Legend has it that there was once a plague in Runan County, many people died. There was a man called Huan Jing, who heard people say that the plague was caused by a plague demon who lived in the River Ru. To rid his townsfolk of the demon, Heng Jing decided to set off for Dongnan Mountain, to find an immortal called Fei Chang-Fang, to learn how to kill the demon.

Heng Jing traveled far and wide, but he could not find the immortal. One day, he suddenly saw a white pigeon who kept nodding at him. He approached the pigeon, but it flew a few steps away. The pigeon landed and continued to nod at Heng Jing. Heng Jing continued to follow the pigeon, which led him to the immortal’s house. Heng Jing knocked on the door but no one answered. So, Heng Jing knelt in front of the door and waited patiently. the door finally opened on the third day. A white-haired old man came out and said,“You prove determined to help your people to get rid of the demon, come with me.”

Upon entering the immortal’s house, Heng Jing was given a demon-subduing Green Dragon Sword, and the immortal taught him how to use the sword to subdue demons. As Heng Jing was practicing with the sword one day, the immortal told him,“The plague demon will appear again on the Double Ninth (ninth of September) this year. Hurry home and save your people. Here are some Dogwood leaves and a bottle of chrysanthemum wine. Give each person a Dogwood leaf and a sip of the wine, and ask everyone to bring their families up the mountain to avoid harm.” After that, the immortal called a magic crane to fly Heng Jing back to Runan.

After getting back to his hometown, Heng Jing told his people what the immortal said, and made sure they did what was told. Then, he drew his sword and waited for the demon to appear. After a while, strong winds howled over River Ru, and the plague demon came out of the water. It saw everyone up in the mountain, and tried to rush up the mountain, but it was terrified of the scent of the Dogwood leaves and the Chrysanthemum wine and did not dare to come a step further. Heng Jing quickly took his sword, pierced the plague demon, and killed it.

The plague was finally gone forever. This is why people climb mountains on the Double Ninth Festival to keep themselves safe from harm.
 

傳說汝南縣有一年流行瘟疫，死了不少人。有個人名叫桓景，他小時候聽人說過，瘟疫是汝河裡的瘟魔引起的，為了替鄉民除害，決定去尋找東南山中一個叫費長房的神仙，請他教導如何除瘟魔。

桓景翻越了千山萬水，還是找不到，有一天，忽然看見一隻白鴿不斷地向他點頭，走近一看，鴿子又飛了兩三丈遠，落地後又不斷地向他點頭，於是他就跟著白鴿走，終於找到仙居。桓景敲門都沒人回應，他就在門口跪著，到了第三天大門開了，出來的白髮老人笑著說：「你為民除害心切，跟我進來吧」。

進去後就給了他一把降妖青龍劍，並教他練習降妖的法門，有一天他正在練劍時，仙人走來對他說：「今年九月九日，汝河瘟魔又要出來害人，你趕緊回鄉為民除害，我給你茱萸葉子一包，菊花酒一瓶，給每人一片葉子及喝一口酒，並且帶著家鄉父老登高來避禍。」，說完，用手招來一隻仙鶴，把他載回汝南去了。

桓景回到家鄉，就把仙人的話向大家說了一遍，安排妥當後，就帶著寶劍等著斬殺瘟魔，一會兒，汝河裡狂風怒吼，瘟魔走出水面，看見人們都在山上，便衝到山腳，卻被酒氣和茱萸的香味嚇得不敢上前，接著桓景趕緊射出寶劍將瘟魔釘死在地上。

從此再也沒有瘟疫了，人們就把九月九日登高避禍的習俗傳到現在。