Story is more important than casting, CGI, acting, setting, or directing

This original story was special, unique, fantastical, and everything I would want in a Chinese fantasy costume drama. It had a bit of everything, comedy, tragedy, romance, fantasy, adventure. It had the potential to be the best Xanxia drama ever made. Unfortunately, some choices were made that really spoiled things.

Firstly, the FL started off strong and looked every inch like the beautiful and capable princess FL we all hope for when watching a costume drama, only to be literally AND figuratively defaced by Zhao Lu Si. Zhao Lu Si being an actress that either has no desire to embody any character that isn't a comic one, or she just doesn't have the skill to be a serious actress. Either way, the FL went from being a cultured, beautiful, intelligent and complex princess character, to being a reckless and overexaggerated character for the sake of comic relief. The ML, Zheng Ye Chen, is perfectly cast here, however, the director pretty much ruined his character for us, as in one scene he is seen full-on groping the FL, and she barely even knows who he is! He sexually harrasses her like a perverted creep, even using other female attention in order to gain the FL's attention. I don't know in what universe the screenwriters or directors thought this was OK, but it isn't!

The rest of the series is basically the FL being a rash idiot, and the ML has to come bail her out if every situation because she is too stupid to work with him instead of against him.

Also of note, is one of the secondary characters said something the Chinese government didn't like, so they had to replace that actress's face with a superimposed face of another actress using horrific CGI.

Truly, it's a so sad that such a great storyline had to be ruined by bad scriftwriting, CGI, and casting of the FL, but it's all really a reflection of the industry. A place where not very attractive actresses get cast out of popularity alone, sexual harrassment is written into a script for absolutely no reason, and an actress becomes a political victim and gets replaced through bad CGI. It's all in there.