As a viewer who loved the Dong Hua and Feng Jiu couple from Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, I’m so happy that they turned their novel into a drama of their own.

STORY
Part 1: Feng Jiu’s Wasted Love (Episodes 1-10)

A young Feng Jiu is saved by Dong Hua. Smitten, she goes to work as a maid in his palace to repay the life debt. She gives up her fur temporarily to save him in the soul locking jade. Pampered by Dong Hua until Ji Heng and her pet came along. Almost dying, Feng Jiu goes back to QingQui.

As much as I love Feng Jiu, it was a struggle to watch these episodes. I hated every time I saw Feng Jiu acting lovesick for Dong Hua, who didn’t even know she existed. But I got through it knowing that Feng Jiu is supposed to be a teenager, probably not much older than 15 or 16. She’s never been in love before and growing up spoiled didn’t help in preventing her from doing something as dumb as try to be a maid in his palace.

Part 2: Mortal realm (Episodes 10-21)

Dong Hua goes to the mortal realm to regain cultivation. Lives his life as Emperor Song XuanRen. Trying to repay the life debt, Feng Jiu goes too and saves him in battle, only to realize she messed with his love trial. Introduced as a new consort, XuanRen and General Ye QingTi fell in love with her. Ye QingTi sacrifices his life to save her and Feng Jiu commits suicide, thus completeing Dong Hua’s love misfortune.

As for the mortal arc, I’m a bit more forgiving. This is the first of their three lifetime love story for Feng Jiu and Dong Hua. Although we only see bits through flashbacks in the book, this is where the viewer needs to see why Feng Jiu goes through such lengths to bring back Qing Ti. Qing Ti’s death helps Feng Jiu realize that her silly crush has disastrous consequences. Her part in being mortal Dong Hua’s love trial misfortune helped her to get over him. She comes back a changed woman.

Part 3: Back to Sky Kingdom (Episodes 21-27)

Feng Jiu officially meets Dong Hua during Bai Qian’s wedding. Dong Hua teases Feng Jiu at the wedding banquet. He hides her when at the hot springs when Lian Song comes in. He saves her from a fire beast and watches as she trolls the suitors that her aunt sets up for her. She goes to Dong Hua to reclaim some jewelry she left behind at the hot spring unknowingly insinuating that they spent the night in front of many people. She transforms herself into a handkerchief to avoid Dong Hua, but he picks her up and takes her to battle when he fights with Yan Chiwu. Both Chi Wu and Feng Jiu fall into Fanyin Valley.
This is when the good stuff begins! It’s also the beginning of the novel, so for those like me who read it, it was particularly exciting. It’s funny to see the more Feng Jiu does her best to ignore Dong Hua, the more interested he becomes in her. And Dong Hua starts calling her “Xiao Bai”!

Part 4: Fanyin Valley (Episodes 27-35)

Chi Wu and Feng Jiu hide their identities and stay in Fanyin valley for six months before Dong Hua arrives. Feng Jiu misunderstands that he’s there for Ji Heng who is also at the valley to purify herself. A competition is announced and the prize is the pimpon fruit which can bring the mortal dead to life. Dong Hua teaches Feng Jiu and she wins the competition. Dong Hua gives the fruit to Ji Heng so she can cure herself instead. Feng Jiu goes to get the fruit herself, but gets stuck in Aranya’s dream. Lian Song informs Dong Hua that Feng Jiu was his missing fox and why she wanted the fruit so badly. With a shaken heart, but steady mind, Dong Hua goes after Feng Jiu.

Feng Jiu and Yan Chi Wu together are lovable idiots. They probably share a brain cell. There are really only four sides to Dong Hua; Ice Face, jealous, shameless, and in love. Dong Hua shamelessly trying to get close to Feng Jiu, his jealousy whenever he sees her with Chi Wu, the look in his eyes and the smirk every time he sees her! It’s so unfortunate that he doesn’t really know how to express his love and it just comes off as Dong Hua teasing her like a child would to his crush. And it’s super satisfying to see Dong Hua chase after Feng Jiu this time!

Part 5: Aranya’s Dream (Episode 36-50)

Feng Jiu wakes up in Aranya’s dream with most of her memory gone. Dong Hua uses this to his advantage and seals her body away so he can find her spirit in the dream world. Her spirit wakes up as Aranya. Aranya’s teacher, Su MoYe knows she is Feng Jiu, but tells her to live Aranya’s life so that they could know how she died and it may be the key to escape the dram world. Dong Hua disguises himself as Xi Ze, Aranya’s husband, not knowing Feng Jiu is Aranya. As Feng Jiu lives Aranya’s life, the tragic love story between Chen Ye and Aranya and the birth of Aranya’s dream are revealed.

These episodes were bittersweet. On one hand we see how much Dong Hua loves Feng Jiu and the lengths he goes for her. There are so many sugary scenes where Dong Hua just cannot keep his hands off of his fox XD. Although the rest of the dream world may see them as Aranya and Xi Ze, they are most definitely Feng Jiu and Dong Hua when they consummate their marriage. On the other hand, we also get to see how much Chen Ye loves Aranya, but unlike their counterparts, misunderstandings have ruined their relationship until death finally tears them apart. It hurt to see how much Chen Ye was grieving over her death and it shows just how far Dong Hua in every life is willing to go for Feng Jiu.

Part 6: The Final Battle, The End (Episode 50-56)
Planning a wedding and building their dream house, Feng Jiu and Dong Hua are very much in love. Feng Jiu has her BingCang ceremony and Nie Chu Yin foolishly asks her to battle. Dong Hua goes back to FanYin valley to help Ji Heng one last time, but never shows up on the day of the wedding. Feng Jiu’s missing memories are returned and she is pregnant. Heartbroken, she leaves to the mortal realm where she gives birth to Dong Hua’s son, Bai GunGun. Dong Hua returns to find his bride missing and closes the portal for mortal to immortal ascension as a way to bring her back to heaven. The demon lords have been putting their powers together to release Miao Luo. Dong Hua gives Feng Jiu a ring which she refuses to take. Dong Hua goes to fight Miao Luo where one must die even though he is poisoned. Everything is revealed to Feng Jiu and she rushes to help Dong Hua. Together they defeat Miao Luo. Dong Hua finally meets his son.

What’s Dong Hua and Feng Jiu’s love story without one last misunderstanding? Even until the very end, they’ve suffered so much. I’ve never hated Ji Heng’s character until this part. She clearly knew that Dong Hua loves and was to marry another woman, but shamelessly uses her father as an excuse to keep him. Dong Hua taking the poison onto himself as a way to finally get rid of Ji Heng? Get yourself a man who’d rather poison himself than be with someone other than his woman. On top of that, he literally makes Feng Jiu a wedding ring from half his heart. Can your OTP say the same thing? The battle was super angsty; there was blood, lovers almost dying together, and Dong Hua saying “I love you” to Feng Jiu first! Oh, I just love pain. During the Father and son meeting, I couldn’t stop smiling and seeing everyone’s reaction to the fact that Dong Hua had a kid was hilarious. The ending was perfect, they all lived happily ever after!

CINEMATOGRAPHY and VISUALS/COSTUME
The cinematography in this drama is beautiful. The sets, the locations, and even the CGI for the most part was so pleasing to the eyes. I didn’t like the overly bright filters used for many of these kinds of dramas, so I’m glad they didn’t do that here. The scenery was amazing. The CGI was definitely more a hit than a miss, my favorite having to be the cute little fox! Can’t blame Dong Hua for not wanting to give it up. And the final battle!! I really cannot stop praising how the editing crew has gone above and beyond for this drama.

Costume wise, they were not as impressive as the ones in Ten Miles as a lot of other people may have commented, however, I found the tulle like fabric made more sense since they seemed more lighter and flowy for the gods while the silk and heavier fabrics were for the demons. All in all, I really have no complaints, I know a lot of hard work was put in, especially when it comes to the little details on their clothes.

MUSIC
Would you believe me if I told you I bought some of them on iTunes? Yes, that’s how much I loved it. Look up the meaning for the OSTs in this drama! It’s crazy how well it relates to the main characters' love story.

REWATCH VALUE
BRB, going to have to watch it again on WeTV, maybe once on the Tencent app, then on YouTube, gotta buy the DVD if they ever make one….

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One of the Best Dramas I've Ever Watched

A quick note; this is meant to be a political drama, not romance. If you are watching because you are a fan of the manhua, be prepared; they are completely different aside from names and some events. Please watch with caution as to not ruin any expectations you may have.

STORY

The heart of the story is Li Chang Ge, a young princess of the Tang Dynasty whose entire life is snatched out from under her when her parents are murdered by her Uncle and she's branded a traitor. She vows revenge no matter the cost. Her quest for revenge leads her to meet new people, mainly A'Sun, leader of the Eagle Division on the Ashile Tribe, Tang's enemy. While a subtle romance does pick up between the two, Chang Ge goes through continuos loss and she begins to reevaluate what she truly wants. She puts aside her quest for revenge and decided that she wants to end the bloodshed between Tang and the Ashile Tribe and bring peace to both lands.

CAHARCTERS

Li Chang Ge: She's stubborn, headstrong, and headfirst. While she has no shortage of bravery, she makes many mistakes along the way as well. It isn't until she retreats into the temple to atone for her mistakes, we see her growth. While Chang Ge may be a brilliant military strategist, she didn't value the lives of the soldiers. They were just a part of her plan to create alliances to one day get her revenge. Her actions had led (direct and non direct) to the deaths of people she had begun to love as a new family. At the temple as she sat in front of the "Non-Interference" sign, you could see her struggling and remorseful at what she had done. Her character development is really refreshing to see because she realizes that she was wrong, she did make mistakes, and that she needed to change-even if it meant to put away her revenge. It's rare to see main characters change in such a way.

A'Sun: He may have been as close to a perfect character as you could get. There wasn't much development on his part since as a leader he knows what its like to shoulder responsibilities and be in charge of the lives of others. He's a wonderful support to Chang Ge, he regretted blaming the death of his foster mother on her and stepped down as leader of the Eagle Division just to go looking for her when they all thought she went missing.

LeYan: Chang Ge's cousin; this soft princess goes through one of the biggest character developments in the drama. She's naive in the beginning, knows nothing about the people. She gets lost, travels with beggars, and had to fight for food. Without no one knowing she was a princess, she had to work hard to make her own money. She dotes on a younger boy and is devastated when he dies, especially when she realizes his biggest wish was to eat rice. These hardships help her to understand what her subjects are going through and make her a better princess for them.

Hao Du: Like Leyan, this cold assassin goes the through probably *the* biggest change in the drama. He only knows how to follow orders and does whatever it takes to get it done. He was tasked to catch and kill Chang Ge and for over 20 episodes thats what he does. The unlikely romance that develops between him and Leyan is shattered when he uses Leyan as a hostage to yet again devise a way to catch Chang Ge. The tongue lashing that she gives him was truly spectacular to see. With tears in his eyes, you can see him being to question, if what he's doing is right. He becomes Leyan's biggest supporter, putting her happiness above his own, even if it meant giving her away to someone else even though he loves her. He risks his life to fight for her freedom. It's the best example of the "Sunshine x Cold" and "cold character only soft for one person" trope at its best.

There are other character that have development, whether for better or worse such as She'er, Du Ruihui, Yi Cheng, Mimi, and Shuyu, but it would take too long to discuss all of it. The main thing is that, all of the characters go through a transformation and it's visible on screen.

COSTUME

One thing only: A'SUN'S FUR ARMOR OUTFIT.

VISUALS/CINEMATOGRAPHY

The battle scenes in the drama are some of the best I’ve seen. I was so excited to see it and was constantly blown away by how well it was done. I would love for the choreographer to win an award, it was absolutely stunning.

Now this might be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t hate the animation sequences. I understand that this was filmed during covid, so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. The large scale battles requires tons of extras to act it out and many crew members to film it all. It would have been very easy to spread the virus.

MUSIC

You're lying if you say you skip the intro and the outro songs. This is one of the few dramas that I have NEVER skipped the intro song or the ending song. The beginning song "Direction of Light" is so powerful and the ending "Cocoon" is soft, almost melancholy. I will definitely be buying them. The soundtrack within the drama is always on point.

REWATCH VALUE

I'm already thinking of when I'll be watching it again. This really is Dilraba's best drama. Wu Lei shows that despite his age, he can act with the best. Will look forward to his other projects 10/10

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