A Landscape of Legends: The Mystical Origins of Liu Bowen

Perched atop Nantian Mountain, young Liu Bowen and his father Liu Yue gazed upon a world veiled in mist—where jagged peaks dissolved into the heavens like the flowing sleeves of immortal beings. With a sweeping gesture, Liu Yue pointed northeast toward Qingtian County, 150 li away, and beyond it, the legendary Qingtian Mountain, one of Taoism’s Ten Great Grotto-Heavens. Then, tapping his foot, he revealed an even greater secret: beneath them lay Nantian Mountain, ranked seventh among the Seventy-Two Blessed Lands of Taoist cosmology.

When Liu Bowen asked about these sacred sites, his father wove tales of Tang Dynasty mystics like Du Guangting, who cataloged these spiritual nexuses where immortals dwelled and history’s great figures emerged. From Mount Zhongnan (where Laozi once meditated) to Emei’s elixir-brewing sages, the stories painted a world where geography and destiny intertwined.

The Weight of Ancestors: A Family’s Unfulfilled Ambitions

Liu Yue’s lessons soon turned to family legacy. He spoke of Liu Bowen’s grandfather, Liu Tinghuai—a “Taixue Shangshe” scholar exempted from imperial exams under the Yuan Dynasty’s flawed “Three Halls” education system. Though the title promised official posts, Mongol rulers selected only two appointees annually, leaving Liu Tinghuai stranded in bureaucratic limbo.

Yet the boy’s maternal lineage held equal prestige. Through his mother’s ancestry traced to the Tang rebel Yuan Chao—whose 200,000-strong peasant revolt shook the empire in 762—Liu Bowen learned of his connection to Northern Song Chancellor Fu Bi, a diplomatic genius who stabilized relations with the Khitan Liao. These stories framed Nantian Mountain not just as spiritual ground, but as a crucible where exiled greatness took root.

The Rebel and the General: Yuan Chao’s Forgotten Revolution

Liu Yue’s history lesson unfolded like an epic tragedy. In 762, as the An Lushan Rebellion ravaged China, Emperor Daizong demanded eight years of back taxes from exhausted Jianghuai peasants. When local clerk Yuan Chao protested, he was dismissed—and launched one of history’s most dramatic uprisings. Armed with farm tools, his ragtag army captured nine provinces before declaring himself emperor in Taizhou.

The rebellion’s collapse came at the hands of Li Guangbi, the Tang’s most brilliant strategist. His unorthodox tactics—including the infamous “Mare Gambit” where he lured enemy stallions with nursing mares—crushed Yuan’s forces through psychological warfare, tunnel attacks, and relentless sieges. Yuan’s execution in 763 marked the end of a revolt born from desperation, yet his legacy lived on through descendants like Fu Bi who sought refuge in Nantian’s slopes.

Destiny’s Blueprint: Liu Bowen’s Path to Greatness

As sunset painted the mountains gold, Liu Yue delivered his final lesson: “Heaven’s timing, Earth’s blessings, and human harmony—you have all three. But without effort, even the finest ancestry means nothing.” He acknowledged the Yuan Dynasty’s suppression of Han scholars, yet prophesied: “The imperial exams will return. When they do, you must be ready.”

In that moment, young Liu Bowen glimpsed his future—not just as a inheritor of family honor, but as a figure who would transcend his era. True to prophecy, he would later pass the reinstated exams at 23, becoming a Ming Dynasty strategist whose military treatises and prophecies (like the “Shaobing Song”) cemented his status as China’s “Divine Strategist.”

The Mountain’s Echo: Why Liu Bowen’s Story Endures

Centuries later, Liu Bowen’s legend persists as a testament to resilience. His childhood—steeped in Taoist mysticism, ancestral pride, and political upheaval—forged a mind that balanced strategic brilliance with philosophical depth. Modern visitors to Nantian Mountain still sense the energy that shaped him: where mist-clad peaks whisper of destinies waiting to unfold, and where every stone remembers the boy who gazed toward horizons far beyond his father’s pointing finger.