The Plague Monster
(Wēnyì Móguǐ 瘟疫魔鬼)

This is a tale of the Eastern Han Dynasty (period 06d), along the Rǔ 汝 river in Hénán 河南 province, where, every year, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, the Plague Monster (wēnyì móguǐ 瘟疫魔鬼) would appear in the in the village of Rǔnán 汝南 to claim victims. In the village one lad, HUÁN Jǐng 桓景, was obsessed with the idea of finding a way to stop this scourge.

When he consulted the village elders, they were resigned to the visits, and told him that probably nothing could be done, although they had heard that the monster could be destroyed by one with appropriate magical abilities, whatever that meant.

“But how would I gain such abilities?” asked Huán Jǐng.

“Ah, to do that, you would have to apprentice yourself to an immortal,” the elders laughingly replied. So Huán Jǐng set out into the mountains to find an immortal, for everyone knows that that is where immortals live. However everyone also knows that immortals are elusive, and Huán Jǐng sought and sought, but without success.

One day a dove appeared and moved quite oddly, so that it almost seemed to be trying to tell him something. Following the dove, Huán Jǐng came at length to a ruined temple, which proved to be inhabited by a Daoist master of magic and prognostication by the name of FÈI Chángfáng 费长房. Convinced that Fèi was the immortal he sought (or at least as close to such a being as he was likely to find), Huán Jǐng begged to be taken on as a disciple.

Being a Daoist master, Fèi knew that Huán Jǐng’s goal was to become proficient in the arts of defense against obnoxious creatures, and he guided Huán Jǐng in mastering such arts.

Finally he provided Huán Jǐng with a green dragon sword, used to slay demons. And once Huán Jǐng had become proficient in its manipulation, Fèi instructed him to go and do battle with the Plague Monster.

Daoist Fèi gave young Huán Jǐng some leaves of the dogwood plant (zhūyú 茱萸) and a jug of chrysanthemum wine (júhuā jiǔ 菊花酒) to take to protect people. Huán Jǐng climbed on a white crane —that is how immortals usually travel from place to place— and descended to the village. There he quickly assembled the people, gave each one a dogwood leaf to carry in a little bag and a sip of chrysanthemum wine, and led them up the mountain away from the village.

Almost immediately the Plague Monster arrived at the village and spotted the fleeting crowd on the mountain side. But as it tried to give chase, the smell of chrysanthemum and dogwood caused it to pause and hang back. As it hesitated, Huán Jǐng rushed and stabbed it with his green dragon sword.

And ever since that day on the ninth day of the ninth lunar people have gone mountain climbing, carrying with them chrysanthemum wine and dogwood twigs.

Chrysanthemums, blooming in the fall after other flowers have long withered, are a symbol of long life or even immortality. Furthermore its name, jú 菊 is similar in sound to jiǔ 久, “for a long time.” That also qualifies it as an appropriate symbol of long life. And of course, the ninth day of the ninth month (since “nine” is also pronounced jiǔ 九), is surely about as immortal a day as there could be. (Odd numbers are yáng 阳 rather than yīn 阴, making the double-yáng quality of the ninth day of the ninth month powerfully life-giving as well.)

Because of all this, there are tales told about the efficacy of chrysanthemums and of chrysanthemum wine. It is said than an ancient sage named KĀNG Fēngzǐ 康风子 ate chrysanthemums daily and ascended to heaven as an immortal.

Chrysanthemum wine should be made from the fresh flower buds mixed with glutinous millet wine (shǔmǐ jiǔ 黍米酒), mulled together for a year. Then it should be taken out on the ninth day of the ninth month. Consuming it causes people to retain their youth. (One can also drink chrysanthemum tea. That is not as good at preserving youth, but it is appropriate for people below drinking age, who, arguably, still have too much youth.)