Emperor Shaohao was the last emperor of Pandaria. The invasion of the Burning Legion was foretold to him by a Jinyu Waterspeaker which would lead to a terrible shattering. This would foretell the events surrounding the Great Sundering. This led to a great doubt troubling the emperor. In an effort to relieve him of those doubts, his longtime friend, the Monkey King, created a mask for him to wear. When Emperor Shaohao removed the mask, all of his doubts took a physical form. These became the Sha that would later trouble the continent. Emperor Shaohao managed to successfully imprison all the Sha, or so he thought. The Emperor created the Shado-Pan in response to this event, the goal of this group being to keep an eye on the Sha and ensure they did not cause trouble for the people of Pandaria. The Emperor would then enter the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, so named because the trees began to blossom in the Emperors presence, and began to climb the Terrace of Eternal Spring with the goal of separating Pandaria from the rest of the world, attempting to keep them safe from the ensuing demonic invasion. Emperor Shaohao found this was difficult to do and thus doubt began to creep in, freeing a few of the Sha. He sought the advice of the Jade Serpent who explained that Pandaria was more than the Pandarian empire, thus revealing the existence of the mantid to the pandarians for the first time. It was then that Emperor Shaohao's spirit became one with Pandaria. When the Great Sundering happened, Pandaria floated away and became hidden by impenetrable mists. This was the work of the Sha of Pride. Emperor Shaohao felt that the pandarians were better equipped to solve their own problems and did not need the rest of the world.