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Sunday, February 21, 2021

The Legend of Jiang Ziya

J I A N G   Z I Y A
Jiang is tasked in the war to take down the fox spirit clan leader who instigated a large war. Jiang captures her and is tasked in her execution in heaven. However, he sees an innocent girl possessed by the fox spirit and cannot let her be killed by the Great Revered Master. The Master banishes him to earth for releasing the fox spirit and falling for its illusion.

Jiang spends ten years on earth despondent with his Tiger God friend who watches over him. Jiang finds an amnesiac young fox spirit girl who looks like the girl asking for help during the execution of the fox spirit. They fight but evantually decide to journey together to find her father figure the truth with Tiger God on the trail. At the destination is the old king who has become disillusioned and tries to kill the fox girl. The demon shadow foxes that have been following the fox girl take her away. Jiang follows and sees the fox clan leader ("nine tails") alive. She explains that the girl is actually a concubine for the old king who was given up and abandoned by her father. And that the fox clan leader can never die without the young girl dieing due to being tied together by a fate bracelet, created by the Master.

Jiang manages to save the girl with the Tiger God but loses his trusty stead. The Tiger God now believing Jiang was right about the girl and needs to find the truth. So Tiger God sacrifices some of his power to spirit Jiang to the heavens to speak to the Master. The Master explains Jiang wasn't denied Godhood because he didn't kill the fox clan leader but because he showed kindness. A true upper God should not have any kindness and focus only on the greater good. Jiang is able to plead for an answer to stop the girl from having to die eternally. Master tells him to pass her through the gate of reincarnation and she will be saved in the next life.

Jiang goes to the gate but is followed by the fox spirit clan leader. Tiger God realizes he followed Jiang not because he was jealous lauded as the greatest hero but because Jiang is a true hero. So he stays behind to sacrifice himself, by slowing the fox clan leader, to buy Jiang time. Jiang promises that the next life will save the girl and she will have a better life with a proper loving father. She passes through but the fox clan leader shows up and attacks the gate of reincarnation. Jiang can't stop her and she explains the truth of the war when it breaks and only wronged fox ghosts appear. She explains that they were wronged because they started the war based on Master's promise to make the fox clan leader a God and to rise up the fox clan. However, Master lied and used the fox clan as a scape goat to unite all Heaven, Human, and Demon worlds together against a common enemy for the 'Greater Good'. So under her duress doomed her clan and try to destroy heaven with the power of all the fox ghosts. Jiang tries to save the girl still within the omega ghost fox striking heaven. Heaven activates there nuclear weapon to kill the fox spirit.

Jiang cannot save the girl but realizes the power to do so does not come from Heaven granted powers but within himself to save any one person be it from Heaven, Human, or Demon realm. He finally regains his powers turning stark white and releases the grudges of the ghosts up towards the girl. The girl wakes up and asks has she reincarnated to her better life before the Heaven nuke kills her and all the ghosts. Jiang is despondent but sees the bird of the afterlife take all the ghost spirits hoping the girl isn't gone forever. The Heavens applaud Jiang's long con of finally luring and killing the fox clan leader. So summons him to be a true God. Jiang now knows how corrupt the true Gods and Master are with their justice and breaks the bridge to Heaven. Forever severing the Heaven's grip on the Human realm.

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