Chinese Mountain dweller Mythology Archives

Tradition / Region: Chinese mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Cow, Mountain dweller

The Myth

Far to the west, beyond the reach of familiar roads, rises Three-Dangers Mountain, a place long feared by travelers. The mountain spans a hundred li around, and its three peaks are known to shelter beings both strange and deadly.

There lives a monster called Aoyin.

Its body is shaped like that of an ox, yet its hide is white as bone. Four horns rise from its head, and its body is covered in long, coarse hair like straw woven into rain capes. Though it bears the form of cattle, Aoyin is no gentle beast. It feeds on human flesh, preying on those who cross the mountain or linger too long beneath its peaks.

Three Green Birds are also said to dwell upon Three-Dangers Mountain. In later times they would be known as divine messengers, but here they share the heights with the man-eating Aoyin, marking the mountain as a place where sacred forces and mortal peril exist side by side.

Some say that Three-Dangers Mountain was also a land of exile. After rebelling against the ancient ruler Shun, the Three-Sprouts People were driven there and cast out to the edge of the world. Surrounded by barren land and deadly creatures, they disappeared from history.

Thus Aoyin became the living terror of Three-Dangers Mountain—a white, four-horned ox-beast that devours humans, standing as a warning that not all creatures shaped like cattle are meant to sustain life.

Gallery

Sources

Strassberg, R. E. (2002). A Chinese bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. Univ of California Press, p. 112.

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How to Invite The Aoyin

The Myth

The Ran Yi fish lives in the Wan River, which flows from Yingdi Mountain. This mountain is unlike any other: its slopes are thick with lacquer trees, metal ores and jade lie at its base, and all the birds and beasts that dwell there are said to be entirely white. From this place the Wan River rises and runs northward into Lingyang Marsh, and within its waters the Ran Yi fish can be found.

The Ran Yi fish has a fish’s body, but its head is that of a snake, and from its sides grow six legs. Its eyes resemble the ears of a horse, giving it a strange and unsettling appearance. Though it moves through water like a fish, its form marks it as something unnatural and powerful.

People believe that eating the Ran Yi fish brings protection. Those who consume it are said to be free from nightmares, untouched by disturbing dreams, and shielded from evil influences. Because of this, the Ran Yi fish is regarded not as a threat, but as a creature of warding and spiritual defense.

It remains hidden in the waters of the Wan River, tied to the strange mountain where white creatures roam and precious substances lie buried, a guardian presence within an uncanny landscape.