{"sf1_id":813724,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Temple of Tiankong Xiaojie","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2749,"posted_at":"2015-01-31T20:28:00.000Z","tags":["China","Dragon","Human","Legend","Passive sex","Temple","interspecies"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/813724-the-temple-of-tiankong-xiaojie","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/813724","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=813724\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#25 of Miscellany\n\nI was making a list of writing prompts, and this idea struck me as something I wanted to write, so I did.","content":"              There\nare few legends remaining today about the order of monks who built and watched\nover the Temple of Tiankong Xiaojie. The temple itself has been relegated to the position of a mere fictional\nfantasy, said to be thought up by those who wished to believe in matters of the\nsupernatural. The general location is known as to where it\nwas said to have been situated, and the few stories that remain tell of how\nstarkly contrasting its appearance was in its overall construction. There are a\nfew old sketches that are claimed to depict the temple, but as these offer\ndissimilar views they are all dismissed as fraudulent, mislabeled or done only\non accounts from after its destruction. So to sum it up, outside of the written\ndescriptions, the manner of its construction are still up for debate.              The\ntemple was constructed back in the early days of the Chinese Empire. Those who\ntoiled to raise it did so without interference from the ruling powers, for the\nregion they chose was considered to be cursed ground. As no one else wished to\nrisk the anger of the gods, the devotees were left to do as they felt compelled\nto do.   The location was a long, slightly irregular\nplateau in the mountains of Shaanxi Province. It was built to take advantage of\nthe natural healing spring that erupted from a crevice in the top. The local\nvillagers only came to the site when they were desperate, but after the temple\nwas constructed, people flocked to it, feeling that the monks had managed to\nlift any curse that had been placed upon it.               The\ncurse in question was attributed to the ancient magician Da Yintang. It was\nsaid that he was slain on the top of the mountain during a great battle, during\nwhich the entire peak was torn asunder and thrown to the valley below. But in\nhis defeat he brought down his foe, leaving behind a landscape forever torn and\ndecimated.               Of\ncourse this was not true, for the mountain soon healed itself along a time\nscale fit for the earth, not for the lives of mere men. Trees eventually grew,\nflowers bloomed and the birds came back to nest. Over the passage of the many years,\nmemories of the event faded, except for faint recollections of demons and\nsprites that hid in the rocks, ready to catch unwary travelers in their wicked snares.\nSo people found it easier to avoid the plateau than to brave it.                And\nthen came the monks.                The\nentire temple took four decades to complete. It was soon a jewel on the\nmountaintop, though even then the stories say the true beauty was inside. The\nmonks were humble, and while they might carve the solid stone into likenesses\nof demons, dragons and warrior mages, they abstained from using gold, silver,\ngems or even paint on the outside of their sanctuary. To them, real beauty lay on\nthe inside of everything in the world, from the crystals found in caves to the\nspirituality found in the souls of men. To that end, the inside of their temple\nwas unlike any before or since. Even emperors came to take in the lavish\ninterior, and many tried in vain to copy the artful tiles, statues and\nsculptures.                At\nthe heart of the complex was the Pool of Healing. What the locals had known, in\ntheir dim knowledge of their surroundings, was that the water that bubbled up\nfrom the depths on the mountain could heal disease and injury. It was most\neffective if drunk right away, but in the past few folks spared the time to\nlinger on the mountain, and the sick and injured could rarely travel to its\ntop. And yet, its properties had become well known in the region. With the\ntemple now there to surround and contain its waters, and a path up the mountain\nto it, the region was soon busy with pilgrims of all shapes and sizes.                From\nthe outside, the temple appeared to be very old, even in its earliest days, for\nthe stone soon weathered and was covered in mosses and lichens. Without the\ntypical paint or gilt, it looked well beyond its years. But when a visitor stepped\ninside, they were greeted with a totally different appearance. The pool of\nhealing was very long, much like a water lily pond in the garden of the\nemperor. From end to end you could fit in two hundred people, and across\nanother forty. The pool was shallow, being at best three feet deep. In the\ncenter was the great chasm; the deep crevice from which the waters flowed. They\ndid not flow with great force, but they did flow constantly. It was here that\nthe power of it was the strongest.                The\ndecree of the monk's was that the temple was meant for all, but at times the\nrich and powerful tried to make it their own. Each time they came with armed\ntroops. They were healed of whatever disease afflicted them and they left again.\nIt was one of the few places in China where total peace reigned always. Even the\nmost hostile of the regional lords would come away with new insight and\ninspiration.                Not\neveryone was allowed into the center. Only the most very ill; those close to dying\nwere placed there by the monks. It was as though the full healing of the waters\nthere was painful, for people placed in there were said to thrash about as if\nin pain. This might go on for hours and they might even vanish into the depths,\nbut when it was over, the monks collected them and laid them out on the floor.\nWhen they awoke, they were whole again, but with no memory of their encounter\nwith the water. No one\nasked too many questions. Answers weren't always productive. Even the Chinese knew\nbetter than to look a gift horse in the mouth.To the\nfirst time visitor, the temple interior was equal to any palace belonging to\nthe emperor or any regional governor. While the outside was drab and equal to\nthe color of the landscape, inside the colors lit up the interior like the magically\ncaptured rays of the rainbow. The floor surrounding the pool was natural stone,\nworn smooth over the centuries by the passage of so many supplicants.  So too were the pillars which were constantly repainted\nto match the myriad of hues that reflected up from the bottom of the pool. Many\nkissed the carved figures on them, but the monks calmly reapplied the pigments\nwhen the original layer was gone.In its\nlater years, there was much speculation how the early monks had managed to do a\nfew of the more remarkable things that had been accomplished, from the highly\nrealistic carvings of the dragons that wound around the stone columns to the\nbrightly colored tiles that lined the bottom of the pool. These tiles were\nunlike any before or since seen in China. They had an ethereal look to them,\ntheir colors ranging the spectrum of the color palate; from the pale blues of\nthe early morning sky to the vibrant colors of the evening sunset. They covered\nthe bottom in a glimmering display of color, including those that custom fit\naround the opening of the spring, where their color faded into the hues of the\nrose before the darkness hid the source of the waters.That\nportion of the pool was somewhat walled off to keep the least ill of the\npatrons from making liberal use of it. Even the dignitaries had to be content with\nmingling with the commoners in the main pool. But as everyone got what they\ncame for, there was no arguing or fighting, and for many centuries all who came\nand left the temple did so in peace and tranquility.For those\nwho wished to stay and learn the ways of the monks, there were classes in all\nof the disciplines, not the least of which was history. It was they who had gathered\nthe few oral recollections that had been passed down from mouth to mouth\nconcerning the legend of the mountain. \nThat was why the temple was dedicated to the Lady of the Air. It was she\nthat the magician Da Yintang is said to have battled so long ago until the landscape\nwas purportedly decimated by his savage use of magic. Locals spoke of a\nthousand year sleep put upon the land, but as the land was obviously living and\nvibrant, such legends were soon forgotten.There was\neven an altar dedicated to the long lost mage, said to be filled with his long\ndead bones. As the monks never opened it for viewing and as no one else ever\ntried to open it, it is hard to say if it was a clever ploy to attract more\nconverts, or if there was really something inside it. Even if there was, it was\nnot unknown for there to be nothing more than animal bones inside many a holy sepulcher.In this\nenlightened age of course no one believed in magicians and their kin. Such\npower was only for the gods to use, and even they used it wantonly; by making\ngreat storms and shaking the ground to amuse themselves when they were bored with\nwatching over humanity. Such things occurred all over China, but here in\nShaanxi Province peace reigned supreme. One did best to simply venerate the\ngods, placate them when necessary, and whenever possible, to ignore them.\nNothing slept that didn't eventually wake and upheaval of any sort was viewed\nas a bad omen.So over the\ncenturies, even the monks taught the earlier lessons only as fables, fit for\nthe ears of children and the ignorant. This was after all China, home to\nlegends regarding anything and everything, from river fish to dragon whiskers\nand water demons. The healing was the only thing that was real, and as such,\nwas the only thing that mattered.Over the\ncenturies the pool attracted people from all across the country and though it\nhealed all who bathed in it, the one thing it did not do was grant immortality.\nOld age was not a disease, and thus it was unaffected by the waters. While this\nangered many a foolish lord, in the end he and his anger were often buried into\nthe earth to be forgotten by the passing ages. The earth itself did not intend\nto live forever, but rather cycled through its phases with as much dignity and\npoise as the centuries would allow it.And so life\ncame and went. Many had forgotten even the meaning of the name of the\nprotectress of the temple. It was so ingrained in their minds that all it had\ncome to mean was the healing waters and nothing more.  And yet, there were always indications that\nthings were not what they seemed at this holiest of temples. So it came to pass\none evening that the ancestral people of Qin got a reminder that where there\nlies a legend, so therein lies at least a kernel of truth. The date is\nstill remembered to this day even if the actual cause of the disaster is not. It\noccurred on February 2, 1556. Reports as studied and deciphered in modern times\nlist the cause as a massive earthquake, but it was no normal, naturally occurring\ndisaster. The scope of it was massive, and perhaps accounts for the greatest\nhuman death toll from any such happening in the history of mankind. A similar\nthing had happened a millennia before and it had happened on the exact same\nspot.Precisely a\nthousand years to the minute from this date in fact.The\nmagician Da Yinyang had expended his magic bringing to earth the elemental sky\ndragon known as Yinglong. Only it was not Yinglong, but a female counterpart\nsent in his place. And she had done battle in his stead, in the end losing in a\nmighty upset. In her mortal form she had been struck down, her body crashing\nagainst a mountain, her back embedded into the stone, leaving her multihued belly\nexposed to the sky for her lover to mourn over.But one\ndoes not simply kill a dragon.Over time\nthe vegetation grew, for her essence was water, and water in any form was\nlife-giving and a vital liquid for all life. And so too grew the dirt from\nwhich these plants grew, so soon nothing could be seen of the poor dragon but\nthe single spring that burst forth from her body. For she was not dead, but\nmerely paralyzed; held in place and doomed to sleep for a thousand years.And now the\nthousand year spell had expired. She had not merely awoken; she had been\nblasted from the rocky bed with the force of a thousand back-lashed spells\nwrapped into one. For the magician in all his wise and well-meaning magical ministrations\nhad failed to look to the future. He had thought that so many years into the future\nthe world would be dead. And yet it wasn't. And so in a momentous blast that\nhad the combined energy of a giant meteor striking the earth,  Tiankong Xiaojie escaped back\ninto the heavens.She had\nmissed her consort so. While sleep might be the word some of the uninformed used\nto describe her imprisonment, the fact was she was awake the entire time. The\nmind of a dragon is something hard to tame, much less subdue to unconsciousness.\nAll the while she had felt longings and yearnings, and her physical body found\nthat it had needs not able to be satisfied unless her counterparts were to come\nto earth to relieve them for her.That was\nthe case for a few centuries until her mind caught one little human and gave\nhim the idea of building a temple on top of her prone form. After all, she was\nthe mountain now though hidden beneath layers of accumulated dirt, bushes and\ntrees. And so he gathered others and eventually the surface of her belly was\nteaming with life. Her fluids were pooled, and by her very nature the people\nwho touched them left her cured of their diseases. But the ones that got put\nstraight into her... private area, now they were perfect for scratching the itches\nthat no one knew she had. If not for that, she might have gone insane.No one\ncould tell anyone else about what they had endured for their cure if they couldn't\nremember, so she blanked their minds while her body used them to rub the spot\nthat was so persistently in need of attention. It was far from ideal, but as\nshe saw no other way of dealing with the problem, she came up with one that was\nbeneficial for all those concerned.In the end\nthe spell broke, expelling her from her earthly prison back into the heavens.\nShe was saddened by the destruction it caused, but as she had never seen\nherself as a villain, she could only shed tears of grief at the foolishness of\na single human magician from so long ago. The rain came down in sheets, which\ndid nothing to makes matters on the ground any easier for the survivors of the momentous\ndisaster. In this she could not control her emotions, so long had they been\nbottled up inside her.And so\nended the temple of the Lady of the Air and much of the surrounding region with\nit. Even the mountain upon which it had been built had been leveled to the\nground, blocking the nearby river and causing a catastrophic flood during the\nthree day storm that followed.And so this\nshould go as a lesson to all those who hold power. Choose your battles wisely\nand your enemies with even greater wisdom. The sky may rain, and lighting may\nstrike, but the clouds bring life and as such the bad comes also with great good.\nTo try to tame or control nature in any of its forms is foolish, for all things\ncome in the quantities that are needed, when they are needed. If the rains do\nnot come, there is a reason and it is one you must accept and adapt to, for\ntrying to fix that which is far greater than yourself will always end in\ndisaster."}