Cloud Radiance Sect

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Cloud Radiance Sect (云熙宗)
Type	Righteous cultivation sect 1
Standing	One of the cultivation world’s four great righteous sects 1 17
Leader	Sect Master Lu Yuanyi 1 4
Location	Northern region; its grounds occupy mountainous terrain 10 22
Occupation/Role	Cultivation instruction, demon suppression, orphan care, and disaster relief 1 13 17 36
Status	Active in the present storyline; its devastation appears in Shen Leyan’s knowledge of the original novel and his Boundless Gate trial, not as a completed present-day event 45 49
First Appearance	Chapter 1 1

Background / History

A thousand years earlier, the previous sect master’s illegitimate son, Bai Licheng, murdered fellow disciples while competing for succession. The previous master destroyed his cultivation, stripped his status, and exiled him to the Northwestern Territory. This history is revealed through Shen Leyan’s recollection of the original novel during the Boundless Gate trial 49.

Lu Yuanyi was an ordinary Cloud Radiance Sect disciple a thousand years before the present story. His reputation grew after he entered Demon Clan territory alone and killed several notorious greater demons. He also brought the ancient Spirit-Testing Stone to the sect: according to its spirit, Qingli, he enticed her with candied hawthorn and a promise of an endless supply 12 14.

The sect regularly shelters homeless orphans encountered by its traveling cultivators. Shen Leyan’s host body was taken in at twelve and spent the following six years doing Outer Sect chores. Chen Jing likewise grew up there after its cultivators rescued him following his parents’ deaths at demons’ hands 9 13 36.

Organization and Sect Life

Membership and Instruction

Group	Duties and Training	Living Arrangements / Dress
Outer Sect disciples	Perform gatekeeping, cooking, washing, reconstruction, and other assignments. Their general lessons do not teach Spiritual Power circulation or the locations of meridians and acupoints 1 2 16.	Receive food and lodging. Shen’s dormitory houses six disciples on one communal bed. Class uniforms are fitted navy outfits 1 10 37.
Inner Sect disciples	Study cultivation in group lessons. Outer disciples may enter after their spiritual roots are identified; Qi Refining disciples are normally assigned relatively simple missions 29 36.	Wear russet robes with subtle dark-cloud patterns to class. Most practice Grain Avoidance 17 37.
Personal disciples	Receive individual guidance from a master after formal apprenticeship 36.	Rarely attend general classes and are exempt from the standard class uniforms 37.
Elders	Oversee the main peaks, teach disciples, select apprentices, and contribute to the sect’s protective formations 10 37 46.	The sect has more than a dozen elders, many with their own personal disciples 39.

Rules and Values

• Service-oriented cultivation: Instructors teach that cultivation should protect the weak and help create a harmonious world. Chen Jing treats saving even one person as a worthwhile achievement regardless of his limited aptitude 36.
• Freedom of choice: Zheng Ziheng explicitly allows Shen to choose whether to cultivate, take a master, or leave. Lu Yuanyi also accepts his initial decision to remain an ordinary Outer Sect disciple 12 15.
• Mission compensation: Chapter seventeen, regulation seventy-seven requires compensation when incorrect sect intelligence endangers disciples. Exceptional performance qualifies for a Heaven Tier cultivation art, a Heaven Tier magical treasure, or a spiritual pill of grade six or higher 16.
• Uniform requirements: Standard clothing is compulsory for ordinary disciples attending class, intended to prevent vanity and competition over clothing 37.
• Respect for leadership: Sect rules prohibit speaking disrespectfully of the sect master 12.
• Curfew: Disciples and visitors are expected to retire at night while Law Enforcement Hall disciples patrol and stand guard. Shen nevertheless encounters several disciples out after curfew 41.

Recruitment and Apprenticeship

The sect recruits every five years, with the assembly shown in the story scheduled for October. Identifying a spiritual root permits entry into Inner Sect group instruction, but obtaining a personal master requires the Apprenticeship Ceremony 36 37.

Selection Process

Step	Procedure
Ancestral offerings	The sect master, elders, and their direct disciples make offerings and pray for blessings before selection begins 38 47.
Registration and testing	Applicants from Great Xia’s nine territories register with the Outer Sect and have their spiritual roots tested. Those without spiritual roots are rejected 38.
Combat assessment	Qualified applicants draw lots and compete at the Martial Arts Training Ground. Elders consider talent, character, and suitability rather than treating victories alone as proof of merit 38 47.
Points and recruitment	Winners advance and earn points exchangeable for rewards. Elders may recruit promising contestants during the tournament 47 48.
Boundless Gate trial	Finalists confront illusions drawn from their deepest fears. Losing composure results in expulsion and elimination 48.

Tournament Rules

• The sect supplies standardized weapons, including sabers, spears, swords, and halberds 47.
• Killing blows, poison, concealed weapons, personal pills, and personal magical artifacts are prohibited 47.
• Matches proceed without rest breaks, testing endurance and Spiritual Power management 47.
• A multi-person round permits temporary alliances between contestants 47 48.
• Reflection Stones display contestants’ performances for the elders. During the Boundless Gate trial, monitoring also allows intervention to prevent accidental deaths 48.

Competition for Shen Leyan

• News of Shen’s rare Wind Spiritual Root prompts elders to compete for him, with some considering changing their cultivation arts 37.
• The sect initially has no elder specializing in wind techniques. Qingli later reports that elders are trying to learn them in anticipation of Shen’s participation 36 38.
• Yan Shi offers a Pegasus and supplies, Xuanji offers divination tools, and Qian Yun proposes making Shen his business successor. Shen declines to let these gifts determine his choice of master 45 46.

Finances and Enterprises

Funding

• Persistent shortfall: Orphan care, contributions to imperial disaster relief, cultivation expenses, and assistance to impoverished demon victims cause the sect’s expenses to exceed its income 17.
• Paid demon suppression: Wealthy landowners and dignitaries pay well for assistance, but the sect also helps commoners who cannot provide comparable payment 17.
• Pill sales: Lu Yuanyi and the elders occasionally sell pills they refine. Zheng confirms that, despite tight finances, the sect can still feed its disciples 17.
• Luoxiang Hall commissions: Disciples may sell goods themselves or entrust sales to the sect in exchange for a percentage commission 40.
• Mixed economic backgrounds: Shen estimates that roughly half the disciples come from ordinary families and half from wealthy or influential households 17.

Cloud Radiance Restaurant

• Shen proposes a hot-pot restaurant to raise money for the sect and provide Outer Sect disciples with work counted as sect assignments 17.
• Lu approves the plan within three days. An abandoned two-story bamboo building beside a mountain and stream is renovated, with Qingli supervising the workers 18.
• The menu includes hot pot, desserts, drinks, and demonic-beast meat selected for both taste and its appeal to cultivators 17 18 20.
• Opening-day service is limited to thirty-five tables, with numbered queue tickets to manage demand. The restaurant fills within an hour 20 21.
• Shen proposes sharing its earnings with the sect; Lu attends the opening to discuss that arrangement 21.
• Qingli later reports that business remains strong while Shen is away 29.

Sect Newspaper

• Shen proposes a newspaper to counter distorted rumors, with Law Enforcement Hall disciples reporting what actually happened 17 18.
• Writers are selected from disciples who passed county-level scholarly examinations before becoming cultivators 18.
• The published paper is reviewed by Lu Yuanyi and distributed throughout the sect during dormitory inspections 20.
• Its first documented articles use sensational headlines to advertise the restaurant and report on the village fire and Qingli’s transformation 20.
• Copies are ordinarily free, although Shen later sells them to visitors by advertising their gossip about the elders 39.

Grounds and Facilities

Location	Function / Distinguishing Features
Cicada Song Pavilion	Lu Yuanyi’s residence at the sect’s summit. Its grounds contain exotic medicinal plants, including sentient specimens, and are enclosed by a powerful formation 10 16 37.
Hundred Herbs Pavilion	Holds medicinal resources, including Fire-Yang Divine Wood, and is used during Chen Jing’s treatment 37 40.
Spirit Perch Pavilion	Houses the Spirit-Testing Stone. Its broad roof becomes a meeting place for Shen, Zheng, and Qingli 11 17.
Nine Stars Pavilion	Elder Xuanji’s divination site, featuring a Fallen Star on which celestial messages appear 18.
Scripture Pavilion	Holds numerous Heaven Tier cultivation arts 16.
Law Enforcement Hall / Enforcement Pavilion	Handles patrols, security responses, and production and distribution of the sect newspaper 18 20 41 43.
Luoxiang Hall	Marketplace for spiritual medicines, cultivation methods, magical artifacts, and other goods 40.
Beast Taming Peak	A main peak whose disciples keep spirit beasts that can assist them in combat 45.
Study Hall	Classroom location for cultivation instruction, including Chen Jing’s first Inner Sect lessons 20.
Martial Arts Training Ground	Contains dozens of raised circular combat platforms with protective formations to shield spectators 46.
Ancestral halls	Recruitment rites refer to the Hall of Longevity, where the founder is enshrined. The Ancestor Hall at the training ground contains tablets of the founder and successive sect masters 38 46.

Defenses and Resources

Protective Formations

• Mountain-Guarding Array: Built through the combined efforts of several elders. It blocks outside spells and is described as able to withstand ten Nascent Soul cultivators striking it without leaving a mark 10.
• Cicada Song Pavilion formation: Stronger protection surrounds Lu’s residence. Shen’s extraordinary Voice Transmission Talisman breaches the outer array but cannot enter the pavilion 10.
• Controlled access: Lu gives Shen a token that bypasses the pavilion’s formations and steadies the mind. Unauthorized visitors can be forcibly repelled 37 39.
• Guard response: Hidden sentry posts watch the outer formation. Guards use Cloud-Piercing Arrows to alert Law Enforcement Hall elders to an attack 43.
• Known vulnerability: Peacock Gate assassins use a Saint-Tier artifact that silently penetrates even the sect’s protective formation 43.

Important Assets

• Spirit-Testing Stone / Qingli — Ancient aptitude-testing artifact brought to the sect a thousand years earlier. Its transformation into a little-girl spirit exposes Shen’s exceptional spiritual root 11 12.
• Boundless Gate — Costly trial treasure refined from a Mind-Peering Demon’s core. It retains some intelligence and creates illusions from entrants’ thoughts and fears 48 50.
• Fire-Yang Divine Wood — Medicinal material Lu uses to rebuild Chen Jing’s damaged meridians 36 37 40.
• Azure Shadow Profound Art — Heaven Tier movement art for Wind Spiritual Root cultivators, awarded to Shen under the sect’s mission-compensation rules 15 16.
• Jiangxue Sword — Lu Yuanyi’s sword; its intervention breaks the village’s burning illusion, and its recognizable presence offers protection through his reputation 5 27.

Notable Members and External Ties

• Lu Yuanyi — Sect master and its foremost protective figure; rescues disciples, contributes pill income, and treats Chen Jing’s injuries 4 17 36 40.
• Zheng Ziheng — Lu’s first disciple; leads rescue and investigation work, supports Shen’s proposals, and offers a Heavenly Oath on the sect’s behalf to obtain Jadeblood Snakegrass 7 12 17 29.
• Shen Leyan — Orphan raised in the Outer Sect; establishes the restaurant and proposes the newspaper before committing himself to protecting the sect 9 17 18 44.
• Chen Jing — Orphan-turned-Inner Sect disciple whose self-sacrifice saves his companions. The sect’s medicinal resources enable him to resume cultivation despite a damaged spiritual root 13 36 45.
• Qingli — Spirit-Testing Stone spirit; tests recruitment applicants and assists Shen’s restaurant 18 45.
• Xuanji — Nine Stars Pavilion elder whose divination warns of the coming Immortal-Demon War 18.
• Yan Shi — Beast Taming Peak elder who attempts to recruit Shen 45 46.
• Qian Yun — Luoxiang Hall elder who offers Shen succession to his business role 45.
• Great Xia — The ruling dynasty maintains close ties with cultivation sects. Cloud Radiance Sect’s influence commands courtesy even from imperial princes 36.
• Ji Lianyi — Great Xia’s crown prince; visits for the recruitment assembly and becomes the target of an assassination attempt within the sect’s territory 37 38 41.

Major Story Events

Village Fire Mission

• Outer Sect disciples are sent to rebuild a burned village after the sect’s cultivators extinguish its fire. The assignment conceals a recurring supernatural tragedy involving trapped souls 1 5.
• Shen’s emergency transmission summons Lu’s sword intervention and Zheng’s investigation, preventing the deaths Shen believes the disciples suffered in the original novel 4 5 10.
• Incorrect mission intelligence leads to formal compensation, establishing the practical force of the sect’s regulations 16.

Glory Ancestors Village Rescue

• Chen Jing and fellow mission disciples fail to return from an assignment involving demons said to prey on unborn children 29.
• After their rescue, poisoned villagers attempt to burn them alive. Chen destroys his spiritual root to create a protective barrier 36.
• Lu brings Chen back for treatment using Fire-Yang Divine Wood. The ordeal changes Shen’s goal from escaping danger to cultivating strength for others’ protection 36 40.

Crown Prince Assassination Attempt

• Peacock Gate infiltrates sect territory to kill Ji Lianyi. Shen helps him escape, while sect guards engage the assassins and later escort the pair back 41 43 44.
• Only a handful of people learn what happened; the incident causes no broad disturbance within the sect 45.

Foretold War and Boundless Gate Crisis

• Xuanji’s divination predicts devastation in the Immortal-Demon War and danger to Lu Yuanyi’s fate. The attempt severely injures the elder 18.
• In the original novel’s future, Bai Licheng returns under the pretext of repaying Lu’s kindness, gathers patrol routes and array diagrams, and leads tens of thousands of demons against the sect during Lu’s seclusion. More than half its members are killed or wounded 49.
• Bai’s actions destabilize Lu’s cultivation and cause his fall into demonhood. After killing the invading demons, Lu uses his remaining sanity to summon Karma Fire upon himself, destroying both body and soul 49.
• Shen encounters this devastation inside the Boundless Gate and attempts to intervene. His battle produces celestial disturbances and destabilizes the treasure, prompting the present-day Lu to order it closed early 49 50.