Heaven Official's Blessing guide
Nov. 11th, 2019 12:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbr(Because if nothing else, I need a character guide I can do text search on)
Heaven Official's Blessing/Tiān Guān Cì Fú is a Chinese m/m novel by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù/MXTX, author of The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Scum Villain's Self Saving System
The main character, Xie Lian, is a former golden child who ascended to god-hood at the age of seventeen full of idealistic intentions...and it went so badly he spent 800 years as a God of Trash. As the story begins, he's gotten another chance at real godhood, but at this point is cheerfully cynical about his odds of ever actually achieving anything meaningful. But while he's doing Heaven's bidding, Xie Lian encounters a strangely charming demon king who seems to know him...
Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, suicide, child harm, mild quasi-incest, ableism, abuse, gender stereotypes, racist subtext, ANGST
There's no on-screen sex, but a lot is implied. The consent issues and sexualisation of children are mostly due to, like, sex pollen: the narrative is kinking on it but the characters mean well. The main couple treat each other with respect, and the abuse is from a villain. There's brief mentions of rape or rape threats, always treated as a bad thing.
I have a big child harm squick and was mostly ok, but YMMV.
English translation:
Chapters 1-20
Chapters 21 on
Book 4:
Book 5:
Thoughts and fanwork recs
Extras: Chapters 245-252
Reread (Spoilers for the whole book in every post):
Note: I wrote this as I went, and some of it may be inadvertently wrong, especially since I don't speak Chinese. Some of it is deliberately misleading to avoid spoilers, but I tried to avoid outright lies.
I've included screenshots from the donghua for some characters.
Gods:
Jun Wu: "The Martial Heavenly Emperor". In charge of heaven.
Xie Lian: The protagonist. A well meaning martial god who got kicked out of heaven twice, and somehow got back in for the third time as the book begins.
"The Three Tumours":
Shi Qing Xuan: Ambiguously gendered wind god. Very popular. Younger sibling of Shi Wu Du, and their followers think of them as two brothers, brother and sister, or husband and wife.
Ming Yi: Earth god. Shi Quing Xuan's tsundere bff.
Pei Su (little Pei): a descendent of Pei Ming.
Mu Qing/Xuan Zhen: Xie Lang's former bff. A grumpy commoner Xie Lian discovered and helped out. Dropped Xie Lian like a hot potato when he was banished from heaven. Martial God of the Southwest.
Fu Yao: minor god working for Mu Qing
Feng Xin/Nan Yang ZhenJun: Xie Lang's former bff/attendant from childhood. Stayed with Xie Lian loyally for many years after his banishment but they eventually parted on bad terms. Has always been on bad terms with Mu Qing. Martial God of the Southeast.
Nan Feng: minor god working for Feng Xin
Lang Qian Qiu/Tai Hau/"Leeroy Jenkins": dumbass general, his family took over Xie Lian's kingdom. Martial God of the East.
Quan Yi Zhen/Qi Ying: Young and hot headed. Martial God of the West.
Yin Yu: Former martial God of the West.
Jian Yu: Yin Yu's unpleasant bff/deputy
Rain Master Huang/Yu Shi Huang: A reclusive god of farmers.
Jing Wen Zhen Jun: Ling Wen's old boss.
Demons/Ghosts
"The Four Calamities": The four most feared demons, even gods fear them
The fetus ghost/Cuo Cuo: a creepy baby demon
Lan Chang/Jian Lan: A sex worker ghost from Ghost City
Xuan Ji: A general, and bitter ex of Pei Ming.
The Brocade Immortal/Bai Jing/Xioa Bai: a haunted sack
Ban Yue: A priestess of Banyue
Kei Mo/Ke Mo: A general of Banyue
Rong Guang: Pei Ming's old second in command
Living Humans (when they first show up):
Lang Ying: A teenage boy from Yong An with the disfiguring face disease. Plausibly a ghost.
Lang Ying: An angry man from historical Yong An. No relation- OR IS HE?? (At time of writing: I have no idea)
Gu Zi: a young boy who was captured along with his father by the Green Goblin.
Heaven's Eye: an obnoxious cultivator with the ability to sense good and evil.
Guoshi of XianLe/Mei Nian Qing: Xie Lian's old training master when he was young.
Things
RuoYe: Xie Lian's sentient bandage
Fang Xin: Xie Lian's sword
E-Ming: Hua Cheng's sentient sabre, with an eyeball on the hilt.
Ming Guang: Pei Ming's old sword
Places:
Xian Le/XianLe: Xie Lian's home country, now destroyed.
Yong An/YongAn: The country that took over Xian Le.
Ghost City: a chaotic city of demon and ghosts, ruled by Hua Cheng.
Ban Yue/Banyue: A long dead country
YuShi: The country Rain Master is from
XuLi: The country Pei Su and Pei Ming are from.
Mount Tonglu: The volcano where Ghost Kings are formed
The Kiln/Gu City: The volcano itself within Mount Tonglu
WuYong: The human country that used to exist where Mount Tonglu is now
Mount TaiCang: A mountain in XianLe where Xie Lian used to train.
Huang Ji/BaQian Taizi Temple: Where Xie Lian trained in his youth, on Mount TaiCang. (Or maybe these are two nearby temples?)
Terms:
Gege: Older brother. A (somewhat flirty?) way to refer to a close respected male friend.
Xiong: a more formal way to say "older brother" than gege, used informally between male friends like "bro"
Shizun: Teacher/master (equivalent to "sensei")
Shixiong: Older/senior student at the same school
Shidi: Younger/junior student at the same school
Chengzhu: City owner. Mostly used as an honorific for Hua Cheng.
Guoshi: Official state teacher.
Cultivator: kind of a cross between a magician and a monk, training for years in meditation and spiritual abilities
Daozhang: A polite address for a cultivator
Jun/ZhenJun/YuanJun: polite titles used for gods (possibly just the really high up ones?)
Heaven Official's Blessing/Tiān Guān Cì Fú is a Chinese m/m novel by Mò Xiāng Tóngxiù/MXTX, author of The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Scum Villain's Self Saving System
Summary:
The main character, Xie Lian, is a former golden child who ascended to god-hood at the age of seventeen full of idealistic intentions...and it went so badly he spent 800 years as a God of Trash. As the story begins, he's gotten another chance at real godhood, but at this point is cheerfully cynical about his odds of ever actually achieving anything meaningful. But while he's doing Heaven's bidding, Xie Lian encounters a strangely charming demon king who seems to know him...
Content Notes for the book in general: consent issues, sexualisation of children, gore, mixed treatment of cross-dressing, suicide, child harm, mild quasi-incest, ableism, abuse, gender stereotypes, racist subtext, ANGST
There's no on-screen sex, but a lot is implied. The consent issues and sexualisation of children are mostly due to, like, sex pollen: the narrative is kinking on it but the characters mean well. The main couple treat each other with respect, and the abuse is from a villain. There's brief mentions of rape or rape threats, always treated as a bad thing.
I have a big child harm squick and was mostly ok, but YMMV.
English translation:
Chapters 1-20
Chapters 21 on
My Reactions:
Reread (Spoilers for the whole book in every post):
Character and Place Guide (spoilers for the first few chapters):
Note: I wrote this as I went, and some of it may be inadvertently wrong, especially since I don't speak Chinese. Some of it is deliberately misleading to avoid spoilers, but I tried to avoid outright lies.
I've included screenshots from the donghua for some characters.
Gods:
Jun Wu: "The Martial Heavenly Emperor". In charge of heaven.
Xie Lian: The protagonist. A well meaning martial god who got kicked out of heaven twice, and somehow got back in for the third time as the book begins.
"The Three Tumours":
Ling Wen/Nangong Jie: female literature god whose life is one long sexist microaggression, including most of her followers thinking she must be a man. Basically Heaven's administrative assistant.
Pei Ming/Ming Guang: powerful old general, known for womanising. Uses his power to protect and promote Pei Su. Martial God of the North.- Shi Wu Du: Incredibly powerful water god.
Shi Qing Xuan: Ambiguously gendered wind god. Very popular. Younger sibling of Shi Wu Du, and their followers think of them as two brothers, brother and sister, or husband and wife.
Ming Yi: Earth god. Shi Quing Xuan's tsundere bff.
Pei Su (little Pei): a descendent of Pei Ming.
Mu Qing/Xuan Zhen: Xie Lang's former bff. A grumpy commoner Xie Lian discovered and helped out. Dropped Xie Lian like a hot potato when he was banished from heaven. Martial God of the Southwest.
Fu Yao: minor god working for Mu Qing
Feng Xin/Nan Yang ZhenJun: Xie Lang's former bff/attendant from childhood. Stayed with Xie Lian loyally for many years after his banishment but they eventually parted on bad terms. Has always been on bad terms with Mu Qing. Martial God of the Southeast.
Nan Feng: minor god working for Feng Xin
Lang Qian Qiu/Tai Hau/"Leeroy Jenkins": dumbass general, his family took over Xie Lian's kingdom. Martial God of the East.
Quan Yi Zhen/Qi Ying: Young and hot headed. Martial God of the West.
Yin Yu: Former martial God of the West.
Jian Yu: Yin Yu's unpleasant bff/deputy
Rain Master Huang/Yu Shi Huang: A reclusive god of farmers.
Jing Wen Zhen Jun: Ling Wen's old boss.
Demons/Ghosts
"The Four Calamities": The four most feared demons, even gods fear them
Hua Cheng/San Lang/Crimson Rain Sought Flower: A one eyed demon king who rules the Ghost City. Xie Lian's love interest.- White No Face/White Clothed Calamity/Bai Wu Xiang: Goes around all in white in a white mask being creepy.
- Black Water Xuan/Black Water Sinking Ships: Reclusive water demon.
The Green Goblin/Night-Touring Green Lantern/Qi Rong/Xiao Jing: Gross, nasty, and whiny.
The fetus ghost/Cuo Cuo: a creepy baby demon
Lan Chang/Jian Lan: A sex worker ghost from Ghost City
Xuan Ji: A general, and bitter ex of Pei Ming.
The Brocade Immortal/Bai Jing/Xioa Bai: a haunted sack
Ban Yue: A priestess of Banyue
Kei Mo/Ke Mo: A general of Banyue
Rong Guang: Pei Ming's old second in command
Living Humans (when they first show up):
Lang Ying: A teenage boy from Yong An with the disfiguring face disease. Plausibly a ghost.
Lang Ying: An angry man from historical Yong An. No relation- OR IS HE?? (At time of writing: I have no idea)
Gu Zi: a young boy who was captured along with his father by the Green Goblin.
Heaven's Eye: an obnoxious cultivator with the ability to sense good and evil.
Guoshi of XianLe/Mei Nian Qing: Xie Lian's old training master when he was young.
Things
RuoYe: Xie Lian's sentient bandage
Fang Xin: Xie Lian's sword
E-Ming: Hua Cheng's sentient sabre, with an eyeball on the hilt.
Ming Guang: Pei Ming's old sword
Places:
Xian Le/XianLe: Xie Lian's home country, now destroyed.
Yong An/YongAn: The country that took over Xian Le.
Ghost City: a chaotic city of demon and ghosts, ruled by Hua Cheng.
Ban Yue/Banyue: A long dead country
YuShi: The country Rain Master is from
XuLi: The country Pei Su and Pei Ming are from.
Mount Tonglu: The volcano where Ghost Kings are formed
The Kiln/Gu City: The volcano itself within Mount Tonglu
WuYong: The human country that used to exist where Mount Tonglu is now
Mount TaiCang: A mountain in XianLe where Xie Lian used to train.
Huang Ji/BaQian Taizi Temple: Where Xie Lian trained in his youth, on Mount TaiCang. (Or maybe these are two nearby temples?)
Terms:
Gege: Older brother. A (somewhat flirty?) way to refer to a close respected male friend.
Xiong: a more formal way to say "older brother" than gege, used informally between male friends like "bro"
Shizun: Teacher/master (equivalent to "sensei")
Shixiong: Older/senior student at the same school
Shidi: Younger/junior student at the same school
Chengzhu: City owner. Mostly used as an honorific for Hua Cheng.
Guoshi: Official state teacher.
Cultivator: kind of a cross between a magician and a monk, training for years in meditation and spiritual abilities
Daozhang: A polite address for a cultivator
Jun/ZhenJun/YuanJun: polite titles used for gods (possibly just the really high up ones?)
no subject
Date: 2019-12-03 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-04 12:14 pm (UTC)I'm really glad to hear it's being used by people other than me!
Ok so afaict "Dianxia" is an old fashioned, respectful way to refer to a member of the royal family (in this case a crown prince), and the translation just used "Your Highness". Also the wikipedia page on Chinese honorifics is very dense but fascinating, so I'm glad your question got me to look at it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_honorifics
Thank you from a stranger!
Date: 2021-09-08 06:41 am (UTC)Re: Thank you from a stranger!
Date: 2021-09-08 06:49 am (UTC)THANK YOU!
Date: 2022-04-21 09:08 am (UTC)rizzle_writes (twitter)
Re: THANK YOU!
Date: 2022-04-23 01:01 pm (UTC)I'm honoured, thank you :)