Heaven Pool Outer Sea.
Silver snow and cold frost poured down from the sky. The dark seawater froze into ice, and waves of subtle fragrance drifted out. A woman emerged from the frost and snow, dressed in a plain skirt, her bearing cold and aloof, a plum branch cradled in her arms.
"So this is the Southern Sea. I haven't been here in so long, and it has already changed this much."
Bai Xuan stood quietly on the ice, watching the sea-patrolling Azure Horned Serpents she had sent to announce her arrival, her gaze deep and distant.
Many years ago, the entire Southern Sea had been home to Mist Dragons. Back then, the South Mist Dragon Palace also governed the rivers, lakes, and marshes ashore, appointed by the Human Emperor of Great Zhou himself. Its power had surpassed even that of the Eastern Sea.
All of that had vanished with the Fall of Zhou. Newly born waterfolk only occasionally heard such tales in the oldest legends. Perhaps a stray scale or claw-a trace of that past-could still be found beneath the dark seabed.
Now, however, things had changed. The Mist Marsh Dragon Court had truly brought its power to bear and reclaimed this old palace, enough to shake every scaled creature beneath heaven.
She gazed into the distance and could just make out an ink-cloud pillar patterned with dragons at the center of Heaven Pool. It reached the blue vault above and plunged into the ocean abyss below, continually proclaiming through the mysteries of fortune official qi that Heaven Pool was the capital, and the Mist Dragons ruled here.
The Great Void opened. Golden thunder, sharp as the heavenly edges of swords and blades, burst forth, and a man in bronze battle armor stepped out, his gaze slightly somber. Both