Hongde Blessed Land ranked as "Grade Geng" among the ten heavenly stems, below average. Neither its Spirit Chance nor its resources were abundant, and it could support only a very limited number of cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.
It could not compare with the top four grades-Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, and Grade D-which could serve as places for Foundation Establishment True Persons to establish their seats.
Most of the cultivators who had arrived at the Five Thunder Daoist Field and secured places for themselves were local "High Merits," governing the millions of common folk in their commandery cities and Daoist prefectures.
The fat Daoist went by "Qingfeng." As abbot of the Void Cloud Temple, he was versed in wind-and-thunder Daoist arts and could ride clouds, bring rain, and command ghosts and gods.
He could be counted among the foremost "men of the Dao" in Hongde Blessed Land.
The young Daoist below him went by "Lingxia" and was also a Daoist official presiding over a commandery.
The female Daoist opposite them was "Hanqiang." Originally a spiritual flower, she had received an immortal adept's enlightenment and gained her opportunity.
Although she had never "entered official service," that connection had earned her a Dharma Register of the [Immortal Dao], leaving her several cuts above those of common mortal origins.
She had cultivated for eighty years, beginning as a "Talisman Initiate," and had finally been promoted to "High Merit."
These three possessed the highest cultivation in the entire Five Thunder Daoist Field and had the best hope of reaching the threshold of a "Grade C" Blessed Land.
More than half the immortal officials and clerks in the various offices of [Divine Empyrean Thunder City] were selected from the top four grades of Blessed Lands. Vacancies seldom reached those below