After a night of wind and thunder, the sun and moon of the Southern Lands shone in turn upon the crisscrossing waterways over the following days, just as they had for countless ages before. Every trace of the heavenly tribulation's thunder and fire had vanished, leaving only glittering ripples like scattered gold and shattered jade across a river, drifting eastward.
The river made a great bend, its rushing current gradually smoothing into gentle waves as it passed through the city. Fragrance from flowers wafted along both banks. Cities in the Southern Lands differed from those elsewhere. Across these vast, fertile lands, wherever people could live, a casual punch into the ground might bring spiritual energy gushing forth. Most of the time, there was no need to gather in groups and fight over benefits; there was already more than enough.
Under such conditions, Southern Lands cultivators had grown ever more demanding when it came to cultivation residences. A single city often covered an enormous area. Cities several hundred li across were considered small; cities spanning a thousand li, even ten thousand li, were commonplace.
Such great cities were built around cultivation holy grounds: superior ones like blessed lands and grotto-heavens, middling ones like spiritual pools and hidden estates, inferior ones like Baleful Intent caverns and earth veins. Sect after sect, fortress after fortress, island after island were pieced together into them. Considerable empty space remained between residential areas, with flying shuttles and Talisman Bridges running back and forth. They appeared far apart, yet travel was very convenient—apart from areas protected by restrictions, naturally.
With a splash, Black Flood Dragon True Man emerged from the river. This bend in the river lay on the outskirts of a fortress, where there was a flying shuttle station and quite a few people waiting. The