The story does take a while to coalesce. One of the issues is that the actor, Yang Yang, looks ill and is underweight in the first ten episodes. After the first ten though our reluctant hero begins to accept his fate and rise to it. (Yang Yang also appears to regain a few pounds and his color is restored.) From episode twelve on it is an epic, thrilling and romantic telling of a young man who walks the path of his destiny. He is accompanied and aided by strong female and male companions. The trivia says this is based on Xianxia, a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Chinese Mythology. As an American, I would guess that our great teacher of myth, the late Joseph Campbell, would have liked this production.
Review of Martial Universe
