Hsing-chen / Shao-yu

Hsing-chen is a talented Buddhist monk who encounters eight fairies and begins to question his commitment to Buddhism. As punishment, he is taken to the underworld and reincarnated as Shao-yu. Shao-yu is perfect in every way. He is born to peasants, but through skill, cunning, and luck, he becomes one of the most powerful people in the Tang Dynasty. He encounters each of the eight fairies from his previous life as Hsing-chen and marries them all, taking two princesses as wives and six concubines. At the end of his life, he rejects his worldly status and wakes up as Hsing-chen on his meditation mat. Hsing-chen's master cedes control of the monastery to him, and he eventually ascends to paradise.

Shao-yu is the main character of the novel. He is abnormally handsome and smart, and he is expertly skilled in poetry, music, military arts, and anything else he...