Ice Fantasy

Lore & Background

The story follows the Ice Tribe princes Ka Suo and Ying Kong Shi after the Fire King uses the murder of his second prince as a pretext for war. With their parents captured and older siblings killed, the princes escape to the mortal world to seek help from realm guardian Li Luo. They must obtain ice crystals from six tribes to restore the Ice Wall and save their tribe. The plot expands on the novel with more conflicts and background, including the history of the tribes and the creation of their world.

Reader's Guide

Ice Fantasy represents a significant adaptation of a bestselling Chinese novel, with production investment reported at about 300 million yuan. The drama's release was delayed due to censorship reviews, and its modern sequel, Ice Fantasy Destiny, aired on Tencent Video in 2017. The series is remembered for its ambitious world-building, extensive use of practical sets (including a 7,000-square-meter 'Endless Sea' set built with 500 tons of artificial snow), and a large cast of characters from multiple tribes. Its legacy lies in demonstrating the scale possible for Chinese fantasy television and in bringing Guo Jingming's fictional universe to a wider audience.

Did You Know?

• The drama's sets were designed by Academy Award-winning set designer Dan Hennah, who worked on Lord of the Rings.
• The 'Endless Sea' set had an area of 7,000 square meters and used 500 tons of artificial snow.
• About 300 million yuan was invested in the drama's production, with 2 million yuan spent on the main palace alone.
• More than 100 craftsmen made 6,000 props for the series.

Production & Broadcast

Ice Fantasy (幻城) is a 62-episode Chinese epic fantasy television drama adapted from Guo Jingming's bestselling novel City of Fantasy. The production was handled by Shanghai Youhug Media, with Ju Jue Liang at the helm as director. The principal cast includes Feng Shaofeng, Victoria Song, Ma Tianyu, Zhang Meng, and Madina Memet, assembling a large ensemble to populate the show's sprawling world of immortals, spirits, and mortals. The series found its home on Hunan Satellite Television's Diamond independent broadcast theater, where it ran from 24 July through 10 November 2016. The sheer length of the run—nearly four months—reflects the dense, multi-tribe narrative structure inherited from the source material. Notably, the final stretch of episodes experienced a delay in release, attributed to censorship reviews, a common hurdle for Chinese television productions dealing with complex or sensitive storylines. The combination of a massive cast, a long broadcast window, and the production challenges of translating a literary epic to screen made Ice Fantasy one of the more ambitious fantasy dramas of its era.

Plot & World-Building

The narrative of Ice Fantasy pivots on a catastrophic event: the mysterious killing of Xin Jue, the Fire Tribe's second prince, during his visit to the Ice Tribe for Ka Suo's coming-of-age ceremony. Fire King Huo Yi exploits this to ignite a second war between the two tribes. With their parents captured and elder siblings dead, the two surviving Ice Princes—Ka Suo and Ying Kong Shi—flee into the mortal world and enlist realm guardian Li Luo to help them gather ice crystals from six tribes, restoring the Ice Wall to save their people. After the Fire Tribe falls to the Deicide Sword, the conflict turns inward. Ka Suo reluctantly battles his brother for the throne, not from ambition but to win freedom to be with Li Luo. Ying Kong Shi, conversely, schemes to strip Ka Suo of power so his brother can live in peace, while Fire Princess Yan Da is prepared to surrender everything for Shi. As Ka Suo's loved ones are killed one by one through the conspiracies of Yuan Ji and Lian Ji, he pursues the legendary veiled lotus, and a new war erupts with Li Tian Jin defecting to the Fire Tribe for revenge.

Cast & Character Dynamics

Ice Fantasy assembles a vast ensemble spanning multiple tribes and celestial orders. At the core, Feng Shaofeng portrays Ka Suo, the Ice Prince whose central desire is not power but the freedom to love Li Luo, played by Victoria Song. Ma Tianyu embodies his brother Ying Kong Shi, a character whose ruthless political maneuvering is ultimately motivated by a wish to free Ka Suo from the throne. Zhang Meng brings the Fire Princess Yan Da to life, a woman willing to abandon everything for Shi. The antagonistic forces are equally layered: Hu Bing plays the power-hungry Fire King Huo Yi, while Yan Yikuan delivers Yuan Ji, the supreme being of the Ice Flame Tribe who orchestrates the chaos in the immortal world, including the assassination that sets the plot in motion. Kim Hee-sun portrays Lian Ji, a mermaid spy whose betrayal collapses the Ice Tribe. The supporting cast extends across the Ice, Fire, Mermaid, Spiritual, Eagle, Bear, and Dream Tribes, with the Seven Saints, the Holy Snow Shrine's four directional protectors, and human realm guardians all contributing to a world where alliances shift and loyalties are tested across every faction.

Legacy & Sequel

The success of the original 62-episode series set the stage for a direct continuation. Ice Fantasy Destiny (幻城凡世), a 16-episode modern sequel, premiered on Tencent Video on 8 March 2017. While the original drama unfolded in a mythic world of ice and fire tribes, the spinoff transplants its characters into a contemporary setting. Feng Shaofeng returns to his role as Ka Suo, reuniting with Zhang Meng, while Zhang Yuqi joins the ensemble. The shift from a satellite television broadcast on Hunan Satellite Television's Diamond independent broadcast theater to an online streaming platform on Tencent Video marks a notable change in distribution for the franchise. The fact that a fantasy epic could generate a modern-set sequel within months of its original airing—whose final episodes were themselves delayed by censorship reviews—underscores the commercial momentum the property carried. For fans of the source novel by Guo Jingming, the sequel offered a chance to see beloved characters navigate a world stripped of its mythic trappings but still defined by the same emotional cores: loyalty, sacrifice, and the tension between duty and desire.

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