Pammy:
It doesn't make sense. Why did they have to change the most important part of the novel? Too many plotholes. Scripts can really butcher a drama with great cast.
Some people guess censorship (can't have ML and an emperor at that going around murdering people - except, that's what emperors have done unfortunately so I don't get why it's so taboo). Or maybe they wanted to make CX more palatable as the male lead, which is dumb. His character was already great in his complexity and humanity (he is flawed and could not overcome his darkest desires). This season made him into an even more petty, jealous and overdramatic dude. Even ZWY's performance cannot salvage this mess.
Poor Jing, he suffers the most from this crazy script because...he has no lines! I'm rewatching currently, and the most egregious episodes are from 14-17. His story is incomplete. His helping XY heal was a key part of his character, and that's not fulfilled in the drama. XY seeing her mother and her mother seeing her and Jing together after they (along with Haoling King) literally cross through hell to find her is an important sequence. Even visually it represents a rebirth after trial/death by fire. XY says to CX at the end of ep 18 that Jing healed and saved her - it would have been nice to show that more on screen.
I would have loved to love this second season because I loved the first and the novel. But if it goes down in flames, I am very ready and happy to write a scathing review.
Sorry for the rant. I was really trying hard to give this season a chance, but as I am rewatching, I can't ignore that badness.