Xu Fu and The Alchemy of Bitcoin.

Xu-Fu was an alchemist by trade but an explorer by birth. Born as he was on a boat. A boat that was at a crossroads.

Now he was tired. Voyages across wind-tossed seas slowly chipped away at his desire for movement, he longed for solid ground. For gold, as a store of value,to anchor him to a place.

Yet he was beholden to Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Qin Shi Huang’s obsession with finding the elixir of life, from the immortals on the Mount Penglai had ruled his life for decades.

This was to be his second journey on this quest. The last solidified his decision to disappear. Xu Fu was an alchemist but he believed in the science of it not the mythic. He didn’t want to go on a fool’s errand, chasing the elixir of life when it was gold that he was after. Gold and a return to her..

He met her, Ichika, on his last search for the elixir. A time when escape and gold were all he could think of.

When he could go no further, a snow capped mountain had appeared in front of him. He anchored there at the base of that beauty.

The air was floral, sweet, with a metallic undertone.

Cherry blossoms dipped in gold he’d mused.

He spent the night huddled in blankets aboard the ship.

In the morning he, along with his men, went ashore. The fresh air invigorating them.

They trekked for miles looking for safe haven- a place where they could forget Qin Shi Huang and his mad quest to live forever.

Darkness began to fall. They noticed black smoke rising in the west. They changed paths and headed towards the billowing cloud, starkly contrasted against the snow capped mountains and cherry blossoms.

They were engulfed in darkness when they arrived at the source of the smoke. A small fire was blazing, surrounded by a circle of stones. And there beside it was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

She was crouched over the fire and turned startled to greet his eyes, he took her in; her intensely dark hair and her striking golden eyes made his knees buckle.

“Hello,” he said, ”I am Xu Fu and these are my shipmates. We are explorers, may we rest here with you?”

She moved closer to the swords that lay to the left and right of her.

“Over there” she pointed to the opposite side of the fire from where she crouched.

Xu Fu and his men placed their belongings on the ground and sunk to down, grateful for the fire that cut the sharp spring cold to a murmur.

“From where do you come?” golden eyes asked. One of her swords now resting in her lap.

“We come from Qi on a mission in behalf of Emperor Qin Shi Huang to find the elixir of life.”

Her beauty loosened his tongue, “I, however, would remain here and not chase something that does not exist. I believe in the tangible. Nothing is as real as gold. It’s weight and beauty grounds you, ties you the earth.”

“I understand.” she responded moving her blanket aside to show him a beautiful golden necklace, it was made of what seemed like a million gold, intricate skaura blossoms held together by a delicate gold chain.

He gasped at the beauty.

“I too came here seeking gold and the chance to start something new - to change old ideas of living. It is 219 BC and I intend to live in the future rather than the past.”

Xu Fu was in awe, from this beauty’s mouth came his thoughts!

All of his travels, his access to all that being a part of Qin Shi Huang's most trusted men brought, none of it compared to this moment! To this feeling of recognition of one spirit to another. He was grounded, in this place, here was part of the the puzzle, leading to the golden life he craved.

In his search for gold, never did he think he'd meet the personification of all the qualities he admired in gold. The tangible and the intangible lay before him.

The soft snoring of his men blended with the sounds of night birds and the distant water’s flow. The night air intensified.the smell of gold.

“I am Ichika”, she said

He lifted his sleeves to show her his gold bracelet, it too was designed with sakuras but Xu Fu’s contained a tiny pink diamond in the middle of each blossom.

She stared longingly at it. “I made this in my dreams before I ran out of gold last year”, she said, her supple fingers rubbing her right wrist.

Xu Fu slipped the bracelet off and gestured towards Ichika, “a gift for the warmth” he said glancing at the fire.

Ichika accepted the bracelet from Xu Fu and they gently touched their foreheads together in mutual gratitude.

They spent the night sharing histories and charting futures.

Xu Fu knew this was the place he’d been looking for. He smelled the gold in the air and Ichika had tasted it in the spring water.

He wanted to start here, with her.

Qin Shi Huang nonetheless, would send an army after him if he didn't return so he'd said goodbye to Ichika a mere two years after they met.

He promised to return and she promised to keep the search for gold going.

And so he returned to Qi. Qin Shi Huang was furious at the delay in his return but most of all he was incandescent at Xu Fu’s empty-handed return!

Xu Fu explained all away by telling Qin Shi Huang of a sea monster blocking his path to Mount Penglai. Qin Shi Huang believed him, whole heartely. The Emperor readily acquiesced when Xu Fu requested skilled archers to defeat this beast and claim the elixir once and for all. Xu Fu was also granted 5000 men and women on this second journey.

The day of departure arrived and Xu Fu said goodbye to Qin Shi Huang for what he knew would be the last time.

It was spring again. As he climbed aboard, all his thoughts were on Ichika. There were 300 hundred pounds of pastel pink, sakura silk aboard and he couldn’t wait to present this gift to his love.

When they finally arrived to the mountain, he called Fuji summer was approaching. The cherry blossoms lay rotting on the ground.

As the ship anchored offshore he saw her standing beneath a hinoki cypress, her raven, black hair contrasting against the verdant leaves.

He let the tears fall openly.

They spent the night discussing everything that transpired while they were apart and helping everyone get safely ashore.

The ensuing weeks were spent resting and setting up shelters. After this, Xu Fu and Ichika set out on their quest for gold. They walked further inland and higher up the mountain.

A cave caught Xu Fu’s attention and they cautiously explored, stalagmites twinkling from the ceiling, like cloudy diamonds.

Abruptly a large stalagmite crashed in front of Ichika, they both jumped back.

They coughed and stood back waiting for the dust from the splintered stalagmites to vacate the space.

When the dust cleared, they steadily moved deeper into the cave.

“Look!” exclaimed Ichika. On a newly exposed side wall was a gleaming gold door.

Xu Fu and Ichika looked at each other, could it be?

They pushed the handleless door, it barely moved, cold and solid. Ten men brought up the rear they all rammed against the gold to no avail.

Darkness swiftly approached and they all headed to shelter and warmth.

Xu Fu paced by the blazing fire contemplating his next move and wondering what lay behind the door. He felt an irresistible need to be next to the cold, gold and walked back towards the caves tripping over roots and rocks.

He entered the cave, crawling to keep from falling.

The door glowed in the darkness and he moved deftly towards it. When he reached the door he stood and leaned against it. He pushed and the door flew open, a blinding golden light enveloped him and then everything went black.

What felt like lifetimes passed and he awakened to his shoulders being shaken by a strangely clothed woman.

“Sir, Sir are you okay?” she asked.

His eyes fluttered open and he took in the cherry blossoms and a strange structure with columns.

“The ambulance is on its way” the woman said “just breathe”

He sat up steadying himself against the hard earth. Strange structures surrounding him and people in strange garb walked all around him.

He got to his feet and took it all in. The woman stood close to him perhaps fearing he’d fall.

“What is the place” he asked haltingly.

“You’re at Janiko University” she responded.

Her words meant nothing to him, this place was from a dream he didn’t conjure. He must steady himself to return to his gold and Ichika.

“You are wearing one of the most impressive reproductions from the Qin dynasty I’ve ever seen! I’m Professor Yamamoto head of history.

Xu Fu felt a sharp pain pierce his head and fell against the professor.

More darkness.

When he awoke he was in an uncomfortably, soft bed, there were lines on his wrists and chests. Lights he didn’t understand littered the top of the room he inhabited.

A man, strangely dressed and wearing glass in his eyes entered the room, “hello there” he said “well sir, we think you’re suffering from memory loss, you’ve been in and out of consciousness for months. Do you have a name?”

“I am Xu Fu” he saud

The strangely dressed man roared with laughter, “I do admit the silk you were dressed in was very high quality but you’re telling me you’re the god of Silk and medicine? You must've hit your head harder than we initially thought!”

“How about we call you Satoshi for now, Is that ok?”

Xu Fu spent months in that room. Efforts to uncover his identity proving futile. Professor Yamamoto, intrigued by him had taken Xu Fu or rather Satoshi under her wing. He worked with her in the history department and proved to be a wealth of information on all things Qin dynasty.

As the days passed he deepened his knowledge of this new world, knowing always, that this was temporary, he would return to Ichika. He would return with more gold than they could imagine.

Xu Fu soon discovered modern-day alchemy. A place called the internet, a place where money or gold was transformed into numbers and those numbers doled out everything, from clothes to food to houses. Everything was possible.

This was alchemy. As even more time passed he understood how to harness this power.

This grounded him until he could return to Ichika and their future.

He knew where Mt. Fuji was and would find the golden door on this side.

As part of his journey to gold, Xu Fu enrolled in the university and earned a degree in software engineering.

On 31 October 2008, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was made public.

It was the beginning of his personal gold rush.

For years Xu Fu mined coins their value soaring and faltering. The day came when their soaring took on dizzying heights. Dizzying value.

At times he lost sight of the reason he was doing this. His love of gold fought against his love for Ichika.

In 2010 the oldest cherry blossom tree on the university campus died.

This rattled Xu Fu, awakened him.

He converted his Bitcoin as it was known into money and then the money into brick of solid gold.

Alchemy!

He said goodbye to Professor Yamamoto and sailed under darkness with the gold bricks. His money had allowed him to create a conveyor belt system that would quickly transport the gold from the boat to the door.

As the boat docked, he deeply inhaled one more time, “Ichika I am coming home” he said into the darknes. He knew hat others after him would able to carry the Bitcoin he left behind in much greater quantities as a store of value, that was grounded at a new digital crossroad. They would perform their own alchemy

Postscript; This work of fiction was inspired by the very real Xu Fu. His disappearance is as intriguing, if not more than Satoshi Nakamoto’s. To view and find out more information on the beautiful wood block prints. Please visit the Library of Congress’ archive. Thanks for reading my words!