Unfortunately, this drama suffers from the same problems as most other Chinese dramas. A consistent problem with many Chinese dramas has always been that they would start out extremely well, but nearing the last 1/4 of the drama, bad planning and/or budget issues will result in a massive rush at the end with lots of plot holes and bad pacing. This drama starts out really well. The setup is actually very intriguing - royals who are also extremely skilled martial artists vying to rule the world. The two main leads are well-cast and have great chemistry. Up to around episode 35 or so, the pacing is reasonably good with nice plot twists and good resolution. The kungfu is typical of modern dramas - CGI with lots of bad guys flying without being touched. Sorry, but real kungfu is a lost art and none of these new actors have the discipline to properly learn the techniques (unlike the veterans like Jet Li or Michelle Yeoh).
Things really begin to fall apart in episodes 35-40. Suddenly, the previously all-knowing leads become stupid. The big bad - Yu Wuyuan - was known early in the series. The leads knew that he was plotting "something" early on (apparently the fact that everyone else wanted to rule the world was lost on them). Despite years of knowing this and having the supposedly impressive "Fountain Abode" intelligence network, they basically discovered nothing new about Yu and were outsmarted at every turn in the final few episodes. In the end, their successes were due to plot armor rather than anything else.
All in all, it is a reasonably good drama. You can enjoy the courtship and chemistry and palace intrigue for the first 35 episodes. But I kind of wish Chinese drama makers would end their series properly rather than having "the most outrageous ways and dramatic ways to end a story - plot lines and character arcs be damned" at the end. I can count on a single hand the number of Chinese dramas that ended in a logical, well-planned and well-executed manner (e.g., Nirvana in Fire).
Things really begin to fall apart in episodes 35-40. Suddenly, the previously all-knowing leads become stupid. The big bad - Yu Wuyuan - was known early in the series. The leads knew that he was plotting "something" early on (apparently the fact that everyone else wanted to rule the world was lost on them). Despite years of knowing this and having the supposedly impressive "Fountain Abode" intelligence network, they basically discovered nothing new about Yu and were outsmarted at every turn in the final few episodes. In the end, their successes were due to plot armor rather than anything else.
All in all, it is a reasonably good drama. You can enjoy the courtship and chemistry and palace intrigue for the first 35 episodes. But I kind of wish Chinese drama makers would end their series properly rather than having "the most outrageous ways and dramatic ways to end a story - plot lines and character arcs be damned" at the end. I can count on a single hand the number of Chinese dramas that ended in a logical, well-planned and well-executed manner (e.g., Nirvana in Fire).