Positive:

• • The story is really good, plot-wise it's quite unique at its own way and definitely worth giving a try.
  • There are really some unexpected stuff coming out that really had me surprised!
  • Very different from the usual troupe MC and ML - I didn't expect the MC to be the ML and the ML to be the ML! I had to reread the description lol
  • MC and ML's relationship too is just so touching!

Negative:

• • Basically, the story revolves around MC's past and how the wheels are turning behind the scene into a big event.

• • The story started out real strong (Note that the 1st person to appear isn't the MC) and there are really a lot of secret behind MC's past just that, I felt that it was so suspense reading all the hints and everything but then when everything was revealed, it was somehow anticlimactic.

• • There was too much going on that I had a hard time grasping everything as everything's happening too fast I couldn't make out the characters feelings anymore especially when
    Spoiler

    the MC and ML's past is revealed.

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Overall:

• • It's a good read just be prepared to be confused at times. Maybe it was confusing for me cause there were a lot of mythological aspects to this novel and since the events are fast-paced, it was a bit lot to take in.

Another really good one by Priest.

Likes:

• Detective/case-fic style with a lot of very interesting supernatural lore and cultural lore
• Great team/office banter with memorable side-characters
• OP MC and ML (flirty!extravert!police-chief!MC x shy!professor!secretive!ML)
• Very smart MC (you won't get a lot of moments where the reader knows all and the MC is kept in the dark, rather he catches on quick!)
• Unexpected moments that break cliches commonly found in other novels
  • Eg. the love rival who isn't villainized and irredeemable
  • Eg. the first characters introduced are not the MC / ML
• An epic urban-fantasy where the decisions made by the main team will save the world
  • Includes tomb-diving, secret-identities, reincarnation cycles, gods, demons, and more
• Really great translation, flowed well and felt localized (up til ch82 where it changes)

For those of you who wanted the newbie to have... more>> a pairing...

Spoiler

there pretty much will be one! Don't worry \o/

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Unfortunately, it's pretty sad that the original translator never finished the novel. While the efforts made by the other translators to finish were appreciated, there was a huge lack of consistency in translated terms (even basics such as "Guardian" and the special investigations unit), and a hella lot more footnotes that repeatedly broke up the flow of the story.

Near the end, I was hugely tempted to just finish reading it in the raws, in Chinese, in order to actually enjoy the story instead of reading an encyclopedia or archaeology paper. <<less

The first 2-3/4 of the novel are great, but the last arc suffers from a bad case of poor exposition dump. It throws far too much information at you far too quickly for it to have any impact.

I suspect it may be stomach-able by someone already familiar with chinese mythology, but if you know close to nothing, even when you're more or less comprehending the course of events, it more often than not rings hollow. This is also true for characters and motivations beyond the MC, ML, and a few... more>> members of the SIU. Everything gets increasingly muddled between the buddhism references and attempts at being mysterious to the point it all starts to read like gibberish or a list of events that are happening instead of the interconnected, epic character drama and dive into mysticism it tries to be. It's rather disappointing considering the careful structure of the first two and a half arcs.

That said, the novel is still pretty good for what it is. If you're willing to devote the brain power to trucking through the long expositions dumps, it's worth looking at. <<less

Sorry but im dropping this after reading up to 7 chapters.

I have mixed feelings about novel. The first half of novel was great and then the latter half went up in flames. The latter half felt like they were pulling random hat tricks to make it a happy ending.

I was honestly hoping the story would tie up all the arcs together but it felt like insignificant events in the end.

The side characters who were greatly built ends up becoming dumb plot devices to achieve a forceful HE with large plot holes.

I’m giving this a 2.5. 2.5 because I really enjoyed... more>> the first half. The second half really ruined my experience. <<less

Honestly this was my first BL and I came across this after watching drama adaption. I fell in love with characters, chemistry and story. I began finding novel itself. My reading experience was better because I was imagining actor themselves and it helped me a lot to engage in story.

Guardian (Zhen Hun) is a good story. This is slow paced and included some daily humours. It also explains few Chinese myths (which I'm good with it). Priest is one of my fave author. She can build character and environment well... more>> so we, as the reader, can engage better with the environment.

Supporting characters are good and well written. I pretty much like Da Qing as companionship. It may be not super smooth, but you have to try.

This is HE. <<less

Love that transcends realm and time.

TThats my verdict out of the whole novel. I watched the drama first before the novel so I was 'wow' - ing everytime because drama didn't quite follow the novel (but still good bec Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu😉😉).

Novel is funny, serious and sweet. I love every part of it and sometimes just wishing it wouldn't end. There were some parts that were confusing, which is which who is who bec its a mix of mythology and priest's own version.

... more>> But still good.

ML is a ghost, a god, a slayer that followed MC every in his every lifetime. Literally, from the day he was first created as a mortal and the current settings of the novel. For MC, he will gladly do anything.

MC is unapologetically gay mess for him. For ML, he can sacrifice his mortal life, and love him as a whole no matter if he wasn't a human.

In short a love that is bittersweet, full of longing and yearning, sadness and joy.

6/5 drama and novel. <<less

I really enjoyed this novel. The premise was really interesting plus the interactions with the main leads were engaging. The comedic moments in the novel were also a plus.

sorry, but I didn't like this very much. The plot and all the descriptions of gods, spirits and their relationships are incredibly boring. The plot didn't catch my interest at all, and although I was reading solely for the sake of romance, which is totally my cup of tea, it's not that well-developed, and so, I inevitably found myself disappointed in this danmei. It's simply not to my liking, even though I've heard many great things about it, I don't really agree with them and will not be reading further.

First off, like most people here it seems, I did watch the drama first and I want to say that you should not go into this expecting the same kind of thing as the drama. They’re very different, and I liked that but I know some people might not.

The characters are all hilarious and the worldbuilding is really fantastic as always from Priest. I do think it can be kind of confusing, but as long as you’re patient and reread any lines that are too dense a couple of times,... more>> it’s not incomprehensible. Love the main cp, and I definitely think Priest knows how to write cats. <<less

Ahh what can I say? I never expected that the first person's point of view would be the side character's, got me confused as fudge that I had to repeatedly read the summary and skip a few chapters and read it again from the beginning. Aside from that, I just so love this novel. I was expecting a very eXPlicIT smut scene based on the intensity of the characters and the overall atmosphere of the novel... but sadly... no smut *crying in h**ny lost*. The side characters are fun and... more>> solid, the plot is great just the half end was a little... messy, perhaps? the side CP - are there no more extras about them? like a confession or a clear definition of their relationship? - is very cute. The main CP made me squeal like a pig. I was like: "Yeah Zhao Yunlan eat Shen Wei! bite him! mark him up! c'mon c'mon!!". Yeah like that.

Kudos to the Author, ah so great. Job well done to our Translation group. A must read for my fellow fujoshis. 5 stars.

PS; I watched the drama after reading this novel, it got no happy ending, so sad, I skipped a few episodes there, I couldn't take the pressure, I dunno why but I got impatient. But I did not even skip even a few sentences in the novel, hooh wonder why. <<less

Okay, this novel is great. It has many issues, but it is an amazing novel none the less. I do agree with most other reviews that this novel has a lot of problems with it, but the reading experience is quite enjoyable. The more technical things for this novel aren't done very well, but the story is very good and had a lot of potential. The actual story is very good. I can see what the author, Priest, was going for. The characters are really funny and the interactions between... more>> characters is great. The story is a good balance between serious and silly. I really like the dynamic of our MC, Zhao Yunlan, and our ML, Shen Wei. The MC is absolutely hilarious and I love him. He is really intelligent, but acts s*upid: one of my favorite character traits. He's powerful and funny. He can be serious when he has to be, but he just does what he wants. I find his own self delusions of one day topping Shen Wei quite funny. One thing you don't often see in BL novels is the shou actively trying to top the gong.... and failing. I didn't particularly like Shen Wei, as others have said, he isn't too memorable. I mean he's cool, but Priest could have done so much more with him. He has a very good foundation for a very cool character, but he is more forgetful. I mean at least Priest was quite consistent with the other characters and I actually remembered who they were (I'm really bad with names). There is a good balance between the screen time of the main characters and side characters. I like the way they treat each other, it is realistic. I like how Zhao Yunlan does actually get mad a Shen Wei, although it would be nicer if the anger was drawn out and slapped Shen Wei in the face more, because he kinda deserves it.

Addressing the convoluted plot. Yes. It barely makes sense. But in my opinion, Priest just needed to write a longer ending or like extend the last half of the book to actually go into more detail of what was happening. I get the whole thing about how some things that Zhao Yunlan found about his past was a lie. That makes sense. I just wished the author didn't just do the turn around of fake past to real past within the span of like 10 chapters (not even). If there had been more, I feel like everything could have been explained better. The ending was also very abrupt, I guess. The ending climax was very confusing and didn't really make much sense. It really could have been drawn out in order to make everything make more sense. It felt a little rushed. Also I think others have mentioned, but it is very hard to visualize scenes. I don't know if this is a translation issue, but there wasn't much scene description and somethings about scenes didn't really make sense. Again, most could simply be fixed with some extra paragraphs. Also scenes in general felt too short. There wasn't enough always to figure out what was happening. I do really love this story, it just has a lot of rough patches. I have read other of Priest's works, and I'm not trying to compare them. I think that what this novel really needs is to be lengthened a bit, to have room to better explain what is happening.

BUT, what makes me give this novel a 5/5 is that I really love the story. The story is simply amazing. I love all the struggles, I love the reveals! It is a really interesting story. It is mostly just very entertaining. I like the whole ghost thing and the Gods and the Special Investigation Department/Unit (depends on the translation) was a really cool concept. I like this kind of convoluted all about the past and beating scary bad guys story. I mean I didn't really understand how the bad guy was defeated, but I liked him. uhhh I also though all the cool artifact things were interesting and I really liked the MC's backstory, even though it was very annoying to figure out what was happening.

All in all, the novel is actually great, it just suffers from technical issues. I would recommend the novel to anyone who wants to read an interesting story, you just kinda have to deal with the weird plot and just accept it. I mean the plot isn't too hard to figure out and the extras kind of address it, but it's still hard to get completely. It is still a great novel with an amazing MC, he's like 99% of the reason to read this novel, I love him. <<less

4.6 for me

I have been wanting to read it for a long time and finally did it.

I really loved all the elements of the story. It's very different but still pretty good. MC and ML kind of remind me of GDC's MC and ML, I mean both MC is such a Flirt, good with their words and always teasing ML and both ML is like a Shy and discipline person but really Wild at bed..... you know what I mean (͡° ͜･･ ͡°) and they also waited for their... more>> loved one for a long time. I love it. Love this couple

Spoiler

(thank god I read review before and found out who exactly is Shou and Gong)

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I also Love the all other characters (by the way my favorite is fat cat).

Although I really love the story. It really is confusing. Especially the MC and ML past.

Spoiler

As Most of the MC past shown were actually fake and the real past is revealed by the ML itself but then it's only the later half. What about the detail on the first half? I still want to know MC and ML first meeting and MC making of Soul Lamp in detail. Was the memory shown in detail by the tree really all false? I even cried in there.

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Sadly, I also can't imaging some of the scene (don't know if it because of author lack of description or translater lack of proper translation or lack of my imagination) and there are some of the chapters which are swap up with each other like ML meeting to MC parents chapter (i hope translator can arranged it back).

Finally, if it weren't for extra I would have been really depressed with unsatisfied ending but well, I am still little bit sad for not getting more on Chu and Guo. Does Guo too like Chu? Damn, I need a separate story for them. <<less

Okay so first of all, Priest I love you and your works. This novel is really interesting and the level of detail and the immensity of the mythological world and tales are really freaking incredible, the characters are all loveable and they all contribute to the plot in a very nice way, the relationship between the two main characters is very mature and sweet, I haven't finished the novel yet but I'm sure it won't disappoint, the only problem I had was actually the same thing I liked the most... more>> XD hear me out, the world is really huge and very detailed which in itself is freaking awesome and I love it, but for those who don't know much about myths and legends all of these tales, stories can become really confusing. The first time I read the novel I dropped it, I read a book or two about myths then continued and yet I still couldn't understand much XD, I love you but please have mercy. The second thing that bothers me always with your novels is that I can never imagine what the locations and the things that you are describing look like. This happened with Sha Po Lang too. I couldn't imagine the armory, the weapons the kite, nothing. The first complaint isn't that important but this one, needs abit corrections on your part because I can't imagine the scenes and it's frustrating XD, you could always illustrate the things you want us to see, not everything can be said and describe in words, I want to know how you imagined them, what they actually look like, because you have a beautiful mind and I'm honoured to have been given the chance to read your novels and to get a gimplse of what goes in there <3 <<less

Disappointing.

I had high expectations after finishing Sha Po Lang also written by Priest (and imo one of the holy trinity for danmei) but Guardian just fell flat: story and characters never caught my interest, and I thought about dropping the novel by chapter 20 before finally doing so at chapter 36. And in reading the other reviews, it sounds like the novel just goes downhill after chapter 50.

MC is funny/witty enough at first. But the repeat put downs on a secondary character was off-putting from the get go and didn't... more>> get any better. If it was supposed to be comedic relief, it wasn't funny and instead just felt mean.

Also, this is the first time I've had to comment on the translation aspect. The lack of capitalization at the beginning of speech was annoying, and some of the sentences felt incomplete so that I wonder if the translator oversimplified them. Surely, the quality of Priest's writing between Sha Po Lang and Guardian can't be that extreme. <<less

It is a long read and filled with world building and fantasy, so be warned if that is not your thing. The story happens predominantly in modern times but a lot of the time it reverts to some ancient storytelling and almost fables and legends. Honestly, it is well thought through and intricate, lending a lot for imagination of modern day mystery fantasy. Throughout, the story does not take itself overly seriously, so (subtle) jokes are a relatively frequent occurrence as are swearwords. The translation at this point, up until... more>> the few last chapters when it was switched is pretty good, only at the end you get a translator with less of a feeling or English.

The MC and the ML have depth. MC is a relaxed type, who does what he pleases but is reliable and caring when it matters, not getting bogged down on details. He is very clever but not OP. The ML is a quirky contrast, a man with a very keen sense of propriety and overall a very serious guy, quite the opposite to the MC in that sense. Together they fit wonderfully, lending so much to teasing.

The team of the SIU are a fun, down to earth bunch, who respect their boss but express this respect in a manner that seamlessly mingles with the general outlook of the MC himself, I really liked this team too.

The pacing of the story was eventually a little cumbersome to me (but really, that happened at like chapter 90 or so) but I was never going to not finish this story, the characters all lend themselves easily to the reader as objects of care and affection. Overall a refreshing story with extensive references to Chinese mythology/ origin of the world and human kind stories. <<less

I had high hopes for this one. The plot looked like it'd be interesting and when I started reading it I loved the characters. But the POV of it is really weird. I couldn't figure out who was the MC and when I finally thought I had it, the POV switched and I was confused all over again. It wouldn't be so bad if that was all but the characters all have secret pasts that im sure will be shown later and be awesome, but right now they just make... more>> it feel wrong. <<less

The set up is fun, and I really like Zhao Yulan at first but the further I read the more I felt like he was kind of a flat character, especially later when all the big reveals start to happen and he just... doesn't really react to anything. Shen Wei is probably the most complex character of the cast and I thought he was interesting but still wanted more, and he wasn't enough to carry the novel on his own. The side characters were all really underwhelming, they felt really... more>> flat and I had a hard time caring about them.

I really struggled to get to through the novel, the plot is all over the place and there's a series of 'truths' uncovered that are increasingly disjointed, left me feeling confused but also just... completely apathetic.

Even though I only have 5 chapters to finish the novel I haven't been able to motivate myself to read the rest of it.

Overall reading Guardian kind of felt like reading a rough cut or like someone's rough notes of a story and characters. The building blocks are all there but everything feels underdeveloped and rushed. Wouldn't recommend. <<less

This was really fun and impressive in the beginning.

I read it after watching the drama.

The characters are better potrayed here as compared to the drama. Also the drama has more cases and a faster pace as compared to the novel.

... more>> But the relationship between Zhao YunLan and Shen Wei is obviously potrayed better and in depth here.

I find Zhao Yunlan's character much better and fleshed out in the novel. His persistence in persuing Shen Wei without crossing any limits and how he took care to SIU members impressed me.

But the last arc about the lamp where the past came into play was bit underwhelming for me.

There were so many events just mentioned repeatedly some of which had nothing to do with the plot making it really tedious to continue. Then you find out that was not the whole truth and you get this plot dump again when it begins to become difficult to keep a track of things. <<less

Recommended? Of course, if you love eternal romance, loyalty, shamelessness, and light fantasy horror, then yes!

Some people may judge this story by its semi-crappy drama or by the poor English translation, but those things should not be taken into account when rating the story itself. Therefore, if you are someone who gets turned off by a novel because of its poor translation and bad English, please understand that the translators did only their best and most, if not all, of them are doing this for free. Please don't rate that... more>> against the novel. Same goes towards crappy adaptations, such as the drama.

With that said, I'd definitely recommend this novel! If everyone knew Chinese and read this novel in its original format, then this is a very good novel. There are holes, most definitely, but overall it is very good. It details themes such as love, lost, loneliness, desire, betrayal, friendship, rivalry, family, having a place (and people) to call home... honestly, it's super good.

Do give it a try... and while you're reading, imagine Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong's faces acting out the MLs, kekeke. <<less