“Around 200 years ago…

 

There was a small village right beside a very tall mountain. The mountain was incredibly tall but it wasn’t impossible to climb. An adult could climb over it and get to the other side pretty easily but climbing to the peak had never been done before.

 

The hunters who had tried either died or struggled so much that they gave up.

 

In the eyes of hunters and most people who climbed, there wasn’t much of a point in reaching the top anyway. Getting to the other side was significantly more rewarding and easier. 

 

On the other side, there was dense forest and lots more animals to hunt and fruit to pick. There was also a large white building. You couldn’t see it from the village because the mountain was much wider and taller than the building but once you were about to cross over to the other side you could see it. It was taller than any building anyone in the village had ever seen and it was completely different from the architecture of the village or any surrounding city. No one dared to go near it though, it was too far away and once they got too far in the forest, it seemed to completely change colors, from pure white to a frightening pitch black.

 

But the other side of the mountain was really only interesting to hunters. Most other people in the village were much more interested in the peak of the mountain. This was because one day, a cultivator dressed in turquoise came into the town and warned them to stay away from the other side of the mountain. He warned them that the gods would be angry if they continued to cross over. The cultivator soon left but the people created a bit of a myth from his words. Since the gods paid close attention to the mountain and no one could reach the top of the mountain…

 

Perhaps God is atop the mountain.

 

More people tried to climb the mountain but they all died or came down the mountain after being defeated by nature. People stopped caring about the idea of god being atop the mountain but the story popped up again years later.

 

A young boy snuck around the edge of the village, trying to stay out of sight as he reached the mountain.

 

Children were forbidden from going to the mountain. The story of the god waiting on top had already caused many deaths and children were very quick to buy into the idea so the hunters kept an eye out so they could stop them.

 

This boy was a bit different though, he was very determined. He had heard of the god atop the tower from his mother. She reminisced about her brother who died in search of the god. This didn’t deter him from going up the mountain though. He had a wish he was desperate for god to grant him.

 

His mother was always sick and his father never had the money to buy her medicine so he was going to wish for money so his father could buy more medicine for his mother. He was very determined today in particular because his mother had recently gotten very sick and his father had told him with a saddened expression that there wasn’t much they could do at this point.

 

His mother hadn’t woken up in a while and his father was busy so he was certain no one would look for him if he was gone for a while. 

 

Climbing the mountain was much harder than he expected. He took breaks as often as he could, he had a lot of stamina so he was doing much better than many hunters who climbed the mountain.

 

The sun was beginning to set when he finally looked away from the rocks he was climbing.

 

The village was so small now, and he could see the white building off on the other side of the mountain. He could still not see the peak of the mountain though.

 

“Woah…” was all he could say as he looked at everything. He watched the white building for a while.  As the setting sun’s rays hit the building he noticed it turning black and he was amazed. So amazed that he moved his leg the wrong way and was suddenly set rolling down the mountain.

 

His screams echoed through the mountain. He avoided getting stabbed by rocks a few times as he rolled but he rolled off the edge of one and started to fall down a particularly steep area. He faced the top of the mountain as he fell and his blurry crying eyes could suddenly almost make out the peak.

 

Covered in the golden light of the sunset, the peak was suddenly visible to him. It was only for a second…one second that lasted a lifetime. And then it was all darkness.

 

The boy didn’t die.

 

He did go unconscious for a while and wholeheartedly believed that he did die until he finally was able to open his eyes.

 

He was very much alive.

 

He had come fallen into a cave somehow and landed in a relatively safe position. He was a bit sore and scratched up but oddly enough he didn’t seem to have broken anything. He tried to stand up, holding himself up by putting his hands on the ground, or what should’ve been ground. 

 

The boy almost screamed as his hand didn’t reach the ground and his balance was completely thrown off, luckily he was able to push himself back with his other hand and not fall. 

 

He looked forward and noticed what he had almost fallen in.

 

A dark hole, completely devoid of light.  

 

He felt his fear disappear as he looked at the hole. It intrigued him. 

 

He could not see the bottom. He could not see anything. If he hadn’t almost fallen in it, he wouldn’t have believed that it was a hole. The light that came from the entrance of the cave seemed to have no effect on the hole at all.

 

The boy was curious. He searched through his pocket and found a coin, he had saved it to buy a meat bun down in town for his mother but he had forgotten all about it. He threw the coin down the hole. It disappeared immediately. The boy waited for the sound. The coin would make a sound when it fell and it would show him how deep it was.

 

The sound never came but the boy still waited a few minutes. He was going to stand up and try to get out of the cave but he then heard the sound of a coin as he turned around. He turned back to the hole and found that his coin had flown out of the hole.

 

“Is there something in ther–” The boy whispered to himself and suddenly another coin flew out? And then another coin! And then a silver coin flew out too! And a gold one next!

 

What in the world?!

 

The boy kneeled down next to the hole as coins flew out. With the amount of coins he had now he could definitely buy more medicine for his Mother.

 

“...God? Are you down there?” The boy whispered as the hole stopped sending him coins.

 

One last coin flew out after the boy asked that, and it landed right in his hands. The boy was overjoyed!

 

The story had been wrong! God was not atop the mountain, God was in a cave within the mountain!

 

He gathered all of the coins and profusely bowed at the hole.

 

“I’ll be back, God!” The boy exclaimed, “I’ll bring you back offerings!”

 

The boy found his way out of the cave and out to the village. He was gleeful and energetic as he ran through the village. He was going to head straight home but he found his father speaking to some women and quickly ran up to him.

 

“Father! Father!”

 

The boy’s father recognized him immediately, and the women dispersed as he walked away with an embarrassed expression.

 

“What are you doing here, child?!”  The boy’s father asked with an angry expression.

 

The boy didn’t pay any attention to his father’s anger and he pulled coins from his pockets.

 

“You can pay for mom’s medicine now!” 

 

His father stared at all of the coins and looked at him with shock. His shock soon turned into joy. He took all the coins and quickly stuffed them in his own pockets.

 

“I got them from—“

 

“Shhh! I don’t need to know! No one needs to know, okay? This is our secret.” His father cut him off and walked with him back to his house.

 

“I’ll go buy the medicine, and you can go see your mother, okay?” His father said before rushing off into the village.

 

The boy was so excited but his father came back and disappointed him completely. The bottle of medicine he brought was only slightly bigger than the medicine he would usually buy.

 

“Get more of that money, son. Your mother’s medicine is even more expensive now.” The father said sadly.

 

The boy immediately nodded and the next day he went off to the mountain again. This time he brought some meat buns and threw them in the hole, explaining to the ‘God’ that it was his offering, before throwing some coins in again.

 

The coins were once again multiplied and the boy went back down to the village.

 

Every day from then on, the boy would find that, while they had enough medicine for his mother, they still didn’t seem to have gained any sort of luxury or anything. His mother, who had now woken up and seemed better than ever despite her age, still barely had enough to buy meat buns!

 

He was confused, he had given his dad more money recently…where had it all gone?

 

He snuck out one evening in search of his father. He found his father drinking inside of one of the buildings, surrounded by dancing women. He grew upset as he saw all the bottles around him. That’s where all the money was going!

 

He couldn’t quite decide what to do about this but early one morning he readied a small cart, and a sack and took a wine jar from his father’s bedroom, and went up the mountain again.

 

He threw the wine jar down the whole and got many more jars in return. He hid them all under the sack and carefully went down the mountain. He caught his father just as he was going to leave to go drink and he stopped him and showed him what he had gotten. The father was overjoyed and stayed home drinking the wine that day.

 

For a few days, this was fine but afterward, his father started going out again! And there was still plenty of wine leftover!

 

The boy followed his brother again and found him in the building with the dancing women again.

 

“I thought you had gone back to your wife…I was getting lonely.” One of the dancers said with a saddened expression as she cuddled up to the boy’s father.

 

“How could I go back to that old hag when a beauty like you is here!”

 

The boy was upset by this, his father was wasting God's gift again! And now it was because his mother wasn’t beautiful enough? 

 

The next day he went up the mountain with one of his mother’s face cream bottles. As he threw the bottle in the hole he whispered to the god, “please make it so this cream makes my mother beautiful”.

 

He returned the cream to his mother’s room and watched. The next day, his mother’s face no longer had any wrinkles and her eyes no longer had signs of age or tiredness. His father was entranced by the sudden change and stuck around but unfortunately… this also wasn’t permanent.

 

His father once again returned to the dancer after a few days. The dancer cried to him, “Your wife has become so beautiful! How could you return to me?”

 

“I do not love her. Not like I love you!”  

 

The boy went up the mountain again, this time with two golden rings he had stolen from the peddlers that visited town. He threw them down the hole and whispered, “Please make it so the two people who wear these rings will be in love forever.”

 

The rings flew out of the hole with a sparkle to them, The boy admired them but hid them away until he got home.

 

“Here you go, father. I got this for you, please wear it.” The boy said with a smile.

 

His father looked at the ring and was very impressed. He put it on and patted the boy’s back.

 

“What a filial son!”

 

The boy went on and gifted his mother the other ring, she was overjoyed and put it on immediately. Her joy was completely gone once she put it on though. She moved right past the boy and went to find her husband who was looking for her as well.

 

The boy was pretty proud of himself, as he watched them but after a few days he saw the problem.

 

His parents had completely lost their love for him! 

 

His mother didn’t cook for him and simply stared at him when he asked why he didn’t get any food. She didn’t hug him or even acknowledge him!

 

His father acted the same but his mother was completely different! This was unacceptable! Why would his mother do this!

 

The boy went off to the mountain in a fit of rage. His mother was such a terrible person! How could she lose all of her love for him?!

 

He threw a pouch full of water down the hole.

 

“Please make it so this water will kill my mother if she ever drinks it. Only my mother.” 

 

He went down to his home once more and emptied the water pitcher next to his parent’s bed and filled it with the water. His mother liked to drink a glass before bed, so he knew she would drink it.

 

As he was leaving the house to go get something for himself to eat he came across his mother.

 

“Ugh..what a nuisance, why doesn’t he just stay on the streets…” She murmured and the boy heard and any doubts he had about wanting to kill her disappeared completely.

 

The sun started to set and he was eating happily, waiting until the time when his mother was supposed to die to go back home.

When he went into his parent's bedroom later that night, he found a rather troubling scene. His mother lay on the floor dead, as he expected, But his father kneeled next to her.

 

With a knife in his hand and blood spewing from his throat. He had killed himself after seeing her die. All because of the rings…

 

The boy stared at the scene… that was not how he intended things to go but he wasn’t too concerned for some reason.

 

He waited a few days and went off to go climb the mountain early one morning, he wasn’t sure what he’d ask from the god. He couldn’t really fix things now and he wasn’t very inclined to do so.

 

He thought about it as he stared at the mountain and suddenly he froze in place. A lot of people who were waking up and looking out at the mountains were frozen as well. A few screams could be heard in the distance too. 

 

“The mountain is gone!”

 

Suddenly the mountain had been leveled. Turned into a plateau.

 

The boy felt more emotion than he felt when he saw his deceased parents in his bedroom. He immediately wailed and sobbed as he ran toward the Plateau. 

 

His God! His God was in that mountain!

 

He rushed and climbed and climbed, falling and getting hurt as his tears blurred his vision. 

 

He fell into a bush and stayed there for a second as he heard footsteps. He didn’t know why but he felt like he shouldn’t be seen. He glanced over at the figure that was walking by and they became engraved in his memory. A young man in a dark blue Hanfu, looking stoic yet slightly distressed as he walked down the plateau.

 

He stared as the young man left and his tears flowed even more as he watched,

 

It must’ve been him. He must’ve been the one to destroy his god.

 

His sadness and hatred welled up inside him until he suddenly heard a whisper.

 

He turned his head and was overjoyed.

 

The pitch-black hole was right by his side. It inched closer and closer, pulling itself out of the ground and up, creating a wall of never-ending void. The boy was more than happy to be embraced by the darkness and in the last moments before he was swallowed up, he heard a whisper.

 

‘God’s’ true name. 

 

Hundun."

"I quite enjoyed that story, father." A young boy said as he smiled up at Zhao Zhihao, who just chuckled and said good night, leaving the young boy to sleep.