Bull Stalwart Lesser Yaoguais
Location
Encountered in a pool of lava near the Rakshasa Palace shrine in the Furnace Valley area.
Description
In a village beneath Flaming Mountains, the impoverished residents subsisted solely on rice cakes and wore nothing but coarse linen clothes. To appease the yaoguais in the mountains for rain, they had a grim custom: sending elders over sixty as offerings.
Old Xu, a Dao aspirant in his youth, only grew stronger with age, and his vitality hinted at a long life. Yet, on his sixtieth birthday, in the midst of a lavish celebration, the villagers placed him on a ceremonial altar and carried him to a stone temple in the mountains to be sacrificed.
Confined in the temple, Old Xu grew weak from hunger and thirst. At the brink of death, the temple doors swung open, and two enormous figures entered. “Another old one,” one of them said, and the other followed, “He’s still breathing. Go, let’s check on him.” He was then approached by two bull guais clad in armor, each wielding a pair of hammers. Frozen in fear, he remained voiceless.
However, the guais, instead of harming him, handed him a sack of water and shared their dried food. They then instructed him: “Leave the temple and follow the path marked by bamboo stakes to find the main road. From there, the west leads to the Kingdom of Sacrifice, and the east to the Kingdom of Women. Choose your way.”
Recovering his senses, Old Xu asked why they spared him. One of the guais replied, “You mortals underestimate us. If we were to feast on humans, we wouldn’t choose the elderly! Our Lady has often sent the old back, but everyone she sent back ended up murdered. Now we guide you old ones to seek life elsewhere. Eat quickly and be on your way.”
With that, the bull guais left Old Xu alone and resumed their patrol with their hammers swinging.
Poetry
In remote corners, evil shows its face,
Yet the good seeks the divine’s embrace.
Evil’s end is found in fire’s relentless glow,
While the good is shielded, be it high or low.
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