In the ancient kingdom of Shang, the last emperor Zhou ruled with cruelty unmatched in human memory. On a visit to the temple of the goddess Nüwa, he composed a poem so arrogant that heaven itself was offended.

Nüwa, enraged, summoned three demon sisters — spirits who had cultivated for millennia. "The Shang dynasty is due to fall," she told them. "Enter the palace. Accelerate its destruction."

The eldest sister, Daji, was the most beautiful creature in all the realms. Her true form was a thousand-year-old fox spirit, but she slipped into the body of a concubine and rose swiftly to become Emperor Zhou's favorite.

Under Daji's influence, the emperor's cruelty grew monstrous. A lake of wine. A forest of meat. A heated bronze pillar for executions. Each atrocity served to drain the dynasty's mandate from heaven.

But heaven had already chosen a successor. In the west, the virtuous Lord Ji Chang of Zhou was gathering strength. And caught between heaven and earth — neither mortal nor immortal — was Jiang Ziya, the old fisherman who would change the fate of the world.

This is the story of how gods were made.