Alysha Johnson

XF did not know who killed them. He never took Sui He side. In the trailer, JM asked him, who can use the "Lotus Flame" and XF said only his mother and him. JM asked what kind of power can incinerated a Water God like that, and XF answer only the "Lotus Flame". So JM accused XF.

When the Empress attacked them, she said even if XF is there, he cannot stopped her. (which is true since her power is stronger than his). XF lied so that his mother will stopped but it didn't stopped her. In the book, it was JM that lied. We knew that JM is not pregnant.

No he's still the Fire Immortal. He just control the Demon Realm but he wasn't born a demon. When he got resurrected, a fragment of his soul was resurrected, so he still who he is. XF is a Phoenix, who has the ability to control Fire. That's who he born as and will remain as.

I agree that RY live a very unfair life due to his birth circumstances. That's why I was never mad at him, and overall I still think it's more fair that he got the throne and lose JM, otherwise he would not have anything since it's obvious JM is destined to love XF.

Having said that I don't think it's up to XF to correct the wrong-ness of RY's birth. It is not up to him to make it fair for RY. What he can do is to treat RY kindly, and help him out when he could. Other than that, how Emperor and Empress treat RY is out of his hand. As son and as subject, there are certain line he cannot crossed. And when it come to delicate matter like the power struggle for the crown, you know they are treading on dangerous water. One wrong move XF do to help RY could mean death to RY. You know why? If XF help RY become a contender to the throne, sorry to say, the Empress doesn't have to kill RY, the Emperor will.

Second I want to address one of the point you brought up about the army. There is a certain dynamic I want to explain.

First the army come with the position, not anyone can just mobilise the army. Traditionally, the army only listen to the general, that has recruit, train and battle with them. In this case is XF. Historically there are many cases where the General usurp the throne so the decision to who can command the army is not easily given. XF is given the authority because he is destined to become the next Emperor.
Second you said that even Moon Immortal can offer himself to lead the army. That is very wrong. The Moon Immortal is the Emperor's brother. Usually when an emperor ascend the throne, the princes cannot even live in the same city but instead deployed to live at the border. If there are even rumors that they come to the city or mobilize the army, they are behead immediately, true or not. As this is Xianxa and talk about Gods that is why Moon Immortal is even allow to stay in Heaven Realm and given such a non-threatening position as God of Marriage. By comparison, you know why RY was given the position of the Night God, because it is non-threatening.

I would like to address some of your suggestion.

1. Distancing and refusing affection: Unacceptable. First there are two types of relationship between XF and Empress. Mother-son, Superior-Subject. It is unacceptable in both cases for XF to distance himself, for RY. It make no logical sense, is an unacceptable social behavior from anyone POV. It only acceptable if XF was five, or a toddler. But as they are royalty, even if XF was a toddler, he cannot throw that kind of "tantrum" either. The relationship in the royal are more formal and strict. I don't know if you know, but many of XF's scene with the Empress when he spoke plainly to her and refuses her are really over the line. The only reason that it is accepted is because this is a Xianxa romance. If this is a typical historica taking in human realm, (not even historically accurate) that kind of behavior will throw people off as it is completely unfit considering the setting.

2. Demon Realm Scene: RY position is extremely delicate because he is the FIRST son, but not from the Empress. By tradition, first son are eligible for crown prince. HOWEVER, crown prince is usually from the Empress. The ideal scenario is that the crown prince is BOTH. When you have the first son that is not Empress' son, it create this conflict. The worst scenario that could happen is the first son trying to win "points". RY is unhappy, but you know what would be worst for him? If XF speak up for him. Why? Because first it will show that XF is "understanding" which will score XF points, second it will look bad on RY because it will look like he trying to "score" points. If XF was calculating, speaking up to RY would be the best move to his advantage.
It's hard to explain this underlying power dynamics, but this is something that is very well understood among Chinese population due to the history. One of the most famous illustration of this is BBJX, the power-fight among 8 princes. It is well known that unless you are the potential crown prince, appearing to win battle or trying to score points look bad on you. (How? You appear stupid because you don't know how to play the game). You have to appear like you don't care for the throne = which RY was doing. If XF speak up for RY at that point, it put RY in an extremely undesirable position. So even when RY was helping XF, RY would not be look at favorably. However, if RY helped without anyone stating the obvious, he will be look at favorably. (How? Because it will show that he help without even being granted glory)

3. One of the reason why XF is asked to go to battles and not RY is to protect RY. For similar reasons stated above. RY is born out of wedlock, XF is from the Empress. If Emperor give the sons the same chances, it will create chaos in the court. Usually Emperor will always favored one son outwardly, so that the court don't take side. When the emperor are unclear, the court will form factions and support the prince. Princes fighting among each other for the crown is on the worst scenario. It always happen though, but by being clear which one the Emperor favor, it tempered down the chaos. So how does that protect RY? Because he is born out of wedlock. If the court take side, he will have more enemies than just the Empress. By traditions, he cannot be a contender for the throne.

In the book they did had history. If I didn't remember it wrong, Sui He set a trap so that Yan You was caught cheating with one of the Emperor's concubine. Yan You get demoted to mortal realm, and Sui He is favored by Empress for doing so because Empress wanted to get rid of that concubine for a while now. It was never clearly stated but for Yan You it was more than just that. There's an underlying romantic feeling from Yan You toward Sui He.

I agree. Technically, no one in the drama actually take the arranged marriage seriously. It can be changed. It all depend on JinMi.
Because Water God knew who kill the Flower God, he has the right and status to refuse the marriage. Additionally, RY never liked the idea of the arranged marriage anyway. Remember the scene in the underworld, he look quite displeased.

I think at this point, the arranged marriage is just an "excuse" or tool for all our characters to get what they want.
For Water God, to avoid the Empress and have Jinmi marry someone she likes.
For Emperor, to have the daughter of his lover be tied to his son so that Water God can't take revenge on him, and to create stronger alliance. Additionally, to mend the relation between Flower and Heaven Realm.
For RY, because of politics. The fact that Jinmi is pretty and kind is just the cherry on top.

One thing I disliked about the drama is that it switched events around for RY. His mother was killed before he met JM in the novel, but here it was after. In the novel, I like Night even though he approached JM with an ulterior motive is that although he started with bad intention, he realized what big mistakes he made by falling in love with his "prey". He intended to use her and then falling for her.
But with the drama, it seemed that he fall in love with Jinmi first. Then he was attacked, and became desperate and entitled to her. It's harder for me to understand him because he knowingly use a woman he love to exact revenge.

That made a big difference for me. In the novel, he used a woman as tool and unexpectedly fall for her. In the drama, he used a woman he love as a tool.

Uh.. That is not why RY want to keep Jinmi. It's not about wanting to protect her from knowing the truth about her mother's killer. RY said that since has nothing left, he needs Jinmi. It's for himself, not because he want to protect her from the truth. RY is obsessed because he's desperate, and also he feel entitled to have her since they are engaged. Having Jinmi serve not only as comfort, because she is kind and non-judgmental and beautiful, but also because of status, connection and power. Jinmi is one of the most desirable bachelorette around. Marrying her mean he get support from Flower Realm, and Water God/Wind God who are very influential in the Heaven Realm. Having Jinmi mean that even the Empress need to think thrice before messing with him. Right now RY is powerless with no one to back him up, and his position as prince is pretty much useless.

Before he repairing the pill he said something to Jinmi along the line of "For the rest of your life, I want you to never able to feel, to never love another, to never being able to love again." (loosely translated, fluent speakers please correct me)

It seems like the drama is determined to make RY this way, but at the same time, the novel was from Jinmi perspective so we never really knew how RY feel. Reading the novel, I always feel his scheme was partially fueled by his love for JinMi. In the drama, it is much more about revenge. I still don't understand why he so persistent toward Jinmi to be honest.

He doesn't choose what? I dont follow you.
The book did indirectly punish him, especially in the epilogue and hinting that he is still in pain losing JM. For him, the punishment was to lose the beauty but gain the world.
While reading the novel I always understood RY, even after what he did. The drama made him even more likable, or actually, the drama made him how I always see him. The only sad thing is that the drama didn't really do a good job of cementing why RY fall so hard for JinMi, and hence his heartache is so great.

But in a way I think that's better because that open up the possibility of RY being with the servant girl, in which is not a servant at all but the daughter of a high God.

The bird realm is not under Heaven Realm. "Technically" the heaven realm is the boss of all six realms. However, the bird realm is its own realm and is associated with the Heaven Realm through marriage, aka the Empress. The bird realm and flower realm is on equal status.

The Water God is a royalty within the Heaven Realm. Just like how the Heaven Realm has Fire God (XF), Night God (RY), Water God and Wind God. Water God is a respected God of the same generation as the Emperor.

Jinmi is Water God's daughter so she will succeed his title. Kind of like if a Duke has a daughter, she will succeed as Duchess. Except in real life I believe that is only for male descendant. Since this a make-believe god world, there is no differences between male or female.

She is also the Flower Leader as she is her mom's daughter. By birthright, she is the true leader of the flower realm, however her mother has given the position to the group of 12 flower gods. But if Jinmi want it she can take it back anytime. Being the direct descendent it also mean she has innate power that is higher and more powerful than the other 12 flower gods. Remember, she is the only who can grow lingzhi or the night rentetta (sp?) something only her mother was able to do.

So by technicality, she is at least Sui He status, but higher because her dad is Heaven Realm's royalty. She is royalty to 2 realms, while Sui He is only one.

Are you interested in the storyline? this drama is about xianxia romance, basically romance with the gods. If you are into dramas like Eternal Love (10 miles of Cherry Blossom) then you might be into this story.

The male leads are hot and fire, yin and yang. One is passionate, one is cold. The female lead is smart but also naive, because her mom put a spell on her. These 3 are destined to meet, and go through a painful love story. There are some backstory about their parents' generation as well. If you are into cute romance scene in beautiful ancient clothing, with a dash of angst and not too much politics, this might be good to you.

with the way the drama portraying RY i think he might have an ambiguous happy ending. So far they show a lot of his back story and his pain, but the servant girl is always there to help him. In the novel, the reason why RY fall in love with JinMi is because she's the only one who knew about his past, his mother, his insecurities. She's the one who comfort him in the simplest, sincere way. But in the drama, we really don't know why RY actually like JinMi tbh. Meanwhile the servant girl is a lot more active and always beside him, so I take my bet that after everything, she will still accompany him and he will eventually open up to her.

omg i cannot believe they actually go there. i dont mind though. hahaha

lmao i think that scene will be hard to adapt to the screen. but in the opening scene of the episode, we see them kissing under the rain near XF's waterfall pond so I think that will come. I love the human realm so much because we finally see them falling in love whereas the beginning, Jinmi is so clueless it's frustrating. I think they wont forget, but Jinmi will definitely be confused or brush it off as a human thing and not herself.

i love their time on Earth so much because when they are back in heaven Jin Mi is Night fiance and it's .... complicated. Jinmi in human realm is more honesty with her feeling and XF can pursue her more freely. In the Heaven realm not so much. I feel that these 3-4 episodes been dragging because other of other arc stories beside our OTP love story.

welcome to china?

The drama so far has cut out some actions that Ren Yu did that quite shady. At this point in the drama, I agree Ren Yu is not "deserved" to be hated yet. Funny enough while reading the novel I never hated Ren Yu even knowing how manipulative he was because we read it through Jin Mi's eyes to which Ren Yu is always gentle and kind. Meanwhile, XuFeng is always moody and jealous but in the drama, we get to see his hurt expression and pity him.

However, we don't know yet if Ren Yu really love Jin Mi for who she is yet. Because the drama had cut some of Ren Yu's action so far we get the impression that he is in love with Jin Mi. But in the novel, it's quite clear that he didn't. Actually Ren Yu is an interesting character because it's not until the end that you know how he really feel. In the drama Ren Yu is depicted as being very clear cut with his feeling, protective of himself and reserved but also angry and jealous because of Jin Mi. However I think it's because of the director and the actor as Ren Yu is supposedly to be a deep layered character that you can't quite pin point as good or bad.