By Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. Released in China on the JJWXC website. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Yu. Adapted by Ivy Fox.

As it turns out, the second volume of this series is the last one, and it’s also far more serious in tone. That’s not to say there aren’t funny moments, though. I haven’t seen the live-action drama based on this series, but from what little internet searching I did, it appears that it was “prettied up” a bit, with the books being seen as a dark fantasy with less humor and Dongfang Qingcang being purely evil rather than the brooding boyfriend preferred by live-action dramas. I have news for them, not only was there still a great deal of humor in this book (the side story about what happens to the legendary sword is particularly funny), but Dongfang Qingcang, while doing a lot of horrible things, is generally evil because he has no idea how to be anything else. The war between wanting to resurrect the Lady of the Scarlet Wastes and wanting to stay walking around with Xiao Lanhua is what drives this book, along with Xiao Lanhua’s crisis of faith. The character development is the plot.

We pick up where we left off, as Xiao Lanhua now has a body made from regeneration earth. Dongfang Qingcang also gives her a bone orchid to keep her safe. Unfortunately for him, the bone orchid also allows Xiao Lanhua to have dreams where the Lady of the Scarlet Wastes informs her that all Dongfang Qingcang wants is to use that body to resurrect the Lady, and that once that happens, Xiao Lanhua will be left to die. And this is not inaccurate, he really is planning this! It’s just, y’know, he’s wondering why he keeps wanting to have Xiao Lanhua always by his side. He’s much more comfortable when he’s allowed to beat the crap out of people and torture them by leaving their bodies crucified for weeks. Sadly, Xiao Lanhua loses her trust in him due to all this murmuring in her dreams, and is convinced to run away. Which is bad for everyone.

As I said, this is not really a book to read for plot. There’s a lot of supernatural battles. Cultivation is not specifically mentioned much, but you can feel its presence – this is a Chinese fantasy, after all. For those who want to read a love story between a very bad boy and a girl who really should not be falling for a very bad boy, though, this is like catnip. I can’t deny that Dongfang Qingcang tends towards being a terrible person, but as the book goes on he works his way towards being a terrible person but a good boyfriend. As for Xiao Lanhua, frankly, she breaks about halfway through this book, and most of the second half is devoted to getting her back to the point where she can snark at the side of Dongfang Qingcang while they tour the mortal world. By the end, they’re cute. Sort of.

This ended up being a lot of fun to read. Recommended for those who love shoujo manga with “I can fix him” love interests.

By Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. Released in China on the JJWXC website. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Yu. Adapted by Ivy Fox.

This one really took me by surprise. Partly as it’s a Chinese fantasy novel that isn’t danmei, a rarity for Seven Seas. But I had sort of expected the genre to be fantasy romance. Which it is, don’t get me wrong. That said, I would call the actual genre of this book “buddy film”. The author is a screenwriter, and it shows, as this really feels like it’s written to be adapted to the screen. (Indeed it was, and I suspect those who watched the Live-Action Drama may be surprised when they start the book.) The titular Fairy and Devil just can’t seem to shake each other throughout this entire volume, are constantly sniping at each other, and gradually develop a bond of trust. The fantasy is also pretty danm cool. As for the romance, well, the premise seems to invite the use of what some term the “manic pixie dream girl”, but I think this girl is a bit too much of a mess. Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl? Honestly, she’s Usagi Tsukino.

After a brief prologue, we open *after* the main plot development has already happened. (The live-action drama, which I watched part of after reading this, gives a lot more background to the main heroine.) Xiao Lanhua is currently sitting in a cell, in the body of the demon king, Dongfang Qingcang. Meanwhile, the demon king is in *her* body, and planning to escape. This, needless to say, upsets her just a bit, to the point where she slaps the demon king with the full force of her currently occupied body… killing her original body. After escape, the two of them are now BOTH in his body, Steve Martin/Lily Tomlin style, and have to each learn to operate one side. Needless to say, this leads to shenanigans which occupy the first half of the book. The plot arrives in the second half.

Not that there’s much of that. The plot appears to be Dongfang Qingcang slowly getting slightly less evil under the influence of Xiao Lanhua, and Xiao Lanhua learning more about how the world world outside of the very sheltered life that she has led. There are cool scenes with lots of fantasy explosions, and Xiao Lanhua does get some “wait, do I care about him or not” romantic tension. But honestly, the best reason to read this is that Xiao Lanhua is hilarious. She’s constantly snarking at Dongfang Qingcang, but she’s pretty pathetic when she tries to do anything without his help. She starts by murdering her own body by accident, then ends up in his own body, then a slowly rotting corpse, and by the time we’re near the climax of the book she’s reduced to an angrily screaming torso. It’s absolutely amazing, I cackled.

I’m not sure how many volumes this will end up – two or three sounds about right – but I’ll definitely read the next one, which I hope, even as things get more serious and we inevitably find out Xiao Lanhua’s secret origin, that we have time for more truly goofy slapstick.