(Updated: 04.12.21)

Another overdue update since I devoured Priest's 2.0 revision the moment it was uploaded last year, can I rate this any higher? I want to rate this higher.

So Priest did address the fact that the latter parts were rushed, and lo behold we got +200k character count, a brand new arc, new characters, more fleshing out of side characters, more insight into their past, and an even more satisfying ending on all fronts.

... more>> Love. I only have love for this novel.

(10.31.19)

Rating: 3000/10

Ok this "review" is a bit overdue bUT I figured I had to update because my first one was from Book 2 and BOY, Lie Huo Jiao Chou would just get Better and Crazier and Feelsier from there.

Short review: Priest's writing shines even more with her latest novel, and could be even compared to how she beautifully wrote Can Ci Pin/Imperfections (personally, I do think she gets even better everytime !!) The plot is quickly engaging, the mystery and dynamics behind the characters are quick to pull you in, and you're bound to be in one hell of a ride.

To those who followed the daily updates, we are all aware of how Priest became increasingly busy towards the middle of the year, hence, the last book's plot seemed to progress too quickly/in a much faster rate. Nevertheless, she was still able to wrap up everything nicely, dealing with immediate problems and showing how the world moves forward after such a climatic event.

Aside from the main CP, there is a second CP that will be introduced by Book 3, and they were such a great addition to the whole story. They're not any less important than the main CP, and it's because of them that it's easier to understand the main CP's later dynamics.

Everyone got what they deserved in the end. Everyone did. (Silent tears)

It's a Really Great Read!

(02.26.19)

I am following the daily release of Lie Huo Jiao Chou in jjwxc and am thoroughly enjoy priest's signature mind-blowing worldbuilding and plotting. There's so much mystery waiting to be unfolded in both the past timeline and the present era. As usual, it's a slow burn for the main CP, but it doesn't make the novel less enjoyable. In fact, because of this, we could focus on the plot and the other intricate storyline meshing with the main plot.

A very enjoyable read, priest is still as funny and as painful. Wishing this could be even longer than Imperfections *praying emoji* <<less

This properly going to be a very unpopular opinion but I could never get myself to finish any novel from Priest.

I don't know if it is because I don't understand the culture reference behind it but it is always way too confusing and too much going on--everything has to have a double triple underlying meaning that is never explained...

After 38 chapters, I decided to drop it. The main couple never had any meaningful connection and when they do, is always get ruined by some snarky comment from one of... more>> them. <<less

This novel actually has 2 versions. The one up on jjwxc right now is 2.0, after Priest did a major overhaul on the entire story and increased the word count by a lot. From the Chinese reviews, it seems that it was because the plot was pretty disjointed and awkward, although some of them also mention that for what 2.0 makes up for in plot/worldbuilding, it lacks in the romantic development (though I haven't read much of 1.0). Personally, 2.0 was readable. Some arcs still felt really out of place,... more>> but it was bearable, although it does kind of fall flat in the romantic plotline. The interactions between MC and ML are almost all angst, painful to read, with maybe a cottonball's worth of fluff in the extras.

On the whole, this novel really gives the same feeling as Jin Se (one of Priest's earlier novels). In that it's pretty dark, even compared to her other works. The whole atmosphere of the novel is so grim that

Spoiler

the happy ending kind of feels out of place. A bad ending honestly would have matched the novel's themes much better. And even though it's nominally a happy ending, I almost doubt that the ML Sheng Lingyuan is even able to feel happiness at all, his whole character is extremely depressing. It's like, he's willing to die for the MC, but not willing to live for him. He just gives off the feeling that he could let go of life at any moment, and just leave MC to live the rest of his immortal lifespan alone.

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The themes of this novel are also super depressing

Spoiler

basically souls don't continue on after death, living is a precondition for having a soul, so there's no second chances if you waste your life, hell at some point in the novel, it just casually remarks that average people who just live 9-5 lives like cogs in the machine, just eating, sleeping, sh*tting, working barely have souls at all. One theme that aspires to be hopeful (but really isn't) is that everything that lives/is sentient has a place in the world (paraphrased), except the plot contradicts this idea, in that the yao and the human-like races all got genocided, then their remaining survivors had to hide amongst humans and interbreed with them in order to survive, so that 3000+ years later only humans and humans with 0.00001% nonhuman bloodline are left. Which is, like, what, humans don't have the capacity to coexist with other races/species/supernatural creatures unless humans assimilate them like the borg??

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Anyways, this novel was difficult to read, and not a particularly enjoyable experience, but it was hard to put down without knowing the ending. <<less

This is not a perfect book but I am a hardcore Priest fan so it's a 5 star from me.

Note that Priest updated a whole new version of novel during May 2020. The updated version is much better.

Plot:
This novel starts with a prologue about Sheng Lingyuan's decision to jump into Chi Yuan (Fiery Lake?) 3000 years ago to die. In the modern time, Xuan Ji starts his new job at a secret governmental organization that deals with fantastical/magical issues. Right as he starts his job, there's a crisis - someone used blood sacrifice to awaken the demon who was sealed away in Chi Yuan. The awakened demon is Sheng Lingyuan, the other main character. Xuan Ji and he try to test each other, each with their own agenda. For the rest of the book, sinister, blood magic/blood sacrifice stuff happens as it's slowly revealed why Lingyuan was awakened, what actually happened 3000 years ago, and the past of both of the main characters.

Sheng Lingyuan is the infamous Emperor 3000 years ago who brought hard-won peace to the human race, but he was ruthless and crazed by all modern accounts (all this is made up). 3000 years ago, the world wasn't just full of humans, but other races too, like demons, etc. Many of the races were at war with each other and the human race was losing quite badly and it looked like they would be wiped out. Sheng Lingyuan was then born. When he ascended the throne, he became the Emperor who killed the demon king, stopped the war, brought peace and prosperity. He then sealed Chi Yuan, which is the source of all magic, causing the other races to die out, and the never-ending wars and power struggles between the different races to stop.

New additions in this revised version:

- a lot of loose plot threads tied up
- many scenes were shifted around, some appearing earlier, some having been axed, some pushed back
- Lingyuan and Xuan Ji's relationship was heavily edited
- side characters had more scenes, more fleshed out stories
- more fleshed out flashbacks to 3000 years ago, new plot scenes inserted (e.g. the mermaid palace that existed in between time - super cool)

My thoughts:
- this revised version has way less 'tell' and much more 'show'. Previously, I found all the scenes set in the past really boring. It was lots of telling - this, this and this happened to Lingyuan... this and that happened to Xuan Ji... Don't get me wrong, it was all heartbreaking stuff, but the two characters' reactions aren't really captured, and priest hadn't done enough set-up to make me invested/care about the flashbacks

- relationship development, pace, dynamic and characterization. In the original, Lingyuan was woobified. Xuan Ji was awesome as a person, but he almost seemed like a side character because Lingyuan far outclassed him in terms of power, intelligence, ability to make things happen. A lot of their previous scenes were also really melodramatic. A lot of things about the two characters that didn't really make sense in the original have now been adjusted to flow better.

I actually really love how Lingyuan is in effect, an anti-hero, and priest wrote such a compelling and well-written story of how he went from a kind, soft, idealistic young prince into a ruthless, merciless and almost crazed Emperor. As usual, I love her insight into her characters' psyche; she portrays them with such careful detail.

- theme commenting on the imperial China's Fengjian way of life vs. modern Chinese society's much more egalitarian way of life. I complained in my old review that I felt like the original didn't really have a tight 'theme' or message; the book almost seemed aimless, which I felt was uncharacteristic of priest, but this new book seemed much tighter, like priest knew what she wanted to talk about.

What the 2.0 version lost:
- I saw on Weibo that most ppl, like me, seemed to like this better because the plot was much more complex, sprawling, and had more consistent logic. 2.0 is a dark, time-travelling, humorous and fantastical mystery/political intrigue type of novel.

- The relationship suffered a bit though. It's way angstier, like OMG, I felt like dying the entire time while reading about Lingyuan and Xuan Ji. They also had a lot of misunderstandings and way less scenes devoted to their relationship, I feel. The word-count used up for the revised plot seemed to have been straight-up taken from the ship. Really a pity because this is one of her most compelling pairings.

Priest said in her author's note at the end that she still disliked parts of this revised edition and she wanted to overhaul the entire book, but decided to strike a balance between keeping parts of the original, and revising it. There are still parts that I feel are abrupt, or overly melodramatic, but oh well.

TLDR: read the May 2020 version if you want the book to make more sense, want a more complex and coherent plot. Read the 2019 version if you want more ship scenes imo.

Don't get discouraged by the low rating, since that is mostly for the 1.0 version of this novel. Priest recently updated the entire novel to the 2.0 version where she rewrote a big chunk of the plot, added a lot of new things, fleshed out certain plot holes and overall polished the novel. I only read the 2.0 version, which apparently is the "less romantic" one, but there is still plenty of character interaction, development and tension. However, given the complicated nature of the main relationship, it takes a LONG... more>> while before anything tangible really starts going between the two, say, until the 90th chapters. But when it does start, it really gets going. This novels is very hard to describe without spoiling anything. If you are a fan of Priest, this is a must. If you are not a fan of slow burns, then this is not for you.

Again, points down for the plot and action getting a tad bit convoluded in the last third of the novel. <<less

Wow! Just Wow! I can't just put to words how great of a novel it is so far. I've read quite a few of priest's works and this was just absolutely lit. The plot immediately pulls you in and you grow fond of the lead characters soon enough. They have wonderful dynamics.

Out of all the Priest's novels, I like this one the most. Even though the spacing is a bit bad and the story will sometimes info dump on you, I finds both the shou and the gong lovable characters. I also like the modern age setting and how it is link to its ancient past. At first, the story is enemy to lover kind, but then later it becomes established relationship and I really like this trope.

I like how the gong (Xuan Ji) is often the clown of the circus,... more>> he is just a typical wage s*ave who wants to buy a house in the city and spend time cooking for his lover, but he also has a cool and mature side that I often find refreshing while learning about all the dark tragedy in the past. There is a scene in which

Spoiler

Xuan Ji cries and begs when Lingyuan hurts himself

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and I just want to hug him and take care of him. I just love a gong that is true to his feeling, if he loves he gonna say he loves and none otherwise.

The shou (Lingyuan) seems to be your typical cold-blooded emperor but later you learn that he is actually the "black sheep" of the family, since his

Spoiler

mother and teacher are both the worst scum on earth

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. I am not exaggerating. Lingyuan is dutiful and would do anything in his ability to keep peace on earth. He has a lot of similarities with Gu Yun in Sha Po Lang, but is also a character of his own, I think I might like him even more than Gu Yun, he behaves much like a king who is wise and powerful. He is always so graceful and gentle to people unless they touch the one thing he hates.

I just enjoy Xuan Ji and Lingyuan living the modern people's life, but pity there were not a lot of moments like that, because there are always accidents happens that require their attention. I wish Priest just writes more romance haha! <<less

"I'm the delusion of humankind"

"To that person, he was... nothing more than a sword."

4 stars!

I read the updated version mostly in raws without MTL (RIP brain) so I'm pretty sure some stuff was lost in translation and I should wait for the translated version later. Nonetheless, I felt that the story had a strong start. It has all the elements I like, with urban fantasy, an almost episodic case book like series of events with one big case tying it together. And the main characters mysterious past linking them together.

The side characters, once again, are alive here and add more to the story... more>> than just plot devices. I really liked some details to them that were later revealed towards the end of the book and special shoutout to Wang ze who's hilarious.

Minus 1 star is perhaps in the romance part. I didn't expect it to be overtly romantic but something just felt lacking. Warning for rant:

Spoiler

Partially because most of the story occurs in XJ POV, the reader really resonates with his feelings and confusion. And his feelings are very deep. Whereas when it comes to that gradual slow boil to the revelation of his true identity, I don't feel the same gradual realisation on SLY side who seemed more nonchalent about it. So there's an imbalance in emotion that kind of left me unsatisfied. And for most of the story, XJ seems desperate to find a way forward together but SLY is stuck in the past (or that's how I feel). I kind of get that it's part of his character and how the years have worn him down but it's just kind of sad. Lucky there's a HEA. The extras gave a tiny bit of fluff to put them on a somewhat more equal footing but looking back I suddenly realise I don't even know when did SLY even fall for XJ? I might have missed the moment in my reading but it was so much more clearer from XJ's side.

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But ignoring the lack of romance, I enjoyed the setting and the mystery and I really liked XJ (best birb boi) ! <<less