First, my nationality is not Chinese I'm just European guy that loves Chinish dramas so maybe my view of why I like it is different done yours.
Also, I never read the book nor do I read the first one.

I really like it the first series "Eternal Love" but this one I like it more as the act of all the cast was excellent they always put a smile on my face most of the episodes, and all performed an amazing act in their roles which made easy to drag you quickly into their world which is what I normally look forward when I'm watching anything. The characters are really funny From (Dong Hua, Bai Feng Jiu,) to (Si Ming, Yuan Yu, James Li & Young Demon Lord Wayne Liu).
Why I like it more than the first one? is because the first was too much drama for me especially when Ye Hua cried that much I didn't quite like that, for me the man it should maintain the composture as Dong Hua does really really well and elegant, One drop or two of tear is ok.
From the first series, I don't know why I was more interested in the character of Dong Hua as it was mysterious and the thing between him and Bai Feng Jiu made me laugh and enjoy that series more so maybe that's why I really like this one more because they focused exclusively to these two characters, Also its been quite a lot of action so you never get bored compared to the first one that I thought they were so many extra dramatic episodes that made the series a bit long on the Dramatic part side as it was like super extra exaggerated at least for me but no offence. But this was just perfect, not too much not too short, just the right amount, though the Aranya Dream was a bit longer than it needed as I would have prefered sorter and change to a different environment so we could have the chance to see other beautiful sceneries. But it wasn't long that can ruin your serie.
The Music + The Decoration are Amazing top 10/10 all those beautiful sceneries are top-notch
Si Ming it should get a Comedian show as his faces is super funny it gave a lot of cool moments.
I would love to see a continuation just to see the world and characters again.
To end I have to say Dong Hua should get an Oscar as his performance was Amazing in this series and on the first one, has that air of mystery and that knows everything I don't think another actor could have taken his roll it was indeed made for him no doubt. Also, that white hair is it just too cool jeje congrats to the people that made that looks Awesome on him.
Yuan Yu and James Li also gave a lot of cool funny moments,
The same as Bai Feng Jiu she did an excellent performance as that innocent naive girl which made a lot of cool moments.
Congrats to everyone and to the producers of the show as they did an Awesome job.

PS:
I hope that chines dramas never lose that magic and don't go bananas with sexual content as the western do now with series like Games of the throne which is one of my favourites by the way, but I hate when they do all that non-sense scenes of sexual as its very insulting, that's another reason why I like chines Dramas as they are clean, Interesting, elegant, they spend more time where they should (History, effects, fun) than the crazy sexual which doesn't add anything plus if we want to see that kind of things there are plenty free on the internet so I wouldn't be watching that series if I needed that, not sure why they don't follow your example on how to make quality Series or Films, keep the good job and give them example as the world went nuts.