Chapter Fifteen: The Old Mother Temple on Mount Li
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When many people hear the name Mother Li Shan, the first image that comes to mind is the tender, loving, and compassionate mother from the “Journey to the West” episode “The Four Saints Testing the Zen Mind”—the mother-in-law who tricked Zhu Bajie into wearing a pearl-embroidered shirt.
In truth, Mother Li Shan existed long before the creation of heaven and earth. She is an ancient goddess of immense power. Master Xing’s primordial spirit, the leader of the Kunlun Sect, is her prized disciple, making Mother Li Shan the ancestral teacher of all Kunlun disciples.
Today, Master Xing drove me and Yang Yue out to the remote Mother Li Shan Temple in the countryside to pay our respects to my revered ancestral teacher. As we ascended, the mountain path grew narrower and narrower until the car could only go halfway; from there, we had to continue on foot.
Because the temple is so secluded, we were the only three people hiking there that afternoon.
I noticed Yang Yue wore sunglasses all day, which struck me as odd, so I couldn’t help but ask.
Yang Yue lifted her sunglasses and gestured for me to look at her pupils. Curious, I leaned in for a closer look—“Ah!” I jumped back in surprise.
Within her irises, a blazing crimson flame seemed to be burning.
“Has some new virus mutated red eye disease now?” I recoiled. “Don’t infect me!”
Master Xing scolded me with a hint of annoyance: “Don’t make a fuss. Yang Yue has been practicing the Fiery Eyes of Golden Sight, using the Samādhi True Fire to burn nonstop for forty-nine days straight. That’s how she mastered her fiery eyes.”
“Isn’t the Fiery Eyes of Golden Sight only something Sun Wukong has?” I asked, puzzled.
In “Journey to the West,” Sun Wukong ate the immortal pills and was cast by the Supreme Lord Laozi into the Eight Trigrams Furnace, where he burned for forty-nine days in the Samādhi True Fire, eventually developing his fiery eyes.
“The Fiery Eyes of Golden Sight is just an ordinary spell. Sun Wukong isn’t the only one who can have it. Many deities possess fiery eyes,” Yang Yue explained.
She glanced at me several times. “I couldn’t see clearly with the sunglasses before. Why is your face so red and swollen?”
I covered my face and whispered, “I don’t know what’s wrong. I think I’ve developed an allergy. It’s been over a month without healing.” Recently, my skin has been incredibly sensitive; even mildly irritating skincare products cause immediate redness, swelling, and pain.
Yang Yue asked with concern, “Have you been to the hospital? Didn’t you say you have a blind date coming up soon?”
“Don’t mention it. Just thinking about the blind date gives me a headache…” I waved my hand, not wanting to talk about it.
When we reached the summit, we saw a tall stone archway inscribed with the words “Pavilion of Ten Thousand Immortals.” Climbing one more flight of steps, passing through the South Heavenly Gate archway, we arrived at the Mother Li Shan Temple.
The temple wasn’t large. At the front stood the Hall of the Jade Emperor, to whom we paid our first respects.
The Jade Emperor’s full title is “Supreme Sovereign of Heaven Who Opens the Sky, Holds the Talisman, Controls the Calendar, Embodies the True Dao, Dwells in the Golden Palace of the Nine Heavens, Oversees Ten Thousand Paths, the Unmoving Great Dao, the Illustrious Hall of the Emperor of Heaven.” Also known as the Emperor of the Cosmos, he presides over the Three Realms.
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In fact, there have been four Heavenly Emperors throughout history. The first was the Eastern Emperor Taiyi, whose wife was the Queen Mother of the West.
The second was Emperor Jun, married to the Great Goddess Xi He.
The third was the Emperor of Heaven, the one commonly called the Old Heavenly Father; his wife was the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool.
The fourth—and current—Heavenly Emperor is the Jade Emperor, whose consort is the Earth Mother. The phrase “Heaven Above, Earth Below” refers to the Jade Emperor and Earth Mother.
After paying respects to the Jade Emperor, we next worshipped at the main hall dedicated to Mother Li Shan. Wearing a magnificent golden crown, she sat dignified atop a high platform. I raised three incense sticks, bowed three times, and when I looked up, I saw a graceful and elegant woman standing on the platform, holding a round fan and smiling warmly as she nodded at us.
I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and looked again; the figure was gone, replaced by the unchanged statue of Mother Li Shan. It seemed that the vision was only a fleeting illusion.
As I was the first to finish worshipping, I stepped out of the hall while Master Xing and Yang Yue remained inside.
A sudden gust of wind blew toward me, carrying the cries of phoenixes and the roars of dragons. I looked up to the sky, which shimmered faintly with golden light. Numerous majestic palaces and heavenly pillars floated among the mist.
A golden divine dragon and a phoenix flew overhead, their feet bound firmly together by a red cord. Upon seeing me, the dragon immediately raised its head and let out a low growl, as if trying to warn me. The dragon’s eyes stirred a deep, familiar feeling within me, as if it were someone profoundly important. The phoenix, bound to the dragon, looked at me with intense hostility.
Startled by this sudden vision, I was momentarily speechless. Then Yang Yue tapped me on the shoulder from behind.
“Xiao Qian, what are you standing there for?”
I turned to her, pointing at the sky. Excited and a little tongue-tied, I said, “Yang Yue, look up there…”
But when I looked again, the scene had vanished as if evaporated by mist.
“What’s up in the sky?” Yang Yue looked where I pointed, puzzled. “There’s nothing there…”
After a moment of silence, I recounted what I had seen.
“You must have glimpsed the Heavenly Court,” Master Xing said as he approached, his eyes thoughtfully scanning the sky. Turning to me with a scolding tone, he said, “The magnetic field here is strong and can awaken your Heavenly Eye, letting you see into another dimension. Don’t act like you’ve never seen the world before—don’t embarrass the Kunlun Sect.”
“Have I really never seen the world before…” I muttered softly.
Next, we visited the Hall of Guanyin Bodhisattva. I knelt and bowed my head to Guanyin, and when I looked up, her statue bore a compassionate smile, gazing upon me like a beloved family member. Her fingers subtly moved, forming mudras, and then I seemed to see a faint apparition of Guanyin’s orchid-like fingers gently brushing my face.
At that moment, Master Xing came over, just as he was about to hand me incense. Then he suddenly froze, staring at my face.
“What happened to your face…”
I sighed. Master Xing, the ever-practical man, was just noticing. “My face has been allergic for over a month, and it hasn’t healed.”
“No,” Master Xing frowned deeply, his tone resolute. “Your primordial spirit’s visage has been damaged. Damage to the primordial spirit affects your mortal face. It hadn’t manifested before, but now your entire face looks as if it’s been slashed with a knife—there’s barely any good skin left.”
Yang Yue heard this and leaned in to look. “No wonder I felt something was off about your face before.”
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Furious, I exclaimed, “Who’s so wicked to slash my face with a knife? They must be jealous of my beauty.”
Master Xing closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them and said, “I saw a girl in my thoughts. You should know her. Tonight, try contacting Yang Jian and ask if he knows who did this.”
That night, a golden beam resembling a rainbow bridge extended from Yang Jian’s photo to my mind, transmitting memories and scenes.
In the Divine Realm, goddesses gathered in a garden for a ladies’ tea party. Since I excel at brewing tea, I usually provide the tea leaves for such gatherings. Today, with work and cultivation set aside, everyone was relaxed and chatting.
On one side of the garden, a timid girl peeked at us. She was plainly dressed and remarkably ordinary-looking, except for her unusually large eyes.
As I served the tea, I noticed her and asked Xixi with some curiosity, “Who is that girl? I’ve never seen her before.”
Xixi, wearing a playful white silk dress, with delicate but youthful features that promised future beauty, took a sip of tea and said disdainfully, “She’s a recently ascended White Bone Spirit from the mortal realm. Her name’s something like Xiao Jie.”
She praised, “Sister Yu, your tea tastes better every time.”
Because I didn’t know her and didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere, I said no more.
Later, I saw Xiao Jie several times in the Divine Realm. Every time she saw me, she would stare blankly at my face.
Once, when Yang Jian was escorting me home, Xiao Jie hid behind a nearby pillar. When she saw Yang Jian, a longing, unattainable light flickered in her eyes. Then she gazed foolishly at my face, murmuring, “Clouds dream of clothes, flowers dream of beauty—that’s exactly what she looks like…”
Back at the training hall, Master Xing’s palm emitted a golden light that covered my face. I felt warmth as my damaged primordial spirit’s visage slowly healed, new skin growing back. After a while, the treatment was complete.
Master Xing lowered his hand. “The new skin has just formed. It’ll take some time to fully restore. I’m reporting this Xiao Jie incident to the Jade Emperor.”
He closed his eyes and respectfully reported the matter to the Jade Emperor in the Divine Realm.
The Jade Emperor was furious. If every descending goddess with grudges had her appearance defaced, who would dare to come down to the mortal realm? He immediately dispatched celestial soldiers to apprehend Xiao Jie.
Xiao Jie fled everywhere but was eventually caught before the South Heavenly Gate. As the soldiers seized her, her eyes filled with madness and jealousy as she shouted, “Yu Li, why were you born a goddess? Why do you have everything better than me—noble, beautiful, and loved by Yang Jian? I refuse to accept it! I just can’t accept it…”
Among the crowd of divine onlookers gathered to watch the spectacle, stood a girl dressed in a jade-green flowing fairy skirt, her delicate beauty striking. A sinister and cunning gleam flickered in her eyes.