For the people of Lhney, that is the curse of Aoga, it is believed that his wife conspired against him with their son, they were both banished to the Northern hills and Aoga cursed her with immortal torment and the son he cursed to be a shape shifting monster lurking in the mountains for epochs.
Nobody has ever returned after passing the Vaigt pass after the Towering mountain east of the desert.
Aogans or people of members of Immortal realm believe that the souls of the dead also return to the mountains of their father Aoga in the mountains beyond the Vaigt pass to pass through the portal of reincarnation.
Even experts who have come to the end of their lifespans and can no longer break through usually goes their to pass away hoping for a better providence during reincarnation.
But today is a rather memorable day in the whole immortal realm. Tarh Gwamho Vaharyl of the clan of the Vaharyl, the crown prince of the Northern Empire is getting married to the woman destined by the clan to be his empress: Naia Gwamho. The niece of the empress and his first cousin.
The Gwamho clan has been in charge of knowing the will of the great dao from the inception of Lhney since they are proficient in Dao of divination, it is not a surprising feat that family is going to claim the prestigious position of the empress for the third time in a row: from the empress dowager Vaya Gwamho Vaharyl to the current empress Yue Gwamho Vaharyl the mother of the crown prince.
The forces in the whole immortal realm are divided into: Emperor level sect or Clan like the Vaharyl clan, Gwamho clan, Eyme clan, Sword Sect, Ice Temple, Forest of Illusion of the Zvit and Fairies, Dragon clan and other Divine beasts clans, Demon mountain, Heavenly Dao sect, Lhney Academy, Saber Sect etc.
This means that these sects or clans has at least one great emperor in their ranks.
Below the emperor level forces are the 1st rank forces which have at least an emperor level experts. Second rank forces, also known as transcendent forces has at least a dao ancestor sage holding down the fort.
The Northern empire consists of three emperor level forces: the royal family which is the Vaharyl clan, the military which is Eyme clan and the Nayel clan; four 1st rank families like Lobaen clan, Hwi clan and the Mouah clan; and other transcendent forces.
Even though there are many emperor level sects in the territory of the Northern empire like the Sword Sect and Ice Temple, they are not controlled by the empire, they have their own forces and subsidiary forces as well. It is a form of tacit understanding.