Di Ling Qu

The Immortal Legend follows Tian Qi, a young master of the Zhang family and who is looked after by the family Patriarch or his uncle. Set in a semi-modern martial arts world Du Ling Qu is about tomb-raiding, adventure and comradery as Tian Qi tries to prove his independence to Patriarch Zhang. In order to display his wit and show Patriarch Zhang that he is dependable Tian Qi sets his sights on Loulan Tomb, an ancient tomb said to house priceless treasures from a lost era. In order to perform this feat Tian Qi is going to need trusty comrades to assist him on hisjourney of Tomb-raiding. Unbeknownst to him and his family, a faction led by Prince Qing is persistent on causing strife between the Han and Zhang families while they are preoccupied with Loulan Tomb. How will the families react to the provocation? Story & Character:2/10 The story isn't really your typical cultivation donghua and it takes an extra step in being as obscure as possible. Tomb-raiding, political conflicts, random enemies become friends and then betrayal. The story doesn't truly start after the first half because in the beginning Tian Qi is busy causing conflict with others only to be saved by his father's brother Patriarch Zhang when he gets in trouble. After finally progressing, the story feels dragged out with little to no development in landmarks Tian Qi visits. In terms of character development, The Immortal Legend has so many characters that exist purely to provide commentary from the background. I noticed that characters change sides constantly so it makes no sense on deciding who the antagonist is; The characters that end up betraying Tian Qi join back as if nothing happened. Having characters as dense as the three or four group members doesn't help because they trust simply anyone they meet by chance. The saving grace in terms of character development is fatty Han who has an unhinged personality and his contribution to dialogue adds an unexpected contrast to the rest of the characters. Art & Sound: 4/10 By 2017 standards the art isn't too bad but by the modern standards of CGI donghua this art and animation is atrocious at best. The characters feel very stiff with their body and face movements especially seen in close up dialogue or wide angle fight scenes. The lighting was a good approach that makes the low poly characters appear more detailed which I enjoyed about the art in this series. Character designs were decent, the details were on the weaker side. Sound design was average, the sub I listened to felt low quality. The music was decent, it is used a lot in order to back up dialogue. I feel like the characters talk too much rather than act; Tian Qi is a prime example, he is a controller and does absolutely nothing apart from yap. Overall & Enjoyment: 2/10 This series was a 1/10 in my previous preliminary review (Nov 10, 2021) but after completing this it was actually palatable enough to watch through. It felt very awkward in the first half of the series because Tian Qi's goals weren't established and his character kept causing trouble only to be saved by his uncle Patriarch Zhang or his late father's close friend Patriarch Han. The story starts in the latter half and only speeds up within the ending few episodes which made it the low rating it was - There were too many unnecessary characters that dragged the adventure aspect of The Immortal Legend.