- I tried to keep this review spoiler-free and I think I did. Be assured you won't find major spoilers (probably not even minor ones) in here and I didn't use names when referring to someone with more details of what I liked/disliked but the term "character". -

This was at least for one year in my plan to watch list and many times I thought of dropping it before I even started but recently it caught my eye and was also recommended to me so I went for it.
First of all: I don't regret watching it, but I also need to say that there were times (and those came pretty early at episode 10) when I thought I would drop it.

The story is confusing. The viewer is thrown into a fantasy world without any explanation and we see a girl in disguise becoming a disciple in Kunlun under the master Mo Yuan. Once you get into this setting, it's already over and you're thrown into a new setting. Actually the mortal world (setting for story arc 2) was my favorite even though it didn't last long. It seemed like the only peaceful setting where the main leads Ye Hua and Su Su were together in harmony.
But too soon this arc ends as well and the drama rises again. In my opinion the genre "Melodrama" needs to be first because the story is full of it and that's what annoyed me the most. We have a lot of scheming, woman acting like furies (probably because they didn't get what they wanted, even though they were pretty spoiled by everyone) and a female lead that I personally wouldn't call strong but ruthless. Sure, we do get an explanation for her rather cold behavior towards her son but still, the barely existing care she shows for him does leave a negative feeling. I also struggle with getting in my head that even though one character was known to be a traitor it didn't have any immediate consequences, the character even rose in status and survived while keep harming others and lying to oneself. So what if everyone despised this character when it didn't have any negative effect on said character? Others who didn't commit such big crimes received heavier punishments which is absolutely not logical to me.

The acting wasn't bad. I do like the cast, just some of the characters are a pain to watch. Actually I ended up, enjoying the scenes of the secondary couples more than those of the main one. Characters like Li Jing, Dong Hua, Feng Jiu, Si Ming and Yan Zhi made this watch much more enjoyable. Maybe it's just me, but I also feel like some characters wore the same expression throughout the drama and only switched here and there to a pouty face or something else but we didn't get to see many facets, which I doubt is the actors fault (after seeing BTS stuff) but more the scripts because they were supposed to be like this.

The music on the other hand is absolutely nice and I do like it. I listen to the OST on its own which I only do with soundtracks that I really like. I just wish they would've blended them nicer as the change of background music in the drama is rather odd in some scenes. The first tune (a melodious but rather sad tune) ends and right after that a lively/cheerful tune is playing. The scene was supposed to be funny and awkward but the sudden change of mood felt too abrupt and forced, so it would've been better to either have a different tune that makes the change smoother or blend them.

The drama itself wouldn't have a rewatch value for me if it wasn't for the side couples and characters I ended up loving.
I like the male lead but the female lead sort of destroyed the relationship for me in the third arc, I liked her best as Su Su because that was when she was friendly and caring. Later she seemed mostly concerned about herself and mistreating others in the process.

Overall I'm disappointed that some storylines and characters just went into nothing. We don't really get to see what happens to them and how their story continues but I'm not really looking forward to watch a long sequel to find out. I found myself unable to like some characters and was annoyed by them. At some point the constant whining and scheming out of "revenge" or other motives was too much and I found myself not caring at all about their monologues. It made the story draggy and I think the drama could've done better with a less amount of episodes.
I do understand why people like the drama but also why the dropped ratings are so low in comparison. Without the things I liked my rating would've been similar.
I recommend to give this drama a try but not to force yourself to keep watching if you don't enjoy it and just drop it instead. I enjoyed some characters which made it worth watching, but I definitely could've lived without some so when I rewatch, I'll skip a ton of scenes.