At the foot of Ma 'er Peak in Cangshan, north of Yangpi Village, an ancient pagoda stands tall, 39 meters high, with a square brick structure of * * * 13 grade, and a bronze gourd-shaped treasure top at the top. According to research, the tower was built in the late Nanzhao period to commemorate Duan Chicheng, the hero of python removal. Legend has it that the tower brick is made of snake bones and fired in the soil, hence the name Snake Bone Tower, also known as Fotu Temple Tower. The whole tower is antique and spectacular, and the touching legend adds a little magic color to it.
The legend of Duan Chicheng has been recorded in ancient books of Ming Dynasty. Xie's "Dian lue" says: "Chicheng people, people, are brave and resourceful. In the era of Montessori, a python devoured people and animals outside the mouth of Weilong Mountain. Chicheng armour, double knife to python. The python swallowed it, the knife came from behind, and the python died. The natives broke the belly of the python, buried it in the sincere bone, built a tower on the tomb, and forged the python bone into a chalk tower. " Yang Shen's Nanzhao unofficial history also said: "In the Tang Dynasty, there was a demon snake named Pujie on the Hull River, which flooded the city. The king showed me that those who can be destroyed will be rewarded with half a treasury officer, and future generations will not die. There is a section of Chicheng in the Ministry who is willing to kill the snake, plunge the knife into the water and the snake will swallow it. People and snakes will die, and water will suffer. The king cut open the snake's belly, buried the sincere bone, built a tower on it, destroyed the snake ashes tower and named it Lingta. "
Folklore is similar to this: in Nanzhao, there is a girl selling grass in Lvtao Village under Ma 'erfeng in Cangshan. One day, she mowed the grass and washed it by the water. Suddenly, she saw a big green peach washed into the water, so she picked it up and ate it. Unexpectedly, she was pregnant. Thirteen months later, she gave birth to a little boy named Duan Chicheng. Duan Chicheng mowed the grass with his mother and played with adults since he was a child, exercising a good strength. That year, a python came out of the Buddhist temple. Twenty years of practice failed to bear fruit, but it became a snake that ate people. It often comes out to eat people, livestock, make waves and flood cities and villages. Duan Chicheng stepped forward and killed someone. He asked the blacksmith to make seven iron hoops according to his figure, and then made 7749 sharp knives out of fine steel. Each hoop was fitted with seven sharp knives, the tips of which were facing outwards. Then he took two swords to fight the python. Came to the temple, raised his sword, stabbed the python, and the python swallowed him in one bite. He rolled around in the snake's stomach, stirring the snake's internal organs into powder. The python was in unbearable pain and jumped into the sea to die. Duan Chicheng was also suffocated in the snake's stomach. People buried it at the foot of Mount Ma 'er, and built a "snake bone tower" with the ashes of pythons mixed with mud and bricks to commemorate him.
It is verified that the Snake Bone Pagoda was originally built under Sunset Peak and Lin Bao Village, but it no longer exists. What survives today is actually a stupa. Because the two towers are similar, they are still called "Snake Bone Tower".