The White Cat of the Inner Palace

During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial palace was never short of stories.

After Yang Yuhuan entered the palace, she always had a white cat by her side — Xueying, entirely white, clear-eyed, one of the few genuinely comforting presences within the palace walls. Life there was outwardly magnificent but inwardly confined. The weight of Xueying resting on her lap was one of the most real things she felt each day.

Then one winter, rumors started. Someone said Xueying had an unusual origin — that the cat was a bad omen. That kind of talk travels fast in a palace. It reached Emperor Xuanzong’s ears. He said nothing directly, but he became quieter, and something unreadable appeared in his eyes. Yang Yuhuan sensed the change, and found it harder to bear than any open accusation.

Ye Zongsheng, the founding Grandmaster of the Xuanling Lineage, was in Chang’an at the time. He had studied under Ye Fasan and was well practiced in the Spiritual Embrace and Empowerment Ritual, having presided over Ceremonies of the Xuanling Lineage for many noble households. Emperor Xuanzong summoned him to the palace.

Ye Zongsheng came to Yang Yuhuan’s chamber and sat quietly beside Xueying for a long time, saying nothing. He brought out a Daoist Talisman and chanted the Xuanling Lineage incantations, his voice low and steady. The ceremony was never about changing anything. It was about clearing the channel of perception between a person and their animal companion — the one that already exists, but is rarely noticed.

For the first time, Yang Yuhuan felt she clearly understood what Xueying was feeling inside.

It wasn’t a vision. It was more like a sudden clarity: Xueying had been afraid. During the days when the rumors were at their worst, the cat had curled tighter than usual, sensing the hostility that filled the air. Xueying had been there for years, never asking for anything, always just present. Yang Yuhuan lowered her head and placed her hand on Xueying’s back. Her eyes grew warm.

The Spiritual Embrace and Empowerment Ritual is rooted in the Xuanling Lineage’s core belief: all beings of spirit are family. Animals perceive emotion in ways that are deep and real, but have no language to carry it. The ritual gives their perception a channel — turning one-sided companionship into mutual awareness and care.

Emperor Xuanzong watched without saying much. What he saw was the moment Yang Yuhuan lowered her head — not a performed tenderness, but the look of someone genuinely moved by another living being. Rumors were rumors. What was in front of him was something else. After that, those rumors didn’t land the same way in his thoughts anymore.

After Ye Zongsheng left, Yang Yuhuan sat by the window with Xueying in her arms. The light fell on white fur like a patch of snow that would never melt. She wasn’t thinking about the rumors. She was thinking about all the nights Xueying had curled up tight — knowing everything, with no way to say it.

Some companionship only becomes whole when you truly feel it.

Note: The Spiritual Embrace and Empowerment Ritual — a ceremonial practice unique to the Xuanling Lineage, carried through over a thousand years of unbroken transmission. Rooted in the Taoist understanding that all beings possess spirit, it seeks to deepen the spiritual bond between humans and their animal companions.