Mulan Kills the White Fox

Mulan kills the White Fox in a decisive reversal: when Lu Ting-Pin is too stricken to defend himself, Mulan picks up his fallen sword and turns the attack against the creature. The White Fox had claimed that no man could kill her, but Mulan is not a man, and the sword's celestial blue flames destroy her. The act saves Lu Ting-Pin, brings the White Fox's attack to an end, and unexpectedly satisfies the condition of Lu Ting-Pin's punishment.

Immediate Crisis

The confrontation begins with Daji addressing Lu Ting-Pin as a demon and accusing him of having destroyed the woman he loved. Lu Ting-Pin reacts as if struck: he falls to his knees, drops the sword, and covers his face. His collapse leaves him exposed just as Daji's expression reveals her satisfaction. She changes back into her beautiful, vicious appearance, then boasts that no man can kill her. Her teeth lengthen into the fangs of the White Fox, whose attention remains fixed on Lu Ting-Pin as she raises her claws to attack.

Mulan recognizes the danger before the attack lands. She seizes the sword from beside Lu Ting-Pin and turns toward the White Fox, interrupting the apparent certainty of the creature's advantage. The change in who holds the weapon matters: Lu Ting-Pin has been rendered helpless by Daji's accusation, while Mulan acts despite facing a threat that has declared itself invulnerable to men. The White Fox responds with fury and leaps at her, converting the moment from a threat against Lu Ting-Pin into a direct contest with Mulan.

The Sword and the Reversal

Mulan swings with both hands and drives the sword into the White Fox. Celestial blue flames burst from the weapon; its strike is described as moving almost by itself, and the cold fire expands until it engulfs the attacker. The White Fox's shriek ends as the flames go out. Mulan is left on the ground, still gripping the hilt, and initially cannot tell whether the creature has vanished or is preparing another attack.

The apparent disappearance becomes legible when Mulan looks at the blade. The White Fox has become a fox-shaped pool of black ooze. Its sickly-sweet smell reminds Mulan of Daji's poisonous honey, tying the creature's destruction to the poison associated with her earlier deceptive form. This residue does not remain a single inert trace: it trembles, and scorpions, spiders, snakes, and caterpillars emerge from it as the pool diminishes. The White Fox's defeat is therefore represented not by a body but by a dispersal of poisonous creatures.

Aftermath in the Garden

Mulan watches the pests scatter beneath the lotus blooms and toward the far corners of the garden. Their escape carries a consequence beyond the immediate fight: they later blight one of the Queen Mother of the West's prized azaleas. The White Fox is gone, but the residue of her destructive presence persists in the place where she was killed. That small later consequence gives the ending a material aftermath rather than treating the victory as a clean erasure of everything connected to the enemy.

The immediate outcome is nevertheless clear. The White Fox no longer threatens Lu Ting-Pin, and Mulan's action has settled the crisis created when he fell beneath Daji's accusation. The reversal also gives practical force to the White Fox's boast: the claim that no man could kill her does not protect her from Mulan, who takes up the weapon and acts where Lu Ting-Pin cannot.

Lu Ting-Pin's Punishment

The scene's consequence extends beyond the White Fox's death. After the Jade Rabbit has regained strength, Lu Ting-Pin asks whether he can help and explains that his punishment required the sword to kill ten thousand demons, but did not specify that he himself had to wield it. Since Mulan used his sword to kill the White Fox, the requirement has been met. His dry exchange with the Jade Rabbit confirms the unexpected result, and he winks at Mulan.

Lu Ting-Pin's recovery is marked in his appearance and weapon: he looks more vivid, his clothing is a brighter blue, and the sword he has cleaned gleams as metal rather than wood. These changes follow the completion of the punishment and distinguish the restored Lu Ting-Pin from the subdued figure who had dropped the sword. The episode thus joins two outcomes that initially seem separate. Mulan's intervention defeats the White Fox and saves Lu Ting-Pin; the same intervention also completes the condition attached to his long punishment, even though he was not the person who struck the fatal blow.