There are five Taoist mountains in China: Taishan Mountain (called Dongyue in Shandong Province), Hengshan Mountain (Nanyue in Hunan Province), Huashan Mountain (Xiyue in Shaanxi Province), Hengshan Mountain (Beiyue in Shanxi Province) and Songshan Mountain (Zhongyue in Henan Province).
Of these, the Huashan Mountain (Xiyue) boasts five major peaks, with the east peak facing the rising sun, the southern peak serving as home to many wild geese, the western peak being where lotuses grow, and the middle peak known as Jadite Girl. Together they blossom like a flower, hence the alternative name Flower Mountain, “flower” being pronounced “hua” in Chinese.
The guardian of the mountain was a water-like fairy called Third Goddess (San Shengmu) of Huashan. Living in a palace standing atop the Lotus Peak, she took care of the Lotus Lantern that had been presented by the Queen Mother of the West.
The Lotus Lantern possessed magic powers. When illuminated by it, all the immortals and devils would lose their own magic powers as a result. Extremely kind-hearted, the Third Goddess often took pains to show the way to those who became lost on the mountain, or helped those in fi nancial diffi culties.
One day, it snowed heavily and the wind howled. No one came for pilgrimage. Suddenly, however, as the fairy was singing and dancing merrily in her palace hall, a man pushed open the door and entered in a gust of wind and snow. Swiftly she regained her throne, presenting her official image as a statue of the Third Goddess of the Huashan Mountain, worshipped by all.
The man, named Liu Yanchang, simply wanted shelter from the wind and cold. He was on his way to the capital city to take part in the imperial examination but now found himself trapped on the snow-covered mountain.
As he examined the sacred statue of the Third Goddess, he was spellbound by her beauty and, after a while, sighed because unfortunately she was only a statue of a Goddess, not a real woman.
Out of his admiration for the Third Goddess, he took out his writing brush and composed a poem on the wall, reading:
Finding myself in a wonderland, I discover a beauty lovelier than peach fl owers.
Heart-broken am I, Liu Yan, For the only place to meet her is in dreams.
The Third Goddess watched Liu all the while, feeling at a loss as to what to do. He was handsome, smart and talented but she still racked her brains to find suitable adjectives to describe him. She told herself that she had fallen in love with him just as he had shown his love for her. But, how could a fairy marry a mortal man? It was not possible.
When the snow had stopped falling and the ferocious winds no longer howled, Liu left the hall sadly. And the Third Goddess was equally reluctant to see him go, her eyes shining with tears .
The Goddess followed the young man with her eyes until he was out of sight.
Shortly after Liu Yanchang left the Tem-ple of the Goddess, a dense fog suddenly enveloped the mountain, making it difficult to take even one step. Moreover, howls of wolves and roars of tigers came from all sides. The Goddess was worried about the scholar who traveled thus alone and promptly went out after him with her lotus lantern. Suddenly, she heard a cry for help from within the vast stretch of dense fog. A fierce tiger was attacking Liu Yanchang. The Goddess hastened to use the magic lotus lantern to illuminate the scene; the clouds and fog vanished at once and the tiger ran off . Liu Yanchang recognized that it was the Goddess who had rescued him. They looked at each other face to face and finally threw themselves into each other’s arms.
They were deeply attached to each other after they got married. Subsequently, when the imperial examination date was drawing near, the Goddess was pregnant. Before Liu resumed his journey to take the examination, he presented the Goddess with a piece of Chenxiang (gharu-wood) handed down from his ancestors and said that their son should be named Chenxiang. The Goddess walked for a long distance with Liu and they were both very much loath to part.
However, the God Erlang, elder brother of the Goddess, finally received the news that his sister had secretly married with a mortal. The God Erlang was imperious and fusty. In his opinion his sister had not only violated heavenly regulations but also brought shame on the family and caused him to lose face in the heavenly palace. He was afraid of his own position if the Jade Emperor condemned his sister. Without hesitation, he dispatched heavenly generals and soldiers and sent out his heavenly dog to Huashan Mountain to confront his sister.
The result was a disagreeable conver-sation that led to them fighting each other. But with the protection of the lotus lantern, it was hard for God Erlang to attack the Third Goddess. After a while, however, the Third Goddess suddenly felt a pain in her belly. She staggered, and the heavenly dog took this opportunity to snatch the lotus lantern in its jaws.
Hence, God Erlang overpowered the Third Goddess at one blow and ordered her to give up her mortal life. But the Third Goddess refused, making God Erlang extremely angry. He banished the Third Goddess into the Black Cloud Cave under the Lotus Peak, intending to keep her from ever coming out again.
