Sitting Forgetting Dao

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Sitting Forgetting Dao (坐忘道)
Alias(es)	Cultivators of Falsehood
Species/Race	Human cultivation organization
Affiliation	Doumu Taiyin, the Ruler of Fate associated with falsehood
Occupation/Role	Deceivers, infiltrators, and cultivators who harvest falsehood through scams
Status	Extant; its members can be killed, but the Dao is said to endure as long as people continue to lie 561
First Appearance	Chapter 131

Background / History

The Sitting Forgetting Dao's origin is unknown, including to the Celestial Surveillance Division. Unlike a conventional sect, it exists to pursue its members' pleasure; its members will gamble even their lives for a sufficiently entertaining deception 284.

Its doctrine is expressed as abandoning form, knowledge, and intelligence to become one with the Great Thoroughfare. Its name is tied to the maxim: “Abandon its limbs, reject intelligence, separate from form and abandon knowledge, becoming one with the Great Thoroughfare” 131.

The group has repeatedly caused large-scale disasters through deception. A reported scheme a century earlier deceived the God of Joy after more than thirty years of preparation, while the replacement of Dongxia's emperor by a Sitting Forgetting Dao member two centuries earlier contributed to Dongxia's collapse 138 252.

The Sitting Forgetting Dao infiltrated Qingfeng Temple and supplied Danyangzi with the fraudulent Heavenly Book that drove his pursuit of immortality. Li Huowang later learns that he himself had once been the Sitting Forgetting Dao member known as Red Center, whose sealed memories influenced events at the temple 451 564.

Doctrine and Cultivation

Cultivating Falsehood

The Sitting Forgetting Dao cultivates falsehood, a path opposed to the Heart Seeds' Cultivating Truth. Their deceptions are not merely tactics: cultivating falsehood requires false lies and false things, rather than turning a falsehood true through Cultivating Truth 394 395 746.

• Every lie is considered a fragment of Doumu's falsehood within a person.
• Members acquire Fei Gang by successfully deceiving others, then use it to operate their cultivation methods and Mystical Powers 446 745.
• Large, sustained scams provide a continuing flow of Fei Gang; deceiving many ordinary people can compensate for the small amount gained from each victim 751.
• Their earliest teachings begin with learning to become a genuine swindler rather than with energy circulation or martial practice 742.

Deception as Initiation

Entry into the Sitting Forgetting Dao is itself a deception. Existing members deceive newcomers into joining, meaning every member is simultaneously a liar and someone who has been deceived 284.

Six Wan summarizes the group's ruthless ethic as: those who are deceived are at fault for being deceived 744.

Organization

Rank / Group	Known details
Dice	The highest-known rank and the group's leader. A Sitting Forgetting Dao cultivator may become a Dice by deceiving and ruining an entire country 564 744.
Three Primes	A high-ranking group within the organization; one Three Prime, Get Rich, was killed by Zhuge Yuan 381.
Four Joys	Another major group within the organization; North Wind is identified as one of the Four Joys 252.
Suits / identities	Known identities include Red Center, North Wind, East Wind, White Board, Get Rich, One Dot, One Wan, Six Wan, and Nine Wan. Several members can share one apparent identity and secretly rotate under the same face 168 411.

The Dice are treated as the group's central leadership, while the Three Primes and Four Joys are prominent operatives. During the Celestial Surveillance Division's campaign, the organization suffered major losses among the North Winds, East Winds, Red Centers, White Boards, Get Riches, and Dice 513.

Abilities & Methods

Disguise and Face Manipulation

Sitting Forgetting Dao members can alter their appearances and impersonate specific people, allowing them to infiltrate groups and turn allies against one another.

• A member impersonated Li Huowang through Blind Chen's body, then revealed that the deception had been designed to deceive himself as well 291.
• Their disguises can include officials, beggars, family members, pilgrims, Daoists, and even Li Huowang himself 339 410 430.
• Several members may share the same public face, concealing their actual numbers and movements 411.
• Li Huowang's recovered Red Center memories include face-changing techniques, though he must cultivate them again after Doumu's fall stripped away the powers previously granted to him 742.

Psychological Manipulation

The group's greatest strength is bewitching hearts rather than direct combat.

• They spread rumors and staged supernatural crises to manipulate entire communities without personally attacking their victims 276.
• They can induce people to remain trapped through conversation alone 527.
• Their schemes exploit authority, fear, desperation, and trust, such as Six Wan's staged exorcism to abduct a wealthy family's daughter 744.
• They are generally less effective in open battle, where their members were suppressed by Danyangzi despite their numerical advantage 168.

False Constructs and Rituals

Members can create or command false phenomena as part of larger deceptions.

• A Double Pupil operative controlled Clay Figures and used them to construct a false crisis in Ganyuan Village 292.
• During the Shang Jing conflict, Sitting Forgetting Dao members and four Dice conducted a coordinated chant around the golden tree, distorting the surrounding battlefield 433.
• Their Delusional Heavenly Treasure Vastness is a method associated with summoning Doumu, though it is not automatically usable merely from possessing its knowledge 742.

Theft of Abilities

At least one exceptionally dangerous member could deceive Li Huowang out of his own abilities.

• The operative stole Li Huowang's displacement ability and healing ability during their confrontation 391.
• This ability was notably beyond the capabilities Li Huowang had encountered from ordinary Sitting Forgetting Dao members 391.

Relationship with Doumu Taiyin

The Sitting Forgetting Dao is linked to Doumu Taiyin, a Ruler of Fate who governs falsehood. Its members believe all falsehood ultimately belongs to Doumu and harvest portions of it from others through deception 446.

Their relationship is not one of ordinary worship. Sitting Forgetting Dao members regard it as a relationship of deceivers and the deceived, suspecting that Doumu may be deceiving them into carrying out its own unknown purpose 446.

The group's long-term schemes included gathering lies to summon Doumu's incarnation. During the Shang Jing battle, the Dice absorbed purple light from deceived people before calling out to Doumu Yuanjun 451 438.

Relationships

• Doumu Taiyin — Ruler of Fate connected to falsehood; the Sitting Forgetting Dao harvests falsehood associated with her, while suspecting that she is also deceiving them 446.
• Celestial Surveillance Division — Longstanding enemy that hunts the Sitting Forgetting Dao across Qingqiu, Daliang, Siqi, and Houshu; the conflict intensified after Dongxia's fall 252.
• Heart Seeds — Natural adversaries whose Cultivating Truth path restrains the Sitting Forgetting Dao's cultivation of falsehood 394 402.
• Li Huowang / Red Center — Li Huowang learns that he once held the identity of Red Center and later recovers Red Center's memories; other members repeatedly mistake or address him as “Red Center Boss” 429 564 742.
• Zhuge Yuan — Enemy of the organization after killing Get Rich; his Heart Pan abilities can identify Sitting Forgetting Dao cultivators by the lines on their bodies 381 401.
• Danyangzi — Victim of the group's fraudulent Heavenly Book, which helped fuel his destructive pursuit of immortality 451 564.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Ao Jing Sect Conflict

The Sitting Forgetting Dao infiltrates and manipulates the Ao Jing Sect through deception. Li Huowang discovers that Danyangzi's apparent presence in his stomach had been removed as part of their scheme, then seeks to expose the group to its victims 162.

Five members clash with Li Huowang and Danyangzi in a three-way battle. Their manipulation proves dangerous, but their lack of direct-combat strength leaves them vulnerable; Li Huowang kills One Dot and later hunts down the final survivor hiding among civilians 168 170.

Celestial Surveillance Division Investigations

The Celestial Surveillance Division assigns Li Huowang to investigate suspected Sitting Forgetting Dao activity. During the Ganyuan Village case, a disguised operative impersonates Li Huowang and attempts to replace him as Red Center, only to be attacked by the Black Tai Sui within Li Huowang 284 292.

At Buddha Bone Temple, the group's infiltration causes widespread uncertainty over who is genuine. Its impersonation of Li Huowang turns Tuoba Danqing, Hong Da, and Xin Chi against him, allowing the real Li Huowang to escape amid the confusion 336 339.

Shang Jing and Doumu's Summoning

The Sitting Forgetting Dao gathers in Shang Jing under Dice's direction to investigate the Daliang Emperor and conduct a major ritual. Their North Wind operatives infiltrate both Daliang and Daqi, while their chants threaten the Ten Emotions and Eight Sufferings of those caught in the conflict 412 433.

The ritual culminates in an attempt to summon Doumu. The Dice absorb the falsehood released by deceived people, and a vast Yin-Yang manifestation appears over Shang Jing 438.

Decline and Survival

The Celestial Surveillance Division later devastates the organization, recording the deaths of numerous high-ranking members and the near-elimination of its major suits in Daliang 513.

Despite these losses, the Sitting Forgetting Dao cannot be permanently eradicated in principle: it is said to return wherever deception continues to exist 561.

Trivia

• Jingxin Abbess describes the Sitting Forgetting Dao as neither bandits nor an ordinary cultivation sect, but as gamblers and swindlers with no taboos in pursuit of a trick 138.
• One reported prank involved members posing as imperial eunuchs and convincing the men of an entire city to castrate themselves purely for amusement 138.
• Members are known to be willing to deceive not only mortals and one another, but gods and Rulers of Fate as well 138 284.