The earliest legend about the origin of Xuanwu comes from Xia Dynasty. According to legend, the father of Yu, the founder of the Xia Dynasty in China, was called "Gun", or Xuanwu, and helped Shun control water before the famous Dayu. Because it only uses blocking instead of dredging, it has not succeeded despite the help of the gods. Generally speaking, guns are the embodiment of turtles, while Tu Shanshi, a Xia clan, thinks snakes are his ancestors.
Extended data:
In ancient mythology of China, the four great beasts were Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu.
1, Qinglong is one of the four gods in ancient China mythology. Qinglong originated from the worship of stars in ancient times. Since the pre-Qin period, Qinglong has been a god beast representing Tai Hao and the seven nights in the East. When the Five Elements Theory began to rise in the Han Dynasty, its symbolic meaning was added with A, B and Chun. ?
2. The White Tiger is one of the four gods in China's ancient mythology, which originated from the worship of ancient stars and represented the seven nights in Shao Hao and the West. The white tiger symbolizes power and the army, so many places named after the white tiger in ancient times are related to the military, such as the white tiger flag in the ancient army and the white tiger statue on the military symbol.
3. Suzaku is one of the four gods in ancient China mythology, which originated from the worship of ancient stars. It is the southern god representing Emperor Yan and the seven nights in the south. The reason why the images of Suzaku and Phoenix are confused is that a few Taoist scriptures match the phoenix bird symbolizing peace with the fire in the south, but the south and the fire are actually the functions and powers of Suzaku, and Suzaku is not a phoenix.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Xuanwu