In the seventh year of the Jinghe era, heavy snow seals off Mount Cangwu. Xie Jingxing, a former Grand Tutor living in seclusion on the mountain, rescues a dying little girl from beneath a cliff and names her A Yan. The girl cannot speak, but she can instinctively distinguish every poison and herb. Her amber eyes are exactly like those of a little fox he rescued ten years ago.
A Yan grows up on Mount Cangwu, studying and learning about medicinal herbs alongside Xie Jingxing. The man and the fox spend several peaceful years together in the medicine hut. But beneath the calm surface, undercurrents are stirring. A thousand-year-old tomb lies hidden in the depths of Mount Cangwu, someone at court is secretly tracking the traces of a "demon," and the power of the nine-tailed white fox sleeping within A Yan is quietly awakening as she grows.
Xie Jingxing was once a young Grand Tutor whose name resounded throughout the capital. Three years ago, he was ambushed, stabbed seven times and shot with three arrows, leaving his meridians severed and his legs paralyzed. His heart had turned to ash, but A Yan gave him a reason to keep living. Together, they unravel one strange case after another: demonic insects in an ancient tomb, a forbidden love that steals souls, and a human married to a ghost. Every clue points to a world-shaking secret: A Yan is no ordinary fox demon. Her very existence is bound to a fate set in motion a thousand years ago.
When a storm at court sweeps in, the Imperial Preceptor and powerful ministers join forces to force the palace and execute the "demon who brings ruin to the realm." Xie Jingxing shields A Yan with his broken body, and at last A Yan remembers: she has waited a thousand years for him.
Theme: True love transcends the divide between humans and demons. Two broken souls find wholeness in each other.
