ENG
When fortune fades, speak not of past delight,
In times of joy, recall the memories' blight.
A single thought of greed can cloud the mind,
Each step in anger binds, leaving wisdom blind.
According to common sense, the local keeper and the mountain deities should work together harmoniously. However, this was not the case in Yellow Wind Ridge.
Years ago, when the Yellow Wind Sage led his followers to subdue Buddha-headed stone guai, he sought the keeper's assistance in battle. The keeper, however, chose to remain a bystander. Consequently, when the guai's essence was divided and distributed, only the mountain deities received a share, leaving the keeper empty-handed and filled him with resentment.
Knowing his own abilities were mediocre and lacking any significant divine powers or backing, the keeper believed that obtaining the essence would grant him great powers, akin to those of the mountain deities. Thus, when the Father of Stones departed and the Yellow Wind Sage surrendered, he harbored malicious intentions towards the Mother of Stones.
He observed the valley for many days, noting how the stone guais were busy moving mountains and shaping stones, while the Mother of Stones merely issued commands from her stone cave. This gave him an idea.
One day, he transformed himself to resemble a stone guai and pretended to be on an errand to approach the Mother of Stones. His plan was to ram into her abdomen with all his might to, hoping to crack her open and extract the essence. However, just as he leaped, the Mother of Stones let out a piercing scream, and several stone guais emerged from the ground nearby.
Distracted, the keeper missed his mark and only managed to create a crack on the Mother of Stones' chest. Realizing his plan had been exposed, he clung to her, attempting to absorb her power with all his might. By the time the stone guais pried him off, he had absorbed half of her essence.
Enraged, the stone guais chased and attacked him relentlessly. The keeper, unable to escape, tried to revert to his original form to fight back. To his dismay, he found himself unable to change back, likely because the stone essence had transformed him into a stone. The stone guais continued to batter him until he was buried in the ground.
From then on, the keeper lost all hope and resigned himself to being a broken stone in the valley. Yet, he still believed that if he could obtain the other half of the essence, he might be able to transform back.
This story takes place on Yellow Wind Ridge, where people expect the local keeper and the mountain deities to cooperate. Years earlier the Yellow Wind Sage led an effort to subdue the Buddha-headed stone guai and asked the keeper to help. The keeper refused to join. When the guai’s essence was divided afterward, all of it went to the mountain deities and none to the keeper. That exclusion filled him with resentment.
The main characters are the keeper, the mountain deities (including the Father and Mother of Stones), the Yellow Wind Sage, and the stone guai themselves. The keeper is described as mediocre in ability, without divine power or strong allies. He believed that if he had some of the guai’s essence he could gain power like the mountain deities, so after the Father of Stones left and the Yellow Wind Sage gave up, the keeper began to nurture malicious intentions toward the Mother of Stones.
The keeper watched the valley and learned how the stone guai worked while the Mother of Stones stayed in her cave giving orders. That observation gave him a plan. He transformed his appearance to look like a stone guai and pretended to be on an errand so he could get close enough to attack the Mother. His idea was to run into her abdomen with all his force, crack her open, and take her essence.
When he carried out the attack the Mother screamed and other stone guai erupted from the earth. The keeper was distracted and missed his intended strike, managing only to crack the Mother’s chest. He then clung to her and, in the struggle, absorbed half of her essence before the other guai pried him off. The stone guai then chased and beat him relentlessly.
After the beating the keeper found he could not change back and was likely turned partly into stone by the essence he had taken. The guai continued to batter him until he was buried and left broken in the valley. He gave up hope of his old life but kept believing that if he could obtain the other half of the Mother’s essence he might be able to transform back. The story shows how greed and resentment drove him to a desperate, self-destructive act and left him permanently altered and still scheming.