Seven Seas recently revealed their plans for a hardcover release of the smash hit danmei novel Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu by best-selling author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX).
The release is slated to come with many deluxe features, such as clothbound covers with gold foil embellishment, painted edges, and dust jackets; all with art exclusively commissioned for the new edition. Seven Seas has not yet announced plans to release hardcovers for any of its other danmei series (including its other MXTX licenses, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System), so they may be waiting to see how sales proceed for Heaven Official’s Blessing‘s hardcovers.
Fans have been clamoring for hardcovers of this beloved series in the comments of Seven Seas’ social media for years, so the news was celebrated by many. However, some fans were displeased by this announcement and accused Seven Seas of “trying to re-sell them the series” after they’d already bought all eight volumes of the original paperback release. Purchasing the whole series in paperback at $19.99 USD per volume would cost one a cool $160 USD, plus tax and shipping, so it’s an unfortunate reality that some fans who would’ve preferred hardcovers will be unable to buy them after exhausting their funds (and shelf space) on the paperbacks.
After Seven Seas further clarified that this would be a re-release of the same content present in the existing paperbacks, other fans felt dissatisfied that Seven Seas was not taking the opportunity to release MXTX’s Revised Edition of Heaven Official’s Blessing; which contains a significant amount of new material and remains exclusive to Mainland China after being published there in January 2023. Fans have also been asking for the Revised Edition in Seven Seas’ social media comments since its Chinese release, so one can empathize with the disappointment of not being able to experience the new material in a beautiful official English edition.
The Revised Edition of Heaven Official’s Blessing that was released in Mainland China in early 2023 is heavily censored to remove all romance and physical intimacy between the two leads (Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, also known by their ship name, “hualian”). It is also shorter than the original story; coming in at half the length of the original Pinsin Taiwanese release—three (3) volumes total, compared to Pinsin’s six (6). In early 2024, MXTX uploaded a version of the Revised Edition to webnovel host jjwxc that is less censored, but retains significant changes to story arcs. The heavy reworks to the Revised Edition would inevitably result in a completely different story experience for readers, and Seven Seas announced hardcovers in response to the original story’s unprecedented success and reception in the west. The possibility remains open that a Heaven Official’s Blessing Revised Edition release could come from Seven Seas at a future time, but it seems that time is not now.
The release is slated for October 2024, and preorders are open now.
Heaven Official’s Blessing, also known as Tian Guan Ci Fu/天官赐福 or TGCF, is a megahit danmei series written by best-selling author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX). It has spawned numerous adaptations since its finale on webnovel site jjwxc in 2018, including a donghua, a manhua, an unreleased live-action, and an ongoing audio drama.
DanmeiNews summarizes the series in its catalogue as such:
Xie Lian is an impoverished god tasked by the heavens to investigate supernatural occurrences in the mortal world. During his missions, he makes the acquaintance of the powerful Ghost King Hua Cheng. He finds himself drawn to the dangerously charming man, who seems to know Xie Lian very, very well indeed.
Source: Seven Seas Twitter/X
Last edited: 3/3/2025
