The Magus Era

The three-legged cauldron was a million miles tall. No ordinary human being could ever imagine that height, or climb to the top of this cauldron in a lifetime.

The cauldron was more towering than any mountain in Pu Ban City; the power it released was old, mighty, and noble, as if the holiest human emperor walked up from his time and returned to the human world, looking at all human beings in Pu Ban City with the gentlest, mildest eyes.

This tremendous cauldron stood in Pu Ban City, but strangely, it did not block the sunlight.

The sunlight poured down from the sky as usual, warm and gentle, nourishing all living beings and generating new lives. The golden sunlight flowed on the surface of the quaint cauldron like water, rimming this gigantic and magical cauldron with a beautiful, golden edge.

The cauldron stood firmly in Pu Ban City. The ones right under the cauldron, the ones surrounding the cauldron’s legs, or the ones by the edge of the city who were thousands of miles away from the cauldron, all saw this cauldron, no matter which direction they were facing. Some stood with their backs to the cauldron, but still, they saw the cauldron immediately.

The cauldron stood in Pu Ban City, also in the heart of every human being.

This was an unimaginably enormous cauldron, yet all people, even the weakest ones, clearly saw all of its details in one glance. From the top to the legs, from the inside to the outside, this cauldron was thickly covered in inscriptions.

These inscriptions didn’t exist when the cauldron descended from the sky. But the moment it landed in Pu Ban City, a cyan-colored light sparkled and chiseled countless characters on the cauldron. These characters looked like the dragons, the phoenixes, the swimming fishes, unsophisticated and lively. Over ninety percent of Pu Ban people were illiterate, not to mention these old sacred characters which were used only by the top-grade powerful beings in this world.

Nevertheless, the moment these characters appeared, everyone ’saw’ them and directly figured out their meanings.

’Saint Pan Gu created the world. The saint’s body became dragons, soul became phoenixes, bloodline generated human beings...’

’Without strong scales, sharp teeth and claws, fragile human beings struggled in the prehistorical world for survival. In the daytime, they were hunted by fierce beasts and birds, and in the night time, they were attacked by poisonous snakes and bugs. Human ancestors begged powerful creatures for protection and lived a hard life...’

’The wise and powerful human ancestors learned from nature, from all living being in the world, and broke open a way through brambles and thorns, enlightening and uniting human beings. Weak human clans gathered together like streams merging into creeks, creeks into rivers, rivers into ocean...’

The surface of the enormous cauldron glistened. While more characters slowly emerging from the cauldron one after another, magical and magnificent images were showing up as well, telling the stories of Pan Gu world.

A colossal axe split the world. The clear mist rose and the cloudy mist descended, as the natural powers were separated. Numberless Chaos monsters attacked, but all died under the giant axe. The blood of the Chaos monsters dripped into the boiling natural powers. A powerful being with a human body and a snake tail descended from the sky and created all living beings in this world. Instantly, the chaotic primitive Pan Gu world became colorful, surpassingly beautiful, full of life-force.

Seeing these images, countless human beings exclaimed. Spirit Wa always lived beyond the noisy world, that human beings hardly heard of her. But at this moment, she was formally known by millions and millions of human beings.

Finally, these ordinary human beings found out that back when Saint Pan Gu created the world, it was Spirit Wa who protected the entire world with her magical power of creation.

Saint Pan Gu fell, and the dragon-kind, phoenix-kind, and humankind appeared. The dragons rambled in the sky and the oceans, phoenixes lived upon divine trees, and human beings struggled on the primitive land. Countless small human clans survived under the protection of powerful creatures, worshipping these creatures as totems and serving them generation after generation.

...

Through the changing images and scenes, the cauldron showed the entire history of the humankind, from the human ancestors struggling to live, from the wise and powerful ones who strove to enlighten and strengthen human beings, to the humankind growing stronger and stronger, until the establishment of the alliance of human clans.

All human beings who saw these images burst into acclamation. The ones showed up in the images were unfamiliar, but these Pu Ban people immediately recognized them and shouted their names out with the great pride and delight.

Emperor Fuxi, as the first human emperor, enlightened human beings and created the Magus cultivation system, opening a source of the human power.

Emperor Suiren created fire, which drove away the dangerous beasts and bugs, scared off the fierce birds, and opened up the human territories.

Emperor Shennong tasted all herbs himself, detoxified poisons and conquered diseases, and led human beings to a healthy life.

Emperor Xuanyuan was fierce and decisive. He fought the non-humankind, cut the monsters, and allowed human beings to raise their heads high.

Wise and dedicated human emperors were numberless. Their stories were told by old people. When their faces were shown on the cauldron, countless human beings loudly shouted out their names with laughter, even though these human beings had been busy at farming in the fields, fighting in the forests against wild beasts, mining, or firing porcelains...They said it out loud even though these people had forgotten about the old stories in their ordinary lives, as they rose with the sun for the daily meals and went to sleep when it got dark.

The human-kind was so amazing!

Back in the prehistorical era, among all living beings in this world, human beings were the weakest, that even a bug could easily kill a human being. Nevertheless, the ones who used to trample upon the world had died, the ones who used to run amok in the world had disappeared; the evil ones had fallen long ago, and the rampant ones had been forgotten.

But, the humankind had been developing thrivingly. Human beings remained standing in the world, without bowing to the divine gods or the ghosts or the spirits, without being destroyed by the non-humankind or any monster...Through all kinds of difficulties, the humankind continued surviving in this world, with pride and dignity, like the strongest old vine in the forest.

Human beings weren’t as arrogant as dragons or as proud as phoenixes, or as glowing as the natural stars. Human beings lived a simple life in this world, on Pan Gu Motherland, strongly, steadily, always pressing forward with indomitable will.

”Humankind!”

Some people stood up, raised their heads and arms, and roared out loud. For some reason, their faces were covered in tears.

”Human ancestors!”

Some young men pulled out their weapons and wielded strongly towards the sky.

”Yah, yah...”

The children didn’t know what to say, but they felt their hearts and bodies were burning, sensing an indescribable power urging them to shout towards the sky, towards the enormous cauldron.

A deep buzzing noise could be heard from the cauldron. The sun and all the natural stars shone upon the cauldron, while the earth meridians rolled and moved windingly over, connecting with the cauldron.

On the surface of the cauldron, the images of the sun, the moon, the natural stars, and the mountains and rivers had been flashing. A mighty power flooded out of the cauldron, spreading towards all directions as it rolled the souls of all dead eagle-headed creatures into the cauldron. The souls were screaming.

The hazy figure of an eagle-headed creature turned clearer and clearer on the cauldron. It was flying swiftly on the surface of the cauldron with panic, but could not break out.

Surrounding Pu Ban City, numberless eagle-headed creatures glanced at the cauldron from great distances away, then all died. Their souls flew into the cauldron, being sealed forever.