The Cultural Construction of Great Unification: Five Elements Mandate of Heaven and the Records of the Rubber People

"From the moment the gods bestowed the first flame and the Rubber People Ancestor stepped out from the forest, the ancient sage had already prophesied the future—the Five Gods, Five Elements, and Five Destinies!... The cycle of five eras, the nurturing of five divine objects, the reverse generation of the five elemental forces, all bore five ancient and fated destinies!..."

"The divine objects of the five eras were fire, the Divine Tree, Blue Snake, Golden Eagle, and Black Wolf. The First Era began when the first fire was kindled from chaos, and the Rubber People Ancestor built the first city-state. In the Second Era, the Divine Tree was born from fire, and the ancient sage granted enlightenment to the tribes beneath the tree. In the Third Era, Blue Snake drifted out from the Divine Tree and fell among the seven Rubber People clans under heaven. In the Fourth Era, Golden Eagle hunted Blue Snake, conquering the Rubber People tribes one after another, gathering divinity anew, and making the tribes one! Until the final Fifth Era, when Black Wolf ran north and south, linking the endless continents together, and the seven Rubber People tribes were finally unified. And the Main God's Divine Destiny Bird fell from the Sky Family, perched upon the charred Divine Tree, and became the Rubber People's final totem of faith!..."

"The elements of these five eras were fire, wood, water, metal, and earth! They generated one another in reverse order, the later taking in the former: earth gave birth to metal, metal to water, water to wood, wood to fire—the five elements were destiny itself!... And the concrete revelations of destiny were the Rubber People's five missions: 'Inherit the Divine Fire and worship the Main God,' 'cultivate the fields and nurture the myriad people,' 'connect the Great