The Nine-Tailed Fox: A Trial in the Mortal World
Ling Xi, a descendant of the nine-tailed white foxes with the cultivation of a four-tailed fox, carries on her ancestors’ legacy. She has long been betrothed to Xuan Sha, the young lord of the black foxes. Their union was once a cherished tale shared by both clans, but after catching him in an affair with the red fox Hong Lan, she becomes the prey of a manhunt. To take her inner core and help Hong Lan impersonate her, Xuan Sha is willing to kill her.
While fleeing, she meets Shen Qingci. This gentle and refined second son of a distinguished family lost his elder brother to bandits while traveling to take the imperial examinations, and was left with crippled legs. He is at the lowest point of his life. A fox demon and a nobleman with a disabled body should have nothing in common, but they support each other through adversity and gradually fall in love.
Dark undercurrents swirl within the Shen residence. The matriarch, concerned with appearances, tries to arrange for her widowed elder daughter-in-law, Su Wanning, to marry the second son. Wanning firmly refuses. Amid her difficulties, she meets Wen Jingran, a scholarly young gentleman, and by staying true to herself, she finds a good match. Shen Qingci’s former fiancée, Liu Qilian, breaks their engagement because she disdains his poverty and marries someone else. When she sees him begin to prosper, she comes back to pester him, only to end up confined in a temple.
Yet Ling Xi and Shen Qingci can never escape Xuan Sha’s shadow. When the truth comes to light, it turns out Xuan Sha is merely a puppet controlled by Hong Lan through the wicked art of the “One-Soul Bond.” Blood has already stained the dust. Shen Qingci gives up his body to protect Ling Xi, leaving only his spirit behind. Xuan Sha kills Hong Lan to break the spell, then uses his golden core to keep Shen Qingci alive before self-destructing his spirit to atone for his sins.
A flight from a betrayal becomes a deep love across species. Amid the tangled affairs of the mortal world and the grudges of the cultivation world, they ultimately find their way to a life together as spirit and soul. The shadow of a nine-tailed fox sweeps across the mortal world, revealing a final chapter of love and redemption.
