Divine Sword Sect

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Divine Sword Sect (神剑门)
Affiliation	Historically aligned with the Dachang imperial faction 83
Occupation/Role	Major sword-cultivation sect; regional martial authority and operator of the Divine Sword Legion 32 149
Status	Active 225
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Regional sword sect	32	Described as a martial sect influential across three provinces and twelve counties, with thousands of inner disciples and at least ten thousand menial disciples.
Territorial expansion	127	Its territory expands to eighteen prefectures after acquiring the former Xuanming Sect’s six remaining prefectures in Xuan Prefecture.
Postwar recovery	144	Following major wartime losses, it recovers to three Heaven-Man grand elders and sees broad growth among its Xiantian, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, and ordinary disciples.
Nine Heaven-Men	163	Including Li Gan, the sect’s Heaven-Man count reaches nine over the following years.
Seventeen Heaven-Men	166	Its number of Heaven-Man experts rises to seventeen, making it the strongest force in Taiwu Dao by overall strength.
Near-fifty Heaven-Men	179	Continuous breakthroughs bring its Heaven-Man population close to fifty; six intermediate Heaven-Men hold the newly created rank of supreme grand elder.

Background & History

The sect was established after its founding patriarch discovered the Sword Grinding Cave while traveling and founded the sect at the site. The cave and its murals predate the sect itself, and the origin of their creator remains unknown 30.

By the time of Li Gan’s admission, the Divine Sword Sect conducted large-scale recruitment and maintained a vast labor base of menial disciples. Menial disciples performed the sect’s work but retained the right to cultivate and potentially advance 1. Its mountain gate later supported thousands of inner disciples, elders, true disciples, peak masters, and a menial population estimated at no fewer than ten thousand 32.

The sect became deeply embroiled in Dachang’s political conflicts because of its longstanding alignment with the imperial clan. During the Luo Prince Mansion rebellion, it mobilized its elders, affiliated martial families, and external strongholds while preparing for a direct assault on its mountain gate 83 88.

Organization

Rank or Institution	Function
Menial disciples	Laboring disciples at the bottom of the hierarchy; they may cultivate but receive fewer opportunities and resources than inner disciples 1.
Inner disciples	The sect’s primary martial practitioners. Prominent inner disciples may compete for true-disciple positions or enter special cultivation sites 32.
True disciples	Hold one of twelve fixed positions connected to the sect’s twelve sword-seed inheritances. Their status expires at an age limit, allowing succession by later generations 30 32.
Seven Main Peaks	The core peak lineages of the sect. Their main cultivation methods can lead to Secret Techniques, though they emphasize talent and aptitude 19 30.
Five Directional Sword Envoys	A distinctive institution of the sect; together with the Seven Main Peaks, they correspond to the twelve sword-seed inheritances 30.
Sword Envoys	Masked guardians associated with the Sword Tomb. They lead qualified disciples to the tomb but cannot interfere after it opens 55 56.
Sect Master and peak masters	Direct the sect’s administration, strategy, major deployments, and high-level decisions 79 95.
Supreme Hall	The sect’s later governing body, staffed by grand elders. Advancement to grand elder requires both Heaven-Man cultivation and sufficient merit 179 198.
Supreme grand elders	A later rank reserved for intermediate Heaven-Men; six held the position at one point 179.

Heartless Peak

Heartless Peak developed from Li Gan’s Heartless Sword Art lineage. Its rise altered the sect’s traditional structure from Seven Main Peaks to Eight Main Peaks; all five of Li Gan’s personal disciples later reached the Heaven-Man Realm 194.

Recruitment

The sect’s recruitment traditionally draws from three sources:

• Martial artists at the Xiantian Realm or above, who possess recommendation quotas.
• Descendants and disciples of martial factions founded by former Divine Sword Sect inner disciples.
• Commoner candidates, who must undergo strict preliminary selection and final assessment 94.

The commoner route begins with local preliminary selections across the sect’s territories. Candidates who pass are transported to the sect; in most cases, passing the preliminary selection qualifies them to remain as menial disciples 127.

A recruitment scandal exposed that local selectors had favored martial-faction candidates while overlooking large numbers of talented commoners. Li Gan retested Pingze Prefecture, identified more than two thousand promising candidates, and helped establish a supervision mechanism. Heavenly Human Xiao removed implicated elders and power-holding elders from office 127.

Notable Locations and Assets

• Divine Sword Hall — Central hall for sect-wide deliberations, true-disciple selections, emergency meetings, and major policy decisions 32 79 95.
• Chenzhong Terrace — Bell platform where the Chen Bell is rung. Its first daily chime became a major cultivation opportunity for sect members within its expanding domain 149 179.
• Sword Grinding Cave — An ancient cave containing murals and sword-seed inheritances. Inner disciples enter during true-disciple selection, where they may seek sword seeds or gain insight from the murals 32 33.
• Sword Tomb — A restricted burial ground containing the swords and legacies of accomplished predecessors. It forms an independent space when opened and can only be activated once every few years because of its immense resource cost 56.
• Divine swords — Rare swords within the Sword Tomb that acknowledge compatible wielders. A matched divine sword amplifies combat ability and improves sword-intent cultivation; the sect retrieves them after their wielders die or lose them 58.
• Divine Sword Mansions — External sect outposts in prefectures and counties, staffed by resident disciples and supported by affiliated local martial artists 65.
• Divine Sword Legion — The sect’s martial dao legion, maintained after the rebellion at roughly five thousand personnel and later mobilized against demon calamities 129 149.

Relationships

• Dachang imperial clan — Longstanding political alignment; this connection drew the sect into the Luo Prince Mansion rebellion 83.
• Luo Prince Mansion — Rebel enemy that planned to assault the sect and later deployed martial dao legions against it 88 101.
• Xuanming Sect — Regional rival that contested territory with the Divine Sword Sect and later targeted its Dao seeds for extermination 70 103.
• He family — Allied with the sect to breach the Xuanming Sect, then divided its territories with it; the family’s powerful background created later tensions 112.
• Wei family — A powerful Heaven-Man family that killed Divine Sword Sect elder Yun, provoking a confrontation and compensation demand 177.
• Taiwu Dao Mansion — Issued dao decrees calling upon the sect’s Heaven-Man experts and Divine Sword Legion during the demon calamity 149.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Luo Prince Mansion Rebellion

After Li Gan exposed spies connected to the Luo Prince Mansion, the Divine Sword Sect prepared for invasion by recalling retired elders, fortifying external strongholds, and mobilizing affiliated families 88. It initiated the Dao Lineage Continuation Plan to secretly evacuate its most promising disciples if the mountain gate fell 95.

The planned assault ultimately did not proceed when the Luo Prince Mansion abruptly withdrew its army. The sect avoided a disastrous direct war, though it had already suffered serious losses during the wider conflict 101 105.

Protection of the Dao Seeds

Xuanming Sect assassins ambushed the sect’s evacuated Dao seeds, aided by the traitor Huang Haisheng. Li Gan intervened under a concealed identity, suppressed the attackers with true phenomenon-grade sword intent, and enabled the surviving Dao seeds to return to the sect 103 104.

Postwar Expansion and Reform

After the fall of the Xuanming Sect, the Divine Sword Sect joined the He family in dividing its territory, expanding its jurisdiction to eighteen prefectures 112 127. The sect subsequently reformed its recruitment system after discovering widespread bias and corruption in preliminary selections 127.

The Hidden Ancestor

Xiao Wendao revealed to Hou Shuwen that the sect possessed a hidden “true ancestor” who had secretly protected it during several crises, including the deaths of hostile celestials and the destruction of a martial dao legion threatening the sect 135. Knowledge of this protector was treated as the sect’s highest secret 135.

Demon Calamities and Defensive Preparations

As demon traces and demon calamities increased across Dachang, the Divine Sword Sect dispatched experts and repeatedly mobilized the Divine Sword Legion 136 149. Li Gan designed and established large-scale defensive arrays around the sect, while the Chen Bell’s domain protected much of the mountain from demonic mental influence 144 199.

Trivia

• The sect’s twelve true-disciple positions correspond to twelve sword-seed inheritances, but vacancies can occur when true disciples age out into elder positions 30 32.
• A disciple may only bond with one divine sword at a time; once a choice is made, the other available divine swords return to the Sword Tomb’s sword formation 57.
• The Sword Tomb contains more than a thousand stone steles for predecessors who made exceptional contributions or possessed profound cultivation 56.
• By the later era, Heartless Peak was regarded as the most revered of the Eight Main Peaks because of the number and quality of its Heaven-Man disciples 221.