Golden Sun City's lord was named Feng Ji, a Catfolk powerhouse with only quasi-Heaven-ranked strength.
At that level, outside the Heavenly Splendor Domain, he would probably have been instantly slain by a bandit captain. Yet among the several dozen nearby cities, he could be considered one of the top five. Within the Heavenly Splendor Domain, the closer a city lord or national lord was to the official war zone, the stronger they were. City lords in the outer second- and third-tier regions that did not directly participate in the war were mostly below Heaven rank; a rare few were even only Level Six Earth rank.
Feng Ji had not originally been Golden Sun City's lord.
He had been an adventurer who came to cultivate in the Heavenly Splendor Domain. When Golden Sun City's former lord died in battle, followed by the captain of the guards and the steward who had succeeded him, there was simply no one left capable of taking up the post. So Feng Ji had voluntarily taken over Golden Sun City.
Adventurers like him who succeeded to the position of city lord were not uncommon in the Heavenly Splendor Domain.
Although the outer cities of the Heavenly Splendor Domain did not demand much strength or seniority from their lords, quite a few lordships still stood vacant, with no one willing to take over those messes. Not far from Golden Sun City was Sheep Hoof City. Its minerals were scarce, its land barren, and compounded by natural and man-made disasters, the commoners there, after being squeezed by heavy taxes, were all starving. No one was willing to take it over, so the national lord in charge could only send a small garrison to manage it temporarily and barely maintain public order. If a major outside merchant group sent