The drama clicked with me the moment I saw the first short promotional videos. It is for me what I seek from xianxia dramas. It has an exciting plot and likable multi-layered characters. It has the magical feel to it but still manages to be relatable.
PLOT. The plot is easy to follow but at the same time it is intriguing and has twists and sudden revelations. I like how characters and plot lines are intertwined and how some seemingly neutral characters turn out to have hidden motives.
ROMANCE. The romance is mostly quite calm and soothing, almost no misunderstandings, a little bit of angst at the part when Lu Li turns into Luo Ge. And actually it was interesting to see the way their feelings developed after the change. The kisses are few, sorry to say.
CHARACTERS. What I like the most about the drama are the characters.
Lu Li/Luo Ge (Zhang Bin Bin). Zhang Bin Bin portrays 3 different characters here and his performance is spectacular in every one of them, First he is Luli who is a mere mortal man. He is nice an unsophisticated guy with warm and loving heart. It was a joy to see Bin Bin in this kind of role. Next he turns into Luo Ge who is a high immortal and has a very different personality. The change is so drastic that it shocks. His demeanor becomes truly god-like so stunningly handsome but austere and unattainable. The third personality is Dark Moon god who is again totally different from both Lu Li and Luo Ge because he is essentially an evil spirit. Zhang Bin Bin is spot on with his portrayal of the merciless and cunning creature. The well done make-up and gorgeous costumes also do justice to Zhang Bin Bin’s beautiful face and figure. Nothing looks cheap or over-the-top or ridiculous.
While I admire Luo Ge the one I adore is He Na. He is a king of a cursed demon race and there is a heavy burden upon his conscience to lift the curse and save his people. Wang Yu Shuo gives an impressive performance here. He Na is noble both in nature and in bearing. His eyes speak volumes and shine with some inner light. He has quiet sadness about him which makes the heart ache for him. I enjoy a lot exquisite outfits and styling on He Na. He looks so graceful and refined in his white costumes and with a flute. I like how he and Lu Li and later Luo Ge become and remain good friends through all the storms.
A Fu. Honestly after watching several of his dramas I considered Wang Yi Long a handsome but not very versatile actor. However he proved me wrong here with his great portrayal of He Na’s younger brother A Fu.
His role here is mostly antagonistic but he evidently enjoys his character a lot and his acting feels passionate and convincing. His romance with Luo Ning is such a poignant love story which I hate and like at the same time. Of course he also looks very dashing in his dark clothes stylized as fish scales.
Liu Shao. The FL of the drama Liu Shao impressed me somewhat less than the above mentioned characters. She is actually a nice girl, not annoying at all, trusting and lovable. However her personality is a little bland. At some point she even feels like a side character. I think they needed to add more depth to her or develop her goddess side earlier in the series.
The villains. A good thing is the villains here are not one-dimensional. There are several of them with different grudges against main characters but all of them have backstories and well explained motivations to their actions. The only cliché villain is Bai Feng who is a typical sore loser obsessed with the ML.
I need also to mention a support character. Wan Su, a grass spirit. He has but a small impact on the plot but his backstory, his personality and his appearance especially the outfit of the most lovely aquamarine colour and white hair are somehow very appealing to me.
ENDING. The ending is what I am not so happy about. It is definitely a letdown. The problem is that they jammed a very complex ending plotline worthy of 3-4 episodes into one episode and besides evidently have to cut out a huge amount of the demonized Luo Ge’s scenes. The result is a poorly connected sequence of events which leave the viewer totally confused about what had happened. Of the two versions of the ending I prefer the 40th episode. Because at least it treats He Na fairly and gives A Fu chance to redeem himself.
The OST. I like the OST well enough. I was surprised to find out that Zhan Bib Bin had such a fine singing voice.