Wu Ji's First Encounter with Jiang Ziya

By Pan Creek, a tributary of the Wei River, a gentle breeze drifted in and ripples shimmered across the water. Jiang Ziya sat as he always did on a bluestone by the bank, fishing rod in hand as he cast his line into the emerald waves.

His beard and hair were snow-white, and he wore coarse hemp clothes. His expression was tranquil, his eyes half-closed, and an otherworldly aura lingered around him. He seemed to have become one with the mountains and waters, utterly unconcerned with the clamor around him.

He sensed that his destined opportunity would arrive before long.

Yet before the figure of Ji Chang he had anticipated appeared, he was visited first by a woodcutter who had worked here for years.

The woodcutter was named Wu Ji. Every day, he made his living chopping firewood in the forests around Pan Creek.

At first, he paid no attention to the old man who fished there day after day, taking him for nothing more than an ordinary elder enjoying a leisurely retirement.

But for an entire month, every time he went up the mountain to chop wood and came down to cross the creek, he saw Jiang Ziya sitting in that very same spot, fishing rod in hand without moving an inch.

What puzzled him even more was that, when he had happened to draw near some time ago, he discovered that Jiang Ziya's hook was straight—and carried no bait at all. How could anyone catch fish like that?

His curiosity had steadily piled up, and today, after chopping a bundle of firewood, Wu Ji finally could not resist. He set down his shoulder pole and walked toward Jiang Ziya, his voice full of confusion and curiosity. "Elder, my name is Wu Ji. I'm a woodcutter from around here,