Shentudi Village

Shentudi Village, also known as God Land Village, is a strange place within the innards of Hubei. It resonates strongly with Slam. It is a quaint, agricultural village surrounded by ravishing rivers, humongous valleys, and jagged ranges. Perhaps its most startling distinction is in its cultural dichotomy. Despite the villagers having some knowledge of the outside world, there are no party officials or any governmental links to Beijing or even the province it is situated in. Its jurisdiction is entirely in the hands of the village elder, a ripe but hardy martial arts master.

Built into a mountainside, Shentudi is a very steep but stunning architectural feat, employing the use of huge platforms and pillars to stay structurally sound. While there is no apparent disparity between most villagers, Shentudi is divided into three vertical sections: a lower harbor, a commercial and residential district, and then the uppermost religious section that houses striking pagodas, gardens, and idiosyncratic cemeteries. There is one exception to that structure: while the harbor can be subject to harsh flooding in the monsoon season, the elder decrees that all merchants live there. It is also said that ferocious monsters dwell beneath the waters. The center is the most sprawling, spanning the next dozen acres with farms and the outlying houses of the crazy people.

Shentudi prides itself on fostering pugilists, and its religious section is more likened to a series of training halls than temples to pray. A feature of this strange culture is its adherence to matching only the toughest men to its women. One particular event, the Date of Blood arranges men from all over the countryside to meet at the temple to marry the prized women of Shentudi. Yet consequently, the weaker men of the village tend to live short, brutish lives, selling wares before they are eaten by a monster or drowned in the monsoon.

It is said to be the final resting place of Poisonous Wu, the father of Thernz.