I play the same list 90% of the time with Shenlong.
Shenlong, Sensei Yu, Lone Swordsman, Emissary, Sniper, Ten Thunders Brother, and a Peasant. This list can accomplish most strats and schemes pretty well and has a nice mix of killing power and scheme marker manipulation. It's a little weak to hunting party on paper, but I haven't really had that come up as an issue.
Before I had the emissary I was running Izamu. I think the emissary brings more to the table, especially the card draw ability. I've seen low river monk touted as a must take with the emissary, but I've never taken one before. I can usually get 3 focus on one of the peasants if I want three cards. There's nothing I'd want to cut to make room for a monk that doesn't really do anything but focus and wander around.
One tip that I picked up from the Schemes and Stones episode on Shenlong is to use High River Style defensively. I always thought of it as the primary attacking style, but the ability to raise your final duel total by up to three in exchange for damage means it's pretty easy not to get hit. Between High River Style and the healing from Low River Style, Shenlong can be damn near impossible to kill, even against dedicated killers like Howard Langston. Fermented River Style is the go to if you want to mess someone up. With that style, you're generally on positives to damage and 2/3/5 with good triggers isn't bad.