As soon as Ben Bishop’s words fell, a voice from the audience shouted, “Elder Ben, the stories we’ve heard are incomplete fragments or rumors. Please, enlighten us with the full history! How did this impossible object come to be?”
“Very well.” Ben Bishop cleared his throat, adjusting the microphone stand. He enjoyed the spotlight, the reverence in the room. “Master Hazel Young was already renowned during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang. His statues were said to weep and bleed, they were so lifelike. By the Shenlong era of Empress Wu Zetian, the Empress summoned him to the palace. She gave him a task deemed impossible by mortal hands: to carve the full text of the Tao Te Ching—over five thousand characters—onto a piece of jade no larger than a fingernail.”
“It is estimated that Empre
