In episode 17 of the fantasy drama Veil of Shadows (月鳞绮纪), a nine-tailed fox named Wu Wuyan (雾妄言) stands alone under a full moon. She raises a blade to her own tail. This is not a battle. It is a desperate attempt to cut away her magic, her identity, and her painful past. She wants to become mortal and disappear. But why would anyone throw away centuries of power? The answer hides in three crushing weights: a king's suspicion, a century of blood, and a love she cannot face.
The Fox King's Doubt
Every full moon, the Fox King summons all foxes from the No-Moon sect back to the Primordial Sacred Spring for memory sharing. There is no hiding. Wu Wuyan has avoided this for over a hundred years using a necklace given by the Long Shen (龙神). But that necklace is now a liability. The Fox King sensed something wrong with her long ago. When she took a token from the Shilin Zong (侍鳞宗) and left, he sent Lu Wuyi (露芜衣) to investigate.
Lu Wuyi did not catch Wu Wuyan meeting the Long Shen alone. But she did smell the god's unique scent on her. She stole the token from Wu Wuyan's belt and went straight to the Long Shen. "What do you want her to do?" Lu Wuyi asked. "Whatever it is, I can do it too." The Long Shen did not deny the deal. He only said that Wu Wuyan would never give away her own token. That was confirmation enough. Then he "imprisoned" Lu Wuyi—though the cage looked more like a possessive lover's game.
The fact remained: Wu Wuyan had made a secret alliance behind the Fox King's back. Lu Wuyi did not know the full details of their cooperation. But she knew enough. And on the next full moon, the Fox King would see everything through Lu Wuyi's shared memories. Even if Wu Wuyan sealed her own memories away again, the truth would leak out. Returning to the No-Moon sect meant certain death—or worse, becoming a puppet for something far more evil.
The Weight of Blood
Wu Wuyan has killed. Many times. Officials, scholars, generals—her hands have been red for centuries. Episode 7 shows her exhaustion clearly. She did not want any of it. She felt trapped, used as a tool. She dreamed of tail severing and living as a powerless mortal. But she could not leave her sisters behind. That is why she turned to the Long Shen, whose real name is Chiwen (螭吻). She hoped to find a way to free everyone, not just herself.
The clues were there all along. In episode 7, the double-flower mage Si Feng (司封) appeared. When Wu Wuyan summoned him with a spirit talisman, his first words were: "It's been over a hundred years." That timeline matches the destruction of the Jiao (蛟) clan. In episode 17, she confesses to Wu Shiguang (武拾光) that she has been secretly investigating why she keeps reincarnating, why her memories reset after the sacred spring's sharing, and why her magic residue lingers in the Blackwater River.
She found nothing until the Star Stone Illusion. There, her altered memories slowly awakened. The truth was horrifying: she had been possessed by Jiuying (九婴), the nine-headed monster, when the Jiao clan was massacred. The Fox King's consciousness had not awakened—it was Jiuying's magic controlling her body. She had tried to lock those memories away again, sealing them in her necklace. But this time, there was no escape. The illusion broke her last defenses.
3 Reasons to Break Free
Reason 1: the memory share cannot be fooled anymore. On the next full moon, the Fox King would see everything through Lu Wuyi's memories. Even if Wu Wuyan sealed her own, Lu Wuyi already knew about her deal with the Long Shen. Returning to the No-Moon sect meant certain death—or worse, becoming Jiuying's puppet again. Severing her tail was the only way to break the lunar phase power that forces all foxes back to the spring. Without her spiritual tail, she would be free. She would also be human and powerless.
Reason 2: Wu Shiguang. Her last words before freezing herself were "Don't hate me." A proud nine-tailed fox's final plea—for her lover not to hate her. After the Star Stone Illusion, she avoided him. She was blind during the freezing and never saw him chop off his own frozen hands and feet just to calm her panic. She did not know if he could forgive her for the Jiao massacre, even if it was not her choice. So she tested him: she asked for her moon-summoning bead back. When he actually returned it, her heart cracked. She laid out the truth—their meeting was part of her deal with Chiwen, not love. She gave him a choice: seal the truth or walk away. He walked away. She disappeared. On the night of the full moon, she chose the blade.
Reason 3: her heart. She is a demon fox by nature, but fate gave her a conscience. She cannot stand injustice. She will not be an accomplice to evil. Knowing she was Jiuying's vessel broke something inside her. She could have gone back to the Fox King, offered up her memories of the illusion, and begged for mercy. The Fox King would have kept her—she was too useful. But that would mean continuing to kill, continuing to serve Jiuying's plan. The Shilin Zong is still hunting for the remaining three soul shards of Jiuying. And Wu Wuyan, once possessed, might carry one inside her. She would rather die. She would rather sever her tail and vanish than become a weapon against the people she loves.
She did not go through with it. Wu Shiguang stopped her. But the ending will not be kinder. The Shilin Zong is still hunting. And if a shard of Jiuying still hides inside her, then tail severing was only the beginning of her nightmare. What comes next will be worse.
