As the primordial world splits apart, the goddess Nuwa descends from the starry river. Her bare feet tread scorched earth, and her tears become the clear waters of the Zhang River. She kneads yellow earth and draws upon the three lights to imbue it with spirit, creating all living things. Suddenly, Gonggong crashes into the pillar that supports the heavens, and the vault of the sky collapses, bringing the chill of the underworld. Nuwa slays five spirits and smelts them into five-colored divine stones. She lifts them to mend the rift in the heavens, and their golden blood scorches her arms, congealing into the red jade of Mount Taihang. Seeing that all living things still suffer, she gouges out her eyes to make the sun and moon, and removes her jade hairpin to create the hanging Lifesaving Tower: its beams yield grain, its bells drive away every plague, and it forever safeguards the peace and health of humankind.
A thousand years later, a great plague sweeps the land. The healer Yun Sang enters the mountains of Mount Wa Huang. She awakens the spirit of the soil to hear heartbeats and identify the source of disease, then uses the red jade to draw in light and dispel evil energy. At last, she ascends the Lifesaving Tower and witnesses a miracle. Moonlight flows like a silken ribbon, and the Mother Goddess’s sigh echoes through the mountains and rivers: “My bones became the mountains, my soul the spring breeze that guards your sleep. Never forget: when your palm rests on the yellow earth, you gently touch your mother’s face.” From then on, altars to the soil are raised throughout the mortal world. As all the people bow to listen to the heartbeat of the earth, they finally understand that the goddess has never left. The rosy clouds are her robes, the rain her tears, and the bloodlines of the Nine Provinces carry on her divine grace forever.
