When I first noticed this drama by watching shorts of it on TikTok, I was immediately sold. The promos showed me a villainous male lead, a badass female lead and a plot filled with revenge and action scenes.

The story follows that of Murong JingHe (a third prince from Yan whose life is under constant threat from his brother the crown prince) and Mei Lin (a survivor of the great fires of Qingzhou picked off the streets by the Shadow Works, an assassin organisation).
The first couple of episodes already had me on the edge of my seat and that tension didn't go away for quite a while. I loved the way they introduced certain characters. Jinghe, once a famous general, was responsible for the fires in Qingzhou and is now known to be a mass murderer and an outcast. His own people either hate him or fear him and he puts that to good use to put forth a certain image of himself. He gave all the red-flag vibes I wanted and more.
With lots of flashbacks we get to know the characters more and more. Usually I'm not a fan of flashbacks or timetravel things in dramas but these scenes actually had something to add to the story. It made me realise how difficult Mei Lin had it in the years after the fire in Qingzhou destroyed her home and family and added to her character.

Positives:
- The acting of this cast was A+++++. They had me immersed into the story and kept me wanting more and more. I vowed to myself never to start another ongoing show due to this one. I could barely wait for new episodes to air and was unable to watch anything else in between.
- I have never seen anything from Baron Chen before and I don't think I will ever be able to watch anything he's in after this role. Not because he did a bad job but because he did such a good job at portraying such an incredible douche-canoe that I gagged everytime he came into focus.
- The romantic development between the main leads. I thought it was really pure how it went from enemies-to-lovers. I loved watching JingHe realise his mistakes and go from a "I only want to fight battles and win them" to "I want to fight battles to protect those I love". Mei Lin pierces through his cold exterioir and finds the man within. It's a beautiful love story that gives us the raw and sweet moments of a romance within a revenge plot.
- A badass female lead who doesn't take bullshit from her surroundings. She knows how to take care of herself and her fight scenes are amazing!!
- The OST!! I've been playing its theme song on repeat for days!

Negatives:
- There was a love story between the emporer and his peace-making-concubine who wasn't even 20 years old. This one didn't sit well with me. I know it's part of historical reality. I mean.. emporers at that time did have wives of a third their own age but it just made me want to skip their scenes. Especially when she became pregnant with his child. It was a big no-no for me. He could have been her grandfather....
- The second lead romance. I really didn't understand why General Yin eventually fell for the crown prince. All he did was manipulate her into things even going as far as rape (okay.. he didn't go through with it, but still) her into a marriage. His entire character was build up to make the audience hate him. Redemption was far from being realised, in my opinion, so having general Yin fall in love with him, carrying his memorial tablet... it made me dislike her as a character.
- The eternal back and forth in the later parts of the series. Mei Lin is still poisoned by the Momai poison at that point and the amount of things they have to turn to in order to heal her... it made no sense. Everytime they came close it fell through at the last minute only to have them not succeed at all in the end. Or the fact that they kept saying she would only survive for so long and than have that period extended by a little more time. It just became ridiculous at some point.
- The ending. Although it's an okay ending to the story.. I wish they could have done a little better. With the way they've done it, it feel a little draggy and rushed at the same time and now the story feels unfinished to me.

Overal I really loved this drama. It's the best Cdrama I've seen in 2024. Maybe even drama of the year for me. It was everything I needed and everything I wanted.