# Till the End of the Moon (长月烬明)
*Till the End of the Moon* (长月烬明) is a 2023 Chinese xianxia (Chinese fantasy genre of immortal cultivators and demon gods) fantasy romance television series directed by Ju Jueliang (鞠觉亮), led by [Luo Yunxi](https://www.edgepedia.org/luo-yunxi) and Bai Lu with Chen Duling, adapted from the web novel *Hei Yue Guang Na Wen BE Ju Ben* (黑月光拿稳BE剧本) by Teng Luo Wei Zhi (藤萝为枝), and broadcast on Youku from April 6, 2023 in 40 episodes.[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) • [2](https://www.cpophome.com/till-the-end-of-the-moon-luo-yunxi-bai-lu/) It tells the story of Li Susu, daughter of the head of the Hengyang Sect, who travels back five hundred years to stop the hostage prince Dantai Jin from becoming the demon god who will destroy the world.[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) The drama set several Youku viewership records and became one of the most discussed Chinese series of 2023, while its Douban rating settled in the mid-5s.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426) • [4](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1159520135_451cdf87001011kva.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original / English title | 长月烬明 / Till the End of the Moon[2](https://www.cpophome.com/till-the-end-of-the-moon-luo-yunxi-bai-lu/) |
| Broadcast | Youku, from April 6, 2023; 40 episodes[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) • [5](https://www.viki.com/tv/39703c-till-the-end-of-the-moon?locale=zh) |
| Source novel | *黑月光拿稳BE剧本* by Teng Luo Wei Zhi, with more than 800,000 collections on Jinjiang Literature City[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) • [6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) |
| Lead cast | Luo Yunxi (Dantai Jin), Bai Lu (Li Susu), Chen Duling, with Deng Wei, Sun Zhenni, Yu Bo, Huang Haibing, Zheng Guolin, and Zhang Zhixi[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) • [2](https://www.cpophome.com/till-the-end-of-the-moon-luo-yunxi-bai-lu/) |
| Platform record | Youku heat score broke 10,000 within 29 hours of premiere, the fastest in the platform's history, and stayed above 10,000 for 34 days[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426) |
| First-day reach | 22.76% first-day market share of all online drama playback per Lighthouse data, the highest for a costume drama debut in three years[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) |
| Douban rating | Opened at 6.2 with over 100,000 raters, then settled around 5.6[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) • [4](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1159520135_451cdf87001011kva.html) |
| Merchandise | Derivative sales exceeded 14 million yuan; a character-themed bracelet passed 10 million yuan, a crowdfunding record for a Chinese drama IP[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and adaptation
The story is set in a world of "four continents and three realms" (四洲三界), built on the cosmology of gods, demons, and humans found in ancient Chinese texts such as the *Shan Hai Jing* and the *Zhuangzi*.[7](https://chinapavilion.com.cn/art_det/id/1719.html) Dantai Jin, a prince of the state of Jing born with a "demon bone" (邪骨), is fated to become the demon god ruling the four continents and three realms. Li Susu uses the Past Mirror (过去镜) to travel back five hundred years, inhabiting the body of Ye Xiwu, the youngest daughter of the Ye family, to stop him before his corruption is complete; the two become entangled and redeem each other across three lifetimes.[1](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html) • [8](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html)
**Screenwriters' intent.** Writers He Fang and Luo Xuan said a major aim of the adaptation was to strengthen the "chivalric spirit" (侠气) of the cast, so that the dark Dantai Jin, the light-seeking Li Susu, and even the ineffectual Ye Zeyu all carry a sense of martial righteousness.[9](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202304/14/content_188270.html) They described drawing on mythology and classical aesthetics throughout the script, sometimes directly and sometimes through transformation: the demon god's dragon-drawn chariot borrows phrasing from Chu ci poetry, the script quotes the "King Sibi cutting his flesh to save a dove" story painted in the [Dunhuang murals](https://www.edgepedia.org/dunhuang-murals) as a metaphor for the leads' relationship, and the water-pinning stone beneath the Mo River derives from the sea-calming needle imagery.[8](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html) One commentary noted that the television script simplified the novel's parallel three lifetimes into a single-dimensional cycle of cause and effect.[10](https://yule.360.com/detail/3356879)
The series is organized into four chapters, the Demon God, Mortal World, Immortal Sect, and [Wilderness](https://www.edgepedia.org/wilderness) arcs (魔神篇, 人间篇, 仙门篇, 荒渊篇), each with its own character but sharing a single underlying logic.[11](https://www.renderbus.com/news/post-id-1224/)
## Dunhuang aesthetics and design
**Visual identity.** The production broke from the pale "funeral style" (丧葬风) palette common to recent xianxia dramas by drawing on the rich, saturated colors of Dunhuang art. Production designer Luan Hexin said the team set Dunhuang color as the base and used "light" to thread through the entire worldview.[8](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html) Costume designer Huang Wei said the clothing referenced Dunhuang flying-apse figures, [Mogao Caves](https://www.edgepedia.org/mogao-caves) mural patterns, the fantastic coloration of Danxia and [Yardang](https://www.edgepedia.org/yardang) landforms, and [Silk Road](https://www.edgepedia.org/silk-road) ornamentation from the Western Regions.[12](https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/resfile/2023-04-30/A05/ycwb20230430A05.pdf) The costume department reported making more than 2,000 sets of clothing for the series.[13](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9272740.html) Details that drew particular praise included the pearl headdress worn by Bai Lu's clam-spirit character and Chen Duling's goddess styling.[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9246464.html)
**Visual effects.** The demon god's first appearance, riding a six-dragon chariot through clouds with twin walls of fire and falling meteors behind him, and the "Twelve Gods battle the Demon God" sequence, built on the legend of the twelve ancestral shamans and twelve forces including the five elements and weather, were singled out as showcase effects.[8](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html) Nine domestic visual-effects companies worked on the series alongside the worldview concept team Hua Tian Concept Art and visual-effects director Shen Xufeng, including NovaFilm, Timeaxis, and Mogong VFX.[11](https://www.renderbus.com/news/post-id-1224/)
## Broadcast performance
The series set records before and during its run. Pre-release reservations on Youku broke the platform's drama reservation record, reported as passing four million viewers before premiere[8](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html) and as exceeding five million by a later summary.[15](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0511/c419388-32683632.html) During broadcast, the platform's heat score broke 10,000 within 29 hours of premiere, the fastest in Youku's history, and remained above 10,000 for 34 days as of the report's writing; the drama became Youku's most-played web drama in three years, with a peak Cloud Delta effective-playback market share above 33.2 percent, and it topped Mao Eyes and Kuyun monthly charts.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426) • [15](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0511/c419388-32683632.html)
**Measured by other yardsticks.** Per Lighthouse Professional Edition data, first-day market share of all online drama playback reached 22.76 percent, the highest first-day figure for a costume drama in three years, ahead of *Love Between Fairy and Devil* and *Immortal Samsara*.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) Within eight days of release the drama had accumulated 2,524 trending hashtag topics on Weibo, more than half of the 4,299 that *Love Between Fairy and Devil* accumulated over its whole 2022 run.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) Commercially, it was the top drama of April 2023 in number of brand partners and Youku's top drama for client recruitment that year, and it drove tourism interest in cities associated with its imagery, including Bengbu and [Xuancheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/xuancheng) in Anhui, Dunhuang in Gansu, and Qingdao in Shandong; the pearl-woman sculpture in Bengbu's Zhanggong Mountain Park became a popular photo site through its association with the characters Ming Ye and Sang Jiu.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426)
## Reception and criticism
Audience response divided sharply between heat and口碑. On Douban the drama opened at 6.2 with more than 100,000 raters, then drifted down and settled around 5.6 by the end of its run.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) • [4](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1159520135_451cdf87001011kva.html) Positive reviews concentrated on the special effects and the leads' performances; negative reviews targeted the script, with representative comments such as "however inventive the effects and visuals, they cannot cover a clichéd and boring plot."[4](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1159520135_451cdf87001011kva.html) Critics noted that while the first-life plot of an abandoned son rising to kingship had some novelty, the dream arc turning the hero into a war god saving humanity, the "marriage before love" thread, and the "beautiful, strong, tragic" characterization repeated formulas familiar from earlier xianxia hits.[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9246464.html) Complaints also covered the male lead's slight frame against the costumes, heavy makeup, flat lighting, and the re-dubbing of much of the later episodes, which left dialogue out of sync with the actors' mouths.[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9246464.html) • [16](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9284349.html)
Against this, cultural commentary praised the drama's grounding in [Chinese mythology](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-mythology). The China Writers Network credited it with internalizing the theme of love for all living beings into its characters' growth and faith, and Youku positioned it as part of a "xianxia brand" carrying traditional [Chinese culture](https://www.edgepedia.org/chinese-culture) to overseas audiences.[15](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0511/c419388-32683632.html) • [7](https://chinapavilion.com.cn/art_det/id/1719.html) General producer [Wang Yirong](https://www.edgepedia.org/wang-yirong) framed the story's core as an anti-fatalistic choice: a person cannot choose their birth but can choose their path, echoing legends such as Kua Fu chasing the sun and Jingwei filling the sea. She explained the ending, in which Dantai Jin sacrifices himself to destroy the demon god, as a death of the body rather than of the spirit, with the god returning to the world as wind and sunlight.[3](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426)
## Place in the xianxia genre
Commentary placed the series within the lineage of the genre that began with *Chinese Paladin* in 2005 and produced milestone hits such as *[The Journey of Flower](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-journey-of-flower)* in 2015, treating *Till the End of the Moon* as the genre's next major talking point.[17](https://gdxk.ccut.edu.cn/__local/B/44/D9/0C70BA63C2012167F58B388ADB6_823F9D1E_12D0EF.pdf) Its debut-day and heat records demonstrated the commercial strength of the IP-plus-star-plus-S+ budget formula, while its mid-5s Douban score showed the same formula drawing audience pushback, a gap industry commentary read as a signal that the genre's basic template needed renewal rather than bigger budgets.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782) • [14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9246464.html) After its domestic run the drama was also made available on Netflix.[10](https://yule.360.com/detail/3356879) It later ranked among the top S+ costume dramas in platform data covering 2022 through 2024.[18](https://epaper.qingdaonews.com/qdwb/resfile/2024-11-11/A11/qdwb-20241111-A11.pdf)
## References
1. [《长月烬明》电视剧简介, 买购网](https://www.maigoo.com/citiao/989443.html)
2. [Till the End of the Moon, CPOP HOME](https://www.cpophome.com/till-the-end-of-the-moon-luo-yunxi-bai-lu/)
3. [哲辨、传承、创新，《长月烬明》以何点燃观众｜专访总制片人王翼荣, 澎湃新闻 (2023)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_23084426)
4. [电影频道评《长月烬明》，仙侠服化道"天花板"之跌落神坛, 新浪新闻 (2023)](https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1159520135_451cdf87001011kva.html)
5. [长月烬明, Rakuten Viki](https://www.viki.com/tv/39703c-till-the-end-of-the-moon?locale=zh)
6. [《长月烬明》：豆瓣6.2，仙侠第一还是营销第一？, 澎湃新闻 (2023)](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_22752782)
7. [优酷《长月烬明》：在中国神话中解读文化自信, 中国联合展台](https://chinapavilion.com.cn/art_det/id/1719.html)
8. [把敦煌"搬上"屏幕，罗云熙、白鹿上演三生虐恋, 南方都市报 (2023)](https://static.nfnews.com/content/202304/07/c7543116.html)
9. [避免"有偶无侠" 让每个角色都有侠义之气, 辽沈晚报 (2023)](https://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lswbepaper/pad/con/202304/14/content_188270.html)
10. [忽略白鹿、罗云熙的黑粉恶意评分，《长月烬明》值得更高分, 360娱乐](https://yule.360.com/detail/3356879)
11. [《长月烬明》特效出圈？国内9家视效公司联手打造国风新仙侠, 瑞云渲染](https://www.renderbus.com/news/post-id-1224/)
12. [羊城晚报 A05 (2023-04-30), 黄薇 costume design interview](https://ep.ycwb.com/epaper/ycwb/resfile/2023-04-30/A05/ycwb20230430A05.pdf)
13. [《长月烬明》造型详解：主打敦煌风，全剧2000多套衣服, 界面新闻 (2023)](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9272740.html)
14. [《长月烬明》口碑与热度两极分化，仙侠剧依然在等待"重生"？, 界面新闻 (2023)](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9246464.html)
15. [聚焦大爱与成长，《长月烬明》极致演绎东方神话浪漫, 中国作家网 (2023)](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0511/c419388-32683632.html)
16. [古偶剧失灵，《长月烬明》是回光返照还是口碑崩坏？, 界面新闻 (2023)](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9284349.html)
17. [被"观看"的期待与被"期待"的观看, 新闻与传播研究](https://gdxk.ccut.edu.cn/__local/B/44/D9/0C70BA63C2012167F58B388ADB6_823F9D1E_12D0EF.pdf)
18. [青岛晚报 A11 (2024-11-11), S+ drama rankings](https://epaper.qingdaonews.com/qdwb/resfile/2024-11-11/A11/qdwb-20241111-A11.pdf)
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*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 › East Asian web and streaming serials › Titles Sp to Z*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license