La bendición del Oficial del Cielo, vol. 4

天官赐福 [Tiān Guān Cì Fú] #4

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, Marina López-Duarte Bandini (Translator)

Crece la tensión entre inmortales y fantasmas.

Xie Lian y Hua Cheng responden a la llamada de los dioses del Viento y de la Tierra para dar caza a una peligrosa entidad que amenaza el mundo de los inmortales. Sin embargo, detrás de estos ataques se esconde algo infinitamente más peligroso que ocasiona que las tensiones entre inmortales y fantasmas alcancen su punto más crítico.

En esta nueva misión, las relaciones entre aliados y enemigos evolucionan, marcadas por la revelación de secretos largamente enterrados, y el sacrificio, la lealtad y las consecuencias de los errores pasados desvelarán la verdadera esencia de cada personaje.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Historical, Fiction, China

480 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Associated Names:
* 墨香铜臭 (Chinese)
* Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
* โม่เซียงถงซิ่ว (Thai)
* 묵향동후 (Korean)
* Мосян Тунсю (Russian)

Reviews

[zeo]

cover update: they really put the sluttiest cover for the most depressing book in the series💀

[hairaimo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Went from fun to funeral real fast

[fish]

Gonna tell the future generations that this is the bible

[anmol · Rating 5 out of 5]

“ I do not worship gods—
“I am god!”

hua cheng would kill me but DIANXIA HAVE MY BABIESSSS 🧎🏻‍♀️

id pretend blackwater arc didnt happen and beefleaf are happily married

also quan yizhen needs to be protected at all costs 😭🫶🏼
_

“Watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it. You understand that you are nothing, that you can do nothing. That’s the worst suffering in the world.”

Please get together I'm begging.

“To me, the one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is you, not the state of you.”

It has become repetitive at this point but WTF WAS THAT!?? AND THAT ENDING??? LIKE PLS DONT KEEP ME HANGING I NEED MORE HUALIAN.

It's the way neither of them even thinks of leaving the other even when the situation calls for it. Hua Cheng, he's always there. He's always fucking there. And the way Xie Lian constantly reassures Hua Cheng and tries to protect him at all costs, even when he knows the latter can do so himself- he's the Ghost King ffs.

“I lied. Don’t leave me.”

I cried. AND WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT LIKE HELLOOO IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE AGES THANKYOU FOR THE SOCIAL SERVICE

ALSO THE COFFIN SCENE??!? AAAHHHHH IVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT SINCE I STARTED THIS BOOK AND IT WAS FINALLY HERE AND FUCK YOU DRAGON BITCH (look at me cussing a dragon sorry darius i love you tho ❤️) OR WHOEVER IT WAS FOR COCKBLOCKING MY LOVES.

This novel was just Xie Lian freaking the fuck out whenever he sees Hua Cheng (especially when he's shirtless), or mooning over Hua Cheng, or missing Hua Cheng, or being jealous over Hua Cheng's beloved, or making out with Hua Cheng making sure Hua Cheng gets air to breathe(even when he's a ghost and doesn't need to breathe bcs Xie Lian's a dumbass who's clearly in love) AND I DEVOURED EVERY SECOND OF IT.

“Only since meeting you have I rediscovered how simple it is to be happy.”

Just tell him you love him, Xie Lian- my baby has been waiting for 800 years.

I think I should move on to the other characters now because bcs WTF PLS I WANT MY SUNSHINE SHI QINGXUAN TO BE HAPPY AND THIS IS NOT IT

ALSO MING YI??? Like yes he was kinda sus but HOLYSHIT THIS SHOULDNT COME IN BETWEEN BEEFLEAF PLS 🛐

Ngl I lowkey missed Feng Xin and Mu Qing in this one. Pei Ming is also growing on me wtf please don't let anything happen to them.

Quan Yizhen IS SO AMAZING IM LOVING HIM UGH.

I still miss my husband Shi Qingxuan tho bring him back please. 😭
_

ughhh the cover THE COVER THE FUCKING COVER

[bea ♡]

beefleaf going through their relationship crisis while hualian is making out in full display on the cover is so funny to me

[el · Rating 4 out of 5]

hualian is malewife4malewife and i think that’s really inspiring

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only a kiss from his gege can revive an unconscious Hua Cheng

[Kate♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5stars

My favorite volume so far! So many amazing scenes - the coffin scene every fanfic is written about, the make out session that's depicted on the cover, as well as so much horror and sadness when it comes to other characters. This volume has adorable and hot HuaLian but also amazing plot development and shocking deaths and situations. Fucking loved it





9/7/2022 update - OH MY GOD THE COVER REVEAL WOW its so pretty but dang i can't be reading this one at work around fifth graders lolll


8/31/2022 - COVER REVEAL WHEN??

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 '😭😢🥺' stars

Rated S for SPOILERS!

I'm still trying to process what I've just read. Black Water arc was so damned sad. And yes, I'm perfectly aware that the worst arc is yet to come and I have no idea how I'll survive that, so wish me luck 🥲 however, I'll return to this later and start with happier moments first ✨



*fangirling scream* HUALIAN!!! ❤️🤍
There was so many cute and sweet scenes of them 🥰🥰🥰 yes, gods are falling, ghosts are rising, and hualian are having a honeymoon phase before they are even married (but I stand by the fact that they are already engaged 🤭)



Anyway, first they are flirting and undressing each other (all that while Shi Qingxuan has a life crisis right there 😭 but all of that later as I said). Everything is, of course, very innocent because Xie Lian - God bless him Heaven Official's Blessing be upon him - still has no idea what's going on! However, if we are perfectly sincere, Hua Cheng is not really making it easy for him. Poor besotted fool asks him to marry him and then covers it with a joke 😅😅 I mean, I'd be confused too. So, Xie Lian, my darling, I feel you 😊



Tragic stuff aside, the trip to Black Water Lair was so hilarious. We have hualian going on an adventure where they are constantly wet, lost, and lacking power but I think they had a time of their lives!




Look at him being cute all wet and dirty 😄

"... I apologize in advance."
His voice was practically shaking as he said it. He clapped his hands together in silent prayer and then bent down. With his eyes shut tight, he pressed his lips against Hua Cheng's.
Hua Cheng's eyes snapped open.

Fanart by JessyM

Yess!! We also got their second kiss here! 😍🤩🥳

This time, the kiss was much deeper. Xie Lian fully captured Hua Cheng's thin, cool lips and gently blew air in.
His eyes were closed through the whole process, not daring to look. [...] but the moment he opened his eyes, he found himself staring squarely into Hua Cheng's own widened ones.

"San Lang, you're awake."
Hua Cheng didn't speak.
Xie Lian dropped his hands from Hua Cheng's cheeks at once and leapt meters back.
"...No, no, no no, no no no! It's not what you think. I just wanted to..."
[...]
"...Your Higness you... just calm down first."
Xie Lian clutched his head. He was a mess from head to toe.

Well well, if that's not the most accurate description of our Taizi Dianxia, lol 😄



And, of course, I mustn't forget the coffin scene!! Not everyone has a sexual awakening in a coffin. (Unless, you're Shen Qingqiu. Or Mo Ran - but that was more of a revelation than an awakening...) Anyway, back to Xie Lian and his awakening.


Fanart by neesawahh

"San Lang, how about we switch it up?"
"Switch what?" Hua Cheng asked.
"You on top and me on the bottom," Xie Lian replied.
"Top, bottom; isn't it all the same?"
Xie Lian was afraid he was too heavy.

Hua Cheng probably: Why is he asking me about my sexual preferences in the middle of a mortal danger!?!? 🫢🫣🥹
Xie Lian, precious baby, is of course only afraid he's too heavy 😅😂



I also loved all of their domestic scenes. I mean, they are practically already living together! And spending time together all the time ☺️😌😘 but I hope Hua Cheng will teach Xie Lian how to cook or eventually he will kill off all their guests 🤣😂




And that's not all. We were really blessed with hualian scenes in this volume 😊

To his surprise, Hua Cheng was unsatisfied with a shallow embrace. He roughly pinned Xie Lian down on top of the jade table, scattering ink, paper, and brushes across the floor. Caught up in the struggle, Xie Lian's hand accidentally skimmed past the cinnabar dish stationed on the table, smearing crimson marks across the paper underneath him.
"San..." Xie Lian started.
Before he could utter another word, Hua Cheng grabbed him by the shoulders and leaned down into a kiss.

Fanart by Eta


Fanart by lanawaay

Before we go to the tragic part, here's the opening donghua song to make you feel better 🥰

I knew this was coming because I spoiled myself this part a long time ago but it still hurt. Shi Qingxuan truly grew on me since the moment he appeared on the scene and especially when declaring Xie Lian his friend despite just meeting him. My baby is made of pure sunshine.



my gif

I honestly don't know how this situation could be avoided. I never liked Shi Wudu but I have to admit that he loved his didi with all his heart and that he just wanted to protect him even when it didn't seem like it, so I can't really hate him. I think he genuinely tried to do his best.


Fanart by thekansta


Fanart by thekansta

Half the pain I felt reading this arc could possibly be avoided if I haven't fell for xuanxuan (?) ship (yeah, I refuse to call them beefleaf 'cause it sounds so silly). I was betwitched by all the beautiful fanart and was totally on board shipping these two before I even realized they are just pain with more pain wrapped in even more pain. (And don't get me started on fan-fics. They are even more painful and tragic than canon 😭)


Fanart by crimson-chains

These two are practically Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen of TGCF. No matter the amount of fix-it-s, it's impossible to actually fix their relatioship. And being completely honest, there's not much of their relationship actually in the book (unless you're truly desperate, which I guess we are, lol). So, I kind of still can't belive that I was so sad over sth that barley exists 😅






I know this is just a side story but I wish we'd learn more about He Xuan. Yeah, I know he's actually kind of a villain, not my fault I like to collect poor little meow meows, but he has such a potential as a charachter. Can you imagine all the angst if we'd be in his head? (I probably wouldn't survive it but anyway...) Now that this is over, the only thing left for me is to store this story/ship in that little corner of my brain, responsible for coming up with HEAs for sad stuff (I think He Xuan and Tantai Jin will get along just fine).


Fanart by crimson-chains


Fanart by samairu



I don't want to end this review on such a depressing note since despite tragic events this vol was actually really funny, so how about a badass Xie Lian moment.

"You ask who I am?! Listen well. I am His Eminent Highness the Crown Prince! Bow down before me, you riotous, unruly horde!"
"I am over eight hundred years old. Older than all of you combined! I have crossed more bridges than all the roads you have walked!"
"I do not worship gods-"
"I am god!"
[...]
Xie Lian wiped away his sweat. "Will everyone please forget evertyhing I just said? I'm actually only a scrap collector."

5 'silver butterflies' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 'Chengzhu and his Dianxia' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4,5 'flowers and lanterns' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐
5 '😭😢🥺' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 'The calm before the storm' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 'Body in abyss, heart in paradise' stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
tbr
tbr

[Ludovica · Rating 5 out of 5]

People in the comment section being clueless about which chapters are covered in this novel bc they all read it from the internet 💀💀 feel u

[Linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume is the smoochiest one so far, plus all the sweet domestic scenes at the Puqi Shrine made my heart sooo happy~!! 🥰

Lighting a candle for Shi Wudu/Shi Qingxuan though... 😭 💀

[lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xie Lian is ancient fantasy china’s greatest detective and heaven’s least effective cop. seriously, he unraveled so many conspiracies in this volume and apprehended exactly zero of the perpetrators. on two separate occasions he let a criminal escape because he was busy being gay for Hua Cheng. nothing is resolved. i feel restless.

let’s take a moment of silence now for the not-girlfriends. yin and yang, swapped by force long before they ever met. their years spent as companions in heaven, walking the road to hellish revenge. blood for blood, but no harm undone. they deserved better.

or did they? that’s still the central ethical question, isn’t it. who deserves a good fate and who a bad? i don’t know. young Xie Lian’s idea of a third option where there’s enough good to go around remains as elusive and debatable as ever. “did i give you a third path?” He Xuan asks, cold and rhetorical, as the Shi brothers flounder under his ultimatum. but in the end, didn’t he technically drag them down a third path? outlook: unclear. concentrate and ask again 🎱

in other news, Quan Yizhen has bewitched me body and soul with his autistic swag. like bro we would vibe so hard if u were real bro.

as for the developments re: Ling Wen, i am unsurprised, because women fundamentally cannot have jack shit in an MXTX book. they either gotta be dead (for a man) or evil (because of a man) or both. what i am surprised by is that i like Pei Ming now. is he corrupt? sure. but he’s actually pretty reasonable and his dialogue is very fun. he’s clearly clocked hualian’s whole deal, but i kept expecting him to be homophobic about it and instead he seems more like a nosy ally ✊??? hysterical.

on that subject, i wanna spotlight just how much space “kissing for urgent magical plot reasons” took up in this volume. that is NOT a complaint. it was funny and it was sexy. i’m a sucker for fantasy forms of intimacy, and the mouth-to-mouth transfer of ghost-power was rendered with pretty elegant viscerality. it honestly made me stop to appreciate how high-quality this translation is. sure, my bar is at MDZS (and its extras…)—so, low—but this work is impressive! i <3 complex sentence structures!

[Izzy⁷♡•° · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume has such good quotes the actual definition of CRYING SCREAMING THROWING UP I swear

Not only that but it has my two favourite quotes (I think, it's hard to actually know because the amount of quotes I love is sickening)

'Watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it. You understand that you are nothing, that you can do nothing. That's the worst suffering in the world.'

'To me, the one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matter is you, not the state of you.'
[Like please a round of applause for the main slayer]

'If I like something, then my heart has no room for anything else. I'll always treasure it. A thousand times, a million times, my feelings won't change no matter how many years pass. And so I won't tire of this poem.'

'Only since meeting you have I rediscovered how simple it is to be happy.' AHHHHHH

Also I apologise if you were looking for an actual review however, it is physically impossible for me to even try to be slightly objective when it concerns this story

—————

THAT COVER. I.am.losing.my.mind

[ivanareadsalot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the friskiest, most lip smacking of all the books so far, so obviously it was my favourite💕🥰💖 Hualian gives me heart eyes😍and this book made me want to live forever💓

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way I am such a slut for the We Have To Kiss For *Reasons* trope. The amount of homoerotic CPR in this had me gagged. AND THE ONE COFFIN TROPE!

Just. Sedate me.

My Amazon order of book 5 isn’t due until Wednesday, so idk, might have to walk into the sea or something.

5⭐️ No 🌶️

[Han · Rating 4 out of 5]

AHHHH! 4.5 Stars!

The review slump still slumping soooo you know the drill with me 🤭😭 RTC!
__________________________

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! LOOK AT THIS COVER!! I MELT!!! 😍😩😭😍😩😭

THE HUALIAN SUPREMACY GANG IS BACK! BR WITH ANMOL AND LILA! 💕

(Pay zero attention to the fact that I am still working on the review for volume 3! Byeeeeeee)

[灰 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve learned from this volume that a kiss from his gege does NOT make everything better ( ˃̣̣̥o˂̣̣̥ )

[Brigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

T-shirt idea - front: "I survived the Black Water arc", back: "Do NOT ask how I feel".

This was painful af. My heart broke for Shi Qingxuan , and I can't even be upset with Shi Wudu, he just wanted to look out for his little brother!!! :(

This volume also gave me my chaotic child, Quan Yizhen. He's hilarious and I love that Xie Lian has to babysit him.

(the only thing missing from this volume is the Feng Xin/Mu Qing idiocy! I miss them!!!)

[Marina ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

❃ By Heaven Official’s Blessings, no paths are bound.❃

And I thought book 3 was good. But this book…is my favorite one yet. I’m 𝓘𝓷 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮. 🫶

Book 4 in this series follows Xie Lian trying to help out his fellow Heavenly Official, Shi Qingxuan, escape the grasps of the The Reverend of Empty Words. Buttttt a whole lot of mess happens in the process and Hua Cheng is literally only there for Xie Lian 😌


Something I need clarification on —> Xie Lian mentioned that his biggest regret is his second ascension. Now I'm Curious.

❃ “Gege? Is it saying something to you?”
“It’s saying nonsense…No! It said nothing,” Xie Lian replied.
Hua Cheng immediately understood and let out a curse. “It’s seeking its own death! Tell me right now, and I’ll come straight to you.”

~ my favorite moment in this whole book was this fight 👆. Becuase when Xie Lian’s soul was battling the monster in his friend’s body, Hua Cheng was giving off MAJOR ‘come back right now, i will kill everyone this instant, i need to save you, touch him and you die’ vibes and I was lovingggg it. 🔥❤️

❃ He clapped his hands together in silent prayer and then bent down. With his eyes shut tight, he pressed his lips against Hua Cheng’s.
Hua Cheng’s eyes snapped open.

~ another one of my favorite moments. Ever. Xie Lian was freaking out all the way and it was very entertaining. OH, and don’t get me started on what happened when they were trapped in the tight coffin together 🫣

❃ When he feel back down and reopened his eyes, he found that a red-clad man was embracing his limp body. Hua Cheng was kissing him deeply, with one hand gently holding his chin in place.

~I may or may not have screamed out loud when I red that 👆
Let me just say, there was a decent amount of kissing in this book…only problem was all of those ‘𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜’ were to save each other. But hehe we all know there was more meaning behind them but that's okay. we’ll get to that later.

❃ Pei Ming raised his brow. “You sure know a lot, little friend.”
Hua Cheng mirrored his expression. “Nah, you just know too little, that’s all.”

❃ Hua Cheng laughed out loud and stopped talking. However, his attitude was more than obvious: He was purely there for fun.

❃ As he gazed at him, Xie Lian couldn’t help but remember the saying: “For men to impress, in black they must dress.” He reflected on the profound truth of this statement
~ Xie Lian simping real hard here 👆lmao

~The main point of this book: 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 . That was what I was excited for personally and let me tell you. I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. That scene was so perfect ✨

~ But I’m also kinda sad ngl. Some of the cooler characters are dyingggggg. Like come on. Anywho, I. ADORED. This. Book. And I will forever say that Xie Lian is the best mc to ever exist and that Hua Cheng is only there for the popcorn 🍿🎬 and to make sure Xie Lian doesn’t keep blindly running straight into danger.

~ last note: ‘Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry’ and honestly every time I see this phrase show up in this series even I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

❃Fates Aligned, Bodies Intertwined.❃

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qingxuan: Crimson Rain Sought Flower, to you, what’s the worst suffering in the world?
Hua Cheng: I’ll tell you what it is. Watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it. You understand that you are nothing. That’s the worst suffering in the world.

And I bet that’s the reason he persevered and suffered greatly to gain power. All for Xie Lian. Now, I’m crying.

Heart-pounding volume—

But your heart wouldn’t just pound from Hualian chemistry in everything. Even though, it’s a slow torture… sometimes you’d just want to smack Xie Lian and Hua Cheng in the face so it’d be game over. But yea, anyway, in Angst we always trust. So let it burn slowly! Ever since Hualian reunion, they just couldn’t be separated anymore. The fact that sometimes, all heavens would just accept that if you want Xie Lian, you get Hua Cheng as if a freebie (even if you don’t want him. THEN AGAIN, WHO WOULDN’T WANT HIM?)

Just like this excerpt:

”Then why don’t you take another look and tell me which part of me has the strongest ghost qi?” he asked temperately.
Heaven’s Eye rubbed his forehead hard and studied him again for a moment.
“Your lips!” he firmly declared.

I’m dead, just bury me.

Your heart would also pound, agitatedly, if I may say so, from the anguish felt through tragedies all-through out volume 4. This is kind of heavy for me—depressing and dark too. Sometimes, when I go back to those moments, I can’t help but cry. Ming Yi’s bones is enough words to hurt my soul. Shi Qinxuan is one of my favorite characters in the story and to witness the ruination of Shi brothers is terribly traumatic.

I believe MXTX is slowly decapitating the tumors (NO PUN INTENDED); Ling Wen absolutely had her days numbered, and Pei Ming… can’t help but feel betrayed since I started liking him at the Blackwater arc. Even though he didn’t build Xie Lian a coffin! Only made four for himself, Shi brothers, and Ming Yi! And the slowly unraveling of the gods unbecoming. Is this so all taboos may be shattered?

And pound from happiness injected with Quan Yizhen’s curious and funny character (he’s my new favorite!) I adored how he sneakily donate gold bars to Xie Lian and how he just unapologetically be aggressive and weird—and just how he feels at home in the Puqi Shrine staying with Xie Lian.

But I miss Shi Qingxuan terribly.

My love for this series will never fade, it just keeps on burning, keeps on getting stronger and stronger. But be warned, read this series ONLY IF YOU WANT TO RUIN YOUR LIFE.

[sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need to be sedated

[Hope Redgrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

War, memory and heartbreak.

This volume peels back the divine mask and shows what it truly means to fall and still keep walking.

The emotional gravity is unreal.

It hurts.

But it’s glorious. 💔

[PEACHY BLOSSOM ~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

...

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Lord Wind Master. :( Just when I think things can't get more messed up, they do. Shi Wudu switched his brother's fate (doomed by the Reverend of Empty Words to end in disaster) with a man who was destined to ascend to the heavens, and it came back to bite them both big time. Shi Qingxuan was the sweetest guy, but now he's mortal again and being tortured by the Black Water supreme ghost and who knows what else. And I don't like the timing of Mount Tonglu opening again for another trial for the ghosts to combat each other and eventually choose a new supreme.

I wasn't as surprised about the twist that Ming Yi was bad all along. That was hinted a little too heavily, especially in this volume when he started acting especially callous and strange. And with the masters of Wind, Water and Earth now out for the count, I'm wondering how the Heavenly Court goes about filling those roles, or if they just go vacant until another heavenly official ascends who can fill it, since how they're worshipped seems to mostly depend on their reputations from when they were human. But at this rate, I'm wondering how many heavenly officials are going to be left before this story ends, lol. General Pei is on to the right idea to avoid Xie Lian. Although it's not his bad luck bringing all these gods down, but the gods themselves. Now even Ling Wen turns out to be less than ideal, being the creator of the Brocade Immortal. The heavens seem to have more demons in it than the ghost realm.

On the romance front, I'm still lukewarm on that, mostly because I can't really see how it's going to pan out unless Xie Lian abandons everything he believes and stands for. That's less than ideal. And how has he still not figured out who Hua Cheng was in his past? Much less who Hua Cheng means when he says he's pursuing someone. He can't really be that naïve. A lot of the situations between them feel manufactured, which doesn't help either.

I do like the little bits of humor that are sprinkled throughout, like Xie Lian's cooking skills. It allows for breaks in the tension, but it doesn't invade the tension at inappropriate times.

Volume 5 won't be out until later this month, and I don't know when I'll be able to get a copy of it from any of the library systems I have access to. I need to decide if I'm going to read them as they come out, or wait for the rest to be published, or switch to the fan translation. Decisions, decisions.

[Verdelite · Rating 5 out of 5]

me: phew, that long flashback in the previous volume was kinda angsty. but since we covered that, we must be in for some fluff now, right?
MXTX: *smirks in Anakin*
me:. ...right?

[shei · Rating 5 out of 5]

—— 5.✰ stars.

”Watching your beloved be trampled and ridiculed with your own eyes and being unable to do a thing about it. You understand that you are nothing, that you can do nothing. That’s the worst suffering in the world.”

don’t get fooled by the cover, this was painful as shit.
spectacular, immaculate, beautiful, painful, gay, never done before

[mery☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

immaculate. spectacular. showstopping. gorgeous. PERFECT, as always

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flew through this volume so fast, I couldn’t put it down. So many great scenes and insane plot twists. I had to close the book a couple times just to internally freak out or squeal with happiness. My love for the characters and this series grows with every volume.

[ollie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover makes you think that there will be no sad content, but that’s a lie!!

The Black Water arc was amazing. I only wish that I didn’t know the truth before starting it. I’m sure my jaw would’ve been on the floor and this pain in my heart would be worse.

I’m a huge beefleaf fan, okay, I talk about them a lot. I was just so happy to see what I thought were girlfriends and then later on what I thought were boyfriends. They’re quite versatile in that matter!! Either way, I just loved them together regardless of what form they took. Shi Qingxuan’s extroverted personality mixed with He Xuan’s introverted (and secretly murderous) personality was everything I could’ve asked for. I don’t believe that He Xuan harboured true hatred towards Shi Qingxuan. Perhaps it started off that way, but I think those feelings changed. He did give Shi Qingxuan many chances after all. I’m just sad I won’t have anymore beefleaf moments :(

“You’ve called for the wrong person.”

My feeling were all over the place. I understand where He Xuan is coming from and I support him. He was living a great life and was heading toward ascension. He was a scholar, he had family he loved, and a fiancée. Then that was all torn away from him. He lost everything and suffered not only in life, but in death as well. It has been endless suffering. Hatred was brewing in his heart for centuries. I do find it quite interesting how he turned around and did something similar to what was done to him. That’s a sad part to his character. He was so full of anger and hatred that he was willing to steal someone else’s godhood.

“…I want to die.”
“Dream on.”

Shi Qingxuan didn’t ask for any of this. They weren’t even aware of the truth up until recently. They had always been friendly to everyone and deemed everyone they met to be a friend. This is the same person that had no problem with hanging out with Xie Lian despite the other gods avoiding him like the plague. I can’t blame them for choosing to follow after their brother. Am I supposed to be judging them for that? They had their godhood taken away, their best friend turned out to “hate” them, and they watched their brother get his head torn off right in front of them by said best friend. Such a kind soul had to endure so much in such a short amount of time. And what makes me even more sad is that they will never be able to use their female form again :(

Shi Wudu made me feel conflicted. As a brother what he did was great, but in any other sense it was absolutely horrible. Sure, Shi Qingxuan wouldn’t have ascended, but their life wouldn’t have been all that terrible as stated in the book. He Xuan lived in agony so Shi Qingxuan could live in luxury. It frustrated me that I was unsure of how to feel about Shi Wudu. I wanted to hate him with all of my heart, but I couldn’t. I did start to feel more anger towards him in the last few pages he was alive. It really pissed me off that he all of a sudden turned on Shi Qingxuan and started to choke them and say that they can’t live without him anyway so they may as well die with him. I’m not sure how much of this was his honest feelings and how much of it was to draw He Xuan’s attention off of Shi Qingxuan. It had to be fake right? He did everything for Shi Qingxuan, why all of a sudden would he want to kill them?

“To me, the one basking in infinite glory is you; the one fallen from grace is also you. What matters is you, not the state of you.”

While beefleaf was out here suffering, hualian was having a great time!! They kissed so much more during this volume. I got so frustrated when Hua Cheng joked about marriage OH MY GOD DUDE DON’T BACK DOWN!! I loved the part where Xie Lian was wondering what made Hua Cheng who he is. THE ANSWER IS LOVE! ALL OF THIS IS BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR YOU!! How much longer do I have to wait before this is known?

[nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love pain