AleksandraSucur

It's a narrative technique called puzzle-box or breadcrumbing used to keep suspense high, to make a viewer (or reader) active in assembling the pieces dropped at the time and to activate his/her imagery.
In this drama, this technique is well chosen bc. it additionally exalts the psychological aspects of characters, their traumas, choices, relations and relational dynamics

No, it wasn't explained. I think he is his advisor, people of royal status of the time always kept strategy assistants, able to advise and mediate if necessary.
There's certainly more to his story, now we are all on an intuitive-speculative path, bc we got little pieces of a complex puzzle at each episode. If you've seen the last one, you know he also feels some sort of guilt towards the FL, but not for the called-off marriage but for the Lishan people who somehow died bc of him, which woulld also be the reason why the FL detests him despite the fact they've grew up together, but we still don't know the whole story

What I've meant was the mountain.
When he learnt she was at the temple, it's a fortune he was watching her moves, otherwise she would have died from snake's poison.
Not letting know her husband she was with him is another thing I've pointed out before: he is torn between his need to stay alive and his desire to be with her. It doesn't automatically makes him a stalker

He wasn't stalking her. He was in his mountain villa purely by chance and it was planned by his assistant. Remember his assistant read him a "to do" list and going to that villa was among the things he had to do.

No, he wasn't there to talk to Yeli. He was there completely accidentally, he wasn't stalking her. Dwelling in his mountain villa was among the things planned by his assistant and read to him in previous episode.

I disagree with the two of you that his character is "lazily written". I find his contraddictorial traits quite logical and from the script we clearly get he is torn between the need to survive and the desire to claim the power he believes he's entitled to.
If he didn't call off their marriage - neither he nor the FL would have survived. For a throne, he is already perceived as a thorne, bc he is a legitimate descendant of the former CP. If he married a descendant of Lishan Academy, thus combining his claim with another opposition power (for how "soft" it is) - the throne would have no option but to eliminate them both before that claim becomes detrimental to the current imperial power.
In such a condition, it's almost "natural" for him to develop this obsession towards the FL and to perceive her as the only person who can understand him, protect him and help him clear his path to power. There's a huge clash in him between the need to adapt to the harsh reality (which means: being powerless and unsuspectful of gaining some) and the desire to claim the utmost power. This clash makes him pathetic? Yes, but it also makes him... tragic.

he was staying in his mountain villa, as it was announced in previous episode when his assistant was reading him "to do" list.

That grandma from LLTG set a high standard archetype for a dramaqueen, lol
But your association made me thinking that the FL is calculating and manipulative in a very similar way as it was Shaoshang

1. The bandits. From the previews, it's clear she hired them herself to put the ML in powerless situation and force him to accept to treat his legs.
2. The guy hired by her sister was ordered to abduct her, not to kill her. She fell from the cliff running away from him after she realised he wasn't with the bandits she hired (bc he asked her repeatedly what was her name).
3. Her senior bro probably secretly follows her in order to protect her and didn't know the bandits were people she hired.
4. Prince Li was in his mountain villa for his "personal entertainment" away from his wife, as it was already announced in the previous episode. And just happened to be there.
5. Given he now learned someone tried to abduct her, he'll probably give some thought to enjoy her company a bit longer.

The whole episode served to show that - despite her wits and capability - she has her limits, she was reckless and exposed herself to dangers, while contemporary showing to the ML some of her hidden skills, manipulative mind and her determination to treat his legs even at the cost to put herself in danger.

she didn't kill or ruin Li mountain ("shan" means "mountain" in Mandarin, Lishan Academy stands for "Academy on mountain Li"). It was the decision of the Grandmaster of Lishan Academy, FL's grandpa, to seclude the activity of the academy, closing it for the outsiders, probably in a sign of protest towards the coup occurred after the former emperor's death we still have no clue about. The empress dowager sent soldiers to encircle the mountain, utterly cutting off their communication with the outside world.
7 Lishan scholars who died in fire went out before the academy's closure and were killed by Muyang faction (the fatty general killed by the FL), probably with an assist of consort dowager who told the empress they were plotting a rebelion and that's why it was necessary to kill them, so neither that massacre was executed under the empress's direct order. Most of us suspect the empress dowager, despite her high education and knowledge, is often manipulated by that consort.
How the empress dowager gained power to install the young emperor is also something we don't know till this point, so it's useless to dwell on whether she wanted the throne for herself or not, we have no info about what happened after the former emperor's death and the subsequent succession, we only know that ML's bro convocation to the capital (which can't be proved by an edict bc the fatty general burned it) in the middle of the war and the loss of 4 cities have smth to do with the dynamics of that shift of power.

I've noticed many commentators are irritated by the SML, as "obsessive and delusional", which is understandable, given even the FL thinks he is hypocritical with some childish attitude (cicada metaphor), a person going to extremes and showing off max. tension in order to obtain smth, fulfilling certain (sometimes, contrasting) desires. He evidently longs for her but it was him who requested the call off of their marriage, so some people perceives this contraddiction as a flow in the storyline or character's outline.
But I think this contraddictorial trait of his is quite logical. Calling off their marriage was the only path to his survival. His current condition (in terms of power) is extremely precarious, being his claim to the throne totally legit, his father was a crown prince, son of the former empress and emperor and we have no idea how the current empress dowager raised up from her previous condition of imperial concubine/consort and installed the current emperor on the throne. This precarious condition vis-a-vis the current imperial power would be utterly aggravated if he married a descendant of Lishan Academy, a highly respectable "soft power" centre (influencing perception, knowledge, scholarly and legal matters, arts etc), which is already perceived as oppositional if not even detrimental to the imperial gravitas (nominally detained by a woman and a teenager and practically by 3 concurring court factions).
Mo Jing Li is actually torn between the need to survive and the desire to claim the power he believes he's entitled to. In such a condition, it's almost "natural" for him to develop this obsession towards the FL and to perceive her as the only person who can understand him, protect him and help him to clear his path to power. There's a huge clash in him between the need to adapt to the harsh reality (which means: being powerless and unsuspectful of gaining some) and the desire to claim the utmost power.

I totally agree. It is just a natural telling an interesting story. We've all missed for a long time

On her motivations we can only speculate, given the tiny part of the whole picture we were given till now. The range goes from what you've said to... some sort of international and intel conspiracy, it depends on the stakeholders she's entangled with. Bc the stakes are big, different and were created in times we still know almost nothing about: 1. we know the empress dowager wasn't favourite at all and was suppressed by a charlatan Lv Baitong/Lv Cheng (who wasn't Muyang's person at the time, he looked very suprised when he discovered the identity of the "astonomer) when the old emperor was still alive and the CP was MJL's father. What role that consort and the FL's mom (/Lishan scolars) played in that situation, ie. before the conspiracy against ML's bro? 2. The conspiracy of the Muyang's faction against former Prince Ding (=ML's bro) costed 4 cities (so, the stakeholder could also be a foreign power which had a vested interest in his elimination) and 3. while the empress has the same surname as one of the high scholars from Lishan (and that's probably why she studied under the FL's father), the consort doesn't share the same surname (Qin) with any other character on the cast list and looks less educated and attentive to her way of speech (that's why the FL can easily beat her provocation regarding Lishan), but she is still at least as smart as the FL to rely on that web of information/intel created by FL's paternal uncle in that sort of "lamp worship temple", even promoting that "business". Ye family is also interesting, I think they also may be some sort of (minor) stakeholders, otherwise they wouldn't discard the FL's mother as they did.

I agree, but I have a strong feeling the consort is manipulating both the empress and Lord Muyang with that sowing discord technique. She was certainly behind the Lishan massacre which was probably done to prevent any change of the empress's heart towards her teachers (bc. the empress studied under the FL's grandpa and was a friend of FL's mom).

Me too but I don't hate myself in doing this: when I find myself checking prevs and trailers, I know the drama is promising and I am hooked 😂

Me too, the revenge motif is so often given for granted (as some sort of natural consequence of injustice) in dramas and we rarely see what the characters are actually going through.
When this aspect is neglected, it's hard for a viewer to relate with the characters in a deeper way and is left to focus on "how sweet" or "how handsome" are the actors or similar superficial things.
Well, that's why this one seems so refreshing, different

The psychological aspect seems to be very well treated, both in the script and in direction: with pieces of the puzzle dropping gradually, finely dosing flashbacks with other suggestion tools, mixing the reality with imagined, with traumas, depressions, sufference and states of mind convincingly performed by the actors involved.
I really appreciate this effort, it's highly gripping and expect the revenge will not only be treated as a repayment for injustice or to "right the wrongs" but will show us the healing process for the characters as the story evolves.
The First Jasmine is such a pleasant suprise! 👌

It started with a weak and messy plot with too many characters in the first arc and pacing problems, but watching the fights from the start till the end was a feast for the eyes, with so many diverse choreo and unexpected moves. The martial aspect was 10/10. Although the plot improved after the first arc, I found myself checking the names too often and having difficulties to figure out the characters' motivations and their inter-connections. Many times they lacked depth, the plot relied only on flashbacks as a tool for some background explanation, but after being used too many times, it felt redundant. Yet despite these flaws, it was a nice watch.

you've missed nothing, I've dropped LBtG at ep 13. I guess I'll also continue to watch a few more eps of AtC and follow what other viewers say here

Idk, convincing acting is never enough for me if the plot is shallow and this one is definitely too plain and trope-ful for me to really enjoy the actors and the chemistry. Maybe bc I've recently completed more engaging and original stories, so I get bored quickly when a drama lacks this element