Started watching this because it appeared on Netflix, and the first episodes were an easy watch. I didn't have many expectations of the drama, since I hadn't watched the drama this one is being compared to, either. Suffice to say, I hated it.

-JINMI: Although I do understand that Jinmi was meant to be innocent and unable to love, I think there's a thin line in these dramas between being innocent and being stupid or lacking in any kind of reaction. I don't know if it's the script or the actress, but there were moments where characters were discussing something important, and Jinmi had little to no reaction to what was being said. It would make sense if she didn't understand shit, but even in situations where she understood the context, there was no reaction. It felt mostly like monologues designed as dialogues, and it made me feel like the protagonist didn't have much protagonism, especially in the first 20 chapters. When she is goes to the Mortal Realm, we're not privy to her real difficulties, and, with that, we, the viewers, cannot see her development, both emotionally and in skills, which left me, personally, unsatisfied. In the last stretch, it's just fabricated drama of why she can't be with Xufeng, to the agonize over him in repetitive scenes that add nothing. In short, she was a boring female lead. There is nothing wrong with innocent protagonists who develop over time, but Jinmi was not it.

- XUFENG: I disliked this character quite a lot. Not only was he extremely privileged, he seemed uncapable of seeing it. Acting like a boy with a crush, he didn't seem to care nor understand that Jinmi was uncapable of loving or that she was unaware of gender differences due to the way she had been isolated. The drama tries to paint him as this heroic, romantic lead, but many of his choices are... well, not heroic. When he goes to the Mortal Realm, and decides to die to be with Jinmi, did he ever think of all the people he was damning by dying? No, because him (or the writer) do not care about anyone other than our protagonists. Everyone else's suffering is secondary to them. He expected people to forgive his parents when they had been extremely vile, and he always acted holier-than-thou. He didn't have an interesting background or story, and he was quite boring, though less boring than Jinmi.

-RUNYU: I liked him a lot more on the principle of developing sympathy over what he had gone through. His character development was far more interesting, even when he became obssessive and resentful. I could see where this came from, and as he did stupid shit, you could understand why he did what he did, and it made him far more compelling of a character. In general, I felt more for him because of the obvious bias everyone had, not just for our protagonists, but for the Emperor and Empress as well. Nobody cared that the Emperor and Empress had done extremely vile things. Instead, almost all our secondary characters blamed Runyu for trying to find justice for his mother and for his family. This is why I felt that the writers themselves only cared about our protagonists suffering, regardless of any other person that suffered, which made me dislike the drama more and more.

In terms of plot the plot was absolutely vapid. You could tell were the plot was going, and it was nothing of innovation. There were stupid conveniences that saved our protagonists from having them go through actually interesting happenings. For example, Jinmi (in the Mortal Realm) had to choose between saving her family and serving the King. It was something hard and impactful, and it made me feel for her because it's a lose-lose situation no matter what. But then, the choice she makes doesn't even matter, because magically her family was already protected and she could do what she wanted to do. It made the drama of Jinmi finding it hard to choose asinine, because the plot resolved everything for her anyway. There were many, many scenes that could have been cut because they added nothing to the story. I spent hours with characters I didn't give a shit about because they weren't even relevant to the plot for 2/3 of the drama (like the Demon Realm Princess) or just in general were barely relevant. This drama could have been cut down to 20 episodes, and it would have been able to have tighter storytelling and less meandering around in order to fill time.

However, if there is anything I did like, it was the drama with the protagonists parents. In fact that was the most interesting subplot I saw. I was actually interest in their past, and especially when everyone discovered the truth, how would that affect the present. However, the plot ended quickly, and it almost affected nothing, because at the end of the day nobody did anything regarding what had happened with Jinmi's mom.

The costumes and sets were beautiful, and a pleasure to watch. The CGI is bad, but when you compare to other Chinese dramas, this one's okay. I liked the opening theme.

In terms of acting, I honestly didn't feel the main actress all that much. She did best in her crying scenes, but everything else was dull. The actress for Xufeng's mom used exaggerated gestures that seemed more theatrical than anything else. It would have made more sense if everyone had that direction, but it was obvious it was only her that overacted (it was funny sometimes, though). Everyone else was in various shades of okay.

Overall, if you're bored and want to watch something without thinking too much, this is it. If you're looking for a tighter plot or more interesting characters, watch something else.