I really didn't intend to make a living based on my looks.

"Therefore, our assessment is: Xuan-Yuan Sword will have a minimum viewership rating of 1.5% for its premiere, aiming for 2%; Gu Jian's premiere rating will be around 0.5%. However, if Gu Jian can achieve a comeback through online buzz in its second week, it may replicate the phenomenal success of 'Palace' in 2011!"

Meanwhile, the two companies were also engaged in a fierce battle of publicity and marketing.

A week before the broadcast, Tang Ren launched a massive online campaign to promote his products and services.

The official Weibo account releases individual posters of the main actors, behind-the-scenes footage, and character featurettes every day.

The hashtag #XuanYuanSwordTheScarOfSky# has garnered over 100 million views.

Sina Entertainment and Tencent Video simultaneously released promotional videos for the series of magical artifacts: the Kunlun Mirror, the Nuwa Stone, and the Fuxi Qin.

Hu Ge posted a group photo of himself, Nazha, and Liu Shishi on set, which was forwarded 100,000 times.

On July 1st, Softstar Entertainment released a high-definition remastered version of the game "Xuan-Yuan Sword III: The Scar of the Sky," simultaneously promoting the game with the TV series.

Tang Ren, in collaboration with game developers, hosted the "Xuan-Yuan Sword Night" offline event, inviting game fans and drama enthusiasts to interact and giving away limited-edition merchandise.

On July 2nd, the "Immortals Descend: Xuanyuan Sets Sail" media conference was a star-studded affair.

The five main actors, Hu Ge, Liu Shishi, Tang Yan, Jiang Jinfu, and Guli Nazha, were all present.

Cai Yinong sat in the first row below the stage, wearing a Chanel suit.

During the Q&A session, someone asked, "Mr. Cai, another game-adapted drama, 'Gu Jian Qi Tan,' is also scheduled to air around the same time. What are your thoughts on that?"

Cai Yinong gave a fake smile, "We've been making fantasy dramas for so many years, we don't need to compare ourselves to anyone."

This statement was noted by the media and appeared on the front page of the entertainment section of a certain unscrupulous tabloid the next day.

Cai Yinong: Gu Jian Qi Tan is not worth mentioning!

On July 4th, Hunan TV's "Happy Camp".

The "Xuan-Yuan Sword Night" special event featured the six main actors on stage together.

During the interactive game segment, Nazha's "unexpected cuteness" was amplified. She was so nervous that she misspoke her lines, and Hu Ge laughed and helped her out.

Jiang Jinfu demonstrates his martial arts skills, and Liu Shishi and Tang Yan sing a segment from the interlude.

Finally, Hu Ge and Nazha sang the theme song "A Kiss for the End of Time," and the episode's ratings exploded.

This is Tang Ren's standard playing style!

Gu Jian Qi Tan is not to be outdone.

Two weeks before the premiere, Hou Hongliang called Jiang Chen to a three-day meeting to discuss publicity strategies.

Jiang Chen's ideas, including the "professional approach of using a serious drama team to film a fantasy film," location-based specials, behind-the-scenes footage of martial arts training, and a dialogue-free cinematic trailer, were all adopted!

On July 1, Tencent Video released the first production special of "Gu Jian Qi Tan" titled "A Serious Drama Team Films a Fantasy Game".

The special begins without any actors or plot. The first shot is of Kong Sheng standing on a cliff in Xiangshan, holding a light meter in his hand, while the staff behind him are fixing a camera onto the cliff.

The narration is his own voice: "I don't understand fantasy films, I only understand filmmaking. Filmmaking is about putting people in the right place, letting the light shine in the right spot, and leaving the rest to the actors."

The scene cuts to the actual Penglai Palace under construction. There is no green screen; it shows the real wooden structure and stone carvings, with craftsmen using chisels to repair the patterns on the eaves.

Netizens were stunned...

"Is this a real palace? That's insane!"

"I thought it was special effects, but it turned out to be real."

"The Zhengwu Sunshine production team spends all its budget on things you can't see."

On July 3, the official Weibo account of Gujian released a set of "Martial Arts Training Special".

Jiang Chen was suspended on wires for a whole day. When he came down, his legs were trembling. He squatted in front of the monitor, listening to Kong Sheng explain the scene, his face covered in sweat.

Yang Mi did not use a stunt double. A fight scene in the rain was filmed seven times. In the end, she was soaked to the bone, wrapped in a bath towel, and said to the camera, "It's okay, not too cold."

These videos quickly went viral among fans.

The topic of "Yang Mi's dedication" almost went viral!

On the morning of July 6, less than 7 hours before the premiere, the official Weibo account of Gu Jian released the final trailer.

This trailer is unlike any of the previous materials.

There is no narration or character introduction at the beginning. The first frame is an aerial view of the Kunlun Mountains, with a sea of ​​clouds surging. The only instrumental element is the harmonics of a guzheng, clear and crisp like an ice blade.

The scene cuts to Baili Tusu standing in the rain, sword in hand, his robes soaked and fluttering in the wind.

Then, a shot taken from above zooms in on the real scenery halfway up the mountain, finally landing on the boy standing with his sword beneath the waterfall.

Yang Mi stands on the edge of a cliff, looking back against the light.

In the last ten seconds, the chorus of the theme song "Kenshin" comes in.

"Listening to the zither music, I can't forget what I should forget. The mortal world has trapped my youth." The camera focuses on Baili Tusu's hand holding the sword, with a very thin line of light sliding from the hilt to the tip.

The screen went black, and a line of text appeared: "Gu Jian Qi Tan" (Swords of Legends), premiering simultaneously on Shandong TV's Libra Theater and Tencent Video on July 7th.

The top comments section was quickly overwhelmed.

"Is this really a TV drama trailer? How did it achieve such a cinematic quality...?"

"Director Kong really treats fantasy dramas like serious dramas. The art direction and the staging are absolutely amazing."

"After seeing the lineup and platform, I thought Gujian would be crushed by Xuanyuanjian, but after watching this trailer, I'm a bit skeptical."

"The models used in Gujian are different from the textures used in Xuanyuan Sword."

"One filmed flying in a green screen studio, while the other filmed standing on a real mountain in the rain. The difference in quality is obvious at a glance."

"Yang Mi's shot of looking back was so evocative; it instantly drew me into the scene."

On the evening of July 6, Hunan TV's first weekly drama slot aired two episodes of "Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar of Sky" back-to-back.

Episode 1, "The Demon Star Appears," and Episode 2, "The Divine Artifact Reappears," revolve around the core plot of Chen Jingchou's appearance, Yuwen Tuo's first appearance, and clues about the Kunlun Mirror and the Nuwa Stone.

With a viewership rating of 1.94% and a market share of 6.83%, it won the championship and became the champion of the provincial satellite TV evening slot.

Online platforms are also booming.

On the day of its premiere on Sohu Video, the number of views exceeded 3000 million, and the server experienced a temporary buffering due to the high volume of traffic.

The number of searches on Baidu Index exceeded 150 million in a single day, topping the Baidu Hot Search TV series ranking.

However, the public's opinion of the product or service has taken a dramatic turn.

Game fans and casual viewers began to complain.

The plot has been criticized as "idiotic, like something written by an elementary school student," and the "special effects" are so weak that they are unwatchable, feeling that shadow puppetry would be a better alternative.

The stone carving held by Liu Shishi's character, Tuoba Yu'er, is square and flat with a built-in touch screen, which netizens jokingly call "like an iPad" and nicknamed "Stonepad".

The "ancient film projection technology" featured in the first episode—a Bagua plate placed inside a stone disc player, projecting monster-fighting scenes onto a white cloth—left viewers speechless: "Ancient films are so incredibly advanced, and they're even broadcast live from satellite to the whole village!"

What's even more outrageous is the zombie setting.

The villagers were possessed by a gluttonous beast and turned into zombies. The way to avoid it was to cover their noses and hold their breath for a long time. The way to defeat it was to collect the tears shed by 99 people.

Netizens are exasperated: "Why do foreign zombies require machine guns and plants to fight, while our zombies can be killed simply by crying?!"

"Both popular and outrageous" became the biggest keyword for the premiere of Xuan-Yuan Sword.

On July 7th, the Legend of the Ancient Sword will officially premiere!

……

(P.S.: Thank you all for your support! We've made it to Sanjiang! We'll be having a monthly pass giveaway next month as a way of giving back!)