The Black Warrior of the North (Xuanwu)

Erewhile, there existed a prince of the Northern

region of China, Xuanwu. His father, being king, was to
pass the rightful succession of the throne to him, yet
Xuanwu wanted no sovereignty. At the age of 16, he
decided to depart from his families care and study the path
of Taoism, a philosophy professing the Oneness existing in
everything. In order to achieve divine status and
enlightenment through the path of Taoism and Oneness,
Xuanwu was required to rid himself of his sinful human
embodiment. To completely cleanse himself he was
required to wash his intestines and stomach as they had
processed human food his entire life. To do this he asked a
god to initiate a surgery to remove his intestines and
stomach. After the process, however, when his bowels had
been disposed of, his stomach become a tortoise and his
intestines a snake. Both were demonic animals and
caused terror to all Earthly peoples. It didnt take long for
Xuanwu, now a godly being, to hear of this. He came down
to Earth to destroy them, but, as they showed regret for
their actions, he did not kill them; instead he rid them the
demons from his past self, ultimately destroying his
previous human sin. Because of their repentance, Xuanwu
agreed to train the beasts under him, eventually turning
them to tortoise general and snake general two of his
most faithful followers, helping him in all journeys he
happened to venture on.