When Destiny Brings the Demon

everything is great except the ending

I was a HUGE fan of this drama for two reasons: the FL lead is super unconventional and the relationship dynamic is so addicting. Normally, I hateeee time travel/alternate universe plots, but the modern-day FL literally escapes the drone of capitalist society by accidentally transmigrating to an ancient cultivation world. Her mind and memories are still intact, though, so her commentary throughout this process is HILARIOUS. Literally all the FL wants is a vacation. She isn't here for the drama or the theatrics, she literally just wants to eat good food and get good rest.

I did start to waver a TEENY BIT around episode 19/20 because of the plot twist that determined the last 13 episodes. It definitely was still interesting and entertaining, but I was not as big of a fan as I was in the beginning. It's a classic case of starting really strong and setting the bar too high, only to struggle to keep up the momentum by the end. I still liked the second half of the drama, just not as much as I liked the first half.

The relationship dynamic is great. The FL is sunny and witty, while the ML is a bit nonchalant (at first). When they start to fall for each other, its soooo satisfying to see their personalities change to compliment one another. I love how obsessed they become with each other too—emotionally and PHYSICALLY.

I didn't like the ending. I don't have much else to say without spoiling. I just didn't like it.

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I wanted it to end until I didn't want it to end

This drama had all the potential to stand proudly in my top three 2025 cdramas. It even came close to becoming the best (imo) but then the second half of the drama came and what I thought was soo funny and dark became a boring soap series with an unending cycle of drama.

When Destiny brings the Demon starts out following the story of Zhou Yan, a girl form the modern days, who gets into a car crash and sinks into the body of Liao Tingyan whom lives in the world of cultivators and demons. She's a disciple to a minor clan and is chosen to be send to the palace of the Grandmaster (Sima Jiao) along with 99 other ladies. Her slacker attitude and lazy agenda intrigues this Grandmaster because everyone in his entire life has been out to get him killed. But she seems to hold no grudge or fear against him and so the two become close. During many attempts of assassination, Tingyan sticks by her master and proves to him she's not among the assassins and that she means him no harm. Her humor and honesty triggers warmth in him and his cold demeanor begins to fall around her. It's the start of one of the most epic love stories I have seen in cdramas so far.

At first I wasn't sure I could stick to the drama due to the bad special effects and costuming. It gave off a cheap vibe and I couldn't look past it when the Grandmaster's snake started to change size every other second. In one shot it was gigantic and the next second it felt tiny in comparison. The budget didn't even allow for Tingyan to hold onto a saddle when flying a crane. It was a green screen, and a pretty obvious one at that. The costuming looked bad too.
Thankfully, it got better. I see now that most of the budget (at least.. I think it did) went to the fights scenes which are done very well when it comes to special effects.

The story contains a couple of very heavy themes such as: cannibalism and human breeders. It got so dark at one point I couldn't believe they actually showed this on TV. I have never seen anything like it before in anything I have ever seen. I'm glad the female lead got to use her humor to lighten up the episodes every now and then. It created a nice balance of utter shock during the darker tones of the series in between the light and hilarious senes with Tingyan. I absolutely loved the show and it kept getting better and better with each episode until the 20th somewhat episode. The main characters end up losing each other during a great battle and Tingyan is swept towards the Demon realm where she undergoes a Soul Cleansing and we enter a long run of episodes with an amnesia trope.

This is where it all goes down hill.

The story just becomes laughable at that point. Most of the plotpoints get dragged out too much, the amnesia takes way too long to fix itself and our beloved couple spends too long apart. And when they do finally meet, Tingyan doesn't recognise him and even wants him dead. Mostly.. And when she does finally remember him she ends up killing him and it just snowballs into more drama. It felt like something straight out of a soap series and I couldn't help but laugh at everything that happened after that. Especially when we entered another amnesia plot but this time turned around. It was his time to forget everything.... I just wanted the show to end and was happy when I got to the last episode. It was finally going to be over, I thought...

But then I started to crave for more.

I liked the ending. I really do, but I wish they could have shortened a lot of the unnecessary plots in the Demon realm and had more time for the ending. It felt rushed, it felt unfinished and now I'm left with wanting more of a show that I wanted so desperately to end.

Positives:
- That chemistry was electrifying!! I adored the main leads and they adored each other.
- The amount of kisses (and more) in this show was amazing. Usually in dramas all we get is a few kisses and most of them not even deep. But this show gave me all the steam I wanted and more.
- The acting. At first I had to get used to some of the cast members and their acting style but they caught me gradually.
- The (dark) humor in the show was a nice counterweight to all the dark themes.
- A romance done right. The couple, although they did keep secrets, were very communicative with each other so less misunderstandings, no real love-triangles where jealousy became a fourth person or breaks-ups. They were devoted to each other and only each other.
- The first half of the show is the best.
- Chen Feiyu is an incredible actor. The way he portrays his emotions nearly ended me.

Negatives:
- The story became draggy in the later half of the show.
- The female lead can come accross as very dull and dumb sometimes due to her lazy attitude. It makes her seem weak. In the later half of the show she's supposed to be this badass powerful cultivator almost equal to the Grandmaster but we only get to see her do some weak magic. In any other case she nearly always faints or gets hured. She's the classic damsel-in-distress. I would have loved to see her protect her man instead of always being the one who needs saving.
- They use a lot of repetitive themes such as amnesia, reincarnation (I stopped caring if anyone died because practically everyone comes back once or twice) and power struggles.
- They should've given us more time in the real world. It's great to know she's found him again in the real world but I would've liked to know if he got to remember her too. (I really hate amnesia tropes)
- There were some major plot holes. Especially with the second time jump. No one can convince me snakey boy waited 19 years to propose to the love of his life. Or that Tingyan managed to rule both the Demon and Immortal Realms for that many years due to the people believing she killed the Grandmaster when she's obviously mourning him.

Overal I did like this drama. It was a fun watch and I do think I will watch it again sometime but I would skip the later half of the show and just pretend Tingyan's first death is the official ending continued by her going back to the real world.
I do recommend this one. Especially if you're in for a more dark toned drama that's still a lot of fun to watch and are not bothered by dumbed down characters.

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Good one

*"When Destiny Brings the Demon - Long For Fish" is a romantic drama. It doesn’t have the flavor of demons and their magic, even though the male and female protagonists are demons.

After watching two or three episodes, I felt the drama was boring and wondered why the protagonist had chosen to act in it. However, after watching more episodes, I became intrigued by their chemistry. The love story they portrayed was so emotional that I was completely captivated by their performance, and I continued watching.

I liked the other characters and their performances too, especially the male protagonist’s bodyguard, the serpent, and his love story. However, I felt a little disappointed that the drama didn’t have a satisfying ending. They didn’t include many plots toward the end; the drama only focused on the leads and their story. I still felt that the leads should have had some dialogues before the ending."*

One more thing I want to say about the drama that is it has mesmerising musics and songs.

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Great leading couple, everything else is background

Flash review--

THE GOOD

The leading couple is everything in this. Their portrayal. Their chemistry. The way they treat each other (except--). Just a pleasure to watch.

Some fun magic.

The FL characterization is just fun.

The 2ML is a cutie both in appearance and his characterization

THE UNREMARKABLE

Pretty much everyone else in this are painted in shades of gray. And it kinda works? Like, it mostly just forces the focus to stay on the leads and that is great because they are wonderful

But seriously, almost any time there's another character, I'm like "who is that" followed by "why do i care" but blessedly also followed by "oh good they're offscreen again quickly, back to the leads"

THE BAD

There is some really unpleasant plot stuff about halfway through. And unfortunately it isn't brief, it drags on for multiple episodes, way longer than it needed to.

Multiple times the FL is sidelined or has her agency removed. Really frustrating, especially when she's carrying the series.

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Want Overall review go ahead

Without any spoilers
Here are some pointers:
*Good series, story is good at least.
*All actors are beautiful and handsome. Did a good job.
* Editing is a little poor in the first few episodes, but after that, it's all good.
* CGI and all other departments did their job well.
* God bless no rush ending.
* for the first time experienced dual cultivation as it is. It's sensual
*The ending makes you want more episodes especially when the male lead is this handsome
If only they added more modern world stories of theirs.

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What do I do with my life now?!?

That was epic. Probably the first time i've watched a Chinese fantasy drama and was locked in from start to finish. I loved the story arcs, the acting, the visuals, it was perfect. PLUS the OST! I always find that if I get hooked on the soundtracks, I love the drama much more, the sounds tracks in this drama were beautiful. I also quite liked the secondary romance that bloomed, but it was subtle, the only thing I sort of wondered was whatever happened with the second female leads goal to save her clan? However, I suppose time moved on and they passed away or something?, but I also wonder if she ever recovered her memory or if I missed that somewhere 😅

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Funny and Sweet

When Destiny Brings the Demon is a fun watch! The chemistry between the leads is amazing and their moments together have a lot of heart. Some scenes actually made me feel for them and the humor sprinkled throughout kept things light and fun. The fantasy world is also really well-done with beautiful sets and visuals, the early episodes do a great job balancing adventure, romance and funny interactions.
However, It is quite slows down a lot in the second half and sometimes dragging with unnecessary side plots. A few emotional scenes could have been acted better both female lead and male lead.
The ending didn’t feel as exciting as I hoped, the whole show could have been a bit tighter with fewer episodes. But if you like romance-heavy fantasy with some laughs, cute teasing and heartfelt moments then this drama is a must-watch.

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Sooo Romantic!!❤️

This has to be one of the most romantic cdrama 😍❤️ I have watched in a long long time!

The chemistry between Ting Yan and Sima Jiao is amazing! And the kisses! WOW! Really nice sensual kisses and not the usual dead fish lip kisses!

This drama was a good one, with a nice ending, although the modern world ending was a bit rushed, atleast we SAW their faces in one frame and watched the scene unfold where they see each other again for 4th time. Not like another drama *cough LGIEF* where we never got to see their faces lol and just heard a random voice instead

I wish we got more screentime for the second leads as well, but nevermind. I'm happy with what we got.

Through all their lifetimes, their souls will find each other 😍😍 the Romance in the drama is the MVP!

Rewatch value: 8.5/10

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I Tried. I Really Did

Dropped after 25 episodes. The story started going down for me after like 16 episodes, but I pushed on to see if I'd still like it.... I don't

I hate amnesia as a plot point. All it does is drag down the story and basically halt it. Instead of us dealing with new things, we are on pause n kinda go back a few steps.
Also, I read episode recaps from that 'Cho Na Writes' website, and they keep dying and going through the amnesia thing.

So far in ep 25, she's the one who supposedly dies, then he'd die next coz she'd accidentally kill him. Then she's immortal n meets his amnesiac reincarnated self in lik 16(19?) years. Then she dies, and they meet again in the modern world, and the show ends..

Aaai. Nani anataka kushinda hapo akizungushwa? Not me! ✌

I did like their chemistry, though. They were really cute together. He's a cute tsundere. N her lazy self was a fave. All she wanted to do was eat and sleep. N she got to do that n ended up with a hot, rich, powerful man who loved n indulged her... Dream life right there

If someone were to twist my arm to rewatch this, I'd only watch the 1st 14/15 episodes and stop there

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When bad writing brings the doormat

The drama started pretty well: though overall mediocre with countless plotholes, inconsistent characters, and failed attempts at comedy, it was still so addictive that I was able to look past all these shortcomings and enjoy the show... that is up until the episodes 15-17 when I realized that the relationship bettween the leads was VERY unsettling.

If you compare the characters in ep 1 vs 17, you realize it is not a character development that that main couple goes through, more like a change of personality.
First of all, the female lead is not leading anything, she is basically a doormat being dragged around by the ML. She is supposed to be a modern-day working woman, but in a span of a few episodes ,behavior wise, changes into to a simping teenager. As a character she is flat and boring- she has no wit, no achivements, no interesting past, no hobbies (sleeping doesn't count)- She is just that generic "good person". The screenwriters even make a desperate attempt to make her have some goals and it is mentioned that what she wants in her life the most is to live comfortably, but that is not anything specific to you, girl, you just described what everyone wants in their life!!!

As any other "weak " woman she needs to be constantly saved by the ML, so many times that it becomes annoying. We are being constantly reminded how she is the powerless one compared to the ML and the one time she saves his life is by doing a kind of a romantic/sexual favour- so basically it is implied that only romantic love can save him and he would be screwed if there was anyone else around wanting to save him. Additionally, the scene itself is so underwhelming and awkward, as saving his life doesn't cost her ANYTHING, there is no price to be paid (and there should be) and it just serves for the two of them to get together. Then it gets even more disturbing when they (let's not forget they are STRANGERS who have known each other for just a few moths) have basically invaded each other soul manner, which is said directly in the drama to be the MOST PRIVATE PART of your existence where NO ONE should be allowed and even couples in the cultivation world do not let each other in as it is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and this stupid girl instead of panicking or being concerned that she did this with the ML, who she only a few weeks before feared would killl her, starts thinking : it didn't kill us doing it, so it must be true love, and I was like eww,eww,eww, are your really that stupid girl, use your brain and RUN AWAY. Because let's be honest it is just lust at this point that she feels, and it is revolting how something like this is served to the audience as "love".

On the other hand, the ML is a patchwork of all the typical "cold male lead" traits, so therefore, he is full of contradictions. We are told that (except for his mother he has never met) NO ONE around him has ever sincerely loved him , or even liked him, he spent most of his life locked away alone because of some assholes, so one would say he must be deeply traumatized and have a twisted idea about love and affection (or even more logically, since he is full of hatred, he is probably not interested in love or has even a capacity at this point to truly love), yet, in the drama he not only does have it but also knows quite well how to behave in a relationship, how to show affection in the right way, which is just bizzare. You can't give what you don't have or haven't seen how it should look like and therefore, if we have to have him in a relationship, it would make more sense for him to have a bit twisted idea of love, which could be then explained by his past experiences. The second thing is that the "true love between them" heavily relies on the actor's looks/age - if you swapped his face for someone in their 40s - 50s (as his character is over 500 y.o. vs FL in her 20s) there would be no love story. If she really was from the present then I would assume that she would not normally date a guy who could be her dad. Similarly, I don't understand why he would even fall in love with HER, there is nothing that makes her different from others and I believe that if he used his magical powers he would be able to find some other confidant who sincerely has no ill will towards him. If he really went by his character set up in ep 1, the FL lead with her suspicious behavior would be long dead, and we would be spared of this shit show.
But no, we are told that it is destiny for the two of them to be together, which if you ask me is a great set up for domestic abuse later on, but on that some other time.

Overall, their dynamics is just so off and the two of them from the get go assume their respective stereotypical roles where the ML is the strong, cruel one consumed by resentment, determined to get his revenge. But paradoxically, later in the drama, he becomes sweet as a marshmallow and keeps favouring the FL so much (and for no logical reason if you ask me) that if I were one of the characters around her, I would hate her too (because in this drama as in other similar fantasy dramas - if you are with a "strong" man everyone is jealous and after you 🤦🏻‍♀️ ). She doesn't do anything to make us belive that she deserves to cheat her way in the cultivation world and to achieve (obviously with the help of the ML) just in a few weeks a cultivation which would take other hundreds of years. I can't stand her as she is so unlikable and bland, with no ambition in life (she literally said this about herself) and her only purpose in the story is to care about ML's "feelings" and to be his romantic...,whatever she is.

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