Chinese fantasy drama, Love Game In Eastern Fantasy, is one of our favourite dramas of 2024 that we’ve watched. The plot of the female lead jumping into a novel where she takes on the villainess role where she attempts to survive the story is also one of our most favourite plots.
This drama stars Yu Shuxin and Ding Yuxi, both have starred in dramas we love as well, dramas such as Love Between Devil and Fairy (2022 Chinese drama starring Yu Shuxin and Wang Hedi) and The Romance of Tiger and Rose (2020 Chinese drama starring Ding Yuxi and Zhao Lusi). We also have been following Yu Shuxin on Chinese Restaurant Season 8 (loved her in this variety show). And so, here we are, following the two to Love Game in Eastern Fantasy as well.
In Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, Ling Miaomiao (played by Esther Yu Shuxin) suddenly gets transported into the novel from one of her favourite authors, Fu Zhou, after her critical review of it lands her into this fantasy, demon versus human world. She was disappointed by the flat characters, and the thin and ridiculous plot and seemingly was pulled in there because of this negative review to rewrite the plot and change the tragic fate of the novel’s characters and their relationships.
The novel’s female lead, demon catcher Mu Yao (Zhu Xudan) of the renowned Mu Family, was betrayed by everyone close to her. The novel’s male lead, Earthly-level demon catcher Liu Fuyi (Yang Shize) didn’t love her, and only approached her for the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map. Mu Yao’s adopted brother, Mu Sheng (Ding Yuxi), a Black level demon catcher, hides from her his demon form. It leads the two to battle each other at the end of the novel after Mu Sheng’s demon form is exposed. Lin Yu, whose body Ling Miaomiao jumps into, is supposed to be Mu Yao’s friend, but she is more a frienemy who’s after Liu Fuyi’s heart than a real friend. In the novel, Lin Yu puts Mu Yao in harm’s way and poisons Mu Yao’s drink in the final parts of the story.
For Ling Miaomiao to return to her own world, she must pass two missions. The first one is to win and survive until the end by helping kill the powerful Demon Queen known as the Resentful Woman. The second is the hidden quest: Get Mu Sheng to reach 100% in his feelings for Lin Yu. That is, fall in love with her. (In the original novel, Mu Sheng and Lin Yu marry, but their relationship is an abusive and revengeful one.)
Getting Mu Sheng’s feelings for Miaomiao/Lin Yu to 100% is no easy mission when she’s forced to play the vicious love rival who lets demons into Mu Yao’s room to harm her; who burns the Mu Family heirloom, the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map which can reveal the movements of demons; and who feeds a tonic that doesn’t go well with Mu Yao. She’s not genuine in the eyes of Mu Sheng, but it’s only because the powers-that-be in this “game” she’s entered has made her do all this to keep the story moving along. If she refuses to go along with it, which she does try a number of times, she gets struck by lightning or asteroids from space before she is respawned to go through it all again.
At the point when she’s given the quest to make Mu Sheng fall for her, her favourability percentage sits at -200%. She does herself no favours when she mistakenly thought playing a competitive game of Chinese chess was a good idea. Somehow, she also thought punishing him with flicks to the forehead every time she won (which was every time) was a good way to spend some time together and develop those feelings of his for her.
But she makes progress soon enough during the lantern festival where Mu Yao, Mu Sheng, Liu Fuyi, and Miaomiao all go together in Episode 5. When Mu Sheng and Mu Yao were children, they had also gone to the lantern festival together. It was the only other time they went, and it was cut short when the young Mu Yao wandered off on her own looking to buy Mu Sheng a lantern. Mu Yao was fine, but Mu Sheng, he was punished for not taking better care of his sister. Mu Yao had made promise back then that she and Mu Sheng would go to the lantern festival another time and buy whatever he wanted as a way to make it up to him.
That promise was never kept, and continues to be a forgotten promise till present time, as Mu Yao gave all her attention to Miaomiao at the lantern festival, and results in a further drop to -250% favourability. Noticing Mu Sheng’s particularly bad mood, Miaomiao had Mu Yao recall her promise and persistently encouraged Mu Yao to spend the lantern festival together with Mu Sheng like she promised back then.
Adding to the above, Miaomiao further increased her favourability with wishing for something that resonated greatly with Mu Sheng: that is, may all kindhearted people in the world be safe, and for herself, for the person she loves, and for the one who loves her to live in peace their entire life. Peace and safety is something that Mu Sheng would hope for the most. Being a half demon and having kept this a secret from Mu Yao (someone he loves and cares about the most), with Mu Yao’s resentment towards demons and her vow to take revenge on the Resentful Woman, that wish for peace and safety are something that would keep Mu Yao by his side. Miaomiao’s favourability increases to 0% because of this wish. It’s not love, but she’s at least out of negative territory.
The most significant development in getting Mu Sheng’s feeling to 100%, though, is in Episode 7 when Mu Sheng exposes himself as a demon after a battle with the Water Demon King that had Mu Sheng too weak to escape a realm called the Reflection Domain, which he had cast. The Tier 5 demon is no match for Mu Sheng, but the battle was forced to continue in the Reflection Domain after the Water Demon King discovers he’s half-demon. Mu Yao had unexpectedly paid a visit during the battle, and was approaching. Mu Sheng didn’t want his sister to learn this secret, fearing it’d get exposed somehow.
Mu Sheng was hit and flung like a rag doll as he’s reduced to 10% of his power whilst in the Reflection Domain. The heavily reduced power is still enough to defeat Water Demon King in the end, but the restraint on his magical abilities prevented him from leaving it. His demon form can save him as once released, his power is massive. But this demon form is one he fears he might one day be unable to control. He also doesn’t like revealing his demon form, as any time his form appears, people became afraid and ran.
Miaomiao is the only person who didn’t have this reaction, though. She didn’t run when she saw this other form of his. When he offered her a way out of the Reflection Domain, she didn’t choose to leave. Instead, she wailed and pleaded multiple times that he tell her a way to save him so that they could leave together. She told him that she didn’t only care about Mu Yao. She cared about him, too, and that she didn’t care that he was a demon.
When Mu Sheng lets her know the way to save them both, that is, remove the hair ribbon from him hair (and release his demon form), Miaomiao did so with great determination, even though the act propelled her metres into the air and made her hand bleed. The ribbon suppresses the demon form as well as protect Mu Sheng’s demon form by not letting anyone get near the ribbon without getting hurt.
Holding tightly onto the ribbon, Miaomiao pulls it out. Mu Sheng’s black hair transforms to silver with flecks of fiery orange the strands. Plumes of black smoke surround him. His injuries heal, the blood no longer visible on him. Miaomiao’s expression is one showing relief that he’s alive save well, a weak smile across her lips before collapsing from the thrashing she took from removing the ribbon. She was not one bit afraid.
And so begins some really good developments for Miaomiao and Mu Sheng. Mu Sheng’s feelings for Miaomiao reaches 20% from just 8.5% after they return from the Reflection Domain. It’s quite a jump, but it’s still low, and it’s shown by Mu Sheng being momentarily captivated by Miaomiao; however, trust that his secret is safe with her is not there. He attempts to send her on her way home by casting a spell on her, but she is brought back in after the spell leads her on a worrying path which required Mu Sheng and the others to go after her.
It’s not only Mu Sheng who’s not there yet with his feelings for Miaomiao. Miaomiao, too, still only sees Mu Sheng as someone she must keep alive in order to have a chance to get back to her own world. It’s still more about completing the quest than having real affection for him at this point.
Miaomiao makes a bit more progress after she discovers that being angry at Mu Sheng, ignoring him, and accepting an amulet from Lin Yu’s original object of affection, Liu Fuyi. This made her favorability percentage rise to the mid-twenty-percent before it dropped a couple percent. She had overdid it when thanking Liu Fuyi for the amulet, annoying Mu Sheng.
A trip passing through Zhiling Town in Episode 10 and Episode 11 gives Miaomiao yet another significant jump in favorability. The two find themselves (along with Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi) separated inside thick fog in Mitu Valley, where everyone, but Mu Yao is put under the spell of the Water Demon Queen called the Inner Demon Curse.
The spell has anyone who enters the valley in a trance and facing their inner demons. Miaomiao’s fear is failing her mission and being told by the game system that she’ll be erased, never to return to her own world. Meanwhile, Mu Sheng’s fear is his demon form being exposed and hearing his sister express her disgust at seeing his demon form.
Both look to succumb to their fears and suffer the same watery death inside their individual, large floating spheres, just like the many villagers who ventured there before then. Fortunately, Miaomiao had Mu Sheng’s amulet by her side that Mu Sheng made for her, ridding Liu Fuyi’s one; and Mu Sheng had Miaomiao break him out of his trance, her voice cutting through the trance, telling him what he’s seeing is all fake and to wake up.
Favourability rises from 35% after this before rising to 50% when Miaomiao grabs Mu Sheng’s hand, intertwining her fingers with his, so that he would stay close to her while they continued through the valley. Mu Sheng froze a moment at the sudden act before he allowed it.
The battle between the Tier 7 Water Demon Queen and Mu Sheng sees the demon form of Mu Sheng appear again. At first, Mu Sheng lets the demon queen drain his pure yin blood from him overnight. With Miaomiao taken away to safety by Cuicui (Lu Yuhao), a young boy who’s a little bamboo shoot demon they came across a few episodes ago, Mu Sheng again doesn’t feel the need to transform and save himself. Again, it seems he’d rather die than reveal his demon form just to save himself. But when he sees Miaomiao hit (she had returned to try to distract the Water Demon Queen with small sparks from her recently cultivated power), he whips off his hair ribbon and easily takes down the Tier 7 demon in his demon form.
In terms of strength, this scene lets us get an idea of just how strong Mu Sheng is. He is at least a Tier 7 demon. As a demon catcher in his human form, at the demon catcher level of Black Superiority, he can take down a Tier 5 demon, but not a Tier 7 demon. The highest demon level is Tier 9 and the highest demon catcher level is Heavenly level. In Episode 7, Miaomiao had asked how Mu Sheng compares to Liu Fuyi, to which he unhappily reveals Liu Fuyi as being of Earthly level, which is stronger than Black Superiority.
Only one Heavenly Demon Catchers has ever existed, and that person is an ancestor of the Mu family, Mu Qingshi. Prophecies say that a second Heavenly Demon Catcher is to appear soon, which the Astronomical Bureau is trying to find to fight the Catastrophe of Heaven which will befall on them.
With the Water Demon Queen realising she’s no match for the demon form of Mu Sheng, she makes a run for it, disappearing before his eyes. Mu Sheng wanted to go after the Water Demon Queen, but Miaomiao holds him back around his waist, worried he’d be exposed. The act calms the demonic instincts in him, his desire to have the Water Demon dead subsiding.
Miaomiao comforts him further, knowing he didn’t like showing his demon form. She takes his hair ribbon (which only harms anyone who try take it off) and wraps it back around his hair, returning him to human form.
This scene is setup to contrast a very sad scene in the next arc where Miaomiao is put under a spell of a wooden bangle that leads her to suggest to Zhao Ruoshi (the son of Dowager Consort Zhao Qinru) that they get married in Episode 18. This arc comes just as Mu Sheng and Miaomiao start to develop romantic feelings for each other between Episode 15 and Episode 17.
Mu Sheng, realising his feelings for Miaomiao, he looks to confess to her with a room full of flowers lavishly set up in her room. She was on her way there to see this surprise when Zhao Ruoshi stops her and confesses his feelings first, beating Mu Sheng to it. Before being put under the spell of the wooden bangle, Miaomiao rejects him, telling him she already has someone she likes, but after the bangle is put on her wrist, she changes and suggests she and Zhao Ruoshi get married.
Unknown to Zhao Ruoshi, this change of heart was the result of the wooden bangle he gifted her. He hadn’t put it on her knowing it’d cast a love spell that would have her like him and want to marry him. He had accepted the rejection with grace. He had given the bangle despite the rejection.
For a third time, Mu Sheng’s demon form unleashes after he kidnaps Zhao Ruoshi off into the woods somewhere to have him explain what he did to get Miaomiao to like him. The confrontation sees Zhao Ruoshi held by the throat and being curious by the hair ribbon Mu Sheng wears. He recalled seeing it glow when he saw a young Mu Sheng in the distance at his home in the past. Curious, Zhao Ruoshi reaches for it. Getting a bit of a grip, and with help of Mu Sheng reflexively backing away, the ribbon unties.
Fortunately, Zhao Ruoshi is drunk from drinking during dinner moments before. Zhao Ruoshi only catches a glimpse of Mu Sheng’s demon form before passing out whilst being cradled in Miaomiao’s arms who had come after him.
Miaomiao‘s reaction to Mu Sheng’s demon form was a complete opposite of all the other times. She showed fear. She tried to deny it when Mu Sheng asked about it. She denied it again more loudly when Mu Sheng called her a liar a couple times. However, with the second denial, it looked to be the real Miaomiao talking. Her hand tried to reach his, but she was taken hold by the bangle again and her attention returned to the unconscious Zhou Ruoshi.
Mu Sheng is left to tie his own ribbon, a couple tears hitting the ground as he accepted losing the first and only person who didn’t show fear or run away after seeing his demon form.
We dreaded this arc so much, thinking this was going to be draggy and heavy in the heart, but it went by quickly and turned out to be a good arc to add a bit of drama before Mu Sheng and Miaomiao return to each other. It was done quite well because Miaomiao wasn’t completely controlled by the bangle the while time. We got to see quite a bit of how much her thoughts and heart thought about Mu Sheng during this arc, too.
When Mu Sheng told her he’s never liked her out of frustration during a scene where she was picking out her wedding dress, Miaomiao reacted with hurt in her voice. When Zhao Ruoshi wanted to call her Miaomiao, she could only agree to him calling her Yu, as it was suggested that“Miaomiao” was reserved for people close to her. Mu Sheng was mentioned by Zhao Ruoshi as the person he heard her being called “Miaomiao”. Not letting Zhao Ruoshi use “Miaomiao” in this context suggested that the name was reserved for Mu Sheng and no one else. It was also Miaomiao who convinced Zhao Ruoshi not to pursue Mu Sheng for the kidnapping and to believe everything he saw was a nightmare. She was protecting Mu Sheng even whilst under control of the bangle.
The best moment, though, was when Zhao Ruoshi had her write a letter home to her father to inform him of their marriage. Miaomiao had been feeling something strange in the heart after Mu Sheng let her go following his belief Miaomiao’s heart was with Zhao Ruoshi. Thinking that maybe it was because the wedding was arranged too hastily, Zhao Ruoshi suggested to Miaomiao she write a letter home. Zhao Ruoshi suggested, “Father, Ruoshi is good to me. I’m so happy” when Miaomiao expresses she didn’t know what to write.
What she ends up writing, though, is “Father, I like Ziqi. I want to marry Ziqi.” (Ziqi is Mu Sheng’s courtesy name. She’s been calling him this name since Episode 9.) The bangle can control what she said, but clearly not what she writes! She seals this envelope and has Cuicui do her a favour of sending it at the post station along with another favour of returning the bamboo dragonfly she promised Mu Sheng she’d fix. (It was a toy he personally made to try cheer her up in Episode 13 after his sister’s suggestion he go to her to do that.)
Cuicui does that, catching up to Mu Sheng just before the gates on the edge of the city. He was set to leave Capital City, seeing to a task from Mu Yao to retrieve a book of skills and spells from her aunt under the excuse of being worried she might have missed studying something. (The truth was Mu Yao was sending him away so she could see to her mission of revenge relating to killing the Resentful Woman on her own and not involve him or anyone else.) It’s here Mu Sheng reads Miaomiao’s letter to her father. Although the letter was addressed to Miaomiao’s father, Cuicui’s uncertainty in whether it was something Mu Sheng should read had him open it, resulting in Mu Sheng discovering Miaomiao’s love confession. Immediately, Mu Sheng runs back to the inn where he sees Miaomiao in her room (the one which he lavishly decorated with flowers and a love seat), crying, thinking Mu Sheng was long gone.
We love this! This makes our hearts so nice and full. Not only does Miaomiao like Mu Sheng, she wants to marry him, human form, demon form, and all, and it was written whilst under a love spell not in his favour. What we also love about this arc is how Miaomiao was released from the spell of the bangle by Zhao Ruoshi himself. He had told her that he would never pressure her into liking or doing anything while they decided on her dress for the wedding. It seems these words weren’t only true for deciding on Miaomiao’s wedding dress, but true in general, even if it meant losing his love. Zhao Ruoshi’s a good man and a man of his word.
Miaomiao out of the love spell and back together with Mu Sheng and the others, it’s back to the main story: Mu Yao’s revenge of Resentful Woman over the death of her entire family and the Catastrophe of Heaven that is to befall their world in three months’ time, the final part of the drama. With the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map burnt to just a small piece, the whereabouts of the Resentful Woman is unknown. It was thought to be in Xingshan Hall in Capital City where Mu Yao thought she heard the great demon’s voice, but when Mu Yao and the others went there to deal with the matter, it turned out to be just a Tier 4 Incubus Demon that was sealed in there by Mu Yao’s father 15 years ago.
Capturing this demon should have been easy considering it was just a Tier 4 demon. A Tier 4 demon is well within the strength of Mu Yao, Mu Sheng, and Liu Fuyi. However, with the demon’s core weaved into the Life Suction Formation and the resentment of 400 innocent lives that were sacrificed for the belief that Dowager Consort Zhao’s son would become Crown Prince in the future, the demon catchers almost failed to save the destruction of half of Capital City.
However, thanks to Miaomiao’s plead to System for help (System is a panda figure which represent the game), she acquired an inner core and the power, Apocal Power, to help strengthen her fellow demon catchers as well as the power of the assisting Astronomical Bureau cultivators. Miaomiao’s added power shattered the formation and neutralised the explosion, saving a situation that could have been the end of them.
This newly acquired power doesn’t come without consequences. It’s not revealed what that is when she’s asks and accepts the power, but later throughout the remaining episodes, Miaomiao forgets her mission. She is shown not to recognise her own notebook noting down the locations of the novel which she must travel to keep to the original developments of the story nor does she recognise the dust demons which showed her progression with getting Mu Sheng’s feelings to 100%.
The acquisition of this Apocal Power sees the drama reveal who exactly is to become the second Heavenly Demon Catcher. The frontal mark on Miaomiao’s forehead plus the fact that she resembles the first and only Heavenly Demon Catcher thus far, Mu Qingshi, Miaomiao is thought to be the Heavenly Demon Catcher that was to appear soon. However, when she is encouraged to pull out the weapon firmly embedded in stone, a weapon known as Crescent, she fails.
Liu Fuyi is invited to try pulling Crescent out next as well as Mu Yao, but they decline, telling them they’ve already tried some time ago. Noone ever thought to invite Mu Sheng, though. They clearly didn’t expect is that Mu Sheng could ever be the Heavenly Demon Catcher. For one, he’s not Liu Fuyi who has been regarded highly talented and the most likely candidate. He’s not Mu Yao who’s from the famous Mu Family with a great history of demon catchers, whose ancestor is the first Heaven Demon Catcher. It couldn’t possibly be the adopted brother of Mu Yao.
But it is. Gripping onto the weapon, it stays in place. However, a bit more tugging, Crescent comes out, sending Mu Sheng flying before he grounds himself with the weapon in his grip. The sight sees everyone get on their knees to recognise Mu Sheng as the Supreme Leader of Demon Catcher, the Guardian Master, and the expectation of becoming the second Heavenly Demon Catcher who will save the world from the impending destruction of the world they live in, the Catastrophe of Heaven.
Mu Sheng has no interest in accepting these titled nor take on the burden of saving the world from the Catastrophe of Heaven. In fact, right after he takes out Crescent, he thrusts it right back in place before using a talisman to make himself invisible and hiding from the head of Astronomical Bureau, Guo Xiu, who keeps looking for him regarding the matter. However, with Mu Yao suggesting Mu Sheng take the Crescent with him, he carries the weapon to their next heading, Liaoran Valley, to find out about this Catastrophe of Heavens as well as answers to why Mu Yao’s father, Mu Huaijiang, left a Tier 4 demon alive when he could have killed it 15 years ago, and why her father left their family jade token to Dowager Consort Zhao.
The trip to Liaoran Valley also sees Mu Sheng’s secret finally revealed to Mu Yao and only her because of the Four Bamboo Masters, only Mu Yao was still left to discover his secret. Unknown to Mu Sheng and Miaomiao, Liu Fuyi had known ever since the battle with the Water Demon Queen in Episode 12. Whilst Mu Sheng was taking down the Water Demon Queen in his demon form, Liu Fuyi was outside the mountain trying to prevent the mountain from collapsing. The item he used to reinforce the mountain (possibly the Empyrean Demon Trap) had captured Mu Sheng in images of his demon form. As Liu Fuyi understood that secrets can be harder to say to those closest to them, Liu Fuyi kept it a secret.
The reason why Liu Fuyi understands this feeling well is because in Episode 26 it revealed that Liu Fuyi also has his own secret. He’s not the perfect young master he was made out to appear. His parents was not of a prestigious or privileged background. He also didn’t come from such background. His parents were bandits robbing and looting others. These petty crimes of theirs got them beheaded, leaving Liu Fuyi on his own, stealing to feed himself as a small boy.
He was looking to follow the same path as his parents until a whole village took him in. The village of 12 households decided they’d each provide various necessities like food and clothing and shelter. Then meeting a little demon girl, a Phantom Demon he sympathised with, he ended up killing her out of revenge for the villagers this Phantom Demon completely assassinated. It was after running as far as could before falling into a mountain stream following this incident he was rescued and taken in by his Master, Mr Wenxin, whose actual name is Lu Huai’an.
To enter Liaoran Valley and see Liu Fuyi’s master, the must step into a circle where one’s nature and shadow is projected onto a stone wall. Liu Fuyi had tried to help Mu Sheng avoid exposing his secret to Mu Yao before he was ready to tell her by puting a talisman on Mu Sheng’s hand to hide his nature’s form. However, Liu Fuyi’s master wasn’t so easily fooled. His master had Mu Sheng sent back into the Mirror Formation (as it is known) to be screened again, revealing a shadow of a boy demon with his hair flowing upwards.
This shadow is not Mu Sheng’s actual nature, though. It was a small trick Liu Fuyi’s master played on Mu Sheng for daring to deceive him. After a bit of a tense situation where Mu Yao is told by Liu Fuyi’s master to uphold her family’s honour and kill Mu Sheng (a command Mu Yao refuses to listen to ands instead turn around to protect Mu Sheng), Mu Sheng’s true nature reveals itself: it’s actually a lotus flower.
Secret out, and apologies and promises made to not hide things from Mu Yao anymore, Liu Fuyi and Mu Yao set off to Liuru Village while Mu Sheng and Miaomiao head towards Qilin Mountain. To the first part of locating Resentful Woman—that is, to fix the burned Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map—Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi need to locate the silk of the Mysterious Cold Silkworm. While Mu Sheng must recover his lost childhood memories and learn about the truth about his parents before he can unify with the Crescent and take on the burden of saving the world from the Catastrophe of Heaven which he reluctantly accepted for the sake of his those he loves and cares about.
Mu Sheng had always thought he was hated and abandoned by his mother. However, though Liuniang, a Fei Demon with the ability to absorb others’ painful memories and have them come out through tears and stored in pearls, Mu Sheng discovers his mother, Mu Rong’er, loved him a whole lot.
One of his first memories was of his mother running away from him, leaving him standing by himself on the street. He believed he was abandoned in this memory, but what his mother was doing was saving him. He learns that just before she left to drive away the demon catchers, she had put a Worry-Free Curse on him so that he would forget his childhood memories. This had saved the demon catchers going after Mu Sheng as he was an insignificant catch when they caught Mu Rong’er, a Tier 9 demon, in their hands.
Other things Mu Sheng discovered was that his father, Zhao Qinghuan, actually loved him and his mother, too. In fact, Zhao Qinghuan loved his family of three so much, he didn’t want to return to Capital City. He wanted them to stay together in Qilin Mountain. However, Mu Rong’er sent him back. Demon catchers were coming by in search of the Qingyi Marquis, trying to find the entrance to the mountain they lived on, and she had seen all the possible outcomes which saw no future for the both of them. This belief his father abandoned his mother was the misunderstanding on Mu Sheng’s part is what led Mu Sheng to stab his father and the demon catchers on the hunt for him, leading to the capturing of his mother.
Learning all this and having recovered his lost childhood memories, Mu Sheng finally learns where he comes from, how he must live (be strong and not be closed to love as he had once rejected when he saw what happened with his mother), what he must do (protect those he loves and care about with all his power like his mother did for him, i.e., accomplish the task of saving the world from Catastrophe of Heaven), and is finally able to unify with Crescent, making this powerful weapon his.
Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi are also successful as they locate the Mysterious Cold Silkworm and get more than enough silk to fix the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map at the end of their task. The two demon catchers through quite a lot to end up with the silk. In this trip, Mu Yao faced the threat of a Tier 7 Phantom Demon advancing to an extremely powerful Tier 8 demon and Liu Fuyi being killed along with the demon.
This demon Mu Yao faced is the same Phantom Demon who had killed all of the villagers who took care of Liu Fuyi when he was a boy. The demon was supposedly killed out of revenge for the villagers didn’t die and now had Liu Fuyi under her control. She had taken his heart and was technically dead, only kept alive by the Phantom Demon’s demon core which the demon had divided amongst the other villages she had artificially alive.
Through the arrival and help of Guo Xiu’s Immobilisation skill and the ability to make great poisons of Shiniang (a Tier 6 Fox Demon who turned a leaf by helping Mu Yao instead of the Phantom Demon), the Phantom Demon is poisoned and the villagers immobilised. There was no way the Phantom Demon could advance her cultivation to the difficult and troublesome Tier 8 at this point.
Mu Yao’s only problem was Liu Fuyi. An attack commanded by the Phantom Demon had Mu Yao manage to overpower Liu Fuyi and hold down. She even managed to awaken him with tears that fell on his face. But in order to defeat the phantom demon, she needed to sever that lifeline between the demon and Liu Fuyi, which meant returning him to a corpse like the villagers.
Fortunately, Mu Yao never had to make that choice of killing or leaving Liu Fuyi alive because Liu Fuyi made it for her. He took his sword that was in her hands and sliced it through the green lifeline. He’d rather die than remain in the demon’s control, hurting someone he loved.
It looked like there was no saving Liu Fuyi, but there was, and it’s in the form of Shiniang’s demon core. She would put it into the cavity of his heart and together with the Mysterious Cold Silkworm’s silk, he can heal from his injuries and come back to life.
Shiniang’s decision to sacrifice her demon core and her own life is her way of atoning for her evil doings of the past. In order to save her human husband and treat his asthma, she made a deal with the Phantom Demon to help the demon’s cultivation by using dying people to feed the Mysterious Cold Silkworm the fresh blood it needs to spin enough silk to fully cocoon the Phantom Demons during the four stages of advancement needed to reach Tier 8. In exchange, the Phantom Demon would help Shiniang with extending the normally short lifespan of the silkworm, allowing Shiniang to carry on treating her human husband’s asthma.
Everyone alive and having achieved their missions, the four reunite back at Liaoran Valley to carry out their final mission of locating and killing Resentful Woman and prevent the Catastrophe of Heaven from happening. With the map fixed, it reveals the location of Resentful Woman to be wherever Mu Yao was. The reason is that the Resentful Woman is inside her.
Upon this revelation, the death of the entire Mu Family is also revealed to be under the hands of Mu Yao herself whilst being possessed by the Tier 9 demon. This incident came about after Mu Sheng was tricked by the Resentful Woman to kill her with a bowl of poison wine to remove the last shackle that kept her inside Mu Huaijiang’s Extermination Formation—that shackle being the body of Mu Rong’er.
It appears as though the demise of the Mu Family was caused by Mu Sheng and then later Mu Yao, but the real cause rests on Mu Huaijiang’s greed for fame and status of reaching Heavenly level. He had read in one of the Mu family books that possessing Mei’s Crystal Heart could help him do this (Mu Rong’er is also known as Goddess Mei). So, after Mu Rong’er was captured that night she left Mu Sheng to drive away demon catchers, Mu Huaijiang attempted to kill her to take out her heart before he got to the end of the book which said that the worse kind of demon would be created. Without her heart, Mei would become Resentful Woman. To kill her, it must be by the hands of someone she loved.
As it turns out, Mu Sheng had known the location of Resentful Woman all along. In Episode 30, he reveals that he actually wanted the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map (so he was probably happy that Miaomiao ended up burning it). He didn’t want anyone to look for Resentful Woman because he knew this from the beginning.
But with the map now fixed, Resentful Woman must be killed to prevent the Catastrophe of Heaven from happening. With Mu Yao discovering that Resentful Woman was inside her, she makes the decision to sacrifice herself by stepping into the Empyrean Demon Trap Tower. Lu Huai’an would connect his inner core with the great formation which covers the world. The great formation was made possible with additional help from a thousand-year-old Tier 8 Bamboo Demon (Cuicui’s grandpa) and his roots connecting all plants. He also had Liu Fuyi’s Empyrean Demon Trap Tower full of demons to act as fuel to kill the Resentful Woman.
This plan of his spanned many years, right back to when he learned of what Mu Huai’an had gone and done. Lu Huai’an believes he and Mu Huaijiang could have resolved this together back then had he responded to Mu Huaijiang’s letters asking help. But having severed their friendship over Mu Huaijiang’s greed and being disappointed he had used the Lu family’s Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea map (this map was revealed to be the Lu family heirloom and no originally the Mu family’s), he didn’t come to his aid. He forever regrets it, and since then has been preparing for this final battle.
At the end of this, Mu Yao, himself, and all the demons inside the tower would die along with the Resentful Woman. It’s a plan which Mu Sheng, Miaomiao, and Liu Fuyi is not happy to follow. They had promised they’d be in it together. And so, the three plus Cuicui makes the decision to all head into the tower despite warnings that they won’t make it out.
The Four Bamboo Masters begin their through the tower’s nine layers to go to the bottom-most layer, Layer 9, where Mu Yao is. It’s a tough, arduous journey down as the environment becomes harsher and more barren, with demons getting less friendly, and their fights becoming increasingly more difficult the further they descend.
Out of Mu Sheng, Liu Fuyi, and Miaomiao (Cuicui only makes it to Layer 1 as he’s told to stay there for fear he won’t be able to withstand the descent), Liu Fuyi suffers the greatest injury and ends up only making it to Layer 8 before he spits out blood and ultimately dies. As well as taking on the demons, he was the one forcing open each gate to the layers, which involved absorbing a powerful bounce back force that would otherwise send anyone who lacked the determination and power to take it.
It’s left to Mu Sheng and Miaomiao to take on the Resentful Woman. Mu Sheng attempts to restore the Rainbow Crystal Heart and put it back into his mother. He hoped that this, together with his demon core, it would destroy the Resentful Woman’s evil soul, and his mother will return as Mu Rong’er. However, the heart shatters (as it apparently is affected by the power in Layer 9).
It gives Resentful Woman confidence that she will never be defeated. As long as humans continue to kill demons and demons continue to hate humans for it, the resentment with which exists would give her infinitely power.
With Resentful Woman completing her takeover of Mu Yao’s body, she becomes the Queen of Demons. All the demons across the land are made to bow as they fall under her control. She even had Mu Sheng in and out of her control as he struggled a lot to not obey her command to kill Miaomiao. However, his heart won out and he was able to blast himself with his own force, breaking out of her control.
Mu Sheng’s refusal to accept her as queen has her go after Miaomiao. Like all the other times, he rushes to block the attack. As if Mu Sheng had predicted his next act would end his life, he thanks Miaomiao (for her love, for being the reason he’d save the world and die for?) before his inner core and demon cores merge to become Tier 9 Demon King and Heavenly Demon Catcher. His hair transforms from black to white before he makes his final attack with Crescent that would not only kill the Resentful Woman, but kill him, too.
As the lifeless Mu Sheng lies in Miaomiao’s arms, System informs that Mu Sheng’s favorability had reached 100%; and with Resentful Woman defeated, too, she had unlocked the pass back to her world. She had completed her mission and the hidden mission. She could go back now, but Miaomiao won’t and begins when, at that moment, she recovers her memory about who she was and where she was from.
Using her Apocal powers, she attempts bringing everyone back.
Her actions gets a warning from System about risking her memories completely and giving up the opportunity to return to her world for some virtual characters. Miaomiao rejects that Mu Sheng wasn’t real, that the world she was in currently wants real.
Miaomiao succeeds in reviving everyone with her Apocal Power. Liu Fuyi gets up from the snow and revives. Mu Sheng beams back into existence. Miaomiao is before Mu Sheng, but it’s not Miaomiao, it’s Lin Yu. Miaomiao is still alive, but she’s somewhere in the realm of space.
Unwilling to accept this Lin Yu, Mu Sheng transports into a place called Lanyin Illusion Space where everything began. As a Heavenly Demon Catcher, Mu Sheng has the supreme power of unlocking the place and go back in time. He meets Mu Qingshi and hands him a map of a vortex in space where he passes many faces of Miaomiao all around him. As he had promised Miaomiao back at Mitu Valley where they encountered the Water Demon Queen, no matter how far or how hard, he will go find her.
Find her, he did; and the battle with the Resentful Woman is refought. This time, Miaomiao and Mu Sheng succeed in restoring and returning Mu Sheng’s mother with her Crystal Heart. The Resentful Woman’s evil soul disappears and Mu Rong’er returns.
Mu Yao revives. The tower begins to collapse, but all make it out of there alive. The world’s demons come out of their trances and celebrate.
There was one death during all of this. Cuicui’s grandfather had passed way after he connected all his roots to the formation and took the hit when Lu Huai’an activated the formation that would destabilise the tower. Grandpa Bamboo wanted to give Lu Huai’an another chance to believe in Mu Sheng, Liu Fuyi, Miaomiao, and Cuicui to try and kill the Resentful Woman their way without what would have been the death of them all.
Resentful Woman dealt with, it was assumed that the Catastrophe of Heaven would be prevented, but it still happened. Catastrophe of Heaven wasn’t linked to the killing of Resentful Woman, but a representation of the Fu Zhou’s view of his existence in the world when he wrote the story.
Diagnosed with Moyamoya Disease since a teenager, he lives with the threat of intracranial hemorrhages which can be life-threatening without surgery. His view of the world is one that comes off as pessimistic and hopelessness. He believes his future was written since birth, destined to play a supporting role in the world, struggling in the corner. He doesn’t believe there is any point in trying to change and alter what he believes is a predetermined end.
Mu Sheng, who ends up coming face to face with Fu Zhou at the top of the staircase, becomes aware that he is Fu Zhou (or more accurately, Mu Sheng is based on Fu Zhou just like Mu Qingshi is based on Miaomiao). His encounter has him meet his younger self, the age of a little boy, and his teenage-aged self. He has them both come together. He tells the little boy (who doesn’t believe Mu Sheng they are the same people) that his future will be one where he is brave, powerful, and can face anything which he fears head on. To his teenage self, Mu Sheng tells him that although he may be a supporting character in their world, as long as he can love and be loved, they can be the protagonist in their own world.
With that, the two versions leaves it in Mu Sheng’s hands to help them see that kind of future. The white realm Mu Sheng had entered drops away, returning him to Miaomiao at the top of the staircase.
Mu Sheng prepares to save his world from the Catastrophe of Heaven both in the novel world and Fu Zhou’s world. As Fu Zhou makes the decision to head in for the high-risk surgery to treat his Moyamoya Disease, Mu Sheng prepares to say his last words to Miaomiao before he would save his on his own.
He tells her that his later works (presumably the ones that moved her to tears, which were warm and healing, and the ones that made her a fan) were written because he met her, and that every novel he wrote was written for her.
Catching Demons was Fu Zhou’s debut work when he was a teenager. It was written around a time Miaomiao captured his eye. The first time he noticed her was when she went to the aid of a fellow classmate who had been picked on by a group of bullies. Since then, as Fu Zhou had said, she was like the sun illuminating his world. However, this debut work came from a time just when he met her when he couldn’t do anything about his situation.
But as the adult Fu Zhou went in for his surgery, amongst the lingering fears, the want to end things, and amongst thoughts about why it had to be him with this condition, Fu Zhou began to wonder if there was a possibility of completely different world out there for him that he didn’t know about.
At that moment, he made three wishes: The first is that the story could be rewritten into a beautiful ending; the second is that the girl he liked could see his hidden true feelings; the third is to survive and tell her personally that his courage was borne because her.
And so, as System warns the Demon Catching World is about to collapse, he tells Miaomiao that he’s always liked her. He kisses Miaomiao’s forehead, then leaning backwards, he goes into free fall before soaring up towards the sky to save his world on his own this time round.
Miaomiao had already saved his world once before and had given him the courage in this Catching Demons World. Now, he wants to depend on himself to save it on his own, as he believes he should, as perhaps only he can. This Catastrophe of Heaven seems to represent his fight on the operating table. In order to achieve his third wish, he must come out of surgery.
Whether Mu Sheng mends the sky and prevents his Demon Catching World from collapse is not shown as the scene moves to the real world with Miaomiao waking up thinking she had a long dream. She wakes recalling being a demon catcher and falling in love, but she doesn’t recall the name or the face.
She goes through the day (or days) with apathy, going to work and getting shouted at by her boss at work, before she’s seen quietly watching the world on a balcony. A Fu Zhou’s Signing Conference held for the revised Catching Demons novel, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, sees her attend it. She’s heard saying that it wasn’t a book that she thought was all that great (not knowing it’s been rewritten and is received extremely well by reader for the beautiful and healing ending ever character both minor and major); however, she thought she’d support Fu Zhou’s work as a fan of 10 years.
Here, her attention is caught by a young boy and his grandpa selling ice cream. It’s Cuicui and Grandpa Bamboo, but not them. Miaomiao show no recognition of them. It suggests it’s unlikely she’ll recognise Fu Zhou had she come face to face with him, which it looks like she does.
“Miao, Miao,” a male voice calls off screen. We don’t see him in person, but with the cameras of photographers pointing at him referring to the famous author, it looks like Fu Zhou won his fight and prevented his Catastrophe of Heaven thanks to Miaomiao who he once again credits has having saved his world yet again:
“When do people love the other one hundred percent? It is not when I love you more than I love myself, but it’s when I truly like myself and believe in myself that I can love you wholeheartedly. This book is dedicated to a girl. She saved my world twice.”
The ending of Love Game in Eastern Fantasy is not a favourite of ours. We probably would have been fine with the drama ending at the point where Mu Sheng reached Tier 9 Demon King and Heavenly Catcher with Miaomiao forced to leave the game where there’s some kind of open ending, but the drama didn’t want to simply bring two people who don’t know each other in the real world in a game world. It wanted to get to a point where Mu Sheng/Fu Zhou fights for a different kind of future instead of resigning to what he thought was a predetermined existence/end for him until Miaomiao entered his life. It wanted to get through that last message which Fu Zhou mentioned in his novel’s dedication: like one self, believe oneself so that one can then love someone wholeheartedly, which no one but him can help him do. So, in the whole scheme of things, this was a suitable ending.
Overall, this drama has been fantastic. The most exciting section of the drama is between Episode 7 and Episode 14 where Mu Sheng is forced to reveal his demon form and Miaomiao starts capturing him. This section had some seriously good developments between Miaomiao and Mu Sheng. We wanted to fast-forward the episodes so much because we could totally see where it’s going and just couldn’t wait for the episode to get there, but held back from spoiling the episode by fast-forwarding. Part of the excitement is in wait to get there as they say!
The scenes relating to Mu Sheng potentially being the Heavenly Demon Catcher is also a favourite. That scene at Tianji Pavillion where no one thought he could be the next Heavenly Demon Catcher then he pulls that weapon right out, that was just so awesome. Not just that scene, but in a scene in Episode 7, just before Mu Sheng was forced to reveal his demon form to get out of Heaven-Earth Reversal Reflection Domain, the scene deliberately had Miaomiao pick Mu Yao or Liu Fuyi to be the next to fulfill the Heavenly Demon prophecy, too. Although, at this point in the drama, there wasn’t anything to suggest Mu Sheng could take that title, it was still satisfying to see that massive hidden demon power of Mu Sheng’s, which looks to be of Tier 9 level since this is from his Tier 9 mother.
And of course we loved the scenes in Episode 31 leading up to and when Mu Sheng transforms into a Tier 9 Demon and Heavenly Demon Catcher. How he thanks Miaomiao, how his demon and inner core merged, how his appearance transforms before striking the Queen of Demon with one hit and becoming the King of Demons, we love it. It was so epic. Then to add that sad scene where Miaomiao suddenly realises Mu Sheng’s hurt despite not appearing so until he falls into her, then die in her arms before Mu Sheng could get to wiping her tears way.
This drama can really bring out the emotions and make us so teary. There are a few times that the drama does this, but the biggest tearjerker scene, which we didn’t recap is one between Miaomiao and her father where she tries to change the fate of her father in the novel by telling him her wish is for him to always stay by her side instead of buying her nice things through corruption. The original character, Lin Yu, loved luxurious things, but not Miaomiao. She just want her father to live a long life. It’s something that Miaomiao’s father didn’t manage because of a car accident that killed him.
It’s an accident that Miaomiao likely blames herself for as it happened after her father was called in to the school following the bullying incident of her classmate, which she got involved in. In this Catching Demons world, not only did Miaomiao managed to save her father as well as all her maids from being killed for corruption, but she was able to tip him off with purchasing barren land which was a goldmine. Miaomiao and her father in the novel was looking to live a commoner’s life after her father used all his money to restock the city granary (changing the original outcome of her father being a corrupted official to a respectable official) and resigned from his position. Her father in the novel refused to work for the officials back at the palace, causing him to lose everything. Miaomiao having always wanted to have a god-like foresight in the real world had that ability in this world because of her knowledge of the novel’s plot, gifting her father in the novel the land where he could once again live a long, comfortable life without worries over money.
There is a section of the drama which we didn’t like too much. This is the part where Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi travel to Liuru Village where they encounter the Phantom Demon, and the part where Mu Sheng and Miaomiao travel towards Qilin Mountain to WufangTown to learn about his childhood memories. That Phantom Demon just does not go well with us. She’s a little kid who was like a cold-blooded killer with zero EQ. She actually killed Liu Fuyi so she could force him to be by her side.
On Mu Sheng’s side, he also was threatened with death. We didn’t cover it in the recap, but that Liuniang blamed Mu Rong’er’s death on Mu Sheng and she wanted his life so she could bring Mu Rong’er back to life. Miaomiao also suffered losing her memories of her love for Mu Sheng, too. Liuniang ended up not killing Mu Sheng after she gets her closure over Mu Rong’er death, and Miaomiao ends up recovering her memories of her love for Mu Sheng after demanding them back, but this part was a bit angsty.
Another negative is that we felt the development of romantic feelings between Mu Sheng and Miaomiao was a tad fast. It was good pacing up to the point of Episode 15. In Episode 15, we see both Miaomiao and Mu Sheng hallucinate a confession of their feelings for each other before they both kiss each other in their separate hallucinations. Even though this was the effect of the Supreme Sea Whale Blood Essence that Miaomiao accidentally knocked over, it had us wondering where these feelings came from all of a sudden, in particular Miaomiao’s romantic feelings for Mu Sheng.
We could maybe accept Mu Sheng’s hallucination since his feelings for Miaomiao was at 50% at Episode 10. We also saw him secretly buy a dreamcatcher Miaomiao wanted, which means he’s at a point where he is now thinking about her and wanting to make her happy. That Supreme Sea Whale Blood Essence definitely could bring up those kinds of feelings which might be deep in his heart.
But Miaomiao, it just felt odd that her feelings for Mu Sheng were at the same stage as Mu Sheng. At this point, the drama had Miaomiao switch to calling Mu Sheng “Ziqi”. She showed worry about leaving Mu Sheng to deal with the Water Demon Queen, but it’s hard to tell whether this was because of her quest to get Mu Sheng to like her. She also showed sympathy for Mu Sheng after realising that the world is tough for a demon following a visit to a boutique that sold products made out of demon blood, skin, fur, and whatever else. The level of concern didn’t feel any different to the concern she would have for Mu Yao or Liu Fuyi.
This change in pacing of the development of romantic feelings is not a huge negative because the arc where Miaomiao was put under a love spell by the wooden bangle reined it all back in quite well.
Alright! That’s it for our recap for Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. If you’re reading this recap, but haven’t watched Love Game in Eastern Fantasy yet, go watch it. Minus a few episodes between Episodes 25 and 29, it was an awesome drama. As much as we didn’t like these handful of episodes, they were needed to move the story along. Liuru Village was for collecting the silk from the Cold Silkworm needed to repair the Hundred Demons Mountain and Sea Map as well as discover Liu Fuyi’s past. Meanwhile, Wufang Town near Qilin Mountain was to learn about Mu Sheng’s past, have him recover his childhood memories, and embrace all of himself, both his human and demon side. Only then, when he can love himself, he can love others, and save both himself and the world. So, these episodes had to be told.
Even though we can’t say we’ll rewatch the drama in its entirety, we can say we’ll definitely rewatch many episodes. We’d say we could watch three-quarters of the drama all over again. There are more than enough epic scenes, cute scenes, scenes which make your heart break or swell, and scenes that have you crying to watch all over again.
The demon battles and the special effects are also awesome. We love watching Mu Sheng and the demons fight. We love the costumes. They’re not by any means elaborate, but we really like colours and those fluttering, streaming long ribbons on the costumes.
The original soundtracks for this drama are also very cool. They’re definitely loop-worthy. We’ve put all our favourites into a playlist above. The one called Send to the Bright Moon, which is an original music video, is of the cast singing and doing an upbeat simple fan dance. It makes us smile watching them all. The tracks 凝眸 (Staring Intently), 无瑕 (Flawless), 重塑 (Reshape) are such epic, emotion invoking songs. We especially love these tracks.
If you’ve never come across Ding Yuxi before, we think by the end of this drama there’s a very high chance you’ll become a fan of Ding Yuxi (like us!). He is really captivating in this one. We really like him in The Romance of Tiger and Rose, which was also popular with drama viewers, but the impression he made on us in that drama wasn’t quite as much as this one. This half-demon Mu Sheng character of his really pulled us in. We are quite amazed at how much control he has over his gazes and expressions.
A notable scene is one where Mu Sheng’s being controlled by the Resentful Woman during the final battle, Ding Yuxi uses maybe half a dozen expressions to portray the inner struggle between his human side and demonic side. The back and forth internal duel between the two sides was portrayed so well. The display of being relieved mixed with maybe exhaustion when the human side won for a moment was quite a unique addition. When Resentful Woman took full control momentarily, he really looked and felt truly possessed and demonic.
We also hope those of you who aren’t already checking out Yu Shuxin’s projects that you check them out. Ever since we watched her in Love Between Fairy and Devil and Chinese Restaurant Season 8, we’ve been watching out for her projects (that’s available to us access-wise). She’s got this natural cuteness, talkativeness, and confidence that we feel can bring any group of strangers together and dispel that initial awkwardness. She’s pretty cool on the variety shows we’ve seen her on. She sings a number of OSTs for both Love Game in Eastern Fantasy and Love Between Fairy and Devil (and probably for other dramas of hers, too), which we’ve enjoyed listening to. She’s got this mature, creamy voice when singing which is different to the way she speaks. We’re like, “Is this Yu Shuxin??” It is. It’s her. She’s quite interesting.
We actually love the entire Love Game in Eastern Fantasy cast. We’ve seen them in a number of behind the scenes and they all seem to get along so well together. They feel so close-knit and a fun group.
Those who’ve watched the drama, we’d love to hear what you thought of Love Game in Eastern Fantasy. Did you like it/not like it? What were your favourite parts? Were there any parts you didn’t like? What made you decide to watch Love Game in Eastern Fantasy?
