Review: When Destiny Brings the Demon (2025) 献鱼
Summary: Modern day everyday girl Zou Yan (ft Wang Lu Ying 王影璐) unexpectedly realm-travels into a fantasy world in which celestial masters rule the land. She finds herself as Liao Ting Yan, a new disciple of the Qing Gu Tian sect. She is one of one hundred young female celestial disciples chosen by the various sect leaders to serve the Master Ancestor Sima Jiao (ft Chen Fei Yu 陈飞宇). To the world, Si Ma Jiao is said to be in seclusion to strengthen his powers, but in reality, he has been sealed within the mountain for five hundred years. In those years, he has grown cold, reclusive, and volatile. Liao Ting Yan finds her trying to navigate this tricky situation. Her life’s ambition is just to wade through life with minimal effort – similar to a Xian Yu or “Dry Salted Fish”. This indifference piques the curiosity of Sima Jiao and their stories become intertwined.
Platform: Youku
Episodes: 33
Airing Date: Aug 16, 2025
Final Rating: 6.5/10 – The drama works best when faithful to the original IP. Chen Fei Yu and Wang Ying Lu have passable chemistry, but the addition of new characters creates unnecessary conflicts that weaken the story. It’s a fun breeze to enjoy with many modern day Chinese jokes but squanders the opportunity to explore heavier topics featured in the original novel.
Si Ma Jiao 司马焦 Chen Fei Yu 陈飞宇
The Master Ancestor of the Geng Chen Immortals who has been in solitude for the past 500 years
Liao Ting Yan 廖停雁 Wang Ying Lu 王影璐
Modern worker who's ambition in life is to just coast through life
Ye Ru Ling 夜洳凌 Wang Yi Ting 王奕婷
Fellow celestial disciple who befriends Liao Ting Yan but has her own motives
Hei Nian Jiu 黑廿九 Gao Han 高寒
Snake spirit deeply loyal to Sima Jiao
Shi Qian Lv 师千缕 Bao Jian Feng 保剑锋
The two-faced celestial master who craves immortality
Feng Qi 风起 Wu Yu Heng 吴宇恒
Loyal friend of Shi Yan
Min Li 冥离 Zhao Shun Ran 赵顺然
Ambitious Chancellor of the Demon realm
Bi An 彼岸 Wang Ya Jia 王雅佳
The demon ruler who takes over the body of a young woman
Overall Thoughts
This drama shines the most when it stays true to the original IP, delivering its strongest and most engaging moments. Unfortunately, the series stumbles with its newly created characters, whose presence adds little value and instead clutters the narrative with unnecessary conflicts. The drama also drags significantly in the second half of the drama. 33 episodes is too much and could have sufficed with 25 episodes or less. Chen Fei Yu and Wang Ying Lu share decent chemistry and they deliver their best acting in their scenes together. However, I would say their acting in general is merely adequate. I read the book years ago and several of the storylines really resonated with me. The drama just wasn’t able to stick the landing. It’s fine as a fluff drama but fails to meets the heights of the source material.
This is Chen Fei Yu’s first period / fantasy drama to air since his sex scandal in 2023 and only his second drama overall. His previous drama that aired in April was complete dud. I’m sure his camp was hoping that with such a popular IP, this drama would perform extremely well. Unfortunately, this drama has also been a dud. It was no match for This Thriving Land and was fighting with Moonlit Reunion for eyeballs for period fantasies and has fared poorly against both. It’s a shame because the original book was hugely popular.
What I Liked
- Light hearted comedy of modern day coaster vs volatile master: The first half of the drama really shines, especially in the dynamic between Liao Ting Yan and Sima Jiao. Watching Liao Ting Yan try to live her dream as a “dry salted fish” who does the bare minimum, only to clash with Sima Jiao’s volatile temper, is hilarious. Their banter with her modern slang against his formal, lofty tone delivers some of the funniest moments. Chen Fei Yu and Wang Ying Lu share solid chemistry, particularly in the early episodes as their romance blossoms. That said, once they officially become a couple, the relationship beats feel repetitive.
- Poignant story on greed and ambition: One of the most striking aspects of the original novel was its brutal depiction of greed among celestial beings. This storyline stuck with me even though I read the book years ago. Far from saviors, these so-called masters destroyed the Sima family in their pursuit of power. The drama conveys this ruthlessness effectively, and it’s satisfying to watch Sima Jiao take his revenge.
- Antagonists having fun: Bao Jian Feng steals the show as Shi Qian Lu, the “righteous” celestial master hiding his corruption. Rarely cast as a villain, Bao relishes the role, bringing an unhinged energy that might seem over the top to some but works perfectly for the character.
- Fun CGI: The CGI is serviceable in that i’s fun if not entirely convincing. The giant snake and other animals could have used more polish, but their sheer entertainment value makes them easy to forgive.
What Didn't Work
- Bloated New Characters & Forced Romances: The original story is a compact tale focused on Sima Jiao and Liao Ting Yan, yet the drama pads the script with unnecessary side plots and new characters. Characters like Hei Nie Jiu, Ye Ru Ling, and Feng Qi contribute little beyond filler. The awkward Hei Nie Jiu–Ye Ru Ling “romance” goes nowhere. There’s little development in their relationship because this relationship didn’t exist in the original story and screenwriter couldn’t find a way to grow this romance. The snake demon is repeatedly nerfed both in intelligence and power just to prop this storyline up. Hei Nie Jiu is innocent, not dumb. Likewise, Feng Qi’s one-sided crush on Liao Ting Yan adds nothing but screentime.
- Overtly Saintly Characters: The drama sanitized a lot of characters for reasons unknown which then in turn made the characters unnecessarily nice. My biggest gripe was with Liao Ting Yan’s change. In the book, Liao Ting Yang doesn’t want kill but she accepts the rules of the world. She won’t stop Sima Jiao from murdering others because she understands that in this world, it’s a kill or be killed world. In the drama, she makes a huge fuss about not wanting to kill people which then leads to Sima Jiao becoming injured. I guess the screenwriters couldn’t have a modern woman condone violence but again, in the book, Liao Ting Yan simply wanted to chill in life but she wasn’t a saint. As for Ye Ru Ling, we spend way to much time trying to see her navigate trying to save her family while also not hurting her friend. This is a true conflict but the screenwriter wanted to gravitate towards having Ye Ru Ling as a “positive” character and ended up with a character who accomplished nothing.
- Second Half Drag: The back end bogs down in overused fantasy-romance tropes such as miscommunication, and endless sacrifice. There’s also inexplicable amount of hot-spring downtime. Heavy deviations from the source novel leave the drama bloated and far less compelling than it could have been.
- Chen Fei Yu as Sima Jiao: I couldn’t quite place Chen Fei Yu’s performance in this drama. He has the voice and presence for the volatile Sima Jiao. However, there are many scenes where his acting is rather wooden or he’s staring blankly at his co-stars. It also doesn’t help with the directing where they kept focusing on the top half of his face and that just highlighted his wooden acting.
- Wang Ying Lu as Liao Ting Yan: Wang Ying Lu is a relative newcomer who was able to land this big IP. Wang Ying Lu is charming as the laid-back “salted fish,” yet she lacks emotional range and struggles in high-stakes scenes. As an aside, I think she is way too thin to the point where it’s unhealthy.