Today we're going to continue with stories about the Yellow Emperor, Huang Di.
We now know that the Yellow Emperor won the first major battle in ancient Chinese history.
But there would always be another challenge, sooner or later.
That challenge soon arose in another giant called Xing Tian.
We don't have a record of what he looked like.
Probably pretty weird too.
But one thing was sure.
He must have been really strong.
According to legends, Xing Tian used to work under the Yan Emperor, whose tribe was later merged with that of the Yellow Emperor.
Xing Tian was not very happy about that, and didn't feel like working for a new boss.
He didn't wage a war like Zhiyou, but wanted a duel instead, as in one-on-one with the Yellow Emperor.
Hmm, I'm not sure what to think of this.
Courageous or just rash and too full of oneself?
Let's see what this led to.
Of course, the Yellow Emperor wouldn't just come out and have a duel.
I mean, he had work to do.
Xing Tian took up his axe and shield and hacked his way to the royal palace.
Quite a character for sure.
And nobody could stop this guy.
Eventually, the Yellow Emperor heard of this.
And probably felt a bit annoyed and curious.
He came out to meet the challenge.
And then they fought and fought and fought.
All the way to a place called Changyang Mountain.
And in a split of a second, when Xing Tian was distracted, the yellow emperor sliced his sword across his neck and off fell Xing Tian's head.
Was that a bit too graphic?
Well, don't feel too bad though if you're feeling sorry for Xing Tian because he didn't die.
And here it gets a little bit weird.
Xing Tian had so much outrage in him That he kept on fighting without his head.
He couldn't see and he couldn't talk.
But listen to this.
He channeled his energy elsewhere.
He started seeing through his, listen to this, nipples.
Yes, men have them too.
And he started speaking with his belly button.
That takes a bit of imagination, doesn't it?
The Yellow Emperor, however, was done.
I think he just went back to his palace, leaving the headless Xing Tian waving his axe at whatever came his way.
But also because of his persistence.
Some people view him as a hero who kept on fighting, even in death.
That's pretty much the end of the character Xing Tian.
But what about the Yellow Emperor?
In short, he defeated everyone that came after him and brought all the tribes under the Yan Emperor's leadership, under his command.
All that was under heaven, at least the Chinese heaven, was united.
It was a lot of power, but also a lot of work.
Too much work, in fact.
So the Yellow Emperor appointed many ministers to share the burden.
Four of these ministers had their names written into history.
One was Feng Hou, who was the one that made the card that always pointed to the south, kind of the ancient compass.
Another one made the drum that helped the Yellow Emperor defeat Chi You. together with two others.
These were the main characters who helped the Yellow Emperor to consolidate his rule.
A period of peace and stability followed under the reign of the Yellow Emperor and people started chasing after a better life, as indicated by many important inventions from around that time.
For example, a minister named Ling Lun made an instrument from bamboo to imitate the singing of the phoenix.
A man named Cang Jie invented written words.
And Lei Zu, supposedly the yellow emperor's wife, discovered silk from silkworm cocoons.
So it was not just a period of unified power and peace, but also of inventions that greatly improved people's lives.
More than a dozen very important inventions were accredited to the Yellow Emperor and his ministers.
But of course, the identities of their true inventors are hard to verify.
Many other stories, in one way or another, became related to the Yellow Emperor.
For example, legend has it that the Yellow Emperor made a big three-legged bronze pot.
It's called ding in Chinese.
These were normally used to cook grains and meat themselves.
But later people started using them to offer sacrifices to ancestors or gods.
So gradually people associated the three-legged bronze pot with power of the state.
The reason why I mentioned this is because the story goes that when the yellow emperor finished making the three-legged bronze pot, A dragon came down from heaven, and then the yellow emperor rode on the back of the dragon and flew up to the sky, never to return.
And yes, he passed.
And the place where he made the bronze pot was called Lake Ding.
So the phrase, the dragon went to the Lake Ding, came to me. that the emperor has passed away.
With the end of the story of the Yellow Emperor, you might be wondering who came to power next.
And that's what we'll get to in our next story.
So hope to see you then.
Bye for now.
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