The Nine Provinces were vast, and Cloud Province occupied one of them.
Within Cloud Province, spiritual energy was unimaginably dense, flowing along its mountains and earth veins.
From time to time, immortal birds spread their wings across the heavens, while auspicious beasts trod upon clouds.
Grotto-Heavens and blessed lands lay scattered like stars; towering cities rose from the earth, their formation lights burning without cease day and night.
Such prosperity and grandeur were far beyond anything the remote regions could compare with.
Cloud Province City governed thirty-six commanderies, among which Luminous Yang Commandery was the most unusual.
Luminous Yang Commandery lay in the heartland of Cloud Province, scarcely a thousand li from Cloud Province Prefecture City.
Moreover, the Heavenly Court ruled over the Nine Provinces, and its rules were strict.
Any Cloud Province cultivator wishing to serve in the Heavenly Court had to pass through layer upon layer of selection.
And within Luminous Yang Commandery stood a Merit Examination Immortal Office directly under the Heavenly Court's jurisdiction.
The so-called Merit Examination Immortal Office was responsible for assessing cultivators from Cloud Province seeking official appointments.
Whether Rogue Cultivators or sect prodigies, anyone wishing to enter the Heavenly Court had to take the first unavoidable step through the Merit Examination Immortal Office of Luminous Yang Commandery.
For that very reason, Luminous Yang Commandery saw an endless stream of carriages and horses throughout the year, with cultivators gathered in droves.
Outside the Merit Examination Immortal Office.
The vast square paved with white jade was packed with people.
A winding, endless queue stretched from the office gates all the way beyond several streets.
Among those in line were travel-worn Rogue Cultivators, as well as disciples of great sects clad in splendid Daoist robes and bearing extraordinary poise.
Regardless of their origins, all of them