Disclaimer: Spoilers for the drama and novel ahead but I will try to minimise them as much as possible. I watched the cut version of the drama (56 episodes in total btw) but did watch some scenes from the DVD version that were cut; I also read the Chinese novel and I will be comparing both in one of the major points below.

I felt so strongly about this drama that I specially created an account to review it. It had the potential to become one of my favourite dramas ever but ended up being an incredibly flawed drama even if Lu Zhao Yao and Li Chen Lan are one of my favourite couples ever. They honestly deserved better. Let me point out what is so flawed about this drama while listing a few good points:

1. The editing of the scenes and the transitions between scenes

This was really just a mess, where random important scenes were cut here and there [I am looking at you ep 19 and 21] and for the last 6 episodes it just felt like random scenes were tacked together (not in chronological order). Nevertheless, I did enjoy the prologue at the start of each episode as it felt like a foreshadowing of what was to come. Also, the rampant use of '5 years later' felt out of place and over-used. Honestly, it didn't seem realistic at all that Lu Zhao Yao established Wan Lu Men and sealed Jin Xian in only 5 years.

2. Random plot holes/bad CGI/random mistakes

The CGI was bad but was quite typical for a Chinese drama. However, I did notice various mistakes in the Chinese subtitles, as well as some mistakes in some of the lines delivered by the characters e.g. they referred to other characters by the wrong names. Some of the scenes didn't make sense too, for example in some scenes it felt like simply using teleporting will have resolved a major conflict in the drama, but the character in question chose not to do so for some unknown reason. The props moved about randomly as well probably due to poor editing.

3. Changes from the novel [major major spoilers in this section]

The drama decided to change the whole 'possession' aspect of the novel, which is acceptable if they had explained properly why Zhao Yao had the same face as Qin Zhi Yan and how she got her face back later. I don't see how cleansing herself in the pool to purge herself of everything she ate in Qi Zhi Di would have helped to get her face back.

They added a lot of scenes for other characters to lengthen the drama as the novel was not very long. This was done well sometimes, when some side couples were covered more and their relationships explored in greater depth. However, this felt rather pointless as none of the side couples ended up with each other; they even killed off one of the side characters when the guy totally survived in the novel. Sigh, why will you make us care about the couple and then kill that character off unexpectedly?

As for the antagonists, I immensely disliked how they got a lot more scenes. No one cares about the nth scene of Liu Su Ruo moping about Jin Xian or the nth scene of Lin Zhi Yu moping about Li Chen Lan or the nth scene of some random antagonistic character plotting. Although Jiang Wu was portrayed a lot more sympathetically towards the end, I didn't like how he was essentially just a gigantic lightbulb in the OTP's relationship.

Honestly, if you wanted to make the drama longer, you should have included some of the scenes that were cut from the novel of the OTP or just included the long epilogue from the novel. I did however like the proposal and wedding scenes for the OTP that were not inside the novel.

They also made the OTP much weaker both in personality and powers. Li Chen Lan was practically invincible in the novel and Zhao Yao was always a strong badass female character. In the last 20 episodes, they became so weak that it almost felt as though they were not the same characters anymore.

4. The ending [also major spoilers]

Like I mentioned earlier, the last 6 episodes were just a mess and totally not in chronological order. It was kind of a happy ending, but I was really confused about how they resolved the whole conflict and whether the scene where Zhao Yao 'killed' Li Chen Lan was a cop out or not. Also, I thought it was weird that they used the same actor and actress to portray their children because I had to imagine them as siblings instead of a couple??? It would have been much sweeter using child actors with the couple...

So then, you all may be wondering why this drama is rated a 7.0 despite all my criticisms above. It's basically because of Li Chen Lan and Zhao Yao in episodes 5-41, as well as the general good acting across the board. This couple was the best with such good chemistry that I really felt as though they were in love. They really deserved the ending in the novel instead. The comedy was also pretty good and was one of the few things consistent about this drama.

Sigh this was such a major disappointment in the end...

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This drama was consistent throughout as a light-hearted watch that never took itself seriously. The production quality wasn't great due to the low budget, the CGI was poor and the story was practically non-existent. However, the main couple CH and QY made up for everything, especially QY.

This drama is mainly about a love triangle between a girl and two guys that are polar opposites of each other - Qiu Yue from the Demonic Sect and Xiao Bai from the Feng Ming Manor who claims to uphold the righteous side.

For me, Qiu Yue was the star of the drama. He is an anti-hero, scheming and cunning with no morals but below his cold and ruthless exterior was a vulnerable and lonely person that had an abandonment complex. Li Hong Yi did very well portraying such a complex character and the chemistry between Chun Hua and Qiu Yue was really sizzling. I loved all the kisses between them. Chun Hua was a more typical character, but she showed maturity as the drama progressed and I didn't blame her for leaving Qiu Yue in the latter half of the drama.

Xiao Bai was clearly the weakest link in the main cast. The actor portraying him had too wooden expressions and I couldn't really buy his character or his 'love' for Chun Hua. Though to be honest, his character is a very conflicted/contradictory one that didn't do him any favours either in terms of likability.

A special shout out to Feng Cai Cai who I initially disliked but became such a wonderful, understanding and intelligent character by the end of the drama.

Overall, the drama probably doesn't deserve the 8.0 rating that I gave it since it really isn't a good drama but I enjoyed the scenes between CH and QY so much that I really recommend it if you like xian xia and romance.

On a side note, the ending was actually very faithful to the book although they could have included the side stories that mentioned their child which would have made the ending more satisfying.

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I know that countless reviews have been written for this drama but it's so good that I had to write one praising it.

First, the music is phenomenal. Each significant character has his/her own song specially tailored to each character's experiences, with many of the characters singing their own songs!!! In fact, now I am listening to the concert that ran from 1st Nov to 2nd Nov. Highly recommended to listen to it!!! Some personal favourites: Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian's duet, Shi Jie's song [never fails to bring tears to my eyes], Wen Ning's character song

Second, the story. The story is decent, although nothing spectacular. Fans of the novel will be relieved to note that they stayed quite faithful to the novel, although they had to remove all the BL scenes. Personally, I am not a fan of BL so I was totally okay with the changes.

Thirdly, the cast. Wow, where should I begin..There were so many pairings that I loved...

1. Shi Jie x Wei Wu Xian: She was so adorable with Wei Wu Xian and their scenes were the ones most touching and heartbreaking. She was truly the world's best Shi Jie and always gentle and accepting towards Wei Wu Xian. When she died, Xian Xian's world ended :'((((((( no one will ever call him Ah Xian again.

2. Lan Xi Chen x Jin Guang Yao: Wow I never expected to like a pairing with the main antagonist in it. Jin Guang Yao was such an evil character that was so miserable. Maybe if at the start the person he met was Lan Xi Chen instead of Nie Ming Jue, he would never have done all the evil things that he did. Special mention: Jin Guang Yao x Su She..I have mixed feelings about the actor acting as Jin Guang Yao though, I thought he was good but something felt off about his acting

3. Lan Xi Chen x Lan Wang Ji: I never figured out how he figured out all his brother's expressions LOL

4. Wen Ning x Wei Wu Xian: Wen Ning is so adorable. Kudos to the actor for acting the contrasting personalities in Wen Ning so well.

5. The Yi City Arc: This was a bit short but good. It would have been nice if they had developed this more. I thought that the actor acting as Xue Yang had too exaggerated expressions..

6. Lan Si Zhui x Lan Jingyi x Jin Ling: These three are so cute together! It was so touching how they cried at the concert. Hope they stay friends after this drama.

Before I mention our OTP, let's talk about what I didn't like so much...

1. Wei Wu Xian x Jiang Cheng: This was the main reason why I didn't give the drama 10/10...I felt that Jiang Cheng's performance was not as impactful as I had hoped, but it could have been the nature of his character. It felt like he always had the same expressions. This was a pity as this was a very significant pairing, probably second only to the next one I am going to mention.

And now our OTP..
Lan Wang Ji x Wei Wu Xian: Wow I was blown away by their performances. I started out loving how adorable Xiao Zhan was as Wei Wu Xian but in the end Wang Yi Bo was the one who stole the show for me. Lan Wang Ji is a character that has barely any lines but he manages to convey all his inner feelings through minor tweaks in his expressions. The one where he smiled at the rabbit painting was my favourite. And they have SO MUCH chemistry. And the way he defends Wei Wu Xian!!! However, I must admit that Xiao Zhan as Wei Wu Xian put on a much more complex performance. His character was a tragically misunderstood hero that truly embodied the adage 明知不可为而为之

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