Western Sea, Golden Pivot.
Mystic ice covered the sea, and clear qi filled the sky.
Golden Pivot lay in a corner of the Western Sea, bordering the Origin Sea to the west, the outer sea to the south, and facing the Xia Lands to the north. Countless tens of thousands of miles separated these regions, leaving it little affected by outside turmoil. It could be called a peaceful corner of the Western Sea.
In recent years, the region had grown ever colder, with snow falling all year round. The sea for ten thousand miles around had frozen over, almost matching the bitter cold of the Northern Sea's Cold Gate.
By contrast, the rest of the Western Sea had mostly grown warmer in recent years. The waters near the Xia Lands were boiling hot, scorching enough to strip flesh from bone at a touch, and countless aquatic creatures had perished.
Now, dark currents threaded through the surrounding ice and snow. Within the Great Void, they gathered like river waters breaking through their banks, or the grievances of common folk under a court that stilled all criticism. A Dragon Maiden stepped slowly out of the Great Void.
The Dragon Maiden had lovely, delicate features and a shadowy aura. Her ink-dark eyes were serene, a reverse scale lay at her neck, and gray plumes grew along her throat. Her long, mystic-ink cloud-patterned dress trailed Ren radiance.
[River-Dredging Mystic-Feather Dragon Maiden], Mu Yu, the Dragon Lord's own flesh and blood.
She had come from the Northern Sea, crossing the domains of several Immortal Dao lineages along the way. No one had dared trouble her.
East of Golden Pivot lay the domains of those Immortal Dao lineages, a region named the [Formless Sea], home to the Secret White Path, Yama Hall, and others.
Farther west