Let us take up the story of Iron Head Monk, who on this night was in the meditation hall arranging the solemn and illustrious divination numbers of Fu Xi, with the qian at the head and the kun at the feet. The five phases were precisely five stones, placed in the five directions.¹ He set out five earthenware dishes covered with five earthenware basins, arranged with attention to every detail. Then he ordered five Buddhist novices to each stand guard, one over each basin. He instructed them, “Each of you must be attentive. You will each watch over one basin, and you absolutely must not peek inside.”

His orders completed, he took with him the six armored spirit generals of the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh Terrestrial Branches, in combination with the second and fourth Terrestrial Branches.² They slipped into the Lin house just before the family had gone to sleep. Jiuniang sat alone in a room, guarding the image in the center of the trigrams. All around her were lanterns and candles, so light filled the room. Iron Head Monk ordered five of the spirit generals to enter the Gate of Heaven, go to the Mansion of Earth, and steal back the five disciples.³ The monk would then take the five disciples back to the temple.

Once again he went out, deploying the art of illusion. He ordered one armored god to change into a seal script image and smash Jiuniang’s trigrams.⁴ Then he ordered a disciple to carry Lin Jiuniang back to the temple. Next he ordered four of them to go to the Lin house and carry off the provincial governor, his wife and children, all four of them. And that night the five disciples were ordered to go to the Lin house and smash the trigrams.

Jiuniang had dozed off for a moment, and was quickly carried off by one of the disciples back to the temple, where she was turned over to Iron Head Monk, who put her into a basin and covered it. At the same time, the other four took the provincial governor and his wife and children and carried them off to the temple, where the monk imprisoned each of them in an earthenware basin. In all there were five basins and five Buddhist novices to keep watch over them. The monk thought to himself, “The trigrams have been smashed and the five people are all imprisoned in the basins.” Then he ordered six ding and six jia spirit generals each to return to the center of the Fu Xi layout and keep guard, and he himself went into the meditation room to rest.⁵

Now we will take up the story of the Buddhist novices guarding the basins. They kept guard till midnight. Then one of the novices said, “The master ordered us to guard these basins, and we accepted the order. We were instructed not to peek, but I don’t know why. There must be some marvelous magic inside, and for this reason he ordered us not to peek. If I peek to see what is inside, the master will not necessarily know.” Then he lifted the lid, and the other four novices came to look. All they saw was an empty basin with nothing at all inside, so they all laughed, “The master has deceived us. He had no reason to tell us to go a whole night without sleep, guarding empty basins here.” After laughing for a while, they put the lid back on the basin.

The next day the monk came to the meditation room to check on the five covered dishes. Seeing that the five novices were all there, he examined the five basins and the people imprisoned inside. Greatly alarmed, he said, “How is it that only four of these five basins contain a person? Why is there no one in this basin?” Only after closely questioning the five novices did he find out the truth. Angrily, he said, “The others have not left. Only Lin Jiuniang is gone.” Then he ripped the clothes off the novice, hung him upside down from a rafter, and beat him several hundred times, stopping only when the novice was almost dead. He thought he would wait until midnight and then go and cast an evil spell over Jiuniang to get her back.

Now we will return to Lin Jiuniang, who had been carried off and imprisoned in the basin. Luckily, she got the chance to escape when the basin was opened. She examined the trigrams. Only then did she know that the layout had been smashed and the paper men had escaped. Her father, mother, and elder and younger brothers had all disappeared! She felt forlorn when she realized that she had suffered a counterattack by the fiend monk’s extraordinary magic, and her whole family had been carried off. She herself had been fortunate to get the chance to escape, and now she had to think of a way to rescue her parents and brothers. She thought and thought, but could not come up with a clever plan. She turned it over in her mind. Since she had no way to save them, it would require the government legal apparatus to preserve her parents and brothers.

Jiuniang settled on a plan. She rushed to the police chief’s yamen, beat the drum, and shouted for help. When Police Chief Liu heard her, he instructed the court to sit, and a yamen runner escorted Jiuniang before the bench. When he asked her why she beat the drum and shouted for help, Jiuniang recounted the whole story of the extraordinary magic of the fiend monk, and begged the police chief to hurry and rescue her family in order to avoid the grief of the deaths of four people.

When Police Chief Liu heard the case, he was alarmed, and at his wit’s end. He withdrew from the court, went inside, and informed his wife, Lady Chen. She ordered a black-turbaned soldier to go out and bring the plaintiff into the yamen, where Lady Chen asked for her name and details about the incident. Jiuniang replied, “Iron Head Monk of White Pagoda Peak first ordered paper men to come carry me off, but I pressed them into the middle of the trigram layout. That night he smashed the layout and snatched away the five paper men. What’s more, my whole family was carried off! Fortunately, I escaped and returned. As for my parents and brothers, now I have no plan that can save them, and for this reason I came here to submit a request to quickly rescue them.”

When Lady Chen heard the circumstances, she looked Jiuniang over carefully, and, seeing that she had the air of the virtuous power of the Way, wanted to make her a sister. “You needn’t worry,” she said. “Since you already thoroughly understand the principles of the Changes, now you must learn true magic. If you want to capture this monk, how hard can that be?”

Jiuniang said through her tears, “My parents and brothers have been carried off by the fiend monk, and I don’t know if they are dead or alive. If I wait until I have completed studying magic, their four lives will come to an end. I earnestly beg your favor to quickly use the royal law to punish him.”

The Lady replied, “If I use the royal law, it will be of no use. Tonight you can’t go back home, because I’m afraid that during the night the fiend monk will certainly come. If you are again taken away by him, then your parents and brothers will all be nothing.”

Jiuniang wept, “If I don’t go home, tell me, where shall I sleep?”

The Lady answered, “There’s no need to weep and wail. Tonight, stay in our yamen. Wait while I tell my husband to issue a warrant for a runner to go to White Pagoda Temple to search for the four of them and seize the fiend monk.”

Thereupon Police Chief Liu issued the warrant, and a runner took it and departed. When he arrived at White Pagoda Temple he searched all around, but there was no trace of the four, so he didn’t dare arrest the fiend monk. Instead, the monk sent the messenger back to make an accusation to Police Chief Liu! “That family is not prudent to let their daughter do bad things. She kidnapped five disciples and hid them in her room for wanton sex and didn’t let them go. I request that you seize the whole Lin family and settle the issue.”

When Lady Chen saw that the monk had made a counteraccusation against Provincial Governor Lin, she said to Jiuniang, “As for what I’ve planned, what do you think?”

Jiuniang wept and said, “If this is the case, then I will never see my parents and brothers again,” and she felt a terrible grief.

Lady Chen consoled her, “Worthy younger sister, there is no need to be heartbroken. As for your father and mother, I foresee that there will be no problem. I think the fiend monk will certainly come tonight to look for you. You can arrange the hexagrams as before, and I will be at your side to help you. Tonight when that bald ass comes, I guarantee I’ll capture him, and in doing so show off my powers.”⁶ Then they set up a table in the West Flower Hall, where Jiuniang fetched red beans and laid out the hexagrams. The Lady secretly brought out her magic implements, and summoned her two bodyguards, Wang and Yang, to await the fiend monk’s arrival.

Now we will turn to the monk, who, after Jiuniang escaped, was very unhappy. When night fell, he used evil magic to go to the Lins’ house. Seeing that there was no one around, he thought to himself, “They must certainly be in the police chief’s yamen,” so he turned to enter the yamen. There he saw that the first and second gates were both wide open, with no one on guard. Stealthily, he slipped inside. He saw only the West Flower Hall, brilliantly lit with lanterns and candles, and Jiuniang arranging hexagrams. At her side stood a very beautiful woman. The bald-ass monk’s heart was extremely happy. “After all,” he thought, “there are two beautiful women! This is my good fortune!” Then he stole a look at the hexagrams she had laid out.

It was identical to the one that had previously been smashed! Just as he was thinking that he would smash her hexagram layout as before and easily carry off the two women back to his temple so that everyone could take turns having their pleasure from dawn to dusk, and was about to strike, the Lady shouted, “Fiend monk, stop your wanton behavior!” At that moment she threw the demon-binding rope, and with a shout ensnared him. Already, Wang and Yang, the two bodyguards, were pulling the rope tight. They tied up the fiend monk and suspended him from a rafter.

The Lady said, “Fiend monk, you dare to come and work your evil magic! Obviously, you carried off the parents and brothers of the Lin family, and came back to bring false charges against other people. Tonight you brazenly dare to come do evil things, and I have caught you! What justification do you have for yourself? Speak up!”

The monk hurriedly recited a spell to loosen the rope, hoping to free himself.⁷ Who could have known that Lady Chen’s magic was the true magic, so that the more he recited, the tighter the rope became? He thought to himself that it was no good. Facing his enemy once again, he demanded, “Who are you? Why are you helping this person who is arranging the hexagrams?”

Lady Chen answered, “I expect you don’t know me, since you dare to display your slight skill before an expert. Now I will speak and you will listen. I am the daughter of Mr. Chen of Xiadu, and the wife of the current police chief in Luoyuan. My name is Jinggu. Now do you know me?”

The monk thought to himself, “So it’s her!” Then he said, “Earlier, I truly didn’t recognize you. Now that I’ve heard your famous name, I beg you to let me go. I am willing to send the four back. In this way it will be greatly to your convenience.”

Lady Chen laughed and said, “First send the four back, and only then I will be willing to release you. I don’t care what is convenient or not.”

The monk said, “Now that I am held here by you, how I am supposed to release the other four?”

Lady Chen replied, “You want me to first release you? That is absolutely out of the question! What fiendish magic did you use on Jiuniang’s parents and brothers? Where did you hide them? Tell the truth! If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll hang you upside down for a year and a half, and never let you go. If you have fiendish magic, use your skills to the utmost. I have true magic to deal with you.” The monk was desperate to extricate himself, and said, “I haven’t hurt the four. I used four earthen basins with lids, which I am keeping in the West Meditation room in the temple.”

Lady Chen immediately ordered Wang and Yang, her two bodyguards, to go to the temple and bring them back. Receiving the order, the two bodyguards went to the White Pagoda Temple’s West Meditation room, where they saw a covered earthen basin on the floor next to the wall. They lifted the lid of the basin and, as expected, Jiuniang’s parents and brothers were inside. Using a spirit wind to lift them, they took them back to the police chief’s yamen. Lady Chen quickly sprayed talismanic water to cause the fiend’s vapor to dissipate. When they saw Jiuniang, they wept in each other’s arms. Only then did Lady Chen let the monk go back. To Jiuniang and the others she said, “You can all stay in the yamen for the time being. Wait until I have eliminated the monk, and then you can go home.”

Jiuniang and her family couldn’t thank her enough. Jiuniang saw that the Lady possessed true magic, and begged the Lady to teach her. She wanted to be her servant till the end of her life, attending on the Lady. The Lady replied with a laugh, “That’s absurd. You are the daughter of an official of the fifth rank. How could you be a servant? But we could be sworn sisters. That would be reasonable.”

She ordered a servant to set up an incense burner table and, facing Heaven, they became sworn sisters. Because the Lady was older, she was the elder sister, and Jiuniang, being younger, was the younger sister. Then the Lady paid her respects to Provincial Governor Lin and his wife. She taught the true magic to Jiuniang, who studied diligently.

Now we will return to Iron Head Monk, who had gone back to the temple after being hung upside down. He was very unhappy, and longed to take revenge, but had no ingenious plan. Alone he sat in the meditation room, his rumblings of hatred unceasing. At nightfall, he was finally quiet. After reciting incantations, drawing talismans, and summoning magic, he went straight out of the meditation room. Facing two clay vajras he chanted several incantations and cast several spells.⁸ The vajras immediately began to move, and descended the mountain, each wielding a precious sword. The monk went back into the meditation room to sit in meditation and wait for good news.

Now we will return to Lady Chen, who that night in the West Hall was expounding magic to Jiuniang, teaching her the art of shrinking distances, as well as that of flying daggers, and so on. At the second watch of the night, they heard a violent wind rise up. A gust shook the earth and rocked the mountain, so that the room swayed back and forth. Jiuniang was frightened. The Lady said, “It’s the fiend monk’s magic art. He’s coming back to settle a score with his enemies.”

Then she went out of the hall. In the courtyard she saw two huge men standing there, their height and size without match.⁹ Their heads were as big as large wine containers; their waists had the circumference of twenty arms; they had hooked noses and round eyes, and beards that fell below their necks; they had long fangs and golden bodies. In their hands they grasped precious swords, which they brandished. They spoke not a word.

When the Lady saw them, she went back inside and said to her two younger sisters Lin and Li, “Just as I expected, it’s that bald-ass monk I hung upside down; he is not willing to let it go. Using his evil magic again, he has sent these two giants to come here to take revenge on his enemies.”

The two younger sisters asked, “Who are those two giants?”

The Lady replied, “They are only the vajras who guard the gate to the mountain, so there’s no need to be alarmed. Wait while I deploy my skills against them.”

Lady Chen took up her sword, jumped down from the porch, and hacked at the two earthen vajras. Because the vajras were tall, the eaves low and their swords long, with their lower halves near the ground and their upper halves in the sky, it was not easy for them to engage in battle. Moreover, because they were made of clay, they couldn’t move as nimbly as could people. Their legs and bellies were soon slashed by the Lady, and they resumed their original appearances, the clay falling away from their legs. She heard the sound of clanging, just like a mountain collapsing or the earth splitting. The vajras could no longer stand upright and fell under the porch.

The Lady laughed and said, “Using these earthen, wood-carved things, what can he do to me?” When she had spoken, she went inside. They chatted until the third watch, when again they heard a noise like a mountain collapsing or the earth splitting. Black vapor filled the sky, and they saw herds of cows and packs of dogs burst into the West Hall. Making no distinction between north, south, east, and west, they indiscriminately dashed around biting. There were more and more of them, and the sound was like that of tremendous thunder. The Lady quickly ordered her two younger sisters to withdraw.

She unbound her hair. With loosened hair, she brandished her sword, and blew her spirit horn. The mass of cows and dogs did not dare advance, but huddled in their herds and packs. The Lady paced out the steps of the Big Dipper, chanted the spirit text, and performed her true magic. Then she sprayed talismanic water from the basin at the cows and dogs. Instantly, they resumed their original form, which was nothing but paper cutouts! On the paper, which was black on one side and yellow on the other, were drawn cow and dog heads. The Lady blew her spirit wind on them, and they whirled around and fell down, covering the ground with paper. She halted her magic, swept up the paper cows and dogs, and tied up her hair.

The two younger sisters were astounded. The Lady said angrily, “The bald-ass monk is this abominable! He uses these cows, dogs, and ferocious animals to come harm us. If it had been a quarter of an hour later, we would have been hurt.¹⁰ I must avail myself tonight of his being off guard to go to the temple to kill him, in order to relieve my hatred.” Then she ordered Third Elder Sister Li to keep watch over the yamen. She herself left with Jiuniang, each bearing a precious sword, and by means of an earth vein they went to White Pagoda Temple. To Jiuniang she said, “Worthy younger sister, wait here. I will order Wang and Yang, my two bodyguards, to assist you. You can come with me into the temple to kill the monk.”

Then she went into the meditation room where she saw the fiend monk sitting on a mat. In her hand she held magic, and with her mouth she chanted incantations. Brandishing a flying sword, she shouted, “Bald-ass monk, don’t flee! Eat my sword!” She raised her hand and the sword fell. But the bald-ass monk had vanished! Greatly astonished, the Lady said, “The fiend monk was clearly on the meditation mat. As soon as I hacked at him with my sword, how could he disappear just like that?”

Just as she was trying to figure out what had happened, she saw the shiny-headed monk with a meditation rod in hand coming to fight. Hearing the sound of wind, the Lady raised her head to look, quickly using her sword to parry the blow. There was now one fiend monk and one Daoist young woman contesting their magic in the temple. Although the monk’s energy and temper were fierce, he was no match for the Lady’s sword arts. Like dragon and tiger they fought until the sky turned light in the east, when the monk’s strength failed and his rod technique disintegrated.

Calculating that it would be difficult to withstand his enemy, the monk fled the White Pagoda Temple and went down the mountain.¹¹ It never occurred to him that Jiuniang would be lying in ambush at the base of the mountain, sword in hand. When he reached the base, Jiuniang saw him pause to catch his breath, and slashed at him with her sword. The fiend monk hurried to parry the blow with his meditation rod. In pursuit, the Lady also came down the mountain. Behind the bald-ass monk’s back she brought her sword down right onto his neck, and his head fell to the ground. His body fell on top of a large rock at White Pagoda Peak, and his blood flowed out, covering the ground.

It was already daybreak when the Lady decapitated the monk. She went into the temple with Jiuniang and proclaimed the crimes of the fiend monk, saying, “Now I have killed him in order to pacify the meditation temple and correct its ways of learning.” The monks all expressed their thanks. The Lady also ordered the novice who had accidentally released Jiuniang by surreptitiously opening the earthenware basin to return to the correct Way.

From the temple, the Lady recovered more than ten women—all villagers from the vicinity who had either entered the temple to burn incense or had passed by it, and been abducted by the fiend monk, who had hidden them in an underground vault. She ascertained each woman’s name and address, and ordered the monks to escort them home. Once the orders were issued, she and Jiuniang returned to the yamen.

When Luoyuan, Ningde, and other places heard that the Lady had eliminated the fiend monk, there was no one who did not sing her praises.¹² Today, there is a rock on Banlingshi at Qifu on White Stone Peak in White Stone District in Luoyuan County in Fuzhou Prefecture, one corner of which was hacked off by Jiuniang. The mark of the sword and the bloodstain remain on the rock, while the head of Iron Head Monk is on a rock on top of the peak. People have seen these things when the sky is dark and gloomy.

Now let us return to the Lady, who had decapitated Iron Head Monk. The three sisters recited scriptures from dawn to dusk in order to transmit the true teachings of Mount Lü. Whenever Police Chief Liu encountered this sort of case without any clues, in every instance it was the Lady who assisted him with her miraculous powers of investigation and judgment. The people were at peace and things flourished.

At that time it was early autumn. The Lady said to Miss Li, “Now it is the time for ascending to the Realm of the Immortals. I am going to look around to see where there are fiends who could harm people. Worthy younger sister, you first go home. If your father wants to enter Paradise, you go with him.” Miss Li consented. She made her preparations for the journey, and took her leave of the Lady and Jiuniang.

When Miss Li arrived home, she went to see her father. She told him in detail how the Lady had treated her like a sister, loving her as her own flesh and blood, and had transmitted to her the magical arts, and moreover had saved Jiuniang’s whole family. Her father said, “You, my daughter, have the affection of the Lady, so you will be safe. Therefore, as your father, I am no longer tied down. It is the seventh month, the time for ascending to the Realm of the Immortals. Now that you have a secure refuge, as your father I want to go to the Realm of the Immortals, the world of supreme happiness and leisure, to not lose the fruit of cultivating my heart and mind my entire life.”

Miss Li replied, “I have my suspicions that the Realm of the Immortals is not necessarily real. I fear that it is a fiend’s illusion.”

Her father said, “You really are a fool! The practice of ascending to the Buddhist realm has gone on for years right up to the present. I don’t know how many millions of people have been saved. A fiend’s illusion? What a preposterous idea!”

Miss Li saw that her father was bewitched, so she said nothing more. She recalled the Lady’s detailed instructions to only make for her father a Daoist gown and Daoist cloth shoes and socks, and so on, and to do nothing until the evening of the fifteenth day of the seventh month. In every locality, men and women, old and young, went to their relatives’ families a day in advance to say goodbye. That night the moon was as bright as day. Miss Li and her father, just the two of them, went to their relatives and friends to say goodbye. That night Miss Li helped her father put on his clothes and get ready, and went with him to the port. As expected, it was bustling with excitement.

That evening the Lady was in the inner yamen, where she instructed Lin Jiuniang to look after things there. She herself waited until her husband had gone to sleep. Hiding in her sleeve her demon-binding rope and wearing at her waist her magic sword, she shrank into an earth vein. In a moment she arrived at the port, where she saw a tremendous crowd of people. In the port a half li from the shore a huge, tall tower had appeared. Inside, it was ablaze with lights that glittered brilliantly. From top to bottom were colorful festoons, on the two sides there were jade railings, and to the left and right stood ten Buddhist novices. Clasping their hands in front of them, they chanted the Buddha’s name. Above on both sides hung two large glass lamps, as bright as the sun and moon. If you listened closely, there was the sound of flutes and drums. A long bridge ran between the railings, the head of the bridge reaching the shore of the port. On either side there was a handrail with carved flowers and gold paint, with towers at the side. To the left and right rare flowers and extraordinary grasses were arranged.

At this time, the people who were arriving were both men and women, old and young of every age. There was also a group of monks and Daoist priests standing on either side. To the left of family members who were ascending to the Realm of the Immortals, if they were kindred sons and grandsons, they offered incense, standing behind the old people. There was also a group of onlookers, standing to either side, waiting until the people of each prefecture and county had all arrived. Then each and every one offered incense, and each of those ascending the tower of the Realm of the Immortals bowed. The monks recited scriptures and urged the world not to kill living souls, and to take care to cultivate tranquility in order to return to bliss. They also chanted the words of The Hidden Power of Lord Wenchang as a means of passing the time as they waited for people from more distant places to arrive.¹³

Now let us speak of Lady Chen, who was looking all around. She knew that a fiend spirit had created this illusion. She saw Miss Li arrive, supporting her father, and said to her, “I perceive that this Realm of the Immortals is really a bewitching illusion created by a fiend, but I don’t know which fiend it is. Worthy younger sister, take your father and wait over there. He absolutely must not enter the Realm of the Immortals. Wait for me to investigate and determine which fiend it is, as only then will I be able to deal with it.”

Miss Li followed her instructions. The Lady took her sword and soared into the air. Drawing near the tower, she deployed her supernatural radiance to look it over carefully. Smiling coldly, she said to herself, “I said it wasn’t any kind of Realm of the Immortals. What they are calling the ‘Paradise of Supreme Happiness’ is in fact an evil fiend’s conjuring up of an illusion in order to fill its belly. The common people have no idea! They foolishly hope for the Realm of the Immortals. Who would have thought that this fiend is a huge sea clam?”

The spit in its mouth could turn into a mirage. This is what ordinary people call a sea tortoise spouting waves. This sea creature floats on the surface of the sea, opening its huge mouth wide and turning it into a tower, with the clam inside. From a distance, it looks like jade railings along the sides. It sticks out its tongue to form a long bridge that reaches the shore. Then it takes its two long whiskers and passes them along the sides of the bridge right up to the shore, forming the two handrails. Above, the two horns on its head form two strangely shaped immortal rocks. Below its cheeks, a tangled mass of green beard spreads out in all directions, like bluish-green grass and green lichen. Its two eyes, round as cartwheels and even more brilliant and clear, form large glass lamps ablaze with light. All around, it is as bright as daylight. The two rows of twenty teeth are transformed into Buddhist novices who, divided along the two sides, clasp their hands together and pray to Buddha. The sound of breathing in the Clam Fiend’s nose harmonizes with the sound of the wind and waves, so that from far away it is like the music of flutes and drums.

When the Lady finished looking, she sighed and said, “This fiend is seeking food in this way. From ancient times up till now, as a fixed rule every year at this time it has harmed who knows how many living souls.” Before she had finished speaking, from everywhere people came in throngs to enter the Realm of the Immortals. When they had finished chanting the scriptures, the clanging of cymbals sounded. After offering incense and prayers, the people mounted the bridge to enter Paradise.

The Lady saw that the crowd was already on the bridge. She pressed her sword on the throat of the clam fiend and, using the spirit force of the True Law, thrust it in. The fiend spirit was wounded by the thrust, and in a flash retracted its tongue and rolled over. Turning head over tail, it knocked the Lady into the water, and she came up using the Water Method. The first ten or twenty old people on the bridge to the Realm of the Immortals were happily walking straight ahead, so that when the clam fiend hastily pulled back its tongue and turned a somersault, they fell into the water. In an instant the tower was entirely submerged and Paradise had disappeared! The people on the shore panicked, and the scores of old people who had not yet mounted the bridge were frightened out of their wits.

Now we will speak of the clam fiend, whose throat had been cut and who was thrashing around in the water. In a short time the dead clam fiend was floating on the surface, while the Lady was in the air. She saw the people who had fallen into the water, and ordered others to pull them onto the shore and for each one’s relatives to identify them and take them back. Then she returned to the surface of the water and stirred up a gust of spirit wind to blow the clam fiend to the shore, where she ordered the people to pull it onto dry land. The people didn’t know what was happening. The Lady explained how the clam fiend’s expelled breath formed a tower. The foolish people didn’t know that those people they had thought were ascending to Paradise over the years were providing a meal for the fiend, which each year enjoyed one big feast.¹⁴ They thought that the fiend’s belly was the realm of supreme happiness. “I have now killed this fiend, forever eliminating future trouble. Each of you identify your relatives and go home.” The crowd of men and women, old and young, kowtowed in thanks.

When Miss Li heard the Lady’s words, she was at the back with her father, who had not yet dared to mount the bridge. When she saw the Lady, she came forward to kowtow her thanks, saying that if it hadn’t been for her having been all alone without any place to be settled, two years ago her father would have been buried in the fish’s belly. While they were talking, day broke. The Lady told Miss Li to take her father home and get him settled, and then to come to the yamen, saying, “I will return first and wait.” When she finished speaking, she shrank into the earth and returned home.

The crowd on the shore all had grandfathers, uncles, and members of the older generation who had fallen into the water when they were ascending to Paradise. They were very lucky that the Lady had saved them by bringing them to the shore. They each changed into dry clothing, and, with spoonfuls of ginger soup, little by little were restored to consciousness. Among them there were those able to survive and those whose lives had been cut off. There were also some who were searched for without result. All said that the Lady had spirit powers and magical arts, so why hadn’t she saved them by bringing them to the shore? They hurried to cut open the clam fiend’s belly with knives in order to search it; they never thought that those who had gone first had entered its belly, their lives already cut off. Truly it was:

All thought that by being vegetarian they would enter Paradise.

Who knew that their lives would be given to the clam fiend?

If you don’t know what happened after Lady Chen killed the fiend and returned to the yamen, then read the next chapter to find out.