Excellent production, great acting & cast, lovely costumes & set, superb cinematography, interesting soundtrack.
I did not read the book, thus my impression is solely from the drama.

Story

It is a bit like Harry Potter. A young man who lost his family, hunted by people who wanted him dead, accepted into the prestigious Academy, received guidance and tutorship from so many experts along the way, received many interesting artifacts/ magic gadgets, meet and made many good friends, and then defeated the bad guys.

Characters & acting

I love how Arthur Chen portrayed Ning Que: good-looking, smart, adorable & lovable by everyone who knew him, including the Emperor. Song Yiren (24 y.o. during the filming) is amazing in portraying a child-like girl. Sang Sang looks like a 12-13 years old girl. At first, I wonder what trick they use to make her body looks so small, but then I realized she is indeed very petite. Their relationship feels more platonic than romantic though. I like how Ning Que gave up his crush on the seemingly perfect Mo Shan Shan and choose the ever-loyal Sang Sang. After all, Sang Sang has supported him from the time he was a nobody, while Shan Shan only gets to know him after he was well-known as Mr. Thirteen. This is like choosing your plain Jane companion of many years over a pretty and smart new colleague.

The Tang Emperor is likely the wisest emperor I had ever seen in a C-drama. He is kind, loving, faithful, and made many wise moves and decisions. I truly like how he tried to revert the injustice done to the General Lin family to avoid the life & death duel between Ning Que (whom he liked very much) and Xia Hou (for the sake of his Queen). Also when he decided the send the Academy students instead of sending troops to the badland when Xiling demanded so. He was also very kind to his brother, despite his brother being so wicked. I felt short-changed when I found out that Leon Lai was replaced by another actor in Session 2, his wise character seems disappeared.

The Academy is so unlike any school ever depicted in wuxia/xianxia movies. It sought to develop each person uniquely according to their passion and talents. There is a such strong sense of brotherhood. I love how Fuzi is depicted as a food-lover, almost every scene showing him eating or waiting to eat something. And the food is so interesting! There are pepperoni pizza in the Victory House (eaten by Sang Sang), Japanese-Italian fusion unagi pizza, instant noodles (in the badland), satay, and the most interesting juicer invented by the one and only Chen PiPi. In Session 2, Chen PiPi even introduced the self-heating hot pot! Everyone loves Chen PiPi, of course, the way he walks (shuffles), talks, eats and his cute facial expressions.

I can't stand all the fanatics and hypocrites in XiLing, especially Long Qing (but he has amazing six-packs!), Flower Addicts, and the various priests. Thankfully Wei GuangMing turned out to be a nice old man, though eccentric. Ye Qing (XiLing Universe Traveller) seems like a very wise person. I love the scene where he was told by a Tao priest in the Tang Kingdom how to spread the message of Tao to the common people. The conversation and the building in the background really reminded me of how the Catholic missionaries spread Catholicism to the world.

I also love the scenes where Ning Que was tutored by Yan Se.

I pity Princess Li Yu for her determination to get the throne for her brother (despite knowing the poor characters her brother had displayed), just because her late mother made her promised to do so. Parents should just wish their kids to live happily (like the Tang Emperor had told Li Yu) and should not leave a burden to their kids.

Costume & Set

Even though the story is set during the Tang dynasty, the costumes and set are somewhats Romanesque, especially for the West Temple/Xiling. The costumes of the priests resemble the robes worn by Catholic priests, the facade of the temple with tall pillars and triangular roof reminded me of the Roman buildings. The armors worn by the soldiers are similar to those we see in movies that depicted the Roman Empire. The headgear worn by High Templar Lou Kedi is certainly a Roman soldier headpiece. The way Xiling tried to control everything reminded me of the time Catholic Church tried to control Europe. The way they pursue the supposedly barbarian & demonic Huangren tribe and the Son of Hades reminded me of the witch-hunt. The Temple in the West could be a reference to the Church?

Qu Ni from YueLun looks like a gypsy, and the building where her son laid to rest looks like a catedral!

The Princess and Queen costumes and tiaras are also very Western-oriented.

Soundtrack

At first, the ballad-like soundtrack startled me, but then it started to grow on me, and in the end, I found myself humming it! Too bad they don't use it much during the last 10 or so episodes.

Cinematography

It is just wonderful!

Production

All in all, it is a really superb production. The pace may be slow in some episodes, but they were also beautiful, so I kind of enjoyed them.