Everyone in Great Jing knows that Xu Zheng, the aloof and ascetic Daoist of the Qingxuan Sect, has been ordered to descend the mountain and investigate all the demons.
Everyone admires his uprightness, his indifference to women, and his belief that humans and demons belong to different worlds.
That is, until he picks up a fierce-but-adorable little fox demon.
Su Ali: “Daoist! I’m hungry. I want candied hawthorn!”
She flicks her tail, and whap! It smacks the Daoist right in the face.
Xu Zheng’s ears turn bright red as his mind fills with one thought: So cute!
But he keeps a perfectly serious expression and says coolly:
“...Do not fool around. I am here on official business.”
Later, demons run rampant and a formation appears.
When his fellow disciples set out to exterminate the demons, Xu Zheng stands in their way with his sword raised:
“She’s under my protection. Anyone who lays a hand on her answers to me.”
Later still, at a grand wedding in Qingqiu,
the nine-tailed fox demon bites his collar, eyes red, and asks:
“Daoist, you’d been plotting to get with me all along, hadn’t you?”
Xu Zheng laughs softly. “Yes. Ever since the first time you hugged my leg.”
