The Omniscient

Chapter 61: The Era of Ten Suns

"Big bro, what's going on?" Lin Li asked curiously when he saw Huang Ji standing in the park, seemingly lost in thought.

Huang Ji opened his eyes and smiled, "Nothing. Let’s head back. You should handle the medical license issue as soon as possible."

"Got it."

The two returned to the hotel. Huang Ji disguised himself by altering his appearance and reducing his muscle mass. He took a photo and handed it to Lin Li. Seeing the transformation, Lin Li was amazed as he headed out to find someone to forge the certificate.

When he came back, he found Huang Ji completely absorbed in a book, The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing). Huang Ji wasn’t just reading; he had a pen in hand, sketching something on a piece of paper.

Curious, Lin Li glanced over and saw a drawing of a creature with an eagle-like head and a humanoid body. But it wasn’t just a mythical beast—it had metal structures like cannon barrels and was holding a glowing spear.

"What is this?" Lin Li asked. He figured Huang Ji must be illustrating a figure from Shan Hai Jing, given its frequent depictions of creatures with human heads and animal bodies, or hybrid forms of birds and beasts. However, this drawing looked like a robot, which felt way too futuristic.

Huang Ji responded casually, "This is the Divine Shaohao."

He was referring to the White Emperor, Shaohao, whom he was familiar with. But to his surprise, Huang Ji shook his head. "First of all, there’s no such concept as the 'Five Emperors.' Secondly, this is the Divine Shaohao, not the Emperor Shaohao."

Lin Li was puzzled. "Is there a difference?"

"Of course," Huang Ji replied, gazing at his completed sketch. "The name Shaohao refers to the ‘Young Solar Deity.’ Do you know his title of respect?"

Lin Li thought for a moment, "Was it Gaoyang or something?"

"Gaoyang? No, don’t spout nonsense. Emperor Zhuanxu was titled Gaoyang. Emperor Ku was titled Gaoxin. Shaohao was titled Qingyang, while Yu the Great was titled Gaomi," Huang Ji explained.

Lin Li nodded. "Oh right, Qingyang, Gaoyang, Gaoxin, Gaomi…"

Huang Ji tossed Shan Hai Jing to him and continued, "The term 'Mi' means ‘refuge.’ During the great floods, people sought shelter in the mountains, calling these places ‘Mi.’ The character ‘Gao’ signifies ‘exalted’ or ‘supreme.’ When Yu controlled the floods and saved humanity from catastrophe, his fiefdom was called Gaomi, meaning the ‘Supreme Refuge.’ Later, when Yu ascended as emperor, he was honored as 'Emperor Gaomi,' the 'Supreme Refuge Emperor.'"

"The same logic applies to the others. The character ‘Xin’ means punishment. So Emperor Gaoxin…”

Lin Li caught on and said, "Emperor Gaoxin would mean ‘Supreme Punishment Emperor,’ as a way of venerating his achievements? Then Emperor Gaoyang would be the ‘Supreme Solar Emperor’? Wow, Zhuanxu really stands out with that title."

Huang Ji continued seriously, "The character ‘Qing’ in its ancient sense symbolizes lushness, vitality, and youth. So ‘Qingyang’ refers to the rising sun, the morning sun."

The titles of Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Emperor Ku, and Yu the Great each carried distinct meanings: the vibrant morning sun, the supreme solar deity, the supreme punishment, and the supreme refuge.

As Lin Li pondered this, he realized it made perfect sense. However, he noticed that Huang Ji’s tone was unusually solemn when discussing these ancient ancestors.

What Lin Li didn’t know was that Huang Ji had the ability to discern the ‘true meaning’ behind historical records. For some time now, Huang Ji had been able to sense the origins of written expressions, understanding not just their meaning but the events they referenced. For example, he could deduce why an idiom became an idiom and trace its source.

With his recently unlocked information-past-sensing ability, he could comprehend historical records with unparalleled accuracy. Every sentence, every word revealed its connection to the events it described. Of course, he couldn’t perceive every detail of distant historical events due to the sheer amount of information.

The best way to uncover the past was through artifacts and culture. Written language was a prime example of ‘inherited information.’ The Shan Hai Jing we have today was compiled during the Ming Dynasty, which was based on a Jin Dynasty version, which in turn drew from the pre-Qin version, which itself originated from the Yu’s Records of Mountains and Seas. The original Yu’s Records was a compilation of scattered drawings, legends, and written accounts collected from various regions during the reign of Yu the Great.

These scattered records, passed down through generations, were tied to real events from ancient times. However, trying to trace the full history of an object’s existence was beyond Huang Ji’s current capacity. Books, on the other hand, carried not just physical information but also cultural information. Every written language encapsulates an immense amount of knowledge, reflecting the entirety of a civilization’s culture.

To Huang Ji, Shan Hai Jing wasn’t an esoteric text. Every word held its true meaning clearly. This cultural tracing had nothing to do with who wrote or printed the book, which fell under the category of physical information. The text itself carried generationally inherited records of events, enabling Huang Ji to reverse-engineer mythological tales into their original prototypes.

With his current information-processing limit, while he couldn’t achieve omniscient clarity, he could still derive a general picture from the records.

Ironically, Huang Ji found that the most accurate and least embellished historical record of ancient times was Shan Hai Jing, which many dismiss as mere myth and fantasy. By comparison, texts like the Book of Documents (Shang Shu) were 80% fictional, more akin to literary art than historical record.

To uncover ancient history, Huang Ji avoided fictionalized information and sought records of real events. Thus, he spent the entire day poring over Shan Hai Jing, meticulously examining every passage. Some sentences took him tens of minutes to process, while others took hours.

By spending more time on each passage, he reduced the information shock and gained a clearer understanding.

For instance, the sentence in the Western Mountain Classic (Xi Shan Jing): “On Mount Changliu lives the deity Bai Di Shaohao. The beasts have patterned tails, and the birds have patterned heads. The land is rich in jade and stone. It is the palace of Yuan God Kui. This deity oversees the reflection of light.” Huang Ji had spent over an hour on this passage. By cross-referencing other descriptions of Shaohao's totem, he successfully illustrated the true form of the Divine Shaohao.

Huang Ji said, “Beyond the Eastern Sea lies the Great Abyss, the land of Shaohao. Shaohao gave up his musical instruments to Zhuanxu. In Gan Mountain was born the Gan Abyss, and the Gan River flows from there.”

“Lin Li, the character ‘Hao’ specifically refers to the solar deity. The name Shaohao, like Qingyang, signifies the young sun deity, the morning sun deity. This divine nation exists beyond the Eastern Sea. Its inhabitants are known as the Qingyang Clan. However, in the Western Mountain Classic, Shaohao appears on Mount Changliu near the far western deserts, where he is described as the White Deity presiding over dusk. ‘This deity oversees the reflection of light,’ meaning he became the god of the setting sun.”

Lin Li froze, astonished by the stark contradiction between the two accounts.

From a morning sun to an evening sun, from the Eastern Sea to the Western Mountains.

"Why?" Lin Li asked.

Huang Ji replied, "A lot of complex events happened in between. In short, Zhuanxu severed the connection between heaven and earth. During this process, he expelled the nation of Shaohao and drove the Qingyang Clan, who lived in the divine nation, from the Eastern Sea to the west."

"Zhuanxu wiped out Shaohao? Weren’t they relatives?" Lin Li exclaimed in shock.

Huang Ji shook his head. "How could they be relatives?"

After all, they weren’t even the same species.

"But… Shaohao was an emperor! His surname was Ji, and his given name was Zhi. He settled in Qiongsang and ascended to the throne. His capital was in Qufu, which I know is in RZ City of the Qi-Lu Province region. He was said to be the eldest son of the Yellow Emperor," Lin Li hurriedly explained.

Huang Ji calmly countered, "Ah, you're referring to the perspective held by the Jin Dynasty's Records of Emperors and Kings. It’s pure fabrication. The original text says: Emperor Shaohao, given name Zhi, courtesy name Qingyang, of the Ji clan. His mother was Nu Jie. During the time of the Yellow Emperor, a great star resembling a rainbow descended upon Hua Zhu. Nu Jie dreamed of a divine connection and gave birth to Shaohao, also called Xuanxiao."

"I can tell you with certainty that this account is a work of literary art. Similarly, the Han Dynasty’s account: Shaohao Emperor was called Qing. Qing was the son of the Yellow Emperor, named Qingyang, with the given name Zhi. Earth births metal, hence he was of the Metal Virtue, and the world called him the Metal Sky Clan. Can’t you see how forced and contrived these narratives are?"

"For example, the Records of Emperors and Kings claims that Shaohao’s mother was Nu Jie, while the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says his mother was Leizu. Over the span of a few hundred years, his mother completely changed!"

"The records in Shiji can be trusted up to the Xia Dynasty. Anything earlier than that comes from the Book of Documents (Shangshu), which had already been lost. The version we have today, reconstructed through oral accounts during the Han Dynasty, is mostly fabricated."

"I can even tell you that even Yu the Great didn’t fully understand ancient history. So what could the Han Dynasty possibly know about antiquity?"

Huang Ji glanced at his drawing of the so-called Divine Shaohao. The figure wasn’t even human. It didn’t have a mother!

Shaohao had no connection to the Yellow Emperor. He merely succeeded him as the ruler. Later generations, seeing that Shaohao followed the Yellow Emperor and Zhuanxu was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, assumed Shaohao must have been his son as well.

If he were the Yellow Emperor’s son, then he must carry the Ji surname. And thus, the stories began to be fabricated.

Huang Ji’s perception of the Shan Hai Jing confirmed that the Yellow Emperor only had one child who inherited his surname.

The Yellow Emperor’s eldest son was unremarkable, not even possessing a surname. He only had a given name: Heng.

The second son, Changyi, was the only child with the Ji surname. The rest of the Yellow Emperor’s children were given other surnames, which back then were akin to titles of nobility.

Changyi was granted the fief of Ruoshui Plain, now known as the Dujiangyan Plain in Sichuan Province, where the Sanxingdui culture flourished. Changyi fathered Qianhuang, who then fathered Zhuanxu.

Thus, Zhuanxu bore the Ji surname, and all subsequent Ji clans originated from him. He was the one who truly elevated the Ji lineage.

Lin Li scratched his head, astonished that Huang Ji dismissed the entire ancient history outside of the Shan Hai Jing as baseless fantasy.

But wasn’t the Shan Hai Jing itself the text that seemed most fantastical?

Then again, Lin Li wasn’t completely uninformed. He knew about aliens and the Illuminati.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

With aliens as a foundation, it was indeed plausible that the Shan Hai Jing was more truthful than it appeared. What seemed like ‘serious’ records might actually be nothing more than conjecture.

"So… Shaohao was an alien?" Lin Li asked, dumbfounded.

Huang Ji replied, "The conflict between the Messiah and the Illuminati was merely aliens retreating from the stage to work behind the scenes. If you’re willing to trust in the mission that Old Wang and I are dedicated to, then look at the Shan Hai Jing—isn’t it full of aliens walking around casually, with robots more common than dogs?"

As Huang Ji read the Shan Hai Jing, he realized there was much he couldn’t yet comprehend. He thought to himself that he needed to study physics.

In ancient times, aliens brazenly came and went on Earth. Planetary-scale engineering projects were everywhere, luminous objects flew freely, and the Shan Hai Jing referred to this period as the "Era of Ten Suns."

It was only after Zhuanxu severed the connection between heaven and earth, cutting off all interaction and driving away the aliens, that human civilization was able to develop independently.

The events surrounding Zhuanxu’s severance of heaven and earth were incredibly complex.

Huang Ji was eager to know how Zhuanxu had managed it. How had he driven away extraterrestrial civilizations? Yet the Shan Hai Jing provided no specific details. It only mentioned that Zhong and Li severed the heavenly path. Huang Ji vaguely sensed some of the events but felt a splitting headache when he tried to probe further. He was certain, however, that this was not the actual reason for the aliens’ withdrawal.

It was possible that the entire plan had existed solely in Zhuanxu’s mind up until its implementation, with the populace entirely unaware of how he had accomplished it.

For Huang Ji, there were only three ways to uncover the truth:

1. Find Zhuanxu’s relics or remains.
2. Visit locations where the events of Zhuanxu’s severance of heaven and earth occurred.
3. Overlook the Earth, perceiving it in its entirety as he did with the Moon and the stars, and gradually trace that segment of history by treating the entire Earth as the target for his perception.

...