He cultivated in the mountain cave, sometimes looking through the hole in the cave ceiling to see the moon above.
The world was so beautiful, with each season bringing its own landscape, cycling through the four seasons.
Winter's blanket of snow covered his fierce scars, the tender buds of spring gave him hope for life, the clear summer mountain breeze soothed his inner restlessness, and finally, during the autumn of falling leaves, Shen Yanqing transformed.
Perhaps because he had always looked up at that statue, his features came to resemble the statue's exactly.
Latter on, he tried leaving the cave and ventured to where people lived.
He met the most significant benefactor of his life, his mentor, Daoist Cang Wuzi.
The two met over a game of chess, where Shen Yanqing, bold as a calf unafraid of tigers, won seventeen games in a row against Cang Wuzi.
