Legend of the White Snake

Original Story
Origin: Chinese
 * Legend of the White Snake 1
 * Legend of the White Snake 2

The River
Because Ray is the white snake, a boat mysteriously sailed towards them, when they were still at the banks. However, the river was so turbulent, that the boat was nearly destroyed. And during the time of chaos, Jae was suddenly thrown overboard.

Ray Samael
Ray is actually an ancestor of the original white snake. In the story, when the white snake gave birth to her son, he ended up being 1/2 snake 1/2 human. He was born in human form, but on certain days of the year, he could transform into a snake. The snake in the first zodiac race was in fact, the white snake's son.

Therefore, Ray being the reincarnation of the first zodiac snake, also is half snake and half human. Because of this, every other year, on September 9th, he is transformed into a white snake. This also explains his pale features.

The Necklace
Realgar is said to drive away away evil spirits, and in the original story, it struck Xu's wife ill. Thus, Ray's mother gave him a silver cross drenched in the realgar, hoping that the powers of the cross and herb would humanize Ray somehow. It does nothing to Ray's fangs, but it does limit his powers. He cannot use his touch to poison people, and neither can his bodily fluids other than blood (i.e. sweat, tears, etc.) It also helps him stay in his human form on sacred days like September 9th, though Ray still needs to put in effort to stay human.

One thing that's different though, is that it does not make Ray ill due to him being 1/2 human.

Xu Xian
I'm thinking of making the cat's sister a reincarnation of Xu Xian, but I'm not sure. It's still being decided. However, it would tie this legend in even more, referring to the glossy ganoderma, her accompanying her sister, the romance between them, etc.

Mount. E-Mei and West Lake
The group (after Rani leaves) finds that the river leads into the West Lake, where there is a grand red mansion nearby. After their exhausting battle with the river, they find refuge at the mansion (which seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but a beautiful nowhere.) At the mansion, resides an old woman with long, raven black hair and dark blue robes. The mansion's mistress gives Ray a small golden sac full of glossy ganoderma, to his bewilderment. Nonetheless, he takes it and it proves to help him later on in the story.

Also residing at the red mansion is a child of the zodiac.