A mountain range stretching for nearly two thousand miles, like a dragon and a snake, entrenches itself on the land of Liangzhou.
Mountains of all sizes and strange shapes are dotted in a well-proportioned pattern.
Whenever the sea of clouds rises, some of the mountain peaks disappear, while others stand proudly upright, like isolated islands in the sea, sitting and watching the rising and falling of the smoke waves, standing still.
This is the Yunxiao Mountains, where the only sect in the Xu Kingdom—the Yunxiao Sect—is located.
At the edge of the sea of clouds, there is a small protrusion, like a rock in the sea, surrounded by clouds and fog, appearing and disappearing.
When the sea of clouds dispersed and the bright sunlight shone, this so-called reef was actually a thousand feet high and turned into a majestic and strange mountain.
The name of this mountain is Yunya, which means the edge of the sea of clouds. It is the outermost place of Yunxiao Sect.
There is a small town at the foot of the mountain named Yunya Town, which is named after this mountain.
Although Yunya Town is a town, it has a population of three to four hundred thousand, which is more prosperous than many counties and cities.
Most of the residents here are close relatives of the elders and disciples of the sect. Buying land and building a house here is also to serve the immortal children of your family nearby.
Early February every year is the busiest time of the year in Yunya Town, and the sect's annual Fairy Boy Selection Competition is held here.
…
February 7th
Several gorgeous giant flying boats slowly came from the distant sky.
The two flying boats at the front are painted sky blue, with various sea monsters painted on both sides, either swimming or playing, lifelike and vivid.
"This is the flying boat from Yuezhou. Every year, they are the first to arrive."
In a three-story teahouse, several people were looking into the distance and talking casually.
A middle-aged man wearing a silk shirt with a slightly weathered face asked: "Brother Qingtai, Yuezhou is quite far away from here. Why are they the first to arrive every year?"
The person called Qingtai was a fat man wearing a brocade robe. Hearing this, he laughed and said: "It is precisely because of the distance that we have to come early to avoid delays on the way!"
After saying that, he pointed to the distance: "Brother Chang Jin, please look, this is the second farthest, the flying boat from Xiangzhou is also here."
The middle-aged man named Chang Jin looked along his fingers and saw several grass-green flying boats appearing in the distant sky.
"Brother," a young man at the next table suddenly interjected: "To say that the people who are the most distant from our sect are not Yuezhou and Xiangzhou. Don't forget, Shazhou is where I am. Daxu’s farthest territory!”
The man looked to be in his twenties, with an excited expression on his face. Looking at the posture, if Qingtai dared to deny it, he would definitely have some moves.
"Oh, yes, yes!" Na Qingtai nodded hurriedly: "Shazhou is the farthest, Shazhou is the farthest. It's my brother's fault that he was confused. It's his fault."
After saying that, he remained silent, and the atmosphere in the teahouse became dull for a while.
I don't know how long it took, but someone suddenly said slowly: "The flying boat from Shazhou has also arrived."
Everyone hurriedly looked out the window and saw a light yellow flying boat approaching alone in the sky in the distance.
This flying boat doesn't look big, and its color is almost the same as the sky after the snow. If you don't look carefully, you might not be able to spot it.
"Why just a flying boat?" someone asked curiously.
Na Qingtai's throat trembled. Seeing no one around him to answer, he couldn't help but show off: "Shazhou reported to me that the population of Xu country is only about seven million, and there are less than 200,000 newborns every year. This can manifest spiritual roots. There are only about 200 fairy boys."
"Our Yunxiao Sect allocates the selection quotas to various places on a ten-to-one basis. Only in Shazhou, the quota is five-to-one. Even so, there are only about forty schoolchildren in Shazhou who can participate in the selection every year. "
When the young man from Qingjin heard this, he couldn't help but "hum" with disdain on his lips.
"Of these forty people, only one or two can enter the sect every year. The sect must take special care of it. Otherwise, if we go by the test results, none of them will be able to enter!" Na Qingtai shook his folding fan and said leisurely sighed.
Although there was white snow outside the window, it was as warm as spring in the teahouse. Qingtai was wide and fat, and he was actually sweating a little at this time.
"Why is this?" Chang Jin asked curiously: "I heard that the selection of fairy boys is from two thousand to four hundred. According to this ratio, there must be seven or eight people selected in Shazhou. Could it be that the fairy boys in Shazhou, Are your qualifications so bad?"
When the young man from Qingjin heard this, he said "poof" again, with an angry expression on his face.
Qingtai was about to explain when he heard the cold snort. He glanced at the young man secretly and suppressed his words.
He simply changed the subject: "As for qualifications, this year there is someone with a heavenly spirit root!"
As soon as this statement came out, everyone around him looked surprised and all looked at him. Obviously, they had never heard of this.
"Really?" Chang Jin said in surprise: "Tianlinggen! There may not be one in a hundred years! Brother Qingtai, where did you hear about it?"
Qingtai felt the eyes of everyone in the teahouse, felt proud, and spoke more carefully:
"Two years ago, I was traveling in Qingzhou. On the New Year's Eve of Qingyu Mountain that year, I saw with my own eyes that there was a girl with a spiritual root. The spiritual energy she absorbed was larger and thicker than the clouds in the sky. That is only possible with heavenly spiritual roots. The vision..."
"At that time, there were some people from Sangzhou who had bad intentions and tried to prevent the girl from appearing, but they were killed on the spot by Yi Jindan Patriarch!"
As soon as this story was told, it really aroused discussions among the tea drinkers:
"Tianlinggen! A new Nascent Soul Ancestor will appear in Xu Kingdom. This is a great blessing for the country!"
Some people even asked each other: "Has Qingzhou's flying boat arrived? We must take a good look. In this life, I have never seen what Tianlinggen looks like!"
"Brother!" The young man in Qingjin suddenly shouted loudly: "You, your news contains too many fallacies!"
"That girl is just a single spirit root," he corrected: "She is not from Qingzhou, but from Yunzhou."
"Yunzhou? That's the territory of the Dai family." Someone commented.
"Even if it is a single spirit root, it is a golden elixir seed that only comes out every five or six years. I want to take a closer look later to see what our future golden elixir ancestor looks like..."
"What else can it look like? It's just two eyes and one mouth!"
"Ha ha!"
Everyone was talking again.
At this time, a sharp-eyed person shouted: "Yunzhou! Yunzhou's flying boat has arrived too!"
Under the clouds, five luxurious flying boats were arranged in a long snake, meandering towards...
…
Not long after, the flying boats came to the sky above Yunya Town and landed slowly one by one at the boat yard in front.
After a while, a large group of people walked out of the yard at the shipyard.
There are almost no children among these people. All the tea guests knew what was going on, but they still looked out the window and continued to wait.
About a quarter of an hour later, several brown-robed immortal masters walked out of the courtyard, and immediately, two lines of children appeared in everyone's sight.
At the front of these children was a cute little girl with skin as white as jade. As she walked, she pointed her fingers everywhere and talked and laughed with a little boy next to her.
"What a lovely girl!"
Everyone in the teahouse finally saw Shan Linggen, and they all sat down with satisfaction and continued to comment and drink tea and chat.
