 Emperor Wu is also considered as one of the creators of the Liberation Rite of Water and Land, a grand and costly ritual that was supposed to last for an entire week and was designed both to save the spirits of the dead and to improve the condition of the living.This rite probably originated in the tenth century, but an account by monk Zhipan from the thirteenth century gives Emperor Wu a role in its creation.According to this account, the emperor had a dream in which a benevolent monk advised him to free the spirits of the dead from their sufferings.