Chapter 263: The Twelve Lake Prefectures of Minhu

Minhu had twelve Lake Prefectures.

East Lake Prefecture alone occupied eight of them.

This was the extent of Eldest Young Master Luo's knowledge about Minhu's structure, according to the memories Yan Jing had acquired so far.

But Yan Jing had yet to learn the purpose of the remaining four Lake Prefectures. His current memories only told him that West Lake Prefecture accounted for two of them.

He scanned the newspaper in his hands for reports on West Lake Prefecture, but no new memories surfaced. That confirmed Young Master Luo really only knew this much.

A short while later, Bi Jie finished his conversation with Kan Deyuan and walked over. Yan Jing took the opportunity to ask the question on his mind.

"The Eleventh Lake Prefecture and the Twelfth Lake Prefecture make up West Lake Prefecture. You should be aware of this, right?"

Bi Jie said, "The remaining Ninth Lake Prefecture and Tenth Lake Prefecture are a bit difficult to explain."

"While the history of the Lake Prefectures has never been an unmentionable taboo, the higher-ups decreed it shouldn't be widely circulated. I only learned the details after my promotion."

"During the Imperial Era, there were nine emperors in total. The dream of every emperor during their reign was to bring back a Prohibited Item and establish a Lake Prefecture."

"For example, Emperor Qingyu brought back the very Prohibited Item that activated this time, and used it to establish the Fifth Lake Prefecture."

"Similarly, Emperor Changle established the Third Lake Prefecture, and the Peerless Emperor established what is now the Ninth Lake Prefecture."

"You hear what I'm getting at, right?"

Yan Jing pondered for a moment before saying, "Are you saying they weren't established in numerical order?"

"Yes and no."

Bi Jie explained, "During the Imperial Era, the Lake Prefectures weren't actually numbered the way they are now."

"Back then, the concept of the twelve Lake Prefectures didn't exist. Each Lake Prefecture had its own name, and their locations were chosen at random."

"So, if you looked down at the twelve Lake Prefectures from the sky right now, you'd find they aren't evenly distributed around the Lake. They can be separated by vast distances. The Seventh Lake Prefecture borders the Eighth Lake Prefecture, for instance, but the distance between the Second Lake Prefecture and the Third Lake Prefecture is wider than several rivers combined."

Yan Jing nodded.

Indeed, that made much more sense.

How could the territory be perfectly divided into twelve equal parts? Although Young Master Luo's memories lacked a clear concept of this so-called Lake, he at least knew it wasn't a perfect circle.

"And aside from the Lake Prefectures established by those emperors, the vast majority of the rest were either cities left over from even more ancient eras, or entirely new establishments."

"At the end of the Imperial Era, the current Twelfth Lake Prefecture was established as the prototype for West Lake Prefecture."

"When the Imperial Era ended, the current Eighth Lake Prefecture was established. It now serves as the capital of East Lake Prefecture, and its founding officially ushered in the Minhu period."

"Over fifty years into the Minhu period, West Lake Prefecture's Eleventh Lake Prefecture was established."

"After that, the East and West Lake Prefectures were constantly locked in open and covert struggles. The Tenth Lake Prefecture, which predated the Imperial Era, served as their main battlefield and was reduced to a grey zone. The vast majority of its residents relocated, leaving only a small number behind to live in extreme suffering and torment."

"It wasn't until over a hundred years into the Minhu period that East Lake Prefecture actively sought cooperation, leading the two to call a truce."

"From then on, they were designated as the twelve Lake Prefectures under a unified Order, a state of affairs that brings us to the present, two or three years later."

Bi Jie finished his explanation in one breath. Fei Yu, who had been listening with keen interest from the side, voiced the very question Yan Jing wanted to ask:

"What about the Ninth Lake Prefecture? You only mentioned it was established by the Peerless Emperor, but you didn't say what happened to it afterward."

Bi Jie nodded.

"The nine emperors of the Imperial Era established nine Lake Prefectures. Excluding West Lake Prefecture's two and the Eighth Lake Prefecture established during the Minhu period, the remaining ones—including the Ninth Lake Prefecture—were part of that original nine."

"However, after the Imperial Era ended, the Ninth Lake Prefecture was reduced to a dead prefecture."

"A dead prefecture?" Fei Yu asked.

"Yes."

Bi Jie said, "Rumor has it that when the Peerless Emperor abdicated, he took the Ninth Lake Prefecture's Prohibited Item with him. Without its Prohibited Item, the Ninth Lake Prefecture naturally lost its foundation, making it utterly impossible for anyone to survive there."

"The once-a-month high tide of the Lake alone would be enough to scatter the souls of its residents."

"I've heard of people wandering into it by mistake, but no one has ever come out."

"Later, the gates to the Ninth Lake Prefecture were forcibly sealed off, and entry was strictly forbidden."

Fei Yu nodded, her phoenix eyes blinking as she asked another question.

"How could people wander in by mistake? Logically, wouldn't the higher-ups just need to suspend the trains going to the Ninth Lake Prefecture?"

Bi Jie shook his head.

"The number of trains is limited. In reality, the origin or destination of many trains isn't just a single Lake Prefecture. Instead, they run along the railway circling the Lake."

"In other words, many trains circle the Lake toward the end of their routes to ensure that passengers for every Lake Prefecture can reach their destinations."

He offered a bitter smile.

"It's said that these trains were created by the governor of West Lake Prefecture using a Prohibited Item."

"Geographically, the Ninth Lake Prefecture has always been on East Lake Prefecture's side. Once the relationship between the two Lake Prefectures deteriorated, no one maintained the trains in that area. Compared to the immense trouble of repairing the route, locking the gates was naturally the simpler choice."

"Besides, very few people actually wander in by mistake."

Hearing this, Yan Jing nodded.

"True. Everyone has their respective itineraries, so the chances of getting off at the wrong place should be quite small."

"Yes."

Bi Jie agreed with a nod.

"Besides, there are numbers on the doors."

With their idle chat concluded, Bi Jie returned to his room to figure out how to persuade the Old Man to get off the train. Meanwhile, Yan Jing folded his newspaper and began snacking on melon seeds while watching the scenery outside the window.

If his guess was correct, Eldest Young Master Luo must have been one of those who mistakenly wandered into the Ninth Lake Prefecture.

Eldest Young Master Luo had been born with a strange illness that occasionally caused his vision to flip everything upside down and left to right.

He had likely arrived at the Ninth Lake Prefecture after several days on the train, and the exhaustion of the journey had triggered his illness. He got off at the wrong stop and mistook the '9' on the door for a '6'.

And just like that, he blundered his way into the Ninth Lake Prefecture.

It was no wonder that shortly after Li Qinghe met Eldest Young Master Luo, he took him to see a doctor and had the illness cured.

It was probably to prevent leaving behind any clues or loose ends.

However... this was just Yan Jing's speculation. After all, according to Bi Jie, the Ninth Lake Prefecture had already become a dead prefecture, meaning no one should be able to enter.

Before long, the train came to a halt.

A conductor came by to inform them that the train would stop in Cotton City for about three hours.

The Old Man immediately went off to gather information about Cotton Cultivators, and Bi Jie tagged along.

Yan Jing, meanwhile, grabbed his drawing board and Paintbrush. Taking Fei Yu and Tiger with him, he headed to a cotton field to sketch from nature. Liu Ye had nothing else to do, so he tagged along as well.

Yan Jing set up his drawing board, mixed the colors on his palette, and asked Fei Yu to strike a pose for him.

He increasingly felt that taking over the lives of these eerie beings had profoundly influenced him. In terms of hobbies alone, he had now grown fond of both photography and drawing.

"Don't move," he instructed, having Fei Yu crouch down and press her face close to the cloud-like cotton with her eyes slightly narrowed.

He painted quickly. As a Painting Cultivator, it now took him at most a dozen minutes to finish a piece.

Once it was done, he called Fei Yu over to take a look.

"Your paintings are getting better and better! The last time I saw one was two or three years ago."

Fei Yu cradled the painting in her arms, admiring it before asking in confusion, "Weren't you refusing to let me see your paintings just a few days ago? Why are you suddenly willing now? Hey, why aren't you using that brush anymore?"

She looked at the Paintbrush in Yan Jing's hand. It had been replaced by an ordinary brush produced in West Lake Prefecture, no longer the Ancient Relic.

"Just changing brushes to change up the feel,"

Yan Jing replied with a smile.

Next, he painted a piece for both Tiger and Liu Ye. At first, Liu Ye refused, but after Yan Jing repeatedly requested, he finally agreed. With his red and white robes fluttering in the clear sunlight, even his triangular eyes didn't look quite as gloomy.

After they finished painting, the group returned to the train. Two more people had boarded the VIP carriage. Both wore long robes with trigram shirts underneath, dressed like martial artists. They appeared to be in their thirties or forties and seemed to be heading to Luohe County to participate in the martial assembly.

Before long, Bi Jie and the Old Man returned, with another person trailing behind them.

The Old Man said, "Young Master, we've found the person that kid Yi Ji wanted. This man is an Eighth Grade (Second Tier) Cotton Cultivator. Making objects lighter is a method of the Eighth Grade. He also mentioned that he can sell the methods for entering the ranks and advancing."

The man looked to be in his forties or fifties and appeared rather wooden. It was likely his first time inside a VIP carriage, and he seemed extremely antsy. Mustering his courage, he spoke up.

"I'll sell the method, but the price... might be a bit steep."

"How much do you want?"

Yan Jing asked with a smile.

"1,000 gui yuan."

The man held up a hand, quoting a sum that an ordinary person would need one or two years to earn.

"Alright."

Yan Jing smiled and nodded.

"But tell me first, just how much lighter can you make things?"

"For an Eighth Grade Cotton Cultivator, we can lighten an object by several dozen jin. For a Seventh Trade, shedding two to three hundred jin is no problem."

"How long can it be maintained?"

"What I just described are the maximum limits. At maximum capacity, the effect lasts for about eight or nine minutes."

The man explained.

Yan Jing frowned.

That duration was a bit too short.

"Then what if a Seventh Trade Cotton Cultivator were to make an object several dozen jin lighter? How long would that last?"

"That... I'm not entirely sure about that."

The man scratched his head.

"I'll have to go ask my master."

"Alright, go ahead."

Yan Jing said, "Xiao Yu, give this gentleman 50 yuan for his trouble."

He then looked back at the man.

"Master Liu will go with you. When you return, whether this deal goes through or not, I'll give you another 100 yuan."

"Understood, understood."

The man nodded happily.

About twenty to thirty minutes later, the man and the Old Man returned.

"My master said he can make something weighing up to 240 jin as light as a feather for a maximum of ten minutes. However, after he casts the spell, he can't move, or else the technique will break."

"If he only lightens it by thirty or forty jin, he can maintain it for roughly two or three hours."

Yan Jing nodded.

"I understand. Master Liu, give this man his money. We'll buy both the method for entering the ranks and the method for advancing. While you're at it, ask if they have any higher-tier methods."

"Understood, Young Master."

The Old Man nodded.

Later, the Old Man returned with the Cotton Cultivator methods leading all the way up to the Fifth Tier and handed them to Yan Jing.

In total, he had spent over three thousand Fragmented Weird Silver.

Yan Jing nodded in satisfaction.

"Alright, let's wait for a letter from Mr. Yi Ji."

"A letter?"

The Old Man blinked.

...

...

The Third Lake Prefecture.

At the train station.

Dressed in his Grandmaster Rank robes, Xu Chengyi looked at the group of disciples standing before him and spoke with a solemn face.

"On this trip to the martial assembly, you should focus primarily on observation. The name of the Thirty-Seventh Martial Arts Gym hasn't been prominent in past martial assemblies. Firstly, this is because our gym emphasizes cultivating deep skills and building a solid foundation. Secondly, as the latest martial arts gym to establish a foothold, it isn't proper for us to steal the limelight from our seniors."

"But this time is different. This time, Yiqi Martial Arts Gym will thoroughly make a name for itself, and all you need to do is watch closely."

"While outside, you must not embarrass the gym, nor must you forget our rules. Do you understand?"

"Understood!!!"

The crowd responded in unison.

Xu Chengyi nodded and asked, "Have both of your senior brothers been notified?"

"They've been notified."

The person leading them replied, "They should be departing from Cotton City. Calculating the time, they should have already boarded the train."

"Mm."

Xu Chengyi turned sideways and walked behind an old man sitting in a wheelchair nearby, saying, "Master, we are setting off."

"Alright..."

The old man, with his eyes closed, replied softly.