Face to Fate (TV) 2006

I think compared to Lofty Waters Verdant Bow, Face to Fate is a better series. The main character was a soothsayer/fortune-teller named Li Po-yee, played by Frankie Lam. At that time, the martial art world was divided into the good and the bad, and our hero belonged to none of them.

Every five years, both sides would engage in the Golden Seal Battle and each should send five representative. The one who won 3 fights out of 5, would be the winner and could reign the martial art world for 5 years. The leader of the bad guys, Ko Shu-tin, believed in a divination that said 'Evil prevails, Good disappears' - so he persuaded more guys to join the evil side.

In the beginning of the series, five future representatives from the Good were killed, so the leader of the Good, Shum Shing-nam (played by David Chiang -- or John Chiang) from Flying Fish Village, asked our hero's help to seek other five high skilled fighters to represent the Good in the soon-coming Golden Seal Battle. The journey was quite challenging because the 5 fighters were all outcasts from their own schools. Li Po-yee, however, in the end could persuade each of them to take part in the Golden Seal Battle - although later one of them died in Flying Fish Village and Li Po-yee had to replace him.

Death Wish (Chun Wong) and Li Po-yee (Frankie Lam)

The guys in the Good were not always kind and the guys in the Evil group also had their own merits. Like when one of supposed to be good guys, tortured the Miracle Doctor's girlfriend by cutting off her leg and arm tendons. This false step would make the Good almost lost the fight because the Miracle Doctor chose to be with Evil in order to cure his girlfriend, and this doctor became a strong opponent against Li Po-yee.

Doctor Lai Yeuk-yee (Raymond Lam) and his girlfriend Yin Ye-loi (Selena Li)

The ending was a happy one, with the Good and the Bad -which was no longer bad - lived together harmoniously.

Wong Ching as King Bat

 The happiest event was when King Bat could see again. King Bat was one of the bad guys and he was named like that because he was blind. The doctor later healed him. I wonder if he should changed his name.

Lofty Waters Verdant Bow (TV) 2003

I read reviews saying that this series was so-so, but I think I quite enjoyed watching it. It was only 20 episodes anyway. The story was ordinary, but I like watching Raymond Lam, Michelle Ye, and the interaction between Power Chan and Pierre Ngo.

Raymond Lam played a gallant hero - named Jin Shi-yi, who came from Snake Island - to the mainland, to seek a heroine named Lu Si-niang - who could neutralize the poison in his body. By the way, if you are familiar with Chinese history,  you will recognize Lu Si-niang's name as the heroine who beheaded Emperor Yong Zheng (from Qing dynasty).

Jin Shi-yi would be involved in a love triangle. One was an kind-hearted young heroine, Lu Si-niang's student, named Gu Zhi-hua, played by Rain Li, ; while the other, Li Sheng-nan - played by Michelle Ye - seemed mysterious and come from the enemy's side. It could be guessed that our hero chose the Gu Zhi-hua and seemed to hate the other. But who loved him more? I think this was actually not the question of who loved him more; it should be whom he chose between the two. I think he did really love Gu Zhi-hua. But near the end, when he realized that Li Sheng-nan, whom he misunderstood to be his enemy, had been loving him more; he left Gu Zhi-hua to be with Li Sheng-nan... but it was too late. In the end we see Jin Shi-yi with Li Sheng-nan's dead body on a raft, heading for the island where they had found the ultimate martial-art manual.

One of the villains, the wulin leader, Meng Shen-tong (played by Eddie Ko), had slandered Jin Shi-yi's teacher so that everybody hated the teacher. Meng Shen-tong had accused the hero's teacher as a traitor - so that they failed to assassinate Yong Zheng years ago - and the teacher had to flee to Snake Island. The teacher's good name was never restored although Meng Shen-tong had turned into a public enemy because it had been him who had cooperated with Qing government, not the teacher.

The setting in this series should be during Qian Long's era. In Qing dynasty, the men should had shaved the front side of the hair and braided the hair at the back ... I am not sure why they didn't in this series. Were the characters all rebels or the director simply thought it was not a must.

I heard that this series was based on Liang Yu-sheng's book, which I haven't read. Jin Shi-yi should be with Gu Zhi-hua in the end and they went together to a remote island where they would have a son.