Unable to bear it any longer, Yan killed him. The Governor could only be aroused by machines and forced Yan to become his personal sex toy. Since their last parting, she was drugged by the Governor of Hong Kong, who forcibly subjected her to surgery that transformed her organic body into a machine, turning her into a cyborg sex toy for his twisted perversions.

Yan returns to him once more, this time asking for his help. As she states, she now lives by the very thing Liang accused her mother of: bewitching men.Īfter they part ways once more, Liang slowly develops his skills into more advanced robotic engineering. Unable to hunt, she is forced to rely on her beauty to seduce men for money. One night, he meets Yan once again, now permanently stuck in human form. Liang eventually moves to Hong Kong and works as a train engineer, becoming very skilled with machines. Due to the modernizing, magic is slowly fading from the world and Yan has increasing difficulty transforming back into her fox form. In that time, Liang maintained a close friendship with Yan, who did not blame Liang for her mother's death. Liang admits that he was glad his father passed when he did, as he did not believe his traditional father would have been able to accept all the changes coming to China. When Renshu asks if Liang saw any pups, Liang lies which allows Yan to escape.įive years later, Renshu passes away as the colonized modernization of China begins, and gets buried next to his wife. Tsiao-Jung appears, warning Yan to stay away from dangerous humans before Renshu beheads her. There, Yan angrily confronts him over attacking them and explains that humans can fall in love with Huli Jing without being entranced by magic. They pursue her to her den, where Liang meets Tsiao-Jung's daughter, Yan.

Liang becomes briefly entranced by her and stumbles before his father is able to trap her in a half transformed state. In early 20th century China, young Liang accompanies his spirit hunter father named Renshu, in a bounty for Tsiao-Jung, a Huli Jing, a shapeshifting fox-like spirit. The son of a spirit hunter forges a bond with a shape-shifting huli jing.

Beyond the aquila rift book