Warning: unpopular opinion up ahead. Also , for the record, it's been a while since I've seen this drama. Anyway. I was prepared to like this drama. I really, honestly was. But for me it missed the mark - by several miles . First off, Yang Xue Wu is the biggest Mary Sue I’ve seen in drama (any drama) so far. She has absolutely zero flaws and needs constant rescuing from Lan Ling Wang. For all her skill with fireworks and healing she can’t even save herself ? Sorry if I find that to be a little unbelievable. No, scratch that. It’s totally unbelievable . The costume design was amazing , but that's unfortunately the only redeeming thing for me. Special effects were rarely well-executed, instead looking obviously out of place in this historical fantasy setting. Pretty much every other female character was either eeeeeeeevil or disappeared quickly, save for Yuwen Yong's niece who I didn't really see a whole lot. The other female characters only served to enhance Xue Wu's already ridiculous Mary Sue - ness. I hope by now you know I absolutely hate Mary Sue type characters.I know it's never the fault of the actresses playing them, but just lazy writing. Really, what is so difficult about writing a complex main character who actually has to work for what they want? The ending theme was repeated way too much throughout pretty much every episode . Sometimes it's just fine to let a dramatic moment speak for itself but no, every single one of them is "emphasised" by repeating the theme over and over again. What I hated the most was that everything seemed to revolve around the idea of 'Xue Wu gets in trouble , Lan Ling Wang rescues her' . The rest of the plot is secondary to that . Lastly, what's up with that ending ? After 46 episodes you just want to have a happily ever after for the main characters , but clearly the writer(s) had other ideas.