chang Yi. In the fierce battle, Ji Yun He awakened her nine-tailed fox abilities, and almost managed to kill Shun De. Unfortunately, Shun De’s master, Ning Qing, from the Immortal Master Manor arrived in the nick of time to save her. Amused by Ji Yun He’s current status as both a spirit master and fox spirit, Ning Qing ordered for Ji Yun He to be captured and hidden in the Immortal Master Manor.

Within the manor, Ji Yun He was constantly tortured and experimented on due to her unique characteristics. Worse, Shun De always paid Ji Yun He visits and made things especially tough for her, with the intention to kill her on multiple occasions.

Meanwhile, Chang Yi learned that Shun De had ordered for the East Sea, where his clan members live, to be sealed as punishment for going against her. Shun De was clearly abusing her position as a fairy of the heaven realm, but nothing could be done to stop her. Having lost everything he ever had, Chang Yi was determined to set things right, and seek revenge on Ji Yun He and Shun De for their wrongs.

Along the way, Chang Yi met Kong Ming, who left the Immortal Master Manor to go against it upon seeing his peers being led astray by Ning Qing. Together, they journeyed towards the North, gathering many spirits to build up their force in preparation for battle against Ning Qing. Eventually, Chang Yi gained tremendous support from his followers, and was appointed the Lord of the Northern Plains.

When Ji Yun He and Chang Yi finally met again, Ji Yun He was in danger of being killed by Shun De in the Manor, and Chang Yi had came to take her away. Despite his initial anger towards Ji Yun He, Chang Yi had started to doubt if she was indeed as heartless as she made herself to be. Nevertheless, he forcefully took Ji Yun He back to the Northern Plains and kept her there until an impending battle between the North and the spirit masters of Floral Valley, who were unwillingly sent into battle by Shun De.

To prevent unnecessary war from breaking out between the two parties, Ji Yun He sacrificed herself to provide a temporary cure for the members of the Floral Valley who were under the Frost’s influence. In her last moments, she finally revealed hints of her true feelings for Chang Yi as she laid in his arms. Despite the desperate efforts by Chang Yi, Ji Yun He still perished into the air, leaving Chang Yi behind, bearing a guilt of losing her.

Unbeknownst to all except Lin Hao Qing, Ji Yun He actually managed to survive the ordeal due to her being both a spirit master and a fox spirit. When she sacrificed the last of her powers as a spirit master to save the people of the Floral Valley, only the spirit master of her perished, but the fox spirit stayed alive. From then on, Ji Yun He will live fully as a fox spirit.

To regain Ji Yun He’s human form, Lin Hao Qing sacrificed half of his powers and nurtured her. However, Ji Yu He’s memories was entirely gone. Lin Hao Qing tried to keep it that way, but she eventually regained them after re-encountering Chang Yi. This time, they decided to be honest towards each other. Ji Yun He and Chang Yi quickly resolved the misunderstanding of the past.

Together, they worked to defeat Ning Qing, evil spirit Zhu Yan, and finally princess Shun De, making great sacrifices for the good of the people. The two married in the Northern Plains. And to seal Shun De until she perishes, Ji Yun He had to seal herself as well for the next hundred of years, leading to the cruel separation of the newly reunited couple. Fortunately, Ji Yun He broke free in the end and the two were able to spend their lives together. Chang Yi regained his tail, and the seal on the East Sea got lifted. From now on, they can explore the world, return to the East Sea, and enjoy their freedom.

Once again, the entire drama was just. so. BEAUTIFUL!!! Many times I had to pause the drama just cause I was so distracted by the beauty of the scene. Although it is quite obvious they are CGIs, they are some GOOD CGIs.

Dilraba and Allen were both outstanding in the drama. I did not think that Allen would suit the role of a merman at first, but just minutes into the show and seeing his character, I am fully immersed. He is just too cute and innocent. He portrayed the naivety and kind-heartedness of his character so well, and I have totally fallen for his character. I especially enjoyed the beginning scenes when Chang Yi slowly started to open up to Ji Yun He. Those scenes were simply too sweet and heart-warming.

The plot got me well-immersed until the end, as it thickens and unfolds to reveal that everything was not as simple as originally perceived. Still, I must say that it got unnecessarily dramatic towards the end. First, Ji Yun He died as a spirit master and came back to life as a fox spirit. Sure. I can take that.

Then, Chang Yi supposedly died, but then got saved by the sacred Bodhi Fruit. Then Luo Jin Sang almost died in the final battle for the dumbest reason, and Kong Ming cried a river for her, only for her to wake up and be fine. She only fainted. And then Li Shu, friend of Chang Yi and Ji Yun He, sacrificed himself for the battle too, but ended up coming back as a human scholar, just without his prior memories.

Seriously, if they are going to die, keep them dead. If not, then don’t cook up all these dramatic scenes just to end them with lackluster revivals later. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on myself. And this drama happily decided that it is a good idea to fool their audience four times.

For so much time they had spent on the deaths and revivals of the main characters, little to no time was allocated to wrapping up the end. The ending was so rushed, I couldn’t even soak in the emotions, of the longing when Chang Yi and Ji Yun He were separated for hundreds of years, of the happiness when they are finally reunited and free, never to be apart. They rushed through the entire sequence in a matter of few minutes. For all the greatness of this drama, I would have certainly hope that the ending would be just as good.

Still, I am sure this drama will be one of the best Chinese drama production of 2022. Everything was made so well. The music was especially captivating, and went very well with the beautiful scenes. The characters were all well-developed and relatable. I would definitely recommend anyone to give this drama a try. It is worth it.

CHARACTER SPOILERS