I think I had high hopes for this drama because of the high ratings and because it stars Bai Lu, but it missed the mark for me. It was still a fairly good drama, just not as good as I was expecting.

It starts out interesting, then the middle is a slow burn, and then picks up the last 3 episodes. I think it could have improved by adding more fight scenes (the fights they had were well-choreographed and therefore they should have added more), adding more spice to the ML/FL romance (romance was there, but barely palpable - maybe because the ML is supposed to be more reserved and battle hardened, but this makes the chemistry between the ML/FL not as electric), and making the FL stronger (she seemed fine just being told what to do vs fighting for what she wanted, but maybe this is because of the time period where it was just taken for granted that royalty women will do what is expected of them, though the female generals were awesome and badass). Bai Lu would have been a great badass woman, but unfortunately, her role here was not just to play a mute, but to be muted as a character as well.

The positives
- The strong female generals that kicked-ass
- Well-choreographed fight scenes (should have had more)
- Episodes 1, 2, 22, 23, 24
- Wang Xing Yue as was a nice surprise (thought he was good in this role - made me feel sorry for him and hate him, while still liking him lol)

The negatives
- Weak female lead that unfortunately doesn't become stronger as drama progresses
- Slow burn from episodes 5-21 (played at 1.5x speed to get through it)
- I was expecting more from Ren Jia Lun but maybe he was constrained by the character in the script
- Story seemed forced in some parts which made it drag

I'll likely not watch the sequel Forever and Ever. I really liked the chemistry and the romance between Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi in the modern drama Love is Sweet and I think that will be hard to beat.