Bones of Master Feng
Feng Chouyan was the most famous sifu (teacher) at the Monastery of the Shan Sua, a fabled site of learning and enlightenment nestled high in the mountains. This teacher is something of a folk hero among the peoples living in and around the mountains, although his true nature remains a mystery. The human goatherds in the valleys and lower peaks describe Feng as a human, while the dwarf miners, whose outposts cling to the steep cliffs, call Feng one of their own. Regardless of Feng's true origins, after his death many of his personal effects gained reputations for possessing magical properties.
One spring, the monks of the Monastery of Shan Sua sent the young acolyte Feng down into the village to purchase supplies, since the long winter had depleted their stores. Laden with bolts of the fine cloth the monks had woven, Feng took up his staff and began the trek down the mountain. Halfway along his journey, he was accosted by a terrible ogre who held a vicious but blind hell hound on an iron chain. The ogre told Feng the hound would be set upon him if he didn't hand over the goods he was carrying. Feng simply smiled, said that he had no fear of dogs, and made to continue on his way. True to his word, the ogre released his hound and ordered it to kill the monk, but Feng was too quick. The nimble ascetic leapt into a tree and, running lightly along a branch above his enemies, quickly pulled off his robe and tossed it down over the ogre. The hell hound was fooled by the robe's scent and fell upon the ogre, tearing the giant limb from limb. Feng, meanwhile, climbed down the tree and continued on his way.
When Feng was an older man, a peasant came to the gates of the monastery to beg the monks' aid. A band of fierce brigands was terrorizing the villagers and stealing their rice crop—the people had no rice with which to pay their taxes. Feng vowed to deal with the bandits and set off toward the town with his trusty staff in hand. At dusk that evening, the outlaws rode into the settlement and demanded the daily harvest. Feng, looking small and unassuming in his orange robe, stepped forward and told the robbers to depart and find honest work, lest their souls suffer in the afterlife. The thieves scoffed and fired their crossbows, but with a twirl of his staff, Feng knocked their bolts away. The bandits, amazed by this display of skill, nevertheless leapt to attack. The monk simply laughed at them, for he was too nimble to be caught. Leaping about like a hare, he struck the brigands repeatedly with his staff, knocking them all senseless. When the leader awoke after the fight, Feng harnessed him to a donkey cart and made him pull the vehicle back to the outlaws' hideout, only to discover it was the tax collectors all along. The stolen rice was recovered, but Feng had much to learn about that encounter.
At the twilight of Feng's life, when he had been master of the Monastery of Shan Sua for many years, one of his students came to him and asked why he didn't write his wisdom down for future generations. Feng grinned and repeated one of his oft-quoted proverbs—"If you meet the Enlightened One on the road, kill him." The pupil pondered this, realizing the master meant no person could lead another to enlightenment. When the student countered that at least Feng's legendary martial arts skills should be preserved, Feng replied, "My arms are my own. Only if they were yours would they follow your road." Evidently, the younger monk took Feng's proverb a bit too literally. When Feng was dead and his body had been reduced to its skeleton, the young monk took the master's right arm bones, bound them into a nunchaku, and fled the monastery in the night. His fate is unrecorded.
The Bones of Master Feng are currently held by Ci