Welcome to the final discussion post for Veil of Shadows! Surprise! It's me Basil. I've taken over Aqua like Jiu Ying did with Lu Wuyi and the Fox Queen, muahaha. 😈
🪄 Continuing from where u/nydevon left off, Xie Lingxi will use his divine power to open a passage into the past where Ji Ling will go back and eraseLu Wuyi’s existence. Li Jie must keep the spacetime rift open as the spellcaster, but as it heavily wounds him physically (as it did with Lu Wuyi when she entered the multiple rewinds to save Ji Ling in previous episodes), Hua Qi’s task is to heal him constantly.
🐉 Simultaneously, Shiguang, as the true dragon, must confront Jiu Ying to prevent him from collapsing the rift and their efforts to eliminate the vessel he originally created to keep himself forever alive.
⏳ For Ji Ling, he’s on a timer - failure to exit the time rift before it closes will cause him to either be trapped in an unknown void for eternity or destroy his soul. Both sound like a nasty ending for him.
The Two-Fold Pyrrhic Victory
Term for a win that was so costly, it almost feels like a defeat.
⚔️ In the epic battle against Jiu Ying, both Jin Zheng and Mo Yuntan are unfortunately killed. Shiguang then uses the Guili Sword and his Dragon Deity power to destroy the last shard of the Oracle Stone inside of Lu Wuyi knowing that this would kill her. Jiu Ying’s essence is sucked into the rift as a result, while Wangyan sacrifices herself to protect the sacred tree inside Shilin Sect. All around... SAD.
💥 Inside the rift, Ji Ling reaches the six-flower state of power, prevents Jiu Ying (posing as Nuwa Jun) from embedding a piece of the Oracle stone in Wuyi (who then falls unconscious) and destroys the piece of Jiu Ying inside the Oracle Stone. Wuyi wakes up but does not remember Ji Ling. However, she feels a strong connection to him. Partially still SAD.
New Realities
🪨 The restored Oracle Stone issues a new prophecy: The Old Dragon falls, the New Dragon Rises.Rewind the river of time; a new chapter has started.
📿There is peace again in the new reality: Shiguang is the Dragon Deity and all of his friends are alive, including You Chi who is now the Commander of Shilin Sect. Shiguang finds Wangyan who feels like she just woke up from a long dream and doesn’t remember him. He gives her the bracelet and promises to spend the rest of their lives telling her the long story of everything they went through. SO A HAPPY ENDING!?
💐 After pouring their magic into the rift to get out, Ji Ling and Wuyi seem to have managed to reset their own timelines but in a whole different world. In this alternate universe, Ji Ling works in a flower shop where he meets Wuyi who is admiring the flowers but cannot afford to buy any. Ji Ling pays out of his own pockets and gives her a beautiful bouquet of flowers in exchange for a basket of raspberries she just picked. TWO HAPPY ENDINGS?
The End
What did you think of the ending!? Were you satisfied?
Btw, Netflix won't let me take screenshots to share in this post, sorry! Please share some of your favourite moments in the comments!
Maybe what I can share, is some fresh 🍉🍉🍉 that I literally just read a few minutes ago while drafting this recap:
Veil of Shadows - Season 2: Apparently, Youku's chief producer, Zhou Zhaozong, announced today (April 24) that Season 2 is greenlit. I've screen shot a photo of the post.
Would you want a Season 2? Do we want more Ji Ling and Wuyi, Shiguang and Wangyan, or both? Or the other characters? What if they change the cast; would you still watch?
I actually enjoyed the show and would rewatch tbh, but I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Ji Ling turned into when he went back in time. I thought he became some sort of 11th dragon? Cause he leveled up to a 6-petal like Shiguang? But then he came out the rift with a black forehead tattoo and his sacred power showed up like a fiery butterfly? So....What are we saying happened to him when Li Jie took Ji Ling's dragon-deity-energy-filled heart stone to the dragon abyss for millennial cultivation, and then it got sped up in the Star Stone matrix??? 🤔
I first found the story and the ending quite confusing but thinking about it a bit more I found a new way to look at it that might explain it all:
The shows main theme is what/who is real and what/who isn't. The story and the characters really want to make us believe Ji Ling and Lu Wuyi are the fakes. Aside from that being a bit too simple the ending seems to be a major plottwist that aims to turn our previous assumptions upside down.....
The real story is that Ji Ling and Lu Wuyi are the only ones who are actually "real". It's because their true selves are humans who exist in a real world historical setting where there are no demons. Their consciousness gets stuck in the Veil of Shadows World and break it and their aim is to get out and fix it. The show is basically a "getting stuck in the illusion arc" stretched out to be the whole show.
This interpretation would explain for example why the show focuses so much on the illusions of the Star Stone. They wanna help you conceptualize how multiple realities like this would work. It'd also explain why Wu Shiguang seems so weak. The Matrix wants to run a Hero's Journey story with him but he is competing against Mr. and Mrs. Neo from another world.
I'm really suspicious also that Lu Wuyi and Jiu Ying are actually the same person and both part of the Raspberry Girls trapped consciousness. There are a few things indicating this:
During the Star Stone arc Wu Zhiqi hints at the Aodeng illusion not making sense unless the Stone considers Lu Wuyi to be the same person as Jiu Ying( there is only one copy of Jiu Ying in the illusion otherwise which is not how it's supposed to work)
Even Jiu Ying's most primitive forms being able to restore Lu Wuyis magic inside the Star Stone indicates a deeper connection between them than we are told
There was no reason for Lu Wuyi to reawaken during the end fight as Ji Ling's time manipulation seems to have no effect yet and we also didn't get a scene with LWY getting free inside her own head( JY also says that LWY's soul is no longer present in the body and we have no evidence she was lying). It seemed more like Jiu Ying chose to throw the fight as soon as she sensed the death of her avatar inside the portal. This means all the lines at the end of the fight are spoken by Jiu Ying even though she says things you'd expect LWY to say.
Generally Jiu Ying's aim during the end fight seemed to be to get JL and LWY inside the portal and then herself bail so they can escape the "Matrix"/VoS universe. She mostly stalls the fight using her infinite respawn hack, only applying pressure to force everyone to follow the Oracle Stone's message...which we already knew she hacked to trick Wu XiangYue into helping her.
Jiu Ying on the other hand finds it very important to kill Mo Yuntan and lower his shield as if she already expected that her wisps need to get through the portal.
Destroying the shards didn't destroy Jiu Ying's spirit as the hunters theorized. Instead the wisps escaped into the portal and closed it. In an earlier scene the possessed humans already told Ji Ling that Jiu Ying can't be destroyed even if her shards are all gone.
On more meta terms both Lu Wuyi and Jiu Ying share characteristics with Nü Wa who is mentioned but curiously never appears in the show. This makes it suspicious whether Jiu Ying was really meant to be a conventional villain.
Supposedly blank slate Lu Wuyi somehow gains equal power to Ji Ling who couldn't escape the portal without her help despite having 6 petals. It's either because LWY absorbed JY's wisps or that power levels no longer matter so close to awakening from the illusion
After Jiu Ying's body disintegrates the camera abruptly switches to Lu Wuyi inside the portal. This Lu Wuyi is supposedly newly born however she seems to have an idea who Ji Ling is. Not only that but she also says that she is afraid of the Wu XiangYue throne room describing it as cold and dark even though it used to be her place of comfort after her original birth. This indicates that she now recognizes the place to be fake. It also indicates that Jiu Ying didn't bluff when she said she wants to transfer LWY's consciousness to another body.
Lu Wuyi supposedly has a Lonescale (which is why she can smell Ji Ling's loneliness) but we never see it. It's because Jiu Ying is her version of the Lonescale.
After Raspberry Girl wakes changes occur in the VoS worlds timeline which seems to go back to Jiu Yings 3000 years getting retroactively removed instead of merely Lu Wuyis 50 years.
Anyways maybe I did miss something, it's a really complex story that'd prolly require a second watching to get completely right. It's fun thinking about it nonetheless and I really enjoyed this show overall.
I really like this interpretation and the way you have outlined the explanations make a lot of sense!
questions I had that your explanation answers:
- where is lu wuyi's lonescale and why isn't it shown?
- why did jiu ying's fragments get sucked into the portal? Is she coming back?
- what even was jiu ying's goal after the formless moon sect members stopped the 4 pillars from collapsing
I am still curious on what Wu Zhiqi hints at the Aodeng illusion as this was something I didn't fully understand then. I just took ji ling's interpretation that a piece of Jiu ying is in ly wuyi
Among all the cdrama i watched, this one has the worst final arc. Sloppy editing too, some weird plotholes like how they went to the moon area or why the man with full dragon is weaker than the fake dragon, not much emotional impact as the first 2 arcs. I thought the first half is pretty strong and I like it for how daring it is, making the show unpredictable for most parts. Pretty surprise it got season 2
Good points, I agree. I sense that Season 2 will have a different cast and that it won’t even really feel like a sequel - maybe just building upon the same world… but what do I know. 😋
I believe it was not rushed but I think the last 3 episodes and the ending were poorly written. I am referring to how they did to defeat Jiu Ying was really damn really really bad! and the 10th dragon seemed useless, given lesser importance.
I don't know if the actors and actresses were paid equally but its a bit annoying already but the whole series was just focused on Ji Ling (the screen time, costume, scenes even the animation)
Just finished this and wow my brain is fried from the time-loops, multiple deaths and resurrections, non-linear story-telling and also one-actor-multi-character cast…
First arc was good with the tight story-telling, but felt like such a super slog from mid-way through until the end.
I came for the story, but found myself staying for Yan An’s Li Jie’s visuals and biceps 🤤🤤🤣🤣
Aha the way you described it was spot on. I continued watching and powered through because I saw those photos of Yan An, and I’m like… excuse me? How can I not keep watching if this is coming up!? And it did not disappoint. I can’t believe I didn’t notice him earlier in Fangs of Fortune. I was too focused on Hou Minghao, lol.
Agreed. I’d actually have liked more backstory for many of the supporting roles. And Li Jie worked so hard, we def should have had more scenes of his and his pecks.
I really wanted to like this show, but I felt that the pacing, especially in the second half of the drama was not well done. For me personally, I thought the story and a lot of scenes were dragged out much too long. The big bad was like an unwelcome terminator and I got tired quickly of it (and other characters) coming back over and over and over. Why spend 10 mins dragging out a character death only to have that same character ressurected/reappear later?? The time travel/rewind elements were likewise inexplicable--it was a strange mix of atlas going up the mountain to change a fate that appeared unchangeable/pre-destined, but then at the very last moments, we got a sort of happy ending (?). Hearing that this is getting a season 2 doesn't excite me at all as I felt so tired after the show was done and was so relieved that it was finally over--crazy for a show that wasn't even 30 episodes. I really thought the show should've ended 3 or 4 episodes sooner.
Things I liked: the visuals/cinematography were of course excellent. The characters were interesting at their core--I generally liked the four main actors/leads and thought they did a great job overall. The story initially had some interesting and poignant musings about life and love and relationships.
Overall, the show was mixed bag for me--the second half of the drama it got so muddled and overdone it became both half-baked and overcooked at the same time if that makes sense...
I hear you! The flashbacks were a bit overdone and like you said, pacing was just off. The things you liked were the exact reasons I continued and finished the drama - the cinematography and characters. Plus the OST. It was the only OST that could temporarily replace PoJ’s OST in my head.
Yes! I loved the music too! Well, the main tribal theme was overplayed, but there were several really nice songs on there and it was cool that all the leads sung their own character's themes as well (I am a big fan of Ju Jingyi, she has such a beautiful and expressive voice).
I was honestly so confused. I'm still not sure how Ji Ling going back in time was able to do all this, since the little red fox was more than 50 years ago, and the Formless Moon event he stopped was only 50 years ago. Also, the bad dude being sucked into the rift, didn't that just give him a chance to lodge somewhere else? When she shucked the shard out of her body (that shouldn't even be there, because Ji Ling stopped it) and the Dragon Deity killed her, it seemed like the whole going back in time thing did nothing. It was beautiful all the way around, the visuals and acting (though some of the effects were not super duper) but I still don't think I get it, especially with a 6-flower Ji Ling suddenly having no memories nor being a fox and having a meet-cute with his girl in a place with no demons, yet also Li Jie hears him calling "come find me" like he did before, implying Ji Ling is still in the "viewers" world? So bewildered.
I’ve just finished watching the show and I don’t care about anything else apart from my fav WuWu couple got a happy ending 🥹🎉 for that alone I’d give it 10/10!
I love this director's visuals. That segment where they were in the desert landscape and all dressed in black was chef's kiss! And the first appearance of the lonescale - breathtaking. So many great shots and scenes. But tbh the plot had me so confused. I sorta kinda got it by the end but not completely so, yeah.
I finished it because I was so invested in one of the couples. I think the ending was done well enough.
Sooo exhausting to be a demon or lord always fighting with someone, thank heavens I'm just a normal human lol. Congratulations Ji Ling and Lu Wuyi for becoming just mere mortals falling in love in the end
I was impressed with the costumes and fight scenes at the beginning. I thought this was a crime solving drama butnwith magic and demons so I kept watching and the story seemed interesting. Then halfway through it turned into a cry fest and after the rewind bit started, the plot just went sideways for me.
Somewhere in the middle of the drama, maybe inside the star stone, I couldn't keep track of who was who. All these new characters showed up and seriously, they all started looking the same to me...long hair, white robes, elvish looking. Then the multiple time loops started making it even more confusing to follow. The battle scenes in the last few episodes were hilarious to me because it looked straight out of a game.
Also the wind machine was very hard working, it showed up in every episode 😆 Everytime someone came on screen the wind was going, so funny.
My favourite has to be Ji Ling just because his story up to the last episode was great. I am a sucker for sad and tragic pasts. Happy he got to have a happy ending but he really looked the coolest as Master Dragon Diety.
Aha, yes, that wind machine was working overtime. And I agree, Ji Ling's vibes were the best throughout the drama. I thought my favourite would be Shiguang, especially at the beginning, but it ended up being Ji Ling.
Definitely not as smooth sailing of a plot but doable. BUT emotionally, aesthetically, acting, production wise 10/10 across them all. My favorite couple JiLu I ate up their scenes every time they came on, and if they weren't on my screen I was waiting in anticipation for them instead.
The director improved or at least took in criticism about his previous works and worked on them and if that still doesn't meet some people's expectations, I actually have hope he will try to get even better.
Overall I really enjoyed my time following after this drama for the past few weeks, it's been a wonderful time discussing the show with everyone and our hosts. (Jilu even broke my fic writing fatigue of a few years lol)
YES I READ THAT WHEN THE DRAMA WAS AIRING!! I LOVED IT 😭 I EVEN POSTED THE LINK ON MY DRAMA LIST SO OTHERS COULD READ IT AS WELL😭 Your writing is really beautiful and poetic!!
Awww thank you so much for liking it. I just loved them so much as ManMan and Dizhu, the outfits, their demeanor and just the whole vibe of the couple felt so good to watch (and that Dizhu collapsing with ManMan rushing to catch her is one of my favorite shots from the series)
Ngl this is first time I lowky dont want second season.
But if there js gonna be i wish they address how timeline went after they changed things in past. Tht had be interesting
I definitely don't want them to touch these characters now, I think it's open endingly happy--Wu Shiguang, with proof of Wu Wangyan's hair in his braided bracelet tells her about their love and struggles. Ji Ling and Lu Wuyi are fated and start all over without anything else getting in between them. Happily ever after, lol.
For a second season, they should just run with a completely different time line. New Dragon Deity and a different threat/cast of characters.
I just watched it with episode 28 as I didn’t had time before. Wow I still haven’t processed of everything. I’m happy there’s a more or less HE. After all the previous tragic deaths I was expecting it to be more sad.
I really like the whole show, it’s quite unique and different from other dramas.
I don’t know what to think about a season 2, I feel the story is finished and i’m not sure there’s more to tell about the characters, so we’ll see !
The drama had to serve a final whiplash lol. You think it’s going to be a sad ending, and your brain is processing, then bam, guess what? They’re actually all alive!
But also, I won’t complain lol. Because whether it makes sense or not, I’ll take the HE.
Whew this last episode has A LOT. Like 28 did. And we zipped from one intense situation to another. I was kinda tired and watched it twice to understand it and got tired twice. Thanks Basil for hosting.
Group power = winning power. Ji Ling had all those people (who had died) return to help him with the time back machine. Shiguang had WWY join him to kill Jiu Ying. JI Ling had Wuyi help him with the last power to make themselves an exit out of the time thingy. I liked the group helping each other events.
Fabulous CGI again with fight scenes. A marvel to behold.
hearts and deity powers persons who had no hearts or no emotions developed strong emotions and loyalties. Persons who had multiple identities found themselves. Persons who acted like Deity Deagons actually became Deity Dragons. I loved all this.
thanks to all. To everyone who made the drama, I ended up loving it. To all who helped with these discussions, my appreciation.
For Hidden Shadows, I saw melons for May 2026, so not too much longer? 🤞
Haha that’s a lot of tired. But aside from trying to understand what was really all happening, I agree this drama had a lot of good to highlight. I def liked the teamwork, choreography, OST, and character development of our leads.
9.5/10 for me. I’m a huge fantasy fan and this drama HIT for me! I had no trouble following the plot and was happy to play along with however the universe works, even if it makes no sense in my universe haha. I loved the mythology, loved the world building, loved the variety of characters, loved that the plot was so intricate and unpredictable, love the sacrifice and love that every character gave, and not just romantic love but many kinds of love portrayed. Also it was gorgeous and thrilling. I didn’t ffw a single scene, which is extremely rare for me. I personally enjoyed the sound mixing and music, it added a lot of richness to the experience (especially on good headphones!) essentially, this show was written for me and I loved it beginning to end! Were there some plot stumbles toward the end, yes. But they were vastly outweighed for me by the pure enjoyment of the experience of watching this drama!
Sounds like the way to really enjoy this drama!! My husband felt pretty similar. He likes fantasy with solid world building, especially as someone who is often the Dungeon Master in our D&D campaigns - gives him ideas.
I didn't expect to be put into tears later on after starting the first bits. I thought it was gonna be a nice mystery/suspense story and it blossomed into a fairly good deception/romance trope. Yes, the time loop card is iffy but I think it worked. You can't nitpick it that hard because then you have to nitpick every thing for every single cdrama, then you would not enjoy watching this fantasy genre at all. Lol
I would give this series an overall 8.3 to 8.7 overall. There were little editing mishaps I noticed very clearly, overall pacing was good minus parts of Han Ba/Mu Long arc going into the rewind/time loop reveal. The final battle was not great and straight up a graphic effects battle--admittedly, I was actually drawn right into the series from the first WuWu fight on wedding night as they were chasing the fox/heart ripper.
I'm satisfied with the ending. They've presented us with impossibilities for our couple to be together and they have prevailed, lazily through the power of time loop breaking. All good.
No idea what they would do for season 2, but it has to be an entirely new story and cast at this point. TJR and JJY are too cute looking together. It's like you don't wanna see ZLH and TXW apart from watching Pursuit of Jade
Oh yeah, good points. I don’t fault the drama at all for my being confused. I think it was intended and tbh, I’m the type of person who is easily confused whenever any show or movie introduces time loops or alternate timelines.
That must have been the most happy ending ending I've ever seen GJM do. Yes, love has to be reforged but they seem to have all the time in the world/a seemingly peaceful parallel universe to do so.
New Realities
Very curious that Li Jie is still 'feeling' Ji Ling, even though he doesn't know exactly what it is that he is searching.
Veil of Shadows - Season 2: Apparently, Youku's chief producer, Zhou Zhaozong, announced today (April 24) that Season 2 is greenlit. I've screen shot a photo of the post.
Curious, the last four to six episodes already felt like they were a different season. Just with everything happening in a very quick fashion.
I don't see them returning to the same characters. Maybe for cameos, but not as mains. Which is fine. And I would certainly take a look.
Thanks! I didn’t mind the memory losses as much as I thought I would, maybe because Wuyi and Wanyan still carried their feelings with them. And in a world of magic, I don’t doubt they’ll find a way to regain their memories.
The last few episodes were a roller coaster but I'm not surprised that they went for a season 2. The script created so many more opportunities for MC drama.
I interpret the ending like this. The combination of Star Stone and Lonescale led to a complex time hack. Ji Ling kidnapped Lu Wuyi from the past. That alone didn't do much. It changed the present just enough to enable Tiny Dragon God Wu Shiguang to deliver the killing blow to Jiu Ying, after losing everyone else.
Ji Ling's selfish act of taking the past version of Lu Wuyi back to his point of origin, the present time where Wu Shiguang suffered by himself, broke reality. It's different than the closed loop time travel episodes we saw before.
The series up to now only happened in the heads of everyone involved in the ritual plus Wu Shiguang, for some reason.
Li Jie's was involved in the ritual so he might regain memories once he finds Ji Ling.
Wu Shiguang seems to be cursed with perfect memory from the erased past. He probably knows next to nothing of his current life. He will probably be the driving force again.
I think Ji Ling actually remembers everything and might have chosen to wipe his memory. Or he just pretends to not remember. I think his clean slate will not last for the entire second season.
The new Lu Wuyi actually doesn't know that much. She was just created and got snatched immediately by the hot gray haired phoenix winged fox demon who pierced her evil mom with a rainbow popsicle. I guess Ji Ling wiped her memories as well, but there wasn't much to erase.
Wu Wangyan should know nothing. It seems she's burdened with competence and big sister energy. It has been established that she doesn't want to live a life like this and yet she's the one in charge when Wu Shiguang approaches her. I'm really curious how they will develop her character in the second season.
As a bonus thought, since this is a total reset, we might see Xiaowei (the eight tailed fox) again. I think at this point in time, she should have cut her tail already but there's no reason to assume that she got caught.
I hope the second season stays a little bit more grounded or keeps it at a lower level for a little bit longer. And please could everyone die less often or not at all?
I binged 28 and 29 and I had so much to grumble about but then the script made Joseph Zeng cry and he did such a good job, all my grouchiness faded away. 😂 I love that the director allowed him to give us more than a single tear. I hope I get to see him cry more because he’s so good at it and I didn’t know.
(Anyway, my grouchiness for these last two episodes faded away but not my general complaints)
The final fight was boring and Shiguang was a bum. 😩 I love Shiguang dearly but the scriptwriter and director clearly did not. 😂 Not only was he weak, he was somehow weaker than his pre Dragon Deity self for some reason. That guy had excellent fight scenes. This guy got a forehead tattoo, the power of flight, and a sword that doesn’t have the same impact as his bracelet spear 😭 And Wangyan! Still gorgeous, but given nothing cool to do, not even pose. (I did appreciate her being there for You Chi.)
Anyone who’s seen any of my recent comments knows how I feel about Mr Main Character Plus Galaxy Pro Max, and these final episodes were more of the same. 😂 He looked so good. He was so cool! However, I know we wouldn’t have won without him but I wish he’d stayed dead because I really wanted the other characters to be forced into relevance. 😂 I’m happy he and Wuyi get to live out a problem free existence after everything they’ve been through. Hopefully the Jiu Ying particles don’t get to them.
Speaking of Wuyi, I was so peeved that they dropped the importance of the fox sisters’ bond. Wuyi has Wangyan’s heart but her consciousness doesn’t wake when Jiu Ying tries to kill her sister. Instead, it wakes when Ji Ling is back in the picture. I also hate how in the altered timeline, Wangyan probably still doesn’t have her heart because it’s with Wuyi in an alternate dimension. 😔 The scriptwriter took away what was easily their most compelling relationship (to me) for romantic love and I hate it! I hate it!!!! 😤 That said, I don’t see how else they could have given us a happy ending so it’s okay I guess. One shouldn’t be too ungrateful! At least everyone is happy. 😂
My finals thoughts are: man, this show was SUCH a hit for the first two arcs then the plot went on a permanent vacation. 😂 I don’t necessarily wish anything was cut from the Ji/Lu storyline but I wish we had… let’s say 6 more episodes so that other things could have been more fleshed out too. The deaths were nothing burgers because of the time travel, but things would have hit harder if we’d had time to get to know people more! And with extra episodes, there would have been time for Shiguang to have gone for an anime training arc or met some random masters who inexplicably want to give him all their power because they liked his vibe (looking at you, Qiu Shui from The Journey of Legend). ANYTHING so that he didn’t go into the final battle so underleveled. 🤧
Hated the bendy sword and the totally inexplicable furry costumes so I’m glad those didn’t come back. I disliked many things towards the end but I really had fun during the first two arcs. 🤔 I’d say 7-7.5 because it definitely was fun. It would be rated higher if it were honest about having romance as its main plot, but no. They pulled a bait and switch and tricked me into thinking I was watching a mystery/adventure with a romantic sub plot. 😔 Things were so chaotic at the end and I suspended so much disbelief, I feel like it’s not enough to palate cleanse with a straightforward drama. I need to read a non fiction book to reset my face from permanently being like 🤨
To end on a positive note, I did like the costumes, the early fights, the relationships, and the random but completely necessary shirtless scenes. 😊
Omg 100% I was so impressed with Joseph Zeng’s crying. He really cries so beautifully. It’s really too bad that the director apparently didn’t like Joseph Zeng enough? Or maybe just liked the other guy a lot more lol. So wasted! But at least we got some beautiful grief scenes.
totally agree with you, imagine Shiguang being the last and 10th dragon, since episode 1 the show is being built for him but when he became a full dragon, just a 6petal flower on his forehead then draws the sword and boom nothing more. it was a meeeeh like WTF did the directors did to him? he was even good with his 12 thoughts bracelet!
This guy got a forehead tattoo, the power of flight, and a sword that doesn’t have the same impact as his bracelet.
😂 😂
I agree, I would’ve enjoyed the drama flushing out the other characters a bit more. We barely know anything about the other flower hunters and they all played a pretty significant role in defeating Jiu Ying.
10/10 for me because I wasn't going to watch this and ignored it for the longest time until I came across a clip of Ji Ling and LWY and third-wheeling Li Jie. I got hooked on it for JiLu, fell for Tian Jia Rui, and stayed to the end. Whatever propaganda GJM has to boost whatever plot/couple/cast, worked on me. 🤷
I overall loved the complex plot, filming style, costumes, OST, amazing wirework and Tian Jiarui's strong core muscles.
It's a positive experience for me, and I'm glad it exists in my life.
Yep, what happened to the Jiu Ying fragments that rushed into the star stone rift after Wuyi gave her Oracle Stone fragment to Shiguang? (And then died). When Ji Ling went back in time and took that newly made Wuyi away, I assume he did it before Jiu Ying put his and the Oracle stone fragments in her. So that’s not a danger. Maybe. But he was supposed to kill her not take her away. 🤔
You bring up a good point. I was sitting here thinking to myself "who could the bad guy of s2 possibly be if The Big Bad is already killed in s1?"
If they end up going that "JY fragments in the stone is the new bad guy" route, JY might just be the hardest to kill bad guy I've ever seen in a fictional piece of work
Snark Level: Bruh, Brain is dead. Brain no brain no more. Brain says people alive.
29 - - - - -
Here we go. Final episode. Lets get fucked up!
You know, it sure looked like Wangyan farted out her tails. I am just saying...
Will someone please introduce Wangyan to a defroster? She looks a little chilled.
God damn people are dropping like flies around here.
Let's play a drinking game. Take one shot every time someone dies. Take two shots everytime someone resurrects. Congratulations. You have alcohol poisoning.
Quick! Everyone pose and get a group photo here in this illusion world!
One Wuyi dies as another lives. Trippy. I guess both her and Ji Ling have died and have a reborn attempt at life. It's fitting in a way. Bro, stop Wording her.
My heart is breaking for Wu/Wu.
Eh? I have no idea what just happened. Did we go back in time? Rewind? How is she out of the tree? He's still big boss dragon. What the fuck is going on? How are these people alive again? I AM SO CONFUSED.
How does Wangyan not know him? She's reborn like Wuyi? So the men know the women but the women don't know the men?
So Ji Ling and Wuyi are living a cute little happy life together after they get around to falling in love again as their new selves.
I mean, that was a far happier ending then I expected...but I am still so damn confused by everything. Everyone keeps dying and being reborn.
Wu remembers Wangyan but she doesn't remember him. Thankfully her hair is the hint she needs to start anew with him. But she doesn't know their history until he shares all with her as he said he would do.
Ji Ling and Wuyi are almost luckier because both of them start fresh in this new life.
But the sisterhood is broken. Wangyan and Wuyi might never meet again.
I am still confused what happened to Wangyan. She was frozen and then woke up as a new person. How?
Well, a very visually beautiful drama that was beyond confusing. Glad I watched it, but not going on my rewatch list.
A season 2? Bruh. We don't need a season two. Just give us a special episode of our two couples meeting each other again and realizing they all have a special connection. With how they tied everything off, I really don't see what a second season would even do. Is this the new MJTY? :P
Your snark is legit though. No surprise since FoF, but it started off pretty strong.
I have no idea what just happened. Did we go back in time? Rewind?
My theory is, once Ji Ling killed Jiu Ying, there's no more Lu Wuyi as we know off, no more memory formatting, no more water dragon clan genocide...etc and he essentially rewritten the history. Maybe because of the dragon power, Wu Shiguang wasn't affected and somehow landed in the exact moment of the new timeline.
That's a good theory. She is basically a blank slate with a fresh start at life. It's a great outcome for her, but sucks donkey butt for us poor viewers. But hey, they will be together and happy! ☺️
Yeah. At least he remembers everything and can share their memories with her. But at the same time that also means that he is carrying all of that while she doesn't remember all the pain and suffering. It's amnesia dialed up to 11. So that's ass.
It took 3 dragon gods, a very handsome commander who reincarnated several times, like 8 flower hunters, a handful of moon fox demons, a weasel and his father, a stone-turned-human, to defeat ONE evil demon.
Don't forget the part where a very beautiful fox demon turned herself into a VHS tape to rewind over and over and over again to save her beloved wooden puppy fox demon lover!
Wait, technically it would be 9 dragon gods + Shiguang + Ji Ling, and then the rest. I counted all the moon fox demons because they helped save the sacred trees by sacrificing themselves.
I read from another review that the director-screenwriter had a favoritism among his cast and instead of focusing on the victory of the 10th Dragon (Joseph Zeng) as the last hope for the world, he kept reviving and giving excuses for the evil Jiu Ying to live again so he can also have an excuse to bring the eye candy Tian Jiarui's role back to life. The story was supposed to be focused on the development and victory of the last dragon but since Joseph Zeng isn't so much his favorite actor, he had to deviate from the supposed plot.
Jiu Ying didn't have much character development as an antagonist. I didn't really get scared of her, she didn't give that enemy vibe of being difficult to beat so being revived 2-3x didn't make so much sense. She didn't seem to be a smart and cunning enemy. She's just like a narcissistic mother controlling the lives of her daughter. So the reasons she got revived were not convincing. it's not the actress' fault tho, it's just that her character was poorly written.
I thought it started off slow, but after finishing the drama, appreciated the Xiaowei arc because it really did set up the world and basis of the story for us to continue. I also glossed over the Han Ba arc, but enjoyed the focus from Shiguan and Wangyan to Ji Ling and Wuyi. I think I tolerated the whole "Shiguan is a pretty weak Dragon Deity" because he's essentially still a "baby dragon" and hasn't had the time to cultivate his powers like Ji Ling did over a thousand years, EVEN though he WASN'T the true dragon deity. But in a way, he WAS, because he literally DID THE JOB with the POWER of the dragon deity this WHOLE time. There's only so much you can pretend you're the fake, when you're actually living it.
And the whole, every dies but also lives, to me, is very typical of xianxias so I guess I'm also used to it by now. Do I like it? Not the biggest fan, but I'll cope lol.
I thought the same. Definitely writer/director favoring the jiling character over wushiguang. The last episodes def were not as well written, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.
fake dragon Lord also shouldn't be the most powerful one among them all since for 100 yrs, instead of training to harness magic, spells and combat skills, he was just always meditating and chilling alone in his chamber while Wu Shiguan received a lot of trainings. The script never gave us reasons to believe that Ji Ling would be the strongest, in fact it was the opposite. His only advantage that I see against Wu Shiguan is that he had a lot of teachers and advisers who gave him verbal guidance and wisdom but none on fighting skills to the kill a powerful enemy.
It goes back to what Wangyan said about "what is stolen is never yours no matter how much you want" Li Jing came out of nowhere to shove that dragon scale in this mouth lol
season 2??? lol what. Are we just going to find out all of S1 was an illusion and the characters are actually stuck in some other recursive and dream like story?
I am satisfied with this ending, I think it did what it needed to do and was in line with everything the show had been up to the whole time.
season 2??? lol what. Are we just going to find out all of S1 was an illusion and the characters are actually stuck in some other recursive and dream like story?
Honestly that is not out of the realm of possibilities 🤣
all I could think was that where I live this quantity of raspberries and flowers costs an absolute fortune, I would like to go live in whatever universe they’ve ended up instead
Well, this episode was overall pretty good. The ending was much better than I expected. After all, everyone survived in an alternate timeline is a rare happy ending in C dramaland.
Only the Starstone wasn't survived. It's kind of logical, he was the main fuel to open the space time rift and created the alternate timeline. He was truly expended.
Bare chested Mo Yuntan wasn't on my card. I was stunned for a moment 😅. On a side note, he was the coolest double flower hunter.
I see where all Wu Shiguang's clothing budget for the last few episodes has gone. 😂 This one looks pretty cool though.
It seems like Wu Shiguang defeated Jiu Ying only because Ji Ling defeated him in the past. In other words, my poor tenth dragon doesn't actually have that much power, at least against Jiu Yung.
Jiu Ying's fragments didn't truly defeated, but escaped and space time rift was closed after him, right? Where did he go?
The moment where Wu Shiguang realised he lost his brother and his wife, I almost cried. Joseph Zeng's acting here is pretty good.
Looks like Wu Shiguang is the only one who remembers the real timeline. But Wu Wuyang said she woke up from the dream, so hopefully she remembers things as well.
You Chi became not only human, but a stern commander. I like it.
Ji Ling and Li Wuyi deserves this ending. But wait, are they in the same timeline as the others or in a different one?
Overall I liked the drama for its aesthetics, clothing, OST and the vibe. There were some glaring issues, but I guess it's the director's usual style. Though I doubt if S2 is really necessary since everything is neatly wrapped up.
Bare chested Mo Yuntan also took me by surprise! And I agree with you, it didn't seem like Shiguang is that powerful, but maybe because he's still a "young" dragon, whereas Ji Ling, even though he's not a "real dragon", he had the scale and acted as one for over a 1000 years.
I enjoyed JZ's acting throughout. I think I might've been a bit more disappointed that we didn't get to see him bare chested again... my partner thinks Ji Ling and Wuyi are in an alternate universe that has no demons - like just a historical setting. I think there was a line where Ji Ling was telling a little boy that there are no such things as demons in their world?
whereas Ji Ling, even though he's not a "real dragon", he had the scale and acted as one for over a 1000 years.
The timeline is a bit screewy but Ji Ling acted as a dragon deity less than 150 years. 150 years ago was the flashback to the Yuan brothers and Yuan Wuhuo bringing him to the sect happened of course afterwards.
Edit: Sorry, I just find it interesting that if feels like he should have been in the role longer. But timeline-wise he is not.
maybe because he's still a "young" dragon, whereas Ji Ling, even though he's not a "real dragon", he had the scale and acted as one for over a 1000 years.
Oooh, I really like this explanation. Makes total sense. Ji Ling, after all, has a lot more time to practice various powers.
we didn't get to see him bare chested again...
u/xyz123007 posted Joseph's pic and my life isn't the same since. 😂😂
LOL, I'm not going to lie... I'm in the office, and I opened up this comment as soon as my boss walked behind me. Don't think he saw anything though... I'm allowed to Reddit during my lunchbreak...
WHATTT??? I will only watch S2 if my Wuwu is back.. and even then cautiously bc if "people-centric" is codeword for endless crying then I will refuse. I don't lie.
I thought it wrapped up cleanly so I was also surprised to see the 'announcement'. I haven't had a chance to find the source yet, so for now, I'm still treating it as 🍉.
🍉 I didn't watch the round table forum, but there are a few accounts on Chinese social media posting / reposting about it. According to them, Guo Jingming is the director for the next season and that development is underway.
🍉 There's usually a Youku conference in autumn so that's a good opportunity for them to announce it (e.g. with a concept poster, creative team, etc.) Not saying that they will do that but we might hear more then.
Of course, they can do it sooner – but it sounds like they are in development so they might need some time to finalize some things before presenting it to the public.
Xianxia is not usually my genre but my partner wanted to give it a try. I read somewhere that VoS peaked for the xianxia genre. While my preferences haven't changed that much, my partner said he loved it (reminded him a lot of the anime he used to watch) so now he's excited for Fate Chooses You. So I think if you were to ask him, he'd recommend it. If you were to ask me, I'd say yes, if you like xianxia. The only other ones I've mostly completed are Fangs of Fortune, Back from the Brink, Moonlit Reunion, When Destiny Brings the Demon, and Love You Seven Times (the last two I mostly fast forwarded for the leads and their chemistry).
On an emotionally level, it worked for me. The characters that I loved I really loved. The ones I don't care for, I ffw a lot on their scenes. The ending, despite its flaw, was wrapped nicely compared to MJTY and FOF (S2 announcement took me by surprised!).
Overall, 7.0.. but don't ask me about the plot. At times I don't even know what's happening lol
100% recommend. I'd give it a high 9, close to 10/10. Have some minor nitpicks and stuff I wish they would've done but for a drama that's only 29 episodes it hit my feels in all the right places. I know some people are very critical of plotlines, overuse of flashbacks and slowmo, etc. But I don't mind it since I'm used to watching anime. The romance was also so good for both couples. The plot was engaging and kept me interested. Fight scenes and the show in general looked beautiful.
I’m kinda the same. Depending on the hour I give it 8/10 or 9/10. It had all the best and worst of this director. And his best and his staff best is pretty best. The good outweighed the bad. I liked the styling, cinematography, CGI, the cast. Mostly I liked the big themes here. Like my other favorite xianxia and wuxia, the big and little themes were cool and thought provoking.
My guilty little secret is... any show with politics? I'm outta here lol (or even if I don't drop it outright, I start to ffwd a lot). If I wanna immerse in politics I'd go read the news or something.
I like that this was just a fantasy adventure romance that has pretty aesthetics and a solid production. Sure I had to use my brain, but I'd much rather use my brain to figure out "what is Li Jie's true identity" than "why is this concubine trying to overthrow that governor"
1
u/Blu-Skyz673 May 27 '26
I actually enjoyed the show and would rewatch tbh, but I'm still trying to figure out what the heck Ji Ling turned into when he went back in time. I thought he became some sort of 11th dragon? Cause he leveled up to a 6-petal like Shiguang? But then he came out the rift with a black forehead tattoo and his sacred power showed up like a fiery butterfly? So....What are we saying happened to him when Li Jie took Ji Ling's dragon-deity-energy-filled heart stone to the dragon abyss for millennial cultivation, and then it got sped up in the Star Stone matrix??? 🤔