I felt that they really swept the Shi brothers and He Xuan arc/incident under the rug somewhat -- Like I mean I'm glad we at least knew what happened to Shi Qingxuan (SQX) in the end but really though it was like near the end of the novel but like I'm wondering how he simply gets over his brother's death and He Xuan rather abruptly when he wakes and finds himself in the Imperial city?? Is it just me?

Another instance where this I feel like character development wise felt dropped was Feng Xin -- Like he keeps wanting to take care of Jian Lian and Cuo Cuo and keeps begging for them to stay but after they run off by the end he just accepts it and doesn't do anything to try and find them and stuff!?! I was really flabberghasted by this...

I understand that MXTX's stories are extremely lengthy but by the end if TGCF during the Jun Wu reveal it kinda really got draggy and it was kinda hard to push pass it especially the part where the gods were just being locked down at home (Funny how it kinda is irl too but anyways) and nothing is really like creating any tension since when it does escalate its to the side characters and not really to the leads (XL does get somewhat affected but he just gets over it so it feels kinda like "???" What does it even do apart from just not needing to wrote the character's name down anymore??) : Although I did like that at the end when HC dissipates.

First of all, Hua Chang never really lies or deceives Xie Lian (well he does once but I didn’t mind considering the circumstances and it’s bunch later in the book) and stalking would imply watching from the shadows which Hua Chang never does he usually approaches Xie Lian confidently. Also! Xie Lian did tell him something like ‘if you have nothing to live then live for me’ so I don’t think Hua Chang started following him for no reason and I think Xie Lian doesn’t mid at all. Also later it’s revealed that his stong emotional tie to Xie Lian is the only reason he’s been able to survive as long as he did since he’s a ghost- so he kinda needs that super strong emotion tie to Xie Lian

rip lord wind master (not actually dead btw). The way his character was dealt with reminded me a lot of Jiang Chang)

The ending of Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan was just s*upidly depressing. MXTX herself shows that He Xuan still cares for Shi Qingxuan, so why is their story left off with 'they never talk again and Shi Qingxuan dies unhappily'? It is such an absolute waste of their characters and by far the best arc of any MXTX novel. There is no way I can be convinced that, for the entire time Shi Qingxuan lives, He Xuan never once approaches him and neither of them try and find closure. The Shi Qingxuan-He Xuan-Shi Wudu storyline serves some of the most realistic reactions from the characters that I've read in a novel (they get angry, upset, cry, scream at the times one would expect them to) until... the very end. For an arc entirely about parallels, it really left a bad taste in my mouth that the moral of the story was essentially that nothing never changes. This is the primary thing stopping me from rereading this novel because the way this ending is handled pisses me off so much.