Emei

Biodata

Power Progression

Emei’s progression is institutional rather than a single cultivator’s realm advancement.

Background and History

Lineage and the Seven Xiu

Emei’s lineage includes three successive leaders renowned for artifact refinement: Chu Sanzi, Long Eyebrow, and Qi Shuming. Chu Sanzi forged the Purple and Azure Twin Swords; Long Eyebrow produced numerous celebrated swords, including the Seven Xiu swords; Qi Shuming continued the tradition with weapons such as the Heavenly Dragon Demon-Subduing Sword and Golden Light Blazing Fire Sword 526.

Before ascending, Long Eyebrow left a prophecy concerning Emei’s prosperity and a future successor: “Three Ying, two Yun, Luo monk, Shu marquis.” Qi Shuming and Xun Lanyin believed they had fulfilled it by gathering five young disciples together with their own twins. Qi Shuming accepted the five as true disciples and distributed the seven swords 16.

That interpretation was later challenged. Zhou Qingyun believed Cheng Xinzhan and Monk Luosheng were the people Qi Shuming should have sought, and blamed his preference for his children for distorting the prophecy’s fulfillment 529.

Expansion and the Demonic Tide

Qi Shuming pursued expansion on the principle that an organized sect could accomplish what individual cultivators could not. His approach embraced both gradual absorption and outright annexation 148.

During the demonic tide, he sent the Seven Xiu to six fronts and made their battlefield achievements a competition for succession. Cheng Xinzhan and Tanbai Rogue Person recognized the arrangement as an overt stratagem: each disciple’s former teachers and affiliated powers would feel compelled to assist, while other Shu sects could hardly withhold their elites when Emei’s own direct disciples and children were fighting 240.

The Sword Pavilions reinforced this mobilization by offering secret techniques and rewards for demon-slaying. Outstanding outside participants were recruited as Emei outer disciples, particularly cultivators from Qingzhou and Wuling 254 301.

Defections and Loss of Authority

Yan Renying’s break with Emei cost it Biji Mountain. After destroying the Xun household’s ancestral residence, he entered the mountain using his standing as Emei’s eldest senior brother, killed its three resident Emei elders, and seized its protective formation. Qi Shuming offered forgiveness and protection for the Yan family, but Renying remained outside Emei and accepted Green Robe’s title of Dian’ning King 393.

Emei’s recruitment and authority subsequently weakened. Gifted youths increasingly preferred Azure City, and Xuanmen divided over Emei’s incorporation of Northern Dian’s Buddhist establishments. Although some praised this as a victory over Buddhism, others regarded it as a betrayal of proper lineage distinctions. Emei could no longer dictate the Mysterious Heaven Alliance’s decisions unopposed 472.

Li Yingqiong’s defection inflicted still greater damage. She killed Xuanzhenzi and joined Blood God Child, supplying current knowledge that complemented Deng Yin’s familiarity with Emei’s older secrets. Xuanzhenzi’s death also deprived the sect of a veteran Fifth Realm fighter and his overseas connections 607 612.

Over the following three years, Emei lost its remaining footholds across the Ba Region. Former establishments restored their independent identities or entered the Daoist Sect, while Emei returned Wumeng Mountain to Xiao Youshi. Its attempted retaliation at Mount Wudu ended in stalemate 612.

Blood Sea Crisis

Blood God Child brought his blood sea to Emei through a receiving formation laid by Li Yingqiong at Three Rivers Mouth. Emei activated its mountain defenses, but Deng Yin’s intimate knowledge of the sect made him an exceptional threat 636.

Qi Shuming, Xun Lanyin, Tao Xinye, and Bai Guyi became involved in the confrontation. Xun Lanyin and Tao Xinye died, Bai Guyi ascended, and Qi Shuming was left trapped in the blood sea. Before ascending, Bai Guyi publicly appealed to True Lord Evolving Transformation and sent Miechenzi to request his aid 644 645 646.

Cheng Xinzhan intervened. When he confined the blood sea within the Five Elements Sword Formation, Qi Shuming and Miechenzi connected Emei’s Mountain-Guarding Grand Array to the local earth vein and supplied spiritual qi to reinforce his formation 651.

Reform and Succession

After the campaigns against Blood God Child and Maha, Cheng Xinzhan removed Qi Shuming as Sect Master, appointed Miechenzi, and confined Qi Shuming to Great Snow Mountain to copy scriptures. He also ordered Emei to reform and unite its lineages and establishments 658.

Miechenzi accepted the Sect Leader’s Token and promised to protect Qi Shuming’s children. Ye Yuanjing, Tong Yuanqi, and Zhou Qingyun supported the settlement, recognizing it as an opportunity to preserve and renew Emei rather than allow further resistance to destroy it 658.

By the finale, Vice Sect Master Zhou Qingyun had reached the Fifth Realm through Union with the Min River and assumed full control. Miechenzi voluntarily withdrew into seclusion to pursue immortality and restore Emei’s Immortal Sect standing 698.

Organization

Leadership and Offices

Seven Xiu of Mount Shu

• After Li Yingqiong lost Peach Capital, the collective name Emei’s Seven Xiu became less common. Three Heroes and Two Clouds gained prominence, with the remaining two called Dark Jinchan and Little Zhuge 240.
• The proposed successor would be the disciple whose battlefield performance won general approval, earning appointment as master of Spirit Green Peak 240.
• A preceding generation is known as the Seven Flyers; Ye Yuanjing, Li Yuanhua, and Tong Yuanqi are identified among them 612.

Training and Discipline

• Compulsory lessons: First Realm cultivators attend morning lessons daily. Meditation or seclusion requires reporting to the teaching elder 16.
• Monthly examinations: Failure or placement near the bottom brings punishment 16.
• Worldly trials: Disciples travel with swords, slay fiends, accumulate merit, and seek eventual attainment and ascension 171.
• Merit-based rewards: Sword Pavilions distribute treasures and authorized techniques to successful demon-slayers, including outsiders 254.
• Transmission controls: Recipients of restricted techniques receive identifying tokens and may not teach others. Unauthorized transmission is punishable by death 254.

Cultivation and Sword Arts

Flying-Sword and Primordial Spirit Cultivation

Emei’s principal discipline combines flying swords with the Primordial Spirit Dao 22.

• Flying swords are directed through mental force, allowing attacks far from the wielder 22.
• Its sword-union method leads to attainment through a bonded flying sword. Emei calls such practitioners Sword Immortals, rejecting the Eastern Daoist designation of corpse-liberation immortals 492.
• Human and Sword as One combines wielder and weapon at the highest level of sword escape, enabling exceptional disciples to fight above their realm 649.

Visible-Invisible Refining Method

This method repeatedly transforms a weapon between material form and formlessness 573.

• A sword must reach formless sword-light before it can be divided into threads through the Grand Unity Light-Splitting Sword Art 254.
• The ninth, nineteenth, and twenty-ninth transformations form thresholds corresponding to three grades of Immortal Treasures 573.
• The original Seven Xiu swords begin as exceptionally refined sword embryos, not fully matured Immortal Artifacts. Their quality alone does not replace tribulation tempering and cultivation alongside a sword master 103 573.

Grand Unity Light-Splitting Sword Art

One of Emei’s renowned restricted techniques, this art turns formless sword-light into threads 254.

• Mastery depends on comprehension rather than cultivation realm alone 254.
• Emei permits its transmission as a demon-slaying reward because it is a technique rather than a foundational Dao teaching 254.
• White River Sword Pavilion awards it to Cheng Xinzhan for his contributions 254.

Five Clouds Lineage

Emei’s Five Clouds lineage specializes in sword clouds and Sword Radiance, deriving its arts and treasure-refining methods from the Yin-Yang Five Clouds Jade Tablets 640.

• Its practitioners include Bai Guyi, Ye Yuanjing, and Zhou Qingyun 640.
• Associated treasures include the Five Great Mountains Brocade Cloud Handkerchief and Five Dragons Cloud-Spreading Canopy 640.
• Deng Yin adapts its refining principles into the demonic Five Clouds Immortal-Locking Screen 632 640.

Unification Method

Also called the Sinking Boat Method, this is an Emei route into the Fourth Realm 596.

• The Primordial Spirit leaves the body and burns the abandoned shell into pure essential qi, uniting the three origins 596.
• Li Yingqiong uses a secretly transmitted Immortal Fire to refine her body and Golden Core together, merging their purified essence into her Primordial Spirit 596.

Headquarters and Establishments

Emei Mountain

Mountain Defenses

• One Qi Two Principles Dust Formation: Emei’s inherited mountain-guarding formation, also called the Two Principles Dust-Mote Great Formation. Its six gates are life, death, obscurity, brightness, illusion, and extinction 636 637.
• Costly reconstruction: Deng Yin’s betrayal forced Emei to expend immense manpower and resources modifying defenses he already understood thoroughly 597.
• Earth-vein connection: The Mountain-Guarding Grand Array can channel spiritual qi through the veins connecting Emei with Three Rivers Mouth 651.

Subsidiary Establishments

• Extent: Deng Yin describes more than thirty land-based subsidiary abodes and over ten concealed establishments among the Eastern Sea’s islands 637.
• Green Bamboo Nunnery: Absorbed after Emei had already taken Yan Renying as a disciple; its members retain considerable resentment 240.
• Biji Abbey/Biji Mountain: Incorporated as an Emei branch estate before Yan Renying seized it during his defection 273 393.
• Min Mountain Sword Pavilion: Formerly the independent Min Mountain Sect, an Archetypal Sect with over five thousand disciples before incorporation 595.
• Northern Dian Buddhist establishments: Their voluntary entry into Xuanmen strengthens Emei’s prestige among supporters but divides opinion within Xuanmen 472.
• Former Ba establishments: Tongwei Sect and Chaoyuan Abbey restore their old names and leave Xuanmen; Sword Gate Mountain and Eight Mountains also separate firmly from Emei 612.

Treasures and Weapons

• Seven Xiu swords: Long Eyebrow forged them from five-element metals according to seven true forms, then concealed them within the Skywave Wall 16.
• Purple and Azure Twin Swords: Chu Sanzi’s celebrated paired swords. Violet Ying ultimately passes to Emei’s enemies with Li Yingqiong, while Zhou Qingyun wields Azure Cord 526 612.
• Mandarin Duck Thunderbolt Swords: Hereditary immortal swords forged by Long Eyebrow and wielded by Xun Lanyin. They are reported to have undergone more than nineteen transformations between form and formlessness 526 573 639.
• Golden Light Blazing Fire Sword and Three Yangs One Qi Sword: Weapons Qi Shuming combines in his assault on Blood God Child 636.
• Yin-Yang Five Clouds Jade Tablets: Emei’s highest-grade defensive Immortal Treasure. Each tablet is a middle-grade Immortal Artifact; together they reach upper-grade and can protect both body and Primordial Spirit 640.
• Supreme Clarity True Edict Immortal Talisman: Temporarily converts a Fifth Realm cultivator’s magical power into immortal power, or directly replenishes the immortal power of an immortal remaining in the world 639.
• Gantianyi Zhengdoushuai Divine Thunder: Disposable, immortal-artifact-comparable weapons requiring Sixth Realm refinement and materials from the Immortal Realm. Li Yingqiong receives at least six 608 609.

Demon-Suppression Practices

• Sealed Fourth Realm fiends: Successive leaders imprison powerful enemies outside Western Shu. Emei’s secret release methods allow later disciples to confront them after prolonged confinement has weakened them 171 299.
• Confiscated treasures: Fourth Realm prisoners are generally stripped of their treasures rather than left fully armed 325.
• Demon-Locking Tower: The tower on Mount Tiantai holds Third Realm prisoners as trials. Their weapons remain available as spoils for those who kill them 299 325.
• Outside participation: Invited guests may enter the tower and retain their gains; their sponsors also receive Mysterious Heaven Alliance merit 301.
• Criticism: Daoist Nengyue calls the system “raising fiends for their own use,” arguing that it manufactures opportunities for descendants to gain fame, treasure, and merit 171.
• Consequences: Blood God Child breaks Long Eyebrow’s restrictions and releases other sealed demons, helping escalate the wider demonic calamity 171 277.

Relationships

• Cheng Xinzhan / True Lord Evolving Transformation — Initially assists Emei disciples and earns its sword arts, but becomes a major rival to its expansion. He later saves Emei from Blood God Child and imposes its leadership reform 254 402 651 658.
• Azure City / Mount Qingcheng — Rival sword sect that refuses to accept Emei’s superiority. It attracts more talented recruits as Emei’s reputation declines 102 472.
• Green Bamboo Nunnery — Absorbed establishment whose members resent Emei but support Yan Renying through their personal and lineage ties 240.
• Master Canxia and Yellow Mountain — Canxia sends Zhou Qingyun to Emei for its superior foundations and opportunities, while remaining her cherished original teacher 80 81 599.
• Dragon Elephant Nunnery — Negotiates concrete guarantees for Yu Yingnan’s training, including a Seven Xiu sword and a custom Immortal Weapon, with the nunnery supplying the latter’s core material 528.
• Deng Yin / Blood God Child — Former senior Emei leader and its first historical traitor. His knowledge of its arts, defenses, and resources makes him an exceptionally dangerous enemy 597 612 638.
• Yan Renying — Former eldest senior brother who refuses reconciliation after his family’s suffering and later establishes the Heavenly Vengeance Sword Sect 393 472 535.
• Li Yingqiong — Heavily supported direct disciple whose defection transfers Violet Ying and recent Emei secrets to the Blood God Sect 609 612.

Reputation

• Recognized defenders: Cheng Xinzhan acknowledges that Emei and Western Xuan do better than the long-peaceful eastern lands at slaying demons, defending territory, and protecting people 243.
• Effective recruiters: Rewards, guest participation, and personal connections bring outsiders into its network and replenish its disciples 301.
• Annexation and coercion: Marshal Kui argues that Emei prioritizes absorbing other establishments over defeating demons and directs deployments against rival Daoist powers 584.
• Compassion versus attainment: Cheng Xinzhan judges that Emei has ample determination to seek the Dao but lacks compassion and restraint 580.
• Family favoritism: Deng Yin accuses Qi Shuming of treating Emei as a hereditary domain and sacrificing gifted disciples’ interests for his children. Emei issues rebuttals, but the defections and losses undermine their credibility 610 612.

Trivia

• The author chose a traditional Daoist school rather than Emei for the protagonist’s background because Emei’s domineering image did not fit the intended ideal of a powerful but gentle, chivalrous cultivator 60.
• In the afterword, the author identifies Emei among the major antagonistic powers that necessarily appeared early because the novel was a Shushan story 699.