Huayang Yue Liu Ge

In the vast world, kingdoms rose one after another. One kingdom made its home by the sea, and was therefore called Cang.

Cang's capital was Canglan. In the ninth year of Emperor Xuancheng's reign, monsters and ghosts ran rampant, wreaking havoc and tormenting the people. Life became unbearable throughout the kingdom, the lords rebelled, and Cang descended into chaos. To quell the turmoil, three thousand elite cavalrymen were sent to distant lands to find a hundred spirit beasts and offer them at the Great Hall of Pingyang. Only then did the unrest subside. Later generations called this event the "Hundred Demons' Rebellion." It was said that the method for suppressing demons had been presented to the emperor by Que Suo, a court witch. Afterward, the people throughout the kingdom honored Que Suo as the Heavenly Maiden, High Priestess of the Witches, ushering in the great age of witches. From then on, whenever matters concerning the fate of the kingdom arose at court, Emperor Xuancheng would summon Que Suo to divine the outcome. As time passed, the two developed feelings for each other in secret and shared an intimate affair behind the curtains. A year later, Que Suo gave birth to a daughter, but soon afterward her beauty faded and she left this world. Emperor Xuancheng later learned the truth from Que Suo's younger sister, Jiu Ge: the witches of their clan were vessels for the gods, devoted to the divine and forbidden to give their hearts to anyone else. They surrendered their souls to the gods in exchange for the greatest power among witches. Acting in the gods' stead, they performed the Great Divination. If a witch gave birth to a child, she was destined to die, and her spiritual power would pass to the next generation during pregnancy.

Emperor Xuancheng bestowed upon the infant girl the name Hua Yang. She would soon change the fate of all Cang, and the vast age of the witches would rise with her.