Divine Melody Volume 5


By I-Huan, adapted by Sandra Mak (DrMaster)

ISBN: 978-1-59796-177-6

The extended saga of love and obligation in mythical China steps solidly into the arena of forbidden love in the latest volume of this captivating fantasy romance.

The Celestial Fox-Demons are nearly extinct. Only vixens remain and if they wish to survive as a race, they must propagate their kind at all costs. To add to their woes their beloved leader is also fading; her energies and lifespan almost exhausted. It was this Shifu who first stole the infant deity Cai-Sheng and trained her to transform into a male and sire another generation.

Her plan was exceedingly long-ranging and as centuries passed many Fox Demons grew impatient. Some, like Hui-Niang, renounced their powers and married mortals, whilst haughty Yu-Niang turned to the darkest paths of evil…

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 being 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 and Cai-Sheng gained the ability to become a beautiful, magically powerful man at will, but the Chosen One never forgot her joyous day with mortal children, when she was briefly freed of duty and destiny. Reunited now with their current reincarnations – wealthy Su Ping and apprentice exorcist Han Yun-Shi – Cai-Sheng 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 has become a creature of pure malice, haunting Cai-Sheng. She wants the power of Cai-Sheng’s male form and will prey relentlessly on the humans of the city until she gets it. 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 Yun-Shi’s teacher, the exorcist who killed her childhood guardian Hui-Niang…

We’re deep in soap opera territory in this volume with revelations and ultimata flying thick and fast. The ruthless Taoist exorcist Bai-Leng has shown Yun-Shi who killed his master and revealed that the youth has been marked by a demon for all his future incarnations, before entering into an uneasy alliance with diabolical Yu-Niang to gain his dubious ends. Both divine Zi-Qiu and mortal Yun-Shi have declared their love for Cai-Sheng, but the latter is unaware that she is secretly his very definition of a “monster”.

Zi-Qiu’s superior, Lady Peony, has declared her own love for him, and though he loves Cai-Sheng, the deity is preparing to kill his beloved to save him from himself. Su Ping, enthralled and in deadly danger from predatory Yu-Niang is offered a glimmer of salvation by Bai-Leng, and hapless Cai-Sheng, unable to choose between the her mortal and celestial suitors discovers the tragic origins of her cat-demon familiar Gu-Miao, and sees yet another side of love…

This enchanting shōjo tale of legendary China seems hell-bent on becoming a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions. I-Huan’s seamless blend of mythology and romantic melodrama is an increasingly complex web of intrigue and passion that appears incapable of a joyous resolution.

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 this forgotten age as every character becomes a helpless victim of love and their worlds spiral towards a painful, disastrous collision. A lovely series for the fanciful and romantic, this latest volume further indicates that not every Ever After is Happy…

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

© 2006 I-Huan/Tong Li Publishing Co. Ltd. English translation © 2009 DrMaster Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.