Great Chu, Golden Mausoleum.
During the Long-Haired Rebellion, the Long-Haired Bandits had made Golden Mausoleum their capital and carved out half the land south of the river. They had held it for more than a decade.
In the end, an army had finally breached the city, but the Long-Haired Bandits were adept at swaying the people. Even as the city fell, more than a hundred thousand diehard loyalists had followed them to their deaths.
The slaughter had been so terrible that all the bodies were thrown into the river, choking the Yangtze until it seemed to stop flowing.
More than a century later, Golden Mausoleum had long since recovered its Origin Energy. Its royal aura was gone, but it was thriving once more and had become one of the most important cities in the south.
Its standing even surpassed that of a certain other world!
Now the Fan Household, the most Qiang of the Three Families of Xiajiang, had long since established itself here. After years of building its interests, the city mattered even more to the household than Lower River did.
Lower River, after all, was remote, far from Great Chu's political and economic circles!
At that moment, in a Villa nestled between Mountain and water, Fan Jiren, the Fan Household's current head, sat on a broad balcony. Before him stretched an open view of the great river, its rippling surface glittering in the setting sun.
That pleasure alone, and a location like this, were beyond the reach of ordinary wealthy families. It spoke volumes about the Fan Household's standing today.
Fan Jiren rested with his eyes closed, listening to his children, grandchildren, and subordinates hold forth beside him. He seemed almost asleep.
But no one dared underestimate the drowsy-looking old man. Within his aged, gaunt frame lay the