Erudite

@Lullina03: Yes, both Liu Hao Ran and LYT are my favorite rising actors to watch out for in C-dramas.

Yes, he committed suicide after thanking Wan Mei (who agreed to let him and Cha Luo to be buried together).

@JoanneSmith
If you watch EP32, after Chang An defeated Xing Feng, Cha Luo purposely aroused him - causing he to look miserable and panicky. Reactions of 'Lust inhibitor' is acute and intense.

'Lust Inhibitor':
Whenever the host felt sexually aroused he is subjected to feelings of extreme revulsion and fear.
'Heart Burner':
The host felt like ants starting to bite the heart when he get within close physical range of a trigger. The closer the more intense the feeling. The trigger is usually a benign GU worm which live within another host.

Both forms of GU affects receptors in the body and brain and does not cause real physical harm.
One way to get rid of the 'Heart Burner' is to implant the host with a MONARCH GU.

Hint: All the Magnates of Gui Hua shown in this drama has/had been implanted with a MONARCH GU before they took up the position.

No, the song "One" in the drama is sang by singer Gary Cao. I have been to one of his live performance before - that man has a good vocal range and power.

@Lullina03
1. This is BR series creator Zhang Wei's first effort in developing a drama but he has worked in the industry for 10+ years since graduating. She is one of the producer of https://kisskh.at/14183-l.o.r.d where she met Wang Duo, BR's 2nd male lead.

2. I think it's overly simplistic to say it worked because 'porn' wuxia is unique. BR's source novel frightened me off because of its extreme gratuitous scenes but 'porn' wuxia novels has been a established subgenre since 1970s or 1980s. https://kisskh.at/27079-a-step-into-the-past and 2001 version is another example of toned down 'hentai' wuxia (lot of misogynistic sex and rape in the novel).
BR adaptation work because the producers and stakeholders has the passion and love their work - the screenplay is nearly 10 times the size of the original novella.

3. Lots of factors affected episode view counts - obviously one of them is number of episodes released in the series and whether it is exclusive to one platform (eg Youku). The other is how intense the current competition is (hint: C-drama studios now called August 2018 the "cursed month"). The other is the current popularity of the genre ("Happy Ending? Fun to Rewatch?") Discernment is required to interpret the results.
For comparison, Nirvana in Fire 2 (50 episodes) has only 3 billion counts after 7 months.

4. Actually, the directors of BR said they have nothing to teach LYT, since she instantly know what they want and is a blessing and joy to work with her :)
I think people often forgot that LYT's audition for Demon Girl is on Dec 2015. When she started work on BR, her acting career has only been 1 year and 9 months old, about the same as the two male leads.
Yet, apart from the producers, LYT is the one with the most to lose if BR was not well-received because of the prestige drop.
From my subscription access to some of China's Movie and Drama Industry Research Reports it show the in 2017 Q1, for the category of web-dramas she has reached a rank among Top 5 actresses and Top 10 for actor/actress. (In web-dramas, male actor are often valued more such as Pang Yue Ming). This is just after her 2 roles as a newcomer.
Obviously with no new release in 1.5 years until BR, her rank is much lower now, especially since she doesn't want to go the idol route and also stay independent of the big studios.
However, there's no shortage of work for LYT if she want since she is currently on B-list actress pay scale.
Zhang Wei also revealed that LYT voluntarily reduced her fees for BR - she is pay about the same as the other leads.

https://kisskh.at/photos/odpqN
https://kisskh.at/photos/rYp7Z
https://kisskh.at/photos/yEpen
Fixed Transmutation Gate members are enemies of the Blood Lotus Sect.
You Chan in Ep. 17 is one of its members.
The Warden show in 3rd picture is You Lian (played by Liang Yewen) is unlikely to hand Snake Vine to Wan Mei, but she probably told them some of its side-effects.
Most likely Wan Mei and Yue Ying had to defeat her in combat.

Gong Zi's biological father told them Snake Vine is probably the only thing that can save Gong Zi.
If there's a 2nd season, the Snake Vine is likely to bite Gong Zi hard...

Deleted story arc from Episode 32:
The following scenes in the spoiler are from the deleted story arc which occurred after
Wan Mei and Yue Ying pass thru the Gate of Fixed Transmutation.
They are filmed but not screened - probably they don't have any more money for blue screen CGI.

This is the ULTIMATE spoiler, the ending in a 3:33 min 1080p video,
fully English-subbed including the hidden message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj91491ByM8
I strongly recommend people not to watch this unless you have:
1. Already watched all 36 episodes before hand
2. Still have unanswered question about the ending after (1)

Some people asked me about the cat scene at the end of the drama series.
Since I am doing Episode 36 English-sub - I am releasing this part early.

So yes, this is the ULTIMATE spoiler, the ending in a 3:33 min 1080p video,
fully English-subbed including the hidden message in my spoiler comment below.

I strongly recommend people not to watch this unless you have:
1. Already watched all 36 episodes before hand
2. Still have unanswered question about the ending after (1)

No, she doesn't want the King to be offended by the Prince refusing - so she agreed to go into the palace. The Prince understands that she is doing it for him.

Still working on the full subs.
See the ending video :)

@Kim MC:
I will do a behind scenes trivia in a few days.
As for your suggestion - not before I completed English subtitles for Ep36.

@Cindy Lian;
Skipping episodes will be quite bad for this series :p
It's just Gong Zi/Duke of Ning spreading rumors about Wan Mei.

I think a lot of misunderstanding of the plot can be avoided just from proper understanding of the dialogues.
Both Wan Mei and Chang An knows both the Duke and King wants Chang An dead.
Wan Mei still thought Chang An is dead because Xing Feng made a convincing lie to her - at first she refused to believe because there's no dead body.

Refer to https://kisskh.at/photos/4wRw6
Reading from Right to Left, horizontally
Liang(1) Zhou(2) An(3) Ding(4)

Note that the 3rd word in the text is the same An as 'Chang An'
The sentence literally means (In the) Liang Province, (the City of) An Ding

Also 'Chang An' is the only major character with a name changed from the novel.
He is the only shadow named after a city in the drama (others are named after month of the year or simply numbers).
'Liang Zhou An Ding' in plaintext can also be interpreted as 'Safely Settled' in Liang Zhou province

Note also An Ding is near the north-west frontier, the furthest (and safest) place away from Gong Zi (Duke of Ning)'s power base.

Also Xing Feng has made sure that Wan Mei would always keep the fan, and could one day had an inspiration...

Related question:
Why did Xing Feng acted the way he did and never told Wan Mei?
1. He made a promise to save Chang An if his love for Wan Mei is steadfast till death.
2. It is always in his character to punish others as a price for their trangressions.
As he told Wan Mei, 'You killed the woman I loved'.

The following spoiler will explain in detail the code in Episode 36.
For those who know maths, this is the encryption method known as Transposition Cipher.
The drama purposely choosed a pattern of transcription to make it easier for viewers to understand.
Note that traditionally Chinese is read from top to bottom (vertically), right to left.

1. Despite the major differences between the novel and the drama series, the final outcome of the characters are the same at the end of volume 1. The original author has never finished or published a volume 2.
2. All three leads SURVIVED at the end of the last scene. The code of Chang An's location is on the fan.
3. Yes, there is possibility of a sequel (season 2), this is admitted by the series' executive producer.
Things viewers might have missed:
1. Yue Ying removed the Monarch GU from the dead Cha Luo and implanted to Wan Mei while she's unconscious. The Monarch devours all other external GU in the host, including the trigger worm in Wan Mei which affects Chang An's heart.
2. With the Decree of the Lotus Emblem in EP 34, Gui Hua City no longer need to get funds from assassination but can demand supplies and allocation from the local government.
3. The Wordless Edict remained unopened, Wan Mei revealed that Gong Zi is plotting to proclaim that she is its rightful owner and heiress to the Tang Empire.

I come here almost immediately after I watched and processed the ending :p
So just a few quick points about the ending since it seemed a few misunderstand it

@Camelotdaze: I was referring to the Eagle Flag novel while I was replying to Lullina03 :)
I didn't read through the BR novel but I was aware of some of the plots and that it is originally hentai Wuxia :p