Outside Dingpu Ferry.
This stretch of the An River was fairly open, with a backwater bay lying ahead to block the flow. Though the current was still swift, compared with the turbulent stretch beyond Dragon-Severing Gorge, it was already relatively calm.
It was precisely because of these favorable conditions—broad waters and gentler currents—that Ancestor Zhouxuan had established Dingpu Ferry here when reclaiming the wilderness to build Ping'an Town. With a few battered ferryboats, he linked Ping'an Town to Changning Guard and barely managed to prop up the operation.
Later, as the Wang Clan rose to prominence, Dingpu Ferry was continuously expanded and gradually dredged deeper, eventually becoming an exceedingly prosperous large inland-river port.
The Flood Dragon Gang was a "flood dragon crossing the river," while the Changning Wang Clan was a "tiger crouching on its own ground."
The fierce clash between the two sides at Dingpu Ferry fifty years ago was still widely told throughout Changning Guard, a tale people never tired of discussing.
Back then, Miss Liyao of the Wang Clan had held off a host of heroes despite her tender age. With a single move, Tianhe Spans the Sky, she had cowed the many powerful figures of the Flood Dragon Gang, displaying the peerless bearing of a young Great Heavenly Prodigy.
Now, fifty years had flashed by.
Miss Liyao, the Wang Clan's Great Heavenly Prodigy, had already become renowned throughout Guilong City, her prestige blazing like the noonday sun and gradually spreading across the nation. The aristocratic clans of Longzuo Prefecture, in particular, felt more than envy, jealousy, and hatred—they were proud of Miss Liyao as well.
Thus, this fifty-year appointment had also stirred the hearts of many.
Not long after Long Wuji's fleet arrived at the ferry, the various factions and aristocratic clans had caught wind of