Ether Association

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Ether Association (以太协会)
Occupation/Role	The largest alliance of Ascenders; hunts Fallen, maintains world order, organizes exploration of Ancient God Realms, and serves as the principal institution of the Order World 11 37 325
Status	Active; operating across thirteen jurisdictions and internationally, while facing severe internal instability after President Taihua was presumed killed and subsequent purges were ordered within its ranks 325 361 417
First Appearance	Chapter 5 (mentioned) 5

Background

The Ether Association is the dominant Ascender organization in the modern world and the central institution of the Order World. The Mentor describes it as humanity's largest Ascender alliance, with most other organizations either working for it or remaining comparatively insignificant. Its principal rival is the Youying Group, though some factions of both groups cooperate against incursions from the Ancient God Realm. 37 325

The Association's institutional legacy traces back to the earliest leaders of the East, a Ji and a Jiang ancestor. Its modern Order World was established by Taiqing and Taihua after they discovered and inherited the Illumination Law, ending an earlier dark age of Ascender society and spreading their order across East and West. 390 508

Its President, Taihua—who has also acted under the identity Ji Zhou—is described as a four-hundred-year-old, one-of-a-kind “person of destiny” whose leadership ushered humanity into its first golden age. The Association's modern order subsequently maintained roughly two centuries of relative peace. 37 225 274

Taihua is regarded as the Association's foremost public combat force and a symbol of the Order World, while Qing and Chi are recognized as comparably formidable forces whose full strength remains unknown. Below them, Vice Presidents Rhine and Winter are among the Association's strongest Heavenly Humans. 317

The Association maintains thirteen branches across the country and employs tens of thousands of investigators to respond to supernatural emergencies. Its Feng City branch operates through the Deep Sky Technology building. Its influence also extends through allied Ascender organizations across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and other regions. 14 325

Organization and hierarchy

• Investigators — Field personnel are assigned letter grades, including A-, B-, C-, and D-rank investigators. They conduct investigations, rescue operations, containment, and combat missions. 9 30 44
• Department Heads — The Association has thirteen department-head positions. While prestigious, these roles carry limited legislative authority; higher leadership places greater value on independent combat strength. 21
• Branch Ministers — The thirteen branches are led by ministers. The First Branch's Chen Xingli is stationed at headquarters and is described as holding the greatest authority among the branch ministers. 139
• Tribunal — The dominant internal power structure within the Association. Its known hierarchy proceeds from deacons to councilors to Saints, with Rhine—one of the Association's vice-presidents—leading the Tribunal. The Tribunal possesses nine Saints and exercises substantial influence over Association affairs. 30 41 100
• Supreme Council — A senior decision-making body capable of authorizing Association-wide measures, including the opening of strategic vaults and the Solar System Project. 194
• Omega Sequence — An elite youth and combat sequence whose members can undertake high-level missions as Guardians. During the coming holy war, the Association identifies the Omega Sequence as a backbone force and grants it privileged access to advanced resources. 134 194
• Dawn Combat Sequence — A major expeditionary force stationed in the Kirin Immortal Palace and used for deep exploration and combat operations. 130 227
• Night Watchers — A specialized department trained to handle highly classified investigations and reports concerning the Kirin Immortal Palace and other ancient secrets. 130
• Internal factions — Internal factional struggle is severe enough that evidence concerning the Blood Moon Massacre could influence the next presidential election. The Tribunal, old Ascender families, branch leadership, and other power blocs frequently compete for influence. 43 78
• Internal infiltration — The Association has repeatedly suffered from leaks and moles, including operatives connected to the Reclusive Society. These infiltrations have compromised operations, concealed evidence, and intensified factional distrust. 85 194 212

Policies and operations

Secrecy and civilian containment

Association personnel maintain plausible public identities while operating in the ordinary world; Lu Zicheng and Chen Qing, for example, present themselves as Interpol agents. 10

Ordinary people who come into contact with supernatural incidents may be tracked, have their memories erased, and then be released. The Association considers such knowledge dangerous because exposure to ancient spiritual pollution can drive ordinary humans insane. 11

The Association also restricts access to dangerous historical knowledge. Many younger members are not fully informed of the bloody history of Calamities, the Ancient God Race, and prior Association crises. 226

Fallen extermination

The Association's stated purpose includes hunting those who have “fallen into the darkness.” Fallen are treated as threats to be eliminated, particularly because they may lose control, mutate, or be corrupted by Ancient God power. 10 16

This policy also shapes its stance toward Evolutionists. Jing Ci states that any Evolutionist exposed to the Association will be mercilessly erased, as the organization considers the controlled use of Ancient God power fundamentally dangerous. 33

The policy has also resulted in the abandonment of contaminated former personnel. Survivors of an earlier Immortal Palace Project expedition, including disabled and contaminated Association members, were forced into hiding beneath Black Cloud Stronghold after they could no longer live openly in the human world. 53

The Association nevertheless maintains medical research into suppressing aberration and contamination among the Unclean. Its medical department developed prototype alchemical matrices for this purpose, though their effectiveness and accessibility remain limited. 233

Ancient God containment

According to Jing Ci, the ultimate objective shared by the Ether Association and other Ascender organizations is preventing the return of the lost Ancient God civilization. The Association is expected to kill any Ancient God it discovers, including the being sealed within the Kirin Immortal Palace. 33

The Association also forms alliances with Catastrophe-class beings to maintain world order and resist incursions from Ancient God Realms. 37

To prepare for a renewed war with the Ancient God Race, the Association activated the Solar System Project, a top-secret program intended to create artificial suns and weaken Ancient Gods within their own domains. The project works in conjunction with mapped Heavenly Human Domains, where Association investigators gain major advantages against Ancestor-level Ancient Gods of the same rank. 194 195

The Association's position is complicated by alleged ties to the Baize Clan. Tang Ling states that the Association backs the Baize Clan, whose members may be more capable than other Ancient God clans of communicating with humanity. 256

Restricted research programs

The Association has conducted or supported several secret projects involving the Illumination Law, spiritual genes, and the fusion of human and Ancient God traits.

• Celestial Transformation Project — A top-secret project connected to the Ghost Valley Secret Cache and the Heavenly Human Wedge. 288
• Flower Transplantation Project — A project whose known beneficiary was Tang Yun's sister; it caused progressive fading of the subject's humanity and memories. 288
• Spirit Coffin Project — A forbidden secret art intended to create a new species through a split personality structure possessing both a human soul and an Ancient God Race soul. 363
• Thunder's cultivation — The Association expended immense resources to cultivate Thunder as a pillar against the coming apocalypse, forcibly developing her mastery of the Illumination and Lunar Laws alongside Ancient God genes. 306 498

Internal purges

Following Taihua's presumed death, Platinum ordered an extensive purge of the Ji Clan bloodline and the Night Watchers, as well as a search for Thunder and the remaining Celestial Being Seeds. 417

Deep Sky system

The Association relies on Deep Sky, a supercomputing and surveillance system derived from ancient technology. It uses satellites, including the Eye of Horus, to support investigations and emergency response. 9 13

• A01 Taixu — Deep Sky's artificial intelligence. Taixu verifies identities, distributes missions and resources, monitors newly awakened Ascenders, and audits their personal information and online activity. 15 16
• Residential monitoring — Members can receive satellite monitoring within a ten-kilometer radius of their homes. Deep Sky identifies residents and outsiders, retrieves files, and evaluates threat levels. 13
• Limitations — The system is not omnipotent; Ascenders can bypass the Deep Web through numerous extraordinary methods, and the Eye of Horus can be disrupted by anomalous interference. 13 50
• Mission support — Deep Sky provides resource exchanges, merit rewards, assessment missions, satellite tracking, and operational communications. 16 30
• Strategic assessment — Taixu supports high-level deployments through predictive assessment. During the Tokyo crisis, it judged the chance of an erroneous assessment concerning the emergency to be no greater than one in a thousand. 361
• Public outreach — Taixu also operates the Association's official Ancient God Chronicles mobile game, including a character card based on Gu Jianlin. 155

Membership and resources

Prospective members undergo assessment and auditing before becoming investigators. Gu Jianlin is registered as a reserve investigator after completing his soul trial, then receives a high-risk assessment mission against the Fallen known as Joker. 15 16

The Association provides members with access to inheritance paths, Spirit Potions, alchemical armaments, Mythic Armament exchanges, operational intelligence, and protection services. These resources are a major advantage over wild Ascenders, who lack formal guidance, advancement materials, and high-level support. 12 13 42

• Inheritance support — Most Ascenders require the Association's sublimation ceremonies, rituals, and accumulated inheritance paths to advance safely. 12
• Merit system — Investigators receive merit based on mission performance and may exchange it for resources and equipment. 16 30
• Kirin Immortal Palace Project — Association membership grants access to limited exploration positions in the Ancient God Realm. Treasures recovered during exploration belong to the finder. 14 42
• Resource shortages — Spirit Potions and skilled Alchemists are critically important; shortages can leave even active investigators unable to obtain promotion resources. 40 42
• Omega Sequence privileges — Omega members may receive dedicated housing, monthly allocations, advancement materials, alchemical weapons, and access to high-tier Mythic Armament resources. 142 228
• Cloud Radiance Secret Vault — A strategic resource vault brought back from Yunmeng Marsh by Rhine. Omega members who earn ancient tokens through bounty missions may enter to study forbidden spells and Breathing Techniques. 195 228
• Mythic Armament vaults — The Association maintains guarded vaults containing growth-type Mythic Armaments, including weapons with living spiritualities that require specialized containment. 228
• Central Spirit Nexus Institute — A dedicated training base where nearly every Omega Sequence member receives rigorous instruction, including compulsory education in hidden history. 362

Major operations

Kirin Immortal Palace Project

The Association runs large-scale exploration efforts into the Kirin Immortal Palace, an Ancient God Realm connected to an undersea palace built by Xu Fu. The thirty-seventh batch is identified as the project's final intake before the realm's opening. 14 45

A floating maritime platform constructed by Deep Sky Technology supports excavation of the Kirin Immortal Palace ruins at sea. 21

After the first level was opened, the Association established Dawn City, a garrison within the Immortal Palace, and deployed expeditionary teams into singularities such as the Forest of Final Rest. 163

The project later expanded into the Sea of Eternal Life, where the Association assembled large raid forces, advanced alchemical weapons, Heavenly Human support, and international allied contingents to confront Ancient Ancestors such as the Kui Dragon Ancestor. 274 281

The Association subsequently focused on the second level of the Kirin Immortal Palace, an inverted pyramid believed to contain information relevant to the experimental subjects appearing in Tokyo. 376

Hunt for Joker

The Association assigns a large collective mission to eliminate Joker, a Tier 1 Fallen who possesses two unidentified Mythic Armaments. Gu Jianlin is deliberately positioned as bait because Joker is expected to pursue him. 16 21 25

The operation suffers severe losses when Joker uses a Necro-Gu to poison the rescue team, exposing failures in the task force's planning and protection. 27

Feng City purge

With the Kirin Immortal Palace nearing manifestation, the Association launches a province-wide sweep to eliminate Fallen survivors of the Blood Moon Massacre and dismantle the Grave Diggers. The operation deploys seven squads under hidden identities for a surprise assault in the Forbidden Zone. 43 45

The operation was compromised by a leak from within the Association, allowing hostile forces to prepare an ambush against the purge force. 85

Solar System Project

As the threat of a holy war grew, the Supreme Council authorized the Solar System Project and opened the Cloud Radiance Secret Vault to the Omega Sequence. The project represents an Association-wide effort to establish artificial suns and Heavenly Human Domain advantages against the awakening Ancient God Race. 194 195

Tokyo intervention

After the emergence of experimental subjects in Tokyo, the Association dispatched a special operations team led by Winter and rapidly assumed control of the Yingzhou government. Its orders authorized lethal force against resistance. 361 368

The crisis led to unprecedented negotiations with the Youying Group. Although the two organizations agreed to cooperate against the Reclusive Society and the experimental-subject threat, the alliance remained marked by deep mistrust and competing objectives. 371 376 396

Relationships

• Deep Sky Technology — A technology enterprise behind which the Ether Association operates; its Feng City building serves as a branch facility. 14 41
• Deep Sky / A01 Taixu — Its surveillance, administrative, resource-distribution, mission-control, and strategic-assessment system. 9 15 16 361
• Tribunal — The Association's most powerful internal faction and core power structure, led by Vice President Rhine. 30 41
• Omega Sequence — Its elite youth and Guardian force, deployed in major Ancient God Realm expeditions and granted privileged resource access. 134 194
• Night Watchers — A specialized investigative department with access to classified historical and Immortal Palace information; later targeted in Platinum's internal purge. 130 417
• Shadows — A secretive department whose existence and purpose are known to the President; it provides covert intelligence and assistance against the Reclusive Society. 376
• Youying Group — A major rival organization whose relationship with the Association is described as “like fire and water.” The two organizations entered unprecedented negotiations and limited cooperation in response to the Reclusive Society and the Tokyo crisis. 37 371 376
• Fallen — Primary targets for investigation, containment, and extermination, including contaminated former Association personnel who have been abandoned by the organization. 5 10 53
• Ancient God Race — A hostile existential threat whose return the Association seeks to prevent, contain, and weaken through projects such as the Solar System Project. 33 37 195
• Baize Clan — An Ancient God clan allegedly backed by the Association and considered unusually capable of communication with humanity. 256
• Reclusive Society — A covert enemy that has infiltrated the Association's upper ranks, manipulated its personnel, and driven much of its recent counterintelligence activity. 194 212
• Yata Society — An Order World affiliate in Yingzhou that was compelled to relinquish control of Tokyo after the Association's intervention during the experimental-subject crisis. 281 368