Fate Chooses You (Jia Ou Tian Cheng)
Currently watching this Ren Jia Lun / Wang He Run drama. It's a fantasy drama (wuxia) about the last remaining War Demon, Lu Qian Qiao, and the immortal woman, Xin Mei, and the fate that somehow bound them together. At least, that's the gist of it.
(The synopsis on My Drama List is a bit vague and confusing. I don't know if it's just me but I have a feeling their drama synopses are either AI-translated or their translators are not quite good at capturing the nuance of the original language into English. They sometimes make very little sense and don't quite explain the story summary very well.)
It's about immortals and demons and humans and the fate that binds all of them together under the heavens. As the rules go, there are deities or gods who reside in the heavens. The earth, on the other hand, is divided into three realms: the realm of the immortals, the realm of humans and the realm of demons. Immortals can aspire to ascend and become deities. Humans can do the same, although they have a longer path as they need to become immortals first. The demons can't ascend and become gods at all (at least that's how I understand it).
Immortals are seen as powerful, benevolent beings of light who protect the humans. Demons are seen as their main adversaries, their dark and evil counterparts who prey on human flesh and blood and wreak havoc throughout the realms. Humans are considered the weakest beings with no magic power, except for those who are gifted with immortal perception from birth.
The story begins when the War Demons, in their desire to ascend, ended up destroying the ladder to the heavens, thus cutting off the only way for beings to ascend and become deities. Immortals and humans fought against them and ultimately, the War Demons disappeared. However, their defeat came at a great cost to the lives of both immortals and humans alike.
Because of this, immortals are now stuck at being in the immortal realm, never going any higher. Humans who ascend to immortality are also stuck at that level. And the demons? Well, they're all supposed to be gone from the world.
Except that, as Xin Mei eventually realizes once her path and her destiny cross with Lu Qian Qiao's, not all immortals are good, benevolent beings of light. And not all war demons are evil creatures of the dark. And humans are not as weak and helpless as their more magically gifted counterparts have been led to believe for thousands of years.
And not all the War Demons were destroyed during the last war.
It's a pretty interesting story so far. It just takes a bit of patience and careful reading of the subtitles to follow the story because of several sub-plots and story arcs along the way, especially in the beginning. However, these diversions were intended to establish the background of each of the key characters and how they're connected to the story of the main leads. Eventually, they all merge into one main story arc.
I'm at the point of that merging now so I've started to actually enjoy the drama. The romance part is quite negligible. I don't think it was meant to be the main arc, anyway. I see it more as a plot device, a means to setting up the connection between Lu Qian Qiao and Xin Mei. Their joint destiny is key to the resolution of the story and the best way to set it up is through a love connection.
