General's Temple

Biodata

Power Progression

The grades below are Great Chu intelligence classifications of extraordinary organizations, not cultivation realms. The intelligence report does not date the Temple's intermediate ratings 501.

Background / History

The General's Temple's lineage has endured for roughly five hundred years and thirteen generations. Its ancestral seat was once on Gourd Islet; it moved to Yin-Yang Mountain after powerful outsiders fought over the dangerous cave abode beneath the islet 2 106. At its height, the Temple commanded ghosts and gods, protected the Lower River region, maintained branch shrines, and fielded five camps of Yin Soldiers 1 27 303.

A calamity and the decline of spiritual energy weakened the lineage. The Temple's Guardian Divine General fell dormant, while generations of disciples preserved the last trace of spirit in his statue. By Tang Changsheng's succession, he was the sole disciple and feared that his inability to perform the Soul-Refinement Art at the ancestral rites would cost the Temple the Three Families' support 1 24.

Tang's cultivation and recovery of the Temple's supernatural resources began its revival. He resumed contact with former allies, refined Yin Soldiers, reclaimed properties, and ordered branch shrines reopened to gather incense offerings 25 80 273 279. The Protector King Divine General's awakening gave the Temple a powerful defender, although the general also had to guard the Gourd Immortal Abode 270 271 273. Within roughly two years, the Temple had taken in twenty or thirty Outer Disciples; Cui Zhengfei remained its only true Inner Disciple 883.

Appearance

The ancestral temple stands on Yin-Yang Mountain's wooded half, one ridge from the barren Dead Man Mountain 1 23.

• Its weathered doors and thick pillars are made of valuable purple sandalwood 23.
• Its main hall houses a life-sized, fanged Divine General statue with genuine armor and a steel whip 1.
• Its Quiet Room is built from century-old Peach Heartwood and contains the Bright Pearl 2 16.

Teachings & Defenses

Cultivation arts

The Temple preserves five arts: the Sun Body-Washing Method, Lunar Form-Refining Method, Four Spirits Life-Guarding Method, Five Gods Returning to the Origin Method, and Nine Luminaries Heavenly Heart Method. The last is reserved for the sect leader 2. In the age of declining spiritual energy, sealed-off starlight prevents cultivation of some of these methods as originally taught 442.

Yin Soldiers and the Divine General

• The Temple's methods refine and nourish Yin Soldiers through offerings, earth-vein energy, and ritual implements. At its height, five camps patrolled Yin-Yang Mountain 22 27.
• The Protector King Divine General is a guardian cultivated and worshipped by generations of disciples, rather than an unrelated deity the lineage adopted 24. Incense offerings help restore his strength 279 291.

Formations and the Ghost Domain

The Temple's founders laid defenses across Yin-Yang Mountain, linking the Bright Pearl's Spirit Realm to a fortified position in the Ghost Domain. Power from ghosts slain there can feed the system 272 336. Their wider plan would have linked Lower River branch temples, earth veins, and the Ten Thousand Immortals Wall into a self-contained realm, but declining spiritual energy halted it 272. Tang later repaired the Reversing Sun and Moon Heavenly Mechanism Formation to strengthen the Temple's defenses, including its protection during daylight 336 338.

Notable Items

• Bagua Mirror — a guarded “key” connected to travel between worlds; earlier masters warned against its use except as a last resort 1 2 12.
• Bright Pearl — illuminates the Quiet Room and leads to the Temple's Spirit Realm and Ghost Domain defenses 2 273 336.
• Yin Soldier Camp Board — a recovered implement that can house and strengthen Yin Soldiers 50 51.
• Heavenly King Pagoda — a damaged treasure once capable of housing thousands of Yin Soldiers 318.
• Three Realms Mirror — an artifact kept in the Gourd Immortal Abode before its recovery; Tang uses it to observe the Ghost Domain 270 554.

Relationships

• Tang Changsheng — sole disciple and sect leader at the start of the story; directs the Temple's revival 1 25 303.
• Protector King Divine General — ancestral guardian whose worship and defense are central to the Temple 24 271.
• Three Families of Xiajiang — long-standing patrons who depend on the Temple's rites and, later, its protection 1 71 432.
• Da Xiang — disciple from the Gourd Islet branch who later helps manage and restore Temple properties 104 273 279.
• Zhang Dacheng and Zuo Xingfa — figures cultivated within the Temple's outer circle; its renewed authority draws them back into service 25.
• Skanda Temple — a Lower River lineage whose founder was sheltered by General's Temple patriarch Chen Weian and settled there with the Temple's permission 298.

Trivia

• Local folklore names the General's Temple, Gourd Islet, Three-Course Dam, and Dead Man Mountain as four deadly places 1 42.
• The Temple holds the title deed to all of Yin-Yang Mountain, not just the buildings on its wooded side 97.
• Its supply company operated at a loss, and an accountant later reported that the Temple's assets had fallen by 30% 551.