Several miles south of Xiangguo Commandery's seat stood a small hill called Longgang. Though it was a hill, an enormous well inexplicably sat atop it. Flood or drought, its water level never fell throughout the year, and its water tasted sweet and refreshing. So, at some unknown point, a fortress had been built here, becoming a famous garrison site and the actual core of Xiangguo Commandery's military defenses.
Its existence was rather like that enormous Black Emperor Temple over in Wuan Commandery... the sort of thing that would sooner or later get its own building chain in a low-end strategy game... and, in fact, the two were connected.
It was said that, toward the end of some dynasty, the world had fallen into chaos, with wars raging endlessly. A great drought had struck Hebei as well, leaving the common people in unspeakable misery. Someone had invited the people of the Black Emperor Temple to the south to pray for rain. As it happened, a Commander of Fate from the Northern Demon-Suppressing Guard was inexplicably staying at the temple. On hearing the request, he had walked straight out, performed several calculations, and arrived at this hill. Then he had dug into the earth with True Qi, uncovering a dead dragon as thick as an arm after digging barely three feet.
The moment the dead dragon emerged, rain had fallen. The spot he had excavated became that well.
Longgang-Dragon Ridge-had also taken its name from this.
Later, after this Commander of Fate had taken the dragon corpse north, someone had finally realized that this was no ordinary dead dragon, but a corpse dragon, a monstrous thing born when the dead True Dragon of Red Mountain mixed with the blood of a Supreme One and encountered the Killing Intent and Resentment of a