Nine Mountains Realm

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Nine Mountains Realm (九山界)
Alias(es)	Ninth Mountain World; Nine Mountains World, in alternate translations 494 604.
Type	Grotto-Heaven World 321 540.
Affiliation	Nine Mountains Sect; administrative and protective center for the Hundred Immortals Alliance 377 543.
Master	Zheng Fa; the Divine Dao Heavenly Venerable appears as its former master during the succession confrontation 416.
Foundation Treasure	Sun-Moon Bell 482.
Role	Sect headquarters, mortal homeland, research and manufacturing base, and mobile refuge 465 530 543.
Population	Mortal population exceeds 100 million by the University Island job fair 465.
Status	Expanding; begins evolving toward a Golden Immortal World with the Heavenly Emperor Body’s advancement 687.

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Established but incomplete Grotto-Heaven World	260 321	Provides the Sun-Moon Bell with a home-field advantage, but its incomplete structure remains vulnerable to sufficiently powerful enemies. Its spiritual energy chiefly supports Thunder Methods.
Heaven-and-Earth Spirit Root resonance	321	A Pure Tranquility Bamboo branch resonates with the Sun-Moon Bell and begins altering the realm’s spiritual energy, demonstrating a route toward perfecting its structure.
Spirit-root-driven expansion	349	Pure Tranquility Bamboo sprouts, spreads its roots through the realm, and expands it. Its transformation of spiritual energy enables many common spells previously restricted by the realm’s thunder-focused environment. The Immortal-Mortal Divide disappears.
Succession and foundation-treasure completion	416	During Zheng Fa’s confrontation with the Divine Dao Heavenly Venerable, the bell suppresses outside treasures and temporarily restores the original thunder-only environment. As the Venerable disappears, the bell’s concealed power emerges, revealing it as a Dao Fruit Dharma Treasure.
Divine Way integration	482	Zheng Fa’s Yang Spirit Body merges with the Sun-Moon Bell. The mist clears, and the incarnation gains strength comparable to a Loose Immortal while inside the realm.
Grotto-Heaven Method world upgrade	494	Following the Heavenly Emperor Body’s Corpse Liberation tribulation, substantial Star Power gathers within the realm. The Grotto-Heaven Method advances the world alongside its cultivator.
Divine authority extended beyond the realm	648	Ordination registers connect City Gods and Land Gods in Xuanwei to the Nine Mountains Realm, extending its Divine Way through portions of the Heavenly Emperor Body’s power.
Evolution toward a Golden Immortal World	687	The Heavenly Emperor Body’s advancement causes the realm to grow larger. Its universities, military academy, and vocational academies appear in the void as the promised “Cloud Ascending Ladder.”

Geography and Access

Location	Features and function
Heavenly Palace Nine Isles	Elevated sect precincts initially described as resembling a courtyard with three successive sections 280.
Paradise Island	Houses roughly 300,000 mortals in orderly villages at the time of Yan Wushuang and Old Han’s visit; supports farming, compulsory education, and agricultural assistance 280.
Economic Development Island	Commercial district and marketplace selling External Cores, talismans, crops, spirit materials, pills, and Dharma Tools 321 333.
University Island	Research and educational center with restricted laboratories; later hosts a job fair for expanding factories and departments 321 465.
Medicine Garden	Site of the Sun-Moon Bell’s confrontation with Blood River Ancestor’s Immortal Sword and the planting of Pure Tranquility Bamboo 260 349.
Half-Mountain City	Mortal settlement where Xiao Qing works as a temple attendant and teaching assistant 312.
Thousand Blossoms Mountain	Largest mountain range in the realm; contains the incomplete Nine-Dragon Vein that Zheng Fa repairs 540.
Heavenly Market Enclosure	Major trading hub with Spirit Herb, Dharma Tool, Immortal Elixir, and Spirit Talisman markets serving Nine Mountains Sect, Jade Pool, and Supreme Dao 501.

• Entrance: Yan Wushuang uses a paper-kite-shaped talisman to reveal an arched gate, through which Uncle-Master Pang receives visitors 280.
• Visitor restrictions: Outside cultivators may freely shop and stroll on Economic Development Island, but other islands require invitations 334.
• Internal security: Uncle-Master Pang’s branch monitors visiting cultivators; University Island’s laboratories are treated as top secret 321.
• Sky: The realm originally has no visible sky, with thick mist obscuring even the sun and moon. Divine Way integration reveals blue skies, white clouds, and palaces suspended among the clouds 482.

Background and History

By the earliest explicit account provided, Zheng Fa is already sheltering inside the Nine Mountains Realm. The realm has swallowed Blood River Ancestor’s Immortal Sword, but containing it proves costly: its clash with the Sun-Moon Bell destroys large numbers of plants in the Medicine Garden and leaves the bell with little spare power 260.

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang later attempt to move the sect’s original Nine Mountains into the realm. The mountains are so extensive that even the Heavenly Palace Nine Isles can barely accommodate them 285.

The realm’s incomplete spiritual environment initially obstructs development. Seeds brought from Xuanwei fail to grow, while the Immortal-Mortal Divide prevents improved spirit crops from being cultivated across the mortal lands. Pure Tranquility Bamboo’s growth removes both the thunder-focused restriction on many ordinary spells and the divide separating the mortal and immortal portions of the realm 304 349 350.

During the succession confrontation, the Divine Dao Heavenly Venerable declares himself to be the realm. The Sun-Moon Bell suppresses imported treasures and supplies equal spiritual energy to him and Zheng Fa, seemingly testing which should control it. The Venerable’s disappearance reveals previously concealed power within the bell 416.

Society and Governance

Education and Shared Knowledge

• Compulsory education: Zheng Fa establishes schooling for Paradise Island’s mortal inhabitants and sends sect disciples into the mortal world to teach 280 312.
• Cultivation guidance: Comprehensive Mirrors connect disciples through the Creation Jade Disc, allowing questions to be answered by senior disciples, Nascent Soul cultivators, and Zheng Fa 334.
• Vocational administration: Vocational Academy students fill most management positions in the expanding mortal cities and towns 465.
• Broad recruitment: The sect uses a relatively low Spirit Root threshold alongside examination requirements, admitting at least 300 disciples annually. By the University Island job fair, it has over 5,000 disciples, including more than 500 Golden Cores 465.
• Remaining inequality: Lower-Grade Spirit Roots are not discriminated against, but their holders still cultivate much more slowly and require far greater resources than those with Upper-Grade roots 494.
• News service: Nine Mountains News and Comprehensive Mirror livestreams keep many disciples informed about conflicts involving the alliance, Vast Sun Mountain, and Thunderclap Temple 393 514.

Merit and Oversight

• Practical contribution: Qian Qi receives public recognition as an agricultural scholar whose work feeds the sect, despite his low cultivation; the Hall of Worthies includes his statue 317.
• Checks on authority: Zheng Fa moves the realm through alliance territory partly to supervise construction and prepare safeguards against abuse by disciples empowered through the Thick-Earth Magnetism Formation 543.
• Bottom-up reform: The Heavenly Emperor Body proposes a system that develops strength from the people rather than depending exclusively on a small circle of powerful cultivators 626.
• Divine administration: Xiao Qing becomes the first City God at Vast Sun City, swearing to uphold justice, expose corruption, correct wrongful convictions, and protect the constitutional order 648.

Resources and Industry

Spiritual Environment

• Spiritual energy supply: The realm possesses abundant spiritual energy; the Nine Mountains Spirit Vein within the Mountain-River Seal provides additional nourishment for spirit-root cultivation 347 349.
• Pure Tranquility Bamboo: Its growth introduces roughly five or six tenths of the spirit talismans Zheng Fa knows into the surrounding spiritual energy, mostly basic varieties 349.
• Uncertain outside absorption: Zheng Fa suspects the bamboo draws spiritual energy from outside the realm, potentially offering a clue to Spiritual-Energy Decline 349.
• Missing Primordial Firmament Qi: The realm does not naturally produce the large quantities needed to mature Zheng Fa’s Fusang Fruit, requiring outside purchases 308.

Agriculture and Manufacturing

• Agricultural guidance: Cultivators are encouraged to assist farmers through the Agricultural Guidance Office 280.
• Experimental crops: Researchers investigate lighting’s effects on crop growth, while the marketplace offers new varieties such as Thunder Pepper and Thousand Grain Rice 321 333.
• Food self-sufficiency: Staple foods, fruits, and vegetables are largely sufficient by the spirit-animal husbandry discussions, but spirit-beast meat and other animal products still come from Xuanwei 334.
• Industrial integration: Removing the Immortal-Mortal Divide allows research results to enter mortal agriculture and industry. Zheng Fa envisions mortal society supplying talent and Incense Power, with cultivation research returning practical benefits 350.
• Mining technology: The Divine Firmament Mining Ship prospects, drills, extracts ore, and separates Heavenly-Thunder Darksteel. With prepared operating parameters, it performs refining work comparable to a Nascent Soul artifact refiner 421.
• Exports: Divine Firmament Warships carry guild-produced pills, Heavenly Crafts Pavilion tools, spirit talismans, mortal-woven clothing, and grain to alliance markets 423.
• Labor shortage: Population growth and industrial expansion make personnel the realm’s principal shortage, despite its increasing number of cultivators 465.

Commerce and Finance

• Alliance integration: Zheng Fa replaces tribute with a customs union and intends to bind allied sects to Nine Mountains through trade and inexpensive goods 377 378.
• Banking: Heaven-Earth Bank gathers Spirit Stones and resources from Northern Continent depositors to fund profitable production, with earnings intended to exceed interest payments 648.
• Currency and information: Nine Mountains Currency draws outsiders into the sect’s economy, while Comprehensive Mirrors distributed to depositors spread its ideas and create an intelligence network 648.
• Financial limits: By the Northern Continent expansion discussions, polluted Vast Sun territory, disrupted sea trade, and repeated battles have depleted the treasury 623.

Realm Functions and Defense

Sun-Moon Bell

The Sun-Moon Bell is the realm’s foundation and Zheng Fa’s means of sensing its transformation 349 482.

• Gains a home-field advantage when containing Blood River Ancestor’s Immortal Sword 260.
• Cleanses the sect’s minds after Yin-Yang Rakshasa’s seductive influence 340.
• Suppresses foreign treasures and spirit plants during the succession confrontation 416.
• Stabilizes turbulent spiritual energy during Zheng Fa’s Nascent Soul formation 418.
• Supports the Heavenly Emperor Body’s Divine Way cultivation; the realm’s prosperity increases its available Incense Power 482 490.

Mobility and Retreat

• Rotating headquarters: The realm moves from its usual station in Liang Province to Yong Province and is scheduled to circulate through the alliance’s seven provinces 543.
• Construction support: It hangs in nearby void while disciples transport materials to build magnetic formation nodes 543.
• Transportation limit: Zheng Fa’s Rainbow-Transformation Technique can move the entire realm, but doing so would exhaust his spiritual power almost immediately at his post-Core Formation strength 313.
• Underworld fallback: Zheng Fa plans to take the realm and its people into the Underworld if necessary, accepting the loss of outside territories and accumulated development 528 529 530.
• Interception risk: Creation Daoist blocks this retreat when Vast Sun Mountain lies between the moving realm and the Underworld 604.

Thick-Earth Magnetism Formation

The formation connects Earth Veins and black primordial-magnetism mountain nodes across Nine Mountains-controlled territory 540 543.

• Detects unfamiliar powerful presences and can erase a distant mountain with a lightning beam 543.
• Draws on Earth Veins rather than relying solely on its operators’ spiritual power 543.
• Allows Divine Firmament ships to act as mobile nodes, draw on Primordial Magnetism within 300 li, and reach Mahayana-comparable defensive strength 559.
• Cannot damage Creation Daoist’s Spirit-Devouring Tai Sui Dharma Body during the evacuation crisis 604.
• Reaches a calculated short-term ceiling of “0.7 Creations” even after expansion into surrendered Vast Sun territory 608.
• Can be locally disabled when Peacock Great Emperor’s Five Elements Essence Magnetism Divine Mountain uproots its nodes 665.

Collective Military Power

• Heavenly Circuit Divine Thunder Immortal Formation: Uncle-Master Pang and 23 other Nascent Souls manifest a Faceless Thunder God, helping Zheng Fa and Zhang Wuyi suppress two Spirit Transformation Dharma Bodies 340.
• Legion proposals: Zheng Fa develops the Celestial River and Divine Firmament Legions around shared cultivation methods, standardized treasures, and the Myriad Immortals Formation 529.
• Last-resort sword formation: The Immortal-Slayer Formation Diagram and Four Swords provide an emergency means of fighting out and escaping, but their connection to Nine Nether makes open use politically dangerous 529.
• Golden Immortal deterrence: The Sun-Shooting Army and Golden Sun Burning-Heaven Formation kill Heaven-Shaking Demon Emperor, forcing surviving enemies to retreat 623.

Major Conflicts and Expansion

Event	Significance
Refusal of Tai and Liang Provinces	Zheng Fa rejects the territories because sending people outside the protected realm would expose them to Netherworld Immortal’s attacks 344.
Hundred Immortals Alliance entrusted to Zheng Fa	Tongming judges the realm the only institution capable of preserving the surviving alliance. Zheng Fa establishes mutual-defense and customs-union treaties 377.
Vast Sun economic offensive	Vast Sun Mountain funds the Profound Mystery Sect, whose southern trade chokepoint threatens alliance access to outside resources 421.
Vast Sun campaign	Nine Mountains advances while restoring Spirit Veins, building Magnetic Arrays, and distributing grain rather than merely occupying territory 559 560.
Primordial Purple Qi exposed	Lu Mo reveals Zheng Fa’s possession of a treasure capable of establishing rules for the Immortal Way, directing numerous hostile powers toward the realm 603.
Creation Daoist’s interception	The Golden Immortal blocks the Underworld evacuation and breaches the realm’s barrier while Dao Fruits invade the Sea Region 604.
Vast Sun surrender	The sect’s combined landholdings become the largest in Xuanwei; this measures its external territory, not the internal size of the realm 607 608.
Northern Continent expansion	Nine Mountains pursues territory and resources, later extending influence through banking, currency, department stores, and Comprehensive Mirrors 623 648.
Golden Immortal World evolution	The realm becomes the visible foundation of the Heavenly Emperor Body’s promise to teach Immortal Arts to all beings 687.

Key Relationships

• Zheng Fa — Master and principal planner; treats the realm as his true foundation even after acquiring the Hundred Immortals Alliance 416 378.
• Senior Sister Zhang / Zhang Wuyi — Oversees research, defense, administration, and reforms; Zheng Fa entrusts realm affairs to her and Old Yuan during his outside work 465 626.
• Old Yuan — Senior administrator and military organizer; helps direct provisions and relief during territorial expansion 465 559.
• Uncle-Master Pang — Receives visitors, monitors internal security, and explains the realm’s mobile construction and patrol role 280 321 543.
• Nine Nether Emperor — Principal strategic protector and provider of the Underworld refuge; his presence initially deters attacks after the Purple Qi revelation 530 603.
• Shuyu Dragon Lord — Sea Region ally; proposes nominal submission while retaining authority over the waters, and supports the realm’s maritime interests 530 543.
• Xie Qingxue — Military defender who offers to protect the realm during Zheng Fa’s investigation of Tianhe’s legacy and later holds off invading True Immortals 501 604.
• Xiao Yuying — Researcher and chronicler whose attachment makes her reluctant to leave; records what she sees and hears within the realm 514 530.
• Lu Mo / Thunderclap Temple — Central enemy; exposes the Primordial Purple Qi and applies political and military pressure to obtain it 603 623.
• Creation Daoist — Golden Immortal attacker who intercepts the realm’s escape route to seize the Primordial Purple Qi 604.