My review is based on the fact that it's my first chinese historical/ancient drama. I wasn't into these earlier until my friend recommended this to me.

ACTING-

Full points on acting to every actor here. I heard that Luo Yunxi was severely ill and had surgeries right before this drama and he was on a liquid diet. So, some scenes of Bai Lu were shot before him.
Luo Yuxin did a great job portraying all the four characters. (His eyebrows were paid actor)

Bai Lu sometimes felt irrational with her acting and showing too much cuteness but rest in all, she nailed it.

PLOT-

The plot is very different not having the usual romance and actions. It has an open ending which I see as a happy ending but rushed. There are more gloomy, sad, pessimistic scenes than happier ones. It's rather a brutal drama based on a more brutal novel. I liked how they showed TTJ's journey from innocent gloomy childhood to the dark devil god in just 40 eps. How he developed hatred, never received love from anyone, was always betrayed and misjudged; then how he collected all that in his heart, started developing emotions, gained power, ruled a kingdom, burnt in search of his wife, did cultivation, absorbed devilish powers and destroyed the whole world.

Even the side stories and plots were pleasing to watch. They gave us a moment to rejoice and soothe down our pain.

There were three different realms briefly shown, though I felt that the Bore's life in dream was too long. It could have been made shorter (at max covering 2 episodes)

ACTION-

The CGI and Costumes and background scores made the action sequels wayy better. I was worried at the amount of blood they were spitting, they might die from Amnesia. There wasn't a aingle episode without leads spitting blood. lol

MUSIC-

I loved the music!!! The osts are soo good. My favourites are - Black Moonlight, Sending the Long Moon, Black Bird and My World.

COSTUMES-

The costumes were the prettiest. I liked each and every costume of every character. Esp. the all red costume of Pian Ran. The jewellery, Headgear, hairstyles.. everything was superb!!

THINGS I DIDN'T FEEL RIGHT-

Keeping in mind that the series had originally 56 episodes but due to new Chinese policy, they cut shorted it to 40 eps, the ending was rushed. When the last episode ended, I was like "It's just this???"
I'm okay with open endings but not open threads. I am counting it now.

1. When TTJ asked his master why he named him Cang Jiumin, he said I'll tell you later. But then he never explained why. He died like that, keeping secrets.

2. When almost everyone reincarnated from 500 years back, why not Pian Ran?? I legit loved her character. Where did she go?

3. What happened to Xiao Lin at the end? Did he died? Was he alive? Did he reincarnated?

4. What happened to Nian Biayu? Did TTJ killed him? Where had he disappeared?

5. The world didn't know the real intentions of TTJ/Devil God at the end. They still think he was bad and used his power for wrong things. Will they ever know he sacrificed himself for the world? Why he killed his master? When will all the misunderstandings be cleared?

OVERALL-

Overall, it gave me stress, tears, hatred for the world. It's the type of drama which can even depress the happiest person on Earth. Comparing with the novel, they made TTJ a bit softer but Ye Xiwu as it is that's why sometimes her behaviour seemed frustrating. Ep 24-26 were too boring with all gloominess filled. It could have easily been made shorter here and stretched at end to give us a proper ending.

Though this drama has it own shortcomings, it was super addictin to watch. Despite all the gloominess and sorrow, it made a special place in my heart. Kudos to the actors and the whole team.

Hands down Best Chinese Drama of 2023!