This drama feels like an angsty adolescent modern romance that was dressed up in historical costume and wrapped up in a few wuxia tropes. Some of the ideas and characters are quite fresh but ultimately it is weighed down by cliches and an insipid plot. 

Chong Xuezhi (Chen Yuqi), the young mistress of the Flame Hall seeks to restore the reputation of her sect and atone for her father's atrocities after going berserk from improper cultivation of the Lotus God Nine Stance Technique. Behind vocal condemnation, the other sects covet this technique and scheme to acquire the manuscripts by fair means or foul. They are manipulated by a mysterious antagonist who aims to bring the sects under their control or eliminate them. The playboy master of Moon Valley Shangguan Tou (Luo Yunxi) is tasked to protect the naive young Xuezhi and along the way, they fall in love. Perhaps not the most original plot but decent enough that with proper execution could have be an entertaining wuxia romance. 

I have a soft spot for flawed rakish characters like Shangguan Tou, who is not your typical c-drama male lead. I had to turn up the air-con at the intensely flirtatious, almost seductive way he heatedly eyes and teases Xuezhi in the beginning. But this is one complicated dude - he blows hot and cold as he has commitment issues due to an unhappy childhood and unresolved issues with his father. He loves to engage in long winded and repetitive introspective conversations but doesn't communicate or listen to good advice. That just leads to endless rounds of pointless talking. Sigh! In the end, I found this character frustrating - just too high maintenance, emotional, headstrong and uncompromising. That said, Luo Yunxi's breathtaking ability to wear his heart on his face kept me going through the draggy parts.

Although naive in the beginning, Xuezhi is a stronger, more straightforward character - she is proud and dignified when Tou rejects her, she gets on with her life and is generally a good decision maker. She seems weak in the end because Tou is so adamant that everything has to be his way. It is actually Tou who is too distracted to stay one step ahead of the enemy and makes emotional and cliche noble idiot decisions. It cracks me up when even the loyal Wuming questions his judgement. While clearly Yunxi is the stronger and more nuanced actor (and so devastatingly handsome), both roles were well acted and the OTP has good chemistry. It is not their fault that their interactions are so frustratingly written. Their characters are also very young and written to be extremely immature and inexperienced with relationships despite their authoritative positions. This is a challenge because visually both leads are well past their teen/young adult years. 

The drama starts strongly but quickly loses momentum. The main problem is the romance between Tou and Xuexi advances too quickly and is so consuming that the rest of the external plot is repeatedly tossed into limbo while the OTP (internal plot) jumps through a bunch of romance cliches - he's dying, he's not ready, love triangles galore, silly misunderstandings, she's dying... to the point I kept wishing one or better yet, both of them would jump off a cliff. Their fated affinity or yuan fen (缘分) must not be that good because every time they get together, one ends up at death's door! Their moods are also out of sync - one blows hot while the other blows cold. It is a real question whether this is a couple that lasts.

The relationship arcs are such big digressions that by the time we get on with the conspiracy, the story picks up but never regains the lost momentum. The rest unfolds rather hastily and deals with interesting characters including Muyuan and Qingmei more cursorily than they deserve. It is a shame because there were many good characters in this drama but once they serve their purpose, they are killed off with impunity. Along the way, the plot morphs into a political conspiracy rather than a wuxia and the only bombastic thing about the so called legendary martial art technique is its name. The main antagonist's motivators are not compelling and that actor shamelessly knocks off Chen Kun's Ning Yi mannerisms. The actor does not have the right face for some of the more dramatic expressions and just ends up looking like a bizarre and creepy clown. The external arc ending is not satisfactory and in my opinion, justice is not served. 

All things considered, if you fast forward through the middle bits, this wasn't that bad - there are some moving scenes, generally good acting and a fabulous looking OTP. But in hindsight, the fire and ice theme of the drama is a dead giveaway; when you add ice to fire all you get is a bunch of hot air that evaporates into nothing of substance.