Among the elders, Third Elder Li Xuanyong had the poorest talent. All the other elders had broken through to the innate realm, while he alone remained stuck at qi and blood great perfection.
At qi and blood great perfection, one could live for two hundred years at most.
And in a few more years, Li Xuanyong would turn one hundred.
A hundred years of life remaining sounded like a long time, but to a high-level cultivator, it was no more than the blink of an eye.
In public affairs, Li Xuanyong was the pillar holding up the Internal Affairs Hall.
In private, Li Xuanyong was Li Xinge's third grandfather, one of the few remaining elders of the Li Family's Xuan Generation.
For both reasons, Li Xinge hoped the Third Elder could advance another step.
To rise from the qi and blood realm to the innate realm was to shed mortality and ascend toward immortality, gaining a lifespan of six hundred years. With several centuries to work with, Li Xinge had every confidence that he could once again defy heaven and change the Third Elder's fate.
"Third Elder, you have to succeed."
Li Xinge clasped his hands behind his back and murmured.
Jade Prefecture.
It lay at the southernmost tip of Great Zhou, surrounded by sea on all sides.
Thanks to its unique geographical position, Jade Prefecture stood apart from the world's strife. None of the great upheavals that had swept through the Central Plains had reached it, so its people enjoyed relatively peaceful lives.
Jade Prefecture governed twenty-three prefectural districts and the Ninety-Six Islands, with vast maritime territories.
Golden Crow Island was one of the Ninety-Six Islands.
It lay southeast of Jade Prefecture, out in the open sea, and took its name from its shape, which resembled a golden