The forty-third was Fu Xi, who passed on the throne to Shen Nong, the Earthly Emperor.

  There was a clan named Jiang in the human tribe, and there was a woman named Ren Si in the clan. One day, Ren Si traveled to Mount Hua and saw a divine dragon, and she became pregnant with emotion. This child was later known as Shennongshi.

  The day Shennong was born, a lucky cloud descended from the sky, with a vague five-colored dragon swirling around. After birth, he could speak in three days and walk in five days. The tribespeople were shocked, thinking it was a demon descending into the world. Fortunately, there was the example of Fuxi before, and among the tribespeople, there were still elders who remembered the old events when Fuxi was born, so they came forward to explain, telling everyone about the strange signs when Fuxi was born, and only then did the tribespeople put their minds at ease. In a moment, all the tribespeople were very happy, thinking that their own tribe had also produced a sage.

  Since Fuxi taught people fishing and hunting, and set the rules that relatives cannot intermarry, human beings have suffered less casualties in their struggles with wild beasts, newborn babies have become stronger, and more of them have survived than before. However, this has also brought another problem, after hundreds of years, the population has increased day by day, and fishing and hunting alone can no longer meet the needs of the tribe.

  However, the flying birds in the sky are getting fewer and fewer, and the walking beasts on the ground are getting fewer and fewer. The food obtained is difficult to fill the belly. How can people's eating problems be solved? After growing up, Shennong thought hard, but he couldn't think of a solution to the survival problem of the increasing number of human beings.

  After Kunpeng recovered his past life memories from Fuxi, he left the Wind Department tribe. According to his later-life memories, he knew that the next Human Emperor would be Shennongshi. Shennongshi was the only one of the three human emperors who did not have a master, and his contribution to the human race was also the greatest among the three emperors. Although Kunpeng had no intention of accepting Shennongshi as an apprentice, he also wanted to gain some merit from Shennongshi. So he came to the tribe where Shennongshi lived and began to pay attention to Shennongshi's every move.

  When he saw Shennong worrying about the survival of mankind, he thought of a way to gain merit. He turned into a small red bird, carrying a nine-colored and nine-tasseled millet, flying in the sky, and when it flew over Shennong's head, the nine-tasseled millet fell to the ground. Shennong saw it, picked it up and buried it in the soil, and later it grew into a patch of land. He rubbed the millet tassel in his hand and put it in his mouth, feeling very delicious. Then he taught people to cut down trees, cut off wild grass, use axes, hoes, rakes and other production tools to open up land, and plant millet.

  Shennong was inspired by this, and found that grains could be planted year after year, with a constant supply. If more plants were selected for human use and cultivated, wouldn't the problem of food be solved? At that time, the five grains and wild grasses grew together, and medicinal herbs and flowers bloomed together. No one could tell which ones were edible and which ones weren't. Shennong tasted each one, tried planting them, and finally selected rice, millet, glutinous millet, wheat, and legumes as the five grains. Later generations revered him as "Master of the Five Grains" and "Agricultural Emperor".

  After Shennong taught the people to plant the five grains, the life of the human tribe began to improve. However, the weather changes were beyond the control of the human tribe, and sometimes when disasters struck, the harvest of the five grains would be poor. Therefore, Shennong thought of another way, no longer relying solely on heaven for a good harvest, but instead using human power to change this situation. He then taught his people to dig wells and irrigate crops.

  In the tribe where Shennong lived, thanks to his efforts, it gradually prospered. Due to the vastness of the time, the five grains and wild grasses grew together, medicinal herbs and flowers bloomed together, no one could distinguish which grains were edible and which herbs could cure diseases. Whoever fell ill or got sick, without a doctor or medicine, would either die or lose their skin!

  The people's suffering, Shennong saw with his own eyes and felt in his heart. How to cure the people's illness? Shennong thought hard for three days and nights, finally came up with a solution.

  On the fourth day, he led a group of his people from their hometown of Chu State and set out towards the great mountains in the northwest. They walked and walked, their legs swelling and their feet blistering, but they didn't stop until they had been walking for 49 days. When they arrived at a place, they saw that the high mountains stretched on one after another, with valleys connecting them like a chain. The mountains were covered with strange flowers and rare grasses, and the fragrance wafted far and wide. Shennong and his people were moving forward when suddenly a group of wolves, tigers, leopards, and snakes emerged from the valley and surrounded them. Shennong immediately ordered his people to swing their divine whips at the beasts. They drove away one batch after another, but more kept coming until they had been fighting for seven days and nights before finally driving all the beasts away. The tigers, leopards, and snakes were left with scars on their bodies from the whips, which later turned into spots on their skin.

  At this time, the people said that it was too dangerous here and advised Shennong to return. Shennong shook his head and said: "Can't go back! The common people are sick and have no doctor, how can we go back?" He led the way into the gorge and came to the foot of a vast mountain.

  This mountain is half-hidden in the clouds, with cliffs on all sides that are as sharp as knives. Waterfalls hang from the cliffs, covered in green moss and shining brightly. It seems impossible to climb without a ladder to heaven. The people advised him to give up and return early.

  Shennong shook his head: "Can't go back! The common people are hungry and have nothing to eat, they're sick and have no one to treat them, how can we go back?"

  He stood on a small stone mountain, facing the high mountain, looking up and down, left and right, thinking and planning. Later, people called the small mountain peak where he stood "Wangnong Pavilion". Then, he saw several golden silk monkeys climbing over, along with the ancient vines and rotten wood that were suspended in mid-air on the cliff. Shennong's divine machine moved, and he had an idea! He immediately summoned his subjects to cut wooden poles, cut vines, and build a scaffold against the mountain wall. They built one layer per day, from spring to summer, from autumn to winter, regardless of wind or rain, snow or ice, never stopping work. After building for a whole year, they finally reached the top of the mountain with 360 layers. Legend has it that later people used Shennong's method to build scaffolding when constructing buildings.

  Shennong led his people, climbed the wooden frame, and reached the top of the mountain. Ah! The top of the mountain is indeed a world of flowers and grasses, red, green, white, yellow, all kinds of colors, dense and lush. Shennong liked it very much, he asked his people to guard against wolves, insects, tigers, and leopards, and personally picked and tasted the flowers and grasses. In order to taste a hundred herbs here, find food for the common people, and find medicine, Shennong ordered his people to plant several rows of fir trees on the mountain as a city wall to defend against wild beasts, and build thatched cottages inside the wall to live in. Later, people called the place where Shennong lived "Wooden City".

  During the day, he led his subjects to the mountain to taste all kinds of grasses. At night, he ordered his subjects to start a bonfire and then wrote down in detail under the firelight: which grasses were bitter, which were hot, which were cool, which could fill hunger, and which could cure illnesses, all written clearly.

  Once, he put a blade of grass in his mouth and tasted it. Suddenly, the sky spun around him, and he fell to the ground with a thud. His subjects rushed to help him sit up, and he realized that he had been poisoned. However, he could no longer speak and could only use his last bit of strength to point at a bright red lingzhi mushroom in front of him and then at his own mouth. His subjects quickly put the lingzhi mushroom in their mouths and chewed it, feeding it to him. After eating the lingzhi mushroom, Shennong's poisoning was cured, his dizziness disappeared, and he could speak again. From then on, people said that the lingzhi mushroom could bring people back from the dead. His subjects worried that tasting herbs was too dangerous for him and advised him to return to the mountains. He shook his head and said, "I cannot return! The common people are ill and have no doctors; how can we leave?" After saying this, he continued to taste hundreds of herbs.

  He tasted the flowers and grasses of one mountain, then went to another mountain to taste them, still using the method of building a wooden frame to climb up. He continued for forty-nine days, treading all over the mountains and ridges here. He tasted 365 kinds of medicinal herbs, wrote "Shennong Bencao Jing", and asked his subjects to take it back to treat illnesses for the people of the world. When he was trying the poisonous grass, unfortunately, he was poisoned too deeply, Kunpeng appeared and saved him.

  In every major tribe of the human race, the Holy Master Kunpeng is worshipped. Shennong recognized Kunpeng's identity at a glance and hurriedly said: "Shennong thanks the Holy Master for saving his life."

  Kun Peng said, "You toil and labor for the survival of humanity, which has a significant impact on the future development of humanity. I saved your life also for the sake of humanity's future development. You don't need to thank me, just remember the people."

  Kun Peng said up to this place took out a small tripod, and said to Shennong: "This tripod is what I refined with laurel, can be used for refining elixir. You have tasted hundreds of herbs and know their properties. This tripod will be given to you, and in the future it will be useful for refining elixirs."

  The Divine Farmer personally took over the divine tripod and then said: "Thank you, Holy Master, for bestowing this treasure. The Divine Farmer will remember your teachings."

  Kunpeng saw the sincere look on Shennong's face, and he was also very happy. Without saying anything else, he got up and left. Shennong looked at Kunpeng's back as he walked away for a long time without speaking.

  Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, and for the common people found filling grains and medicinal herbs to cure illnesses. He returned to his tribe. By then, his great name had spread throughout the Honghuang nation, catching the attention of Tian Huang Fuxi. After some inquiry, Fuxi decided to pass on the throne of Human Emperor to Shennong. Since Shennong was away from home, he could only wait for his return to pass on the throne to him.

  Shennong returned to the tribe, Fuxi knew about it and came to Shennong's tribe in person. Shennong saw the Human Emperor arrive and personally went out to welcome him. Fuxi said to Shennong: "You have been busy for the people's livelihood, this is a great virtue. I have been in charge of the human race for decades, now it's time for me to complete my merit. You are young and promising, you can be called a dragon and phoenix among humans. I want to pass on the position of Human Emperor to you, what do you think?"

  Shennong was stunned by Fuxi's words and stood there for a long time, unable to believe that the Human Emperor had come to abdicate in his favor. After a while, he regained his composure and said: "The Human Emperor is overpraising me, what virtue or ability does Shennong have to take on this position of Human Emperor?"

  Fuxi saw Shennong facing this, still so rational, and his heart was even more determined that Shennong would be the next human emperor. So he said: "Shennong, you don't have to decline, knowing that being a human emperor is not an easy task, one must consider the people wholeheartedly, without regard for personal gain or loss, you've done very well in this regard, the position of human emperor belongs to none other than you."

  Shennong saw Fuxi's persistence and nodded in agreement, then appointed him as the next human emperor.