Five Viscera Temple

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Five Viscera Temple (五脏庙); later Five Viscera Hall, then Five Villages Abbey 437 471 472
Affiliation	Originally one of the Five Sects of Mount Lu; later part of the reorganized Mount Lu lineage 126 300 437 472
Occupation/Role	Immortal sect governing territory on Mount Lu; cultivates disciples, controls cultivation resources, and maintains halls built around spiritual-energy nodes. Its successor, Five Villages Abbey, governs a renewed Mount Lu lineage. 153 200 472
Status	Reorganized as Five Villages Abbey under Fang Shu after an intervening period as Five Viscera Hall 437 471 472
First Appearance	Chapter 130

Background / History

Immortal seeds enter the sect through Toad Mudflats, a fog-covered shore of scattered stone houses. There, they are received by the Sun of the Miscellaneous Hall, who appraises the arrivals “as though appraising livestock.” 130

The temple controls a territory within the Jade Kingdom and maintains dealings, rivalries, and occasional conflicts with the other Four Sects of Mount Lu. Its relationship with Flesh Abbey is notably longstanding, while its conflict with Withered Bone Abbey has at times escalated into open violence. 126 216 263

After the discovery of Mount Lu’s Inner Heaven and Earth secret realm, the Five Viscera Temple joined the other Mount Lu sects in a temporary truce and sent disciples and Earth Immortals into the realm. 231 254

The subsequent Foundation Establishment Assembly revealed that the Five Sects shared a common Dao lineage. The Five Viscera Temple Master and the other sect masters appeared to refine their own followers, but their plan was ultimately to use themselves as bait against an Immortal Envoy of the Profound Teaching. The Temple Master died during this undertaking. 299 300 303

In the aftermath, the temple entered a period of instability. Its halls became sites of infighting and resource seizures, including the attempted takeover of Venom Hall by Beast Hall disciples. 313

With no Golden Core sect master remaining, the Five Sects secretly resolved to submit to the Profound Teaching. Deer Cart offered promising disciples three paths: seek selection at its Western Altar, remain on Mount Lu as its agents, or leave to seek protection elsewhere. He advised Fang Shu to take the last path and gave him a calling card to a Golden Core True Immortal with old ties to the temple. 318

The Five Sects were later renamed as halls. Five Viscera Temple’s original mountain grounds were abandoned: its buildings fell into ruin and its spiritual veins were extracted. Five Viscera Hall operated on Ancient Mount Lu, where the old mountain gate had been moved. Azure Spider served as its Hall Master. 437 441

Beneath Mount Lu, Fang Shu found coffins bearing the histories of the Five Sects’ predecessors. Records showed that the Five Viscera lineage had borne names including Five Poisons Sect, Five Radiance Temple, and Five Tones Grotto. Five deeper bronze coffins held symbolic parts of a single predecessor’s body; the coffin containing the viscera and bowels appeared to be the root of the Five Viscera Temple lineage. Fang Shu also discovered that a curse had corrupted the lineage’s inherited Elixir Code and reconstructed its underlying Corpse-Liberation method from the original inscriptions. 443 445

After Fang Shu’s return and Golden Core breakthrough, Mount Lu’s followers repaired Ancient Mount Lu and prepared a new sect. Fang Shu and Old Mountain Lord chose the name Five Villages Abbey to continue the former Five Sects’ connection while replacing the narrower Five Viscera Temple and Mount Lu Estate names. Fang Shu formally renamed the mountain gate and instituted new leadership and laws. 471 472

Organization

Leadership Hierarchy

Rank	Number	Known cultivation / authority
Temple Master	1	Formerly a Golden Core True Immortal; the public account placed the Master as late Golden Core and possibly a Twelve-Tribulation True Immortal. The position was left vacant after the Master’s death. 145 300
Three Metropolises	3	Nine-Tribulation Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals who wielded the temple’s true authority. 145
Five Masters	5	Eight-Tribulation Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals who shared authority beneath the Three Metropolises. 145
Eighteen Heads	18	Seven-Tribulation Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals, each overseeing more specific powers and halls. 145

The Three Metropolises, also called the Three Capitals, were represented by Deer Cart, Ox Cart, and Sheep Cart, three ancient-looking immortals with deer, ox, and goat heads respectively. 200 254

Five Villages Abbey retained the broad system of one leader, Three Capitals, and Five Masters, but made new appointments under Fang Shu. 472

New office	Appointment
Abbey Master	Fang Shu 472
Three Capitals	Fang Lu, Er Daiyuan, and a False Core immortal who had submitted to Fang Shu after losing his physical body 472
Five Masters	One immortal with deep foundations and notable fortune selected from each of the former Five Sects 472

Halls and Offices

Hall / Office	Function
Household Hall	Handles disciple registration, servitude deeds, promotion matters, and official temple affairs. 145 199
Scripture Hall	Controls cultivation methods and maintains the temple’s libraries. Genuine methods require its mark to be cultivated safely. 132 295
Servants Hall	Oversees servants and laborers; its officials possess extensive disciplinary power over those beneath them. 145
Venom Hall	A hall associated with venom and Gu cultivation, located over a spirit vein. 153 313
Puppet Hall	Refines suitable corpses into corpse puppets and related creations. 145
Treasure Hall	Appraises and handles valuable artifacts and ancient treasures. 188
Beast Hall	A temple hall connected with beast-related affairs; its disciples later participated in the seizure of Venom Hall. 313

After Fang Shu stopped the seizure of Venom Hall, Household Hall personnel assessed its losses and began repairs, while an Earth Immortal from Creation Hall guarded the site. Fang Shu subsequently appointed Fang Lu its chief steward and rewarded other loyal followers with posts there. 316 319

Territory and Structures

• Toad Mudflats — Fog-shrouded landing area where transport vessels delivered new immortal seeds to the sect. 130
• Five Viscera Temple Gate — A small, ancient mountain gate originally standing on a narrow uphill path. Its inscription declares the sect’s doctrine of refining the five viscera and six bowels through the essence and qi mechanisms of the world. It was later moved to Five Viscera Hall’s grounds on Ancient Mount Lu and renamed the Five Villages Abbey gate. Fang Shu placed a new couplet on its public face while preserving the old one behind it. 145 441 472
• Summit Temple — An outwardly plain, single-storey earthen shrine atop the former temple mountain. Its interior housed manifestations of the Three Metropolises and suppressed the true qi and divine sense of visiting disciples. 199 200
• White Pool / Heavenly Pool — A summit pool beside the gang-wind layer, where disciples who had crossed the Sixth Tribulation gathered astral qi. A sealed living volcano lay beneath it. After the sect’s relocation and the extraction of its spiritual veins, the former site became an ordinary pool. 245 437
• Water-Fire Spirit Chambers — High-density cultivation chambers built using the flesh and blood of a flood dragon and connected to the temple’s main dragon vein. 247
• Former main spiritual vein — The temple’s spiritual veins converged within a dragon corpse. The site contained a Spirit River with floating coffins and pressure dangerous even to Earth Immortals without protection. The veins were later extracted when the sect relocated. 323 437
• Hall spirit veins — Major halls occupied spiritual-energy-rich land and functioned as formation nodes that distributed spiritual qi throughout the temple. 153
• Underground coffin river — Beneath the later Five Viscera Hall grounds lay a forbidden river of coffins, Yin Baleful Force, and poisonous Killing Intent. The hall collected coffins as fuel for medicinal brewing. Deeper within were ancestral burial records and five bronze coffins connected to the roots of the Mount Lu lineage. 442 443 445
• Ancient Mount Lu — Site of Five Viscera Hall after the relocation and, following its repair, the seat of Five Villages Abbey. 437 441 471 472

Cultivation System

Method Control

The Scripture Hall tightly controls genuine cultivation methods. A method without the hall’s mark may contain traps or hidden dangers, especially in high-risk practices such as spirit-root planting. The temple also suppresses private trade in authentic methods, ensuring that disciples must exchange labor, Dao Merits, and service for access. 132

Laborers may earn Dao Merits and use them to exchange for methods in the Dao Repository Pavilion. 132

Deer Cart later warned Fang Shu not to cultivate the Scripture Hall’s Foundation Establishment methods, describing them as inferior methods that would damage his prospects under a future master. 318

Baleful-Nurturing Inheritance

Inner disciples receive the temple’s original baleful-nurturing method upon promotion. It tempers the six viscera through Killing Intent and allows cultivators to harvest earth qi and Killing Intent from living beings to nurture their own baleful intent. 200

• Refining a Killing Intent tempers all six viscera together.
• The method produces stronger viscera than the Six Desires Baleful Method, but is more violent and prone to qi deviation.
• It may seize and refine Killing Intent cultivated by others. 200

Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method

The temple’s direct astral-refining inheritance is the Five Viscera Qi-Refining Method, which is inaccessible to disciples until they have passed the Sixth Tribulation. 202 248

• It centers on gathering five astral qis aligned with the Five Elements. 244
• Five compatible astral qis can form Five Elements True Astral Qi, whose quality may rival legendary Heavenly Astral Qi. 244
• Its superior route, Five Emperors True Qi, uses the Azure, Black, Vermilion, Yellow, and White Emperor true astrals. Cultivators capable of condensing it are regarded as Foundation Establishment seeds within the temple. 248

Foundation Establishment Policy

The Five Viscera Temple and the other Four Sects jointly restricted disciples’ access to Foundation Establishment spirit veins. Deer Cart disclosed this coordinated policy to Fang Shu after recognizing that he had achieved Dao-vein Foundation Establishment. Deer Cart warned him to conceal that foundation and its associated divine ability seed: cultivators seeking Core Formation could attempt to seize such an ability. 317 318

Inner Sect Privileges

Upon promotion, inner disciples receive five-colored identity tokens, the baleful-nurturing inheritance, permission to establish cave abodes, access to spirit veins, and the right to employ servants. 200

Inner disciples also possess greater freedom to descend the mountain, trade, seek opportunities, and represent the temple outside its territory. 187

Rules and Practices

• Servants were subject to the life-and-death authority of officials such as stewards. Killing a servant ordinarily required no compensation unless annual loss quotas were exceeded or the losses disrupted temple work. 145
• Outer disciples were heavily restricted and could not easily leave the mountain; inner disciples were granted substantially more autonomy. 187
• The temple used chain-form methods to produce Dao soldiers. These methods could rapidly create physically capable fighters, but the resulting Dao soldiers had short lifespans, limited spell aptitude, and diminished mental faculties. 194
• Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals were linked to the sect’s spiritual veins; an Earth Immortal’s death within the temple could trigger alarms through those connections. 316
• Entry procedures became significantly stricter after the temple’s decline, requiring identity verification, proof of an inner-sect spell, and inspection of visitors’ storage artifacts. 313
• Five Viscera Hall later recruited offerings through an Offering Assembly. Applicants retrieved coffins from its dangerous underground river; the top three could become official offerings, while others might receive resources or compensation. 441 442
• Under Five Villages Abbey’s new laws, the practice of turning failed cultivators into medicine slaves was abolished. Qi Refinement cultivators could become outer disciples, while advancement to the inner sect required service in branch abbeys. The branch system was intended to extend recruitment and information-gathering across Mount Lu and the Jade Kingdom. 472
• Fang Shu announced that he would lecture and demonstrate techniques on the summit for the abbey’s inhabitants, whether old or new, immortal or mortal. 472

Relationships

• Flesh Abbey — A sect with which Five Viscera Temple maintained friendly ties for generations; disciples of the two sects formed Dao-companion and romantic relationships. The alliance did not prevent violent competition between their disciples in the secret realm. 261 263 364
• Withered Bone Abbey — A rival Mount Lu sect. Their hostility led to conflict within Five Viscera Temple territory and later war between the sects. Both belonged to the same ancient Mount Lu Dao lineage. 126 216 300
• Four Limbs Temple — Fellow member of the Five Sects of Mount Lu and participant in the joint secret-realm expedition and Foundation Establishment Assembly. 254 298
• Beauty Palace — Fellow member of the Five Sects of Mount Lu and participant in the shared Mount Lu lineage’s Spirit Refinement undertaking. 298 300
• Profound Teaching — An outside force whose Immortal Envoy was targeted by the Five Sects’ sacrificial plan. After their sect masters died, the Five Sects secretly decided to submit to the Profound Teaching’s Western Altar. Fang Shu later considered seeking recognition as a true disciple of the Moral Profound Teaching to protect Five Villages Abbey and its treasures. 303 318 472
• Old Mountain Lord — After Fang Shu restored Mount Lu’s fortune to him, Old Mountain Lord took root there and helped found Five Villages Abbey. His transformed lingzhi form and secret realm became part of the new abbey’s spiritual foundation. 471 472

Major Events

• Reception of immortal seeds — New recruits arrive at Toad Mudflats and enter the temple under the Miscellaneous Hall’s supervision. 130
• Inner sect promotion — The top nine disciples by Dao Merit ascend the Azure Cloud Ladder, worship at the summit temple, and receive inner-disciple status. 199 200
• War losses — Conflict ravages the temple: roughly one-third of outer disciples die, another third are maimed, and several named Foundation Establishment Earth Immortals are lost or grievously injured. 238 241
• Mount Lu Secret Realm expedition — The Three Metropolises personally escort temple disciples to Five Elders Peak for the secret-realm opening. 254
• Foundation Establishment Assembly — The Five Sects reveal their shared roots; the Five Viscera Temple Master dies as part of a plan to trap the Profound Teaching’s Immortal Envoy. 298 300 303
• Venom Hall crisis — Following the sect’s decline, Beast Hall disciples loot Venom Hall until Fang Shu intervenes and kills the infiltrating Earth Immortal Flame Crow. The hall is subsequently repaired. 313 316 319
• Decision to submit — Lacking Golden Core protection, the Five Sects secretly choose submission to the Profound Teaching. Deer Cart helps Fang Shu depart in search of a master elsewhere. 318
• Relocation and renaming as a hall — The old temple grounds are abandoned and stripped of spiritual veins; Five Viscera Hall operates on Ancient Mount Lu under Hall Master Azure Spider. 437 441
• Offering Assembly disaster — At an underground coffin-retrieval trial, Fang Shu activates a hidden passage. Azure Spider attacks him, but he vanishes into the depths; the river erupts with lethal Yin Baleful Force, killing numerous participants. 442
• Reconstruction of the lineage inheritance — Fang Shu discovers the five ancestral bronze coffins, identifies a curse on the inherited Elixir Code, and reconstructs the Great Yin-Yang Life-and-Death Corpse-Liberation Chain-Forming Method from their inscriptions. 445
• Founding of Five Villages Abbey — Fang Shu and Old Mountain Lord name the renewed sect. Fang Shu changes the gate inscription, appoints new leaders, abolishes medicine slavery, and establishes rules for outer disciples and branch abbeys. 471 472

Notable Quotes

“Swallow the essence of all things to refine my five viscera.
Consume the qi mechanisms of sun and moon to fortify these six bowels.”
— Original inscription on the Five Viscera Temple Gate 145

“From this day onward, you are introductory disciples of this temple. When walking abroad, you may fly this temple's banner, save the world and its people, subdue demons, and vanquish devils.”
— Deer Cart, upon promoting inner disciples 200

“An immortal abode of ageless True Immortals; a Daoist household sharing heaven's lifespan.”
— New public couplet on the Five Villages Abbey gate 472