Recorded Across Generations.
For Those Who Come After.
A human face upon a serpent’s body, crimson from head to tail, coiled atop Mount Zhangwei. When its eyes close, the world is cast into darkness. When they open, day returns. Night and day do not pass above it. They sleep behind its eyes, and it grants the world whichever it chooses. It had slept upon that peak for a very long time. No light touched the mountain, nothing grew there, and those below took it for a dead place. But one band of hunters, pursuing a wounded beast too far, reached the summit and broke its silence. The sleeping beast stirred and opened its eyes. The night vanished. Before they could see what stood before them, shadows tore themselves free of the earth and skewered the nearest men like black iron spears. Then came its breath. First a blaze that turned the air into a furnace. Then a cold so absolute that even the smoke froze. Only those who had already fled beyond its reach survived. No one has dared return. It sleeps once more, its eyes closed.
人面蛇身，通体赤红，盘踞于章尾山之巅。 它阖眼，则天地俱暗；睁眼，则白昼重临。昼与夜并非悬于它之上，而是藏于它眼后，任凭它心意，赐下其一。 它已在山巅沉睡了漫长得无人记得起的一世。那座山四时无光，草木不生，山下人只当那是一座死山，谁也不肯靠近。可偏有一队猎人，追一头受伤的猎物追得太深，一路追上了从没有人登过的峰顶，踏碎了峰顶的死寂。有人失足坠石，惊动了那沉睡之物。那双眼，缓缓睁开了。 刹那间，长夜化作白昼，亮得刺目。众人还没看清眼前是什么，它已然震怒而起。众人脚下的阴影挣脱大地，化作漆黑长矛，将最近的人尽数贯穿。紧随其后的，是它的吐息：先是烈焰，将天地烧作熔炉；继而极寒降临，寒意深到连火焰吐出的浓烟，都凝冻结块，碎裂着坠落。唯有那些早已逃出它所及之地的人，活着将此事传了下来。 自那以后，再无人敢回到那座山。而它，也重新闭上双眼，继续沉睡。
棲 章尾山 Mount Zhangwei
西北海之外，赤水之北，有章尾山。有神，人面蛇身而赤，直目正乘，其瞑乃晦，其視乃明。