Xiaoming Sect

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Xiaoming Sect
Original Name	宵明宗
Type	Martial cultivation sect
Affiliation	Great Zhao; cooperates with the Imperial Court and maintains ties with Prince Kang’s household 75 180.
Headquarters	Flat Lake Mountain, approached through fortified Flat Lake Town 67.
Inherited Lineages	The goddesses Xiaoming and Zhuguang 20.
Occupation/Role	Preserves and reconstructs divine martial arts, trains disciples, and assists local authorities with patrols and investigations 67 76 94.
Leadership	Tao Wenshu serves as sect master until her death; no successor is identified in the supplied chapters 67 167 172.
Status	Active after Tao Wenshu’s death, continuing cultivation research and operations against demonic infiltration 173 179 180.
First Appearance	First mentioned when Ding Songyan asks about its martial arts 3.

Power Progression

The sect’s documented recovery concerns the restoration of its teachings and the advancement of its cultivators, rather than a single organizational rank.

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Reconstruction of two foundational scriptures	67 156	After the Southern Crossing, Patriarch Pei Yuan and successive generations rebuilt missing cultivation methods through experimentation. The resulting scriptures remained flawed and could not carry practitioners into the Celestial-Human Realm.
Recovery of Law Realm leadership	79	During a later leadership crisis, Tao Wenshu entered the Law Realm in just over a year. Several cultivators of her generation subsequently became Martial Grandmasters.
Preliminary correction of the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture	136	Ding Songyan reproduced its unusual apertures and four nonhuman organs, identified seven significant errors, and proposed corrections. Zheng Zhuxi undertook a trial of the revised Vermilion Bird Organ Dressing method.
Renewed advancement among established Martial Grandmasters	173	Revisions to both core scriptures loosened Wang Zhou, Yan Jingxian, and Sun Tie’s stagnant cultivation. Continued adjustment was expected to bring at least one of them near the perfected Law Realm within three to five years.
Perfected Law Realm mastery of the Celestial Stars Scripture	176	Ding brought the scripture to the perfected Law Realm, spending three years of lifespan. He also reached minor completion in Cosmic Star-Dipper Swordsmanship.
Broader implementation of corrected methods	187	After testing the revisions on themselves, the Martial Grandmasters began modifying eligible disciples under forty who had perfected the Dayan Realm, seeking to improve their chances of entering the Law Realm.

Background / History

Divine inheritance and the Southern Crossing

The Xiaoming Sect inherited the teachings of Xiaoming and Zhuguang. Its three treasured foundational works were the Xiaoming Great Art, Celestial Stars Scripture, and Illuminating the Long Night Scripture 20 67.

During the Dynasty’s Southern Crossing more than two centuries earlier, demonic and Outer Dao forces inflicted exceptional losses on the sect. Only two Martial Grandmasters and a few dozen disciples reached Ning Prefecture. Its Transmission Elders were lost, and the surviving students had not completed their training. The Xiaoming Great Art disappeared entirely, while the other two scriptures lost crucial methods for Opening Orifices and Organ Dressing 67.

Reconstruction and its costs

Patriarch Pei Yuan, later the third sect master after the Ning Prefecture reestablishment, helped initiate the reconstruction of the damaged teachings. Successive generations tested and revised the methods, often at enormous personal cost: some became paralyzed, went mad, lost all prospect of advancement, or died during cultivation 67 156.

The reconstructed scriptures preserved the sect but left a ceiling on its advancement. Tao Wenshu reached major completion of the Law Realm yet could not advance further because of inherited defects 67.

The sect also continued secretly sending disciples north to seek missing Transmission Elders or hidden legacies. Yan Jingxian and Sun Tie both searched after becoming Martial Grandmasters, without finding useful clues 104.

Tao Wenshu’s leadership

A later generational crisis left the sect’s senior Martial Grandmasters dead and Tao’s master near death. At his urging, Tao became a Martial Grandmaster and assumed responsibility for the sect. Zheng Zhuxi’s father, Zheng Ziming, took leave to help defend it and learned enough of the Heavenly Dipper Sword Formation to support one position 79.

Tao hoped eventually to hand leadership to Zheng’s generation and reunite with her husband. Her death instead exposed the sect to an infiltration campaign aimed at exploiting the loss of its strongest publicly known detector of concealed demon seeds 79 172.

Organization and Membership

Leadership and elders

Before Tao Wenshu’s death, the sect had five Martial Grandmasters 68 75.

Member	Position / Responsibilities	Notes
Tao Wenshu	Sect master	The furthest-advanced cultivator since the sect’s reconstruction; entrusts Ding with restoring its legacy 67 69.
Wang Zhou	Supreme Elder	Oldest of the five Martial Grandmasters; supervises the Scripture Repository and later accompanies the sect’s delegation to Flame Capital 68 179.
Yan Jingxian	Martial Grandmaster; Tao’s junior sister	Participates in scripture revision and previously searched north for lost inheritances 104 136.
Sun Tie	External affairs elder	Handles the sect’s businesses throughout Great Zhao. The only one of the five who primarily cultivates the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture 75 136.
Yang Dongsheng	Rotating guest retainer at Prince Kang’s residence	Maintains the sect’s presence in Flame Capital; later welcomes its visiting delegation 173 180.
Hu Chengzong	Teaching and transmission elder	Performs aperture implantation and Organ Dressing; insists that revised methods be tested before wider use 120 136 159.

Disciple ranks and instruction

• Entry-level disciples cannot initially take a personal master. Dayan Realm true disciples and administrative elders rotate through daily instruction, while a Martial Grandmaster answers questions every ten days 76.
• True disciples are also called personal disciples: the first term describes their relationship to the sect, the second their relationship to a particular master 76.
• Selection normally occurs after three years, when Law Realm Martial Grandmasters and perfected Dayan Realm experts choose personal disciples. Exceptionally talented candidates sought by several elders may choose their teacher 76.
• Combat-practice disciples study the repository’s varied weapons and techniques to prepare others for unfamiliar opponents. Differences in qi and apertures limit them to roughly half those techniques’ power 87.
• Recruitment fairness is actively monitored by Zheng Zhuxi, who watches for wealthy outsiders seeking influence over admissions 74.

Notable disciples

• Ding Songyan — Tao Wenshu’s personal disciple and principal contributor to scripture restoration. His Hundun-derived ability allows him to cultivate both core scriptures and examine their defects 57 67 136.
• Zheng Zhuxi — Tao’s daughter and personal disciple; an unusually talented practitioner of the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture whose Candlelight Sword Intent develops during the Dayan Realm 74 92 95.
• Wan Guhong — One of Tao’s disciples most likely to enter the Law Realm, alongside Zheng 72.
• Xu Julong — Former eldest senior brother; reaches perfected Dayan through prolonged effort, though his prospects of becoming a Martial Grandmaster are considered slim 72.
• Xue Xian — Participates in the disciples’ festive gatherings and nearly wins Xie Fengchao’s signature hidden weapons in a gambling game 93 138.
• Pan Yunzhou — Initially accepted as a guest elder pending investigation, then admitted as an entry-level disciple under special restrictions governing scripture access 78 142.
• Lü Huaijin and Lü Woyu — Fail the ordinary entrance test but later join Ding’s new branch, where elders and trusted disciples help supervise their training 177 179.

Headquarters and Facilities

• Flat Lake Mountain — Guarded mountain paths lead to a lake surrounded by sect buildings and courtyards 67.
• Flat Lake Town — Fortified settlement below the mountain; most inhabitants are Xiaoming Sect disciples 67 75.
• Scripture Repository — Three-story blue-stone building with seven disciples patrolling each floor. Tao’s white jade token, carved with candle flames and starlight and bearing her sword resonance, grants Ding access to every manual and book 68.
• Underground visualization chambers — Their darkness suits visualization of the Celestial Stars and Illuminating the Long Night diagrams 69.
• Flamefire Hall — Houses chambers used for cultivation experiments and bodily transformation procedures 91 136.
• Dipper Martial Training Ground — Used for sparring and sword practice; bird-and-beast-shaped pillar lamps allow nighttime training 72 91.
• Enforcement Hall — Takes over prolonged investigations requiring systematic follow-up 76.

Cultivation and Martial Arts

Foundational scriptures

Scripture	Characteristics	Condition / Limitations
Xiaoming Great Art	One of the sect’s three treasured foundational teachings	Lost entirely during the Southern Crossing 67.
Celestial Stars Scripture	Produces ten thousand stars true qi; offers varied sword techniques, strong offense, and elaborate manifestations	Its visualization diagram contains 360 apertures, normally requiring two to three years to refine. Later portions were lost and reconstructed imperfectly 20 67 69 136.
Illuminating the Long Night Scripture	Produces illuminating candle true qi; emphasizes illumination and techniques effective against sinister forces	Demands more of temperament and attracts fewer practitioners. Ding later identifies errors in its aperture and organ methods 74 94 136.

Swordsmanship and candlelight

The sect’s publicly known martial arts are often individual techniques derived from its guarded foundational scriptures 20.

• Northern Dipper Killing Sword — One of the recognized arts derived from the sect’s inheritance 20.
• Seven Night-Illuminating Swords — A major sword art practiced by Ding and associated with Candlelight Sword Intent 20 93 142.
• Cosmic Star-Dipper Swordsmanship — Another of Ding’s central sect sword arts; best supported by the appropriate star-based true qi 142 176.
• Candlelight Sword Intent — Can wound possessing spirits, dispel dream illusions, and restrain pollution associated with the Two-Faced Clan 75 101 162.
• Bewitching Star Shines High — Has a severe weakness against arts that summon disaster and calamity. Bai Zhaolin exploits this inherited vulnerability against Tao Wenshu 167.

Candle Eyes and Star Pupils

A sensory art whose strengths change with the true qi powering it 94.

• Candle Eyes excel at exposing falsehood 94.
• Star Pupils excel at long-distance sight 94.
• Both provide night vision, penetrate darkness, and discern illusions 94.
• Ordinary Two-Faced Clan abnormalities can be identified at a glance, simplifying recruitment checks 101.
• Demon-seed concealment defeats ordinary use of the art. An observer near the perfected Law Realm is needed to expose the hidden second face 172.

Movement and pursuit

• Bi Moon Illusory Form — Specializes in speed, illusions, and long-distance travel; leaves surrounding scenery faintly wavering in a practitioner’s wake 47 96.
• Southern Dipper Calamity-Transcending Steps — Excels at close-range evasion and maneuvering, complementing the sect’s swordsmanship 96 101.
• Northern Dipper Guides the Way — Requires one of the two surviving core scriptures and installation of the Four Symbols’ Organs 164 169.

Formations

Formation	Size	Status / Use
Northern Dipper Sword Formation	Seven people	Surviving formation used by rotating patrol teams in Lingjiang County 20 94.
Heavenly Dipper Sword Formation	Thirty-six people	Surviving formation used in the sect’s defense 20 79.
Celestial Stars Formation	Not specified	Cannot be established because its crucial teachings were lost. Pan Yunzhou’s Great Canon of the Stars offers a possible source of complementary principles 20 71 72.

Cultivation standards

• Early Dayan Realm — Everything before the first Organ Dressing procedure 159.
• Middle Dayan Realm — Encompasses the first and second Organ Dressings 159.
• Late Dayan Realm — Begins after the third Organ Dressing 159.
• Perfected Dayan Realm — Requires completion of Opening Orifices, Organ Dressing, and Meridian Condensation 159.
• Procedure spacing — Transmission Elders delay Zheng’s final Organ Dressing because four procedures in one year would cause excessive bodily harm 165.

External Relationships

• Imperial Court and local yamen — The sect supplies patrol teams, assists investigations, reports dangerous intelligence, and helps improve military formation coordination 11 94 120 165.
• Prince Kang, Hong Jingyuan — Hosts a rotating Xiaoming Martial Grandmaster as guest retainer and welcomes the sect’s delegation as family. His mother is Zheng Zhuxi’s aunt 75 180.
• Zheng Ziming — Tao’s husband and a senior court official; helps defend the sect during its leadership crisis 79 140.
• Su Family and Celestial Maiden Sect — Trusted witnesses to the Kunlun inquiry. Tao permits Su Qingli’s participation in exchange for confidentiality and future information-sharing 57.
• Pan family — Seeks the sect’s help restoring the Great Canon of the Stars. Pan must work through knowledgeable members rather than read the Celestial Stars Scripture directly 71 142.
• Dangkang Temple — Its stolen Golden-Rain Tree flowers are recovered with help from Zheng, Ding, and Pan. Temple Host Zhu rewards the expedition with rare pills 103 110 111.
• Accumulated Evil Path — Longstanding enemy. Qin Guanchan helped besiege the sect centuries earlier and later orchestrates efforts to remove Tao and corrupt its promising cultivators 78 172 214.
• Hongxin Trading Company — Employs stewards recruited for Zheng and Ding’s Rescue Association; a captured infiltrator also identifies employment there as a possible route into the sect 138 172.

Major Story Events

Ding Songyan’s admission

• Ding initially seeks information about joining the local sect but repeatedly fails to make direct contact, partly because outside influences interfere with his choices 6 20 44.
• Zheng Zhuxi approaches him during the investigation surrounding the Zhen Estate 43 44.
• Tao removes his Heavenly Heart Imprint and accepts him as her disciple. Ding chooses the Illuminating the Long Night Scripture partly to protect himself against similar interference 57.
• Tao later entrusts him with repairing the sect’s scriptures and keeps his unusual cultivation known only to its other Martial Grandmasters 67.

Local protection and the Three Fiends pursuit

• During the Zhen Estate upheaval, Xiaoming disciples fight Mothmen alongside unaffected constables inside the County Yamen 50.
• In Flat Lake Town, disciples contain a possessed inn employee while Zheng and Ding expel the sinister entity 75.
• Zheng, Ding, and Pan join the pursuit of the Three Fiends of Xiao City to prevent stolen Golden-Rain Tree flowers from reaching Qin Guanchan 103.
• After the successful recovery, their involvement is concealed to protect the sect from retaliation. At that time, Xiaoming has no Great Grandmaster capable of anchoring its defense 110 111.

Restoration and new branches

• Ding’s work gives the sect concrete corrections to its inherited methods, while the elders insist on testing before wider adoption 136 173 187.
• Pan’s admission establishes a controlled collaboration to reconstruct his family’s canon without freely disclosing the Celestial Stars Scripture 142.
• Ding establishes a new branch that accepts the Lü siblings despite their failed entrance test. He warns that its methods may initially cause slow or stalled progress, though the problems can be corrected 177 179.

Tao Wenshu’s death and infiltration conspiracy

• A captured Two-Faced Clan youth reveals orders to wait for Tao’s death and infiltrate the sect during year-end recruitment 165.
• Ding and Zheng return to find Tao fighting Bai Zhaolin in a Life-and-Death Duel. Bai’s concealed Disaster Upon the World exploits a fatal weakness in her technique 166 167.
• Tao’s death removes the sect’s only publicly known Martial Grandmaster sufficiently advanced to detect demon-seeded infiltrators 172.
• Interrogation reveals plans to enter through recruitment or the Hongxin Trading Company, then corrupt promising Martial Grandmasters. Ding also warns that returning disciples might have been compromised 172.
• Sun Feiyang later confirms that he supplied Bai’s technique and sent him to Flat Lake Mountain. He names Jiao Li, Kunpeng in the Palm, as the Zhourao Tribe collaborator who infiltrated the sect 214.

Flame Capital operations

• The sect plans covert monitoring of the Jade Orchid Grace Examination and imperial Consort Selection, using Ding’s perfected Candle Eyes and Star Pupils to identify demon-seeded Two-Faced Clan members 179.
• Wang Zhou leads a delegation to Flame Capital. At Prince Kang’s residence, two women are assigned to protect the prince’s consorts, while Ding and two other young disciples patrol the household 180.
• To conceal Ding’s true progress, the sect presents him as a gifted perfected Dayan Realm disciple visiting the capital before beginning his martial-world travels 180.

Customs and Values

• Keeping promises is central to the sect’s reputation; Ding explicitly avoids conduct that would tarnish it 103 196.
• The sect master’s Iron Crown has no special powers. Tao wears it as a reminder that leadership is a responsibility rather than an honor 78.
• Respect for personal boundaries shapes Tao’s handling of Ding’s past: she halts an investigation when it uncovers his earlier movements and leaves further inquiry to him 142.
• Collective experimentation underpins the sect’s survival, with each generation passing on the results of dangerous attempts to repair its inheritance 67 156.
• Ding’s influence on training culture prompts Zheng and even the usually languid Wan Guhong to practice at night 91.

Notable Quotes

“We of the Xiaoming Sect have always kept our word and seen our deeds through!” 103