Shrouding the Heavens — Chen Dong's novel
At a glanceover 1,800 chapters · completed
Shrouding the Heavens adapts Zhe Tian (遮天), Chen Dong's (辰东) novel serialized on Qidian from 14 October 2010 to 21 May 2013. It all starts with a famous image: a space probe discovers, in the icy void of space, nine giant dragon corpses pulling a bronze coffin. Soon after, the coffin carries Ye Fan and his old university classmates, reunited on the summit of Mount Tai, to a world where people cultivate immortality.
Origins and publication
Zhe Tian is Chen Dong's most famous novel. It blends science fiction and xianxia: present-day students are thrown into a universe ruled by sects, holy lands and the legends of the Great Emperors. Ye Fan has a Holy Physique (圣体), a legendary constitution considered cursed because it is almost impossible to advance, and must force his way where others are born with every advantage.
The novel, which runs to over 1,800 chapters, was published in 18 volumes by Taibai Wenyi from 2012. Chen Dong then wrote Perfect World, set in the past of the same universe, followed by Sacred Ruins.
How it differs from the donghua
Xingyue Chenshi's donghua, launched in May 2023, faithfully reproduces the spectacular coffin opening and the early arcs. It does, however, greatly tighten Ye Fan's beginnings and the fate of his classmates, which the novel develops further. The book also spends more time on the mythology of the Great Emperors and the links to past eras, which the animation summarises. Finally, the novel's tone is more nostalgic, with a Ye Fan who long keeps the wish to return to Earth.
Reception and success
Zhe Tian is considered one of the peaks of xuanhuan, and many readers rank it above all of Chen Dong's other works. Its nine-dragon coffin opening is one of the most discussed in Chinese online fiction. Tencent's donghua revived interest in the novel more than ten years after it ended.
Trivia
- The title Zhe Tian means "veiling the sky", after a phrase in the novel: "with a flick of the finger, veil the heavens".
- The heroes are gathered on the summit of Mount Tai, the sacred mountain of Shandong province, when the coffin carries them away.
- Ye Fan's Holy Physique is a major device: it makes him both immensely strong and very hard to advance.
- Perfect World, written after Zhe Tian, tells of a far older era of the same universe.
My take
Zhe Tian has one of the best openings I have read, and it keeps its promise over the long run: a vast world, an endearing hero and a mythology revealed layer by layer. You have to accept some drag, interchangeable rivals and a few shortcuts. But the final part, with its revelations about the Great Emperors, is unforgettable.
Who is it for?Readers who love large-scale mysteries, science fiction mixed with fantasy and shared universes.
— Spidermas, for Donghua Fan
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The authorChen Dong 辰东Qidian's "god of plot holes"