Three kilometers east of the Weishan county seat, on the rising slopes of Dongshan, stands the Cuoye Temple. This sanctuary, also known as the Weishan Wuxuan Prince's Mansion, preserves a thousand-year-old lineage of memory. Its story began in the damp chill of a stone cave in the year 891. There, local tribal chieftains known as the Baman fire heads carved a likeness of the Nanzhao King Longshun. Longshun, who ruled from 878 to 897, identified himself as the earthly incarnation of the Acoye Guanyin deity. By placing his image in the stone, the chieftains sought to bind his spirit to the earth, transforming a deceased ruler into a permanent territorial guardian, a Tuzhu.

The physical structure we see today reflects centuries of rebuilding. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the hereditary Zuo family chieftains, the Tusi of Menghua, expanded the shrine. They used local clay and heavy timber framing to construct the halls, anchoring their political authority in the sacred architecture. Visitors can still feel the rough texture of these clay-and-wood walls, which smell of aged pine and mountain earth. In 1705, a local scholar named Zhang Jinyun carved the Cuoye Miao Ji onto a stone stele. His chisel marks remain sharp under a light touch, recording how the temple protected the valley from natural disasters.

Inside the main hall, the statue of King Longshun, posthumously honored as the Wuxuan Emperor, sits in the shadows. Traditional folk altars of the Bai and Yi peoples flank his image. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth lunar month, the quiet mountain slopes wake to the annual Dongshan Tuzhu Temple Fair. The air fills with the scent of burning incense and the sound of pilgrims. Designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit in November 2005, the temple remains a living sanctuary where the ancient Nanzhao kingdom continues to speak to the present.