Liaozhai Story:The Painted Skin

A scholar named Wang shelters a beautiful runaway woman, ignoring a priest’s warning that he is surrounded by evil. He later spies on her and sees a hideous green demon painting a human skin, which it wears to appear beautiful. The demon kills Wang, tearing out his heart. His wife saves him by swallowing a beggar’s filthy phlegm, which becomes a new heart. The story warns that a pretty illusion often hides a deadly truth.