The sage-king leaders of China's pre-dynastic era were known as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Among the Five Emperors, it is Huangdi - the "Yellow Emperor" - who is honored as the mythical father of Chinese Medicine. The Huangdi Neijing Suwen (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, Basic Questions) - the foundational text of Chinese Medicine - is rendered as a dialogue between Huangdi and the physician Qi Bo.

It is believed, by practitioners of some of the more esoteric paths, that the Yellow Emperor was an emanation of the Ascended Master Lanto - whose image above comes from a painting by Claudio Gianfardoni. Lanto is said to have developed the light in his heart to such a degree that it shone like a golden sun through his flesh.