Netherworld Sect

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Netherworld Sect (神冥宗)
Alias(es)	Netherworld Sacred Land
Affiliation	Demonic-path sacred land; initially based in Qing Province
Occupation/Role	Cultivation sect and expansionist holy land
Status	Active; later becomes the sole power in Qing Province and expands across Yang Province and the Southern Region 334 336 356
First Appearance	272

Background / History

The Netherworld Sect originated outside Qing Province. More than three million years before the Holy Son Ceremony, it fled to Qing Province after its original mountain gate was breached; its Sect Master, Supreme Elders, official Holy Son, and Holy Daughter died during the escape. A reserve Holy Son escaped with Inner Elders, True Disciples, and an offensive Immortal Artifact, eventually establishing the sect in Qing Province. That reserve Holy Son later ascended after cultivating the Divine King Nether Reflection Sutra to Completion. 289

At its height, the sect possessed its inheritance Immortal Artifact, seven additional Immortal Artifacts, and two sets of Ascended Being’s Remains. A later calamity destroyed one set of remains and caused the loss of another Immortal Artifact, leaving the sect with only one intact set of Ascended Being’s Remains. 288 289

The sect declined severely after its treasury was emptied by Supreme Elders following the death of Wang Yue’s master. Its external assets—shops, spirit-stone veins, herb gardens, and Secret Realms—could not meet its expenses, leading to a reputation for poverty, extortion, and ruthless exploitation of disciples and neighboring factions. 279 313

Before Wang Pan’s arrival, the Netherworld Sect had gone over ten thousand years without appointing a Holy Son; its previous Holy Son had been killed by a Rogue Cultivator after holding the position for only two days. 278 285

Organization

Hierarchy

Rank / Position	Notes
Sect Master	Holds effective absolute authority when backed by sufficient strength. Wang Yue led the sect during Wang Pan’s accession; Wang Pan later becomes Sect Master. 272 336
Supreme Elder	Highest senior echelon beneath or alongside the Sect Master; historically controlled major resources and maintained independent factions. 313 323
Vice Sect Master	Senior leadership position held by Zhang Tianyi and Bai Fan before their failed rebellion. 315 321
Holy Son / Holy Maiden	Exceptional successors tested in Boundless Purgatory; candidates become official only after defeating ten ancestral remnant souls. 287 289
True Disciple	Elite disciples who competed for the Holy Son position and were openly hostile toward Wang Pan after his appointment. 275 289
Core Disciple	Senior disciple rank; a sufficiently strong Outer Disciple can become one by killing a True Disciple. 275
Inner Disciple / Elder	Inner elders are at least Deity Transformation realm during recruitment ceremonies. 274
Outer Disciple / Elder	Outer elders shown at Nascent Soul Stage; Outer Disciples form the lowest formal disciple rank. 274 275

Recruitment and Discipline

• The sect recruits disciples every three years because of its extreme internal and external casualty rate. Disciples may be killed by rivals, refined into cultivation materials, driven to suicide, or drained by Yin Yang Peak disciples. 274
• It accepts applicants regardless of background, age, previous cultivation, aptitude, or moral character; only ability to pass its assessment matters. 273 275 322
• Hundreds of thousands commonly attempt entry, though only one thousand are accepted. Many die before the formal assessment even begins. 274
• The White Bone Bridge and surrounding black mist serve as an early selection trial. Nearly half of one intake was lost before reaching the assessment plaza. 275
• Disciples must complete assigned missions and annual quotas or pay spirit stones. Failure without payment is punishable by death. 275
• Strength supersedes formal rank: an Outer Disciple strong enough to kill a True Disciple can be promoted directly to Core Disciple. 275
• The sect’s dense spiritual-energy environment, techniques, divine abilities, materials, and treasures remain its principal lure for impoverished Rogue Cultivators. 275

Culture

The Netherworld Sect is widely regarded as Qing Province’s sole openly demonic sacred land. Its members treat living beings, cultivators, ghosts, corpses, and demons as cultivation materials for artifacts, secret techniques, and other resources. 274 286

Its internal culture is defined by selfishness, violence, and survival of the strong. Members do not trust one another unless necessary, and the sect imposes few moral restrictions on those powerful enough to act freely. 275 289

The sect’s reputation is so poor that other holy lands consider its conduct disgraceful even by cultivation-world standards. Its invitations and ceremonies are often treated as schemes to extract gifts and wealth from other factions. 279

Despite its reputation, the sect’s leaders regard its conduct as an extension of cultivation-world power politics: stronger forces exploit weaker ones, while “righteous” sects merely conceal the same behavior behind better manners. 288

Cultivation Heritage

Divine King Nether Reflection Sutra

The Divine King Nether Reflection Sutra is the sect’s foundational inheritance. Most of the sect’s core cultivation methods, divine abilities, and secret techniques derive from it. 310 319

• The complete Sutra can be comprehended only through the sect’s remaining Ascended Being’s Remains. 289
• Fewer than ten Netherworld Sect members have comprehended the complete Sutra since the sect arrived in Qing Province, including its first Ascended Being. 289
• The potential loss of the final Ascended Being’s Remains would permanently sever access to the complete inheritance. 289
• The sect’s Nether King Descends phenomenon suppresses other cultivators of the sect because of their connection to the Sutra. 319

Boundless Purgatory

Boundless Purgatory is a semi-finished Dao Artifact and Secret Realm used for Holy Son and Holy Maiden trials.

• It was created through generations of sect masters and Supreme Elders merging their flesh, bones, divine souls, cultivation, and Heavenly Dao comprehension into the artifact. 287
• Its creators hoped that successfully forging an Immortal Artifact by human means would allow them to use the resulting power to gain a second life. 287
• The artifact never produced Immortal Spiritual Energy and therefore did not become a true Immortal Artifact, despite being comparable to some Immortal Artifacts in power. 287 288
• Its remnant souls were later turned into trial opponents for Holy Son and Holy Maiden candidates. A candidate must defeat ten ancestral remnant souls to gain the title. 287
• Wang Pan destroyed all remnant souls inside Boundless Purgatory, eliminating a flaw and strengthening the artifact’s foundation. 288

Land of Inheritance

The sect maintains a Yin-aligned Small World known as the Land of Inheritance.

• Its laws and environment were altered to favor cultivation of Netherworld Sect techniques. 289
• Yin-aligned treasures, Fierce Ghosts, and Corpse Puppets inhabit the realm. 289
• The inheritance palace contains extensive fields of Nine Netherworld Lotus, whose roots can restore flesh from bone, revive the dead, and open the seven apertures. 289

Important Assets

• Sect Protection Grand Array — Covers the mountain gate, gathers World Spiritual Energy, and can resist catastrophic battle aftermath. 273 316
• Cross-Province Teleportation Array — Connects the sect to distant provinces but requires immense quantities of High-Grade Spirit Stones. 297
• Ascended Being’s Remains — The final intact set suppresses the sect’s fortune, deters hostile forces, and preserves the complete Divine King Nether Reflection Sutra. 288 289
• Boundless Purgatory — Semi-finished Dao Artifact forged from generations of sect powerhouses. 287 288
• Nine Netherworld Lotus — Highly valuable spiritual medicine secretly held by the sect’s upper echelon. 289 290
• Twelve Netherworld Ghosts — Twelve Void Refinement ghost cultivators raised through extensive resources; initially dispatched by Wang Yue to retrieve Wang Pan. 304 310

Leadership

• Wang Yue — Sect Master during Wang Pan’s recruitment and succession. She was initially the strongest active sect member aside from Supreme Elders of uncertain status, later advanced to Dao Integration and then Tribulation Stage. 272 286 330
• Wang Pan — Appointed Holy Son after clearing Boundless Purgatory, then becomes the sect’s dominant power and later its Sect Master. 289 320 336
• Kang Yuan — One of five Supreme Elders; a Great Perfection Dao Integration cultivator who cultivated an incomplete Divine King Nether Reflection Sutra. Wang Pan later killed him. 315 323
• Zhang Tianyi and Bai Fan — Vice Sect Masters who led a large internal rebellion against Wang Yue; both were slain during the purge. 315 321
• Men Wen and Fang Yuan — Dao Integration cultivators recruited by Wang Pan after Kang Yuan’s defeat. 322 324

Relationships

• Wang Pan — The sect’s Holy Son, later Sect Master and central source of its military expansion. 289 334 336
• Wang Yue — Sect Master who selected Wang Pan as Holy Son; later shares power with him and distributes resources to restore the sect’s strength. 272 324
• Jade Pond Sacred Land — Longstanding hostile sacred land. Its members frequently clashed with Netherworld Sect disciples before open war and eventual absorption. 285 334
• Ten Thousand Buddhas Mountain — Mortal enemy whose Buddhist techniques restrain Netherworld Sect cultivators; conflicts between the two sides are frequent. 285
• Supreme Profound Sacred Land — Participated in suppressing the weakened Netherworld Sect alongside Jade Pond Sacred Land and Ten Thousand Buddhas Mountain. 288
• Southern Heavenly Gate Holy Land — Led nearly two thousand holy lands in an alliance formed to resist Netherworld Sect expansion. 348 349

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Holy Son succession — Wang Yue presents Wang Pan as the new Holy Son candidate. He clears Boundless Purgatory, destroys its ancestral remnant souls, and is officially declared Holy Son. 272 287 289
• Internal crisis and purge — Resource disputes, the flight of Wang Pan, and war threats from Yang Province expose deep factional divisions. Zhang Tianyi and Bai Fan lead a rebellion, after which Wang Pan’s faction purges over one-third of the sect’s members. 315 319
• Recovery and recruitment — Wang Yue distributes resources from the Nine Netherworld Lotus, restores morale, reopens recruitment, and returns the disciple population to more than one million. 324
• Conquest of Qing Province — After conflict with Jade Pond Sacred Land and other sacred lands, the Netherworld Sect absorbs or destroys its rivals over roughly thirty years, becoming Qing Province’s sole power. 332 334
• Expansion into Yang Province — Following centuries of warfare and the collapse of the Yang Province Holy Land Alliance, the sect conquers all of Yang Province. 335 336
• Southern Region expansion — The sect grows to dominate hundreds of provinces, prompting nearly two thousand holy lands to form an Offensive and Defensive Alliance against it. 348 349
• Southern Region unification — After a prolonged sealed-mountain-gate period and renewed invasion, the Netherworld Sect eradicates the Southern Heavenly Gate Holy Land and takes control of the entire Southern Region. 356

Trivia

• The sect’s mountain gate is saturated with Yin Energy, corpse qi, ghostly wails, and a Ghost Domain atmosphere that many recruits find intimidating—or intoxicating. 274
• Although widely called impoverished, the sect conceals immense wealth in the form of Nine Netherworld Lotus and other resources controlled by its senior figures. 289 313
• The sect’s former Holy Son was remembered as a humiliation for more than seventeen thousand years after his death. 305