This post includes a brief plot summary and review of the 2025 Chinese drama “Love of the Divine Tree”. Beware of spoilers.
Note: “Love of the Divine Tree” is based on a popular novel created by Kuang Shang Jia Kuang. Today’s review is about the show, not the novel.
“Love of the Divine Tree” is a fantasy romance drama directed by Tao Yin, starring Deng Wei as Su Yi Shui and Julia Xiang as Xue Ran/Mu Qing Ge. The cast also includes a standout supporting performance by Chen Xinhai as Su Yu.
Genre: fantasy, romance, mystery
Short Review: “Love of the Divine Tree” has an interesting story and decent performances from its leads. Unfortunately, the Chinese drama doesn’t reach its full potential because of its deficient pacing that hinders the smoothness of the storytelling.
Continue reading for a more in-depth review.
Note: The story is set in a fantastical world where people can cultivate powers. There are several different clans (spiritual sects) and they abide by different rules.
“Love of the Divine Tree” tells the story of a gifted cultivator who went to great lengths to resuscitate his master.
The leading man of this story is Su Yi Shui, and eighteen years ago his master, Mu Qing Ge, cast a spell on him. She made this beautiful man, god forbid, “ugly”. Because of her, Su Yi Shui now has a couple of scars on his face.
For the longest time, people thought Mu Qing Ge’s curse on Su Yi Shui was out of spite because he outed her as the “female demon” who was trying to destroy the world. But the truth revealed to be quite the opposite. First, she was the one trying to stop the real “bad guy”. And second, she put the curse on Su Yi Shui to protect him.
So, Su Yi Shui was born with a terrible “curse”. They call him a “demon child”. He is basically a vessel for the “Spring Spirit”. The latter is an immense source of power, a “souvenir” left by the late “Mortal Demon Lord”, that many covet for their evil deeds.
Mu Qing Ge was well aware of Su Yi Shui’s curse. Therefore, she forced him to be her disciple as a last resort to prevent him from straying and becoming a demonic being who will bring great disaster to the world.
Despite her efforts, Su Yi Shui fulfils his destiny. In order to prevent the other clans from annihilating the “demon child”, Mu Qing Ge assumes his identity, making herself a target. With everyone against her, including her sister, Mu Ran Wu, Mu Qing Ge ends up dying.
Even though Su Yi Shui deeply regretted his actions, it was already too late. Nevertheless, he doesn’t give up and tries to collect the shattered pieces of her “spirit”. He succeeds but needs an extra element to bring her back, the “Reincarnation Tree”. The ritual also required another great sacrifice from Su Yi Shui, half of his inner core, meaning he’ll be less powerful after this.
All of Su Yi Shui’s hard labor comes to fruition. And Mu Qing Ge is reborn as “Xue Ran Ran”. But the ritual also brought back Mu Ran Wu. While Su Yi Shui is trying to conceal Xue Ran Ran’s real identity, Mu Ra Wu is trying to usurp her elder sister’s identity.
Now that the master-disciple has flipped, the leads have to figure out the identity of the “bad guy” who set them up in the past… And of course, they have to fall in love while they are trying to save the world.
As I mentioned before, this is going to be a mixed review of the show. This means that there will be almost equal amounts of “positive aspects” and “negative aspects” found.
Let’s start with the good stuff.
Deng Wei and Julia Xiang deliver solid performances as Su Yi Shui and Mu Qing Ge/Xue Ran Ran.
The chemistry between the leading actors is “warm enough”. Their romance is like panna cotta, kind of sweet, but not decadent like, for instance, a chocolate lava cake.
Now, let’s talk about the performances. Deng Wei’s portrayal of Su Yi Shui is both restrained and emotional. In my opinion, Deng Wei did a phenomenal job as Su Yi Shui. He is very convincing as a strict master but also as someone who didn’t know he was longing for love in his life.
Su Yi Shui is someone who once yearned for immense power but then deeply regretted it when it cost Mu Qing Ge’s life. She might be the only person who truly cared for him and actually did something to try to protect him. Having said that, I believe Deng Wei did a great job at balancing so many conflicting emotions at the same time.
Note: I first noticed Deng Wei while watching “Till The End Of The Moon”. I’m going to be honest; I thought his acting was solid there, but it was his looks that caught my eye.
Now, let’s talk about Julia Xiang’s performance. I thought she did a great job within her acting capabilities. What I mean by that is I thought she was more convincing as Xue Ran Ran than she was as Mu Qing Ge. And there is a reason for that: her age. Personally, I think it’s easier for actors to play someone younger than someone older.
Julia Xiang is a young actress; therefore, I kind of expected her portrayal of Mu Qing Ge to be “weaker” than her portrayal of Xue Ran Ran. Nevertheless, I think she was able to bring out the carefree qualities and the fighting spirit of Mu Qing Ge. Therefore, as a viewer, I commend her for that.
“Love of the Divine Tree” has an intriguing story that will keep viewers engaged despite the terrible pacing.
Now that I think about it, the show didn’t come up with the interesting premise. The original source material (the novel) should be the one receiving the praise. Nevertheless, for those who don’t care and just want to know if the story is interesting, the answer is “yes”.
The plot, while rooted in familiar xianxia (fantasy cultivation) tropes, manages to keep things interesting with its role-reversal premise. It was fun to watch Su Yi Shui go from disciple to master and Mu Qing Ge the other way around.
Maybe I’m not the sharpest viewer, but I couldn’t really figure out who the bad guy was up until the end, when his true identity was revealed. For me, this mystery was the only thing that made me want to keep watching the show.
The show has decent cinematography.
Visually, “Love of the Divine Tree” is sort of a pleasant watch.
The costumes are ethereal, and wait for it… the CGI is not that bad. Those who are unfamiliar with Chinese dramas might find this comment odd. But Chinese dramaland is notoriously known for its bad special effects.
Think about “Love Between Fairy and Devil”, which was supposed to be a high-budget production, but have you seen the action scenes? Yikes. That’s why I’m glad that Chinese dramas are finally making a bigger effort to make their CGI better.
Now, let’s get to the negatives of the show.
“Love of the Divine Tree” has terrible pacing, maybe “inconsistent” would be a better word to describe it.
There are episodes where the show moves at the speed of light. Then there are other times when it’s painfully slow.
Sometimes I felt like the director was more focused on explaining every little detail of cultivation techniques or the intricacies of sect politics than on advancing the emotional arcs of the characters. Having said that, there were moments when I thought I was looking through a PowerPoint presentation rather than an actual show.
The show’s tendency to over-explain hindered its emotional delivery. In my opinion, there are some things that are better left implied than said. Let the actors’ performances do the heavy lifting instead of forcing them to plague the screen with layers of boring dialogue.
The show has a weak antagonist/villain.
Another letdown of “Love of the Divine Tree” is the main villain. I don’t think I’ve come across such a bland and unmemorable antagonist in a really long time.
This character lacks charisma and complexity. Actually, I think my perception of him also has to do with the actor’s performance. The actor playing the villain, whose name I’m not going to mention to avoid spilling more spoilers, gave, for lack of a better word, a mediocre performance.
I have this theory that even when characters are poorly written, good actors can make it somehow work. The actor playing the villain made me shout “boo” for boring.
Chen Xinhai’s performance in “Love of the Divine Tree” deserves more praise.
One of the biggest surprises of “Love of the Divine Tree” is Chen Xinhai’s performance as Su Yu. Though it was not as good as Deng Wei’s, it was definitely impressive.
Note: Chen Xinhai was also in “The Double”, but he doesn’t stand out there as he does in this show.
Once again, they put an incredibly young actor to play a more mature character. Su Yu is a complex character. He is a good king… but he also has his secrets and desires that sometimes lead him to more devious paths.
The actor who plays Su Yu, Chen Xinhai, manages to convey all the mentioned above with remarkable subtlety. Watching him navigate through his worst moments, especially when he is sick, was heartbreaking. But it was so good that I often forgot I was watching a newbie (young actor).
Note: I was excited about Chen Xinhai’s performance, and I genuinely hope he gets more leading roles in the future. The same wish I had for Deng Wei when I saw him in “Till The End Of The Moon”. And look at him now.
Final Thoughts
“Love of the Divine Tree” is a classic case of a drama with a fantastic premise and strong performances that’s held back by a dull script and pacing issues.
Deng Wei’s performance and visuals, paired with the intriguing story, are all reasons to tune in. Chen Xinhai’s unexpectedly mature performance is another highlight of the show.
Final Rating: 🍏+ (Almost Good)
