Firefly88

You definitely missed something... There's a time jump of 60,000 years lol. Shanggu has sacrificed herself and died in the trial. Tianqi is stabbed by Bai Jue while trying to forcibly take the trial for Shanggu. Yuemi is killed by Wu Huan. The last we see of Bai Jue is him falling from the Divine Realm after fighting the Devil God, and Zhi Yang uses his power with other gods to preserve the Divine Realm.

The viewer and the characters are left in a state of mystery as to what happened during those 60,000 years and the second arc will resolve your questions. Enjoy the journey!1

You have to really pay attention with this drama, it's really well written. Something someone says casually as a joke in e.g. episode 4 will become a major plot twist later on.

I want to see Li Qin in a xianxia! Come on producers, make it happen!

Sweet little filler drama. Worth a watch if you're wanting something light.

I was hoping they would release Perfect Crown this year. : (

100%.

His best performance is in Goodbye My Princess. 100% recommended. He is the ML and the villain at the same time lol. The Starry Love is also really good, very funny, but totally different character from Goodbye My Princess. He has a lot of range as an actor.

Is this the order they should be watched in? Are they standalone series or will it make more sense watching it chronologically?

I was also worried about it, but I just watched it and it's definitely worth watching! There are a few flaws, but overall it's a great drama.

They didn't explain because they ran out of screentime. Based on my experience of C dramas, I presume that Zhao Ming sacrificed his part of the soul when he woke up, and allowed Xie Xuechen to take over. Before Zhao Ming was condemned to the Dark Realm for the second time, he did a spell to preserve his sanity or his memories (they didn't explain), so maybe that's how it worked out.1

1) The romance was very steamy in the first half and you felt it was leading somewhere, but it virtually disappeared in the second half.

2) The 10,000 year ago arc was misplaced in the last 10 episodes in my opinion. I'd rather have started with this arc, and then moved onto the Mu Xuanling-Xie Xuechen arc, and then bringing all of them together in the finale.

3) I didn't like this strong line drawn between Zhao Ming and Xie Xuechen / A'Zhu and Mu Xuanling. The fact that Mu Xuanling and Zhao Ming didn't have a romance meant that the romance just disappeared when Xie Xuechen died. It was weirdly platonic, when despite some changes in personality due to lived experience, they were the same person. I was thinking Zhao Ming as the demon lord would have some hot and heavy chemistry with Mu Xuanling, but nope. I really wanted to see a love between these two, because they were better suited.

4) A'Zhu was such a boring character. Not well written, and soon became a background character.

5) The two extra romances between Feng Xiang/Qian Guang and Qiumin/Lansheng were excessively long and drawn out when I cared more for our main couple. There was also unnecessarily repetitive scenes that stole screentime. Had these been cut down, there would have been more time at the end to give us a longer HE.

6) The ending doesn't make sense. When she wakes up, what time is she in? Another 2-3 episodes were necessary to really wrap the drama up well.

7) The "what is love" question became repetitive and tired.

8) I had mixed feelings about Nan Xuyue/Tianming. His constant melancholy, monotonous tone became grating. His character was too stagnant.

Can't believe I didn't watch this till now! Great drama, great acting, great OST, great pace (with a few exceptions) and very interesting plot twists at the end. 9/10. Below are the reasons why it wasn't a 10 for me...

When will they make another drama like this one? Soulful and poignant. ❤️

100%. Li Yitong's career has been terribly mismanaged. She's the full package. Amazing actress with range, stunningly beautiful and a rich voice. Royal Nirvana showed me how talented she is.

Cheng Yi did a great job in Love and Redemption, but he has been typecast leading to repetitive roles and dramas. I don't bother with his dramas anymore. I am certain he could do better if he was given more of a range of scripts.

Totally agree with you. Also, the ending felt like a compensation to Cheng Yi to give him a solo since he had been playing a minor support role for most of the drama lol.

Can I also say, the black fox is just such a boring, two dimensional villain? Really poorly executed.

For real. The developments were sorely lacking all round.

It also felt like they cut a lot of scenes, don't you think? There were plenty of parts where there was a sudden jump. There were all these opportunities in the plot for their love story to develop but it never did. How can that be called a romance?

I really liked the first few episodes. It was moving in an interesting direction. It felt like the creative direction changed hands in the later episodes.

Nevertheless... a couple of great songs in the OST! So, I'm glad to add that to my collection.

You're right! Forgot the final scenes. 🤦‍♀️

I thought her big moment was going to be planting and purifying the tree since there was this whole arc of her increasing her strength. What's the point of getting stronger just to die like that? Frustrating writing for sure.

100% agreed. This drama had a good start and the ending would have been meaningful and moving if the middle section hadn't forgotten they exist. I would rather they had fought together. I thought she was going to refine the tree with him together.

I think this is the first drama I've watched where the ML kills the FL but she doesn't resurrect.

This drama forgets who the main characters after the first arc. I wouldn't mind the poetic ending if they had really developed the love between the leads, but it was completely abandoned and platonic till the end. I didn't even care when they died... It's also disturbing how the ML killed the FL. The FL's development was completely useless. I was waiting for her big moment at the end, and then he kills her, takes the seed and off he goes. What the actual...

I really recommend it! It's not your usual drama, it's got a kind of indie vibe. Very unique. A bit arty, but also very realistic. I found it very relatable. It's got two timelines where they first fall in love and years later when they meet again.