I thought the content of the discussion was unlikely to be heard by outsiders, so I sent Ya Nan and Ni Tai Mei to their physical education class.
It wasn't Ni Tai Mei's class, but she greeted the physical education teacher and acted coy. The teacher agreed. After all, he was a man and susceptible to a beautiful woman's charms.
"Speak, what are we discussing?" I took out a cigarette, then thought better of it and put it back, not wanting to tarnish their pure youth.
"Don't you want to know why Mohe Longyue captured you?" Little Yama King asked me back. "Did he not tell you?"
"No."
"Then do you know that you might be the reincarnation of Bai Ze?" Little Yama King asked again.
"Captain Lin Xi mentioned it to me once, but what is Bai Ze?" I asked.
"You don't even know Bai Ze?" Little Yama King looked genuinely surprised. I shook my head. I really didn't know. Was it a vast expanse of white marshland?
"Bai Ze is an ancient demon god, roughly on the same level as Shanhe."
"And what is Shanhe?"
"Look at your question," Little Yama King gave me a look. "Didn't I just say? Bai Ze is an ancient demon god, and Shanhe is another ancient demon god."
"..." The way of thinking of ghosts was indeed different from humans. "Shuyao, could you translate it into something I can understand? Be more direct."
"Bai Ze is an ancient divine beast, and so is Shanhe. They are mortal enemies. You've heard of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, right?" Little Yama King had indeed transformed into a teacher, even doing that iconic gesture of pushing up her glasses. I wasn't sure if this was a language teacher or a history teacher, as language and history were intertwined. But I believed that given her status, whatever fantastical tale she told would be true history.
"I know the Classic of Mountains and Seas. There are many demons in it. So, how ancient are these two? Shang and Zhou Dynasties?" I asked.
"Much earlier than that. The Yanxia civilization you know originated from Kunlun Mountain, which was about… ten thousand years ago. And ten thousand years ago, the central plains of your Yanxia were not inhabited by humans, but by demons."
"Demons? A demon civilization?" I asked.
"You could understand it that way," Little Yama King said. "At that time, the fertile lands and grasslands of the central plains were occupied by the Bai Ze demon tribe, led by Bai Ze, who lived in the Yellow River basin. And in the surrounding dangerous regions lived the Shanhe demon tribe, led by Shanhe. The two tribes often went to war to fight for hunting grounds and resources. At that time, humans, although aware of the fertile land in the Yellow River basin, also knew that the two great demon tribes occupied it, so they hid in Kunlun Mountain, daring not to descend."
"Until the great flood that spread across the Blue Star ten thousand years ago, which severely weakened both demon tribes. Humans, having taken refuge in Kunlun Mountain, avoided the flood. After the flood receded, humans finally dared to descend from the mountain. Under the command of a leader, they controlled the flood, drove away the demon beasts, and thus began the Yanxia civilization."
"Yu the Great's flood control?" I was surprised. It was true! I believed demons had existed, but I never expected Yu the Great's flood control to be real. I had always thought ancient technology was too backward to achieve such a feat.
Little Yama King nodded. "Yu the Great's son established the Xia Dynasty. However, the two great demon tribes did not disappear completely. The original Bai Ze demon tribe chose to coexist with humans and reached an agreement with them to stop eating humans and instead eat animals. The Shanhe demon tribe, however, did not give up its man-eating habits and remained in the surrounding areas of the central plains, opposing the 'Human-Bai Ze' alliance."
"Since then, the Shanhe demon tribe has been instigating the rise and fall of successive Yanxia dynasties, all for the purpose of hunting humans and Bai Ze demons amidst the chaos. The most severe incident was an event recorded in your history books but never delved into deeply. Can you guess what it was?" Little Yama King seemed to be testing my cultural knowledge.
Combining what she had said, I thought for a moment and easily guessed: "The Sixteen Kingdoms period!"