In Lanzhou, there was a vast lake named Heavenly Secrets Lake. Its waters nourished the land of Lanzhou, turning this desolate grassland into a Jiangnan beyond the frontier.
That, however, was history.
Present-day Lanzhou was having a harder time than any other northern province.
At its northernmost edge, Cloud-Breaking Terrace, which bordered the Yan Kingdom, had suffered wars year after year, forcing the populace to crowd southward bit by bit.
To the west lay what had once been Lanzhou's most prosperous region, but it too had been ravaged by the deadly poisonous herb, Nightmare Grass. Half the province was simply uninhabitable.
Thus, nearly everyone in Lanzhou had been squeezed into an area no more than five hundred li in radius east of Ning City.
A local poet had once written: "Of the Jiangnan of old, half a province remains. Who knew whether Heaven itself grieved?"
That poet had been thrown into Ning City's prison, charged with slandering His Majesty.
Objectively speaking, it truly had been a veiled jab at His Majesty. The "Heaven" in his poem referred precisely to the Emperor.
Qing Ying had told Lin Xiaosu all this while they were high in the sky.
She pointed at the vast lake ahead. "That is Heavenly Secrets Lake, controlled by the Thousand-Poison Sect. It has now become an entirely poisonous lake."
Lin Xiaosu's Heavenly Insight Eye pierced through the air. The lake below seemed to draw abruptly closer. There were no impurities in the water; it looked crystal-clear and transparent. Yet under the perception of his Primordial Spirit, even he was startled. The toxicity of this water was extraordinary, almost equal to the water from Changye's "that place" back then.
How terrifying had the water from Changye's "that place" been? In the entire Daxia Realm, probably only he had dared