After coming off of The Untamed and Ashes of Love, my standards are VERY HIGH for what I expect from a fantasy/wuxia series. So far, with only 7 episodes in, I've been pleasantly surprised. My attention has been 110% on Li Ying, the Ghost Tribes 2nd prince, and not even remotely on Mo Yuan, so I'm struggling a little bit there since I know the series focus is going to eventually shift toward Mo Yuan (or his reincarnation) and Beng Jiu and less on the tragic story of Li Ying.

I've been rooting for him. He came into the story as a begrudging friend to Beng Jiu and cast aside any care for himself in order to be with her. He even stayed hidden in a cave for an undetermined amount of time in enemy territory in order to be with her even though she barely gave him the time of day. He eventually reached a point of total emotional despondency when he fully believed he had no chance to be with her, and he caved in to his loneliness with Xuan Nu after her long insistent, and touchy come-ons. I don't honestly fault him in that way. He didn't think he had a chance with Beng Jiu then she walks in and is upset and betrayed? As a viewer, I could see she was beginning to be swayed by his charms and insistent public displays of affection (which were very sweet and childish) but she never once confirmed her feelings for him or reciprocated in any way other than to show annoyance and impatience for his sweet gestures. When he returns to the Winged Realm, it's obvious he lacked total regard for his well-being and sought comfort in death. It was Xuan Nu, in her ruthless ambition and obsession with Li Ying, that saved him. He did not offer information to hurt the Heavenly Realm, nor did he support Xuan Nu in her betrayal. In fact, it seemed like he craved death and was more despondent than ever after that. All he wanted was to reconcile with Beng Jiu.

Anyway- I'm very obviously pining after the 2nd prince right now. I just feel like he's a beautiful, tragic, sympathetic, and grey character that I find very charismatic.

Episode 19 Thought Update:
Although the CGI is OK at BEST, I'm constantly mesmerized by how gorgeous and well-designed the costumes are. They're absolutely stunning. I remember watching Ashes of Love and being so underwhelmed by how cheaply made everything looked, despite the grandiose scale of the sets/costumes. Even when watching The Untamed; although the costumes were gorgeous, the sets weren't convincing and the CGI was terrible. Even the wigs sometimes looked too fake (the zombie puppets). Still, the stories in each series were always the main attraction and so beautifully woven together, that I was able to overlook those issues. In Eternal Love, the CGI is bad, but the set design is a lot nicer (usually), the costumes are GORGEOUS, and even the makeup isn't bad on the creatures (mercreatures and the winged realm). Also, Ye Hua's wig is probably the most natural wig I've ever seen. It's gorgeous, smooth, and the hairline and baby hair placement is so nearly perfect, I kept questioning if it was extensions to his real hair or if it was a wig (until i'd sometimes catch a glimpse of the wig hairline).