Incompetent Competence

Chen Xiao basically doesn't exist if you don't want her to. The rest of the cast is usually enjoyable. And keep in mind she is still a newbie to acting and it doesn't seem like she had training, so who knows, she might improve.

It's repetitive but I didn't get tired of it. Pretty sure one case lasts 4-5 episodes if I'm not wrong. Last 6 episodes next week should close our main plot, so I honestly think you won't be missing much if you don't want to watch the rest of the cases and could skip to the last 4 episodes next week.

We have to wait a week though, I'm actually itching for more episodes of this show.

Same. That's what I'm suspecting.

The side characters were in the original novel from what I remember, but I forgot whether they were extra couples or not.

A show that did Hu Yi Tian justice imo.

Personally , the show overall was okay. Lots of things I hated, like FL and obvious foreshadowing and plot points, but it wasn't all bad and I don't regret watching it.

Yes it's pretty decent. For me Ever Night still tops it, but it's not bad and if you like costume dramas I recommend giving it a try.

First 10 episode review:

1. Arthur Chen is baaacccckkk. For those that liked him in Ever Night, you should like him here mostly...
2. So far the costumes are not the most pleasing thing to the eye. The main sect we follow makes sense, because they're supposed to be poor and stuff, but everything else is a bit... weirdly color chosen? Idk, I got used it and I'm just nipicking.
3. Costumes aside, the set looks really nice. I'm half convinced they used part of the same set as Ever Night, just tweaked.
4. CGI isn't good, isn't bad. It's watchable and shouldn't ruin the experience.
5. I personally love the music.
6. DONT WATCH THE OUTRO, especially if you care about spoilers. I usually watch the intro and outro to every show, and I'm not someone that cares about spoilers, but even this bothered me. The outro isn't your typical roll credits, with a bunch of cute scenes and clips of fight scenes in the background. It reveals A LOT. And I mean A LOT.
7. It's been a while since I felt the antagonist for a Wuxia series posed an actual threat, but yea, in this series the villains actually seems somewhat dangerous towards our main characters, so that'll make this watch slightly better.

8. NITPICK/UNIMPORTANT: My one pet peeve so far of the show is surprisingly, Arthur Chen's character. The character Lu Ping keeps rejecting on making allies, friends and connections. And I know it's for their safety and stuff, I've read the novel, but sfzSHjfb sometimes It just makes me so frustrated that many misunderstandings so far can easily be solved with a few words. But from what I can see and have read, he does become less of an ass, and by episode 8 he's already more accepting of allies. So if you're bothered by this type of stuff, it won't last too long.

Extra: The acting is iffy, I'll be honest. The only performance I would say that is consistently good is probably Arthur Chen.

OVERALL: I recommend.
Side note: From the posters and the show so far, it seems that Ancy Deng will be paired with Jerry Yu. They have a pretty big age gap, but from the scenes they did get together, their chemistry doesn't seem bad. Not sure though, correct me if I'm wrong.

dramasq.com

At this point I think Arthur Chen is type casted lmao.

Not a bad thing, I love the sass he brings.
Edit: I watched the first 10 episodes RAW on dramasq. If you guys can understand Chinese
then watch it there, since well... Maplestage is dead.

Damn she looks mature. Thought she was at least 18 when I saw her in Legend of Awakening.

3/4 into the series review (mainly for those who doubt if they should watch of not)

1. The acting is pretty spot on, especially from the mains.
2. For a web series, everything from the costumes to the sets look amazing. Although you can tell some sets are reused, there's enough world development that it makes you feel like your also exploring the world with the mc.
3. Even though the main character doesn't know martial arts, his intelligence more than makes up for it. He is not weak by any means.
4. Jian Bu Zhi makes the perfect team with Zhao Wo Huan. Great bromance. Their friendship is absolute goals.
5. Music is absolutely wonderful. So far with everything released in 2020, this series' music was absolutely one of the most memorable.
6. Pacing is perfect imo.
7. Although at first I was iffy with the sub-plots especially since we know about the main even from the beginning it can feel like unnecessary suspense. After watching for a bit though, I can easily say they are NOT a waste of time. Every story is built really well with multiple hints towards our main plot--
8. Mystery done really well. Although they did reuse the same gimmick twice, it doesn't feel repetitive or old. Talking about mystery, the mystery around the main lead makes you want to keep watching.

Overall: If you can't tell, I really like this show. I recommend watching it greatly, just be ready to cry a lot in later episodes. As in terms of 2020 historical releases, this has kept me watching unlike many other shows. Fair warning though, if you're here for romance that is not the main focus, though it does have it's moments.

Agreed. Since the first subplot arc, there was that old guy that stared at hi weirdly with flashes and stuff. And he is an amnesiac, so uh... his words shouldn't be believed all that much.

Perth is so goddamn unfortunate to have gone through this. His career was blooming due to Love By Chance but it basically ruined him too. His (ex)manager, fans and haters basically all ruined his friendships and scarred him while he deserved none of this.

Jesus Christ please stop hating on Perth.
I'm pretty sure Perth was scarred from the Manager situation, and doesn't want it to happen again and wants a darn break. But since he's not allowed to speak out about it, he can only give an excuse like "I want to grow". He's a young adult, not even in his 20s and got attacked by so many people because of what his manager did, and not him. And look, it's happening again, because people trust bad translations and will bandwaggon on to any drama due to misunderstandings and believing whatever the fuck someone says. No wonder he would like to back away from this toxic fanbase :/
When BL actors want to try something new, stop automatically assuming they are "anti-LGBTQ+". Bad translations also exist, so please, do more goddamn research. And those using the "stepping stone" argument. What's wrong with wanting to boost your career? As long as you don't look down on what you did and respect the content, then it's absolutely fine. People want to make the most out of their lives, out of their careers.

I'm pretty sure Perth was scarred from the Manager situation, and doesn't want it to happen again and wants a break. But since he's not allowed to speak out about it, he can only give an excuse like "I want to grow". He's a young adult, not even in his 20s and got attacked by so many people because of what his manager did, and not him. No wonder he would like to back away from this toxic fanbase :/

To most, and to me, being homophobic is not liking the idea of gay, lesbian etc. Nothing wrong with it, as long as you don't wish death upon all LGBTQ+ or something. It's an opinion, and it varies.

I agree with them that you're being homophobic, but I won't look down on you for that fact. To avoid this in the future I guess all I can do is recommend you open up a bit about LGBTQ+, especially for how much they fought to be non-hated against. Then again, this is a recommendation, and it's never good to force your own ideas on people, so I guess you do you. To keep in mind though, remember that the LGTBQ+ community and it's support community is very passionate about defending rights and the representations of it's right. Next time when commenting, think a bit. If you're posting on LGBTQ+ material, and express any dislike towards it, expect some sort of backlash. Not everyone can understand your point of view. To be honest, I probably would have sent unrestrained hate if not for the fact I learned to understand different points of views from my parents (they are anti LGBTQ++, argued at lot with them, in the end they learned to respect my position as someone who supports LGBTQ+, while I learned to not hate them for disliking LGBTQ+, because they still respect them ). But not everyone can understand those thoughts, and usually for the right reasons. Guess what I'm trying to say here is uh, just ignore the hate. As long you yourself haven't sent any threat against or shown disrespect towards LGBTQ++, then you did nothing wrong. (But still, reminder. You did comment on a BL adaptation about heterosexuality. Try to avoid that in the future.)~

Yea makeup in the series is strange in general. It's not done badly but they don't know what to do at the right time on the right person ;-;

Due to COVID-19, filming and production is (hopefully) currently halted. The expected date may be 2022, but don’t be surprised if it gets pushed back ;-;