White Light City

Biodata

Background / History

According to Chen Linger's account, White Light City was originally ruled by three powers without any distinction between inner and outer districts: the military, the Xuanyuan Clan, and the Tuoba Clan. 14

A Tuoba Clan prodigy rose to the Dipper Pivot Realm in less than sixty years and suppressed the other two powers. During a later northwestern barbarian invasion, he broke through to the High Origin Realm on the battlefield, slew three enemy generals, and held back the invading force until Great Zhou reinforcements arrived. His actions saved White Light City from destruction. 14

After the war, a yellow-robed Daoist who had treated the wounded took the Tuoba prodigy into the Central Plains. The medicine shop he left behind became the predecessor of the Medicine King Shop, while his title, Lord of South Abundance Valley, remained associated with the city. The Chen Clan's ancestor had served as the Daoist's herb-gathering boy. 14

Over the following century, the city expanded and developed its current inner- and outer-city division. 14

Geography and Layout

• White Light City stands in the heart of Blue Orchid Continent, where abundant water and grass contrast with the surrounding Western Desert. 2 7
• An underground water source said to extend for a thousand li sustains the city and its surrounding life. 13
• The city is divided into an inner city and an outer city. 2
  • The inner city is chiefly controlled by two sects and three clans; people without status have difficulty entering it. 2
  • Most residents earn their livelihoods in the outer city, where land is extremely valuable and refugees seek entry for safety. 2 13
• Generations of people have lived beyond the city walls by relying on local water and grass, with the city initially leaving their nomadic settlements alone. 7
• Sunset Slope, northwest of the city, is a local slope and hollow where multicolored arcs of light appear around sunset. 33

Governance and Defense

• The outer-city military is led by General Li Xuanfeng, whose forces include the Mountain Sea Guard and the Eighteen Heavy Guards. 2 11 15
• The Mountain Sea Guard serves as one of the reserve guards for the Eighteen Heavy Guards; martial artists who reach the Fetal Breath Realm may be incorporated into the latter. 15
• The Outer City's Military Supplies Camp manages provisions, weaponry, and military horses. It also hosts the Martial Lecture Hall for recruits facing their military assessment. 10
• The city maintains bounty notices through the Outer City Security Bureau, rewarding those who bring in the heads of sand bandits. This created the profession of bandit hunter. 7
• White Light City's prestige suppresses large bandit groups within roughly three hundred li of the city center, though sand banditry remains widespread beyond its reach. 7
• General Li can deploy a true-qi barrier to shield ordinary spectators from the force and noise of martial artists' clashes. 19
• The city possesses a City-Protecting Grand Formation that can cover every courtyard when activated. 24
• The outer city also relies on restrictions associated with its northern and southern gates. These restrictions were destroyed when hostile forces activated jade talismans during the Six Halls Martial Meet crisis. 29
• White Light City's military conducts a three-stage selection for border soldiers: martial selection, life-and-death selection, and selection of the heart. Those who pass all three may be sent to the Central Plains for further tempering. 45
• Soldiers who clear the Three-Knock Blood Pass within three months qualify for White Light City's foreign-race trial. Participants are dispatched beyond the border through a formation using Minor Teleportation Talismans and must return through their own strength after the half-year trial. 58 59

Major Locations

• Outer City Garrison Hall — enlistment point for the city army. Wang Xuance joined the Mountain Sea Guard here. 2
• White Light Parade Ground / Grand Drill Ground — military training and assembly area for the Mountain Sea Guard and special soldiers undergoing the border trial selection. 2 9 58
• Military Supplies Camp — headquarters for outer-city garrison supplies and weapons; site of the Martial Lecture Hall. 10
• Martial Force Hall — military facility where soldiers' Three-Knock Blood Pass qualifications are examined. 43
• Medicine King Shop — the outer city's largest spiritual-medicine shop, built on grounds extensive enough to contain Water Orchid Pavilion and its lake. 5 13
• Water Orchid Pavilion — a pavilion on a lake within the Medicine King Shop's extensive grounds, where Chen Linger met Wang Xuance. 13
• Outer City Security Bureau — accepts sand bandit heads and pays the posted bounties. 7
• Northern Gate — station of a Tower Stele Martial Hall survivor who later joined White Light City; one of the gates whose outer-city restrictions were breached during the martial-meet attack. 12 29
• Southern Gate — the second gate targeted alongside the Northern Gate when jade talismans destroyed the outer city's restrictions. 29
• Martial Meet Stone Hollow — a large circular pit in the outer city with walls hard enough to resist ordinary weapons; it hosts the Six Halls Martial Meet. 18
• Sunset Slope — a scenic slope and hollow northwest of the city, used as a meeting point before Chen Linger's expedition into the Western Desert. 33

Economy and Resources

• Spiritual medicine is a major part of the city's economy. The Medicine King Shop sells herbs needed for cultivation, while refined medicinal decoctions are substantially more expensive than the raw ingredients. 5 12
• Alchemists capable of refining medicinal concoctions are honored guests among major powers in White Light City and the wider Western Desert. 12
• The flesh and blood of first-rank treasure beasts are valuable local materials for refining pills and medicinal soups. 61
• The outer city contains the Chen, Bai, and Li families, whose public reputation is important enough that internal murder is treated as a capital offense. 6
• A daily newspaper is sold to city residents for half a wen. 15

The Six Halls Martial Meet

The Six Halls Martial Meet is held once every six years and jointly organized by White Light City's six outer-city martial halls and the Outer City Military Governor's Office. It identifies talented martial artists for official rank and military service. 15 18

Autumn Killing Black-Yellow Drum

• The meet opens with the Autumn Killing Black-Yellow Drum, White Light City's weapon of suppression. 18
• It was forged on Hundred Forge Mountain from deep-desert earth essence, white gold essence, deep-sea silver mother, and armor-clad divine wood. 18
• The drum was bestowed after White Light City held back one hundred thousand elite Western Barbarian troops. 18
• Ordinary people can beat it but cannot release its killing power; martial practitioners can wield it as a suppressive weapon. 18
• During the outer-city crisis, the drum appeared in a compact golden sphere form and was caught by the long-browed elder defending White Light City. 31

Current Threats

• Sand bandits endanger trade routes and the security of the outer city, while displaced martial artists from plague-stricken cities may become sand raiders after being denied entry without identification. 7 16
• Several Mountain Sea Guard members have disappeared during rest periods following General Li's killing of a Qilian Mountains disciple inside the city. 11 13
• The Qilian Mountains publicly accused White Light City of taking an item that did not belong to it and threatened retaliation after the disciple's death. 11
• General Li and Sword Elder suspect that upheavals in Blue Orchid Continent's cities may be connected to the Demonic Sect. 15
• The latest Six Halls Martial Meet was infiltrated by hostile forces. Their jade talismans destroyed the outer city's northern and southern gate restrictions, while several martial-hall disciples and many civilians became collateral victims of the ensuing conflict. 29 30 33
• At least a thousand ordinary civilians and numerous martial artists were caught in the martial-meet crisis. The city's military and martial halls subsequently prohibited discussion of the incident, treating those who spread its truth as traitors to the city. 33 48
• The northwestern foreign races have shown renewed activity along the frontier, requiring White Light City's selected soldiers to undertake dangerous overseas-border trials. 15 58
• The anticipated emergence of the Two Chan Temple ruins has drawn the attention of Great Zhou, the Barbarian Tribe, the Demon Sect, and descendants of the temple's disciples, creating a wider source of instability for the frontier. 57

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Wang Xuance's refuge — Wang Xuance reaches White Light City after surviving the destruction of Tower Stele Martial Hall and chooses to enlist in its army for protection and resources. 2
• Military cultivation base — The city provides Wang Xuance with the Crane Form Stance, military lodging, training grounds, and access to medicinal resources. 2 5 12
• Qilian Mountains incident — General Li kills a Qilian Mountains disciple during a Martial Lecture Hall gathering, turning the city into the focal point of a sectarian dispute. 10 11
• Rising instability — Bandit attacks, plague-driven migration, and unexplained disappearances among the Mountain Sea Guard make travel beyond the walls increasingly dangerous. 13 16
• Six Halls Martial Meet — The city hosts the martial tournament in which Wang Xuance enters the arena to gain True Martial Qi and seek advancement. 15 18
• Outer-city breach — During Wang Xuance's confrontation with Li Mingyu, powerful intruders destroy the outer city's gate restrictions and turn the tournament grounds into a battlefield. Wu Shan kills multiple martial-hall disciples amid the disorder, while General Li and the long-browed elder move to defend the city. 29 30 31
• Suppressed aftermath — Despite the heavy civilian and martial-artist casualties of the martial-meet crisis, White Light City soon resumes its ordinary appearance under an enforced silence surrounding the event. 33 48
• Chen Clan power struggle — The city serves as the setting for the Chen Clan's succession conflict, in which Wang Xuance aids Chen Linger's side under the identity of Mo Wang Xiu. The first branch is ultimately transferred to Chen Xuanfeng's lineage after the intervention of a yellow-robed monk. 45 48 53
• Border-trial staging ground — After returning to the city, Wang Xuance qualifies as a special soldier and chooses General Li's dangerous foreign-race trial over lifelong military service, departing through White Light City's teleportation formation. 58 59