This has the potential to become a 10 stars story from me, judging from 3/4th of the episodes. It started off so strong, and just getting stronger and more griping for me as it goes on. I enjoyed the storyline so much, and the acting was so strong, not to mention the chemistry between LXY and WJY was chef kiss. To me, the plot was convincing and the execution was near perfect, up until the final fight in which Murong Jinghe finally exacts his revenge and brings down Murong Xuanlie. However, the arc after that started to stress me out. It feels like there are 2 different scriptwriter writing the first 25 plus episodes, and another writer took over and botch the last few episodes after that. The arc in which Yue Qin suddenly became stupid and turned evil and the laughable scene of a King thieving on his son’s herb and eating it like a goat for the sake of immortality was ridiculous, in fact I need to stop my bingewatching at that point of time and regroup. Lol. They did YueQin dirty after such long episodes, he was such a likeable SML from the start *sigh. Not to mention how ridiculous they turn the mighty Murong Jinghe with the 7days idiotic outofmind vigil over the supposed death of Mei Lin. Even borderline creepy (who the hell kept on romancing a corpse?? Not to mention, she should be smelly rotten corpse and on her way to liquidify within that time span if you want to be realistic lol. But who watch Cdramas for the realisticality of it right? Hahaha). Luckily they save the plot back after that with the war etc, even though not to the point of this story deserving a 10.

This is my second dramas of LXY (first know of him in The Blood of Youth, and his character there was charming even though he’s a baldy boy. Lol). Not many actors can pull off being baldy and still looking quite good and it shows in this drama. With his get up as Murong Jinghe, he was so charming and lovely and handsome and beautiful all at the same time. He carried off a vengeful soft hearted wronged prince so well, his cry made you want to cry as well sometimes. Though he did cry too pathetically during his return after losing Qingyan, I felt that it is unbecoming for a general to be that way in front of his other soldiers, trying to upkeep moral. He just lost a few mighty points there lol. Wu Jinyan as usual, really delivers. Her earlier fight scenes were so well executed I was gleefully clapping in my mind. In fact, almost 85% of all fight scenes choreography was very much well executed and enchanting. YQ’s actor carries the second male lead role well, even though you are team Jinghe/Mei Lin, you still want him to be happy (except for those few episodes near the end). The villain (Murong Xuanlie) was also well written, coming as someone so cunning, but also was a poor wronged soul turn bad. His end is bittersweet in a way. General Lin was so and so though, i’m not that much into her character or care too much for her. Surprisingly, the role of Princess Zigu was acted quite well, coming across as lovely innocent girl and even though her love story with someone maybe 30years her senior ideally sounds quite erghhh sometimes, but the acting of Zigu’s and the emperor’s was able to make it less awkward and mature love, rather than the pedophile vibe it can possibly be. Qingyan should have an honorary mention as well and his death broke me as much as it broke Prince Jing, but I pity that guy having to deal with Murong Jinghe during his 7day vigil with a dead girl. Lol. You are a strong man Qingyan! Lol. And as much as Qingyan deserved his appreciation scenes, I was as disappointed that Eunuch Liu was killed that easily without any mention whatsoever after that. He died heroic! I love that old fatherly eunuch how dare you!


Costumes were allllll so nice and beautifully crafted, no matter if it was jinghe, mei lin, yueqin or even Zigu. It was a feast to the eyes. The cinematography was also pleasant to the eyes. Ost was also heard beautifully accompanying so many scenes, not overly done or underused. And of course, the whump scenes I got from this drama kept me well fed (I adore those male lead whump scenes beat me!)


All in all, I very much enjoy this drama and staying up late for 3nights bingewatching this in between work shift was well deserved.