Across the Divine Continent, within the imperial dynasty, the Nine Surnames and Thirteen Families were publicly acknowledged as the foremost powers.
Yet there were also certain forces that stood only a step below the Nine Surnames and Thirteen Families, with hopes of challenging their rank.
Ji Prefecture, one of the fourteen regions of the Divine Continent and the foremost of the northern provinces, was vast, rich in resources, blessed with outstanding people, and flourishing with Martial Dao Destiny. Yet no supreme power presided over it, because the Southern An Meng Family and Marquis Bei Ning's Lei Family were entrenched there. These two great forces were enough to rival one of the Nine Surnames.
The former were Founding Nobles, among those who had established Great Yong. The first Earl of Nan'an, Meng Shentong, had possessed peerless martial prowess. With the Red Flag Order in hand, he had swept all before him, invincible in every direction, never suffering a defeat in his life—and that was meant in the literal sense.
Among Grandmasters, no one had been Meng Shentong's match. As for Celestial Beings, they would not lower themselves to fight him. Thus, calling Meng Shentong invincible and undefeated was by no means an empty boast.
Such an overwhelmingly powerful man had naturally reaped immense benefits. When Great Yong's Great Ancestor, Beitang Gong, had carved up the realm, the Meng Family had received the great fat prize of Ji Prefecture. Later, during Emperor Taizong's reign, the Lei Family had entered Ji Prefecture through their merit in saving their lord.
For more than a century, the two great aristocratic families had been like fire and water, meeting needle for needle and blade for blade. Generation after generation, they had seemed to bear an irreconcilable, sky-sharing hatred for one another. The root of it all