Previously…
In Fate Chooses You: Drama Recap Episodes 30 to 35, our heroes finally found out who colluded. In this final part, would they be able to defeat them once and for all and bring the harmony and balance back?
Recap Episodes 36 to 40
Episode 36
Xin Mei ran to find Xin Xiong, but her master had died. She was so heartbroken because the last time she met him was when she bid him farewell to go to Wei County and visit her aunt. She also planned to bring back the Immortal Pill for him.
Lu Qianqiao explained to everyone the reason he made a detour to Tianyuan Sect. Back in Qinghong Sect, Futian asked him to help translate the books on the War Demon Clan. That must be Li Mofu’s instruction. The book mentioned the Wusheng Formation, which created existence from nothing using human vitality to facilitate its growth. A massive Jianmu Tree required the sacrifice of more people’s lives to mature. Back then, the War Demon Clan wanted to grow the Tree to reach heaven and almost caused an earth calamity if not for the twelve immortal sects suppressing them. Now the Tianyuan Sect wanted to do the same thing. Lu Qianqiao suddenly threw up blood. It turned out that when he fought Li Mofu, he had used the Sun Crossbow for too long. Now he got the backlash and damaged his heart. He needed to do the heart exchange asap!
Jin Lun finally understood that he was born with everything, including the Golden Lotus and his protective ring. However, he had to give up everything for his enlightenment. A Sheng had never been his tribulation, but a sharp blade that cuts through the obstacles for him. Jin Lun went to Tianyin Mountain to practice the Path of Detachment, which meant he distanced himself of worldly affairs. A Sheng came to see Jin Lun, but he didn’t want to see her. She gave him her ring back and the Gu bug. His master told him that giving him her Gu bug meant she gave him her life and death. Jin Lun released the Gu bug as he was no longer attached to A Sheng. Let the Gu bug live or die naturally.
Not long after leaving Tianyin Mountain, A Sheng was captured by her father, and he possessed her body. Xia Xuanzi went to see Li Mofu. Li Mofu invited Xia Xuanzi to cultivate together to open the heaven. After Bai Zongying was rescued by Jiang Ji, he wrote letters to various immortal sects to expose Li Mohu’s conspiracy. Various sects gathered at the foot of Tianyuan Mountain.
Episode 37
Lu Qianqiao stayed at Safe Haven Inn to undergo the heart exchange process with Zhuyu and Chongling Valley’s disciples. Xin Mei, Meishan Jun, and Li Ning went to Tianyuan Mountain to gather with the others and attack Tianyuan Sect. Bai Zongying told them that they must be divided into two teams to go up the mountain. One team attacked from the main gate, and the other team went to Qingtian Peak, which contained sacred object of the Tianyuan Sect, the Dingyuan Celestial Bell. The Bell is the key to unlocking the mountain-protecting formation. Once the formation falls, Tianyuan Mountain will be isolated from the world. The Bell needed Nascent Soul cultivators to ring. The immortal sects warned the Tianyuan Sect to repent and destroy the Jianmu tree, or they would attack. However, Li Mofu didn’t want to listen.
The battle was very fierce because the Tianyuan Sect drank golden elixir to enhance their stamina. The defeated people had absorbed their vitality by the Jianmu Tree. Bai Zongying went with Jiang Ji to ring the bell, but he was stopped by his junior, Sima Randeng. Jiang Ji trapped Sima Randeng in a formation, but he could still injure Bai Zongying with a spell. Although injured, Bai Zongying couldn’t be absorbed by the Jianmu Tree. He was born on the 9th of September. Everyone who was born on that day, including A Sheng and Xin Mei, was born with a mission and was prophesied to be the savior of the world. Bai Zongying rang the Ding Yuan Heavenly Bell with his own life to protect all living beings in the world. The disciples of the Tianyuan Sect who heard the sound of the Dingyuantian bell stood still uncontrollably and dropped the sword in their hands.
Episode 38
As he was about to change his heart, Lu Qianqiao changed his mind and decided to sacrifice his memory to become the Perfect War Demon. He used his remaining magic power to summon Chu Ying. He told Chu Ying his decision, and Chu Ying supported him. The price of becoming a Perfect War Demon and gaining great power was to lose all memories and forget your lover and friends. Lu Qianqiao knew that he had to join the others to save the world.
Bai Zongying used his soul to ring the Ding Yuan Heavenly Bell and died. Sima Randeng killed Jiang Ji, and Lin Muhan killed Sima Randeng. After the mountain-protecting formation was activated, the Jianmu tree could no longer absorb new vitality and couldn’t grow. Xia Xuanzi wanted to fix the tree, but was confronted by Xin Mei. Since Xia Xuanzi embodied A Sheng’s body, Xin Mei didn’t dare to attack her. She worried that A Sheng would be hurt, and she tried to wake up A Sheng. In her sea of consciousness, A Sheng competed with her father over controlling her body. Xia Xuanzi and Xin Mei entered A Sheng’s sea of consciousness. Xin Mei joined with A Sheng to fight Xia Xuanzi. He drank elixir to advance to the Great Completion Stage. Xin Mei and A Sheng couldn’t defeat Xia Xuanzi in the sea of consciousness. A Sheng kicked Xin Mei out of the sea of consciousness and asked Xin Mei to kill her, or they would all die once Xia Xuanzi came out. Xin Mei couldn’t kill A Sheng, so A Sheng thrust herself onto Xin Mei’s sword. A Sheng died in Xin Mei’s arms.
Pulling away from the sadness, Xin Mei helped Meishan Jun deal with Li Mofu. While she was fighting Li Mofu, Meishan Jun kept swinging his rusty sword at the Jianmu Tree. The rust on his sword faded, and he was able to cut off the Tree branches. Seeing this, Li Mofu temporarily put his fight with Xin Mei aside and used magic to restore the Jianmu Tree. Xin Mei kept attacking Li Mofu, which eventually angered him. When Li Mofu was about to kill Xin Mei, Lu Qianqiao appeared wearing a suit of armor. Li Mofu realized that Lu Qianqiao had become a Perfect War Demon. He persuaded Lu Qianqiao to rebuild the ladder with him to be gods. Lu Qianqiao didn’t even need to raise his hand, he could make Li Mohe and others fly far away with just a thought. He raised his hand, killing Li Mofu was like crushing an ant. When Li Mofu died, the Tianyuan Temple collapsed inch by inch. Xin Mei remembered Zhu Yu’s words. Lu Qianqiao sacrificed all his memories to be a Perfect War Demon. She called Lu Qianqiao’s name several times desperately. However, Lu Qianqiao had lost his memory, including his name. He walked away without stopping and did not look back once.
Episode 39
One year later, Jin Lun visited Xin Mei with a message from A Sheng. Because of her sacrifice, she had ascended as a deity. However, she could not ascend to heaven yet. Because the celestial ladder was broken, A Sheng became a field, which meant she was everywhere. She also had an obsession: to help Xin Mei lift the curse on the War Demons. A Sheng was willing to change to a celestial ladder so Xin Mei could visit heaven and ask the gods.
Xin Mei’s primordial spirit went to heaven and met a young deity. After explaining her purpose of visit, the young deity showed her the scroll on the curse. Xin Mei explained that it had been more than one thousand years, and the curse should be lifted already. With a single wave, the young deity erased the curse.
Xin Mei went back to the mortal world and visited her friends and Lu Qiaoqiao’s adopted children, Lu Jiujiu and Lu Xiaodao. After that, Xin Mei visited Safe Haven Inn. On the way, she took in a black cat, which was probably A Sheng? At Safe Haven Inn to meet Li Niang, Meishan Jun, Xiao An. Xiao An had become Meishan Jun’s disciple now. Meishan Jun told her about the progress of Craftmanship now, thanks to the copies of “Unparalleled Secret Magic” they rescued last time.
Li Niang also handed a letter from Zuo Yingying. Zuo Yingying settled in her hometown. She was shocked to hear that Lu Qianqiao sacrificed himself to be the Perfect War Demon and saved the world. Xin Mei replied to the letter with what happened to the others. The one who survived the final battle, Li Muhan, became the leader of Ling Ji Mountain. He took in the survivors of the Tianjin Sect.
Xin Mei kept wandering to look for Lu Qianqiao. She met Yuan Zhong of the Youhu tribe, who was fishing. Yuan Zhong was the Male Lead in A Moment but Forever (念无双), adapted from the novel written by the same author. He claimed he knew where the person she was looking for was. Desperate, Xin Mei said she would do anything for him to tell her.
Episode 40
After going around talking, Yuan Zhong finally revealed that he had heard of someone gluttonous who kept eating sweets at Zuixian Restaurant in the Capital. He hinted that the person might be Lu Qianqiao, since the five curses on the War Demon had been broken in heaven.
Xin Mei arrived at the Capital and kept missing Lu Qianqiao’s whereabouts. She met a painter, Childe Qi, who was the Male Lead in Love of Thousand Years (三千鸦杀), also adapted from the novel written by the same author. Childe Qi painted Lu Qianqiao, so Xin Mei could easily ask around. But still, Lu Qianqiao was nowhere to be seen.
Finally, we saw Lu Qianqiao, heading to the dock to board a boat to Yanzhou. He approached a man, who was none other than Chu Ying! He was a boatman now. Chu Ying was supposed to go to another destination. Upon seeing Lu Qianqiao, he said he would go to Yanzhou for Lu Qianqiao. It seemed he was waiting for Lu Qianqiao and Xin Mei, because he kept striking convo with Lu Qianqiao to delay the departure. Finally, Xin Mei showed up, and Chu Ying asked Lu Qianqiao if he could take another passenger. After Lu Qianqiao allowed him, he called Xin Mei. Xin Mei was happily surprised seeing Chu Ying again, whom she called by name but didn’t deny his name. Xin Mei was even more shocked seeing that the other passenger was Lu Qianqiao, the man she had loved and searched for a long time. They embarked on the boat together for their next journey.
THE END
Summary of Final Part (Major spoiler not hidden)
- Lu Qianqiao took a detour to Tianyuan Sect to destroy the Jiangmu Tree, which Li Mufu was growing to reach heaven. The Tree fed on human lives.
- Bai Zongying sent letters to every immortal sect, explaining his master’s collusion with the Qinghong Sect. Every sect sent their troops to attack Qinghong Sect.
- Bai Zongying died after sacrificing himself to ring the Ding Yuan Heavenly Bell so the Jianmu Tree could no longer absorb people’s lives. Jiang Ji died protecting Bai Zongying.
- A Sheng sacrificed herself to annihilate her father’s spirit who was colluding with Li Mofu to be gods.
- Lu Qianqiao dropped the process of exchanging his heart to be a human and chose to be the Perfect War Demon to save the world, but at the price of losing all his memories.
- Lu Qianqiao killed Li Mofu and disappeared.
- One year later, Jin Lun visited Xin Mei with the news that A Sheng had become a goddess and gave Xin Mei the chance to visit heaven and ask the deities to erase the curse on the War Demon Tribes.
- Xin Mei met Yuan Zhong, and he told her that Lu Qianqiao might be seen eating sweets in a restaurant, now that the five curses were broken. She also met painter Qi, who painted Lu Qianqiao. Both men were the Male Leads of the sequel dramas.
- Finally Xin Mei met Lu Qianqiao again, who boarded a boat with Chu Ying as the boatman.
Mini Review
- Story: The strong world-building and layered mythology create a story filled with tension and mystery. It feels like an adventure because the story constantly moves through different places, sects, dangerous missions, and side characters’ stories instead of staying focused only on the main couple’s relationship.
- Plot: Good pacing and plot revelation with twists and turns. The leads are always uncovering truths about destiny, betrayal, and past lives, which adds mystery to the journey.
- Characters: The relationship between the leads works because both characters heal and transform each other. Their connection is built on sacrifice, shared suffering, and emotional understanding rather than instant attraction.
- Many supporting characters are morally complex rather than purely good or evil. Allies often hide secrets, while villains are driven by pain, ambition, revenge, or survival. This complexity makes the drama feel more realistic despite its fantasy setting.
- Acting: The acting feels emotionally driven, which helps the fantasy storyline stay believable despite the heavy supernatural elements.
- Visuals: The drama embraces the grand xianxia aesthetic with elaborate costumes, immortal sects, and large-scale fantasy battles.
Final rating based on my rating system: 9.0/10
My Criticism
- The pacing becomes uneven in later episodes. The story occasionally wanders into side plots and sect conflicts that slow down the main storyline.
- Visually, the drama looks attractive overall, but the CGI quality in some fantasy sequences looks noticeably artificial.
Conclusion
Overall, Fate Chooses You balances adventure and romance with genuine emotional stakes and intriguing fantasy lore. It delivers enough heart, mystery, and visual spectacle to stand out among xianxia dramas. If you enjoy slow-burn romance, tragic destiny themes, and emotionally intense character arcs, this drama is definitely worth watching.
