HW_08 Serene Hu

Genre: 

Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Film Noir

Setting:
- Spiritual world will be entirely ancient/fantasy China
- The human world is also fictional ancient China, but the fashion has some influence from the 1930s-1940s 

 Bai SuZhen: Snake demon disguised as a young woman. The intelligent, morally ambiguous ‘femme fatale’ of the story. To most, she seems mysterious and shady, but towards her husband Xu Xian she shows a kinder, caring side of her personality.  SuZhen genuinely loves her husband and will do anything to protect him; even if in doing so she causes harm to others who are innocent. She is often seen assisting her husband in his shop.

XuXian: SuZhen’s human husband. An herbalist who is studious and dedicated to his craft; a hard worker, but often to the point that he neglects his own health. Though he may not always show it, he is kind-hearted and loves his wife.

FaHai: Tortoise demon disguised as a monk; plays the ‘detective’ role in the story. He is on par with SuZhen in terms of cunning but is less skilled in magic abilities. Envious of SuZhen for consuming all of the immortality pills and still bitter about his defeat at her hands. Currently travels around searching for SuZhen, using his disguise as a means to get information from people.

Story:

The white snake and tortoise begin as lesser demons training in the art of magic. One day the snake acquires magical pills from one of the Eight Immortals. These pills grant immortality and strong magic to whomever consumes them. The tortoise learns of this and demands that the snake share some with him. When she refuses, the two battle each other. The white snake emerges victorious, promptly eats all the pills, and disappears. The tortoise, humiliated by this costly defeat, swears revenge.

After many years of vigorous training, the tortoise is strong enough to take on a human form. He disguises himself as a monk named Fahai and travels the country searching for the white snake. He finally catches a break when he hears of how one village miraculously recovered from a deadly plague, and goes to investigate. Fahai uses his identity as a monk to pass himself off as a detective/exorcist to the villagers, and through questioning, is led to Xu Xian’s herbalist shop. He suspects Xu Xian’s wife, SuZhen, to be a demon but is unable to trick her into revealing any clues that might implicate her as one. 

He eventually figures out that SuZhen is the cause of the plague and has been providing the antidote, helping XuXian's business flourish. This confirms Fahai's suspicions, but he will need to see her true form in order to verify that she is the demon he’s been looking for. Fahai then hatches a plan to have Xu Xian serve his wife a special wine during the DuanWu Festival.

His plan succeeds and SuZhen’s true form is revealed after she drinks the wine. Xu Xian dies of shock when he sees the snake demon. Fahai’s revenge is satisfied and he leaves in triumph when he sees SuZhen’s despair over her husband’s death.

 SuZhen then goes on a mission to obtain the magic herb needed to revive her husband. Her mission is successful and she is allowed to revive her husband under the condition that she goes into exile and is sealed under LeiFeng pagoda (punishment for releasing the plague)-- to which she agrees.