March 2024
A cursed yet fated love, scheming and treachery within Royal families, clans, strategic alliances and marriages, a higher realm, cultivation, tragedy, Merfolk, and Gods, kind of wraps this up in a nutshell.

The title is very apt. This drama went on for way too long, being really drawn out at times.

However, the sets were gorgeous, as were the costumes and the main cast. I loved the idea of the story, but goodness me it was chaotic at times.

Xiao Zhan's (aka Sean Xiao) character as male lead, Shi Ying, reminded me a little of his co-star's role in The Untamed, at times. In honesty, he was what got me through this drama. A tragic and wronged childhood, leading to a monastic life cultivating his spiritual power.

The female lead (Ren Min as Zhu Yan) character, whilst exuberant, stubborn and spoilt, but kind hearted, I unfortunately found REALLY irritating. She was also too immature, clueless, had the usual childish voice and always thought she knew better. Many of her antics were devoid of any thought process at all and, frankly, eye rolling. I wasn't keen on the actress either, finding her kind of amateur at times (her dancing was beautiful though). Zero chemistry with Xiao Zhan.

The supporting cast and characters were rich and varied. Besides XZ , I had some favourites... Fang Yilun (Alen Fang) as Zhi Yuan. He was captivating and portrayed his part really well, I thought. Marcus Li as Chong Ming was amusing and lent the drama a fair bit of light heartedness. Wang Zi Qi as Qing Gang, had the patience of a saint and was a really steadfast and humble character that I liked.

The more mature females were strong characters, but as fitted with the times, the younger ones were powerless pawns really; only 1 stood out to me and it wasn't the headstrong lead.

There were lengthy and contrived build-ups to quite a few of the storylines within the plot, almost all of which culminated in rushed conclusions, that I found disappointing and unsatisfying.

There were also a number of occasions when continuity was lacking and the plot was poorly adapted to move the story forward. The FL's character was all over the place.

It's a real shame, because this could have been excellent; it had all the right ingredients to be.

The ending was unexpected. I wasn't entirely happy with it either, but that's a personal taste thing.

I found the music didn't always match and the C-drama habit of dubbing the actors for accent purposes, was very 'breathy' in this.

If you can overlook these things and enjoy a quite sumptuous, melodramatic romance Xianxia, then you may well love it.