Legend had it that in ancient times, gods and humans were connected, and the earth and sky were not as far apart as they were now. "Heavenly ladders" linked the celestial realm and the human world, allowing passage between them. Aside from Kunlun Mountain and Dengbao Mountain, the most famous of these heavenly ladders was Jianmu, which reached all the way to heaven.
Besides its mention in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Jianmu had also been described in the Huainanzi: "Jianmu stands in Duguang, by which the emperors ascend and descend."
This referred to how Fuxi, the Yellow Emperor, and the other emperors of the human world traveled along Jianmu between the celestial realm and the human world. There were also humans who entered the celestial realm to steal the spark of civilization, ascending from humans to gods and disrupting the celestial order. This enraged the Heavenly Emperor, who, to restore order, commanded that Jianmu be felled, severing the passage between the celestial realm and the human world.
The Heavenly Emperor had also appeared in the story of Wu Gang chopping the osmanthus tree, though later generations had endlessly debated who this Heavenly Emperor actually was.
In addition, the Book of Documents: Punishments of Lü recorded a Central Heavenly Emperor who had similarly severed the connection between heaven and earth: the Yellow Emperor's great-grandson, Emperor Zhuanxu.
After taking the throne, Zhuanxu sought to stabilize his rule and restore order to heaven and earth. He commanded the two gods Chong and Li to push them apart, one holding up heaven and the other bracing the earth. Thus arose the legend of Zhuanxu severing the connection between heaven and earth.
These had all been ancient legends passed down through old texts and folklore, yet to Chen Jue, a human who had