Moonlight Mystique (白月梵星) is yet another fantasy drama with Bai Lu as the lead actress. With her track record, it is a given that this drama will attract eyeballs especially from her fans. In fact, I’m a little late in watching and coming up with this Moonlight Mystique review which has completed its airing in January 2025. But if it is a great drama, it is better late than never. So, is it as good as expected or is it overhyped? My review is detailed below.
My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 40
Type: Fantasy Romance
Aired: January 2025
Images credit: iQIYI Facebook
The Cast Of Moonlight Mystique
- Bai Lu as Bai Shuo
- Ao Rui Peng as Fan Yue
- Dai Lu Wa as Fu Ling
- Chang Hua Sen as Chong Zhao
- Zhang Fan as Jin Yao
- Cheng Tao as Cang Shan
- Zhang Xin as Tian Huo
- Liang Xue Feng as Chen Ye
- Han Dong as Zhen Yu
- Xia Ming Hao as Bai Xun
- Li Yu as Lao Gu
- Cheng Hong Xin as Mu Jiu
Main Characters
Bai Shuo
Bai Shuo is the youngest daughter of the Governor of Ning’an City. She is obsssed with gaining immortality to repay her gratitude to an immortal who had once saved her sister’s life. Bai Shuo is a smart and gutsy young lady who is persistent in achieveing her dream.
Fan Yue
Fan Yue is the Demon King of the Polar Realm and master of the Bright Moon Palace. He is a strong demon who appears to be cold and unfeeling but has a hidden soft side.
Supporting Characters
Fu Ling
Fu Ling belongs to the Demon race and is the General of Cold Spring Palace. Her master is Zhen Yu. Fu Ling is a ruthless demon but has a soft spot for Chong Zhao who saved her life once.
Chong Zhao
Chong Zhao is a bun seller and Bai Shuo’s fiancee. He was taken in by Bai Shuo’s father when he became an orphan as a kid. Chong Zhao is of the Eternal Race but hides his identity from everyone. He belongs to the Lanling Sect and is the head disciple.
Jin Yao
Jin Yao is the Head of Lanling Sect and Chong Zhao’s master.
Cang Shan & Tian Huo
Both Cang Shan and Tian Huo are the guardians of Bright Moon Palace and Fan Yue’s subordinates.
Chen Ye
Chen Ye is a wheelchair-bound demon of the Cold Spring Palace. He is an evil demon who has no hesitation to kill. He reports to Zhen Yu.
Zhen Yu
Zhen Yu is the master of Cold Spring Palace and Fan Yue’s adversary. He is a ruthless and ambitious demon master whose cultivation powers have been curtailed by Fan Yue in a past duel.
Bai Xun
Bai Xun is Bai Shuo’s father and the Governor of Ning’an City. He is a very responsible governor who is protective of his people.
Lao Gu
Lao Gu is a thousand year old immortal tortoise who was once saved by Fan Yue. He is an expert in producing elixirs.
Mu Jiu
Mu Jiu is a demon from the Fox Clan. He appears young and prefers a carefree life. His love interest is Tian Huo while his aunt is Chang Mei who is the head of Fox Clan.
Synopsis
Bai Shuo is the daughter of the Governor of Ning’an City. She wants to gain immortality as she wishes to repay her gratitude to an immortal who had once saved her sister’s life. Bai Shuo gets entangled with Fan Yue as a result of her immortality obsession. Fan Yue is the Demon Lord of Bright Moon Palace who is looking to activate the ancient Desireless Stone in his possession. This stone once belonged to a goddess. Fan Yue is afflicted with a life threatening condition which the activated stone could cure.
Bai Shuo ends up being the hostess to the stone when it is absorbed by her body during a tussle with Fan Yue. But in order to activate it, Bai Shuo needs to gather the required contemplations. She goes into an uneasy alliance with Fan Yue to do so as she also wants to be powerful to avenge against those who killed her father. As they work together to achieve their common goal, they begin to develop feelings for each other.
Obstacles and dangers abound as their enemies are also interested to obtain the stone for its power. Bai Shuo will also lose her life as the stone becomes stronger with each contemplation she has gathered. What will Bai Shuo and Fan Yue do to protect each other and ensure the other’s safety?
Moonlight Mystique Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)
Moonlight Mystique has a happy ending. Bai Shuo needs a missing divine bow and arrow to kill the evil Hidden Lord Mo Li. Chong Zhao has been locked in Mo Li’s deepest sea of consciousness when he takes over Chong Zhao’s body which has his divine mantle. Fu Ling/Bai Xi was born with the bow spirit and she transforms into the bow when she dies in Episode 39. She has shielded Bai Shuo from Mo Li’s attack and perishes as a result.
Tian Huo sacrifices herself to use her blood to repair the divine arrow needed for the bow. This allows Bai Shuo to use the weapon in the fight against Mo Li with Chong Zhao’s help. Chong Zhao kills himself inside Mo Li’s consciousness to temporarily neutralize him. But Mo Li’s power is too strong which necessitates Fan Yue to sacrifice himself to completely destroy Mo Li’s heart. Hence, Fan Yue dies along with Mo Li.
Bai Shuo becomes a deity on her own merit rather than transforming into Xing Yue. She meets Master Sun, the immortality guide that Bai Shuo consulted at the beginning of the drama. Master Sun is actually the Heaven who already knew everyone’s identity back in Ning’an City. That is why she guided Bai Shuo to Fan Yue. She admits that she was wrong to force Xing Yue to be emotionless. She could now see that love could be a stronger power as love could make someone sacrifice for another.
For love, one can die but also reborn. As the Heaven’s compensation to the world for her mistake, Fan Yue is returned back to be with Bai Shuo.
When Did The Leads Get Together?
Bai Shuo tells Fan Yue that they are lovers after he temporarily lost his memory in Episode 11. Although he learns that they are not true lovers in Episode 13, a part of him still wishes that they are and he kisses her. His feelings for her is obvious when he kisses her again in Episode 15 to emphasize to her that he is different from the man who lost his memory earlier. In Episode 19, Fan Yue kisses Bai Shuo to confront their feelings for each other. They properly confess their love and become a couple in Episode 21.
Bai Shuo proposes to Fan Yue although he is dying in Episode 34. He accepts and they make a vow to be together forever.
Is There Any Love Triangle?
Bai Shuo cuts ties with Chong Zhao as early as Episode 5 after she discovered that he has deceived her regarding his identity and his failure to protect her father. She reiterates that they are no longer on the same path and can’t go back to the past in Episode 8. However, Chong Zhao is unwilling to give up on Bai Shuo. He is prepared to support her to gather contemplations to activate the stone in Episode 13.
In Episode 14, Bai Shuo chooses Fan Yue over Chong Zhao when she is forced by Fu Ling to make a choice between the 2 men while in captivity. Chong Zhao thinks Bai Shuo chose Fan Yue because Fan Yue is the stronger one between them. This is obvious when Fan Yue comes across them in Episode 16. In his jealousy, Fan Yue puts down Chong Zhao for being weak.
In Episode 17, Bai Shuo turns down Chong Zhao’s request to leave with him again because of Fan Yue. She admits to Chong Zhao that she likes Fan Yue in Episode 20. to his disappointment, she advises him to go on his own path and not to be held back by her. Chong Zhao realizes that he has loved the wrong woman all along in Episode 28 because he thought Bai Shuo was the one who used to cheer him up with written notes when they were kids. It turns out that it was Bai Xi.
Fan Yue’s Background
Bai Shuo’s Desireless Stone enables her to enter a dream and communicate with Fan Yue’s grandfather while unconscious in Episode 25. His grandfather relates to her in Episode 26 that the Demon Lord Jing Yuan has possessed Fan Yue’s body when Fan Yue fell off a cliff and lost his memory as a kid. Jing Yuan was the clan’s protector and Fan Yue was born with Jing Yuan’s divine mantle.
Who Was Bai Shuo’s Savior?
Jing Yuan was the one who saved Bai Shuo and her sister when they were kids. He did so without knowing that Bai Shuo has Xing Yue’s divine mantle. While Jing Yuan’s body perished 60,000 years ago during a fight with Mo Li, deities’ divine mantle will remain. Jing Yuan tore half of it away to look for Xing Yue and chanced upon Bai Shuo 10 years ago, The other half of his divine mantle was placed in the Baize Clan. When Fan Yue fell off a cliff, the two halves reunited with Fan Yue losing his memory as a result. This is revealed in Episode 38.
Chong Zhao & Fu Ling
Fu Ling has a soft spot for Chong Zhao ever since he saved her life in the early parts of the drama. He didn’t know she is a demon then. Starting from Episode 6, Fu Ling tries to entice Chong Zhao to join her sect as a way to stave off her master’s order to have him killed. She saves him from a collpasing underground palace in Episode 14.
Chong Zhao is resistant to Fu Ling’s push for him to join Cold Spring Palace but listens to his master to do so as a spy in Episode 15. He saves Fu Ling from the Fox Clan leader in Episode 17 but tells her that he only loves Bai Shuo. This is despite Fu Ling’s reminder that Bai Shuo is not on his side while she (Fu Ling) is.
Chong Zhao learns from Bai Shuo in Episode 28 that the one who had always consoled him through written notes when they were kids was Fu Ling/Bai Xi. He has wrongly assumed that it was Bai Shuo all along. As a result, his love shifts to Fu Ling who has melted his heart with those notes in the past. He confesses his love to Fu Ling then.
Fan Yue’s Seal
Bai Shuo learns from Tian Huo about Fan Yue’s condition in Episode 14. Fan Yue wanted revenge against those who had killed his family and wiped out his clan in the past. So, he had practiced different demonic techniques without regard for safety. This caused a backlash in the form of the Seven Stars Soul Burning Seal. Each time Fan Yue uses his powers to the extreme or change a fate, his heart will burn and he will be in agony. He only has 7 stars to use up with 2 left by Episode 14.
Fan Yue loses his last star in Episode 32 in a fight with Jin Yao. His demonic power starts to diminish and he dies in Episode 34. But he is brought back to life when Jing Yuan’s powers return to his body in Episode 38.
Fan Yue’s Brother
Fan Yue opens up about his past to Bai Shuo in Episode 21. He fell off a cliff and lost his memory when he was a kid. He was the grandson of the Chief of Baize Clan and has a brother called Qi Feng. One day, the Tiger Clan came and demanded for the boy with purple eyes. His grandfather offered Qi Feng to them but the clan still got slaughtered. Fan Yue survived because his grandfather saved him before dying. By the time he got more powerful, the Tiger Clan had been destroyed and Qi Feng couldn’t be found.
Fan Yue suspects Chen Ye is Qi Feng in Episode 22 through his pendant. Qi Feng tells Fan Yue that the boy with the purple eyes wasn’t him but Fan Yue himself. They had swapped their eyes earlier but Fan Yue couldn’t remember because he has lost his memory. He has deep grievances that their grandfather chose to give him up to the Tiger Clan to save Fan Yue.
To make matters worse, Cang Shan crushed Qi Feng’s legs when the former became derilious one day. Cang Shan’s Stone Clan also dug up the bones of Baize clansmen who were slaughtered earlier to make medicines for their ailment. Qi Feng wants revenge and kills Cang Shan’s parents. He admits to Fan Yue that he is Chen Ye in Episode 24. Cang Shan sacrifices himself to save everyone from Qi Feng’s evil plot in Episode 25.
Qi Feng dies in Episode 27 after failing to kill Zhen Yu in Episode 26. He tried to kill Zhen Yu after learning that Zhen Yu was the one who ordered the Tiger Clan to wipe out Baize Clan.
Fu Ling’s Past
Fu Ling has a brief and vague flash of images from her childhood after an insect planted in her mind by Chong Zhao is removed in Episode 19. She also recognizes Bai Shuo’s dagger in Episode 20 although she can’t recall anything else. The dagger was a gift to Bai Shuo from her sister when they were kids.
In Episode 22, Fu Ling could utter Chong Zhao’s family motto and recall 2 girls with Bai Shuo’s dagger while having an episode of severe headache. Chong Zhao suspects Fu Ling is Bai Shuo’s sister, Bai Xi, but feels that it is too cruel to let the truth surface for both sisters.
Fu Ling recovers her childhood memories which has been suppressed by Zhen Yu and knows she is Bai Xi in Episode 26. This is after Zhen Yu has learned that Fu Ling is now useless to him as the girl needed for his plan is Bai Shuo. Hence, Zhen Yu purposely allows Fu Ling to regain her memories as punishment.
However, Fu Ling refuses to acknowledge she is Bai Xi in front of Bai Shuo due to extreme guilt in Episode 28 and 30. Bai Shuo also refuses to believe Fu Ling is Bai Xi in Episode 29 due to her cruelty towards their own father although Bai Shuo has her suspicions. They reconcile in Episode 32 after Lao Gu told them he bore part of the responsibility for their suffering due to his divine reading for Zhen Yu.
Who Killed Chong Zhao’s Parents?
Jin Yao killed Chong Zhao’s parents with the help of Luan Zhu. He was poor and was often humiliated. Luan Zhu helped him to gain spiritual power in exchange for divine spirits. She is a Lotus divine spirit whose spiritual soul was damaged 60,000 years ago. She needed to feed on divine spirits to regain her human form. So, Jin Yao would kill divine beings for her to feed on. This is revealed in Episode 30.
Fan Yue and Bai Shuo kill Luan Zhu in Episode 32. Lao Gu who was captured by Jin Yao and sent to Luan Zhu reveals to them about Luan Zhu’s evil practices before dying due to severe injuries inflicted while in captivity. He was captured by Jin Yao because he discovered the latter’s secret. Jin Yao is killed by Chong Zhao when his hidden power is unleashed in anger.
Past Connections
The connection of Fan Yue and Bai Shuo to Jing Yuan and Xing Yue respectively is revealed in Episode 34 to 36. Bai Shuo enters the Lunar Hidden Sea after she has gathered all the contemplations required. She meets Xiu Yan, who is a Lunar Deity. He had died 60,000 years ago and only a thread of his spiritual soul is hanging on to protect Bai Shuo and the Lunar Hidden Sea. Xiu Yan relates to Bai Shuo that the Divine Realm used to have 3 races namely, Hidden, Demon, and Lunar. The Hidden Lord Mo Li was the most evil.
The Hidden and Demon races wanted to control the Divine Realm but the Lunars were the most powerful. Supreme Deity Xing Yue of the Lunar race was in control of an ancient bow and arrow that could kill the Hidden and Demon Lords. But Demon Lord Jing Yuan and Xing Yue ended up falling in love with each other while Mo Li wanted to possess her and make her his wife. Chong Zhao has the divine mantle of Mo Li.
However, the Heaven was against the couple’s relationship. Xing Yue’s existence was to protect the Divine Realm and she was meant to be emotionless. Hence, she was forced to make Jing Yuan hate her in order to protect him from Heaven’s wrath. As her love for him was too strong to be suppressed, Xing Yue’s divine powers weakened. She couldn’t kill Mo Li and Jing Yuan rushed to help her when he found out the truth from Xiu Yan.
Jing Yuan sacrificed himself to bind Mo Li’s heart during the fight while Xing Yue sacrificed hers to bury the heart beneath the Lunar Hidden Sea. Xiu Yan was ordered to guard the heart until a new Lunar Lord emerges.
Zhen Yu’s Plan
Zhen Yu’s secret agenda is to resurrect the Hidden Lord behind a cracked mirror which is revealed in Episode 23. He had forced Lao Gu to do a divine reading to reveal the 3 people needed to be sacrificed for it. Lao Gu’s vagueness caused Zhen Yu to believe that Qi Feng and Fu Ling are 2 of the 3 needed for his secret plan. Hence, he had taken in Qi Feng and Fu Ling when they were kids through cruel means and raised them. Zhen Yu suspects the last person he needs is Chong Zhao.
Zhen Yu realizes that he had been tricked by Lao Gu and got it wrong in Episode 26. The people needed for the resurrection should be Fan Yue and Bai Shuo. In Episode 36, it is revealed that Zhen Yu was Mo Li’s pet snake who has yet to gain his spiritual consciousness then. That was why he couldn’t recognize Bai Shuo, Fan Yue, and Chong Zhao to be the 3 deities from the past.
Zhen Yu dies in Episde 38. He sacrifices his own heart to repair Mo Li”s damaged heart to resurrect his master in Chong Zhao’s body. Zhen Yu has no regrest dying for Mo Li because the latter had saved him when he was a little snake in the past.
Moonlight Mystique Review – A Collection Of Mini Stories
Before I begin the review, do note that Moonlight Mystique is somewhat related to Ancient Love Poetry for those who want the earlier story on the Demon Lord. But you certainly don’t have to watch one before the other. Both dramas are stand alone stories in their own right. Furthermore, the connection is rather vague because changes have been made. Therefore, the story about the previous Demon Lord and his lover has been altered in Moonlight Mystique and differs from the version in Ancient Love Poetry.
For Moonlight Mystique, the story starts off as a revenge plot for the female protagonist after the first few episodes. A lot is happening in those opening episodes which will immediately pique your interest. Although the drama is 40 episodes long, it doesn’t move at a snail’s pace but at a fairly quick rate. It has to because the story revolves around the female protagonist having to look for and gather 5 contemplations. They are needed in order to activate an ancient stone in her body for its powers. Hence, each contemplation then becomes a mini story in itself.
The good thing about this is the mini stories are pretty interesting. They are well-crafted to me and make sense especially with the way they are all linked together to the bigger picture. Everything will come together towards the end when the leads’ past life is told. Therefore, you won’t feel that those subplots are a waste of time but a necessity to the overall story. However, this kind of story-telling is not without its drawbacks.
Leads Being Overshadowed
Although you would expect the plot to be about the female lead’s revenge after the first few episodes, this will kind of fall off the radar as the story progresses. The focus then shifts to her trying to become more powerful by gathering 5 contemplations which is where the mini stories come in. The revenge is then largely forgotten and the end turns into a typical saving the world against an evil lord kind of story.
With the mini stories, certain side characters will be given more prominence. This is where I felt that the leads are being overshadowed at times. The side characters have their own background stories which the scriptwriter did well to flesh out. They are not 2 dimensional personalities that are typical of supporting characters. Instead, they are more complex and realistic in line with their life experiences.
As a result, the side characters become more interesting to me while the leads lose their shine after a while. This includes the second male and female lead’s story which is more intriguing overall except perhaps, their romance which is iffy with the guy’s quick u-turn. But the leads’ story is no better with the hero dying and returning a few times which I got a little tired of by the end of it all.
A Forced Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
I think the main weakness of Moonlight Mystique has to be the ending. It feels forced as if the producers didn’t dare to do anything different other than the usual happily ever after that viewers tend to want at the end of every drama. Unfortunately, the story in Moonlight Mystique just couldn’t convincingly support a happy ending. The male lead dies for a good cause which is reasonable and expected. But to have him returning at the last minute just before the drama ends not only feels rushed but also unoriginal.
There are plenty of dramas that have sad or bittersweet endings such as Kill Me Love Me and Love Of Nirvana. To me, it is okay to have sad endings if it is the most suitable or logical conclusion rather than force a happy ending that is far from persuasive. To cut a long story short, Moonlight Mystique’s ending is one that you will hope for but it doesn’t have the satisfaction of a well-written finish line. It is indeed a pity after what is essentially a fairly compelling story throughout.
Acting & Chemistry
Moonlight Mystique is definitely not Bai Lu’s first role in a fantasy drama. Till The End Of The Moon was her previous hit in this genre and she has played the role of smart, courageous, and gutsy characters numerous times. So, portraying Bai Shuo in Moonlight Mystique would be nothing new. Perhaps I have seen her in too many of such roles that I have come to know what to expect. She doesn’t disappoint as Bai Shuo but neither can I detect anything groundbreaking from her.
Bai Lu’s chemistry with Ao Rui Peng is good but can’t be considered superb to me. She tends to be able to bring out the sizzles with her co-stars but this time, the sparks is a little less than usual. They are still watchable as a couple but there are also times that I wonder if another actor may make a better partner for her in the drama.
Perhaps I’m still stuck with the image of Ao Rui Peng as a young and simpleminded lad in The Blood Of Youth which is totally different from his role as a Demon Lord in Moonlight Mystique. As such, I feel that Ao Rui Peng lacks a bit of aura as Fan Yue. He looks fitting in the role at times but lacks the commanding presence and broodiness as a Demon Lord at others.
My Verdict – Watch!
By and large, I find Moonlight Mystique to be enjoyable. While the overarching plot of defeating the ultimate villain is nothing different from a typical xianxia drama, the subplots make it refreshing with their twists and turns. Thus, the story doesn’t feel recycled although some common elements of xianxia remains such as death and resurrection, ancient deities, and an evil lord lurking in the background. Basically, if you like the subplots or mini stories, you will enjoy Moonlight Mystique because a large part of it is a collection of them. As the protagonists head to different places in their mission to activate an ancient stone, each place becomes the start of a mini story.
As with all xianxia dramas, you also can’t run away from romance and the notion of deep love that spans aeons. Most viewers will look forward to this but the romance in Moonlight Mystique is not really moving to me. The switch from making use of each other for a common goal to lovers is not that compelling. Nevertheless, the couple is still watchable and the subplots are more then enough to make up for any shortfall in the romance department where I’m concerned.
Overall, I would give a score of 7.5/10 for this review of Moonlight Mystique. It could have gotten higher if not for the rushed and forced ending which I’m not particularly fond of. I think that mars the whole drama somewhat when I had expected a much better conclusion for an entertaining story for the most part. Anyway, if you are a Bai Lu fan, you shouldn’t miss this although it is more of the same from her in yet another fantasy fare.
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