The Mythic Age 06 : The Rise of China's First Hero

Last time we talked about how Emperor Ku passed the throne to Emperor Zhi.

Once Yao became the recognized leader of all the tribes, he moved the capital to Pingyang.

But why did everyone think Yao was so virtuous that Emperor Zhi should give the throne to him? Well, to answer that, let's rewind the story a little.

During Emperor Zhi's time, a monster appeared in the land. It had the head of a dragon, the face of a human, and the body of a snake, and it was called "Ya Yu." This creature specialized in eating people. It caused chaos everywhere it went and had already devoured quite a few victims.

The tribal leaders tried several times to get rid of it, but every attempt failed. Eventually they had no choice but to ask Emperor Zhi for help.

However, the two corrupt officials close to Emperor Zhi—Kong Ren and Huan Dou—heard the request and brushed it off. In their opinion, Ya Yu was nothing more than a wild beast, and everyone was overreacting. They were ready to just send the tribal leaders away.

But then the two villains had another thought:

"Wait... isn't Yao's territory right near where Ya Yu has been showing up? Why don't we just let Yao deal with it? If he wins, we can say Emperor Zhi chose the right man for the job. And if he loses... even better. Maybe that monster will just eat Yao."

So they changed their minds and recommended to Emperor Zhi that Yao should be put in charge of dealing with the monster.

Since Emperor Zhi wasn't exactly the most Emperor diligent ruler, and the tribal chiefs also supported sending Yao to handle the problem, he agreed to the proposal and ordered Yao to eliminate Ya Yu.

Yao—whose clan name was Yi Qi and personal name Fang Xun—immeiately had people gather information about this creature after receiving the order. Once he understood the details about Ya Yu, the next step was to find the right person to actually carry out the mission.

So... who should he choose?

As luck would have it, a general named Yi, who had previously fallen out with Emperor Zhi, happened to be staying in Yao's territory at the time.

Yao thought to himself, "Yi is a famous hero. Maybe he can help solve this problem."

After hearing Yao's explanation, Yi laughed and replied,

"Catching a wild beast? How hard could that be? Don't worry—just leave it to me."

Seeing how relaxed Yi looked, Yao added a warning:

"General Yi, please be careful and don't underestimate it. This monster has already taken hundreds of lives. It won't be easy to deal with. And besides, it—"

Before Yao could finish, Yi had already turned around to leave.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll be back before you know it."

Since Yi treated the mission of capturing Ya Yu like an ordinary hunting trip, he didn't take it very seriously at all. After learning from Yao roughly where the monster had been appearing, he set off with just a dozen or so men to track it down.

When they arrived, Yi asked the local villagers about Ya Yu—its habits and when it usually appeared. From what they told him, the monster typically showed up between about 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Since it was still early, Yi decided to take his group somewhere to eat and rest for a bit. Seeing that the villagers seemed to be going about their daily routines as usual only made Yi more confident that the monster wasn't really that scary.

But something unexpected happened.

Right at 3 p.m., every household suddenly shut their doors and refused to go outside. At that moment Yi realized... maybe this Ya Yu was far more dangerous than he had imagined.

Unfortunately, by the time he figured that out, it was already a little late. With all the villagers locking themselves inside, Yi and his men couldn't find any place to stay or rest.

Since they had nowhere to go, Yi decided to simply take his disciple Feng Meng and the dozen soldiers with them straight up into the mountains to look for Ya Yu.

However, their search didn't go very smoothly. They kept looking... and looking... and by the time night fell, they still hadn't found any trace of the monster.

Right then, Feng Meng said to Yi,"Master, it's getting really late and everyone's exhausted. How about we rest for the night and look for Ya Yu again tomorrow?" Yi thought about it and replied, "Yeah, good point. Let's head back to the village and see if we can find a place to stay."

But they'd forgotten something: the villagers were so terrified of Ya Yu that they had already shut their doors tight. No one dared open up to let them in. With no other choice, Yi led everyone to a big tree near the mountains and decided they'd rest there for the night.

Feng Meng then said, "Master, maybe we shouldn't rest under the tree like this. It could be dangerous. I think we should all climb up into the tree instead. That way we can watch what's happening around us, and it'll be harder for Ya Yu to sneak up on us. What do you think?" Yi nodded. "Hmm, that's actually a good idea." So he told everyone to climb up into the tree and rest there.

Later that night, around the middle of the night, when everyone was fast asleep, they were suddenly awakened by the sound of a baby crying. Everyone was confused. Why would there be a baby crying so loudly in the middle of the night? Yi immediately whispered to them, "Stay alert! That's not a baby crying—that's Ya Yu. It's here!"

The others were shocked. "What? How can it be Ya Yu? This isn't the time it usually shows up!" Yi quietly replied, "Yes, it is. Remember what the villagers said this morning? They said Ya Yu's cry sounds just like a baby. That means it's nearby. Everyone stay sharp and get ready."

At Yi's command, everyone drew their bows and arrows, ready to attack at any moment. The crying sound kept getting closer... and closer... and closer. Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared. Yi and Feng Meng both locked onto the shadow and released their arrows at the same time—whoosh!

True to their reputation as master archers, both arrows hit their target. The wounded Ya Yu let out a loud, painful scream. Yi immediately shouted, "Quick! Follow me—we're going after it!"

Everyone scrambled down from the tree and chased after the creature. But Ya Yu was incredibly fast. In just a moment, it disappeared into the darkness. Looking at the blood on the ground, Yi knew the monster had been injured. But the night was extremely dark. After thinking it over, he said, "It's too dangerous to chase it blindly right now. Let's go back up the tree and rest. We'll track it down in the morning."

At dawn the next day, just as the sun was rising, Yi led the group to follow the blood trail from the night before. He warned them, "This creature is extremely fast. If we run into it again, using bows might be too slow. Everyone get your short knives ready—we might have to fight it up close."

So they kept searching... and searching...

Finally, they found Ya Yu. When the monster saw them, it didn't run away or show any fear. Instead, it lunged straight at Yi. Yi quickly jumped to the side and avoided the attack. But the moment it missed, Ya Yu spun around and suddenly pounced toward Feng Meng.

Feng Meng hadn't expected the monster to move that fast. He instinctively stepped backward, but lost his balance and fell flat on his back. Ya Yu opened its massive jaws, about to swallow him whole. At that critical moment, Feng Meng remembered Yi's warning and kept his short knife ready. In the split second before the monster struck, he slashed forward with the blade.

The strike ripped open Ya Yu's belly.

Now badly wounded, the monster gave up attacking and turned to flee. Yi and Feng Meng immediately rushed ahead of the others and continued chasing it. They chased and chased until they finally caught up with it again. The injured creature had collapsed near the mountainside to rest.

Feng Meng was about to rush forward and finish it with another stab, but Yi shook his head and stopped him. "Don't," Yi said. "This thing is too fast. Getting close is too dangerous. We'll finish it from here."

Feng Meng understood what Yi meant.

The two of them raised their bows again—one aiming at the monster's left eye, the other at the right.

Whoosh—whoosh!

Two arrows flew out and instantly blinded both of Ya Yu's eyes.

Now blind, badly wounded, and in intense pain, the monster rolled around the mountainside for a while before finally collapsing from exhaustion. Yi and Feng Meng then stepped forward and stabbed it several more times, finally killing the creature for good. After defeating the northern monster Ya Yu, Yi became a local hero. He returned with everyone to report the news to Yao.

But before he could even begin telling the story, Yao received another order from Emperor Zhi. This time, he was commanded to immediately go to the Mulberry Forest in the central region to deal with a giant wild boar called Feng Xi.

At the same time, in the south at Dongting Lake, there was another monster called Xiu She, a giant serpent that was harming the local people. Yao was also ordered to send troops there and eliminate it as soon as possible.

So the question is...Could Yao handle these two new monsters?

How would this story unfold?

You'll have to tune in next time to find out.