Ming Shen of the Rabbit, also known as Princess Iron Fan or the Golden Hair Rabbit, is the self-proclaimed ruler of Hyewon, a mountain-side village in the Haisong Kingdom in Midora. Known for her swift and rebellious nature and being the holder of the Rabbit's Iron Fan, which is described as a folding fan laced with thin iron, structured by sharp edges, and a long staff behind it. She is the youngest of the 12 Zodiacs and carries no royal position in the Shilon Court. As most offspring of Shen Hai are found at the fountain of divinity in Shilon, Ming, however, was cast out from the heavens for unknown reasons. She landed in a monastery, her impact so great that even those in the Shilon Court felt the rumble. When the locals who arrived at the scene discovered a newborn rabbit with golden silk hair, they immediately delivered her to the Shilon gates, hoping to prove their loyalty and spare punishment.

 

 However, upon reaching the Shilon Gates, the guards failed to believe their situation and had them arrested, but then Admiral Mao Rang, Zodiac of the Pig and Gatekeeper of the Divine Wall of Shilon, got up from his slumber for the first time in years and towered over the young rabbit and said in a soft voice. 

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"Leave them, this rabbit's place is in the field".

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Without question, they released the newborn hare into the mountains under Mao Rang's orders, leaving her to prance on the soil on her own. A youth not meant for a zodiac. Not for a rabbit, at least. Without guidance or protection, and with golden silk hair, it seemed this rabbit was meant to be game for the wolves. Her youth was spent being chased from the east all the way to the Haisong Kingdom on the western coast. Many times, she was caught and torn to pieces, but it takes more than a pack of wolves to kill an immortal rabbit of heaven. Over time and through trial and with honed luck, she learned to evade the hunter's tooth and claw. Her hunters grew from mere wolves to vicious yaoguais who wanted a piece of her golden silk hair, but alas, none could match their speed nor luck with hers, and they realized this chase was a game for fools.

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With her reputation known, she slowly learned to mimic the human form by observing nearby villages and townsfolk. She even tried to walk amongst them, going under the name Ming, which only subordinated her as a demon to the townsfolk, and chased her off. She made numerous attempts to reveal her humanity, yet it took saving their cattle from a rampant yaoguai for the village folk to recognize her. Realizing it took acts of heroism to please the townsfolk, she began wandering the mountains looking for beasts to challenge. With every foe she felled, the people's admiration for her grew, eventually declaring her an 'official' of the Hyewon "Goldend Court", a power and position she established for herself.

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Uncatchable and unbeatable, the rabbit mistress Ming gluttoned herself in her pride and began slaying yaoguais for sport, and began to lose her humanity with each beast slain. One day, she came across a wandering masked swordsman, whom Ming accused of being a yaoguai due to his concealed face, and began attacking him. Before her bladed fan got within a hair of his neck, the swordsman unsheathed his sword with such quickness and precision that the handle of Ming's Iron Fan snapped in half—the tool of a god, broken by the iron of a mere mortal. For the first time since her days of being the hunted, she knew fear once more. 

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The swordsman spoke to Ming, whose feet had been bound to the earth in shock. "The weapon you hold, fearsome, the way you swing it, sloppy. Whether you know it or not, your hunt for these beasts only puts your village in even more potential peril. If the officials of Shilon and the Celestial Court knew you made a mock-up of their name, then they would surely put the "Great Sage's mighty kingdom of Hyewon" to a test". The swordsman unsheathed his lethal, curved blade. "Become my disciple, and I will mend your fan, and guide you on a path that will make you the 'great sage' you think you are, or I will cut where you stand for the sake of the townsfolk of Hyewon.".

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