Yunqi returned to his lodgings with a great pile of books in his arms.
He sat down at his desk, first took out the White Tiger Seven Lodges Scroll, and slowly peeled away the paper seal on the painting scroll.
A gleam of silvery-white radiance immediately shone through the scroll. As the silver light fell across Yunqi's face, it gave him the icy sensation of a blade cutting against his skin.
He placed the scroll at the far right of the desk and slowly unrolled it toward the left. Once unfurled, its silver radiance grew brighter still, stabbing into his eyes, and Yunqi instinctively closed them.
"Roar!"
A tiger's roar rang out from nowhere, making Yunqi force his eyes open despite the tears.
Just then, he happened to see a white tiger leap out of the painting into the air, then vanish into a river of stars that had likewise appeared from nowhere. By the time he tried to look more closely, it had disappeared without a trace.
He marveled at the wonders of immortal arts, and understood that this ancient relic from the Warring States period was indeed extraordinary.
He studied the painting carefully. Its background was black, the outlines of its figures silver, and their garments a riot of colors. It looked as though a master painter had only just laid down his brush; nothing about it suggested a rubbing taken from a screen several thousand years old.
On closer examination, the scroll depicted the following figures, from right to left:
The Star Lord of Kui Wood. In the painting, this star lord reclined upon a slab of jade, supporting his head with one hand and bracing a lustrous green saber with the other, his eyes glaring fiercely. His face was indigo, his fangs white, and unruly crimson whiskers sprouted from either side of his head. Three or four thick tufts of purple beard hung beneath his chin. A pale yellow robe was draped askew over him, exposing his blue-green legs and bare feet, their joints like gnarled stumps and jutting branches on a cliff.
The Star Lord of Bond Metal. In the painting, this star lord stood tall and powerfully built, cradling a sword. He wore a loose russet robe, a black square cap, and thick-soled official boots. His square face was bright yellow, with a drooping mustache above his lips and a ring of thick beard around his jaw. His eyes flashed like lightning, and his bearing was imposing.
The Star Lord of Stomach Earth. In the painting, this star lord stood with his hands behind his back, holding a long spear at an angle. He wore armor beneath a yellow robe and a crown adorned with pheasant feathers, cutting a formidable figure.
Hairy Head Sun Star Lord. In the painting, this star lord was splendidly dressed, wearing a peach-leaf crown adorned with golden beads and a vermilion robe patterned with colored clouds encircling stars. Auspicious clouds gathered thickly around stars arranged into the Hairy Head lodge. A warm yellow jade belt encircled his waist, set with agates of various colors. Tucked into it was a ceremonial tablet painted with exquisite landscapes of mountains and rivers.
Hairy Head Sun Star Lord was not particularly tall or broad, but rather slender, with a pale, beardless face, fiery eyes with golden pupils, and a hooked nose.
The star lord held his left hand behind his back and raised his right high, pinching a ball of fire between thumb and forefinger. On closer inspection, a fine embroidery needle lay within that fire. With one eye narrowed and his head tilted back, he looked as though he had just finished refining a treasure and was examining the needle in the sunlight.
The Star Lord of Net Moon. In the painting, this star lord wore a moon-white court dress, its tassels cascading in layer upon layer. Bright pearls adorned her hair, ears, and neck, truly resplendent with jewels. She held a sword in each hand and gazed ahead, anger and baleful intent in her eyes, her heroic spirit almost palpable.
The Star Lord of Turtle Beak Fire. In the painting, this star lord wore the official robes of a celestial officer, purple interwoven with black, exceedingly noble. His face was red, his mouth pointed, and his eyes like glowing coals. He gripped a short rod of red iron, his expression furious.
The Star Lord of Three Stars Water. In the painting, this star lord was tall and powerfully built, with thick brows, large eyes, an ape's long arms, and a bear's sturdy waist. He wore blue-green armor beneath a robe as blue as rippling water. With his left hand on his hip and a great seal resting on his right palm, he appeared to be rebuking someone from on high.
These seven star lords occupied the seven elemental affiliations of yin, yang, and the five elements. Arrayed beneath the White Tiger of the west, they governed warfare and commanded slaughter. Surely they would suffice as the principal deities of the temple now within his mind, and later as the landscape deities of his five viscera.
Yunqi intended to open his Heart Mansion, so its Inner Landscape Deity would necessarily belong to fire. By rights, the Star Lord of Turtle Beak Fire should have been his first choice, yet Yunqi preferred Hairy Head Sun Star Lord.
There were three reasons.
First, Hairy Head Sun Star Lord was a deity of the sun. Although he transcended the five elements, he was also the source of the fire aspect. Combining the five elements into yin and yang was difficult, but deriving the five elements from yin and yang was simple. There was nothing improper about making him the principal deity of the Heart Mansion.
Second, the true form of Hairy Head Sun Star Lord was a great rooster with a double comb and golden eyes. The rooster was "the bird of five virtues." As the ancient saying went, "The crown upon its head is civility; the spurs upon its feet are martial prowess; daring to fight an enemy before it is courage; calling to others when it finds food is benevolence; keeping watch through the night without missing the hour is trustworthiness." By contrast, the true form of the Star Lord of Turtle Beak Fire was a fire ape, flighty and quick to anger, which Yunqi did not favor.
Third, the rooster was a bird of yang, serving as the Dawn Caller. It subdued yin energy and held dominion over all the spirits, monsters, insects, and serpents beneath heaven. As the officer of the Heart Mansion, it naturally embodied the authority to command the Five Palaces and give orders to the hundred apertures.
With an idea settled in his heart, Yunqi thought it through carefully several more times. Once he was certain there was nothing amiss, he made his decision.
He rolled up the painting and reapplied the paper seal, lest its divine intent leak away too quickly.
Then he began leafing through the Daoist Temple Construction Manual, focusing on the essentials of building temples for yang officers, celestial officers, and fire gods.
Spring passed and winter came. Today marked Major Snow.
Pine Green Lake lay within a pine forest south of Little Ten Thousand Mountain, rarely visited by anyone.
Today was the sixth day of the eleventh lunar month, right in the season of Major Snow. In fact, heavy snow had already fallen for five days straight. All around was a boundless white expanse, snow on the ground and clouds and mist in the sky, leaving their boundaries impossible to distinguish.
Snow blanketed the pine forest. Only one place at its center remained vividly green: Pine Green Lake. Cold mist curled above the lake, yet its waters did not freeze. Within the icy fog hanging over its center was a single red speck.
A biting wind swept through the pines and blew aside a corner of the fog, revealing that the red speck was actually a cloud of fire.
A young Daoist stood upon the fiery cloud, his eyes half closed, repeating a sequence of movements:
He lifted both hands along his arms from his sides, swept them forward in arcs around the Changqiang and Shenshu apertures, and raised them before his body to the level of his collarbones. His arms formed a circle as though holding a ball, his fingertips facing one another.
Then he sank into a squat, lowering his arms with his body and slowly placing his hands just above his knees.
Accompanying these movements, the young Daoist steadily uttered a syllable:
[Chui]!
When he finished drawing out the long syllable, the youth slowly rose with his inhalation, letting his arms fall naturally to his sides.
As he inhaled, he also drew thin wisps of the lake's cold mist into his mouth.
At that moment, anyone looking down from above could easily have seen a dark green shadow swimming through the lake beneath the red cloud.
"All done. Thank you for guarding me, fellow Daoist."
The young Daoist addressed the water below.
Splash!
Suddenly, water splashed, and an enormous creature broke through the surface, thrusting out a great head that resembled both a dragon and a snake, yet was neither.
Green scales covered the creature, and its dragon's head had no horns. It was a green chi-dragon.
The head the green chi-dragon raised above the lake was about as large as the young Daoist standing upon the red cloud. Judging by its build, it had not yet reached adulthood and was still a juvenile.
The little green chi-dragon opened its mouth and spat something onto the cloud. The young Daoist caught it: a dark green guqin.
Seeing the youth catch the guqin, the little green chi-dragon's emerald eyes immediately filled with delight and anticipation.
"Shall I play Fisher Girl again?"
The little green chi-dragon nodded repeatedly.
The young Daoist smiled and agreed, set both hands upon the strings, and began playing the ancient Tang-dynasty melody, Fisher Girl.
This little tune was obscure. The young Daoist's father had stumbled upon it in some old musical score in his youth, though no one knew which. Unexpectedly, it was also a favorite of this young chi-dragon.
Several months earlier, while gathering water energy over the lake, he had found himself there at midnight on the Mid-Autumn Festival. With the moon reflected in the calm waters, he had begun humming the melody through which his parents had pledged their love, only to draw the green chi-dragon to him, lingering and unwilling to leave.
Yunqi plucked the strings. The tone of this guqin, named Heavenly Wind Over Pine and Snow, was naturally worlds apart from that of his father's ordinary instrument. Yet at that moment, Yunqi missed his father's playing beyond measure, and missed the warm, contented smile his mother wore whenever she heard this tune.
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