LayarHijau – The novel Carrying a Lantern in Daylight (白日提灯) by Li Qing Ran has been adapted into a drama titled Love Beyond the Grave, starring Dilraba Dilmurat and Arthur Chen.
Through the official synopsis and trailer videos, audiences are given a brief glimpse of the drama’s story. At first glance, several elements in the synopsis and trailer appear similar to those in the original novel. However, if one assumes that the novel merely tells a love story between a Ghost King and a young general, that assumption would be incorrect.
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I have personally read several chapters of this novel, though I have not yet finished it at the time of writing this article. Carrying a Lantern in Daylight is a unique novel because it blends multiple elements. Before discussing it in greater detail, it is necessary to include a disclaimer that the drama’s storyline may differ from the novel. Additionally, since there may be overlapping plot points, some of the explanations below contain spoilers.
The novel tells the story of the meeting and romance between the Ghost King He Simu and Duan Xu, a young general from the Great Liang Kingdom. He Simu’s title may sound unusual because she appears in the form of a woman. However, according to the novel, she indeed holds the title of king, not queen.
In the novel’s world, when a human dies, they become a spirit without consciousness. It takes time for such spirits to regain awareness and eventually reincarnate. However, spirits burdened with obsessions and unfulfilled desires, including resentment, become wandering spirits unable to reincarnate. After preying on one another for hundreds of years, they eventually turn into evil ghosts.
The more spirits an evil ghost devours, the stronger it becomes. He Simu is an evil ghost, but she is far from ordinary. Her father was the former Ghost King who married a human woman and gave birth to He Simu. As a result, the female protagonist has never experienced life as a human—she was born an evil ghost. Only powerful evil ghosts like her father, who hold the title of Ghost King, are said to be capable of marrying humans and producing offspring.
