I am missing some romance and believe this drama is incomplete but it was very dark and pretty to look at.

The female lead has more or less one expression which is kind pf refreshing while our male lead is bubbly and full of joy and charisma. The side characters are part interesting part annoying. But work pretty well there are a few to many recaps as well as some never ending monologs that felt like the writers took a short cut instead of letting us see the actual plot as it unfolded we got some kind of mess and recap instead.

Some part of the dialog/whispers where so predictable I found myself mumbling them in Mandarin (though I do not speak Mandarin). Other parts came seemingly out of nowhere. The side couple have some pretty decent dynamics but the villains are underdeveloped and even though they seem to try to explain them to us it ended up just confusing taking away most of the exitement leaving me with the feeling of meeh...

Not to mention the show of romance was so little I believe it should be removed from the genres and added to the tags with slight romance.

That said it is an okay watch with pretty scenery, pretty people and probably more poison's and elixirs than all the wuxias of 2024 will have combined.

Leaving me with the questions: Will there be a second season? will that season have as much poison and scheming or will they move on to fire and smoke?