Divine Capital

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Divine Capital (神都)
Type	Ancient imperial capital and political pivot of the realm
Affiliation	The old dynasty formerly; governed by the Li Clan after its capture
Occupation / Role	Convergence point for dynastic fortune, royal legitimacy, earth veins, and the realm’s political authority
Status	Captured and stabilized by Li Tui; reduced to ruins during Li Tui’s eleventh life 282 439
First Appearance	Chapter 280

Appearance

A colossal, thousand-year-old city whose towering walls rise into the clouds. During Li Tui’s siege, it appears grim and heavily defended beneath the winter sky, but internally weakened by hunger, unrest, and decaying dynastic fortune. 281

• Towering city walls, battlements, flags, and densely stationed armored defenders. 281
• Vermilion Bird Gate serves as a major entrance and is opened after the city’s fall. 282
• The imperial city contains Purple Zenith Hall, the core of the old dynasty’s grand formation and a convergence point for earth veins and royal aura. 282
• The Ninefold Palace Grand Array once protected the capital but had fallen into serious disrepair by the siege. 282

Significance

• The Divine Capital is more than a fortified city: it gathers the old dynasty’s fortune and embodies its legal legitimacy and majesty. 281
• Taking the city allows Li Tui’s Mountain-River Cauldron to absorb the remaining foundation of the old dynasty, including its final strand of orthodox fortune. 281 283
• The city’s citizens, earth veins, royal aura, and political institutions become intertwined with Li Tui’s cultivation and authority after its capture. 282 283
• Its control is treated as essential to pacifying and ruling the wider realm. 280 286

History

Decline under the Old Dynasty

By the time Li Tui set his sights on it, the Divine Capital still possessed enormous but decaying dynastic fortune. Its remaining royal aura was unstable, while multiple competing destinies gathered within the city. 280

During Yang Su’s control of the capital, its grain stores neared exhaustion, military morale collapsed, and public resentment intensified. Yang Su relied on the damaged Ninefold Palace Grand Array and several hired True Persons, but repairs progressed slowly due to damaged formation patterns and internal distrust. 282

Siege and Capture

Li Tui’s thirty-thousand-man Pacification Army arrived outside the Divine Capital and subjected it to a prolonged siege. Rather than immediately storming the walls, Li Tui used drills, night raids, intelligence, and psychological pressure to exhaust the defenders. 281

Using the Mountain-River Cauldron’s connection to the earth veins and the city’s lingering royal aura, Li Tui issued a proclamation condemning Yang Su. The declaration spread through every corner of the capital and worsened the defenders’ panic. 281 282

Resistance within the inner city was largely crushed before dawn. Yang Su was captured alive, his core supporters were killed or imprisoned, and Vermilion Bird Gate was opened for Li Tui’s entry. 282

Settlement by the Mountain-River Cauldron

At Purple Zenith Hall, Li Tui manifested the Mountain-River Cauldron over the city and commanded it to suppress the Divine Capital. Black-and-yellow qi soothed its disordered earth qi, cleansed the decaying remnant aura of the old dynasty, and dispersed the lingering atmosphere of bloodshed and terror. 282

The cauldron remained above Purple Zenith Hall as a stabilizing presence, guarding the capital’s fortune and marking the arrival of its new master. 282

The city’s final strand of orthodox fortune, the citizens’ gratitude and hopes, and nourishment from the earth veins were absorbed by the Mountain-River Cauldron. This allowed its third leg to solidify and enabled Li Tui to reach the Great True Person rank within ten years. 283

Li Clan Administration

After the conquest, granaries were opened, porridge stalls were established, markets resumed operation, and former officials were retained. The Pacification Army was ordered not to plunder the populace, while Yang Su was executed. 284

Li Yuan subsequently moved the Li Clan, its retainers, and staff into the Divine Capital, treating it as the realm’s central pivot. Li Tui established the Estate of the General Who Stabilizes the Nation, while Li Ren assumed responsibility for civil administration. 286 287

Although Li Ren held formal authority over civil affairs, Li Tui used Listening to the Wind and the Mountain-River Cauldron to monitor the city and quietly limit his brother’s influence. 287

Center of a New Regime

The Divine Capital became the focal point of petitions urging Li Tui to ascend the throne. Officials, prominent clans, and notable citizens of the city signed a joint petition in less than half a day, followed by further petitions from across the three provinces. 303

During Li Tui’s later Golden Core advancement, the capital experienced sweet rain and golden lotuses as the Mountain-River Cauldron solidified into a nation-stabilizing Golden Core. 305

Later Destruction

In Li Tui’s eleventh life, the Divine Capital again became central to his cultivation plans. He established a grand Dharma Eye formation over more than a million residents in preparation for Nascent Soul formation. 442

Li Tui ultimately used the Dharma Eye to sacrifice a million living beings within the Divine Capital, extracting karma and true spirits. The city was later shown in ruins amid Li Tui’s confrontation with a Dao Lord. 439 442

Relationships

• Li Tui — Besieged, captured, stabilized, and ruled the city through the Mountain-River Cauldron; later used it as the site of a mass Dharma Eye sacrifice. 281 282 442
• Yang Su — False chancellor who controlled the deteriorating capital before its fall; captured alive after the inner city’s resistance collapsed. 282
• Mountain-River Cauldron — Resonates with the city’s earth veins, royal aura, orthodox fortune, and popular will; its manifestation suppresses and stabilizes the capital. 281 282 283
• Li Clan — Relocated into the city after its conquest and made it the center of its emerging regime. 286
• Li Ren — Managed civil affairs in the capital as Grand Marshal but was covertly constrained by Li Tui’s influence. 287
• Divine Capital citizens — Their gratitude and hopes nourished Li Tui’s Mountain-River Cauldron after the restoration of order. 283

Trivia

• The Divine Capital’s capture is described as the seizure of not only a city, but also the remaining legitimacy and foundational fortune of the old dynasty. 281
• Purple Zenith Hall is both the former imperial palace’s formation core and the location from which Li Tui anchors the Mountain-River Cauldron’s authority over the city. 282
• During Li Tui’s later use of the Dharma Eye, the entire city—including its markets, streets, and cultivators—briefly falls under an invisible gaze. 431