i got kind of frustrated when he was playing the role of fool because he was doing it terribly esp when he already knew the ml, xie huai knew it was him. like the acts up... why keep at it. the misunderstanding is also a little bit frustrating mostly due to how the author writes... there’s a lot of soliloquy and stream of consciousness and not enough dialogue. like if the ml, actually spoke the tumultuous emotions he was feeling instead of trapping himself and having 5 paragraphs of a monologue with only us, the readers, a lot of matters could have been cleared up by chapter 50 lol.

the full reciprocation of feelings only happens at like chapter 69 which is like 90% into the novel so you’ll have to bear with the MC being a little bit insufferable convinced he’s 100% straight and the ML going thru like a minor existential life crisis everytime the MC behaves tender to another person that’s not him.

I loveeeeee him so much. He came to this world bc he commited su*cide. This is precisely why I like him. He doesn't care about himself, kindest to others but cruelest to himself. I just wanna wrap him in a blanket and give him a head pat. He was ssoooooooo traumatised I love it. He's also a bad actor (according to Xie Huai bc Xie Huai can see through anything he did). The dense protagonist tag is true he is dense, he only know that he like Xie Huai and that he's bent after Xie Huai helped him with *cough cough*

I like his character arc. In the og plot, he is righteous and eradicated the demonic cultivators. But here, as he was imprisoned by Fang Li, he sees through the layers of Fang Li, and why he do the things he did, and it made him question his own belief. Also after killing Fang Li he was so heartbroken I was so sad for him 😭. I like him bc when Fang Li acts, he complied just to see whatever the hell this guy's up to and it's funny. I really like that part where he said "why can't you be kind to yourself? Why do you want death so badly?" And I was crying like me too bro whyyyy.

he refuses to do any X rated scenes and fakes everything for appearances, but the ML catches onto his bad acting, taking it as a sign the demon lord is secretly just a good guy. The ML gets teased & blueballed so hard by the MCs shenanigans, he ends up actually falling for the MC. ML gets frustrated MC didnt actually do anything, and thinks its bc he is a replacement for the MCs white moonlight.

the plot felt wrapped up with the major villians defeated & in hiding, revenge taken, the demon lord "dead".. All that was left was to have the 2 leads talk to eachother and conclude their relationship drama. Instead it introduced and even bigger big bad and made the misunderstandings way more complicated. Now the MCs new identity has been linked to the demon lord again, hes just falling back into his old role, and hes back exactly where he was 20 chapters ago.. Except weaker bc hes in a new body w none of his treasures. It doesnt feel like progress. If the universe wants you to be THIS starcrossed w your lover, just break up. The two of them don't even talk to eachother. There is nothing at the ch68 point just more bad guys & more drama

the MC isn't the real person who is the junior brother of the villain so he doesn't feel the pain of betrayal even though he has the original body's memories. Which I thought was done cheaply because there were more emotions involving MC avenging the original owner and the senior brother aka the villain.

The entire plot related to the old Great Sage who was reborn as Shixiong actually does not make any sense. Author wrote that Shixiong went into a coma after touching the jade pieces, then awoke, then recovered his memories of the Great Sage, then ran away when their sect got attacked, then saved original demon lord/Yan Sui's life and faked his death blah blah blah, THEN came back and tried to steal the black jade piece from the MC...

whut.

If Shixiong woke up as the Great Sage, why didn't he just ASK FOR THE FREAKING jade piece?

Their master LITERALLY gave the jade pieces to Shixiong & YS. Plus it was stated by the author that Shixiong was also a rare genius cultivator. He woke up AFTER regaining his memories through the coma, BEFORE the sect was attacked. WHY DIDn't Shixiong just use the combo jade pieces to protect the sect and kill all the attackers???

Okay, let's say Shixiong was a fcking traitor and wanted everyone in the sect to die... then... WHY did he SAVE YS? Author literally wrote in flashback from Grand Sage's POV that he allowed that 1% of Shixiong's memories that was left to influence him to protect Yan Sui...

THEN when Shixiong showed up to protect YS, WHY didn't he just ask for the black jade piece from YS? YS would have given it to him, no questions asked, and he could have killed their attackers easily with it???

And then there was literally like, hundreds of years where the Grand Sage just hung around and sipped tea while KNOWING that the black jade piece was in YS hands... he didn't try to take it from the kid at all?

And then SUDDENLY FOR NO REASON, he unveils himself and tries to pressure MC for the final jade piece...

Despite being legit friends with MC and ML at that point?

He could have literally just asked for it like "Hey, surprise, your Shixiong is alive and also reincarnation of the Great Sage, which btw, whose tomb you looted and stole the jade pieces from, and now since you're not using it anymore, how about you give it back to me?" Bruh.

Dude legit skipped any attempt to just ask for it, and instead, started killing people at the conference, then tried to trap MC in an illusion dream, then exposed MC's background as old!demonlord and started another war, THEN he goes to MC's demon palace and THEN "tries to ask for it"? hello is the author crazy?

In what world did that make any fcking sense?

It's just absolutely absurd plot whose only purpose was to create a villain from Yan Sui's rose-tinted memories of Shixiong.

100% the author did not plan out the story and just threw a random supporting character (ML's friend) into the fire to reincarnate as the Great Sage. Plus I can guarantee readers were shipping MC/OG!YanSui with Shixiong and the author was struggling to figure out a way to smear campaign Shixiong so that MC/ML ship would be "better." As they say, the living cannot compete with memories of the dead.

Just bad writing, zero logic and reasoning skills, and completely contrived character assassination.

There are literally entire chapters where the MC just waffles back and forth with his in-denial "I'm not homosexual" "I like him/I like him not" where legit, nothing happens, and it's just a reprisal inner monologue... a complete waste of word count.

Literally MC will grasp the 1% chance that ML doesn't know who he is in-denial until the very end despite every single sign pointing to the OBVIOUS that his identity was exposed long ago.

the MC dies at the hand of the ML

Luo Binghe didn't recognize Shen Yuan even after looking at him. He never had a "oh I only glanced at this dude once but I know it's him deep in my balls" moment. It took time for it to click, and as a reader, it was enjoyable to seeLBH's real self, how he acted when he thought SY wasn't around, and how he treated those who aren't him. It made the man feel human, and it was also quite pitiful to see how much he's been through. It's the same in MDZS. Lan Wangji, the ML, didn't recognize Wei Wuxian at first glance. It may be underwhelming, but it is wayy more believable for him to recognize his long-gone soulmate because of a tune only he knew than because he "just had an inkling". I get it, in this novel the author wanted it to feel like MC and ML were truly made for each others so the ML would immediately know who the MC is, but to be frank it just comes off as lazy writing and really forced. Because the MC and ML had zero chemistry at this point. Not only did they barely interact, but every single thing the MC said to him was literally scriped. The MC did not feel any romantic interest towards the ML and didn't see as anything else but a character in a story

the whole shixiong/sage bs... what the hell was even the point of that??? Just a brainless "plot twist" created to shock the readers but really, think about it for more than a few seconds and you realize the twist is nonsensical. It was obviously a way to villainize the perfect shixiong because he was in the ML's way and was more loved by the MC

What happens with the events involving the ML later, which might have been disliked by many, were actually hinted at earlier and gradually developed. Personally, I had no issue with this kind of character progression.

I found the ML's change in character to be realistic, and his actions towards the MC were not overly malicious. While consent may have been questionable (as some pointed out in past reviews), it's worth noting that the MC also engaged in dubious behavior for the sake of the plot initially. Thus, the idea of the ML "repaying" that later on made sense to me, and I couldn't see either of them as victims of each other.

given more attention to other characters as well. We 100% needed and deserved a second pairing of MC's right hand companion, aka our lovely 2ML, who unfortunately faded into the background in the latter part of the story. Towards the end, this character's sole purpose is to express resentment and envy towards the ML with cold looks and whatnot, which was sad to witness, considering that they were a delightful presence in the beginning.

randomly shows up in second half.

• The main characters are both intelligent, though it might not seem that way, since one lacks self-awareness and the other's vivid imagination is mostly used for comedic relief and not to draw up accurate conclusions.
• The dynamic between them is quite lovely to read for most part.
• MC is endearing and an idiot when it comes to feelings and ML's amusing thoughts and guesses.
• Despite the lack of open communication and the MC's insistence on his "straightness" (despite having no problem being kissed by ML and whatnot) , it doesn't detract too much from the overall story.

As for my final point, I'll mention that I might have a higher tolerance for such nonsense (misunderstandings, miscommunication, etc.), but I personally didn't mind it too much in this story. However, it may bother some readers, so I advise being cautious.

There is a nonconsensual kiss in the first part of the novel, whilst the MC is still the demon lord, some nonconsensual kisses here and there in the second part, and there is nonconsensual s*xual scenes in the chapters 60-70 ish. Why did I read the story afterwards?