Shushan

Biodata

Geography and Sites

Mortal-realm Shushan

Shushan is a floating mountain stronghold with 365 peaks. Its spiritual qi is concentrated by a formation, nurturing both cultivators and spirit animals 19 228 248.

• Main Peak and Main Hall — The main peak rises above the clouds; the plaza before its hall hosts major gatherings, including recruitment ceremonies 1 110.
• Azure Cloud Peak — Lu Changsheng’s home and the cultivation site of his disciples. Bamboo houses stand near its mountain gate 14 87.
• Fire Lotus Peak — A vacant Rear Mountain peak assigned to Lu Qinglian when she became an elder 58.
• Myriad Sword Peak — The site of the Myriad Sword Wall, where Shushan’s leaders remembered the twenty-sixth sect master 180 185.
• Rear Mountain — Home to a substantial part of Shushan’s hidden strength 90.
• Scripture Repository — Stores cultivation methods and texts, including records of unusual events and sect secrets 16.
• Finance Pavilion — Registers elders and their resource entitlements 58.

Immortal-realm Shushan

• Heavenly Mystery Mountain — The sect’s first Immortal Realm headquarters, taken over from the Profound Fiend Sect. It has 800 peaks 308.
• Accumulated Thunder Mountain — A blessed land to which Shushan relocated after Lu Changsheng defeated its demon ruler. Its repaired Spirit-Gathering Grand Array draws spiritual qi from a million li around 384.

Organization and Practices

Mortal-realm Shushan primarily cultivates the sword, but disciples are not required to follow the Sword Dao. Flying on a sword is an essential skill for inner disciples, who must reach at least the Qi Condensation Realm to do so independently 1 15.

• Elders — In the mortal sect, a cultivator at the Nascent Soul Realm can become an elder. Dao Palace Realm elders are considered pillars of Shushan 1.
• Grand Supreme Elders — Senior cultivators who often remain in seclusion and form part of the sect’s hidden strength 23 134.
• Contribution points — Disciples and elders earn points through sect missions, slaying demons and helping others. Points can be exchanged for cultivation methods and treasures 16 51.
• Sect missions — Disciple teams travel beyond the mountain to gain experience, including by slaying monsters, hunting evil cultivators and helping villages 25 123.
• Menials — Villagers from around Shushan receive a monthly stipend for odd jobs 31.

Immortal-realm ranks

After the move to Accumulated Thunder Mountain, Shushan organized its membership by cultivation realm. Members could rise through cultivation and contributions, or through a larger amount of contributions alone 390.

Ceremonies

Apprentice-Selection Ceremony

Mortal-realm Shushan holds its recruitment ceremony once every ten years. Elders who are not in seclusion attend, and candidates are assessed with the Guts-Illuminating Mirror, a Low-Grade Immortal Artifact that tests physique, comprehension and fortune 1 2.

After Lu Changsheng won the Central Continent Conference, hundreds of thousands applied. Shushan accepted 30,000 disciples over ten days, including 3,000 inner disciples, limiting recruitment according to its resources 295 296.

The newly founded Immortal Realm sect had no need for a fixed ten-year schedule. Its first ceremony drew 20,000 candidates and admitted more than 4,000; its first ceremony on Accumulated Thunder Mountain later attracted hundreds of thousands 308 388.

Disciple Conference

Held once every ten years, the conference lets recently recruited disciples spar to measure their progress and gain combat experience. Outer disciples may challenge inner disciples and, through exceptional performance, attract an elder’s notice 19.

Defenses and Treasures

• Mountain-Guarding Formation — A formation established by the Dao Ancestor and strengthened over generations. It has defensive and offensive components; during the Demon Lord’s attack, Shushan’s injured leaders could not safely operate the offensive array 119 228.
• Zhou Tian Star-Dipper Great Formation — Uses Shushan’s 365 peaks to draw on the power of 365 principal stars. Activated with the Taiqing Wuji Art, it can only be used at Shushan 248 297.
• Taiqing Wuji Art — Shushan’s sect-defending cultivation method. Lu Changsheng completed and gave the sect its Tenth Chapter during the Demon Lord’s assault 229 297.
• Immortal Artifacts — Shushan accumulated artifacts over generations. Under an unwritten rule, a Grand Supreme Elder at the Void Refinement Realm Fourth Layer may be awarded a spare Low-Grade Immortal Artifact and returns it before death 180.

History

Early history

Taiqing Zhenren founded Shushan hundreds of thousands of years before Lu Changsheng’s time. The sect endured the rise and fall of mortal dynasties while taking on the duty of slaying demons and defending the Heavenly Dao 1 58.

Taiqing later won first place at the Central Continent Conference, bringing Shushan widespread fame and attracting peerless geniuses. Its reputation subsequently declined as fewer outstanding disciples ascended 274 278.

Lu Changsheng’s rise

Lu Changsheng was a secluded Shushan elder when he attended an Apprentice-Selection Ceremony and began taking disciples. His apprentices’ rapid progress brought attention to Azure Cloud Peak; Lu Qinglian became a Nascent Soul Realm elder at fifteen 1 58.

Shushan fought alongside the other orthodox sects against demonic forces. When the Demon Lord and the Three Great Demon Sects attacked Tianyu City, Shushan transported its civilians to the mountain and sheltered its survivors behind the Mountain-Guarding Formation. The Demon Lord eventually broke the defensive barrier 140 152 227 228 231.

Taiyuan True Person named Lu Changsheng his successor, with the Grand Supreme Elders’ approval. Lu Changsheng initially refused but accepted after learning he could delegate sect affairs; he became Shushan’s twenty-eighth sect master 241 274.

Revival and succession

Lu Changsheng’s victory at the Central Continent Conference restored Shushan’s standing and drew an unprecedented number of applicants. Before ascending, he planned a trap for Immortal Realm evil cultivators and others seeking Shushan’s cultivation methods; the sect later used its great formation in a battle that slew three enemies from the heavens 295 296 300.

Lin Qingzhi led mortal-realm Shushan for more than a thousand years. Before ascending, he appointed Lu Qinglian its thirtieth sect master 321. Generations later, Shushan had become the largest sect in its mortal realm 527.

Immortal-realm Shushan

After ascending, Lu Changsheng founded a new Shushan on Heavenly Mystery Mountain, partly so his disciples and other ascendants could find him. Tai Xu True Person later discovered the sect and reunited with him 308 335.

Following the defeat of the World-Overturning King, Shushan moved to Accumulated Thunder Mountain. Daoist Yuxuan, Shangguan Zhao’er and Qingxia Immortal Maiden joined as Guest Elders 384.

At the first recruitment ceremony on its new mountain, Shushan admitted powerful cultivators including Xuanhuo Daoist and Red-Bearded Daoist. Thick Virtue Daoist joined as an elder and placed Wushuang City under Shushan’s jurisdiction 388 389. Under Tai Xu True Person’s stewardship, the sect later gathered dozens of Great Luo Golden Immortals 520.

Notable Members

• Taiqing Zhenren — Shushan’s founder and Dao Ancestor 1 58.
• Taiyuan True Person — Sect master who led Shushan against demonic threats and chose Lu Changsheng as his successor 140 241.
• Lu Changsheng — Former elder of Azure Cloud Peak, twenty-eighth mortal-realm sect master and founder of Immortal Realm Shushan 1 274 308.
• Lin Qingzhi — Lu Changsheng’s disciple who later led mortal-realm Shushan and appointed Lu Qinglian as his successor 1 321.
• Lu Qinglian — Lu Changsheng’s disciple, master of Fire Lotus Peak and thirtieth sect master. The Blood Demon Ancestor also identified her as Azure Lotus Fairy, a Shushan sect master from the past; her connection to that era remained unexplained 58 321 618.
• Tai Xu True Person — Shushan’s twenty-first sect master and later acting sect master in the Immortal Realm 299 526.
• Situ Kong — Shushan’s long-absent Uncle-Master, who returned after wounding the Demon Lord 185 227.
• Li Changye — Taiyuan’s first disciple and a leading elder of Shushan’s younger generation 1 38.