Nanshao City.
A large city on Great Yan's southwestern frontier.
Its walls were brand-new.
This was one of the few places that directly bordered Great Jin.
A few dozen miles farther southwest lay the illustrious Great Jin.
The two imperial dynasties upheld entirely different, even completely opposing principles, so relations between them were far from harmonious.
Even amid the invasion by cultivators from other continents, although the two dynasties restrained their open conflicts, friction between them remained constant.
Great Jin's cultivators, led by the Longevity Sect, frequently penetrated Great Yan's territory to suppress its Demonic Dao cultivators.
On Great Yan's side, top sects such as the Primordial Demon Sect also frequently sent their outstanding disciples into Great Jin to burn, kill, and plunder.
Relations between the two imperial dynasties were tense.
For precisely this reason, numerous high-ranking cultivators were routinely stationed in Nanshao City to guard against surprise attacks by Great Jin's cultivators.
On this day, however, banners had been raised atop the city walls.
The banners fluttered, bearing faintly visible words such as "May the Holy Sect endure forever" and "Welcome, Holy Sons."
Cultivators whose presences ranged from Foundation Establishment to Nascent Soul, each with kindly brows and benevolent eyes, stood without exception atop the walls, craning their necks toward the north.
Before long.
An immense bank of auspicious clouds finally drifted slowly into view on the horizon.
Even from afar, celestial music could be heard swirling through the air, while golden lotuses descended from the heavens.
Divine maidens, mighty attendants, jeweled couches, and gauze curtains could vaguely be seen atop the auspicious clouds...
At their center, they surrounded three palaces of different designs, all equally magnificent.
At the sight of the auspicious clouds and those three palaces arriving, every cultivator on the walls except the Nascent Soul cultivators