The Star Moon Plain, nestled between the Xiang and Xu States, had always been a land of riches.
The finest resources in the world were, of course, resources for cultivation.
The Star Moon Plain was one of the places in the Present World "closest" to the Starry Sky. This "closeness" had nothing to do with distance; it did not mean the plain sat at the highest elevation, nearest to the sky... Rather, it was simply easier to establish a connection with the distant Starry Sky from there.
By comparison, it was also easier to build a Starlight Saint Tower there than elsewhere.
Perhaps other places in the Present World shared a closer connection to the distant Starry Sky... but none, one imagined, could be as vast as the Star Moon Plain.
The Qi and Jing States both treated it as a forbidden prize, refusing to yield to one another and allowing no other powers to lay a hand on it.
Thus, though the Xiang and Xu States were nearby, they could not establish a foothold there. And though the Zheng State lay not far to its north, it could not advance a single step south.
This had given rise to a peculiar phenomenon unique to the region—
Only a handful of minor powers were active on the Star Moon Plain. Yet the basis of their survival was trade in goods unique to several neighboring states. The most direct trade route, the Star Moon Plain, was closed to those states...
The hegemony of the Qi and Jing States was plain to see in this.
Of course, aside from the Qi and Jing States' habit of regularly sending cultivators to the Star Moon Plain to erect Star Towers, the monks of the Hanging Temple south of the plain came there often as