Important to note, again, that this was purely fan service, allowing audiences to see zhang zhehan and ju jingyi in a modern setting together. I appreciate the crew and cast for giving this to us. Although the writers were nice enough to tie it back to the original story, this modern setting should not be taken as a continuation of the story. You can, if you'd like, but I personally didn't. Why?

Because it would be utterly tragic and unsatisfying. When I heard about this little modern special, I thought they were going to give us a reincarnation where both of them meet, have some misunderstandings, and fall in love again--brand new. This would've been perfect, continuing this kind of "every lifetime, they will meet again and fall in love" like how we fans like to believe that this drama is their "second life" after the tragedy of Legend of Yunxi.
Instead, only one of them is reincarnated while the other has been waiting for thousands of years. I know, I know, the whole waiting for your true love trope is super popular and hits well with audiences, but at the same time, when you really think about it, it's so tragic for xu jin. His circumstances are too tragic and breaks my heart. Sure, it's a testament to how deep and true his love is, but damn, the suffering is so much. :/ Also, him being the only one to go through this while everyone else dies...it's really more tragic than you think.

So, it felt unnecessarily tragic and heavy when we could've just gotten a happy blissful meet-and-fall-in-love mini special. I'm upset for xu jin. I didn't need the lightning strike connection to cause xu jin to live for a thousand years.

Also, it's a bit confusing whether this is their first time meeting again after a thousand years, or if xu jin has met her reincarnations every life time? At the beginning, he had a painting of her and then photos of her from distinct time eras...so, initially to me, I thought he had been meeting her every lifetime. But then it seems like that's not the case? So that was confusing...

By the end of the special, it seems like he won't die after all? It's all very ambiguous but at least they're happy when it ends. So, at least they're together, again.

I do hope for them to have a modern drama (or historical! again!) but I would hope for a happier circumstances where they're both just modern happy people who meet and fall in love.