As of my time of writing there are 65 chapters of the manhua out and it has only covered up to the very start of the Ghost City Arc which is pretty much where the donghua left off. I will reference content that is currently novelonly but only to an extent at which those caught up can understand. If you havent touched the series at all expect spoilers. Now Ive never really considered myself a super fan of anything before. Thereve been phases and overarching favourites but Ive never really found a series that was just... the series. And of all the ones it couldve been I really wasnt expecting it to be historical BL thatd been all but forgotten due to the overwhelming popularity of its predecessor. This manhua really just took me by surprise so much so that I someone who had only read one fairly short light novel literally ever immediately went to pick up its web novel and binged all 244 chapters of it in about four days. And let me just say I my expectations were far succeeded. Synopsis The story revolves around our main character Xie Lian a fallen and vastly despised god ascending to the Heaven Realm for the third time after hundreds of years. Hoping to repay the debts he owes he takes on a task to solve a mystery down in the Human Realm regarding the disappearance of several brides. While luring out the ghost rumoured to be behind it he meets a peculiar man one dressed in red and surrounded by silver butterflies whose face he cant really make out. After alls solved and the mystery unravelled hes left wondering just who that person was. Soon hell meet a young man who goes by the name San Lang who isnt quite who he seems someone has been keeping tabs on Xie Lian for a very long time. As far as wuxia and god stories go that sounds relatively basic. I mean you can guess what happens afterwards right? Thing is its nowhere near as simple as it sounds from a brief summary of the first arc. Ill admit that the reason I actually started this series was because I hadnt read a decent BL in a long time and I was really just looking for something enjoyable and highlyrated that wasnt fetishised to high hell. Lets just say that the romance while also equally welldone wasnt the main reason I stayed. I will mention though that its nowhere near as creepy as I somehow made it sound in that summary things get get blown out of proportion when both the main character and his love interest are 800yearold supernatural virgins. What truly intrigued me about the synopsis of Heaven Officials Blessing was the way the plot kept to a regular arcbyarc nocomplexsagas youcanpieceitapartanditwontlookoverlyconfusing storyline all while still leaving in all these little references to whats yet to come. It weaves in plot threads that would normally be forgettable but that its most certainly going to revisit in the future and plants the seeds of future arcs from the word go. Its also supremely good at tying up loose ends in a way thats honestly pretty refreshing for me especially since Im used to reading rushed weekly shonen manga that leave more plot holes open and forgotten than explained. Even just in the early arcs that the manhua has adapted you can tell how well things were thought through. For once I have absolutely no complaints about the way the story was paced. The manhua from what I remember is entirely faithful to the novel which meant it spent just the right amount of time on everything and didnt seem particularly rushed in any places despite the source materials almost daily release. It helps that the manhua has a far wider spread release schedule due to its artistic detail which presumably means more time can be spent plotting out how the story will work once adapted graphically. Art I would not be exaggerating if I told you that the art in this manhua is some of the best if not the best graphic novel art Ive ever seen. It would still be impressive if it was in the regular black and white manga format but the fact that its a manhua and is thus coloured makes it even more amazing to me. I was genuinely surprised upon finding out that STARember the series illustrator hadnt worked on any other series prior to Heaven Officials Blessing nor were they particularly wellknown beforehand. Their art is picturesque any given panel from any given chapter is good enough to look like something from the colour page of volume cover of a beautifullycrafted manga yes even the chibi panels chibi SQX lives in my head rentfree and the fact that the entire series looks this way is absolutely insane to me. Theres absolutely no fluctuation in quality as well literally all of it looks as beautiful as it does in the banner and cover image AniList has displayed for it and it stays consistent stylewise throughout as well. Regarding character designs the manhua was actually the first piece of media if my memory serves to visually adapt the novels characters and I really couldnt have asked for more. From the plain but exceedingly pretty Xie Lian to the handsome but still slightly cheekylooking San Lang they all look exactly as one would picture them when reading the novel. The donghua had great character designs as well but I have to give the best designs award to the manhua here the donghua just didnt have all those little flairs that the manhua has read: the donghua didnt give San Lang nor Hua Cheng fangs and Im still malding over it though this was probably just for the sake of keeping things simpler for the animation staff. All in all to describe the art in a word its really just perfect. Characters There isnt all that much I can say about the series wider cast of characters without spoiling 90 of the plot twists so lets just focus on the mains. Xie Lian Its scientifically impossible to make it past chapter 10 without developing an extremely strong feeling of holy shit hes the purest boy Ive ever seen Ive only had him for a few minutes but Id already take several bullets and sacrifice my firstborn for him towards him. Hes goodnatured kind and entirely desensitised to any form of insult directed towards him which really just leaves you asking yourself how the hell he became one of the most frowned upon beings in the heavens in the first place. Of course theres a certain depth to him even early on youre left to wonder why it is that he became the way he is which is gradually revealed through the instalments of his backstory that are told throughout the plot. Xie Lian is really just one to take as you go youll love him I promise. Hua Cheng Out of all the sexy ghost kings Ive encountered in media which admittedly isnt a lot but shut up Hua Cheng has to be my favourite. His personality starkly contrasts Xie Lians as hes rude nonchalant and is beyond caring about others feelings and what they think of him which is pretty much all down to his status as a supreme and the fact that there are very few beings in existence who dare not fear him. What makes him so intriguing is that this demeanour does a complete 180 when he acts towards Xie Lian. Xie Lian is the one person he cares for in the world and hell always treat him with kindness and do all he can to support him. Isnt that adorable? Criticisms I really dont really have very much to say here. Ive sung the manhuas praises so much in the other sections but finding anything concrete to complain about proved pretty difficult. I actually had a paragraph typed out about the novel however but then I realised that the manhuas ability to have a visual representation of everything pretty much nullified what Id planned on saying. If the manhua continues the way its going I have high hopes that itll surpass the novel once its completed. Conclusion Ill say it: this is probably the closest manhua has yet come to perfection and I hope it holds up along the rest of the adaptation. Id recommend this to anyone even those who dont usually read BL since I too barely touched it due to the stigma that shit like Love Stage Yarichin Bitch Club attached to it. Its more than a romance story really. I dont know if anyones actually going to read every word of this review but if you did then I appreciate it Im not at all experienced when it comes to reviewing things so if anything I said seemed off then you know why. 400https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/617832347546550278/902006555241750568/hualian.png Thank you for reading