That infamous weirdo, the laughingstock of the three realms, the legendary Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he...he...he... he fucking ascended again!
— Prologue
Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Chinese: 天官赐福 Tian Guan Ci Fu) is a Web Novel of the danmei genre by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
Born the crown prince of a prosperous kingdom, Xie Lian was renowned for his beauty, strength, and purity. His years of dedicated study and noble deeds allowed him to ascend to godhood. But those who rise may also fall, and fall he does — cast from the heavens and banished to the world below.
Eight hundred years after his mortal life, Xie Lian has ascended to godhood for the third time, angering most of the gods in the process. To repay his debts, he is sent to the Mortal Realm to hunt down violent ghosts and troublemaking spirits who prey on the living. Along his travels, he meets the fascinating and brilliant San Lang, a young man with whom he feels an instant connection. Yet San Lang is clearly more than he appears... What mysteries lie behind that carefree smile?
The webnovel is split into five books, with a total of 252 chapters (244 main chapters and three extras) and was officially completed in 2018. It's been translated in various languages, with an English translation by Seven Seas Entertainment that began in December 2021 and runs over eight volumes.
Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu has received the following adaptations:
- Animated Adaptation: The donghua is produced by Haoliners (the studio that also did Ling Qi) and streamed on Bilibili, Funimation and Netflix. Season 1 aired from October 2020 to January 2021 with 12 episodes, and Season 2 began in October 2023. The donghua has also received a Japanese and English dub.
- Comic-Book Adaptation : A manhua drawn by original fanartist STARember began in October 2019 and is hosted on Bilibili.
- Live-Action Adaptation: A drama adaptation called Eternal Faith is in the works, directed by the same person behind The Untamed.
Note: Names, terminology and quotes are based on the official English novel translation by Seven Seas Entertainment whenever possible.
Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu contains examples of the following tropes:
- All of the Other Reindeer: Hua Cheng was mercilessly beaten and attacked for his one red right eye as a child.
- By his third ascension, Xie Lian is considered the laughingstock of the three realms. If heavenly officials aren't outright avoiding him, they're mocking him behind his back.
- Ambition Is Evil: Naturally, there are many who could only dream to one day attain the level of godhood and work all their lives in the hope of achieving it. Some just use less ethical ways than others, driving the plot of this novel.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Many gods know how to shift between genders. One notable example is The Wind Master Shi Qingxuan, who prefers both genders and switches based on how Qingxuan feels in the mood or when it's necessary, and even trying to get other gods to shapeshift as well, whenever they are together.
- Anachronic Order: There are several jumps to flashbacks in the novel, with the entirety of Book 2 being about Xie Lian's first ascension.
- Apathetic Citizens: Xie Lian decides to do a social experiment of sorts before he unleashes the human face disease on the citizens of Yong An. He stabs himself with his own sword and lies bleeding and starving in the middle of a busy street for three days, asking for help. A few people think about helping, but no one does except a lone farmer.
- The Beautiful Elite: The gods, of course, are the prettiest and hottest people in the three realms, especially Jun Wu and Xie Lian. Hua Cheng, the feared Ghost King, is quite the looker himself.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Xie Lian chose to hide the fact that Hua Cheng was traveling with him from the other gods, chose to go to him and apologise every time he did something in Hua Cheng's territory (rescuing a god from Ghost City, exploring his territory without Hua Cheng knowing); and all of this because Hua Cheng was nice to him while they traveled together. He goes as far as to apologize to Hua Cheng for destroying his armory, which backlashes as Hua Cheng is the one who wants to apologize for cutting him with his scimitar.
- Best Served Cold: He Xuan bid his time planning his revenge towards Shi Wudu, for transferring Shi Qingxuan's curse onto him, causing his entire mortal life to be full of nothing but misery, loss, and death — all of which robbed him of his chance to ascend into godhood. He succeeds in getting his revenge.
- Big Eater: He Xuan is almost always eating, even when disguised as Ming Yi. Despite being a Ghost King and not needing food to survive. His endless appetite starts out as a Running Gag... until it's revealed he nearly starved to death when alive.
- Bitch Slap: Little Ying slaps Xie Lian when she mistakes him for a creep when he tries to offer her his robe to cover up her ripped dress.
- Bittersweet Ending: Book 2 and 4, which chronicles Xie Lian's first fall from grace and the hundred swords and Xie Lian's second ascension and descension, ends on a bittersweet note.
- Bloody Tears: Xuan Ji cries bloody tears in the donghua after Pei Su breaks it to her that Pei Ming was too busy to see her.
- Body Horror: Many victims go through horrific injuries or body distortions:
- The corpse brides, who end up rotting when the one responsible for them is removed from the picture.
- A boy was infected with a human face disease, where little human faces appear on your skin and are sentient and can scream and moan at advanced stages. Another person with it even had faces that tried to eat grass!
- The buried "mud face" from Banyue who not only has an inhumanly long tongue, but is in fact a skeleton with only his head intact; corpses hung upside down on the trees, with their blood raining down.
- Bridal Carry: Adding to the romantic tension, Hua Cheng carries Xie Lian bridal-style several times.
- Broken Tears:
- Lang Ying cries loudly over Little Ying's dead body.
- In the donghua, Ban Yue apparently ran onto an active battlefield looking for Xie Lian, but only found his trampled corpse on the ground which caused her to weep loudly.
- After Qi Rong protects him and soon turns into ashes, Gu Zi tearfully asks Xie Lian what happened to his father and desperately digs into the earth below him where his ashes fell to try and find Qi Rong.
- When Yin Yu is killed by Jun Wu, Quan Yizhen cries over Yin Yu's body and apologizes for not being more helpful.]]
- After watching Shi Wudu being killed by He Xuan, there's nothing else Shi Qingxuan can do but cry out of despair.
- As a child when he was apparently born under an unlucky star, Hua Cheng broke down into tears as a swarm of malevolent energy follows him, causing the adults to call him a demon spawn. Xie Lian ended up comforting him and assuring the boy it wasn't his fault, leading the boy to break down into tears until he calmed down.
- Bungled Suicide: Ruo Ye was birthed from Xie Lian using it to try and strangle himself to death after seeing his parents had hanged themselves.
- Burn Baby Burn: Jun Wu sets the heavenly capital on fire, nearly killing every heavenly official there had it not been for Xie Lian and the others rescuing them.
- Call-Forward: In the original text when Hua Cheng first meets Xie Lian on the cart and Xie Lian asks him who is, Hua Cheng gives him the exact same answer he did when Xie Lian asked him as a child 800 years ago, thus proving a nice Easter Egg on how they met once again.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Ling Wen spits at her former teacher now turned ghost who claims she slept with many people to climb higher in heaven because he wouldn't promote her. She points out he was the one who made her run around doing chores all day, told her to stay longer than necessary before hypocritically telling her to stop lurking, and how she never would to ascend as anything more than a glorified secretary. She wishes he had left her in jail when she was still mortal because at least then she'd still have the time to enjoy thinking in relative peace, before remarking the fact that she is much better as the highest civil official than he ever was.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Xie Lian's Crown Palace on Mount Tai Cang is being desecrated by thugs and Hua Cheng chases them off they mock him, asking if he's so protective of the shrine because his wife lost her virginity there. 800 years later Hua Cheng's and Xie Lian's first time together was confirmed in an interview to occur there.
- Child Soldiers: The mortality rate of young soldiers in the Xian Le vs Yong An war was noted to be high, which is why Mu Qing didn't think he was doing anything wrong driving away Hua Cheng from the army.
- Comically Missing the Point: Xie Lian sometimes misinterprets people's words or doesn't understand what they're trying to tell him. In one case, when his guoshi told him his future was pitch black he responds with, "That can't be right, I only like to wear white."
- Cooldown Hug: Hua Cheng received a much-needed comforting hug several times from Xie Lian both as a child and as a ghost, the former when Xie Lian assured him that he did not cause misfortune and the latter when Hua Cheng was furious.
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: In the donghua, Xie Lian's efforts to disguise himself as a lovely bride results in him wearing some poorly-applied makeup. Thankfully, Miss Ying lends him a hand and corrects it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Hua Cheng took on 33 heavenly officials easily and then burned down all of their temples afterwards.
- Ban Yue easily beat up all of the Ban Yue soldiers that were surrounding the pit without much exertion on her part. She even breaks out of the bindings they put her in like it was nothing.
- Cry Laughing: Xie Lian tends to feel torn between crying and laughing when he's flustered in a situation. Played darkly when he finds his parents have hung themselves, he devolves into a fit of laughter and tears.
- Dead All Along: The Earth Master, Ming Yi. It is left up in the air as to whether He Xuan or Bai Wuxiang killed him. And the one posing as him is actually He Xuan, a high-ranking ghost king.
- Death Wail: Hua Cheng screamed in agony as a ghost fire when he's forced to watch Xie Lian get impaled multiple times by the citizens of Xian Le.
- Divine Punishment: In a rare case of gods being punished by other gods, Xie Lan, upon ascending to godhood for the third time, and inadvertently destroying a heavenly palace in the process, is cast back to the mortal realm by the other gods. Again.
- Double Standard: While Pei Ming's praised and teased at for sleeping with so many women, Ling Wen gets the opposite treatment and is treated poorly due to rumors of her sleeping her way into her current position.
- Dramatic Drop: After the Xuan Ji incident, Xie Lian seeks out Lin Wen and asks if she knows who "Hua Cheng" is. In some adaptations like the manhua, she drops all of her scrolls in shock at hearing Hua Cheng's name.
- The Dreaded:
- All three Supremes are pretty bad news. Everyone is particularly afraid of Hua Cheng, who has a very well deserved reputation, but for Xie Lian, he's the perfect gentleman and a friend.
- The White Clothed Calamity/White No Face (Bai Wuxiang) is greatly feared by Xie Lian especially because of the Supreme pulling the strings to cause the fall of Xian Le.
- Drives Like Crazy: Xie Lian, Feng Xin, and Mu Qing learn about Qi Rong's questionable driving ability after he lets them ride in his carriage. After a truly terrifying journey...Qi Rong: What do you think, cousin Crown Prince? I drive pretty well, right!
Xie Lian: I'm going to tell Father and Mother to confiscate your coach. - Dude, Not Funny!: As affectionate as he is to him, Hua Cheng's frank when he tells Xie Lian that he doesn't appreciate the latter making jokes about the injuries he suffered.
- Duel to the Death: Lang Qianqiu challenges Xie Lian to this after recognizing his former master. However, Xie Lian refuses to fight him and only wins by tying him up with Ruo Ye and beating in the duel on a technicality.
- Embarrassing Password: Implied. When Hua Cheng whispers his verbal communications array password to Xie Lian, the latter gets so embarrassed by it he refuses to say it out loud.
- Empathic Environment: Black Water's lair is a gloomy and ominious place, fitting of his more villainous nature.
- Exact Words: When Xie Lian asks Ruo Ye to grab onto something "strong and reliable", it grabs onto San Lang.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Ling Wen gets noticeable eyebags in some moments of the story when her job just sucks whatever energy she has out of her to the point it looks like she could collapse at any moment from pure exhaustion. Even her assistants that are shown in the adaptations are equally worse for wear.
- Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems: After his first ascension, Xie Lian finds out that Yong An (under Xian Le's rule) is suffering from a terrible drought. Of course, almost all the other gods in Heaven don't care about helping mortals unless they gain benefits (e.g lots of offerings and merits to their temples). After investigating, Xie Lian finds out his parents (the royalty of Xian Le) are unable to supply resources to Yong An so even though Heavenly Officials are not supposed to interact with mortals once they first ascend for many years, he descends to save the common people. As punishment for breaking the rules, Xie Lian is banished from the Heavens. Things proceed From Bad to Worse as the war between Xian Le and Yong An goes on and the Human Face Disease makes its appearance...
- Face Framed in Shadow: The donghua hides the upper half of Hua Cheng's face for all of Season 1 in order to play up the mystery of his character.
- Forced Transformation: Hua Cheng can turn others into daruma dolls.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Hua Cheng and Xie Lian met 800 years ago at the Offering to the Gods ceremony when Xie Lian saved him. Xie Lian thinks they must have met a long time ago, but 50 chapters in and he still has no idea that Hua Cheng knows everything about him, nor their exact meeting. It's towards the end of the novel he realizes who Hua Cheng is thanks to the murals at Mount Tonglu and remembering the little ghost fire that Hua Cheng became after dying as a soldier.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: Generally a Heavenly Official's spiritual power and influence depends on the number of believers they have.
- Groin Attack: Xie Lian nearly suffers a crotch injury due to Pei Ming stabbing his sword down into the tunnels where he, Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi were using to try and escape the Heavenly capital."Just because I said I don't use it doesn't mean I don't want it!!"
- Humiliation Conga: Xie Lian's long, disastrous, lonely and very humiliating 800 years, and even after he ascends the third time, he still gets humiliated and ignored even when on official business.
- Hypocritical Humor: Xie Lian wonders why the Rain Master has little to no offerings, leading Shi Qingxuan to explain to him. When her worshippers tried to offer her money, she told them to keep it so they can buy things they needed and they can just offer up vegetables and fruits instead. However, after a day, she changed her mind and told them to take the food back so it wouldn't go to waste.
- Impersonation-Exclusive Character: It's revealed in book three that the real Ming Yi is dead. The man who's pretending to be him is really He Xuan, one of the Four Calamities, who infiltrated the heavens partly to be a spy for Hua Cheng and mostly to get revenge on Shi Wudu.
- Improbable Age: It's very hard to cultivate to a high enough level as well as passing trials to ascend to the Heavens. Xie Lian manages to ascend at only 17 years old.
- Irony: A guy who would rather being stuck in a swamp full of crocodiles than speaking to a woman is worshipped for his sexual prowess. Feng Xin does not enjoy it.
- It's Personal: While it may seem Hua Cheng challenged those 33 Heavenly Officials at random for his duels, in actuality they were the same Heavenly Officials who bullied Xie Lian off a piece of land he had arrive at first and Hua Cheng sees to it that all of their temples get burnt to the ground when they refuse to hold up their end of the deal if they lost. He also seems to have a huge dislike for Feng Xin and especially Mu Qing, since they both essentially abandoned Xie Lian after he fell and the latter also kicked him out of the army.
- It Was a Gift: Early on Xie Lian wakes up to find a ring on a chain around his neck after he and Hua Cheng share a bed for the night and assumes it was a gift from the other. Upon inquiring, Hua Cheng says it's nothing important. It contains Hua Cheng's ashes.
- I Was Just Joking: When sitting inside the step litter with Xie Lian, Hua Cheng asks if Xie Lian would like to get married to him. When Xie Lian pauses for too long, Hua Cheng laughs it off and claims he was just joking.
- The Jinx: Xie Lian is the definition of bad luck. His luck is just... horrifying in contrast to Hua Cheng, who is blessed with good luck. The real reason Xie Lian's luck is so bad because after his second ascension he asked Jun Wu to disperse his luck to his believers.
- Killed Off for Real: Heavenly Officials cannot reincarnate so for ones like Shi Wu Du they're permanently gone.
- Let's Meet the Meat: In Ghost City, at least some of the chefs working in restaraunts and food stalls are animal ghosts with Healing Factors who routinely self-amputate pieces of their own bodies to prepare their food.
- Lonely Funeral: It's mentioned that exactly two people attend Shi Wudu's: Xie Lian and Ling Wen.
- Longing Look: In the manhua and promotional art, Hua Cheng is usually warmly staring at Xie Lian. A lot.
- Madness Mantra: Xie Lian twice repeats words out of insanity and despair. The first time, he's holding up his statue to prevent it from crushing the people of Xian Le, but they end up swarming him, covered in the Human Face Disease and demanding he save them, and all he can do is call for help. The second time, as he's being impaled by his former worshippers as well as desperate civilians, he starts screaming internally "Why can't I die?"
- Major Injury Underreaction: After many years of experiencing pain, Xie Lian has become so used to it to the point he'll continue running after a spirit even when there's a nail stabbed into his foot and treat it like it's nothing after he shakes off the initial pain.
- Malicious Slander: When Ling Wen was becoming more prominent god, mortals began to slander her for being a female god with many trashing her temples and women throwing bralettes and menstrual liners into her donation boxes. Even in heaven she's not exempt from the rumors other gods spread of her either sleeping or kissing the butts of martial gods to get to the position she's in. She denies all of these rumors and Xie Lian sympathizes with her struggles and knows she wouldn't be getting this much flak were she a male god.
- Metaphorically True: Hua Cheng tells the Puqi villagers he's already married and has a wife back at his home. When Xie Lian asks more about this, Hua Cheng admits he actually doesn't have a wife, but he still has someone who he loves. He just hasn't won that person over yet.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The scorpion snakes of the Ban Yue Kingdom. True to their name, they have the head and body of a snake, but their tail has a scorpion's stinger at the end.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Pei Su's mortified in the donghua when his troops from Yong An storm the Ban Yue kingdom and and he realizes that his victory costed Ban Yue her life as her corpse was strung up over the Sinner's Pit.
- Yin Yu's mortified after he accidentally orders Quan Yizhen who's wearing the Immortal Brocade to kill ten heavenly officials and orders him to kill himself. Thankfully, Jun Wu stops Quan Yizhen before he could go through with the order.
- Noodle Incident:
- When preparing to go to the East Sea, Xie Lian assures Pei Ming he's used to stormy waves because "I've often drifted in the sea for over half a month at a time, so I'm very used to it." The others can only give him baffled expressions.
- It's never revealed what exactly happened that caused He Xuan to be greatly indebted to Hua Cheng. While the novel stated that part of it involves his gluttony, there are hints that it also has something to do with Hua Cheng assisting He Xuan in his plans for revenge.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: At the end of the novel, there has been an upheaval of Heaven's hierarchical structure, and the majority of Heaven's physical structure needing to be rebuilt.
- Not Me This Time: Despite his womanizing status, Pei Ming is immediately on the defense towards everyone in heaven when Lan Chang accuses him of being the father to her child.Pei Ming: Why do you think it's me?!
Shi Qingxuan: (doubtfully) It's more like... we know you too well. - Not What It Looks Like: Xie Lian gets into plenty of situations where he's doing something out of context and most of the time he either denies it or skirts the topic entirely. Such a time is after he and Hua Cheng get tossed and bumped around together in a small coffin and reunite with the Water Master, and Xie Lian realises what their disheveled appearances must look like and hastes to explain.
- Official Couple: Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are official love interests and become a couple in the end.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The audience never get to see Hua Cheng go up against the 33 Heavenly Officials who he challenged and beat. Or how he entirely decimated the sinners pit in just a few minutes. They're also never fully shown how he fought his way into the Kiln to become a Supreme Ghost and gouged out his eye to protect the civilians trapped with him.
- Oh, Crap!: Ling Wen reacts in horror when she recognizes the brocade Quan Yizhen is wearing as her Immortal Brocade.
- Pass the Popcorn: Hua Cheng seems to enjoy watching Mu Qing and Feng Xin fighting each other whether it's verbal or physical. When Xie Lian has the two line up with Pei Ming and Quan Yizhen so they could form an energy sword for his towering statue, Hua Cheng asks why the two of them weren't placed together since they match in spiritual energy. Xie Lian explains that if the two were placed next to each other, they'd fight for sure and Hua Cheng's expression reads, "please let them fight".
- Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Shi Qingxuan begs He Xuan to let their brother go and that they wouldn't bother him again if he does. He Xuan still ends up killing Shi Wudu.
- Pretty Butterflies: Everyone knows to be afraid whenever someone mentions the silver spiritual butterflies. Those are in fact the sign that Hua Cheng has been there, but Xie Lian finds them beautiful and harmless.
- Public Execution: Ke Mo and the other soldiers hang Ban Yue when they catch her. While she's already dead, Xie Lian and the others are at least disturbed when they see her hanging. The donghua implies this was how she died as Pei Su looks for her on the field only to find her corpse hung.
- Rain of Blood: Hua Cheng protects Xie Lian from bloody rain in the time of his first appearance. Also notable that his demon name is Blood Rain Reaching Towards a Flower.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The higher your status in life is, the more likely your martial arts skills are also high. This rings even truer for the Martial gods, with most badass of them all being the Heavenly Emperor. Similarly, the Supreme Ghost Kings are also greatly feared for their skills, considering that to become one, you must be the lone survivor of the undead Battle Royale at Mount Tonglu, with a significant power boost after exiting the kiln as well.
- Really 700 Years Old: Xie Lian and Hua Cheng definitely do not look their age (centuries old). It's likely once someone ascends/dies or is reborn as a ghost, their appearance doesn't change unless they want it to. For example when Xie Lian has amnesia in an extra and thinks he's 17 again, upon meeting Feng Xin and Mu Qing he notes both of them look exactly the same as they did 800 years ago.
- Red String of Fate: Present time Hua Cheng wears a red thread around the same finger that Xie Lian wrapped a lock of his hair around long ago. Late in the story he gives one to Xie Lian when in Mount Tonglu so they can find each other if they're separated. The amnesia extra further reveals that many among the common folk have taken to following their example.
- Returning the Handkerchief: Pei Xui had a handkerchief he used in the past as he looked after Ban Yue, and after being whisked away by the Wind Master back to Heaven, Xie Lian recovers it and eventually returns it.
- Revenge:
- Qi Rong helped in orchestrating the attack on the Yong An family, believing they took the land that rightfully belonged to the Xie royalty. He also helped Lang Qianqu's friend, who was the last of the Xie royalty hatch a plan to get close to the royals so he could kill them. Unfortunately, Xie Lian got to him first.
- After Xie Lian's "kidnapping" and letting Qi Rong go, Lan Qianqiu swears to kill Qi Rong for orchestrating the assassination of his family.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
- He Xuan died in the middle of one against the people who had affronted him, falsely accusing him of a crime he did not commit and then boicotting his every effort at rebuilding his life. He killed them so gruesomely and so deservedly that, centuries later, his hometown still holds horror-themed parades in his honor.
- Hua Cheng destroys all the common folk who gave Xie Lian a Fate Worse than Death at the temple when he became a fierce ghost. His challenging and burning of the temples of the thirty-three Heavenly Officials was because they mocked and fought Xie Lian over a piece of cultivation land. It's also stated Hua Cheng has attacked Feng Xin and Mu Qing before, likely because they abandoned/left Xie Lian 800 years ago (though the circumstances were complicated with both sides having their reasons why they left; Xie Lian being under immense stress and fear leading him to not inform his retainers about certain things).
- Rule of Three: Xie Lian ascended to the Heavenly Realm no less than three times. The third time sticks, luckily.
- Sadistic Choice: The Shi brothers are faced with two horrifying choices. Either Shi Wudu switches Qingxuan's fate with one of the unfortunate ghosts of his realm and gives up his own godhood, or Shi Qingxuan kills his brother in a specific slow and horrible manner and gets spared in exchange. Shi Wudu tries to Take a Third Option by giving Shi Qingxuan a Mercy Kill, which angers He Xuan enough that he decapitates Shi Wudu with his bare hands.
- Say My Name: When San Lang jumps down into the Sinner's Pit, Xie Lian starts panicking and calling for the youth after he jumps.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Quan Yizhen suspects who he is and forcibly takes off his mask, Yin Yu immediately runs the hell away as Quan Yizhen enthusiastically pursues him, asking if his shixiong recognizes him.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Xie Lian knew that Fu Yao and Nan Feng were in truth his generals in disguise almost the entire time, but never told them about it till they gave themselves away arguing.
- There Are No Therapists: A sad lack of. God knows Xie Lian, Shi Qingxuan, and even the three Supremes need therapy after what they were forced to go through.
- The Scapegoat: Head Priest Fang Xin aka Xie Lian is blamed for the deaths of Yong An's royalty, but the real culprits behind it were Qi Rong and An Le.
- Ship Tease: Pei Su is teased with Ban Yue, who he cares for. It's unclear if it's one-sided on his part.
- Shrine to the Fallen: Hua has a shrine dedicated to Xie Lian when he was trapped in Mount Tonglu, and it contains various murals and an estimate of 1000 statues.
- Taking the Heat: Pei Su takes all the blame for tricking humans into traveling to the Sinner's Pit, even though Ban Yue did play a minor part in all of it.
- Underwater Kiss: Xie Lian and Hua Cheng's first kiss happens this way thanks to the latter "transferring" air.
- Ungrateful Townsfolk:
- Xie Lian's desperate efforts to save his people are rewarded by them labelling him a god of misfortune, burning his temples, and building statues of him grovelling and crying for people to spit at and step on. Interestingly, the novel emphasizes that showing mercy and trying to save people is still the right thing to do, regardless of what the majority are like.
- The Crown Prince of Wuyong went through a similar experience. When his people were threatened by a volcanic eruption, he chose the peaceful solution of building a bridge to the heavens instead of invading other territories. Even though his people *knew* he was focused entirely on saving them, once he stopped answering their prayers for a few months, they refused to pray to him any longer, which in turn sapped him of so much spiritual power that the bridge collapsed.
- Vengeance Feels Empty:
- While He Xuan may have felt satisfied after killing Shi Wudu, the aftermath shows that he may have slightly regretted destroying the only friendship he had with Shi Qingxuan and now just drifts around with not much purpose anymore. He even appears besides Shi Qingxuan next to the Human Array and gruffly throws the former god their spiritual device, which he had restored. It's also implied at the end of the story that He Xuan still watches over Shi Qingxuan, but from afar and staying invisible so the other doesn't know.
- After Qi Rong's form disintegrates to protect Guzi, Lang Qianqiu wants to feel happy that the man who orchestrated his kingdom's downfall was dead. However, he couldn't help but feel guilty about Guzi being orphaned and crying for his father. In the epilogue, he somehow managed to save Qi Rong's soul and placed it in a lantern that he brings over for Guzi to happily chat with.
- Virginity Flag: Jun Wu has a sword that can actually prove someone's virginity.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The common folk trapped in the temple by White No Face invoke this when the Supreme reveals that in order to save themselves from being infected by the Human Face disease they must stab Xie Lian fatally with a sword. Arguments initially break out that even if he's immortal it's murder to do so but due to increasing desperation as people get infected they start stabbing Xie Lian.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Mu Qing is not happy when he realizes that Xie Lian knew their true identities while they were in disguise for a long time but neglected to tell them about it, and he lets the other know how pissed he is.
- You Can't Fight Fate: The Head Priest of Xian Le lampshades this to Xie Lian, stating that Xie Lian's well intentions to save the people of Yong An who were supposed to initially die from the drought while supporting Xian Le's army fighting back them only would prolong both sides' suffering and cause greater misfortune to occur to balance the scales e.g the White Clothed Calamity appearing and the Human Face Disease.
- You Do Not Want To Know: A disturbed Feng Xin and Mu Qing refuse to reveal to Xie Lian what they saw in Hua Cheng's shrine for Xie Lian. It's not because it consists of something eldritch in nature, but because it's plainly indecent in that sense.
With the heaven official's blessing, no paths are bound.
