Tradition / Region: Chinese folklore (Hebei Province; Anguo / Ankoku region)
Alternate Names: Mountain Spirit; One-Legged Mountain Spirit; Xiao
Category: Mountain Dweller / Nocturnal Spirit
The Kind of Person This Spirit Draws Near To
A person who treats wild places as extensions of their household.
Someone who assumes access where there is only proximity. They build, store, travel, or take resources in places that are not fully theirs, and they do so without hostility — but also without reverence.
They do not feel malicious.
They feel entitled by presence.
How This Person Thinks
Mental habits
- Practical, task-focused thinking
- Little symbolic awareness
- Treats environments as neutral backdrops
How they approach ideas
- Values usefulness over meaning
- Sees customs and warnings as superstition
- Prefers shortcuts
How they relate to uncertainty
- Uncertainty is ignored rather than engaged
- Night is treated like day
What they obsess over / ignore
- Obsess over supplies, preparation, efficiency
- Ignore ritual boundaries and local taboos
How This Person Deals With Problems
- Solves problems directly
- Uses force or improvisation
- Rarely pauses to ask whether they should
Response to obstacles
- Push through
- Take what is needed
- Fix later
They assume resistance is logistical, not spiritual.
How This Person Responds to Stress
Stress behavior
- Increased activity
- Night work
- Cutting corners
Collapse or sharpening
- Stress sharpens efficiency but erodes awareness
What they cling to
- Supplies
- Stored resources
- Control over environment
Emotional Landscape
When Calm
- Alert
- Functional
- Slightly dismissive of fear
When Angry
- Irritated at inconvenience
- Likely to strike or chase
When Afraid
- Fear turns into aggression or ridicule
When Joyful
- Satisfaction comes from preparedness and surplus
Relationship to Time
- Nocturnally careless
- Treats night as available
- Ignores rhythm of rest
Time is something to use, not respect.
Relationship to Pleasure and Comfort
- Comfort comes from stored goods
- Pleasure tied to security and supply
- Little interest in ritualized rest
Salt matters more than silence.
Living Space
- Temporary shelters
- Storage huts
- Places that blend human use with wild terrain
The space is occupied, not consecrated.
Relationship Patterns
- Transactional
- Minimal ceremony
- Trust based on function
Relationships are practical, not reverent.
How This Person Works
- Industrious
- Prepared
- Comfortable working alone
Work continues even when conditions suggest stopping.
What Makes the Spirit Stay
- Night activity in wild or liminal places
- Unacknowledged taking (especially essentials like salt)
- Striking first when startled
- Treating the mountain as inert
Shanjing stays where use replaces permission.
What Makes the Spirit Leave
- Naming it
- Acknowledging presence
- Respecting night boundaries
- Withdrawing rather than striking
When recognition replaces reaction, it loses power.
The Cost of Keeping This Spirit Close
- Sudden illness
- Domestic disaster (fire, spoilage)
- The sense that home is no longer safe
What is lost is containment.
The wild enters the house.
Final Human–Spirit Portrait
“A life lived efficiently in places that were never meant to be efficient — until the mountain begins to answer back.”