Reflection

This novel reimagines the animated film Mulan: What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld to save Captain Li Shang?

Fa Mulan is a young Chinese woman who has disguised herself as the male soldier Ping to serve in the Imperial army in place of her ailing father, Fa Zhou. At the Tung-Shao Pass, her regiment, led by Captain Li Shang, faces an overwhelming Hun army. With only one cannon remaining, Mulan spots a massive snow overhang behind the enemy forces, seizes the cannon, and fires it at the mountain. Mushu, her small dragon guardian, lights the fuse, and the resulting avalanche buries the Hun army. Before the avalanche reaches them, the Hun leader Shan-Yu attacks Mulan. Shang throws himself between them, taking a deep sword slash across his abdomen. With help from comrades Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po, Mulan drags the unconscious captain to safety.

Shang's condition deteriorates as the survivors march toward the Imperial City. Chi Fu, the Emperor's adviser, forbids anyone from helping Mulan tend to Shang, and she trails the group alone, blaming herself for his injury. In a delirious moment, Shang speaks of his dead father, General Li, whose army the Huns slaughtered. He tells Mulan he is dying and asks her to carry his ashes home. She promises but begs him to fight.

That night, Mulan falls asleep at Shang's side and awakens to find the ghost of General Li. He tells her Shang will not survive: His spirit is descending to Diyu, the Chinese Underworld, where King Yama decides whether souls are reincarnated or sent to Heaven. The only way to save Shang is to persuade Yama, but Shang's name already appears in Yama's book of judgment. Mulan declares she will try. When she wakes, ShiShi, an enormous stone lion and the Li family's guardian spirit, waits outside. The earth splits open, and ShiShi carries Mulan into Diyu.

They bluff past demon guards at the vermilion Gates of Diyu and cross the Bridge of Helplessness, a vast stone span over the Underworld's depths. King Yama, an immense deity with fiery eyes, summons them and turns ShiShi to stone for his arrogance. Mulan pleads for Shang's life. Yama refuses but, intrigued by her determination, proposes a wager: If Mulan finds Shang's spirit and escapes Diyu before sunrise, all three go free; if she fails, she remains his prisoner forever. Mulan accepts.

Yama restores ShiShi, and they enter a dead bamboo forest where General Li's ghost warns that Shang is in the Tower of the Last Glance to Home. There, Meng Po, the Lady of Forgetfulness, will bring Shang tea that erases all memories before reincarnation. General Li shares a childhood story only he could know, warning that Shang has accepted his death and will resist.

Mulan enters the tower and finds Shang's spirit, pale blue and translucent, gazing from a window. He believes Mulan is dead too and refuses to leave. When she recounts the childhood story, Shang believes her and agrees to come, but the tower crumbles as they flee, and all three plunge deeper into Diyu.

On a lower level, they discover a garden where an elderly woman offers them tea. Mulan recognizes her as Meng Po and shatters the spell before the tea erases their memories. They flee through demon soldiers to the Mountain of Knives, a peak bristling with blades. ShiShi stays behind to fight pursuing demons, and Mulan and Shang climb to the summit. Mulan discovers an ancient sword inscribed "The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all," its first character matching her family name, Fa.

Shang confides his grief over his father and describes wanting a wife who is smart, brave, kind, and honest. The last word stings Mulan, who has been deceiving him about her identity. Mulan's Fa family ancestors arrive and question whether Fa Zhou ever had a son, deepening Shang's suspicions. Shang confronts Mulan, demanding the truth. She tells him about her wager with Yama but cannot reveal more. ShiShi reappears, having survived, and defends Mulan's loyalty. Unable to keep lying, Mulan lets down her hair and reveals she is a woman who took her father's place. Shang calls her an imposter, warns that the penalty for impersonation is death, and walks away.

Alone, Mulan follows a fox into an elaborate illusion of her family home, crafted by Meng Po, where her parents offer the love and acceptance she has always craved. She nearly succumbs until Shang, convinced by ShiShi he was wrong, returns for her. His voice breaks the spell. Shang apologizes and affirms that Mulan is his friend regardless of her identity.

They enter the Cauldron, a volcano on the 97th level guarded by Huoguai, a massive fire demon who separates them. Fighting alone, Mulan discovers that her ancient sword, the Sword of the Blazing Sun, blazes with light when she summons her courage. She removes her armor and fights as herself for the first time, defeating the demons. She reunites with Shang and ShiShi, and together they lure Huoguai into the River of Hopelessness, a cursed waterway that transforms anyone who enters into a demon.

They reach Youdu, the City of the Dead on the 99th level, where ghosts await King Yama's judgment. Shang searches the crowds for his father's ghost but does not find him. Mulan learns that the Chamber of Mirrors leads to the 100th level and enters alone, unarmed. Inside, she faces three tests: her family condemning her, a false Shang demanding she kill him for freedom, and mirrors reflecting fractured versions of herself. In the final test, she kneels before a mirror showing a girl in a violet robe with a sword and a blossom. She declares that she is Fa Mulan, a woman who sacrifices for family, journeyed into the Underworld for a friend, and has finally learned to recognize herself. The mirror cracks into a staircase.

She emerges into a living forest, where Meng Po appears in her true form: a young woman who was once a half-immortal warrior disguised as a man to serve in the Emperor's army. The Sword of the Blazing Sun was hers. She tells Mulan the sword responds to a hero's heart, not divine blood. Meng Po heals Mulan and gives her a magnolia blossom. Mulan returns the sword, knowing her father's blade awaits in the living world. Meng Po directs her across the Bridge of Serenity, the final crossing to the exit.

Mulan reunites with Shang, whose spirit is regaining solidity. King Yama honors the wager and strikes Shang's name from his book. General Li says goodbye, expressing pride in Shang and praising Mulan's courage. ShiShi bids farewell, unable to pass through the gates. Before crossing, Shang tells Mulan the journey showed him how he feels about her. They pass through the gates hand in hand, and everything goes black.

Mulan wakes in the tent. Shang's fever is gone and his wound has closed. As the soldiers march toward the Imperial City, Shang reveals he remembers Diyu. He tells Mulan he meant what he said, asks to visit her family, and says he wants the Emperor to know the soldier who saved China is a woman. Together, they rejoin the march.