I often see this drama in reccomendations but refused to watch cuz I am not really into BL. But I got really confused on why is it so popular, so after few months I decided to watch.

Honestly speaking, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece unlike to what I often see from comments. The story has flaws and the actions wasn't that good. The first three episodes were confusing and boring so I thought I should just skip - since the only thing that made me curious about the story is WXX's past which they shown on the first episode. So I skipped and watched. I decided to watch the "special" series first since it's shorter. I must say that, the best part of this drama is only up to the last part of the long flashback - WXX's past story was so addicting. It made me hooked so I decided to watch the full series (50 episodes).
I kept rewatching those flashback episodes again and again and again. I even read the novel to see the difference.
However, I still can't rewatch the episodes that came after that flashback. I feel like the writing became less intriguin and the plot was all over the place. It was boring, cringy and cliche. I couldn't help but think that the rest of the story was made only for fan service - same with the novel.

I honestly wish that the series was only about WXX's past. Those 30 episodes of flashback was worthy enough for a 10 despite its flaws - maybe could even pass for a movie.
But nevertheless I really didn't expect to get hooked to the series.

The actors did a good job. I wouldn't say their acting is perfect but they really gave life to the characters. Xiao Zhan have moments where his acting was real good. Some moments it was just so-so and some moments it wasn't really good.
His acting at first as a funny WXX wasn't really that good. You can tell he was just really trying to act something he's not used to. When he's angry - you cannot see any anger in his eyes.
But during his siege or rebellion, his acting was at it's best. He was really good in showing WWX's hatred, frustrations, pain, regret and hopelessness.

WYB - was also good. I think his characer is also hard to portray cuz he doesn't have many lines and LZ doesn't show many emotions. If played by someone else, his character will definitely look boring and cringy to watch. Although I did get bored or lost interest on LZ later on, cuz WXX took all of my attention.

I also love that they gave more scenes for the Senior sister and the siblings relationship. So you can understand why WXX love them so much.
Some people hate Wen Qing's addition scenes but imo it worked a lot - it is hard to get attached to her in the novel cuz she only appear a few times so I couldn't really feel WWX's desvatation upon their death. But in the drama, they came more human to me, it let me get attached to her and her Wen sect. So seeing how kind they were, how normal they were compared to the evil Wens made it really painful seeing what happens to them.

I did enjoyed the 30 episodes of this drama, enough to get me hooked and watch it over and over again and glad that I gave it a try.