Explore Yuanqiao Mountain, featuring a thousand-mile-circumference square lake and luminescent stones, alongside the snow-white, radiant Yunpeng grass, revealing nature's marvels.
Yuanqiao Mountain, also known as Huanqiu Mountain, features a square-shaped lake at its summit, surrounded by water for a thousand miles around. The area is home to many large magpies, standing a yard tall, which often bring back grains produced in the region of Mount Buzhou. The grains from Mount Buzhou have three-yard-long ears, and the grains themselves are as bright and white as jade. Because the magpies carry these grains to the Central Plains, you can still find this type of grain among the common people today. Eating this grain for several months won’t make you hungry. Therefore, the “Lüshi Chunqiu” says, “The most delicious grain is the one produced in Mount Buzhou.” To the east of Yuanqiao Mountain lies a cloud stone, five hundred miles wide, with intricate and colorful patterns resembling embroidery. A gentle tap on the cloud stone causes clouds to pour out from its crevices. Yuanqiao Mountain is also home to a tree called the Yisang tree. Roasted mulberries from this tree can be made into honey. There is also an ice silkworm, seven inches long, entirely black with horns and scales. When the weather turns cold, the ice silkworm covers itself with frost and snow, then spins a cocoon that reaches one foot in length. The silk produced by the ice silkworm comes in various colors and can be woven into beautiful brocade. This brocade can be thrown into water without getting wet and can be burned in fire overnight without catching fire. During the reign of Emperor Yao, foreign people from overseas presented this exquisite brocade, which Yao used to make ceremonial clothing adorned with intricate patterns. To the west of Yuanqiao Mountain lies a starry pool, covering an area of a thousand square miles. In the pool resides a divine turtle with eight legs and six eyes. Carved on the turtle’s back are patterns of the Big Dipper, the Sun, the Moon, and the eight directions, while the patterns of the Five Sacred Mountains and the four great rivers are carved on its belly.
The stones in the pool often emit brilliant radiance, appearing from afar like the stars in the sky, bright and sparkling. Yuanqiao Mountain is also home to a type of grass called Yunpeng, which is as white as snow, with each plant reaching two yards in length. When viewed at night, it emits white light and can be used as a cane. To the south of Yuanqiao Mountain lies the country of Yichu, where the people are three feet tall and have lifespans of up to ten thousand years. They weave clothing from thatch, with large, wide-sleeved garments that allow them to fly into the clouds using the power of the wind, much like birds with feathers. The people of Yichu have two pupils in each eye, long eyebrows, and long ears. They consume the pure Yin or pure Yang energy from above the Ninth Heaven and can resurrect after death. Over billions of years, they can witness the creation and destruction of the Five Sacred Mountains. While the Fusang tree sheds its leaves once every ten thousand years, the people of Yichu perceive this span as brief as a day and night. To the north of Yuanqiao Mountain is the country of Huanchang, surrounded by a river with sweet-tasting water that flows vigorously. Objects weighing a thousand catties take a long time to sink in the river’s swift current. The people of Huanchang often walk on the water’s surface and freely roam the steep mountaintops. They measure the breadth and narrowness of the world, resting once every eight celestial pillars and taking a brief respite after passing through the four Earth axes. They undergo hardships and calculations, soaring through the clouds and mist to calculate various cosmic events since the creation of the universe. The earth and stones they excavate pile up into mountains, yet they have not completed their work.
員嶠山，一名環丘。上有方湖，周回千里。多大鵲，高一丈，銜不周之粟。粟穗高三丈，粒皎如玉。鵲銜粟飛於中國，故世俗間往往有之。其粟，食之歷月不飢。故《呂氏春秋》云：“粟之美者，有不周之粟焉。”東有雲石，廣五百里，駁駱如錦，扣之片片，則蓊然雲出。有木名猗桑，煎椹以為蜜。有冰蠶長七寸，黑色，有角有麟，以霜雪覆之，然後作繭，長一尺，其色五彩，織為文錦，入水不濡，以之投火，經宿不燎。唐堯之世，海人獻之，堯以為黼黻。西有星池千里，池中有神龜，八足六眼，背負七星、日、月、八方之圖，腹有五岳、四瀆之象。時出石上，望之煌煌如列星矣。有草名芸蓬，色白如雪，一枝二丈，夜視有白光，可以為杖。南有移池國，人長三尺，壽萬歲，以茅為衣服，皆長裾大袖，因風以升煙霞，若鳥用羽毛也。人皆雙瞳，修眉長耳，餐九天之正氣，死而復生，於億劫之內，見五岳再成塵。扶桑萬歲一枯，其人視之如旦暮也。北有浣腸之國，甜水繞之，味甜如蜜，而水強流迅急，千鈞投之，久久乃沒。其國人常行於水上，逍遙於絕岳之嶺，度天下廣狹，繞八柱為一息，經四軸而暫寢，拾塵吐霧，以算歷劫之數，而成阜丘，亦不盡也。