Chapter 76: Life 61, Age 24, Martial Grandmaster Peak
Hundred Flower City, capital of Eight Flower Kingdom, was one of the most meticulous, and purpose-built cities I had ever visited.
The center of the city was a lone mountain that towered above the surrounding countryside. An octagonal inner wall encircled the mountain, protecting and separating the monarchs and their direct subordinates. The palace complex was built on the peak of the mountain, and various administrative, military, and residential areas covered the slopes.
Outside the inner wall, the city was separated into eight districts, each with distinct roles and responsibilities. All manual labor was to be conducted in the northern Water District, including smithing, alchemy, tailoring, or any other trade of cultivators or mortals. The western Marsh District was where any creative endeavors, such as painting or poetry, were to occur. The residential areas were in the eastern Thunder District, except for newlywed housing which was in the southwest Earth District.
An octagonal outer wall surrounded the city, and dividing walls stretched from the vertices of the inner wall to their matching vertex on the outer wall, separating the districts. A wide river entered the city from the north, passed through the northern district, wrapped around the mountain, and flowed out through an opening in the western wall.
For any normal, mortal city, the layout of Hundred Flower City would have been atrocious. For most people, traveling from where they lived to where they worked involved an hours-long trip around a mountain. Hundred Flower City was not a normal city, though. It was designed for cultivators, by cultivators, and its design reflected the needs and abilities of its inhabitants.
Our carriage entered the city through the northwestern gate.
Inside, the city was a mix of modern and traditional architecture. Some buildings were of the large traditional courtyard style with colonnades and peaked roofs, while others were high-rises with glass curtain walls.
Our carriage took us to one of the larger courtyard-style buildings. It maintained some of the colorations of a Blue Wind Pavilion location, having the standard blue roof tiles and red walls, but it also had the silver and gray ornamentations that decorated every other building in the district.
The city looked well-designed, and the eclectic mix of styles blended together to create an attractive cityscape, but streamers of black and dark blue hung from every building and black fabric had been draped between light posts. It gave me the impression that the city was in the middle of a wake after someone’s death, though, local traditions would have called for white decorations in such an instance. Instead of the somber impression the decorations gave me, the people on the street were happy and excited. People were bustling everywhere, and small carts had been set up to sell snacks and souvenirs.