Qifeng Cave is 5 kilometers away in the northwest of Stone Forest; it is in the peak of stone forest at the eastside of Maan Mountain in the intersection of Beida Village, Beixiao Village, and Shuitang Village. The peaks have different shapes and their own features: some look like the Sani people’s torches in Torch Festival, some look like ice-clear Saussurea involucrata, and some look like cute mushrooms. There is a giant separate stone standing at the entrance of Qifeng Cave, looking like a guardian. There is a small hole with about one-meter diameter in the cropland under the stone - this unremarkable small hole is exactly Qifeng Cave.

Qifeng Cave is the most special one among the caves in Shilin, Its fame is not for strange-looking stalactites but for its “breaths” like human. therefore it is also called “breathing cave”. Every rainy season, the earth absorbs abundant water and dry rivers start to flow again, Qifeng Cave also start to make sound like a tired bull breathing. If somebody seals the hole with mud deliberately, it can also blow the mud away without difficulty, and still breathe freely.

When Qifeng Cave breathes, quiet land suddenly roars with dust and weeds accompanied by the sound of rumbling water. It seems that there may be floods from the cave at any time while there is no drop of water at all when observing. When there is large air volume, it feels that you stay in fierce wind before storm. some people may put a few hays and branches on fire in front of the hole only to see flame and smoke blown to the air at about two or three meters for two minutes till withering, then after a pause for more than ten minutes the flame and smoke is suddenly swallowed into the hole - such breath repeats in endless circles, looking like a brilliant magician playing the tricks of fires from the seven apertures in his head.

Siphon Spring is located at the lowest point of Qifeng Cave Scenic Area as another natural wonder: clear underground river water goes out from the cave and injects into a deep hole, water level rises with flowing with the river until 1 to 2 meters then plummets with thunderous drainage sound for three or four minutes, after that everything returns to its original state and the water level rises gradually again ...this repeats every twenty to thirty minutes.

According to investigation, the strange geology of Qifeng Cave is composed of three parts: intermittent air tunnel, Siphon Spring, and a dark river. Intermittent air tunnel is on the side of the stone forest in middle hillside. There is a small stream of more than ten meters long at mountain foot. Water exposes from underground river, flows for over ten meters and enters the dark river for a few meters until falling in Siphon Spring. Siphon Spring is formed by dissolution of limestone with uneven texture. The outer cave is narrow while the interior has a large gourd-shaped space. There is a link between Siphon Spring and intermittent air tunnel at the bottom, therefore when water is blocked at the gourd tip, the pressure caused by increasing water forces the water to quickly squeeze into the gourd and the falling water also squeezes the interior air through intermittent air tunnel, causing wind. After the water flows away, the air pressure difference between inside and outside causes air flow from the air outlet of air tunnel, forming suction.

Qifeng Cave, Siphon Spring, and dark river interact with each other: if there is no running water in the stream, Qifeng Cave will not breathe; vice versa, if there is too much water in the stream flooding the dark river, Qifeng Cave will not breathe either. Therefore, Qifeng Cave does not breathe all year round but usually from June to October.

There is also a touching legend about Qifeng Cave.

Long long ago there was a young Sani man named Guoji in a village of Stone Forest. He grazed cattle for the hereditary headman to support his blind mother. One day he grazed cattle on a mountain, where he heard someone saying from afar: “laborious and kind person, come to me, and I will give you happiness!” Guoji went to the voice to find a cave. He crawled in bravely. It was completely black at first, and then there was a big bright cave filled with treasures, food, and herbal medication. Guoji was not into treasures. He only took a little herbal medicine and food and left the cave. He distributed the food to poor people and healed his mother with herbs.

Greedy hereditary headman heard the news that Guoji found a treasure cave. He took ferocious servants to force Guoji to fetch treasures for him. Guoji carried treasures many times and felt tired and thirsty. He drank up the spring inside the cave while feeling his body change into a python. He realized that he could no longer take care of his mother while the headman was shouting outside. He crawled out to swallow him for revenge.

Guoji’s mother did not see him back, so she went to the cave and kept calling him with her head tilted. Guoji feared that his appearance would terrify her, so he could only breathe heavily inside the cave. Over time, the mother became Waitou (tilted head) Mountain while Guoji could only reply her from the cave...