Love Beyond the Grave | Review

A Ghost Lord enamored with humanity succumbs to the charms of mortal General who can show her the world as she's never seen it.

Notable Actors/Actresses

Dilraba Dilmurat: He Si Mu

Chen Fei Yu: Duan Xu

Wei Zhe Ming: Yan Ke

Director

Qin Zhen

Producer

Huang Xiao Ming

Chinese Title

白日提燈

Carrying a Lantern in Broad Daylight

Genres: Costume Qihuan, Romance

Network: Tencent Video

Year: 2026
Episodes: 40

Jump to Remarks | Review | Recs | Comments

Cast

Dilraba Dilmurat: He Si Mu	Chen Fei Yu: Duan Xu
Wei Zhe Ming: Yan Ke	Zhang Li: Jiang Ai
Gao He Yuan: (Previously "Gao Han") Fang Xian Ye	Yang Xi Zi: Duan Jing Yuan
Zhao Yi Qin: Han Ling Qiu	Gu Zi Cheng: Lu Da
Yan Bi Guo: Meng Wan	Fu Bo Han: Xue Chen Ying
Xu Bin: Xia Qing Sheng	You Xian Chao: Wu Sheng Liu
Huang Zhen Yu: Wang Jin	Baron Chen: Bai San Xing
Ding Jia Wen: Feng Yi	An Yue Xi: Yan Zhang
Xu Wei Luo: Xue Chen Ying (older)	Hu Yi Yao: Zi Ji
Tu Zhi Ying: Mai Zi	Chen Chuang: Guan Huai

Romcom/Romance Checklist

Completed by Geo 🙇🏻‍♀️

How much of the plot is angst/romance?

0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

The ML:

Cold–Lukewarm–Warm / Timid / Tsundere / Falls in Love First / "Reborn" / Noble Idiot / CEO / General

The FL:

Bold / Cute / Cool & Independent / Falls in Love First / Better than ML (Queen) / "Reborn" / Noble Idiot / Business-woman

Describe the Relationship (the tropes):

Annoying Love Rival +++ / Bickering Start / Childhood Connection / Cohabitation / Contract Marriage or Fake Couple / Enemies to Lovers / Hidden Identity / Healing Love / Harem / Love Triangle / Married Couple (Real) / Opposites Attract / Pining Love / Second Chance / Secretly in Love (F/ML) / School to Adulthood / Star-Crossed Lovers

Relationship Progress (officially together; first (official) kiss; breakup*):

Ep 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23* / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33 / 34 / 35* / 36 / 37 / 38 / 39 / 40

# of CPs (including main CP):
0 / 1 / 2.5 / 3

Secondary CP spoilers. Click for more details

Feng Yi and Zi Ji never come fully out as a couple but Ziji never leaves his side and it's kind of obvious why. The half a point is for Duan Jing Yuan and Fang Xian Ye who liked each other but nothing ever came out of it.

Ending:

Happy / Sad / Open Happy / Open Sad / Bad / Rushed+++

Remarks

[Drama Info]

The executive producer is actually the actor, Huang Xiao Ming. Directed by Qin Zhen and she gave usfantasy dramas like Lost You Forever and Love Scenery (the video game parts).

There's a reunion between Dilraba Dilmurat and Zhang Li who were enemies in Love on the Turquoise Land.

There's a Gao He Yuan in the cast. Who? That's Gao Han's new name since 2026.

Wrapped on February 3, 2025.

[Synopsis] By Geo

He Simu, a 400 year old Spirit Sovereign, meets Duan Xu, a mortal man, who holds her family's sword. As she gets closer to him to figure out how he became the master of it, she grows more and more curious about him as a person. Through different trials, together they bring balance between their respective worlds and find a deep and unwavering love that transcends time.

[Ending] By Geo

Open Happy. Click for more details

There are two endings for this drama. The main ending at the end is an open ambiguous ending with happy overtones because the leads are technically together even if it feels piteous but the FL is at peace. There's a more clear happy ending in the 6 minute bonus episode that kind of completely overturns the ending the main drama provided.

Reviews

Submit Your Review | Rating Guide

Five (5/5)

Four (4/5)

Reviewer: Geo

Date: Apr 2026

Hearts: ♥♥♥

Perhaps I'm just riding the high of the last episodes or maybe it's because this has been just about the only thing in a hot minute that I've been excited about. I can't even trust my own judgement when it comes to that rating. Lol

This drama has two endings: an ambiguously happy ending that is sad for some and a more openly happy ending. Either way, He Simu is at peace in both endings but in one she's more obviously happy. 

First off, let me say thank you to the costume designers for finally putting Dilireba in colors other than reds and pinks. She was in an array of colors in this drama and she looked beautiful in most even when her hairstyle was a tad unflattering (her mortal world hairstyle, iykyk). I don't want to talk about Duan Xu's costumes because those top buns very rarely look good on anybody (my own opinion, don't come for me). I much preferred his Void costumes as well as his North Chong costume(s). Let your hair down, king!

Second off, I'm not bothered by any of the actors chosen to play any of the characters. Dilireba shines as a ghost lord and Chen Feiyu is adequate as a helplessly in love mortal with a knack for warfare. I didn't even have a problem with Gao Heyuan, though I was more paying attention to his character's journey rather than his acting as an actor (man still has work to do though, but he wasn't bad).

Thirdly, this is one of the few dramas where I felt the romance and the other plotlines were given almost an equal amount of screen time, even in the last stretch of episodes. Now it did feel like Lu Da's obsession happened rather quickly but if you think back, it did foreshadow it with his fanaticism of Cangshen beliefs. But at the moment, I had forgotten that part because it was so far back and it only dawned on me during my watch of the subsequent episodes.

Fourthly, I really like the usage of foreshadowing throughout the entirety of the drama. Sometimes it takes a while to see how something was foreshadowed but as soon as you remember, everything seems to click into place. I love that for us.

Last but not least, the villain's incentive. All the villains at each stage really. They made logical sense whether it was mortal politics or Spirit politics. As soon as you realize you can't see the spirits in black and white because they are literally ruled by their obsessions, it makes it rather hard to not understand their motivations even if you still can't stand them as a character. I wasn't left questioning why someone suddenly went cuckoo for cocoa puffs all of the sudden, if you catch my drift.

I think the biggest thing that bothered me was that Duan Xu was rendered more or less useless in the Void and just seemed like a tag-along. But as I think more on it, his uselessness makes sense as he's only a mortal and He Simu can stand on her own even at her worst moments (finally a strong and smart FL that really doesn't need any man, she just wants one particular man). The next thing that slightly bothered me was the slightly boring shift in tone after Duan Xu and He Simu's first real separation. I still found myself focusing on each plot but I did miss the banter and seeing the leads together. Another thing, there's one last thing that bothers me but it's more out of confusion rather than anything else and that is how did Duan Xu get the powang sword? Were we just supposed to accept his words about receiving it from an old man on a bridge or did they just forget to fully close that plotline? Was the old man on a bridge not important enough? How did he even get the sword in the first place? At this point, I might actually need to read the entire novel or else these questions might haunt me for the rest of my life.

Three (3/5)

Two (2/5)

One (1/5)

Recommendations

Genre List:

Costume Qihuan

Fantasy	Fantasy	Fantasy

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