Watch if: You’re a fan of Cheng Yi and find guilty pleasure in tragic romances that span over lifetimes. And if you don’t mind fast- forwarding through unnecessary and boring subplots.
Skip if: You don’t have 80 hours to spare and dislike one-dimensional villains and yawn celestial politics. Or if you are looking for something that is at Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms level.
I can understand the biting criticism that this show faced, with its seemingly low-budget CGI, predictable plotlines, and recycled clichés. I tried to put my finger on why it was so addictive for me despite all its flaws and concluded that:
1. Cheng Yi 成毅 playing three distinctive characters – Ying Yuan 应渊, Tang Zhou 唐周, Xuan Ye 玄夜 – is mesmerising to watch.
2. I was curious to see how this enemies-to-lovers trope (more evident from Ep 19 onwards) pans out.
3. I wanted to see how the conflict between leads would be resolved.
To be fair, the first few episodes were marred by weak characterisation and scattered encounters between characters. We’re not sure if the Immortal Samsara world is any different from Ashes of Love (which I dropped) or Love and Redemption. Ying Yuan feels like an archetype we’ve seen too often – disciplined, restrained, and cold.
Yan Dan’s 颜淡 (played by Yang Zi 杨紫) innocence and naivety make it hard to believe she’s playing a different character than Jin Mi (from Ashes of Love). It takes a readjustment of lens to see that our female protagonist is quite a dramatic wordsmith, has a knack for acquiring celestial abilities, and also happens to be talented in chess.
Things pick up once our leads meet and their romance begins to take root. Ying Yuan’s stoic front melts as he shares vulnerable moments with Yan Dan. However, he ultimately chooses the abstinent road for the sake of the heavenly realm (ie, the greater good).
If only the episodes in the mortal realm (Ep 19 onwards) are a separate drama altogether because Tang Zhou and Yan Dan are much more delightful to watch. For one, the ill-fated duo have lost all their previous memories and get to start afresh. Their interactions are played out like a rom-com, with Yu Mo thrown in for some fun love triangle action.
(there’s also the appearance of Liu Wei Yang, played by Fu Fang Jun 傅方俊, who was a cute scene-stealer from Love & Redemption!)
Tang Zhou is refreshingly different from his uptight celestial self and much more playful, although he still has to be celibate, as the future chief of the Ling Xiao Sect.
翻龟君出手翻龟，表示要做更犯規的事了.
Tang Zhou’s sarcasm while throwing Yan Dan various looks of annoyance, disapproval, and disbelief, is a welcomed break from the angst of the heavenly realm. We get to witness the affection growing between them as they come around to each other’s positive traits. We also see more of Yan Dan’s wittiness, dramatic tendencies, and intelligence, all of which make her very endearing.
Cheng Yi convincingly plays the role of a guy wrestling with the pain of wanting something that he’s not supposed to have. It was gratifying to see how Tang Zhou grows protective of Yan Dan, steals wistful glances at her, endeavours to rein in his emotions, only to eventually admit his fondness for her – something that Ying Yuan never did.
At the heart of this story is the conflict arising from our characters’ different ideologies toward love. Yan Dan wants her love to be reciprocated, while Ying Yuan chooses the path of abstinence for the sake of the immortal realm. This conflict prevents them from having an easy happily-ever-after.
Eventually, Tang Zhou resolves the conflict by selflessly putting aside his will, privileges, and even life, to be with Yan Dan. Of course, Yan Dan understood this concept right from the start when she willingly suffered personal losses so that Ying Yuan can thrive. The search for love is a universal experience, and the idea that someone would defy fate and go against all odds to be with a lover, is a moving one indeed.
Synopsis
Yan Dan 颜淡 (played by Yang Zi) is a descendant of the Four Leaved Lotus Tribe 四叶菡萏 and experiences a love trial when she gives up half of her heart to save Ying Yuan 应渊君 (played by Cheng Yi), a celestial lord who was severely poisoned in a battle with a demon overlord. In the heavenly realm, immortals are forbidden to have any kind of romantic feelings, so Yan Dan was forced to forget Ying Yuan and banished to the mortal realm.
After 800 over years, she again encounters Ying Yuan but in his mortal form as Tang Zhou 唐周, a demon hunter. With their previous memories erased, she ends up accompanying him in his quest to locate four ancient artefacts, uncovering their painful past in the process.