The western market of Jiu Li City was flourishing beyond measure. Not only had the major powers of Lizhou opened their main commercial establishments here, but the signboards lining both sides of the streets often bore the names of million-strong clans and sects from the other six prefectures of the Southern Region.
The Cangli Tribe, for instance, stood at the level of a million-strong clan.
The number of common people a power could directly influence could reach a million. Of course, not every one of the Nine Li Nine Divisions could claim the title of a million-strong clan.
The Nine Li Nine Divisions had in fact declined long ago. Yet because they had rarely involved themselves in the affairs of the world over the past century, no one knew the depths of their strength, allowing them to barely maintain the dignity of being Lingxiao Shengjing's sole Myriad Ancient Clan. Like Zuoqiu and Dragon Gate, those Myriad Gate Families, they were revered by cultivators across the world.
Lizhou of the Southern Region bordered the Sea of Blood and faced the Nether Realm, and it had always carried an air of mystery.
Fourteen years ago, when the first signs of turmoil appeared across the world, powers from other prefectures flooded into Lizhou one after another to escape disaster, and countless martial conflicts erupted in their wake.
During those half a year of fierce clashes, not a single member of Nine Li's younger generation could fight. The chief champions of the Nine Li Nine Divisions were all defeated. Even the clan chiefs of the various Nine Li divisions lost in succession to Yang Shen Realm, the foremost expert of the Sui Sect, during the arranged battle in the Mang Mountain Range. The other three were defeated by the three Supreme Elders of the