Legend of Nine Tails Fox

Synopsis

The plot was adapted from six tales from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio: "Feng San Niang", "A Xiu", "Ying Ning", "Hu Si", "Chang Ting" and "Heng Niang". The arc begins when the Mei fruit of Qing Qiu, which may give wondrous powers to the being who eats it, is stolen, with Fei Yue as the only witness.

"A Xiu"- Fox spirit Hua Yue is caught seducing men out of mischievous means by exorcist, Zuo Yun, and the two get into a fight, causing the fox to hurt her ankle. She is later saved by mortal, A Xiu, who takes the fox back to her father's shop. Meanwhile, A Xiu is in a relationship with Liu Zi Gu, whom her father detests. After her father forces A Xiu to move away and marry another man, Hua Yue lies and tells Liu that she had died. This prompts Liu to attempt suicide, but is later saved by Hua. Fearing that he will kill himself again, she turns herself into A Xiu's form to buy time before A Xiu comes back. However, after receiving news that A Xiu was killed in a fire, she continues her ruse despite Zuo Yun's warnings, and unwittingly falls in love with Liu in the process. When A Xiu returns, she finds out what Hua Yue has done, and believes Hua had lied to her to take Zi Gu for herself. Believing that Hua Yue had killed someone, Zuo Yun attacks the fox, who is later shielded by A Xiu. After A Xiu dies in her arms, Hua and Zuo Yun help Zi Gu bring her back, which costs Hua her powers and form. Zuo Yun was in love with Hua Yue but since Hua Yue lost her powers and form they didn't ended up together.

"Feng San Niang"- Despite Fox grandmother's worries, Fei Yue sneaks into the capital as Feng Qianru's handmaiden to search for the stolen Mei fruit in the Meng family. After being caught searching through Meng An Ren's room, Fei Yue is forced to spit out a lie that results in her being engaged to An Ren. Determined to get rid of the engagement, Fei eavesdrops and recklessly accuses An Ren of smuggling weapons. However, Feng Qianru secretly saves her brother-in-law from the accused crime through magic. Fei Yue and Liu Chang Yan deduce that that person is the fox culprit; Chang Yan realizes that she stole the fruit to cure her husband, An De's, illness. Meanwhile, Meng An Ren and Fei Yue slowly fall for each other, despite she not believing him in the beginning. However, after seeing the happy couple, the princess gives Meng political favor if he plays with Fei's feelings. Fei Yue becomes heartbroken, distrusts him, and Meng loses her over the Mei fruit. She then confronts Qianru, and reveals the culprit's true fox identity to her husband, who fears her. Qianru is later transported back to Qing Qiu, where she is pleads guilty but begs to be with her husband. Fei Yue returns to the Meng household in Qianru's steed to visit An De, and despite An Ren having to be forced to marry the princess, she and An Ren, as well as Qianru and An De reconcile.

"Yingning"- Yingning has been dreaming about a woman carrying her in a forest and escaping into a cabin. She goes to the human world, where she meets Wang Zifu, who saves her from drowning. In the evening, Zifu lets her stay at his house. Meanwhile, Zifu's mother enlists the help of Cao Daozhang to get rid of a ghost, while Yingning asks Zifu to come with her to investigate the cabin in the estate; he later finds out about her identity. Meanwhile, Lan Yi comes to retrieve her, but Yingning insists on staying until she learns the truth about her origins. After a fight with Daozhang, Lan Yi explains that her sister Xiao Die fell in love with Zifu's aunt's fiance, and the two had Yingning. On their wedding night, however, they were betrayed by Zifu's mother, who hired Daozhang to kill her. After a confrontation with Daozhang, Yingning returns to Qing Qiu, but is later brought back to the human world by Zifu. The two of them later marry, although Zifu's mother continues to try to get rid of her. This proves to be the last straw, however, as Zifu decides to leave the household for Yingning's sake. Daozhang later kills Zifu in his sleep to awaken Yingning's powers, but a vision of her love stops her from taking revenge. In the end, she stays in the human world to take care of Zifu's mother and run the business.

"Hu Si"- Fox spirit Hu Si has a tendency of proposing to a lady he sees for the first time, which leads to him rejected 76 times. Fox grandmother sends him off to the human world where he may learn what real love is. One day, he and Zhong Qing meet during Zhong Qing's wedding, but the groom-to-be Zhang Sheng runs away from home to cancel the wedding, infuriating Zhong Qing, who enlists Hu Si to help her seek revenge. However, when Hu Si finds Zhang Sheng, the human later saves the fox's life from a major tantrum. Hu Si later forgets his memories and instead sees Zhang Sheng as his only friend and savior. After Zhong Qing tries to beat up Zhang Sheng, he persuades her to instead marry his fox friend, although when the two meet, Hu Si does not recognize her. Because Hu Si is scared of women and only trusts Zhang Sheng, Zhong Qing becomes jealous of their relationship as well as when Zhang Sheng falls in love with potential wife, Xiao Shi, at first sight. However, Hu Si realizes Xiao Shi is a fox spirit working for the evil fox, Maoshao Heidao.

"Changting"- The wolf demon's wife breaks into Weng Changting's household and steals the Mei fruit from Hui Er, the second uncle. While chasing her, Changting meets exorcist Shi Taipu, and the two try to catch her, but to no avail. The wolf demon sees his wife die from her wounds, and therefore casts a spell on Hongting as revenge. Changting finds Shi Taipu for his help; he stays behind in the mansion. His presence forces all the foxes to try to keep their scent hidden as much as possible. Shi becomes suspicious of the Weng family's behavior, and realizes the whole family are foxes; he reluctantly saves her family from the wolf demon but severs his friendship with Changting. As the wolf demon's threat draws near, Changting pleads to Shi to teach her demon-slaying skills to protect her family, but as her skills are not enough, her father decides to let the two lovers marry if Shi protects the family. However, the father regrets his decision, and tries to get rid of him. On their wedding day, Shi is poisoned and left for dead while the whole Weng family escapes with the unconscious Changting. Shi Taipu returns to his temple and attempts to kill the entire family, but after Changting sacrifices herself to protect him, he saves her against his master's wishes. The two later live together in solitude, but Changting is later called back by Chang Yan to help look for Hui Er.

"Heng Niang"- The goddess Nuwa gives the foxes one last chance and tells Liu Chang Yan to seek the nine-tailed guardian fox, Tao Heng, for her help to defeat Hui Er and find the baby girl that is destined to save the fox nation. The two disguise themselves as a couple and infiltrate the capital. Their neighbor, Ms. Hong, seeks Tao Heng's help to win back her husband's favor from his concubine, Ying Er. Tao advises her to refute any of his affections toward her, and live a less luxurious lifestyle as a worker with the servants; Ms. Hong later succeeds and reconciles with her husband. Meanwhile, Ninth young master falls in love with Tao Heng at first sight and asks Liu to go on a business trip so that he can go on a spring trip with Liu's "wife". However, he ends up humiliating himself in front of her. Angry that Mr. Hong has only eyes on his wife, Ying Er decides to seduce Ninth young master, while also realizing Tao Heng is responsible of Mr. Hong's change of heart. Hui Er suddenly breaks into Ninth young master's room and persuades him to kill Liu Chang Yan to get Tao Heng. The murder fails; they also find out Tao is with child, but ninth master wants it dead. Mr. Hong helps the couple escape back to Qing Qiu after their mission is complete, but when Hui Er later appears and kidnaps the child, the child defeats him and recovers the Mei fruit.

Production

Legend of the Nine Tails Fox's production team constructed the six stories in a fantasy world that tells love, joy and sorrows. The fox spirits mysterious charm and attitude in Chinese classical literature was inspiration for the many characters. Other than the three directors, Liu Yufen, Gao Linbao, and Xu Huikang, notable players in the production process include Wang Lizhi and Fang Qiang Qiang as screenwriters, as director of photography Gao Xinjian, Li Da Chao and Li Lei as action/stunt team directors, Wu Baoling as the artistic/visual director. Cai Yi Nong, a producer, revealed that the formation of the Legend of Nine Tails Fox stories were completely by accident, and that she and several co-screenwriters chatted about the story in Hangzhou during a vacation. They wanted to do an original fantasy story with Strange Tales, with the fox's view of the world as its main structure.

The setting of the drama has been compared to The Wizard of Oz's fantasy world. In the trailer, the use of aerial shots was also incorporated with traditional shooting. The drama's trailer revealed up to 80 special effects (CGI) shots, with many involving mammals (foxes, rats, etc.), fighting scenes, towering trees and magic effects. The filming crew traveled to Sichuan and other locations, including 4000-meter high Hengduan Mountain ranges in Daocheng County. Location filming began on April 21, 2015 at Hengdian World Studios, and ended in July 2015, where it entered post-production. "Heng Niang" was filmed in Zhejiang Xiandu, while "Chang Ting" was shot at in the streets of Hengdian.

On December 28, 2015, Zi Long Hu Entertainment announced that a role-playing mobile game based on the series would be created. Also called Legend of Nine Tails Fox, it was released on January 21, 2016. It conveys the characters and a 3D world based on the drama's.

Soundtrack

Chinese singer, Yisa Yu, released the single "To Ask the Moon (问明月)" as the series' theme song; the music video was released on January 15, 2016. The next OST single, "The Wind's Love (风之恋)" was released with its music video a week later, featuring Sharon Kwan's vocals. The songs were written by Yi Rui and composed by Gong Shu Jun. On January 28, "Don't Make Me Cry (别惹哭我)" was released with its music video. The song was written by Li Jiang Liang, composed by A Chao, and sung by Taiwanese singer, Claire Kuo.

Ratings