I know this isn’t really drama related but I just have to rant.

There is a reason I’ve not been really posting about The Untamed lately and it’s because I have shifted my obsession to something new. And that obsession is Heaven’s Official Blessing, the latest book by the author of The Untamed ❤️❤️ Having read both novels I can safely say that HOB is an even better written book than TU. There are aspects I like more about TU but overall, HOB is a much more coherent, epic and beautiful story. The romance is more subtle in some ways but also much more beautiful. The romance feels a bit like the drama version of TU where there are no grand confessions of love (atleast at the point of where I am), there is just complete trust, love, devotion, and protection.

The plot itself has so many twists that caught me by surprise that I will have to ultimately read it again with all this new knowledge in mind. But at the same time those plot twists make sense and weren’t just thrown in but were very well thought out and crafted. While reading TU I kept wanting them to get back to the present day timeline but I didn’t feel that way with HOB. The flashback that dealt with Xie Lian’s second ascension had me literally crying for what he went through. It was heartbreaking and so well written. The novel is full of laughter, action, heartbreak, romance and is an awesome epic novel. If you loved The Untamed, then I highly suggest this novel. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been this obsessed about a book. Now here is hoping when they make the drama they can get great actors that embody these amazing characters as well as Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo did their The Untamed characters.

If you are wanting to read the novel I have put together a PDF of the entire novel (minus the extra chapters) HERE

The translations came from Sakhyulations for the first 24 chapters and the rest of the chapters are from this Google Drive.

14
26

    @alasecond @gadis @strawberry @marites59

    I don’t know who is all interested in this but I know the above have atleast read/started reading the book 😆

    3
    1

      yoohooo!.. don’t even know where to begin…

      1. So many stories, fully developed.. and each is sad..
      2. I like the ultimate villain’s arc too.. and i pity the original person.. how nice he must have been originally ๐Ÿ™
      3. that one gesture that ignited the deep love.. but as priest said, his character is super aggressive.. he will bring wrath, will not give up easily etc etc.. well.. and so would his love be… so so so deep
      4. everytime i try to imagine the blob of light seeing his love of life being tortured..and being so helpless.. it is painful
      5. i like the hindu mythology spin on incarnations of god
      6. Was anyone initially uncomfortable with a child’s love story?

      3
      1

        For 6. I don’t think the first few times the 2 of them met was any sort of romantic love (I’ve not finished to book so idk if the ending delves more into this). I think it was devotion and awe and a different type of love, the romantic love only came later when he was probably a bit older. Which I was fine with as nothing ever happened between the 2 of them at that point in time.

        But all-in-all he is really toeing the line between romantic and devoted, and creepy and obsessed, like pretty much everyone around Xie Lian keeps point out. Even I sometimes felt uncomfortable with his obsession (like with the 10,000 statues).

        But what Hua Cheng went through because of Xie Lian is intense and heart-breaking. And that whole torture scene had me crying 😭Actually, most of the parts dealing with his first banishment and his 2nd ascension was emotionally hard to read.

        3
        2

          and when xie lian asked hua cheng “Have we met before, under other circumstances” because he was embarassed to show his bad times to him.. and hua cheng replies “No, never met you”, when he was there every single time..

          his love is epic.. but somehow, whenever he is with xie lian. . he never gives that obsessive or stalker feeling.. or somehow writer could not convey that to me.. i realize that everyone keeps telling XL.. and i know on paper it is supposed to be fairly stalkerish.. and yet.. knowing the back story of HC..it doesn’t feel stalkerish..

          but you got that right – devotion, it is deep devotion… and coming from a person who is very transactional by personality and does not care about anyone

          XL breaks my heart..and so does the wind god

          4
          4

            Oh I love their relationship. Like I said, he may be obsessed but he never does anything bad towards XL. Especially since HC doesn’t constrain or stop XL from being himself. HC quietly follows and protects him and I think even if XL never reciprocated his feelings, he still would have been happy quietly being next to him. I think that’s why despite the very obvious stalker-type overtures and the obsession, it’s not bad. Instead it makes their romance beautiful and epic. Pure devotion and love. ❤️

            Yes, Wind God was sad. A lot of the characters were sad. Even the villains had heartbreaking stories that even makes them sympathetic.

            4
            0

            I think the writer did a good job with toeing that line between devotion and stalkerish behavior. Xie Lian being a God is probably one of the biggest reason I didn’t feel any stalkerish vibe from Hua Cheng, because it made sense for his devoted believer to follow him and protect him like that. Also, I really love how each and every encounters they have felt both like a new and old connection. Hua Cheng never insisted on them ‘picking up where they left off. And isn’t it amazing that all their encounters were extremely special not because Xie Lian treated Hua Cheng any differently from others, but simply because they appreciated each other’s company and understood what the others had to go through despite them seemingly meeting for the first time?

            5
            0

            @gadis I also love seeing the special meaning behind things. Like the flowers and the important meaning behind his Ghost King name, the colors he wears, the umbrella, the bead in his hair. He became who he is because of XL 😍

            5
            0

            @trinpie That is what no… every thing about HC is about XL.. because he is an obsessive personality anyway , being born under the star of something..

            the guy was mistreated all his life.. and for a 10 year old, for someone to save him and go against the whole world to protect him.. and the fact that who protected him is breathtakingly gorgeous.. what wouldn’t work ๐Ÿ™‚

            The funniest is the cave scene with teenager (14ish or 12ish) HC and XL on aphrodisiac.. with XL shouting ahem.. it was the awakening for HC’s hormones

            5
            0

          writer has a knack for it..
          developing each character on its own.. giving it all the shades of grey but never black or white ๐Ÿ™‚
          ah well XL may be the only whitey white character..e ven WX wasn’t (oh but LWJ was i guess)

          3
          0

    A part of me is a bit hesitant to read HOB, and thus reading it so slowly, because I donโ€™t want to let TU go. Or replace it with something new just yet. This is a silly fear I guess since TU forever occupies a special place in my heart, alongside all my other favorites.
    I said all this now, but once I have more free time, I might just devour HOB so fast I wouldnโ€™t know what to do with myself after. Lols

    5
    1

      I want to hurry and finish HOB at this point so I can finally get some sleep and stop needing to read it constantly. But I understand you! I didn’t think I would get this obsessed with it!

      4
      1

        hahahha!! i was like this when i started it too, but it was getting updated at the time so i would wait weekly for the chapters to come and read in bulk in whole sunday…crazy times…. ๐Ÿ˜›

        1
        0

    @noobita also told me to read this novel, so looks like I’ll be picking this up soon! The novel for the Untamed was beautifully written and tightly plotted, so I’m excited to read more by the author!

    3
    1

    This book is going to be the death of me. This is the first time I write almost 4000 words (!!) about something I read.

    I can’t believe how much I love Xie Lian. I mean, Hua Cheng and his indifferent personality, mysterious appearance, and very devoted love is easy to love. But making a very kind, optimistic, and self-sacrificing character like Xie Lian interesting is no easy feat. And yet, I love him completely and I can understand how someone like Hua Cheng is willing to wait for 800 years just for another meeting with this person.

    His second ascencion and all the cruel events leading to that 😢😢😭😭😭 It felt like Burial Ground all over again, only 100 times worse. It’s practically a miracle that Xie Lian stayed as kind and understanding as he is.

    5
    2

      I also love that you can see XL’s growth and maturity from how he was in the past to how he is in the present. Even though he remained kind and kept his thoughts of helping the common people, he was very clearly much more reckless, immature, used to his noble lifestyle and worried of how everyone saw him and thought of him in the past. I love that his character in the past is quite different then how he is in the present. He was very well written, both past and present. Especially like how you said, a character like him could easily come off as bland and boring, but there is so much more to his character. Hua Cheng chose well to fall in love with him ❤️

      Yes, all of his first banishment and his second ascension was so incredibly heart-wrenching. I cried many times in those parts. But it was so very well written 😭And I love how he crawled out of that pit of despair more mature, understanding and kind. ‘Body in the abyss, but heart in paradise’ indeed.

      5
      1

        there is a consistent theme of author’s heros being able to forgive the world of its misdeeds.. WX did in FoD .. and HoB shows the same stark difference between the two main beings..
        One couldn’t forgive the world for its betrayal (as world always does)
        Other kept giving goodness a chance, if even 1 person in this ocean of people would display his kindness..

        The other scene i absolutely love about XL.. is the 2nd ascension.. when HC appeared as black clothed lad and sacrificed himself.. the way XL told JW, “Just because a nameless ghost died, does not mean i did not commit the crime” – jW would have found a way eventually, but this banishment was so powerful as it was on XL’s own term

        5
        1

      true true.. he is amazing… and author does a wonderful job of portraying his strength and care in equal measures..

      so many times i would visualize him as weak lean but a very caring person.. who has been so hurt that he has given up on any worldly notions of propriety and what to expect or not expect.. But then the moment i am in that zone, author would bring out the prince, manly strong XL.. it is a b’ful character.. and pain is just worst ever

      have you guys seen the 3D movie (some 11 minutes) on youtube? it more or less covers the love story from beginning to end

      4
      0

    Thank you for the links. I will be sure to read it after I read The Untamed novel!

    3
    0

    from the time i started reading HOB i knew it would be epic, the author did not disappoint, even the flashback portions were awesome and the ability of the author to manage so many different plots point and twists and not make a mess of it was just great , also the author has written one more book its called Scum villian’s self saving system, its smaller the both the other books but crazy hilarious…its completely translated by BC novels…

    4
    0

    Thanks for the links! Downloading it now. ๐Ÿ™‚

    2
    1

    I couldn’t stop reading this book, I’ve definitely become a fan of this writer, the character development, the pacing is perfect.
    I have yet to read the extras but I loved seeing xie lan slowly recognise his feelings for hua cheng. I’m in awe at hua cheng’s devotion and dedication to protect xie lan, I forgot to copy the text but there were some beautifully romantic lines he said to xie lan in the 3rd book and throughout the novel.

    Also I am a bit confused about where hua cheng’s powers have come from and if the mask guy had the ability to stop hua cheng’s accession.

    2
    0

    Thank you so much!

    1
    0