Ye City's geographical position was unique even within Great Tang's Central Region.
It lay within Xin'an Great Marsh. Though called a "city," it was actually a collection of mountainous islands floating in the marsh.
Looking east, a thousand islands lay scattered like stars across the sky and pieces across a chessboard.
The water was blue-green, the sky white. A thin veil of mist floated between them, blurring the islands' outlines into varying shades.
Occasionally, fishing boats and Spirit Boats skimmed across the water, startling a whole shoal of white egrets into flight.
Ye City lay in the southeastern part of the vast marsh.
Pan Mountain was the tallest of all the mountainous islands in the marsh.
Its slopes were steep, yet solid and imposing, rising from the water's edge straight into the clouds.
Clouds and mist shrouded its summit year-round, while at its foot lay Ye Abyss.
Ye Abyss was a natural site of earth-vein volcanic fire.
Fissures deep in the rock connected to underground streams of molten rock. Earthfire surged up through those cracks, gathering at the mountain's foot into a bottomless abyss.
Red Qi steamed from the abyss throughout the year, and its firelight stained the water mist for dozens of li around a dark red.
If ordinary cultivators approached too closely, that scorching heat would force even their protective Spiritual Qi to quiver.
The waters had their thousand islands, the mountains had Pan Mountain, and the fire had Ye Abyss.
These three utterly different terrains converged here, creating Ye City's unique landscape.
At that moment, an elegant boat sailed slowly across the marsh.
"Sir, how did Ye City's terrain become so unusual?"
Six or seven figures stood aboard the boat, all men. Most were powerfully built and did not look like cultivators.
One young man was chatting