THE BEST XIANXIA OF 2025
10000000000000/10 😭💖I already expected this kind of ending, especially knowing how strict censorship can be when it comes to transmigration stories. Many times, these narratives are forced to take a certain path, and often the endings are changed or softened to meet those rules. So in my heart, I was already preparing myself for it. But honestly, the moment I saw them together again, all of that didn’t matter anymore. As long as they were able to meet, as long as their love was given a chance to exist once more, I am so incredibly happy for them. Sometimes, just seeing two souls finally find their way back to each other, no matter how the circumstances change, is already the most beautiful ending we could ever hope for.
Thank you, Sima Jiao and Liao Tingyan, for allowing us to witness such an extraordinary love story. It was not just a romance—it was a journey of two souls bound together by fate, by hardship, and by a love so deep that it defied time, pain, and even death itself. Watching your story unfold was like watching the impossible become possible again and again. From the very beginning, when shadows of tragedy and destiny loomed over you, to the countless moments where love won in quiet, gentle ways, every step of your journey reminded us how rare and precious true devotion really is.
Your love endured across lifetimes. Even when the world seemed determined to pull you apart, you always found each other again. That, to me, is the truest definition of fate—not simply being together when it is convenient, but continuing to return to one another despite all odds. It is a love that survives through pain, through sacrifice, and through lifetimes of waiting. And now, as Wei Jiao and Zou Yan, your story continues in a new form. Though your names and circumstances have changed, the essence of who you are remains the same. Two people who are destined to meet, destined to heal each other, destined to love endlessly.
May happiness always follow you in this lifetime. After all the tears, after all the heartbreak, you both deserve days filled with laughter, with peace, and with love so soft that it feels like home. I hope this lifetime grants you everything that the past ones could not—moments of joy without fear, love without sacrifice, and a future where you can simply exist for one another.
To me, your story will always remain one of the most unforgettable. It is proof that love can be relentless, patient, and unyielding. It teaches us that even when life feels cruel, love has the power to heal and transform. Thank you for letting us share in your journey. May your days ahead be long, bright, and filled with endless joy ❤️🫂
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This review may contain spoilers
It was meh
I was so close to dropping the drama by episode 6, but pushed through. The special effects were often cringy, the green screen had many holes and backgrounds looked fake, and the acting was often overdone. I stayed for the female lead and overall thought she was a likeable character.I didn't think most of the romance was particularly good and there were way, way too many flashbacks of things we had just seen. I skipped through some of the scenes and think this drama easily could have been 5 or even 10 episodes shorter. Some of the plotlines were recycled throughout the story, and for some of it I couldn't tell if it was intentional or not.
Overall, I think this drama had potential but I got really tired of seeing the same kiss over and over and people spitting up blood 5 times an episode. It just lost meaning over time since it was so overused. Moderation is key to everything.
The costumes were beautiful and I enjoyed some songs (a couple kind of ruined the moments because of the cheesy song choice in the moment). Overall, whoever was in charge of costumes did an amazing job. I wish a couple of the songs were not used in the OST since it did sour my experience. Many of the orchestral songs were beautiful.
Overall, this was a mediocre show with poor chemistry between the leads most of the time (the pacing of the romance was also off at times) and I was hooked just enough to finish watching it to find where it went.
Spoiler:
During the last scene (during the last shot), I literally said "oh my GOD" in a slightly annoyed voice out loud. How could the show end like that? That was so unsatisfying.
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Arthur Chen.. has made me a believer ?
First off.. just to let you know none of my reviews will give out spoilers. My reviews are based on whether or not i personally enjoyed the show. And what i liked and disliked about each drama i watch.Lets begin 💜
I really took a leap on this show becuz for some weird reason i never found Arthur Chen attractive and his shows interesting. I avoided him like the plague. But wow.. thank goodness i took this chance. This show was so good. Plus Arthur Chen looked so handsome in this and so did Gao Han. THIS is what i call a beautifully executed love story. The ML and FL no fall outs.. no misunderstandings and splitting up for years etc.. their love was so organic and flowed without conflicts. These kinds of love stories really make your heart want to explode. Every romantic scene got me screaming and giddy. Which there was so many!! Their love conquered 3 lifetimes. Watch this if you want a love story that makes you want to root for the couple all the way 💜
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He Spoiled Her, She Simplified His Immortality...
This one deserves a detailed verdict 😌.. Even with the classic and overused 'opposites attract' cliché plot I found this drama refreshing in its own way, and because I am a big sucker for time-space travel stories I started watching it right away instead of tossing it in some 'watch later' list. Ummm!!! 🤔 I wouldn’t call it the best drama I’ve ever seen as it had a huge plot hole that dragged on for several episodes... but in the end, everything came together quite well. So honestly, I can’t really complain too much.🫴 Now lemme take you into details.
Plot :
It was divided into three arcs:
1. Immortal/celestial world arc: it was the most entertaining of them all. The characters had energy, the plot had pace, less BS, and lots of light moments even with the ML suffering. His heroism in villain attire was keeping me guessing what's gonna happen next... plus the FL was totally adorable in this arc. She is, in whole, a freeloader here relying on ML for everything from basic necessities to protection against villains, and he too was spoiling her to no limits. (Blink~blink)
Romance was soft, flirty, slow burn, and fluffy accompanied by fair amounts of action. The arc was followed by ~ 👇
2. Demon world arc: this arc was pure chaos .. I don't know what the writer suddenly started smoking but the whole vibe of the drama did a full 180. Everything happened in an abrupt manner... The 'know-it-all' villains popping from all possible directions... whereas the leads had absolutely no idea about what was going on. And even if the ML tried to catch at least one bad boy of 'em all, our FL went full “plot-protected dimwit mode” and let him go — because, of course, he’s her childhood friend. Girl, he’s practically doing shady stuff under your nose and you’re still out here defending him.
At this point, I was this close to dropping the drama, the FL and this childhood friend were so unbearable.
3. Mortal realm: so in the end this arc tied all the loose ends. For the first time ML was relaxed while FL was doing some work. Romance was not as good as the immortal arc but seasoned enough.
Characters and cast :
FL / Liao Tingyan: She started off cute and sweet, but soon became downright overbearing. The writer clearly doesn’t know the difference between a slacker and a completely useless character. Like, girl’s cultivation level is supposed to be good, yet she can’t even pull off basic magic spells. That’s like having a Ph.D. in life sciences and still struggling with the onion peel experiment. During the demon arc, she turned into a full-blown liability — if nothing less — taking three forms Tingyan ➡️ Frost Fish ➡️ Demon Lord in three different flashy attires all in the frame of 40-50 minutes but delivering absolutely nothing .... Hhhh?!!
Although the writer finally decided to use some common sense in the end and gave her an actual task in the final arc.
Wang Yinglu did an absolutely amazing job with her role .. I adore her ever since I saw her in 'I Am Nobody'.. girl is beautiful (especially her eyes my god ✨✨), acts well, and has an emphasising aura for her age.
ML / Sima Jiao: He is a soft yet feared grandmaster who is safekeeping and literally nurturing the spirit fire with his blood for 500 years, bearing all the physical agony that comes with the task. He started opening up to FL slowly and soon this ruthless immortal turned into a man who would spoil his beloved to any extent. Honestly speaking, this man is the dream man for any girl in this world.
Even in the mortal realm in his new incarnation, he still has this warmth and protectiveness for FL even though he doesn't carry memories of the past life.
Such a wonderful ML ❤️❤️❤️ I am head over heels in love with him.
Arthur Lu: here I find him better than what he was like in Lighter and Princess (the cult fav). The maturity of three years gap is clearly visible in his appearance and he can now pull better expressions of a man in love. I am looking forward to seeing him more.
And their chemistry ... Chef's kiss.. actually, I will give some credit where it's due i.e. writing of the romance part ... I mean talk about kissing and its use .. kissing to heal .. kissing to help reach a higher level of cultivation .. kissing to enter each other's soul manor .. kissing in the soul manor for moral and physical boost .. and kissing to transfer your power/cultivation into your partner... They just kiss whenever anything goes wrong or whenever everything is right .. kisses .. kisses ... kisses ... (Though nothing more as they got married at the very end of the series and consummated after that)
Other than that, Gao Han and Wang Yiting were good as the parallel couple. Both of them have appeared in multiple dramas as side cast .. especially Gao Han did great work as an anti-hero in Wonderland of Love.
The entire cast is impressive.
OST and BGM were soothing, totally going with the drama vibe.
Styling is top-notch. I mean you can easily tell they went extremely boujee on attire and styling budget. Beautiful flowy clothing and exquisite jewellery pieces. I am even keeping screenshots.
Action sequences clubbed with good special effects enhanced the watching experience.
Overall, even with all my nitpicking, I can't say I didn't enjoy this drama ... It was really very pleasant to watch and left me with a good feeling altogether. I recommend you give it a try as well.
XOXO
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Beautiful adaptation. Definitely among the top xianxia adaptation.
It is by no means perfect, but definitely among the best of novel adaptations. They managed to keep the essence of the novel, expanded some elements for more depth, but did not forget to connect it all in a sensical way.The plot was almost never dragged out by adding cliche romantic moments or misunderstanding, which is actually harder said than done, so props to the writer and production team for that; although this does make any character that aren't the leads feel like just plot devices as very little effort was put into fleshing their story out.
This show also raised the bar on how to write and portray a romance. Beautiful, healthy and also very intimate relationship between the leads. Also love the fact that even in a relationship, they still stay true to their core. One remains a kind and simple slacker, while the othet is still that ruthless grandmaster working towards his original goal. Male lead didn't just magically turned into a self-righteous cultivator after experiencing peace and love.
Overall, this was a great experience. Can't remember the last time I have enjoyed a xianxia this much. Definitely my top favourite for this year and I can see myself rewatching this a lot.
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I Said I Don’t Like Romance… and Then This Happened
This drama actually made me like romance. I almost regret ever saying “I’m not into romance,” because either this drama hit different or it just had that much of an impact. This is also the first time I fell in love with this kind of FL. Usually, I’m all about the strong, badass female leads in historical dramas—but here, she completely won me over. I loved how she explained modern things to SMJ, like what laoban means or even the “okay” gesture. And the best part? She wasn’t out here trying to master magic or power-ups—she just wanted a vacation. Relatable queen.Three lifetimes, and they’re still loyal to each other. That’s the kind of love story I’ll sign up for. And what I really appreciate is how there wasn’t any deep, ridiculous misunderstanding like we usually see in other xianxia dramas where couples are out here trying to kill each other over miscommunication.
Wang Ying Lu—girl, I need to see you in bigger productions because your acting is too good. Thank goodness she’s slowly getting more recognition. And this was also my first Chen Fei Yu drama (my first CFY experience!), and now I’m already waiting for his upcoming projects. Same goes for the supporting cast—they really did their thing.
For me, this is my first best xianxia drama of 2025 (so far). Let’s see if the rest can compete. That last episode had me crying though. Imagine Sima Jiao in that world without LTY, and her friends living on after she left—heartbreaking. Honestly, I wished they had flipped it and let SMJ and her friends transmigrate into her world. Wouldn’t that have been such a fun and satisfying outcome?
Anyway, this drama gave me everything—love, laughs, tears. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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1
1
2The most romantic and sensual xianxia. Lots of kisses and intimacy.
If you ever wondered what and how dual cultivation works, this drama will show you all! The drama is about the female lead who, during a car crash, is transported to the fantasy world. She takes the identity of a disciple, who is forced to go and serve the most powerful and ruthless Grandmaster (the male lead). Having no other desire except sleeping and eating, she earns the trust of the Grandmaster and his love.TIMELINE:
Ep 1-19 Immortal arc - I loved this arc. It struck a great balance between developing the romance and giving us a nice angsty plot.
Ep 20-29 Demon arc - Rushed and not fleshed out properly. Lots of concepts were introduced and it felt like I was watching at 2x speed. It had its good moments but also felt short on others.
Ep 30-33 Mortal arc - Rushed and the palace plot felt boring/unnecessary. I would have preferred if the focus was exclusively on the romance, with the final villain lurking until the final episode.
POSITIVE:
- Brilliant romance. One of the best written xianxia love stories I’ve ever seen. The chemistry, dialogue, interactions, everything was perfect. Their love story felt natural, real and gave me the biggest butterflies in my stomach. The couple was funnily so ‘ride or die’ coded as they were either on their way to kill someone or get killed.
- Top-tier intimacy. This is hands down the xianxia with the most kiss scenes, spice and skinship. Their love language is indeed touch!
- ‘Touch her and you die’ male lead. Handsome, strong and tragic. He was the cold-hearted-but-totally-hot morally grey male lead that I love to watch. A red flag when he needed to be and a green flag when he needed to be. Basically a woman’s perfect man.
- Relatable female lead. She was a very down to earth, normal girl, who just wanted a vacation 24/7.
- Amnesia trope done right. This is probably the only time where I enjoyed seeing this trope as it actually added depth and character development!
- Top-notch comedy.
- Decent visuals/CGI. Yes their budget wasn’t big but I still think they did well. The costumes in the second half were beautiful!
- Enjoyable OST.
- Ending. Considering the censorship for these types of transmigrations, the drama did well. I was happy to see the female lead SPOILER in the modern world for 10 whole minutes and actually meeting the male lead face to face.
NEGATIVE:
- Simple plot. The first half was pretty good but the second half was quite underwhelming and rushed.
- Villains. All unremarkable and quite one dimensional. They were just kind of there, being a typical obstacle against the leads.. but they did bring in the angst, so I can’t complain too much.
- Side character. Meh. Except for the cute snake, nobody truly stood out.
- Second couple. Wasted potential. In the first half, the second female lead was against the leads and (for some unknown reason) the second male lead had feelings for her (rather juvenile if you ask me). Then, her bad deeds were all swept under the rug and instead the script told us they were in love?! It all just felt like a bunch of non-sense. If their love story was actually deleted, it would have had zero impact on the plot.
OVERALL:
I wholeheartedly award this drama as the most romantic xianxia. It’s hard to describe my feelings but the best I can say is that watching the leads made me scream, giggle and kick my feet. Despite the simple and somewhat weak plot, the core and strength of the drama lies in the romance. You will love this for the romance, for the undeniable chemistry between the leads, for the spicy and beautiful kiss scenes, for the perfect touch-her-and-you-die male lead. If you are a hopeless romantic, you will love this for sure, as this is one of those stories that make you fall in love with love! I highly recommend it.
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Every lonely journey, ends with a fated encounter.
Where should I begin with this one? WDBTD was a complete surprise to me! I didn’t expect it to captivate me the way it did!I’ve been absolutely thriving while watching this cdrama! It’s like a love-filled hug in xianxia form. Sure, the plot might not be the most extraordinary in the genre (maybe even a little “plain” by usual standards) but honestly? You don’t need fireworks when the chemistry between the leads is this magnetic. Their relationship just warms your soul. Seeing them embrace every form of love is so satisfying. And what I really love is that there’s not a ton of silly, drawn-out drama. The leads actually talk things through, stay mostly on the same page, which is such a refreshing twist in Xianxia land. I can say no other couple I know has been as sweet as these two.
And here’s the tea that made it even better for me: It's the way they wrote the two main characters. They are both so addicting and charming in their own way. On one hand, we have Sima Jiao as the broody, sealed tsundere cultivator who has been through it all and on the other end, we have our girl Liao Tingyan who is the modern, exhausted corporate drone turned into a slacker disciple. Her “I just want naps and food” energy is such a vibe in a cultivation world and the way she handles every serious situation in the earlier eps with laid-back humor is so entertaining to watch.
But ofc with that being said, their character growth is quite evident as the plot progresses! The FL over time, she really steps up. You can see her slowly maturing, becoming more serious, more responsible and emotionally grounded. It’s so rewarding to see her evolve from someone just trying to survive in the cultivation world to someone who’s actively shaping it.
As for the ML, he might begin as this cold, aloof, shut-off tyrant, but the way his icy exterior gradually melts as he opens up to her is just…beautiful!
On the visuals side, the aesthetics are stunning and the vibe feels refreshing even for an ancient fantasy world. Even the main soundtrack hits perfectly, adding emotional depth without being overwhelming. Honestly, this drama may not be action-packed every minute, but it’s full of quiet magic in its characters, in the way it handles love and healing and in the way it lets its story breathe.
I’m really going to miss this, but I know it’ll be one of those comfort shows I might come back to. If you’re in the mood for a xianxia that’s low-drama, full of love and driven, this one’s absolutely worth your time.
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In the words of Liao Tingyan, it's a vacation!
A modern office worker, transmigrated to three realms after an accident, has to serve a destructive and tyrannical great-great boss of the world.✅️ The story felt unique even with the usual xianxia tropes.
✅️ The start was strong with comedic timing that didn't feel imposed.
✅️ The characters had a wonderful developmental arc, and the actors performed well in bringing them to life.
✅️ The love story and the chemistry between the actors is definitely the strongest points of this drama.
✅️ Fascinating cinematography with an addictive soundtrack.
❌️ The pacing in the middle of the drama was a little slow with less plot progression.
❌️ The conflicts with the antagonist in the second half of the drama felt repetitive.
Overall, a very good watch. Recommended if you like love story spanning different lifetimes.
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This review may contain spoilers
When Destiny Brings The Everlasting Love Across All Realms
Hands down one of the best... if not the top one in Xianxia genre I have watched. Their chemistry was top notch, skinship natural, romance well built up, and the story was captivating from start to end. This is how an everlasting love Between 3[4] realms and lifetimes should be executed. Even when they forgot eachother, their souls and heart were allined and so in tune with each other. I loved that about this drama and as someone who hates amnesia arcs with passion!! It was the first time I enjoyed watching these too soulmates find their way to each other and fall in love all over again. It was such a breath of fresh air !I did hope they would go more in depth as to what happened in human realm after FL is gone and how it went for supporting characters and Sima jiao's reaction, but I guess it was the limit they could go with for only 33 episodes. I will definitely rewatch it again
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The Result of Overacting and Underacting Colliding
🍅 Let’s start with the acting. This is what stood out the most to me.The Female Lead:
Her acting's way too exaggerated, even looks cartoonish at times. Whenever she’s shocked or surprised, she reacts the exact same way with wide eyes and overdone expressions. Whether it’s discovering something unexpected or when some truly tragic really happens, she acts the same way. She can't adjusts the intensity to match the situation. Apart from being shocked and surprised, expressing happiness is also her problem. When she shows happiness, it looks fake. It seems she jumps from one form of pretension to another, always portrayed on the rim of the loudest. It makes her character come across as shallow, like she doesn't know the different depth or genuine characteristics of each emotion. Her acting skills are uncrafted and feels pretentious as a result. This pretentiousness is annoying to watch.
The Male Lead:
If the FL is “too much,” the ML is the exact opposite. His face is stuck in one gear: monotone and blank, with occasional stiff, unconvincing smile. The smile's supposedly reserved for the FL, but those moments feel forced and hollow. His character would grow from fierce and closed-off to calmer and gentler toward the FL, but there’s no real change in his performance. It’s just one expression all the way through. I used to like him in Ever Night, where his style actually fit the role, but since then when I watched Lighter and Princess and now When Destiny Brings Demon, it feels like he’s recycling the same persona - trying to appear aloof and cool, but it comes off forced and ultimately unconvincing in this role.
Together, the leads are a mismatch of extremes: one overacts, the other underacts. Neither side really works, and together it just highlights the weaknesses of both even more.
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🍅 Character Design
The FL’s character is written in a way that already makes her feel stupid from time to time, but paired with the actress’s exaggerated delivery, she comes across as outright foolish. It’s half weak character design and half poor acting combined.
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🍅 Story Design
The storytelling suffers too. Way too much screen time is given to just the FL and ML together without the plot moving forward in any meaningful way. After a while, it starts to feel like filler. I don’t know if the budget went entirely into casting these two and left nothing for side characters, but if that’s the case, it was a bad move since these main leads are not capable to carry the show.
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🍅 Screenplay
Their screenplay is amateur. It's shown clearly through the vague dialogues and unnecessary scenes. This drags the pace of the whole series.
I just knew after finished watching both When Destiny Brings Demon and Moonlit Reunion (the latter one finished a couple days later) that the original novels of these two series have the same author 😳 The thing is the dialogue and screenplay for MR is a lot better than WDBD. The overall quality of MR is also a lot better. Both of them were on air at the same time and the official audience share always told that MR (hovering ~14%) is above WDBD (~9%). I just don't understand how the review scores on this site for these two series are the opposite. How WDBD has a higher score than MR?? I can only think that the hardcore fans of probably Chen Feiyu likely manipulate the points with their biases. I wouldn't be surprised to find that this group of people are actually elementary/middle schoolers when considering how childish they are.
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🍅 Plot Holes ((Spoiler))
One thing that made no sense to me: why does the FL lose all her memories from the cultivation world but somehow keep everything from the modern world? The logic doesn’t add up, and it feels like the writers just wanted a convenient excuse to reset her arc without fully thinking it through.
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Arthur Chen great acting!
Arthur Chen/Chen Feiyu is not only a good actor, also very handsome. After watching lighter & princess, I just became his biggest fan.... If i talk about the first look in When Destiny Brings the Demon, i got stunned after seeing his feet 🫣How can a actors feet is this be beautiful. The snake here is too cute. He still wants to follow grandmaster even after turning into human form. Liao Tingyan is soooo adorable character, also very funny. I also love her acting. So innocent she is! So, the plottings,the visuals,acting is soo good in this drama, looking forward to see next episodes! Last but not the least ost is so good, I'm in love with the lyrics.Was this review helpful to you?
