Stories from Ancient China: The Legend of the Heavenly Grass

Since ancient times, from Emperors to common folks, people have always wished to obtain immortality. Therefore, many legends have been passed down among people about obtaining elixirs and heavenly grass. People have been wondering for thousands of years, "Is there really a grass that will enable one to gain immortality in this world? Has anyone actually seen it?" In the book Jin Lou Zi written by Xiao Yi from the time of Emperor Xiaoyuan in the Liang Dynasty, the mysterious "grass" was recorded in great detail:

According to the legends, in the Dongsheng Continent, (from an ancient Chinese legend, it is one of the four large continents in the cosmos located in the east) the elixir grass grows on the top of mountains. It's similar in shape to the seedling of Zizania caduciflora, which has purple flowers. If that flower is laid on top of the dead, the dead can be immediately revived.

During the time of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, many people were wrongfully killed and buried in the royal garden. A crow-like bird often flew by the garden with this grass in its mouth and dropped it in the garden. As soon as the grass fell on somebody who was dead, the person would immediately come back to life. The Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent someone to ask Gui Gu Zi (Master of Ghost Valley), who lived in Bei Guo at that time but reached consummation later on, about the phenomena. Gui Gu Zi told the person sent by the Emperor, "This kind of grass is called Secular grass. It grows in the rich field on top of the high mountains in the East Sea." After the Emperor Qin Shi Huang heard it, he sent the alchemist, Xu Fu, to look for it as well as the alchemical medicine called "Yi Cun Shen (inch-long mulberry)"in the East Sea.

Xu Fu could only find a kind of tree called Fusang tree (a mysterious tree in Chinese mythology) in the vast East Sea. The Fusang trees were 3,000 meters tall with two trees growing from the same root, and they gained the name of "Fusang" by the way they leaned on each other. It is said that when a cultivator eats its fruit, the person will shine with a golden glow and fly freely in the air.

However, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang was not able to find the elixirs nor become immortal. Perhaps it is because the Secular Grass was something from heaven and can only be seen by those with a predestined relationship - the only way to truly achieve immortality is via a righteous cultivation practice.