In the 1890's, they were hunted to near extinction by the Manchus. Consequently, copies of "Master Feng" are exceedingly scarce. It is just possible that a one is hidden away in some shop along Liu-li-ch'ang -- the Peking street of dealers in books and antiquities. Or perhaps a copy was pillaged from a temple during the Boxer Rebellion and smuggled out of the country amongst countless other religious treasures.

The book tells the story of a young adventurer named Lu and his quest for immortality on behalf of an aging emperor. The hero travels to the mythical Kun-lun mountains and discovers a cave which descends past myriad perils to the "yellow springs" of the Chinese underworld. There he receives the instruction of a mysterious Master Feng. Feng mocks the hero's loyalty to his emperor and lays bare all illusions concerning the nature of worldly power. In this way, he convinces Lu to seize the secret of prolonged life for himself and slay his emperor with a poisoned elixer.

Master Feng's discourse touches on a number of mythos subjects, presented as worthy object lessons to be meditated upon. These include the doings of a hedonistic Empress named "Yi Die", whose name means "Engage in Pleasure". Pronounced approximately "Yee Dyeh", this name will easily be recognised by the mythos scholar as that of the Outer God, Yidhra. Also mentioned are a deserted treasure city called "Yian-ho" and a nigh blasphemous allegation concerning China's mythical Yellow Emperor.

Because it was meant to be passed on only to the most trustworthy and adept of students, there was never any large-scale printing of this book. In early times, it was transmitted on bamboo slips carried in a leather pouch or small box. In the 17th century, there is said to have been a small manual printing from wooden blocks. The laquered wooden cover of that edition is said to be beautifully inset with glass mosaic tiles.

The book contains one powerful spell, which requires a regimen of rigorous meditation and visualization similar to that undertaken by the hero in the story. This requires 90 days of isolation, subsisting on only simple fare such as rice and beans. At the end of this span, the student receives a powerful vision costing 1D10 SAN, and must sacrifice 2 POW. Thereafter, the student ages at one fifth the normal rate (living five years for every year of remaining natural lifespan). In this way, adepts in the cult of Feng Tzu sometimes attained ages of 300 years or more.

Chinese language, -1D2/1D4 sanity; +4 Mythos; Spells: See below; 4D4 weeks (average 10 weeks) to study and comprehend