Junior Uncle is too cunning.

Seeing the girl standing behind the middle-aged man in coarse clothes, Chen Fusheng knew that this must be Shennong, the Earth Sovereign, one of the Three Sovereigns of the human race.

Compared to Emperor Fuxi, who possessed the wisdom of his previous life and was the reincarnation of the demon Emperor Fuxi, Emperor Shennong's origins were not bad either. He was the reincarnation of the true spirit of the former master of Huoyun Cave, Daoist Hongyun. Compared to Fuxi, he could be considered a contemporary.

Hongyun Ancestor was the first red cloud to attain enlightenment after the creation of heaven and earth, reaching the level of a quasi-sage. He once listened to Hongjun preach in Zixiao Palace along with the Six Primordial Sages, Donghuang Taiyi, Dijun, Zhenyuanzi, Kunpeng, and others. Hongyun was kind-hearted and had many friends in the primordial world. Many powerful beings who listened to his teachings during the primordial chaos were on good terms with him, and he had Zhenyuanzi, who was like a king to the world, as his closest friend. As the saying goes, good people don't always get rewarded, while evil people live on for a thousand years. He was also the most unlucky person in the primordial world.

Because Hongyun Patriarch gave up his seat in Zixiao Palace to the two Western Saints, he not only did not gain any benefits, but also offended Kunpeng Patriarch, causing Kunpeng Patriarch to lose the Primordial Purple Qi, which was the foundation for becoming a saint. That's why Kunpeng later ambushed Hongyun halfway. Hongyun was no match for him, and his physical body was destroyed. His primordial spirit was protected by the innate spiritual treasure, the Nine-Nine Hongyun Soul-Dispersing Gourd, and was able to survive, but it was damaged. In order to protect himself, Hongyun wanted to enter reincarnation and be reborn to cultivate again.

When he entered the underworld, he was blocked by the Styx Ancestor. He had no choice but to use the Nine-Nine Red Cloud Soul-Dispersing Gourd to resist him and took advantage of the gap to enter the cycle of reincarnation and be reborn.

In the final days of the reign of Emperor Tianhuang, one evening, as the setting sun cast a blood-red glow in the west and the full moon quietly climbed the willow branches in the east, a young woman named Ren Si lingered on the banks of the Jiang River. Suddenly, a beam of red light shot forth from the depths of the azure water. Ren Si looked up sharply and saw a red-bearded divine dragon rising into the air, its eyes emitting two beams of divine light that met hers. In that instant of eye contact, Ren Si felt a tremor in her heart, as if sensing something. She rubbed her eyes, composed herself, and looked again, but saw only the twilight gradually deepening, the waters calm and still. The sky was as black as water; there was no divine dragon at all! Ren Si then became pregnant and gave birth to a son at full term, with the head of an ox and the body of a human, who took the surname Jiang, the same Jiang River. This child was the current Earthly Emperor Shennong, and also the reincarnation of the Red Cloud Ancestor.

Shennong, the Earth God, was exceptionally intelligent from a young age. He could speak in three days, walk in five days, and understand agriculture in three years. Throughout his life, he did many good deeds for the people: he taught them farming, enabling them to have abundant food and clothing; to spare them from the suffering of disease, he tasted all kinds of medicinal herbs, even taking poison seventy times a day. He also created musical instruments and taught the people etiquette.

One day, a bright red bird, carrying a stalk of five-colored, nine-eared millet in its beak, flew across the sky, passing over Shennong's head. The nine-eared millet fell to the ground, and Shennong picked it up and planted it in the soil. Later, it grew into a field. He rubbed the millet in his hands and put it in his mouth, finding it delicious. So he taught people to cut down trees, clear away weeds, and use axes, hoes, and other farming tools to cultivate the land and plant millet.

Once, Shennong was gathering herbs deep in the mountains when he was surrounded by a group of venomous snakes. The snakes pounced on him, some coiling around his waist, some his legs, and some his neck, determined to kill him. Outnumbered, Shennong was bitten and fell to the ground, bleeding profusely and his body swelling. In his critical moment, he cried out in pain, "Queen Mother of the West, come quickly to save me!" Hearing his cry, the Queen Mother immediately sent a bluebird carrying one of her life-saving antidotes to circle in the sky and search for Shennong. Finally, the bluebird found him in a forest. Upon seeing the Queen Mother's messenger, the bluebird, the snakes scattered in fear.

The bluebird fed the elixir to Shennong, who gradually awoke from his coma. Having completed its mission, the bluebird gracefully flew away on a cloud. Shennong was overwhelmed with gratitude and loudly thanked the bluebird. However, when he opened his mouth, the elixir fell to the ground and immediately sprouted into a green herb, with a red pearl growing atop it. Shennong examined it closely and saw that it was exactly like the elixir. He tasted it, and all the pain in his body vanished. He happily exclaimed to himself, "I have a cure for snake bites!" Thus, he named this herb "A Pearl on the Head."

Once, Shennong, the Earth God, plucked a tender green leaf, chewed it carefully, and swallowed it. He immediately felt a refreshing and invigorating sensation. The leaf moved up and down and back and forth in his stomach, cleansing his intestines and stomach, leaving every part of his body feeling comfortable and refreshed. Because this leaf seemed to be inspecting and moving around in his stomach, Shennong called it "cha" (查). Later generations gradually evolved this into the character "cha" (茶), which is the origin of tea.

Ancestor Hongyun was also a person with profound Taoist skills. He was the kindest person in his life and usually treated others well. Therefore, all the wandering immortals in the world respected him, and even the people of Zixiao Palace often associated with him.

Although he was tricked by Kunpeng Ancestor, Styx Ancestor, Dijun, Donghuang Taiyi and others, it doesn't mean he had no friends. It's just that they didn't have time to save him at the time, and he died too quickly, so they didn't have time to react.

After the reincarnation of the Hongyun Ancestor, although he lost his cultivation and memories from his previous life, he did not come away empty-handed. Not to mention his luck and merits, even the glass belly he used to test poisons was a result of the mutation in his previous life.

The reason why the Queen Mother of the West was able to help him was because the Ancestor Hongyun was a good friend of the Queen Mother of the West in his previous life. In addition to Zhen Yuanzi and the Queen Mother of the West, there were actually many other people who secretly helped Shennong, the Earth Emperor, on his path to becoming an emperor. Otherwise, relying solely on his mortal body, Shennong would have been poisoned to death long ago, and he was able to live to the end and become the Earth Emperor of the human race.

Besides gathering herbs to save lives, Shennong's achievements went far beyond that. One day, Shennong visited a tribe near the mountains and forests, where he saw them carelessly discarding their hunted wild animals. Upon inquiring, he learned that there were many wild animals in the area, and they had more meat than they could eat. On another occasion, he went to another tribe and saw them discarding large quantities of sorghum and millet. Shennong felt it was a great waste. The locals laughed and said, "What's there to waste? In a few days, the new grain will be ripe again!"

Upon returning, Shennong pondered these two matters constantly. As he was thinking, a group of children entered noisily. He asked them why they were arguing. The children eagerly told him that one of them had two bows, and another had two arrows. They had agreed to exchange them, but the one with the bows reneged, hence the argument. Shennong, upon hearing this, suddenly understood. He thought, "Couldn't the tribe with more meat exchange with the tribe with more grain?"

He didn't even have time to call the children before he happily ran outside. He discussed it with the chiefs of several tribes and decided that every ten days, at midday, everyone would bring their surplus items to a designated place to exchange for what they needed. Everyone agreed and happily took their surplus items to the designated place.

At this time, people came and went, bustling about, creating a lively atmosphere. They exchanged what they needed. This was the beginning of bartering and the establishment of markets at midday. It was also a form of free trade reflecting the simple and honest nature of people in primitive society.

This occurred in the early stages of primitive society, when there were only a few individuals in hundreds of thousands of tribes. Later, as tribal alliances grew, so did the population and food supply. Consequently, the leaders became more self-serving, and private ownership emerged. It is evident that human warfare throughout history has been about the struggle for food and the right to survival, regardless of how modern society becomes.

Chen Fusheng glanced at the Earth Emperor Shennong. Although he concealed it well, he was still a master weapon refiner, and Chen Fusheng could still smell a faint gunpowder odor on him.