Major Leads w/ NO chemistry and recycled storyline

As many reviewers mentioned, this is not worth the time unless you're looking for a new xianxia drama or you're a huge fan of Zhao Lusi. I skipped a through a lot. It was ok since there weren't any other good dramas to watch. But I won't rewatch it.

The Good:
- costumes
- production quality was decent

The Bad:
- plot/storyline was literally recycled and blended copy cat parts of Ashes of Love, Eternal Love, Love & Destiny. Too many similarities it was distracting
- the main issue I have is the utter lack of chemistry between the lead couple. I really like the ML and FL actors in their other works. But they just fell flat in this one. I just didn't feel the emotional yearning to root for them as a couple, which is essential for these types of dramas (i.e. Ashes of Love, Eternal Love)
- the ML (Wang An Yu) : I've only seen this actor in one other series To Fly w/ You, his acting was so good and his chemistry w/ the FL (Song Zu Er) was off the charts. In this Last Immortal series he just could not pull off the screen presence of a stoic, larger than life High God of Chaos. He came across as goofy and too soft hearted, and his acting lacked depth.
- the FL (Zhao Lu Si) - tends to be type-casted w/ as the cutesy, gutsy female lead. Which she played that part well as A Yin. But when she became the Lord Phoenix Feng Yin - she was not likeable at all. She didn't quite have the depth to play the jaded, badass female heroine w/ conflicted soft yearning heart for her true love (for example Yang Mi in Eternal Love). She jsut came across as an icy statue.

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Waste of time

This was a waste of time...56 episodes worth of wasted time! This is one of the worst period/costume dramas I have ever watched. Excruciatingly draggy. Didn't get remotely interesting until about episode 15 then by episode 25 or so it just kept doing downhill from there. I only rooted for it and endured until the very end only because of the FL (Song Zu Er), she is one of my favorite young actresses with so much raw talent and genuine charisma. I thought maybe the ending would redeem the excruciating boring series, but nope it did not.

Storyline:
The storyline was all over the place, so chaotic. Too many tribes and characters that you can't keep up or even remember anyone's names. They threw in 2 additional tribes and sub plots 46 episodes into the series. It was a mess. The battle scenes were drawn out way too long, sometimes a battle scene will last half an entire episode! The scenes were not edited well so it did not keep the viewer engaged. For example, if a character was walking ...no other action or anything happening that adds to the dramatic effect...they're just walking...the camera follows the character just walking and walking in silence for minutes into a scene.

The ML (Asule) was supposed to embody family bond and pride in your tribe/homeland (Qingyang). But he was sent away by his Emperor father at birth, brought back to his father's tribe at 18, but he was not welcomed by his father and 4 older brothers (who fought over the throne). The father only cared about him when Asule saved him from a wolf. Then shortly after that he was sent away to a distant kingdom (Southern Huai) as a hostage prince for a peace treaty. But the remainder of the series Asule talks so lovingly about his father, his tribe, his homeland that he literally spent only a few days in...it made no sense at all.

Acting/Characters:
- FL (Yu Ran) lead was amazing as always. Yes she is type-casted to be the spunky, cute, yet enduring character type, but she always nails it. She did a great job, but she couldn't carry the entire series on her own.
- ML (Asule) was boring, no personality. This is the second series I saw him in (first was Nirvana on Fire 2 - also very boring). He is not a good enough actor to lead a series. His character was supposed to be a physically weak person w/ a big heart and strong morals. But he just came across as an annoying wimp that everyone has to rescue. It was very inconsistent - at times he goes into battles like a true marital artist, but other times even a dainty woman can shove him to the ground or he faints at the site of blood/violence, and at other times when his 'bronze blood power' gets triggered he's a psycho monster. It made no sense.
- Other ML (Ji Ye) was terrible. He was very 2-dimensional - he either looked like a dazed and confused idiot or some raging maniac.
- Support FL (Little Zou) - she was ok, but not anything memorable.
- the two main couples...Ji Ye/Yu Ran and Asule/Little Zou - zero chemistry for both couples. I didn't care if they were in scenes together or if their storylines ended up together.

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Draggy and Miscasting of FL

I watched it because of the ML (William Chan). It started out strong, but 1/3 of the way into the series I started skipping a lot. Repetitive, draggy scenes.

The Good:
- ML (William Chan) - while he's not the best actor, I do enjoy watching him. He's charming and has a way to exude an adorable sweetness. But this is the 4th drama in a row that I've binged watched of William Chan and I've noticed that he tends to lack chemistry w/ the female leads in every series. I'm not sure if it it's him, or miscasting of the female leads. The only person he had chemistry with was Sandra Ma in Age of Legends, it was decent but not strong chemistry.
- 2nd ML (Guo Jia Hao) who played the best friend - he was very likeable and I rooted for him.
- The villains played their role well especially Ruan Tai Yuan, she displayed an underlying creepy psychotic aspect with a small streak of morality.

The Bad:
- FL (Gulnezer Bextiyar) who played Maggie is beautiful w/ stunning eyes. However she's not the right casting for this role as a tough FBI/CIA special ops captain. She was not believable at all. She's way to dainty and her wardrobe was ridiculous - always looking like she came from a high fashion show. The action scenes and her holding a gun was comical.
- Draggy and repetitive scenes. I skipped a lot
- Unrealistic scenes. For example - Lin Jun Jie a tough agent w/ exceptional martial arts skills kept getting captured. And in one scene he was tied up and tortured for days on end, ripped clothes, bloodied, swollen, etc. Yet when he finally gives in and gives the villains what they want...the next scene he suddenly looks fine, clean cut, no injuries at all.
- Some of the wardrobes were ridiculous and unrealistic. The women working in MOIS - even nerdy computer experts dressed way too fashionable with mini skirts and high heels. Meng Lien w/ the one eye - his wig looked so fake. Mandala the female assassin that was imprisoned in a maximum security cage - yet she had perfect hair and makeup? Made no sense.
- The dubbing of the foreign characters sounded so silly, especially when they spoke English.

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Had potential but crashed and burned

Storyline had good potential but it just fell flat. The main couple had no chemistry at all. A lot of the characters/actors were annoying. Skipped thru a lot of it.

Acting:
- FL: I like this actress. I've seen several of her shows. She's not the best actor w/ a ton of range, but she has a cute charm about her.
- ML: I don't think he can pull of the main lead of a show. He's good looking, but his acting is basic. Every show I've seen him in, he's got the same whiney facial expression. He had zero chemistry w/ the female lead. He could not pull of this role as an impressive, high powered corporate exec. He's better suited for support roles.
- Most of the support characters were rather annoying and flat acting other than Zhao Xiao Lei. She is type casted to play that pitiful, kind hearted, unwavering loyalty type role. You just felt so bad for her in here. But yes, she was the biggest idiot/fool ever. I actually liked the storyline of the older bookstore owner/artist guy - but that just went away, and then the last few minutes of the series he randomly appears again.
- Lin Hao character was well played - he was believable as both the kind/hard working, and then the gradual change into a sinister evil person.
- Han Shuang character was really annoying - just kind of over the top with the abrasive, hot-headed, constant yelling approach.
- That musician love interest of the doctor (Xiang Nan) - he was like a wet noodle. Their relationship was not believable at all. And his voice...WTH, he sounded like a pre-puberty teen boy. Whenever he was on screen I couldn't take it, skipped all his scenes.
- Xiang Nan (doctor) - they tried too hard to make her the older, wiser, rational, all-knowing sage. Like who nominated her to be their representative.

Storyline:
- Had good potential but crashed. Lots of draggy and repetitive parts. The last episode seemed oddly rushed and then the ending was just flat. I felt nothing.
- Predictable, over-used trope of the jealous-for-good-reason female colleague/superior that you risk your own career (and going to prison) just to oust the person you don't like.
- Some storylines made no sense, under developed then went nowhere.

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Cute and uplifting series

Storyline:
The premise mainly focused around ice skating sports and the life of an athlete - the aspirations, the determination, the sacrifices and team comradery. There's some light coming of age romantic comedy sprinkled in there and family relationship dynamics.

Acting/Characters:
- Song Zu Er (FL): she is one of my favorite up and coming young actresses after seeing her in Cupid's Kitchen. She did an amazing job in this role as well. She has the ability to portray the character in a spunky, witty, adorable, and kind in such a genuine charismatic way without coming across like she's trying to be cute. She is naturally adorable. But she can play the range of emotions...happiness, anger, and heartfelt emotional pain.
- Wang An Yu (ML): This was the first time I've seen him in any show. He did a decent job, but I think he was a bit overshadowed by Song Zu Er (FL) - his acting capabilities is not at her level. But overall they were cute and had chemistry.
- Support characters: for the most part all the supporting cast did a great job, especially Zu LeLe the FL's best friend. She was quite entertaining. Xiao Qing - at first I thought they were going to make her the main couple's protagonist to scheme and drive a wedge - while that was sort of the case but not completely. The actress played this role well - she made you not dislike her, but you kind of admire and empathize for her. The most hateable character was Luo Xiao Yi - the star athlete who was entitled and arrogant. I know that's the point of the character's role, but that actress made it even worse. There's something about her that is just very annoying and her acting is so bland. She was annoying in Legend of Fuyao as well.

Overall a very cute series that didn't stress you out with too much evil manipulating characters. However I don't think it's great enough to re-watch.

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Low budget indecisive comedy or period piece

I only watched this for the ML after seeing him in "Love Me If You Dare". This was not his best performance. I skipped thru so much of this series.

There really aren't that many good things about this series at all other than I like the ML - Wallace Huo is just pure eye candy

The Cons (so many):
- FL Tiffany Tang is hit or miss, I like some of her work but this was not one of them.
- None of the support characters were worthy of screen time, acting was so one dimensional across the board
- Terrible production quality - not sure if it's cuz this is a really old series and they didn't have all technology/special effects like they do nowadays, but this was so bad. For example the lighting was inconsistent, often times the lighting behind the characters makes their ears glow like bright light bulbs, and you always saw mist of their spit coming out of their mouths when they spoke. The scene w/ the emperor in the imperial palace hall - the decor was laughable, looked like an amateur theater stage set up.
- The wigs were SO BAD, especially for the ML - literally it was his normal haircut slicked back w/ highlighted bangs and the wig bun you can see where the line is wrapped around the base of his head, with his real hair jutting out. The FL's bangs were just so unflattering and fake looking.
- The costumes were poor quality, and especially for the ML, his clothes did not seem to fit him properly
- Inconsistencies in the storyline details - in the beginning the FL is portrayed as a tough fighters/martial artist compared to the ML and she always had to come to his rescue, but halfway thru she's a damsel in distress and allows the men to grab her and push her around w/out even try to fight back. ML supposedly did not know martial arts...but some scenes he does, and some he doesn't?
- Very tropey toxic love dynamics - ML verbally, physically, emotionally abuses the female lead...over and over again...but she still keeps forgiving and coming back....cuz he did it in the name of love for her own good.
- The ending was a WTF type of ending. Made no damn sense. Utterly ridiculous.

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Peaked early, plateaued and dragged

The concept of the story is good, but the pacing was all over the place. The series peaked early around episode 10-15, then completely fell flat and plateaued for the next 20+ episodes, then peaked in the last 2 episodes. It did not need to be 40 episodes, they could've made this 30. I skipped through a lot of it - lots of filler scenes. For example, the FL's father...zero hints/lead up to that storyline...then suddenly he was introduced out of the blue to be a major part of the story about 20 episodes in, then just disappeared again then shows up again. And the lead couple had zero chemistry.

Acting/Characters:
- Kenny Lin as the ML - he's my favorite actor and I have loved him in everything I've watched so far, but I was disappointed in this series. His character was a bit one-dimensional. He didn't really have any depth portraying various emotions other than the strong, stoic, in-charge version. There were some hints of comedy, but not much.
- Wu Jin Yan as the FL - while her acting wasn't terrible, it wasn't good. She did not have the screen presence to carry a lead role in a series. I rarely felt anything for her when she succeeded, when she was bullied/wronged, or when she was sad. Her trying to come across as charming and cute just didn't hit the mark. Her character was supposed to be from humble/poor roots and struggling financially. Yet her outfits did not fit that description. Her outfits often times looks like something out of a runway show or fashion magazine.
- Most of the support characters were just ok, nothing memorable. The FL's mom did a good job. The 2nd support couple Qin He Bo and Shuang Shuang were kind of cute...but their relationship did not need that much screen time. The 3rd support couple...the FL's ex-boyfriend He Zhi Jun and the ML's little sister Ning Meng were so annoying! I literally skipped most scenes they were in. She tried way to hard to be cute/innocent but came across as a whiny annoying child. The character was supposed to be 22 but she came across as trying to act like she was a 12 year old child.

Overall:
- If you're bored and you need a new series to watch, then fine. But I would not recommend this one.

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Not the romantic comedy I expected, but overall good series

This was not the typical romantic comedy I was expecting, but it was an good series overall. I am huge Kenny Lin (Lin Gengxin) fan so I want to watch all his work.

Storyline:
- Overall it was good. Interesting view into the world of investing in China's market. Good pacing and I'm glad they kept it at 30 episodes rather than dragging it out. But all the hype build up to the main male and female leads...seemed extremely rushed and wrapped into the very last episode. It was very interesting how the story intersected w/ the FL as lowly assistant rose to success as the ML godlike success came crashing down. While both the ML and FL did an outstanding job w/ their acting - they as a couple lacked chemistry. There was more chemistry between them as boss/employee and co-dependency in each other lives, rather than romantic chemistry.

Acting / Characters:
- Kenny Lin as the ML Lu Ji Ming was great. He was able to portray a very powerful rich, arrogant, chauvinistic jerk on the exterior while deep down being a very ethical, loyal and caring person at heart. And later he was able to portray the despondent, humble person who fell far from his pedestal. With every character development / arc in the series, you are just drawn to his charisma.
- Tan Son Yin as the FL Nin Meng - this was the first time I've seen this actress in any series. She did a great job playing the nerdy, lowly assistant. And her gradual growth into success was well done. Her happy go lucky, can-do attitude was so charming w/out over doing it w/ the cutesiness. And her quiet sadness scenes broke your heart. She's not the typical tall, eye-catching beauty that they usually cast in these types of roles so it was a bit 'off' casting alongside Kenny Lin who is really tall and good looking.
- Supporting actors that all did great and great chemistry: Ceng Yu Hang - ML's best friend. He was not good looking but he played his charming, funny, down to earth rich kid role well. Xu Si Tian who started out as the villainess was so hateful and petty and became adorably charming as part of the friend group. And one of my favorite support characters was Shi Ying, the FL's mentor and boss. Her calm, empathetic yet powerfulness was portrayed so well by the actress.

Music:
- not bad, but nothing memorable. But one of the instrumental songs seems like it was the same song in another recent Kenny Lin series (To Love).

Overall:
- Good series, but I don't think I would re-watch it

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Way too long, horrible ending

Pretty upset that I spent so many days/hours/late nights invested in this highly rated show. I did watch until the last episode but skipped over so many parts as it dragged on way too long. This was a very violent and bloody drama compared to what I'm used to seeing. The opening scene alone that lasted almost the entire episode was so disturbing.

PROS:
- ML and FL had strong chemistry
- Great acting for most of the cast overall
- Fight scenes choreography is well done, you can tell this is a high budget production

CONS:
- Way too long and draggy at times
- Messy sub plots w/ so many random characters w/ too much screen time
- Too many loose ends without any resolution. Characters that had a ton of screen time in first 2/3 of the series, suddenly just stopped appearing in the rest of the series but it's never explained what happened to them
- The ending was the worst. Felt cheated after investing so much time in anticipation of some sort of saving grace w/ the ending. NOPE. That's why I took off so many points overall.

Storyline:
Not very unique, similar to many storylines with these types of historical dramas. It was a decent storyline but somewhat predictable...except the ENDING! I did like that most of the main women (except Princess Yuan Chun) were tough martial artists rather than weak damsels in distress. Way too many sub plots and characters that really didn't need be there. Made it very messy and very long.

Music:
Just ok. Nothing memorable. Watched it on Viki so not sure if they swapped out the OST.

Acting:
All the actors did a great job, even supporting actors did well. It's just the characters & storylines they were given sometimes fell flat or were downright annoying.

Characters:
Yu Wen Yue (ML) - typical stoic hero. But I still LOVED his character. I anticipated to see him in scenes w/ the FL (Chu Qiao/Xing'er). He embodied nobility, badass strength, and moral character. And when it came to his love...he was so sweet and relentlessly selfless. So much that it was tragic and heartbreaking. This is the first time I've seen this actor in a series...I am a fan!
Chu Qiao (FM) - I don't understand the appeal w/ her. She seemed a bit one dimensional only able to portray the cold-hearted badass. When the scene required her to come across as soft-hearted, tender, or sweet/funny - she couldn't pull that off very well, it seemed forced. But she was able to convey a strong chemistry w/ Yu Wen Yue.
Yan Xan (other ML) - I love Shawn Dou in many of his works. This one I'm on the fence. He was so good in the first half of the series as the good hearted, happy go lucky hostage prince. The traumatic experience he endured, he nailed that performance. But once his soul turned dark I could not stand seeing him on screen. And the voice over dubbing was distracting because it was such a noticeable departure from his normal real voice in other shows.
Lin Qin - she was great as the spoiled, innocent, air headed princess. And when her innocence was shattered, her performance breaks your heart.

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Too long and boring

I was excited to watch this because of Allen Deng (loved him in Ashes of Love), and Luo Jin (lead in Princess Wei Young). This series was painfully slow and boring.

Storyline: So many characters to keep track of. Very slow and repetitive scenes/dialogue. I skipped through so many of the series. Only finished it to see if it was a satisfying ending. Predictable ending, but not satisfying.

Acting: While some actors did a good job, some of them over-acted and/or were not convincing in their roles. Allen Deng was a bit disappointing, but I'll give him a pass since this was one of his earlier roles (he improved significantly in more recent works like Ashes of Love). Luo Jin (ML) was just ok, he was way better in Princess Wei Young. I did not feel any chemistry between him and the FL. The FL her acting wasn't bad but didn't live up to the weight of that character/role. Hewei Yu who played Jian Zi Ya was not convincing as a slow-witted, funny character. It seemed very forced. One of the most annoying characters was Shen Gong Bao (support role) the antagonist. Completely over acted. His acting is always the same (like in Rise of the Phoenixes).

Overall - waste of time.

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BORING and worst Female Lead EVER

This is my first time watching a K-drama (I always was C-dramas). This was the worst drama I've ever watched. So SLOW and BORING as hell. And god, the FL has to be the worst character of all time. Not one redeeming quality about her at all, yet all these men fawn over her, and the ML was obsessed but they had no chemistry. She constantly lied, created unnecessary, irrational drama that humiliated or hurt others she supposedly cared about just to concoct a narrative she thinks "is better." She always talked in circles - whenever someone would question her she always answers w/ a stupid rhetorical or condescending question!

Literally a drama full of really unlikeable characters - other than the 2 moms (the ML's mom and the 2nd FL's mom), they were charming and cute.

Every other scene was either a flashback (for the 100th time), a shot of their phone screens either making a call or a text, or the characters staring, blank-faced at each other. The scenes just kept bouncing back and forth, moving onto a scene that leaves you utterly confused, then it goes and replays flashbacks to explain the confusing sequence of events....OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

I'd give this a ZERO star if possible.

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Amazing acting and storyline - but so boring

I was really looking forward to this series being such a fan of Chen Kun (ML). He's such an amazing actor with unparalleled range, The entire cast also acted very well. The production quality and storyline were great. The reason I gave it such a low score was due to the slowness, it was very boring. I found it hard to stay focused and engaged. Majority of the film was scenes with dark lighting and men talking in low whispers. It was also very difficult to follow along w/ so many characters, and many of them had multiple names which made it even more difficult to decipher who's who and who they were referring to.

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Waste of Time and Talent

I don't understand the highly rated reviews for this series. The premise of the story was promising - portraying the unfair glass ceiling for women in the professional world dominated by men. The strong FL with the unconditionally supportive partner/spouse. But the pacing and the editing made it extremely boring. There was no real build up to the climax of the series...just really long drawn out, repetitive dialogue. Tons of screen time showcasing the FL's career as a lawyer. A lot of the legal cases were just ridiculous.

While the lead actors did a decent job acting, as the leading couple they had zero chemistry. Yang Mi usually does pretty good, this is the first time I've seen her in a modern drama. She came across as self-absorbed for her own personal gains, and he came across as a wimpy doormat/servant. This is the first time I saw the ML actor in a series, and it does not make me want to see any of his other shows.

40 episodes was way to long, what a waste of time. I sat thru it, skipping a lot of episodes just to see if the ending justifies enduring the time spent. Not at all. No major sense of happiness or satisfaction with the ending. I was just annoyed for wasting my time.

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Cute Romantic Comedy with a Good Cast Ensemble

This is a cute light-hearted romantic comedy with a great ensemble cast where the support characters really shined. Yes, a bit cliche tropey storyline with the alpha male boss who falls in love with his newbie female assistant/colleague. But I can overlook that and just watch this at face value as a cute romantic comedy.

Pros:
- Adorable main couple, great chemistry. ML and FL did a great job. This the first role I've seen the ML (Chen Xing Xu) since the fan favorite Goodbye My Princess. The FL is a new actress that can really play the adorable, charismatic role. But she still lacks complex/emotional depth - but that's not really required for this light-hearted drama.
- The pacing was good, not draggy at all - for once I did not skip thru much.
- A realistic modern script without a bunch of over the top ridiculous scenes/plot lines that make your blood boil. There is the typical unrequited love that makes someone do unethical things to damage their love-rival's reputation - but this drama addresses this quickly and serves up justice, rather than letting it be the main plot for the whole series.
- The support characters were so good. This is one of the very very few dramas (modern or costume) that I actually enjoyed watching the support characters on screen. None of them were annoying, over-the-top, or boring scree-fillers. The character Bao Rui was my favorite, he had such subtle comedic timing, he actually made me laugh out loud.

Cons:
- The entire series was so good, but the last 2-3 episodes just seemed to lose steam, and the last episode was rather lackluster. I would've given this series a 10, but took 1 pt off for this reason.

Re-watch: I'd likely rewatch this.

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Good series but did not need to be 70 episodes

Overall a good show, good storyline and good casting/acting. But it really did not need to be 70 episodes, that is too long especially for a modern drama.

Storyline / Pacing
- The first 1/3 of the series was so promising, I didn't skip thru any of the episodes. Then it started to get a bit draggy and repetitive after that. I started skipping a lot after that.
- Way too many flashbacks of their childhood scenes over and over again
- The amount of times characters were injured and hospitalized was ridiculous, especially the FM Jiang Shen - she was constantly getting in accidents, getting hurt by other people. It got to the point where that you start to expect her to get hurt yet again every few episodes
- Jiang Sheng's internal conflict of which 'love' to choose makes sense...familial/brotherly love or romantic love. But Liang Sheng's perspective...how can he romantically love Jiang Sheng even if they found out as adults that they are not blood related? They grew up together believing they were brother and sister. So there was a bit of a creepy/ick factor that he wanted her to love him romantically.

Characters/Acting
- ML Tian You (Wallace Chung) did an amazing job in this, your heart just ached for him the entire time! You felt joy when he was happy, your heart sank when he was sad, you felt anger when he was wronged.
- FL Jiang Sheng - this was the first time I've seen this actress, she was cute, did a good job. No real complaints, other than she was incredibly so thin that it looked concerning in some outfits.
- Other ML Liang Sheng - acting fell very flat. He just looked like a mopey walking zombie.
- Child actors that played Jiang Sheng, Liang Sheng and Bei Xiao Wu - those kids did an amazing job, really natural and adorable, not the forced over the top cute/sassy kids you typically see in dramas
- Wei Yang - ok, she is literally psychotic and possessive. Her rationale makes zero sense, being jealous that her crush cares too much about his own sister? And justifies her vile actions just because she's loved Liang Sheng and devoted so much time into their non-official relationship? She caused Jiang Sheng to have a miscarriage, she caused her to have a head injury, etc...but then expects that an apology should suffice?
- Tian En - the sociopath brother. I immediately tensed up every time he was on screen. Something so creepy and gross about him. And his acting of trying to appear innocent to his brother Tian You, his acting came across as childlike like a 5 year old, not a college age man! Can't decide who was more annoying, him or Wei Yang.
- Ning Xi - I liked her character. She surprised me. I expected her to start out as a kind, understanding woman who's love was unrequited then slowly jealousy would creep in and she would turn vindictive and scheming. But she didn't! She stayed true to that character quality.

Music
- this was probably the best OST I've heard for a modern drama. Usually historical dramas have way better OST and the modern ones are kind of cheesy or try to hard to be cool.

Rewatch value - no way. Its way too long.

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