In Mid west ern China there is a beau ti ful moun tain named Hua. On top of it there is a tem ple dedi cated to the God dess San Shengmu. Peo ple wor ship this God dess be cause they be lieve that she is al ways ready to help them. When this story took place, she was busy help ing the peo ple of the re -gion fight ing a strange ep idemic with the magic power of her baoliandeng (Magic Lo tus Lan tern). Even though the disease was un der control, she did not stop work ing because she wanted to make sure that the ep i demic would not re cur. For this rea son, she had to be away from her tem ple’s al tar from time to time.

Dur ing her absence, a young scholar named Liu Yanchang toured the tem ple. He was on his way to the cap i tal to take an im pe rial ex am ina tion. He burned in cense and drew a qian (bam boo slips used for div i na tion) af ter pray ing to the God dess San Shengmu, wish ing that the god dess would make him lucky enough to succeed in the ex am i na tion. At the time, the goddess hap pened to be ab -sent and there fore was un able to give him an an swer to the lot he had drawn. Dis ap pointed at the

blank qian, Liu Yanchang inscribed his com plaint on the wall of the tem ple be fore contin u ing with his jour ney:

Brush in hand, I write with an ger, You the god dess do I blame: Tak ing trib utes at the al tar, Care you not to give an answer.

When Goddess San Shengmu re turned and saw the scath ing poem, she de cided to teach the in -so lent scholar a lesson. She asked the gods and god desses of wind, thun der, lightning, and rain to let loose a downpour while Liu Yanchang was trudg ing on a winding mountain path. Having no where to hide, Liu Yanchang was soaked through. Hit hard by the sud den drop of tem per a ture, he fell ill and col lapsed.

Liu Yanchang’s mis ery fi nally proved too much for the com pas sion ate god dess to bear. She called off the thun der and rain and de cided to save Yanchang with out star tling him. She asked her maid ser vant Lingzhi to trans form into an el derly coun try woman, while she her self turned into the old woman’s daugh ter. To gether they helped the be drag gled and sick ened Yanchang into a hut they had just conjured up. There the goddess nur tured him back to health. Then she re vealed her true iden -tity, told him the reason for her ab sence from the al tar, and ex plained the rain storm in flicted upon him af ter read ing his poem.

Both apol o gized pro fusely. Days went by, and Yanchang fully recov ered. By then the god dess and the scholar had fallen deeply in love. Mar riage nat u rally ensued. En couraged by Goddess San Shengmu, Liu Yanchang con tin ued with his journey to the cap ital to take the ex am i na tion. Months later, the god dess gave birth to their son, whom she named Chenxiang.

At the same time, God dess San Shengmu’s ce les tial fam ily had learned about her mar riage to an earthly man. Her brother, known as Di vine Er lang, found his un ruly sis ter and de manded that she give up the mar riage and re turn with him to their heavenly home.

“I won’t aban don my hus band and son. If you push, I’d rather give up my saint hood,” said God -dess San Shengmu with de ter mi na tion. The an gry brother or dered his ce les tial soldiers to ar rest his de fi ant sis ter. A fierce bat tle fol lowed. With the power of her Magic Lo tus Lantern, God dess San Shengmu re pelled Di vine Er lang and his troops.

A few days later, the frus trated brother sent his magic dog to Goddess San Shengmu’s tem ple, where she kept the Magic Lotus Lantern. While she was at tend ing to her new born baby, the dog man -aged to steal the lantern and brought it back to his owner. The Di vine Er lang im me diately launched a sec ond at tack, sub dued his sister, and locked her up be neath a huge rock on the west ern ridge of Mt. Hua. How ever, before Di vine Er lang had a chance to get hold of her month-old son Chenxiang, her maid ser vant Lingzhi took him and fled to a Tao ist priest called the Firebolt Im mor tal. While Lingzhi helped bring up Chenxiang, the im mor tal taught him mar tial arts and magic power.

On the night of his fif teenth birth day, Chenxiang dreamed of a shack led woman claim ing to be his mother. He was about to throw himself into her arms when a gi ant gen eral planted him self be -tween them. The gen eral made Chenxiang call him uncle. Be fore Chenxiang knew what to say, the general took the woman and vanished.

When Chenxiang told the Firebolt Im mortal about the dream, the im mor tal said, “Ev ery thing you dreamed is true.” He then told the as tounded Chenxiang the en tire story of his par ents’ love af fair

and his mother’s ab duc tion. He then added, “Now that you’ve grown up, you are able to free your mother from her im pris on ment in the rocks.”

“I can’t wait to res cue my mother, but how can I open up a mountain with my bare hands?”

“You al ready have all you need: wisdom, strength and cour age. Of course, a handy tool or weapon will help . . . .” The im mor tal paused a sec ond and con tin ued, “Well, you will get it on your way. Go now.”

Chenxiang thanked the Firebolt Im mortal and Lingzhi, his master and adop tive mother, and set out for Mt. Hua. Af ter days of hard ship, he ar rived in the val ley at the foot of the moun tain. Night fell, and a thun der storm broke abruptly. Forked lightning tore open the darkness and revealed a hu mon -gous flood dragon, which blocked his way. Chenxiang wres tled with the dragon un til it lost all its strength. Then the beast suddenly ex ploded. After the cloud of smoke had dis persed, Chenxiang spot ted a huge, shiny axe ly ing on the ground. In fact, the dragon had been the il lu sion of his mas ter’s walking stick. The Firebolt Immortal had been test ing Chenxiang’s courage and felt se cretly sat is fied that his stu dent had ac quired the tool nec es sary for the task of rescuing his mother.

With the axe, Chenxiang clam bered up the western ridge of Mt. Hua. He ap proached the huge rock that had kept his mother a captive for the past fif teen years. Di vine Er lang’s magic dog was watch -ing over the site and guard ing the sto len Magic Lo tus Lan tern, placed on top of the rock. Af ter a brief struggle, Chenxiang sub dued the dog and re trieved the lan tern.

When Di vine Er lang and his army came to his dog’s res cue, it was too late, so he chal lenged Chenxiang to a fight. With his axe and the Magic Lo tus Lan tern, Chenxiang de feated Di vine Er lang and his army with ease. He then ad mon ished his godly un cle for his in sensi tiv ity to his sis ter and nephew’s well-be ing. He also threat ened to an ni hi late his ce les tial troops and ren der him entirely pow er less if he re fused to mend his ways. Di vine Er lang prom ised not to in ter fere in God dess San Shengmu’s life any more.

Once Chenxiang was free from any ob struc tion, he hurled the magic axe with all his might and let it fall on the rock en cas ing his mother. He did it with force as well as with cau tion. The rock split open with a loud rum ble. From the com part ment in its cen ter ap peared God dess San Shengmu, as beau ti ful and young as Chenxiang had seen her in his dream. Chenxiang threw him self into his mother’s open arms. As they de scended the moun tain, they found Liu Yanchang wait ing for them. The par ents were thrilled to see each other again af ter so many years of in vol un tary sep a ra tion. The fa ther was par tic u larly happy to meet his he roic son for the first time.

The Firebolt Im mor tal and Lingzhi had found Liu Yanchang and trans ported him to the moun -tain for this fam ily re union. They had spot ted him pray ing in the tem ple of God dess San Shengmu on top of Mt. Hua. It turned out that after he passed the im pe rial ex am i na tion, Liu Yanchang had landed a job as a mag is trate in a re mote county. Af ter a few years he man aged to get him self trans ferred to the Mt. Hua re gion in the hope of re join ing his wife. When he tried to lo cate her, he could find nei ther her or her maid ser vant Lingzhi. By no means was he aware that he had be come a fa ther. He had been a reg u lar vis itor to the Tem ple of God dess San Shengmu, praying at her al tar, wish ing that the statue could man ifest the god dess her self to him. The sudden appearance of Lingzhi and the Firebolt Im -mor tal made his dream come true.

God dess San Shengmu and her fam ily thanked Lingzhi and the Firebolt Immor tal for all they had done to help them re unite. To pre vent Di vine Er lang from break ing his prom ise not to bother them again, San Shengmu gave up her god dess na ture, though that meant that she would become as mortal as her hus band was. San Shengmu did this with great de light. She knew that a happy mor tal life with her husband and son would be more mean ing ful than an empty life as a god dess.