Outside the Cloudrest Posthouse, the long street was already packed so tightly that not even water could pass through.
As a major stronghold in northern Qingzhou, Great Wall Prefecture was usually bustling, but the scene outside the posthouse today was something rarely seen even once in a century.
The broad street paved with blue stone slabs was filled with spirit-beast carriages of every description, each displaying its owner's status and deep reserves.
Some were drawn by Red-Scaled Horses wreathed in flames, others by Snow-Treading Spirit Deer with clouds forming beneath their four hooves. Several Floating Cloud Carriages pulled by Azure-Feathered Immortal Cranes even hovered in midair.
These carriages, which ordinary mortals and low-level cultivators normally regarded as lofty symbols of Great Wall Prefecture's great cultivation clans, trading firms, and even powerful government offices, were now obediently crowded around the posthouse, not daring to cross the forbidden line by so much as a step.
Outside the carriages stood stewards, administrators, and even elders of the various lineages who ordinarily looked down their noses at everyone.
Without exception, they held Storage Bags or expensive brocade boxes filled with lavish gifts, craning their necks and gazing eagerly at the "Heaven-class Hidden Dragon Pavilion," which hung high in the air, veiled in clouds and mist all year round.
No one dared raise their voice. Even the spirit beasts drawing the carriages had been placed under silencing spells by their owners, lest the slightest noise disturb the "uncrowned king" within the pavilion, freshly returned from bringing the far north under his rule.
On the outskirts of this vast gathering of the wealthy and powerful, whose lowest cultivation was foundation establishment early stage, a young man in a worn gray official uniform looked entirely out of place.
He was around twenty-five or twenty-six, with a square