So basically this show is really good, and here's why. First is the characters. Wei Ying is such an enjoyable main character. He never comes off as annoying to the audience despite annoying every character in the show. He's the most selfless person on the show and does things because he believes they're the right things to do. He literally leaves his perfectly fine life so he can live with the outcasts and give them a home. So when he attacks the rest of the characters, nobody watching believes he is in the wrong. Meanwhile, Lan Zhan is the perfect love interest for him. Their time together is great not only because their personalities are complete opposites, but because also because of the subtle ways they show they really care for one another. Those are the parts where the show is at its best. When it takes time to develop the relationship between the two leads. The actors have great chemistry and really give it all in their performances. The other side characters serve their roles. Shi Jie is the saint who never does any wrong and ultimately has to die for the plot reasons :(. Jiang Cheng is the sibling that always hates on Wei Ying but ultimately is completely justified in his actions, even if it makes him seem like a terrible person. The other side characters are not very important really, mostly just one-dimensional people who love to hate on Wei Wuxian.

So I would say the biggest weakness of this show is the plot. It's certainly still good, but some parts go by pretty slow. Like many Chinese dramas, this one didn't really pick up until about episode 15. The previous episodes all serve to set the characters and the setting before everything goes down. The part immediately after Wei Ying comes back to life also dragged a bit. I just remember not being very interested when they went underground into a tomb for blades. One last part that was slightly underwhelming was the finale, which is a shame. The build up was fine but at the end they basically just ended up talking in the temple while the evil henchman dude dug a hole. Then it was over pretty quickly. But the reveal that the little Nie guy was behind it all was pretty good, even if it was a very last second thing.

One last thing about this show is that the music in it is just amazing. It's one of the only shows/movies where the music actually plays a role in the plot. I feel like I should mention it because even though they basically play a bunch of variations of WuJi, it's still so good and never gets old.

It's just a really good drama.