Alena

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.