Raising a Rebel - Prologue. Prologue

Prologue:

After three thousand years since the fall of Heavenly Emperor, Jun Wu, the three realms have seen the rise and fall of many kings and emperors. Most recently, the old order of gods was replaced by new immortals, who won their seats through martial triumphs during the Fengshen Bang (封神榜), defeating the manipulative nine-tailed fox spirit, Daji, and her cruel earthly husband, King Wu of the Shang Dynasty. The Jade Emperor now reigns in the heavens with his court. On Earth, those who allied with these new gods became nobles and formed new dynasties that made offerings and temples to their victorious gods. It was decreed by the Heavens that earthly kings may make new dynasties and kingdoms may change their names and rulers, but the new gods would always be revered and supreme above all others. Thus, it was believed by the Jade emperor and his court to end any question as to who should reign in heaven.

You may wonder, what happened to the former gods, who reigned before the time of these new immortals? Very few remember these ancient gods, the first immortals to ascend to the heavens. Many had perished during the fall of Shang, their temples were sacked and burned across the land as the battles raged between them and their followers. With their followers dead and their temples destroyed, there were no believers to offer spiritual energy that sustain them, they became forgotten and faded. Few of the ancient immortal gods from the old heavenly order remained at large with all their power and strength, despite their centuries of spiritual cultivation.

Among those who remained was Xie Lian, the humblest and most powerful of the ancient gods. He was sustained through the love of his most devoted believer and husband, the ghost king Hua Cheng, who had near limitless resources through his connection to the spiritual energies of the underworld. Xie Lian was known as the misfortunate god, who was born a crown prince and after disasters, both in heaven and earth, he survived by picking up scrap as a mortal man. He was banished twice from his heavenly office, cut by thousand swords, and defeated the heavenly Emperor Jun Wu, but showed him mercy for his many crimes. He wanted nothing and had no designs for power despite being among the most powerful and knowledgeable Taoist practitioners in all existence due to his years of spiritual cultivation. New gods through the ages did not pay him much attention, but during the events of Fengzhen Bang, he and his husband led the armies of the underworld against Daji.

As a reward for their service, Zhang Ziya, the prime minister of the Jade Emperor, wished to appoint Xie Lian marshal of the Heavenly armies and Hua Cheng ruler of the underworld, but they declined such posts. The wisest amongst the new immortals, Laozi, had implored Xie Lian to join the new order even as a senior advisor, but he declined as well and left his old temple residence for life in seclusion in the forests to avoid further requests. His husband Hua Cheng did much the same with his office as he left the underworld’s greatest ghost city to his servant, Yin Yu, who was the former god of the West. Yin Yu became Yan Wang, the supreme ruler of the underworld instead of by decree. Concerned for his former master’s place in the cosmic order, Yin Yu kept Hua Cheng’s title of Chegnzhu over the capital of the underworld and bestowed on him the additional title of Taishang Wang (太上), since Yin Yu would not accept his master receiving anything less than an equal title to his own, even if it is merely symbolic as Hua Cheng would not accept the seal of office. To Yin Yu, he had not earned the title to be the ruler of the underworld as much as his master. After all, it was Hua Cheng who led the underworld to its current prosperity and order, so its denizens still respected and honored Hua as their god. In turn, they honored Hua Cheng’s husband, the humble scrap-picking God, Xie Lian. Thus, neither vanished from existence, remaining a whispered legend in the mortal realm and cherished memory in the spirit world.

Yet, the world began to shift as the new gods of the heavens and emperors of the earth became complacent, ignoring the plight of commoners and allowing corruption into their ranks. Through the centuries, civil wars broke out, causing further suffering to the people. The cries for justice and change grew so large that they reached a distant corner of the land, where an ancient celestial stone had laid dormant since the beginning of time. This stone was crafted by Nuwa, the mother goddess of all creation. She had used stones like it to bridge the gaps across the realms, creating worlds and stars. Each stone had the power equal to that of an entire world within its potential. During the Fengshen Bang, both sides avoided stones like it, knowing the power of the mother goddess could destroy the very realms that they sought to rule. Yet, those fears had ebbed with time and arrogance with the current gods and emperors being unafraid of an ancient stone, so they settled near it, built temples, and waged war. They spilled innocent blood upon one stone. Upon these cries and blood, the stone began to stir. Eventually, it exploded creating a new creature, a small child.

He was a small child without the knowledge of his potential, nor access to the power to protect himself. He was born with an immense emptiness from all the cries of the suffering that he heard. He found others with similar features to it, but they were simple creatures, who did not understand the concept of emptiness, loss, or pain. It journeyed the land trying to understand the meaning of the cries, only to be regarded with fear and hate. To a human, the creature appeared to be a monster, a hairy ape child, who walked and talked like a man. Eventually, it was tricked with promises of food and caught inside a cage by a cruel man, who would beat and humiliate it for it to perform. The fame of this caged creature allowed this cruel man to gain great wealth and moved to the capital city of Chang ‘an. The child witnessed the many vices of the humans from treachery to murder in the service of this man. From those called slaves, he saw the care and love that some humans bore for their spouses, parents, and children, which he wished to share. He also learned from other captive humans of immortal gods, who would one day descend from the heavens and provide relief to the children and weakest among those in captivity. The child creature dreamed of a day to be free and prayed to the world for someone to treat him as they would a human child.