Is Xuanwu a turtle or a snake?

Xuanwu is a spiritual object composed of turtles and snakes in ancient myths and legends of China.

Xuanwu first described the tortoise's divination: the tortoise's back is black, and the tortoise's divination is to invite the tortoise to the underworld to ask questions, bring back the answers and show them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise, and its meaning has been expanding since then.

Appearance and form:

In ancient times, people thought snakes were witty, clever and good at collecting money, and popular belief believed that dreaming snakes predicted money; However, the turtle has hard armor on its abdomen and back, and its head, tail and limbs can be retracted into the armor, so it is hungry and thirsty, and its life span is very long. People use turtles for divination and scorpions for divination, which are collectively called tortoise divination. The texture on the turtle's back is called tortoise inscription. When divining, the tortoise shell is burnt and cracked lines are seen, indicating good or bad luck.