Early in the year 2649 of the Douluo Calendar!
Above Heaven Dou City, the sky was clear for ten thousand miles, yet dark clouds hung over the hearts of those below. In recent years, relations between the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild had grown increasingly strained. The imperial family had acted against the guild repeatedly, striking at it both openly and in secret. Yet the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild controlled the Heaven Dou Empire's economic lifeline. Faced with imperial suppression, it needed only to lift a finger to leave the imperial family helpless. But the imperial family was not alone in tasting the bitter fruit. The empire's violent economic fluctuations had hit even the common people hard.
Every time, the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild offered aid to the people, drawing their hearts further toward it. The commoners could not understand why the imperial family insisted on making trouble for the guild without cause. In their eyes, the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild was a truly conscientious business. It neither cheated the people nor colluded with officials to rake in exorbitant profits.
In this war without gunpowder smoke, most hearts had already turned toward the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild. On that front, the Heaven Dou Empire had suffered an utter defeat.
Several hundred li from Heaven Dou City stood a vast, imposing city. This was the Heaven Sect's headquarters, Heaven City!
Heaven Hall was Heaven City's tallest and most iconic building, its towering structure visible even from outside the city. No commoners lived anywhere within Heaven City, not because they were excluded or discriminated against, but to ensure that none of its secrets risked leaking before the Heaven Sect revealed itself to the world.
The other cities built by the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild-Xuan City, Hao City,