The boy wore a little braid sticking straight up, lips red as if painted with vermilion, teeth like neatly strung shells, and looked exceptionally clever. After hearing him out, his bright black eyes rolled, and he replied in a crisp voice, "So you are True Person Yuding's talented disciple! Wait here while I report to my lord."
Yang Jian stood solemnly with his hands at his sides, patiently waiting without a word. The boy curled his lip, turned, and entered the cave. Before long, he hurried back out. "The three imperial lords have decreed that you may enter!"
Yang Jian adjusted his robes and straightened his cap, then stepped steadily into the cave abode.
Only to see three Saints seated upright as pines atop an Eight Trigrams ritual platform. The one in the middle had twin horns thrusting toward the heavens, his majesty held deep within; the one on the left wore azure leaves as robes and a belt of mottled tigers and leopards' hide about his waist; the one on the right was clad in an emperor's robes, tassels of his crown gleaming as they hung down.
Yang Jian dared not transgress propriety. He immediately bowed low in a grand salute. "Disciple Yang Jian, acting on True Person Yuding's orders, has come to plead the case of King Wu of Xiqi—Lü Yue is now aiding Su Hu in raising troops in rebellion, spreading plague poison everywhere. The people of the entire prefecture lie ill and cannot rise, groaning through the night and tossing without rest. King Wu's life hangs by a thread, and Jiang Shang may perish at any moment! This disciple rashly begs the three Sage Emperors to show mercy and bestow divine medicine to dispel this vast calamity and save the ten thousand people from fire and