Gods and Demons

Gods and Demons is a long novel of otherworldly conquest by the web author Xuehong, written after his works The Song of Evil Wind, The Path to Ascending Dragons, and Dragons at War Under the Stars. First serialized on Qidian Chinese Network, the main text runs to eighty-two chapters, roughly 590,000 characters, and was published in print by Shantou University Press in 2006. The book opens in a "it is said" tone, recounting how the creator god made the world and how the gods and humankind came into being, setting the underlying tone for the entire novel: gods contending for territory and all living beings dragged into the struggle. The main story unfolds on an invented continent made up of the Fant Empire, the Land of the Condemned, and the "Divine City." The Fant Empire appears stable on the surface, yet its ally the Smart Empire secretly plots with other nations to break faith and attack; valiant Bist knights press the border alongside mages versed in light and dark magic, leaving the Fant Empire—long intoxicated by its reputation as the continent's supreme military power—suddenly in peril. Lei, a country youth, is conscripted into the army; relying on inborn strength and fortunate opportunities, he cultivates powerful inner energy, rises from raw recruit through military merit, and gradually becomes a core figure in the empire's military. In the hour of crisis, Emperor Shagru resorts to the desperate gamble of deploying the Divine City's garrison, the Knights of Glory. With the fall of the Divine City, the return of the Condemned alongside the dragon race, and the shifting alliances of nations unfolding in succession, the war expands from a clash between two countries into a contest for the entire continent. The novel's spiritual thread is "Who can judge good and evil? Let each speak of right and wrong," and through the threefold realm of "mountains are mountains, waters are waters… mountains are still mountains, waters are still waters," it portrays characters struggling in a chaotic age simply to survive—and to live as they wish—interweaving intrigue, bloody battles, and the search for good and evil, right and wrong. It is regarded as a representative work in which Xuehong's style matures toward greater steadiness.