In the year 372 of the Xuanyuan era, the continent was divided into two realms: the mundane world below and the Cloud Realm above.
The mundane world had nine great nations. Cultivators practiced with turbid spiritual energy, and few could reach beyond the Fifth Realm. The nations were divided among sects and clans, and every three years they could receive the "Saint's Pilgrimage" from the sacred lands above, earning pure spiritual resources bestowed by those lands.
The Cloud Realm had seven great sacred lands, the only top-tier powers capable of producing pure spiritual energy. The Xuanyuan Sacred Land stood foremost among them, ruling three mundane nations, including the Great Jing Dynasty.
The timing was exact: three full years had passed since the Xuanyuan Sacred Land's last Saint's Pilgrimage, and six months remained until the next one. By the rules, the sacred land could not interfere in mundane affairs during this period, and no one came looking for the former saint who had been missing for three years.
