As they continued forward, the skies gradually grew busier until a vast city finally revealed itself ahead, floating between layers of clouds like a gate between worlds. What stood before them was Golden Leaf City, the only passage through which forces from the lower regions could step toward the middle and even glimpse the upper realms during the tournament cycle.
Every fifty years, envoys from higher regions descended upon this place, not out of courtesy but for selection, searching for talents worth taking away. The top three sects would earn the right to advance further, while the rest would remain below, watching the chosen ascend beyond their reach.
