First of all, don't be discouraged by the number of episodes because I promise we don't see time pass.

Story: this was really a first for me. The story is well built, told and the delivery is with no fail. I fell in love with each episode and stayed up watching to not miss anything. Every one of the episodes were coherent and gave me the desire to continue which is hard sometime with historical dramas. For the first time I wasn't skipping the dialogues.

Acting/Cast: First of all Bravo to the production team for giving us such a unique drama. To the actors, just amazing job! Each one of them portrayed his role in a very professional way and they brought to life their characters. The supporting cast was amazing. It is rare to have the whole cast do a perfect job without a flaw.
Now the two main male actors (Zheng Yin and Huang Xiaoming) were of course the reason to why I watched in the first place and the fact that it was Bromance. I loved their interaction, Loyalty, friendship and how they relied on each other. Well, Now I have a reason to read the novel.

Music: All I can say is that I'm obsessed with the opening song (by Lu Hu) now. can't go a day without playing it now. The overall songs included are also good to hear and I enjoyed the Peking opera because it was all new to me but Zheng Yin did an amazing Job.

Recommandation: this is a MASTERPIECE, so of course I recommend. Plus if you' ve watched the Untamed, The Guardian, Love is more than a world etc... then this is totally yours to watch because it's the same universe!