The pagoda is called the Pagoda on the Hill of the Imperial Spring (Yue Ch’uean Shan T’a; more commonly Chen-shui T’a, ’Water-repressing Pagoda’). [27] The spring is still there, and day and night, unceasingly, its clear waters bubble up and flow eastward to Peking, which would now be a barren wilderness but for Yen Wang’s pursuit of the water.

CHAPTER VIII

Myths of Fire

The Ministry of Fire

The celestial organization of Fire is the fifth Ministry, and is presided over by a President, Lo Hsuean, whose titular designation is Huo-te Hsing-chuen, ‘Stellar Sovereign of the Fire-virtue,’ with five subordinate ministers, four of whom are star-gods, and the fifth a “celestial prince who receives fire”:  Chieh-huo T’ien-chuen.  Like so many other Chinese deities, the five were all ministers of the tyrant emperor Chou.

It is related that Lo Hsuean was originally a Taoist priest known as Yen-chung Hsien, of the island Huo-lung, ‘Fire-dragon.’  His face was the colour of ripe fruit of the jujube-tree, his hair and beard red, the former done up in the shape of a fish-tail, and he had three eyes.  He wore a red cloak ornamented with the pa kua; his horse snorted flames from its nostrils and fire darted from its hoofs.

While fighting in the service of the son of the tyrant emperor, Lo Hsuean suddenly changed himself into a giant with three heads and six arms.  In each of his hands he held a magic weapon.  These were a seal which reflected the heavens and the earth, a wheel of the five fire-dragons, a gourd containing ten thousand fire-crows, and, in the other hands, two swords which floated like smoke, and a column of smoke several thousands of li long enclosing swords of fire.

A Conflagration

Having arrived at the city of Hsi Ch’i, Lo Hsuean sent forth his smoke-column, the air was filled with swords of fire, the ten thousand fire-crows, emerging from the gourd, spread themselves over the town, and a terrible conflagration broke out, the whole place being ablaze in a few minutes.

At this juncture there appeared in the sky the Princess Lung Chi, daughter of Wang-mu Niang-niang; forthwith she spread over the city her shroud of mist and dew, and the fire was extinguished by a heavy downpour of rain.  All the mysterious mechanisms of Lo Hsuean lost their efficacy, and the magician took to his heels down the side of the mountain.  There he was met by Li, the Pagoda-bearer, [28] who threw his golden pagoda into the air.  The pagoda fell on Lo Hsuean’s head and broke his skull.

C’ih Ching-tzu