Beneath the Western Wei vault, the Water Bearer pours celestial nectar from an ornate treasure vase. Stars from ancient Persia mingle with Chinese lotus flames in indigo and vermilion. His gaze is distant yet compassionate, promising wisdom to the desert travellers. Flying musicians play the pipa backwards in the air; their ribbons weave through the constellations, turning the cave ceiling into a river of light.

In Sui-dynasty harmony, Libra holds golden scales between heaven and earth. Each pan carries a lotus and a flaming pearl — perfect balance of yin and yang. Repainted in Western Xia times, the colours remain impossibly vivid. Justice here is not cold; it is wrapped in silk, surrounded by donor portraits whose eyes still follow visitors after a thousand years, reminding us that fairness is the quiet heartbeat of the cosmos.

In the twilight of Western Xia, two carp swim eternally toward enlightenment in the Yulin Grottoes. Their scales are painted in thick malachite and azurite, bodies entwined with lotus stems — rebirth in every brushstroke. Above them, the vault rises like an inverted sky of lapis lazuli; the fish never reach nirvana, yet they never tire, carrying the hopes of all sentient beings through endless kalpas.

A gentle yet powerful ram with curling horns of gold stands proud in a Tang pyramid-roofed cave. Its white fleece is rendered in raised gypsum, catching light like fresh snow on the Gobi. Surrounding mandalas pulse with energy; the ram charges forward eternally, embodying the explosive rebirth of spring after the longest desert winter.

A horizontal crab clutches a flaming pearl in the Yulin Grottoes, painted in thick Western Xia mineral pigments. Its shell is armoured in stone-green, legs hidden among donor processions — the ultimate protector of home and lineage. The crab moves sideways through time, guarding sacred space while the pure land unfolds in radiant gold on the opposite wall.