This is my first MDL review, since this drama was long i felt attached after i finished it. I honesty was expecting smth to cause me to drop since my mom kept telling me the story lost purpose so she dropped it, but I pulled through!

STORY:
If you wanna know what to expect and how the story progresses, then read this.
Taiyuan arc was probably the longest and least questionable arc. Fuyao and Wuji first meet in Xuanyuan Sect, and surprise the male lead falls in love first! She gets caught up in a love triangle between her, eldest senior brother, and Peiyuan who likes eldest senior brother. Wuji always comes through and saves her when she’s schemed against by Peiyuan. Wuji was very playful in this arc while pretending to be the heir apparent of Taiyuan, it was really cute how he interacted with fuyao. They both end up meeting in the imperial palace later, with plots involving the prime minister. That’s when they both really started showing they liked each other. But the go separate ways in the end.

Tianquan arc was kinda short, basically Fuyao gets caught in another scheme due to Folian who likes Wuji and she finds out his real identity. She also gets into trouble with Wuji’s royal brother (a nasty snake i tell you). I feel like after the whole Folian incident she forgave Wuji a bit too easily considering she thought he liked someone else..

Tiansha arc creeps in as Fuyao leaves Tianquan and ends up becoming the ‘mayor’ of this desert city, another short section of the story. I kinda found that part of the story out of place, but it did show character growth and a lot of romance. It also focuses on the side characters, and how Fuyao’s group of friends end up helping Zhan Beiye who is plotted against by his two royal brothers. This arc was just a bit sadder than other arcs regarding the romance factor.

Xuanji arc is almost as short as Tianquan arc, with one rain scene I found a bit questionable lol. The key to this arc is Fuyao’s real background, though it was pretty predictable as the drama went on. What’s interesting is that Xuanji kingdom is run by females.

The ending arc was really rushed and finally goes into detail about Fuyao’s curses. This is probably the most lacking part of the drama as it was so rushed, and then the finale really made me go what the heck because of one character’s sad end (some of u will know who i’m talking about) and the final ending slammed in.

ACTING:
The acting was great, each character played their part well. Yangmi and Ethan had great chemistry, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I was gonna like Ethan (another one of my mom’s reasons for dropping, bc she thought he wasn’t handsome..sigh) but he grew on me~ I fell in love with his smile, and his portrayal of helplessness in the last arc was so impacting it made me cry. Yangmi and Ethan both did well portraying playful/mischievous characters at the beginning to more serious and powerful figures at the end.
Weiguang did a great job as Zhan Beiye, a dashing general who cares deeply for his people. I almost screamed when he made his first appearance bc he was so handsome riding his horse and in armor hehe.
Lai Yi also did wonderfully as the Heavenly doctor, someone who went through hell and had a lot of hatred as someone who sought revenge. I didn’t give him much attention in Three miles of Peach Blossoms, but this time his role carried a lot more weight in the drama. I look forward to seeing him in more dramas :)
Liu Yijin who played Qizhen the prime minister also did a great job of being a villain. I had also seen him shortly as a evil man in Lost Love in Times, though he didn’t have so much screen time. Anyways, he’s great at acting as a villain lolol.

MUSIC:
To be honest I barely noticed the OSTs except for two songs, one being "A Love is Hard to Wish For” sung by Lala Hsu.It was great for emotional scenes in the drama, and Lala Hsu is a great singer (I love her other songs). The other song is “Window” also an emotional song with beautiful lyrics.

REWATCH & OVERALL:
I only scored lower for rewatch because i’m not the type to rewatch dramas since I don’t even have enough time to watch new ones ;-; Also, if you really wanna go through 66 episodes again then go ahead - skipping is the key lol. Though it was indeed long, that’s also what caused me to feel so attached. I felt like I was traveling with Fuyao and her companions across the 5 kingdoms and facing adventures with them. The main characters also brought out themes highlighting the human heart. After finishing it, i really felt at a loss for what to watch next bc I was still having post-drama side effects.