Love and Redemption (琉璃; Liú Li; literally "Coloured Glass") is a 2020 Chinese fantasy series starring Cheng Yi and Yuan Bing Yan. It's based on the novel Liu Li Mei Ren Sha by Shi Si Lang.
The leader of the Shao Yang clan hosts a magic and martial arts tournament for young apprentices. His daughter Chu Xuan Ji and meets the Li Ze Palace's star student Yu Si Feng. They fall in love even though students are forbidden from having romantic relationships. And unknown to both of them they fell in love in their previous incarnations too, and their past will have a huge impact on their future.
The series can be watched on Viki
and YouTube with English subtitles.
Not to be confused with the similarly-named Love and Destiny or the trope Love Redeems.
Contains examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Wu Tong for Ling Long. He kidnaps her, tortures her, steals her soul, and creates a copy of her to trick her friends.
- Accidental Pervert: Xuan Ji accidentally teleports into Si Feng's bathtub, then implicitly gropes him while looking for her teleportation device. He reacts by literally throwing her out.
- Almost Kiss: Happens between Xuan Ji and Si Feng in their third lifetime.
- Arc Symbol: At some point in every lifetime Xuan Ji cuts her finger and presses it against Si Feng's face, leaving a drop of blood at the corner of his eye.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Wu Tong cuts off a woman's arm.
- Min Yan is forced to cut off Min Jue's arm.
- Babies Ever After: In the epilogue Si Feng and Xuan Ji have a baby while Ling Long is pregnant.
- Bathtub Scene: Si Feng gets one when Xuan Ji accidentally teleports into his bathtub.
- Big Bad Friend: Hao Chen is really King Bai Ling, who manipulated Xuan Ji when she was the God of War.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The YouTube subtitles are better than some Cdrama translations, but they include phrases like "You impenitence creature".
- Blood from the Mouth: Shows up when a character is injured or killed.
- Buried Alive: Happened to Xuan Ji as a baby because everyone thought she was dead. They discovered she was alive in time to save her.
- Catch a Falling Star / Crash-Into Hello: Xuan Ji and Si Feng first meet when Xuan Ji falls from a height and Si Feng catches her.
- Caught in a Snare: Wu Tong gets trapped in a net. He refuses to apologise to Ling Long for insulting her earlier, so she and her friends leave him hanging there all night.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Happens so often and to so many characters that the series might as well be named this. Si Feng especially is tortured regularly, starting as early as episode two.
- Cool Mask: Si Feng is forced to wear one◊ because it's against Li Ze Palace's rules for students to go out without masks.
- Crocodile Tears: Ling Long starts "crying" very loudly when her father scolds Xuan Ji.
- Damsel in Distress: Ling Long is kidnapped and tortured by Wu Tong.
- Disguised in Drag: Xuan Ji dresses as a man to sneak into the men's baths.
- Distant Prologue: The prologue is set over a thousand years before the main series.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Xuan Ji nicknames Si Feng "Little Stammer".
- Epic Fail: Xuan Ji tries to practice her sword-fighting. She gets her sword stuck in a bamboo stem and needs Si Feng's help to get it free.
- Evil Cripple: Wu Tong has only one leg, but he doesn't let that stop him causing trouble for the protagonists.
- Facial Markings: Si Feng gains markings on his forehead when he becomes a demon.
- Feel No Pain: Because of her near-death experience as a baby Xuan Ji is unable to feel pain. She exploits this by volunteering to injure herself to draw a demon out.
- Finger in the Mail: Wu Tong cuts off a woman's arm and puts Ling Long's bracelet on it so Ling Long's family will assume the arm is hers.
- Gender Bender: Xuan Ji turns into a man when she becomes the Star of Mo Sha.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom / Occult Blue Eyes: Xuan Ji's eyes glow blue when she has flashbacks to being the God of War.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In their second lifetime Si Feng pretends to have killed the Qiaos so Xuan Ji can escape, and he's executed as a result.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Si Feng warns Min Yan not to hurt Xuan Ji. Min Yan is confused because there's nothing between him and Xuan Ji; the whole thing is a misunderstanding.
- Imaginary Love Triangle: Ling Long and Si Feng both assume Min Yan and Xuan Ji are in love with each other. When Min Yan tries to confess his love for Ling Long, she rejects him and Si Feng warns him not to hurt Xuan Ji.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Xuan Ji kills her father this way in the third lifetime. Then she kills Si Feng this way in the fourth lifetime.
- Improvised Weapon: Ling Long tries to kill Wu Tong with the chain he used to tie her up.
- Innocently Insensitive: Xuan Ji teases Si Feng for stumbling over his words, oblivious to the fact she's annoying him.
- Interrupted Suicide: Ling Long attempts to drown herself. Min Yan rescues her in time.
- Landing in Someone's Bathtub: Xuan Ji accidentally teleports into Si Feng's bathtub.
- Lonely at the Top: Implied to have been Xuan Ji's fate in her third incarnation. She had no one to blame but herself because she decided Si Feng was a threat and had him killed.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The vast majority of the male characters, especially Si Feng.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The Master of Li Ze Palace is Si Feng's father.
- MacGuffin: The Wanjie Bahuang Mirror. Xuan Ji searches for its pieces because it'll restore all her senses and her memories of her past lives.
- Made a Slave: In her second incarnation Xuan Ji is made a slave and sold to a brothel.
- Missing Mum:
- Xuan Ji and Ling Long's mother was killed years before the series starts.
- Si Feng's mother also died years before the series.
- Mistaken Death Confirmation:
- Everyone thought Xuan Ji was stillborn. They went as far as putting her in a coffin and starting to bury her before she cried.
- Zi Hu disappears, then Xuan Ji finds a scrap of fabric from her clothes. Everyone assumes this means Zi Hu is dead. Actually she was captured by Yuan Lang.
- Mistaken Identity: Di Lang mistakes Ling Long for the reincarnation of the God of War and kidnaps her.
- Modesty Towel: When Xuan Ji sneaks into the men's baths, all the men are wearing towels.
- Murderous Mask: The Loveless Mask. Its wearer must never feel any emotions, and if they do the mask's curse will kill them.
- Mystical White Hair: Teng She is a celestial lord and has white hair.
- Oblivious to Love: Xuan Ji is unaware that Si Feng is in love with her. Not even Yi Huan's hints make her figure it out.
- Off with His Head!: Si Feng is beheaded in his second incarnation.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: These merfolk have tails but otherwise look human and wear the same sort of clothes as all the other characters. When they cry their tears become pearls. They're able to mesmerise people into doing what they want and have water- and ice-related magic.
- Ordered to Die: In their third lifetime Xuan Ji orders Si Feng to drink poison.
- Playing Sick: Xuan Ji pretends to twist her ankle. Ling Long points out how unconvincing her acting is since she can't feel pain even if she really does twist it.
- Poor Communication Kills: Xuan Ji says she likes Min Yan, unaware of both the implications of her words and the fact Si Feng can hear her. She means she likes Min Yan as a friend, but Si Feng assumes she's in love with Min Yan. Later Ling Long also assumes Min Yan and Xuan Ji are in love, so she rejects Min Yan's love confession.
- Public Bathhouse Scene: Shows up when Xuan Ji sneaks into the men's baths to retrieve Si Feng's hairpin.
- Reincarnation Romance: The God of War and the Star of Mo Sha fell in love over 1,000 years ago. Their reincarnations Xuan Ji and Si Feng fall in love again. And their meeting in episode one is actually the meeting of their tenth reincarnations.
- Replacement Goldfish: A very dark example. Wu Tong can't have the real Ling Long, so he takes a flower demon, puts half of Ling Long's soul in her body, makes her look like Ling Long, and convinces her she really is Ling Long.
- The Reveal: Si Feng isn't the reincarnation of the Star of Mo Sha. Xuan Ji's original incarnation was both the God of War and the Star of Mo Sha.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In Xuan Ji's second incarnation she killed the Qiao family because they framed and killed many of her relatives.
- Royally Screwed Up: In Xuan Ji's third incarnation she was the emperor's daughter. He banished her mother to the Cold Palace, so Xuan Ji killed him. Later Xuan Ji also has Si Feng killed even though he helped her take the throne.
- Sadistic Choice:
- The palace leader gives Si Feng a choice: either he wears the Loveless Mask, which will force him to suppress his emotions or be killed by the curse, or Yi Huan will be slowly lowered into a pool of poisonous water. Si Feng chooses to wear the mask.
- Wu Tong gives Yan Ran one: either she kills a prisoner, or he kills her. She stabs the prisoner in a place that will bleed profusely without being fatal.
- Wu Tong says he won't return Ling Long's soul unless Min Yan kills Min Jue. Min Yan decides to cut off Min Jue's arm instead.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Star of Mo Sha's soul is sealed in the Jade Cup for over a thousand years.
- She Is the King: In the third lifetime, after Xuan Ji/Jing Yuan kills her father, Si Feng declares her the new emperor. (There was a female emperor in Chinese history, but this is still a very unusual decision.)
- Shipper on Deck: Yi Huan ships Xuan Ji and Si Feng, and tries to hint to Xuan Ji that Si Feng likes her.
- Taking the Bullet:
- Xuan Ji jumps in front of a sword meant for Ling Long. She survives, though she's injured and spends a long time unconscious.
- Si Feng shoves Xuan Ji out of the way of a sword and he gets stabbed instead.
- Teleporter Accident: Played for laughs when Xuan Ji tries to teleport to safety and ends up in Si Feng's bathtub... while Si Feng is in it.
- There Is Only One Bed: Played with. There are plenty of beds, but Xuan Ji isn't supposed to be there and will be in trouble if she's caught, so she has to hide in Si Feng's bed.
- Tin Man: Played with. Si Feng does feel emotions, but when he wears the Loveless Mask he's forced to suppress them because the mask will kill him if he feels anything.
- Tongue Trauma: The gu diao likes to eat human tongues. Xuan Ji volunteers to bite her own tongue to lure it.
- Truth Serums: Xuan Ji accidentally gives Si Feng a truth serum pill.
- Two Aliases, One Character: The Star of Mo Sha was one of Xuan Ji's identities, not a separate character.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In their third lifetime Si Feng helps Xuan Ji take the throne. She repays him by ordering him to drink poison just in case he decides to plot against her later.
- Vow of Celibacy: Li Ze Palace's disciples are forbidden from marrying.
- Wedding Smashers: Min Yan and Ling Long's wedding ends in chaos when Wu Tong attacks, tries to kidnap Ling Long, and almost kills Min Yan.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue is set three years after the main story and shows Si Feng and Xuan Ji living happily ever after.
- White Shirt of Death: Downplayed. Si Feng doesn't die after being beaten, but his blood soaks through his white robes.
- Winged Humanoid: Si Feng sometimes has wings, as shown on the poster.
- Wuxia: Specifically the xianxia subgenre.
- You Can See Me?: Teng She makes himself invisible before sneaking into Si Ming Hall. When someone speaks to him it takes him a minute to realise he's supposed to be invisible. He angrily exclaims, "You can see me?" then is reminded that spells of deceit don't work in Si Ming Hall.
