In the kingdom of Xianle, the Crown Princess, Xie Lian, is the darling of high and low alike. She is gifted with the sword, beautiful beyond words, a paragon of chaste virtue, devoted to her people. Everyone expects that before she reaches her full majority she will present herself to the Imperial Court in the southeast, and there she will be granted a boon, something for the glory of Xianle - some of the maidens who seek boons and become 神女 get selfish, trivial things, but not her, she'll do something for her country. It's not customary to treat girls like gods before they've sought their boons and racked up some heroic deeds, but that's not a real rule, and there are statues of her, covered in flowers and presented with bowls of food, like she's a god already.

Indeed, when she's seventeen, she and her most loyal retainers make the pilgrimage to the Imperial Court. All three of them make their wishes, and the statues of Xie Lian are amended to bear the white ribbon that is her magical weapon, and their pedestals are engraved with her wish, "I wish to save the common people!" She is seldom seen at the Xianle royal palace, anymore, skipping here and there throughout her country to rescue her people from monsters and bandits and disasters of all kinds. She's a hero, a goddess, a princess, a legend.