Before he knew it, Bihua Lingjun had been incubating the Wishful Egg for three months.
He could feel the spiritual energy of the egg against his abdomen growing stronger by the day. Sometimes he could even faintly hear something scratching inside the shell.
It seemed that the spirit beast within the Wishful Egg was finally about to hatch.
Bihua Lingjun was terrified that the creature might emerge while he was floating about on a cloud, catching him unprepared, so he shut himself up at home. He even prepared a special clean room in his residence, with an enormous cloud platform piled high with soft cloud-wadding.
Fearing that spiritual energy alone might not be enough to nourish the newborn beast, Bihua Lingjun sent a young attendant to the Star of Longevity to borrow a female auspicious deer that had recently given birth. Once everything was ready, he was pacing restlessly about his residence one day when the Wishful Egg attached to his abdomen suddenly blazed with spiritual light and began to stir.
Its radiance was dazzling, startling the attendants and all the beasts in the garden. The cub that had come to grief some time earlier crouched low, watching Bihua Lingjun’s brilliantly glowing belly with alarm and letting out a low growl deep in its throat.
Bihua Lingjun hurriedly recited an immortal spell to shield the egg, withdrew into the quiet chamber, and sat cross-legged in meditation. Guessing that the egg was about to break open, the young attendants crowded into the chamber, craning their necks to see.
As Bihua Lingjun sat upright on his brocaded cushion, the light at his abdomen grew ever brighter, as splendid and multicolored as woven clouds. His robes parted of their own accord, and the egg, enveloped in gorgeous light, gradually detached itself from his abdomen and rose into the air.
Bihua Lingjun hastily gathered his robes and stood. The young attendants watched with their fingers between their teeth as he lifted both hands, slowly drew the Wishful Egg between them, then guided it toward the cloud platform. It hovered above the cloud-wadding and gave another little shudder. A faint scratching seemed to come from inside. With a sharp crack, a narrow fissure opened in the shell. A small piece fell from the egg’s rounded end, leaving a tiny hole through which the tip of a little hooked claw seemed to emerge.
A hooked claw?
Bihua Lingjun abruptly frowned. “That’s not right.”
The beast on the verge of hatching seemed startled by those words. The hooked claw gave an almost imperceptible tremble and drew back into the shell.
The young attendants were astonished. Chisheng asked, “My lord, what isn’t right?”
Half talking to himself, Bihua Lingjun murmured, “Could the Jade Emperor have deceived me? I clearly kept wishing for a rare beast with four paws while I was incubating this egg…” Yet the tip of the hooked claw he had just seen did not seem the sort that would grow on the four furry paws he wanted.
The Wishful Egg rocked twice more amid the radiance. Then, in an instant, all the light vanished, and with a plop it dropped onto the cloud-wadding.
Greatly alarmed, Bihua Lingjun lunged forward and scooped up the Wishful Egg. The shell was smooth and rounded; even the piece that had fallen away was stuck back in place, and the crack had disappeared. The egg was perfectly whole once again.
The young attendants asked in a daze, “My lord, wasn’t it just about to hatch? How has it turned back into one great big chicken egg?”
Bihua Lingjun was quietly apprehensive. He had said, “That’s not right,” and the egg had returned to its original state. Could there be some special rule about hatching a Wishful Egg? Were words like “not right,” “won’t do,” and “no good” taboo during incubation, so that merely saying them would prevent it from hatching?
Despite his anxiety, Bihua Lingjun managed to appear quite composed. “Perhaps the time wasn’t right, and something went wrong with the spiritual energy during hatching. Let’s wait and see.”
He picked up the Wishful Egg and examined it carefully from every angle. It looked no different from when he had first brought it home. Bihua Lingjun burned incense and bathed again, then tried to fasten the egg to his abdomen and continue incubating it. But no matter what immortal arts he used, he could not secure it to his body again.
Only then did Bihua Lingjun begin to panic. He hurriedly sent his attendants to ask the Supreme Lord Lao, Taibai Jinxing, Emperor Donghua, and several other immortal friends for help. The immortals were likewise astonished to hear that something had gone wrong with Bihua Lingjun’s Wishful Egg and came hurrying over on clouds. Each took a turn examining the egg, infusing it with spiritual energy and chanting immortal spells. They tried every method they knew, but the Wishful Egg remained utterly unresponsive and motionless.
In the end, none of the immortals knew what to do.
At last Emperor Donghua suggested, “Could it be that this egg finds your quiet chamber too stuffy, shut in by four stone walls without a window? Why not carry it into the courtyard and let it get some fresh air?”
Remarkably, Bihua Lingjun took the suggestion. With the Wishful Egg in his arms, he went into the courtyard, sighing at almost every step. He sat on a stone stool and slowly stroked the egg in his lap.
Taibai Jinxing said, “Really, Bihua. You’ve always treasured this egg as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Whatever beast hatches, you’ll practically raise it perched on top of your head. Why did you have to cry out that something was wrong at the very moment it was about to emerge?”
Bihua Lingjun sighed. “I’m not afraid to tell you, even if you laugh at me. In all my years of raising spirit beasts, I’ve always favored furry land animals with four paws. I wanted nothing but such a creature to hatch. But just as it was about to emerge, that hooked claw looked as though it belonged to some exceedingly rare fierce beast or dragon-bird. It gave me quite a fright.”
Several immortals frowned and surveyed Bihua Lingjun’s garden full of spirit beasts. Sure enough, most were furry creatures with four paws. The two tiger cubs Emperor Donghua had admired months earlier came rubbing against the immortals’ feet. Donghua casually stroked one on the head, and the cub promptly flopped to the ground, rolled over twice, and rubbed its head against his robe. He could not resist picking it up. “No wonder you like this sort of beast. They really are adorable.” Then he changed the subject. “But whatever people say about the Wishful Egg, no one can be certain what will hatch. What if it turns out to be something you don’t care for? What will you do?”
Cradling the Wishful Egg, Bihua Lingjun gave a wry smile. “How can I spare a thought for that now? Let it hatch safely first, and we can worry about the rest afterward.”
One by one, the immortals comforted Bihua Lingjun, but none could offer a solution. Emperor Donghua could only suggest, “It’s getting late. Why not keep an eye on the egg for a few more hours? If nothing changes by tomorrow, report it to the Jade Emperor and ask him to decide what to do.”
Bihua Lingjun said, “I suppose that’s all we can do.”
His immortal friends took their leave. Bihua Lingjun sat alone with the Wishful Egg a while longer and sent another little stream of spiritual energy into it, but it did not budge. Apparently he would have to report the matter to the Jade Emperor the next day and seek another remedy. After drinking two small cups of tea, he carried the egg back to his room and lay down to rest with it in his arms.
Bihua Lingjun stroked the shell of the Wishful Egg beneath the covers, sighed, and drifted into a light sleep. But the egg under the covers suddenly moved.
At the first movement, Bihua Lingjun woke instantly. He scrambled upright, transported himself in a flash to the floor beside the bed, and bent over the Wishful Egg lying on its cloud quilt, scarcely daring to breathe as he watched.
The Wishful Egg swayed gently twice and gave off a faint glow. Unlike the brilliant, dazzling radiance of its earlier attempt, this light was so thin and pale as to be almost invisible. It rippled around the shell like flowing water. With another crack, the fragment that had fallen off before dropped away again, and the old fissure reopened. Then the entire egg began to shake and roll violently…
At last, with a crisp series of cracks, the shell shattered and fell away. A faint light surrounded a fluffy little bundle wriggling amid the broken pieces.
Soft, downy fur. Four tiny paws that could not yet stand, scrabbling among the pieces of shell. In that instant, Bihua Lingjun felt utterly fulfilled.
He carefully lifted the little creature out of the broken shell. In his palm it opened a pair of wet, jet-black eyes, shifted its body as though nuzzling his hand, whether deliberately or not, and gave a lazy yawn.
The next day, an immortal messenger reported in Lingxiao Hall that Bihua Lingjun had finally incubated the Wishful Egg and its spirit beast had hatched.
The Jade Emperor was delighted. “Immortal Bihua has certainly lived up to my hopes! What precious and extraordinary beast did he hatch?”
The messenger replied, “Reporting to Your Majesty: a spirit tiger.”