madnovel Chapter 116 Five Emperors Rule the World
Chapter 116 Five Emperors Rule the World
Chapter 116: The Five Emperors' Reign (Part 2)
After Zhuanxu succeeded as the supreme ruler of the human race, although he caused a brief period of turmoil, with the intervention of the human race's holy temple, Zhuanxu eventually succeeded in becoming the Human Emperor and the successor of the Five Emperors.
After Zhuanxu, the human race experienced the reign of Shaohao. After Shaohao attained enlightenment, Yao, from the Taotang tribe, succeeded him as the common ruler of the human race.
Yao was a serious and respectful man who clearly distinguished between superiors and subordinates. He was also very good at uniting various tribes and won the support of the entire human race.
After succeeding as the supreme ruler of the human race, Yao discovered that as the human race became the protagonist of heaven and earth, the resources available to the human race increased, and a trend of extravagance gradually emerged, with some tribes exhibiting wasteful practices.
To curb extravagance, Yao set an example by practicing frugality, nipping the emerging trend in the bud. At the same time, Yao upheld the teachings of the Jie Sect that education should be accessible to all, building schools among the human race to impart knowledge. As a result, the human race's literary culture flourished, greatly benefiting Cangjie, the ancestor of human literature, who even broke through to the mid-stage of Quasi-Saint.
Yao also set up a drum for remonstrance outside the capital of Chen, allowing the people of the world to speak freely; and erected a tree for slander, allowing the people of the world to criticize his mistakes, in order to urge himself on and not forget his original intention.
After ruling the human race for a hundred years, Yao found himself gradually losing his strength and wanted to lead the human race to further progress. So he searched for wise and capable people among the human race and finally found the great sage Shun in the Gaoxin tribe.
Shun's teacher was Zhen Yuanzi, the ancestor of the Earthly Immortals of the Earthly Immortal Mansion. Since Zhen Yuanzi did not accept any disciples, he had to send his disciple Qingfeng to teach Shun.
Yao observed Shun for ten years and found him to be kind and talented. So he brought him back to Chendu and let him participate in the affairs of the human race. He also married his two daughters, Ehuang and Nüying, to Shun. Later, he passed on the position of the common ruler of the human race to Shun.
After abdicating, Yao went to the Human Race Temple to become the Human Emperor, becoming the third of the Five Emperors, with a cultivation level at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal.
As Yao's teacher, Gui Ling also gained a lot of merit. Unfortunately, before taking Yao as his disciple, Gui Ling only had the cultivation level of the late Taiyi Golden Immortal. In addition, the merit of being the teacher of the Five Emperors was far less than that of being the teacher of the Three Sovereigns. Therefore, after absorbing all the merit, Gui Ling only broke through to the peak of Taiyi Golden Immortal, but he was only one step away from becoming a Daluo Golden Immortal.
After Shun succeeded to the throne, Yao's son Danzhu was dissatisfied with Shun, believing that Yao's position as the leader of the human race should belong to him. So, relying on the prestige left by his father Yao, he gathered a large number of human tribes to rise up and fight with Shun for the position of leader of the human race.
To quell Danzhu's rebellion, Shun personally led an expedition against him, winning nine battles against Danzhu and finally capturing him alive. However, Shun was kind-hearted and grateful for Yao's nurturing, so he did not kill Danzhu but exiled him to the south to fend for himself.
Because Shun was born from the Earthly Immortal Abode, he cared deeply about mountains and rivers. During Shun's reign, the human race experienced frequent torrential rains, which caused the great rivers to flood, constantly threatening the safety of the human race. Shun searched far and wide for talented people and appointed the great sage Gun to control the floods. Gun adopted a strategy of blocking the floods, but after nine years of trying to control the floods, the floods became even more severe. Under pressure, Shun had no choice but to execute Gun.
After Gun's death, the human race could not find another person capable of controlling the floods. However, the floods were rampant, causing Shun great distress. Finally, at the urging of his ministers, he appointed Gun's son, Yu, to control the floods.
Yu's teacher was Yunxiao, a disciple of the Jie Sect.
After taking on the responsibility of flood control, Yu learned from his father Gun's failure to control the floods, abandoned the method of blocking and firmly believed that it was better to dredge than to block. So he led the human race to dig river channels, allowing the great river to have more tributaries.
Yu spent three years controlling the floods, passing by his home three times without entering. Even when his son Qi was born, he did not go inside to see him.
Three years later, Yu, with the combined strength of the human race, forged a magic needle to stabilize the sea, which he placed at the eye of the East Sea, finally quelling the flood that had plagued the region for centuries.
After successfully controlling the floods, Yu was highly valued by Shun and began to participate in the management of the human race. He accumulated great prestige among the human race. After Shun abdicated, he passed the position of the common leader of the human race to Yu.
After Shun attained the Dao and became the Human Emperor, his cultivation broke through to the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal. From then on, he was stationed in the Holy Temple of the Human Race. As Shun's teacher, Qingfeng was originally just Zhen Yuanzi's page, with a cultivation of only the peak of the Golden Immortal. After receiving the merit of the Human Emperor's teacher, Qingfeng broke through to the mid-stage of the Taiyi Golden Immortal and was taken in by Zhen Yuanzi as his disciple, designated as the first disciple of the Earth Immortal Mansion. With the blessing of the Earth Immortal Mansion's fortune, Qingfeng successfully broke through to the peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal.
After Yu succeeded as the supreme ruler of the human race, he discovered that the human population was increasing rapidly and that the existing territory was no longer sufficient to support the entire human race. Therefore, he led the human race on the path of territorial expansion.
In just a century, the territory of the human race more than doubled. Therefore, Yu was also revered by the human race as Great Yu or Emperor Yu. After obtaining enough land for the human race to live on, Yu then used the power of the human race to create nine precious cauldrons to suppress the earth veins of the nine provinces. He also asked the human race's holy temple to set up a barrier on the nine cauldrons. The barrier of the nine provinces then surrounded the entire human race, greatly improving the safety of the human race.
During Yu's reign, he devoted himself to expanding the territory, which greatly increased the human race's land area. Chendu could not manage such a vast territory, so Yu established many feudal lords and granted land to meritorious officials to manage their territories on his behalf. He was supported by the feudal lords of the world. In his later years, Yu toured Mount Tai and, with the support of the feudal lords of the world, established the first dynasty of the human race. Since Yu came from the Xiahou tribe, he named the dynasty Xia.
The establishment of the Xia Dynasty marked the beginning of a new era for humankind.
After ruling for a hundred years, Yu searched for the human race and finally chose Boyi as his successor. After passing on the position of the common ruler of the human race to Boyi, Yu went to the sacred temple of the human race to become the human emperor.
Because of Yu's merit in controlling the floods, the merit he gained after attaining enlightenment was far greater than that of the previous four emperors, comparable to that of Shennong, thus giving him the strength of an early-stage Primordial Golden Immortal.
As Yu's teacher, Yunxiao's initial cultivation level was only at the early stage of Taiyi Golden Immortal. However, this time, the merit of the Human Emperor's teacher was comparable to that of the Earth Emperor Shennong. Therefore, after absorbing the merit, he actually broke through three minor realms in a row, until he reached the peak of Taiyi Golden Immortal, on par with Guiling.
On the other hand, after inheriting the position of the common ruler of the human race, Boyi began to govern the human race. However, Boyi was not one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and his prestige was insufficient to win the hearts of the entire human race. Yu's son Qi, relying on the prestige left by Yu, raised an army to attack Chendu, eventually driving out Boyi, seizing the position of the common ruler of the human race, and proclaiming himself the King of Man. Thus, the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors officially came to an end.
After Yu's son Qi expelled Boyi, the successor chosen by Yu, he proclaimed himself King of Man and became the second monarch of the Xia Dynasty. The human race officially entered the dynastic era from the form of tribal alliances. However, because Qi went against Yu's will and forcibly seized the position of the supreme ruler of the human race by force, some people were unwilling to submit to the Xia Dynasty and began to migrate to distant places, leading to the first split in the human race.
Qi was a very capable ruler. Under his rule, the territory of the Xia Dynasty continued to expand, and the feudal lords from all directions submitted to him. Qi also built a large-scale city in the place where Yu controlled the floods, named Yangcheng, also known as Yudu. He moved the capital from Chendu to Yangcheng to get rid of the influence of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
After the Xia Dynasty was established, the human race's leaders gradually became obsessed with power and no longer cared about cultivation. As the saying goes, what the superiors do, the inferiors follow. With the stability of the human race, fewer and fewer people embarked on the path of cultivation.
Because Yu's teacher was Yunxiao, and during the three years Yu spent controlling the floods, Yunxiao visited Yu's home many times to take care of the young Qi, Qi had a very deep affection for Yunxiao. He was also influenced by the teachings of the Jie Sect from a young age. Therefore, during Qi's reign, he vigorously promoted the teachings of the Jie Sect, which gradually made the Jie Sect's influence among the human race surpass that of the major sects. This made the major sects of the Xuanmen very anxious, after all, the human race's fortune represents the sect's fortune, and the sect's fortune represents the sect's prosperity. They could not allow the Jie Sect to continue to dominate the human race's orthodoxy.