A reader strongly demanded that I write about Xing Tian, so don't blame me for shattering your dreams.
Actually, according to my plans, it wasn't time to write about Xing Tian yet, because I hadn't gotten around to writing about the Yellow Emperor and Nine Heavens Xuannü.
My plan was to write about those two first, then Yinglong and Zhuyin, so that I could properly explain Xing Tian.
After that, I would outline the entire legendary epic of Xuanyuan's rise to emperorship.
But now that I've published my new book, the Classic of Mountains and Seas probably won't be updated more than once in a long while. For now, I'll satisfy the readers who want to see Xing Tian.
As for Xing Tian, there really isn't much to say. His story isn't as important as Nine Heavens Xuannü's.
First, remember one thing: the name Xing Tian should properly have been given to him only after his death.
Judging from the pictographs in Oracle Bone Script and bronze inscriptions, the character for "execution" depicted an execution platform holding a head, with a large blade beside it. Public execution was called punishment.
As for "Heaven," there's no need to explain it. A horizontal stroke added above a person's head meant that what was above the person's head was Heaven.
Sometimes, it also referred to the human head, because to a person, the head was as important as Heaven. The head was also located at the "heavenly" part of the human body.
Thus, Xing Tian was probably the oldest and most impressive way of saying "beheading."
When used as a person's name, it could be interpreted as meaning "the one whose head was separated from his body." Alternatively, it could mean "executed by Heaven," or "the one beheaded by Heaven."
In ancient times,