The Flying Boat had arrived quickly, but its departure was slow.
Xu Yuan stood on the Flying Boat's observation deck with a cup of Spirit Tea, watching the city lights at night.
Zhai Qingya stood nearby, phone in hand, making call after call.
The Jade-Washing Sword lay on the coffee table.
Xu Yuan glanced back at it, reluctant to part with it.
"Can't you really leave the sword with me?"
"You're kidding! That's a Spirit Treasure, a custom piece made by an Artifact Refining master. It cost a fortune." Zhai Qingya shot him a glare.
With that, he handed Xu Yuan a booklet and gestured for him to read it.
Its cover read "Cloud Platform Deployment Tiers: An Introduction."
The Cloud Platform was a "joint association" of Cultivators who had ascended to Azure Heights, received the Heavenly Dao's blessing, guided and taught others, opened the way for civilization, and nurtured all living beings.
Xu Yuan immediately spotted the classification for the battle they had just fought—
"Mortal Calamity."
"Public-order incidents (crimes committed by Cultivators), harassment by low-tier Demon Beasts, small-scale natural disasters, and the like."
"Deployment tiers: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment."
Detailed explanations and examples followed.
It even explained that only frustrated low-tier Cultivators turned to crime.
High-tier Cultivators could obtain ample resources through almost anything they did; they had no need to prey on ordinary people.
If they had fallen to demonic ways, though, that was another matter.
He turned the page.
A new tier came into view:
"Regional Calamity."
"Terrorist attacks by underground organizations, massacres by mid-tier Demon Beasts, large-scale natural disasters, exploration of small Ruins."
"Deployment tiers: Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul."
This section also contained lengthy explanations and descriptions of team composition.
Curious, Xu Yuan skipped the details and kept flipping.
Sure enough, another tier