Zhenxi governed his tribe with extraordinary ability, and his reputation spread far and wide. People from every direction came to join him, so the number of people under his rule continued to grow. In just a hundred years, the Fengyan Tribe had passed a million members. He was skilled at observing the shortcomings of his people, and soon discovered a major problem affecting the development of the Human Race.
He saw that when brothers and sisters, or close relatives, had children together, their offspring were becoming increasingly dull-witted—some were even mentally deficient. So he established rules of marriage: within three generations, direct relatives could not marry. Years later, the people's bloodlines returned to normal, allowing the Human Race's intelligence to endure.
After resolving the problem of proper relations between men and women, Zhenxi encountered a new difficulty. For years, the Human Race had lived on wild fruits and wild animals. Every winter, or whenever game grew scarce, ordinary people without cultivation went hungry. He was deeply troubled and worried about where they would find enough food.
One day, as he once again listened to his master preach by the Wei River, he saw animals covered in scales swimming through the water. He had no idea what they were, so he asked his master, Kong Xuan.
Kong Xuan explained, "These are ordinary aquatic creatures of the Primordial World. They live in inland rivers and are called fish. They can provide the Human Race with food."
Zhenxi was overjoyed. When he returned to his tribe, he organized the people to catch fish. But fish were slippery and difficult for ordinary people to catch, so he came up with an idea. Taking spiders' webs as his model, he wove grass ropes into nets and named them fishing nets. Using them to catch fish