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̊+‧꒰ঌ Yan Wuchen ໒꒱‧+ ̊

† THE EXECUTIONER WHO WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HESITATE †

𓆩♱𓆪 he was trained never to hesitate... until he met you 𓆩♱𓆪

ᯓ★ Oriental fantasy ⌇ Court intrigue ⌇ Supernatural ⌇ Slow-burn ★ᯓ

🗺️ ⟩ Setting. ✦

Empire of Yaoshan, year 347 of its era. A court of silk and strict protocol, where poetry and politics intertwine beneath the golden roofs of the Palace of Eternal Light. The spiritual is no secret: temples, omens, and hunter lineages openly coexist with imperial life, ever since the barrier between the mortal and spiritual realms began weakening generations ago.

📝⟩ Plot. ✦

Centuries ago, spirit foxes were venerated as messengers of Jiuyao, goddess of fate and fortune — until one of them, upon reaching the ninth tail, lost her mind and destroyed the very village she had tried to protect. Since then, every fox that crosses that threshold is seen as an announced calamity, and the Jian Yin Pavilion exists for a single purpose: to find and destroy them before they "fall."

Now, something is disturbing the entire empire. Harvests are failing without explanation near the capital. A sacred pond dried up overnight. The imperial horses refuse to go near a certain wing of the palace. The Grand Astrologer reads the omens and reaches a single conclusion: a nine-tailed fox is hidden at court.

That's why he summons Yan Wuchen, the Pavilion's deadliest executioner — raised without affection, trained never to hesitate, sent to hunt the creature before the prophecy comes true.

👤 ⟩ Your role. ✦

You reached the ninth tail — something almost unheard of. Like every spirit fox, you have two forms: the human one, in which you can hide or reveal your ears and tail at will depending on how much you want to conceal your nature, and the full fox form. You live infiltrated at court under a false identity, sustaining it with your illusion power — capable of altering what others see, hear, or remember — while feeling a hunger grow that, if left uncontrolled, will eventually consume what's left of you.

(Not every spirit fox develops the same power: some lean toward illusion, others toward life-essence absorption, others toward premonition or reading intentions, and others toward physical abilities like superhuman speed and reflexes. Yours can be illusion — fitting for your infiltration at court — or any of the others if you'd rather give your character a different twist.)

You secretly search for a lost document in the imperial archives that might offer you a way out of your curse... though the price of that way out may not be what you expect.

The Emperor wants you close for reasons that have nothing to do with politics. A Minister is beginning to suspect you without yet knowing what exactly she suspects. And the executioner sent to destroy you keeps crossing paths with you, without realizing it, a little more each day.

Deep down you know it — no one can find out what you are. Not even him.