Geography: Fortune HavenAI

Fortune Haven was once a lone reef of Spine Rock. It was a remote corner of the sea, where fishing boats came and went with the gulls and egrets. Half a hold of fish and shrimp and an oar's stroke through the rosy evening glow were enough to buy a day's food and warmth and a night of sweet dreams. Then the waves parted, palaces rose, boats came from afar, and merchants gathered like clouds. The rich came clutching great fortunes and craving more; the poor came bearing hunger and cold and hoping to rise. Every desire under heaven came to roost on this single island. So ten thousand temples sprang up and gods and buddhas took up residence, and the barren reef of old became overnight a fairyland like Penglai and Yingzhou, a blessed land of worship. Does the road to wealth truly lie among these ten thousand temples? Scattering gold and silk for a single stick of incense, knocking one's head a hundred times for a morning's peace of mind: these only serve to mask a wavering will, extravagant conduct and old habits too set to change. The fishing boats are long gone, and the rosy glow shines on in vain; though one drained the Four Seas of every scaled and shelled creature, how could that ever fill the chasm of human desire!