Dee, the detective serving Chinese empress Wu Zetian, is called upon to investigate a series of strange events in Loyang, including the appearance of mysterious warriors wearing Chiyou ghost masks, foxes that speak human language and the pillar sculptures in the palace coming alive.
Painted Skin is based on one of Pu Songling's classic short stories in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Zhou Xun stars as Xiao Wei, a fox spirit that feasts on human hearts in order to maintain her lovely, youthful appearance. When General Wang Sheng (Chen Kun) 'rescues' her from a band of bandits and brings her home, trouble brews as the demon falls in love with the general.
During the reign of King Zhou, an official enters his bedchamber, and is devoured by the monstrous tails of Daji, his concubine. Outside their city, several warriors within a metal wagon discuss their strategies to free the Invisible People and their Chief, when Jiang Ziya appears to them. He tells them that when King Zhou was younger, he let himself become possessed by the Black Dragon for his quest for power.
After losing her family to fox hunters, five-tailed Yobi lives in the forest with some shipwrecked aliens, far away from the humans. When one of her alien friends gets captured by a villager, Yobi has no choice but to adventure into the human world to rescue him. At the village, Yobi meets many humans, including Geum Yee who studies at a school for maladjusted children. Interested in Geum Yee, Yobi joins the students and revels in the fun of human life, but both a fox hunter and a mysterious shadow man are on her trail.
Wang Sheng, a Ming-Dynasty scholar who just failed the Imperial Examination, works together with his fellow villagers through many strange but fantastic approaches to change his hometown’s backwardness and his own fate. He accidentally meets with a Fox Spirit and involves himself in a series of weird adventures, both physically and emotionally, only to completely change his own life.
When she helplessly falls in love with her mortal enemy, the beautiful yet cursed fox spirit known as Snow Lady causes her mother much trepidation. To make matters worse, a ruthless tracker emerges and threatens to alter her fate. Darkly comical and hauntingly stylish, this magical gothic tale from Hong Kong also features performances from Wai Yiu and director Ma Wu.
Yang buys a painting of fox fairy. When he faces the painting and calls "Qing Mei", a fox fairy will get out the painting and stay together with Yang. Yang's parents invite a Taoist to catch the fox, but a vampire appears to kill the Taoist's assistant and seduce Yang. The fox fairy fights the vampire to protect Yang.
Lawrence is a traveling merchant selling various goods from a horse-drawn cart. One day, he arrives at a village and meets a beautiful girl with the ears and tail of an animal! Her name is Holo the Wisewolf and she brings bountiful harvests. She wishes to return to her homeland, and Lawrence offers to take her. Now, the once-lonely merchant and the once-lonely wisewolf begin their journey north.
Lawrence, a traveling merchant searching for profit, finds a naked girl with the ears and tail of a wolf asleep in his cart. Her name is Holo – a harvest goddess with an untamed beast lurking inside who longs to return to her beloved northern home. Armed with his street smarts and her animal instincts, a simple peddler and a forgotten deity begin a journey through the wild countryside. Along their path, the riches of happiness shall be reaped, even as the bankruptcy which dwells in the human heart is exposed.
The son of an aristocratic family Wang Yuanfeng is not interested in wealth or romance but is obsessed with solving cases. After he accidentally saves the kind-hearted and naive fox spirit, Xiao Cui, she marries him to pay the debt of gratitude. Yuanfeng, however, stays away from her while Xiao Cui continuously makes trouble for him. When Yuan Feng later becomes county magistrate, she helps him with his investigations.
Each story is based on a strange tale from an ancient Chinese text.
