Azure Cloud City

Biodata

Geography and Cityscape

Azure Cloud City is a remote city on the Dragon King River. The river is feared for legends of a Flood Serpent Monster that once capsized boats and devoured fishermen; government martial artists were reportedly unable to oppose it 2.

• Dragon King River — Runs alongside the city and supports its docks, fishing activity, and gang operations 2 157.
  • Although White Egret City lies downstream, the river cannot safely be used as a water route between the two cities 99.
  • White Egret City is four hundred and sixty li from Azure Cloud City, requiring escort convoys to travel overland 99.
  • Fang Han later uses a fishing boat on the river for secluded cultivation and achieves Grade Entry there 461 465.
• Inner City — A walled district with six wards, broad bluestone roads, wealthy estates, merchants, official patrols, and restricted entry for those without status, silver, or connections 88 89.
• Outer City — Poorer and less active after dark, containing shantytowns such as Mud Bay Alley and factions such as the former Dragon King Gang 59 89 187.
• Transverse Mountains — Mountains outside Azure Cloud City where martial academies organize demon-hunting training. A blood locust monster insect hive in the mountains later presents a potential threat to the city and its surrounding settlements 23 439.
• Eastern dock and moat drawbridge — Features along the potential approach of a blood locust swarm from the Transverse Mountains. Fang Han identifies the official road, eastern dock, moat drawbridge, and city walls as successive points along the insects’ possible route 439.
• Azure Cloud Temple — A thousand-year-old Daoist temple on a hill more than ten li west of the Outer City. The city is said to have taken its name from the temple 65.
  • The temple has five courtyards and only seven or eight elderly priests.
  • Its peeling paint, moss-covered paving, and cracked pillars reflect the decline of Daoist worship in an era dominated by martial strength 65.
• Azure Cliff Cave — A naturally formed semicircular cliff formation outside the city, backed by mountains on three sides and accessible through a single principal route. It formerly concealed Freedom Abbey, a Blood God Cult stronghold 284 287.
  • The site lies approximately forty li southwest of Azure Cloud City 283.
  • The mountain was destroyed by Commandant Camp explosives during the Azure Cliff Cave campaign, leaving the site largely collapsed 312 345.

Society

The Inner and Outer Cities are sharply divided by wealth and opportunity. The Inner City is clean, orderly, and densely commercial, while Outer City residents are associated with poverty and rougher living conditions 89.

• Inner City residents include nobles, officials, wealthy merchants, and prominent martial families 88 111.
• For ordinary Outer City residents, even lifelong savings may be insufficient to buy property in the Inner City 89.
• Great Qian imposes no general curfew, though Inner City gates remain guarded at night and require valid permits for entry 59 137.
• The city’s martial culture encourages factional circles even among academy apprentices, reflecting the broader principle that “wherever there are people, there is a jianghu” 17.
• Inner City noble families enjoy access to precious medicines, renowned instructors, and extensive cultivation resources, while Outer City academy disciples must pursue more immediate and practical means of improving their strength 128 156.
• The resumed Martial Examination Assessment drew large numbers of common spectators and bettors, while the VIP stands became unusually sparse as major local figures focused on the Blood God Cult investigation 376 379.
• Beneath the city’s prosperous appearance, suspected cult ties and competing intelligence networks have fostered an atmosphere of secrecy, surveillance, and distrust 345 376.
• According to Sun Moting’s account, Blood God Cult connections extended well beyond the Three Great Families and implicated more than half of the city’s noble clans and other factions 376.
• Martial Graduate status provides significant social and legal protection. Fang Han’s recognition exempts him and his family from corvée labor, removing the danger of his elder brother being compelled into such service 429.
• Fang Han’s family moves from Mud Bay Alley to the Inner City before his official examination results are delivered, illustrating the social mobility made possible by martial success and improved resources 220 429.

Government and Security

Azure Cloud City is governed through separate civil and military authorities.

• City Lord’s Manor — Oversees the city’s civil administration. The City Lord presides over major public events alongside the magistrate and local elites 223.
  • The Old City Lord, Sun Moting, has governed Azure Cloud City for more than thirty years, while Sun Xuanhe is recognized as the young City Lord and heir of the manor 146 289 376.
  • Sun Moting privately commissions Fang Han after recognizing his concealed Greater Transformed Force cultivation. His payment includes a Metal-Stone Jade Essence, two thousand taels in silver notes, a city-issued pass permit, and the Profound-grade movement art Seven Star Steps 376 379.
• Magistrate — Administers matters such as the Martial Examination Assessment and maintains public order through constables and city guards 78 223.
• Commandant Camp — A military force whose Azure Cloud City deployment was led by Lingzhou Prefecture’s Commandant, Gu Zhiyi. The Commandant’s rank and martial strength exceed those of the City Lord, though their civil and military jurisdictions remain separate 137 305.
  • The camp maintains covert Demon-Slaying Squads and can rapidly mobilize soldiers of Major Manifest Force or above 283 289.
  • Its local personnel include infiltrators: Gu Zhiyi identifies Deputy Adjutant Zhang as a Xiao Family spy whose purpose is to expand the family’s influence within the army 304.
  • Gu Zhiyi also seeks recruits during his deployment, eventually identifying Fang Han as a candidate for service as a personal guard and trusted confidant 305.
• City guards and constables — Guard city gates, inspect travelers, patrol the Inner City, and enforce emergency restrictions 88 89.
  • Their reliability is uncertain: following the Azure Cliff Cave campaign, at least one gate guard secretly reported Fang Han’s return to the Three Great Families 313.
• Prefectural examination officials — Oversee the resumed examination and issue formal recognition of successful candidates. Fang Han’s announcement is accompanied by official robes, a standard-issue saber, fifty taels of reward silver, and a status document bearing the prefectural seal 376 429.

During the Blood God Cult crisis, the magistrate imposed martial restrictions after villages outside the city were massacred and drained of blood. The measures failed to capture the culprits, leaving the city fearful and its streets increasingly deserted 78.

After the Azure Cliff Cave campaign left Gu Zhiyi critically injured, his personal captain refused to seek treatment in Azure Cloud City, fearing the Three Great Families’ possible ties to the Blood God Cult. Gu Zhiyi was instead secretly escorted to Lingzhou Prefecture 319.

The Three Great Families generally avoid openly provoking the City Lord’s Manor despite their extensive local influence. An attack on the manor’s authority would be treated as opposition to the Great Qian Dynasty rather than an ordinary dispute between local factions 227.

The later blood locust threat exposes the limitations of the city’s conventional defenses. Fang Han judges that walls capable of stopping armored cavalry would offer little protection against insects able to fly and tunnel through the earth. At that point, he believes the city has no Grade Entry powerhouses available, although the Xiao Family Patriarch is subsequently revealed to have concealed Ninth-Grade Entry cultivation 439 454.

Major Factions

• Three Great Families of the Inner City — The Xiao, Huang, and Liu Families are the city’s most deeply entrenched local powers. Their retainers are considered elite martial artists, and their influence extends into martial halls, commerce, and government affairs 205 226 319.
  • Huang Zhenjun of the Huang Family was discovered participating in Blood God Cult activity at Azure Cliff Cave, while the Huang Family head attempted to conceal his connection to the cult 289.
  • Xiao Ran of the Xiao Family covertly sought to use the Commandant’s campaign to expose and eliminate the Huang Family while preserving the Xiao Family’s position 319.
  • Their control rests on centuries of accumulated foundations, but they normally refrain from direct confrontation with the City Lord’s Manor 227.
  • The Xiao Family’s hidden resources prove substantially greater than Fang Han initially assumes. Its patriarch has remained at Ninth-Grade Entry for years, and the family possesses the complete Earth-grade Netherworld Bone-Rending Claw, including a Grade Entry cultivation method 454 461.
• Commandant Camp — The principal military force opposing the Blood God Cult. It maintains covert Demon-Slaying Squads and can rapidly mobilize soldiers of Major Manifest Force or above 283 289.
• Blood God Cult — A demonic sect responsible for massacres outside the city, God Worship rituals, and a hidden stronghold at Azure Cliff Cave. Although struck heavily by the Commandant’s forces, possible remnants continue to operate within the city 78 287 347.
  • Investigations indicate that the cult retains multiple hidden sites within Azure Cloud City, including suspected bases connected to a cloth shop in the eastern city and a ruined courtyard outside the walls 379.
  • Cloud Sparrow identifies four concealed strongholds in total when the cloth shop and ruined courtyard are counted alongside two previously discovered sites. She interprets the network as preparation for a larger operation rather than an attack on a single individual 379.
• Lingzhou Prefecture Investigators — Lingzhou Prefecture has dispatched covert personnel to investigate surviving Blood God Cult members and local collusion. Their activities form part of the wider post-campaign scrutiny of Azure Cloud City 347 376.
  • Tiger Sparrow and Cloud Sparrow identify themselves as personal guards of Deputy General Lu Youzhou, the “Blazing Fire Divine Palm,” when questioned by Fang Han 347.
• Demon Suppression Bureau — An outside authority conducting a parallel investigation into Blood God Cult remnants and the local forces shielding them 347 376.
• Dragon King Gang — A former Outer City gang with branches including Four Waters Hall. It profited through extortion and controlled substantial property before Fang Han eliminated forty-seven members at its headquarters, ending its presence in Azure Cloud City 21 150 187.
  • The gang promoted annual child sacrifices to the Flood Dragon Demon as the means of keeping the river calm, with the local yamen secretly acquiescing after failing to stop the creature 2.
  • Qiu Haiyou had controlled the Flood Dragon Demon for years, using it to terrorize the region 400.
• Canal Gang — A larger gang with a branch at the Dragon King River docks. Its Azure Cloud passage tokens permit movement through its territory and access to gang intelligence 65 157.
  • Its covert operatives in Azure Cloud City are later uprooted. After six half-step Grade Entry assassins are killed, Fang Han expects a delay of several days before news reaches Lingzhou Prefecture, giving him a temporary opportunity to advance before Zhou Kai can respond 450.
• Heavenly Blade Sect — An outside sect that maintains hidden operatives in Azure Cloud City, including Wang Long, Chen Chuanjia, and Liu Yanyan. Its agents operate from a gambling house in Eight Treasures Ward and target Fang Han’s suspected secrets 244 252 257.
  • Following the disappearance of their associate Fourth, the operatives withdraw toward Lingzhou Prefecture, burning their gambling-house base to remove evidence 257 258.
• Huo Family Escort Agency — An established escort agency that operates routes between Azure Cloud City and surrounding trade centers, including White Egret City and Eastwood City 98 99 200.
  • At the time Fang Han joins, the agency has nine escort masters: Huo Ting, a Dark Strength expert, and eight Manifest Force martial artists 98.
  • Its escort of Yun Zhiyue is attacked by retainers identified as belonging to the Three Great Families, demonstrating the risks of accepting commissions entangled with Inner City politics 205.

Martial Institutions

• Stellar Gathering Martial Hall — The city’s largest and strongest martial hall, located in the Inner City. It has produced more Martial Graduates than any other local hall and hosts the Martial Examination Assessment 220.
  • Its two hall masters are both described as Supreme Grandmasters at Transformation Realm Perfection 220.
• Flood Peak Martial Arts Academy — An academy attended by Fang Han. Its direct disciples participate in the Azure Cloud Ranking and Martial Examination Assessment 155 222.
  • Led by Zheng Hongfeng, the academy is protected by his Transformed Force cultivation and established local connections 23 321.
  • Fang Han becomes Zheng Hongfeng’s sole closed-door disciple. His Black Mystery Jade token bearing the character “Flood” grants conveniences at certain medicine shops and money shops in Azure Cloud City 384.
• Thunderclap Martial Arts Academy — A prominent academy led by Chen Daqing, maintaining a cordial relationship with Flood Peak 47 222.
  • The two academies arrange a joint demon-hunting expedition in the outer Transverse Mountains, selecting six Outer Court disciples each to gain practical combat experience before the martial examination 23.
• Azure Cloud Ranking — An unofficial annual ranking of the city’s top thirty young martial artists. It evaluates examination results, combat records, aptitude, realm, and martial attainment; major clans and gangs use it to identify recruitable talent 155.
  • Inclusion is widely treated as near-proof that a martial artist can pass the Dragon Ascension Martial Examination 155.
  • One early release places Xiao Ran first, Huang Xuan second, Wang Long third, and Zheng Yuanming ninth. Flood Peak’s two top-ten placements become a source of pride for its disciples 156.
  • The ranking provokes widespread discussion, rivalry, celebration, and disappointment throughout the city’s academies, streets, and taverns 157.
• Martial Examination Assessment — A citywide contest held at Stellar Gathering Martial Hall. Forty-three martial halls and nearly one thousand candidates compete for fifty Martial Graduate titles 220 223.
  • The assessment was suspended for three days during the Azure Cliff Cave operation before later resuming under the attention of Lingzhou Prefecture officials 284 376.
  • Two consecutive losses result in elimination. The unusually large number of entrants causes the first preliminary round to last until around nine in the evening 237.
  • Fang Han eventually receives formal confirmation of his Martial Graduate status through a public announcement at his training courtyard 429.
• Demon-hunting teams — Specialized local teams typically consist of Body Tempering martial artists or practitioners at Manifest Force Initiation or Minor Manifest Force and hunt ordinary demons. Hunting Superior Demon Beasts requires at least three members, each at Major Manifest Force or above 143.

Under the Great Qian Code, local martial academies may teach only martial arts below Transformed Force; instruction above that level belongs to academies established by the prefectural government. Zheng Hongfeng’s past political difficulties in Lingzhou Prefecture make him particularly cautious about appearing to violate this restriction 99.

Notable Locations

• Auspicious Ward — An Inner City ward containing Great Qian Bank 89.
• Great Qian Bank — A formal, heavily secured institution with underground vaults. It serves clients impartially regardless of clothing or social standing 89.
• Myriad Treasures Pavilion — An Inner City commercial institution selling cultivation resources, demon-beast materials, and intelligence subscriptions. Its city branch employs Manifest Force martial artists and is managed through mechanisms accessible only to Transformation Realm experts or above 214 215 361.
  • The pavilion offers four grades of storage. Its Jade Pendant Token storage is linked to a customer’s aura and may be used to retrieve possessions through branches across the Great Qian Dynasty 402 406.
  • The pavilion also operates bounty missions ranging from minor Copper-level errands to highly dangerous Gold-level assignments, including missions concerning demons and Blood God Cult remnants 403.
  • Its forge workshop produces Fang Han’s two Giant Turtle Treasure Armors. A newly developed sealing and polishing technique shortens production time fourfold, allowing completion ahead of schedule 411.
  • The workshop offers Fang Han priority service, favorable prices, and access to its best forging masters for future commissions 411.
  • The branch organizes a major auction expected to attract powerful factions from across Lingzhou Prefecture. Fang Han receives an exclusive invitation, and Sun Moting, Zheng Hongfeng, and other local figures attend 411 412.
  • Its available rare cultivation treasures include Thousand-Year Thunder-Washed Bamboo, priced at two thousand gold per finger-length 394.
• Moonwatch Tower — An Outer City establishment used for banquets, private meetings, and political dealings 29 146.
  • Huang Zhenjun severely injures Huo Zheng there after returning from martial study in Lingzhou Prefecture 163.
• Commandant Camp Command Post — The Commandant’s Inner City headquarters, where military intelligence is received and operations are directed 137 289.
• Dragon King Gang Headquarters / Qiu Residence — The former headquarters of the Dragon King Gang. It was searched by more than two hundred Commandant Camp soldiers after the gang’s destruction 187.
• Freedom Abbey — The former Blood God Cult complex within Azure Cliff Cave. It contained God Worship facilities, defensive arrays, and the cult’s hidden rituals before the destruction of the mountain 287 290 312.
• Eastern Cloth Shop — A suspected Blood God Cult contact site in eastern Azure Cloud City, where cult-linked individuals were observed meeting a shopkeeper bearing identifying markings 379.
• Martial Training Courtyard — Fang Han’s private training residence in the Outer City. It is a recurring site of cultivation, surveillance, family training, and the eventual ceremonial delivery of his Martial Graduate recognition 188 220 345 401 429.
• Huo Family Estate — The Huo Family’s residence, where Fang Han visits Huo Zheng and consults members of the household 163 407.
• Eight Treasures Ward Gambling House — A covert base used by Heavenly Blade Sect operatives before their withdrawal. It is burned to eliminate evidence 257 258.
• Xiao Residence — A large Inner City estate with high blue-brick walls, upturned eaves, and old scholar trees outside its boundary. It becomes the site of Fang Han’s confrontation with the Xiao Family and later theft of hidden treasures 450 454 465.
  • A rockery cave dwelling within the estate is associated with the family’s concealed resources; Fang Han considers searching it further for pills and cultivation methods after studying the Netherworld Bone-Rending Claw 461.

History

Founding Legend

Azure Cloud City is said to be named after Azure Cloud Temple. Local tradition holds that the temple’s deity, the “Heavenly Treasure Great Venerable, Immeasurable Azure Cloud Venerable,” was once a scholar from the area who encountered an immortal, learned immortal arts, and ascended 65.

River God Festival

For six years, Azure Cloud City’s River God Festival had never produced a sighting of a flood dragon demon. In the seventh year, reports spread that the Great Flood Dragon had appeared, prompting exaggerated tales across streets, taverns, and alleys 33.

The festival’s sacrificial practice originates in the Dragon King Gang’s claim that offering a virgin boy and girl to the river demon on the fifth day of the fifth month would ensure a year of calm waters. After an especially vicious period of attacks on fishermen and merchant shipping, the powerless yamen secretly permits the gang to select children by lot 2.

Blood God Cult Crisis

The Blood God Cult’s attacks on nearby villages brought fear and military restrictions to the city. The Commandant later investigated its local connections, including possible collusion with the Inner City’s great families 78 289 347.

Rumors of connections between the Three Great Families and cult remnants circulate before the Azure Cliff Cave campaign. Even academy masters avoid discussing the allegations openly for fear of being overheard 229.

Destruction of the Dragon King Gang

Fang Han destroyed the Dragon King Gang’s headquarters, killing all forty-seven gang members inside. The Commandant Camp subsequently searched the residence, and the gang ceased to exist in Azure Cloud City 187.

The Commandant conceals Fang Han’s involvement, leaving academy disciples and the broader public to discuss the destruction as a mysterious event 188.

Martial Examination Assessment

The city’s Martial Examination Assessment was held at Stellar Gathering Martial Hall, bringing together candidates from forty-three martial halls. Its proceedings were interrupted when the Commandant transferred Fang Han into the Demon-Subduing Squad and suspended the examination amid the Azure Cliff Cave emergency 220 284.

Fang Han emerges as the examination’s greatest dark horse. His defeat of Meng Yang generates disbelief and allegations of political backing, while his later victory over Ye Fan dramatically changes how spectators and leading local figures assess his abilities 236 273.

The assessment later resumed, attracting increased public attention while many of Azure Cloud City’s leading figures were absent because of the Blood God Cult investigation 376 379.

Fang Han’s success is subsequently formalized by a procession of officials carrying gongs, drums, and firecrackers. After finding his family’s former Mud Bay Alley residence empty, the officials locate him at his training courtyard with Zheng Yuanming’s assistance and deliver his Martial Graduate robes, saber, reward, and prefecturally sealed status document 429.

Azure Cliff Cave Campaign

After reconnaissance revealed Blood God Cult activity at Azure Cliff Cave, the Commandant personally led nearly one hundred soldiers and several Demon-Slaying Squads against the cult stronghold 284 289.

The campaign ended with explosives collapsing the mountain and destroying Azure Cliff Cave. The Commandant was later recovered alive but critically injured and secretly escorted to Lingzhou Prefecture for treatment 312 319.

The Fangwai Perfected One’s body was not found in the ruins, leaving his ultimate fate uncertain in the immediate aftermath of the battle 319.

Cloud Sparrow later describes the Fangwai Perfected One as having been slain by Gu Zhiyi, although the earlier search had not recovered his body 379.

Renewed Surveillance

Following the Azure Cliff Cave incident, the city became the focus of multiple outside forces. Lingzhou Prefecture, the Demon Suppression Bureau, the Xiao Family, and suspected Blood God Cult remnants all operated around Azure Cloud City 345 347 376.

The investigation uncovered signs that the cult had survived the destruction of Freedom Abbey through several concealed sites in and around the city. The apparent exposure of Tiger Sparrow and Cloud Sparrow as Blood God Cult spies further complicated the already uncertain intelligence situation 375 379.

Cloud Sparrow’s assessment identifies four hidden cult strongholds and suggests that the surviving network is preparing a substantial operation. Meanwhile, Sun Moting privately enlists Fang Han’s assistance and supplies money, an official pass, a rare cultivation treasure, and Seven Star Steps 376 379.

Death of the Flood Dragon Demon

A Flood Dragon Demon corpse was later discovered on a riverbank downstream of the Dragon King River. Its death became the subject of widespread speculation throughout Azure Cloud City, with rumors attributing it variously to a passing expert, divine punishment, or natural causes 407.

The demon had in fact been killed by Fang Han. After extracting its essence and salvaging valuable horns, reverse scale, bones, teeth, and skin, he sends the remaining corpse into the river to conceal evidence. Its Demon Core subsequently provides the final strand of Heaven-and-Earth Force needed for his breakthrough to Perfected Transformed Force 400.

Myriad Treasures Pavilion Auction

The city branch of Myriad Treasures Pavilion announces a major auction drawing interest from powerful factions throughout Lingzhou Prefecture. Fang Han accepts a private-seat invitation primarily to broaden his knowledge rather than compete for the most expensive treasures 411.

Local attendees include Zheng Hongfeng and the Old City Lord, Sun Moting. Zheng offers to pay for an item Fang Han wants, reflecting both their strengthened master-disciple relationship and the auction’s importance as a source of cultivation resources 412.

Blood Locust Swarm Threat

Xue Qinghe returns to Azure Cloud City after escaping the Black Water Abyss with severe injuries from blood poison. Her information alerts Fang Han to a blood locust monster insect hive in the Transverse Mountains 439.

Fang Han concludes that a mature swarm could reach the city in two or three days, consuming livestock and people in nearby villages, fields, and post stations before advancing along the Dragon King River toward the city walls. He considers Azure Cloud City’s defenses inadequate against insects capable of both flight and underground movement 439.

Fang Han plans to intervene, although his principal objective is to devour demon blood and strengthen his Blood Dantian; protecting Azure Cloud City is an additional benefit of the operation 440.

Canal Gang and Xiao Family Confrontations

After Canal Gang covert operatives in Azure Cloud City are uprooted and six half-step Grade Entry assassins are killed, Fang Han exploits the expected delay in communication with Lingzhou Prefecture. He seeks to attain Grade Entry before Zhou Kai can organize a renewed response 450.

Fang Han proceeds to the Xiao Residence, where Elder Mu is killed and the subsequent confrontation exposes the Xiao Family Patriarch’s concealed Ninth-Grade Entry cultivation. The patriarch covets Fang Han’s suspected fortuitous encounter as a possible means of overcoming his own long-standing cultivation bottleneck 450 454.

Fang Han obtains the Xiao Family’s Netherworld Bone-Rending Claw manual, discovering that it is a complete Earth-grade martial art with a Grade Entry method. This overturns his earlier assumption that Azure Cloud City’s great families could not possess such advanced inherited arts 257 461.

Grade Entry Phenomenon

After escaping the Xiao Residence with stolen treasure, Fang Han returns to his fishing boat on the Dragon King River. Among the pills he acquired is a Millennium Jade Marrow Pill, which heals his meridian injuries and restores and strengthens his nine currents of Heaven-and-Earth Force 465.

Using the renewed forces, Fang Han opens the Heaven-and-Earth Bridge and achieves Grade Entry. His breakthrough produces a brilliant silver column visible for miles and draws the attention of powerful observers across the Great Qian Dynasty, including the emperor, although Fang Han remains unaware of their reactions 465.

Trivia

• Azure Cloud City’s Inner City has six wards, while Dingyang City—another settlement in Lingzhou Prefecture—has no Inner City/Outer City division 89 100.
• The city’s prosperity is limited compared with White Egret City, a major trade hub within a thousand li 107.
• Fang Han considers Azure Cloud City too limited to provide the higher-grade cultivation methods needed to advance beyond Transformed Force, motivating his eventual plan to travel to Lingzhou Prefecture. His later discovery of the Xiao Family’s complete Earth-grade martial art reveals that at least one local clan conceals resources exceeding this assessment 257 461.
• Lingzhou Prefecture’s soil is said to have a high salt content, preventing osmanthus trees from surviving in Azure Cloud City or elsewhere in the prefecture 132.
• Even at Perfected Transformed Force, Fang Han considers himself only a local expert within Azure Cloud City and regards Grade Entry as necessary before seeking a foothold in Lingzhou Prefecture 403 418.
• Manifest Force martial artists are notable figures in the city, Dark Strength practitioners are first-rate experts, and Transformed Force cultivation is sufficient to establish a martial school or family 17 23 287.
• A complete Profound-grade martial art would be valuable enough to serve as a clan treasure for centuries in Azure Cloud City, making the Xiao Family’s possession of a complete Earth-grade art especially exceptional 461.
• Myriad Treasures Pavilion explicitly states that Azure Cloud City is too small to warrant an Innate Realm expert stationed at its branch 215.
• Zheng Hongfeng advises that continued isolation in Azure Cloud City would limit Fang Han’s growth and that seeking Grade Entry ordinarily requires broader experience among Lingzhou Prefecture’s stronger martial artists and entrenched powers. Fang Han nevertheless achieves the breakthrough on the Dragon King River after obtaining the Xiao Family’s hidden resources 403 465.