《龙瑞观禹穴阳明洞天图经》

Longrui Temple (Longrui Guan) lies fifteen li southeast of the county seat of Kuaiji. According to tradition, Yu the Great once sought the Five Talismans of Lingbao (Lingbao Wufu) here and used them to control the floods. In the first year of the Shenlong era of the Tang dynasty (705), a hermitage called Huaixian Lodge was established on the site. In the second year of the Kaiyuan era (714), Celestial Master (Tianshi) Ye performed a jiao (a Daoist sacrificial ritual, related to the Zhaijiao purification rites) here, and a dragon appeared during the ceremony. The imperial court therefore bestowed the name "Longrui Temple," meaning "Temple of the Dragon Omen," and the name has been used ever since.

Mount Kuaiji (Kuaiji Shan) lies twelve li east of the county seat and is the guardian mountain of Yangzhou, hence the name "Kuaiji," meaning "to assemble and assess." According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shanhai Jing), the mountain is rich in gold and jade, while its foothills yield pearls and stones; it is also known as Mount Heng. Tradition holds that a rock on the mountain resembles an overturned vessel, so it is also called Mount Fufu (Overturned Cauldron). Another account says that Mount Kuaiji was originally named Mount Miao.

The Yue Zhuan (Account of Yue) relates that after Yu the Great arrived in the land of Yue, he climbed Mount Miao and convened a great assembly there to assess merits: those of virtue (De) received titles of rank, and those of achievement received rewards. The mountain was therefore renamed Kuaiji, meaning to bring people together and evaluate accomplishments. The "Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) records that Yu performed the feng rite of the Fengshan ceremonies on Mount Tai and the shan rite at Kuaiji. Fengshan was the ritual by which ancient emperors offered sacrifices to Heaven and Earth.

The Huangdi Xuannü Bingfa (Military Art of the Yellow Emperor and the Dark Lady) records that Yu once asked Fenghou: "I have heard that the Yellow Emperor possessed the Diagram of Victory (Fusheng zhi tu) and the Way of the Six Jia and Yin-Yang. Where are they now?" Fenghou replied: "The Yellow Emperor hid them within Mount Kuaiji, in a pit a thousand feet deep, sealed with a great stone." The Diagram of Victory and the Way of the Six Jia and Yin-Yang were both secret methods of military strategy or numerological arts in ancient legend.

The Dunjia Kaishan Tu (Diagram of Opening the Mountain by Dunjia) further says that when Yu the Great was controlling the floods, he came to Kuaiji and lodged on Mount Heng's ridge. An immortal of Mount Wanwei presented him with a casket containing a book in a jade case, comprising twelve scrolls. Before Yu could take a firm hold of it, four scrolls flew into a spring and four soared into the sky, so he obtained only four. When he opened them, they proved to be the Dunjia Kaishan Tu. Using this text, Yu tamed the floods, and once the work was done, he sealed the book away in a cave.

According to the Guishan Baiyu Jing (White Jade Scripture of Mount Gui), Mount Kuaiji extends three hundred and fifty li in circumference and is the first of the cave-heavens (dongtian), known as the "Yangming Cave-Heaven." In the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty (722), the court conferred ducal rank upon the mountains guarding the four quarters, and Mount Kuaiji was thus enfeoffed as "Duke of Yongxing, Guardian of the South."

Mount Wanwei lies fifteen li east of the county seat. The Dunjia kaishan tu records that when Yu the Great split open Mount Wanwei, he obtained a red jade gui that shone like the sun and a white jade gui that shone like the moon, each one foot and two inches long. The Wu Yue chunqiu says that on the southeastern side of the Nine Mountains stands a peak called Tianzhu (Heavenly Pillar), also known as Mount Wanwei, which is covered with patterned jade and measures fifteen li around.

The Wu Yue chunqiu also relates that Mount Wanwei was capped by a massive rock, beneath which lay a book written on golden slips. Its characters were made of blue-green jade, and the slips were bound together with silver. When Yu the Great made his eastern tour and reached Mount Heng, he sacrificed a white horse and met a man in a red embroidered robe. The man declared himself an envoy of Yuanyi Cangshui and told Yu that if he wished to obtain the golden-slip book and learn the methods of taming the floods, he should observe a fast at the Yellow Emperor's mountain. After fasting, Yu climbed the mountain and opened the rock, and indeed found the book. From it he learned the boundaries of the four great rivers and the principles for regulating each waterway, and so he traveled throughout the realm, devoting himself to dredging channels and river courses. Mount Wanwei is also called Mount Shikui. The Yudi zhi says that on the mountain there is a stone chest towering like the clouds, and that those who climb to it must ascend by ladders, rung by rung.

Mount Shedi lies fifteen li south of the county seat. According to Kong Ye's Kuaiji zhi, beside the mountain is a stone chamber that served as an immortal's archery ground. On the mountain's eastern peak is the "target" (shedi): seen from afar, a white spot on the cliff face resembles an archery target, and local people often use it to forecast grain prices. Hence the saying: "When the target is white, a hu of rice costs a hundred coins; when the target is black, a hu of rice costs a thousand." On the western side of the mountain is a rock wall with a cave chamber about two zhang deep, which from a distance looks like a lion's mouth. People call it "Lion Rock" and say that this, too, is where the immortal practiced archery.

Mount Jianyu (Arrow Feather) lies sixteen li east of the county seat. Kong Lingfu's Kuaiji ji says that in the waters southwest of Mount Shedi there were once white cranes, which the immortal used to retrieve his arrows; for this reason the mountain came to be called Mount Jianyu.

Mount Zhenghong lies thirty li east of the county seat. Zheng Hong was a man of the Eastern Han, styled Jujun, a native of Shanyin in Kuaiji. According to the Records of Kuaiji (Kuaiji ji) by Kong Lingfu, to the south of Mount Shedi stands Mount Baihe (White Crane), said to be the place where an immortal came to retrieve an arrow.

Zheng Hong, who served the Han as Grand Commandant, once went up the mountain to gather firewood and found a lost arrow. Before long, someone came looking for it, and Zheng Hong returned the arrow and asked what the man wished for. Recognizing him as an immortal, Zheng said, "I am always troubled by the winds along the Ruoye Stream, which make it hard to transport firewood. I would like a south wind in the morning and a north wind in the evening." It came to pass just as he asked. For this reason, the winds of the Ruoye Stream still follow this pattern today, and people call them the "Zheng Gong Wind" (Lord Zheng's Wind), also known as the "Woodcutter's Wind."

everything from Longrui Temple (Longrui Guan) downward is recorded following the lay of the mountain.

The Yuezhou Tujing (Illustrated Gazetteer of Yuezhou) records: Your servant Ye Shu respectfully notes that from the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty through the Song dynasty, an envoy was dispatched every spring to Yangming Cave (one of the Daoist "cave-heavens and blessed lands"), where jade tablets were deposited and golden dragons were released. Yangming Cave is also held to be the cave in which Yu the Great stored his books when he controlled the floods. This ceremony ended only in the Zhiping era.

Your servant Ye Shu also consulted the Ningzhou Zhenning County Tujing (Illustrated Gazetteer of Zhenning County, Ningzhou), which preserves a tale of the immortals. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang dreamed that he was in the region of Luoxiang, meeting with a host of immortals. On waking, he sent an envoy to seek them out, but the envoy found nothing. As the envoy grew anxious and fearful, he met an old man. The old man asked the purpose of his journey, then pointed at him and said, "Follow me." Walking ahead, the old man suddenly turned into a white rabbit and slipped into a burrow in the ground. The envoy followed and dug there, and found twenty-seven jade statues of immortals. In front of each statue was a tablet inscribed with the immortal's name and the place where they had attained the Dao. Zheng Siyuan, for example, attained the Dao on Mount Tai, and Xun Anli on Mount Hua. The statues were later all sent to the capital and enshrined in the Daoist ritual hall within the palace.

The full details are all given in the original books; here only the general outline is summarized, so that readers may know the gist of the story.

In the second month of the fourth year of the Zhenghe era, Ye Shu, a Yuezhou candidate who received the jinshi degree by special recommendation, respectfully recorded this account.