YMMV / Tian Ya Ke

• Adaptation Displacement: This wouldn't be much of a problem if the Live-Action Adaptation wasn't so different from the source material, causing people to overlook the novel due to it's different tone.
• Awesome Music: Even with only two openings, both of its lyrics and instruments capture the novel's atmosphere perfectly, let it be leaving wordly matters to be, or finding one's zhījǐ.
• Bizarro Episode: The whole brothel-house segment, who knew Zhou Zishu's drawing skills were ''that'' good?
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: The novel fans don't take too kindly to people who bash the novel due to it's difference from Word of Honor or deem it as the inferior story. One of the most defining differences is that the show plays into wuxia clichés while the novel actively avoids them, this extends to the character's personalities and relationships. People who are a fan of both often suggest seeing both materials as two separate works.
• Fandom Rivalry: Comically enough, it's between the Word Of Honor fandom and the Tian Ya Ke fandom, there is a lot of discourse concerning which source is the "superior" source. See the above point.
• Fanfic Fuel: Priest tends to leave things ambiguous for the reader's imagination, leading fans to imagine Wen Kexing's childhood in the Ghost Valley, Gu Xiang's childhood, Zhou Zishu's time period between Liang Jiuxiao's death and his depart... etc.
• Fanon: Zigzagged. The characterisation of the show and some one dimensional vision of the characters can cause outsiders to think some things are canon, when they are either show-only, or a simple misconception.
• Genius Bonus: In Tian Ya Ke original source, there are many philosophical, cultural and literature references, one must either have extensive knowledge of those aspects in Chinese culture, or for the non-Chinese audience, the translator be kind enough to explain things in notes.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Wen Kexing's "tales" that sounded ominous and ambiguous, only for it to be a cover up for the most traumatic memory in his life. There is also his weird attention to shoulderblades, only because he saw his mother as the most beautiful person, and he always knew her by her shoulderblades.
  • Wen Kexing's ability to cook and do chorus, innocent at first, but then fans remember that he was forced to know those stuff in order to survive the Ghost Valley and take care of Gu Xiang.
  • For the people who read Qi Ye after Tian Ya Ke, every throwback to the events/Liang Jiuxiao become more painful.
• Never Live It Down: Downplayed. People who have read Qi Ye will sometimes side eye Zhou Zishu for the way he dealt with a "certain" matter. He didn't do it personally, but he was complicit regardless.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Because of its tie to Word of Honor, when the controversy of the lead actor rose up, the drama had a stain on it, dragging Tian Ya Ke along. This is further amplified by the fans of Word of Honor misusing the Tian Ya Ke tag and name, causing the tag to be mostly consisted of the drama and by default, the controversy too.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu as WenZhou / Cao Weining and Gu Xiang as NingXiang.
• Signature Scene: While there are many memorable scenes, the There’s light on you, I want to catch it and see takes the cake for many.
• Tear Jerker: The fate of Gu Xiang and Cao Weining is gut wrenching to many fans, even if they got their happy ending, the event is painful to remember.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Live-Action Adaptation: Due to the drastic changes, some people don't consider Word Of Honor as Tian Ya Ke's live adaption. Especially the character personalities changes that led to the change in their dynamic that most found different and memorable, seeing it as a disservice or a downgrade.
  • Audio Drama: Some fans complained that the director/actors misinterpreted a certain dialogue or a certain character, therefore the choice of tone was improper or too out-of-character.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Some think that some of the side characters could have been further explored, or at least deserved a better death like Liu Qianqiao.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Subverted. While many understand that the novel's focus isn't on the plot, they still wished there was more focus on it. Some fans praise Word of Honor for expanding on it.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Some people (mainly those who aren't familiar with the genre) may find issues or uneasiness with Wen Kexing's advances, making him seem like a Depraved Homosexual or even worse. This is caused by the cultural differences in media, as this is very common in danmei, where the flirting can be aggressive or non-mutual, especially for the "persuading" character.
  • The chapters concerning Long Que can be seen as ableist and seemingly mocking of people with disabilities.
• Values Resonance: Wen Kexing being the more feminine of the two, the most emotionally open and calling himself the wife while being the gōng of the novel, was rather uncommon for its time.
  • Priest's work in general subverts the typical danmei dynamics, and WenZhou were no exception.
• The Woobie: Wen Kexing fits into this perfectly, the guy never caught a break since he was nine, and him narrating his traumatic life in the finale doesn't make it any better.