Case in point, this is the climax of the first arc. Three guesses to who shouldn't have appeared in this scene.
The Animated Adaptation takes some notable liberties from the novel in terms of both plot progression and character portrayal.
WARNING: Beware of both marked and unmarked spoilers for the novel.
General
- The novel mentions more than once that Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi's respective qi are incompatible because they practice completely different paths of cultivation. This is shown when Shen Qiao nearly suffers a backlash when he tried to help Yan Wushi after the latter suffered a qi deviation from his fight with Ruyan Kehui. But in the donghua, they're both able to use their qi to heal the other.
- The novel reveals that Shen Qiao was poisoned only when he returns to Xuandu Mountain to confront Yu Ai about what happened after his fall. But in the Animated Adaptation, Yu Shengyan already tells Shen Qiao that he's still poisoned when he first wakes up after he got injured; and long before both of them head to Xuandu Mountain, Yan Wushi tells Shen Qiao exactly what he's been poisoned with.
Episode 1
- In the first arc, Yan Wushi sends Shen Qiao and Yu Shengyan to Northern Qi (renamed to Nanye or Southern Ye in the donghua) to assassinate Yan Zhiwen and everyone in his family. Due to his morals, Shen Qiao botches the mission by warning the target beforehand, allowing him and his family to flee to safety. The donghua tweaks with the plot a bit by having the events happen the same way they do in the novel... except that the assassination mission is eventually revealed to be a staged act meant to test how Shen Qiao would react at the prospect of implicating one person's entire family.
Episode 5
- Both Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi still stopped by a teahouse on their way to Xuandu Mountain, but they also ended up getting ambushed, which didn't happen in the novel; where they merely talked about Xuandu Mountain's traditions and how Yu Ai has been doing as the regent sect leader before continuing on their way.
- When the main duo finally arrive at Xuandu Mountain, they simply walk straight in from the main entrance. In the novel, they had to sneak their way up the mountain through a secret path, since Shen Qiao pointed out that Xuandu Mountain has put up defensive measures that would make it impossible for anyone to get through if they didn't know where they were going.
Episode 8
- When Duan Wenyang shows up during Madam Su's birthday banquet to ask for the Golden Flower Ring from her, the outcome of the confrontation differs in the novel and in the Animated Adaptation. In the novel, she surrenders it to Duan Wenyang. But in the donghua, she doesn't have the ring on her person, and it's revealed that the ruckus Duan Wenyang is causing is only a distraction while Kunye infiltrates the secret chambers of Su Manor to find the ring himself. To add, Kunye does not even show up in this plot arc in the novel.
Episode 11
- In the novel, when Yan Wushi suffered a qi deviation from his duel with Ruyan Kehui, it was because he was attempting to cultivate a Daoist core alongside his own demonic core at the time. However, both cores were incompatible with the other, and the aftermath of the duel ended up exacerbating its effects that he ended up having a minor qi deviation. The donghua changes the circumstances behind said qi deviation: during the fight that ensued from the assassination attempt on Yuwen Qing, Yuan Xiuxiu shot Yan Wushi with a poisoned needle to damage his core, which Ruyan Kehui helped worsen by forcing Yan Wushi to use the Fenglin Yuandian in their duel.
- Li Yue, the first of the two (alongside Bai Rong) who tried to kill Yan Wushi while the latter was undergoing a qi deviation, doesn't show up in the episode. Duan Wenyang takes his place, and their intentions for killing Yan Wushi also differ. Li Yue wants to kill Yan Wushi to gain glory and fame, while Duan Wenyang's main goal is to get the Golden Flower Ring from Yan Wushi and only attempts to kill him as well because Yan Wushi has impeded their plans one time too many.
- When Bai Rong tracks down Shen Qiao and attempts to kill Yan Wushi, she changes her mind at the last second by stating that it would be better to render Yan Wushi brain-dead than actually kill him. But in the donghua, she remains intent on taking his life.
- After Bai Rong flees the scene, Yan Wushi wakes up and strangles Shen Qiao to near-death, asking his intentions for saving him despite having the perfect opportunity to kill him or stand back and let others kill him. And because Shen Qiao is too weakened from the strangulation and the injuries he got from fighting against Li Yue and Bai Rong, Yan Wushi carries Shen Qiao down the mountain. It all happens differently in the donghua: Yan Wushi wakes up like in the novel, but his mind is still in disarray due to his qi deviation being more severe. Mistakenly assuming that Shen Qiao stole the Golden Flower Ring and is trying to kill him, Yan Wushi attacks the latter and walks to the edge of the cliff, threatening to drop Shen Qiao if he doesn't surrender the ring. Shen Qiao succumbs to his injuries and coughs out blood, which snaps Yan Wushi out of his qi deviation and throw Shen Qiao back to the ground. And this time, Shen Qiao is the one who carries Yan Wushi down the mountain.
Episode 15
- When Shen Qiao defeats Kunye in their rematch and Kunye tells him of the plan to have Yan Wushi ambushed, he doesn't tell Shen Qiao that Yan Wushi is a descendant of the Xie clan like he does in the novel. This makes the possibility of Xie Ling and A-Yan showing up in the second season a lot more ambiguous.
Episode 16
- In the novel, Yan Wushi's core was nearly shattered after his defensive qi was exhausted and destroyed from the ambush. In the donghua, he intentionally used up all of his qi and risked detonating his own core to protect Shen Qiao from Xueting's attack.
