The air in the city of Hangzhou was once filled with the sweet scent of osmanthus and the quiet promise of a peaceful life for Xu Xian and his wife, Bai Suzhen. They lived a life of quiet devotion, running a small apothecary where they treated the sick and the poor with a kindness that seemed almost otherworldly. To the neighbors, they were a perfect couple, but to the keen, judgmental eyes of the Buddhist monk Fahai, they were an abomination. Fahai, a master of the Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, was a man of absolute conviction. He believed the universe was governed by a strict hierarchy: humans belonged in the human realm, and spirits, no matter how virtuous, belonged in the wild or the celestial spheres. To him, Bai Suzhen was not a loving wife or a healer; she was a thousand-year-old white snake spirit whose very presence near a mortal man threatened the natural order of the world.
Fahai’s obsession with the 'purity' of the human realm led him to seek out Xu Xian. He did not see himself as a villain, but as a savior. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Fahai had already planted the seeds of doubt in Xu Xian’s mind, convincing him to serve his wife realgar wine—a substance known to reveal the true forms of spirits. When Bai Suzhen, weakened by the wine, transformed into a giant white serpent, the shock nearly killed Xu Xian. Though Bai Suzhen traveled to the ends of the earth to find the celestial lingzhi grass to restore her husband’s life, the trauma remained. Fahai saw this vulnerability as his opportunity to strike. He approached Xu Xian while the young man was still reeling from the revelation of his wife's nature, using his formidable spiritual authority to convince Xu Xian that his soul was in mortal peril. He told the young man that the only way to escape the 'demonic' influence of the snake was to seek sanctuary within the walls of the Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang.
Under the guise of spiritual protection, Fahai effectively kidnapped Xu Xian. He brought him to the temple, which sat majestically atop a hill overlooking the churning waters of the Yangtze River. Once inside the thick stone walls, Xu Xian found himself more a prisoner than a guest. Fahai subjected him to constant sutra chanting and lectures on the danger of earthly attachments. The monk’s goal was to break the bond between the mortal and the spirit, to wash away the memory of love with the cold water of asceticism. Xu Xian was hidden in the deepest chambers of the monastery, surrounded by monks who viewed his marriage as a sin. He was told that Bai Suzhen had moved on or that she was a monster seeking to devour his essence. Isolated from the world and his wife, Xu Xian’s spirit began to wither, yet his heart remained anchored to the woman who had saved him.
Word of the kidnapping soon reached Bai Suzhen and her loyal companion, the Green Snake Xiao Qing. Their fury was like a storm gathering over the East China Sea. They traveled to Zhenjiang, their hearts burning with a mixture of love and righteous indignation. Upon arriving at the foot of Jinshan, Bai Suzhen did not immediately resort to violence. She stood at the temple gates, a vision of grace and sorrow, and pleaded with Fahai to release her husband. She argued that her love was pure, that she had never harmed a soul, and that their marriage was a union of spirits recognized by the heavens. But Fahai was unmoved. From the heights of the temple, he looked down upon her and saw only a serpent trying to deceive a man. He refused to open the gates, declaring that a demon had no right to a human husband and that Xu Xian would remain under the protection of the Buddha until his mind was cleared of her influence.