First Day

At the hour of the dragon the next day, the vast white-jade square at the heart of Immortal Gathering Island was already packed with people, its clamor rising to the heavens. The square faced the lake with a mountain at its back, magnificent in scale.

This was the main venue of the Azure Billows Water-Land Assembly: the Immortal Gathering Platform.

Huge slabs of green jade paved the square, polished bright enough to reflect a face. At its center stood a broad stone platform over ten feet high, flanked by several jade pillars carved with coiling dragons.

Around the square, pavilions and towers climbed the mountainside in overlapping tiers. They were already filled with cultivators from every quarter—several thousand at a rough glance.

Most were Qi Refining cultivators, but there were no fewer than a hundred Foundation Establishment auras among them. Some were steady as mountains, some sharp as swords, others elusive as clouds. Together, they wove a suffocating web of spiritual pressure.

Farther away, on cloud terraces atop the mountain, several still deeper, more unfathomable auras could faintly be sensed. They belonged to cultivators at least at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, perhaps even Foundation Establishment Perfection—the true hosts and arbiters of this assembly.

If Jade Dragon City, with a Golden Core cultivator presiding over it, was the undisputed overlord of the surrounding region, then these powers were its local lords.

By the time the Clear Sand River party arrived, the square was bustling. Wang Ming held up their token and led everyone to a designated area on the eastern side. Dozens of jade tables and meditation cushions had been set out there, with spirit fruit and fragrant tea on the tables. A small flag at the front bore five seal-script characters: "Clear Sand River Water Manor."

Their place was