SASSY saintess of the dark ❤️ NOBLE lord of the immortals
this drama had me hooked for the first 25 episodes—like, I genuinely thought I had discovered something better than the cult favorites like TTEOTM and Unchained. The storytelling, the characters, the intensity—it was chef’s kiss. But then... (sigh) someone really needed to tell the writers that less is more. Instead of wrapping it up in 30 episodes, they decided to give us filler arcs we never asked for. But anyway, let’s break this down properly because I have thoughts.
1) Interesting Characters – No Basic Good vs. Evil Trope Here!
This drama didn’t serve the classic hero-villain formula; instead, it explored the angels and demons within each character. We got a main lead who starts as an immortal sect leader, then becomes a saint emperor, and finally, a demon lord (talk about career progression). The side lead? He starts off as a timid little guy but slowly reveals his morally grey shades.
But let’s talk about the real star here—our FL. She is:
✔ Sassy
✔ Smart
✔ Bold
✔ Straightforward
✔ Funny
✔ A queen who pursues her man without hesitation (no unnecessary pining here)
✔ Takes responsibility for the people she loves
Honestly, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said she’s one of the best female leads I’ve ever seen. And she stays consistently amazing till the very end, which is RARE.
2) The Plot – A Full Buffet of Genres, But...
This drama gave us romance, comedy, suspense, thrill, adventure—basically, everything packed into one show, and it was well-balanced. No genre overpowered the other, which is usually hard to pull off. The sweet romance and cute comedy moments were adorable. BUT…
❌ Too many filler arcs. Do I really need to know the backstory of every single character, from a bodyguard to a noodle seller? NO.
❌ Lotus of Life arc dragged on for too long. We get it. Move on.
❌ The goddess and her lover’s curse arc—completely unnecessary. I still don’t get what purpose it served in the grand scheme of things.
❌ Too many reincarnation parallels. I understood why the saint emperor, Pearl, and Fate had past lives—it made sense. But why was the royal bodyguard reincarnated too? I’m sorry, who asked for this?
And then there’s this plot hole: Xie Xuechen from the present goes back in time to help Mu Xuanling and dies, only to be saved by the Chaos Pearl. But what happens to the Xie Xuechen already existing in that timeline?? Crickets.
3) The Cast – Just Perfection
Sun Zhen Ni is already a favorite, thanks to TTEOTM, and she absolutely killed it here. Her voice modulations? On point.
Vin Zhang? Hottie alert. I’ve been obsessed with him since Rattan.
Wang Duo (Sword and Fairy) and Zhang Ya Qin (Ancient Love Poetry) added to the magic.
Special shoutout to the child actress playing young Mu Xuanling—she was insanely talented!
4) The Costumes – Fashion Goals
The Saintess of the Dark costume?? ICONIC.
Every single outfit was next-level, but the Demon Lord’s, Fate’s, and Goddess Pearl’s outfits were just wow.
The accessories? From chains to crowns—perfection.
5) OST – Small but Mighty
Unlike Guardians of the Defang and Love Between Fairy and Devil, which had an entire playlist of bangers, this drama only gave us one standout OST. But you know what? That one song was enough.
6) Set Design – Dark Abyss Was a Masterpiece
The details in Dark Abyss were stunning, and the lava valley VFX? SO REALISTIC.
That said, Snow City could’ve been better. I expected more from them on that one.
7) Why Wasn’t This in Full HD?!
I don’t know if they intentionally kept the quality low to hide set flaws, but even on streaming platforms claiming to be HD—it wasn’t true HD. And that’s a crime because I couldn’t even fully admire the details of the FL’s stunning accessories.
8) Action Scenes – An Absolute Feast for the Eyes
The first 15 minutes of the drama alone gave us a high-intensity Xie Xuechen and Mu Xuanling escape sequence. And that was just the start! Every action scene was flawlessly performed and choreographed.
9) My Favorite Takeaways
✔ Going back in time to meet your GF as a kid and getting jealous of your future self. (Peak romance!)
✔ Lip bite and love bites. Enough said.
✔ She fell hard, but he fell harder.
✔ Even after becoming the Demon Lord and suffering 10,000 years of punishment, he still couldn’t hurt her. The jealousy levels whenever he saw her with Fate?? Priceless.
10) The Ending – Satisfying, But…
They changed the course of time so that the Demon Lord never even existed because he willingly accepted his punishment. It was a good ending, but deep down, I wanted the Demon Lord to have his own closure.
Final Verdict:
This was an incredible drama that I will 100% rewatch. The first 25 episodes were near-perfect, and even with the unnecessary filler, it’s still one of the best fantasy romance dramas out there.
1) Interesting Characters – No Basic Good vs. Evil Trope Here!
This drama didn’t serve the classic hero-villain formula; instead, it explored the angels and demons within each character. We got a main lead who starts as an immortal sect leader, then becomes a saint emperor, and finally, a demon lord (talk about career progression). The side lead? He starts off as a timid little guy but slowly reveals his morally grey shades.
But let’s talk about the real star here—our FL. She is:
✔ Sassy
✔ Smart
✔ Bold
✔ Straightforward
✔ Funny
✔ A queen who pursues her man without hesitation (no unnecessary pining here)
✔ Takes responsibility for the people she loves
Honestly, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said she’s one of the best female leads I’ve ever seen. And she stays consistently amazing till the very end, which is RARE.
2) The Plot – A Full Buffet of Genres, But...
This drama gave us romance, comedy, suspense, thrill, adventure—basically, everything packed into one show, and it was well-balanced. No genre overpowered the other, which is usually hard to pull off. The sweet romance and cute comedy moments were adorable. BUT…
❌ Too many filler arcs. Do I really need to know the backstory of every single character, from a bodyguard to a noodle seller? NO.
❌ Lotus of Life arc dragged on for too long. We get it. Move on.
❌ The goddess and her lover’s curse arc—completely unnecessary. I still don’t get what purpose it served in the grand scheme of things.
❌ Too many reincarnation parallels. I understood why the saint emperor, Pearl, and Fate had past lives—it made sense. But why was the royal bodyguard reincarnated too? I’m sorry, who asked for this?
And then there’s this plot hole: Xie Xuechen from the present goes back in time to help Mu Xuanling and dies, only to be saved by the Chaos Pearl. But what happens to the Xie Xuechen already existing in that timeline?? Crickets.
3) The Cast – Just Perfection
Sun Zhen Ni is already a favorite, thanks to TTEOTM, and she absolutely killed it here. Her voice modulations? On point.
Vin Zhang? Hottie alert. I’ve been obsessed with him since Rattan.
Wang Duo (Sword and Fairy) and Zhang Ya Qin (Ancient Love Poetry) added to the magic.
Special shoutout to the child actress playing young Mu Xuanling—she was insanely talented!
4) The Costumes – Fashion Goals
The Saintess of the Dark costume?? ICONIC.
Every single outfit was next-level, but the Demon Lord’s, Fate’s, and Goddess Pearl’s outfits were just wow.
The accessories? From chains to crowns—perfection.
5) OST – Small but Mighty
Unlike Guardians of the Defang and Love Between Fairy and Devil, which had an entire playlist of bangers, this drama only gave us one standout OST. But you know what? That one song was enough.
6) Set Design – Dark Abyss Was a Masterpiece
The details in Dark Abyss were stunning, and the lava valley VFX? SO REALISTIC.
That said, Snow City could’ve been better. I expected more from them on that one.
7) Why Wasn’t This in Full HD?!
I don’t know if they intentionally kept the quality low to hide set flaws, but even on streaming platforms claiming to be HD—it wasn’t true HD. And that’s a crime because I couldn’t even fully admire the details of the FL’s stunning accessories.
8) Action Scenes – An Absolute Feast for the Eyes
The first 15 minutes of the drama alone gave us a high-intensity Xie Xuechen and Mu Xuanling escape sequence. And that was just the start! Every action scene was flawlessly performed and choreographed.
9) My Favorite Takeaways
✔ Going back in time to meet your GF as a kid and getting jealous of your future self. (Peak romance!)
✔ Lip bite and love bites. Enough said.
✔ She fell hard, but he fell harder.
✔ Even after becoming the Demon Lord and suffering 10,000 years of punishment, he still couldn’t hurt her. The jealousy levels whenever he saw her with Fate?? Priceless.
10) The Ending – Satisfying, But…
They changed the course of time so that the Demon Lord never even existed because he willingly accepted his punishment. It was a good ending, but deep down, I wanted the Demon Lord to have his own closure.
Final Verdict:
This was an incredible drama that I will 100% rewatch. The first 25 episodes were near-perfect, and even with the unnecessary filler, it’s still one of the best fantasy romance dramas out there.
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