This is my review of part 1 and 2 in its entirety, not the individual parts.

While I enjoyed the beginning and the show kept me hooked til the end, I do think it missed on a few points.

First, the things I liked: I loved that Yun He was smart and powerful. Many of these shows make the female lead a person that gets herself into trouble but needs help getting out of it, normally by the male lead. Her intelligence, wisdom, and strength made her a fascinating and interesting character.

I also really liked Chang Yi. I felt that his character was very realistically portrayed and he, too, was a powerful, intelligent being. It's rare to find a show that is willing to make the male lead naive and sweet, and it was nice to watch.

Many reviews state the lack of chemistry between the main leads, but I would disagree. I actually felt it to be pretty solid. Not mind-blowing, but good.

As for Hao Qing, it was interesting to see him basically similar to his father (minus the manipulation) towards the end. He was also in a wheelchair, and his attendant was also in love with him. Not sure if I liked his somewhat bittersweet ending, but it wasn't too bad.

The world-building was well done, and while the CGI wasn't always great, I've seen worse!

Our main leads' ending was left open ended, but I felt satisfied.

Now onto the things I didn't like as much.

I honestly disliked how this show treated Shunde. I'm not saying what Shunde was good, in fact I very much hated her, but compared to the other bad guys she felt more two-dimensional. While the other big bad guys got redemption arcs (Lin Cang Lan not being truly evil, he just so happened to be forced into the situation; Ning Qing ultimately sacrificing himself to atone for his sins), she did not. And yes, while we did get some other powerful, good women in this show, the fact that the only evil woman was treated differently than the two other (significant) male antagonists was a bit questionable.

I also really disliked Luo Luo. A lot. I am not a fan of the ditzy, silly best friend who means well but because she can't read the room ends up causing the main leads more trouble. Shows always want to portray this type of character as cute but I just find it immensely annoying. Not to mention the really frustrating "pretty-fication". At the start, she was supposed to be not very attractive (she has freckles and slightly darker skin; apparently this is considered unattractive) but then she finds love and magically loses her freckles and gets lighter skin. Not only am I so tired of the casual racism this trope implies, but also the message that you can't be average-looking to find love.

Overall, a fun watch, but I did occasionally have to use the fast forward button to get past drawn-out parts (or parts featuring Luo Luo).