Lighting the Lamp

Note: The metaphysical elements include original worldbuilding and foreshadowing. This is a wish-fulfillment story with identity-reveal scenes.

Centuries ago, someone appeared on the far bank of the River of Forgetfulness. He watched over the river and traveled among the living. The authorities called him "Wuji." It was said that he had been one step away from ascending to immortality, but for reasons unknown, he became a living formation, anchoring the River of Forgetfulness and guarding the peace of the mortal realm and the order of the underworld. Among ordinary people, he was known as the Immortal Chang.

Wuji had a child he raised from a young age. The story goes that after he founded the Lantern-Bearing lineage, he found the child at the foot of a mountain. The child had no name or family name, only a jade pendant engraved with the character "Xiang." Wuji now had someone to care about, so he named him Yuan Xiang.

Before Wuji entered the River of Forgetfulness, he had three disciples, each of whom learned one of the lineages.

The Lantern-Bearing lineage guides the souls of the newly dead across the River of Forgetfulness.

The Lantern-Carrying lineage guides back the fates of those whose lifespans have been borrowed.

The Soul-Guiding lineage retrieves souls that refuse to enter the River of Forgetfulness and linger forcibly among the living, bringing them back to the Yellow Springs so the Lantern-Bearers can guide them across.

The Lantern-Carriers bear square lanterns of colored glass and jade shaped like flowers. How long the flame inside burns depends on the carrier's strength.

The Lantern-Bearers hold white jade lotus lanterns whose flames never go out. How long they can be lit likewise depends on the bearer's strength. These are also called Everlasting Lanterns.

Compared with the first two, the Soul-Guiding lineage is much simpler and more forceful. Silver chains as thick as a little finger are born from one's own soul. With sufficient strength, they can bind souls lingering in the mortal realm and drag them to the Yellow Springs.

Red beans grow in the southern land. When spring comes, how many branches will they sprout? I hope you gather plenty, for they are the thing that best expresses longing.

This poem of longing embodies the thoughts of all who inherit the tradition. It speaks of the divide between yin and yang, and of the pain and grief of personally guiding one's own kin into the afterlife.

Two hundred years after Wuji used his own body to anchor the River of Forgetfulness, his eldest disciple sealed Mount Sanqing with his soul. No one could enter without Wuji's disciples' permission, and it could not be found from the mortal world. Resentment and malice filled the River of Forgetfulness, so Wuji altered the formation once more. The sins and karma of a million souls in the river were absorbed by his half-immortal body, leaving all who crossed as pure souls. Some say Wuji had already died.

Yet the art of guiding souls into the River of Forgetfulness has been passed down for centuries, and many of its heirs still live in the modern age. The eldest disciple drew up the ancestral genealogy. After a thousand years, Wuji was burdened with ill karma, and his soul seemed to have dissipated after leaving his body. Those who later saw his body surrounded by black miasma beneath the River of Forgetfulness offered mixed opinions of him. Given the belief that he was dead, all they could give him was a fearful respect.

They feared that his half-immortal body could not withstand the resentment, and that it would leak out and stain them with resentment too. They respected his fearlessness and his concern for all living beings.

The second disciple merged his soul with the stone before Mount Sanqing and inscribed the mountain's name upon it.

Only Yuan Xiang remained of this generation. Once every hundred years, he entered the River of Forgetfulness to shoulder some of Wuji's resentment. After sleeping for a century, he would return to the mortal realm. During those hundred years, he guided souls in the human world and dealt with troubles that the heirs of the present day could not handle.

"The bridge... The bridge has collapsed!"

"Think of something, quickly! Their souls can't hold out!"

"If these souls dissipate on the far bank of the River of Forgetfulness, we'll bear countless sins and never be able to atone, just like our founding master."

"The lantern bridge! Use the lantern bridge!"

"That's just a fragment of an ancient text. Few of our successors can actually do it..."

"The Lantern-Bearing lineage respectfully asks our ancestor Yuan Xiang to permit us to summon the lantern bridge!"

"No response. The request is denied."

"No, that's impossible! Unless... unless he's still alive!"

"Sigh..."

"Heaven above, the Lantern-Bearers pay their respects."

"The Lantern-Bearers guide the living through life and death; the heroes return to the banks of the River of Forgetfulness."

"In the name of Yuan Xiang, founding master of the Lantern-Bearing lineage, I summon the lantern bridge and make it shine everlasting."

"A thousand lanterns guide them; ten thousand souls return!"

Thousands upon thousands of lotus lanterns stretched along the River of Forgetfulness, forming what was called the Thousand Lanterns' Guide. Once every thousand years, a lantern bridge would appear, and the heroic dead would return.

Sanqing means leisure, purity, and integrity.

Wuji, I am guarding the mortal realm as you wished.

Please, someday soon, come and see me.

Theme: Thousands upon thousands of lotus lanterns stretch along the River of Forgetfulness. Once every thousand years, a lantern bridge appears, and the heroic dead return.