cocoa2blossom

I agree with everything you said up above and feel like it's such a shame. Those kind of narratives can work if framed properly, but not in this weird way it keeps being portrayed. And your reasons to keep watching are also my reasons to keep watching xD and my interest (also rare) is also remaining constant despite my frustration? I feel like almost all of that can be attributed to the ML, he's really doing a good job. I've never watched him in anything before this, I'll have to remember him.

Ahaha, funny you should mention that. I enjoyed and watched it up until the cliffhanger where he got his memory back, then stopped to let it finish and went and watched something else. Came back and saw all the angry comments, so got too scared to finish it xD I'll go back eventually once I mentally prepare

Long accidental rant, if you are fully enjoying this show, please do yourself and your mental health and further enjoyment a favor and don't read. I don't want to sour your enjoyment. If you also feel a rant growing in you, go ahead and read I guess? Haha

Okay, I'm sorry, but as of ep 31 I've officially lost all patience for the FL. I was fine with her rebuffing him and his clingy self because it is all fairly one-sided and she doesn't have to reciprocate (even though the genre clearly says romance), but now she's just being rude. Hated that she called him the painted faced demon again. And she just entirely made up a version of events based on "feels" and not evidence or witnesses or anything? Just "my aunt cried, he must have used her to get stuff and did horrible things, here's what I bet happened that I just thought of in this moment". I don't know what happened back then, but neither does she. Even if it happened exactly as she thinks, that has nothing to do with him? He never even met the guy. He has the influence of his very lovely and sweet father, not his uncle. Sure the demon sect twisted him growing up, but his base is still good with such a great dad to emulate. Everything we see shows that her ancestors were always misunderstood and villainized, AS WELL as the Mus (/Li Clan?). Sure, they're manipulative and like their schemes, but I haven't seen anything that shows they're objectively bad. At this point I'd rather they do away with the romance and just have it be martial arts and friendship.

On a different note, I loved him giving her the cold shoulder and how that clearly bothered her. Wish it lasted longer.

I'm kind of interested in checking out the novel. I feel like the dynamic will still annoy me, but that it'll be better written. Based on comments I've seen.

I don't even like romance, I guess you could say I'm neutral. It's pretty hard to avoid when it's in everything. I much prefer solid friendships. I start to dislike the romance in a show when it becomes detrimental to the plot, and here the "romance" or lack thereof is definitely ruining the overall enjoyment. We don't even really get to see side relationships developing, it's just this constant back and forth between the leads that isn't even done in a way that pulls you in, it's just frustrating.

I'll still watch and semi-enjoy. I just want to fully know what happened in the past and see the ML cleared of poison, those are my motivators now. I've given up on the two leads being fun to watch together as a unit. (Imagine how much they would get done if the FL was just willing to work with him and stop blindly believing her shifu. She could still be a little suspicious and reserved, but there's no reason they can't figure things out together. Think she just wants to be told what happened in black and white, with the 6 sects in the white, whether it's true or not, and then go back to lounging). ML should reeeaaally find another nice girl that is willing to reciprocate and treat him kindly.

Why do they keep writing these simp MLs and cold and distant FLs that only care about their own goals? Seems to be extra popular to write about now. I realize this is an opinion, but it's so much better when they both care for one another equally and are their own people outside of the relationship with goals. One I really liked was A Journey to Love, they were both great in that. I think Prisoner of Beauty might have been another one, but don't remember as well anymore. There have been a few others, but lately most are just the ML constantly sacrificing for the FL, the FL not reciprocating, and then usually getting with him in a way that feels like "why not, there's no one better right now" and just giving in rather than truly loving him. I prefer it to the trashy MLs of the past that were always super mean to the FLs, because the FLs of today haven't quite hit the trash level of the old MLs, but I would still like healthier relationships portrayed and them working as a team. And no weird simping unless it's mutual! Come on writers, the more popular and higher rated shows all have something in common, figure it out please.

Toxic relationships can be fun to watch if the chemistry and allure is there, but these two barely interact and their interactions mostly fall short.

Sorry, rant over. As I typed, more and more thoughts appeared 😆

That's not a good reason. There is zero reason to hate a child with no crime and want to torture and kill him, as adults, just because his relative did something wrong. The one in the wrong gets the punishment, not someone with blood ties that is a good person. I really don't think you should be excusing them. The drama itself has pointed out through multiple characters that what they're doing to him is wrong and unjust. The few leaders are the ones pushing for it, and the rest are either too weak or too cowardly to go against them. Besides, I don't trust the current information. I feel like the Qi leader guy actually caused a lot of that past mess.

They're allowed to dislike him because of past events, even if it's irrational, but that is no excuse to harm him like they have.

I already knew the others were hypocrites, but I'm deeply disappointed in FL's parents. Guess the only good ones of the 6 sects that saw people as people were the Changs and that's why they got wiped out. He's a literal child to them, he can't be much more than late teens, and all these grown men are attacking him together for something he didn't even do. Truly disgraceful. I wish 2ML could become friends with MQY considering the hypocrisy he sees in his sect and knowing ML is good, but I guess it's unlikely considering the drama type.
Edit: if anything, he helped them by taking his sect back from an actual bad dude that they were ignoring 🙄

Ah man, when Shouma's alternate family saved him, that got me 😭
Must have been really hard to leave a world like that

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny11_TNKH68
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QchuhyTdKcw

Oof, for something that started so comedic, they really went DARK dark towards the end there (also that poor princess consort, her storyline really disgusted me)

Thank you~

Dang, should have read the tags and not just the description. Not a big fan of soul swapping stories, hopefully this one will be tolerable (I get second-hand embarrassment veeeeery easily)

I started this back when he was still alive, but had to put it on hold for reasons. I kept trying to find time to get back to it, but now with everything that happened I just feel too sad to watch it. I hope I can bring myself to finish it some day 🥲

Hello, thanks for the response~ My health is pretty poor right now so it's hard for me to type and formulate sentences, but I'll make an attempt! That's also why I'll only respond once, but feel free to respond with any final words and I'll make sure to read it because I respect your opinion ❤ Also, I always type way too much, apologies ahead of time 😆

For me, Hong Ye was the karma given to the demons. They keep saying (mainly the dragons) that it's their duty to protect those weaker than themselves, but for some reason have deemed the humans not only not worthy of that protection, but are actively harming them. Part of the problem is they don't show a single demon or demon group being kind to humans, so they aren't really going to gain my sympathy that they find their downfall. If they wanted me to think what Hong Ye did was wrong, they should have shown kind demons that he also harmed, but they did not. They only ever mentioned how bad the demons were. Even the ones we were following closely and may have gotten an attachment to, like the lady dragon, turned out to be absolute trash. The demons grew too arrogant and cruel and I believe it was their karma to be brought down and Hong Ye was that tool. The heavens even helped him with that by granting him and a few others power, as well as telling him to take the pearls to open the Yuli Spring. I think the ends did justify the means, because they were targeted attacks to get the pearls, not outright cruelly killing every demon they came across. Even if that did happen, from what the drama shows us, that would have been well-deserved as well. This is why I say the writing is the problem, because they could have easily swayed my opinion by putting in scenes to the contrary, but they did not. Hong Ye felt bad because he's a good person and didn't want to be a murderer, but he knew he had to do something to save his people. This wasn't an exaggerated problem, his people were in an extreme need for the ability to protect themselves and XY wasn't doing nearly enough to keep them out of harm's way. It was against his morals, but it needed to be done and he was in that position of responsibility. He also felt bad for using XY, but he barely used her. He used her likeness to trap the three big demons and seal them, which, once again, well-deserved. And I guess used her trust a bit in getting the dragon pearl, but he used the little dragon guy more for that. These are all things he'd rather not do, but once again, considering the circumstances, 100% necessary and definitely not the worst thing he could have done. Also, she murdered him, her lover. She wasn't controlled like she was in life #2 and he wasn't out of control like they can be in other dramas. She killed someone non-resisting and without a weapon without even considering why what he did was necessary and why the demons needed to be brought down. The person she loved. She killed him. After that, for me, there is no justification for their relationship, you just don't do that to someone you love. I also don't like that she gets some sort of peace at the end by time traveling to when he exists, while he's currently sealed for eternity. One could argue that maybe he has some ability to perceive her in those time jumps because of the way he's sealed and because of his look at the end, but that's entirely up to the viewer and I would rather go with no, the only one that got that bittersweet joy was her. For me, their relationship was too one-sided with HY taking the blunt of everything, and I feel like she started to take his suffering for granted. Especially in their first lives when he's just a weak human, but still ends up having to take on all the sins of the world without question. I can see him needing to pay for karma reasons, but I don't like that she personally gave out that punishment and judged what it should be. I think two different scenarios would have been better. Her NOT killing him and still sacrificing her power to him, keeping his memory intact and not being suspended for 5000 years, and giving him time to regret and make his own amends to those he felt needed it. It would have been interesting to see how he handled a world without her and personally watched the downfall of the demons and watched it switch to humans persecuting them instead. The hypocrisy he would have felt and the arrogance of those in power. Scenario 2, once again, she DOES NOT kill her lover (I'm obviously still annoyed by this lol) and the water itself erases his memory and puts him into sleep for 5000 years, she still gives him her power, he is not told he is a demon upon wakening. Preferably he wakes up alone with no one to guide him. He's not a demon or human at this point, and it would have been interesting seeing him try and make sense of what he was and how he got there. I have a feeling he'd be attacked by both humans and demons, but seeing as he's super strong he'd remain safe. If it was someone else I'd imagine they'd become a villain and kill left and right. But because it's Hong Ye, I believe he would become the true embodiment of those with power and protect those that need it, the good and innocent ones, and keep them from being harmed by the bad ones. Because there is no absolute, only individual existences and he has the temperament to see that, unlike certain others I could name...

Btw, I like what you said about her karma being to have worsening reincarnations. I hadn't thought about that, but it makes sense

Also, I'm soooorry, I warned you I write way too much. It's even worse than I thought it would be. I bow to you if you actually made it to the end without skimming, hopefully everything makes sense, my brain's a bit scrambled 🙇

I'm going to have to agree with this assessment. Though I will say I was mostly really enjoying it until the final arc. I feel like they really dropped the ball when writing out motives and consequences because things weren't really matching up. I'm a deep thinker and like to analyze, and I just didn't like the route they took at all. There were also a lot of things that felt out of character for both the characters and for the story up until that point. Wonder what you'll think once you finish.

Mm, finished. I don't even have the energy to complain after that end. Hope you have a good rest of your day~

I'm struggling so hard right now. I'm on episode 39, and I keep getting distracted and pausing. I'm now watching at 2x speed, but it's not helping 😭 this has become a test of endurance. Watch me come back and mope once I actually watch the end I was spoiled for lol (btw, I'm glad your partner is taking care of you, I myself will be ranting to my sister once I finish, I already warned her 😆 ) I find myself happy I put Glory on hold to watch this one, because now I can use Glory as a palate cleanser once I'm done. That one was also spoiled for me, but at least it's a good spoil. Hoping it's less stressful

Nah, she keeps him alive so that he can live in service of the demons without his human memories to pay back that dang debt again? What debt?! (And so that they meet again I guess). So basically, he becomes the demon king, protecting those that once slaughtered his kind with impunity without realizing he is actually a human himself and he's harming his own. How horrible, how selfish, to use him like that. This turned into a horror story real quick. And apparently the last two episodes suck too and end with him getting sacrificed. Again?! Phew. I'm gonna struggle to finish it. These last few episodes really dragged the whole thing down. Btw, I'm not team demon or team human, I'm team right vs wrong and they seem to have gotten these a bit confused. Good thing Hong Ye is so moderate, or either the humans or demons would have been wiped out by now considering how bad the blood debt is. Sorry to anyone that enjoyed the last three episodes, I realize I'm ranting, but it is really frustrating me.

Ep 38 right after she stabs him, excuse me what? Demons have been slaughtering humans for centuries, what do you mean innocent demons? What do you mean he has a debt to pay? What do you mean you stabbed him? He didn't outright kill every demon, they seemed to focus on the ones that went after humans the most. Her dragon friend killed like half his clan and his father. Ao Hen also killed a ton of his human clan. Where were their punishments for that slaughter? Their debts? She didn't punish any demons, only told them to stop harming them (which they were clearly ignoring). So a human, no better than a bug to them, got strong enough to even the scales and give them that well-deserved punishment, and somehow he's the bad one? Even though he did the bare minimum? She was raised as a human, not much time should have passed since she time traveled, so why is she so attached to these demons? When it's the humans in such a bad position during this time? I'm sorry, I really don't think they wrote this part well. I usually can understand, but I was 100% with Hong Ye this time. She was weirdly forgiving of all three big demons, especially Ao Hen, and I just don't get why. Hong Ye was literally tortured? And once she gets him back alive, she's basically like "that wasn't very nice of you" and that's the end of it??? Your lover was just tortured? Hello? Maybe do something about that? There is 0 buildup of their relationship and why she seems to care for those three considering she has no memory of them. They're not even likable to me, except maybe the one going jiejie all the time, and that's only a tiiiiiny bit. Anyway, I know she revives him with her sacrifice or something, so I guess I better go watch that. Still, I'm annoyed. He NEVER would have stabbed her. Humph. (I don't care if they excuse her behavior here later as her "protecting" him, I don't care, I don't like what she did, and they've lost me at this point)

Ep 16 and wow, ya'll weren't kidding. When does Hong Ye even come back? ToT This is so much longer than I expected and Little Leaf ain't cutting it
Edit: To future viewers, he comes back end of episode 18

Yup...I would never be able to be loyal to him again after that. The whole interaction in that scene and the situation was just so gross

Honestly, agreed. Though watching such a strong, independent man get reduced to that would be super depressing. FX isn't even reacting to YSL having what's clearly a panic attack right in front of him. I expected his expression to change at least. FX isn't worthy, at all.