A watershed between the Wei and Jing Rivers in Gansu.
Before them stretched an endless range of towering mountains, their ridges intertwined like tangled roots as they wound on for a thousand miles. Hence the name Six Pans Mountain Range.
Within this range stood one solitary sacred mountain, soaring into the clouds. Its sheer cliffs jutted out sharply, its deep ravines crisscrossed, and its jagged rocks lent it a magnificently rugged air. This was Kongtong Mountain, famed as one of Daoism's birthplaces.
Kongtong's peaks had once welcomed a crane-riding immortal; from Ding Lake, the Yellow Emperor had departed upon a dragon.
Legend had it that thousands of years ago, Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan had driven Chi You from the Central Plains, united the realm, and laid the foundations of Chinese civilization. After defeating Chi You at Zhuolu, Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan had climbed the western slopes of Kongtong Mountain, where he had bowed to an old Daoist and sought instruction in ruling the realm and cultivating the Dao to attain immortality.
The old Daoist had once built a hut on the western slopes of Kongtong Mountain and lived in seclusion there for centuries. He could be counted among the earliest of the world's cultivation elders.
That old Daoist was none other than Guang Chengzi, the first person in the recorded history of Western Kongtong to achieve the Golden Immortal rank, hailed as "the ancestor of alchemy beneath heaven."
The bright moon rose over the Heavenly Mountains, amid the boundless sea of clouds.
A golden eagle soared upward, riding the wind straight toward Kongtong Mountain.
A man sat astride the eagle. His hair was tied in a topknot, and his white robe was embroidered with mountains, rivers, yin-yang symbols, and the Eight Trigrams. He was exceptionally handsome.
This was Hao