Spring of the Blade
Spring of the Blade is a 30-episode Chinese historical romance drama from iQIYI. It aired from September 17, 2026 to October 7, 2026, and all episodes are out. In the US it streams officially on iQIYI (VIP, episodes 1-5 free), checked October 25, 2026. It is adapted from a novel by You Si Jie.
Where to watch Spring of the Blade
Official services only, checked by hand for your country. Free options come first.
Watching from the US? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from the UK? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from Canada? Did iQIYI work for you?
Watching from Australia? Did iQIYI work for you?
We check the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Showing United States.
Is it worth watching?
Final verdict coming soon. It goes up once our editor has seen the ending. How we rate
Fans of Story of Kunning Palace and The Story of Ming Lan who want a darker, scheming heroine
What viewers score it
The story, without spoilers
What to Expect
We haven't watched this one. This section is based on the official episode synopses, the production's own descriptions and Chinese coverage, and we'll replace it with a verdict once we have one.
This is a revenge drama first and a romance second. Qingyuan doesn't play the meek daughter for long: she fakes ghost sightings, a cursed fire and a possession by her dead mother to unsettle the household, and Chinese reviewers have compared her to a ghost story heroine. The mansion is shot dark, all night scenes and red gauze. The first half is a house-intrigue story about one poisoning nineteen years ago and who framed her mother for it. The second half widens into court politics and the corruption case Shen Run came to break.
The romance starts as a wary alliance between two people who keep catching each other's tricks, with Li Congxin as a sincere third point in the triangle. Their shared childhood comes out around the middle of the run.
Reception in China was mixed. The drama did well on iQIYI's charts, but its Douban score sat at 5.4 in early October. A content note: the drama has beatings, poisonings, a suicide and a violent final act, and the finale includes a death by fire.
The Story
Nine years ago, two children lost everything in the same season. Shen Run's family was wiped out after his father was framed; Yunya's mother, a concubine thrown out of the powerful Xie household, died in a fire. They hid together in a ruined temple for a while, then were separated. Spring of the Blade (一瓯春) opens with both of them back in the river city of Hengtang under other names. Yunya stages a haunting at the Xie mansion so the frightened family takes her in as their long-lost fourth daughter, Xie Qingyuan, and she can find out who really destroyed her mother. Shen Run arrives as Yan Rui, a showy imperial envoy sent to look into vanishing famine-relief grain, and every trail he follows leads to the Xie family. Each sees the other as a useful piece on the board before either realizes who the other is. Zhou Ye and Xu Kai lead the 30-episode iQIYI drama, which is based on a novel by You Sijie.
Release Notes
Spring of the Blade premiered on September 17, 2026, on iQIYI and Youku in China. VIP members got six episodes on day one, then two a day, then one a day, and the 30th episode was released to them on October 7. Free viewers in China followed on a slower track. Outside China, iQIYI's international service (iQ.com and the iQIYI app) lists all 30 episodes with English and several other subtitle languages. When we checked from the US on October 25, 2026, the first five were free. The theme song, also titled "Yi Ou Chun," is sung by Zhou Shen.
Does Spring of the Blade have a happy ending?
Nothing opens until you ask. The first step shows only the type of ending; the details come after.
Happy, sad or open?Shows only the type of ending, nothing about what happens.Show ending typeHide
We have not finished this one ourselves; this is based on outside sources.
In Brief
Ending spoilerShow the ending in brief
Spring of the Blade has a happy ending for its leads. Shen Run and Xie Qingyuan marry, bring down the men who destroyed both their families, clear both their parents' names, and end the drama together by the sea. The road there is dark, and several members of the Xie family die along the way.
Full Ending Explained
Full spoilersShow the full ending
This account comes from the official episode synopses for episodes 20 to 30, not from watching.
The forced wedding. After Shen Run reveals himself and is ordered to protect Xie Shu, Qingyuan breaks with him and accepts Li Congxin's proposal. On the wedding day Madam Hu has Xie Qingru take Qingyuan's place under the veil, and when the switch is exposed she demands Qingyuan become a concubine instead. Shen Run rides in with an imperial decree: the emperor grants the marriage, strips Qingyuan of the Xie name, restores her to the Chen name and gives her a second-rank title. The two marry in front of everyone, with Granny Chen standing as her family. That night Shen Run explains that protecting Xie Shu was the emperor's plan to reach the real enemy, Finance Minister Hu Xing, who framed Shen Run's father.
The faked death. The morning after the wedding, Qingyuan wakes to find Shen Run with a dagger in his chest, and she is accused of killing him. It's a trap they planned together: Feng En, a mole, helps stage the wound and Shen Che supplies a drug that mimics death. While Hu Xing celebrates, Shen Run gathers his guards, the Danyang troops, refugees and students under his father's reform proposals. The Marquis of Danyang is killed at Hu Xing's banquet, and his death turns the city. Shen Run reappears alive, the rebellion is put down, and Hu Xing is made to drink poisoned wine. Before he dies he admits he framed Shen Run's father together with Xie Shu.
The Xie family's secret. A bronze mirror that belonged to Qingyuan's mother leads her to a name, Lu Lingshu. Madam Hu, dying, confesses that she smothered Concubine Xia, Qingrong's birth mother, years ago, and that Xie Shu isn't a Xie at all. Old Madam Xie's real name is Lu Lingshu. To secure her place in the family she traded her newborn daughter, Jin Chunqing, for a baby boy, and raised that boy as Xie Shu. Jin Chunqing later fell in love with him without knowing any of it. Her last letter proves the final truth: Xie Shu killed her to bury his origins. The old lady refuses to take the blame for him and hangs herself.
The last episode. The emperor pardons Xie Shu but backs Shen Run and Qingyuan, makes Qingyuan heir to the Xie household, and supports the land reform Shen Run's father died for. Qingyuan confronts Xie Shu with everyone he killed. When he fights back, Shen Run restrains him, Qingyuan throws oil over him, and Shen Run sets the fire. Xie Shu dies and the mansion burns. The others get quieter endings: Qingru and Li Congxin begin to make peace, Qingrong meets a scholar, and Qinghe and Pei Guanling run Qingyuan's shop in the capital. The last scene is Shen Run and Qingyuan smiling at each other by a bonfire on the beach.
Change what opens automatically in .
Did you finish it?
Anonymous. One vote per device. We never show a score from these.
Finished Spring of the Blade? Watch next
Picked by our editors for the same feel. Finished dramas first.
Where the Mask EndsAll 30 episodes outHappy EndingHappy EndingA stand-in bride story built on deception: a street-smart heroine, a suspicious husband, and a rival who wants her old life back.
NetflixNetflixNetflixNetflix
Story of Kunning PalaceAll 38 episodes outHappy EndingHappy EndingA reborn empress tries to rewrite her fate at court, while her ruthless former enemy, now her teacher, hides a past of his own.
iQIYIiQIYIiQIYIiQIYI
The Story of Ming LanAll 73 episodes outHappy EndingHappy EndingA concubine's clever daughter grows up hiding her wits in a Song dynasty official's household, then marries a notorious marquis, over 73 episodes.
VikiVikiVikiViki
Cast and characters
The novel behind it
The drama adapts Yi Ou Chun (一瓯春) by You Sijie (尤四姐), a historical romance serialized on JJWXC from October 2019 to January 2020, about 102 chapters long. A print edition followed in China in 2020. As far as we know, there is no official English translation. The title roughly means "a cup of spring."
Differences from the Novel
Ending spoilerShow the differences
Going by Chinese summaries of the book, the drama keeps the core: a concubine's daughter brought back to the Xie household to clear her mother's name, and Shen Run, a commander at the emperor's side, investigating corruption under the name Yan Rui. Three changes stand out:
- How she gets home. In the book, the Xies fetch her because a fortune-teller says her birth chart will settle their run of bad luck. In the drama, she creates that bad luck herself, with fake hauntings and fires, so they'll send for her.
- How the leads meet. In the book, they meet when she mistakes Shen Run for his brother Shen Che, and he's more than ten years older than her. The drama gives them a shared childhood in a ruined temple and a silver-coin promise, which makes the romance a reunion.
- Tone. The book is known in China as a house-intrigue romance in the vein of The Story of Ming Lan. The drama pushes it toward a dark revenge thriller.
We haven't confirmed which of the drama's late twists, such as the swapped baby and the burning of the mansion, also appear in the book.
Novel Ending
Full spoilersShow how the novel ends
The novel also ends happily. Qingyuan clears her mother's name with Shen Run's help, the two break up a corrupt plot and the case against the local officials, and they marry and stay together.
- Original title
- 一瓯春
- Author
- You Si Jie 尤四姐
- First published
- JJWXC, 2019
- In English
- No official translation that we know of
Words and customs you'll hear
"Guarding the house": why the Xies want a lost daughter back
The family believes a lost daughter with the right birth chart can settle a house plagued by bad luck. The idea is called zhenzhai (镇宅), "guarding the house." It's a real folk belief, and it's why the frightened Xies accept Qingyuan without asking hard questions. The drama turns it around by making her the source of the "curse."
Wives, concubines and "fourth daughter"
In a household like the Xies', the principal wife's children outranked those born to concubines, and daughters were numbered by birth order across all the mothers. Qingyuan is the fourth daughter (四娘子) and a concubine's child, so the women who run the household can bully her openly. Much of the plot turns on what a concubine could be accused of, and how little protection she had.
Song-dynasty style
The production describes the look as inspired by the Southern Song: pearl face ornaments, lotus hair pieces and soft layered robes. Hengtang itself is fictional, and much of it was filmed in the old water town of Puyuan in Zhejiang.
The title
一瓯春 means "a cup of spring." An ou (瓯) is a small tea bowl, which fits a heroine raised in a tea house. The theme song's lyrics draw on lines by the Song poet Li Qingzhao.
Spring of the Blade FAQ
How many episodes does Spring of the Blade have?
Spring of the Blade has 30 episodes, each about 45 minutes long. The full run is out: iQIYI VIP members in China had the final episode on October 7, 2026, and iQIYI's international site lists all 30. There are no extra or bonus episodes that we know of.
Where can I watch Spring of the Blade?
Outside China, Spring of the Blade streams on iQIYI's international service (iQ.com and the iQIYI app) with English subtitles. When we checked from the US on October 25, 2026, episodes 1 to 5 were free and the rest needed VIP. We haven't found it on Netflix or Viki.
Is Spring of the Blade on Netflix?
Not that we can find. As of October 24, 2026, the drama's international home is iQIYI, which produced it. If it shows up on Netflix or another service later, we'll add it to the Where to Watch panel on this page.
Does Spring of the Blade have a happy ending?
SpoilerShow the answer
Minor spoilerReveal whether it ends happily
Yes. Shen Run and Xie Qingyuan marry and survive, both their parents are cleared, and the last scene shows them together by the sea. It's a dark road there, though: several members of the Xie family die in the last episodes, including the villain, in a violent finale.
Who are Yan Rui and Shen Run in Spring of the Blade?
They're the same man, played by Xu Kai. Shen Run is his real name. His family was destroyed nine years before the story begins, and he comes back to Hengtang as the imperial envoy Yan Rui. Qingyuan learns who he really is around the middle of the drama.
Is Spring of the Blade based on a novel?
Yes. It's based on Yi Ou Chun (一瓯春) by You Sijie, a historical romance serialized on the Chinese site JJWXC in 2019 and 2020. The drama keeps the leads and the core revenge plot but gives them a shared childhood and a darker tone. Our novel section covers the differences behind spoiler warnings.
Can I read the Spring of the Blade novel in English?
Not officially, as far as we know. You Sijie's novel has no licensed English translation that we can find, and the original is in Chinese on JJWXC. Fan translations may exist, but we don't link to them. If an official edition is announced, we'll add it to this page.
Still have a question about Spring of the Blade?
Ask us anything: an episode, a character, where to watch it. We answer the common ones on this page.
If you liked Spring of the Blade
More historical romance our editors rate.
