The Northern Liang Kingdom was founded 120 years ago, with its capital at Linyuan City. A saying has long circulated among the people: Half of Northern Liang's realm lies with the court, and half with the Celestial Foxes.
Ji Qingyuan, the 32-year-old general who guards the nation, is Northern Liang's undisputed God of War. In his life, he has never feared a blade coming at him on the battlefield. What terrifies him is the taller-than-a-man blade in his mother-in-law's hands. If he cannot produce a daughter, she'll skin him alive.
At last, a legitimate daughter of the Celestial Fox bloodline is born.
Yet, just two days after her birth, Feng Moli, an elder of Qingqiu, seals her bloodline with an ancient and secret art and abandons her at a ruined shrine on Mound of Bones. Fortunately, Daoist Xuanjizi of Qingwei Temple happens to pass by and carries the swaddled baby back to his temple, naming her "Xuanwei."
With a three-tailed white fox for company, she spends her days fishing, climbing trees, and sneaking her master's osmanthus cakes. She grows up carefree until the age of six, unaware that her surname is Tushan, and even less aware that the General's Estate below the mountain has turned over every inch of Northern Liang in search of her.
Six years later, the seal weakens and her bloodline awakens. In the dead of night, Xuanjizi enters Linyuan City and shatters six years of silence at the General's Estate with a single sentence: "Your daughter is my little apprentice who loves sneaking cakes." As for the old Daoist who carried her out of the ruined shrine, he watches her leap and bound about, then quietly says to Tushan Yunheng, "She was born with the destiny of an empress. And Sinian has the bearing of an emperor." For now, though, the little fox knows nothing of it. With her mouth full of osmanthus cake, she mumbles, "What's an empress? Can I trade it for osmanthus cake? I choose the cake."
Theme: Fate is unpredictable, but the heart remains true.
