Spells From Hell is a webcomic written by Wm W and illustrated by Silke Tara and is a rare example of a Spirit Cultivation Genre work originally published in English. The series completed publication in 2022.
Ages ago, the fox spirit Xue was able to cultivate her own power until she became a Nine Tailed Fox. So great was her power that she was allowed to ascend to heaven and live and fight alongside gods and goddesses despite originally being a demon of hell. She was worshipped by mortals and adored by immortals for her beauty and kindness, but her reign of glory came to a tragic end two hundred years ago. During a war between the realms of heaven and hell with the fate of earth hanging in the balance, Xue fought alongside the heavens to defend earth. During the battle, she and her mortal lover were killed, clutching their interlocking jade pendants...
In the present day, technology has advanced to a point that matches our modern world. Fewer and fewer people take the threat of demons living amongst them seriously or practice magic due to these technological advances. James Chao is one such person. Despite being told that he has great magic potential, he only wants to graduate top of his class and get an internship at Woogle. His life plans are thrown into disarray when one day he wakes up to find the fox spirit Scarlet in his living room.
Scarlet was born and raised in hell, and is seen as the weakest of her peers. Fox Spirits no longer have the ability to cultivate their power, so in order to gain nine tails they must seduce people in order to draw on their power. The first fox to gain nine tails will gain Xue's seat in heaven. Tired of being belittled, Scarlet steals her classmate's license to get to earth to go there herself and prove that she can gain tails. Her jade necklace brings her to James's room, where he has a similar one.
James and Scarlet soon find themselves targeted by demons eager to find out how a new portal to the human world was created, and they must join a sect of cultivators in order to gain the power to defend themselves and protect their loved ones.
This work contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Maya and Lucas left their family, the leaders of a powerful and wealthy clan, to join the Yellow Dragon Clan because their grandfather's Training from Hell turned into this.
- Action Girl: The Yellow Dragon sect has several.
- A Father to His Men: As Jasper rebuilds the Black Tortoise Clan, he quickly gains the respect and admiration of his followers. After he returns to them having given up his ambitions for taking over the world, they're overjoyed.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Both Jasper and Scarlet were outcasts growing up, but for different reasons.
- Asian Fox Spirit: Multiple fox spirits show up throughout the comic.
- Distressed Dude: James is abducted by the Bull Demon King's forces near the comic's finale.
- Education Mama: James's mother is this. It's not enough that he's a top student at a respected university, she's also very disappointed that he doesn't get an internship at the in-universe Google analogue.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Willo, leader of the Yellow Dragon sect is half-celestial. Her father was only allowed to get away with this due to his high ranking in heaven. Jasper is also one, the result of a tryst between his mother and a mortal man.
- Human Sacrifice: This turns out to be the key to creating another portal between earth and Hell.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: James has no interest in becoming a cultivator despite having a lot of talent for it.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Jasper is James's half brother.
- Pro Human Trans Human: Inverted with the Black Tortoise Clan, a sect of dark cultivators who sided with the animal spirits of hell during the war 200 years prior. They were wiped out due to fear of their power. James and Jasper are descended from them.
- We Can Rule Together: Jasper offers James this when he finds out that James is his brother.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Jasper gets other descendants of the Black Tortoise Clan to join him by playing into their fantasies of secretly being part of ancient, powerful lineages and destined for greatness.
