Azure

No, YM¹ couldn’t stop YM³ from killing Fang Zhou. both YMs possessed Heaven-Changing Sutra, The Rebirth Sutra is a step above Heaven-Changing Sutra, meaningly in combat, TLC is more powerful than YM, YM¹ and YM³ are equal in combat. YM¹ needed TLC² to take over YM³ to let himself to be defeated. Without TLC² consciousness it would be like;

YM¹ consciousness: I want to be defeated.
YM³ consciousness: The heck is wrong with you?
YM¹ consciousness: Shut up! And kill yourself!
YM¹ and YM³ starts fighting within.

Seven masters; What’s going on with him?(⁠●⁠_⁠_⁠●⁠)

YM¹ wanted TLC³ to know all his plans and these messy timelines created by him, he even let TLC to experience his own past. My understanding is that, YM¹ low-key wanted him to understand him, you will see in last Ep that TLC never blamed YM and gave him a chance to choose.

I saw your other replies to me and I 100% agree with you, removing both A Shui and Bai Suche is the only way to improve this drama. A Shui is just there to be a shell for divine stone and nothing more. Her scenes with TLC are cringe and pointless and take away the seriousness from the drama. The wedding scene still happens in Ep1 but it’s just to drag TLC into Jianghu affairs, without A Shui, like it’s just a wedding of Hao with some other random lady. As for the walking blood bank, the divine stone originally belonged to Ye Mo, so Xiao Shi could carry this additional healing powers as well, it would also solidified the relationship between TLC and YM and add more tension between them. FZ chose to believe in TLC despite knowing his identity and TLC chose to believe in Xiao Shi despite finding him suspicious. And this would also make the revelation of Xiao Shi being Ye Mo all along in Ep40 much more shocking and meaningful.

There is a taiwanese drama called 'Someday or one day' and it has just 13 episodes. It has five main characters (six if you count the villain) with the similiar time loop/multiverse themes, the timelines there are as complicated as SLY yet every timeline was explained well, every main character shone, every side character strongly contributed to the plot with a very much limited screentime without being seen as useless. So, it’s not about her screentime but the character itself. I believe it also has to do with the genre. This drama is original a male centric drama, One-male-centric to be precise, it’s understandable why only the protagonist and the antagonist got strong writting with everyone else just being a plot device.

Regarding maternal vibes, the drama already added Tang Lici’s mother who loved him unconditionally and became his salvation, there really is no point for A Shui to exist in this drama.

In the Bilao palace, when everyone were searching for Tang Lici but only A Shui found him, that’s because Gui Mudan’s puppet (that young boy) guided her to find Tang Lici and saved him. This is why Gui Mudan never stopped Liu Yan from harming Tang Lici, so everytime Liu Yan harms him, A Shui saves him; the drama cut this out, some would say it’s because LYX’s fans forced them to cut her scenes but if LYX’s fans really had this power in their hands, they wouldn’t let Tang Lici’s scenes to be cut.

The editing really makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

When Liu Yan said "I have lost everything in this life, but A Li, you must win, win back my share too" I felt deeply sad. The performance right here is brilliant.

Tianren realm is the most visually stunning part of the drama. Wish we could see the complete story of Tangjia and Ye Mo, could see Bai Nanzhu’s villain era, Puppet Garuda spying on little Tangjia, Garuda lord teaching Ye Mo, Tuo Long guarding the celestial realm, Guardian goddesses raising baby Tangjia.., it’s all a dream now.

I would like to add a point that Gui Mudan erasing her memories never existed in the screenplay. She wanted to seek revenge and approached Gui Mudan and Gui Mudan inserted the divine stone into her blood and planted her by Tang Lici’s side. In this way, she could act as both, Gui Mudan’s undercover agent and also get her revenge. It was all going on the track (this is also the reason why the scene between her and the Yamen sect leader makes sense). Later on, she realised she trapped an innocent person and regretted it, there was also a face-to-face scene between them where she apologized to him, Tang Lici forgave her and told her about her brother. She then gave him the divine stone as a way to redeem herself and then left. The drama tried to whitewash her character with this memory erasing plot, but this attempt of trying to whitewash her completely destroyed her character to the point you can just cut her out.

This is really some good analysis now. I would like to shorten the Bilao palace arc to 2/2.5Ep, it should be over by Ep16. Central plains arc should start by Ep17. Reduce the scenes of A Shui/Yu Furen/Yu Qifeng/Gu Xitan (too much screentime for nothing), remove Bai Suche (she adds nothing to the plot), give more scenes to Xiao Shi. Tang Lici and Liu Yan should get back together by Ep28-29, Gui Mudan arc start by Ep30. Ep32-Ep36 should be all about the celestial realm. I would also like to start the Ep1 with the battle scene of Bai Nanzhu and Tang Lici in the vast space, Tang Lici falling down in Shenzhou, then a black-screen and then an animated clip of explaining celestial realm and Shenzhou in 3-4mins. Then the scene of Liu Yan disguised as Tang Lici playing pipa on the rooftop.

Number of people who confessed their love to Tang Lici;

1. Zhong Chunji (rejected)
2. Liu Yan (accepted)
3. Ye Mo (accepted)

Dedication is dedication, no less and greater XD, all our combined efforts together makes it more meaningful to others and each other.

Writing review for SLY seems to difficult, it’s such a thoughtful provoking drama and there are lots and lots to analysis. The more you rewatch, the more things you discover.

Nobody could be sadder than me(⁠´⁠;⁠︵⁠;⁠`⁠) I shipped Bai Nanzhu and Tang Lici, alongwith Tang Lici and Ye Mo. My BaiLi ship completely broke down.

Liu Yan confessed his love to Tang Lici before taking his last breath and Tang Lici honoured Liu Yan’s nameplate with his blood.

In tradition, using cinnabar to paint nameplates is believed to ward off evil and bring good fortune, seeking peace and auspiciousness for the deceased.

Blood: represents life, soul, and curse. To paint with one's own blood signifies:

"I offer my life as a sacrifice to make a pact with you." This is no longer grievance, but my most personal and cruel sacrifice to you.

"I will forever be bound to you, whether in life or death". It is an obsession that forcibly binds the fates of two people together, "I will never let you go even in death" or "I will stay with you even in death." It’s the also the declaration that, your end must be defined by me. Your death must bear my mark.

Yo! I really love how you are also so dedicated to the drama, you are really great at answering comments and clearing out misinformations.

I don’t think there is ever going to be a hero like Tang Lici and villain like Gui Mudan and Ye Mo. Yunxi and Jeremy’s chemistry turned out to be a hidden gem.

ML came from the Tianren realm, check out the discussion above to know about Tianren realm, Whispers Of Fate—Worldview/Timelines.

It’s really brain frying, I don’t know what did I even write.

Nothing bad happens to the cat. Gui Mudan even saved the cat and gave it a name.

Friends to enemies to friends again.

Tang Lici (painfully questioning): Why did I come to Shenzhou? Here, the happiness is fleeting and suffering is endless.

Ye Mo: Master, because this is the script I wrote for you. (Although I am quite older than you but I have deep respect and admiration for you so I will call you my master)

Tang Lici: Why did you write such a depressing script?

Ye Mo: Master, because I believe you are the best in the world. Nobody deserves you but only me. You should explode into a beautiful firework and then become the most perfect celestial being in a beautiful way for my sake and then offer your body to me in the most beautiful way.

You are the female lead!