Longevity flowers blooming all over the world

The legend of Kalanchoe

Legend has it that a long time ago, in the "fairyland" governed by the Jade Emperor, there were always fresh flowers and green grass all year round, butterflies everywhere, and patches of longevity flowers bloomed red and fragrant. At that time, the mountain was called "Wanxiang Mountain". There was a "Dragon King Pond" on the top of the mountain. The water in the pond was of three colors: a layer of black water on the top, a layer of green water in the middle, and white water at the bottom.

Legend has it that every year on the third day of the third lunar month, after the Queen Mother holds the Peach Banquet, the Jade Emperor leads the gods to "Wanxiang Mountain" to view the longevity flowers. In order to prevent the longevity flower from being stolen, the Jade Emperor asked the Weaver Girl to weave seven layers of brocade to cover the top of the mountain. He also sent a black dragon to live in the pond to guard the longevity flower.

The Black Water Dragon King had three daughters. The eldest and second princesses were married, but the third princess was still a virgin. The third princess had delicate features and was as pretty as the longevity flower. She loved to play, and she would play around in the front palace and the harem all day long. After a long time, she got a little bored of playing in the Blackwater Palace. One day she heard that the scenery on the lake was interesting and that there was a kind of "longevity flower" that could make people immortal if eaten. Because she was always thinking about going up there to have some fun. However, the Jade Emperor was afraid that the creatures in the pool might cause trouble on the surface of the pool, so he sent Laojun to sprinkle a layer of black water on the pool. He also included this matter in the Heavenly Law, and anyone who violated it would be demoted.

There is a Silver Dragon King in the Jade Emperor Palace, who is the brother-in-law of the Black Water Dragon King. His second prince is about the same age as the third princess and has the same temperament. Once he went to the human world without permission and was met by Laojun, who said that he had violated the Heavenly Rules and reported it to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor was furious and banished the Second Prince to the Black Water Pond to practice hard for three years. The Second Prince became familiar with the Third Princess when he arrived at the Black Water Pond. They both wanted to go to the surface of the water to see the longevity flowers! One day, the second prince came up with a good idea and said to the princess, "I have to get the Jade Emperor to agree to withdraw his decree."

The next morning, just as the Black Water Dragon King arrived at the Black Water Palace, he saw the shrimp soldiers and crab generals, staggering here and there as if they had lost their souls. When they saw the Black Water Dragon King, they all knelt down and said, "Dragon King, this is not good." The Black Water Dragon King was shocked when he saw the soldiers and generals in such a state, and asked hurriedly, "What's wrong with you?" The soldiers and generals said, "Because we haven't been able to see even the shadow of the sun for years and months, our spiritual power has declined. If we can't see the sun again, our spiritual power will be gone." The crab lady also said, "Let us go to the surface of the lake..." The Black Water Dragon King disagreed at first, but when he thought about it carefully, he was afraid that if the spiritual power of the shrimp soldiers and crab generals was really lost, who would protect the longevity flower? So he reported to the Jade Emperor, “The spiritual abilities of the soldiers and generals in the Black Water Pond have declined a lot. It is difficult to defend the Black Water Pond and the longevity flower.” The Jade Emperor asked, “Why have their spiritual abilities declined?” The Black Water Dragon King said, “The soldiers and generals in the pond are under the water all year round and are not exposed to the sun and the moon, so their spiritual abilities have declined. I hope that the Emperor will grant them grace by allowing them to see the sunlight every day.” The Jade Emperor thought it made sense, so he agreed to allow them to go to the surface of the pond to see the sunlight for an hour every day.

When the soldiers in the Black Water Pond heard this, they were overjoyed. The third princess and the second prince were extremely happy and enjoyed themselves on the lake every day. One day, on their way back to the palace, they heard a howling sound beside the road. The third princess asked, "What kind of monster is yelling here?" "Don't be angry, princess. I am a sable from the human world. My mother was sick, so I came to pick longevity flowers and was caught in the pond. I miss my mother so I cry every day." When the princess heard that it was an animal from the human world, she said, "You must know a lot about the human world. Tell me about it." The sable said, "The human world is a hundred times better than Wanxiang Mountain. There is the sun during the day and the moon at night. There is no end to the land and no limit to the sky. There are flowers, trees, grains and cereals. Whatever you want is available. Men farm and women weave, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. It is not at all as deserted as the Black Water Pond."

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One day, the third princess heard that the Black Water Dragon King had gone to the heaven again, so she ran to the Black Water Palace in a panic and said to the Black Water Queen, "Mom, this is bad. The sable has bitten a hole in the treasure chest. It will be terrible if the treasure clothes are damaged!" Upon hearing this, the Black Water Queen hurriedly took out a small gourd from her pocket and chanted, "Open the gourd, open the gourd, and spit out the key to the treasure chest!" She chanted it three times in a row, and then a golden light appeared, and a key flew out of the gourd. The queen quickly handed it to the third princess and said, "This is the key to the treasure chest. Go and have a look quickly. Don't miss anything!" The princess said "yes", turned around and ran out.

The third princess took the key to the treasure chest, opened it, took out the patrolling robe and the patrolling sword, found the second prince and the sable, and rushed out together. Some fish, turtles, shrimps and crabs in the pond also followed them out of the Sanjiangkou. From then on, many fish and shrimps grew in the Sanjiang River. When the third princess and the second prince arrived on earth, they hurriedly took out the longevity flower seeds from their arms and scattered them in the wind. In the blink of an eye, bright red longevity flowers bloomed everywhere.

The third princess and the second prince scattered longevity flowers to the human world. From then on, longevity flowers appeared in the human world. All diseases in the human world were cured by longevity flowers, and the human world was filled with laughter and joy.