New Continent, Zhu Sheng!

Northern New Continent.

No, it should now be called the Northern Alliance. This vast territory, stretching tens of thousands of kilometers, was no longer named after the sects and city-states of old, but collectively known as the Northern Alliance.

The alliance headquarters stood at Heaven Pillar Mountain in the heart of the continent. This mountain range rose abruptly from the plains, its body nearly vertical and pillar-shaped. From its foot to its summit, it stood over ten thousand meters tall. Gray-white bands of cloud encircled its midsection year-round, separating the upper half of the mountain from the mortal world.

The mountaintop was flat as if cleaved by a blade. It was said that, near the end of the unification war, a Third Realm cultivator had leveled it with a full-force strike. Layers of gray-white granite lay exposed across the cross-section, while buildings spread across that level summit, forming the outline of a city suspended above the clouds.

Around Heaven Pillar Mountain lay a continuous expanse of urban districts, stretching from its foothills across the surrounding plains and covering a radius of several hundred kilometers with the mountain at its center.

The city's layout followed its waterways. Broad artificial canals crisscrossed along the terrain, dividing the city into countless orderly square blocks.

The stone embankments along both banks were built from solid bluestone. At intervals, stone arch bridges spanned the water. Pedestrians streamed across the bridges, while boats constantly passed through the canals. Boatmen's calls rose and fell over the water, mingling with the cries of merchants on both shores and the laughter of children running about.

Farther out, beyond the city, stretched a vast plain. Farmland and medicinal fields covered it in broad patches, arranged in orderly square plots along both sides of the waterways.

At intervals along the field