The most magnificent thing is the Chaoyuntai on the top of Goddess Peak!
This Chaoyuntai is located on the meadow on the top of the Goddess Peak. It occupies a small area, about half the size of the top of the mountain. It is half temple and half palace. It is magnificent and simple. It has the exquisiteness and agility of Jingchu Jiangnan architecture and the pre-Qin era. The antique feel of the original building.
At this time, the clouds cover the top of the mountain like a gauze tent. Only the Chaoyuntai is completely exposed. The eaves of the palace are soaked in mist. It looks like it is sitting on the clouds, like a nine-layered palace suspended in the sky. Ten miles below The mountain peaks and palaces are reflected on the river surface, making it difficult for people to distinguish reality from reality.
"It's wonderful, it's wonderful. The thick fog on the riverside actually creates the illusion of a palace floating on the top of the clouds. No wonder it's called Chaoyuntai. It's really a place worthy of a god."
Sun Daqiao couldn't help but sigh with emotion when he saw such a grand scene.
Ban Shu said: "This can only be regarded as a daily landscape. If there is a flood season, our location is below the water surface. Whenever the river overflows the mountainside and reaches Izumo, you can see Wanluo Qingshan Izumo Peak. Goddess Peak happens to be the highest point of all mountains, and Ten Thousand Peaks Chaoyun is the origin of Chaoyuntai.”
"Of course, it was not called Goddess Peak at the beginning but Yaogu Peak. It was after King Chu Huai met the Goddess here in his dream that he changed its name to Goddess Peak. This is the earliest Chaoyuntai, and it was also the name of King Chu Huai. establish."
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Chu State was steeped in witchcraft and extravagance, and many of the palaces it built were extravagant, magnificent, mysterious and majestic. In addition to the Zhu Palace built in the capital, there were also other secluded palaces built in various places, such as Qiangtai and Jujutai. , Jiuchongtai, Jingtai, Zhanghuatai, Yangyuntai and Lantai Palace.
Ancient Chu people liked to use the name "so-and-so" to refer to the palaces and gardens. In addition to being used for patrolling and living in other places, these palaces were mostly used to show the wealth of the royal family and the wealth of the world.
Only Chaoyuntai is the most special and an exception!
Back then, King Huai of Chu spent several days in the Goddess Peak with the Wushan Goddess, but he still felt unsatisfied. Even though the Goddess had left, he still missed her deeply.
He must be thinking about it, and he must want to renew their relationship. Since the goddess is interested in him, he must be able to beg again and again. However, the goddess is a deity in the sky after all, and he cannot show up to meet him at will. If he wants to see the goddess again, he must Only by moving the heavenly palace to the mortal world can she be worthy of the status of a goddess.
So he recalled the scene in his dream and drew the Goddess Palace he had seen. At the same time, he also found the most skilled craftsmen in Chu State and promised that as long as he could help him build the palace in his dream, he would be rewarded. Marquis gold, eternal wealth.
The richer the reward, the higher the difficulty. These craftsmen thought they could be rich and powerful. When they saw the drawings, they immediately shook their heads and sighed. If the palace is to be strong, it must dig deep foundation pits and build high platforms. Otherwise, how can the building be strong and not fall down? However, what King Huai of Chu asked for was to build a palace in mid-air.
How can you build a gorgeous palace without any support in mid-air? Even the foundation cannot be laid. This is simply nonsense. King Huai of Chu searched for craftsmen, but most people could not complete this idea until he found a descendant of Lu Ban. , and finally got some clues.
According to the records of "Luban Sutra", the descendants of Luban introduced the method of hollow foundation to King Huai of Chu. This method of building temples is equivalent to digging a deep pit on the ground and then building a dozen meters in the deep pit. After the foundation is completed, a gorgeous palace can be built on the foundation.
If the construction of the palace is completed and water is diverted to irrigate it until the foundation is completely submerged under the water, only the palace will remain above the water. From a distance, the palace will reflect the sky and seem to be suspended in the sky.
Although this approach was not truly suspended, in the end, King Huai of Chu won his heart. After all, he could not wait any longer, so he ordered the descendants of Lu Ban to find a suitable place to build according to his drawings.
The descendants of Lu Ban searched around and finally decided on Goddess Peak!
First, this is the highest point of the nearby peaks. Standing on the peaks, you can overlook thousands of green snails.
Secondly, this place is close to the mouth of the river and is the intersection of the Ningjiang River and the Yangtze River. In the hot and rainy climate every year, it will be covered with clouds and fog most of the time. If the palace is built on the top of the mountain and the clouds and fog cover it, it will be visually closer to King Huai of Chu. Description of the Cloud Palace Temple.
Thirdly, this is also the place where King Huai of Chu met the goddess in his dream. It was built here to facilitate his relationship with the Wushan goddess again.
When the palace was completed, King Huai of Chu saw the palace with thousands of snails competing for beauty and thousands of peaks facing the clouds. He immediately thought that this was the scene in his dream. He was so happy that he greatly rewarded the descendants of Lu Ban.
After that, King Huai of Chu would patrol the river every year and rest for a few days in Chaoyuntai, intending to renew their relationship with the prayers of the wizard's wife. However, from then on, the goddess Wushan never came again, and the palace was empty. shape, but no woman has ever lived in it.
Until the death of King Huai of Chu, he was unable to see the goddess again as he wished.
This Chaoyuntai has remained in Jiangkou ever since, becoming a symbol of King Huai's extravagance and lust. It was not until the advent of the pre-Qin era that Chaoyuntai ushered in a new purpose.
The story of the Wushan Goddess has been very popular since the era of flood control. Wushan County is also a town under the Goddess Peak. Under the influence of the witchcraft festival in the south, the belief in the Wushan Goddess developed. It was also at this time that the Goddess A woman possessed by the Wushan Goddess appeared on the peak.
This woman's name is Wei Ying, her surname is no longer available. The classics only record that Wei Ying grew up in a village under the Goddess Peak and made a living by collecting wild fruits in the mountains. One night, the wind and rain hit the mountain road and the muddy road made it impossible to go down the mountain, so she had to go to the Goddess Peak. In order to shelter from the wind and rain, they had to break into the abandoned Chaoyuntai.
When she was sheltering from the wind and rain at Chaoyuntai, she heard a sound in the temple at night. After searching, she found that it was the statue of the Wushan goddess in the temple crying.
Wei Ying was shocked, thinking she was a mountain spirit and wild monster and was about to leave immediately. It was not until she heard that she was the goddess of Wushan that she calmed down.
The statue bluntly stated that she was imprisoned here by King Chu Huai who built a spiritual platform because she was afraid that King Chu Huai would not want to see him. Hundreds of years have passed. Now, the water around the palace has not dispersed. As a mountain god, she cannot get out. The water formation in the palace couldn't help but cry.
Weiying believed in the Wushan Goddess, and once swallowed Yao grass, hoping to meet the Goddess in her dreams, but she never got her wish. Now, she really saw the Goddess appearing, and she was more happy than afraid.
Out of good intentions, Weiying told the Wushan Goddess that she was willing to help the Goddess escape. The Wushan Goddess finally became happy after hearing this. She told Weiying that as long as she swallowed Yao grass, she could see her. Then, she told Weiying How to help her escape.
There happened to be Yao grass in Weiying's basket for gathering herbs, so she simply swallowed it in her mouth. When her mind became confused, she really saw the true form of the goddess appearing on the statue.
The Wushan Goddess told her that this palace was a prison for her. If she wanted to escape, she would have to enter the body of a living person. A living person's body could take her out of the palace. If this was the case, she would have to fight with that person. Sharing bodies.
In exchange, the Wushan Goddess can make this person extremely beautiful and stay young forever. She can also rely on her divine power to communicate with ghosts and gods and ask the gods to do things. If she no longer wants to live like this, she can make a contract with the Goddess. As long as she finds someone for her. With a new body, you can return to normal and grow old naturally.
Wei Ying felt that these things had no loss for her, so she agreed to the records of the Wushan Goddess and became the first Luo Goddess.
After she left Chaoyuntai, she returned home and had a fever for three days and three nights. When she recovered from her injuries, her personality was completely different from her previous one. Her parents, relatives and friends all felt that she had retained her original temperament, but she seemed to have more temperament. These completely unfamiliar temperaments are as if there are two souls living in the body.
In fact, she has many abilities that she has never had before, such as divination, praying to gods, practicing medicine, channeling prayers, and the truth of miraculous effects, which makes everyone believe that she is indeed not cheating. He is indeed very capable.
Wei Ying explained her changes to her relatives and friends, saying that she had the soul of the Wushan Goddess in her body. This news spread around, and people who believed in the Wushan Goddess began to visit her home frequently to kowtow and worship.
Wei Ying had no choice but to clean up Chaoyuntai and live in Chaoyuntai as the goddess of Wushan Mountain to serve the people around her and pray to the gods.
At that time, it was already the Qin Dynasty. The people of Qin derogated witches as strange powers and chaotic gods. They regarded the story of a goddess possessing them as another deception and sent officers and soldiers to exterminate them.
There were so many followers in Weiying that they had already formed a powerful force. These outside officers and soldiers did not dare to offend the local clans, so they had no choice but to leave it alone. Even if they really wanted to move to Chaoyuntai, they had to be delayed by various unlucky things. Later, Some people said that the goddess appeared, and the people of Qin no longer dared to point fingers at Chaoyuntai.
After this incident, the news of the goddess's apparition in Wushan became more real, which further consolidated the local belief in the goddess in Wushan. In the end, the Qin Dynasty was not eliminated. Instead, based on the skills of the goddess, ancient witches like Guan Luoyin were extended. technique.
Ban Shu continued: "Since the first generation of Wushan goddesses appeared in the Qin Dynasty, there have been nearly fifteen generations of Luo goddesses. Each Luo goddess has a life span of eighty to two hundred years, which is longer than the life span of ordinary people. Much more.”
When they were talking, the awning boat had already docked. They followed the mountain plank road and led the carriage upwards. The Goddess Peak was not high at all. After several twists and turns, they had already bypassed the mountain road and approached the meadow on the top of the mountain!
From a long distance away, they could already see a huge lake on the meadow covering an area of nearly 20 acres. In the center of the lake was the Yundian Shrine they saw - Chaoyuntai!
This alpine meadow is hidden in the forest. From below, you can only see the palace. You can only see it when you are close to the meadow. What does the lake surrounding Chaoyuntai look like!
At this moment, the quaint Chaoyuntai is located in the lake, close to a few corridors and connected to the mainland. The lake reflects the sky, and the sky above and below is vast, as if it is suspended in mid-air.
