Legend of the Great Sage

The Shennong tribe had the ox as their totemic figure, and everyone knew about the story of Shennong Trying the Hundred Herbs. Because he was skilled in agriculture, he was conferred the title of the divine farmer, Shennong. At the same time, he was skilled in medicine as well.

TL: Shennong is a mythological Chinese ruler.

Legends had it that Shennong’s appearance was very strange, an ox but with a human body—Li Qingshan guessed that it was probably because he used oxen as a totemic figure and wore a horned helmet. Apart from his head and four limbs, the rest of his body was transparent, which would blacken upon consuming poisonous herbs, allowing him to know immediately. In the end, because he had tried the hundred herbs, he died from accumulating too much poison.

Li Qingshan was not some great scholar in his past life, but he was still familiar with these classic stories. Holding back his sense of urgency, he asked the taotie beast face in the sky, “Brother ox is Shennong?”

The taotie beast face laughed aloud. “How’s that possible? Shennong is the first group of people created by empress Nüwa, our ancestors. It’s because they knew agriculture and medicine that humanity prospered. Afterwards, they were conferred the position as leaders, beginning the Shennong tribe.”

“The Flame Emperor is the name that belongs to the leader, both the leader of the Shennong tribe, as well as the leader of us humans!”

TL: The Flame Emperor, also known as Yandi, is a contemporary of the Yellow Emperor. You can read more about the mythological figure here.

“Brother ox is the Flame Emperor. The Flame Emperor is brother ox.”

Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath, trying his best to digest this information, but at least he was not too far off. He was an ancestor anyway. At this moment, he felt like he had returned to his forefathers, holding his fellow comrades’ hands excitedly. He had finally found his organisation!

Originally, he thought he belonged to the side of revolutionaries. He never expected them to be the orthodoxy according to what Taotie said. However, if that was the case, who was brother ox’s enemy?”

If the Shennong tribe represented humanity, then was the enemy supposed to be the Dragon clan, a continuation of the situation from the Battle of Mending Heaven? The man draped in bear skin did indeed possess the aura of a true dragon soaring through the sky.

Or perhaps it was later on, a certain great demon king called Chiyou that existed from the renowned Battle of Zhuolu?

“Sir Taotie, is our enemy the Dragon clan or Chiyou?”

When he heard the word Chiyou, fury immediately appeared on the taotie beast face, followed by a sigh. “Sigh, you really know nothing at all! There are only a handful of true dragons remaining. The ones out in the public are only worthy of being served up to the table as snacks for the alcohol. As for Chiyou, is my true name supposed to be Taotie?”

Li Qingshan was slightly taken aback. “You said your surname is Jiang. As for Taotie, it doesn’t seem like something particularly nice.” Similar to names like Taowu and Qiongqi, it seemed more like a title with ill-intent, such as king You, king Li, and king Ling.

TL: The last three are all examples of despotic rulers in Chinese history.

Taotie fumed, “‘Chi’ goes without saying. It’s clearly a reference to the ignorant. The ‘You’ part is the worst. When Cangjie created the written language, everyone receiving the same amount was known as ‘equal’, or ‘jun’, a person receiving the share of two was known as ‘more’, or ‘duo’, while a person claiming the share of multiple was known as ‘you’.”

“A person claiming multiple shares of food?” Li Qingshan raised an eyebrow. He had witnessed the wickedness that the world had to offer, so for a moment, he failed to understand how despicable that was.

“You don’t understand. In our Shennong tribe, everyone is equal and everything is open to the public. Only then can we band together and work arduously to open up the mountains and forests. The past leaders even blazed a way through the difficulties, going as far as to sacrifice their own lives, which led to the prosperity of humanity. But all of this was usurped by that damned, damned… bastard!”

The taotie beast face in the sky immediately became ferocious, but he did not end up stating the name in the end as if he had qualms.

Li Qingshan immediately understood. Chiyou was even worse of a title than Taotie or Qiongqi.

Unlike the strict social structure of humanity right now, where everyone was divided into hierarchical groups, humanity was still very feeble during that ancient time, so equality to everyone and everything open to the public was the most basic and most sacred principle.

If the leader of a tribe was not only foolish, but improperly allocating everything, then not only were they unworthy of being a leader, they were basically inhuman. If he translated the words “Chiyou” into the language of later people, then that was equivalent to an incompetent ruler devoid of morality, and it was a direct translation too. If a tribe leader used “Chiyou” as their title, then they really were heartless.

But why is Taotie so furious? Hold on, don’t tell me…

He suddenly came across a crazy idea. The legends also depicted Chiyou as being with a head of metal, with a head shaped like an ox and a human body, using oxen as his totemic symbol. During the same age, it was impossible for the Shennong tribe to have two leaders…

The ox totem, the Flame Emperor, the unfair blame, usurping, Chiyou, the enemy from the east…

The earth-shaking Battle of Zhuolu probably was not as great and righteous as the legends depicted it to be.

Before he knew it, the demonic clouds had dispersed and moonlight poured through.

Under the sky, at the top of the demon city, a man and a god questioned and answered, just like the Questions to Heaven written by that descendant of the Gaoyang clan. Through who knew how many years of blurry history, their identical bloodline and totemic symbol connected them again, listening to the horn from the ancient times that led to the fated battlefield.

TL: Questions to Heaven is a reference to a compilation of poems written by Qu Yuan.

“Come to the Jinyun Food hall. I’ll tell you everything. No one can touch a hair on you there.”

The taotie beast face in the sky became gentle once more, like a senior making a promise to his junior on the battlefield, using his body as a shield and his blood for an oath, for the sake of his tribe, for the sake of his clansmen.

Li Qingshan was already mostly convinced, but once he entered Demon God Taotie’s dwelling and faced him in the flesh, then he would be a sitting duck, completely at his whim.

“One last question. Why don’t the other Demon Gods know about me? I’ve seen Taowu and Qiongqi before, and I even have some grievances with Qiongqi.”

“Hmph, he’s the vile spawn of the Shaohao clan. It’s not like he’s from our clan, so he obviously doesn’t know about these secrets. At least he still has common sense to him, not laying a finger on you, or I’d never spare him. Don’t worry, no matter what your grievance is, I’ll help you resolve it.”

Li Qingshan let out a sigh of relief and no longer hesitated. Even if Taotie was an infamous Demon God, if he did not even trust his own clansmen, who was he supposed to trust?

“Apologies, I killed your…” Li Qingshan shrugged. “Cook.” He could not help but let go of the hilt, lowering the ancient bronze sword hidden behind his back.

“That’s just a pig I was rearing. He was perfect for you to get some practice. Seeing how powerful you are, I don’t have to worry…” The taotie beast face suddenly furrowed its brows. “This sword is?”

Li Qingshan obviously told the truth. “A man draped in bear skin gave it to me. He possessed the aura of a true dragon and proclaimed to be some Youxiong.”

“Youxiong tribe… What did he tell you?”

“He said he wanted to confer me the land and even invited me to join his tribe.”

“And you accepted?”

The voice in the sky gradually deepened. The taotie beast face became devoid of any expression again. The receded demonic clouds gathered once more, growing darker and darker.

“This…”

Li Qingshan hesitated and did not answer. He felt like something was amiss. Youxiong? Youxiong! Why did it sound so familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before? Having just heard a great deal of legends regarding ancient tribes and clans, it came to him as a certain kind of inspiration. Even the ancient bronze sword in his hand became more and more familiar.

Boom! With a clap of thunder, blood rained down from the sky.

The taotie beast face began to laugh again, laughing so hard that every outline trembled. His hysterical emotions gradually seeped out, filled with grief, hatred, and fury.

“So, you’re a traitor too!”