Great Zhou Empire

The **Great Zhou Empire** was an empire at the middle- to top-level amongst all empires in the Cangmang Continent. However, the Wu Clan betrayed the Great Zhou Empire and took over the capital and most territories of the Great Zhou Empire. The current Great Zhou Empire could perhaps only be considered a small and unimportant country, having only 13 major cities.

Due to the loss of the Saint Dragon Blessing, the country blessing of the Great Zhou Empire was also stolen; but it will return after Zhou Yuan takes his Genesis Qi back and defeats the Great Wu Empire.

## History

When the Great Zhou Empire was established several hundred years ago, the Wu Clan followed at Zhou Clan's side when they waged war all over. The Wu Clan were loyal and devoted vassals. Later on, the Great Zhou Empire established a country and in recognition of their service, they conferred upon the Wu Clan the hereditary title of King Wu, allowing them to enjoy an endless amount of privilege and power. And so in the next hundred years, the Wu Clan guarded the Great Zhou Empire's borders, intimidating anyone who saw them.

However, the Wu Clan rebelled 15 years ago (before the real timeline of the story). The current King Wu already possessed extremely great power and even the numerous conferred kings had been enticed to their side. In the short period of less than a year, the Great Zhou Empire was utterly defeated and could only escape towards the south. They fled towards the Zhou's Ancestral Land, which is also now the current Great Zhou Empire.

The reason for the rebellion was because of a certain prophecy that had been passed down in the inner circle of the Wu Clan for several hundred years: "Python and sparrow swallow the dragon, and the Great Wu will rise and flourish!”. They waited until the birth of Zhou Yuan to steal the Saint Dragon Blessing with the Wu Clan's twin - Wu Huang and Wu Yao - whose blessings are python and sparrow (they were born on the same day with Zhou Yuan because those with the same birthdate could steal each other's blessing).

On the day Zhou Yuan was born, Wu Xuan entered the city and threatened Zhou Qing with the lives of hundreds and millions of Great Zhou Empire's citizens. He wanted to seize the Saint Dragon Blessing. Zhou Qing tried to fight back Wu Xuan to protect his son on the Great Zhou Mountain but was cut off one arm. He was spared because Wu Xuan was afraid that someone might destroy the Saint Dragon Blessing if Zhou Qing is dead. Wu Xuan then made a pledge with the Ancestor that the Great Wu Empire would not step in the Zhou's Ancestral Land for 100 years, but he later broke this promise after 17 years.

Meanwhile, forcibly taking away the Saint Dragon Blessing naturally gave rise to intense resentment. Wu Xuan purposely sealed this resentment in Zhou Yuan's body, thus creating the Dragon’s Resentment Poison. It continuously strengthened itself by devouring the owner's essence blood until a certain day where it would finally mature then erupt and completely devour his life force. This was Wu Xuan's indirect method to get rid of the Zhou Clan's successor to prevent future troubles.

## Military Strength

   After King Qi rebellion the strengh of Great Zhou Empire rose, they have 40 Alpha Origin Experts, 88 Alpha Origin Battle Puppet and 1000 Heaven Gate.

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## Important Locations

1. **Great Zhou Royal Palace**: the palace where the royal members live and the administrative government is
2. **Great Zhou City**: the capital of the Great Zhou Empire after being cornered by the Great Wu Empire to the Zhou's Ancestral Land
3. **Zhou Clan's Ancestral Land**: the land where the Great Zhou Royal Tomb is located. Although the royal tomb was about a hundred miles from Great Zhou City, it would take about four hours to arrive. These three mountain ranges snake along the ground like hidden dragons. They surround and protect the green mountain like three dragons coiling around a pearl. A majestic aura seems to arise spontaneously when one watches them
	* Only the Zhou's royal members are allowed to come to the tomb
	* The stone steps lead to the peak. There are 9,099 steps which reach straight into the clouds
	* There is a shrine on the middle mountain's peak. The shrine is ancient and seems to have bathed in the rays of countless moons
4. **Great Zhou Academy**: the only academy in the Great Zhou Empire that accepts every talented Yuan Masters to come and study regardless of one's background
	* Every year, there is a newcomer exam to determine the class division that the students go into as well as a class ranking exam
5. **Black Forest Mountain Range**: a location where is half a dozen miles from the Great Zhou City. The mountains that sprawl across the land and contain countless genesis beasts and various natural treasures
6. **Canglan County**: a district where is at the southwest border of the Great Zhou Empire and is quite some distance from Great Zhou City
7. **Blackwater**: a vile land where is populated by countless savage Genesis Beasts. No empire is able to occupy this region, allowing many independent practitioners to gather there, forming numerous factions of varying sizes. These factions would poke at Great Zhou Empire's borders from time to time, plundering and slaughtering