The Zouyu

In the Kingdom of Linshi, located across the seas, there exists a benevolent beast 仁獸 (renshou): a "righteous" or "compassionate" animal that embodies moral virtue that resembles a tiger with a coat of five colors. Its tail is longer than its entire body, and it refuses to eat any living thing. Its name is the Zouyu. If one were to ride it, the creature could travel a thousand miles The original text uses "li," a traditional Chinese unit of distance; a thousand li is roughly 310 miles or 500 kilometers in a single day.

The Six Secret Teachings An ancient Chinese civil and military strategy treatise traditionally attributed to Jiang Ziya records that when King Zhou The last, tyrannical ruler of the Shang Dynasty imprisoned King Wen The cultured and virtuous founder of the Zhou Dynasty, the King's loyal minister Hong Yao sought out and obtained this beast. He presented the Zouyu to King Zhou as a gift. King Zhou was so greatly pleased by the creature that he released King Wen from his captivity.