Hongjun grew up in the Taihang Mountains the carefree adopted child of King Chong Ming along with his friend Zhao Zilong a carp yao that failed to cultivate into a human. Hongjun assumed his life would go on like this forever until one day Chong Ming informed him that Hongjun has a mission in the Divine Realm; he must head to Chang'an to join the Department of Exorcism and defeat the Yao King who will be brought back into the world soon. Not wanting to leave but not wanting to upset his adopted father Hongjun heads off the mountain to Chang'an where he will be joined by four other men to stop that yao threatening Chang'an. Unfortunately for them it appears that there were far more yao in Chang'an than they had ever imagined and they seem to be right next to the Emperor's side.
Hongjun must be protected at all costs. That's it, that's review.
Kidding, obviously but omg he was so absolutely adorably naive throughout the book that the thought of him getting hurt is not okay. The rest of the characters were amazing as well Li Jingloomg especially but Hongjun was simply too freaking cute!
The pacing, world building, and everything else here was excellent as well but what I really *loved* about this is that unlike my other favorite danmeis Legend of Exorcism doesn't focus on the horrible things one of the MCs did (in a past life or otherwise) so we have a straight forward battle between the exorcists and the yao. It was incredibly nice to not have a ton of trauma dumping! Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with trauma dumping, it's just nice that wasn't the focus in this one. This unfortunately will probably change later on when everyone finds out about Hongjun's secret but for the moment it was genuinely just a fun adventure that reminded me of Saiyuki Reload.
Also, I have to mention Zhao Zilong, he is a tiny version of the fish guys on Slayers, and I *loved* that!
Highly recommend this one it would be a great place to start if you've never read a danmei and for those that have a refreshingly upbeat change from some of the emotionally heavier series!
And yeah I did totally purposefully use the cover of the special edition on purpose because if you can I highly recommend grabbing it!
Legends of Exorcism Vol 2.
After solving the fox case The Department of Exorcism sees their fortunes changed and Li Jinglong becomes a favorite of the Emperor. Unfortunately, this also means that the Court of Judicial Review starts dumping seemingly unsolvable cases in their laps. At first it seems like all of the cases are just politically tricky to prosecute and Li Jinglong insists that they be sent back to the Judicial Review. Hongjun, however, stumbles upon a murder case that won't leave him alone and Li Jinglong finally gives in and allows Hongjun to investigate. At first this leads to nothing but within hours of Hongjun leaving the murder victims son, Qin Wu, brutally slaughters the man suspected of killing his father. Women, children, the elderly, everyone. Thats when the men of The Department of Exorcism start noticing a pattern of brutal murders being carried out across Chang'an all of them pointing to being the mastermind of the Yao King. Determined to finally take the king down the men hatch a plan, not knowing that they are walking right into the King's hands.
How is Li Jinglong actually more adorable than Hongjun in this volume!? Omg his dedication to Hongjun is simply precious and after reading A Thousand Autumns and Remnants of Filth mostly over the past few months its so nice to see a relationship that's beautiful from the start. Don't get me wrong I *love* those two series, it's just refreshing.
I also love that their relationship isn't front and center and I believe that having this revolve around all of the characters that make up the Department of Exorcism helps this. It's not just about these two characters but the friendship the five of them form both with the Department and without. And just a tiny spoiler with no context Lu Xu is amazing and I hope we see him in many more volumes!
The guys have to tackle not one but two big bads in this one and they are stretched to their very limits both physically and mentally in both battles. The battle scenes in this volume are exceptional with the fight with the Yao King being my favorite. We also find out that Chong Ming and Qing Xiong know far more than they are letting on which adds to the overall mystery of the reemergence of Yao in the Tang.
I cannot wait to read volume three!!
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