Just killing time guys. I loved it most when Ye Tan tricked the Void Tyrant by stalling time and then when she didn't back down from the Heavenly Emperor on saving Youqin. Her speech was explosive! She took down two kings in one go and got away with it. Haha.
It only works because the lead actors are also still underrated (not big names). Imagine something like this brings…
Right, I agree. It's because the main leads aren't super popular yet that this can happen. And maybe not too because Goodbye My Princess was focused only on the main leads and that was back in 2019. Even smaller productions with very unknown or new leads focus only on the leads. Thus, whoever is behind this drama intentionally divided the screen time and importance between the two couples almost equally which doesn't happen often. I'm not sure what type of contract or billing the cast has, but yes, others are being promoted in here alongside the leads. I would like to think it's the storyline of focusing on the two sisters as the center but nahh, live adaptations be butchering the novels all the time. Haha.
I think Youqin and Ye Tan still have more screen time than Chao Feng and Qing Kui but truthfully, the amount of screen time a second couple with unknown leads receive in here is very rare to see happen in dramaland. They're promoting the second pair just as much as the first pair, so fans may find it a bit off. The second leads' importance to the plot is just as developed, interesting, and memorable as the first pair, if not more according to a lot of us here, so yes, the common hierarchy is off here.
I don't think it's a bad thing, story wise. It keeps the plot moving in the Void realm which impacts the Heavenly realm, eventually. I like that both twin sisters aren't fighting against each other and actually love one another and have their own stories to tell including their own princes.
However, based on politics or life beyond the drama into reality, fans of one artist may find it unfair because technically, everyone is for themselves, nothing wrong with that. With the current climate in Chinese dramas where uncertainty of whether a project will ever see the light of day is huge, the artists who signed on as leads to have the best of everything are sharing that with all of the other couples in here.
I know, this drama is quite different from the rest, so the whole set up where the second leads are right up there with the main leads is probably not bad, but it's just very rare to see happen. It's usually, the main leads all the way or main leads fall apart and so much screen time is dedicated to everyone else. Haha. Second, third leads usually get 25% of the screen time or importance but here it's like double that. Throwing in some random numbers based on what I've seen, so it's off of the normal formula. Two couples, no...four couples that seem to have good development in here is ultra rare.
I didn't really care about the OST, initially, but the playlist has been on repeat for the last three days. Haha. All of the songs are sooooo good and fitting. I love how Speak With You plays every time Youqin makes a grand entrance. Ugh, my heart melts whenever The Starry Love plays the moment Youqin saves Ye Tan. Yes, I love the main couple just a bit more.
I just wanted to do a shout out to Man Man, such a loyal, loving, and smart bird next to Ye Tan. She never hesitates when it comes to Ye Tan. She's funny and quirky, adding another layer of humor and fun to the team. When Ye Tan and Man Man are together, they never fail to make me laugh. No, she's not annoying one bit. She adds to Ye Tan, to the overall story.
I think I'm gonna drop it after 14 episodes... it's too cringy for me and I don't feel the main leads
Aw, this drama is totally beating out its predecessors like Ashes of Love, Pillow Book, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms etc. for me. This xianxia is so unique and rare. Technically, the leads love hasn't even begun yet. Lol
I felt that scene too! Poor Di Lan Jue, but I am glad they are clear cut with their feelings and doesn't lead…
I agree. I really adore the sisters, they don't lead anyone on. They don't add to the obsessions or false hope other men have of them or could have. That makes things really complicated.
While waiting for new episodes, I'll just keep posting my love for this drama here.
I adore Di Lan Jue for bringing such cuteness and humor to the team. I felt so sorry for him when Ye Tan rejected him and bro-zoned him for life. That scene was funny yet so sad. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how solid that scene was?! The feelings, the vibe. The acting was SUPERB to say the least. And before that scene, there weren't even that many interactions between him and Ye Tan to convince us of his deep long awaited love for her yet the actor executed those feelings beyond well. I was really impressed. I'm glad Ye Tan has him as a friend. He's truly a treasure. What a selfless puppy. Haha. He loves Ye Tan, seems to be doing things to force her to accept him, but deep down, he just loves her and supports her no matter what dangers or who they're going up against. His love is pure and not annoying or suffocating. It's a breath of fresh air. It's not obsession but true love. It's rare to see this.
It broke my heart. The first 2/3 was funny and sweet but the last 1/3 drained my tears. How the love story transpired…
If it's not too much to ask, what happens that causes YT to join the Void and want to rid the Heavenly realm? Sure, she's been tortured her whole life but she's not one to just hurt anyone either, let alone join the dark forces? We all have an idea why and how and it may be different in the drama but was just curious and wanted confirmation from the book.
I can't wait to finish the drama because it's sooooo good but at the same time, what am I going to do with my life after it ends? Can it continue forever but us knowing that it'll be a happy ending? Just give us a bunch of sweet and funny scenes. I'm really savoring each episode, not fast forwarding at all. This hasn't happened in forever of drama watching. There's no boring parts at all. The story connects everything.
Qingheng and Di Lanjue are such a treat. I can't believe it's been a year already looking for Youqin's shards. Episodes 13-14 were so much fun and humor. I normally get bored with the mortal arc, even Pillow Book couldn't escape that, but man, in this xianxia, the story just got better.
Fiery is so adorable. He's a selfless hero like Youqin. Lol Sorry Ye Tan, karma. Haha.
This drama is on its way to becoming my all time favorite xianxia, believe it or not. It's that good. The script, directing, cast, acting, wardrobe, storytelling is just phenomenal so far. I hope they don't mess it up with useless noble idiot tropes and stubborn issues between the leads.
I don't have time for much discussions but question? I've never watched Li Landy before. Her comedy is on point and I love her as the daring smarty pants Ye Tan so far but I have to say, her crying, actually, lack of tears, was a bit disappointing in Episodes 11-12. I kept reasoning that perhaps she's not in love with Youqin yet, so she's not balling her heart out but still, she's a bit weak in this arena which is such a pity. She's such a pretty and lovable actress. I'm a huge fan of tears, so I hope she improves or her character has some really good crying scenes. I hope it's the storyline that didn't want her to cry and not her lack of abilities. Is she usually this dry in other projects?
CXX never fails to amaze me with his acting talents. He's so underrated. I'm not a fan of all his projects but this one, I'm going all in.
CMC as Chao Feng is soooo dashing and charismatic. This is the first time watching him and boy, my heart is all his. Haha.
HXL is whooping butt as QK all over the Void realm.
I'm completely out for the second season. Deny it all you want, but the premise for the second season is utter BS. It's all greed and that's why the story fell off the cliff halfway when the producers, writers, and directors finalized their decision to film a second season in the middle of the first season airing, not before, but after they saw its success, butchering the latter episodes, filling in screen time with tons of flashbacks, purposely dragging out all of the questions with no answers, and what an ugly ending to season one. The latter half didn't even feel like it was from the same writers or if they were, "they had a change of heart." They were no longer genuinely writing a good story anymore. They lost that. They, too, used the ice stone for their own greed. Haha.
I'm not against GYJ, I'm against the greed of the creators. If they honestly had so much content for a second season, we viewers, who aren't dumb, would see that. There's literally nothing else to explore besides JBY. If true to what the director said, there's so much going on that they need a second season, then perhaps they wouldn't have extended the episodes with flashbacks and meaningless chit chats that do nothing for the show. That is one of the cheapest forms of stalling a drama to fake create new content. Then they wouldn't have dumbed down so many characters who were originally praised for their wits like Mu-Deok and the Crown Prince. Then they wouldn't have stretched out JBY's story all the way down a cliff and still remains unresolved acted by an actress who won't be in the second season. Nothing makes sense. Then half of the episodes wouldn't feel like a complete disappointment and drag. Episode 19 was probably the ending they originally filmed but they re-edited the scenes to create a second season. That's not okay with me.
Then we have JSM who was done dirty. Personally, I'm sure if she knew she wasn't the main female lead, that 20 episodes of her hard work would go to waste just to build someone else up, that she's not even the endgame like they had written her character to be, she wouldn't have signed on. Like a lot of peeps have said on here, we've never seen a storyline like this where the new body, Mu-Deok, isn't the main character and is switched out in a second season, abruptly and ridiculously. It's sort of a slap in the face for JSM, the veteran actress here and she can't even complain about it if it were true. She would've been blamed for poor ratings if that had happened and now, she's being used to set the stage for some other actress. Anyone can say stop being bitter, that's how the story goes, Naksu has to return to her own body and stuff. NO, that's not true. If that were true, then like a lot of us are saying, they would've featured GYJ a lot more in the first season, so we don't forget her completely. Her body was burnt. Now, they're going to throw in something absurd to bring her back. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Naksu's soul shift again into a new body, a dead one at that like Master Lee? That would make more sense and flow with the whole Naksu has to leave JBY's body so JBY can live too. But nope. The creators decided to promote GYJ. If that was the case, there were many ways to have GYJ actively live in the storyline, but they didn't go that route because the story was truly 20 episodes with JSM as Mu-Deok as endgame if the drama wasn't a success. THEY FINISHED FILMING like that. Heck, even the young actress playing Naksu had more screen time that GYJ. Sure, sure, I'm not part of the production team but anyone who has a job knows that what happens behind the scenes isn't exactly what gets out there. There are secrets and BS that happens. It's a bunch of BS and lies when a storyline that used to make so much sense begins to fall apart to accommodate a second season and they're not even smart at doing that at all. Well, let's say, if they did, by a veryyyyy tiny percentage, they always wrote for a second season, then they SUCK BIG TIME. Ugh. I'm staying away from the Hong sisters, forever. They did me dirty in so many of their dramas. The only one that didn't get jinxed was You're Beautiful for me. They ruined the drama for me. This was on its way to being one of the best Korean dramas for me, an EPIC story, but nope, they ruined the pacing, the storyline, the cast.
I'm not hating on GYJ but I can't ignore the blatant biases against JSM. JSM was brought in to save the drama and into a completed story. But along the way, the story wasn't her story anymore, it was revised to fit someone else. And they're not even good at hiding it or care enough to convince us that they butchered a completed 20 episode drama to make room for a second season with a totally new face as the female lead. It's incredibly insulting for them to think that some of us won't notice what they did. There is nothing else left of the original story that hasn't been revealed, nothing interesting enough to prolong this drama into a second season AND YET, they STILL USE JSM AS JBY to create the second season. They KNOW that JSM as JBY's incomplete story will carry the second season through, AGAIN. JBY is LITERALLY THE ONLY character left that remains a mystery and unresolved. JSM is still being used when she's no longer present. Sad. This is from what I think as of now which may change, surprise me. Haha.
Positives: The Queen\Shaman was soooo good when she was found out. Kudos to her acting. At least her brother truly loved her.
The sweetest scene was when Jang Uk had just lost all his powers after saving everyone from the ice stone, the way he looked, so drained and lifeless, yet he was happy to be a nobody with Mu-Deok was the highlight of the show. Their true love was the King's star.
Yul and Naksu's goodbye was such a tearjerker. And like that...he let go of his first love.
JSM as Naksu was SLAYYYYY!
But why are they gonna do Crown Prince dirty like that too? Him as the villain? I guess, since both his parents are pretty evil.
Jang Kang? Wow. Talk about being selfish. He and Mama Jin created this mess, disappears for 20 years, returns to do what?! Yes, Jang Kang, but don't get it wrong, it's not Jang Uk who's not your son, IT'S YOU WHO ARE NOT HIS FATHER, never was. Jang Uk never runs away from his problems.
Like what?! The loopholes in the story like how did Jin Mu and So-I escape when all of the mages were there?! To why Papa Jin wasn't punished for his crimes? Yes, he's wounded but still, he can recover in prison are where they made the edits. That's why nada makes sense at the end.
Like someone said, I'll take the sweet parts before the wedding as the ending because that was probably the true ending before the revisions. Okay, if it were true that they always planned for a second season then it's still pretty messed up. The second season depended on the success of the first season. They filmed it like that. That's the problem. Their teeter tottering hurt JSM the most in this.
On the brighter side of things, THANK YOU every Alchemist here that has made this journey suchhhhh a pleasant one. I shall forever remember this drama and you guys as one of the most well written stories from Episodes 1-14 and online families I've ever had the fate to join. Once in a longtime, we fall in love with a drama like this. The ending isn't what I had wanted but still, I'm glad I saw it. Happy watching everyone who decides to stay on. I'm out, peace!
It looks like TVN poured lot money onto this but this one struggling to reach 10% rating unlike the 2521 and Our…
It's a pity Korea doesn't seem to adore this show like the international fans. But that's okay, not every hit drama in ratings is good and not every low rating drama is bad. This drama is impressively good regardless of the ratings, but thank you for the news.
Maybe I'm used to 50+ episode Chinese dramas that have real filler episodes like 22 of them straight in a row like General and I that Episode 9 didn't feel like a filler episode at all. New characters were introduced, more questions, some answers. The story just got more complicated and progressed forward without dueling.
This episode is really now starting Uk and Mu Deok's love line, seriously, as they begin to search within their hearts. I'm glad that in this episode we get to clearly see how kind Yul and the Crown Prince is towards Mu Deok but she can't return their generosity even in the slightest like she does towards Uk. Actually, to protect Uk, she lies to them. Although Naksu is an assassin, she has a heart whether it was there before she became Mu Deok or after meeting Uk who risked his life for her so many times that she now has a home, someone who doesn't want her dead, who actually searches for her when she disappears, if she's that calculative or solely only doing everything for herself, I doubt she'll be this loyal.
I understand that some people may find Uk and Mu Deok's love forced and underdeveloped because it seems like they're always doing things for their own missions, so how is that love? But the thing is, that's life in reality and in the dramas. There's no perfect timing for love and we don't enter love saying we're ready, love finds us. That's what makes it special like Uk and Mu Deok.
Besides there's more to nitpick when it comes to Uk and Mu Deok because they have more content, scenes, lines, inner feelings, the entire story revolves around them which makes it easier to see their weaknesses. Yul and the Crown Prince really only exist for the love lines so far and right now, so of course we're going to see that they have no hidden motives or missions, so love is love. But if Uk and Mu Deok only had romance or love scenes with no other missions or personalities, that would be boring like today's Episode 9 according to some people. I guess you can't please them all.
And let's be honest, the love story btn Jang Uk and Mu Deok (or naksu) is not well developed. It's basically forced.…
The sacrifices that Uk and Mu Deok do for each other are not what they would do for others. It's something you do for the one you love, period, whether they realize it or not. Love is subconscious. You know you're in love when you do things freely without thinking. They think they're doing it for themselves but really, there were many times they could've died and would be easier to betray the other party to survive so their goal can be reached, but they didn't. They chose each other every single time and fate just happened to favor them and allow them to live and carry on. Uk and Mu Deok's love is built from a truly strong foundation which is truth. Uk knows Naksu is a killer but he still wants to protect her and free her of meeting an ending like all the other soul shifters. Uk is super annoying and such a rebel by abandoning 12 masters before and knowing all that, Mu Doek still wants the very best for Uk. Ever since it was revealed that her father was a soul shifter, revenge that has been her main purpose in life has sort of perished. But she's still aiding Uk because yes, little scenes here and there show us she loves him. I love this drama. Not so much sweet talk but genuine actions.
1 
I don't think it's a bad thing, story wise. It keeps the plot moving in the Void realm which impacts the Heavenly realm, eventually. I like that both twin sisters aren't fighting against each other and actually love one another and have their own stories to tell including their own princes.
However, based on politics or life beyond the drama into reality, fans of one artist may find it unfair because technically, everyone is for themselves, nothing wrong with that. With the current climate in Chinese dramas where uncertainty of whether a project will ever see the light of day is huge, the artists who signed on as leads to have the best of everything are sharing that with all of the other couples in here.
I know, this drama is quite different from the rest, so the whole set up where the second leads are right up there with the main leads is probably not bad, but it's just very rare to see happen. It's usually, the main leads all the way or main leads fall apart and so much screen time is dedicated to everyone else. Haha. Second, third leads usually get 25% of the screen time or importance but here it's like double that. Throwing in some random numbers based on what I've seen, so it's off of the normal formula. Two couples, no...four couples that seem to have good development in here is ultra rare.
I adore Di Lan Jue for bringing such cuteness and humor to the team. I felt so sorry for him when Ye Tan rejected him and bro-zoned him for life. That scene was funny yet so sad. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how solid that scene was?! The feelings, the vibe. The acting was SUPERB to say the least. And before that scene, there weren't even that many interactions between him and Ye Tan to convince us of his deep long awaited love for her yet the actor executed those feelings beyond well. I was really impressed. I'm glad Ye Tan has him as a friend. He's truly a treasure. What a selfless puppy. Haha. He loves Ye Tan, seems to be doing things to force her to accept him, but deep down, he just loves her and supports her no matter what dangers or who they're going up against. His love is pure and not annoying or suffocating. It's a breath of fresh air. It's not obsession but true love. It's rare to see this.
Fiery is so adorable. He's a selfless hero like Youqin. Lol Sorry Ye Tan, karma. Haha.
I don't have time for much discussions but question? I've never watched Li Landy before. Her comedy is on point and I love her as the daring smarty pants Ye Tan so far but I have to say, her crying, actually, lack of tears, was a bit disappointing in Episodes 11-12. I kept reasoning that perhaps she's not in love with Youqin yet, so she's not balling her heart out but still, she's a bit weak in this arena which is such a pity. She's such a pretty and lovable actress. I'm a huge fan of tears, so I hope she improves or her character has some really good crying scenes. I hope it's the storyline that didn't want her to cry and not her lack of abilities. Is she usually this dry in other projects?
CXX never fails to amaze me with his acting talents. He's so underrated. I'm not a fan of all his projects but this one, I'm going all in.
CMC as Chao Feng is soooo dashing and charismatic. This is the first time watching him and boy, my heart is all his. Haha.
HXL is whooping butt as QK all over the Void realm.
The entire cast is pretty awesome!
I'm not against GYJ, I'm against the greed of the creators. If they honestly had so much content for a second season, we viewers, who aren't dumb, would see that. There's literally nothing else to explore besides JBY. If true to what the director said, there's so much going on that they need a second season, then perhaps they wouldn't have extended the episodes with flashbacks and meaningless chit chats that do nothing for the show. That is one of the cheapest forms of stalling a drama to fake create new content. Then they wouldn't have dumbed down so many characters who were originally praised for their wits like Mu-Deok and the Crown Prince. Then they wouldn't have stretched out JBY's story all the way down a cliff and still remains unresolved acted by an actress who won't be in the second season. Nothing makes sense. Then half of the episodes wouldn't feel like a complete disappointment and drag. Episode 19 was probably the ending they originally filmed but they re-edited the scenes to create a second season. That's not okay with me.
Then we have JSM who was done dirty. Personally, I'm sure if she knew she wasn't the main female lead, that 20 episodes of her hard work would go to waste just to build someone else up, that she's not even the endgame like they had written her character to be, she wouldn't have signed on. Like a lot of peeps have said on here, we've never seen a storyline like this where the new body, Mu-Deok, isn't the main character and is switched out in a second season, abruptly and ridiculously. It's sort of a slap in the face for JSM, the veteran actress here and she can't even complain about it if it were true. She would've been blamed for poor ratings if that had happened and now, she's being used to set the stage for some other actress. Anyone can say stop being bitter, that's how the story goes, Naksu has to return to her own body and stuff. NO, that's not true. If that were true, then like a lot of us are saying, they would've featured GYJ a lot more in the first season, so we don't forget her completely. Her body was burnt. Now, they're going to throw in something absurd to bring her back. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Naksu's soul shift again into a new body, a dead one at that like Master Lee? That would make more sense and flow with the whole Naksu has to leave JBY's body so JBY can live too. But nope. The creators decided to promote GYJ. If that was the case, there were many ways to have GYJ actively live in the storyline, but they didn't go that route because the story was truly 20 episodes with JSM as Mu-Deok as endgame if the drama wasn't a success. THEY FINISHED FILMING like that. Heck, even the young actress playing Naksu had more screen time that GYJ. Sure, sure, I'm not part of the production team but anyone who has a job knows that what happens behind the scenes isn't exactly what gets out there. There are secrets and BS that happens. It's a bunch of BS and lies when a storyline that used to make so much sense begins to fall apart to accommodate a second season and they're not even smart at doing that at all. Well, let's say, if they did, by a veryyyyy tiny percentage, they always wrote for a second season, then they SUCK BIG TIME. Ugh. I'm staying away from the Hong sisters, forever. They did me dirty in so many of their dramas. The only one that didn't get jinxed was You're Beautiful for me. They ruined the drama for me. This was on its way to being one of the best Korean dramas for me, an EPIC story, but nope, they ruined the pacing, the storyline, the cast.
I'm not hating on GYJ but I can't ignore the blatant biases against JSM. JSM was brought in to save the drama and into a completed story. But along the way, the story wasn't her story anymore, it was revised to fit someone else. And they're not even good at hiding it or care enough to convince us that they butchered a completed 20 episode drama to make room for a second season with a totally new face as the female lead. It's incredibly insulting for them to think that some of us won't notice what they did. There is nothing else left of the original story that hasn't been revealed, nothing interesting enough to prolong this drama into a second season AND YET, they STILL USE JSM AS JBY to create the second season. They KNOW that JSM as JBY's incomplete story will carry the second season through, AGAIN. JBY is LITERALLY THE ONLY character left that remains a mystery and unresolved. JSM is still being used when she's no longer present. Sad. This is from what I think as of now which may change, surprise me. Haha.
Positives: The Queen\Shaman was soooo good when she was found out. Kudos to her acting. At least her brother truly loved her.
The sweetest scene was when Jang Uk had just lost all his powers after saving everyone from the ice stone, the way he looked, so drained and lifeless, yet he was happy to be a nobody with Mu-Deok was the highlight of the show. Their true love was the King's star.
Yul and Naksu's goodbye was such a tearjerker. And like that...he let go of his first love.
JSM as Naksu was SLAYYYYY!
But why are they gonna do Crown Prince dirty like that too? Him as the villain? I guess, since both his parents are pretty evil.
Jang Kang? Wow. Talk about being selfish. He and Mama Jin created this mess, disappears for 20 years, returns to do what?! Yes, Jang Kang, but don't get it wrong, it's not Jang Uk who's not your son, IT'S YOU WHO ARE NOT HIS FATHER, never was. Jang Uk never runs away from his problems.
Like what?! The loopholes in the story like how did Jin Mu and So-I escape when all of the mages were there?! To why Papa Jin wasn't punished for his crimes? Yes, he's wounded but still, he can recover in prison are where they made the edits. That's why nada makes sense at the end.
Like someone said, I'll take the sweet parts before the wedding as the ending because that was probably the true ending before the revisions. Okay, if it were true that they always planned for a second season then it's still pretty messed up. The second season depended on the success of the first season. They filmed it like that. That's the problem. Their teeter tottering hurt JSM the most in this.
On the brighter side of things, THANK YOU every Alchemist here that has made this journey suchhhhh a pleasant one. I shall forever remember this drama and you guys as one of the most well written stories from Episodes 1-14 and online families I've ever had the fate to join. Once in a longtime, we fall in love with a drama like this. The ending isn't what I had wanted but still, I'm glad I saw it. Happy watching everyone who decides to stay on. I'm out, peace!
This episode is really now starting Uk and Mu Deok's love line, seriously, as they begin to search within their hearts. I'm glad that in this episode we get to clearly see how kind Yul and the Crown Prince is towards Mu Deok but she can't return their generosity even in the slightest like she does towards Uk. Actually, to protect Uk, she lies to them. Although Naksu is an assassin, she has a heart whether it was there before she became Mu Deok or after meeting Uk who risked his life for her so many times that she now has a home, someone who doesn't want her dead, who actually searches for her when she disappears, if she's that calculative or solely only doing everything for herself, I doubt she'll be this loyal.
I understand that some people may find Uk and Mu Deok's love forced and underdeveloped because it seems like they're always doing things for their own missions, so how is that love? But the thing is, that's life in reality and in the dramas. There's no perfect timing for love and we don't enter love saying we're ready, love finds us. That's what makes it special like Uk and Mu Deok.
Besides there's more to nitpick when it comes to Uk and Mu Deok because they have more content, scenes, lines, inner feelings, the entire story revolves around them which makes it easier to see their weaknesses. Yul and the Crown Prince really only exist for the love lines so far and right now, so of course we're going to see that they have no hidden motives or missions, so love is love. But if Uk and Mu Deok only had romance or love scenes with no other missions or personalities, that would be boring like today's Episode 9 according to some people. I guess you can't please them all.