Zhenxi Manor

In the end, Xu Yuan decided to head to Dragon Burial Valley first. A suggestive name like Dragon Burial Valley was exclusive to Cangyuan; on official Great Yan records, the place was known as Thousand Thorns Gorge. According to the maps Xu Yuan obtained through the Black Scale Guards, it was a colossal rift valley that virtually delineated the border between Xize Province and the Monan Protectorate. Stretching for thousands of li, tributary gorges spiderwebbed outward from the main rift, blanketing the entire region. Decades ago, Thousand Thorns Gorge had served as the natural frontier between Great Yan and the Dachao Royal Court. Yet through the vigorous governance of the two in Di'an, the blades of the Zhenxi Army had swept across this natural barrier. They established the Monan Protectorate across the comparatively fertile southern reaches of the Great Desert, bringing this magnificent chasm fully under the dynasty's dominion. Setting off from Kaiyuan Prefecture in Daying Province, Xu Yuan traveled swiftly westward with the two women, Ran Qingmo and Bai Muxi, taking on "low-level" side quests along the way. The journey was long, but not without its charms. The guilty pleasure of playing the pig to eat the tiger. Truth be told, the world was full of wondrous absurdities. Whenever they arrived at a town or city, Xu Yuan couldn't indulge in the local nightlife with the Big Ice Block at his side, but sampling the regional delicacies was still an enjoyable pastime. And this habit showed him firsthand that people really did pick fights with him just because they lusted after the beauty of the Big Ice Block and Xiao Bai. Dining at renowned local restaurants, Ran Qingmo and Bai Muxi couldn't very well eat with their veils on. Both women were slender and strikingly stunning; unveiling their faces naturally drew flies. Most onlookers possessed enough sense to slink off sheepishly once rebuffed. However, Xu Yuan usually frequented the finest taverns in each area, where privileged second-generation scions often gathered. Do it often enough, and one was bound to run into a few wastrels whose lower halves dictated their brains. Some young masters even thought to slip drugs into the trio's food while possessing a mere Eighth Rank Meridian Tempering cultivation. Still, the scions in commandery seats and provincial capitals generally had some discernment; such incidents mostly occurred in small county towns. A classic case of shallow waters teeming with turtles, and a tiny temple harboring wild winds. That wasn't to say provincial capitals and commandery seats were devoid of fools, however. While passing through Mingfeng Commandery in Tianhua Province, slaying a wastrel led by his groin actually triggered a manhunt by the boy's clan. It gave Xu Yuan a genuine taste of being the protagonist in a story. At Xu Yuan's deliberate request for amusement, neither the Big Ice Block nor Xiao Bai revealed their true strength. First came the young master's bodyguards, then consecrated retainers and elders, until finally even the clan's Grandmaster ancestor was stirred into action. Unfortunately for him, after expending immense effort to track down the three, the venerable ancestor was dispatched in a few quick moves by the Big Ice Block and Xiao Bai working together. Xu Yuan didn't even get a chance to lift a finger. Aside from this guilty pleasure of playing the pig to eat the tiger, Xu Yuan also encountered some intriguing folk. Rising local sects. The founding of technique-teaching martial academies had caused a proliferation of grassroots martial apprentices, while imperial decrees from Di'an led many local administrations to deliberately foster secular sects to absorb these apprentices and help suppress local unrest. This gave rise to the embryonic form of a "wulin" among the common folk. On their journey west, the three crossed paths with quite a few figures of this martial community, though the monikers they bestowed upon themselves made it exceedingly hard for Xu Yuan to keep a straight face. XX Fairy. XX Saber. XX Kicks. There were even "XX Venerables." Cringeworthy titles aside, quite a few of them were decent enough people. At the very least, several swordswomen dubbed "Fairies" were undeniably striking. Furthermore, while chatting with these martial folk, Xu Yuan not only learned various local anecdotes, but also stumbled upon a pleasant surprise. Over in Xize Province, a swordswoman known as Fairy Baiji had recently risen to fame after wiping out a thousand-man bandit fortress in Thousand Thorns Gorge single-handedly. And if Xu Yuan remembered correctly, Baiji was precisely the pseudonym used by the Little Dragon Maiden within the Great Yan Dynasty. Learning that his former 2D waifu was roaming about, Xu Yuan was so thrilled that he transmitted a message to the Black Scale Guards that very night. Traveling ten thousand li truly surpassed reading ten thousand scrolls. After an arduous two-month journey, Xu Yuan finally arrived at the provincial capital of Xize with Ran Qingmo and Bai Muxi. On the map of Great Yan, the administrative territory of Xize Province formed a long, narrow strip, spanning scarcely three thousand li east to west, but stretching over twenty thousand li north to south. It bordered the Wanxing Mountain Range to the southwest and the Great Desert to the northwest, a battle-scarred frontier of Great Yan that, in ill-fated years, had to face incursions from both the Great Desert and Guyuan at the same time. To counter this situation, even though formal imperial decrees had yet to be issued, Xize Province had already been practically divided into northern and southern defense sectors, with the central stronghold of Tianxing Pass serving as the dividing axis. In the north, the Zhenxi Army guarded against the Great Desert, while in the south, the Great Yan border army and the Xuanjia Army joined forces to defend against Guyuan. The Wanxiang Sect Xu Yuan had visited before lay at the southernmost tip of Xize Province. It was truly hard to imagine that the landscapes across a single province could differ so drastically. The south boasted singing birds, fragrant blooms, and lush foliage; the north was an expanse of yellow desert sands where wild geese ceased to fly. The provincial capital of Xize was neither a bustling metropolis like those in Great Yan's heartland nor a colossal fortress built on a plain between two mountain ridges like Beifeng City; it was an outright pass-city fortress. It sat perched atop a massive promontory on the western edge of Thousand Thorns Gorge. To its north and south were sheer cliffs towering ten thousand fathoms high, while its eastern and western fronts were sealed by soaring walls built along the terrain. Outside the western gate lay one of the few narrow plank paths capable of crossing the bottomless natural abyss of Thousand Thorns Gorge into the Western Desert. Yet after generations of reinforcement and filling by craftsmen, this plank path had widened to hundreds of zhang, serving as Great Yan's most vital supply line to the Monan Protectorate. Oh, right. The provincial capital of Xize was named Zhenxi, and the origin of this name was naturally inseparable from the family of Xu Yuan's dear "bosom" brother. The Marquis of Zhenxi had personally submitted a memorial requesting that the provincial capital of Xize be relocated to this pass bordering the Great Desert. To reward his valor, the Emperor named the provincial capital Zhenxi. This was the Zhenxi Army's garrison—or rather, it used to be. The Marquis of Zhenxi was a traditional military man who steadfastly lived by the principle that a famed commander ought to guard the realm's outer gate. Once his spearhead pushed past Thousand Thorns Gorge, the garrison of the Zhenxi Army had shifted westward once more, relocating to the Monan Protectorate. Presently, only two battalions rotated back from the front line remained stationed in Zhenxi Manor, guarding this vital lifeline for the Monan Protectorate. Consequently, Xu Yuan's thought of meeting his good "bosom" brother naturally fell through. On second thought, there was nothing to regret. Even if they did meet, other than catching up with that "bosom" brother of his, there wouldn't be much fun to be had. After all, he had brought family along this time. He certainly wouldn't be able to experience the "local pleasures" Li Junwu had described in her letters.