The Best New Donghua of 2026? A Deep Dive Into ‘Daogui Yixian: Huo Wang’

The cult xianxia horror novel “Dao Gui Yi Xian” (道诡异仙, 火旺) is leaping to screens with its 2026 donghua “Huo Wang,” produced by D-Rock Animation for Tencent Video. Blending Eastern cultivation with Cthulhu-esque terror, it follows Li Huowang’s descent into madness across dual worlds. With a fresh PV from August 2024 stirring hype, this could be the breakout donghua redefining weird fiction for global viewers.

Production Details

D-Rock Animation will handle the 3D visuals for “Huo Wang,” with Tencent Video as the main producer, as announced at the 2024 Tencent Video Animation Festival. Directed by a team tied to Idle Time Culture (co-founded by Tian Li, known for “He Shen” and “Xiao Qi Qing Rang”), it’s set for a 2026 premiere. Episode count and runtime are unconfirmed, but expect around 12-24 episodes at 20-30 minutes each, typical for Tencent donghua. A new PV dropped in August 2024, showcasing eerie visuals and mind-bending scenes. This follows a manhua adaptation launched in November 2024 on Tencent Comics, and a VR experience in 2025 at Singapore’s Universal Studios.

Author & Source Material

Fox Tail’s Pen (狐尾的笔) is a rising star in Chinese web novels, blending xianxia with horror. “Dao Gui Yi Xian” (道诡异仙), his breakout work, serialized from November 2021 to May 2023 on Qidian, spans over 1,000 chapters and 2.2 million words in the weird fiction/xianxia genre. It explores themes of mental illness, dual realities, and philosophical despair through a Cthulhu-inspired lens, earning accolades such as the 2024 Yuwen IP Award for Most Anticipated Adaptation and a spot on China’s Network Literature Influence List.

Adaptation Analysis

The donghua stays close to the novel’s dual-world setup, as seen in the PV’s hallucinatory shifts between hospital sterility and Da Nuo’s grotesque horrors—retaining Li Huowang’s unreliable narration and cult encounters. However, condensing 1,000+ chapters into episodes likely streamlines side plots, like detailed cult rituals or minor character arcs (e.g., Bai Lingmiao’s evolution), for tighter pacing. Visuals amp up the horror with 3D eldritch designs, potentially softening the novel’s introspective madness for broader appeal. Character tweaks emphasize Li’s paranoia earlier, aiming for visual impact over text’s subtlety—choices driven by donghua’s need for dynamic animation, balancing fidelity with viewer retention.

Thematic & Stylistic Analysis

Motifs of illusion versus reality dominate, with worldbuilding layering a modern psych ward over Da Nuo’s chaotic cults and entities. The 3D style enhances grotesque visuals—like twisted gods and sanity-eroding effects—creating an immersive, unsettling aesthetic. Soundtrack hints at dissonant tones for horror and ethereal music for cultivation scenes, serving the story by heightening dread. These elements amplify the novel’s philosophical core, making abstract madness tangible, though early PV feedback suggests a shift toward spectacle over subtle terror.

Deeper into the Madness: Key Characters Fans Need to See

The success of the adaptations will hinge on portraying the novel’s deeply complex characters.

• Bai Lingmiao (白灵淼): The main female lead and Li Huowang’s wife in the Da Nuo world. She is no simple love interest. Her journey takes her from a “medicine guide” (药引) to the Saintess of the White Lotus Cult (白莲教圣女), and she eventually merges with the goddess Wusheng Laomu (无生老母). Her relationship with Li Huowang is fraught with tragedy, particularly after the “fire burning the Bai family” incident.
• Li Sui (李岁) / Xuanpin (玄牝): A character so beloved she is practically the novel’s mascot. She starts as a Black Taisui (黑太岁), a terrifying, grotesque creature that Li Huowang ingests to suppress his hallucinations. She gains sentience, calls him “Dad,” and learns from him. Her own tragic story involves time travel and merging with other beings to become the entity Xuanpin, marking one of the story’s most heartbreaking arcs.
• Zhuge Yuan (诸葛渊): A crucial supporting character, a “heart-friend” (心蟠) of the deity Sanqing (三清). He dies but continues to guide Li Huowang as one of his hallucinations, further compounding the story’s themes of reality and madness. (Dead scholar who lives in Li’s head. Only sane voice.)
• Dan Yangzi: Evil mentor. Three heads, zero chill.

Li Huowang, the tormented heart-eater protagonist, evolves from confused patient to reality-bending cultivator, retaining his novel traits of paranoia and moral ambiguity. Supporting roles include Bai Lingmiao (devoted ally with her own darkness), Yang Na (hospital counterpart adding emotional layers), and antagonists like Dan Yangzi (twisted mentor). No voice cast announced yet, but expect standout performances for Li’s unhinged breakdowns, drawing from Black Rock’s veteran pool.

LI HUOWANG – The Hero Who Cultivates Pain

Core Identity: Heart-Turmoil Cultivator (心素)

A rare body that turns pain into power and blurs reality.

Signature Powers (All PV-Confirmed)

Mental State Timeline

He’s not a chosen hero. He’s a walking panic attack with a sword.

THE POWER CEILING – Season Calamity & The Three Pure Ones

Season Calamity (季灾) – The Final Boss

• Controls all 5 Heavenly Daos (Birth, Decay, Oblivion, Chaos, Order).
• Can erase a person from every timeline simultaneously.
• Speaks in Li Huowang’s own voice — because it IS his future self.
• Goal: Merge with Li to restart the universe with itself as the only god.

Runner-Up: Three Pure Ones (三清)

• Fragments of the creator god are trapped in White Jade Capital.
• Taught Li the Slay Dragon Immortal Execution — a technique that can kill a Heavenly Dao… if the user doesn’t go insane first.
• PV Tease: A golden eye in the sky watching Li’s every move.

The Core Premise: The Two Realities

The story centers on Li Huowang (李火旺), a man suffering from a severe mental illness. His consciousness is split between two distinct realities, and he is unable to definitively tell which one is real.

1. The Modern World: He is a patient in a psychiatric hospital (the “White Pagoda Hospital”). His reality here is defined by doctors, nurses, medication, and fellow patients. His supportive girlfriend, Yang Na (杨娜), visits him.
2. The Da Nuo World: He is in a grotesque and terrifying ancient world that blends Chinese folklore with cosmic horror. This world is ruled by “Siming” (司命) — god-like, Lovecraftian deities — and is plagued by “Xiesui” (邪祟), or evil spirits.

The core tension of the novel is Li Huowang’s “cognitive tear” (认知撕裂). He discovers he can take items from one world to the other (e.g., a piece of candy from the hospital appears in the Da Nuo world), which only deepens his confusion and madness.

Volume 1: The Cultivator and the First Kill

In the Da Nuo world, Li Huowang and others, including Bai Lingmiao (白灵淼), are “Yaoyin” (药引) — living ingredients for an evil cultivator named Danyangzi (丹阳子). To “cure” Li Huowang’s madness, Danyangzi forces him to eat a “Heitaishui” (黑太岁), a living, Cthulhu-like creature, which traps Li Huowang in the Da Nuo world.

Li Huowang plots his revenge. He finds Danyangzi’s “celestial book,” which is actually a fraud created by a “Huaping Guniang” (Vase Girl). Li Huowang fabricates a new, false “ascension” manual and tricks the illiterate Danyangzi into following it. This causes Danyangzi to mutate into a monster and “die”.

Li Huowang and the survivors (including Bai Lingmiao, Gao Zhijian, and the Lu family) flee. They encounter the lecherous and disturbing Zhengde Temple (正德寺) and the “Tiaodashen” (Leaping God) shaman Li Zhi. Seeking help to remove the remnants of Danyangzi, Li Huowang goes to the An’ci Nunnery (安慈庵).

The nuns send him to capture the eyes of a powerful Xiesui, “Liaoyue Shiba” (腊月十八). To defeat it, Li Huowang must inflict supreme mental suffering on himself. He switches to the Modern World and attacks his own mother, his psychological break and despair from this act (screaming, “Mom, I can’t tell the difference!”), fueling a power called the “Da Qian Lu” (大千录) for the first time, which defeats the spirit.

After this trauma, Li Huowang and Bai Lingmiao became a couple. He soon learns Danyangzi is not truly dead but has become a part of his “hallucinations,” aided by the Zuowang Dao (坐忘道) — a cult of tricksters who believe reality is false. In a final confrontation, Li Huowang drags Danyangzi to “Baiyujing” (白玉京), the realm of the Siming, and kills him for good. In the process, Li Huowang is overwhelmed by cosmic “knowledge” from the Siming Bahui (巴虺), dies, and resurrects from his grave, now irreversibly changed.

Volume 2: The Hallucination Brigade

Now free, Li Huowang’s group is attacked by a “Bingjia” (兵家) warrior, Peng Longteng (彭龙腾). After a brutal fight, Li Huowang kills him. Peng Longteng’s consciousness persists as a new, militant hallucination that advises Li Huowang.

The group travels to Qingqiu (青丘). Li Huowang enters “Fengdu” (酆都) to find more Heitaishui to control his visions. He also encounters the “Wu Shi Gong” (舞狮宫), a collective consciousness of “dancers”. The Heitaishui finds gains sentience, and he names it Li Sui (李岁), treating it as his child.

Li Huowang joins the Jian Tian Si (监天司), a government organization that fights Xiesui. A great tragedy occurs when Li Huowang, in the Modern World, accidentally sets a fire that, in the Da Nuo world, burns Bai Lingmiao’s entire family to death. This event shatters their relationship.

He befriends Zhuge Yuan (诸葛渊), a “Xin Pan” (心蟠) — a human vessel for a Siming (the Sanqing / 三清). During a massive battle involving the Siming “Doumu” (斗姥), Zhuge Yuan sacrifices himself. Like Peng Longteng, Zhuge Yuan’s spirit survives as a new, wise hallucination, solidifying Li Huowang’s “hallucination brigade”. From Zhuge Yuan and his own past life memories as “Hongzhong” (Red Dragon) of the Zuowang Dao, Li Huowang learns the “Xiuzhen” (修真) or “True Cultivation” path, allowing him to harness his madness as power.

Volume 3: The Foolish Emperor

A heavenly disaster, “Tiangou Shiri” (天狗食日) or “Celestial Dog Eats the Sun,” plunges the world into darkness, proving that the world’s “rules” are breaking.

Li Huowang becomes entangled in a royal succession plot for the Da Liang empire, manipulated by “Touzi” (骰子) — the leader of the Zuowang Dao. Touzi’s real plan is to destroy the Da Liang “Longmai” (龙脉) or Dragon Vein, the very source of the world’s stability and time.

To save the world, Li Huowang and the Jian Tian Si devise a desperate plan. They find Gao Zhijian (高志坚), the “foolish” boy from the very beginning, and reveal he is the long-lost, amnesiac emperor of the Da Qi nation. Li Huowang installs Gao Zhijian as the new emperor of Da Liang, merging the two nations’ destinies and stabilizing the Dragon Vein.

This act makes Li Huowang a true player on the cosmic stage. He channels his power and cultivates his own future, designating himself as the Siming of “Miwang” (迷惘) or Confusion, earning the name “Jizai” (季灾).

Volume 4: The War of Projections

The war for reality intensifies. In the Modern World, Li Huowang meets other patients who are “projections” of the Siming: Qing Wanglai (清旺来) (Sanqing), Qian Fu (钱福) (the Siming of Death), and Chen Hongyu (陈红瑜) (the Siming of Rot).

In the Da Nuo world, the “Fajiao” (法教), worshippers of an enemy Siming “Yu’er Shen” (于儿神), declare total war. Li Huowang’s “Xiuzhen” (True Cultivation) begins to corrupt reality, so he must learn “Xiujia” (修假) or “False Cultivation” from his Zuowang Dao memories to balance himself.

The war culminates in Li Huowang opening a gate to Baiyujing. The realm is immediately invaded by “Fasheng Tian” (福生天), the ultimate antagonist — a formless, all-consuming cosmic horror from outside reality. To seal the breach, Li Sui (who is revealed to be Xuanpin / 玄牝, a future version of herself in a stable time loop) sacrifices her life. Li Huowang is left devastated by the loss of his “daughter.”

Volume 5 and The Grand Finale: The End of Madness

The final war against Fasheng Tian begins. Li Huowang is forced to ally with Zuoqiu Yong (左丘咏), the ruler of Tian Chen Guo. The “enemies” Li Huowang fights in the Modern World (a factory, a typhoon) are revealed to be mere “projections” of the Fasheng Tian’s invasion.

To fight back, the “Ransha Ling” (染煞令) is issued, forcing all humanity to embrace the “Sha” (killing) aura and become soldiers.

The final antagonist is revealed to be Sanqing (the Siming of Secrets), whose projection is Qing Wanglai. Sanqing believes the only way to save their world is to seize control of all “Tiandao” (天道) — the fundamental laws of reality. In the Modern World, Qing Wanglai kills all the other “patients” (Siming projections) to consolidate his power.

In a final, epic battle, Li Huowang defeats Sanqing. But the world, “Da Nuo” (whose projection is his doctor, Yi Donglai / 易东来), is dying. Li Huowang makes the ultimate choice: he returns all the Tiandao he has collected to Da Nuo, saving the world. He keeps only one for himself: “Miwang” (Confusion).

He uses this power for one last act: he tricks himself. He severs his connection to the Da Nuo world and convinces himself, completely, that it was all a hallucination.

• In the Modern World, Li Huowang “wakes up” in the White Pagoda Hospital. Dr. Yi Donglai tells him he is “cured”. But Dr. Yi, now the consciousness of the Da Nuo world, sees his new hospital staff are the “projections” of Qing Wanglai and the others. Yi Donglai is now the “sane” one who must live with the “mad” truth.
• In the Da Nuo World: The world is healed. The evil spirits and corrupt Siming are gone. But Li Huowang is left an empty, mindless, and truly insane shell, wandering the world he saved. As he wanders, he sees the ghost of his daughter, Li Sui. This final vision gives him a moment of peace, and he “ascends,” fully becoming Jizai, the new God of Confusion, forever balanced between both realities.

Audience & Market Positioning

Aimed at horror-xianxia fans aged 18-30, it targets lovers of “Soul Land” or “The King’s Avatar” with twisted tropes. Marketing via Tencent’s 2024 festival and August PV emphasizes “mind-bending illusions,” positioning as premium donghua. International potential is high through Bilibili global feeds, comparable to “Link Click” for crossover appeal.

Early Reception & Expectations

The August 2024 PV sparked buzz for its eerie visuals and faithful nods to the novel’s madness, with fans praising the 3D horror. Discussions highlight excitement for the 2026 premiere, though some fear pacing cuts. Critics may laud the innovation, but fans could critique if Li’s depth is simplified; overall, it’s poised as a standout.

The novel’s illusion-reality theme translates brilliantly to donghua via PV’s seamless world shifts, visually embodying Li’s madness and enhancing viewer immersion beyond the text’s ambiguity.

Adaptation choices like emphasizing visual horror strengthen the narrative for the screen, making abstract cults vivid, but risk diluting introspective elements if over-relying on spectacle.

The donghua adds emotional weight through 3D expressions of paranoia, enriching worldbuilding’s dread, yet may miss the novel’s subtle character nuances if subplots are trimmed.

FAQ: Dao Gui Yi Xian (道诡异仙) & Huo Wang Donghua 2026