ENG
Endless yellow winds, sands stretch afar,
In the land once abundant, no homes there are.
Half-guai, half-immortal, who can decide?
Thief or sage, why would he mind?
Firelight flickered over a table laden with food and drink.
The Second Prince of Flowing Sands, sitting on the table, gnawed on what might have been half a haunch with relish.
The King of Flowing Sands sat beside his son obediently. As someone who typically delighted in pointing out the missteps of others, he remained oddly silent during the feast.
Even the Tiger Vanguard was on his best behavior. Watching the dimwit across from him gorging on the haunch, the tiger seemed to have no appetite.
The Yellow Wind Sage sat in the place of honor, one hand caressing the object resting on the table: the head of a bodhisattva with eyes closed in silence.
"Pa, I need more." The sudden shout from the Second Prince set all hearts hammering. His pa, the King of Flowing Sands, glowered and hissed, "Shut it!" Then he scrambled to his knees and pleaded for forgiveness.
"A trifle, is all." The Yellow Wind Sage rested his hand atop the head of Lingji, then stood. "With my master's most prized vessel in my grasp, I can surely absorb that thing. I mean to enter secluded meditation, starting today. I have appeased those old rascals from above, yet it will be wise to remain discreet."
"If you're seeking seclusion, Master," fawned the King of Flowing Sands, "my people and I would be honored to camp outside the cave and stand guard beside you."
"Beside me?" The Sage gazed at his master's head and rejected his offer immediately. "No, you will move to the ridge. I will be setting the Yellow Wind Formation. Let no one disturb me."
"If...if there is urgent news, Master, how shall we bear it unto you?" The King cried out.
The Yellow Wind pointed at the Tiger Vanguard. "Have your rock brothers raise paths of sand, each with a gate locked by a secret tally. You two vanguards will each hold a tally..."
Before Tiger Vanguard knelt to thank the Sage for this weighty charge, the King interjected anxiously: "But Master! We rats have never got along with those cats. If they hold the..."
The Yellow Wind Sage didn't want to listen at all. He picked up the Buddha head and interrupted, "All of you, withdraw. Do not disturb me until the very sky collapses."
The scene opens in a ruined desert where yellow winds and endless sand have driven people from their homes. The opening poem casts doubt on one central figure: someone described as "half-guai, half-immortal," and the narrator wonders whether this person is a thief or a sage. That doubt hangs over the whole scene and tells you this character is morally ambiguous and hard to categorize.
At a firelit feast the main characters sit together. The Second Prince of Flowing Sands acts like a glutton, sitting on the table and ravenously gnawing a haunch. His father, the King of Flowing Sands, is with him; usually the King delights in criticizing others, but tonight he is unusually quiet and submissive. The Tiger Vanguard, a guardian present at the feast, looks on with no appetite, clearly uncomfortable with what is happening.
The honored figure is called the Yellow Wind Sage. He has his hand on a carefully kept object on the table: the head of a bodhisattva, called Lingji. He treats that head as his master's prized vessel. When the Second Prince demands more food, the King snaps at his son and then grovels. The Sage calmly places his hand on the Buddha head, says he can "absorb that thing" now that he has the vessel, and announces that he will enter secluded meditation immediately.
The Sage says he has already appeased "old rascals from above" and wants to be discreet. The King offers to have his people camp outside the cave and guard the Sage, but the Sage refuses that close protection. He orders them to move to a ridge and says he will set a defensive arrangement called the Yellow Wind Formation. He points at the Tiger Vanguard and instructs that the rock allies raise sand paths, each controlled by a gate that uses a secret tally. Two vanguards will each hold one of those tally keys.
Before the Tiger can accept this duty, the King objects nervously, saying rats and cats have never gotten along if one group holds the other's tally. The Sage cuts them off, lifts the Buddha head, and commands everyone to withdraw and not disturb him "until the very sky collapses." The clear implications are that the Sage is beginning a long, secretive ritual to absorb something important using the Buddha head, that he has authority the King defers to, and that the arrangements he orders—secret tallies and separated guards—create friction between factions and hint at danger if anyone interferes.