First impressions review: Heaven Official’s Blessing, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

 

This tale is a Chinese web novel; not formally published, so far as I am aware, though there is now a graphic novel (manga/manhua) version, which is where the image comes from. The English translation is accessible via a Google Drivefolder. I ran across it in a list of works by Asian authors  and decided to check it out. I’m glad I did! 

Update: There is now an anime of the first part of this story. I did a re-read review of the book and that first season; both still get a big thumbs up!

This work is very much in the style of Chinese classic epics like ‘Journey to the West’¹, following a set of heroes through many episodic challenges featuring various deities and demons and a heavenly bureaucracy. It also features my favorite romance trope, previously described here.  In this case, the “sunny do-gooder” is disgraced heavenly official Xie Lian. Unlike some other similar characters, Xie Lian’s misfortunes have already knocked the holier-than-thou out of him; he is genuinely chill, humble, and good-natured, but suffers considerably from self-doubt. He frequently appears as a white-clad Daoist priest. The “drama goth” is Hua Cheng, a ghost/demon king with a fearsome reputation, but a bit of a soft side. His nickname, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, refers to an incident in which he shielded a flower with his umbrella from a rain of blood (which he was the cause of).

Xie Lian was a crown prince who ascended to immortality thanks to his heroic generosity of spirit. However, he got kicked out of heaven after attempting to intervene to stop a war in his home country, which did not go well. He manages to ascend again, but very quickly gets demoted back to earth again. After wandering about as a “scrap picker” for centuries, he manages to ascend a third time, which is where the story begins. It seems Xie Lian’s third ascension caused a certain amount of property damage in the heavenly court, so to pay for it the heavenly emperor sends him back to earth with a mission: find out who has been kidnapping and possibly eating brides and their entourages around Mount Yujun.

Because Xie Lian’s powers are depleted through a combination of lack of prayers and the iron neck and ankle shackles he received on his previous demotions, he’s given a pair of martial god helpers, hot-headed Nan Feng and bored, sarcastic Fu Yao. With the help of a human girl, Xie Lian disguises himself as a bride to investigate the supernatural goings on². He discovers at least four different spirits have been in the area doing different things, all contributing to the confused legends, including one who gently leads our hero around several hazards and then disappears in a cloud of silver butterflies. Xie Lian couldn’t get a good look at this spirit due to the bridal veil, but when he relates this description to the other heavenly spirits they all freak out, recognizing the terrifying demon Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian first gets to know Hua Cheng properly when the latter is in the guise of human youth San Lang. Given my fondness for  'Good Omens’, is very difficult for me not to think of Hua Cheng as “Chinese Crowley”, with his sarcastic smile, languid cool, and monochrome wardrobe (red, in this case). He very quickly becomes protective of the heavenly official, at one point even insisting on carrying him during a fight in the dark so he won’t fall into any corpse piles. The angsty side of the “drama goth” character is not immediately obvious, as we mostly follow Xie Lian’s perspective - and he doesn’t notice anything but how cool Hua Cheng is! But it is definitely there: for example, the demon is anxious about showing Xie Lian his true face for fear he will think it is ugly.

            Of course, Hua Chang is also clearly hiding some other secrets, leaving some doubt that he is as trustworthy as Xie Lian thinks he is. Nan Feng hilariously goes into “protective mom” mode when he finds out this dude has been getting close to Xie Lian: “Who is this boy? What do you know about him? What do you mean you let him stay over?” When the heavenly emperor finds out that San Lang is really Hua Cheng, he is also moderately concerned, but declares that this could be useful. A distress signal from some sort of deity has been detected within Hua Cheng’s territory – if Xie Lian is trusted by the demon, he should be able to get close enough to find out who’s in trouble and why. This time he gets the Wind Master as helper, a friendly, chatty deity who is sometimes male, sometimes female, due to confusion among his human followers as to his gender³.

When Xie Lian sees his palace in the ghost city:

Hua Cheng continued, “This is nothing but a place I renovate here and there, a residence of sorts. I come and chill here when I’m free…” “So it’s your home,” Xie Lian commented. “Residence,” Hua Cheng corrected. “Not a home.” “Is there a difference?” Xie Lian asked. “Of course,” Hua Cheng replied. “A home has family. A place where someone lives alone is not a home.” Hearing this Xie Lian’s heart tightened. By that definition, it had been over eight hundred years since he had a “home”. Although Hua Cheng had no trace of loneliness on his face, Xie Lian thought they were perhaps alike… “Truth be told, gege’s Puqi Shrine is small, but it’s so much more comfortable than my Paradise Manor. It’s more like a home.” “Is that so?” Xie Lian said warmly. “Then if you like it, in the future, come over whenever you want. The doors of Puqi Shrine will always open for you.”

I couldn’t help thinking again here of Crowley’s stylish but barren Mayfair apartment, versus Aziraphale’s cozy bookshop where they actually hang out. Unfortunately, things get a little out of hand during the spy caper, and by the end Xie Lian is convinced Hua Cheng isn’t going to forgive him.

            The second “book” of the story is an extended flashback to Xie Lian’s mortal life, and the attempt to save his people from a drought crisis turned civil war that goes so terribly wrong. It is much darker in tone than the first book, as we watch Xie Lian’s attempts to do good only prolong the conflict and cause his people to burn down his shrines as it becomes clear to him and to them that he can’t, in fact, wave his hand and save them. We meet his annoying cousin, Qi Rong, now an antagonistic ghost, and his estranged companions Feng Xin and Mu Qing, now the bosses of Nan Feng and Fu Yao (or are they?). And we meet a street urchin whose life the human crown prince saved, who becomes a teenage soldier devoted to the deity crown prince, and eventually his last true believer.

            All that is just the first third of the tale, which then returns to “present day”. At the Autumn Festival in heaven, Xie Lian discovers that his luck is unexpectedly turning. Although he had hitherto been forgotten on earth, there is not only a play about his recent adventures - prominently featuring Hua Cheng being nice, which confuses and intrigues the other celestials - but he wins the blessing lanterns contest by a margin of over 2000, almost certainly thanks to the ghost king. But Xie Lian doesn’t have much time to reflect on that, as he gets swept up in another series of adventures, such as unearthing an undercover demon and several corrupt gods within the heavenly court or travelling into a volcano to stop a new ghost king from being born. Xie Lian also acquires a less friendly ghost stalker than Hua Cheng, who has re-emerged after several centuries, a terrifying figure with a half-laughing half-crying mask known as ‘White No-Face’. But what does he want?

Some of the scenes, especially those featuring White No-Face and Xie Lian’s fall from grace get quite dark and disturbing. Even Xie Lian’s favored (non-lethal) weapon, a sentient band of white silk named Ruoye, has a violent origin story. But the more serious “present day” action is regularly interspersed with humorous episodes like a lunch date with Hua Cheng in Ghost City, where various ghosts and demons keep “helpfully” offering their lord’s good friend various repulsive delicacies:

‘Street food specialty: brain juice! Brains of monsters specially picked, each one with cultivation of over fifty years! Smell this delicious fragrance, my good sir!’… ‘Our fruits are authentic fresh fruits from graveyards, if it ain’t grown on dead bodies, we won’t even pick it…’ Mountains and mountains of food were given…He didn’t want to put down this wave of fervent affection, but at the same time, so many of these exotic street foods were really hard to accept. In the mess of things, he saw Hua Cheng sitting there, his hand supporting his cheek, watching him with a big smile.

There is also a running joke of Xie Lian being terrible at cooking. Other celestials and demons will pass out just on tasting his dishes – all but Hua Cheng, who seems to suffer no ill effects whatsoever.

            It isn’t a perfect piece of writing. There are rather unnecessary author notes at the end of some chapters that either point out the obvious (“Yeah, thanks, I understood the inuendo”) or insert spoilers (“MXTX, you said NOT to tell anyone that character A is actually character B. Why are you now pointing out that character X is really Y instead of waiting for the reveal?”). The sexism and homophobia frequently voiced by side characters in the story is likely meant to reflect the semi-historical setting* rather than the author’s views, given that the characters you are supposed to like the most aren’t like that. But it does get slightly grating when Xie Lian’s colleagues keep acting weird about the fact that he and Hua Cheng clearly have a thing for each other. Fortunately, they do seem to be getting over it by the end!

Some of the plot points are a bit silly – for example, near-drowning-related CPR and “transferring spiritual power” as an excuse to have the main characters kiss, or a fight between the magical rock version of giant mechasuits. But what the hell: None of that was any stupider than your average Hollywood rom-com or anime, and sometimes substantially cleverer. Even when silly or melodramatic, it is hugely entertaining. The fact that Xie Lian’s powers are supposedly linked to an ascetic path that requires strict chastity adds a nice bit of risk/uncertainty – if the romance plot continues to develop, will there be a cost⁴? The leads are both complex characters who bring different skills to the adventure, the world-building is good and easy to follow even if you aren’t familiar with Daoism, the action scenes are exciting, and there is a colorful cast of supporting characters.

 

Overall recommendation: If you like anime or Asian folklore or are seeking either an action-fantasy that blends darkness with comedy (that you can access for free) or a truly epic gay love story, check this out. It is VERY long (244 chapters), but absolutely a page-turner.

 

1. Overly Sarcastic Productions has been summarizing this tale in installments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ai5umy9yH0

2. This causes some consternation in his helpers, but Xie Lian, who has lost all interest in saving face, is like: “No, this is not ‘my thing’. But do you guys have a better plan for getting close to the demon bridegroom?” And they don’t.

3. BTW, you might think that the gay love story and gender bending are modern updates to this otherwise traditional epic tale. However, so far as my limited knowledge goes, while those sorts of themes are rarely front and center in classic eastern tales, they’re not absent. For instance, the tale of Emperor Ai cutting off his own sleeve to avoid waking his sleeping boyfriend Dong Xian, which impressed everybody in the court to the point that people are still talking about it 2000 years later. Gender fluidity is also pretty common among eastern deities, such as the Japanese Inari (an important god) and fox spirit Tamamizu. See OSP’s Pride Tales mythology compilation.

4. No, this doesn’t get tested ‘on page’. But it clearly DOES get tested!:

After much hesitation, Heaven’s Eye decided to be blunt. “How come the essence of evil on your body is now internal? It’s…it’s entirely emitted from the inside out of your body now.”…Xie Lian couldn’t even cough anymore. His entire face was going to burst with blood…Shi Qingxuan was the only one who couldn’t wrap his head around it. “…What’s going on? Your Highness, are you really ill? Does Crimson Rain Sought Flower know? He didn’t take good care of you?!”…An arm wearing a silver vambrance circled his waist, and a familiar voice grinned. “I think, why don’t you all return to your seats, eat your food, and stop worrying…”

*Edit: Though, if so, that might be based on modern assumptions. It isn't made clear precisely what time period this is meant to be, but China before the 10th or 11th century or so was a bit less repressive of women and quite open to homosexual relationships (though this gradually changed, turning toward the negative somewhere in the 14th-19th centuries). In fact, in Daoist alchemy it was considered energetically neutral (which was a good thing).