Jiang Wu didn’t die without leaving something nasty behind though.(In the novel, Jiang Wu is pretty powerful but he was so no match against our hero especially when he is angry.) Jiang Wu was eventually killed by our hero who was furious because he almost arrived too late to save our heroine…again. Zhao Yao herself had no problem doing everything she can to kill Jiang Wu especially after he kills her guards right in front of her. As Qin Qian Xian’s inner demon born because of his heart being shaken by Zhao Yao, Jiang Wu obviously treats our heroine differently but it was nowhere near “true love” sort of emotion.

In the novel, there was no romantic triangle between Jiang Wu and our two leads. Jiang Wu is actually the bigger villain compared to Luo Ming Xuan in the sense he was much harder to kill.His wife died at that same time as well so that whole big mess of how Luo Ming Xuan wreaked havoc during the last 1/3 of the show never happened in the novel. In the novel, Luo Ming Xuan only had time to wake up for a few moments before he was promptly put back into his never ending sleep by our heroine. The whole thing about how Luo Ming Xuan’s wife tries to bring him back to life was briefly explained in the novel as a backstory for why Qin Zhi Yan ended up meeting our heroine. Luo Ming Xuan’s (the villain) part in the novel was REALLY small compares to how much story time he took in the show.I don’t seem to remember A Da (hero’s loyal right-hand man) being a character in the novel so no tragic death there.A spirit herself, Zhao Yao could see Si Ma Rong’s dead lover (and even talked to her when Si Ma Rong was kidnapped) but our heroine didn’t have the heart to tell Si Ma Rong the truth but instead just told him to make sure he always stay at the same house (the girl’s spirit couldn’t leave the house). Si Ma Rong did have a wooden maid in the appearance of his dead lover in the novel but the wooden maid never developed self-awareness as in the drama. His tragic love story is as explained in the drama but the thing the show left out is that his dead lover’s spirit is still in his house, stuck on the single thought that she has to protect him. As for Si Ma Rong (the guy in the wheelchair), his story is a bit simpler but perhaps no less sad in the novel.By the end of the novel, Qian Jin hasn’t quite recovered her memory yet but she has already decided to give up her fighting energy in order to get her memory back. Unlike the drama, the novel hinted a happy ending for the doc (so nope, he doesn’t die in the book) and his lady. His love story is the same as in the drama but the price of saving Qian Jin (the girl he loves) is that his body aged backward until he has the appearance of a kid. The doctor is actually a kid in the novel.

Due to his loyalty to Zhao Yao, Lin Zi Yu would join the “rebellion” against our hero but all that would go away once they figure out their beloved dead leader is not so dead after all. In fact, one of the people Zhao Yao would meet in the “spirit place” would be Lin Yi Zu’s dead brother. As Lin Zi Yu explained in the drama, Lin Zi Yu and his brother were rescued by our heroine when they were young so both brothers are very loyal to her. Like in the drama, our hero had some trouble with those who were still really loyal to our heroine but since he actually liked the fact that they are loyal to Zhao Yao he is extra lenient towards them (For example, if memory serves me right, the old guy that plotted rebellion didn’t die in the novel).

The captain of the guard, Lin Zi Yu is actually a guy in the novel so of course the whole harboring a secret crush on our hero never happened.

So that also meant other than our hero, no one questioned our heroine’s identity. Instead, our heroine’s spirit could take over Zhi Yan’s body during the night but would get kicked out automatically during the day.

Zhao Yao (our heroine) was in spirit form for about 2/3 of the book so that meant she wasn’t a “twin” with the female second lead, Qin Zhi Yan.

Soooo…this is not going to be a true novel vs drama comparison since the drama got so draggy that I pretty much fast forwarded and/or skipped a couple of episodes at a time but it should still give you guys a general sense of the differences between the novel and the drama.

The legends chinese drama recap