Important Places And Their History

Whilst writing this book, I struggled alone on finding names for the sects - so coming up with the names for the other places was just as hard. I thought about doing a random name generator but it kind of felt like cheating and I wanted this world to be mine. However what I found best, instead of stressing over world building, was just to write. Then when I came to a place that needed a name it usually would just come to mind when thinking about - what is this place, what is the importance and how will it help my characters. So the following below are places that will appear in my books, some multiple times and some in multiple books.

The Forest Of Forgotten Forgery:

This place used to be a popular hangout for thieves who would rob those who travelled through the forest. However over time because of the high crime rate, travellers started to take the long route around the forest rather than facing the risk of going through it. Some believe that because of the many crimes committed in the forest, the gods got angry and made it so that anyone who would travel through it would get lost and not find their way out. However others believe that the forest had just overgrown overtime because people chose to no longer go through it - meaning that there are no longer any paths to follow. It would be easy to get lost if one was absent minded. Nowadays somewhere in the middle of it is where the Frozen Jade sect lies.

The Black Moon Mountain:

There are many legends about this mountain but most are fiction. Is it called Black Moon because the people in the past who would venture there claimed that the forest was so dense and dark that the moon peering through the branches appeared black. This place is now famous for being the foregrounds of the Black Wood sect who have claimed the space for themselves over the last century. This place makes presence only in two of novels but is mentioned repetitively in all four.

The Mountain Of Wishing Branches:

This mountain use to be a deserted place of overgrown trees and vast amounts of wildlife. One day a poor merchant travelling by, at dusk, decided to camp in the forest upon the mountain as a branch had hit his head causing him to turn it in interest towards the forest on the mountain. However one night turned into two, three, four then almost two weeks went by. The merchant realised that the mountain had trees that were good for shelter, wood and tools along with animals good for eating and hunting so instead of leaving, he had decided to make base there for the time being.

Long story short the merchant brought the land rights to the mountain for a small price due to long time vacancy and profited by making news of the benefits that the mountain had and many people came to hunt and cut down trees. Almost 3 months later, the merchant a rich man and the town by the mountain a much busier place, the old merchant decided to finally give the mountain a name. The Mountain Of Wishing Branches, as once a simple wishing man, his life became one of fortune because of a single branch from this mountain of opportunity.

The Mountain Of A Thousand Streams:

Located in south China, not too far from the shore, is a mountain of many streams that all flow back to the sea. It is the only place, other the ocean, where water creatures live (in China that is). There is legend that the mountain was once without water and so one day the gods were fighting and this havoc in the sky caused the earth to shake creating cracks in the mountain. When the gods realised this, they made the sky rain to distract the people who lived by mountain and for them to believe that it was just the beginning of a heavy storm. Once the storm was over, these cracks were filled with water and overtime they moulded into streams that plants and wildlife lived in. Soon thereafter, water creatures of ocean saw a stream end near where the sea started and built the connection trail to the ocean so that they could travel into the lands of China for the first time.

The name itself comes from a song that a traveller wrote, "I've seen the sky, I've seen the sea. I've climbed the mountain of a thousand streams. I've see a ghost, lived a life of three and settled lowly by an old oak tree."

The Temple Of Timeless Misfortune:

Not much is known of original builder of this building, however due to it staying built for centuries abandoned in a desert, it caught the eye of a travelling cultivator. This man would later go on to seeking help from others to help restore the building and create it into a place that travelling cultivators could stay and practice their cultivation. Nowadays it is used as a type of training facility for young cultivators from their sect to study at. Although it isn't a sect, there are still types of training that only this temple can offer and it uses its surrounding desert as a tool rather than a misfortune. The name came from the realisation that time there is very much hard to track and it feels as if time itself is slipping, making the experience for most a difficult one. However it is also believed that those who leave early suffer misfortune so it makes cultivators power through their training and allows them to be a stronger version of themselves when they finally leave.

The Master's Monastery Of Moon Knowledge:

This place is a monastery where masters of cultivation live and train at. Founded by the Yellow Crow sect's second ever sect leader as a place where he wished to retire with all his knowledge. Once the Master's festival was created those who won were asked to further their knowledge on cultivation by living and training at the Master's Monastery Of Moon Knowledge. Although at first it use to be called just the Master's Monastery until one master joined informing the other masters on knowledge that was kept from the original Moon Jade sect that burnt down. However what was found and shared remains only known by those who are allowed to join the monastery and so the name changed to the 'Master's Monastery Of Moon Knowledge'.

The Sanctuary Of Honoured Souls:

This place is an important building where most famous people in history from scholars to cultivators remains are kept buried in the walls. These walls then have those names and information carved into them making the place a library for those who wish to know about the past honoured souls. However due to a popular rumour that those who bring gifts to these souls get to have an enlightened life, turned it into a busy and crowded area for a period of time. The place now is guarded and only allows those who have permission from the master's of moon knowledge to enter it.

The Library Of Red Ashes:

This library is the biggest and most famous library located in the centre of China. The name came from when a person, many centuries ago, tried to burn it down from the inside - only managing to burn down one wall as the flame wasn't strong enough and it soon died out due to the sudden falling rain. Once the rain stopped in the evening of that day, the people noticed the ashes of the wall to be a pile of red rather than grey or black. This information amused the emperor at the time and so the name was changed to 'The Library Of Red Ashes'.

The Statue Of Gold Despair:

This statue, made of gold, is a image depicted of a woman whose hands cover her face as her body bends foreword, hunched as she stands. It is located in the east of China by the entrance of a bamboo forest. The statue is 10 feet tall and the artist, woman of the statue and reasons for it being there remains unknown. It simply appeared one day and a traveller who saw it thought the woman to be in a state of despair, telling other travellers of it - referring to it as 'the statue of gold despair'. Nowadays it is visited by people who wish to vent their own despairs of life and by cultivators in the hopes of relieving their own despair by praying to it, hoping the gold would absorb their burden.

The Shrine Of Endless Solitude:

This place is a shrine where people can go to isolate themselves in their own solitude. It is located in the west of China by a monastery of monks. It is open to the public and it's only rule is silence as the monks have taken it upon themselves to keep it clean and give food to those who stay for a period of time. Like many places this one remains a place that origins are unknown, all that was carved into the large shrine was the name and the phrase - 'Those who suffer in silence and endless solitude, will learn to breathe again when the first words they speak are ones of forgiveness. Forgive me (a scribbled name)'. The name at the end of the phrase is unreadable, leaving many to believe that it is either the founders name or the person they built this shrine for in the hopes of forgiveness.

The Grave Of Haunting Lotus:

This place is an abandoned town in the north of China where ghosts have decided to settle, it is a ghost hotspot for those who seek them. And so the story goes that over time due to less money being made up north, this town was abandoned as the people living there left to seek a place where money could be made. However one family realised they couldn't afford to take their sick grandmother so they cruelly left her as she slept one early morning. Due to starvation, the poor old woman would die alone 10 days later becoming the first ghost to make its inhabitance of the vacant town.

5 years would past and the eldest grandson would come to visit the old house in remorse of the situation, laying a lotus that was his grandmothers favourite flower. Leaving the place he heard what sounded like crying, making him feel more remorseful and guilty so he decided to create a rumour at the occupied town near by. He told the people that an angry ghost haunted that town and if the people didn't send someone to lay a lotus everyday - it would wreck havoc on their town. As time went on, a lotus was delivered everyday and more and more ghost would travel to this town keeping the ghost of grandmother company as she wept each day at the sight of dying lotuses.