The Imperatorial Provincial Capital.

Since ancient times, it had enjoyed its reputation as “the city of a thousand lakes.” Countless lakes both big and small dotted the city, like bright mirrors embedded in the ground.

Of all the cities within the Great Zhou’s borders, the Imperatorial Provincial Capital’s size and prosperity both ranked in the top ten.

If the Cloudriver Prefectural Capital was the heart of its prefecture, then the Imperatorial Provincial Capital was the epicenter of its subsidiary six prefectures.

The difference between the two was as vast as the gulf between heaven and earth.

Countless factions of all sizes intercrossed here, but only eight stood at the top. They were, respectively, the provincial government, Heaven’s Origin Academy, the Redscale Army, and the city’s five peak-level clans.

Of them, the provincial government represented the Great Zhou’s imperial court; it administered all six of the province’s prefectures. 

Heaven’s Origin Academy was one of the Great Zhou’s Ten Great Academies.

The Redscale Army was under the command of the Cloudlight Marquis, Shen Jiusong. Its camp was stationed about thirty miles southwest of the city.

The five great families were the Zhao, Yu, Bai, Zheng, and Xue. All of them were towering entities, their forces so mighty and their authority...