Chapter 190 - 189 Jiangdu
The Three Constellation Immortal Palace is a typical feudal dynasty. The Four Sects and Eight Provinces each hold their positions, while the twenty-eight constellations guard the world.
This system originated in the time of the Immortal Venerable, with the royal relatives guarding the nation’s borders in the east, west, south, and north. The Immortal Venerable personally led the Eight Domains Army Commanders to conquer and seize living space from the Demon Clan.
By the time of Emperor Wu, the Nine Provinces had been unified, and thus the Lords of the Eight Domains were tasked with defending the borders, while the Guardian Immortal Army fortified the frontier. The central heartland was renamed Si Li Capital, directly governed by the Three Constellations.
The ancient Four Sects countries from that time were gradually appeased and dissolved; State Governors acted as agents in politics. The Princes and Commandery Princes became honorary positions sustained by the royal family, with no real military or political power, merely wealthy and venerable figures. Whether one was trusted and employed or guarded and confined depended on one’s relationship with the Ziwei Constellation.
However, the situation in recent generations has been somewhat unique. At the end of Emperor Wu’s era, there was the Witchcraft Disaster and the case of the rebellious Prince Li, which caused infighting between father and son in the Immortal Palace and widespread strife within the Three Constellations.
This also involved the case of the Party Members, with the Demon Sect watching covetously. Thus, the calamity continues to this day, with officials and noble families still occasionally executed under the charge of being cronies of Prince Li.
Due to the entanglement of the Prince Li case, with some deposed, executed, or having committed suicide, Emperor Wu ended up with five sons dying one after another. Finally, the youngest son ascended the throne but soon passed away in the Ziwei Constellation without leaving an heir, almost causing the legitimate line to end.
Thus, the Ziwei Constellation selected an Emperor from the Four Great Sects to adopt as the model inheritor of the Emperor’s bloodline. The current Immortal Emperor was chosen from the Southern Sect Country. Therefore, according to seniority, the Southern Country Lord is nominally the ’uncle’ of the present Immortal Emperor, though the reality may be more complicated.
Rumor has it in the Jianghu that the bloodline relationships within the Immortal Palace’s royal clan are chaotic. To preserve the purity of the Emperor’s bloodline, awaken the celestial Emperor Blood, and avoid the innate defects of cousin marriages, the clan practices some form of intrafamily group marriage, not intermarrying with the noble families.
For instance, in the Southern Country royal family, eligible princely heirs and princesses go ’on visits’ to various Northwest East Sect countries as ’exchange students.’ The children born from these rotations undergo strict testing for bloodline purity, Immortal Bone, and Spirit Root. Only those with the highest blood purity and best talents can become princely heirs and princesses, raised by the concubines. Those with lower aptitude are given to palace maids and wet nurses to be raised, growing up to be servants in the Prince Mansion, kept for later use.