Meari21

Yes. And I'm guessing Li Lun was Zhu Yan's ex. They did exchange gifts and Zhu Yan gave him his truth eye, and he gave him his pagoda root. Also, Bai Ju and Ying Lei was supposed to be the other BL couple with Bai Ju written as an older character.

I can only wish they wrote a danmei version of this.

My theory is this was originally written as a bromance or maybe even a BL story. The reason why Wen Xiao's character lack development and her role in the demon hunting team is not clearly defined is because the part was just added later. I've mentioned this several times before, the Baize Goddess plot line feels like an add-on, as if it was something they just thought of at the last minute. The focal point of the drama is the bond between Yichen and Zhu Yan, their tied fates, and their growth as characters. All the major events in the drama involve them. If she was supposed to play a bigger role in the story from the start, then she would have been the one who held the power to kill Zhu Yan the great demon, not Yichen. She would've been the one who was given the immunity to Zhu Yan's spells, the one he owed a blood debt to, the one he would later call his soulmate, the one who came to comfort him at his time of great distress, the one who fought with him in every single battle, and the one who has the biggest character arc, apart from Zhu Yan, in the drama. Again, this is just a theory. I'm pretty sure others will disagree and call me a BL shipper. I don't deny that I enjoy BL and danmei, but it doesn't mean I only want to see BL pairings. It's precisely because of the fact that I enjoy danmei and BL stories that I see these obvious BL tropes inserted in the drama. I mean, the two male leads themselves are archetype couples in BL. Then there's the "cutting sleeves" comment and the "hairpin giving" instance. If you're not familiar with this kind of symbolism, you'll dismiss it as nothing.

I agree with you completely. That drama is not my cup of tea at all. I watched it for the bromance between the two male leads but the story itself bored me to death. I also found the teen bride thing creepy and gross. Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen's characters are actually BL archetypes. One is a tsundere and the other is playful and even flirty.

I watched Goblin and they are nothing alike. He was cursed and became immortal. He needed to find a bride (an 18-year-old, I might add) who can end the curse by killing him. Zhu Yan is a demon who owes Zhuo Yichen a blood debt because he murdered the latter's family. Zhuo Yichen comes from a long line of demon hunters descended from a powerful demon that can manipulate water. These two characters are natural foils and their fates parallel those of Bingyi and Ying Long. The Cloud Light Sword of the Bingyi clan is the only weapon that can kill demons outright. Demon-slaying weapons are common in these type of stories. Guo Jingming was accused of plagiarizing the danmei/donghua The Legend of Exorcism. I saw that too, the only similarities I can see are demons and demon hunters. But that type of plot is common. Omnyouji, Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, and many others have that type of plot. So which of them did he plagiarize exactly? There's nothing wrong with being inspired by other known works, writers borrow ideas from others all the time. Heck, even popular music artists copy someone else's work and get sued for it. But they're still famous and they don't get crucified for it. Guo Jingming was found guilty for plagiarizing one novel back when he was in college. I'm not defending him nor am I saying he's a brilliant writer because I don't think that at all. I'm just saying that a person should not be crucified for the rest of his life for a mistake he made many years ago.

I think they meant George R. R. Martin as in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, and Miyazaki Hayao of Studio Ghibli. They tend to kill off many characters.

So Ying Lei is the first casualty. He was the bestest boy! Xu Zhenxuan's acting was so raw and real. Give this kid lead roles soon please!

I think this drama will have a bittersweet ending.

Yes. The express access is always not included in the VIP premium subscription, that's extra. Thankfully, I'll just have to wait for a few days for the express episodes to be available. But we'll see. I still haven't decided yet.

Yes, the express access I have to purchase, but I already have the VIP premium access as I have an iQIYI subscription. So I'm still debating whether to get that and watch all the episodes at once or wait for the VIP release. I'm guessing they'll release two episodes tomorrow and the other two the following day.

Still debating whether I'll purchase the express access or not. I kinda like the one-episode-per-day thing. If I don't post comments here for the next few days, then it means I decided to wait for the VIP release. lol Enjoy the rest of the episodes, folks!

I hope so too. He deserves to be first male lead.

I actually don't mind whether it ends happily or not. As long as they can justify the ending and they don't give us an open ending, I'm good.

Not to mention some of the characters actually have blond and silver hair. lol I feel like these people are just looking for something to complain about or they're just trying to justify their reluctance to watch this drama. Nobody is holding them at gun point and forcing them to watch this. And yet they keep coming back here and making an announcement that they're dropping this drama because of this and that. Uh, what are we supposed to do with that information? I'm not going to try to convince you to keep watching. You do you!

And that is why I keep replaying that opening fight sequence between Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen. That will forever be one of my favorite fight scenes in C-drama.

I've been seeing a lot of comments about the modern background music sounding out of place in this series as it's supposed to be a costume drama. But most costume idol dramas do this. Why is it any different in this drama? In fact, I find that Liu Yuning rap theme dope, it makes the fight scenes all the more badass. I admit that sometimes the music sounds too overbearing that you can't hear the dialogue anymore. I'm sure that drives Mandarin speakers nuts. I had the same problem with other dramas in the past. I distinctly remember Destined has that exact same problem. Thankfully, I watch with English subs so I can let it go. I honestly think the musical score and insert songs in this drama are excellent (if only they'd turn the music down a bit for scenes with dialogues). I actually find their choice of songs refreshing, not the garden variety kind, and it fits the stylistic and atmospheric vibe of this drama.

Story-wise, no. That movie is based on Omnyouji. But both projects were made by the same director so the filmmaking style is similar.

He wanted to so badly in the beginning. 😂

This "soulmate" business is making me think of Word of Honor. If you know, you know. 😂

My guess is the ever-burning wood coupled with the malicious energy in him changed the makeup of his body so his inner core cannot be so easily taken from him unless he takes it out himself. This makes him different from other demons.