Daxianshan Mountain

Daxianshan

Geological Wonder

Located 12 kilometers northwest of Guyang County, there is a stone forest park that spans 5 kilometers in length and 1 kilometer in width. The main peak resembles a mountain deity, standing tall among the surrounding mountains. There is only one winding and perilous path from the foot of the mountain leading straight to the summit, while the rest are sheer cliffs. The mountain features abrupt peaks and grotesque rocks, including "Pigsy Taking a Nap," "A Giant Whale Swallowing," "A Golden Rooster Shedding Its Crest," "Immortal’s Bed," "Immortal’s Platform," "Flying Rock," and various other rocks of different sizes, all with lifelike and vivid shapes scattered across the mountain range. Notably, there is a huge rock inscribed with texts in Mongolian, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and other scripts, adding an air of mystery. The mountain is alive with birdsong, overgrown with weeds, and adorned with hanging wild elms and wildflowers. Visitors wandering through feel as if they have entered a fairyland. This is the legendary and mystical Daxianshan.

Covering an area of about 15 square kilometers, Daxianshan is a wind-eroded landform formed by the Quaternary glacial orogeny. It is a natural granite “stone forest” and a renowned geological wonder. Legend has it that there was an immortal named Kang Yue who abstained from worldly food and drink, devoted himself wholeheartedly, and practiced asceticism here for many years. While diligently studying heavenly scriptures, he also healed people’s ailments. Year after year, Kang Yue’s magical powers and spiritual abilities grew stronger. People seeking immortality, medicine, or divination came in an endless stream. Everyone called him the Great Immortal and built a temple in his honor on the mountain, where incense burned day and night. Later, tales of Kang Yue’s healing and virtuous deeds spread far and wide, eventually reaching the Jade Emperor. The Emperor then dispatched celestial beings to summon Kang Yue to heaven and appointed him as the God of Charity. Thus, the mountain became known as Daxianshan (Great Immortal Mountain). In time, inscriptions mysteriously appeared on the mountain’s rocks. On one several-meter-high boulder, large and neatly carved characters can be clearly seen. Some say these are Kang Yue’s teachings—he used his divine power to engrave classic wisdom onto the stone to educate future generations. Others believe the inscriptions were left by celestial beings sent by the heavens to bring Kang Yue to the divine realm, recording his good deeds on earth for posterity. These bizarre and mysterious characters remain undeciphered to this day and are referred to as the “Celestial Scriptures.” After Kang Yue ascended to heaven on a crane, the Immortal Temple gradually fell into disuse. Later, during the Qing Dynasty, an elderly sage traveled here and claimed to be Kang Yue’s disciple, coming to pay respects to his master. Disappointed to find that Kang Yue had ascended, the sage sighed deeply and blew on a massive rock—suddenly, the characters “Kang Yue” appeared. A large “Kang” and a smaller “Yue” were paired together, symbolizing that although Kang Yue had ascended as a great benefactor, his followers would now have fewer reasons to rejoice. Over the years, the Immortal Temple collapsed. At some point, devotees built a small shrine halfway up the mountain to the west of the original temple.

Today, the engraved “Kang Yue,” the ruins of the Immortal Temple, and sites like the Immortal Cave and Immortal’s Bed leave visitors with endless imagination. On the platform in front of the small shrine and amid the weeds of the Immortal Cave, pilgrims from near and far often kneel in worship, burn incense, and seek divination. Dozens of wild elm trees near the temple are draped with red cloth strips—those who have been healed write words of gratitude and their names on these strips as offerings to the Great Immortal. Over time, the mysterious aura of Daxianshan has grown deeper year after year.

Southeast of the small shrine lies a giant pig-shaped rock nestled among the mountain stones. Legend says it is where Pigsy once passed through. Tempted by immortal wine, he got drunk and collapsed here. When he awoke, the Great Immortal had used a spell to immobilize him on the mountain. Only after much pleading—saying he needed to go to the West to retrieve Buddhist scriptures—did the Immortal allow his true form to leave, but his drunken embarrassment was preserved as a stone sculpture through divine power. Hence, later generations call this rock “Pigsy Drunk Stone.”

Not far from the Pigsy Drunk Stone is another massive rock resembling a headless rooster, known as the “Rooster of Bitter Resentment.” Legend says this rooster was raised by Kang Yue. After his ascension, the rooster missed its master and could not bear the loneliness of the long nights, crowing incessantly. Its crowing disturbed the demons’ evil deeds. In anger, a demon chopped off the rooster’s head as it sang proudly, leaving behind this headless, resentful rooster on Daxianshan.