★★★★★
I’m actually surprised that I liked this as much as I did. The first time I read it, it took me forever, and I lowkey had the urge to skip volume 3 altogether because it was my least favorite. But now that I read it again, it was really good. I rated this based on vibes rather than any set criteria—if I liked it a lot, then why not five stars?
Anyway, let’s begin. We left off in that whole crown prince flashback. Xie Lian ascends at seventeen and becomes a very prominent and powerful god. He has thousands of temples and worshipers in Xianle, and things are going very well for him. Until a man named Lang Ying shows up at the Crown Prince Temple, and Xie Lian learns about the drought in Yongan. Lang Ying also buries his dead, malnourished child in a forest on the outskirts of Xianle.
When he asks about Yongan, Xie Lian finds out that his father was keeping this hidden from him. Of course, he doesn’t leave it alone and instead decides to pay a visit to the Rain Master. His plan is to borrow the Rain Master’s spiritual device to fix the drought in Yongan. He does manage to acquire the spiritual device—a hat that he can use to collect water—but he does get a warning from the Rain Master’s ox guy (no idea what to call him). “Distant waters cannot quench nearby thirsts.” I lowkey wish Xie Lian heeded anyone’s warnings; everyone told him to leave this alone and that he shouldn’t interfere. But I think by now we know how stubborn he is.
I did skip over this scene but I decided we must discuss it. When Xie Lian sees the little bandaged boy in that small temple. This is one of the most iconic scenes, in my opinion. Like, the red umbrella, the flower, and of course the famous quote, “if you do not know the meaning of your life, then make me that meaning, and use me as your reason to live.” This scene was so cute and I just love seeing how bold Xie Lian used to be. One thing that makes the writing of these books great to me is how instead of being told how different Xie Lian has become, we get to see it instead. There are moments when Xie Lian acts completely differently than how we would expect 800 year old him to act. But lowkey like I knew things were only going to get worse from here, so I enjoyed the last few moments of Xie Lian’s prosperity.
Xie Lian proceeds to descend to the mortal realm, despite Jun Wu telling him that he shouldn’t intervene, and use a very large amount of his spiritual energy every single day to create rain in Yongan using the Rain Master’s hat. Even though that rain would barely last and definitely wouldn’t address the root of the problem.
Because of the drought, many refugees from Yongan moved to the capital and the locals were def not happy about it. We know the cpital people are all extravagant and fancy, so the Yongan people weren’t really received well. The king has done little to help, but he can’t really do much in this situation. The fall of Xianle was imminnet, and I feel like everyone knew and was willing to accept that except Xie Lian. He wanted to save the common people and all that. And he also recognized that Yongan was a part of Xianle and that they were his people too. So he’s in a difficult situation.
The Yongan people cause some trouble in the capital, and so the capital gates eventually close, kicking them all out and not allowing anyone to enter. The refugees pile up outside the gates, but they won’t open for anyone. The king gives them a bit of food so that they have enough to last them on their journey east, but they don’t want to go east. So they decide to just stay outside the capital and hope they that open up eventually. After a few days, someone’s child gets sick (or passes out or something). The guards at the gates say they’ll bring a doctor with no intentions of doing so. So, the father of the child tries to scale the wall and get his child some help. He and the child both die in a quite gruesome manner, which of course enrages all the people watching the scene. Xie Lian shows up a few moments too late and isn’t able to help.
When the people find out that Xie Lian has descended, they place all their hopes on him. I felt so bad that he had all this pressure on him, because he’s just a seventeen year old guy (I think he’s actually around nineteen at this point, but my point still stands) at the end of the day. Yes, he’s a heavenly official, but there’s only so much he can do.
At some point, the Yongan people start getting violent and the get through the gates. They have a few battles, but the Xianle (I know Yongna is a part of Xianle but this distinction helps me recount the events easier) army wins every time, especially with Xie Lian helping. Many young men join the army as well because everyone has so much hope in Xie Lian. It’s mentioned very briefly, but these battles are the first times where Xie Lian actually kills people. Obviously, that’s a big thing and he never really gets the time to reflect on that. That, along with all the pressure on him from literally everyone, makes Xie Lian lowkey spiral.
As the battles go on, Xie Lian realizes that the Yongan people now have neighboring nations helping them. Like lowkey why is everyone praying on Xianle’s downfall. Anyway, after one of these battles, Qi Rong gets kidnapped by Lang Ying (if my memory serves me right). So, Xie Lian goes, alone, to get him back. However, a young soldier insists on going with him and doesn’t leave him alone. How cuteeeeee. Once Xie Lian gets to Beizi Hill—where the Yongan people are staying—he finds Qi Rong and Lang Ying. They have a little confrontation moment, and then they start fighting. But before Xie Lian can stab Lang Ying, he disappears and someone else shows up. A man in white robes and a half-smiling, half-crying mask. The ominous White No Face. He disappears shortly after as well before Xie Lian has the chance to strike him.
Some binu show up, so Xie Lian gives his sword to Qi Rong and tells him to go back. That soldier finally catches up and helps him get rid of the binu. I don’t really remember what happened after, but I know they go to this cave and see a bunch of people who got slaughtered and shit. There’s a woman in the cave and she tricks Xie Lian into smelling this flower. I think it was called Land of the Tender. Once you smell it, you become weak, and then manic. The point of this is to get Xie Lian to lose his virginity. Crazy work if you ask me lowkey. He hides in a cave and the soldier protects him. The flowers start to like come out of the ground, and they’re nude women meant to tempt Xie Lian. His method of cultivation requires him to stay a virgin, and so his spiritual power would take a massive hit if this worked on him. The nude ladies keep trying to call out to him from outside the cave while the young soldier tries to get them to back off. There’s an illustration in this chapter that’s my favorite… I can’t Xie Lian looks so good in it, ignoring the context…
Lowkey, in this scene, a lot of concerning things happen. Like, why were things lowkey kinda sexual between Xie Lian and the soldier? I don’t know, there was a lot happening, and I was just a bit concerned about the age gap here. It’s not that big of an age gap, yes, but like one is a young child. He couldn’t have been older than fifteen, if that. Their age gap isn’t an issue when they’re both over eight hundred years old, but at this point it was a tiny bit uncomfy.
After Mu Qing and Feng Xin get Xie Lian back to the capital, he sleeps for three days (I think). He tells Mu Qing about the young soldier’s talent and that he could be appointed. Of course, Mu Qing does none of that. Xie Lian then goes on a stroll in the capital. This is where Xianle becomes like really cooked, in my opinion. He sees a guy with a face on his face. The Human Face Disease. They find that a few people have started to develop marks on their bodies, and they put them all in quarantine. Eventually, there’s hundreds of people with this disease and no one knows what to do. Except, Xie Lian learns what the cure is. He noticed that soldiers are less likely to get the disease and that it mostly affects women and children. Omg guys, when I read this I was so curious about what it was. Like, Xie Lian wouldn’t tell anyone. And now that I know, I feel kinda dumb that I didn’t figure it out. I just remembered the scene where we find out… I literally have PTSD. Anyway, Xie Lian cuts a guy’s infected leg off, hoping that would help. Of course, no one waits to see if it would work, and instead they all start cutting parts of their bodies off. I can’t with these people. Understandably, Xie Lian crashes out on them. This marks the start of his falling out of favor with the people.
Xie Lian goes to the state perceptor for advice. He tells him that Xie Lian’s interference with the fate of Xianle caused the Human Face Disease. This was definitely a hard pill to swallow for him. All he’s done was to save Xianle, and now he finds out that him doing anything just made things worse. He should’ve listened to everyone who told him to leave things alone. The state perceptor tells him that the best course of action would be to do nothing now, and to just let Xianle eventually disappear. Raise your hand if you think Xie Lian will take this advice…
Another attack from Yongan. This time, Xie Lian gets stabbed in the chest by Lang Ying. He wasn’t able to hurt him because he had the protective aura of a king. At this point, Xianle is well and truly cooked. There’s even a new king appointed. But Xie Lian won’t give up.
I’m pretty sure he goes back to Beizi Hill to find White No Face, because he thinks he’s connected to all this. He does see him there, and he pulls off that mask to see himself. He also tells Xie Lian how to inflict the Human Face Disease. Lowkey, he’s better than me because I would’ve given that shit right back to Yongan. So we find out that the faces that are showing up are the faces of dead Yongan souls. At this point, Xianle is a mess. I would go right back up to the heavens and beg to be let back in.
As soon as you think things can’t get any worse, they do. A huge pagoda containing centuries of Xianle history starts to collapse. So Xie Lian like puts a spell on the huge golden statue in the Crown Prince Temple and has it hold up the pagoda. Then, everyone starts like crowding him and talking about how he’ll save them. It’s at this point where Xie Lian’s strength starts to fail him and his confidence wavers. He wants the people to leave the area because he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to hold up the pagoda. “Whatever mountain he punched, that mountain must fall, and should he stomp, the earth would quake—this was all he had ever known about himself. And at that moment, he had never so fully understood the concept of strength falling short of desire.” He uses his spiritual power to create rain in Yongan, alleviate the pain of the Human Face Disease patients, fight in battles, and now this. He’s overexerting himself, and the people keep placing more pressure on him.
At some point, the Human Face Disease patients break out of where they were quarantined, and they look horrifying. They’ve cut parts of themselves, and some can’t walk so they crawl on the ground, all bloody and gruesome. Then they blame Xie Lian for all of this and demand that he tell them the cure. Everything kinda falls apart in this moment. The pagoda falls and a part of the gates of the city collapses. The Yongan army enter, and Xianle is cooked. Xie Lian spots White No Face again and jumps from the towers of the gates to get to him, but ends up breaking his leg. He has jumped from extreme heights multiple times before, and him breaking his leg shows the lack of faith the people have in him—but also the lack of faith he has in himself. It’s his followers who give him his spiritual power, and now that they have abandoned him and made him a god of misfortune, he simply isn’t as powerful anymore.
Now, the Human Face Disease has spread rapidly, with thousands infected, and Xianle is defenseless against Yongan. Above that, people have been burning Xie Lian’s temples and making statues of him to disrespect. To them, he has become a god of misfortune. He finally gets a message from the Upper Court saying that he must return, presumably to be banished. Before he, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin return, he visits the Crown Prince Temple. It’s burned, but there’s a young boy trying to defend it and put out the fires. It’s that same young soldier who tells Xie Lian “In my heart, you are god! You are the only god, the one true god!” Xie Lian breaks the rules once again to tell him to forget him, but the boy vows to never forget him and to build him magnificent temples in the future.
That’s the end of that arc. I don’t know why it felt so much longer the first time I read it. I lowkey didn’t like it and just wanted to get back to the story, but now I appreciate the flashbacks. Now, we’ve reached the arc that will traumatize us all. Arc 3 “No Paths Are Bound”
We left off before the flashback with that whole fight between Xie Lian and Qi Rong. Xie Lian does not end up killing him because he’s possessing the body of a human. He captures him and brings him—and his child—back to Puqi Shrine. Before he left, he had told the Wind Master to take Banyue and hide her from Pei Ming. Unknowing of this, Pei Xiu tries to find Banyue in Puqi Shrine. Xie Lian sees him, of course. Then, Pei Ming shows up with the pickle jar Banuyue was hidden in, and Pei Xiu is like the embarrassed child of a Karen. He tells Pei Ming to leave it alone, but Pei Ming’s pride would never allow that. The pot in his hands breaks and inside it, instead of Banyue, is the Wind Master who knew that Pei Ming would try something like this. Because of Shi Wudu, Pei Ming just leaves, not wanting to start trouble with Shi Qingxuan.
Once Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan are alone, Xie Lian inquire about the boy he found in Ghost City, Lang Ying. Why am I now just realizing that he’s called Lang Ying like the guy from Yongan… Anyway, Shi Qingxuan says he’ll give him to Xie Lian, but Xie Lian says he’ll go visit instead this time. So, he gets invited to attend the Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet (okay, like, i know he’s invited anwyay because he’s a heavenly official, but like Shi Qingxuan just tells him to go).
So, a few days later, he does go to the banquet. Xie Lian is in a strange position where no one really likes him, but the ones that do are really powerful, like Jun Wu and the Wind Master. He doesn’t really know where to sit until Shi Qingxuan gets him a good seat beside him. We meet all sorts of interesting characters, but I’ll only bring them up when they’re relevant. They then play this game where they pass around a cup of wine and whoever ends up with that cup gets to entertain the others with a play about them from the mortal world. It first lands on Pei Ming, and his play is lowkey a fanfiction about him and Ling Wen. Then it lands on Shi Wudu, and it’s a play shipping him with Shi Qingxuan. Crazy work. Then it lands on Qi Ying, who gets mad and leaves to beat people up. Then it finally lands on Xie Lian. Everyone assumes he won’t have any plays about him, but he does. A new play called “Adventures in the Kingdom of Banyue.”
I loved this play lol. It was basically just Xie Lian and Hua Cheng flirting. Like I know Xie Lian felt like a pick me when he saw how his character was played LMAO. It was cute. And it was probably made by Hua Cheng. It’s like hiring someone to write a fanfic of yourself and your crush. I can’t he’s so cute. Anyway, after that, they have this Battle of the Lanterns where they see how many lanterns each official got from their largest temple. These lanterns are Blessings Lanterns of Everlasting Light, so they’re very expensive. Xie Lian thinks he won’t have any, since—as far as he knows—Puqi Shrine is his only temple. They go from lowest to highest number of lanterns, but to the officials, only the top ten matter. Jun Wu is always in first place, as expected of the heavenly emperor, and he has around a thousand lanterns. Qi Ying, Earth Master, Wind Master, Ling Wen, Nan Yang, Xuan Zhen, Ming Guang, Water Master, and lastly… Xie Lian. Everyone thought Shi Wudu was at the top, but then so many lanterns fly by that it’s blinding. Thousands of lanterns which light up the whole sky. Three thousand lanterns for Xie Lian from the Thousand Lights Temple. Yayyyy. I just love it when good things happen to Xie Lian; he’s suffered too much. He’s so funny too I can’t omg. The way he like points at himself in confusion. And the audacity of the other officials to think that he’s fraudulent. They just can’t stand losing to someone like Xie Lian.
I was surprised when I found out that this whole Mid-Autumn Festival stuff was happening at the start of arc 3, right after little Hua Cheng says “I will build you many more temples in the future—bigger, more magnificent, better than anyone else’s. No one will be able to compete with you.” Like damn bro knows how to keep a promise, even eight hundred years later. I thought this happened much later, so it was a pleasant surprise. I loved these chapters, it was so fun seeing all the drama in the Upper Court. Also, can we talk about how Mu Qing and Feng Xin don’t even want to win, they just want to beat the other by one. I love them, they’re so funny.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xie Lian has to go back to his normal life. He’s in Puqi Shrine taking care of Qi Rong, Lang Ying, and Guzi. A single mom who works two jobs, who loves the kids and never stops. That’s so him. Why does he always have a bunch of kids with him lmao. They run out of food, and Xie Lian goes to town to try to get some money. A rich merchant kicks a doctor out of his mansion and makes a whole scene; it’s about his pregnant wife. So Xie Lian offers to investigate. The woman was pregnant, and now is no longer pregnant. It happened overnight. Xie Lian suspects it’s a fetus spirit that was aborted and is looking for a mother. So, he dresses up like a woman. I can’t with him. Why is he always cross dressing. It’s so funny guys. He’s dressing up as a pregnant woman, too. So, he sleeps in that woman’s room and wakes up somewhere else. He hears this child who’s calling out for him, trying to get him to open his mouth. He even steps on a nail, but doesn’t make a noise. If he were to open his mouth, that spirit would enter his stomach. Even though he isn’t a pregnant woman, he won’t risk it. Then, it tries to get Guzi and Lang Ying, so he opens his mouth to warn them. It starts to attack him, but he jumps into this lake. It hovers above the lake, so he’s safe while inside, but he’ll obviously need oxygen at some point. So… someone gets in the lake with him and blows air into his mouth while lowkey kissing him. I can’t guys. Xie Lian was so shocked. It’s Hua Cheng yayyyyy. This is our first time really seeing him in volume 3, and what an entrance. His little silver butterflies deal with the fetus spirit and he takes Xie Lian to Ghost City.
They arrive at the shore, and Xie Lian is so disoriented from that kiss. Like he’s saying a whole lot of nothing and Hua Cheng is like trying to apologize, but Xie Lian is trying to run away too. I can’tttt. Hua Cheng sees that there’s literally a nail lodge in Xie Lian’s foot, but Xie Lian won’t allow him to take it out. Some ghosts see them and offer to hold Xie Lian down for Hua Cheng. lmao. He gets mad and they leave. Hua Cheng then proceeds to carry Xie Lian princess style to Paradise Manor. There, he takes out the nail from Xie Lian’s foot. They determine that this fetus spirit harbors intense resentment and that it doesn’t derive from a normal miscarriage. It must be over eight hundred years old since its mother was one of Xie Lian’s worshippers. They then go out to eat in Ghost City while everyone sucks up to Xie Lian because he’s Hua Cheng’s friend.
After they eat, Xie Lian asks Hua Cheng about the Thousand Lights Temple, to which Hua Cheng abruptly apologizes out of nowhere. He probably thinks Xie Lian is mad about the temple. I don’t know, we never really get to see inside Hua Cheng’s head and his thoughts. So it’s up to my interpretation lol. I think he built the temple and bought so many lanterns to make Xie Lian proud in front of the other heavenly officials who look down on him. Didn’t want his man to be embarrassed lol. They go see the temple, and of course, Hua Cheng is trying to downplay it and say that he had the building for a while and didn’t know what to do with it. Xie Lian is so clueless lowkey, like he’s very perceptive at times, but when it comes to Hua Cheng he can’t recognize his feelings for him. “The state preceptor had only ever taught him how to defend against the wiles of women, not men.” He’s so funny stop.
Inside the temple, we witness the crime of Hua Cheng’s horrible writing. At least he has his flaws, because he was too perfect. They have a cute little moment of Xie Lian teaching Hua Cheng and like holding his hand while they write. We even see a small white flower that Xie Lian suspects is the “flower which Crimson Rain sought.” That was funny to me. I’m sure his name, Crimson Rain Sought Flower, doesn’t sound so strange in Chinese. But their cute moment is interrupted by a fire at Paradise Manor. Every time Xie Lian comes to Ghost City, Paradise Manor burns. If I were Hua Cheng, I’d be concerned. They find out that the fetus spirit has been stolen. Hua Cheng makes everyone in Ghost City line up and Xie Lian sees Lan Chang, the prostitute who keeps mocking his erectile dysfunction lmao. He knows she has the fetus spirit and finds out that she has a Golden Belt, which could have only been given to her by a heavenly official. So, he assumes that the father of her fetus spirit is someone in the Upper Court. He takes her there and gathers the officials to settle this matter.
At first, everyone assumes it’s Pei Ming. I lowkey love Pei Ming guyssssss. He’s funny in every scene he’s in. He’s lowkey offended that people think he would get with a girl like Lan Chang, and its confirmed that it isn’t him. She then claims that Xie Lian is the father. This girl is cray cray. He’s obviously shocked, and so is everyone else. Shi Qingxuan tries to defend him, saying that Xie Lian probably hasn’t even held anyone’s hand, but Xie Lian can’t confirm that since he held Hua Cheng’s hand. He can’t even confirm that he hasn’t kissed anyone. Shi Qingxuan probably regrets saying anything by now. But Xie Lian can at least confirm that he hasn’t broken his vows, since his method of cultivation requires a pure body. Jun Wu uses a sword called Yanzhen to confirm that Xie Lian is, in fact, a virgin.
It’s a bit unsettling that this scene happens a few chapters after the whole Land of the Tender thing. Spoilers, but since Jun Wu is White No Face, I’m a bit concerned about the interest he has in Xie Lian’s virginity. Is it just me?
After they confirm that Xie Lian is not the father, Lan Chang just starts accusing everyone. Even Ling Wen lol. So, they take her away because she obviously can’t help them figure out who the father of the fetus spirit is.
Xie Lian goes back to Puqi Shrine and finds Hua Cheng there. They spend some time together, and Xie Lian makes some food that is unintentionally used to torture Qi Rong. I love Xie Lian’s bad cooking lmao. And, like, he’s so sincere in asking for feedback to fix the meals he makes. So cute.
Eventually, Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi show up. Shi Qingxuan wants Xie Lian’s help with something. After Ming Yi and Shi Qingxuan briefly go manic after trying Xie Lian’s food, they explain the situation. Shi Qingxuan ran into a Venerable of Empty Words in his childhood. A monster that feeds off of people’s fortunes and makes their lives miserable. When Shi Qingxuan was born to a wealthy merchant family, the Reverend of Empty Words (an ancient, more powerful version of the Venerable of Empty Words with strong cultivation) latched onto him. His family hid him away and dressed him up a girl so that the Reverend of Empty Words couldn’t recognize him. Years went by and the family lost their fortunte and the parents died, so Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan were alone.
Shi Wudu started to cultivate under a master in the mountains and settled Shi Qingxuan in the town at the foot of the mountain. One day, Shi Wudu took too long to come home, so Shi Qingxuan went up the mountain to bring food for his brother. I’m gonna skip the part about him peeing… But the Reverend of Empty Words sees that he’s not a girl but a boy, and confirms that he is Shi Qingxuan. It latches onto him again and makes him fall down.
After Shi Wudu ascended, he brought Shi Qingxuan to the Middle Court, and eventually, he ascended as well. Now that he was a heavenly official, he was safe from the Reverend of Empty Words. That was until, a few days prior, it had appeared again and told Shi Qingxuan that he would never see his brother again. That obviously alarmed and terrified Shi Qingxuan, who went to go see his brother to make sure he was safe. He needed to deal with the Reverend of Empty Words without bothering his brother, because Shi Wudu was about to face another Heavenly Tribulation. He couldn’t distract his brother from the Heavenly Tribulation lest he fail and his rank be lowered. So that’s why he went to Xie Lian for help.
Xie Lian tells the stories of the two times he encountered a Venerable of Empty Words. Once, he saved another. The other time, it had latched onto him. But his misfortune was so great that the Venerable of Empty Words had nothing to feed off of, and it eventually left him alone.
Since Shi Qingxuan has been such a good friend to Xie Lian, he isn’t able to refuse, especially since he does have the ability to help him. So, in order to catch the Reverend of Empty Words, they decide to go to the imperial capital and have some fun so that it would come to ruin the moment. Yes, even with Hua Cheng lmao. Hua Cheng is just coming along to ensure Xie Lian’s safety and everyone knows it. But they don’t mind as long as he won’t interfere.
Ming Yi starts to draw the teleportation array, but they end up in an old, abandoned building in a small, creepy town. The Reverend of Empty Words’ voice can be heard ominously saying, “The place you wish to go will become the nightmare you never wish to recall!” Xie Lian attempts to kick it, but it’s nowhere to be found. So, it seems that the Reverend of Empty Words has intercepted the teleportation array and brought them to this place.
That’s where volume 3 ends. I’m super excited for volume 4 because it was definitely one of my favorites in this series. THE favorite, maybe… We’ll find out in the next review haha. Anyway, I love the way this ends and how it sets the story up for volume 4. We’re def gonna be traumatized in this next volume, but it’s too late to turn back now, right?
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Favorite quote:
I tried something new where I included more quotes that stood out to me throughout the review instead of leaving them all at the end. But one that I haven’t already included that I really loved was:
“I promise, you will not find another person more sincere than me in this world.”
Even though this was said in a very offhand and casual manner, I love these little moments between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. Honestly, we all need a Hua Cheng in our lives.
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Thank you for reading this far. I really love writing these reviews and getting my thoughts about the books that I read out there because I don’t really know anyone in real life that I could share them with. I have no idea if anyone actually reads these reviews, but I’ll keep writing them.
The next review to expect is most probably volume 4 of Heaven Official’s Blessing. I’m trying to focus on this series and not read anything in between (with the exception of books I have to read for school). I’m not sure what I’ll read once we’re done with Heaven Official’s Blessing; I have a lot of unread books waiting for me, but all these options kinda overwhelm me.
Thank you again for reading, and I’ll see you in the next review <3
