Not long after Lin Daiyu had fallen into a deep sleep, in the eastern district outside the Food Ward, a crowd of candidates gradually gathered outside one of the written-exam venues for the first stage of the Celestial Selection, the "Talent Selection Trial."
That was because today was the day of the first exam in the first stage of this year's Celestial Selection.
Annie had brought Lin Daiyu down early, so it was still quite early now, just as the sun was rising. The golden morning light had yet to do more than bathe the solemn exam complex in a faint golden glow.
The venue was in a relatively secluded, spirit-rich market district. It was nowhere near as bustling and noisy as the Food Ward a few miles away, and its grounds were vast. Tall walls of blue-gray spirit-suppressing bricks enclosed the complex, engraved with runes to prevent spying and cheating that shimmered faintly. A huge plaque with a gold background and bold black characters hung above the imposing main gate. It bore ten sweeping characters: "Divine Capital Siji Celestial Selection Written Exam Venue." Their vigorous strokes exuded an air of inviolable authority.
By now, a long line had already formed outside the main gate. The cultivators who had come to sit the exam were a varied lot: steady, scholarly cultivators in their thirties, forties, or fifties; young swordsmen with blades on their backs and sharp eyes; wandering cultivators in plain Daoist robes, holding horsetail whisks; and scions of prominent families dressed in fine silks, attended by servants.
The scions, in particular, were mostly calm and composed. Some rested with their eyes closed, while others chatted quietly. They were utterly unlike the other candidates, whose place in line was steeped in a tangled mix of nerves, anticipation, and more.
Whether