Thank you for such a detailed comment — this drama truly does have depth and many layers. I feel incredibly sad that local viewers rated it so low. I hope that, with time, people will eventually see in it everything that you described.
I wouldn't take MDL ratings seriously. Sometimes people rate dramas highly just because their favorite actors…
I honestly don’t know who creates drama profiles or decides the tags, but putting “romance” as the main genre was a huge mistake. As I said before, romance is not the main focus here. On the Chinese site Baidu, the drama is categorized under only two genres: costume drama and xianxia.
If romance hadn’t been pushed as the main tag, many disappointed viewers probably would have just skipped it instead of getting angry.
But even within the first 10 episodes, it was already clear that the story was much deeper than just romance. When I realize a drama simply isn’t for me, I don’t start hating the work itself or insulting the actors — I just move on. It’s different if someone finishes the whole drama; then of course they can leave their own rating. But constantly throwing hate at the characters or the actors who played them is too much.
Honestly, reading the comments below is frightening — it’s just pure hatred everywhere.
This drama deserves a much higher rating, but it is what it is.
I wouldn't take MDL ratings seriously. Sometimes people rate dramas highly just because their favorite actors…
I’m sorry, but this drama is not about love or romance. In general, the xianxia genre is not centered around love and romance. Here, romance is neither the main nor even a secondary part of the story.
As for different opinions — everyone has the right to think whatever they believe is right, but those opinions should be expressed respectfully, rather than turning into hate toward certain actors or actresses, or accusations about things that simply are not there.
The irony is many Xianxias are meant to showcase a good message no matter what the end is, the underlying message…
I understand that people who haven’t watched the drama won’t understand the tree reference. But the ones leaving nasty comments and insulting the actors certainly will.
Unfortunately, I avoid most modern dramas nowadays, and I don’t mean only xianxia. There is too much focus on the physical, and too little on the spiritual. And I say this as someone who is absolutely not a prude — I genuinely enjoy films and dramas with kissing scenes and beautifully executed intimate moments. But when that becomes the central focus, something important gets lost.
As for female leads, nowadays an FL apparently has to be a Terminator to gain the audience’s approval. But viewers forget about the diversity of personalities and the fact that a person can be gentle and kind without being weak (and of course I’m not talking about abusive relationships). Those qualities can be signs of inner strength. Just like Lu Qianqiao.
The irony is many Xianxias are meant to showcase a good message no matter what the end is, the underlying message…
Viewers have forgotten — and newer audiences were never told — that xianxia, just like huanxuan, has its roots in wuxia. And the foundation of wuxia is honor, friendship, the fight for justice, and endings that are not necessarily happy. These stories were meant to make people think, reflect, and grow.
But when I see ideas normalizing lies, abuse, and the romanticization of toxic relationships being pushed into the mainstream, it honestly makes me want to sit down and cry. In Fate Chooses You, the second couple could have easily become yet another example of that kind of “romance,” but the screenwriter made it very clear that there was never any real love in that relationship, which is why it ended so quickly.
Meanwhile, healthy relationships built on mutual respect, honesty, love, and devotion are labeled as “having no chemistry.” But where is that “chemistry” supposed to come from if the characters are not torturing each other, choking each other, or constantly lying?
So where are the seeds of that tree? Because I’m ready to plant it myself.
I’m reading the comments and seeing so many positive reviews, yet the drama rating dropped to 8.1 and still isn’t going up. We already got a happy ending, the main characters survived, and they even included cameos from related dramas. What else do people want? Honestly, I don’t understand.
Most of the negative comments are just nitpicking the actors’ appearances or complaining that a certain character’s arc didn’t end the way someone personally wanted. But that’s not an objective evaluation of the drama as a whole.
Meanwhile, projects full of toxic relationships, constant lies, and abuse easily get ratings of 8.5 and higher. Yet dramas that talk about real modern issues through the lens of xianxia, show healthy relationships, and emphasize that nothing can ever be achieved without sacrifice end up receiving tons of hate and lower scores.
Maybe that tree really should have grown after all.
Wonderful series! A wonderful, truly incredible ending! It fits perfectly into the very concept of the story. The main leads stayed alive and together, and the side character arcs were also concluded logically.
Nothing is ever given freely to anyone. To gain something, you must sacrifice something in return. Every character made their own choice and received their own reward.
By the way, did that kitten remind anyone else of A’Sheng? :)
Thank you all for watching and for the comments. I’ll leave a full review a bit later.
coz allen didnt accept kiss scene haha if u see his other drama almost all kiss scene went wrong LOL
Don’t waste your time on me. I know perfectly well how Ren Jialun feels about kiss scenes. If it’s necessary for the script, he has no problem doing them.
I’m mad at the preview for episode 31. More specifically, the ending of it. Why did they add that shadow kiss scene? It’s like they showed you a delicious dish: you catch the smell, see how beautifully it’s served, your mouth is already watering, they even bring the food right to your lips… and then they still don’t let you taste it. Sigh…
What an episode — it completely shattered all expectations. A shifu who tortures his own disciple. ML who erased his own memories and left himself fabricated ones just to have at least something good in his past. Sect leaders calling their disciples “living pills.” A guy who forced his help onto a girl and now tries to shame her for it.
The only thing missing from this branch of chaos was “Father of the Year” (sarcasm).
So dude literally left his woman alone in that room despite knowing the danger around? He left the unconscious…
Let’s start from the very beginning. Lu Qianqiao isn’t planning to save anyone—neither his own kind nor humanity. Over 200 years, he tried living among humans and got very little good out of it. To break his curse, there are two paths: one is for the gods to lift it, but that’s impossible because the path to the gods has been destroyed and they themselves have disappeared. The other is to pass five trials and become human—but in that case, he would lose all his powers.
According to the story, we see that the protagonist doesn’t grow very attached to other people, because most of them see him only as a tool for gaining power. So whenever he can and feels it’s right, Lu helps people or immortals; when he doesn’t, he simply walks past. He also doesn’t want to remain the God of War demon forever—after 200 years of living like that, he’s tired of not sleeping, eating rotten food, not seeing colors, and constantly dealing with bouts of bloodlust.
Does any being have the right to want a simple, grounded life? Yes, they do.
Then Lu Qianqiao meets Xin Mei—not an ordinary girl, but a cultivator who is able to anchor him in this world and keep him from dying. She has her own desires too—to break her curse and be able to marry the one she loves. There’s no talk of feelings here—no love at first sight or anything like that. It’s purely a mutually beneficial arrangement. Later on, driven by her strong sense of justice, Xin Mei begins to seek revenge, and when the protagonist learns about it, he feels responsible for her, since she broke the rules of the sects and put herself in danger. That’s when their acquaintance truly begins and their slow rapprochement starts.
Even despite everything that follows, the protagonist does not intend to give up his dream. At the same time, he doesn’t rush his weakening or transformation into a human. At the peak of his current power, he protects those he has grown close to, but he doesn’t recklessly walk into traps or rush to save those who can defend themselves or those who are not currently in danger. He leaves the heroine because he knows she won’t be harmed—she is an important leverage point over him. As long as the sect needs the God of War demon, Xin Mei will live.
And again, Lu Qianqiao fights injustice and evil in the here and now, protects those dear to him, but he has no desire at this point to eradicate all evil in the universe or become humanity’s savior. He has seen humanity from all sides—both good and bad (just remember how his own disciple tried to kill him, and how he was driven away everywhere when he was a child), so he tries to keep his distance.
For me, it is exactly this kind of logic and minimal impulsiveness that is Lu Qianqiao’s most appealing trait.
On the one hand, I’m glad they gave us a bit of a breather before the finale of the series, but on the other hand—it all feels kind of bleak. They barely showed Lu Zhanying and Meishan before, in the next moment, the spokeswoman was already dead and the spokesman was behind bars. It feels like we’re supposed to be happy for the lotus guy, but the fact that he’s missing an arm just makes it depressing.
And Lu Qianqiao didn’t manage to protect Xin Mei. Even though they won’t kill or cripple her—because they understand she’s the only way to influence the God of War demon—it’s still upsetting. And again, the trailer doesn’t hint at anything good either. Ugh, the Chinese just can’t do without the angst.
If romance hadn’t been pushed as the main tag, many disappointed viewers probably would have just skipped it instead of getting angry.
But even within the first 10 episodes, it was already clear that the story was much deeper than just romance. When I realize a drama simply isn’t for me, I don’t start hating the work itself or insulting the actors — I just move on. It’s different if someone finishes the whole drama; then of course they can leave their own rating. But constantly throwing hate at the characters or the actors who played them is too much.
Honestly, reading the comments below is frightening — it’s just pure hatred everywhere.
This drama deserves a much higher rating, but it is what it is.
As for different opinions — everyone has the right to think whatever they believe is right, but those opinions should be expressed respectfully, rather than turning into hate toward certain actors or actresses, or accusations about things that simply are not there.
Unfortunately, I avoid most modern dramas nowadays, and I don’t mean only xianxia. There is too much focus on the physical, and too little on the spiritual. And I say this as someone who is absolutely not a prude — I genuinely enjoy films and dramas with kissing scenes and beautifully executed intimate moments. But when that becomes the central focus, something important gets lost.
As for female leads, nowadays an FL apparently has to be a Terminator to gain the audience’s approval. But viewers forget about the diversity of personalities and the fact that a person can be gentle and kind without being weak (and of course I’m not talking about abusive relationships). Those qualities can be signs of inner strength. Just like Lu Qianqiao.
But when I see ideas normalizing lies, abuse, and the romanticization of toxic relationships being pushed into the mainstream, it honestly makes me want to sit down and cry. In Fate Chooses You, the second couple could have easily become yet another example of that kind of “romance,” but the screenwriter made it very clear that there was never any real love in that relationship, which is why it ended so quickly.
Meanwhile, healthy relationships built on mutual respect, honesty, love, and devotion are labeled as “having no chemistry.” But where is that “chemistry” supposed to come from if the characters are not torturing each other, choking each other, or constantly lying?
So where are the seeds of that tree? Because I’m ready to plant it myself.
Most of the negative comments are just nitpicking the actors’ appearances or complaining that a certain character’s arc didn’t end the way someone personally wanted. But that’s not an objective evaluation of the drama as a whole.
Meanwhile, projects full of toxic relationships, constant lies, and abuse easily get ratings of 8.5 and higher. Yet dramas that talk about real modern issues through the lens of xianxia, show healthy relationships, and emphasize that nothing can ever be achieved without sacrifice end up receiving tons of hate and lower scores.
Maybe that tree really should have grown after all.
Nothing is ever given freely to anyone. To gain something, you must sacrifice something in return. Every character made their own choice and received their own reward.
By the way, did that kitten remind anyone else of A’Sheng? :)
Thank you all for watching and for the comments. I’ll leave a full review a bit later.
A shifu who tortures his own disciple. ML who erased his own memories and left himself fabricated ones just to have at least something good in his past. Sect leaders calling their disciples “living pills.” A guy who forced his help onto a girl and now tries to shame her for it.
The only thing missing from this branch of chaos was “Father of the Year” (sarcasm).
According to the story, we see that the protagonist doesn’t grow very attached to other people, because most of them see him only as a tool for gaining power. So whenever he can and feels it’s right, Lu helps people or immortals; when he doesn’t, he simply walks past. He also doesn’t want to remain the God of War demon forever—after 200 years of living like that, he’s tired of not sleeping, eating rotten food, not seeing colors, and constantly dealing with bouts of bloodlust.
Does any being have the right to want a simple, grounded life? Yes, they do.
Then Lu Qianqiao meets Xin Mei—not an ordinary girl, but a cultivator who is able to anchor him in this world and keep him from dying. She has her own desires too—to break her curse and be able to marry the one she loves. There’s no talk of feelings here—no love at first sight or anything like that. It’s purely a mutually beneficial arrangement. Later on, driven by her strong sense of justice, Xin Mei begins to seek revenge, and when the protagonist learns about it, he feels responsible for her, since she broke the rules of the sects and put herself in danger. That’s when their acquaintance truly begins and their slow rapprochement starts.
Even despite everything that follows, the protagonist does not intend to give up his dream. At the same time, he doesn’t rush his weakening or transformation into a human. At the peak of his current power, he protects those he has grown close to, but he doesn’t recklessly walk into traps or rush to save those who can defend themselves or those who are not currently in danger. He leaves the heroine because he knows she won’t be harmed—she is an important leverage point over him. As long as the sect needs the God of War demon, Xin Mei will live.
And again, Lu Qianqiao fights injustice and evil in the here and now, protects those dear to him, but he has no desire at this point to eradicate all evil in the universe or become humanity’s savior. He has seen humanity from all sides—both good and bad (just remember how his own disciple tried to kill him, and how he was driven away everywhere when he was a child), so he tries to keep his distance.
For me, it is exactly this kind of logic and minimal impulsiveness that is Lu Qianqiao’s most appealing trait.
And Lu Qianqiao didn’t manage to protect Xin Mei. Even though they won’t kill or cripple her—because they understand she’s the only way to influence the God of War demon—it’s still upsetting. And again, the trailer doesn’t hint at anything good either. Ugh, the Chinese just can’t do without the angst.