The morning light is faint, and on the boundless wilderness, there is a slight breeze blowing from time to time, bringing up bursts of choking dust and smoke, enveloping the entire desert tightly, and the sky and the earth are slightly gloomy.

At dawn, the red sun was rising, and a beam of light shone through the thick, yellowish clouds that were rendered by smoke and dust, and shone directly on a square below.

This is the cloud side of the small town in the autumn of 996 in the dream calendar.

As the throat fortress of the Mengyue Dynasty in the far northwest, Yunbian City borders with the two dynasties of the Great Zhou and the Great Wei, guarding the gateway to and from the Mengyue, and its strategic importance is self-evident.

The sound of horses' hooves comes, the sound of horses' hooves goes, the black pressure of the steel torrent rolls and gallops, rolling up a huge column of smoke that goes straight to the sky in this desert, covering the sky and the sun, has become a beautiful scenery in the northwest of the country.

In addition to the soldiers stationed here all the year round, most of the residents in the city are poor people of the middle and lower classes, and there are also some officials of all ages who have been relegated to this wild place to experience life because they have angered the powerful people of the DPRK and China.

Soldiers, border people, and officials, these three types of people form this seemingly small but mixed cloud border city.

It was early in the morning, and the first rays of light had just shone through the thick clouds on the eastern horizon, covering the largest and most majestic square in the center of the city.

It's just that this small city, which was still asleep in the past, seems to have become a little different today, although there is still silence all around, but under that silence, there are faint noises coming from all over the city.

On the platform in the center of the square, at a certain moment, the old man in gray who had been sitting quietly on the wide-backed wooden chair with his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes, and after looking around, he turned his eyes to several people in Tsing Yi who were waiting on the side, and his voice with a little hoarse suddenly sounded softly, "The time has come, let's get ready to start." ”

"Yes, Master. The leading man in Tsing Yi respectfully agreed, his face was solemn, and when he waved his palm, a strong wind shot out and hit the huge bronze bell standing under the stage, and the deafening loud sound instantly resounded in the sky and spread to every corner of Yunbian City.

Woohoo......

The blow worked, but the man in green clothes did not stop, his sleeves flickered, and several strong winds shot out, hitting the clock face, counting the previous one, a total of nine bells, echoing in the streets and alleys of the city, and it took a long time to disperse.

"The ceremony is about to begin!"

"Hurry up, don't let the mystic adults wait!"

"Son, calm down, don't be afraid, the hope of our family is all in you. ”

“......”

After the bell rang, the previous agitation in the city disappeared and was replaced by a further level of noise.

If someone flies into the sky and looks down like those profound cultivators, they will be surprised to find that in the entire Yunbian City, except for the camp tent used to garrison the army in the east of the city, the streets and alleys are almost full of black and oppressive figures, as if the people of the entire small city have poured out. And the final direction of these people is the central square where the bell rang earlier.

The sound of the bell, like a wire, ignited the originally silent Yunbian City.

......

"Be quiet, everyone, please be quiet!"

On the square, the middle-aged man in Tsing Yi standing on the central platform looked at the noisy and noisy black crowd below, and secretly glanced at the old man in gray who seemed to have no change in face on the side, frowned, and couldn't help shouting.

The cheers were not loud, but under the wrapping of Xuan Qi, it could still be clearly transmitted to the ears of everyone present, and it seemed full of energy. At the same time as the cheers spread, a faint aura of oppression emanated from the middle-aged man in green clothes, shrouded in the square, not angry and arrogant.

As if they were intimidated by the aura of the people in Tsing Yi, everyone closed their mouths for a while, carefully held their breath, and looked at the cyan figure in the center of the square that looked extremely tall at the moment, for fear of angering this master from the Changling Shangzong.

Especially those people with children around them, even more so, annoying the Lord Xuanzhi, their own lives are not guaranteed, but if they cut off their own children's cultivation path because of this, it will be too late to regret it.

Today is the sixth day of the sixth month of June, the day of the opening of the pulse, and it is also the day when the Changling Sect comes to Yunbian City once a year to select and accept disciples.

Things in the world have always been divided into three, six, nine and so on, and so are people. And there is no doubt that no matter what era it is, the cultivators who rely on absorbing the aura of heaven and earth to strengthen themselves, also known as the mystical ones, are all in the absolute upper class.

The path of cultivation is long, and the first step is to open the Xuan Mai.

The Xuan Mai is an important marker to distinguish whether or not they can practice. As long as you can open a Xuan Vein, even if it is only the lowest Xuan Vein, it is enough for you to embark on the path of cultivation, and from then on you will become a respected Xuan Being, free from the shackles of the world.

It's easier said than done. The Mengyue Dynasty has a vast land and resources, and there are tens of millions of subordinate people, but even counting some remote small sects, the number of registered mysteries has never exceeded 100,000, and the proportion is not even one percent, and the degree of difficulty in this can be imagined.

According to the valuable experience accumulated by the countless ancestors of the human race through exploration, whether it is in terms of physical strength or the ability to absorb spiritual energy, twelve years old is the best age to open the Xuan Vein, and there is no one.

As a second-rate sect, although the Changling Sect is not very conspicuous in the entire dynasty, let alone famous, but in this relatively remote northwest desert, it definitely belongs to the existence of prestige, and the school-age children of more than a dozen cities within a radius are responsible for sending their disciples to open the pulse assessment every year, and then absorb the talented ones among them to become its new generation of disciples, and in this way continue to strengthen themselves.

Cloudside City is one of them.

Compared with other cities under the jurisdiction of the Changling Sect, although Yunbian City is only a small border city, there are not many permanent residents, and the number of school-age children is even rarer every year, but there are about a few hundred people, according to the normal conversion ratio of one percent, only a few people can successfully open up the Xuan Vein and embark on the path of cultivation, which is really a bit miserable.

But Yunbian City is different.

Perhaps because of the perennial war and the fierce folk customs, the proportion of successful opening of the Xuan Vein in Yunbian City every year far exceeds that of the surrounding major cities, and even reaches an astonishing ten percent! In other words, the Changling Sect can recruit dozens of fresh blood from here every year!

The Xuanzhi is no better than others, it is not a cabbage that can be seen everywhere, and the desolate northwest border is not as good as the rich southern water town, like that spiritual energy, rich in treasures, for Changling Sect, dozens of people are already a very good number, you know, the so-called big cities with a population of more than dozens of times that of Yunbian City next to it, are only this number every year, and in terms of quality, they are even faintly inferior.

Although the city is small and the people are outnumbered, the importance that the Changling Sect attaches to it is not weaker than other cities in the jurisdiction, and every year the elders of the sect will be specially sent to lead a team to take charge of various matters related to the opening of the pulse.

The gray-clothed old man who was still sitting on the wooden chair looked around from the black field, his eyes seemed to be cloudy, but there was a faint sense of sharpness, and he slowly looked at all the school-age children in the field, as if he was trying to find something.

After a while, after he had carefully observed all the school-age children in the field, he finally shook his head, and his thin face could not hide the look of disappointment. According to his preliminary observations, although there were quite a few of these children who had the talent to open the Xuan Vein, and even a few of them were very good, and there was a slight possibility of impacting the Four Xuan Veins, none of them could surprise him.

Even if it's just a little bit......

Thinking of this, the old man in gray couldn't help but sigh secretly, and immediately relieved in his heart, yes, his requirements are still too high, and those who can open up the five Xuan veins and above, even in the top forces of the four major sects, which are as strong as clouds, are not mediocre people, how can they appear in this wild place, and they are so lucky that they just let themselves bump into them.

Of course, this is only his preliminary judgment, and if he wants to really draw a conclusion, he will have to conduct careful testing before he can be sure.

Having said that, the old man in gray was inevitably a little disheartened, his eyes narrowed slightly, his old body curled up on the wooden chair, and waved his hand to the man in green clothes on the side, "Jianqiu, since the people are almost here, let's start, start early and end early." ”

"Yes. The man in Tsing Yi named Jianqiu responded when he heard this, and he couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart, as a big disciple, how could he not know what his master thought. The old man was old and wanted to find a disciple to inherit the mantle, but none of the many brothers and sisters could satisfy him, let alone teach him what he had learned all his life. If it weren't for that one-in-a-10,000 hope, how could a master who even had a transcendent status in the sect and whose strength was enough to rank among the top three come to participate in such a trivial matter of recruiting new disciples?

But sighing is sighing, but the business cannot be delayed. The man in Tsing Yi stood up straight, his face was solemn, and his majestic and loud voice suddenly echoed in the square.

"I announce that the opening ceremony of Yunbian City has officially begun!"