Great Desert City,

As the name suggests, it sits in the heart of a vast desert. But to be precise, it’s not a true desert, more like a wide wasteland. Despite its location in the barren wilds, this place isn’t some remote backwater—on the contrary, it’s actually quite bustling.

Thanks to the unique geography of Great Desert City,

sitting on the Yunxi Border, touching the Ten Thousand Mountains, both the Righteous and Demonic Daos rarely get involved here. Over time, the city has become a lawless zone, gathering all sorts of bloodthirsty toughs who walk the line between the black and white sides.

It’s also grown into a major trading hub, kind of like a massive black market.

Officially, Great Desert City belongs to the Jingnan Dao of Yunxi’s Eight Paths, under the Earth Realm of Qianyu Sect, one of the top five Martial World Influences. This time, the Righteous Dao alliance has chosen Great Desert City as the meeting place, making Qianyu Sect the host by default.

But strictly speaking, Great Desert City has nothing to do with Qianyu Sect at all.

A motley crew of Martial World Influences are entrenched here, a real mix of fish and dragons.

Still, Qianyu Sect, eager to be a good host, commandeered Great Desert City a month in advance. At first, plenty of local gangs refused to cooperate. Then, a few notorious Qianyu Sect Elders came for a stroll, took a couple of heads with them, and all the major gangs in the city started cooperating,

not just cooperating but going above and beyond to earn face for Qianyu Sect. They whipped the often-chaotic city into shape, cleared out mansions and gardens for the Righteous Dao Martial Arts factions to set up camp, showing off their hospitality and proudly displaying the simple customs of Great Desert City to the entire Yunxi Martial World.

After about a month of travel,

Gu Zhan finally arrived at the earth realm of Great Desert City, bringing the Pingyang Embroidered Uniform Guard and part of the Martial World Influences from Canglan Dao.

On the official road, wind and sand howled,

crowds of travelers streamed by, all coming in groups from various Martial World Influences,

When they saw Gu Zhan’s group led by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, some were a bit surprised, but spotting the Beidou Bang’s iconic Seven-Star Banner mixed with the Kaiyang Gu Character Banner blowing in the wind, they understood immediately,

These days, the name "God of Slaughter Gu Zhan" has become quite the legend in Yunxi Martial World—while the older generation might not know much, the youth are obsessed.

Gu Zhan himself is listed on the Celestial Pride List; his leap from eighteenth to ninth place caused a huge stir. Plus, the martial world gossip columns loved detailing his battle feats and personality. For the rebellious younger generation, Gu Zhan’s style—doing things his own way, never backing down—matches their tastes perfectly,

Though he’s ruthless and controversial,

that just makes him all the more discussed and watched across the Martial World.

So when Gu Zhan arrived with the Embroidered Uniform Guard,

a lot of people caught on instantly,

Because besides Gu Zhan’s ruthless style and personality, the biggest controversy about him is his constant attachment to the Embroidered Uniform Guard. While strictly speaking there’s nothing wrong with it, folks in the Martial World always look down on the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Some say Gu Zhan is showing off, always craving attention, others claim it’s just his nature—acting as he pleases, controversy following him everywhere.

But there’s no denying,

when Gu Zhan appeared in Great Desert City with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he caused quite the sensation.

Especially recently,

plenty of young Celestial Pride List hopefuls in Great Desert City were boasting about challenging Gu Zhan, and the crowd was itching for the spectacle.

...

At the center of Great Desert City, inside the manor where Beidou Bang is stationed.

News of Gu Zhan’s arrival spread quickly,

This time, the fight between Righteous and Demonic Daos stirred up big waves in Beidou Bang: Gang Leader Mo Jingzhou and Left Protector Xiao Chen led the elite from headquarters personally, plus three Sub-Branches brought Martial Arts forces from Canglan Dao, Gu Zhan’s Kaiyang Sub-Branch was tasked with guarding the rear.

Only with Gu Zhan’s arrival does Beidou Bang truly gather its full force,

So everyone in Beidou Bang had been waiting for Gu Zhan,

Besides, the ones who came early—old-timers and youngsters alike—were keen to meet this rising dark horse who’d taken the martial world by storm.

To be honest, none of them expected that for this Martial Arts alliance, Gu Zhan, always the latecomer, ended up winning them so much respect.

Among the Righteous Dao Martial Arts factions, there’s plenty of shady dealings,

Even now, at the alliance summit, it’s all open rivalry and secret scheming—everyone trying to outdo each other. Although Beidou Bang stands as one of the top five, it’s always mocked for lacking successors, for being stuck in a rut,

But this time in Great Desert City,

without knowing much, they suddenly heard of a remarkable young talent emerging from their own ranks. Controversial and infamous as he was, it still earned them some pride. The younger generation of Beidou Bang especially felt vindicated.

Youngsters are the most competitive bunch,

But the younger crowd at Beidou Bang had never produced anyone who could carry the torch, which left them suffocated and the butt of many jokes from other factions. Now, finally, they could walk with their heads held high.

So,

when news came that Gu Zhan had entered the city,

everyone—old and young—got restless, eager to lay eyes on the God of Slaughter who might soon take up the mantle.

In Gang Leader Mo Jingzhou’s chamber, an imposing elder arrived. This man was instantly recognizable: sparse hairs covering his head, muscles that looked ready to explode, his arms as thick as barrels, his height nearly a whole zhang—so tall he had to stoop to enter the doorway.