Record of the Falling Heavens

In ancient times, humans, gods, and demons lived together in the Nine Provinces. A mountain god could flatten a house with one step, and if the sun accepted cattle and sheep as offerings, it would linger a little longer over the fields. These were the best of times for the gods, and the worst of times for human sacrifice.

In the city of Diqiu lived a young man in hemp clothes. He lived in a humble house and boiled his own water. At seven, he threw his zither and se into the great ravine of the Eastern Sea. He was Zhuanxu, the Human Emperor, titled Gaoyang. Whenever anyone in the land was sacrificed, he could hear it.

And so came those four words: