Year 483 of Ming, summer, Major Heat.
Western Kham.
After generations of planning and years of development, Western Shu's Xuanmen had finally taken possession of the vast majority of Western Kham.
By now, all the land within the Golden Sands River had been divided into districts, with each faction governing its own territory.
Southeastern Western Kham had two naturally advantageous sites, Qionghai Lake and Zhuanxu Dragon Cave, so this region had been named Qionglong Commandery. Some pioneering small sects and ordinary people from the Shu Central Region had already moved here. The Emei School was, naturally, in charge.
Qionghai Lake was the heart of Qionglong Commandery, with many cultivators coming and going. As more people came to train, establish cultivation residences, and settle down, the Qionghai Sword Pavilion, once a frontier fortress used to resist the Demon Fiends of the Dian Miao, had developed into a major town encircling the lake.
Towers and pavilions stood along the lakeshore, packed together like scales and comb teeth. Since the master of the Qionghai Sword Pavilion was broad-minded, generous, and utterly without pretension, there was no talk here of taboos or overstepping one's station. With the pavilion master's indulgence and encouragement, the newer buildings around Qionghai Lake grew ever taller and more exquisite. A newcomer would have had no way of telling which was the original Qionghai Sword Pavilion.
Everyone now called this place Qiongdu.
During Major Heat, dawn came early, and as the morning mist dispersed, summer heat began to spread. That morning, a streak of sword light came from the north, flying into a tall building on Qionghai Lake's northern shore, where a woman caught it.
This building was the true Qionghai Sword Pavilion, and this woman was Qiongdu's mistress, Zhou Qingyun of the Azure Cord Sword.
Zhou Qingyun opened the