There might some spoilers ahead especially in the novel

1. Genre

The drama make it a sci-fi one and makes everything can explained by science. While in the novel, it's fantasy and has some historical (xianxia) events involved like Kunlun Mountain . 

2. Characters 

Zhao Yunlan has more weapons including talisman paper, soul guarding order the turns into a whip, a special watch and a special gun. ZYL is the reincarnation of Kunlun He is the reason why Shen Wei exist (literally).

Shen Wei  / Black Cloaked Envoy is  a King of Gui (ghost but don't have a soul) and more smarter than in the drama.  His weapon is  like  a spear but the end of the spear is a hook (idk what is the name). He has a twin brother, they both have the same powers but because of Kunlun he's a demi-god, that makes him more powerful than his twin and he's the keeper of the seal.

SID members

Lin jing- he's actually a Buddhist monk who is not al

ways follow the  rules of his religion. He's still make some weapons but he's not a scientist (lol).

Da qing- he is the pet of Kunlun and lived over a thousand years. Their difference is that he only transformed into a human twice only, he's a fat cat most of the time. He's the one who finds the 'Guardian' basically Kunlun's reincarnations.

Gouchangcheng- he has a TONS of merits that he get from his past lives. He has the same characteristics in the drama. He has a key role to the one of the seals his merits makes him the one who can lit up the soul guarding lamp. Hd  

Zhu hung- she's not fully evolved her human form, if she has a period she will become half snake and half human. She still like ZYL in the novel tho.

Chu shunzhi-  his power is can control a corpse (like wei wuxian) and he didn't have a brother in the novel, he didn't have any connections to Shen wei or black cloaked Envoy.