Chapter 272 – The World Map, the Far Western Ice Folk, and Gains Before Retreat - Part 3
Over the next few days, Li Yuan pored over maps of the realm and the Great Zhou. His worldview expanded at once.
He discovered that this world had no monolithic northern or southern powers—no equivalents of nomadic tribes or southern barbarians. The Great Zhou stood almost alone, surrounded only by minor tribes or territories controlled by individual sects.
It reminded Li Yuan of a line from a famous cosmic-horror novel he had read before crossing into this world—
“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”[1]
But this realm didn’t quite match that sentiment. Ghosts and demons had already begun prowling the Great Zhou, and strange territories full of horrors were rumored at the edges of the map. Indeed, Li Yuan knew from Yan Yu that some ghost domains were so pitiful they couldn’t even find humans to kill. So, they resorted to purchasing victims from Feng’er’s black market shop.
In other words, the more remote and desolate the region, the weaker the local ghost domain. With scarcely any living souls to devour, how would such a ghost domain thrive?
Still, that was just Li Yuan’s theory.
Beyond the Great Zhou, the landscape was stark. To the south lay the Sunset Rainforest, roamed by all manner of fearsome demonic beasts. To the east stretched the mysterious Eastern Seas. To the north was an endless wilderness so vast and uncharted that no one had ever claimed to reach its far end. To the west was a barren snowfield growing ever colder as one traveled on.
This world had no true south or north pole. Or if it did, that polar realm was far to the west—the so-called Western Extreme.
Li Yuan picked up a travelogue called Journey Through the Four Directions, which described that Western Extreme in only a few lines—
“An unimaginably cold land of eternal snow and darkness. We ventured as far as we could, but were forced to turn back, our strength exhausted, with the journey still far from done. None can say what lies further on.”
He then opened another book, Tales From the Frozen River. Its author introduced himself at the outset as a disciple of the Holy Tree Temple, one who had attained the apex of sixth rank but saw no hope of further advancement. Curious about the world at large, he had devoted his remaining life to exploration.