The Ancient Legend of Yellow Dragon Cave in Zhangjiajie
On the north bank of Suoxi in Zhangjiajie lies Hejiaping. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, a hundred-day drought struck, cracking the fields and scorching the crops. Over four hundred mu of paddy fields in the flat were gravely threatened by the drought. Helpless and desperate, the common folk had no choice but to beg the renowned local sorcerer He Junru to enter a cave and pray for rain.
He Junru was deeply anxious as well, having secretly prayed for rain for several nights. On the very night before the villagers came to plead with him, he dozed off and dreamed of a young maiden who came to his bedside and told him: "If you wish to pray for rain, you must find my father."
"What is your father's name, and where does he live?"
"Do not ask his name. My home is in Yellow Dragon Cave at the foot of Jiaoji Mountain. All the rain in this region has been swallowed by my father. Only by finding him can you obtain rain."
Overjoyed, the sorcerer awoke and knew that a kind-hearted dragon maiden had come to him in a dream. So he instructed his disciples to go home and prepare incense paper, torches, and pine splints. Early the next morning, He Junru donned twelve layers of demon-suppressing robes, took up his ritual knife and bronze bell, and led six disciples into the cave to pray for rain. When the villagers heard that the sorcerer was going into the cave, they spontaneously organized themselves and escorted him to the cave mouth with four bands of gongs and drums. The sorcerer burned some paper money, untied a pair of straw sandals from his waist and placed them at the cave entrance, then addressed the crowd seeing him off: "After I enter the cave, if you see the two straw sandals fighting each other, do not laugh no matter what. The fiercer they fight, the harder you must beat your drums to bolster my power. As long as you do this, I shall emerge victorious from the cave."
The people escorting him all nodded in agreement, and He Junru led his disciples, lighting pine splints and sunflower stalks, crawling into the cave... Relying on his ritual knife, bronze bell, and magic robes, and on the true fire of samadhi he had cultivated under Patriarch Iron Pellet on the immortal Baofeng Mountain, the sorcerer crossed Yellow Dragon Pool, flew over Black Spirit Gorge, slipped past Crashing Torrent Abyss, passed through forty-eight great forks, and arrived at Dragon Gathering Pool, where thousands upon thousands of giant pythons coiled. Behind the pool, on a resplendent golden dragon throne, coiled a colossal yellow dragon. If only one could obtain the dragon's saliva from the yellow dragon's mouth and sprinkle it toward the sky upon leaving the cave, sweet rain would immediately fall. Seeing that Dragon Gathering Pool was too difficult to cross, the sorcerer took off all his robes and joined them into a "robe raft." Master and disciples climbed aboard, exerted their magic powers, and rowed past the giant pythons.
The sorcerer rushed into the dragon palace. While the yellow dragon was taking its midday nap, he hung his ritual knife on the dragon's horn to prevent it from transforming and flying away, then took out incense paper and burned it, beseeching the dragon to grant a bit of rain. The yellow dragon opened its eyes and told the sorcerer to bring out the Nine-Dragon Cup, then let a drop of dragon saliva fall from its mouth. The sorcerer pleaded that outside there was a hundred-day drought and this was too little. The dragon king opened its mouth and let fall another drop, but the sorcerer still found it too little and pleaded earnestly again. Yet no matter how he begged a thousand times, the yellow dragon would not open its mouth again. Growing impatient, the sorcerer smashed the Nine-Dragon Cup against the dragon's head. That smash was no small matter—surging waves immediately rose within the cave. The dragon king's head was pinned by the ritual knife and could not move, but its entire body writhed violently. Its tail, like an iron rod, smashed the disciples' "robe raft," making it impossible for the sorcerer and his disciples to ride it and contend with the dragon. But the sorcerer and his disciples were prepared in spirit, and each exerted their magic powers to fight the yellow dragon in hand-to-hand combat within the cave.
The crowd guarding the cave entrance saw rain begin to fall when the sorcerer collected the first drop of dragon spring; when the second drop was collected, torrential rain poured down from the sky. Just as everyone was rejoicing, they saw the two straw sandals at the cave mouth begin to fight. At first, they followed the sorcerer's instructions and held back their laughter, beating drums to bolster his power. Before long, seeing that the drought was nearly relieved, the drums had also become wet and could no longer sound, and the two straw sandals flew up and battled in midair. Witnessing such a miracle, everyone could not help but burst out laughing. Who would have known that the moment the drums at the cave mouth ceased and the crowd laughed, the yellow dragon's ferocity was bolstered. The water rose higher and higher, nearly filling all the space of Dragon Gathering Pool. Seeing this, the sorcerer had no choice but to transform himself into a piece of timber and turn his disciples into six little ducks perched on the wood, floating out of the cave. Because the water was too strong and the cave alternated between wide and narrow, they crashed east and west along the way. The ducks were crushed to death, and the timber was battered all over. It drifted into the Suoxi River, where a fisherman scooped it out. After a while, the timber gradually turned into human form. The fisherman recognized him as Sorcerer He and hurriedly carried him home to nurse him back to health. When the sorcerer regained consciousness, he said to the fisherman: "Better to die of drought on the home fields than to strike the Yellow Dragon Spring." Having said this, he closed his eyes forever. Because the sorcerer had hung his ritual knife on the yellow dragon, from that time on, Yellow Dragon Spring has flowed with clear water year-round, irrigating generation after generation of Hejiaping's four hundred mu of farmland and nourishing ten thousand mu of crops on both banks of the Suoxi. No one has ever dared to enter Yellow Dragon Cave again, and its name has been passed down forever!