Emperor Yin: The Book of the Unburned Ruins of Yin

In the tenth century BC, King Mu of Zhou, Ji Man, traveled west to Kunlun to visit the legendary Queen Mother of the West. He had set out in search of immortality, but in a stone palace he found fifty-two bronze tablets: the Golden Coffer.

Engraved on the Golden Coffer was the history of global conquests under the Xia and Shang dynasties: divine generals descended from the heavens to help humanity build an empire spanning Europe and Asia; the Shang king called himself "Emperor" and ruled the world alongside the gods; and the founding of the Zhou dynasty had been a deal with a rebel god. In exchange for the title of "Son of Heaven," the Zhou rulers had lowered their own status and severed the passage between gods and humans, winning the right to rule all under heaven.

Standing before the assembled map of the Golden Coffer, King Mu saw the truth that Duke of Zhou Dan had burned...