Time flew by. Hundreds of years had passed in the blink of an eye since Li Yi attained the Dao.
After casting the Nine Cauldrons, Da Yu had been eager to go to Huoyun Cave and devote himself to cultivating the Dao. But the Human Race had only recently recovered from the great flood, and he couldn't put his mind at ease. In the end, he stayed among them for over a century before finally departing. Before he left, he abdicated the position of Co-Lord to the worthy Bo Yi.
Tides rose and fell; the world changed!
After Bo Yi took the throne, the Human Race underwent great upheavals. First, Da Yu's son, Xia Qi, launched a rebellion, killed Bo Yi, and established the Human Race's first dynasty. Later, Shang Tang, chieftain of the Shang tribe, raised an army and overthrew the last king of the Xia Dynasty—the tyrant Xia Jie—founding the Shang Dynasty!
From then on, the Human Race entered the age of its second dynasty.
In truth, the Xia Dynasty before it and the Shang Dynasty now both ruled only the central region of the Human Race's territory, and even then only the central region within the Nine Cauldrons' barrier.
Ever since the Three Sovereigns had withdrawn to Huoyun Cave, the Human Race had gradually split into numerous relatively independent powers. Its territory was simply too vast; ordinary people might not be able to traverse it in a lifetime. Aside from immortal beings like the Three Sovereigns, no mortal could possibly govern it all.
Still, thanks to the prestige accumulated by the Three Sovereigns, and because the Five Emperors were also wise and virtuous, the various powers had obeyed the Co-Lord's commands during the Five Emperors' era. But Xia Qi's rebellion and the establishment of a hereditary dynasty