Cloud-Leveling Hall

Biodata

Location and Architecture

• Setting: A sprawling palace complex amid mountains, coastal waters, clouds, and mist. Qin Yu and his mother reach it after several dozen days of travel across hills, forests, and a great river 5.
• Spirit lake: Encircles the outskirts, with gold-roofed halls on islands, cranes flying overhead, and spirit boats crossing the water 5.
• Mountain gate: Golden gates stand a hundred zhang high, their frames inscribed with ancient, faintly glowing runes 5.
• Palace network: Domed halls, white-jade stairways, covered bridges, waterways, and towers connect the grounds 5.

Major Landmarks

Organization and Recruitment

Sect Structure

Cloud-Leveling Hall has two formal divisions: the outer sect and inner sect. Gray spirit root recruits such as Qin Yu initially serve as menial disciples before earning outer sect admission 10 12.

Admission and Advancement

• Annual recruitment: The mountain gates open once a year to accept applicants 5.
• Entrance eligibility: Children under fourteen may undergo the entrance spirit root test; accompanying adults remain outside the testing square 6.
• Spirit root testing: Qin Yu passes with a gray spirit root, demonstrating that even the lowest-grade result can secure initial admission 6.
• Family support: Relatives of successful applicants receive spirit coins and dry rations for their journey home 6.
• Outer sect selection: A separate assessment uses spiritual stone pillars. Qin Yu’s test reveals a phenomenon spiritual root, leading to formal outer sect enrollment 11 12.
• Further advancement: Outer disciples can work toward inner sect admission. The grand elder also considers Qin Yu for future direct discipleship after a period of tempering 10 12.

Tokens and Privileges

Facilities and Cultivation Resources

Housing and Training

• Outer halls: Accommodate recruitment visitors in a large reception area containing grouped tents and simple courtyards 5.
• Menial quarters: Gray spirit root disciples live in modest bamboo cottages 6.
• Outer sect residences: Qin Yu receives a private courtyard beside a spiritual spring after his promotion 12.
• Cultivation provisions: Outer disciples may receive spirit stones daily and gain access to texts, medicinal ingredients, and cultivation arts 10.
• Practical trials: The sect sends outer disciples into the Shadow Woods to kill demonic beasts and gather spiritual herbs. Zhang Hao explicitly warns that some participants may not return alive 20.
• Transport: The sect operates a spirit ship used to carry its tournament delegation to White Frost Ancient City 30 38.

Cultivation Methods and Weapons

Formations and Defenses

• Arena formations: Cover the sect’s spirit-stone competition platform and produce suppressive fluctuations intended to prevent deaths during matches 15.
• Mountain-gate protective formation: Activates automatically when five superior sect elders arrive. It barely shields the disciples from their combined Soul Foundation Realm pressure 38.
• Spirit stone cultivation formation: Provides a cultivation environment that Yang Zheng later compares unfavorably with White Cloud Sect’s spirit-vessel accommodations, where Spiritual Qi is ten times denser 39.

Notable Members

• Hall Master — Unnamed leader who rewards the tournament champions and encourages them to pursue opportunities in superior sects without treating their departure as abandonment 38.
• Grand Elder — Oversees Qin Yu’s outer sect admission, publicly forbids insults against him, and rescues him after the tournament’s deciding battle 11 12 38.
• Zhang Hao — Deacon and Qin Yu’s mentor; supplies cultivation methods, supports his promotion, and helps Yang Zheng enter the outer sect 11 12 18 20.
• Qin Yu — Begins as a gray spirit root menial and becomes the Hall’s first disciple to awaken a phenomenon spiritual root; shares first-place tournament honors with Nangong Heyao 6 12 38.
• Yang Zheng — Fellow gray spirit root recruit who advances into the outer sect and represents the Hall in the inter-sect tournament 6 18 32.
• Zhao Xinyu — Outer disciple and tournament representative who defeats Gale Hall’s Tang Lie 32.
• Nangong Heyao — Eldest senior brother of the outer disciples; promotes unity among the competitors and shares the championship honors with Qin Yu 28 32 38.
• Luo Chuan — Powerful outer disciple secretly placed in the Hall by the Luo Family; challenges Qin Yu’s access to resources and later faces him in competition 12 13 16.

History

Qin Yu’s First Sect

A village teacher recommends Cloud-Leveling Hall after discovering Qin Yu’s extraordinary memory. His mother takes him there rather than confine his talent to village life. Qin Yu passes the entrance examination with a gray spirit root and begins cultivation among the menial disciples, where he befriends Yang Zheng 4 5 6.

Zhang Hao recognizes Qin Yu’s unusual potential and supports his participation in the outer sect assessment. The test reveals the Hall’s first phenomenon spiritual root. Qin Yu receives formal outer sect status, a private residence, and public protection under sect law, although Luo Chuan contests his right to share outer sect resources 11 12.

Qin Yu subsequently wins four consecutive competition matches and receives rewards from the hall master. Yang Zheng also earns outer sect admission, and both begin using the Hall’s weapons and cultivation-method collections before participating in its external trial 18 19 20.

Great Yan Continent Tournament

Before the tournament, Cloud-Leveling Hall is regionally renowned but markedly inferior to White Cloud Sect. Rival disciples mock its standing and point out that most of its outer disciples occupy the Mortal Fetus or Spirit Awakening realms, with few reaching Qi Condensation 21 30.

The grand elder calls for outer and inner disciples to set aside their differences. He promises a peerless cultivation art and one thousand supreme-grade pills to the greatest contributor if the Hall takes first place 29.

Rewards and Departure

The championship brings the sect 100,000 high-grade spirit stones, 10,000 pill bottles, and dozens of cultivation-technique jade slips from White Frost Ancient City’s lord. Qin Yu and Nangong Heyao each receive 2,000 high-grade spirit stones, a peerless cultivation technique, and a Purple Gold Token from the Hall 38.

After the delegation returns, elders from the five great sects arrive to recruit Qin Yu. With the hall master’s encouragement, Qin Yu chooses White Cloud Sect, accompanied by Yang Zheng and Zhao Xinyu. Nangong Heyao joins Juntian Hall. The Hall sends all four off publicly as representatives of its continuing pride rather than as deserters 38.

Relations with Other Sects

• White Cloud Sect — A vastly stronger sect whose elders take interest in Qin Yu’s tournament performance. It recruits Qin Yu, Yang Zheng, and Zhao Xinyu 21 33 38.
• Juntian Hall — Recruits Nangong Heyao following the championship 38.
• Pure Fragrance Garden — A hostile tournament rival. Huo Caixu’s attempt to kill the defeated Zhao Xinyu provokes a confrontation between the sects’ elders; the rivalry culminates in the lethal tiebreaker 35 37 38.
• Thousand Autumns Hall and Luofu Hall — Their disciples initially belittle the Hall, but their elders later acknowledge its young talents and compete to recruit Qin Yu 30 33 38.
• Gale Hall and Cloud Waves Gate — Tournament opponents whose disciples suffer several defeats against Cloud-Leveling Hall’s representatives 32 33.

Notable Quotes

“Cloud-Leveling Hall will always be your home, and what you have earned today is also our glory. Make your own choice without worry.”
— Hall Master, encouraging Qin Yu to consider the superior sects’ offers 38

“The four of you are Cloud-Leveling Hall’s pride. Going to other sects is not abandonment, but the spreading of Cloud-Leveling Hall’s light across Great Yan.”
— Hall Master, at the farewell ceremony 38