Yin-Yang Sect

Biodata

History

Acquisition of Major Inheritances

The Yin-Yang Sect obtained the Black Water True Explanation by exterminating the Nine Nether Sect, a great demonic sect whose history reached back ten thousand years. The stolen inheritance became one of its three great Nascent Soul-level arts 17.

Three thousand years before Fang Hong’s recruitment, a supreme elder seized the original Lihuo Treasure Scroll from the Li Fire Heavenly Palace. The palace retained only a copy. Its desire to recover the original became an important cause of the two sects’ continuing hostility 17.

Wars with the Li Fire Heavenly Palace

The Hu Household, situated between the two rival sects, was drawn into their conflict through an outside plot. A Yin-Yang Sect elder killed its Golden Core ancestor, and the sect’s True Disciples and inner disciples overran, slaughtered, and plundered its ancestral grounds. The survivor Hu Can subsequently targeted Yin-Yang Sect cultivators in revenge 41.

Approximately half a year before Fang Hong’s recruitment, another clash with the Li Fire Heavenly Palace inflicted heavy casualties and consumed substantial resources on both sides. The Yin-Yang Sect’s Qi Refining population fell by nearly half, leaving vacancies in its inner and outer ranks 7 33 46. Steward Mu later reported that Hu Can had secretly instigated this clash 41.

Forced Recruitment

To replenish its ranks, the sect abducted more than 260 cultivators from five groups associated with other powers. These included the Shangqing Sect, Ghost King Sect, Xiandu Sect, Wonderful Sound Pavilion, and Black Demon Island’s aristocratic clans 7.

Disguised as Fang Qing, Rogue Person Xuanyin seized all twenty-six successful Shangqing Sect entrance candidates, struck down Gao Yi, and escaped pursuit. The Shangqing Sect’s Golden Core cultivators failed to catch him, and their sect ultimately accepted the loss rather than confront a Nascent Soul power 6 23.

Only 103 captives returned alive from the Yin-Yang Sect’s secret-realm trial. Fang Hong and Su Yao subsequently secured inner-disciple status as the second pair to master Dragon-Phoenix Guidance 13 15.

Organization and Hierarchy

The sect’s rules allow disciples to gain or lose rank through competition. Inner-disciple status grants access to better cultivation sites and stronger inheritances, but must be defended at the annual Fish-Dragon Assembly 15 16 17.

Patronage

• True Disciple patrons: An unwritten custom allows inner disciples to seek a Foundation Establishment patron for guidance. In exchange, they perform errands and follow that patron’s instructions 24.
• Instruction without a master: Inner and outer disciples normally consult True Disciples rather than receive direct instruction from Golden Core elders 20.
• Disciple associations: Chai Hongzhou organized the five newly promoted inner-disciple pairs into an association to exchange resources, share intelligence, and prepare for rank challenges 17 24.

Administrative Halls

The Yin-Yang Palace oversees daily affairs through five great halls 15.

Territory and Facilities

North Island contains at least a thousand cave abodes built over spiritual nodes, most of them first-tier. Abodes numbered A occupy upper-grade first-tier nodes; Fang Hong and Su Yao choose A-6, near the northern coast 15.

Recruitment and Control

Yin-Yang Blood Curse

The sect implants the Yin-Yang Blood Curse in lower-ranking disciples to prevent betrayal 7.

• When activated, its script travels through the blood vessels into the heart and causes it to rot 7.
• The curse dissipates upon reaching Foundation Establishment 7.
• It was created by a Yin-Yang Sect Nascent Soul cultivator. Su Yao’s curse was implanted by a Golden Core cultivator and could not be removed by her master’s weakened remnant Nascent Soul 10.

Entrance Assessments

Additional assessment rules include:

• Candidates may fight over partners, provided no one dies 13.
• Those unable to find partners may borrow Yin-Yang Talisman Coins to obtain assistance from Furnace Disciples 13.
• Recruitment loans require repayment of thirteen coins for every nine borrowed, within three months. Defaulters are assigned Furnace Disciple service to repay the debt 13.
• Successful practice produces dragon and phoenix manifestations. Mastery is also necessary to refine the associated disciple identity plaques 13 15.

Registration and Screening

• New disciples provide their names, ages, and backgrounds and leave soul imprints in Soul Lamps, which extinguish when their owners perish 15.
• A bronze mirror screens arrivals for Extraterrestrial Wraiths, entities capable of possessing cultivators 15.
• Identity plaques contain sect rules and directions; inner-disciple talismans also provide resource catalogs appropriate to the holder’s rank 15 31.

Cultivation Inheritances

Three Great Nascent Soul Arts

All three major inheritances produce heaven-rank magical power 17.

Dragon-Phoenix Guidance

Developed three thousand years earlier by a Golden Core elder of the Teaching Hall, Dragon-Phoenix Guidance adapts the sect’s foundational scripture for Qi Refining disciples 13.

• Serves as the mandatory dual cultivation method in the final recruitment assessment 13.
• Can gather dense ambient spiritual energy through dragon and phoenix manifestations. Fang Hong and Su Yao’s practice produces “spiritual energy turning to rain” and helps both break cultivation bottlenecks 14.
• Works especially well with Yin-Yang Pills, refined by Foundation Establishment True Disciples skilled in alchemy 31.

Ice-Soul Mystic Light

The Ice-Soul Treasure Tree bears three spirit fruits capable of condensing a divine ability talisman seed within the consumer’s sea of qi 7.

• The resulting Ice-Soul Mystic Light grows stronger with cultivation, with potential extending to the Golden Core realm 7.
• The fruits are presented as an additional opportunity within the otherwise lethal recruitment trial 7.
• Fang Hong obtains this ability during his trial 24 25.

Restrictions on Transmission

• Inner disciples select one major inheritance’s general Qi Refining method and one additional secret manual 17.
• Selected texts may only be read inside the Teaching Hall. They must be memorized, not copied or taken away 18.
• Recipients swear a great heart-demon oath against copying or disclosing their selections. Breaking it risks heart-demon invasion and cultivation deviation 17.

Economy and Market Administration

Yin-Yang Talisman Coins

• Earned through sect assignments, administrative duties, and supplying treasures or crafted goods to the sect 17 31.
• Spent on pills, talismans, artifacts, Dharma Treasures, formations, unusual materials, and cultivation cauldrons 17 31.
• Inner disciples can view only first- and second-tier resource catalogs; Foundation Establishment True Disciples receive access to the complete catalog 31.
• Assignments can be dangerous enough to require several disciples working together 17.

Five Dragon Island Market

• Hosts shops belonging to cultivation clans, rogue cultivators, and all thirteen Golden Core sects of the Donglai Sea Region 21.
• Charges ordinary visitors three spirit stones for entry. Sect disciples and elders enter freely, as do registered residents and merchants who have already paid rent and taxes 21.
• Holds a small auction every three years, offering second- and sometimes third-tier treasures, and a large auction every ten years aimed primarily at Golden Core cultivators 21.
• Forbids flying and magical combat. Two Foundation Establishment True Disciples rotate on year-round duty, with a Golden Core elder overseeing auctions 25.
• Maintains an Inspection Office that investigates incidents and issues wanted notices 25 41.

Fish-Dragon Assembly

The Fish-Dragon Assembly is an annual competition among Qi Refining disciples, named after the image of a fish leaping through the Dragon Gate. It lasts several days to more than ten days 46.

• Furnace and outer disciples may challenge inner disciples for their positions 16.
• Inner disciples cannot refuse challenges 16.
• A defeated challenger must surrender the stipulated stake. Xun Yan’s failed challenge awards Fang Hong one thousand Yin-Yang Talisman Coins 16 48 49.
• Several True Disciples preside, usually led by one of the ten great True Disciples. Outstanding competitors may attract a patron’s attention 46.

At Fang Hong’s first assembly, Ying Yang, Zhang Jun, and a silver-haired female True Disciple preside. Fang Hong defeats Xun Yan and later forces Yan Feihuang to concede by revealing a second-tier high-grade Kui Water Yin Thunder 47 49 50.

The prize deliberations reveal patronage influencing the event: Ying Yang admits that he had already promised a dragon scale to Yan Feihuang through Yan Yuzhen. Objections from the female presider lead to an additional match between Yan Feihuang and Fang Hong 50.

Notable Members

• Feng Shuyue — Sect cultivator ranked fourth on the Golden Core Rankings when first mentioned 4.
• Jin Huaiyuan / Rogue Person Xuanyin — Golden Core elder and master of the Teaching Hall; impersonates Fang Qing and abducts the Shangqing Sect’s new recruits 6 7 16 19.
• Ying Yang — Fifth among the ten great True Disciples; a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator who hunts Hu Can’s group and presides over the Fish-Dragon Assembly 41 46.
• Zhang Jun — Foundation Establishment True Disciple handling General Affairs registration; later serves as an assembly presider 15 47.
• Elder Zhu — Golden Core elder whose concubine is Yan Yuzhen 47.
• Yan Yuzhen — True Disciple and Yan Feihuang’s elder sister; uses her connections to support her brother’s rise 47 50.
• Fang Hong and Su Yao — Abducted Shangqing Sect recruits who become the second successful inner-disciple pair in their batch 6 15.
• Chai Hongzhou — Former Ghost King Sect disciple; enters the inner sect with the fifth successful pair and organizes the new disciples’ association 7 16 17.
• Xiao Yuansha — Former Xiandu Sect cultivator and newly admitted inner disciple; advocates cooperative assignments 24 26.
• Chu Yuechai — Inner disciple whose Dao companion Yue Ming dies on a sect assignment; reaches the ninth layer of Qi Refining before the assembly 33 46.
• She Yutang — Veteran challenger who repeatedly alternates between inner and outer status; distinguished herself in the war against the Li Fire Heavenly Palace 33 46.
• Yan Feihuang — Outer-disciple contender supported by Yan Yuzhen; displays exceptional Divine Sense and puppet-control ability 33 48 50.
• Xun Yan — Newly recruited Xun Household cultivator whose relatives concentrate their resources on him; challenges Fang Hong at the assembly 33 48.

External Relations

• Li Fire Heavenly Palace — Mortal enemy. Disputes over the original Lihuo Treasure Scroll sustain a long-running conflict that repeatedly erupts into war 17 33.
• Shangqing Sect — Weaker Golden Core sect whose successful recruits are abducted by Xuanyin; unable to obtain redress 6 23.
• Ghost King Sect, Xiandu Sect, and Wonderful Sound Pavilion — Other powers whose disciples are seized during the recruitment campaign 7.
• Black Demon Island’s six great aristocratic clans — Lose more than one hundred young cultivators to the abductions; the Xun Household accounts for over twenty 7 11.
• Hu Can — Surviving enemy of the destroyed Hu Household. His group targets Yin-Yang Sect disciples, killing three Foundation Establishment True Disciples and more than ten inner disciples before Ying Yang’s pursuit 41.
• Donglai Sea Region’s cultivation powers — Despite forced recruitment and rivalries, the sect’s market accommodates merchants from across the region, including all thirteen Golden Core sects 21.