Ancestor

Biodata

Rank and Meaning

An Ancestor is generally a cultivator who has entered the Sixth Realm, also called the Ancestor Realm 752 753. The title is used for peak figures of the Immortal Path, Esoteric Sect, New Life Path, and other systems, including nonhuman races 305 319.

• Ancestors possess authority over Grandmasters and younger cultivators, often directing expeditions, distributing resources, and deciding major conflicts 305 316.
• The strongest Sixth-Realm Ancestors can contend with—or even kill—Early Seventh-Realm gods and immortals without changing their own life forms 319.
• Many Ancestors deliberately remain on their original cultivation paths rather than becoming gods or immortals, seeking to push their own systems further instead 319.
• “Founding Ancestor,” “Old Ancestor,” and “Path-Opening Ancestor” may refer to legendary predecessors of a lineage rather than simply a current Sixth-Realm cultivator 369.
• The related title Young Ancestor does not necessarily establish Sixth-Realm cultivation. Lu Yu’s youngest disciple bears that title while still a Great Grandmaster, serving as the standard-bearer beneath the Ancestor and displaying the potential to enter the realm 600.
• Ancestors who become gods or immortals can retain their ancestral titles and lineage seniority. Returning founders may therefore rank far above present-day Sixth-Realm Ancestors in both cultivation and institutional authority 341 369.

Power Progression

Abilities and Authority

Ancestor-Realm Power

Ancestors can suppress entire races, battle Immortal-like beings, and command the outcome of large-scale wars. Their presence alone can overwhelm Grandmasters and lesser cultivators 305 306.

• Their battle garments and rare-metal armor bear powerful Dao patterns and can radiate overwhelming pressure 305.
• Individual Ancestors may specialize in archery, physical combat, lightning, force arts, formations, or other path-specific methods 306 311.
• Ancestor-level battles can damage mountains, twist space, and threaten entire regions 306 331.
• An Ancestor’s strength varies greatly; exceptional figures may stand close to the Seventh Realm, while others remain vulnerable to stronger peers or ancient dangers 305 319.
• Their released Heavenly Light and consciousness spirit light can illuminate vast areas and drive away the night mist. During the confrontation above Kunling’s plateau, the assembled Ancestors appear like great suns 246 249.
• Ancestors of the Immortal Path may reconstruct shattered core consciousness by gathering scattered pure yang spirit light. This is not without cost: fragments can be permanently destroyed or intercepted by experienced opponents 248.
• Preparations remain important even for exceptional cultivators. Qin Ming considers a suitable Blessed Land and careful arrangements essential before attempting his Ancestor-Realm breakthrough 751.
• Ancestors are not uniformly invincible against lower-realm opponents. As a Supreme Grandmaster, Qin Ming overpowers Cui Geng and breaks his Longevity Sword, although Cui Geng escapes through another body 735.

Heaven Stabilizing Divine Stakes

The thirty-six Heaven Stabilizing Divine Stakes are a forbidden collective weapon wielded by the Ancestors of the Immortal Path, Esoteric Sect, and New Life Path 307. They are also called the Dragon Tiger Heaven Stabilizing God Pillars 307.

• The stakes are presented as capable of sealing Earth Immortal-level threats 308.
• Their apparent activation at the Immortal Grave depicts an enormous price in Ancestors’ lives and Blood Essence. That battle and sacrifice are subsequently revealed to have been part of a deception rather than an actual destruction of the assembled Ancestors 307 308 310.
• They are considered artifacts tied to the fate of the race and are reserved for major crises 307 361.
• They later seal the region affected by the Great Dream Divine Mushroom’s infestation 378.
• Control of the weapons remains closely guarded. Night Prefecture’s Ancestors refuse to let the Ancestor of the Silk Book Method handle them, despite accepting his assistance in battle 473.
• Later examination identifies the set as an ancient treasure unearthed from the ground, with an illustrious but forgotten history. The weapons become stronger through battle and tempering in enemy blood 476.
• The Ancestors remain together after a campaign so that they can jointly activate the thirty-six stakes again if pursued 476.

Path Opening and Inheritance Research

Ancestors do more than preserve established techniques: some create cultivation frameworks, improve supreme inheritances, and seek routes beyond their systems’ limits 369 389.

The Silk Book Method exemplifies both the ambition and danger of such research. Its creators sought extraordinary power, but its fatal flaw could cause the practitioner’s body and consciousness to explode. Even its founding Ancestors suffered death, disappearance, or catastrophic injury 267.

• The Ancestor encountered by Qin Ming at the Yin Pool had killed a deity and its Golden-Furred Divine Howl with a human body, but his body and consciousness shattered for the third time. After reconstructing himself, he became a walking corpse with his mental field sealed 267.
• New Life Path Ancestors investigated Chaos Force to break through their cultivation impasse, but its consumption of its practitioners was so severe that almost everyone who cultivated it suffered disastrous consequences 389.
• Researchers also attempted to improve or “mutate” Tathagata Force, Six Royal Force, Jade Clarity Force, and other supreme methods. Lu Yu’s battle against Past Tathagata reveals how far such alternative development could progress 389.
• Founders of the Silk Book Method included Ancestors from the Tathagata, Six Sovereigns, Jade Clarity, and Sky-Pillar traditions, alongside mysterious Rogue Cultivators whose contributions to its grand framework were especially important 490 602 611.

Lineage Authority and Trust

An Ancestor’s standing can determine the security and negotiating position of an entire clan. Lu Zizai’s personal support for Qin Ming forces the Cui Household’s leadership to receive them respectfully and answer questions concerning Qin Ming’s grandfather 350 351.

• Even an absent Ancestor can act as a deterrent. The Cui leaders regard Cui Geng’s unknown whereabouts as protection against an attack, since he could retaliate against the Six Royals Ancestral Court’s disciples 351.
• Shared ancestry does not guarantee loyalty. Returning cultivators from Pugong divide between those who support Night Prefecture and those aligned with outside interests 364.
• Night Prefecture’s ancestral precepts warn that people who have remained away too long cannot be fully trusted. The Ancestor of the Silk Book Method acknowledges that the warning applies even to him, despite his seniority as Present Tathagata’s teacher’s teacher 473.

Known Ancestors

History

Early Wilderness Expansions

Night Prefecture’s Ancestors repeatedly defended humanity against invading civilizations. Around a thousand years before the Immortal Grave expedition, Ancestors of Beyond the Mundane, the New Life Path, and the Esoteric Sect joined the Wu Dynasty against the Northern Region’s Nomadic Hunting Civilization. They drove the invaders into the far north at the cost of numerous Ancestors’ lives 309.

A second confrontation four hundred and fifty years later forced another northward expansion. Before the wounded defenders could recover, a powerful Demon Civilization invaded from the west. Nearly all the oldest Ancestors died in the subsequent fighting, spilling their blood across God’s Fall Plain, but the defenders kept the war from reaching their homeland’s heartland. Surviving talents subsequently broke through and became the next generation of Ancestors 309.

Confrontation over the Juniors

The New Life Path’s Ancestors confronted the Immortal Path over repeated attacks on their younger cultivators. Sky Bearing Ancestor, Lu Yu, Present Tathagata, and their allies concentrated their assault on Cao Qianqiu, while Sun Taichu and Zhao Wenhan attempted to help him 246.

The fighting involved nine Ancestors above the plateau. Cao Qianqiu’s Nine-Colored Armor was shattered, and the destruction and interception of his pure yang consciousness fragments inflicted lasting losses 246 248.

Afterward, the Ancestors withdrew above the clouds to negotiate. Their exchanges remained heated, demonstrating that even lineage leaders settled disputes through a combination of force, threats, and bargaining rather than detached unanimity 249.

Immortal Grave Campaign

Ancestors from the Immortal Path, Esoteric Sect, and New Life Path assembled at the Immortal Grave after reports of Immortal-like beings emerging from its tombs. They declared that such threats could not be left for later generations and appeared prepared to destroy them 305.

The apparent campaign escalated into a confrontation against an entire hidden immortal civilization. Ancestors were seen fighting separate Immortal-like beings across the Blood Sea, Netherworld, and grave region, while He Lian Chengyun attacked the Sun Elf Race for its suspected involvement 306.

When the apparent crisis worsened, the Ancestors seemed to activate the thirty-six Heaven Stabilizing Divine Stakes, sacrificing Blood Essence and lives to seal the Earth Immortals. The witnesses mourned their shattered bodies and understood their final words as an obligation to avenge them 307 308.

These events were subsequently revealed as a deception. The Immortal Grave had never actually been attacked, and the supposedly dead Ancestors remained alive. Their preparations drew on the ability to pass falsehood off as truth associated with a Seventh-Realm Mirage Immortal they had jointly killed thirty-four years earlier 310.

Fate Battle

During the war against the Nomadic Hunting Civilization, Ancestors revealed that earlier scenes of defeat and despair had concealed preparations for the real battle. They identified hidden Sixth-Realm enemies with Bone Revealing Mirrors and personally selected their opponents 311.

The Ancestors’ victories decided the battle’s direction:

• Leng Mingkong destroyed the Golden Lion’s Wolf Fang Club with the Immortal Slaying Finger 311.
• He Lian Chengyun dominated and ultimately killed the Two-Headed Werewolf Ancestor 311 315.
• Present Tathagata defeated a Giant Race Ancestor in a direct clash of fists 311.
• The allied Paths annihilated every dispatched expert of the Nomadic Hunting Civilization, though several Ancestors suffered severe injuries 315 316.
• Several Ancestors then headed west with the Sun Elf Race to destroy the enemy’s stronghold. The Sun Elves had secretly changed sides under pressure from the allied Paths’ Ancestors 316.

Western Territory War

The war on God’s Fall Plain brought severe losses to every major path. Older predecessors who had changed their life forms emerged to fight, while Sixth-Realm Ancestors battled the Demon Race’s experts amid blood clouds that concealed the full extent of the casualties 331 335 337.

Leng Mingkong and He Lian Chengyun prevented further reliance on the old predecessors’ sacrificial last stands by demonstrating the power of their mysterious armaments. Leng Mingkong killed a Demon God with armor formed from the Measuring Heaven Ruler, while He Lian Chengyun used a broken arrow to slay a Demon Immortal. The Demon Race agreed to withdraw three hundred li and negotiate 337.

Jiang Zhiyuan, Wu Zhaoye, and Yu Shaohua were among the confirmed dead. Lu Yu’s incomplete Nirvana left his survival uncertain at the time, while other Ancestors remained missing. Surviving Ancestors all bore injuries, and some entered death seclusion 337 354.

The public subsequently remembered both the present-day leaders and the earlier pathfinders who had become gods or immortals. Their deeds made the Ancestors the acknowledged principal contributors to the war 341.

Return of the Old Ancestors

Ancient pathfinders believed dead emerged from Earthen City. These Old Ancestors had become immortals, survived through Jade Capital’s aid, and spent most of history asleep 369.

Their return overturned Night Prefecture’s hierarchy. Present-day Ancestors, including He Lian Chengyun and Sky-Pillar, knelt before them, while the public treated the returning founders as living legends 369.

The Old Ancestors warned that prosperous eras inevitably bring heavenly trials and argued that Night Prefecture’s divided powers should unite 369.

Later Expeditions and Crises

Ancestors continued to investigate dangerous territories and manage threats that could exceed their own strength. At Golden Light Cave, even three Ancestors using the Heavenly Inspection Divine Mirror failed to detect a second hidden guardian in advance. After the Earth Immortals’ disaster there, Past Tathagata and more than a dozen Ancestors entered the New World to inspect the remains, then sealed the cave against further exploration 363.

Their activities also included expeditions into other civilizations. During one such journey, Night Prefecture’s Ancestors visited great sects’ scripture repositories and robbed Pixiu Earth Immortal’s Daoist grounds while he was absent. Some returned bloodstained after encountering formidable opponents deeper inside the Otherworld 413.

Later upheavals in Dao resonance forced many wandering experts home. Eighty percent of the Ancestors, Earth Immortals, and other powerful cultivators who had traveled far away returned to Night Prefecture; even Esoteric Sect figures who had reached the Seventh Realm required peaceful places to recover from grave injuries 490.

Rise of the Younger Ancestors

The title increasingly passed to a new generation. Qin Ming became an Ancestor before thirty, while Jiang Xiyi was publicly celebrated in Maple Forest City as the youngest holder of the title before Qin Ming’s achievement became widely known 752 753 756 764 766.

Qin Ming’s subsequent battles further exposed the gulf between ordinary Ancestors and exceptional Great Sages. He defeated the Wolf Ancestor and Fog Demon, overcame an Ancestor guarding a medicine field despite that opponent’s higher cultivation, and killed several Ancestors who fought for Zhuo Kong and the mysterious Lineage 754 782 784.

Legacy

• Ancestors are remembered as defenders who dared to “slay immortals and destroy gods” rather than submit to supposedly higher life forms 305.
• Their apparent sacrifices at the Immortal Grave inspired a binding obligation among witnesses to eradicate the sealed Earth Immortals and recover the fallen Ancestors’ remains; the later revelation that the scene was a deception prevented it from being an actual collective martyrdom 308 310.
• Their genuine sacrifices in the historical wilderness expansions and Western Territory war protected Night Prefecture’s heartland and established their enduring reputation as defenders of its people 309 337 341.
• Their legacy includes dangerous experiments as well as military victories. The Silk Book Method and attempts to develop Chaos Force show how path-opening Ancestors risked their own bodies and consciousness to create possibilities for later cultivators 267 389.
• The title remains a measure of supreme achievement, but the rise of younger Ancestors such as Qin Ming shows that the Sixth Realm is not the end of cultivation 752 766.