The next day, after the court officials had finished their audience, the Yellow Emperor asked them, "I have heard that when Emperor Fuxi first received the *Hetu* (River Diagram), he obtained its five essentials, established the Lingtai (Spirit Terrace), and set up the Five Officials to describe the five affairs. Now, what I have obtained is also called the *Hetu*, but it differs from the previous *Hetu*. It contains only images of the sun, moon, and stars. He instructed me to establish a book of star officials to pass on to future generations. How dare I disobey?" He then ordered Xihe to observe the rising and setting of the sun and moon, Changyi to observe the waxing and waning of the moon, and Chequ to observe the stillness and rest of the wind. He also ordered Rongcheng to create the *Gaitian Huntian Yi* (Covering the Sky Armillary Sphere) to represent the shapes of the heavens.
The Yellow Emperor asked Gui Yuju, "Can the cycles of heaven and earth be counted?" Gui Yuju replied, "Heaven uses six solar terms, and earth uses six systems. The cycle of heaven is completed in six periods; the cycle of earth is completed in five years. The combination of five and six means that 3,720 solar terms make up one cycle in a year, and 1,440 solar terms make up one complete cycle in sixty years. Excess and deficiency are evident. Therefore, we use the five measures to regulate the waxing and waning of the five solar terms, observe the laws to create the calendar, record the year as Jia-Yin, the day as Jia-Zi, and thus the seasons are fixed. In the year Ji-You, the sun reached its zenith on the first day of the month, and the divine numbers were obtained, so the new moon and full moon can be predicted." The Yellow Emperor was greatly pleased upon hearing this. Then he asked, "You say this is the beginning and end of the cycle of Heaven?" Gui Yuju replied, "Indeed." He then said, "Although the cycle of Heaven ends and begins again, we must create sixteen gods to divide the remainder and place leap months to determine the four seasons." The Yellow Emperor asked, "How do we make leap months?" Yuju said, "Observing the celestial cycles, there is a leap month every three years, adding one month and thirty days. There is a leap month every five years, adding a total of sixty days. There are seven leap months every nineteen years. The calendar is created starting with the Jiazi cycle, so that the seasons follow the sequence." The Emperor said, "Excellent." He ordered Lishou to determine the numbers to ensure the surplus and the coincidence. As for the musical scales, weights, and measures, he ordered Ling Lun to take bamboo from the west of Daxia and the south of Ruanyu in the valley of Xiexi, specifically bamboo with hollow and thick joints. He cut a piece three inches and nine fen long between two nodes and blew it to make the Huangzhong (Yellow Bell) tone. Twelve bells were made to listen to the phoenix's cry, and to distinguish the twelve musical pitches—six for the male and six for the female, corresponding to the Huangzhong (Yellow Bell) palace, giving rise to six pitches and six lutes, observing the responses of the qi (vital energy), establishing the five tones of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, and Yu, regulating the yin and yang qi, moderating the changes of the four seasons, calculating the numbers of the musical calendar, initiating the waxing and waning of the moon, and correcting the intercalary months. He also ordered Lao Huan to cast twelve bells, Huangzhong and Taicu, to form the twelve musical pitches. Each month, when a qi arrived, the ash from burning reeds (the ancients) would be placed inside the twelve pitch pipes in a sealed room to predict the weather. When a certain qi arrived, the ash from that particular pitch pipe would fly out, indicating that the qi had arrived, thus harmonizing the five tones, establishing the celestial timing, and correcting human positions. He also ordered Da Rong, Rong Cheng, and Che Qu to observe the celestial phenomena. Each received their orders and carried them out.
The Yellow Emperor further divided the land into nine regions: eight households formed a "well," three wells a "neighborhood," three neighborhoods a "fellowship," three fellowships a "village," five villages a "township," ten towns a "capital," ten capitals a "division," and ten divisions a "province." He established official positions, appointing left and right Grand Supervisors to oversee all the states, and creating 120 official posts including the Three Dukes, Three Junior Dukes, Four Assistants, Four Historians, Six Ministers, and Nine Virtues to govern the country. He imposed "six prohibitions" on officials at all levels: prohibitions on excessive use of sound, color, clothing, fragrance, taste, and living quarters, requiring officials to be frugal and opposing extravagance. He advocated governing the country with virtue, "cultivating virtue to strengthen the army," and spreading virtue throughout the world. He emphasized cultivating virtue, acting only with benevolence, and establishing righteousness, especially by appointing "Ministers of Nine Virtues" to educate the people in nine virtues: filial piety, compassion, literature, trustworthiness, speech, respect, loyalty, courage, and righteousness, thus conducting moral and ideological construction. In employing talent, he sought out the virtuous, selected the capable, and appointed them according to their abilities. The government implemented the rule of law, established "rites, laws, and regulations," and "governed by laws without change." Li Mo was appointed as a judge, and those who committed serious crimes were sentenced to exile, while those who committed heinous crimes were sentenced to beheading.
The Yellow Emperor made many innovations and inventions in agricultural production, the most important of which was the implementation of the land system. Before the Yellow Emperor, fields were boundless and cultivated countless times. To prevent disputes, the Yellow Emperor measured the land in steps and redivided the land into a grid pattern, with the central plot designated as "public land," owned by the government, and the surrounding eight plots as "private land," cultivated jointly by eight families, with the harvest paid to the government. He also dug wells. He implemented a cultivation system for farmland, ensuring timely sowing of various grains, invented the pestle and mortar, established gardens and orchards, planted fruit trees and vegetables, raised silkworms, and raised livestock and poultry. In weaving, he invented the loom, enabling the production of clothing, shoes, hats, tents, felt, robes, fur coats, canopies, armor, flags, and helmets. In pottery, he manufactured bowls, dishes, pots, steamers, plates, basins, and stoves. In metallurgy, he smelted copper, producing bronze tripods, knives, coins, gongs, kettles, bronze mirrors, bells, and cannons. In architecture, they built palaces, imperial halls, courtyards, ceremonial halls, temples, pavilions, castles, towers, gates, steps, silkworm rearing rooms, ancestral temples, and jade palaces. In transportation, they manufactured boats, carts, compass carts, and odometer carts. In weaponry, they manufactured swords, spears, bows and arrows, crossbows, six-banner flags, flags, five-directional flags, horns, drums, military tallies, siege ladders, watchtowers, cannons, swords, and archery equipment. In daily life, they produced cooked food, porridge, rice, wine, meat, scales, measures, compasses, inkstones, tables, felt, felt cloth, seals, beads, lamps, beds, mats, and Cuju (an ancient Chinese football game).
As the human race developed and trade among ordinary people increased, the old methods of recording events were no longer suitable, which caused great distress to the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.
Now, after Cangjie was brought to Penglai Island by Xuantian, he received Xuantian's decree. Although the creatures of Penglai Island were very interested in this person who drew strange things all day long, no one dared to disturb him, so that Cangjie could create characters in peace.
More than a decade has passed since Cangjie arrived at Penglai Island. It may seem like a long time, but for a cultivator, it is only a fleeting moment.
On this day, Xuantian was preaching to the creatures of Penglai Island when he suddenly felt something. He smiled and got up, looking at the house where Cangjie was. To allow Cangjie to create characters in peace, Xuantian had built him a thatched hut next to the Dutian Palace on Penglai Island.
All the creatures present, bewildered, looked toward the thatched hut where Cangjie was. A short while later, Cangjie, disheveled and seemingly insane, rushed out, uttering incoherent words. He was in a state of semi-madness, a mixture of excitement, madness, and a hint of sadness—a truly contradictory expression.
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