Two thousand years ago, the Great Emperor of Fengdu began a period of seclusion. A rebellion broke out in the Underworld under the name of the Leak Marsh Goddess. It was quickly suppressed by Jiang Heng, who held the title of Leak Marsh Goddess, but the resentful spirits who had been crushed refused to disperse. In the aftermath of their energy, they merged with the Underworld's Yellow Springs and formed the Sea of Yan.
Everyone living in the world has three corpses that record their deeds. Originally, Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha delivered the dead from suffering, while Meng Po served them her soup, cleansing their six senses and helping them let go of their past lives. But once the Sea of Yan, steeped in profound resentment, had formed, it could attract the corpse worms when they left their hosts. After a certain period, they would form a tide of corpses.
Jiang Heng volunteered to take on the duty of exterminating the corpse tide and guarded the Sea of Yan atop a reef. The people of the Underworld came to call the reef Yan Reef, and the "Leak Marsh" Goddess became the "Goddess of Yan Reef."
Yet a thousand years later, the Goddess failed her tribulation and fell. Before her death, she fused her divine blood into her twin-staff weapon, then entered the cycle of reincarnation. Before her reincarnation, the Goddess left a prophecy: after fifty lifetimes, she would surely return.
Theme: How can you know life if you do not know death?
Chaoyuanhui, every year on the winter solstice, the Yuanshi Tianzun's Christmas banquet, all the immortals pay homage to him. The most famous cultural relic is the mural "Chaoyuan Picture" in Yongle Palace, Ruicheng, Shanxi.