Divine Melody Volume 3


By I-Huan, translated and adapted by Lobelia Cheng & Sue Yang (DrMaster)
ISBN: 978-1-59796-175-2

Celestial Fox-Demons have almost vanished from the land: only vixens remain and if they wish to advance their status, let alone survive as a race, they must propagate their kind at all costs…

To this end their Shifu (leader/teacher) long ago stole the baby girl deity Cai-Sheng, who with the proper training and refinement would, when grown, be able to transform into a male to father another, superior generation. But this plan was necessarily a very long-ranging one. On the haunted mountain they inhabited the Fox clan grew impatient. Some, like Hui-Niang, renounced their powers in order to marry mortals, whilst bold Yu-Niang began to steal little boys as “offerings”…

Little Cai-Sheng was a bored and very lonely child. One day she escaped from her lessons and met two village children. With the girl Xiao-Que and boy Duo Xi they cavorted and played until a dog attacked the magical child (canines are the mortal enemies of foxes). Brave Duo Xi fought the hound and little Xiao-Que suffered a cruel bite protecting Cai-Sheng. Just in time her guardian Hui-Niang appeared and killed the hound with a well-aimed arrow…

To thank the humans for spilling their blood to defend the chosen child, guardian Hui-Niang marked the boy’s torn forehead and the girl’s bitten hand with mystic marks. No matter how long, nor how many incarnations passed, their sacrifice would be rewarded. Promising to meet again tomorrow, the children parted, but time and duty is different for celestial beings and the humans never saw their new friend again.

Two hundred years passed and Cai-Sheng finished her training. The Chosen One had never forgotten her joyous day with the mortal children, and more importantly, for one glorious afternoon, she learned of freedom from duty and destiny. Centuries later she was reunited with them – or at least their latest reincarnations, beautiful, rich scholar’s daughter Su Ping and apprentice priest/exorcist Han Yun-Shi. To repay them for their kindness Cai-Sheng determined to act as matchmaker for the pair, but Ping had seen Cai-Sheng’s male form Qin Cai-Sheng, and become enamoured with “him”.

Yun-Shi is smitten with Su Ping but can’t understand why the weird girl Cai-Sheng is always hanging around, making herself a nuisance. Moreover, while performing his appointed duties for his disreputable master the apprentice realizes he has a rival in Cai-Sheng’s male form, even if the transforming neo-deity doesn’t…

The debased fox-demon Yu-Niang has haunted Cai-Sheng, grown strong on two centuries of blood taken from boy children. She wants the power tied up in Cai-Sheng’s male form and has begun preying on the humans of the city. Even though Yu-Niang’s cat familiar now (supposedly) serves Cai-Sheng, the wicked fox-demon’s evil schemes are advanced in this third captivating volume as tragedy and death strike, destroying the Chosen One’s oldest friend and protector as well as the only mortal capable of thwarting Yu-Niang’s evil plans…

Cai-Sheng is confused, heartbroken and angry. She wants revenge and justice, but unknown to her the Goddess Lady Peony has informed her celestial envoy Wei Zi-Qiu – who has developed ungodly feelings for Cai-Sheng – that should the Chosen One advance the Fox-Demon cause in any way or harm a human then he must kill her…

This enchanting shōjo tale of legendary China moves into the arena of grand tragedy as events are set in motion that will have disastrous repercussions for all, in Taiwanese creator I-Huan’s flawless blend of mythology and soap-opera. Huan seamlessly blends passion, comedy and action to tell a charming tale of duty versus free-will, and familial expectation battling personal desire. The beautiful, lyrical art perfectly captures the sense of a lost age and the enduring immediacy of three people falling in love in a world spiralling into cataclysm. A lovely series for the fanciful and romantic, this latest volume finally shows the claws beneath the velvety fur…

This book is produced in the traditional Japanese format and should be read from back to front and right to left.

© 2003 I-Huan/Tong Li Publishing Co. Ltd. English translation © 2009 DrMaster Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.