This world is vast, so vast that even well-traveled storytellers cannot say exactly how large it is. They only know that the sub-kingdom where we live is called the Tianbao Kingdom. There are three levels of nation: sub-kingdoms, kingdoms, and empires.
As for the lands farther away, even storytellers can only describe their boundaries vaguely. In the far north, endless mountains of ice stretch across the land, and the ice giants who live there love to feed on humans who venture into their territory. At the westernmost edge lies an unfathomable abyss stretching for tens of millions of miles. Once, members of a cult carved a path down its cliffs, believing a gate to hell lay at the bottom. But none of the cultists who descended ever returned...
Some people say that farther west beyond the bottomless abyss lies a paradise where the Buddha resides...
The eastern and southern edges of the world are both bordered by the sea. But they say the waters of the Eastern Sea are black, and what roams beneath them are not fish, but ghosts... The southern coast, on the other hand, enjoys favorable weather and bountiful harvests, supposedly thanks to the protection of the Dragon King of the Southern Sea.
The storyteller once lamented to the world that a world this vast was both a blessing and a curse for ordinary people. Even if they set off in one direction from the day they were born, they might never reach the frontier in their entire lives.
