Primordial Era: Starting with the repair of Penglai Immortal Island

After his anger subsided, Huanglong looked Shennong up and down and sighed softly.

"Let's go."

With a wave of his sleeve, he opened up a spatial passage.

"Your path to becoming the Human Emperor is not in the ancestral land, nor in this cave," Huang Long said, his tone softening and becoming more persuasive. "It lies within the human tribes, in the hearts and minds of millions of humans. Come with me, and take another look at the human race."

Shennong straightened up and looked at Xuandu behind Huanglong.

Xuan Du nodded slightly, the smile at the corner of his mouth carrying a profound meaning.

He turned to look at his teacher, Duobao, and saw Duobao nod expressionlessly.

When he turned back, the serene mist that had formed in his eyes during his seclusion had mostly dissipated.

"Shennong obeys."

The four stepped into the spatial passage and appeared in a human tribe hundreds of millions of miles away the next moment!

On both sides were waist-high millet fields, their flowers in full bloom. In the distance, there was smoke from cooking fires, the barking of dogs, and the sounds of children practicing martial arts.

The four concealed their auras, changed into ordinary hemp clothing, and became indistinguishable from ordinary human beings.

Huanglong walked forward with his hands behind his back, Xuandu followed beside him, and Duobao lagged half a step behind.

Shennong stood there for a moment, then strode after him.

Before long, the group arrived at a simple market.

Although it's called a market, it's really just a small trading place set up by several small tribes, modeled after the market opened up by Shennong.

People from various tribes gathered in small groups at the market, with animal hides or straw mats spread out in front of them, displaying what they wanted to exchange: the game they had hunted, the millet they had harvested, the skinned animal hides, the fired pottery jars, a few bundles of herbs, and a handful of salt bran.

There were no signs, no shouts, and everyone traded according to their needs.

Huanglong stopped under the shade of a willow tree, gestured to Shennong with his chin, indicating that he should go and see for himself.

Shennong nodded and stepped into the crowd.

He walked slowly, squeezing through the crowd like a real mortal.

The air was filled with the cacophony of rough bargaining, and the nose was filled with the pungent smell of animal hides and the aroma of millet.

He saw a strong man exchange a wild boar he had just hunted for an old woman across from him an equal weight of millet.

The burly man picked up the sack of millet, weighed it in his hand, put it down, and then weighed it again; the old woman's thin arms supported the half-slice of pork, her shoulders trembling with obvious strain, but she said, "That's enough, that's enough."

Shennong stared at it for a long time, then frowned.

He continued walking forward.

Two young men ahead were arguing heatedly, their faces red and necks bulging. One was carrying a bundle of herbs, and the other was clutching a half-full bag of salt bran. Both were belittling the other's value and exaggerating the worth of their own possessions.

The two men raised their voices higher and higher, and an old man came over to try and mediate. But no matter how much he tried, they couldn't reach a conclusion. In the end, the two young men stormed off, and the deal fell through.

Further in, Shennong saw a kind-looking middle-aged man who traded three catties of good venison for two catties of coarse millet from a young man opposite him. The young man's eyes lit up when he received the venison, but the middle-aged man was still smiling憨憨地, weighing the bag of millet in his hand and saying, "That's enough, that's enough!"

Someone nearby, unable to bear it any longer, whispered a reminder to him. He paused, scratched the back of his head, and said, "It's already been changed; I can't go back on my word."

Shennong stood three zhang behind him, remaining motionless for a long time.

As the sun rose high in the sky, trading on the riverbank was in full swing.

Shennong visited more than a dozen stalls, observing every single barter transaction. Some people were cheated because they couldn't accurately assess the value of their goods, while others were misled because they couldn't distinguish the quality of the items. Most people were honest and straightforward, accepting whatever price was offered, even if they felt something was wrong, they dared not argue, because bartering was entirely voluntary, no one forced them, and no one judged their actions.

Shennong withdrew from the crowd and returned to the shade of the willow.

Huanglong was leaning against a tree trunk, resting with his eyes closed, while Xuandu and Duobao were talking in hushed tones.

Hearing footsteps, Huang Long lifted his eyelids but didn't say anything.

Shennong stopped in front of him, clenched his sleeves with both hands, and said nothing!

Huang Long didn't say anything. He then took Shennong Xuandu Duobao to one trading market after another, letting Shennong experience it firsthand!

On this day, Shennong, who had just returned from the market crowd, finally spoke as he looked at Huanglong fishing by the river.

"Ancestor," he began, his voice slightly hoarse, "I always thought that trade between tribes was simply a matter of fairness. But after observing this for a while, I realize that fairness is easier said than done; it depends entirely on people's hearts. When people are biased, and their hands are lenient or stingy, the losses in these trades become too great."

Huang Long then opened his eyes and looked at him.

"So what are you planning to do?"

Shennong did not answer immediately.

He suddenly sat down cross-legged, recalling everything he had seen and heard along the way!

After an unknown amount of time, Shennong suddenly took out a piece of black iron that he always carried with him from his sleeve. It was about the size of a fist and was completely dark.

He condensed a sliver of spiritual light from the tip of his right index finger. The light was as fine as a silkworm thread, but when it landed on the black iron surface, it was as easy as cutting tofu with a knife, and iron filings fell down in a flurry.

Duobao and Xuandu exchanged a glance, then looked at Huanglong together.

Huang Long turned his face away and ignored the two of them.

His gaze fell on the river, or perhaps on Shennong himself.

Shennong was completely absorbed in his own world. His mind was filled with countless scenes of human transactions: the frustration of being taken advantage of, the smugness of gaining an advantage... All these images overlapped and converged into a recurring question: How can one make it clear at a glance that it is fair to exchange something of equal value for something of equal value?

The light from his fingertips danced across the black iron. First, there was a horizontal bar, with a shallow dish hanging at each end, and a pillar in the middle.

But the pillar is bare, how can the markings be made? He paused for a moment, looked up at a line of geese flying overhead, and then looked down at the pebbles in the river. They were of all sizes, smoothed by the river water. When they slipped through his fingers, the larger ones sank quickly, while the smaller ones drifted far away.

He suddenly realized something.

His fingertips returned to the black iron, this time carving fine horizontal lines on the pillar.

Each horizontal line corresponds to a different weight of the contents in the dish. As the bar moves up and down, the weight is clearly indicated by which line it tilts to.

He kept stopping and starting, overturning the original several times and redoing it repeatedly.

On this day, as the sun rose and the moon set, the black iron in Shennong's hand had transformed into an exquisite artifact: a straight horizontal bar with a red rope hanging from one end, and fine, comb-like markings on the central pillar, each marked with tiny numbers, representing the weight he had condensed after measuring the immense weight of heaven and earth with his own cultivation.

He stood up, carrying the object, his palms sweaty.

Huang Long had somehow appeared beside him, looking down at the object without saying a word. Xuan Du, however, leaned closer, examined it for a moment, and whispered, "What is this thing called?"

Shennong thought for a moment, and he remembered the word "balance," and how it was created to ensure fair trade among his people. He also remembered all the disputes and grievances that had arisen in the market earlier due to uncertainty.

"A scale to weigh things," he said.

He read the name aloud, then read it again, his voice gradually becoming more resolute.

"This is the name."

Huang Long then grunted in agreement and flicked his finger on the horizontal bar.

With a clear "ding," Xuan Du, a quasi-saint, clearly sensed that the laws of heaven and earth surged in that instant.

Shennong, looking back, refined a large number of weights and measures and sent them to various human tribes.

Then he issued a decree of the common ruler of the human race.

"In the name of the sovereign of humanity, I hereby bestow this artifact upon all humankind!"

"All future transactions shall be conducted in accordance with this standard."

Shennong raised the scales high in his hands, manifesting them above the tribes through the power of human destiny. Golden sunlight shone on the black iron crossbar, reflecting a cold glint. "Whoever shortchanges, whoever uses inferior goods, will suffer misfortune and shorten their lifespan!"