Extensive Records of Taiping: Xue Cong
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lotus_genieFrom the Taiping Guangji (Extensive Records of Taiping)
Book 357: Yaksha Part II, Section 2: Xue Cong
During the Yuanhe Era, an Imperial Scholar from the previous round of exams named Xue Cong was touring an ancient house of worship in a certain village within the confines of Weizhou Province in the Hebei Circuit. As sunset approached, he wished to request shelter there for the night, so he and his attendants went to seek out the Abbot. It happened that the Abbot was not present, and the only responses they heard were moans from a dark room to the west of the temple storehouse. They went over to investigate, and found a sick old monk of gruesome countenance, with his untrimmed hair and beard white as snow.
Xue Cong called out to his companions, "How uncanny this sick monk seems!"
The monk angrily replied. "What's so uncanny about me? If you young upstarts wish to hear about something uncanny, this sick monk can tell you a thing or two."
Xue Cong and the others said, "Of course."
The monk said, "When this sick monk was twenty years of age, I was fond of traveling through remote lands, abstaining from food, subsiding only on elixirs. I reached the Juyan Pass only some thirty to fifty kilometers from the sea. It was just dawn, and I had already traveled a dozen kilometers. Right before the sun rose, I suddenly stumbled upon a withered tree standing 900 meters high and several meters in circumference, and completely hollow. This monk peered under a raised root, and found that the top of the tree opened toward the air. An entire person could fit within.
"This sick monk continued several kilometers northward and saw, in the distance, a woman in a red dress, barefoot and shoulders exposed, hair in disarray, running fast as the wind. As she approached me, she begged, 'Oh, would you save my life?'
"I asked, 'From what?'
"She said, 'Someone pursues me. If you would deny seeing me pass by, then my gratitude would know no bounds.'
"Shortly after, she dived into the hollow tree.
"I continued onward for three to five kilometers, and suddenly I encountered a rider on an armored warhorse, decked all in gold raiment, armed with bow and arrow and sword, galloping like the lightning, with the horse's every step crossing thirty or so meters, its gait holding steady whether it soared into the air or stepped over the earth.
"When the rider came before me, he asked, 'Have you seen anyone pass this way?'
"This monk said, 'I have seen no one.'
"He spoke again, 'Conceal her not. She is no human being, but a Flying Yaksha. She and her several thousand compatriots have rampaged through the various heavens, with the victims of their savagery numbering up to 800,000. Now they have all been arrested and put to death, with only this one slipping away. Last night the Emperor of Heaven dispatched me thrice from the Koṭaranivāsinī Heaven to search for her. I have already pursued her 84,000 kilometers to this place. There are 8,000 like me hunting after her. Heaven itself has pronounced the sinful wretch's guilt, so, Pastor, there is no need for you to shelter her.'
"Thus I told him all I knew. Shortly after, he arrived at the withered tree. This monk turned back and followed after him to observe what would happen. The Celestial Emissary dismounted and peered into the tree. He then remounted and circled about the trunk, gradually ascending upwards. When the horse and rider were halfway up the length of the tree, a red form shot out of the top. The horse and rider pursed it up seven or eight meters as they entered the cloudy expanses, eventually vanishing into the azure vault. After a while, three or four dozen drops of blood rained down, so I understood that the Yaksha had been shot down.
"That was a truly uncanny encounter. Are you young fellows not ignorant for believing a mere sick monk to be uncanny?"
Book 357: Yaksha Part II, Section 2: Xue Cong
During the Yuanhe Era, an Imperial Scholar from the previous round of exams named Xue Cong was touring an ancient house of worship in a certain village within the confines of Weizhou Province in the Hebei Circuit. As sunset approached, he wished to request shelter there for the night, so he and his attendants went to seek out the Abbot. It happened that the Abbot was not present, and the only responses they heard were moans from a dark room to the west of the temple storehouse. They went over to investigate, and found a sick old monk of gruesome countenance, with his untrimmed hair and beard white as snow.
Xue Cong called out to his companions, "How uncanny this sick monk seems!"
The monk angrily replied. "What's so uncanny about me? If you young upstarts wish to hear about something uncanny, this sick monk can tell you a thing or two."
Xue Cong and the others said, "Of course."
The monk said, "When this sick monk was twenty years of age, I was fond of traveling through remote lands, abstaining from food, subsiding only on elixirs. I reached the Juyan Pass only some thirty to fifty kilometers from the sea. It was just dawn, and I had already traveled a dozen kilometers. Right before the sun rose, I suddenly stumbled upon a withered tree standing 900 meters high and several meters in circumference, and completely hollow. This monk peered under a raised root, and found that the top of the tree opened toward the air. An entire person could fit within.
"This sick monk continued several kilometers northward and saw, in the distance, a woman in a red dress, barefoot and shoulders exposed, hair in disarray, running fast as the wind. As she approached me, she begged, 'Oh, would you save my life?'
"I asked, 'From what?'
"She said, 'Someone pursues me. If you would deny seeing me pass by, then my gratitude would know no bounds.'
"Shortly after, she dived into the hollow tree.
"I continued onward for three to five kilometers, and suddenly I encountered a rider on an armored warhorse, decked all in gold raiment, armed with bow and arrow and sword, galloping like the lightning, with the horse's every step crossing thirty or so meters, its gait holding steady whether it soared into the air or stepped over the earth.
"When the rider came before me, he asked, 'Have you seen anyone pass this way?'
"This monk said, 'I have seen no one.'
"He spoke again, 'Conceal her not. She is no human being, but a Flying Yaksha. She and her several thousand compatriots have rampaged through the various heavens, with the victims of their savagery numbering up to 800,000. Now they have all been arrested and put to death, with only this one slipping away. Last night the Emperor of Heaven dispatched me thrice from the Koṭaranivāsinī Heaven to search for her. I have already pursued her 84,000 kilometers to this place. There are 8,000 like me hunting after her. Heaven itself has pronounced the sinful wretch's guilt, so, Pastor, there is no need for you to shelter her.'
"Thus I told him all I knew. Shortly after, he arrived at the withered tree. This monk turned back and followed after him to observe what would happen. The Celestial Emissary dismounted and peered into the tree. He then remounted and circled about the trunk, gradually ascending upwards. When the horse and rider were halfway up the length of the tree, a red form shot out of the top. The horse and rider pursed it up seven or eight meters as they entered the cloudy expanses, eventually vanishing into the azure vault. After a while, three or four dozen drops of blood rained down, so I understood that the Yaksha had been shot down.
"That was a truly uncanny encounter. Are you young fellows not ignorant for believing a mere sick monk to be uncanny?"