As the Chinese wuxia drama Sword and Beloved ended this weekend, iQIYI has announced Wang Quan Fugui, the character played by the superb Cheng Yi, has just exceeded 1 billion character popularity points.
A new poster celebrating that massive achievement has also been released with a comment lauding Wang Quan Fugui and, of course, the actor who played him:
“Only the sword heart is invincible, forever protecting humanity.”
You are the strongest soldier your mother once hoped for, you are the last sword your father wielded against this world, you are the most beautiful protection and hope they gave to this world.
Congratulations to Wang Quan Fugui (the male lead of “Sword and Beloved,” played by Cheng Yi) for surpassing one billion in popularity.
Sword and Beloved ends its 36-episode run — not recommended
The drama, which stars Cheng Yi and Li Yi Tong, premiered on October 25th and ran through today, November 9th, 2025. All 36 episodes are now streaming on iQIYI for VIP subscribers.
Overall, Sword and Beloved is nothing more than an adequate wuxia, with a very poorly-written script (especially in the latter half), and a director who didn’t see to know where he wanted this to go.
Rumor out of China also says Cheng Yi and the director were in continual disagreement during filming, with the actor wanting to stick to the script while director Du Lin wanted to change things.
That apparently led to Cheng Yi being removed from many of the scenes he should have been in.
RELATED: 6 very pretty Sword and Beloved stills of Cheng Yi drop
Rumor says, I clarify again, but, if true, it would explain why the latter half of the drama was so bad, and why Cheng Yi was nothing more than a supporting character from Episode 19 through to Episode 30.
Of course, Cheng Yi, Li Yi Tong and the rest of the superb cast did their best with what they had but, overall, Sword and Beloved is one of the more mediocre wuxia dramas of 2025 with a supremely annoying ending.
Recommended then if you’re a fan of Cheng Yi or Li Yi Tong (I am. Of both), but otherwise Sword and Beloved is a badly written and directed drama, with zero romance (even though it has a romance tag), and one I can’t honestly recommend with a good heart.
But good for Cheng Yi as Wang Quan Fugui earning 1 billion character popularity points, eh?
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