A City in the Lake was a standard, vital hub for every Royal Court. And while the Thousand Laws Royal Court had more than its City in the Lake, only that city could truly represent its fundamental nature.
As the name suggests, the City in the Lake was built upon a lake. The pure, placid waters were crystal clear, without a single impurity—not even fish swam within. Only white petals and lotus leaves drifted on the surface.
These lakes had not always been so. On the contrary, before Emperor Qianlu established his Law, the domain known as the Land of Thousand Lakes had been nothing more than a patchwork of fragmented swamps, mires, forests, and river valleys.
Poisonous miasmas and overgrown thickets of thorns were everywhere, and the surviving clans fought to the death over the pitifully scarce habitable lands.
It wasn't until the establishment of the Royal Court that the Land of Thousand Lakes was truly purified. Wherever the Clear Melody pulsed, no filth could hide.
