I loved this drama during its first 13 episodes: the story was not especially original but the execution felt much better than other xianxias with the same kind of plot, in terms of visuals, pace, camerawork, music. I was constantly amazed at the shots, the colors, the costumes, and i felt like the show managed to hit all its emotional beats.

Then the dream arc happened, with more one-dimensional characters and more frustrating/unrealistic character actions to drive the plot forward. For the next 20 episodes, the drama kept doing good stuff, then throwing in a very predictable/avoidable/aggravating turn or misunderstanding, and undoing all its progress. Wash, rince and repeat. The main relationship followed the same pattern. By ep 35 I had no reason left to root for the main couple anymore and honestly thought they would be better off separated. Tantan Jin's obsession for Ye Xiwu was more disturbing than moving to me, and Ye Xiwu hated him enough that it seemed their relationship brought more more pain than happiness to her. All things considered Tantan Jin finding a temporary family in the Hengyang Sect around eps 30 was one of the things I enjoyed watching the most. Then the story took yet AGAIN a direction that I didn't like and I couldn't continue. If I needed a word to describe this whole watching experience, unrewarding would definitely be it.