By I-Huan, translated and adapted by Lobelia Cheng & Sue Yang (DrMaster)
ISBN: 978-1-59796-176-9
Time is running out for the Celestial Fox-Demons. 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 add to their woes their beloved leader, the Shifu (teacher/leader) who devised the plan to steal the baby girl deity Cai-Sheng and train her to transform into a male and father another generation is fading; her energies and lifespan are almost exhausted.
Her plan was necessarily a very long-ranging one. Over the centuries the Fox Demons had grown impatient. Some, like Hui-Niang, renounced their powers in order to marry mortals, whilst bold Yu-Niang turned to the darkest paths and began to steal little boys as “offerings”…
Little Cai-Sheng was a lonely child. On the day she escaped from her lessons and met two village children she formed an eternal bond with them. The girl Xiao-Que and boy Duo Xi saved the divine toddler from a dog attack (canines are the mortal enemies of foxes), suffering bloody wounds in her defence. Just in time guardian Hui-Niang appeared and killed the hound, and to thank the humans marked the boy’s torn forehead and the girl’s bitten hand with mystic tattoos. No matter how long, nor how many incarnations passed, their sacrifice would be rewarded.
Promising to meet again tomorrow, the children parted, but time is different for celestial beings and the humans never saw their new friend again.
Two centuries passed. Cai-Sheng completed her training and gained the ability to become a beautiful man at will, but the Chosen One had never forgotten her joyous day with mortal children, where she learned of freedom from duty and destiny. Reunited now with their current reincarnations – wealthy Su Ping and apprentice exorcist Han Yun-Sh – she had determined to repay their kindness by acting as matchmaker for the pair.
Unfortunately Ping had seen Cai-Sheng’s male form Qin Cai-Sheng, and become enamoured with “him” whilst Yun-Shi had become smitten with Su Ping – but he also held inexplicable feelings for the “weird girl” Cai-Sheng.
The debased fox-demon Yu-Niang had haunted Cai-Sheng, grown strong on centuries of stolen blood. She also wants the power of Cai-Sheng’s male form and preys relentlessly on the humans of the city. Even though Yu-Niang’s cat familiar is torn between serving Yu-Niang and Cai-Sheng, and is playing a double-game, the wicked fox-demon’s schemes are nearing fruition.
To further complicate her life a Heavenly Envoy named Wei Zi-Qiu has been sent to retrieve and purify Cai-Sheng, or if she has shed mortal blood, to kill her. He too has fallen for her, and tries to cover up the fact that she has slain the exorcist that killed her childhood guardian Hui-Niang…
With volume 4 the plot rapidly advances when Yun-Shi finds a new and decidedly nastier Shifu to train him as an exorcist-priest, Su Ping is possessed by the evil of Yu-Niang, and is in danger of becoming her next murderous familiar, whilst Wei Zi-Qiu and Yun-Shi face-off as rivals and one of them proposes marriage to the bewildered Cai-Sheng…
As an aura of inescapable tragedy falls over this enchanting shÅjo tale of legendary China, I-Huan’s flawless blend of mythology and soap-opera moves into high-gear. How this web of intrigue and passion could ever resolve into a happy ending is beyond me. Perhaps it won’t…
This easy combination of passion, comedy and action examines the big issue of Predestination and Free Will, with family expectation always at odds with personal desire. The beautiful, lyrical art perfectly captures a forgotten age as the eternal triangle enlarges to admit another victim of love and their worlds spiral towards a painful, disastrous collision. A lovely series for the fanciful and romantic, this latest volume seems to hint that not all Ever Afters are Happy…
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.