lynas

I SWEAR this drama has me genuinely depressed 😭💀 Like, I'm usually not even this emotional over dramas, but WHY IS THIS ONE DOING THIS TO ME??? HELPPP 😭 Jae deserves so much better, honestly. Come here, let's be depressed together because clearly neither of us is getting over this anytime soon 😭😭 We need therapy after this drama, not a season 2 💀

Honestly, this is just my opinion, but I really feel like Gi never actually had real romantic feelings for Jae. It was more like pity than anything else, honestly. Watching him push Jae away over and over was so frustrating… especially when Jae was the one holding on and doing everything to stay by his side. And that ending… ugh, frustrating too. OK, it was realistic, and you could kinda see it coming from the start, but I really wish we'd gotten a season 2 😩 Though honestly, I don't see what else they could've told, everything was already wrapped up in season 1.
My poor Jae 😭 my heart genuinely broke for him. This story hit me so hard, it felt like I was watching a real love story, it was just so real.

Yeah, I also feel like the drama wasn't even faithful to the novel anymore. It wasn't a BL anymore, and I don't think the second round of censorship would have given us a satisfying bromance either. Even as a bromance, it probably wouldn't have been enough to satisfy the fans after so many changes.

I really hope something changes, but if the rights ever go to another production company, I don't think we'll get the same cast. We've already waited more than six years. A lot of people say Luo Yunxi was perfect for Chu Wanning in palfroms like weibo that he truly understood the character and gave it his all. It would be really hard to imagine someone else playing him.
The biggest problem is that it's not only up to Tencent. As far as I know, the Chinese authorities also have to approve the drama before it can be legally released or sold to another platform. So it's not just Tencent that's blocking things, which makes the whole situation even more complicated.

Still, I haven't completely lost hope. Even today, Chinese fans haven't given up. They're still talking about the drama on Weibo and asking for updates. Maybe one day the restrictions on danmei adaptations will gradually become less strict. I really hope so.

It's been such a long time since I started waiting for this series, ever since it was first announced. But honestly, I'm starting to lose hope. I saw on Baidu that it might air in 2027, but there's still no official announcement, so I think it's probably just a rumor.

I think many people forget that the drama had already been changed back in 2020. It wasn't a BL anymore. The romance had already been removed and replaced with a relationship based on friendship, loyalty, trust, and respect between master and disciple. That was already the first big disappointment for many fans.

Even after those changes, it still wasn't released at the end of 2020 because the original novel is a danmei. From what I understand, the drama had already passed its first censorship review, and Tencent was originally planning to release it. Then it reportedly had to go through another round of edits and censorship before it could even be promoted on Tencent's homepage.

But in 2021, the policy toward danmei adaptations became much stricter, and after that there was complete silence. Personally, I think Tencent became afraid of possible restrictions and also afraid that the drama would flop because it would have to be censored even more. If that happened, many fans would probably boycott it because it wouldn't be faithful to the novel, and Tencent could lose a huge amount of money.
I also don't think Tencent wants to give the drama to another platform. If an international platform released a version closer to the original novel, it could become a real BL adaptation, and Tencent would lose both control of the project and a lot of money. That's why I think the drama has just been left on hold, with no release date and no official updates, because Tencent doesn't seem willing to make a decision.

Still... I really hope we'll finally get some news about this series. I'm in China, and I check for updates all the time. Hopefully one day we'll get an official announcement. 😭😭