Heaven Official’s Blessing

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Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the Crown Prince of the Xian Le kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however, due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again–only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension.

Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a god thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious ghost who rules over the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this ghost king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.

Associated Names
One entry per line
La bendición del Oficial del Cielo
TGCF
Thiên Quan Tứ Phúc
Tian Guan Ci Fu
Благословение Небожителей
สวรรค์ประทานพร
天官賜福
天官赐福
천관사복
Related Series
N/A
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Recommendation Lists
  1. Highly Recommended Danmeis (Best Reads!)
  2. Danmei series that I've read throughout the year P...
  3. read/reading
  4. Completed
  5. Mature Relationships

Latest Release

Date Group Release
11/29/20 Deep Dream Translations c40
10/07/20 Deep Dream Translations c39
07/18/20 Deep Dream Translations c38
06/08/20 Deep Dream Translations c37
05/17/20 Deep Dream Translations c36 part2
05/06/20 Deep Dream Translations c36 part1
04/19/20 Deep Dream Translations c35 part2
04/13/20 Deep Dream Translations c35 part1
04/06/20 Deep Dream Translations c34
03/26/20 Deep Dream Translations c33
03/09/20 Deep Dream Translations c32
03/01/20 Deep Dream Translations c31
02/23/20 Deep Dream Translations c30
02/15/20 Deep Dream Translations c29 part4
12/08/19 Deep Dream Translations c29 part3
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sqaz
sqaz rated it
June 20, 2019
Status: c198
I haven't quite finished this novel but I've gotten through enough of it to confidently give it a 3.5. I've read both of MXTX's other works and enjoyed them, particularly MDZS which imo is her best. For me one of the most compelling elements of MDZS was the family dynamics, world-building, and the complex relationships that all the characters had with each other. (It's not a coincidence that one of the best subplots in TGCF involved brothers, the Wind and Water Masters.) The romance in MDZS, like the romance in... more>> this novel, was relatively simplistic: the ML was devoted to the MC from the very beginning which the reader knew, and the only tension or suspense in the build-up to them getting together was waiting for the MC to realize what the reader already knows.

This is a common trope and it can be very fluffy and sweet in small doses, but I really don't think that it works when drawn out over almost 200 chapters. At some point the deliberate obtuseness of the MC becomes annoying and there isn't any romantic tension left in the story. In TGCF the whole thing just became excessive and self-indulgent. In MDZS, the simplicity of the romance was offset by the incredible complexity of all the other characters' interactions, so LWJ and WWX's relationship felt like a sanctuary and a refuge. But in TGCF, while the cast is similarly epic, the MC seems much less involved with the other characters. Huacheng is of course not involved at all because the only thing he cares about is Xielian (this is another trope that I dislike because I think it creates very shallow characters). So the MC and ML are kind of just tagging along to these other stories for some contrived reason and don't appear to have many vested relationships with other characters, making their own relationship seem frankly boring, and also making the reader wonder why we are delving into these classic MXTX-style intricate subplots about characters that the MC and ML don't really care about too much. Of course Xielian does make some friends, but he's just so zen that his friendships don't seem to carry much emotional weight to him; also, the narrative is insistent that HC is the only person who truly cares about XL, further isolating him from his friendships. Ultimately I just think that this novel was just too long to sustain such a static main romance and interminable side plots.

I also really didn't enjoy the Ban Yue subplot and almost quit the book because of it. It was actually racist-
Spoiler

-I mean, dark-skinned savage warrior people who live in the desert and invent su*cide bombing???

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I'm shocked that I've never seen anyone bring this up before. It was upsetting to read!! There were also some lazy world-building things which put me off--like, how many gods are there who all knew each other in their past lives?! And the info-dumps were just silly after a while, at least in MDZS they were used a bit more sparingly and in slightly more creative ways other than "Huacheng's magic butterflies are pre-recorded reruns of the entirety of history". Thus the emotional impact of those backstories was pretty much nil.

All in all, I have enjoyed this novel enough to read 198 chapters of it, and I intend to finish it, and I think it's probably worth giving a shot. I do think that MXTX's sideplots are really fun to unravel, and there was enough complexity in the main plot to hold my attention. XL's journey really was somewhat moving at points and I didn't entirely hate the romance, I just thought it was bland. TL;DR: I wish that she had brought in some more of the complex character dynamics that made MDZS so interesting, been a little less self-indulgent with the sappy romance, and held off on the xenophobic seasoning a little bit. <<less
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AbsoluteMeowster
AbsoluteMeowster rated it
December 17, 2019
Status: Completed
Be warned that I'm in the middle of the third book and thus this is only my reflection so far.

I really wanted to love this. Really really wanted to. I mean, the author is legendary, writing so many famous novels that touch the heart and stirs the soul.

But I really struggled with this one. In GDC, the light joy was mixed with the dark agony perfectly, complimenting one another. When it got dark, it never got too dark with the beautiful banter and unspoken words, yet when it was light-hearted,... more>> there was always a feeling of dread for the next tragedy.

But in this novel, it was like being doused in cold water. Something terrible would happen, and you would reach the climax, but it would never end neatly. The ending of that arc would be unsatisfyingly left open, and instead, you're forced fed dog food/fluff that seems discordant with what the entire arc was building up to.

*SPOILERS* Like the water demon arc. The water god died sacrificing himself for his brother, and our MC watched all of that go down, yet is immediately dragged out for his all-powerful lover, and then they go and do their happy home life thing while the mystery of what happened to the wind god just... ends. At this point, you realize, yes, the MC is powerless, but it's so... discordant. Here we just had a very powerful scene of brotherly love and vengence, and then we're immediately transported to the MC's denial of his attraction to ML and their home life. *END SPOILERS*

Maybe this will get better. There's so many unsolved mysteries and loose ends, yet the author keeps adding more and more, never subsequently dealing with all of them well. The flashbacks are a little abrupt too (an entire book of a flashback was dropped in the middle of a present-day intense conflict). It's a little bit frustrating, and at this point, I couldn't care less about the romance, I just want an explanation for everything.

I'm going to keep reading till the end in the vain hopes that everything ends neatly, because I love this author so much and I swear, all these loose ends keep me up at night. I'll go back and change my review once I finish this novel. Please please let it get better. <<less
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Unbekanntoffel
Unbekanntoffel rated it
April 5, 2019
Status: Completed
3 stars because they focused so much on MC and ML that you could turn this into a slice of life without any issues. No need for all this 'gods and demons' stuff. They barely even gave that any actual importance.

No significant world building, cute side characters (How do you write such interesting and amazing SIDE CHARACTERS and THEN make your MC and ML like THAT (disappointingly boring) ?????), God's are as abundant as grass (despite being emphasized as a super rare occurrence), super powerful demons that can't even beat... more>> ML....

Spoiler

Mingxiong deserved more than being forgotten after his arc!! He was such a great character, and they just threw him away....

The demon cousin shouldn't have been so useless! I hate him but goddamn, he's one of the 4 great demons yet he's so shitty? Not even a redemption arc??? The author clearly only made him a famous demon because he's the MC's cousin.

[collapse]

I honestly dislike the MC's personality. Especially some of his actions, which were the epitome of s*upidity.

Spoiler

Lmao you go around resenting your collars but you legit go asking for 2 instead of 1? What's this, a buy one get one free sale???

Also, despite being the paragon of goodness, he doesn't care that his demon BF runs a demonic town where they sell human bodies on the streets? Wow.

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ML was ok. He's really dedicated and nice to the MC, but he doesn't stand out that much. Just like any other chinese ML he does everything for MC and loves him forever because..
Spoiler

He told him not to kill himself for him, that's like literally it. Which, apparently, is strong enough for him to become a super demon to protect him? Yea sure, sounds legit.

[collapse]

Also, man only got 1 paragraph of backstory and that's it 💀 It will NEVER not make me salty. <<less
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jiazhuoyi
jiazhuoyi rated it
October 6, 2020
Status: Completed
CHARACTERS:

The main character was just a cardboard cutout. He was presented as the kindest, purest person who went through hell even though he doesn't deserve it, but in my opinion, he was flawed, and not in a good way. Good characters have flaws that are actually acknowledged in the story, but with Xie Lian, he was just a stubborn brat that refused to listen to anyone because of his own contrived sense of justice. However, none of his stubbornness was actually addressed as a flaw, and in the end, the... more>> only flaws that the book addressed was that "he was too nice". His overly righteousness was never addressed, his stubbornness was never addressed, and his s*upidity was never addressed. Unlike the other two MXTX MC's, XL was created to be perfect, but he was really a much worse character than both of the others. I never felt interested or even invested in him or his POV, which is why the story was so bland and shallow for me. The main love interest, Hua Cheng, was just as bad. He has no personality other than "he loves Xie Lian." His motivations are either contrived, nonexistent, or just "Xie Lian." He was the ultimate Mary Sue as he was more handsome, powerful, and charming than everyone else. He had no other purpose in the story other than to be "the perfect love interest". At some points it felt like MXTX saw HC as the epitome of perfection and tried to force that perfection on us, but to me he just felt like an apathetic, arrogant, and shallow Mary Sue. He calls other people "tr*sh", he frequently emphasizes how powerful he is, he doesn't care about anyone but himself and XL. Fans jump to say "it's because nobody cared about him when he was a child, " but does that justify judging people and calling them tr*sh even when they have worked hard enough to get where they are and don't want to give it up? In the present, people try caring about him, but then he just goes like "you're tr*sh." Even his reason for loving Xie Lian was contrived, and his reason for becoming a super demon even more so. In the end, he had none of the subtlety and nuance that made LWJ and LBH so great. The side characters were so, so much better, and every time they showed up, I wished that they were what the story was about instead. However, so many interesting side characters were just chopped off to make way for some cardboard cutouts flirting. The main characters were just so not flawed. Usually MXTX can create some of the most complex, subversive characters ever, but she just didn't deliver with TGCF. Lots of fans are quick to defend the main characters and say they have flaws, but they really didn't. What flaws did Xie Lian have? He was too nice? Is that even a flaw? Meanwhile, with Hua Cheng, his biggest flaw was that he was insecure about his appearance, but this flaw barely ever manifests and just feels really shallow.I just didn't feel invested in the story because the main characters were just so bland and boring and unlikable. I almost abandoned the book halfway because of how much Hua Cheng got on my nerves and how Xie Lian kept emphasizing his own suffering. PLOT:

Ehhh, the plot was ok, but not anything special. I felt that the flashbacks were the main plot of the story, but MXTX seemed to realize she can't write enough flirty romance into the flashbacks so she created a present plot just to add some flirting. She just smashed together some "monster of the day" plots and shoved the main character inside for no reason other than "he was curious" or "he was on a mission."The final battle was so s*upid. HC shouldn't be able to break the cursed shackles so easily! Jun Wu is clearly more powerful and experienced than all of them, so why was HC and XL able to defeat him so easily? Through the power of LoVe. The plot armor was so thick that the MC who has 1000 years less of suffering and training than the villain can still win by just smashing him into a wall? I want to laugh. Suffering was excessive. In the other two books, the suffering felt warranted because it led to major character development. However, in this book, the suffering was solely there to make the main character look sympathetic, and he doesn't grow as a person at all, at least we don't get to see him grow. Even during the period where he almost blackened, the character development was very shallow and it didn't feel real. I wasn't invested in the MC which is why the suffering had next to no impact on me. Because of the singular perspective, it felt like the side characters had not been done justice. Yes, technically XL did go like "I forgive you" but that forgiveness doesn't feel earned. After all XL forgives literally anyone for no reason, so it just feels like MXTX focused too much on the romance and forgot to acknowledge the side characters. At some points, it almost feels like the side characters don't deserve sympathy. They all went through just as much if not MORE than the MC and ML, and they worked so hard to get to where they are, and what do they get? Nothing. They went through so much and when they don't want to give up what they have worked for just to make the MC happy because "the MC deserves it", they are called "tr*sh" by the ML. Also, the MC and ML get an entire pity party even though they are pretty terrible people, but some characters who are even better than them are just treated as villains or someone who is bad because they left the MC. ROMANCE:

Again, very, very shallow. Most of it was creepy stalking or idol worship. Xie Lian saved Hua Cheng as a child once and HC decides to devote his entire life to worshipping Xie Lian to the point where it's creepy. Yes, technically Xie Lian was the only one who cared about childhood HC, but it can't possibly warrant 800 years of complete devotion. Random people on the internet or in real life go up to people suffering from depression and hug them and say "hey man, we care about you, " but do we see the person suffering from depression coming to worship them? No, not at all. I mean, HC interacted with XL like twice but fell so deep in love with him that he would do anything for him? Sounds legit. The narrative frequently insists that HC is the only one who truly cares about XL, and without HC, XL is friendless. This is completely not true because there are tons of people who care about and look out for XL, but all of their efforts are overlooked because all XL sees is HC. Obviously, there are some really cute and powerful moments between the two, and I must admit, I did gush at some points. However, these moments are often out of place, and have no purpose in the plot other than being fluffy. Also, the romance didn't feel developed enough for these moments to have real emotional impact. The romance was low stakes. Never once did I feel that "they wouldn't get together" because they got along so well without a single value clash. HC literally has no values because he does whatever XL wants him to, and that's supposed to be romantic, but it really isn't. In a relationship, both people usually try to help each other improve and be the best that they can be, but with Hualian, HC automatically just says "Xie Lian is perfect and he can't improve." Also, the plot armor of both characters was incredibly thick so I also never felt that outer sources would keep them apart. With TGCF, it was the focus on the main characters over everything else. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if I actually liked the main characters. With TGCF, I enjoyed the plot and side characters far more than I did the romance and main characters, which seriously stopped me from fully enjoying TGCF because of the excessive focus on HuaLian. I just couldn't connect or relate with XL, so I wasn't invested in him, his experiences, or his perspectives. XL is the main reason a lot of fans find HC to be funny and charismatic, because XL thinks he is, but because I couldn't relate to XL, I found HC to be annoying and arrogant. I really fell in love with the side characters and world, but the main characters felt kind of shallow to me, and with the overwhelming focus on them, I just couldn't enjoy it as much. In fact, the disconnect I felt led to this being my least favorite MXTX book. I also had the same issue with TGCF as I had with MDZS: HC's love for XL is unreasonable considering how little they have interacted. Again, I understand if HC has a crush on or idolizes XL, but worshipping him for 800 years and dying for him several times is unreasonable for me. The plot was interesting, but the way it was handled with was not my thing. The arcs came and went like monster-of-the-day plots, and it just felt extremely jarring for me. I think the plot was often sidelined for the romance, and even in the more plot-based moments, we don't actually focus on the plot and situation at hand, but rather about XL and HC. Again, this was only an issue for me because I didn't connect with HuaLian, but people who did definitely wouldn't mind it.

I think after MDZS blew up, MXTX stopped writing for herself, and instead tried to fulfill the masses as well as imitate MDZS to an extent (devoted ML waiting for MC, overarching conspiracy, super tragic backstory, misunderstood MC, etc.). This is why TGCF is so full of "fan service" and "cheesy interactions." TGCF does have better writing, but in terms of symbolism, plot, and characters, I still think MDZS wins by a long shot. It felt like MXTX was trying to use some tropes that were pretty on paper to entertain the crowd, and this worked to an extent, but once some people get past the tropes, some people may find it sort of shallow.

I've seen tons of people love HC, but no matter how I tried, I still hated him. So I decided to go all out and point out all his flaws as a character. I will be making multiple comparisons to Bingge and the Yiling Patriarch because they are very similar in personality, but I like them far better. Obviously, this is my personal opinion, so it's completely fine that you disagree with me. Feel free to attack me in the comments below and feel free to hate me to oblivion as well. Anyways, without further ado, let's get into it.

Why HC is the worst character in 4 long points (a thread I found on reddit) :

He doesn't have a shred of consideration or respect for people not named Xie Lian He is a static and underdeveloped character His character arc is very lacking He is an overpowered Mary Sue (it's almost as if he's an unkillable protagonist that has a special power of dropping the IQs of all cannon fodders around him to 40 whenever he walks into the room)

Let's start on point 1, he has no consideration for anyone but XL and is very obnoxious:

Honestly, why is XL fine with what he does? XL's whole thing is about love, compassion, and righteousness, but then HC is here insulting people, calling them tr*sh, and still flirting while people are legit trying to fight for their lives and he's just fine with it? Yes, HC is the only person who has listened to him in a long time, but he's here breaking XL's morals and all he does is call him out mildly? HC is literally putting other people's LIVES in danger doing what he does (black water arc), and yet XL is still fine with him?

HC just is more morally black than he is morally gray. His obnoxiousness to other people is so mildly played off that it's infuriating, and he needs a serious humbling. Nobody has made him able to drop his arrogance and make him stop being annoying, and it's just so frustrating to see this terrible character be able to do whatever he wants. (and his backstory, though tragic, does not excuse this) With WWX and LBH, they get what was coming to them. LBH is looked down upon and attacked for his arrogance and obnoxiousness and even at the end of the series is still seen as an enemy by CQ peak. WWX's pride and belief that he could always do the impossible becomes his fatal flaw that ultimately gets him killed as his reckless arrogance gets him too many enemies HC is wildly arrogant and provocative and the narrative lets him get away with it because he is so OP, no one can do anything about it.

Despite MXTX trying to make him seem morally gray, the moments where he does something good aren't on screen and feels forced. It felt, to me, like MXTX was trying to make him a good person when she realized he was a jerk. We get this whole self-indulgent thing about how nobody cared about HC so apparently the world owes him and he is justified to be a terrible person and laugh while people are literally dying. A character like him can be handled well (Taxian-Jun, Bingge, the Yiling Patriarch), but his handling was just such a miss for me. At some points his apathy to other people didn't feel like part of his character, but just a way for MXTX to advance the plot. If he had just stepped in and done something, a lot of plot points would've been solved so much more quickly, and the book wouldn't drag on as long as it did.

Point two is that he is shallow as heck and doesn't get any onscreen character development. LBH and WWX have also had an arc in their story where they are arrogant and need a humbling, but it isn't annoying because we get to see how they become this way. We get to be attached to them before they develop their twisted personalities and we get to see how they grow and develop from that period in time. With HC, he just starts out this way and we are forced to accept it, and his personality doesn't develop at all. Speaking of personality, he really barely has one. What even are his motives?He just walks around with XL and is dragged into adventures that he really doesn't care about and does nothing while he's on these adventures. Everything he does is about XL and he has barely ever done something out of his own agenda. We never even get to see how HC's love for XL came to this point, we are just forced to accept it. Yes, XL did save HC as a child, but does that necessarily warrant 800 years of complete devotion and 3 deaths? We've seen similar stories with kind people adopting children or something of the sort, but we never see those children fall in love with the person or die for them three times. It feels like XL got some cheaply earned loyalty. Some development between XL and HC prior to his death would've been nice.

Again, with LBH and WWX, they have their own thoroughly developed motives and backstories that contribute to the way they act in a natural way. With LBH it's that he thought his parents had abandoned him as a child, so he thought that he was unwanted and would do anything so that he wouldn't be abandoned by SQQ. With WWX, he would've been dead if it weren't for the Jiangs which is why he feels that his life is worthless and would throw his life out the window to protect others. With HC, his backstory somewhat explains his behavior but at the same time... not really? There's such a drastic and inexplicable leap from his personality as a child and his personality now that it's just weird. (how did he go from that awkwardly silent kid in book 2 to this suddenly super charismatic and chatty teen that we meet in book 1???) For example, why is he so good at flirting? He has essentially been alone for 800 years yet he is still good at flirting? Yes, he is supposedly "insecure" because of his backstory, but this insecurity barely ever manifests, and people in the story never deliberately use it against him (like how LBH's backstory was used against him or how WWX's heritage from a servant was used against him) and most of the time he is the exact opposite of being insecure, he is arrogant.

His backstory doesn't explain his motive for doing things, which is why when he does something good, it doesn't feel earned. Why did he save the people trapped in Tonglu? We don't know because the book didn't care enough to tell us.

Point three is that his character arc is just handled in an atrocious way. Can you really count it as a character arc though? If you can then that would just be the flattest character arc I've ever seen. Again, we get to see LBH and WWX grow and develop in the course of the story, changing with their experiences and becoming better people. Bingge is a terrible person, but SV ends with LBH finding redemption from most people and sealing away Xin Mo for the sake of the world and his shizun. WWX is significantly humbled after his first death and ends the story significantly more responsible and considers the consequences of things before charging headfirst into them.

But HC doesn't have development like that. Throughout the entirety of the story, his character doesn't grow one bit. When we first meet him in book 1, his personality is no different than way later in book 5. There is no growth or change in his way of thinking, relationships, or world view. Yes, you could say that his character development happened during the period where he went from a child to who he is now, but much of that is off screen and is therefore less... coherent. For example the flirting, which I mentioned in the last point, but also things like suddenly becoming arrogant as hell, despite supposedly being "insecure" or becoming as "mischievous" as he is today. What little character development we have comes off as superficial and very forced.

Point four is that he is an insufferable Mary Sue in serious need of a nerf. Or rather to quote peerless cucumber "Every single person, when in front of the protagonist, would act like his aura of "awesomeness" had devoured their intelligence". I don't understand why people don't like the term "Mary Sue" to be applied to an international work because as someone who is Chinese and is familiar with the pop culture, I can assure you, the term Mary Sue is definitely used in Chinese culture. People say that HC isn't a Mary Sue because he has no friends, but the amount of friends a character has does not affect whether they are a Mary Sue or not. Wikipedia defines a Mary Sue as: "...a generic name for any fictional character who is so competent or perfect that this appears unrealistic for the world's settings, even in the context of the fictional setting."

It doesn't mention the amount of friends, only how competent and/or perfect the character is presented to be. Key word: appears.

Google defines a Mary Sue as: "a type of... character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses."

So, what are HC's flaws and/or weaknesses? His "insecurity"? Yes, that could potentially be a flaw, but is it ever used against him in the story so that it is something that isn't just there for the sake of "cute romance"? No. Yes, he does have a spot of spiritual weakness in his left eye, but that is only used against him ONCE, and it really doesn't even advance the plot or affect him. Yes, he doesn't have friends, but does that bother him? No. Does that affect him negatively? No.

He has a lack of flaws but has so, so many strengths. Personality wise, he is supposedly the most charming, charismatic, and funny person ever. He is extremely handsome and rich, along with his seemingly never ending array of OP powers and abilities that are never foreshadowed or mentioned at all. We know that his butterflies can attack and defend, but they can also be used as recording devices and go COMPLETELY unnoticed even in a court full of powerful gods? Was this ever mentioned before he just pulled it out of nowhere? And HC can also suddenly pull out the red string out of nowhere with no foreshadowing. How did he get the red string? We don't know and the story doesn't care. In fact, the red string doesn't even do much and is just there for the sake of being "romantic." Also, apparently he can pull out his umbrella and fly and deflect everything and is also powerful enough to break the cursed shackles? Why? (other than because he has the undefeatable protagonist's golden halo and suffers from a serious case of main character-itis) He is so overpowered that it's a joke at this point, and because he is so overpowered, the story lacks any sort of narrative stakes and makes everyone else look like a joke. Why worry about what happens next when you know HC will pull something from nowhere to steamroll through whatever problem XL is facing?

Look, with LBH, there is a blatantly obvious nerf to him, and that is that Xin Mo can corrupt him to the point where he virtually goes insane and destroys both himself and others in the process. With WWX, he is essentially useless without corpses or something resentful in the vicinity to control. Additionally, him being overpowered feels more natural than HC because no matter how overpowered he is, he still falls to the schemes of one Jin GuangYao. With HC, there is no such thing. Yes, he does die, but he comes back every time and the plot armor is so thick that all the tension and suspense in the story is completely destroyed.

In short, I think that HC is a terrible character. I find him to be shallow, annoying, and poorly written. It felt as if MXTX tried to make him perfect, and that really bugged me so much.

Additionally on XL:

Now, just like HC, I have tried very hard to like XL, but I just can't manage to like him. He is by far the worst MXTX MC in my opinion, and pales in comparison to SQQ and WWX. Now, without further ado, let's get into why I don't like Xie Lian.

Why XL is a poorly written character in 5 long points;

He is bland and barely has a discernible personality Inconsistencies ahoy!His character arc is flat and he doesn't develop as a character and doesn't learn from his mistakes Is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and a lot of bad things that happen is actually his faultIs overpowered and again, a Mary Sue. Point one is that he is bland and barely has a discernible personality. He is supposedly "kind, sincere, generous" and other positive traits you would expect a children's book protagonist to have. But does he really have a personality though? Yes, he does have personality traits, but a lot of those traits are just so, so vanilla. He doesn't have a personality that can make him easy to tell apart from other characters other than being the "boring one". He isn't funny or outgoing like Shi QingXuan, and he isn't sarcastic and sassy like Mu Qing. Heck, he has even less of a unique personality than Hua Cheng. Yes, HC's personality is annoying, but even he has more of a personality than XL does. XL has no motive, goal, or any purpose in the story. He just tags along on missions that have nothing to do with him and just flirts with HC the entire way.

He has no standout traits that make him a "unique" protagonist. SQQ is unique because he isn't there to be heroic, but rather a panicked person forced to commit heroic acts to survive in the twisted world of a bad webnovel. WWX is unique because he is mischievous and laid back to the point of being annoying at first glance, but will actually throw his own life on the line to protect others. I can't give Xie Lian a specific description of his character because his character is so uninteresting that it really can't be described. When I think of XL, my brain just comes up with a bundle of words (nice, really dense, doesn't know whether to laugh or cry) rather than a character as a whole. It felt like MXTX slapped a bunch of traits together and called it a day. I guess XL is savage sometimes, but that feels so weird and out of character for someone that's usually supposed to be quite outspoken.

Point two is that his character is so inconsistent. For example, as said above, he is usually "nice, sincere, and kind" but then at times he is savage and sarcastic (like when he tells LQQ that he will die if they duel in book 1). It felt like MXTX couldn't make up her mind and so she just made XL both shy and outspoken and also savage. Another inconsistency is with his intelligence. At times he is extremely smart and can figure things out that other characters can't, but at other times, he is blatantly dumb. Like with HC. He is so dense that it just doesn't make sense! He's an old, 800 year old god that should be good at reading people and can see through a person. But then when it comes to HC, his deliberate obtuseness isn't really a coherent part of his character, but rather an excuse to put the confession at the end because none of the scenes before were "romantic enough." And XL never picks up on any of the hints that HC drops, even when they're blatantly obvious.

Yet another inconsistency is with his so-called "insecurity". He supposedly doesn't think he is good enough and thinks that he is a bad god, but then he goes up to LQQ and claims that he's going to die if they duel with the arrogance of HC? Whenever he makes a decision with it he is stubborn to a fault, which someone who is insecure wouldn't usually do. Additionally, some things that someone in his position would think more deeply about, he doesn't think about at all. For example, when he is told that HC burned down the temple of 33 gods, someone who cares about the common people would think something like "That's terrible! The time and effort and money of these people all gone to waste, and civilians may have been injured in the fire." Instead he is just mildly confused and that's it.

One last inconsistency is that how come nobody, absolutely nobody, has been his friend for 800 years. He is supposedly a nice person, but despite his niceness, he has not even TRIED to make friends and nobody has tried to make friends with him? It is shown at the end of book 4 that most people don't know that he is the tr*sh god, so shouldn't they be more willing to make friends with him then?

Point three is that his character arc, just like HC's, is so flat. The entire point of the flashbacks was so readers could throw a pity party for XL and feel bad for him, and so it's just sad for the sake of being sad. XL doesn't grow as a character, and what tiny bit of character development we do get is just... not great.

Just like HC, throughout the entire story, XL hasn't changed a single bit in the present timeline. I don't find this to be terrible, but as the protagonist, he should at least have some development. However, unlike HC, who's jump from past to present is far too drastic, XL's jump from past to present is far too small. He is no different in book 2 than he is in book 1, 3, and 5. You could say that in book 4 he comes to terms with the world and accepts it, but at the same time, in book 4 really all he did was angst, brood, and then suddenly become all sunshine and rainbows again. I do not consider brooding to be character development. This is because at the beginning of book 4, when he lets the other street performer go on and continue performing while he himself goes off and finds a new place shows that he is at least somewhat accepting of his current fate. He does fully accept it by the end of book 4, but going from partly accepting you are a beggar to fully accepting you are a beggar is not enough character development for 800 years. He also repeatedly emphasizes how unlucky he is and how he's already used to suffering, and honestly at some point it stops being funny and instead just becomes like MXTX wants the reader to feel bad for him so hard.

Point four is that he is wildly unlikable in the flashbacks and he's barely helped the common people at all. Yes, I find present XL to be bland, but at least he's nice and likable, but him in the past is stubborn, s*upid, and so overly righteous. If he had just listened to people, he would've avoided major disasters, and if he could just ask people before doing something s*upid, he wouldn't have been in the place he is today. This would make an extremely interesting plot point and place of conflict, but then the book just never addresses it? Like I don't think the book registers that a lot of the stuff that happens is XL's fault more than it is BWX's. Additionally, XL is so overly righteous. His head is so full of "the common people" that he doesn't give a second thought to the people around him.

For example, if he had just told the people of Xian Le to kill the people of Yong'an, he would've saved his kingdom, his people, his family, and his friends. But no, he had to think about "the common people" and let the people of his kingdom die, resulting in his downfall. Additionally, when he let the other street performers perform and he would leave, yes, that is a nice thing, but to FX, MQ, and his parents, it is just the worst decision. Rather than caring about the people near him and his ill dad, he had to be the white knight and leave.

And then a lot of the stuff in book 4 is his fault, but the book never addresses this. If XL wasn't so overly righteous, MQ wouldn't have left. If MQ didn't leave, they would have one more person to make end's meet. If they made end's meet, then XL wouldn't have to resort to robbery. Even if they didn't make end's meet, if he just listened to FX, he would still be fine. If he hadn't committed robbery, he wouldn't have been humiliated as hard in front of the 33 gods. If he wasn't humiliated, then he wouldn't be stabbed 100 times and he wouldn't burn the Yong'an capital and have FX leave him and his parents wouldn't have commited su*cide.

And he says he wants to help the common people, but he hasn't done that at all. In book 2, he hurt his kingdom and the tons of people that died from the curse, and didn't lessen the casualties caused in the war at all. In book 4, the people that stabbed him all got burned to death by HC (why does XL in the present not consider this?), he burned the Yong'an palace and likely killed people, and yes, he did stop the human face disease this time, but because he was the one that unleashed it in the first place. When he was general Hua, he had tried to save the common people, but his actions really barely did anything in the future. As the Guoshi of Yong'an, he did more harm than good. So how has he helped the common people?

And the book never addresses this? Like after he came back to his senses in book 4, Jun Wu doesn't punish him and the people don't hate him or anything. He hates himself instead, which feels like it's just something that MXTX put in so that the readers and HC could go like "no baby, you've done your best, you're amazing." He is presented as an underprivileged angel and deserves all the love in the world because he's such a nice person, but at the same time... no? He isn't as great as the book makes him out to be and the fact that the book insists on him being a selfless martyr annoys me to no end.

And point five is that he is also an overpowered Mary Sue. Yes, just like HC, he has flaws, but these flaws never actually get addressed in the book and also are never used against him, and so the book treats him like he's perfect. WWX has a very similar build to him, where they are both people that try to save people, but WWX has very obvious flaws that lead to his downfall and people call him out for such as his arrogance. But XL never gets called out for being s*upid or stubborn, except for by HC to be "cute" (like as in "you're so s*upid because you never consider yourself.") He is much less a Mary Sue than HC because he isn't "rich" or "renowned" like HC is, but in most other aspects he is just as bad as HC.

First of all, he is basically just as powerful as Jun Wu even thought JW trained just as hard as him but for 800 years. Why? (Besides his plot armor and protagonist's golden halo). He ends the book respected, loved, and super powerful and is also smarter than everyone else and is able to figure things out super fast, but is for some reason still collecting tr*sh? Even though he has basically destroyed the entire status quo of the heavens just because he has suffered while nobody else actually suffered under the rule of Jun Wu, everyone still loves him. However, he is much better than HC in terms of being a Mary Sue because at least he isn't crazy good at carving statues and can figure out dead languages, but he is still overpowered as heck and is either hated for no reason or unconditionally loved. <<less
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huaxia
huaxia rated it
December 26, 2020
Status: Completed
I sincerely cannot understand the hype around this novel. Everyone claims this is an emotional masterpiece, but I simply cannot see it. The characters are uninteresting and bland, the plot is meandering, and the few good points of this novel come and go like the wind. First I'll start with the positive points (don't worry there's not a lot).

PROS:

  • Past XL is quite realistic (as much as someone who is a white lotus Mary Sue in the present can be anyways), and he has flaws. When reviewers talk about XL's lack of flaws, I believe they are talking about present XL, who we are stuck with for the majority of the novel, in contrast to the past XL. Yes, he is annoying and the flaws are poorly presented and addressed, but they are there and I think they're at least acceptable.
  • The wind and water brothers, and really most of the side characters are amazing. They may have no character development, but their stories and personalities are interesting and distinct, and among the side characters, there are some of my all time favorite MXTX side characters.
  • The themes it tries to present are good enough. Maybe they're not well fleshed out enough nor are they well presented, but they are thought provoking. The most obvious theme is the question of good and evil, along with other themes about humanity and etc.
  • Some of the Hualian moments are powerful and dare I say adorable. MXTX may not be great at writing romance all the time, but some individual moments in the book are great.
  • The writing, while clunky and bad at times, there are some great moments and sometimes the writing is really descriptive and beautiful, as well as being engaging and laid back at the same time.
Now let's get on to the things I didn't like:

  • The most glaring and obvious thing I did not like was the protagonist. Xie Lian could only be described as an adorable, naive, bland Mary Sue. Him in the present has barely any personality, and it felt like MXTX really didn't know how to write him until late in book 3 and early book 5. He was spineless and pathetic during most of the book, and really did not contribute much to the story. He really was not interesting in the slightest and by the time book 4, the most emotional book rolled around, no matter what the author did to try to make me feel for him, I was completely unmoved. For the previous 180 chapters, we had been following around a bland caricature with no personality, so no matter how much you tried to make me feel for him in book 4, it was too late.
  • In the past, XL's stubbornness and refusal to listen to anyone else, as well as being so self righteous, was what led to his downfall. People say that they admire him for sticking to kindness, even after all that he went through, but what I think is that he is stubborn, refuses to listen to people, and doesn't ever learn his lesson, even after going through so much. He wallows in self pity and misery shown by his constant emphasis of his bad luck, and it gets really grating after a while.
  • Hua Cheng started off likable.... until book 3. In book 1, he was mysterious, and even funny and charming at points. But later in book 3-5, he stopped being funny, charming, and likable, and instead turned into trying too hard to be charming, overly arrogant, and being so condescending, hypocritical, and annoying as f*ck. Listen, I don't hate rude characters, but with HC, we never see how he became so arrogant, and we are forced to accept it, just like most things in this novel
  • Character flaws are... very minimal. Xie Lian's flaws are "being insecure" and "being too nice". Like, would anyone say "ah I hate him for being so insecure" or "ah I hate him for being too nice". Like no, that would never happen! That's why I say his flaws are... not great. He had flaws in the past timeline, but those flaws all disappeared, and created this Mary Sue. With HC, he has flaws, but they are either a) played off for laughs, b) supposed to be charming and badass or c) supposed to be romantic. HC's creepiness and how annoying he is is never addressed, just like how the book never calls XL out for literally
    Spoiler

    killing people and being a dumbass in books 2 and 4, and not considering any consequences to his actions and not listening to people

    [collapse]
  • The two characters have no weaknesses. The combination of them are essentially the most powerful couple in the world, and that makes the story really not fun. HC has an endless array of powers that are never foreshadowed and he can just pull out of his ass, he is endlessly rich, and has tons of resources. Xie Lian has these unexplained Mary Sue superpowers that are supposedly from his 800 years of training as a hobo, and also has a sentient ribbon that does more work for him than he does.
  • The entire story is basically this: some mystery appears, XL tags along, does nothing, solves the mystery in 2 seconds with his Mary Sue big brain, another mystery occurs, XL goes home and romances more with HC and forgets about the people he should be protecting/helping.
  • What was that ending for the black water arc? Like XL literally just went "bye b*tch" to his best friend and FORGOT ABOUT HIM and went back to romance with HC while his friend could just be dying. And XL doesn't even call HC out for
    Spoiler

    BEING IN f*ckING KAHOOTS WITH HIS BEST FRIEND'S TRAUMA AND ANOTHER GOD'S mu*derER WTF

    [collapse]
  • Can we talk about that final battle because what the actual f*ck. Like XL pulls some Mary Sue power of friendship and love out of his ass, and then he proceeds to slam the big boss, someone who has gone through just as much if not more than him, into a wall, and that's it? Like XL is suddenly way too overpowered, and combined with the overpowered mess that is HC, the final battle is a complete mess.
  • There is way too much of a focus on romance in this novel. I don't have a problem with that if I actually enjoyed the characters, but because I didn't, it was so obvious that the novel was trying to be romantic with all the symbolism and such. The red string, lanterns, butterflies, flowers, poems, and all that stuff, and it just felt like it was trying too hard.
  • Hua Cheng was creepy as f*ck.
    Spoiler

    like he carved thousands of statues of XL, and obsessed over him for 800 years, so I couldn't help but agree with FX and MQ when they talked about how creepy it was. I wouldn't mind it so much if he had a better reason to obsess over XL, but no, they interacted about twice, and HC obsesses over him for 800 years and becomes a super demon to protect him

    [collapse]
  • The flashbacks were oddly stuffed in and I just did not care about anything that happened. They were not nicely woven in and were just there for aNgSt.
  • Past XL was so s*upidly unaware of his own flaws and was so idiotically stubborn and self righteous that it was so aggravating to read. In the present he is bland, unbelievably naive, and a Mary Sue, but in the past, he is so annoying that it is painful to read
  • The romance was so cheesy. It felt like the author couldn't decide whether Hua Cheng placed XL up on an impossible pedestal or is the only one who accepts him for who he is, so she does both, which makes no sense. If anything, HC accepting XL for who he is feels dumb and out of place, because they haven't interacted enough to form a deep connection, and as his savior, XL should be on a pedestal and appear perfect to HC, but I guess MXTX just wanted the 21st Century relatability points ig.
Overall a bland read and really nothing special, but if you're into cheesy shoujo romance and bland Mary Sue main characters, you would really enjoy this. I suggest you check out miichan1202's review and the reddit threads she linked because those are so well written and I agreed with every single word
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du
du rated it
June 18, 2020
Status: Completed
Frankly, I found this novel extremely disappointing. I enjoyed both of mxtx's other works, so I expected to really like this one.

The ML is devastatingly likable and ruthless, but the CP is unattractive because it largely consists of the ML doting on the ignorant MC. The MC's eternal naivete, while improved throughout the novel, is still uncomfortable and unlikable at the end of the novel. A little more honesty and self-awareness from- anyone, other characters, the author, whatever, would've made it much more tolerable.

The writing, pacing, and structure is very... more>> nice. The world is amazing, super fun, with arrays, jun wu's horrible collection of weird swords, the premise of mt tonglu, the hidden sides and histories of some characters...

In the end, everything fell flat.

The MC is frankly not a very compelling character... but the side characters are flawed, traumatized, selfish, etc. Or at least, they probably are, but they are undeveloped and largely ignored. There is some amount of basic history and trauma, but only enough to explain the MC's history.

Additionally, I found that the questions posed regarding morality and humanity etc were generally neglected or incoherent... you are, once again, tantalized by the promise of complexity, and end up receiving nothing.

  • I originally liked that mxtx was trying to convey the "righteousness doesn't always work out" theme, and the parallels she had with the antagonist, but the ending was kind of like "oops I'm cute and naive so I didn't make the same mistakes or experience trauma the same way so even though you're OP is supposed to be less than my OP, I just randomly win :D" and that was kind of insufferable
  • I didn't like how a lot of the supporting cast was dealt with, even the ones I was not invested in... and this includes major side characters
TLDR; there are so many different ways that this novel could have shone

in the end, even after reading extras, this remains a disappointing 3. <<less
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Montero
Montero rated it
May 28, 2022
Status: c244
Score 2/10

I really wanted to like this book.

As a bis*xual man starved for representation where a gay romance is the focus, and the gay characters are important to the story, when I saw the author of MDZS and SVSSS had made another story, I was cautiously optimistic. BL anime and manga had been letting me down pretty bad at the time, and I kept hearing people talking online about how good TGCF was. That it was a sweet and pure romantic epic, with a deep, twisty core mystery like MDZS.... more>> I want to be clear. I don't want to be 'that guy' invading womens' spaces, which the TGCF fandom overwhelmingly feels to be. It's just that, as a queer man, TGCF's romance is nominally about, and representative of, people like me, so I feel I have room to comment on the execution.

On paper this sounded great and I was pretty excited, I won't lie. I was ready and willing to be sold a romantic fantasy mystery epic that would knock my rainbow socks off and make me proclaim that 'Hualian invented love' like those mystifying people over on the TGCF subreddit. I should maybe have taken the lack of gay men talking about TGCF online as a warning sign. And now, I can't even say I'm not mad like the cliche line. I am mad. Mad and disappointed, and it feels like I'm pretty alone in this one.

Now, I found book one to be alright. I enjoyed the wedding march, the dice rolling scene in gambler's den and stuff, but for the most part, the worldbuilding and plot didn't leave much of an impression on me (apart from select parts of Ban Yue, but oh boy, we'll get to those). It felt very barebones, but I was willing to see where this went, because MDZS was pretty generic in its worldbuilding, and I enjoyed that one for the most part. Book two, on the other hand, felt like a completely different novel. I can see why it being a flashback might irk some people, but book two just had an energy, a dynamism to it that honestly shocked me after reading the first part. 'Where the hell was this fifty thousand words ago?' I wondered aloud. And then, while I was vibing with the Xie Lian misery hour, book three kicked the door down, shot me six times, and as I lay dying on the carpet, one thought was clear to me... 'I could have spent this time reading Nabokov instead.'

Yeah... TGCF has a pacing issue. The author's notes make it very clear that MXTX never planned to write more than 36K words, and what we got was... considerably larger than the entirety of The Lord of the Rings. Any longtime reader of fantasy will tell you that book size is not an indicator of quality. TGCF never uses ten words when a hundred will do. And the annoying thing is that really important plot points are sandwiched in the middle of huge blocks of unimportant information. The book meanders from chapter to chapter, and the frequent infodumps serve to dilute the impact of the information we're being given about the world. Nothing feels purposeful. TGCF never shows when it can tell, and it tells a lot. I'm always hearing about things that already happened, or happened to other people. That could even have been a cool theme, of only hearing about things after they happen from different unreliable narrators. It would really fit the 800 years of worldbuilding we're meant to be getting, with the world changing so much the details are forgotten, or written by the victors, but then TGCF would be even more similar to MDZS thematically. When combined with the fast travel system, it ends up feeling like the world is a series of disconnected boxes. Then Hualian sometimes hear something interesting happening in the box next door, HC checks it out with one of his butterflies, and gives us an infodump about how whatever was going on was 'very cool, we promise'.

Even when we do get to see things happen on page, we often don't see the resolution of important plot points like the end of the Black Water arc because the protagonist wanders off in the middle of it? It's unsatisfying, and undercuts the genuinely poignant moments that occasionally happen, seemingly by accident. Combined with the edge factor, it really feels like a first draft of a debut novel, and I really hate to have to say that about an established writer.

What book three made painfully apparent about my TGCF reading experience is that I honestly cannot stand the main characters. It feels like the undercutting of poignant moments to people who aren't Hualian happen because the author is almost afraid that, say, Wind Master would end up being more likeable than her lead. So Wind Master gets the chop, and we get domestic fluff... while wondering the whole time what happened to that cool character Xie Lian just abandoned to their fate.

Now, it's a little difficult to talk about HC and XL because really, their defining character traits are 'loves the other one' and everything else is largely incidental, but I'll try my best. HC is a textbook example of a character the author thinks is perfect and infallible, and thinks you should too, but has written to be a morally ambiguous, childish a**hole. The dissonance between what HC says and how people around him react is intense. The side characters treat him like the abrasive, petty dickhead he is, but the narrative insists that HC is perfect and they're just wrong for saying anything when he taunts them and openly calls people tr*sh. And then XL excuses him, blames everyone around him for HC's actions, and it just makes my blood boil.

It's ugly, but not in the way HC's face is 'ugly'. HC's flaws take the same form as those of a YA protagonist. He's insecure about his face (but it's really stunning) and his handwriting is bad. This is on the same level as saying 'my protagonist isn't perfect, she's really clumsy!' and then writing a story where her clumsiness causes her to fall out of danger, or into the ML's arms. And can we talk about MXTX and ugliness? At one point in chapter 156, she devotes several entire paragraphs to mocking a single character for his 'plain' looks. Is this supposed to be funny? It's so mean spirited it's practically a vengeful ghost! HC is meant to feel he's hideous, but he's fine with XL mocking a man for his looks, while that man sadly mumbles that he's used to it? He doesn't feel anything upon learning how much looks matter to his beloved? It's just so spiteful I'm at a loss for words, and this kind of prejudice absolutely permeates the narration whenever a character is anything less than a perfect, chiseled, ethnically Chinese Adonis.

Speaking of XL, he's inexcusably bland for how much time we spend in his head. It's not an issue of it being Chinese, or translated, or even translated by Suika and co. I've read their 2ha translation and no, XL really just is a petty, b*tchy and painfully average self-insert YA protagonist. He has this perfect, gorgeous man vying for his attention, literally worshipping the ground he walks on. A man who is rich and powerful and whose affections cannot be taken away from him. XL just is a wish fulfilment vehicle. Part of what made book two enjoyable was how XL was allowed to face the consequences of his actions, but once we return to the present, anytime XL is criticized, HC will enable him by saying something along the lines of 'it's okay gege, don't listen to them, you only need listen to me...' and thus XL never has to face consequences again, or learn, or grow. Despite his monumental humbling in the flashbacks, he's quite willing to abandon people who are inconvenient to him, or get in the way of his attachment to HC.

Meanwhile, the other characters around them are allowed to be flawed, and interesting, and fun in a way that the 'perfect' couple in the corner could never be. For example, SQX (Wind Master) is excellent, and a far more enjoyable time to read about than the main pair, although what HC and XL allow to happen to SQX is absolutely reprehensible. Ling Wen's prickly, tired sarcasm is a breath of fresh air whenever she appears, regardless of her faults. Qi Rong's entire character is bent to be worse than HC in order to make HC look better, but if you ignore his tendency to speak in ALL CAPS his nasty gremlin energy brings a life to him that invincible ghost king HC could never emulate for all his purported power. At some point he started roasting XL and I was kind of shocked because once I got past the capslock of death, he was making a lot of sense to me? Like... yes, QR, XL is a giant hypocrite, thank you! Apparently, it's fine to physically abuse him for being 'unrefined' though. Nothing troubling about the undercurrent of classism in this book.

Even if we ignore the above, and pretend XL and HC are as perfect as the narrative assumes, HC still causes huge structural issues for the plot. He is given new powers as the plot demands, is monstrously powerful, utterly devoted to XL, and I would argue the book fails at providing tension as a result. HC is so devoted, and the author so blind to his flaws, that the couple cannot have internal tension. The characters outside Hualian aren't allowed to breathe, because the author likes Hualian, and they clearly don't. Thus, all tension must be provided externally, where HC presented as so invincible that it mu*ders the story's tension in its crib. And that's not even getting into the way the romance is, or rather isn't, woven into those scenes that are meant to be tense.

Whenever Hualian are in the same room together (most of the story in the present), regardless of how serious and tense a scene is meant to be (and is for their hapless friends), it's like MXTX is physically assaulting me through the page, shaking me by the shoulders and asking me over and over 'is this romantic enough yet? Let me add more red string of fate!' as I cry and beg her to stop. By the time I'm able to pry myself loose of her cold, dead grasp, any tension that might have survived HC's vast array of powers (butterfly listening devices!) has long since evaporated. Maybe to someone reading this in Chinese, this imagery is the most beautiful/romantic thing ever and not obnoxious, like heart confetti being blasted into your face with a leaf blower. But whatever makes it special in Chinese was clearly butchered by the fan translation.

So much of TGCF is spent trying to make me feel like Hualian is the most epic romance yet conceived, but it's aesthetics. Smoke and mirrors. These are two people who have known each other for less than a month, total, and yet I'm bombarded with wedding robes, the red string of fate, butterflies and flowers and poetry. But I never got the feeling that HC and XL know each other. HC flip-flops between 'viewing XL as his god' and 'seeing XL for who he is' and MXTX decides she can just have both... somehow, despite them never seeming to get beyond teen infatuation with a fellow hot person in terms of personal connection. As an adult, I just find the idea that this is meant to represent 'love' pretty gross. It reads like a teenager's idea of love, where the 'deep meaning' of the romance is in pining away for hundreds of years for your single, true love whom you are fated to be with.

Sometimes love is telling the person 'you're wrong.' Sometimes love is a deep understanding of a personal philosophy, brought about by years of knowing a person. HC does not emulate XL's philosophy, nor does he disagree with it, nor does he have a coherent one of his own. He doesn't seem to understand what XL even likes in a person, beyond having an attractive face. He seemingly has no understanding of XL beyond the most superficial things he could find out using his butterfly powers. XL, likewise, does not understand HC because MXTX needs to keep him mysterious for the plot to go on. And HC is so underdeveloped beyond that I don't know if there even is more for XL to know at points. For someone raised in royalty, XL is obsessive over money, fawning over HC's wealth and stature. This is... not a rich person's perception of wealth. It's MXTX's fantasy of being well off. It's a 'wealthy criminal sweeps you away' story with a bullsh*t fantasy minecraft skin over the top. Love Never Dies but somehow all the worse for the lack of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The thing is, I would have enjoyed this romance if it was a Phantom of the Opera situation, with XL having this socially maladjusted, obsessive man complicating his love life! Or a beauty and the beast situation where XL really just needs to learn to understand HC and accept his genuinely ugly appearance and HC needs to learn to let XL go and grow into his own person, and thereby be able to love him! If HC was nervous, his hands shaking as he helps XL down from the sedan, suddenly not an immortal ghost king badass but an antisocial man putting on a show of suaveness for his crush. If the two of them had flaws that mattered, had relationships that mattered, had anything to their romance other than a confetti cannon going off in my face constantly... if, if, if.

Phew... I never even got to talk about Ban Yue. TGCF is an absolute monster of a book, and all of this stuff is so intertwined over its bloated length it's kind of hard to cover everything with enough depth. But Ban Yue. Chapter 43 contains the following:
"The two only just gotten out of the hole in the tree, and not even a few steps after a number of red skinned naked people suddenly poured out from the nearby bushes and surrounded them. They started jumping, howling as they did so, "OOOooooHHHOooHHooohhhh!!"

He steadied himself to look at those savages, and they weren't truly naked, but were wearing animal skins and leaves, looking like they were ready to drink blood. They had long branch spears and sharp stoned axes in hand, and when they smiled at the two, their teeth were jaggedly sharp like saws.

Shi Qing Xuan shouted as he ran, "My brother used to always tell me! That deep in the southern mountains are many savage cannibals that live off of human flesh! He told me not to ever come to such a place on my own! Is that what those are?!"
Can we agree that's a yikes? That's a yikes. Literal red-skinned, spear wielding, pointy toothed 'savages'. They live in the desert, and invented su*cide bombing. Holy f*ck, I feel, is the only appropriate response to that one.

Going back to the point about how spiteful this book is about appearances, and the bit about XL being a self insert, I'm just going to put it out there. XL is written as someone socialized as a woman. BL often does this. The bottom of a pairing acts as a stand-in for a woman, using a heteronormative framework of tropes present in straight stories. We can see this at work with how HC is a dark, mysterious protector figure whom XL is unsure of, but intensely attracted to based on his masculine qualities like strength and lack of emotional vulnerability. The noncon nature of the temple scene further underlines this trend (while also devaluing the romantic payoff of their first consensual kiss). There are other vaguely yikes ideas around gender in this book, like how women apparently can't produce as much resentful energy as men for some reason, and generally MXTX seems to have some trouble with using her protagonists to cut down and devalue the female characters in TGCF. They're not f*ck dolls, like you might see in a stallion novel, but to a western reader it comes off as very socially conservative, and maybe a bit regressive.

Look... I'm not discounting that this book is probably immensely helpful for people in China who have little in the way of positive m/m representation, but I just feel alienated by the amount of hype, and the amount of bile slung at anyone who dares to criticize it. Everything that's good about it comes in flashbacks, side stories or infodump tales people tell each other in random shacks in the woods. For all it's claimed to be about gay men, this book is for women, and the author's understanding of men is minimal at best. It presents a woman's perspective of men; men from the outside. Arrogant, emotionally cold, and not overly concerned with consent. Men often suck at writing women too, I know, but it needs to be said. I just don't understand why an English speaker would slog through it when they could be reading As Meat Loves Salt or Song of Achilles instead? Both and more, likely, in the time it takes to read TGCF? I could have respected TGCF if it was fun and didn't take itself so seriously all the time, and wasn't a pretentious thing that's declared to be 'classy and mature and the most romantic thing ever.' It arguably fails at everything I would want in a romance, in a mystery, and in a fantasy adventure. It tries to do everything, proclaims itself to be the most refined story in the history of fiction, and after dropping it... I'm just left confused, holding a handful of likeable side characters the author apparently hates for not being as 'good' as the main couple?

The really sad thing is, if you look at SVSSS, as rough as it is, you can tell MXTX as a teen would have mocked this book ruthlessly for being a bloated, self-indulgent power fantasy. And if it's all the same to you guys, I'd want to join her. <<less
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sznfcker
sznfcker rated it
August 29, 2020
Status: Completed
Oh my god I can't believe I finished this!!!! And... idk if I liked this novel tbh:// (sigh) I had such a big expectation for this one because I rarely saw review less than 4 stars and literally everyone seems to LOVE this novel claiming this is a masterpiece, best out of all three mxtx novels, hualian is love, etc... but I think this novel was a miss for me. For me, the beginning was too slow and I had to stop reading around ch. 100... (and then I read... more>> 2ha lol) but my friends convinced me that it gets better so I started reading again. I'm glad I did because right after that was the black water arc and honestly that was the best arc out of the entire novel. The mystery, the suspense, and the horror of the ending... it was the most exciting part of the novel and probably the only part that got me really engaged. But the rest... (sigh) I literally had to convince myself that it will get better and if I finish it I will love it like everyone else but I think this is my least favorite of mxtx's works: ( ((

WRITING STYLE:
Ok... so I know that people say that mxtx really improved writing on this one and I agree to some extent. Some scenes are written really beautifully and there are couple quotes that hit me really hard. But overall the writing style was a miss for me because it was very.. hmm... how do I say... choppy??? I feel like many arcs ended quite abruptly. I also didn't like how we were dumped with 30+ chapters of flashbacks right in the middle of arcs... The entire flow of the story felt very disjointed and maybe this is one of the reasons I couldn't get into this novel. Also, I think this novel tried to be comedic to some extent and I did laugh at some parts but what rly annoyed me was excessive screaming and cursing. Like an entire page of bold-worded cursing was funny at first but it got tiring pretty quick.

CHARACTERS:
This is just my personal opinion so plz don't attack me but compared to wwx&lwj and sqq&lbh, xl and hc fell kinda... flat? With her other two work, I was immediately drawn to the mc-ML pair and that's also why I loved the story. But with tgcf...I think I was drawn to side characters more than the main characters. xl's character is something I've seen a lot in anime... that typical hero type who tries to save everyone. hc is the perfect, OP, devoted husband type who seems mysterious and interesting at first but the more I find out about him I found him kinda boring:// I get that ppl find the super devoted type appealing and I do too (lbh for example) but I don't want a ml's entire character to be about MC lol. I wished we could see more hc perspective. Also, MC and ML are too OP lol...I get the appeal of the op main characters but this kinda made all the other heaven officials look like a joke lol. Also, with sqx...
Spoiler

Ok I really like the wind master... so I was so upset with how he was forgotten after black water arc until the very ending. And even when he shows up again, I didn't see any character development and I hated the fact that he was still treated as a comedic relief.

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STORY:
I feel like this novel could have been cut in half if we got rid of all the unimportant arcs... Like some of the arcs were really unnecessary. The main plot is interesting enough but the last battle scene was absolutely ridiculous.
Spoiler

Why was xl able to defeat jun wu so easily??? Like all these chapters jun wu showing his op-ness torturing xl and other heaven officials were unnecessary if hc could just break two cursed shackles and xl could just defeat him like that lol I was making so many tsukkomi in my head that even the hc (fake) death scene didn't move me.

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Also, I've heard that tgcf is really sad before reading but I did not cry even once but this might be because I read this after 2ha. So my advice is read tgcf before 2ha.

This is not a coherent review forgive me but I just had to write this because I was just so disappointed with this novel. I guess having too much expectation is never good. Overall I give this novel 1 star for black water arc, 1 star for beautiful imagery, and 1 star for side characters.

Idk when I will read extras but I might come back and edit my review if I ever read it.

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Celissiye
Celissiye rated it
March 28, 2020
Status: Completed
Took me a while to actually start reading this because of the length, however...I have to agree with some of the other reviews, this novel was a lot of ups and downs in quality. It made me have an overall mediocre feeling.

1.) The past story line of the MC and ML was obviously the most tragic/compelling, but it's split through the whole book in a way that ruined some of the pacing. It felt like the 'past' was the serious plot, while the present was just MC trying and failing... more>> at saving characters and ML acting all mysterious... it honestly felt more like comedy, a hint of mystery.

1.5) Tying into 'mysterious ML', I only half liked that ML. He seemed to know what was going on most of the time (ahead of Xie Lan), but purposely didn't tell, didn't care enough to tell, or didn't tell until the MC asked about it specifically. It was weird because the MC was involved so closely in all the events but he's just over there like 'yeah if MC is in danger I'll save him but I'm not doing anything else'.

2.) I really was invested in the plot of wind god/water god that happened part way through the novel, but the plot was left open and dropped at the most critical moment.
Spoiler

ML pulled MC back from the 'soul switch', then literally was like "sorry I couldn't do anything cause I already made a deal with the perpetrator guy to get revenge", and MC was like "OKAY, no biggie. Wonder what happened to wind god after his brother's head got lopped off?" and tried to see if wind god was alive for like 1 ch then he was forgotten until nearly the end of the story...

If that's not pretentious and shallow kindness... what is?! If your 'friend' got killed in front of you then went missing, would you call the police, search for them... mourn for them at least a bit? Throughout all the chapters I read there is no semblance that XL actually cares for anyone besides ML.

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3.) The present felt too filled with hectic characters, as much interest I have in the female heaven secretary or MC's crazy cousin, etc. I lose interest by the fact these plots are worked out mechanically then sidelined to eternity.

4.) The villain seems terrifying and fun at first but...
Spoiler

you learn he is actually just obsessed with the MC to the point of s*upidity. Really, spending XXX years to try and get MC to become like yourself and be your buddy???He is just as crazy at MC's cousin.

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5.) Ultimately, I found Xie Lan's (MC) character arc disappointing. It felt silly, almost.
Spoiler

So, in the past, you lose everything and almost turn to the 'dark side' (as in mu*dering people), and this was all fine and good. Tragic and such. But then your quick and easy solution to this blackening is to stab yourself with a sword and 'test' humanity by seeing if anyone on the street will help you? What? In reality, I've seen a person collapse outside a store and immediately 5 ppl come over to help. There will always be some people that help and some that turn a blind eye. It felt cheesy that was how he made up his mind and suddenly was all sunshine again (as in he did brood a while but that wasn't directly shown)

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And in the main plot line the only main issue with the MC is that he's too easy to self harm himself and doesn't care about his well being, which wasn't utilized by the author enough. It could have been a major dramatic/turning point involving the ML, but it was always handled as a side thing that was just supposed to be cute, like the ML occasionally getting mad at the MC because he was gonna let himself get hurt or something.

So yeah...sighs, I found myself invested through the first 100 ch or so, then sifting through a lot of the rest. Don't get me wrong, the story was decent at many junctions (still better than typical stuff), but over all didn't deliver what I hoped for at the beginning.

However, I do I think that the animation coming out this summer will be really fun when I think back to all the quirky characters and action scenes. <<less
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HuffleSeok
HuffleSeok rated it
July 21, 2019
Status: --
I don't know but the way the story started was just meh and I know the past plays a big role but oh lord, can the story get anymore boring, too many flashbacks but not enough of Hua Cheng's, th!! I was expecting real high from this but it didn't even pass the least of my expectations.
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chenjiaan
chenjiaan rated it
August 18, 2020
Status: --
Decent read, but not as good as the author's other two novels. The premise is intriguing and she has a pretty interesting world, but her MC and ML are as generic as you can get.

MC is your typical generic white lotus type. Rash in youth, suffers a few setbacks, and then becomes a more worldly/saintly adult.

ML is your typical OP forever-devoted husband who has loved him since youth. Nothing special or standout other than the fact that he's irritatingly smug and lords over everyone else he comes in contact with.

The... more>> romance development between them are chalk full of your regular "shove them into tight spaces", a few "spring medicine" situations.

The side characters are a mix of well developed and then wasted potential.

Then the final climatic battle is just like... lolwut. Basically the OP power couple just does their usual thing while the peanut gallery spectates and comments. <<less
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Acsis
Acsis rated it
May 28, 2020
Status: --
Just wanna say that I jumped chapters upon chapters (cause it was so slow, the not slow part is the past chapters so I went on with them) (And ngl, I actually enjoyed the past chapters, and don't worry it's not as scary as might think it is).

1 star: As a whole
As a whole, I enjoyed this book. It's written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, and I read all her previous novels too. My favorite being Mo Dao Zu Shi. Of course, this novel did not disappoint, it just... more>> has something that sometimes makes me wince my eye.

2 star: Writing and Translation.
Amazing. No other words, just amazing. The writing's very very good and the translator managed to convey the story *thumbs up*.

3 star: Characters.
Spoiler

Very nice, the characters are fleshed out in their backstory. Xie Lian in the past was 3 dimensional, his feelings were very understandable and his relationships with other characters can only be said as *chef's kiss*.

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no 4 star: Characters.
Spoiler

Let's start the problem, yes Xie Lian in the past was 3 dimensional, but in the present his character fall flat. Even at the end when HC was disappearing, XL's grieve didn't strike me hard. Somehow, his strong 3 dimensional personality in the past became a better-than-all, good-to-the-extreme 2 dimensional character. You can maybe list his personality in the main timeline with a few words. And you may think after all his suffering and hard life XL would have no problem with romance and maybe disregard it completely, but no, he somehow become a pure boy who is always teased by HC. And HC, I like him, I really do. He's cool and great and so on, but one thing I can't accept in this whole entire novel is just this: Why the heck did HC fell in love with XL?

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no 5 star: Romance.
Spoiler

Now, obviously this is a different take from Founder of Diabolism. This novel is more alike with Scum Villain's Self Saving System, they way it's both a Master/Follower kind of thing. This thing take it far, SVSSS also took it far. Ngl, everytime the romantic aspect came, I kind of winced. HC treats XL like he's a god, he outright said that XL is his everything, he only lives for XL, he is XL most devoted follower. And yes, it may seem romantic, in fact it's supposed to be romantic.

But imagine you have a lover who only cares about you 100%, said he is your follower, treats you like a god (problem is not this cause XL is a god, problem is that he's stalker-ish and obsessive), realistically how would you feel? Would you feel "Oh, I'm so happy!" or "Get a life man!"? Honestly, their relationship makes me uncomfortable.

And I still can't accept why HC feel in love with XL. Yes, he was saved by XL, yes XL is super handsome, yes he used to have no reason living before meeting XL, but at that time, he was still a child. Why can't his admiration to XL be like other people's admiration for XL? Why must he fall in love with XL? Somehow, in his life when he was still alive, he could fell in love with someone he hardly talks to, didn't even really know who he is, and persevere for 800 years. Am I supposed to believe this? All of this sum up to one this, they don't feel like equal.

They don't feel like equal lovers, HC obviously worships XL to an unbelievably amazing degree while XL only knew he existed from only a while ago (Is this obsession? Stalker-ish? I know his stalker-ish tendencies are usually played for laugh, but realistically?) HC very very very rarely calls XL by his given name but with GeGe or CrownPrince, dude has a name you know. I know you feel lower than XL, but seriously man, the guy's your life partner. HC would destroy the world if XL said to. He'd probably try to talk to XL first, confirm things, but if at the end XL really does want it, HC would do it. He lives for XL, he has no other reason to do something aside for XL. No reason to say NO for himself. They're not equals in which one wanna do something bad, the other would stop him because they have their own convictions. You can't tell me one only lives for one person's sake, will do anything for that guy, and has no attachments in the world aside from that guy, is a healthy person. It may seem romantic, but when you actually think about it, it becomes uncomfortable.

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RiYueLingKong
RiYueLingKong rated it
November 21, 2018
Status: Completed
I have a feeling that this is an extremely polarising novel, talking about the nature of gods and ghosts and their relationship to humans. A lot of the concepts would require a complete anthropological study, not to mention politics and the relationship of royalty with divinity.

Like, the main couple's relationship needs a lens of 800 years of suffering in order to be comprehended, which would require much thought. They get along well - too well. It requires a second read to note that most of the time it was Hua... more>> Cheng playing along with Xie Lian's pace, and Hua Cheng more or less stalking Xie Lian for 800 years; as a ghost, the only thing which really keeps him in existence is his attachment to Xie Lian. At all.

I don't think any psychologist would ever want Hua Cheng as a client tbh... <<less
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Kyrina
Kyrina rated it
May 20, 2019
Status: Completed
I found both MC and ML in this novel are very mature hence lack of conflict. It makes sense considering that they had lived for 800 years and gone through all sort of ordeals.

This is an extraordinary story about extraordinary people. The pace is not slow, but the author chose to unravel the story bit by bit and keep the most crucial part in the end. I'm glad that I read the spoiler beforehand otherwise I would have drop this amazing story because honestly, the beginning is kinda boring.

It takes... more>> 180 chapters before we finally learn about the most tragic period of MC and ML life, which is truly heart-wrenching. So, keep reading and don't drop this before you reach chapter 180-ish.

Spoiler

Our MC was an idealist prince who ascended as god. His life was as perfect as fairy tale, but then things started to go wrong one after another and his life went topsy-turvy. His kingdom was ruined. His parents committed su*cide because they didn't want to burden him. He himself was banished from heaven, harassed by evil, stabbed to the point he couldn't be more dead by his own people whom he tried to help, and ended up as street performer and scrap collector mocked by others gods before finally ascended again and yet still purehearted as ever.

ML might seemed very OP but his background wasn't less tragic. He was abandoned human who was once saved by MC. He was MC silent devotee who kept following MC even when everyone else walked away. But he was still weak and powerless in the beginning and could only helplessly watch MC being trampled. Thus after he become ghost, he strove to be the strongest.

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paputsza
paputsza rated it
May 21, 2018
Status: c6
I'm not into it tbh. I don't think I like this author. Not my style. The characters aren't cute and I don't know how anyone feels. The story also jumps around to more boring parts without warning. Just plot dumps. I can handle a random training montage, but not a plot dump.
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Modest Beherit
Modest Beherit rated it
April 5, 2023
Status: Completed
2/5 Stars.

Book 1 - It would be considered mid if not for the egregious rasicm, has some iconic scenes like the ... more>>
Spoiler

wedding and gamblers den scene.

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Those were pretty good but the plot of the week stuff was pretty weak. Oh and the racism in the Banyue arc is utterly reprehensible. I'm not sure if you can link stuff on here so I'm going to quote parts of Beneath the brim's tumblr post here (and throughout this section) : Right, so let's start with the location of Banyue: it's an oasis in the Gobi desert, which puts it in the real life modern day Chinese province of Xinjiang. You may have heard of this province, as the Chinese government is currently conducting a genocide of Uyghur Muslims there. Here are some direct excerpts from the book to show you what I mean:

Spoiler

"The two only just gotten out of the hole in the tree, and not even a few steps after a number of red skinned naked people suddenly poured out from the nearby bushes and surrounded them. They started jumping, howling as they did so, "OOOooooHHHOooHHooohhhh!!"

He steadied himself to look at those savages, and they weren't truly naked, but were wearing animal skins and leaves, looking like they were ready to drink blood. They had long branch spears and sharp stoned axes in hand, and when they smiled at the two, their teeth were jaggedly sharp like saws.

Shi Qing Xuan shouted as he ran, "My brother used to always tell me! That deep in the southern mountains are many savage cannibals that live off of human flesh! He told me not to ever come to such a place on my own! Is that what those are?!"

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What can I say but yikes...

Spoiler

Xie Lian shook his head, "Not necessarily. Don't underestimate the people of Banyue, Nan Feng. Even if their population wasn't more than ten thousand, they kept the number of soldiers at an average of four thousand. There were more men than women; aside from the sick and old, and the farmers, most men joined the army. Besides, most of those soldiers were over nine feet tall, each more violent than the next. With a mace in hand, they would keep fighting even with swords through their chests. They're very hard to fight." (Ch.22)

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This is how Ke Mo is described when he is first introduced.

Spoiler

His face was as grim as steel, his expression ferocious and turbulent, like the face of a beast. A thin layer of armor draped from his shoulders and reached down at least nine feet. Rather than a man, one could say he was more like a walking wolf. Behind him, more and more similar forms appeared. One, two, three... over ten of these 'men' jumped off the roofs of the palace and surrounded them.

Each one of these 'men' were large like horses, built like beasts, and carried a sharp tooth-filled mace on their shoulders. They might as well have been werewolves. When they encircled the intruders in the garden, it was as if a large steel cage had fallen upon them.

[... ]

However, when those Banyue soldiers saw them they didn't rush to kill. Instead they raised their heads and roared in crazed laughter, and howled in a foreign language. The sound of their words were ghastly, guttural, and heavy in tongue-rolling. It was the language of Banyue. (Ch.24)

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Described as beastly, stronger than "regular men" and speaks in a "ghastly guttural accent" hmm where have we seen this before? These are very common rasict talking points to dehumanize the person you are trying to other. She treats the demons in scum villain in the exact same way this isn't a new thing for this author which I haven't seen many people talk about but maybe I'm just out of the loop.

Spoiler

Pei Su answered, "On the night before the invasion, many of the leaders of Banyue's major families gathered for a meeting, and decided on a secret plot."

"What plot?"

"The people of Banyue are violent in nature, and hated Yong An to the bone, " Pei Su said. "Even knowing they were about to be defeated, they wouldn't submit to it. So the entire population of the kingdom, the young, the old, the women and the men, all banded together to assemble this thing."

"What thing?" Xie Lian could guess but he wasn't sure, and the word that came out of Pei Su's mouth confirmed his suspicions.

"Explosives." Pei Su slowly enunciated each word. "They had decided that if the kingdom was to fall, then the citizens would each carry explosives on their bodies, escape to Yong An, mix into large crowded areas, and su*cide bomb to cause riots. Meaning: if they must die, then they would drag as many Yong An people down as they can with them. If the kingdom should fall, then they shall terrorize the country that brought their downfall!"

Which was why they had to be annihilated before those civilians had the time to flee.

Xie Lian instantly turned to Ke Mo, roughly summarized for him in the Banyue language, and asked, "Is this true?"

Ke Mo looked dauntless without any intention to conceal the facts. "It's true!"

San Lang raised his brows and commented, "How vile." (Ch.29)

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This is the exact same reasoning the CCP (along with their international trade partners) gives for why they must conduct 're-education' of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. 'Preventing terrorism'.

Their bigoted assumption isn't proven wrong by the plot our holier than thou "good" MC assumes it's the case before it's confirmed including Hua Cheng.

It left a sour taste in my mouth when I realized the extent of how bad this is. I'm not saying you shouldn't read this book but just consider what's happening in China right now and how popular this book is worldwide but especially in China. Just consider that the author of this book is pro Uyghur genocide or at the very least pro CCP. Do you want to continue financially supporting a piece of art which causes actual harm in it's native country and possibly worldwide?

Book 2 - Best one imo walks that balance so it isn't too angsty, which is good! It never becomes comical or feels like parody. Xie Lian has more to do and with HC being absent for most of it cause and effect is working as intended.

Book 3 - Everything before tonglu was an uninteresting blur in terms of the actual plot. Tonglu is basically there to exposit about a place we never get to actually see and only matters in the context of the main villain. It feels pretty pointless considering what the payoff to this actually is outside of the villain being a foil to the protagonist.

Book 4 - Angst city but not in a good way. Well as they say first comes tragedy second comes farce. Basically this book is too dramatic and everything is given the same amount of weight so nothing really has impact. MXTX has a really bad habit of thinking that repeating something will make it more impactful while not a giving visual description of what is visually happening in the prose. She never includes touch, taste or smell all that much either she mostly relies on exposition and dialogue. It makes any violence/viscera in the whole book but especially this one fall really flat imo.

Spoiler

Also it's very clear to me that the author has never received a deep flesh wound because XL's pain is at a 10 the entire time most of your nerves are concentrated at the surface of your skin. That's why splinters hurt so much. So why is this being written like the pain is constant? I know this is nitpicky but it really took me out of the scene. It would be over the top even if this was a first person story from XL's perspective, given that I've heard it feels like getting punched very hard if it's your abdomen. I'm surprised a martial god would be freaking out about it so much given he has probably been punched a bunch in training. We know he sparred with his retainers and Jun Wu so idk. It sadly adds to a pattern this book has of wanting XL to this super powerful marital god but he is also infantilized by the plot and arguably the love interest.

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This book wastes your time imo. It's far too long, the plot is nonexistent which isn't necessarily a bad thing but hualian just aren't engaging enough to make it worth it for me. The romance is incredibly static they spend the entire book acting like a married couple while not actually being together and that doesn't change until the very end of the novel. It manages to have them act married but it also wants to be a will they or won't they kind of thing. This doesn't work because hualian have no tension and are perfect together and any flaws HC has like being aggressive towards everyone who isn't Xie Lian does not throw a wrench into their relationship where the ML has to grow nah XL is just fine with it. The only difference from page 1 to the last page is that the ML has confessed his feelings the MC never actually never says to HC that he likes him.

The MC spends most of the book not knowing if he likes the ML but their first scene together has him blushing and squealing internally like a teenage girl so it's really hard for me to buy that he's not aware of his own feelings. He also has gay panic about the ML's advances which is par for the course with this author at this point. The gay panic is written in the exact same way for all of her protagonists. She doesn't bother to add anything else to make it fit with their pre-established characterization it's just the same regardless.

HC constantly babies XL as if he is incapable of looking after himself despite him supposedly being a very powerful martial god and by the end of the book:

Spoiler

Literally the most powerful character in the setting. Get your deedpol Xie Lian time to change your name to Gary Stu~

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so... why is HC doing this? And why is XL not bothered by it? I get that this is a romance trope - very heteronormative might I add - but where is XL's pride in his own abilities? He's written like a ditzy YA protagonist MXTX wants to have her cake and eat it too and I don't really think it works here.

The side characters are far more interesting than the main two because they typically have some kind of arc so even if they aren't deep at least they are going somewhere y'know? Unfortunately they are often sidelined and put in mortal danger because Xie Lian won't stop flirting or put his foot down with Hua Cheng enough to

a) focus on the current mission/mystery

b) put the people he has to work with for the foreseeable future (who may tarnish his relationship in heaven) before the hot man he just met.

Xie Lian is also pretty static because all of his "growth" happens in books 2 and 4 which all take place in the past. Sadly most of it is XL being a privileged brat with a savior complex who doesn't try to understand or empathize with the common people. How does he intend to "save the common people" when he puts zero effort into understanding their struggles which are his families fault arguably. For example in book two the protagonists dad has statues made of gold when
Spoiler

The common people are starving and plague ridden

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and given the circumstances it's strange that he didn't have the emotional intelligence to tell his dad to spend the budget on things that matter like oh... I don't know the citizens. I'm expected to empathize with XL and his family but it's hard to because if any of us were in this setting the royal family wouldn't lift a finger for us they would be too preoccupied with protecting their wealth, status, and control over their populace. Not very relatable for me personally. I can't say I blame the common people in this story, nobody is going to look out for them if they don't look out for themselves.

Basically if you are in the mood for a junk food, overindulgent, road trip novel with an overpowered ML who sweeps you off of your feet with a hefty dose of face slapping of the side characters/villain this may be your bag it just wasn't mine. <<less
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wistful
wistful rated it
December 2, 2019
Status: c244
I've reread this novel a few times, and I love it to death. However, this just doesn't hold up as well as the author's previous novels.

Like her previous novels, her core characters have their own motivations and feel real, but with such a huge cast of characters this time, she didn't do justice to a lot of her side characters. Qi Rong was introduced, slightly fleshed out, and then abandoned and treated as this... chaotic agent who whirls in and out randomly to drive the characters onto the next... more>> plot point. After a certain point I was tired of seeing him cackle and drag his sniveling brat around and was skimming over all the parts he showed up in. To no surprise, cutting him out barely affected anything.

And let's not even talk about Shi Qingxuan... after everything that happened to him, he's completely unaffected and just picks up exactly like he was before? No way.

Her other issue was that she seemed to have trouble properly wrapping up her plot points. We just finished off an arc? What now? Oh shoot! Lets shove HC and XL into a compromising situation, have XL stutter and blush a lot, and see if we can distract the readers with fluffy fan service! It's a bit of a cheap cop out and she keeps doing this throughout the novel! It's a bit of an annoying pattern once you notice it.

And lastly, as a ML, Hua Cheng just seems very... flat and generic. He doesn't feel like an actual character and feels more like the idealized imaged of a husband-type. Peerlessly handsome, unbelievably rich and powerful, and forever devoted. He basically exists to follow Xie Lian around, lightly tease him, and act as an ATM or powerbank. He's interchangeable with any other husband-type character from any other BL novel.

Despite all these nitpicking, this novel is still great and stands out amongst all other BL novels as amazingly well-written. I loved how she explored gender dynamics with Ling Wen, and the little arc about Yin Yu broke my heart.
Spoiler

He did everything "right", all the way to the end, and still died a miserable and tragic death.

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Elgate
Elgate rated it
October 29, 2020
Status: c181
I do enjoy this story, and I love MXTX's writing. Her romance stories are often a bar above the rest by having amazing plots that could hold up even without the romance.

If this story is later edited to be more succinct and cut out the extra side stories, I'd happily give it 5 stars. As it is, it feels like a chore to get through to the good bits. I only have 20 chapters left and I have all but given up, skim reading just so I can get closure... more>> on the story, rather than engage it.

Pro's of this book:

    1. Is better than most other BL stories, including her previous works, in avoiding problematic BL tropes involving unsafe and nonconsensual romance scenes. Still has a few tropes and mild consent issues (kiss or die, under the influence of X, so on), but handled better. If the two LI weren't bound by some narrative obligation to prolong the UST as long as possible, then this could have been a healthy relationship very early on.
    2. Amazing writing (and translations) that when an engaging story comes up is hard to put down.
    3. Romance doesn't kill the plot: The plot, like MXTX other books, is very much a thought out plot that could be done without any romance involved and still be great. The romance usually adds to it, but occasionally also just makes XL forget that he should maybe make sure his friends aren't dying instead of being domestic with HC.
    4. pro/con: This feels like it'd be better handled as an episodic 'monster of the week' show or web series, and I think would actually be very fun to enjoy as such. Trying to read it as a complete novel (or series of books) does make you ask yourself why you're reading filler in a book.
However I'm giving this one a 3.5 because I honestly feel like it needs to be ruthlessly abridged. There are many side stories and characters in the book that only seem to contribute to story bloat and pacing issues, and feel more like they were rough ideas for another story that MXTX decided to include in this one.

MTXT also does have a reoccurring problem of relying too much on chronically forgetful characters to create dramatic reveals and misunderstandings (To the point where you feel like the characters having memory problems is an medical issue that should actually be addressed, or the characters are really just dumb. WWX came across as the former, XL comes across as the latter (maybe being 800 years old has made him senile)), as well as having very few well written reoccuring female characters and none of them seem to ever make it into the main group of characters (I get that it's a BL story, but I always find it ironically tragic that a genre mostly written by women, for women, seems to really dislike women). We have Ling Wen as a side character (who is often a he when involved in the plot for any length of time), technically Shi qingxuan (Who is seen as a male character who is often female), and... Lan Chang the ghost prostitute and Banyue the 'looks like a child, is actually hundreds of years old' trope. The latter two barely counting as reoccuring and the former two being more representative of genderfluid characters (which is amazing, don't get me wrong, I'd just like well written genderfluid characters and female characters).

Quite often it felt like the MC just forgot about people he should care about, because we were too busy being dragged into another pointless side story or just a short slice of life interlude. I get needing to relax the tension and letting the characters breathe for a moment, but maybe not at the cost of just... leaving a close friend in horrible torment or forgetting about a small child who may be in danger. This sadly led to negative feelings about the MC who ended up feeling like he didn't really care about people outside the LI. Yes, maybe in 40 chapters he'd go 'Oh right, the boy. Oops, hope he didn't get eaten. Oh well, nothing to do now' and then just continue what ever side story we were stumbling about in.

The romance was also off this time. There wasn't much tension besides 'no homo', even when HC knowingly sacrifices XL's friend in order to protect XL. XL just goes 'It's okay, I understand' instead of getting mad about being deceived like that. HC otherwise acted more as a device for exposition and deus ex machina than being a character with his own goals, motivations and personality. XL was sweet and lovable, but I can't say I've seen any character growth or changes in opinions in over 180 chapters. I think the only thing I like about the romance is that it's 'safe'. HC is devoted to XL and cares about his well being and autonomy, XL is a sweety who slowly accepts his feelings. None of the abusive and toxic tropes that turn up in many romance stories, especially BL ones. XL also does get to protect HC, which is a subversion of the usual 'the dominant partner always protects' trope, but it's not quite as much as HC ends up protecting him.

Stories/characters that I think were a good addition and/or needed a little more :

Spoiler
    1. Shi Qingxuan (Wind Master) : Their story was one of the best side stories in the book, and SQX is also just a fun character to have around (best cheerful, competent, genderfluid friend), and their story drew some interesting parallels to Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's story.
    2. Lang Qianqiu: Would have been an amazing foil and parallel to XL but get's forgotten about for about two books.
    3. The corpse bride: This worked fine as an introductory short story, to introduce rules, skills and a doomed/unrequited 'star crossed' lovers between a ghost and god, paralleling XL/HC own star crossed lovers (although then no one in the book then barely cares about ghost/god romances after, so...)
    4. 'The Three Tumours': If fleshed out better they could have been a great way to represent the corruption of heaven and grey morality and could have mirrored XL and his friends. Shi Wudu's story was great (sharing with Shi Qingxuan), Ling Wen's could have been far better if it had been foreshadowed and set up rather than just thrown out there (and could have maybe leaned more into the difficulties of a woman wanting to be seen for her own value and not married off to an idiot, and then later guilt/regret or lack their of. Instead her story was mostly a flashback unrelated to the plot and then benny hill shenanigans). Pei Ming had similar problems where his backstory was just dull and eventually led nowhere, but could have been something better (maybe having greater conflict with XL (which I thought was going to happen- I thought PM was going to be the one to go 'hang on, anyone think that maybe XL shouldn't be dating a ghost king and the way everyone around XL suffers', but nah.), being more aggressive in trying to redeem Pei Su or so on) .
    5. Qi Rong: Doesn't do much but I have to admit, damn fun as a love to hate villain, and does play well into XL's morality. Or should.
      Spoiler

      Having a cousin that is a psychopath, but also a result of abuse and neglect, and genuinely looked up to you and now hates you for what he perceives to be empty morality and virtue signalling could make XL doubt himself or question who is worthy of redemption or not, but nah. Just tie him up and let the small child mind him instead. Responsibility!

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Characters/ stories that did nothing:

    1. Banyue and Pei su. That whole Banyue story. It was dull, didn't really add to much and was mostly forgotten about. I feel like Pei su was supposed to play into Pei Ming's vices and morality more, but really didn't.
    2. Quan Yizhen & Yin Yu: When Quan Yizhen popped up again I had honestly forgotten who he was because there was an entire side story or two between his introduction and when he actually turned up again. I feel like you could take these two out and not loose much, or could have made it into something happening in the present as part of Ling Wen's so it actually felt like part of the plot and had tension.
    3. Jing Wen: Maybe could have been interesting if introduced earlier as part of Ling Wen's past, but when he does show up I found myself wanting to skip it all to get back to the plot because he does nothing but stall the plot. You could snip his section out I doubt it'd change much.
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There's more I feel I could list and say, but this has already become an essay. If you read and enjoy this, I have no wish to ruin it for you, but my feelings about this book are so strong because it had so many great features but was ultimately too bloated for me to enjoy to the end. <<less
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Melange
Melange rated it
March 21, 2020
Status: Completed
This was the third MXTX novel I read as I read them in the order they were written and I have to say that while very ambitious, this novel was a bit of a flop. The initial groundwork for the novel was laid out well but things were almost too convenient.

... more>>
Spoiler

For instance, many of the characters ended up being people whom MC had direct contact with during his early life. He's lived more than 800 years and it just so happens that his two former retainers became gods, his former disciple became a god, some soldier he fostered... became a god, and ML was the child he saved when he was 17? Only one out of a million people can ascend but it just so happens to be all these people he's met before? Hmm.

Not only that, but the novel really went off the rails at some point. Evidently if you've enough spiritual power you can do anything including fusing 4 gods into a giant sword, controlling a giant (and flying) statue, build bridges to heaven, etc etc. How? Because magic. MC defeated the big boss in an almost shounen-like manner where he used a secret super skill he learned through the power of friendship through his time in banishment aka body slamming the big boss into a wall.

MC and ML's plot armor is also exceptionally thick and ML is the ultimate Mary Sue. Because MC is a banished god he gets not one but two cursed shackles which seals his abilities, yet allows him to become undying. Then somehow ML is capable of lending so much spiritual power that he can break the cursed shackles? Also somewhere in the novel it's mentioned that ghosts can't die unless you find their ashes but here are all these characters banishing ghosts left and right. Huh? It almost seemed that tidbit was included just to show how romantic ML was to give MC his ashes in the form of a ring... Like many reviewers mentioned, the romance was disappointing yet much of the novel was built upon ML's love for MC. Maybe it was an issue of censorship? Who knows. There were times where ML's character was a little OOC but I guess one could chalk it up to being a lonely moody ghost for 800 years.

I don't know if it's an issue with the translation, but this novel also had a lot of unnecessary cursing. f*ck YOU! f*ck THAT! WHAT THE ACTUAL f*ck! f*ck THEM! Perhaps it was an attempt at humor, which was certainly the case for Qi Rong, but it was a poor attempt if anything. In comparison, Wei Wuxian from MDZS was far more humorous and well-rounded.

At the end of the novel there were many unsatisfactory loose ends. Many characters were introduced in the novel yet few were mentioned in the end. You know that feeling when you're nearing the end of a novel but there aren't enough chapters left for everything you hope to happen, to happen? That's the feeling I got.

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It was a good attempt at a more expansive novel, but I hope that her future works would focus more on quality than quantity. I do suggest reading all of MXTX's novels once but if you're looking for something with more substance that is more fulfilling, then MDZS is probably the safer bet. <<less
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clxndestinely
clxndestinely rated it
February 17, 2020
Status: Completed
I read this last out of the three MXTX because it was the longest, and, yeah, both the story and the translation are good.

I liked:

... more>>
Spoiler

The side stories, especially Lord Wind Master’s, because oof. Like, I didn’t really expect it.

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However, I didn’t like the main characters and their so-called “romance”, nor how they reacted to the side stories.

Spoiler

When MC realised ML’s 800-year obsession with him, he just kinda rolled with it, and, er...

I genuinely think that the story would’ve worked better before the 700 years, when MC was a chaotic kid falling from grace, and, maybe San Lang should’ve been older (as in not a toddler), ‘cause MC just became some guy who’s willing to accept things the way it is.

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A few times, honestly, I almost quit reading because I couldn’t find the emotion factor, which is really important in stories like this. <<less
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