Scholar Liu Yi was riding home when he encountered a woman herding sheep in the wilderness. Her robes were tattered, but her beauty was unmistakably celestial. She was the daughter of the Dragon King, married to a cruel husband who had banished her to this desolate place.

'Take this letter to my father,' she begged Liu Yi. 'Deliver it to the great orange tree by the shore of Lake Dongting, and strike the trunk three times.' Liu Yi, who had never refused a woman in distress, agreed.

He found the tree and struck it thrice. The waters of the lake parted, and a crystal path led down to the Dragon King's palace — a realm of coral columns, phosphorescent pearls, and creatures that had never seen the sun.

The Dragon King wept at the letter. His brother, the Red Dragon, flew into such a rage that he destroyed his nephew's domain and brought his niece home. In gratitude, the Dragon King offered Liu Yi his daughter's hand in marriage.

But Liu Yi had only meant to help — he had never sought reward. He refused and returned to the mortal world. Yet fate would not let him forget. Three wives died young in Liu Yi's life, all under... unusual circumstances. And he began to wonder: was the Dragon King's daughter still waiting?