Chapter 226: The Great Yan Empire

The map stretched across the large table, its yellowed surface covered in faded ink lines that had survived countless decades. Mountain ranges, rivers, trade routes, forbidden lands, and countless cities had all been meticulously marked by hands that had long reduced to dust.

Gu Fan slowly traced the borders with his finger.

The Great Yan Empire.

The Empire was far larger than he had imagined.

According to the records, the empire ruled over five enormous provinces, each almost a kingdom unto itself. Every province possessed countless cities, sects, clans, mines, spirit veins, and millions upon millions of mortals who existed solely to feed the cultivation world above them.

Nothing seems to have changed so far in the information from what he had written in the story. That was a good start.

His finger drifted lower and lower and still lower until it finally reached the very bottom edge of the map.

Southern Cloud Province.

Unlike the prosperous central regions, Southern Cloud Province was notorious throughout the empire as a poisonous wasteland. Endless swamps exhaled deadly miasma day and night. Ancient forests concealed venomous spirit beasts. Toxic rivers flowed through black mountains where ordinary people could perish simply by breathing the air for too long.

Resources were scarce and danger was everywhere.

Even cultivators disappeared there without leaving behind a corpse.

"...What a lovely tourist destination."

Gu Fan clicked his tongue.

His gaze continued downward until he found a tiny dot sitting near the empire’s southern border.

Poison Valley Town.

Compared to the enormous provincial capitals surrounding it, the town looked laughably insignificant.

No.

Calling it insignificant was already generous.

It looked like someone had accidentally flicked a grain of dust onto the map.

Gu Fan stared at it for several silent moments before letting out an amused laugh.

"So that’s the truth."

"We aren’t even a city."

"We are barely a checkpoint."

The more he studied the map, the clearer everything became.

Poison Valley Town wasn’t poor because the Gu Clan or Bai Clan were incompetent.

The place itself had never mattered.

Its only value lay in serving as a miserable border settlement where rogue cultivators, wandering mercenaries, fugitives, smugglers, and desperate adventurers passed through before disappearing into the poisonous wilderness.

Nobody built great academies in places like this.

Nobody established wealthy merchant guilds.

Even the imperial court probably forgot this town existed unless taxes stopped arriving.

"No wonder everyone’s fighting over scraps."

"When the pie is this small, even crumbs become treasures."

His finger slowly moved northward, following the thick trade routes carved across the empire.

Every major road eventually converged toward a single location.

The Imperial Dragon Capital.

Unlike Poison Valley Town’s microscopic dot, the capital was represented by an enormous crimson circle surrounded by countless smaller cities, military fortresses, and intersecting trade lines.

Even on parchment, it radiated authority.

According to the ancient records, the Imperial Dragon Capital stood upon one of the empire’s largest spirit veins. The surrounding lands produced countless heavenly treasures every year, attracting experts, alchemists, array masters, merchants, and ambitious geniuses from every province.

Where wealth gathered...

Power naturally followed.

Gu Fan casually flipped open another bamboo scroll.

It contained the political structure of the Great Yan Empire.

The Emperor did not personally govern every corner of the vast realm.

That would have been impossible.

Instead, he ruled through fear and carefully balanced power.

According to the ancient records, the Great Yan Empire was divided into Five Provinces, each vast enough to rival an independent kingdom.

The authority had been divided among the empire’s four supreme ruling families.

Four of the provinces were each controlled by one of the Four Noble Families, ancient bloodlines whose histories stretched back thousands of years. They possessed enormous private armies, countless subordinate clans, and enough experts to wage wars that could shake an entire province.

The scroll went on to briefly introduce the Four Noble Families, each of whom had ruled their respective provinces for well over hundreds of years.

The Ji Family. They were the rulers of the Eastern Azure Province.

They were publically known as the wealthiest of the Four Noble Families, the Ji Family controlled the empire’s busiest trade routes, countless merchant guilds, and several of the largest spirit stone mines. Their influence reached nearly every major city within the empire, and it was often said that if spirit stones changed hands, the Ji Family had already taken their share.

The Qin Family, the rulers of the Northern Frost Province.

The frozen north was rich in rare ores, ice-attributed spirit herbs, and powerful frost beasts. The Qin Family was renowned for producing disciplined armies and exceptional sword cultivators. Their soldiers were considered among the strongest within the empire, guarding the northern frontier against both demonic cultivators and foreign kingdoms.

Then there was The Zhuge Family. Rulers of the Western Blazing Province.

Blessed with endless volcanic mountain ranges and abundant mineral deposits, the western province served as the empire’s primary source of spirit ore, refined metals, and spirit artifacts. The Zhuge Family produced generations of legendary weapon refiners, array masters, and fire-attributed cultivators, making them indispensable during times of war.

And finally we had The Murong Family. Rulers of the Southern Cloud Province.

Unlike the fertile central lands, Southern Cloud Province was a harsh wilderness of poisonous swamps, ancient forests, and deadly mountain ranges. While outsiders viewed it as an inhospitable wasteland, the Murong Family had spent centuries exploiting its unique resources, controlling countless poisonous herbs, venomous spirit beasts, and rare medicinal ingredients found nowhere else in the empire.

And while every single one of these families acknowledged the Emperor as the supreme ruler of Great Yan, each noble family governed its territory with near absolute authority. To the millions of mortals living beneath them, the family patriarch was a figure almost as untouchable as the Emperor himself.

The fifth and smallest province, located at the very heart of the empire, belonged solely to the Imperial Family.

Despite being the smallest in size, it was by far the wealthiest and the most powerful of them all.

The Imperial Dragon Capital stood at its center, built upon one of the empire’s largest spirit veins. Every major trade route eventually converged there, attracting merchants, alchemists, array masters, weapon refiners, and cultivators from every corner of Great Yan.

The scrolls described it as the empire’s beating heart.

Gu Fan simply called it the place where all the wealth had been hoarded.

"So the rich made themselves even richer..."

"...what a revolutionary idea."

He continued reading.

While the noble families ruled the provinces, they were far from the only powers within them.

Scattered throughout every province stood countless orthodox sects, each controlling mountains, valleys, forests, mines, and cultivation grounds of their own.

These territories operated almost like independent kingdoms. The sects collected taxes, recruited disciples, protected their borders, and managed their own internal affairs without outside interference.

For the most part, they were autonomous.

However, autonomy did not mean complete independence.

Every sect officially fell under the jurisdiction of the ruling family governing its province.

And above even the provincial rulers stood the Imperial Family.

The noble families, the Imperial family and even the Emperor rarely interfered in a sect’s daily affairs. But imperial decrees carried absolute authority. Refusing one was no different from declaring open rebellion against the Great Yan Empire itself.

It was a delicate balance.

The noble families needed powerful sects to stabilize their provinces.

The sects relied on the noble families for political protection, resources, and legitimacy.

Meanwhile, the Imperial Family stood above them all, ensuring that none of the provinces or sects ever grew powerful enough to threaten the throne.

"A classic divide-and-rule strategy."

Gu Fan smiled as he pieced together the empire’s political structure.

"Nobody is strong enough to challenge the Emperor alone..."

"...because everyone is too busy keeping an eye on everyone else."

Another bamboo scroll listed the dominant orthodox sects of Southern Cloud Province.

And among the countless sects, there were a few familiar names.

Purple Mist Valley. Masters of poison, illusion, and assassination. Their disciples were infamous for ending battles before their enemies even realized they had been poisoned.

Thousand Beast Mountain. A sect that cultivated ancient bloodlines and commanded terrifying spirit beast armies capable of overrunning entire cities.

White Bone Hall. Experts in corpse refinement and death qi. Legends claimed that every battlefield they entered only strengthened them, as each fallen enemy became another soldier under their command.

The scroll hailed them as righteous guardians of the empire.

Gu Fan nearly laughed.

"Righteous?"

"I suppose that’s one way to describe people who own private armies and answer only to the strongest."

The bamboo scroll continued praising the Emperor’s boundless wisdom, divine virtue, and unparalleled generosity.

Every other sentence seemed determined to remind the reader how fortunate they were to live beneath imperial rule.

Gu Fan rolled his eyes.

"If I read ’His Majesty’s infinite benevolence’ one more time, I will start believing he personally cooks breakfast for every citizen."

His lips curved into a cold smile.

The more he learned about the empire, the more obvious its structure became.

The central regions monopolized nearly every major spirit vein.

The great orthodox sects occupied the richest cultivation lands.

Powerful clans grew richer every generation.

Meanwhile, border towns like Poison Valley survived by fighting over leftovers.

It wasn’t incompetence.

It was design.

A kingdom where the strong became stronger while the weak remained useful enough not to die.

"Efficient."

"Heartless."

"I almost respect whoever came up with it."

Almost.

Gu Fan slowly memorized every name.

Every location.

Every sphere of influence.

Information was worth more than spirit stones.

An enemy whose habits were known was already half defeated.

One day...

Those names would no longer belong to untouchable giants.

They would become future targets.

His targets.

He smiled faintly.

"Your treasuries will look much safer under my management."

** ** ** ** **

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