Seven Seas revealed the cover for Vol. 2 of their hardcover re-release of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s smash hit danmei novel, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi.
Seven Seas provided the following volume summary:
HAUNTED BY SIN
Following the trail of a dismembered corpse, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji arrive at the gates of Yi City: an abandoned town shrouded in mist and restless spirits. A fiendish foe awaits them in the shadows, heralding a tale of heartbreak and tragedy. When the mysterious corpse’s identity is finally revealed, the hunt for its killer plunges Wei Wuxian back into the depths of the cultivation world’s politics, where he must keep his enemies close and Lan Wangji even closer.
The five volume re-release matches the original English paperback count and chapter split, and promises foil-lettered dust jackets with exclusive art, linen-texture graining covers with foil imprints, illustrated edges, and a ribbon bookmark. The release includes the black & white interior illustrations from Grandmaster‘s paperback release by artist Marina Privalova, and the hardcovers have dust jackets, endpapers, painted edges, and foil designs provided by artist Ruthie (kkcoocool).
This volume’s dust jacket features the supporting cast from the Yi City storyline: the determined young spitfire A-Qing (front), the blind cultivator Xiao Xingchen (middle right), the stoic monk Song Lan (back right), and the perpetual menace Xue Yang (front left). The painted edges and foil imprints on the hardcover itself are themed to the Nie Clan; one of the five major leaders of the cultivation world within the series universe. Artist Ruthie indicated in a Twitter/X post that this theming would continue across all five volumes to eventually represent all five major clans.
Notably, this is the first time a Mo Xiang Tong Xiu series release from Seven Seas has not featured the main pairing on the front cover. Fans had a mixed response to this cover reveal on Twitter/X and Bluesky—although some were overjoyed that their favorite secondary cast members might get time in the spotlight with this deluxe release, others criticized the design for not featuring the main series couple Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Vol. 1 of the hardcover release featured said couple on the cover and had Lan Clan theming (see below).
It should be noted that all five paperback volumes of Seven Seas’ initial release of the series depicted the main couple on the front covers. Furthermore, this is not the first time a volume in an international release of the series has not featured Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. The Thai release by publisher Bakery Book Co. devoted three of its six volumes to supporting characters, and the hardcover French release by publisher Éditions Bookmark focused primarily on depicting scenery from the series. Example covers from these releases are shown below.
This is also not the first time a Seven Seas Danmei release has not featured the main couple on the cover. Both Vol. 5 and Vol. 9 of The Husky & His White Cat Shizun feature supporting cast members, as does the upcoming Vol. 2 of Dinghai Fusheng Records. At the time of the reveal, the artist on the Husky series received such severe harassment for including supporting characters on Vol. 5’s cover that they briefly deactivated their social media accounts. Thankfully, the fan reaction for Vol. 9’s cover was extremely positive—even garnering praise for the decision to feature members of the supporting cast.
With that being said, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are indisputably the main characters of Grandmaster and are an iconic danmei ship. One could argue that the pair launched the danmei genre itself outside of China thanks to the popularity of Grandmaster‘s live-action adaptation known as The Untamed. The hardcover release by Seven Seas can be considered a celebration of the series, which will have its tenth anniversary this year. While fans have the right to request that the main romantic pairing be given more than one featured cover of five in the hardcover release, they should remember to be respectful and civil while doing so—harassing individual creatives involved with the release is never acceptable.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Hardcover) Vol. 2‘s release is slated for November 25, 2025. Preorders are now live with select retailers:
U.S.:
Canada:
International:
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Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (魔道祖师) is a danmei novel series written by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (also known as MXTX). It began serialization on jjwxc in 2015 and ran for 113 chapters (plus 13 extra chapters). It has inspired numerous adaptations, including a donghua, a completed Chinese manhua, an ongoing Japanese manga, an audio drama (dubbed in Chinese and Japanese), a Japanese stage play, and a live-action (known as The Untamed).
DanmeiNews provides the below summary from its catalogue:
The powerful necromancer Wei Wuxian, despised across the land, awakens in a stranger’s body thirteen years after his death. He is drawn into a supernatural murder-mystery and must investigate alongside the straitlaced Lan Wangji, with whom he shares a very tangled past.
Seven Seas announced in 2021 that they had acquired the license to publish the work’s manhua adaptation, and have been steadily releasing volumes since.
Mo Xiang Tong Xiu has also written two other hit danmei series that are available in English: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (人渣反派自救系统) and Heaven Official’s Blessing (天官赐福).
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation was originally picked up for English release in 2021 by Seven Seas Entertainment, and saw staggering success on sales charts; netting multiple New York Times Best Seller placements across its run. Fans have clamored for a hardcover treatment of Grandmaster ever since Heaven Official’s Blessing‘s hardcover re-release was announced in May 2024. The original announcement for the Grandmaster hardcovers was made in April 2025, and the announcement for the hardcover edition of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System followed a month later in May; thus completing the beloved MXTX trio of series.
Source: Seven Seas Bluesky
