the unanimous connection of the festival to jie zhitui in the early sources and the dependence of these later theories on the cold food festival's occurrence in late spring—when it in fact began as a mid-winter observance—suggests that none of them are likely accurate. one contemporary record of ritual fire-avoidance coming from a separate source in southeastern china concerned the late-2nd-century "kings" of "yue" mi (, "yuè míwáng") and yao (, "yuè wáng yáo", and , "yuè yáowáng"). these were actually princes of the old yue royal family fighting over the southern successor state of minyue. supposedly, the mi king was beheaded during a battle with yao but his body continued to stay atop his horse all the way back to "wu village", where he was buried. as late as the 10th century, residents of the area avoided fire on the day of his death as a mark of respect to his spirit. this southern equivalent to the cold food festival was not celebrated annually, though, but on every "wu day" of the old chinese calendar, a generally unlucky day to some taoists.