Gudrun5

Thank you !

Just checking is this available in the US on Netflix?

I agree, I kept thinking of Fangs of Fortune during this, and I need to re-watch it now.

Totally agree, both this dram and The Immortal Ascension are supurb in my view. It must have to do with popular taste--some of my favorites are not especially highly rated, and some of the highest rated ones I loath.

Just adding my enthusiasm to learn that the same author did both of the novels that MLC and WoF are based on. I loved both dramas, so I should probably try out some of her other novels!

I enjoyed the Love in the Clouds drama a lot so I'll keep in mind the option of reading the novel. Chinese authors seem to excel at having battles of wits between characters and it's fun to have a FL who can compete with the ML in intelligence and knowledge. I'm a writer too but it's hard to write those kinds of characters because you as the author have to be quite witty and intelligent too!

@Xiang83 I haven't read any true Wuxia novels yet. I loved (the dramas) Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Ancient Detective, Sword Snow Stride, all those that really embrace the martial arts aspect, so I wanted to find some novels that I haven't seen adaptations of. People talk about the very famous Fox Volant series, which I could try, however I get the impression there's a lot of tragedy, and since they are older perhaps they are not quite as entertaining. (Or perhaps they are better written if they are older?).

And oh my goodness, I just saw in the comments that the author of Mysterious Lotus Casebook is the same author as Whispers of Fate? Incredible! Sounds like there were some changes made there though.

Very interesting that there isn't a Xuanhuan tag, those are some of my favorite and I wish there was such a tag! and I think I like Xuanxia better than Xianxia too. The distinction is hard but a lot of my favorite fantasies end up in those two categories, if they're not straight wuxias.

@Xiang83 Really great questions! There are so many. First, I love how ethereal Tang Lici is, in his appearance and behavior, and power, yet we see his vulnerability right from the beginning due to a sad past and his attachment to Liu Yan and his teacher. Who wouldn't be devastated by what happened to them? And even more so that Liu Yan truly misunderstands what he did, yet Liu Yan has become a raving evildoer who must be stopped. The entire show I wanted them to reconcile somehow though Liu Yan was going out of his mind, and I'm glad in the end they had to team up to find the antidote (quite a convincing reason for them to reconcile).

I liked how A Shui started out a seemingly side character who set her eyes on our ML, yet slowly grew to become a trusted confidant of Tang Lici. You can see it halfway through when he really lets down his guard with her and shares some of his thoughts. I couldn't pin-point their relationship exactly but that seems to match the intention of the story.

Then Zhong Chun Ji was a fascinating character because she was quite likeable and standing for good, but her slide toward the dark side was started by Liu Yan and then she made some unthinkable decisions out of selfishness. Rather than being upset at the way her character went, I felt like it was a very interesting story of a good person turning to the bad, but still wavering. But poor Tang Lici having to be betrayed by her! No wonder he starts out distancing himself from everyone.

Then of course there is the end, which I have determined is a happy ending because it manages to revive all our beloved characters, but at the expense of Tang Lici's relationships. I was able to accept it as his willing sacrifice for everyone because it's good to save people, but also hard when the world reviles you and mistakes you. Is it still good to save them anyway? I think the answer is yes, just like Tang Lici is a Christ-like figure, but there are still personal sacrifices as a result. It would have been pretty unbearable if all our characters has died--especially Chi Yun, he was so cute and an important friend to TL. There are even more but those are the major thoughts I had while watching it.

Thanks! I was also amazed at the creativity of the world. It's nice to know the novels are there if I want to finish the end of the story. I kind of figured that out about Han Li's character from other donghua-watchers comments. I really enjoyed how Yang Yang brought charisma and some vulnerability to Han Li so even if he acted selfishly it was kind of obscured by his seemingly good heart.

Thanks very much for your review. I love Cheng Yi so much that it's hard to skip a drama of his even if I'm forced to only watch his scenes (of which Love and Redemption and Immortal Samsara are two). I don't care if his stories are romance at all, but I do like happy endings, so it's been hard going recently. I try to read the reviews ahead of time to set my expectations.

Thank you so much for sharing! That writing in this excerpt is very intriguing and I'm interested in reading this or another work by the author. Do you recommend it? Sounds like if it's unfinished it could be disappointing, but I loved in the quotes that Tang Lici maintains that mystique.
I never knew about mydramanovel website! Now I'm excited to explore it. I especially love wuxia so would love to find some wuxia novels on there.

@DavidW830 Have you read the novels? I am keeping them as an option if the animation doesn't finish. Some people mentioned the novel pacing is quite slow however I'm right now reading the Path Toward heaven by Mao Ni and am enjoying that a lot.

It's been years since I had watched the live action BTTH so I wouldn't trust my memory however I dropped it halfway through because I wasn't too interested in the characters. I know the Battle through the heavens donghu is very popular so maybe I should try it out without prejudice.

Really? That's an amazing thing to learn. I wondered how long the genre existed because the webtoons I read and many of the animated donghua seemed to know the ins and outs of the cultivation/ascension genre. Sure enough, often the absolute best stories have no equal and stand alone. Thanks for letting me know!

I absolutely loved this. I kept wondering why the rating seemed so much lower than I expected due to my love of all the characters. It turns out to be quite a nuanced story about good and evil and the choices people make. What a stellar cast! Many actors that I really like are in this show. Luo Yun Xi was extraordinary as the otherworldly ML, but also Alen Feng was superb as a villain who I actually felt more sympathy with as the story progressed (not his actions of course but for he himself). The story really kept me guessing right up until the end. Most of all I love how the story focuses on Tang Li Ci's internal journey and the story is all about him--I wish more dramas were like this. I cried a lot throughout the story but in a good way.

This drama is absolutely incredible. I've now watched the donghua up to Oct. 2025 and so I have a lot of thoughts about what could be included in Season 2. I wonder if there are other live-action dramas out there in this genre? Specifically the cultivation/martial arts genre. I watched the Martial Master which I really enjoyed (too bad it didn't continue), but I really can't think of other live-action dramas in this action. (Don't count Duoluo Contigent or Fight Break sphere). This some seemed way more immersive and made sense to me than anything else I'd watched. I've watched a bunch of donghua now in the same genre but I don't think many of them have adaptations.

That's right, that's why I put "western clan" in quotation marks.

Thanks! I see there was a donghua however parts of it had no sound so I didn't want to put myself through that. I will try to see if there are other options, or I found the donhua is on INKR comics though the art quality is not my style.

I discovered him in Lost Love in Times, where he plays another stellar sympathetic and conflicted role.