Northeastern Dian, Ma Xiong Mountain.
Ma Xiong Mountain resembled a heavenly steed tossing its mane, its jagged ridges imposing and majestic, hence its name.
This mountain was said to have "one drop of water feeding three rivers." Clouds and mist at its summit fell as rain, which the steep ridges divided into three streams: one flowed southeast into the Nanpan River, the source of the West River, then surged east for over ten thousand li before emptying into the Southern Sea; one headed northwest, gathering into the Niulan River before finally joining the Yangtze River; and one flowed southwest, winding through many turns before joining the Red River.
Besides these, Ma Xiong Mountain was also the source of the Beipan River. Both the Nanpan and Beipan Rivers originated here, one flowing south and the other north, before meeting again at the border between the Miao Borderlands and the Southern Wastes to form the Red Water River.
From this, it was not difficult to deduce Ma Xiong Mountain's importance to the West River.
As the source of the headwaters and major tributaries of many great rivers, Ma Xiong Mountain was naturally blessed with spiritual beauty, a treasured land in Eastern Dian. Long ago, it had been the cultivation grounds of the Southern School's former leader, Ancestor Haha, a great devil native to Dianwen.
Later, after Ancestor Haha was sealed away and Green Robe merged with the West River, Ma Xiong Mountain became Green Robe's property. He treated it as his forbidden preserve and would never permit another to lay a finger on it. Even when Ancestor Haha emerged again and sought to seize the mountain, Green Robe ruthlessly drove him back without showing the slightest consideration.
But the West River was too long, with too many important strategic points for Green