The Biography of the True Man Zhang Kang is set against the real history of the late Ming Dynasty. At the time, factional struggles at court were fierce, disasters were frequent among the common people, and the masses were mired in hardship. Zhang Jinghong, courtesy name Yiyun, was born in Liuyang, Hunan, in 1597. At his birth, strange celestial phenomena appeared, including a disturbance in the Ziwei star and the light of the Big Dipper falling from the sky. His mother dreamed of a white deer carrying a lingzhi mushroom into her arms, and cinnabar talismans faintly appeared in his palm. A wandering Taoist declared that he was "born with the destiny of the Three Lords, and must save all living beings with his flesh and blood."
His family was forced to move south due to factional strife, enduring many hardships along the way. After settling down, Zhang Jinghong obtained the Divine Farmer's Surviving Scrolls. His medical skills were extraordinary, but they aroused the jealousy of shamans. Later, when a plague broke out, he discovered that it was caused by sinister forces in the earth's veins and fought against a black dragon. After receiving a vision of the Three Lords in a dream, he used his pure Yang blood to suppress the plague. In the end, he died a heroic death, his blood staining an ancient well.
Grateful for his kindness, the people built the Three Lords Temple. Over the years, many strange events took place there. During renovations in the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty, a scholar in blue appeared at night to draw plans for the coffered ceiling. During the War of Resistance, an ancient bell rang on its own to warn people of air raids. In modern times, instruments used by an archaeological team showed an image of a human body with the heat signature of someone from the late Ming Dynasty in front of the tomb. The Three Lords Temple and Henglong Temple are connected by an underground spiritual vein, and every Jiazi year, Zhang Kang's spirit patrols the area along the Eighteen-Arched Corridor. Visitors to Ciyun Pavilion can see the poems on its walls change with the sunlight. At dusk, eight characters appear: "The Three Lords are no lords; the healthy know no bounds." The white crane Zhang rescued as a child transformed into a blue-robed Taoist boy and has guarded the forests of Wulong Mountain ever since. Every Qingming Festival, he wipes clean the "Song Zhi Question Plaque." Zhang Jinghong's legendary story has been passed down from generation to generation in this land, becoming a source of inspiration for those who come after him.
