Clawed Cocoon#

The world is full of hustle and bustle, how much money can you make from all the hustle and bustle? Will you be caught in the trap of heaven and earth, and be entangled by the thread of chance?

In the Kingdom of Zhuzi, a curious tale prevailed. No matter how many kings came and went, the Zhu family of the Royal Weaving Office never relocated. They wove a fabric known as Celestial Silk, gleaming as moonlight, light as clouds. Nobility and merchants alike clamored for it. The city's weavers seethed with jealousy, but none could replicate it. Over time, whispers spread that the Zhus owed their skill to a jade shuttle, bestowed by the Red-clad Immortal.

One weaver was convinced that obtaining that shuttle would also secure his fortune. On a deep, dark night, he sneaked into the Zhu's workshop outside the city walls during the second watch.

The Zhus were rich enough to have their workshop sprawled wide and vast. In the dead of night, not a soul was in sight. The weaver crept through the yards of draping silks when a pure white light fell upon the center of the drying racks. The moon dimmed, and darkness swallowed all but that single, shining pillar joining earth and sky.

The weaver stumbled toward it and discovered the pillar of light was made of countless strands of silk. Two monstrous silkworms were spinning these strands into cocoons and hanging them on the drying racks. The cocoons' hooked feet grabbed the silk strands and passed a jade shuttle back and forth, weaving the exquisite fabric. Dazed, the weaver became fixated on the shuttle, convinced that owning it would endow him with the same power. But the cocoons impaled him with their sharp hooks in a blink of an eye. As he lay dying, he saw the worms crawling toward him. They carried him into the pillar of light and wrapped him a luminous cocoon.