Righteous Qi Sect

Biodata

Power Progression

The following records the sect’s collective strength and the advances of its principal protector, rather than a cultivation realm held by the organization itself.

Background / History

Ancient War and Decline

Ouyang Zhenhua, the sect’s first master, fought the Blood Devil Race during its ancient ravaging of the Cultivation World. He destroyed much of its elite strength and captured the Blood Slaughter Ancestor, imprisoning him in the sect’s forbidden rear mountain 11.

The Blood Devil Race assembled powerful Devil Race allies to rescue its ancestor. After the sect’s defensive array fell, its members retreated to the rear mountain for a final stand. Ouyang Zhenhua transformed his body into spiritual power and merged with the great array, sealing the invading experts while the surviving disciples escaped and pursued the remaining enemies 12.

The victory devastated the sect. Nearly ninety percent of its elders and elite disciples died, leaving only a handful of elders and a few hundred elites; ordinary disciples suffered additional, uncounted losses. The former supreme sect fell into third-rate standing. The rear mountain subsequently became known as the Ancestral Grounds, containing sealed devils and the resting places of Ouyang Zhenhua and other predecessors 9 12.

Dongfang Leng’s Administration

Dongfang Leng restored much of the sect’s strength through capable leadership, but could not fully unite its elders. His late Nascent Soul cultivation remained constrained by his aptitude and administrative responsibilities 9.

The sect’s weakness also shaped its response to outside aggression. When Xiahou Jin of Returning to Unity Manor killed Li Dalong’s second junior brother, the elders postponed retaliation to avoid war with the rival Rising Sun Sect. Li Dalong instead destroyed the manor himself; his cultivation was stripped, and he was imprisoned in the forbidden rear mountain 1.

Zhou Yong’s Succession

With the Blood Devil Race preparing another siege, Dongfang Leng transferred leadership to Dao Heir Zhou Yong. The succession was conducted with minimal ceremony, followed by an announcement to the sect and notifications to friendly powers 9.

Zhou Yong initially struggled with obstructed reforms, uncooperative elders, and unreliable subordinate factions. His increasing emphasis on cultivation strengthened him personally, but delegation to competing hall elders allowed internal infighting and poor oversight to worsen 14 15.

After Dongfang Leng’s fall and the suppression of successive rebellions, the sect developed greater cohesion and diligence. Zhou Yong remained sect master even after offering the position to Li Dalong, who preferred to protect the sect while continuing his secluded cultivation 17 18 20.

Organization and Administration

Leadership and Membership

Known Halls

Rules and Resources

• Restricted entry: Entering the forbidden rear mountain without approval from an elder or higher-ranking member is punishable under sect rules 6.
• Protected teachings: Unauthorized possession of restricted cultivation methods can lead to pursuit, execution, or loss of cultivation followed by lifelong imprisonment 2.
• Contribution-based exchanges: A Marrow-Washing Pill costs one thousand mid-grade spirit stones at the Pill Hall and also requires sufficient contribution points 3.
• Vassal tribute: Subordinate sects owe annual tribute; delayed or withheld payments became one expression of their growing resistance 15.
• Recruitment standards: After Feng Jinglei’s death, applicants who once qualified as elite disciples could only enter the inner sect, while former inner-disciple candidates could only enter the outer sect 30.
• Disciple stipends: Zhou Yong increased every disciple’s monthly stipend by thirty percent when celebrating Zhou Tianlong’s birth 30.

Cultivation and Training

Righteous Qi Art

The sect’s foundational immortal-cultivation method produces vast, upright, unyielding qi and complements sword techniques. Although portions were lost in the ancient upheaval, it still ranked among the Cultivation World’s top three cultivation methods 2 3.

• Curriculum: Cultivation methods, martial techniques, and auxiliary arts 2.
• Users: Practiced from outer disciples through True Disciples below Nascent Soul; its stated cultivation scope extends from Qi Refinement to Nascent Soul 2.
• Martial disciplines: Saber, spear, sword, fist, palm, and finger techniques, alongside spells, sword control, and divine-sense attacks 2.
• Auxiliary disciplines: Combat, formations, talisman crafting, alchemy, and artifact forging 2.
• Prerequisites: Alchemy and forging require fire-control and object-control techniques; formations and talisman crafting require strong divine sense 2.

Righteous Qi Formula

The advanced continuation of the Righteous Qi Art uses more complex circulation routes, opens additional meridians, strengthens existing ones, and further refines spiritual power. Its power is particularly effective against demonic and evil techniques 5 13.

• Transmission restriction: Chapter 2 states that it cannot be passed to someone below Nascent Soul 2.
• Different practice threshold: Chapter 5 describes Golden Core as sufficient to begin cultivating it, and Li Dalong starts after forming his core 5.
• Later transmission: Li Dalong gave the formula to Zhou Yong as a wedding gift 23.

Basic Martial Training

Virtually every disciple studies basic saber, spear, sword, fist, finger, and palm techniques 3.

• The basic sword technique has six levels 3.
• Most disciples practice only the first three; most elders master no more than five 3.
• Li Dalong’s renewed practice emphasized coordinating eyes, mind, and hands, and combining intent, form, and movement 3.

Yin-Yang Ninefold Splendor Sword-Controlling Art

A powerful sect sword art whose original teachings were damaged during the ancient upheaval. Later attempts to repair the missing portions reduced both its power and its cultivation difficulty 5.

• Li Dalong obtained a complete version through his system; he believed the sect would reclaim it at any cost if it learned of its existence 5.
• Chapter 5 describes nine levels and attributes its creation to a sect grandmaster; Chapter 6 credits the founding patriarch and describes four levels in the complete jade slip 5 6.

Spirit-Gathering Arrays

Li Dalong supplied arrays that gather spiritual energy and accelerate cultivation, first helping Zhou Yong privately and later supporting broader disciple training 14 15 28.

• Initial secrecy: Zhou Yong was instructed not to reveal the array to anyone in the sect 14.
• Expansion: As outside dangers increased, Zhou Yong requested additional arrays and judged the sect strong enough to reveal their existence openly 31.
• Materials: Li Dalong prepared arrays using mid-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade spirit stones 31.

Grounds and Defenses

• Mountain gate — Guarded by disciples who announce visitors and receive visiting cards 21 27.
• Forbidden Grounds of the Rear Mountain — Restricted territory where Li Dalong was imprisoned and continued cultivating in an abandoned cave abode 1 2 6.
• Ancestral Grounds — The ancient battlefield and sealed area within the rear mountain. Its ruins include shattered palaces, Ouyang Zhenhua’s palace, and the cave where the Blood Slaughter Ancestor was imprisoned 11 12.
• Ancestral restriction — A powerful barrier that resisted Li Dalong’s early attacks. Later, it did not reject his authentic Righteous Qi Formula spiritual power 4 11.
• Grand protective formation — The sect’s main defensive barrier. It fell during the Spirit Monkey Demon Sage’s assault but later withstood Jingbian Shihuang’s half-strength test attack 19 34.
• Great bell — Sounds when the sect faces a threat to its survival and summons its members to battle 19.
• Wartime perimeter — During the Heaven-Severing Church’s advance, elders led continuous patrols and disciples watched the perimeter. Enemy detection within five hundred li was to trigger the protective formation 34.

Major Arcs

Relationships

• Li Dalong — Former True Disciple and succession candidate turned secluded protector. He refused the sect master position and instructed Zhou Yong to keep his identity secret when first revealing his role 2 18.
• Cloudmist Palace — Marriage ally through Zhou Yong and Princess Yun Yao; the alliance was announced throughout the Cultivation World 22.
• Blood Devil Race — Ancient sworn enemy whose ancestor’s imprisonment triggered the war that devastated the sect 9 11 12.
• Rising Sun Sect — Rival whose members and subordinate forces repeatedly attacked Righteous Qi Sect disciples and elders 1 10.
• Heavenly Determination, Heavenly Crane, Purple Rainbow, Red Lotus, and Nine Tripods sects — Former vassal participants in the Five-Sect Alliance rebellion. Their grievances ranged from ambition and demands for independence to resentment of corrupt sect elders 15.
• Dao Alliance — Attempted to absorb the sect through threats; its leader’s death ended Feng Jinglei’s immediate attempt at coercion 27 28 29.
• Heaven-Severing Church — Expansionist enemy forced to abandon operations against the sect after Li Dalong’s intervention 34 37.
• Hanging Sky Mountain — Newly acquired subordinate faction near the Heaven-Severing Church’s mainland advance 34.

Notable Quotes

“Whoever dares offend the Righteous Qi Sect shall be slain, however far away!”
— Li Dalong’s warning displayed in the sky after killing Feng Jinglei 29.

“If others do not offend me, I will not offend them. If others offend me, I will surely strike back!”
— Zhou Yong rejecting the Dao Alliance’s threats 28.