During the Qianlong reign, western Liaoning was repeatedly stricken by severe droughts, locust plagues, epidemics, flash floods, banditry, and the oppression of corrupt officials and merchants. Hu Qingyao, a white fox who had lived in seclusion on Mount Yiwulü for three hundred years, witnessed the suffering of the people and gave up her chance to ascend in order to enter the human world and save lives. She sought neither worship nor fame. With herbs, wisdom, and virtue, she protected the local people, quelled epidemics, mediated disputes between Mongols and Han, punished unscrupulous merchants, aided disaster victims, restored peace, and taught people to live with virtue. In the end, the spirit fox of the mountains became revered by the people as the divine protector of western Liaoning, inspiring a century of folk legends.
