1 Yue Family

In one of the eight small mountains which stain the capital city of Nanlu, the southern empire of the Feng continent, there is an almost broken family, the Yue clan or the Moon's family. These names can be interchanged depending on if the people is from the the north or south.

In Nanlu, the most used is the Yue family.

The Yue family has a great history. The first patriarch was the Iron General, later crowned as Tie Wang, one of the founders of the empire more than two thousand years ago.

Each of the eight mountains was given to the founders of the empire, so the eight prominent families of Nanlu were born.

After the old empire was conquered and Nanlu was founded, a period of peace and calm appeared. But this only lasted for the first forty years.

Soon after the first emperor died, the eight prominent families started to compete for supremacy. And other foreign powers as well. The eight families used all kinds of up and underhanded methods to vie for favor and rise in the ranks of the empire.

The situation caused internal and external crisis and the empire was about to collapse.

It was in those dark and madding times that a talented woman emerged from the Yue family. She was one illegitimate daughter from the fifth son of Tie Wang, Lan Li, recognised only after her entire village was destroyed when she was fourteen. She was gifted in the water element and made quite a shocking advancement in few years.

She was young when the empire was about to collapse but she managed to reunite a few talented individuals and restore order. She then became an heroine but she died not much later.

She left behing an alarming prophecy: "The empire will face a big crisis two thousand years later, if passed there will be another Golden Age; if not passed, the empire will be annihilated".

And so, almost two thousand years passed without any great ripples.

The eight prominent families were always up and down, competing in cultivation, ranks, businesses...

This was their normal routine. But all of this changed thirteen years ago.

Thirteen years ago, a new maze realm appeared. All the powerful cultivators and families went to try their luck and bring back treasures. Exploring new realms has been the opportunity to those cultivators who had nothing to make a name for themselves or those families.

New plants, animals, minerals...a lot of them very scarce in the entire Feng continent and thus, priceless treasures in the eyes of the people.

The Yue family had been declining in the last decades. In the head family, there was only a successor in each generation, so much of the official posts ended in another prominent family's people.

The previous Lord of the family had better luck: two sons were born and reached adulthood. This was seen as a good sign by the rest of the clan. So when the new realm appeared, they thought it would be a great hunting.

Contrary to expectations, what they though would be their return to glory was their last journey. The new realm had beasts much powerful than more than eighty percent of those who entered it. Other families lost a few of their core members but the Yue clan got their head family almost extinct. Only a three year old girl, daughter of the first son of the Lord remained waiting at home with her mother. Her name is Yue Lin.

---------

Thirteen years have passed since the big accident of the Yue family. The family was almost at the brink of destruction. Only a direct descendant remained, and it was a girl no less. The family name could only be saved if she married a groom into the family. But it was a disgrace to one of the eight prominent families or one of the eight to have fallen so low.

Life waits for none, and in the capital, time seems always more rushed. Shops, travelling merchands, performers, restaurants...all of them contributed to the lively and noisy atmosphere of the capital.

In the most famous restaurant of the capital, Huai Tang Lou, a storyteller had contributed to fill the establishment. Today's story was about the new academy in the Phoros empire, in the west and some of the best students. It wasn't anything estraordinary, but news are always welcomed by curious people.

In one of the rooms at the second floor, there were two young girls of no more of fifteen or sixteen. They were clothed quite elegantly, but it was obvious that one was a master and the other a servant. They were having tea and cookies while listening to the storyteller. The master was wearing a pale blue dress with embroidered cranes and lilies and the servant was wearing a pale green with embroidered honeysuckles.

-My lady, are you really planning on leaving the capital?

-Fui Qiu, I want to explore this continent. Didn't you heard the stories about the wonders of the seven states and four empires?

-But my lady, you should be more careful. You're the next Lord of the family. Madam is already pressing you to get married.

-Fui Qiu, I'm only sixteen. A cultivator such as myself can live well past the hundred years if I don't meet any accident. Why would I get married so soon?

-But Madam wants you to have descendants as soon as posible.

-There's nothing I can do about that. My partner is still lost in the crowd of the continent.

The storyteller finished his story and a round of cheers broke down. The lady put down her empty tea cup on the table.

-The story has ended, we should go back now.

The entry floor of the restaurant was filled with full tables. In a corner, a group of young merchants were talking.

-Who is that person who is leaving?

-Who?

-That maiden who wears a white silk covering her eyes.

-Ah, she must be a talented woman of the Yue clan.

-The Yue clan? One of the eight families?

-Yes, yes, that Yue clan. It was quite strong in the past, but now, it is left only with elderly, women and children.

-But why must she cover her eyes?

-It's one of the most important rules of the Yue clan. All the ladies who attain the Sacret Sea realm must cover her eyes with a thin white silk. It is said that when they arrive a that threshold, the Yue clan members can see through their other senses, so their eyes are not indispensable. I heard somewhere in Fuling that they do that to honor the saintess of their family, who became blind while defending the empire. So now, all the talented women must cover their eyes until they marry.

-What a pity, we can't see if they are as beautiful as rumored.

-A pity, a pity.