Auspicious clouds and radiant colors wreathed Floating Cloud Mountain. Spirit Cranes spread their wings, Fish Dragons rode the waters, and Patterned Flying Fish soared through the sky.
Dawn was just breaking, and this was also the day Floating Cloud Mountain opened its gates to accept disciples. A vast, dark sea of heads crowded the foot of the mountain.
Some were locals from Floating Cloud County, accompanying their children to seek a master; others came from other counties and Commandery City, hoping their sons would become dragons and their daughters Phoenixes. Among them were ordinary folk as well as cultivators from small and midsized factions.
"Look up at the sky!"
Someone shouted, and everyone looked up at the dazzling spectacle above Floating Cloud Mountain. The children were thrilled, the youths excited, and the adults felt awe mingling with their delighted surprise, becoming all the more determined to secure admission to the Truth-Seeking Abbey.
Some open-minded parents told their children not to feel pressured. Their children, however, clenched their fists, agreed aloud, then turned to gaze at Floating Cloud Mountain's auspicious splendor with focused, resolute eyes.
Other elders tirelessly offered instructions or stern warnings:
"Chen Pi, if you fail to become a disciple of the Truth-Seeking Abbey, I'll arrange your marriage as soon as we return. You'll take a wife and concubines and give me at least three grandchildren within five years. I'll raise them myself, lest you corrupt them into idlers who spend all day loafing about without a care."
"He Xiang, your eldest brother entered the Azure Cloud Academy, and your second brother joined the Zen Monastery. If you can enter the Truth-Seeking Abbey, our Yan family will have someone in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism alike. Only then can we sleep easy in the years ahead. So you had better