Xue Lang sacrificed himself so that a tribulation crossing dead soul would take over his body and fulfil his wish of protecting Meng Chen from his master (who wanted to erase his memories so that MC could go back to caring for him, selfish a**hole, I got high blood pressure from his shitty master there) and then that old monster takes over ML’s body.

I loved the angst personally, I cried like three times just cuz I felt emotional at like 4am but anyways.

I kinda disliked that whole amnesia trope thing but I understood it, but I can’t help but dislike it anyways.

So. Xue lang dies. But not only that his soul scatters. If you're reading this review before reading the novel, Xue Lang is the ML or the villainous junior brother. He's amazing and lovely, the relationship between the ML and MC is so sweet. Which is why I'm extremely disappointed he dies. He supposedly is ALSO the demon venerable but I'm not buying it. EVEN IF IT TURNS OUT TO BE TRUE, I simply cannot reconcile the fact that they are the same person. I HATE amnesia plots for the same reason, they're never the same after regaining their memories, they're a combination of the new and the old. I hate it and I know this is going to be case, because that's where the plot is headed. I wish Meng Chen just cultivated to a point where he could go and travel to the world Xue Lang was originally from and live happily together after THERE. Idk there's also the fundamental differences between Xue Lang and the demon venerable. Like there is this point in the story where Meng Cheng leaves the demon castle, and it comes up that the demon venerable wasn't going to lock him up and strip him of his cultivation and leave him disabled, NOT BECAUSE HE'S OPPOSED TO IT but because he thinks those methods are beneath him. Which is really f*cked because Xue Lang WOULD NEVER. The reason he wouldn't do it/even think about it is because he respects and loves Mu Cheng so much. Another fundamental difference is that Xue Lang WANTS Mu Cheng to be free. He encourages Mu Cheng to go out and make friends while the demon venerable keeps him isolated (but this could also be because Mu Cheng is depressed after witnessing Xue lang die and as a result isolates himself.) but I believe that even if Mu Cheng wasn't depressed, he would not have

ANOTHER mega big point. The power dynamics are totally different after Xue Lang dies. The demon venerable is the strongest cultivator in the realm now so IF Mu Cheng wanted to leave he physically wouldn't be able to. Which is scary considering everything he has been through (g*ooming, imprisonment, possible r*pe, mental torture, physical torture, severing cultivation, being rendered disabled and death)

The reason why Xue Lang was such a breath of fresh air was because of the respect he holds for Mu Cheng and the demon venerable doesn't have any if just superficial ones.

Frankly I don't know if this changes after he gets his memories back since I stopped reading right before he does but I'd like to hear your thoughts about this. After you've read the novel as well.

Protecting him without expecting anything in return, SACRIFICING his soul just so MC could be free, wanting him to go out and experience the world and meet new people, if it meant MC would be happy, etc.

Imprisoning him against his wishes, not allowing him to get close or even show concern for anyone, crippling him, controlling him, and attempting to alter his memories so he couldn't leave their side, making the MC unalive himself out of sheer despair... etc.

he fell in love with the character Meng Chen from a novel, and still loved him when he transmigrated into that very novel, which is why he tried so hard to prevent the original plot from happening. As for the big sacrifice mentioned, if you've read the other reviews and don't want to read that part, you can stop at ch.50, as I feel like that's a hopeful, ambiguous ending to stop at. But I still highly recommend finishing the whole book as there a couple more twists at the end about the ML and MC's shared past~ and they do get their happy ending (after a lot of pain and tears), so it's worth to read it till the end!

The whole secret mastermind thing came out of nowhere. It could have worked with proper build-up, but he just didn't have it. There was foreshadowing that someone was pulling the strings and giving people false prophecies, but then it turned out to be senior brother. Suddenly there was this whole plot of constant reincarnation for 3000 years, and it wasn't fleshed out at all. The senior brother just shows up in the last few chapters without any real set up. And again it's just hard to reconcile this whole plot with the senior brother's established character.

The ML sacrifices himself to kill the master and free the MC from him. He does this by summoning a powerful demon lord, scattering his soul and letting that demon occupy his body. The MC is saved, but heartbroken. He sets out to search for MC. The ML becomes a demon lord, but has amnesia. He has no idea who he's, doesn't remember his life as the ML, nor has memories as a demon Still when he sees the MC he falls in love, and starts chasing him. The MC thinks that the ML is gone forever, and the ML in front of him is just a demon in the ML's body, so he rejects him and gives him the cold shoulder. Then the MC realises that the demon might actually really is ML, he's overjoyed and takes the ML for treatment. ML gets back his memories, but not really his personality and is still constantly insecure and jealous of his previous self.

As a demon, the ML is leagues stronger than MC.

For convoluted reasons, MC thinks ML is dead, but he really isn't and is in another body. Because of amnesia and misunderstandings, MC is justifiably upset and mean to ML since he doesn't realize the new body is ML and does not want to betray his feelings to ML. This section is a hard to read since their past relationship is so lovely, but it is short and their actions are understandable. I just don't want people to drop because of this since this section is pretty minor.