Ever since the matter of Eastern Court expanding its residence had been settled, the name of the new provincial seat had been fixed as Anzhou. This both conveyed a new symbolic meaning and expressed the inheritance of the achievements of those who came before.
The towering, majestic platform-city of Anzhou rose imposingly, its Upper Layer seeming to meet the heavens. To one side, the long, soaring Peace Mountains now looked from afar almost like a blue-gray rampart beyond the city, their grandeur completely eclipsed by the great platform.
Goddess Peak had also been encompassed within it. From any point in the city, one could clearly see the silhouette of that steep, lofty peak.
Zhang Yu took a look. This new provincial seat was not yet entirely finished; to complete it all would take until the third year. However, the many structures and fortifications pertaining to military use had already been completed ahead of time.
The enormous, solid high platform and the jade-white city walls like a great dam possessed a vast and magnificent form that made one unconsciously hold one's breath.
Viewed from afar, they were all the more soul-stirring, evoking a sense of one's own smallness. Yet such man-made structures, built from vast quantities of metal and stone, were steeped in cold hardness and lacked a measure of warmth and living vitality.
If this place had been a purely military fortification, there would naturally have been no need to fuss over such things. But a provincial seat was meant for people to live in, and the Profound Residence within was even more a place for cultivators. What it emphasized was the resonance of Heaven and man, endless generation and transformation; naturally, it could not merely keep company with metal and stone.
However, he had reviewed the plans before construction