When they say this drama has no plot, I scratch the back of my head wondering how so. The story was a full circle. 500 years ago, peace was achieved by all the states when their ancestors fought demons but then something started brewing and demons start to attack again. In his journey of finding the red stone, Xiaoxuan met Huzi and Xintong. And back in the capital, they met Yuqian. Their friendship developed quite naturally in my opinion. They fought demons together, and has always been on each other's side when another character pick on one of them. Alone in the capital, they have no one else. Meeting each other meant having someone and they started to cherish that.

The plot was slow at the start but the pacing was just right for me. Mystery after another, and Xiaoxuan and his friends begins to unravel each, uncovering a part of the whole plot. And finally in the end, achieved the whole truth. The plot twists had me gasping. I couldn't predict what will happen next. I have a problem of dropping cdramas but this was not the case. It gets better the more I watch it. I wasn't expecting to watch until the end but I got attached with the characters and most especially got me curious on what will happen next. There were a lot of scenes that really struck me to be very memorable.

I really liked the costumes. They didn't look cheap. The characters looked really great in it. The cgi was okay. I actually didn't have any complains about it. The fight scenes are chefs kiss. I don't know if my standard is just low but the I loved watching the fight scenes. The choreo and camera angles were great.

Something that also surprised me about this drama was how they made me despise some characters but ended up loving them later. I got my blood boiling at the early episodes but then the writers gave depth to these characters. I didn't expect their redemption arc could make me care to these characters I originally wanted to have nasty deaths. And those who didn't deserve redemption arc got their downfall in the most satisfying way.

Speaking of character development, the four mains have it the best. Xiaoxuan is a serious and grumpy type. As they say, his eyebrows has a life of their own lol. Always frowning, serious in his job of being commander. But then, Huzi and his friends melted him. Xintong went to the capital to bring back honor to her family. Among of the four, I really like how she's always rational. A female character that is not annoying. She did more than bring her family's emblem back in that hall, she became the best chief commander. Brick grew up really spoiled, someone that is not good enough to be next in the throne but ended up being a great king to his state. And Huzi, well he was annoying at the start and still is I think but his love for his friends knows no bound. He will protect them with everything he has.

Special mention on Xiaoxuan and Huzi's bromance. The chemistry was fire.

While I understand why others dropped this or find it boring, I'm glad it wasn't the case for me. I really loved and enjoyed it. ??