Watching the Mountain

Chapter 382: Chapter 207: The Hundredth Year of the New Calendar

By that logic, two tiers corresponded to one Realm.

It wasn’t that people in ancient times didn’t want a one-to-one correspondence between Tiers and Realms. The issue was that every advancement in tier represented a qualitative change.

For instance, while a Tier Two practitioner was still in the Qi Cultivation Stage, they were on a completely different level than a Tier One. Forcing them into the Tier One category would have been unreasonable.

This was why the previous tier system had been established.

The Demon Race’s Demon Court introduced a new assessment method, a departure from the traditional approach that only considered ”quality.” The new method evaluated and classified things from multiple aspects and angles, creating a direct one-to-one correspondence between a tier and a Realm.

Half a year after the Demon Race’s announcement, the Immortal Ancient Cultivation Realm, the Evil Demon Race and Phoenix Race, and the Overseas Archipelago all issued statements endorsing this new tier classification system.

Furthermore, they would adopt the Demon Race’s method to reorganize and recategorize the tiers of all the world’s Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, Spiritual Plants, Spirit Medicines, Spirit Pills, Spirit Talismans, Arrays, and so on.

The primary reason the Demon Race’s tier system was recognized and accepted was the new assessment method they had developed.

A tier system required strict divisions. It wasn’t something one could just define arbitrarily; a complete and sound assessment method was necessary.

After seeing the assessment method put forth by the Demon Court, Senior Sister Yue remarked to Xu Ran with a sigh of admiration:

”The path of the Lord of the Demon Court is now complete.”

A ripple seemed to pass through her eyes, and her face filled with wonder.

”The Five Young Demon Saints who emerged from the Demon Court previously were raised by the Lord of the Demon Court using methods that differ from traditional Demon Cultivator training.”

”It seems that in the future, the Demon Race’s path to power will become like that of our Human Race. They will advance through various cultivation methods instead of relying solely on the evolution of their bloodlines.”

Xu Ran was quite surprised that Senior Sister Yue could reach such a conclusion just by looking at the Demon Race’s new tier assessment method.

Even he had only learned of it after Qin Yufeng told him.

The day after the various powers issued their statements endorsing the Demon Race’s plan, Qin Yufeng contacted him to ask his opinion on the new assessment system.

At the time, Xu Ran hadn’t given it much thought. He simply found it impressive that Qin Yufeng had managed to create a tier assessment method that every major power would endorse.

Before this, others in the Cultivation Realm had attempted to redefine the tiers, but unfortunately, their assessment methods had failed to gain widespread acceptance.

It wasn’t until Qin Yufeng prompted him that he had a sudden realization: to be able to create such an assessment method was almost equivalent to having seen through the very essence of all things in existence.

That description might be a slight exaggeration, but it wasn’t far from the truth.

Xu Ran himself had only grasped this concept after several hints from Qin Yufeng, yet Senior Sister Yue had understood it instantly with just a single glance at the assessment method.

’As expected of Senior Sister Yue,’ he thought.

First the calendar, and now the world’s tier classification. Two major systems, both unified by declarations from all the major powers. Perhaps even the powers themselves hadn’t expected that before the Heaven and Earth Dao Concealment arrived, they would first witness such a grand unification of ideologies.

He wondered what the reaction would be for those who had been dust-covered before this, awakening to find the world so changed.

’They’d probably find it all a bit strange. Maybe they’d suspect they’d overslept?’

Still, Xu Ran couldn’t help but feel a little disgruntled. He had worked so hard to raise his Array skill to Tier Five, finally matching his Cultivation. But because of this new system—good grief—he was knocked right back down to Tier Three.

He could only sigh in resignation. ’Truly born at the wrong time. No matter how you look at it, ”Tier Five Array Master” sounds much better than ”Tier Three Array Master,” doesn’t it?’

After the Demon Race announced the new tier classification, no other major events occurred in the world. Perhaps everyone was preoccupied with sealing away their own people and preparing for the future after the complete Dao Concealment, leaving them no time to meddle in the affairs of others.

Xu Ran’s Cave Mansion was normally a quiet place, with very few visitors. However, ever since Elder Xu had introduced him to those seven students, they had made a point to visit him once a year.

When they came, it wasn’t for any particular reason. It seemed they were simply there to pay their respects and offer greetings.

Xu Ran didn’t make much of it. Each time they arrived, he would invite them into his Cave Mansion for a while to sit and chat.

As the years went by, their relationship grew more familiar. Nowadays, they would even bicker and squabble in front of him.

Of course, what concerned Xu Ran more was that in recent years, their visits had become increasingly frequent.

It went from once a year to once every six months. This year, they had already visited twice in the last six months.

Noticing this pattern, Xu Ran immediately understood. ’Perhaps Elder Xu is running out of time.’

He knew without even thinking that they were visiting at Elder Xu’s behest. The elder’s purpose was simple: he viewed Xu Ran as an enlightened master and hoped he would offer some guidance to the seven students.

Their increasingly frequent visits must be Elder Xu’s way of preparing a future for them, now that he was aware of his own declining condition.

And indeed, that was the case. When he went to visit Elder Xu, he found the man in a wretched state, his body withered and his cheeks sunken.