Pull Strings / 师兄太稳健

Ao Ruipeng is literally one of my husbands and somehow this drama still managed to give me approximately three crumbs of romance across THIRTY EPISODES. 😭

Sir. I came prepared to support my husband.

I was not prepared to support him through an entire cultivation strategy seminar while waiting until the end of civilization for somebody to kiss somebody. 😂

My Overall Reaction

3/5.

I finished it. Ao Ruipeng was entertaining. The fantasy world was interesting enough, and Li Changshou being absolutely obsessed with staying alive was genuinely funny.

But romance?

What romance? 👀

For most of this drama, Li Changshou acts like falling in love is another natural disaster he needs seventeen backup plans to avoid. The man will calculate the destruction of the universe before he will calculate whether he likes Yun Xiao. 🤦‍♀️

And unfortunately for me, the drama agrees with him for almost the entire runtime.

Yun Xiao and Li Changshou have chemistry and work well together, but Pull Strings is primarily a xianxia adventure/comedy about survival, schemes, cultivation, fate, and the Great Tribulation.

The romance is basically standing in the corner waving at me.

The Plot

Li Changshou was terminally ill in his previous life before being reborn into the Primordial World as a cultivator.

Because apparently dying once was enough for this man. 😂

His entire philosophy becomes:

• Avoid unnecessary danger.
• Avoid karma.
• Keep your real strength hidden.
• Always have backup plans.
• Have backup plans for the backup plans.
• And apparently AVOID ROMANCE AT ALL COSTS.

Unfortunately, the universe keeps throwing increasingly ridiculous disasters at him until the man who wanted nothing more than to quietly survive ends up manipulating events involving sects, dragons, gods, ancient weapons, and eventually the fate of the entire world.

Ao Ruipeng fits this type of comedy really well because Li Changshou is smart and competent while also being completely ridiculous.

Li Changshou — Ao Ruipeng ❤️

My husband was absolutely the reason this remained watchable for me.

Li Changshou is not your typical reckless xianxia hero who sees certain death and says, “Sounds fun.”

Absolutely not.

This man sees danger and immediately creates:

Plan A. Plan B. Plan C. A paper clone. An escape tunnel. Poison. Another paper clone. And probably a fake funeral just in case. 😂

He is cautious, calculating, capable, and usually ten steps ahead of everyone else.

Which I liked.

Unfortunately, he uses approximately that same amount of caution toward having feelings. 🙄

Yun Xiao

Yun Xiao is thankfully not useless.

She is powerful, intelligent, capable of protecting herself, and eventually becomes one of the most important people in saving Li Changshou and stopping the catastrophe.

She also deserves credit because this woman eventually realizes:

Fine. Apparently I have to initiate this relationship myself.

😂

By around Episode 25 she finally tells him that being around him calms her heart and asks whether he would stay beside her forever.

FINALLY.

Twenty-five episodes.

Ma'am, thank you for your service.

❤️ The Romance — Or Whatever That Was

This is where the drama lost me.

Li Changshou and Yun Xiao do have a bond.

They trust each other.

They fight together.

They protect each other.

There are little emotional moments.

But the drama spends so much time refusing to actually develop the romance that it almost feels like a no-romance drama until very late.

Their meaningful romantic progression does not really arrive until the final stretch.

Yun Xiao confesses around Episode 25.

Li Changshou does not really give us his big emotional declaration until the endgame.

And the first verified kiss is Episode 30.

EPISODE THIRTY.

THE FINALE.

😭😭😭

My husband was standing right there for thirty episodes and this is what you gave me???

The kiss itself is sweet.

But at that point I was basically collecting my romance compensation package.

Chemistry / Affection

Ao Ruipeng and Sun Zhenni actually have enough chemistry that the lack of romantic material becomes even more annoying.

There was potential here.

The drama simply does not prioritize it.

Most of their relationship is:

strategy partners → trusted companions → emotional connection → OH WAIT THEY LOVE EACH OTHER → apocalypse.

There is very little time for normal couple behavior.

No real dating era.

No long stretch where they are openly together.

No domestic sweetness.

No proper “now I finally get to enjoy my couple” section.

Just calamity. 😂

The Ending

And then the drama decides my reward for waiting thirty episodes is MORE SUFFERING.

Li Changshou spends an unbelievable 3,600 years inside frozen time calculating possible solutions to the Great Tribulation.

His eventual plan causes his existence to be erased from everyone's memories, and 500 years pass in the outside world.

Yun Xiao is the person who realizes someone important is missing.

She helps everyone recover their memories and uses the Chaos Bell to return them to the past so they can save him.

Which is actually very romantic.

FINALLY.

Li Changshou and Yun Xiao reaffirm their feelings and he tells her he is willing to stay with her.

They kiss.

And I'm thinking:

YES.

GIVE ME MY COUPLE.

Except this is a xianxia drama, so apparently happiness is illegal.

Yun Xiao sacrifices herself to become part of the new Sea-Calming Pillar and seal the Demon Emperor.

Li Changshou wants to remain with her, but she refuses because she spent centuries trying to save him.

He survives.

She does not return to a normal physical body before the drama ends.

A strand of her hair containing part of her essence remains, and Li Changshou believes she can eventually be given a new body. He vows to master the necessary technique even if it takes thousands of years.

So there is hope.

But there is no completed reunion.

No wedding.

No married life.

No final “they are living happily together” scene.

Ending Classification: Ambiguous/Open Ending

They mutually love each other, but Yun Xiao is still sealed and Li Changshou is waiting for/restoring her when the drama ends.

Excuse me.

After making me wait until Episode 30 for romance, you could have AT LEAST returned the woman before the credits. 🙄