This review may contain spoilers
Enjoy the Master-Disciple Chaotic Game of Love
At first glance, I thought Love of the Divine Tree will be another typical xianxia with a plot that has been recycled multiple times by other previous shows - for instance, reincarnation, redemption, immortal VS demon, evil second leads, amnesia/loss of memory, and so on. I did watch until ep 5 then dropped it because I couldn't resonate with the story, no matter how hard I tried to understand it. However, days before the express package released, I picked it up again and found that I had made the wrong decision to drop it. Now, let's get started with the story...
Hundreds of years before, there was a Mortal-Demon Lord who wanted to destroy the world and slayed masses of people to achieve his goal, which was to activate the Three Thousand Realms Tower. However, his plan didn't succeed as an immortal, named Dun Tian, managed to kill him and ended the years of suffering. The Mortal-Demon Lord's remnant, which is Spirit Spring, is then sealed at the gate of the netherworld. Spirit Spring can only be possessed by the Demon's Child, who happens to be Su Yishui, the adopted son of Prince Ping. Under the constant torture of the Spirit Spring, Su Yishui turned into a ruthless yet vengeful killing machine and vowed to destroy the people who had turned into this kind of state. Thank goodness, a female immortal, named Mu Qingge, found out Su Yishui's tragic past and decided to forcefully take him as her disciple and tamed his murderous aura bit by bit.
To prevent others from hunting Su Yishui, Mu Qingge herself pretended to be the vessel of the Spirit Spring and later died in the Empyrean Bone Sacrifice Formation. Feeling guilty and regretful of Mu Qingge's death, Su Yishui planted the Reincarnation Tree and used up half of his golden core, so that Mu Qingge can be reborn again. Before her death, Mu Qingge also placed a Face-and-Heart Burning Curse, to make sure he couldn't speak out who was the real Demon's Child.
Years later, Mu Qingge's fruit was born prematurely and transformed into an ordinary girl called Xue Ranran. Sensing Ranran's presence, Su Yishui quickly took her to the Mount Wester, alongside her seniors - Gao Cang, Qi Xiu'er, and Bai Baishan. However, the naive and childlike Ranran always caused trouble for her prickly master, whom she had deep connection with in the past life. As the master-disciple duo spent more time together, they began to open up their feelings and confessed to each other. Nevertheless, a lot of obstacles attempted to threaten their budding relationship and destroyed the peace of the world. Will their relationship blossom in the catastrophe or will the cruel fate separate them once more?
When it comes to recycled xianxia stories, what matters the most is the execution. Even though the storyline is cliche and has been reused multiple times, it's still watchable if it is done right. So, what I want to say is the show is directed perfectly, with witty banters and clever dialogues spread throughout the 40 episodes (which, of course, is written by the much-loved Mysterious Lotus Case book's screenwriter, Liu Fang). Aside from the main leads, I also love all of the supporting characters, especially Wei Jiu the clownish villain.
Nevertheless, I really dislike Su Yu and Mu Ranwu - they're so horrible and evil that I badly want to get their heads knocked. One wants to rule the universe while the other one is seeking to overthrow her elder sister, sounds quite absurd right? In Moonlight Mystique, we also have evil-siblings-trope, but their actions are justified because they are forced to do so to protect their siblings from being harmed by the antagonist (I mean Zhen Yu). Back to here, I really can't justify nor support both of their actions, they're just too greedy, selfish, and want to achieve one's goal without concerning the others, even if the world is about to be turned upside down. By the way, I'm not going to discuss about that Dun Tian - he barely gets any screentime and only appears in the climax, and it's the only point where the script goes inconsistent, or I think so.
Finally, to the acting. I can't help but keep raving about Deng Wei's exceptional acting skill and charismatic looks. Whether he's the scheming prince, the prickly master, or the gorgeous devil, he's nailing all roles in one go and can use micro-expressions very well. Julia Xiang's performance is also on par with his, by challenging herself into dual roles as the carefree immortal Mu Qingge and the cheeky yet smart Xue Ranran. Despite her young age, Julia Xiang can actually explore the depths of her double roles in this show. She still has a long way to go, and I'm looking forward for her new project with Wang Xingyue in Calming Waves.
OSTs are okay-ish, I especially love Tia Ray and Liu Yuning's songs. As for the rest, they're just... average.
Is this worth watching? Of course, it is. If you're looking for a compelling storyline with meticulously-crafted script, then this show is made for you. I'm not gonna lie, you'll be engrossed into it once you've settled down for several episodes. Hope y'all enjoy Love of the Divine Tree. Gotta end my review now. Good bye and good luck!!!
Hundreds of years before, there was a Mortal-Demon Lord who wanted to destroy the world and slayed masses of people to achieve his goal, which was to activate the Three Thousand Realms Tower. However, his plan didn't succeed as an immortal, named Dun Tian, managed to kill him and ended the years of suffering. The Mortal-Demon Lord's remnant, which is Spirit Spring, is then sealed at the gate of the netherworld. Spirit Spring can only be possessed by the Demon's Child, who happens to be Su Yishui, the adopted son of Prince Ping. Under the constant torture of the Spirit Spring, Su Yishui turned into a ruthless yet vengeful killing machine and vowed to destroy the people who had turned into this kind of state. Thank goodness, a female immortal, named Mu Qingge, found out Su Yishui's tragic past and decided to forcefully take him as her disciple and tamed his murderous aura bit by bit.
To prevent others from hunting Su Yishui, Mu Qingge herself pretended to be the vessel of the Spirit Spring and later died in the Empyrean Bone Sacrifice Formation. Feeling guilty and regretful of Mu Qingge's death, Su Yishui planted the Reincarnation Tree and used up half of his golden core, so that Mu Qingge can be reborn again. Before her death, Mu Qingge also placed a Face-and-Heart Burning Curse, to make sure he couldn't speak out who was the real Demon's Child.
Years later, Mu Qingge's fruit was born prematurely and transformed into an ordinary girl called Xue Ranran. Sensing Ranran's presence, Su Yishui quickly took her to the Mount Wester, alongside her seniors - Gao Cang, Qi Xiu'er, and Bai Baishan. However, the naive and childlike Ranran always caused trouble for her prickly master, whom she had deep connection with in the past life. As the master-disciple duo spent more time together, they began to open up their feelings and confessed to each other. Nevertheless, a lot of obstacles attempted to threaten their budding relationship and destroyed the peace of the world. Will their relationship blossom in the catastrophe or will the cruel fate separate them once more?
When it comes to recycled xianxia stories, what matters the most is the execution. Even though the storyline is cliche and has been reused multiple times, it's still watchable if it is done right. So, what I want to say is the show is directed perfectly, with witty banters and clever dialogues spread throughout the 40 episodes (which, of course, is written by the much-loved Mysterious Lotus Case book's screenwriter, Liu Fang). Aside from the main leads, I also love all of the supporting characters, especially Wei Jiu the clownish villain.
Nevertheless, I really dislike Su Yu and Mu Ranwu - they're so horrible and evil that I badly want to get their heads knocked. One wants to rule the universe while the other one is seeking to overthrow her elder sister, sounds quite absurd right? In Moonlight Mystique, we also have evil-siblings-trope, but their actions are justified because they are forced to do so to protect their siblings from being harmed by the antagonist (I mean Zhen Yu). Back to here, I really can't justify nor support both of their actions, they're just too greedy, selfish, and want to achieve one's goal without concerning the others, even if the world is about to be turned upside down. By the way, I'm not going to discuss about that Dun Tian - he barely gets any screentime and only appears in the climax, and it's the only point where the script goes inconsistent, or I think so.
Finally, to the acting. I can't help but keep raving about Deng Wei's exceptional acting skill and charismatic looks. Whether he's the scheming prince, the prickly master, or the gorgeous devil, he's nailing all roles in one go and can use micro-expressions very well. Julia Xiang's performance is also on par with his, by challenging herself into dual roles as the carefree immortal Mu Qingge and the cheeky yet smart Xue Ranran. Despite her young age, Julia Xiang can actually explore the depths of her double roles in this show. She still has a long way to go, and I'm looking forward for her new project with Wang Xingyue in Calming Waves.
OSTs are okay-ish, I especially love Tia Ray and Liu Yuning's songs. As for the rest, they're just... average.
Is this worth watching? Of course, it is. If you're looking for a compelling storyline with meticulously-crafted script, then this show is made for you. I'm not gonna lie, you'll be engrossed into it once you've settled down for several episodes. Hope y'all enjoy Love of the Divine Tree. Gotta end my review now. Good bye and good luck!!!
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