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FSMM DISASTER WITH ROTTEN SCRIPT
I thought Red Moon Pact was worse among all installments of Fox spirit matchmaker franchise, but Sword And Beloved proved me wrong,It's even worst.If you want to watch this drama so badly bcz of cheng yi, just watch the first 13 episodes and STOP THERE & assume It's one of the best dramas out there then move on.I wonder whether the main lead actors & actresses only got this first 1/3rd of the script and accepted their roles bcz no way they could've read the entire scriptbook and still accepted this inconsistent illogical mediocre mess.Such a waste of talented cast.
Main leads storyline - So this drama was supposed to be the story of Male lead Wangquan Fugui And his Heaven & earth sword heart .But his sword meridians were cut off and he was sent to exile with a binding spell then he gradually appears less and less in the screentime that almost felt like he's doing a guest role in his own storyline,later came back with full screentime in the very last episodes to finish off the ultimate villain of fox spirit series, the Black Fox & the Grief tree...Fugui's potential 'beloved' is our Female Lead Qing Tong, who he saved with 10 years of his lifespan (well, no big matter, he also burned out his lifespan for a support role too, Fugui is just too kind in nature) FL also became a side character in the middle of the drama with no major impact in the storyline Except that she incidentally acquired a black grief tree seed (which i personally think was an entire dumb decision for her to follow those ''recipe books'' her evil brother gave to her lol) But then, FL had to sacrifice herself and ML had to kill her in the end for that seed (Did it really have to occur at the pavilion though? when it holds precious memories of us viewers from Love In pavilion, which is somehow a decent drama and the best among all 3 FSMM installments)
Still,Wangquan Fugui is the most watchable character of this drama & barely carried the drama in his back even when writers messed up his character to get it aligned with their shitty plot
2nd leads storyline - 2nd most watchable character of the drama was Quan Rumu,who is the cousin of Fugui, who had a loveline with the last dragon clan descendant demon, which at first looked so good and interesting, but then their story got dragged & i fast forwarded the hell out of it, both of the characters ended up as unnecessary deaths by our clown writers who probably have gone through so much sufferings in real life to venge it through the characters they write.My good advice to the Writers is, stop writing cdrama scripts and go get a life.
3rd leads storyline - Fan Yun Fei, a fox clan demon & Human Li Xueyang had their happy Ending but i doubt if anyone even cared for it in the end.But Yunfei added some comedies in the drama which viewers really enjoyed & he was one of the side characters that made sense,he had some good dynamics with our dear Fugui and Rumu and their scenes were enjoyable.
Main Antagonist - I don't have any energy to talk about that Black Fox and grief tree and seed thing bcz they are always the main villains of the FSMM stories and good characters always had to sacrifice themselves in order to 'purify' the hatred they gathered.This whole repetitive villain arc is boring and uninteresting.Rumu's father Quan Jingting is another loathsome villain who only schemed and Schemed Against his family & yiqi alliance all his life but still wasn’t unalived by the righteous alliance leaders for so many years which made no sense at all, Qing Tong's so called 'brother' Qing cheng who's another villain also got unnecessary long screentimes and angered the viewers in the most annoying ways possible. Only this two characters are Enough to drive the viewers to drop this drama in the Middle. Enduring their cheap dialogues for so long which made little sense probably took some lifespans from my life.
Drama is full of unnecessary side plots and side characters which added no value in the main storyline and not to even mention the plotholes as usual like the other 2 previous installments. Martial arts scenes were less than expected, but done very well by Actors and with good CGI, Emotional scenes literally felt flat so i'd say directions & camerawork were bad,but as the actors were all fine,they somehow managed to create the impact of the scenes.
This is one of the biggest disappointments of 2025 and i'd not recommend this to anyone, it didn’t sadden me a bit with It's sad (or rather open) ending bcz ending was also messy and laughable. i am just relieved that it came to an end, now people won't have to suffer anymore with this Fox spirit matchmaker disaster saga.This is also one of those rare cases ever in my 11 years of watching Asian dramas that i rated a drama 9 at initial episodes but ended up with a 7 in the end,...5 or 6 would be a more perfect Rating but i had to consider the amazing cast list's hard Work and dedications for a rotten stupid script for which i Wonder if they had to nauseate while filming certain scenes bcz they were so badly written.
i sincerely wish cheng yi would choose a good script with good production house and good writers & directors in the future.
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Sword and ... definitely NOT beloved
The GOOD 👍:Perfect music: the songs will be stuck in my head for a long time, they're so beautiful, both the melodies and the lyrics ✨🎶
Amazing costumes, accessories and hairstyles for ALL the characters and especially the main ones🌸💫: this stylist should get some kind of award because every recent drama with their work is a feast for my eyes when it comes to the characters' looks. "Sword and Beloved", "Love of the Divine Tree", "Shadow Love", "Fated Hearts", "Love In The Clouds". Just STUNNING. 😍My deepest respect for their incredible work.👏
Fantastic fighting choreography⚔️🔥, it was really impressive and I loved all the epic fight scenes. Very detailed and professional polishing there. Especially with Fugui's powers, it was so fun to watch him obliterating his enemies.😎
Acting🎬: Cheng Yi, Guo Jun Chen and Chang Hua Sen brought to life really wonderful characters that I will always remember fondly. 💔With the scenario they had, they did their absolute best and I am grateful for their devotion.
The BAD 👎
Romance🙄: It was a BAIT from the beginning. Only in the very first episodes, the main "couple" had the chance to build something but it was cut short when the toxic, obsessed, trash entered the picture and ruined everything till the end. 🤬AAAAALL the focus went to the love stories of the side characters with no room or time for the mains. They did us DIRTY. 👿That's not what ANY of us wanted. We were treated like CLOWNS.🤡
The villains🥱: you're trying to tell me after all the crap Quan Qingting did... They STILL let him run around with no-one checking up on him??? 🤦When there's a SNAKE, if you don't want it to bite you, YOU CUT OF ITS HEAD. Cause it WILL kill you. You end it the moment it's down, otherwise you'll regret it forever.
Qing...cheng...🤮: HORRIBLE character, served no purpose other than keeping the main couple apart, childish/amateur acting by the actor, I feel like his only line was JIE JIEEEEEEE. 🤮He ATE like 12 episodes and brought nothing to the table. I wanna erase his memory from my mind.😖
Gullizan or whatever she was called😒: Short lived. Another meaningless character with the depth of a needle pin. She was forgotten before she even existed in the drama.
The absence of Cheng Yi from many episodes.😡 That was... I HAVE NO WORDS. 🤬Everybody and his dog had screen time and we were struggling to even spot a time stamp with Fugui in certain episodes. 🧐What the hell was that????? ☠️What idiot decided this, WHO REMOVES THE ML FROM HIS OWN DRAMA???? 🤦I swear to NEVER watch anything from these writers EVER AGAIN.😾
And as for the ending... 😞
To say I did not expect Fugui's sacrifice is a lie. I wouldn't have minded sooo much if he had actually LIVED a little. 😢Everything good went to the third couple, the lovey/dovey scenes, the marriage, the happy ending. 😮💨Even the doomed second couple had romantic scenes, they had kisses, they talked about love and marriage. Even if they both tragically died, they shared precious bonding moments. 🥺But Fugui and Qingtong were deprived of that because of QINGCHENG. 🤬My blood boils every time I mention him. I can't believe how much bad impact he had on the drama. He literally destroyed the main part of the story.
I haven't fully watched the two previous FSMM dramas, just bits and pieces but at least those main couples were ACTUAL couples. 🫤Heck, the Red Pact couple got their happy ending in the modern world. What did we get????? 😓Fugui first killing Qingtong and then sacrificing his last life force to bring back her original form. We can GUESS that blue butterfly was Fugui's soul and prooooobably he'd reincarnate and return to her but open endings are GARBAGE. 😠I DON'T WANT TO GUESS. SHOW IT TO ME. 😤What happened to "we'll travel the world together to see the rivers and the mountains and all the sceneries and we'll always be together...". I'M DECEIVED.
Sigh... I'm just so disappointed. 😭This had the potential to be one of the best C-Dramas ever and now it will leave a bitter taste in my mouth every time I remember it. 😢If Cheng Yi wasn't the ML, I would have dropped it halfway. He's the one who kept me watching for support. Now, I'm just looking forward to his next projects to recover from this disaster... And HOPEFULLY, he'll have a happy ending for a change...🥺🙏
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Cockroach Dad, Incest 12851, Pointless Deaths, Catastrophic End
Sword and Beloved is a bait-and-switch. The “Sword” is meh, especially compared to Blood River, which aired at the same time. The “beloved” is the cruelest joke: there’s zero romance between the ML and FL, and their only hug, lasting mere seconds, exists solely so the ML can kill the FL to retrieve a grieve seed from her.Rumu and Wengyuan’s deaths are utterly unnecessary and contribute nothing except a cheap attempt to wring some sadness from viewers.
The show wastes roughly half its episodes on the 2nd ML’s cartoonishly evil father, who keeps popping up like a cockroach, and on the FL’s obsessive, villainous 12581 spider brother, who is hell-bent on turning his own sister into an object of incestuous fixation.
A decent first third, a frustrating middle, and a catastrophic end. The writer, director, and producers are permanently banned from my screen.
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Flashy aesthetics with a healthy dose of trainwreck instead of substance
Qingtong: Are you saying that the innocent and kind little brother I always thought you were never existed at all?Me: Could it be that the interesting drama I thought this was never existed at all?
This was really fun in the beginning. A bit tropey perhaps, but with pretty costumes, set design and CGI. The OST was good too, especially the theme song. Most importantly though, there were hints of future emotional complexity and somewhat meaningful tragedy. Or so I thought anyway. I expected that the tragic guy who had been raised to have no emotions and slaughter without asking questions would get to have some interesting emotional development.
Well, that didn't happen. This drama peaked in episode 12, because that was the only time there was any real emotional complexity and intensity. Afterwards, the drama slowly but surely descended into a complete trainwreck. It wasn't even one of those beautiful, fascinating trainwrecks that you just can't seem look away from; it was just stupid. As if a bunch of uninspired and incoherent scenes written by ChatGPT had been shoved into a blender. Eventually, I started wondering if the promising story I thought this was had always been just in my imagination.
The villains were horrible caricatures. They became black holes of idiocy that ruined the character of everyone around them, because by enabling the villains to do whatever they want over and over again for the sake of the plot, everyone else started looking like an idiot too. Side characters got disproportionate amounts of screen time, while the main characters were almost completely abandoned for half of the drama. Some of the side characters were really fun, others were terrible, but even the fun ones often felt out of place. Instead of emotional complexity, we got a bizarre little brother spider with a vaguely Freudian jiejie complex that took up astronomical amounts of screen time with no point or payoff.
The editing was struggling to make any sense of the material they had. There was zero respect for continuity or the characters. Random day-night transitions, incoherent presence of characters between scenes, scenes that were very obviously filmed without the actors being in the same room, heavy use of voiceover that felt very retconned, clumsily inserted shots of hand doubles that were really insulting to the viewer (ofc Li Yitong occasionally has gigantic hands and veiny arms). The later episodes also featured some extreme mismatch between what the drama wanted to pretend was happening on screen and what was actually happening on screen, giving emotional whiplash and uncanny valley. The drama wanted me to feel sad, but I felt nothing out of spite.
Everything about this drama gave the impression that the production process must have been a mess, which resulted in the final product being a mess. I only finished it to see how they would end it, but honestly the choices made in the last few episodes felt too bizarre for me to even comment on them.
Would definitely not watch this again.
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Change the title to A Spiders Journey..
The rating 7 is all for Cheng Yi.. if he wasnt in this i wouldnt even watch this. First i dont know anything about the novel.. but ive watch all the series.. Love in Pavilion being my fave one.. so i was super looking forward to this one bcuz i wanted to see Fugui's story after his parents...well that didnt happen.. the writers and whoever else was behind this screwed it all up for us viewers.. Cheng Yi was barely on screen.. his characters story didnt have a chance to develop or shine.. due to what seems like the focus became the FL. No exaggeration.. she probably had 75% screen time on this show. Even in moments her character had no significance.. she managed to be in the scene.. like when Fugui and his father were closing their chapter she was standing in the room like for what let them have their intimate moment as father and son.. maaan how much money did u pay for that.. that whole 15 episodes straight of just her and her brother.. wow.. im sorry but this was such a disappointment for cdrama.. would i recommend? Only if you are a fan of the FL cuz this technically was HER show and not about Fugui.. as for me.. i cant believe they used Cheng Yi to promote this show when its not even about him. 💜Was this review helpful to you?
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Not Much Sword, Secondary Stories Add Romance, & a Tired Cheng Yi in a Fantasy That Drags
It starts as a promising light fantasy drama with themes of transcending fate and choosing one’s own path, but it becomes nonsensical and dragged, making it hard to stay engaged. I actually had to force myself to finish the final episodes.Main Story & Acting
The main romance between Cheng Yi and Li Yitong is disappointingly flat. They share zero romantic spark or emotional connection, not even a believable friendship, more like polite strangers. While the script itself keeps them distant, their chemistry never develops.
Cheng Yi, in particular, feels detached and tired, lacking the emotional intensity and focus he once displayed in Love and Redemption. His performance here feels stoic, repetitive, and emotionally absent, as though he’s acting but not fully present in the role. It’s hard not to wonder if something might be affecting him personally, given his recent performances have also felt less invested.
Supporting Stories
Thankfully, the two secondary romantic storylines provide some relief. These side couples bring energy, humor, and genuine chemistry, even delivering the only kisses in the entire drama. Their playful interactions and lighter tone make them far more engaging than the main leads, and at times, their stories completely overshadow the central "romance".
Action & Production
The sword fights are heavily CGI-enhanced, with lots of wirework, glowing swords, and energy effects. Instead of showcasing real martial arts skill, the combat scenes feel more like digital spectacles, flashy but emotionally empty. The result is a sense of AI-style choreography that looks artificial rather than exciting.
While this style may fit a fantasy setting, it sacrifices the raw authenticity of traditional wuxia fights, which I personally miss.
Themes
The drama aims to explore ideas of fate, destiny, and following one’s heart, but it never achieves the emotional or philosophical depth it strives for.
Final Thoughts
If you have nothing else to watch, it’s passable, otherwise, it doesn’t offer anything particularly new or memorable.
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Forgetable and Regretable
And I thought Journey of Legend was bad, Sword and Beloved is even worse. It’s like the first time I had sex: quick, confusing, and utterly forgettable.In a sea of talented Chinese actors, Cheng Yi somehow feels past his prime and yet he shouldn’t be. Maybe the blame lies with the production company or direction, but the hype surrounding this drama only made its failure more glaring. For someone once known for emotional intensity, Cheng Yi now looks stuck in an endless cycle of recycled expressions and overwrought suffering. What once felt passionate now feels mechanical.
The series started with an interesting premise but quickly fell apart. Between the filler “lovey-dovey” scenes and paper-thin plot twists, it felt like a desperate attempt to stretch mediocrity into forty episodes. Cheng Yi’s character barely anchors the story, more like a bystander watching others die, much like in The Journey of Legend. Apparently, death follows him more faithfully than any love interest.
There is no sword and definitely no beloved in this series. What it should’ve been titled was “Spiders Have Feelings Too.” The pacing is lifeless, the writing uninspired, and the production forgettable.
At this point, I’m convinced Cheng Yi has fallen victim to repetition- same roles, same expressions, same emotional clichés and the result is cinematic déjà vu.
Final Verdict: 3/10. A stunning example of how hype and habit can kill artistry. I’m officially dropping this show and taking a long break from Cheng Yi dramas
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Disappointment romantic drama
This drama should change its title to sword and friendship or family but not beloved. There is no romance at all between the leads their never even in scenes together that much towards the end. They focused more the 2 and third couples romantic relationship. The actoring was great from the whole cast though. If you watched love in the pavilion yes i would say its interesting sequel to see the main leads kid as adult. Other than that sad ending 😔. But if your into to romance dramas like me dont watch it again there is no romance with the leads. I only recommend watch love in pavilion than watch this one. But what a waste ill i never watch this again 😔Was this review helpful to you?
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Swoon and Jebaited
‒Review (Spoilers)‒Despite its name and early setup of an epic romance between star-crossed lovers, Sword and Beloved is best appreciated as a Xianxia/Wuxia where the fulfillment of obligations and restoration of the world against evil takes center stage.
So let's acknowledge the problems first. The show actually starts with a lot of promise, especially for the romance lovers. But as soon as they swooned for a bloodied stoic Cheng Yi carrying out our FL Li Yitong, the plot pivots for that romance to be put in deep freezer. We get some pairings with 2nd and 3rd leads, but the main couple peaked around ep13. So all the romance folks got all excited, then jebaited, and infuriated at the end. And that's why so many people are pissed, understandable. Also the good guys are way too good at leaving the bad guys alive to do damage later, repeatedly. This includes world's most uncaring dad keeping alive the world's most filicidal dad. And the FL thinking her brother is just an innocent arachnid who needs more kindred love, when he's actually an incest-bro sister-gooner who stares at her creepily with every opportunity. Also the FL keeps calling the ML by the full mouthful of Fugui shaoye, and the ML doesn't bother asking her to use something shorter, and never kills her for syllable abuse.
Yet despite all that, I didn't think the show was all that bad. Given how much consternation the later arcs has caused, I will now defend the drama against the rain of ten thousand swords. For all its faults, S&B is a show (the first Xianxia?) that I was able to complete without intensive vomit-suppression efforts. The acting was convincing, anchored by seasoned veterans, promising youngsters, and resonant performances from Cheng Yi and Li Yitong. There are quite a few scenes‒such as Qin Tong getting tortured at Wang Quan Manor, QT vs. dark QT, and Fugui vs. Fugui‒that the better acting made the difference between gag reflex and resonance. Even the young male stars of Guo Junchen (Rumu) and Chang Huasen (Yunfei) were solid in selling their characters and keeping the cringe to a minimal. This is in contrast to many idol dramas that serve up Wang Hongyish (incest bro) actors, even for the leads‒more on him later.
In addition to the acting, the production quality, and pacing kept me from jumping ship. The sets, CGI, and cinematography is definitely on the aesthetically pleasing side compared to most idol dramas. Unlike shows like Kunning Palace, The Double, Blossom, and too many others to name, I don't feel like I'm watching some psychotic rampage from the cameraman. The fighting scenes were also choreographed, performed, and edited well. And despite the disappointing romance storyline, the plot kept moving, things were happening. I'm sure there were plenty of plot holes‒I didn't dare to examine closely‒but the show didn't waterboard me with its illogical lunacy. Too many other dramas have a nonsense plot, but instead of mercifully concealing it, shines a big stage light on it, and force the viewer to marvel at its stupidity. And dare I say S&B's ending was fine. There was a sensible explanation for the motivations, deaths, and outcome.
But I understand the disappointment, as this had the potential to be a great show that not only excelled in the fighting/action element it does so well, but also deliver the high romance that not only keeps everyone happy, but also make the story more epic and profound. They could have made the theme of demon-human lover pairing work into some epic sacrifice of love between FG and QT. They could have set up QT's sacrifice so it was more poignant, instead of a post-hoc expository explainer. At the hands of skilled writers, this could have been an actual epic story.
‒Meta Commentary‒
All said, this show really wasn't that bad. Most idol dramas are a lot of worse, because they sacrifice everything for romance gooning. But of course, I would never sully the taste of MDL viewers with such a dastardly term as gooning, so I will use rooning instead. The real reason people think S&B screwed up so hard is because there's not enough rooner-bait. It was dangled early, then locked away. And it's upsetting because this had a rooner-worthy setup, with a solid rooner-worthy cast, and flubbed it. Had this been wall-to-wall rooning material, aka Legend of the Destined Female General's Journey to Double Blossoming Kunning Palace Brings the Demon Til End of Moon, people would have ignored all the blatant flaws and called it a masterpiece.
What cannot be ignored is incest-bro, Wang Hongyi. The problem is not that he gets pigeonholed into villainous characters, it's that incest bro can't act and therefore might as well cover it up using rage-inducing characters. Not only does bro instigate a facial anarchy every time he emotes, there's a conspicuous absence of sincerity from his eyes. He reminds of Zhang Haowei in that even when he's playing honest or innocent roles, a glimpse into his eyes convinces you that he's up to some shady shit. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if WHY gets into some scandalous shit in the future. Am I being ridiculously presumptuous, sure, but somebody put some surveillance on that guy. It's in the deviant eyes, I'm telling you.
--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 7 --> 7.5 MDL
- Plot - 7
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 8
- Acting - 8
- Visuals - 8.3
- Audio / Music - 7
- Rewatch - 6.5
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8.5
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The power of love - but what is love?
The themes and ideas in this drama are fairly simplistic. While timeless on the one hand - that love is the most powerful force of all and can conquer any evil - the execution of this story on the other leaves a lot to be desired. I can see the attempts to portray familial love, friendship and brotherhood and romantic love, but everything feels hackneyed and lacking in some passion and dimensionality. And so while sacrifice is undoubtedly related to love - it feels empty and unearned by the time you watch the final episode. It is hard to feel anything for characters that do not feel like living, breathing people.The cast is certainly capable of more, but this script is the true problem of this drama. One wonders why 3 dramas were needed to portray this world (if you consider the other related dramas as well). There is simply not enough depth or breadth in building this world to fill it with over 100 episodes worth of suffering people.
Time to look onward and forward to hopefully better dramas with more to say and show than this very forgettable story.
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Laughable!
Honestly, one of the worst dramas of the year.I’m forcing myself to keep watching it for Cheng Yi and a few other actors in the cast, but it’s really hard to endure such a poorly written and badly produced show.
The CGI is downright nauseating—absolutely terrible.
The only redeeming quality of this drama is the costume design and its stunning use of vibrant colors.
I’m currently on episode 25, but as one fellow MDL user perfectly put it, it feels like I’m watching a story made by a teenager, with zero maturity for a project like this.
Laughable, seriously!
I admit I skipped a few parts. Honestly, I couldn’t endure so much mediocrity. But I did finish this tragic excuse for a drama.
I saw that some viewers felt deceived by the plot and the ending. I didn’t feel that way — halfway through the story, I already knew exactly what awaited me.
My biggest disappointment is Cheng Yi. As one fellow viewer perfectly put it, it felt as though he were merely watching his own character from the sidelines. A caricatured face, an empty expression, and a complete lack of emotion or engagement — as if he were simply finishing a dull, joyless task.
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who appreciates quality productions. Unfortunately, not even Cheng Yi makes it worth watching.
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great start , dragged midway and unsatisfying finale ...
so this has been a roller coaster of emotionsa strong start , draws you in , fugui the emotionless solider who is looking for his father's acceptance , hongyue who only wants his son an emotionless weapon to kill demon to fulfill his promise to huazhiu also I think he got it all wrong you get to see it through the drama .
so the upside was you get well written charaters and great actors up till episode 12 when fugui left wangquan manor after that it dragged way too long the western reigons arc could have been summed in 5 episodes way did take like 12 or 15 episodes way too much.
qingcheng obseession with his sister what was that , I mean the only reason I could think of the writer putting that part was to keep Qingtong away from fugui for no reason what so ever maybe just to drag the drama for few more episodes truly disgusting and unessecary .
in the 2nd half of drama , I guess the written forgot there was romance in the category and qingtong basically disappeared , i mean she was the FL her scenes in the 2nd half of the drama were so little and no there was no development at all .
Quan jingting truly despicable he will do anything for power even killing his own son .
rumu and weiyun ending truly is heartbreak wished for a better ending for them .
they shouldn't have dubbed this drama it was truly annoying like you know it's not cheng yi 's voice .
cheng yi as the villain was great , he needs to play more villain roles .
the ending needs a review itself, truly hate it , fugui and qingtong didnt get a proper goodbye .
it didnt know what went wrong with this one but it felt like 1st half was written by a writer and 2nd half with a different writer 🤔
he was writing to add more episodes without building for the ending truly disappointing 😞
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