Southern Origin Capital.
The silver-gray plains stretched beyond sight. Cold winds howled over ten thousand miles of frozen earth, where cattle and sheep occasionally drifted past like vast banks of white clouds.
The [Azure Plains] lay south of Origin Capital. Traveling far to the northeast and crossing the Withered Stone River brought one into the territory controlled by the Rebirth Dharma Dao. Many went there to worship at the treasured temple on [White Lotus Mountain].
Traveling more than a hundred thousand miles southwest from these plains and crossing the Vast Gold Mountains, however, brought one into the Desolate Capital, from which the demon land could be reached.
A towering silver mountain stood in the middle of the plains, stretching for hundreds of miles. Cold metallic light gleamed across its surface, riddled with holes of every size, where sinister things seemed to scurry and vicious beasts lurked.
Temples and altars of every description covered the mountain. Cultivators in iron-gray robes could faintly be seen riding the wind between its slopes. All were at Foundation Establishment, and most cultivated witchcraft and Metal Virtue.
Below, countless mortals clad in meager clothing against the bitter cold slaughtered cattle and sheep or hauled timber and stone. The noise shook the heavens, making the flames in the enormous bronze lamps beside them flutter and their shadows writhe.
The Great Void split open, revealing colored light.
A woman in a long dress of cloud brocade and colored silk stepped out, a faint stir of emotion on her lovely face. She looked down at the countless men and women, old and young, their flesh mangled and their clothing ragged. A million in all, they were serving as forced laborers.
These were all lowborn people conscripted from the various tribes.
The Liao Territory was vast, far larger than the