It was late summer. The sky was somewhat overcast, with a fine misty rain drifting down.
Shi Lan crossed through space, stepping on raindrops as she darted through the curtain of rain. Her mind kept returning to the contents of that secret letter.
The letter not only gave the approximate current whereabouts of Shi Tianlu and the others, but also outlined the general state of the Central Heaven Domain.
Messages like this were usually prepared for those who had spent years fighting on the frontier and had yet to return, leaving them unfamiliar with the latest developments in the Central Heaven Domain. Now, they were of considerable help to Shi Lan, at the very least giving her a rough understanding of the domain's current situation.
The Central Heaven Domain was divided into thirty-six prefectures. Like stars surrounding the moon, these prefectures encircled the Imperial Palace at the center. Countless cities, towns, and villages lay beneath them, all directly governed by the Imperial Court. Each of the thirty-six prefectures had a prefect appointed to oversee it.
Shi Lan vaguely remembered that Wu Lingkong came from Wuyang Prefecture. According to the information in the letter, its prefect was named Wu Hong. They shared the surname Wu, so it was hard to say they had no connection.
Without exception, the prefects of these domains were appointed from among the Imperial Court's ranks. Bearing the prefect's seal, they oversaw all affairs, great and small, within their jurisdictions.
Neither the Human Emperor's Aristocratic Clans nor the great martial sects would openly defy an order issued by a prefect on behalf of the Imperial Court.
In the Central Heaven Domain, the Imperial Court's control was clearly dozens of times stronger than in the Chengtian Domain.
That was only natural. The territory of the Chengtian Domain had