In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan fought a great battle against the demon god Chiyou at Zhuolu. Chiyou was defeated and driven out of the Central Plains. His descendants established the Demon Realm in the bitterly cold north. Over the long years, the power of the demon race gradually increased.
At that time, the Central Plains were protected by the Xuanyuan Barrier, formed from the ancient divine weapon Xuanyuan Sword, which was created by the Yellow Emperor. Anyone who practiced demonic techniques would be attacked by the sword energy emitted by the barrier once they set foot in the Central Plains, and none would escape unscathed. Therefore, even if the demons wanted to return to the Central Plains, they were powerless to do so.
The Yellow Emperor was a descendant of Shaodian, surnamed Gongsun, and named Xuanyuan. However, because people mostly called him Xuanyuan Huangdi, they gradually forgot his surname. His descendants mostly used Xuanyuan as their surname to show respect.
More than ten years ago, the 320 states of the Central Plains were unified. Emperor Shengyan, Xuanyuan Yu, claimed to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan. He fought in the south and north during the chaos of the Nine Kingdoms, unified the world, established the country named Sheng, made Yingyang its capital, and changed the era name to Yongxing.
Emperor Shengyan was undoubtedly a wise ruler. At the beginning of his reign, the Central Plains were devastated after a period of war between many countries, and everything was in need of rebuilding. At that time, the Central Plains were filled with suffering and death, and only one in ten people survived.
After Emperor Yan ascended the throne, he vigorously encouraged the people to produce and ordered that taxes and levies be reduced. He himself took the lead in being frugal, dressed simply, and saved on meals. Under his leadership, the officials in the court also became frugal.
Subsequently, he standardized the written language, spoken language, and laws, and implemented various policies that benefited the people. He was good at recognizing and appointing people, and he cared for his subjects. The people praised him highly.
Over the past decade or so, under Emperor Yan's rule, the situation across the country has been excellent, the people are living prosperous lives, there have been bumper harvests in various regions, and the national treasury is also somewhat full.
In the spring of the thirteenth year of Yongxing, in Yingyang City.
Yingyang City was located in Jinzhou, in the heart of the Central Plains. It was the largest and most prosperous city in Jinzhou. The city had two walls, an outer wall and an inner wall. The outer wall was about ten miles long from north to south and seven miles wide from east to west. Ordinary people and merchants lived in the outer wall. The inner wall was the residence of the imperial palace, princes' mansions, government offices, and the residences of ministers.
The palace covers a vast area and is luxuriously constructed, with numerous halls and pavilions, rockeries and greenery arranged in a regular and orderly manner, and blue stone paths that stretch out in an unknown direction.
At the rear of the palace was a quiet hall, where the princes and princesses studied, known as the Imperial Study.
Emperor Shengyan currently has five princes and two princesses. Among them, the eldest prince, Xuanyuan Ning, is 25 years old and is the empress's legitimate son. He was established as the crown prince at a young age.
It was early morning, and the sound of reading aloud filled the Imperial Study. Five princes and two princesses, along with their tutors, were all sitting in the Imperial Study, earnestly studying the Book of Poetry with their teachers.
"The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful. May you, my beloved, bring harmony to your home and family..."
All the princes and princesses, along with their attendants, were earnestly reciting the Book of Songs, except for the attendant of the fifth prince—Liang Yihan, the youngest son of the prime minister.
He was a boy of about seven or eight years old, with delicate features and a refined demeanor. At this moment, he was hiding his face behind a book. Beneath the Book of Songs lay a copy of the Tao Te Ching. He was reading the Tao Te Ching intently, completely ignoring the recitation of the Book of Songs by others.
The six-year-old fifth prince, Xuanyuan Hao, turned to look at him, his eyes filled with helplessness.
In this day and age, Emperor Shengyan reveres Buddhism and suppresses Taoism, ordering the forced demolition of several famous Taoist temples while building Buddhist temples everywhere.
Under these circumstances, many people in the Central Plains became monks and nuns, while fewer and fewer practiced Taoism. Several renowned Taoist sects gradually declined. However, Liang Yihan, the youngest son of the Prime Minister, had an almost obsessive love for Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" and dreamed since childhood of becoming a disciple of a great Taoist master to learn Taoist practices. Xuan Yuanhao tried to persuade him many times, but to no avail, and could only sigh in despair.
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In the late autumn of the fourteenth year of Yongxing, in a separate courtyard in the third courtyard of the Prime Minister's residence.
This courtyard is named after a crabapple tree planted in it, and it is the residence of Liang Yihan, the young master of the Prime Minister's mansion.
It was afternoon, and the warm sunlight shone down. Under the crabapple tree, a rattan chair was placed, and a boy was lying on the chair, looking up at the sky through the sparse branches and leaves.
He held a tabby cat in his arms. The cat's fur was distinctly yellow, black, and white, and its soft fur shone faintly in the sunlight.
The kitten curled up in the boy's arms, basking in the warm sunshine. It was fast asleep as the boy gently stroked it, emitting soft purrs.
In the silence, the young Liang Yihan murmured: "The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. Nameless, it is the origin of heaven and earth; named, it is the mother of all things. Therefore, one should always be without desire to observe its mystery; one should always have desire to observe its manifestations. These two are the same in origin but different in name; they are both called profound. Profound and yet more profound, the gateway to all mysteries..."
"When everyone recognizes beauty as beauty, ugliness is already present; when everyone recognizes goodness as goodness, evil is already present. Therefore, existence and non-existence give rise to each other; difficulty and ease complement each other; long and short define each other; high and low incline towards each other; sound and silence harmonize with each other; before and after follow each other. Therefore, the sage acts without acting and teaches without speaking. He lets all things arise without refusing them, gives birth to them without possessing them, acts without relying on them, and accomplishes his work without claiming credit. It is precisely because he does not claim credit that his achievements do not depart from him..."
As he read, a hint of fanaticism appeared on his still young and immature face. He suddenly sat up, startling the tabby cat in his arms.
The tabby cat groggily opened its eyes and looked at him with displeasure.
Liang Yihan laughed loudly, picked up the tabby cat and placed it in front of him, saying with a smile, "Ah Hua, I've made up my mind. I'm going to Qingxu Mountain to seek immortality and the Dao. So what if the current emperor reveres Buddhism and suppresses Taoism? One day, I, Liang Yihan, will surely shake the heavens and earth with the supernatural powers of Taoism!"
The tabby cat looked at him lazily, its amber eyes filled with confusion.
Excited, Liang Yihan got up, placed the cat on the wicker chair, and said with a smile, "I'm going to say goodbye to my father now!"
After saying that, he turned around hurriedly, took a few steps, then remembered something, turned back, knelt down in front of the rattan chair, looked at the tabby cat sitting quietly on the chair, a trace of reluctance on his face, and whispered, "But this means I can't stay with you, Ah Hua. I will tell Ying'er to take good care of you... Ah Hua, wait for me, I will definitely come back to see you!"
He pressed the kitten's head firmly, causing it to instinctively shrink back. He laughed heartily, turned, and left.
The tabby cat remained sitting quietly and elegantly in the wicker chair, staring intently at his receding figure, then tilted its head and meowed.
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