Cho Na

Two completely different actresses, so Lady Xue is not reincarnated as A Yu's villain in the second life. I answered about her above to Isabella Snow.

The Immortal Fate doesn't disguise as the mortal guy Zhi Yong. Zhi Yong is actually a demon. You meant Lady Xue the Liu Ying's mistress in the first life. She is reincarnated in the second life and marries the guy who she is fated to be with as per The Book of Fate, not be with Long Yan again as per ordered by tribulation.

I'm glad you love the drama! Leo and Dilraba have acted for a while so they have long list of dramas and movies they acted in. I myself are quite new in dramaland (only been 2 years) so I haven't watched many of their dramas. Meanwhile, Yu Ning is quite new. I recommended the dramas I have watched with them in it! I even wrote recap articles for Leo's drama and Yu Ning's drama each, cos I love the dramas!
If you're interested of the singer's OST:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Bichen#Discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Shen_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Yuning#Singles_and_OSTs
The discography for Zhang Bichen apparently hasn't been updated there, cos I don't see The Long Ballad OST
Zhou Shen also showed up in the first episode of TV show Marvelous City, it's where I discovered him! He sang in a cave without any music or technology fixing, his voice gave me goosebump really!
I started recognizing Liu Yuning voice in OSTs even when I'm not looking for it. For example, right now I'm watching The Octogenarian and the 90s and he sang the opening/theme song and right away I guessed right before I looked it up. Probably because his dubbed his own character in his dramas I watched, usually I don't recognize OST singers.

I think cos the story moves fast to fit 4 life times in 36 episodes, lol. I only notice that if he is in dark haired he will meet FL, if in silver haired that either he just stalks/watches her or hangs out with the other immortals.

that's his disguise in mortal world, as a scholar in second life.

Regarding your article: I'm so glad you wrote this! Not many writers are brave enough to write critical articles on certain dramas or topics. Looking back, while researching for my previous series, after browsing through hundred of pages of MDL articles rarely I saw such articles. Probably, we writers (yes, me too included) tend to be in the safe side, recommending a topic/drama while overlooking its flaws. From my observation, negative reviews on popular dramas tend to get criticism as well.
Regarding the drama: Like you, I wanted to watch this drama solely because of Lin Yi as well, having liked him since PYHOMS. But after watched Episode 1 of this drama I dropped it. The obvious huge age gap doesn't work for me (I'm not talking about the real age difference, but the characters' age difference). In my personal view, they just don't look good together, which is my must criteria for a romantic drama. Lin Yi has a cute baby face. Lulu Xu ought to be paired with a younger actor who has a mature look. I'm so done with noona romance. Hopefully, Lin Yi's two next dramas with Landy Li will be better, cos I dropped The Blessed Girl, too.

Now Patrick Shih got his chance to time travel ;D

Whoa... He looks like he is the villain! But for now he's ML's friend seems like, at least his drinking buddy. I assumed he's gone bad?

Who is the third guy in the drama poster? (top right)

I like the exorcism tools. Will collect them later when the drama is finished airing and subbed ;P

he is immortal. They are not demons and not his tribe. He is assigned by the heaven to be in charge for the Pavilion that reincarnate mortals

4 life times

yes, second life

Thanks... but I'm not a veteran writer... if you're looking for one, Old_Anime_Lady, for example, has written tons of article. My article list has not even passed the first page, lol.

Nice article, Anushka! Let me just answer your questions ;D
Journey: My writing journey started when I was so enthusiastic after watching Cross Fire that neither reviewing nor spamming the Feed section was enough I had to write an article about it. That kind of enthusiasm keeps repeating every time I start a new article.
Problem: Lose that excitement that I am no longer interested and delete the draft.
Writing slump: Keep the momentum going by keep writing a little everyday. Though there is no deadline I make a deadline myself.
Tip: You probably are amazed by other's article you are afraid to start or keep writing. Be yourself and find your uniqueness in content, writing style, and design. I even found a simple editorial article without picture/GIF/deco that is well-written and thought provoking ;D

Qing Qing will be with Qian Xun

Long Yan found out that Liu Ying's spirit to be used to mend the tear in heavenly net that was created long time ago to hold an evil spirit to break free. For some reason Liu Ying and her mistress Hou Xue's spirits are tied together. So if one dies the other dies too. When Hou Xue went for a trip, she was attacked by demons and died. Long Yan went to Luo Feng Pavillion to get Hou Xue's spirit back. That is a heavenly place for mortals before reincarnate. The Pavilion guardian, Qian Xun, told him that per heaven's law, to revive Hou Xue, Long Yan has to marry her. No other option. So Long Yan created a clone of him to marry Hou Xue, but he himself cannot marry Liu Ying as he has to remain unseen to her. Then he marries Liu Ying off as per reason I explained to Devi rajmohan above.
That is Liu Ying's first life. I'm at Ep 10 when she died naturally and reincarnated. The ep ends with Long Yan and Qing Qing went to a place to find her reincarnation (second life). I haven't seen what the reincarnation looks like (what she does). I hope this doesn't discourage you to watch, the romance is beautiful but heartbreaking imo

ok... Long Yan found out that in the future a disaster will happen in Xia's family (where Liu Ying works) that their men will be killed and their women will be raped and taken as slaves (probably war). Also that the other guy has a bright future. So he marries Liu Ying off for her to avoid that. Long Yan himself cannot marry Liu Ying because he has to marry Xie Hou (Liu Ying's mistress) for another reason.

Long Yan marries Liu Ying off with another guy for a reason I cannot tell you unless you want a spoiler. Yes, she and the other guy becomes a real couple in her first life time. I don't know about her other 3 life times though.

There are love triangles but not like usual one. There are real reasons. Unless you are okay with spoilers, I can't say more in details, just watch it