THE STORY & ITS AFTERLIVES
Mount Qingyao, the classic states, is 'the secret capital of the supreme god' on earth. Its warden is the spirit Wuluo: a human face over leopard markings, a slender waist and white teeth, ears pierced with metal rings, and a voice like the chiming of jade pendants.
The text adds that the mountain 'befits women.' The Zhen River rises there and flows north to the Yellow River; the yao bird of its waters, when eaten, blesses one with children, and the xun grass of its slopes gives a lovely complexion. The slim waist, white teeth, earrings and jade voice have led readers through the ages to take Wuluo for a goddess. Her cult matches Taifeng's: a ram cleft in sacrifice, fine jade presented to the god.
From Qingyao one looks south to Shanzhu, which the classic marks as the place where Yu's father Gun was transformed after death. A god's hidden capital above and Gun's relic in view — Wuluo keeps a storied stretch of the central mountains.
