Early in the morning, bright sunlight shined down on the land, making everything seem beautiful.
Within a regular home, a young man said goodbye to his family and set out for the Flowing Cloud Sect.
As he walked, his neighbors all hurriedly came up to him to wish him luck.
"The Liu family's second son has been chosen by immortals; he's going to go there to cultivate."
"I heard that not only was he chosen for his talent, but he also passed the examination. In the future, he can even become an official…"
"Ai, my family's boy also passed the examination but did not have enough talent. He can't cultivate and can only become an official…"
"That's already good; it's better than what most of us could achieve in our lives."
People were discussing among themselves as they looked at the young man in admiration.
Feeling those gazes of admiration, Liu Yang felt quite pleased.
Decades after the Flowing Cloud Sect had unified the Yue Kingdom, much had changed within the Yue Kingdom.
The most evident change was that the examinations for cultivators and officials had been combined.
Before, in the Yue Kingdom, no matter if it was for cultivators or officials, the systems of testing and choosing were extremely crude.
Because they were limited by resources and manpower, the sects always focused on cultivation families to choose new disciples.
This was because the chances of mortals possessing cultivation talent was too low, and even if they did, they did not possess the benefits that those from cultivation families had.
As for officials, becoming an official relied on recommendations from other officials.
After the Flowing Cloud Sect unified the Yue Kingdom, this had completely changed.
With Chen Heng personally leading the way, the Flowing Cloud Sect had set up spirit formations in every city, allowing people to check their talent.
Moreover, the spirit formations were free to use. However, this was just for the first time; subsequent uses cost money.
Ordinarily speaking, people would only have their talent tested once; even if they continued testing it, there would be no point.
This used up a large amount of resources; if it wasn't for the fact that the Flowing Cloud Sect had taken over the entire Yue Kingdom and had the royal family's fortune, they would not have been able to achieve this.
Following this, the Flowing Cloud Sect spent some years creating some basic texts for children to study.
This was not that efficient for development, but it created opportunities for many mortals.
For most mortals, as long as they lived within the Yue Kingdom, they had the opportunity to check their talent.
Even if they did not have talent, as long as they were willing, they could head to official academies to study and pass examinations to change their lives.
Over the past few decades, the Flowing Cloud Sect had taken in many disciples.
Many mortals had benefited, and their lives had been changed.
Liu Yang was one of them.
His ancestors had all been mortals, and his father was just an ordinary shepherd.
If it was in the past, someone like him definitely would not have the opportunity to cultivate, nor would he have the opportunity to study. He would forever live at the bottom of society as a shepherd.
The Flowing Cloud Sect had changed all of this.
When he was young, he had been detected to have talent, so he successfully entered the preparatory academy set up by the Flowing Cloud Sect.
By now, he had already formally stepped onto the path of cultivation and was a Spirit Refining Level 1 cultivator.
As such, according to the Flowing Cloud Sect's rules, he could now officially enter the Flowing Cloud Sect.
Liu Yang had been looking forward to this for a long time.
"According to the Flowing Cloud Sect's rules, as an official disciple below 20 years of age, I can receive extra resources: one spirit stone and three spirit pills every month."
Thinking back to the news he had received, Liu Yang felt quite excited.
One spirit stone and three spirit pills.
To other people, this might not be much, but for a cultivator who had only just reached the Spirit Refining realm, it was quite good.
These were the allowances for official disciples who had reached the Spirit Refining realm before the age of 20.
Liu Yang was only 15 years old, and he would be able to receive this allowance for five years.
"In five years, by the time I'm 20, I should be able to reach Spirit Refining Level 4 or 5, and I might be able to aim for an Outer Court Disciple position…"
On the way, Liu Yang felt quite excited as he thought about the future, "If I can become an Outer Court Disciple, I can receive a new allowance. Even if I can't, I can find opportunities to earn spirit stones."
In the past, the requirements had not been so strict for Outer Court Disciples.
Back during Chen Heng's time, Outer Court Disciples just needed to have Spirit Refining Level 1 cultivation.
As the Flowing Cloud Sect grew, because it had many disciples, the requirements towards disciples were also raised.
Even for ordinary Outer Court Disciples, they needed to have at least Spirit Refining Level 4 or 5 cultivation.
Those below Spirit Refining Level 4 or 5 could only be Odd Job Disciples.
Moreover, only Foundation Building realm cultivators could enter the Inner Court.
As for Truly Legacy Disciples, now called Core Disciples, they needed even higher cultivation.
From where Liu Yang was, the route to the Flowing Cloud Sect was not too difficult.
Over the past few decades, the Flowing Cloud Sect had greatly developed the infrastructure in the Yue Kingdom.
Large numbers of cultivators were sent to build roads, and most places now had good roads and buildings.
Even though Liu Yang came from a small city, the road to the Flowing Cloud Sect was still quite good.
Walking on the road, Liu Yang could occasionally hear other people talking.
According to the merchants' discussions, ten or so years ago, there had not been such good roads.
Not only had there not been good roads, but there had also been much danger.
"What danger was there?" Liu Yang asked out of curiosity, "Wild beasts?"
The merchants looked at each other before laughing.
"The wild beasts are not a big deal; it was mostly the people."
A rough-looking man came up and patted Liu Yang's shoulder as he grinned, "In the past, the Yue Kingdom was not so peaceful."
Following this, he began to tell stories of older times.
Before, the Yue Kingdom had been quite chaotic.
Of course, it was not just the Yue Kingdom but all kingdoms.
That was how this world was: Mortals' lives were just like grass.
During the demonic cultivator disaster, countless mortals had been injured or killed.
Even though orthodox cultivators would not view mortals as resources, they often looked down on them and did not take them as the same kind.
Moreover, even within mortals, there were all kinds of inequalities and oppression.
Royals, nobles… they looked quite good but often oppressed ordinary mortals.
Currently, Liu Yang listened to the merchants talk about the past.
Before, there had been bandits everywhere, and whenever merchant groups ran into them, it was easy for them to lose their goods and their lives.
"Didn't the royal family or the nearby sects care about this?" Liu Yang frowned as he asked.
Hearing this, the merchants looked at each other and laughed.
"How could it be that simple?"
Liu Yang felt quite confused, but after hearing their explanations, he soon understood.
In the past, those sects were different to the current Flowing Cloud Sect.
To those people, mere bandits were not worth them acting. In fact, some of those people supported those bandits.
Given those circumstances, it was not likely that they would help the merchants.
Occasionally, some people would act justly and fight the bandits, but this was quite rare and had nothing to do with the large factions.
However, things were different now.
Now that the Flowing Cloud Sect was the ruler of the Yue Kingdom, most of the bandits within the Yue Kingdom's borders had disappeared.
Even if there were some remaining ones, they could only leave the Yue Kingdom and move to other kingdoms.
Now, travellers could at least have some peace within the Yue Kingdom.
"It's a pity that this is only in the Yue Kingdom," one of the merchants sighed as he said, "It would be good if other places could be like this as well."
As merchants, they had to travel to many places and clearly understood the differences between regions.
Compared to the Yue Kingdom, the other places were the same as before.
Mortals travelling would not be safe, and they could fall into danger at any moment.
Many people could not help but sigh about this.