The 40-episode series is considered a xianxia series, mainly a love story crossing different reincarnations over thousands of years. The main couple is portrayed by Luo Yun Xi and Bai Lu, with their love stories crossing 3 lives:
- Cool & responsible immortal God of War Ming Ye and his saviour, the naïve but kind-hearted Clam Princess Sang Jiu
- The weak hostage prince of Jing Kingdom (of Yi Yue tribe) Tantai Jin, and the time-travelling Li Su Su residing in Ye Xi Wu’s body
- Tantai Jin post being rescued from the River of Souls is saved and meditate to be immortal Cang Jiu Min, and Li Su Su in her own immortal body upon returning from her time-travel
The key story focuses on Tantai Jin’s ill-fated journey as the selected foetus for the reincarnation of Devil God, who is expected to destroy the three realms of immortals, earthlings and demons. As Li Su Su time-travels to meet the younger Tantai Jin before he succumbs to the evil way, she finds a frequently-bullied prince who harbours no feelings other than avoiding others to evade bullying. Feeling sorry for him, she decides to attempt to change his fate by providing support to him. The two ends up falling in love with each other, with Tantai Jin totally smitten with the warmth of care while Ye Xi Wu/ Su Su empathises with Tantai Jin’s predicament.
As they journey through the earth realm, Tantai Jin is often betrayed and pushed to a corner to experience the darkness of disappointment. The Devil God uses such method to entice him to cross over to willingly be the next Devil God. As he experiences the growth of power, he is in a dilemma to choose between his own survival or the benefits of the citizens.
In one of the journeys, the main couple finds the remnants of the memories of an immortal dragon, which is the memories of immortal God of War Ming Ye. It is then revealed Ming Ye’s wife Princess Sang Jiu turns demonic when her family is killed by another jealous immortal who is in love with Ming Ye. In order to release Princess Sang Jiu, Ming Ye chooses to sacrifice himself by giving his immortal energy to cleanse Sang Jiu’s inner demon. Both Tantai Jin and Ye Xi Wu are revealed to be reincarnations of Ming Ye and Sang Jiu respectively, destined to go through karmic retributions in their future lives.
When Taitai Jin loses Ye Xi Wu to death, he goes berserk and looks for her in the River of Souls, then realising his love for her and her warmth that provides the light to his dark life. Upon meeting as immortals Cang Jiu Min and Li Su Su, both are a little more mature in managing their relationships amidst the suspicion of Cang Jiu Min’s demonic aura.
At the end, they still could not run away from the fate of being sacrifices for each other in their fight against the Devil God.
Muses Along The Series
From the first episode, I actually did not have a good feel about the series. The first episode is laden with fantasy-like shots which does not look good nor appealing to me. It does not help that the first impression I had of Devil God Tantai Jin is his “borrowed looks” in black with black hand glove from Love Between The Fairy & The Devil.
After Su Su’s time-travel, the series became slightly better. Ye Xi Wu-Tantai Jin’s story arc are full of suspicions & wariness but very well adapted to showcase their growing love. Their first encounters are quite hilarious & amusing, showcasing their wariness of each other. Over time, they grow in their own personality to see different perspectives and understanding each other’s actions. Subsequently the series reveals their growth & maturity in thoughts whereby they had a lot of pre-conceptions of each other initially.
The Ming Ye-Sang Jiu story arc is a lot more innocent, with the standard innocent, kind princess falling in love with the strong, self-sacrificing God of War. The innocence is slowly chipped with misunderstanding, and the annihilation of Sang Jiu’s family is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. The story arc is standard immortal story, a little boring but necessary to set the scene for the future reincarnations.
The last story arc of Cang Jiu Min and Li Su Su brings everything together, and concludes the story. It should have the oomph to wrap up the series but unfortunately it falls flat with a messy story. The open ending, with Su Su bringing her daughter to the River of Soul, followed by a disjointed scene with Cang Jiu Min holding the leave of immortality separately is so unnecessary. I would have thought the series would be better off without them reconciling, ever.
Hence, my own personal favourite of the 3 story-arc is actually of Tantai Jin and Ye Xi Wu as a real married couple on earth realm. Grounded and with good growth in storyline & characters.
I have a love-hate relationship with the pairing of Ye Bing Chang-Xiao Lin, whose characters are then resurrected & given a second chance in the pairing of Mo Nu-Gong Ye Ji Wu. Ye Bing Chang’s character is totally terrible – selfish to the max with no regards to the person who actually loves her. Xiao Lin’s character is actually naïve and probably an idiot when in love, torn between his duties to his kingdom and his own heart. Upon resurrections in Mo Nu and Gong Ye Ji Wu, at least Mo Nu turns over a new leaf to hold the torch for the equally torn Gong Ye Ji Wu.
Conclusion (5/10)
I don’t have any issues with the acting capability of the actors and actresses. I do like Luo Yun Xi and Bai Lu’s acting, but the series really fall flat – story is messy, terribly written characters, “borrowed” costumes (think the dark, black handgloves & even the growing tree representing the heart of Tantai Jin), disjointed link of the 3 story-arc, weaving of the side characters and the role they play in the main character’s reincarnations.
Stories & personalities of the side characters are not explored, which puts more pressure on the main couple to carry the series.
One word, badly done. Perhaps can be skipped, unless you are a super-fan of Luo Yun Xi or Bai Lu.
Cheng's Musings 