finally finished this drama after a few weeks. I have many things to say about it, I think this will be long.

Let's start with the positive points :
1) The leads have amazing chemistry, good kissing scenes and many sweet moments. This pairing is perfect.
2) ML character was great in many ways (he wasn't perfect, but in general I like his character) and good acting from Xu Kai. He's a strong ML and has good fighting skills. He's respected by many and a great leader. I like a strong and intelligent ML.
3) The romance starts early and it's a main focus. The interactions and bickering from the leads were good most of the time.
4) Love the second couple (Er and Peach). Their moments and interactions started early too. They are cute and I like both characters. Their romance is sweet without problems or misunderstanding. Wish we could have seen them with a child at the end
5) The friendship is good and I enjoyed seeing that. The bandits, Bao, General Pei, etc ... I consider them good characters.
6) In my opinion Sun Jing is a good villain. He is still an intelligent and strong character + not the annoying type. The part of the plot fighting him was good for me.
7) I like Consort Xiao (the former Crown Princess) character. She's a strong women, a good person and I felt her story. She made contributions and sacrifices to help take back the throne. She feel in love in the enemy, but that didn't stop her to do the right thing and help ML. She was unhappy has the crown princess, but she found happiness at the end in seclusion and with her son.
8) General Han (to one who protected the crown grand son, don't know if I say his name right) was also a good character. Love his loyalty and how he protected him till the end. Glad he survived and still teach him.
9) Cui Yi (FL's father) is bad ass when he fights and was also an interesting character. Glad he overcame his illness and can teach the future emperor. But I would have like to see him again for the ending, even if he was briefly mention.
10) The scenery and cinematography is beautiful.
11) The fighting scenes are really good and interesting to watch
12) Ep 30 is pick and amazing : the fighting, the deaths, the emotions. It is truly heartbreaking and good cinema. It was so sad to see ML watch his friends dies without being able to save them and Bao :( He protected him until his last breath, I lost it when he placed himself in front of ML to shield him, receiving arrow after arrow...
13) The ending was one of the best thing about this drama for me. Not an open or annoying 2 mins happy ending. We have a whole episode for the ending. That is exactly the ending I wanted : Him ruling until the crown grand son is old enough to rule and after that, doing what he always wanted to do, going back to the border. Then they live happy ever after with their kids and with Peach + Er also there. It was such a sweet ending seeing them with their kids and it was cute that the boys were wearing blue clothes and the girls red. I was also touch with the graves scene and them remembering their fallen friends. It is a satisfying ending : we see him ascending the throne as emperor, the world at peace, the Gu family getting what they deserved, her getting pregnant, her giving birth and then seeing their lives a few years lather at the border.
14) The costumes are great
15) The music is really good, just like the intro and the ost. I loved watching the intro every episode.
16) The plot in general is good

Now the negative points or things that I liked less about this drama (some is just me complaining ahah not really bad things) :
1) There are a few annoying and unlikable characters (maybe too much for my liking, made the drama less enjoyable), let's go thorough some of them :
- Liu Cheng Feng is one of the worst and most annoying character ever. He obsession with FL and his delusion ruined the drama for me a little. His presence was annoying from beginning to end, it took him so long to finally die. He wasn't a good villain for me, just an annoying character, just looking at his face I wanted to skipped. He shouldn't've have been there till so late in the drama, his presence was unnecessary since also we have other villains.
- Mrs Gu (prime minister Gu's daughter) : that girl also annoyed me from her first appearance to her last. I agree that she was kinda good at scheming and she made her way to the palace + at first she wasn't unnecessary, but she needed to be gone sooner. Just her talking was irritating me and her face also. I was also just annoy that ML wasn't clear earlier towards her (even if it was so satisfying when he finally did). Why did he let her go to his place and giving him gifts. He was to polite at first. I truly hate obsess second lead and this drama has 2... so for me that was a let down also because they were there until almost the end and no development (like the guy in ''A journey to love'' had at least a developments and let go of his obsessions, so it's more bearable). They were both crazy till the end.
- The emperor (ML's father) : what a useless, spineless, stupid, weak and annoying emperor. It was so frustrating. But at least in the end he finally admits that his not a good emperor and not a good father. But he didn't deserved that kind of redemption arc. His wife (the empress) had at least a bit of brain cells
- ML's brothers : they were annoying, but at least they were trying to scheme and the conflicts between the 3 brothers gave us some amazing eps and fighting scenes. So I gave them that. The older one was so stupid... And the emperor defending them... But the power struggle was necessary for the story, so not that much a negative point here.
2) After the deaths of the bothers and the fight of ep 30-31, the villains were boring and not interesting. The plot was just dragging, the last fighting scene wasn't that good and didn't have a big impact for me. It was useless to had the conflict with the other people (forget the name, but the clan that killed FL's mother) and even Mr. Gu to an instinct. I couldn't care less.
3) Filler episodes with boring or annoying moments to extend to 40 eps. The ones after the wedding in ep 34 for example with the leads in conflicts AGAIN was just annoying to me. FL got on my nerves in eps 35-36. From eps 33-39, I was mostly on my phone the hole time, my interest was gone and I just wanted it to end. I was at the end almost just watching 1 ep a day just to make some progress. This morning I was like today is the day, I'll finish this drama ahaha I had 3 eps left.
4) We were suppose to have a strong and intelligent FL, but she wasn't all that and annoying sometimes. I expected more, maybe I'm biased because I was watching ''A Journey to love'' at the same time and in that drama that's more of a good, strong FL for me. She kept getting kidnap and ML saved her often. When in ep 37-38 SML kidnapped her, I was like, not again... She was stupid there. I also think she wasn't that likeable sometimes, but I agree that she had her moments. Don't know why, I'm also a women, but I feel like the FLs characters are sometimes written annoying, weak or stupid in dramas, more than MLs. It wasn't actually bad here at all, she was still consider strong and had her mind, but it's a tendency I'm realizing now. I often tend to get annoy by a FL and not a ML when I watch a drama, maybe I haven't watched many dramas with the annoying kind of ML yet ahah (I know there are many out there) or maybe I did see some, but nothing comes to my mind right now.
5) I was a bit annoyed with some aspects of the relationship between the leads. Them being in conflicts, they make up, in conflicts again, than make up, ... blah blah blah, happened a few times. It was a part of their relationship and sometimes justified, but maybe they could have had it happen less.
6) I know ML is filial, but he's father treated him like shit all his life, but he was still trying to be a good son, saving him and even kinda getting along with him in ep 40. That man is trash. deserved nothing from ML.
7) ML was stubborn when he didn't want to be the crown when he was the obvious and best choice, but I didn't like how FL was trying to force him. Even less when he was finally crown prince and she didn't want to marry him and make sacrifice for him. Like girl what and she's suppose to be intelligent. Did she really not think that they would have to disbanded the Cui army if she becomes crown princess ? ML already knew it was a strong possibility. And after they got married she was mad at him for the disbanded of her family's army and what happened to her father. ML did is best to defend them and it wasn't his fault, I don't think it was justified to treat him like that. ML also exaggerated by breaking up with her after the letter her father send to the emperor. They both have faults and flaws.... I know they can't be perfect and all of that is part of the plot, but still

So, because it wasn't that good or even interesting past ep 30, filler episodes or some boring moments, the annoying characters and with comparing with others dramas I rated, I stopped my rating at 8.5/10. In general it still a good drama and has many positive points, so of course I would recommend. Also, it's my opinion, I can get annoyed by characters or bored easily, so my negative points are mostly bad things just for me.

If we talk about 2023 chinese dramas that are not modern drama, Wonderland of Love has one of the best ending in my opinion.