I feel this series deserves a perfect 10 although many have thought otherwise.

The reason is Jing Chao's outstanding performance as Mu Ze (MZ), the Machiavellian. He was willing to sacrifice his son, wife's family, father and brothers for the sake of the throne.

Xing Fei is relatively unknown to me as I hardly watch modern Chinese TV series. But, I feel XF delivered her line well in this series as Lu An Ran (LAR).

Zhai Zi Lu, as Mu Chuan (MC), is a young actor we should watch from now. His character matured over time in this series which made me feel ZZL deserve a credit for his acting. Although Jing Chao overshadowed him completely in this series.

The storyline is very interesting: LAR time travelled from the moment she died in the fire in her palace. back to her encounter with MZ. This time, she tried to kill MZ by pretending as if he was a river bandit. The attempt failed.
In this life, LAR went straight to the point by proposing to MZ that she was willing to marry him to help him achieve his ambitions. And, he fell for her trick. Her revenge began.

In short, I love watching the scenes between MZ and LAR from Episode 4 onwards. MZ is like a beast to LAR while MC is like a morning dew to her.