The Great Void.
Thunder flickered, bright and dark, around Xu Xuan. He had already passed Jade Flow and traveled farther south. With a step, he broke through the Great Void and appeared among the clouds.
Beside him stood a white-robed young man with luminous eyes-Wang Cheng Yan. This was his first journey through the Great Void, and he found it quite novel.
South of Jade Flow lay Guyang Commandery, part of Liang territory. It bordered Chu Hill to the east and connected to Shu Mountain in the west. Great Liang had once been founded here. Farther south lay the wilds of the Southern Border, where demons abounded, close to the Great Li Shaman Kingdom.
"The old lands of Liang."
Xu Xuan surveyed his surroundings and saw a vast river surging eastward. Jade Flow lay on its northern bank, stretching away amid verdant greenery. Guyang Commandery was much more prosperous, with numerous cities and cultivators coming and going, streaks of light falling like rain through the sky.
"The Hong River. Like the Li River, it's one of Great Li's major waterways. I wonder who will be appointed to its divine office in the future."
Looking a little farther west, he saw rolling mountain ranges filled with strange, towering peaks, sheer walls, and broken cliffs. Xu Xuan led Cheng Yan straight toward a spirit mountain. Even from afar, they could see blazing light soaring from its summit and fire serpents racing about.
Array patterns shifted within the mountain, gathering fiery energy into the shape of the Eight Trigrams. At their center stood a four-legged Golden Toad Treasure Furnace, true fire billowing within it. Disciples in black Daoist robes moved to and fro, drawing upon water and fire and fetching copper and tin.
At the foot of the mountain stood a block of