Yellow Springs Sect

Biodata

History

Doctrine and Purpose

Yellow Springs Sect is built on an incense-and-fire system of divine investiture. Its purpose is to establish order between the living and the dead, judge good and evil, and preserve the cycle of reincarnation. 162 327

• Guarding yin and yang — The sect seeks to prevent the dead from harming the living while providing yin souls with a place to exist and, eventually, reincarnate. 163 257
• Karmic judgment — Its hells punish sinners according to their deeds; atonement can allow even heavily sinful individuals to pass the sect’s trials. 329
• Divine investiture — Ancestral spirits are organized and ranked as gods to regulate their Incense and Fire Prayer Power rather than allowing it to become disorderly. 162
• Protection of the Northern Frontier — Its yin soldiers patrol the region, while sect cultivators maintain weather formations, suppress threats, and clear the lingering poison left by the Nirvana Sect. 523
• Good repaid, evil repaid — The sect presents itself as an alternative to both orthodox sects that treat disciples as expendable and demonic sects that cultivate through human sacrifice. 254 373

Yin Souls and the Underworld

Yellow Springs Sect’s defining asset is its population of more than one hundred thousand yin souls, primarily rescued from the Nirvana Sect’s massacre in the Northern Frontier. 141 185

• The souls are housed within the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and in underground areas beneath the sect’s city, rather than being tortured to produce baleful aura as in conventional demonic-banner cultivation. 141 163
• Yin souls may become twisted by prolonged exposure to worldly aura or by the burdens of their sins; Chen Ye openly acknowledges that their continued existence has costs. 185
• The sect considers a complete reincarnation system the only lasting solution to the dangers of yin-soul existence. 185
• City Gods, ghost soldiers, and underworld offices manage local order and enforce the sect’s karmic laws. 327 456
• The founding ceremony strengthened the City Gods, with many evolving from beastlike ancestral spirits into intelligent human forms. 328

Admission and Cultivation

Hell Trials

Applicants must undergo the sect’s hellish trials. The process exposes their past, tests their resolve, and forces sinners to atone before they may enter the sect. 329

• Applicants with severe sins may still qualify after completing sufficient punishment. 329
• Once the hell trials begin, applicants cannot withdraw; the sect will not permit a dangerous cultivator to leave the Northern Frontier after revealing their nature. 329
• Mortals who endure the trials can become outer disciples. 330

Outer Disciples

The sect can use Beast Blood Pills to help mortals condense qi seas and enter the Qi Sea Realm. 315 330

• Pills are no longer distributed freely after a disciple reaches the Qi Sea Realm. 330
• Disciples earn further cultivation resources through contributions such as planting on Qingguan Mountain, refining pills and talismans, or manufacturing puppets. 330
• During the Qingguan Mountain crisis, the sect temporarily lowered its standards to recruit Fengdu youths and train them in the Azure Wyrm Body-Tempering Art. 315

Cultivation Resources

• Ginseng Fruit — An innate spiritual treasure whose wood aura extends life and assists cultivation; access is restricted to trusted disciples and allied Qinghe Sword Sect cultivators. 142 186
• Beast Blood Pills — A substitute for human blood in demonic-origin cultivation methods, allowing body tempering without killing people. 372
• Blood Bodhi Tree — Improved by Li Fan to yield fruits comparable to Qi Condensation Pills without severe toxicity or mutation. 272
• Fenxiang Sect inheritance — Yellow Springs Sect gained a vast collection of Fenxiang Sect texts and techniques, alleviating its shortage of cultivation methods. 254 272

Organization

• Chen Ye — Sect Master and founder; oversees the sect’s doctrine, recruitment, cultivation direction, and underworld system. 141 327
• Qu Heng — Grand Elder and Chen Ye’s grandmaster; advises on major sect affairs, divine investiture, cultivation methods, and long-term development. 186 196
• Pang Duoduo — Sect diviner and formation expert; entrusted with the sect’s library and treasury and responsible for major protective formations. 287 316
• Mo Suixin — Pang Duoduo’s disciple; assists with intelligence gathering, formations, and the Northern Frontier’s defenses. 287 316
• Fang Hao — Chief disciple; formerly a Fenxiang Sect disciple. He represents Yellow Springs Sect in negotiations and later offers aid to Fenxiang Sect. 372
• Li Fan — Formation and spiritual-plant specialist whose work on the Blood Bodhi Tree supports the sect’s self-sufficiency. 190 272
• Luminous Immortal / Elder Morning Light — A mirage clam demon who joins the sect along with her clan after leaving Mirage Tower Sect’s control. 187 202
• Qiqige Sang — Strength Barbarian Tribe cultivator and later chief of the Spirit Locking Division. 144 455
• Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity — Chen Ye’s early companions and guest elders; they assist with mechanisms, spiritual plants, sect administration, and the scripture repository. 186 257

Assets and Infrastructure

• Ten Thousand Soul Banner — The sect’s central artifact, containing more than one hundred thousand yin souls. Its souls can form forces such as the Nether River and are not treated as disposable sacrificial materials. 185
• Fengdu City / Shandu City — A Northern Frontier city built around an Eight Trigrams layout, mountain-protecting formation, City God system, and Huangquan Dao Palace. 163 284
• Huangquan Dao Palace — The thirty-three-story central palace and residence of the sect master. 163
• City God network — Hundreds of ancestral spirits receive incense offerings, administer local communities, and command ghost soldiers. 284 328
• Teleportation formation — A sect-controlled formation supported by Qu Heng’s knowledge and Pang Duoduo’s formation expertise. 389
• Demonic inheritance formation — A powerful formation used for cultivation and later made available to Qinghe Sword Sect disciples seeking Spirit Transformation breakthroughs. 528 532

Relationships

• Qinghe Sword Sect — Early ally and guarantor. It protects the sect’s legitimacy, receives access to the Ginseng Fruit, and later receives permission for its disciples to use Yellow Springs Sect’s inheritance formation. 142 532
• Cixin Temple — Cooperative partner. Cixin disciples undergo hell-based tempering, while Cixin Temple shares part of its Incense and Fire Prayer Power with Yellow Springs Sect. 526
• Fenxiang Sect — Initially a source of tension and later a recipient of aid. Yellow Springs Sect inherited its texts after its destruction, accepted former disciples, and provided the Azure Wyrm Body-Refining Method and Beast Blood Pills to support its recovery. 254 372
• Mirage Tower Sect — Early adversary following the Hundred Seas Valley arena conflict. Its treatment of the mirage clam demon clan ultimately led Luminous Immortal and her people toward Yellow Springs Sect. 185 187
• Northern Frontier tribes — The sect’s principal mortal base. It provides protection, reduces intertribal conflict, and replaces fading ancestral spirits with its City God system. 144 320

Notable Quotes

“From this day onward, the Yellow Springs Sect would set the cycle of reincarnation, divide yin from yang, and ensure that good was repaid with good and evil with evil throughout the world.” 327