Qianqiu[1] City, Ning Province, Western Jin.0

Qianqiu City had stood for three thousand years. A thousand years ago, the Xu Clan rose to prominence and settled here, renaming the city to Qianqiu. A thousand years after that, it had grown into a metropolis housing hundreds of thousands of people.0

This was the ancestral seat of the main family of the Xu Clan all the way back when they were still a clan of mortals. It also served as the clan’s hub connecting the mortals and the immortals.0

There was an area in the western district that was kept exceptionally clean. The roads were paved with uniformly-sized limestones. Its surface was spotless, yet several laborers were sweeping it repeatedly like it was covered in dust.0

Three nearly identical edifices stood in this area. Occasionally, people could be seen entering or exiting the place, all in a great hurry. All three edifices exuded a chilling aura of lethal intent—in fact, faint, intermittent screams could be heard from time to time. They were the three main halls of the main family: the Heavenly Mysteries Hall, the Privy Council Hall, and the Morn-Eve Hall. Though not necessarily the place with the highest nominal authority, it was unquestionably the most feared place in the entire city.0

At the moment, over a dozen people were seated in a circle inside the Privy Council Hall and staring at a sand table map in the center of the hall. Crafted with extreme precision, the map covered most of Ning Province and Ningxi Commandery.0

The seats were elevated so as to give them a commanding view of the map below. Yet, most of the people in the hall had downcast eyes. It was clear at a glance that they...0