Shennong City, inside the council hall.
Flame Emperor, broad-shouldered and clad in beast hide, two short horns growing from his head, sat in the seat of honor.
Below him sat Zhurong, Xing Tian, Rain Master, Wind Earl, Kuafu, Gonggong, Houtu, Xiangliu, Fuyou, and other great shamans and spirit shamans.
Everyone's expressions were grave, and an air of unrest hung over the hall.
"Emperor..." Xing Tian, handsome in appearance with Shield and Axe resting at his feet, opened his mouth, then fell silent again.
The hall sank into silence once more.
"Alas!" Flame Emperor suddenly sighed and said heavily, "Everyone, the age of the shamans has come to an end!"
The faces of those in the hall changed at once. Wind Earl rose to his feet and said, "Emperor! Such words must never be spoken lightly!
"With us here, the shaman path will endure through the ages and forever safeguard humankind!
"Are you not afraid these words will wound the hearts of the countless shamans in all the realms beneath heaven?"
Flame Emperor did not look at anyone in the hall. He raised his head and gazed at the rough ceiling overhead.
His eyes seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of barriers, glimpsing the distant future.
"We will inevitably decline. From the Human Emperor Nine-Head Clan, who transformed into shamans and led humankind in overthrowing the rule of the Demon Race Heavenly Court, "to Nest Emperor, Fire-Drill Emperor, Emperor Xi, Wa Emperor, and the other emperors of every generation, who governed the world step by step, enabling humankind to stand tall between Heaven and Earth and forging the glory of the shamans.
"My ancestor, the Shennong Emperor, continued this flourishing age.
"But what our ancestors carried forward was humankind's future, not the future of the shamans.
"Shamans are guardians and