Heaven-Sent Auspicious Qilin

Serious drama, plot-focused

[Bold, shameless gong × pure, adorable shou]

[Fearless little qilin × ruthless little green tea]

*

The divine beasts of Shanhai Island have lived in seclusion for thousands of years, seeing the human world as a terrifying forbidden land. Yet Zhu Nanhui, a fool who doesn't know her place, insisted on going to the human world. There, a cunning human man tricked her so thoroughly that she was left in tatters.

The Shanhai divine envoy took her child away, and, heartbroken, abandoned her in the human world.

"Xiaohui, I told you: once you have physical relations with a human, you can never return to Shanhai Island."

At the time, seven-year-old Zhu Yuanye was also forced to leave his parents.

Seventy years later, Zhu Yuanye had learned to hide his qilin horns.

He returned to the human world only to find his mother, who had been lost to him.

*

While searching for his origins, Zhu Yuanye met a domineering young lady who was fiercely protective of her own.

A scoundrel through and through, yet proud and blazing, the leader of a pirate stronghold.

A brave female doctor, gentle on the outside and strong within.

And Tao Yin, a taciturn person who was immersed in his own little world and disliked interacting with others.

The qilin's blood appeared in the world, and fate brought them together as undercurrents began to stir.

The five of them carried their secrets as they were hunted by the imperial consort. With no other choice, they hid aboard a great ship that was supposed to carry people to an island of immortals.

They discovered that the fabled island of immortals everyone longed for did not exist at all. The so-called immortal maidens and youths were actually expendable agents sent out by the imperial consort to find a qilin.

Zhu Yuanye hadn't wanted to save the people aboard the ship, but the other four young people were so righteous that they simply couldn't stand by while commoners suffered. They were hell-bent on becoming saviors.

In the end, they were left battered and exhausted in body and mind.

They wanted to save people, but became criminals in the imperial consort's eyes, accused of spreading heresy and causing the deaths of everyone aboard, immortal maidens and youths alike.

They were dragged onto the execution platform. Faced with the curses and blows of the ignorant, they only understood that Zhu Yuanye had been right when they were on the brink of death.

The naive kindness of young people charging ahead on sheer courage is the most foolish thing of all.

That day, as the winds rose and clouds gathered, Zhu Yuanye revealed his qilin horns for the first time, all to save the four foolish boys.

*

The imperial consort's murderous intent grew stronger and stronger. To obtain the qilin's blood, she even used Zhu Yuanye's mother as bait.

Zhu Yuanye walked right into the trap. Only at the very end did he realize that the mother he'd yearned for over seventy years was no longer the gentle woman she'd once been.

He stopped longing for her. He only wanted to go home, back to Shanhai Island, to a pure land without humans.

But there were people on this land he couldn't leave behind. He couldn't bear to leave them.

Then he would stay, find a suitable emperor, and reshape this world into one he liked.

The qilin brings good fortune, and all things bloom anew.

Years later, Tao Yin asked him, "Do immortals really exist in this world?"

He thought for a moment, pulled his beloved into his arms, and gazed at the clouds on the horizon. "Of course. The first people to awaken are gods."

*

Gong's perspective, one-on-one mutual love, both leads are each other's only partners, happy ending.

Theme: Thought is what makes us human.