Taichu Palace

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Taichu Palace (太初宫)
Classification	Regarded as the foremost of the Four Great Immortal Sects 4
Founder	The Patriarch, an unnamed cultivator who rose from humble origins 29
Organization	Three Views and Twelve Halls 29
Cultivation Traditions	Six paths to immortality and three thousand gates of wonder 30
Status	Active; continues to recruit, house, and train disciples 26 27
First Appearance	Chapter 4 (first mentioned) 4

Background / History

Taichu Palace was founded 7,300 years ago after its Patriarch initially established his Dao Foundation. Its original form was only a Boundary Stone and two thatched huts. The Patriarch carved out territory in the northern region by slaying demons and hostile forces, turning desolate land into a place where people could live. Three hundred years after founding the sect, he reached the Return to One realm. 29

In his later years, the Patriarch fought the three Heavenly Witches of the Wu Yu Tribe alone, killing one and severely wounding the other two. The battle forced the tribe to retreat eight thousand li and halted its invasions for thirty years. He died at age 331 beside the Boundary Stone he had erected. 29

After his death, the Patriarch's body became precious soil spanning 910 li. This transformed an additional seven thousand li of wasteland into habitable territory and formed the basis of Ningzhou's first four commanderies. Taichu Palace's mountain gate was created from this transformation, while the original Boundary Stone remains beneath the Patriarch's statue in the Ancestor Hall. 29 33

The sect was later upheld by the Three Immortals. After two died following a major war, Immortal Lord Luofu remained as Taichu Palace's stabilizing force until his ascension; his body then transformed into ten thousand jagged peaks that remain a sacred land of the sect. 29

Following the Three Immortals' era, their Daoist traditions became the sect's initial Three Views, while other traditions capable of reaching Return to One became halls. Taichu Palace began with Three Views and Seven Halls, then expanded to its current Three Views and Twelve Halls as later disciples established new paths. 29

Mountain Gate

Taichu Palace occupies an immense immortal mountain range above a sea of clouds. Its entrance plaza is a circular disc of white jade suspended on a mountainside, with a bluestone road leading toward palace complexes, forests, waterfalls, and distant floating peaks. 26

The Ancestor Hall is among its most imposing structures: it stands one hundred feet high, with red-copper gates thirty feet tall. The Patriarch's statue within is built over the original Boundary Stone. 29 31

Organization

Halls and leadership

• Azure Hall — Zhang Sheng's lineage. Its Hall Master is True Monarch Xuan Yue, who previously held the position two hundred years earlier and remains influential in the hall's affairs. 4 29
• Water Moon Hall — Also led by True Monarch Xuan Yue, making him the only hall master overseeing two halls. Water Moon Hall is financially stable despite ranking near the bottom among the twelve halls. 23 29 48
• Azure Hall and Water Moon Hall — Jointly supplied resources for Wei Yuan's unusually costly Body Forging after True Monarch Xuan Yue's ruling. 48
• Bo Si Hall — The sect's extensive repository of texts, including cultivation insights for beginning techniques. 43
• Myriad Forms Hall — Records and ranks every Dao Foundation that has appeared within the sect. Rankings affect a disciple's access to resources. 38
• Tiangong Hall, Zaohua Temple, and Xuanming Hall — Specialist institutions associated with artifact forging, alchemy, and medicine respectively. 40

Cultivation system

Taichu Palace teaches the five major cultivation realms of Body Forging, Dao Foundation, Dharma Idol, Imperial Scenery, and Return to One. It regards Body Forging as the necessary process of refining a mortal body into a Dao Sprout Immortal Embryo before a Dao Foundation can be formed. 30

The sect possesses countless Body Forging methods but standardizes its disciples' early training through six universal techniques. These techniques were refined over generations and have surpassed many older hall-specific methods; disciples generally return to their individual hall lineages only after forging their Dao Foundations. 30

• The Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Diagram converts a portion of a practitioner's fortune into their foundation. Its results are unpredictable, making it less stable than the Earth Origin Scripture. 30 44
• Hall environments can enhance compatible lineages. Within Azure Hall, the success rate of reaching Dharma Idol through the Qianqing Righteous Law Imperial Time Scripture can increase by twenty percent. 30
• Dao Foundations are recorded and ranked after formation; the ranking system is used to determine resource distribution. 38

Recruitment and Instruction

Taichu Palace recruits through the Great Tang Immortal Sect Unified Examination. Its places are highly contested: five major factions competed for three Taichu Palace positions during the Fengyuan Commandery examination, while powerful families later used connections to obtain additional places. 13 26

The number of disciples accepted from each region is decided by True Monarchs. When a cultivator protested Fengyuan Commandery receiving six places, True Monarch Tengqiu suppressed the disturbance and declared that such allocations were not for common cultivators to dispute. 32

New disciples may receive the Patriarch's blessing during ancestor worship. These blessings can emerge from objects held by the Patriarch's statue, including a jade pendant, jade ring, book, immortal sword, and the statue itself. Wei Yuan's blessing came instead from the giant stone beneath the statue's feet—an unprecedented occurrence connected to the original Boundary Stone. 33

In the first year of centralized instruction, True Monarch Yanshi proposed that general subjects be taught collectively rather than separately by each hall. Cultivation fundamentals, human history, and Dao Foundation theory are included, while unique secret techniques remain under the halls' control. 27

Students are divided between the Ding Xin Sect, whose members did not receive the Ancestor's blessing, and the Zhi Gu Sect, whose members did. The two groups are expected to compete in a sect examination after three years. 38

• Concentrated instruction covers seven subjects in seven days, including history, Heaven and Earth Theory, Fortune Theory, and Arts Theory. 28 40
• The initial course fee is 490 taels of Immortal Silver, excluding further resource costs. 28
• Alchemy is a major strength of the sect. Zaohua Temple's Peiyuan Pill is considered a Body Forging sacred medicine, though it costs 120 taels of Immortal Silver per pill. 46

Doctrine

Taichu Palace teaches that immortals and mortals are not separate. According to its instructional tradition, the Patriarch and the Three Immortals cultivated not merely for longevity, but to expand human territory, nurture the world, and defend humanity against surrounding alien races. 29

This ideal contrasts with the sect's internal competition. Resources are limited, Dao Foundation rankings are public, and disciples are encouraged to compete aggressively for advancement. 38

Relationships

• The Patriarch — Founder of Taichu Palace; his death created the sect's mountain gate and fertile territory. 29
• Immortal Lord Luofu — The final surviving member of the Three Immortals; after ascending, his body became ten thousand sacred peaks of Taichu Palace. 29
• True Monarch Xuan Yue — Hall Master of both Azure Hall and Water Moon Hall; intervened in the Unified Examination scoring dispute and authorized support for Wei Yuan's cultivation. 23 48
• True Person Fen Hai — One of Azure Hall's three True Persons and Zhang Sheng's master; supports Wei Yuan's development and offered a century of service to secure Palace resources for him. 4 48
• Zhang Sheng — Azure Hall disciple and Wei Yuan's master; his lineage enabled Wei Yuan's admission path to Taichu Palace. 4 26
• Wei Yuan — Azure Hall disciple admitted after placing first in the Fengyuan Commandery Unified Examination; received an unprecedented Ancestor blessing from the stone beneath the Patriarch's statue. 24 26 33
• Bao Yun — A highly gifted disciple who rejected a prepared Dharma Idol inheritance at the Great Precious Flower Pure Land in order to enter Taichu Palace. 24 25
• True Monarch Tengqiu — Enforces Palace authority during the ancestor worship ceremony and oversees the recording of the Patriarch's blessings. 32 33

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Wei Yuan's intended destination — Zhang Sheng reveals that Wei Yuan is expected to enter Taichu Palace's Azure Hall after the Unified Examination, presenting the sect as the culmination of Wei Yuan's early education. 4
• Unified Examination conflict — Taichu Palace's limited recruitment places become a source of political conflict among evaluators, noble families, and rival sects. True Monarch Xuan Yue ultimately adjusts the Martial Assessment scores to settle the dispute. 13 23
• Arrival of the new disciples — Wei Yuan, Bao Yun, Zhang Sheng, Sun Yu, Daoist Fu Feng, and others travel to the main sect aboard Taichu Palace's immortal boat. 26
• Ancestor worship — The Patriarch's statue blesses six Fengyuan Commandery disciples, while Wei Yuan receives the first known blessing from the stone under the statue. 32 33
• Wei Yuan's Body Forging crisis — The extraordinary scale of Wei Yuan's visualization diagram demands resources sufficient to cultivate hundreds of ordinary Dao Foundations, forcing Azure Hall and Water Moon Hall to negotiate responsibility for his training. 47 48