Chapter 168: Fuxis Deduction of the Eight Trigrams (1/2)

Chapter 168: Fuxi's Deduction of the Eight Trigrams

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Fuxi brought all the young ones to go fishing but the fish were slippery and also tricky little things. Once they noticed humans approaching, they would swim far away. Humans moved slowly in the water, so even if they fished for the entire day, they still failed to get enough to feed everyone.

So Fuxi went to Liu Er for a solution and the latter pointed at a peach tree. When Fuxi took a closer look, he found a spider web on the branch where an insect was stuck after trying to fly through the web. Realization dawned on him and he cried, ”I see.”

Just as he was about to leave, Liu Er said, ”Fuxi, fish are good sources of food, but they'll be exhausted by humans one day. Your Human Tribe can use ponds to culture them instead. Since they multiply and grow quickly, your tribe will have endless fish to eat this way.”

Fuxi nodded, so he continued, ”As for wild beasts, they're enough to feed you well but they're nevertheless finite in number. Your tribesmen often get hurt hurting as well. You should get them to catch some docile Wild Beasts and domesticate them. This way, you can raise them the same way you raise fish.”

Fuxi lowered his head and pondered over this seriously. He suddenly jumped up and slapped his thigh. He bowed at Liu Er and said, ”I understand now, Master. I'll go see to it now.” He turned around and ran out of the cave.

Liu Er felt somewhat dispirited after seeing how quickly Fuxi understood his advice. This was a method he had been thinking about for a long time, yet Fuxi had to comprehend it in such a short time. Fuxi was truly destined to be the Human Sovereign. If this continued, there would be nothing left for him to teach Fuxi. It really wasn't easy to be the Mentor of Human Sovereign. Had he known this earlier, he would rather endure Minghe's scolding than come out here.

After Fuxi left, he ran straight for his tribe. He collected many hemp ropes and tied them to form a large web. He then led several youngsters to the riverside and used the fishing net to catch ten times the number of fish as they did before. Now that they had caught numerous fish, they no longer had to hunt Wild Beasts every day.

Fuxi also instructed his tribesmen to capture the docile Wild Beasts and raise them in the village.

After going through several failures, the humans finally managed to domesticate many wild beasts like cattle, sheep, chicken, ducks, and pigs. In the summer, they would go fishing. When they had additional fish, they would turn them into dry fish. In the winter, they would butcher their beasts. They no longer had to risk their lives hunting in the forest and their lives became better and better.

The rapid advancement of the tribe meant more and more surroundings tribe had come to them for shelter. Fuxi's fame was on the rise as well. In the following decades, he invented the xun (a traditional musical instrument made of pottery), harp, and cymbal. He also created folk songs, bringing music to the lives of his people. He also divided his territory into regions and assigned officers to govern each one, providing guidance for the future social governance.

By the time he was 40, the entire Human Tribe had recognized him to be the sovereign. He ordered for a city to be built on a fertile land to be made into the capital. The other tribes followed suit and built their own cities. Since then, the Human Tribe became even more prosperous.

Liu Er, being Fuxi's mentor, was naturally well-known among the Human Tribe. The tribesmen even built temples to worship him and Minghe. Thanks to that, the 30 percent Luck of the Human Tribe belonging to Minghe was increased again. Even Liu Er received some Luck as well.

The changes in the Luck of the Human Tribe also piqued the attention of all the Sages. They were envious and even despised the fact that Minghe owned 30 percent of the Luck of the Human Tribe. But there wasn't anything they could do as their preaching was restricted to the humans outside of the Coast of the East Sea. The Luck of the tribe within the place had always been unwaveringly constant and they had no way of interfering with it.

With all these changes, the Sages placed even more importance on the position of the Mentor of Human Sovereign. But they had a large number of disciples under them and it was difficult for them to choose their candidates. The only one who didn't share this worry was Laozi. After all, he only had Xuandu under his tutelage.

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As time went by, the Human Tribe developed rapidly under Fuxi's guidance but problems followed as well. One day, an elderly tribe leader came to him for help and said, ”Human Sovereign, a flood hit our tribe and washed away all our fish. Our domesticated animals aren't mature yet. I implore you to send my tribe some food.”

Fuxi instantly agreed and ordered someone to send lots of food to the elder's tribe. After the tribe leader left, he began thinking how he could protect the Human Tribe from natural disasters. He considered this for a long time before decided to turn to his mentor for help.

He arrived at his mentor's place and immediately knelt down when he met him. Liu Er stopped him and said, ”Fuxi, you're now the sovereign of the Human Tribe. Don't bother with such courtesy. I'm not worthy of it.”