Suliabryon

LOL, exactly! I've watched some of the BTS stuff, and there's one where they're discussing a kiss with the director (several, really, there is a lot of kissing in this drama), but for this particular scene, Vin was saying "I like it, but I'm resistant" and the Director was agreeing with him. So there it is. I think they have done an excellent job of conveying that in the show.

And yes, totally. The "no emotion" of the Jedi was based in eastern philosophy, and here we are seeing the dangers of that again. I really, really am loving this show. It's a strong start for 2025.

RIGHT?? And these same people probably have no problem when the guy is the pursuer. IDK, to me if he really wanted her to stop, he'd have made sure she did. But instead he let her flirt with him and kiss him and OBVIOUSLY was into it but struggling like his life depended on it to maintain "inner peace". And then at some point, he just gave up, lol. You can tell in the latest episodes he's totally embracing his feelings for her.

RIGHT??

I don't ever get SML syndrome, but I just want with everything that I am to manifest a character in this drama to make that man happy. But no, this show is going to have the woman in his vision be the FL and stuff is going to happen and he's going to end up breaking all of our hearts going down a dark path. I can feel it.

Yes! I love the dialogue, the relationships between them, all of it. SML is so good. I just love everything about his character right now.

LOL! I suspect the same, which makes me really sad! This is also the first time in one of these dramas that I've kind of wished it could do a "why choose" romance and have them form a triad, because I adore all of their relationships right now. But no, Nan Xu Yue is destined to take a dark path, I fear. Since he's my favorite character, I'm resigned but also hope I'm wrong.

Watching the new episodes. *show introduces a new villain, Master of the Decaying Immortal Pavilion*

Me: Oh no, he's hot.

Seriously, sometimes I wish these dramas did more than two romantic storylines. I suppose he's a bad guy, though, and unlikely to be redeemed.

Fun fact: TTEOTM was my second ever c-drama after LBFAD, and I was VERY new to Asian dramas in general. I had no idea they could end sad, and by the time I realized I was already DEEPLY invested in TTEOTM. I had sort of been spoiled for the ending of the main couple, but had no idea of anything else. When Pianran sacrificed herself I paused the show - crying my eyes out! - and literally asked my screen "does NO ONE on this show get a happy ending?? Now I try to brace myself for currently airing dramas MAYBE not ending well, but I'm really hoping this one has a good ending.

I agree, this role was made for Zhenni. She plays this kind of character so well. I really want it to do well for her so she can get more leading roles and show her range.

I agree with all of your points! Yes, I also suspect our SML did away with his jerk of a father. There is definitely more than we know to his history, for sure. The ML has grown on me as we've seen some of his backstory and I expect he'll grow on me more as it continues, but right now all of my love is for the SML, lol. I'm REALLY looking forward to our ML going kind of dark like trailers suggest? Like...I'm ready for him not to be so stoic and to maybe pursue our FL for a change. I also started this drama for Zhenni because I loved her in TTEOTM! When I watched that drama (still bitter about how it ended for our couples) I thought "that actress needs to be the lead in a drama!" I was SO excited to see this trailer and see her get the opportunity!

I hope now that it's coming to Viki that more people will pick it up! I have a tiny group I run on FB for drama talk, but NO ONE else is watching this one so far, so my posts gushing about it are just talking to the void. I guess no one else is as committed as I am by joining every single broadcast app for these shows.

Aw, thank you! I'm just glad I can come here and comment and talk about these dramas, because no one I know is into them. I try not to bore my friends too much by going on about them, lol.

If he goes bad I'll be sad because I love his relationships with the ML and FL now....but if he does I imagine it will be really well done because they are doing such a fantastic job with the characters and establishing these relationships so well. We shall see.

Well, now I'm going to go and look both of those up! Thank you!

This drama has completely won me over. I love it so, so much. I love how it started out with these kind of surface layer cliches of the genre but as it went on and characters joined and backstories and arcs slowly unfurled it's just gotten deeper and deeper.

I love all of the characters! The leads, the side characters. They're so well done. I am IN LOVE with the SML. Like, ridiculously so. I don't have SML syndrome, ie, I don't want our FL to get with him instead of the ML, I just....love him so much. His whole character. Everything about him. His painful backstory, how powerful and smart he still is despite losing his "extra sense", how close he and the ML are - I adore their friendship! - his quiet love for the FL that could be romantic but also could not. THE WAY HE SPEAKS. Is he dubbed? IDK, but I could listen to this man talk all day.

I've watched up through ep 12, but I loved the whole scene at the beginning of ep 8 between the FL and SML. I watched it twice. It was so pretty, the subtle stars constantly falling in the background throughout their conversation. Listening the SML explain things to her.

I even love the "bad guys" who DEFINITELY have motivations for doing what they're doing that we don't all the way know yet. I have so many predictions and theories for how this is going to go, and I just want everyone to watch it so it can rate highly for everyone involved. I started this drama for the leads - her because I'm thrilled to see her getting a major FL role, and him because I love Vin Zhang. But I'm staying for the story. It's probably for the best that I'm watching this as it's airing, or I"d be up until 5:00am binging this drama, and I'm too old to be doing that without consequences, lol.

Oh, and the girl they cast to play the child version of the FL is ADORABLE. I love her.

RIGHT???? I love him so much! I love his friendship with the ML and their bromance. The way they can silently communicate and know each other so well, their scenes are some of the favorites. I hope their mutual feelings for the FL don't come between them. If the show makes him into a villain or makes him sacrifice himself for her and/or them I will be real mad.

I love the way he calmly explains everything - IDK if the actor is dubbed or not, but I could listen to him talk all day - I love the quiet way he loves the FL. I watched the scene where he explains Xie Xuechen's change to her twice because the whole thing was so beautiful with his calm way of speaking and the subtle falling stars throughout. So beautiful.

I will admit, I'm hoping for a different character resolution for the woman he's been searching for than FL because I soooo badly want him to have some kind of happiness. I mean, who knows if anyone gets an HEA in this, but I really, really want him to have one. I just love his character so much.

The makeup on everyone is crazy in this show. the eye makeup kills me. The lip makeup kills me. Everything else about this show is so pretty, but the makeup...I'm sorry, but whoever was in charge of the color palette for that must be colorblind.

It's a refreshing change of pace, lol. Although give it a few episodes and I don't think he'll be quite so resistant anymore.

Thousands of years ago, humans used a magical artifact called the Chaos Pearl to create a barrier locking the Dark Clan in the Abyss. The leader of the Dark Clan wants to steal that pearl and do away with the barrier to invade the mortal land. The Dark Clan is trying to open a rift in the barrier to do that. The ML is the most power sword cultivator (ie, spiritual warrior) in the human world and uses all of his spiritual energy to close that rift, leaving him vulnerable so the Dark Clan capture him and take him back to the Abyss to torture him in a place constantly referred to as a "pit of lava". No one has survived for longer than three days of this, but he's still resisting and alive after seven days.

The FL is a member of the Spirit Clan who has been trained by the leader of the Dark Clan. She is not actually a demon, which I believe is why she (and the ML, who is human) can cross the barrier. The FL visits the ML in his torture chamber and kisses him to tease him -- but really, she passes a spiritual doohickey to him that restores half of his power for one hour, thereby allowing him to escape. Instead of leaving, he decides to attack the Dark Clan sect leader. The FL fights him off instead (because she knows his power is about to run out again) and they escape together. But now he's stuck without any spiritual power for ten days before he can recover. The FL insists on staying with him and convincing him she is his ally while he's trying to journey home. Demons from the Dark Clan can project illusions of themselves - basically physical avatars - into the mortal realm by using a special elixir and cultivating the illusion for a long time, but the illusion isn't as powerful as their true selves. A Desire Demon uses this and attacks them and traps them in a magical array where she can use their desires against them. The FL takes an arrow from the Desire Demon to protect the ML, and then confronts the Desire Demon

That's pretty much episode 1 in a nutshell.

Uh...he's weak in the first episodes because he used all of his power to close the rift that would have allowed the dark clan to invade the human world, and ON PURPOSE allowed himself to be captured and tortured for seven days so he could intelligence gather and see what the dark clan was up to, and then the FL dosed him with a magic antidote that gave him back half his power for one hour so he could escape, but the downside is after that hour he would be without his spiritual powers for ten days. If you watched at all, it explains why the dyamic in the first two episodes is her mostly protecting him.

For those hesitant or thinking ep 1 and 2 kind of drop you in the middle of the action and then use awkward exposition dumps in dialogue to give you the needed backstory....well, you are not wrong, but they also contain information you need to understand the story. There are definitely moments in those episodes that are good as well, it's not all bad. And as someone else said, the story smoothes out and starts hitting its stride in episodes 3 and 4. I think this show has a lot of potential, and I'm here to support both actors. Vin never disappoints, and I've thought SZ should be leading dramas since her supporting role in TTEOTM. I was thrilled to see her as the FL in this one in the trailers, and I'm enjoying it now.

I think the chemistry is a little rough in these first episodes because Vin is intentionally playing a super cold, removed from emotion type of character, and the story really has SZ's character really lean into the whole "demon messing with him" thing, but things get MUCH MUCH better as soon as he starts to regain his powers and the two of them really fight each other for the second time, and then fight as allies several times after that. Combine that with her real motives for getting close to him, shown in flashbacks, and I'm sold and going to keep watching. YMMV, of course. I hope people give it a shot for both actors, but especially for SZ who deserves more lead roles. Remember, it is the beginning of the year and not a ton of historical fantasy dramas for competition right now, lol. Guardians of the Dafeng is great and I'm enjoying the heck out of it, but if you want a show leaning more heavily into the romance, this one might be for you.