One day when the elder brother left home for work, his wife, who was carrying a baby, asked her orphan brother-in-law to go to the nearby bush to collect firewood. “When you return,” she told the boy, “you’ll have to cook a lunch for me.” The boy dared not disobey. He said he would go, but didn’t.

A few minutes later, his sister-in-law heard something burning in the kitchen. She was lying in bed to rest, wishing the boy would get to work at once so that she would be able to have lunch in time. “Well,” she said to herself, “the boy didn’t go but something was burning in the kitchen. I’d better get up and go find out what’s going on.” When she entered the kitchen, she found the orphan boy was burning his two legs to cook rice. His legs were charred. She rushed to stop him, but the boy thought she was going to beat him up as punishment for disobeying her. So the boy threw himself into the furnace-like kitchen range and disappeared into the thin air through the chimney. The Buddha took pity on him and made him a minor god. As he had moved into the furnace and escaped through the chimney, his face was charred. His face was black, and he is known as Black-Faced Sect Founder.

Legend also has it that Black-Face Sect Founder used to be a rogue who harassed Clear-Water Rock and its vicinity, where there still dwelt many aborigines whom the Han Chinese called She ghosts (畬鬼). She is a small minority related to Yao (猺), who still inhabit the southern part of the province of Fujian. She braves were good fighters. They used to fight the Hoklo Chinese immigrants. On one summer day, the rogue was captured by the she braves, who put him into a newly dug pit to smoke him for seven days and seven nights.

They promised if he survived, they would submit to him. It’s certainly a miracle that he survived.

As he was dug out of the pit, he told his four captors they had to remain his servants for the rest of their lives. They submitted. They became his four warriors, called Generals Zhang, Huang, Su and Li (張黃蘇李四將軍), who can be seen keeping him company at any shrine honoring Black-Faced Sect Founder. As he was smoked in the pit, his face was turned black.

How come his nose falls off from time to time?

His followers believe a wood image of Black-Faced Sect Founder had its nose hacked off by sacrilegious bandits who raided Clear-Water Rock. Why the all-powerful found sector couldn’t protect his shrine as well as himself is a mystery. At any rate, his adherents are convinced, someone found the lost nose somewhere near the shrine. It was put back. Only clear water, not glue or any other adhesive, could paste it back in place. It remained stuck until it fell on its own accord. The followers believe the reason why the nose falls off is because the sect founder was either angry at something or with somebody, or wished to tell the people something really wrong would befall them.

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