Divine Strategy Manor

Biodata

Background

The Divine Strategy Manor preserves generations of Great Cang’s cultivation legacies and combines martial training with education in governance. Princes and princesses study there, and its graduates can obtain senior positions in the five bureaus, enter court service, and receive offices or noble titles. Its social connections alone make admission highly coveted 13 20.

The manor is also the birthplace of Great Cang Kingdom Law. The law originated in its Kingdom Law Pavilion when Great Cang was founded, giving the academy a foundational place in the kingdom’s legal tradition 27 50.

Organization

Student Pavilions

Students are assigned by age, not cultivation realm or talent 24.

Legal Administration

Admission and Security

• Cultivation requirement: Entrants must reach the Mystic Sea Realm by thirteen at the latest. Tang Guochang presents the thirteen-year-old Qi Lin’s Frost Descent cultivation as meeting the requirements 23 25.
• Official recommendation: Admission requires a recommendation from one of Great Cang’s five bureaus 13.
• Disease screening: According to Xiao Ling’er, every prospective student is screened for the Five Decays of the Heavenly Dao, and sufferers are barred from entry 25.
• Manor-master approval: During Qi Lin’s arrival, admission also requires the manor master’s approval because a special guest’s presence has prompted stricter checks 22.
• Security measures: Guards and elemental arrays protect the interior. The manor is described as the country’s most heavily guarded location, with rigorous searches of outsiders entering and leaving 23 41.

Admission is valuable enough that Su Lianxi trades the whole of Pingyang District to the Xiao Clan for a single place. Her God-Inherited Bloodline is also connected to securing that opportunity 3 12.

Education and Resources

Curriculum

The manor teaches both civil and martial subjects, following the principle that national talent requires both forms of education 24.

Credits and Student Materials

• Divine Strategy Token: Records a student’s name, pavilion, and credit balance. Qi Lin’s token initially displays his Three Stars Pavilion membership and zero credits 24.
• Resource access: Credits can obtain anything the manor offers, provided the student has enough 24.
• Three Stars restrictions: Because of their age, Three Stars Pavilion students can earn credits only by attending classes 24.
• Course rewards: Civil subjects generally award more credits than martial subjects; national law is identified as the highest-paying class on Qi Lin’s schedule 24.
• Documented reward: Qi Lin receives five credits for his first national-law class 33.
• Enrollment materials: New students receive cultivation rules, information about items and facilities, and a class schedule 24.

Devil-Bone Testing

Shen Xintang’s public lesson tests students’ compatibility with devil bones, a prerequisite for forging a Demon-Slaying Blade 39 40.

Rules and Political Influence

Combat Restrictions

• Combat-prohibited grounds: Almost the entire manor prohibits fighting, with only a small number of designated sparring areas exempted 25.
• Legitimate self-defense: Someone attacked through martial means in a prohibited area may issue three successive warnings. If the attacker persists, killing them can constitute lawful self-defense 25.
• Taking property: Fu Yun distinguishes justified self-defense from killing and taking an opponent’s treasures, warning Qi Lin that the latter compromises his claim to righteousness 30.

Aristocratic Power

The manor’s student body includes many children of wealthy and powerful families. Their backgrounds can outweigh their teachers’ authority, as demonstrated when Xiao Ling’er orders violence in Fu Yun’s classroom 25.

The Xiao Clan has influence among both students and staff:

• Senior leadership: Xiao Ming controls the Two Moons Pavilion 38.
• Teaching and disciplinary posts: Seven martial instructors and three disciplinarians overseeing Shen Xintang’s lesson are all Xiao Clan elders 38.
• Student factions: Aristocratic disciples form cliques, while Xiao Clan students include highly capable cultivators across the pavilions 20.
• Biased enforcement: Qin Zheng attempts to arrest Qi Lin despite testimony supporting self-defense. Lan Hai later dismisses Tang Biao’s account of another Xiao Clan attack 28 50.

Fu Yun remains at the manor specifically to defend the dignity of kingdom law, refusing Shen Xintang’s invitation to leave for the Demon-Slaying Division 36.

Major Events

Qi Lin’s Enrollment

Qi Lin initially rejects Tang Wenwan’s recommendation, preferring to remain beside his grandfather and protect Pingyang District. He agrees to attend only after Qi Tianji tells him to study the manor’s legacies and confront the young talents of the Xiao Clan and Universal Salvation Chamber of Commerce while the elders fight in Mystic City 13 20.

Tang Guochang personally recommends him, but Jiang Daoyuan dismisses the request after learning that Qi Lin is a commoner. Qi Tianlong enters the manor master’s secluded residence, is recognized by him as the “Long Emperor,” and kills him. Tang Guochang subsequently completes Qi Lin’s enrollment through Jiang Xinghai at Three Stars Hall 23 24.

National-Law Classroom Incident

During Qi Lin’s first class, Xiao Ling’er discovers that he is Qi Tianji’s grandson and orders Lan Ming and Yan Dinghao to kill him. Qi Lin fights back, emerging with a severed head, a young woman’s corpse, and the national-law book 25 27.

Qin Zheng attempts to imprison Qi Lin despite Fu Yun’s explanation of self-defense and Tang Biao’s supporting testimony. Empress Huangxi then reveals that she has been listening from a secret chamber. She punishes the false witnesses and condemns Qin Zheng’s abuse of authority; her attendants kill him after he attacks her and taunts her about the late emperor 28 29.

Devil Incursion

During Shen Xintang’s public lesson, Xiao Qian plants a Boundless Flag inside the Hall of Law Enforcement. Prison Devils emerge, and ten Xiao Clan elders use a lightning barrier to trap the lecturer on the platform. Huangxi’s attendants remove the empress while students evacuate 38 40 41.

Shen Xintang appears to be killed, but later reveals that the lecturer was a human puppet created by her uncle and controlled by her as a precaution against the Xiao Clan 41 49.

Fighting at Cloud-Watching Tower

With the manor in chaos, thirty-five Xiao Clan geniuses surround Qi Lin and Tang Biao. Qi Lin kills Xiao Yao’er, after which her father, martial instructor Xiao Mo, restrains him and orders the students to torture him 42 43.

Fu Yun intervenes, reveals Heavenly Dominion Realm strength, and kills Xiao Mo before attacking the remaining Xiao Clan experts. Qi Lin fights the younger generation, ultimately killing all thirty-five through swordsmanship, Blood-Shining Hell, and the awakened Blood Hell Azure Dragon 44 46 47.

Lan Hai arrives and accuses Qi Lin of murder, rejecting Tang Biao’s testimony. Jiang Xinghai prevents the arrest by announcing an imperial summons, then leaves with Qi Lin and Tang Biao 50.

Notable Associated Figures

• Jiang Daoyuan — Manor master killed by Qi Tianlong after refusing to admit Qi Lin 23 24.
• Jiang Xinghai — Three Stars Pavilion master who enrolls Qi Lin and later protects him from Lan Hai’s arrest attempt 24 50.
• Fu Yun / Master Fu — National-law teacher and former Law Enforcement Hall member, committed to preserving the kingdom’s legal principles 27 36.
• Empress Huangxi — Reigning sovereign who attends the manor as a student and intervenes against corrupt enforcement 29.
• Tang Guochang — Senior Evil-Warding General Bureau official who sponsors Qi Lin’s admission 22 23 24.
• Shen Xintang — Alumna and Demon-Slaying Headquarters figure who conducts the public compatibility test and lecture through a puppet 38 39 49.