Lu Chen sighed with deep emotion. "Brooding thoughts cost wine and daylight; sun and moon fly like a shuttle, bounce like pellets."
Once, this had been the singing and dancing grounds of an imperial princess. Later, not even the sound of the night watch could be heard from its palace halls. It was only after Prefect Yu took over all of Wuteng Mountain, and had this long-abandoned private residence of that Golden Branches and Jade Leaves imperial woman—now enfeoffed as a County Princess—restored and expanded, that it recovered its former bustling splendor. The three had merely approached Fenwan Mansion without yet calling at its gates, and already they could smell the heavy scent of wine and face powder drifting on the night wind.
Lu Chen casually asked, "Chen Ping'an, do you know where the names Zhuiyuan Mountain and Fenwan Mansion came from?"
Chen Ping'an said, "Zhou Qiu only mentioned that Zhuiyuan Mountain has cave cliff carvings, and that its name is related to a prophecy. Zhao Fuyang regarded it as the foundation of his path to enlightenment. As for Fenwan Mansion, I don't know."
Earlier, from the summit of Ink Wash Peak, Chen Ping'an had gazed into the distance toward Hehuan Mountain and seen two specks of phosphorescence. Apart from Zhuiyuan and Wuteng, the upper and lower mountains resembled two snakes twining tails; the locations of Yinyun Mansion and Fenwan Mansion likewise held a hidden wondrous function where one yin and one yang qi met. Yet Chen Ping'an could only make out the general shape. After all, realms were like mountains: only by standing high could one see deep and far. This Talisman puppet clone bearing a thread of his consciousness greatly restricted his sight.
Lu Chen smiled. "If one observed the phases of the moon from beyond the heavens,