Dingzhou lay in the northeastern part of Great Zhou, bordering Xiangzhou, Kangzhou, and inland Yuezhou. Its lands were vast and rich, its population dense, and the martial spirit flourished.
Dingzhou had seven commanderies and sixty-three great cities, with Lianchuan, the provincial capital, being the wealthiest and most prosperous. Every day, the streams of people entering and leaving through its eastern and western gates gathered into long dragons, a truly spectacular sight.
Less than two li from Lianchuan City's eastern gate, a tiny tavern beside the official road held five full tables of customers. Three tables were occupied by jianghu men clutching swords and sabers, their faces fierce and steeped in Killing Intent.
The remaining two tables included one occupied by a married couple. The husband was handsome and refined, broad-shouldered and slim-waisted, with an extraordinary bearing. He held a folding fan dyed the deep black of ink, looking every bit the dashing young scholar.
His wife was charming and radiant, dignified and proper. Her long black hair was coiled into a married woman's bun and secured with a costly jade hairpin, giving her the poise of a noble matron.
At the final table sat two men and a woman dressed in ordinary clothes. They looked like jianghu folk, yet also like ordinary people. A young man led them, while the beautiful woman and the imposing burly man both possessed an air of towering majesty, carrying an intense sense of authority and the aura of the strong.
These final three were naturally Xiang Yang, along with Nan Fenglan and Huang Shaoxiong, who had followed him here.
After Xiang Yang had learned the full extent of the affairs in Dingzhou, he had intended to enter seclusion for another month, using the Blood Flower Spirit Mushroom to improve his cultivation and taking the