In ancient times, the Water God Gonggong and the Fire God Zhurong fought. Gonggong struck down Mount Buzhou, tilting the heavens and earth. The waters of the Celestial River poured into the mortal world, and all creation sank into chaos. When Nuwa mended the sky, a surge of spiritual power escaped the chaos and fell into the lower realm, its whereabouts unknown.
A thousand years later, a peach tree sprouted in the courtyard of Daoist Qingxu on Yingzhou Island in the Eastern Sea. He never let anyone touch it. The tree seemed to be asleep, unchanged for hundreds of years.
Yuanzhou, the Daoist’s eldest disciple, often stared at the tree and sighed. “This peach tree grows far too slowly. It’s been hundreds of years, and it hasn’t borne a single peach. I wonder why Master makes me water it with spiritual dew every day.”
One morning, sunlight filtered through the mottled shadows of the trees. As usual, the disciples of Qingxu Temple were either sweeping the courtyard or reciting scriptures. The sacred abode of the immortals was peaceful. Yuanzhou carried a jar of spiritual dew to the back courtyard and went to water the peach tree. But the moment he saw it, he suddenly shouted toward the house.
“Master! Master, come look!”
Daoist Qingxu had been meditating. Hearing the cry, he thought something terrible had happened. He swept outside with his whisk raised, only to find the peach tree that had not changed for centuries suddenly shining with golden light and brimming with spiritual power.
