General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Love Better Than Immortality (天雷一部之春花秋月)

Love Better Than Immortality (天雷一部之春花秋月) is a 2019 Chinese costume romance web drama in which a young woman from the year 2169 gives up immortality to travel into a fictional wuxia world and experience love for the first time.¹^•² It was produced by Alibaba Pictures, directed by Huang Chun, and stars Zhao Lusi, Li Hongyi, and Wu Junyu.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	天雷一部之春花秋月 (Tiān léi yī bù zhī chūnhuā qiūyuè)⁴
Basis	Adapted from the web novel 穿越之天雷一部 by Shu Ke, a writer described as a master of time-slip stories³^•⁵
Run	40 episodes on Youku, 5 July to 16 August 2019, Fridays at 20:00⁶^•¹
Lead cast	Zhao Lusi as Chun Hua (Lei Lei), Li Hongyi as Shangguan Qiuyue, Wu Junyu as Xiao Bai³^•⁷
Performance	Held a Top 3 position on Youku's rankings for 47 consecutive days in July 2019⁸
Budget	60 million yuan⁷
Ratings	7.2/10 on IMDb (351 votes); 9.3 on Rakuten Viki⁹^•¹⁰

Spoilers

Premise

The story opens in 2169, when humanity has achieved immortality but love has been reduced to physiological stimulation delivered through a VR helmet. A young woman named Lei Lei rejects this existence and gives up her immortality for a chance at true love, arranged through a service called the Tianlei System. Before departing she lists her requirements for a "Mr. Right": handsome, faithful, powerful, and doting, in a story full of twists and sweet moments.²

She transmigrates into a fictional martial arts world under the alias Chun Hua (春花). There she becomes entangled with two young men on opposing sides, one clad in white and one in black, and must choose between an instant connection and a love that develops over time.²^•¹¹ The man she meets first, the upright young estate master Xiao Bai (played by Wu Junyu), is designated her destined partner; she then falls in with the notorious, cold-blooded swordsman Shangguan Qiuyue (Li Hongyi), who takes her in under the pretense that she is his sister, and is gradually drawn to him despite herself.⁷^•⁵

Production and broadcast

The drama began filming in June 2018, when People's Daily's entertainment section reported the start of production with Li Hongyi, Zhao Lusi, and Wu Junyu in the leading roles.¹² It premiered on Youku on 5 July 2019 and ran through 16 August 2019 as a 40-episode series.⁶ Alibaba Pictures' 2019 interim report credited the costume romance with holding a Top 3 spot on Youku's rankings for 47 consecutive days in July, breaking out of the summer season as a low-budget surprise hit.⁸

Japanese sources describe the production as a 60-million-yuan effort by the up-and-coming director Huang Chun, and note that the series reached hundreds of millions of views on Youku; one account gives 840 million plays, another more than 1 billion.⁷^•⁵ For Japanese television broadcast the series was re-edited into 32 episodes, with the running time adjusted for the local schedule while the content itself remained uncut.⁷

Genre placement and reception

The drama belongs to the wave of Chinese "transmigration" (chuanyue) romances in which a modern protagonist travels into a historical or fictional past, and it is frequently listed among the genre's self-aware, meta entries.¹³ Reviewers classify it as romance, historical, and time travel, with a fantasy universe modeled on the wuxia world of martial-arts heroes and villains.⁴^•¹⁴

Viewer response has been divided. The series holds a 7.2/10 weighted rating on IMDb and a 9.3 user score on Rakuten Viki.⁹^•¹⁰ On MyShows, where the series averages about 4.1 out of 5 per episode, commenters praise the chemistry between the leads and Shangguan Qiuyue's charisma, while also noting absurd plot moments and stretches they found boring.⁶

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Chinese wuxia and martial-arts serials

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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