The Shanhai Realm Customs

The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* is hailed as the greatest book of wonders in China. Some say it is the imagination of the ancients; others say it records a chapter of human history that we have forgotten. What if one day you suddenly discovered that the creatures of myth were actually living among us? Gu Luming had always thought that, as an orphan, his first half of life had been unremarkable. Then, one equally ordinary summer, he found a tiny, unconscious, colorful bird in his delivery box. What happened afterward was anything but ordinary, because when the little bird woke up, it spoke!!! “You’re saying... you’re a phoenix?” “That’s right. In your human terms, there are three hundred and sixty clans of the Feathered Folk, and the phoenix is their king. My father is the head of the phoenix clan!” “You’re saying you can make me rich?” “Of course! Haven’t you heard that a phoenix never lands somewhere without treasure?” “Then why did you land in my delivery box?” “...” Many years later, standing atop Kunlun Mountain in the Shan Hai Realm, Gu Luming gazed down at the countless birds and beasts and the rare, exotic creatures covering the land. He couldn’t help exclaiming, “What wonderful ingredients!”