For the next stretch of days, Xiao Yun stayed in Dragon Ascending Territory. In the mornings, he read through documents concerning the territory; in the afternoons, he took turns accompanying Yao Yuerou, Shui Bing'er, Yao Zi, Shui Yue'er, and Sheng Minglan as they explored different areas of the various territories.
On the morning of the ninth, Xiao Yun reviewed the documents on the three large reservoirs, one of the major construction projects from the previous year.
After lunch, Xiao Yun took Yao Yuerou out with him.
The Spirit Boat rose from the Lord's Mansion's front courtyard, passed through the thin morning mist, and flew deep into the Dragon Ascending Mountain Range. The fields and villages below gradually shrank into patches of alternating light and dark colors. The Spirit Boat crossed dozens of low ridges, then passed several steep mountains before seven peaks standing side by side finally appeared ahead. They were arranged like the Big Dipper—the very Seven-Star Lotus Peaks where he had previously planned to establish his sect.
Yao Yuerou stood beside the railing and asked without turning around, "Is that the place?"
Xiao Yun murmured his assent and slowed the boat.
The seven peaks followed a curve, with the main peak at the head and the other six stretching out in sequence. Dark gray rock strata and shrubs that had yet to turn green again covered their slopes. Their ridgelines rose and fell one after another in the morning light, as though the seven stars in the heavens had pressed them into shape.
He took out the seven Big Dipper Swords he had forged earlier and placed them atop their corresponding peaks, one by one.
As each blade sank into the rock, a faint tremor passed through the mountain's surface. Then, as though something had snapped into a