Chapter 369: Interpreting the Dream

"Your Majesty had a dream between the Qian and Wei rivers?"

Inside the Chenbao Shrine in Chencang County, the white-streaked, sallow-faced shaman Wu Zhi looked at the dark-faced young man gasping for breath and had already guessed his purpose.

"His Majesty sent the Privy Treasurer's Deputy to invite this old man to interpret a dream?"

"Indeed."

Heifu took the broth the shaman handed him, drained it in one gulp, and only then had time to observe this small temple.

The most striking feature of this temple was the large pottery rooster perched on the outer eaves, head raised and chest puffed out, posed as if crowing toward the morning sun.

The shrine was named "Chenbao Shrine." Heifu had seen a record when reading the Annals of Qin in the Xianyang archive: "In the nineteenth year of Duke Wen, a stone-like cloud was obtained, and a shrine was built for it on the northern slope of Chencang. Its spirit sometimes did not come for years, sometimes came several times a year, always at night, its brilliance like a shooting star, arriving from the southeast to gather at the shrine city, resembling a male pheasant, its sound rumbling through the clouds, wild pheasants crying in the night. Sacrificed to with a single lao offering, it was named Chenbao..."

In the end, it was just a meteorite that fell one night from the southeast onto the northern slope of Chencang. The meteorite fell in the silent night, startling a mountain of wild pheasants into chaotic cries, but people thought it was the pheasant god manifesting, hence the name: "Land Where Pheasants Cried to the Spirits."

This stone was sent by the locals to Duke Wen of Qin, who saw that its texture was like stone, but its shape and color resembled a liver or lung. Duke Wen found it strange and considered it a treasure. After the shaman explained it, he enshrined it in a temple on the hillside north of Chencang City, calling it Chenbao.

Now, several hundred years later, the Chenbao Shrine no longer enjoyed its former prosperity, but the Qin court still assigned special shamans to perform seasonal sacrifices here — the very old shaman Wu Zhi before them, with wild pheasant feathers stuck in his hair, wearing a feather cloak, his speech full of phlegmy rasps, needing his young disciple to hand him a spittoon to spit into every half-quarter-hour...

Though Wu Zhi looked physically frail, he was still one of the two most famous shamans in the Qin heartland today. The other was "Wu Ya" of the West Field Shrine in Qianyi, whom the First Emperor had also sent the Palace Chariot Commandant Wang Li to invite.

Heifu had managed to secure this errand with difficulty and did not want to arrive much later than Wang Li, so he said, "His Majesty has already gone ahead to Longxi and sent us to respectfully invite the great shaman. Time is short. Great Shaman, let us talk in the carriage!"

Wu Zhi knew he could not refuse, and counting on his fingers, he realized that since the ceremony of erecting the Twelve Metal Men, the Emperor had not summoned him for a long time, not even stopping by to see him when passing through on his western tour.

This was a rare chance to see the sovereign. He dared not delay, had his disciples bring the necessary tortoise shells and other items, and hurriedly followed Heifu out the door...

However, Heifu was surprised to discover that among the essentials Wu Zhi brought were conspicuously several rolls of dried cannabis leaves — the very kind of smokable cannabis that the physician Chen Wujiu had discovered in the Cloud Dream Marsh a few years ago.

"Why would the Great Shaman have this?" Heifu asked after helping the shaman into the carriage.

Wu Zhi wanted to maintain his air of mystery and said in a mystical, rambling tone that this was a spirit-communication substance; once lit, one could travel beyond the heavens and commune with ghosts and gods...

"Nonsense," Heifu thought to himself. Isn't that just getting high on cannabis?

As it turned out, this was a "fine thing" that Wu Ya had obtained from a Southern Commandery merchant when he went to Xianyang to assist in the sacrifices the year before, on account of the Twelve Metal Men affair.

After trying it once, he could not stop, truly believing he was communing with heavenly gods, unaware that these were merely hallucinations produced by nerve paralysis.

In just a few years, this substance had already spread among the circles of shamans and alchemists.

Heifu silently cursed Chen Wujiu, the instigator of all this, and at the same time felt that upon returning to Xianyang, he should report to the relevant department of the Privy Treasury in charge of pass inspections to have Southern Commandery cannabis listed as a prohibited item!

He tactfully reminded Wu Zhi that when interpreting dreams before His Majesty, it would be best not to smoke it, and to be a bit more clear-headed.

"Privy Treasurer's Deputy, what exactly was His Majesty's dream?" Wu Zhi, however, was unconcerned and asked about the main matter.

Heifu had also been present to hear Chancellor Wang Wan's dream interpretation, so he knew the First Emperor's general dreamscape:

The Emperor dreamed that the dogs and horses used to sacrifice to Feizi came alive. He rode on a white horse, while a black dog led the way ahead, traveling eastward along Mount Long. As they walked, they unexpectedly returned to Xianyang Palace, where the Twelve Metal Men erected before the hall suddenly stood up...

At that moment, a rooster's crow sounded, and the Emperor woke with a start, always feeling that this dream held profound meaning. He summoned the accompanying Wang Wan and others to interpret it.

That fellow Wang Wan, though erudite, was too deeply influenced by Confucian thought and believed that dreaming was nothing mysterious, interpreting it according to the "Six Dreams" in the Rites of Zhou. He thought the First Emperor's dream was "a dream of what one thinks of while awake" — a longing dream. Simply put, what one thinks of by day, one dreams of by night...

This was a scientific conclusion, and Heifu wanted to give a thumbs-up to the feudal but not superstitious Chancellor Wang, but the First Emperor believed more in mysticism and was dissatisfied with Wang Wan's answer, so he sent people to invite the two most famous shamans.

The Emperor merely moved his lips, but Heifu ran his legs off. He could only lead his men back to Longdong once more, traveling a great distance to the Chenbao Shrine.

Shamans were indeed experts in dream interpretation. As early as the Yin-Shang period, there were many records in oracle bone inscriptions about Yin emperors interpreting dreams. Emperor Wu Ding of Yin always had shamans inquire of the spirits on his behalf: whether his dreams held misfortune, whether his dreams held disaster.

By the Zhou dynasty, they were even more fond of dream interpretation. It was said that King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou had many auspicious dreams, portending that Zhou would surely replace Yin. For example, King Wen once dreamed that "the sun and moon rested upon his body." The sun and moon were symbols of the sovereign, clearly meaning that King Wen had received the mandate from Heaven. His wife Tai Si's dream was: "She dreamed that thorns grew in the court of Shang, and the crown prince Fa (King Wu) took a catalpa tree from the Zhou court and planted it between the watchtowers, where the catalpa transformed into pine, cypress, shadbush, and oak."

The Zhou shamans interpreted the dream in the Bright Hall, believing it to be a great auspicious omen, that the August Heaven and Supreme God were bestowing the "great mandate of Shang" upon the Zhou people, and that their own young Fa would go and plant the tree in the great city of Shang!

The Qin people, rising from Zhou land, also inherited the Zhou dynasty's emphasis on dreams. Duke Mu of Qin was once bedridden for seven days and dreamed of going to the dwelling place of the Heavenly Emperor, roaming the Heavenly Balance, and playing the Grand Music. Upon waking, he also regarded this as an auspicious omen that the High God wanted him to become hegemon.

Now, the First Emperor had dreamed again, and a strange dream at that, in the very land where Feizi pastured horses. The Emperor would naturally feel that this might be an omen brought to him by his ancestors, would he not?

After recounting the course of events, Heifu asked from the jolting carriage, "What does the Great Shaman think? How should this dream be interpreted?"

Wu Zhi, however, closed his eyes. "This is a secret of the spirits and can only be told to His Majesty, not spoken to others."

In truth, he had not yet thought of a way to answer.

Though Heifu had a mind to interfere, he dared not be too obvious and annoy Wu Zhi. His eyes shifted, and he obliquely brought up another matter.

"I recall that when the Twelve Metal Men were erected, besides several great shamans of the Qin heartland, His Majesty also had alchemists from the Yan and Qi regions participate in the auxiliary sacrifices..."

It would have been better if Heifu had not mentioned it. Once he brought up those alchemists from Yan and Qi in the east, Wu Zhi's anger flared up.

The great affairs of state lie in war and sacrifice. Sacrifices, divination, dream interpretation — these had been the exclusive preserve of native shamans since the founding of Qin. For example, a hundred years ago, when the struggle for hegemony between Qin and Chu was fierce, King Huiwen of Qin, praying for the Heavenly Emperor and the great shaman spirit Wu Xian to bless Qin with victory, ordered Qin shamans to carve stones cursing Chu with defeat, hence the "Curse Against Chu Inscription."

The shamans of the Qin heartland, besides sacrificing to the White Emperor Shaohao and the Chenbao Pheasant God, primarily worshipped the "Three Shaman Spirits" — namely "Wu Xian," "Da Shen Jue Qiu," and "Ya Tuo" — forming their own system.

But since the First Emperor unified the world, the arrival of alchemists from the eastern regions brought unprecedented shock to the ancient shamans of the Qin heartland.

Fellow practitioners are rivals. The alchemists also engaged in astrology, immortality practices, bedroom arts, shamanic medicine, divination, and the like, conflicting with the Qin heartland shamans.

The shamans originally looked down on these outsiders, but once they competed before the Emperor, the superiority of one side over the other was immediately clear.

The Yan and Qi alchemists not only borrowed Zou Yan's theories of yin-yang and the five phases to package themselves, but also called themselves the "Way of Immortality Alchemy," lobbying the Emperor with doctrines of sailing out to sea to seek immortality, boasting about such things as the "Three Immortal Mountains" of Penglai, Fangzhang, and others, saying they were covered with rare and wondrous herbs planted by immortals, which mortals could eat to achieve longevity.

The First Emperor already yearned for long life, and with the Yan and Qi alchemists being so eloquent, he was immediately captivated.

Compared to them, the Qin heartland shamans were far too rustic, only able to don feather cloaks, stare wide-eyed, and chant prayers passed down for centuries in their heavily accented Guanzhong dialect, and thus fell out of favor.

This time, interpreting the Emperor's dream, had most of the alchemists not remained in Xianyang — distant water unable to quench a nearby thirst — it probably would not have fallen to them at all...

"This is what I find puzzling."

The journey was long. After two days of constant company, once he had grown more familiar with Wu Zhi, Heifu put on an expression of sympathy for the Qin shamans and antipathy toward the alchemists:

"The auspicious omen of His Majesty unifying the world and proclaiming himself Emperor was the Twelve Metal Men. The Metal Men emerged from Lintao in Longxi, yet the shamans of the Qin heartland failed to seize the opportunity and widely proclaim this, actually sharing equal prominence with the eastern alchemists at the grand ceremony. I truly feel it was a great injustice for you, Great Shaman."

"Those scoundrels are cunning, using sorcerous talk to bewitch His Majesty."

Wu Zhi's face darkened. Those Yan and Qi alchemists strutted about arrogantly, coming and going from the court, while they themselves were neglected — just thinking about it made him angry.

But there was nothing to be done. The minds of the Qin heartland shamans were not as nimble as those of the Yan and Qi alchemists. Those people had spent decades hopping about among the eastern feudal lords, honing their glib tongues. Immortality, overseas immortal islands — they dared to boast about anything.

"The alchemists say that immortality can be sought overseas in the east, but their real aim is to have His Majesty grant them money and silk so they can go back to their hometowns and squander it."

"Exactly!" Wu Zhi deeply agreed.

Heifu hinted desperately, "But if the east has the Three Immortal Mountains, could it be that the west has no similar dwelling place of immortals?"

"The west?"

Wu Zhi felt an itch in his throat, spat out another mouthful of phlegm, and raised his murky eyes to look at Heifu. "Are you saying… the Land of the Queen Mother of the West?"

"Precisely!"

The old fellow's train of thought had finally caught up, much to Heifu's relief. However, the Qin shamans were isolated and ill-informed; Wu Zhi's knowledge of the Queen Mother of the West legend was only fragmentary, far less detailed than the "tales" written by the people of Wei.

Heifu then said, "When I was in Xianyang, I once read in the archive and came across a book called the *Biography of Emperor Mu*…"

This was no fabrication by Heifu; it was truly a book written by the people of Wei. It recorded the story of King Mu of Zhou driving his eight fine steeds on a western inspection tour, traveling thirty-five thousand li and meeting with the Queen Mother of the West. After its completion, the book had been circulating in the Wei region for decades. Most likely, a Wei storyteller had mythologized the Zhou people's account of King Mu's western journey.

After Wei's fall, this book was collected and stored in the stone archive. Zhang Cang had compiled and organized it, and before this westward journey, Heifu had also asked Chen Ping and others to help copy it onto hemp paper and bind it into a paper book…

He had brought two copies in total. Now, he drew one from his bosom and presented it to Wu Zhi with both hands.

Wu Zhi had seen hemp paper before and was not surprised. His aged hands took it and opened it to the place where Heifu had specially tucked in a leaf as a bookmark.

"The Queen Mother of the West has a leopard's tail, tiger's teeth, is skilled at whistling, and wears a *sheng* headdress over her unkempt hair…"

"The Queen Mother of the West sang a ballad for the Son of Heaven Mu, saying: 'White clouds drift in the sky, mountain peaks rise of their own accord. The road stretches far into the distance, mountains and rivers lie between us. If you, my son, do not die, may you be able to come again…'"

"The Queen Mother of the West can bestow years upon people and grant them longevity?"

Wu Zhi's eyes suddenly widened. Heifu's words, along with this *Biography of Emperor Mu*, struck him like a blow to the head and a shout of awakening, rousing him from his long confusion!

"Why did this old man not think of this before!"

Before the Qin shamans, who were on the verge of being eliminated by the alchemists of Yan and Qi, a brand-new door had been thrown open!

Dogs, horses, the twelve golden men, the Kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West… Wu Zhi now understood how the Emperor's dream should be interpreted!

(End of chapter)