“Love Between Fairy and Devil” is based on a novel written by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. I’ve both read the novel and watched the drama, and to me, the drama’s storyline is more intriguing than the book. The female lead in the novel felt a little annoying to me, which made it harder to connect with her character. The drama, however, brings the story to life with more emotional depth and better character development.
Genres:
Romance, Fantasy, Costume and Period
Summary:
Dongfang Qingcang, the Demon Lord known as the Moon Supreme, once led a powerful assault on the realm of the gods with his demon army. In response, the Goddess of War, Chidi Nüzi, sacrificed her life to seal him away.
Though she didn’t completely defeat him, she succeeded in imprisoning Dongfang Qingcang in a nearly inescapable prison, and his battalion was frozen by the power of her sacrifice. In doing so, her primordial spirit was destroyed, which made sense I mean, she unleashed her full power!
The story then fast-forwards to our female lead, an orchid fae who is also the disciple of Si Ming a woman who was originally in charge of mortals’ fates, but has mysteriously gone missing. The orchid fae, now temporarily responsible for the Fate Tree, is far less powerful and is bullied by almost everyone (a typical C-drama heroine trope). She’s secretly in love with Lord Changheng, played by Zhang Linghe and honestly, who wouldn’t be? Those brooding eyes? Ahem……..mnyway!
Lord Changheng, the current God of War, is also secretly in love with the orchid fae. However, he’s betrothed to another goddess who spoiler alert turns out to be Orchid herself. It wasn’t a huge twist, but the double identity trope is always popular in C-dramas.
To reinforce the weakening seal of Dongfang Qingcang’s prison, Orchid accidentally falls into it and ends up swapping bodies with him! Their interactions in this arc are absolutely hilarious. It was such a treat to watch Esther Yu act tough and cold like Dongfang Qingcang, while Dylan Wang mimicked Orchid’s cute, whiny voice and mannerisms. Their expressions and delivery were spot on comedic gold!
Orchid unknowingly casts the One Heart Curse on Dongfang Qingcang, which links their experiences they now share injuries, emotions, and even death. This curse frustrates Dongfang Qingcang because it means that any danger Orchid faces, he faces too. To find a way to lift the curse, he decides to stay close to her.
While protecting her and searching for a cure, he slowly starts to soften toward her. He even tries to awaken her powers and nourish her immortal root, which had been damaged when she was younger her master had accidentally spoiled it with alcohol, making cultivation difficult for her.
During their time together, Dongfang Qingcang sees a vision in the Tree of Fate showing Orchid’s future marriage to Changheng. This scene sparks jealousy in him, though he doesn’t realize why. When he questions Orchid about it, she tells him that the vision will come true, not knowing the full truth. What she doesn’t know is that she herself was the bride in that vision something Dongfang Qingcang keeps to himself.
Later, Orchid overhears that a dangerous criminal has escaped from the prison and assumes it’s him. Wanting to protect him, she sets him free a selfless act that deeply softens Dongfang Qingcang’s heart. He becomes more and more puzzled by how she isn’t afraid of him, despite his terrifying reputation.
Eventually, the so-called Heavenly Emperor senses something unusual a powerful aura radiating from Orchid, traced back to a bracelet that Dongfang Qingcang had secretly given her, infused with his own demonic power. This leads the emperor to suspect a connection between them.
To uncover the truth, he tortures Orchid, hoping to force a confession. But just in time, Dongfang Qingcang makes an epic entrance, rescuing her in a scene filled with intensity and drama. Afterward, Orchid finally learns the truth about who he really is, and he takes her with him to the Moon Tribe.
Orchid finds the Moon Tribe quite fascinating and slowly starts to adapt to life there. She even befriends the dragon loyal to Dongfang Qingcang. At one point, she and Dongfang swap bodies again, leading to a series of hilarious and chaotic events. Eventually, Dongfang’s brother begins to suspect something’s off and realizes it isn’t really Dongfang inhabiting his own body.
Meanwhile, Lord Changheng and his close friend Rong Hao (played by Xu Haiqiao) begin their own investigation. Rong Hao, though appearing kind and calm, has a manipulative side. He was once the disciple of Chidi Nüzi and secretly loved her. Now, he’s secretly searching for Orchid because he knows her true identity the Goddess Xiyun.
As events unfold, Orchid chooses to protect Dongfang Qingcang at all costs. In doing so, she finally discovers her own feelings for him, and the two confess their love. But this happiness doesn’t last long. Dongfang’s brother warns him that falling in love is making him regain emotions something that weakens his demonic powers. Dongfang, fearing that he won’t be strong enough to protect Orchid, lies to her and tells her that he no longer loves her.
Sigh. Honestly, I’m so tired of this trope. Every time the male lead feels powerless, he just pushes the female lead away. Classic emotional damage.
Heartbroken, Orchid sacrifices herself to save Dongfang Qingcang and the Moon Tribe. This devastates him he had hoped to protect her but ended up pushing her toward her death. He blames himself deeply. Though he regains his battalion, he loses the one person he truly loves.
Later, Changheng tells Dongfang there might be a way to bring Orchid back. Eventually, they succeed, but now Orchid is reborn in her true form as Goddess Xiyun. She chooses to deny her past and refuses to acknowledge Dongfang Qingcang.
At the climax, another evil god is reborn. Just as Goddess Xiyun prepares to fight him, she learns that Dongfang has already sacrificed himself to save the world. In the final scene, Goddess Xiyun smiles as Dongfang Qingcang somehow returns the ending feels a bit rushed, but at least he comes back.
Final Thoughts:
I absolutely loved everyone’s performance in this drama even the villain! Xu Haiqiao as Rong Hao delivered a commendable performance. I’ve admired his acting since Lost Love in Times, so seeing him play a villain here was truly surprising and refreshing.
Zhang Linghe as Changheng, the God of War who is secretly in love with Orchid, really stood out. He portrays the role with such finesse the subtle softness he shows toward Orchid, all while hiding it from his brother, was so well done. He’s a talented actor, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of his future projects.
Yu Shuxin was amazing in her dual roles as Orchid and Goddess Xiyun actually, make that three roles, since she also acted as Dongfang Qingcang during the body swap scenes! Her versatility really shone through: she flawlessly portrayed the cute and innocent Orchid, the tough and cold Dongfang version, and the mature, composed Xiyun. She’s clearly growing stronger as an actress with each project.
And Dylan Wang as Dongfang Qingcang wow. He absolutely outdid himself in this drama. His transformation from a ruthless Demon Lord to someone deeply in love was portrayed with such emotional depth and nuance.
One of my favorite parts was the arc where all the characters are in the mortal realm. In this timeline, Changheng is reborn as a mortal, and his bond with Dongfang Qingcang begins to improve. When Changheng’s mortal self falls for Orchid, Dongfang’s jealousy is both hilarious and endearing. That whole arc was so fun and emotionally rich I think I liked it the most!
One thing I really didn’t like was Rong Hao’s ending. Yes, he committed a lot of terrible deeds, all because of his obsessive love for his teacher, Chidi Nüzi. It was completely unacceptable how he refused to accept her sacrifice the fact that she gave up her life for the greater good simply because he couldn’t bear to live without her.
Instead of honoring her memory, he spiraled into madness, going on a rampage of destruction and murder in his desperate quest to bring her back.
He was obsessed with finding Goddess Xiyun, because her power was the only way to resurrect Chidi. In my opinion, Rong Hao completely disrespected Chidi’s legacy. And after everything he did all the pain he caused he finally manages to bring her back, but she’s not the same Chidi anymore. At that point, I genuinely felt Chidi should have killed him with her own hands.
But no she confesses her love for him (what??), and then kills herself again. That whole scene left me speechless. It was just… I don’t even know what to say. It felt off.
And then, of course, Rong Hao kills himself after watching her die again. Like… what kind of ending was that? Even though he was the one who brought back the Evil God, who caused so much destruction and had to be killed by Dongfang Qingcang, Rong Hao’s ending felt completely unsatisfying to me. After all the chaos and death he caused, that was it?
Rating:
Although I completely loved the story even more than the novel the ending still left me wanting more. So, I’d give it a solid 4.5 out of 5.
You can watch love between fairy and the devil here 👇👇
love between fairy and the devil
You can read my review of till the end of the moon 👇👇
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