Heavenly Pillar Mountain

Biodata

Background and History

Heavenly Pillar Mountain is the youngest of the Golden Lion Empire’s three major factions. Together with the imperial family and eight great families, these organizations form the empire’s twelve super factions. Kanuo’s investigation identifies Heavenly Pillar Mountain as particularly committed to nurturing talented disciples, making it a better choice for Lu Qingshan than families that favor their own descendants 33.

Several million years earlier, Heavenly Pillar Mountain purchased Heavenly Eye Star from the imperial family and invested heavily in converting it into one of its nine branches 34.

Headquarters and Facilities

Heavenly Pillar Planet

• Headquarters: An ordinary-looking life-bearing planet, without Heavenly Eye Star’s extensive fortress construction 35.
• Protection: Usually guarded by at least several World Lord Level experts. Enemies capable of threatening them would be too powerful for conventional technological defenses to contribute much 35.
• Training population: Second Grade Elites and higher cultivate at headquarters; Third Grade Elites generally remain at the branches 34.

Heavenly Eye Star

• Branch and recruitment center: The location where Kanuo brings Lu Qingshan to join the organization 33 34.
• Planetary fortress: A bright-silver installation with deep internal passages, enormous cannons, magnetic railguns, and large laser cannons 34.
• Defensive strength: Its cannons can destroy a D9-class spaceship with one shot. A Domain Lord forcing entry would likely be killed immediately, while the fortress can resist a World Lord’s attack for a prolonged period 34.
• Branch assessment: Recruiting promising elites contributes to competition among the nine branches; Lin Tian expects Heavenly Eye Star’s recruitment of Lu Qingshan and Terrance to secure first place in an upcoming assessment 35.

First Grade Elite Training World

• Entrance: A heavily guarded manor approximately one kilometer long and wide 36.
• Interior: A World Lord World created by one of Heavenly Pillar Mountain’s experts, with an area dozens—or even a hundred—times larger than Heavenly Pillar Planet 36.
• Facilities: Contains elite residences, palaces, and the Trial Pagoda used for combat assessments 36 39.
• Dangerous training grounds: Includes areas populated with demonic beasts raised specifically to temper disciples, such as Bloodthirsty Vultures 46.

Heavy Mountain Peak

• Purpose: Helps warriors and spirit readers comprehend and improve their Earth Domains 42.
• Construction: Created by a World Lord proficient in the Earth Origin Law; its rocks and earth contain a denser manifestation of that law than ordinary terrain 42.
• Features: A broad mountain range permeated by earthen-yellow currents 42.
• Users and limits: Primarily used by Universe Level experts, with some Domain Lords and Star Level cultivators. It offers little benefit to World Lords, who have already crossed the threshold of an Origin Law 42.

Organization and Hierarchy

Senior Experts

Elite Grades

Heavenly Pillar Mountain divides its Star Level geniuses into four grades 34.

• Strict admission: Even a World Lord’s direct child cannot obtain First Grade status through background alone 40.
• Special Grade population: At Lu Qingshan’s recruitment, there are three Special Grade Elites, all at Star Level Ninth Stage. Two possess fourth-level domains; the third possesses a third-level domain and has cultivated for fewer than a thousand years 34.
• First Grade population: Lu Qingshan and Terrance increase the total from 136 to 138. Approximately thirty years later, one member’s advancement to Universe Level, another’s death, and Kedun’s admission leave 137 36 39 43.
• Long-term role: Lin Tian estimates that at least half of the First Grade Elites can reach Universe Level, excluding those who die during trials. A much smaller number eventually become Domain Lords 36 38.

Assessments and Obligations

Trial Tower

• Access: Participants enter the trial space through a silver consciousness-sensing helmet inside the Trial Pagoda 36 37.
• Standardized attributes: Everyone’s physical attributes are restricted to Planetary Level Nine, leaving force exertion, domain attainment, combat experience, and technique as distinguishing factors 36 37.
• First Grade qualification: Clear the seventh floor, where Lu Qingshan faces ten Stellar Level One Azure Sky Demon Apes 37 38.
• Recorded performance: Ratings account for progress within an uncleared floor. Killing one snake on the eighth floor gives Lu Qingshan a rating of 8.1 39.
• Failure: Death within the trial ejects the participant from the simulation 38.

Annual Rankings and Missions

• Overall ranking: Recalculated annually using both Trial Tower results and mission results 39.
• Starting position: New First Grade Elites begin at the bottom because they have no previous performance record 39.
• Mission assignments: Include exploring dangerous areas within the World Lord World and killing powerful demonic beasts in reality 39.
• Demotion: Anyone remaining in the bottom three for ten years is demoted to Second Grade Elite 36.
• Risk: Missions are genuine ordeals rather than simulations; First Grade Elites can die while completing them 43 46.

Membership Rules

• Loyalty: Members must respect their teachers and the cultivation path and must not betray Heavenly Pillar Mountain 34.
• Rival affiliations: Members cannot subsequently join another power of comparable standing, such as the Golden Lion Empire’s imperial family 34.
• Permitted affiliations: Joining a much greater institution such as the Heavenly Star Dojo is allowed 34.
• Enforcement: Violations are treated as betrayal and can lead to pursuit by the organization’s powerhouses 34.

Resources and Rewards

Cultivation Benefits

Consecutive First-Place Rewards

• Top-ten privileges: Benefits exceed those enjoyed by many of the organization’s Universe Level experts. Some eligible elites delay advancing to Universe Level to retain them 39.

Notable Members and Internal Factions

• Lin Tian — Domain Lord elder who receives Lu Qingshan and Terrance, oversees Lu Qingshan’s assessment, and explains the elite system 35 36 39.
• Spencer — Universe Level deacon connected to Kanuo; verifies Lu Qingshan’s domain and handles his recruitment through Heavenly Eye Star 34.
• Lu Qingshan — First Grade Elite specializing in the Earth Domain; his rapid development eventually attracts World Lord interest 38 50.
• Terrance — Winged Human spirit reader specializing in the Wind Domain; joins alongside Lu Qingshan and later reaches ninth overall 35 48.
• Parich — Third-stage domain genius who has held first place overall for 98 consecutive years by Chapter 49, leaving two years before qualifying for Special Grade status 49.
• Bonas — Warrior and leading First Grade Elite with a third-stage domain 49.
• Liu Guangyuan — Spirit reader who clears the Trial Tower’s tenth floor despite possessing only a second-level domain 49.
• Leises — First Grade Elite who reached a third-stage domain more than twenty years before Lu Qingshan’s rise to sixth place 49.
• Wang Chen and the Wang Family — Wang Chen is a top-twenty First Grade Elite whose grandfather is a World Lord within Heavenly Pillar Mountain. His family recruits promising disciples, offering Lu Qingshan one life planet initially and ten after his second-level domain breakthrough 40 41 46.
• Beavis — Werewolf Race First Grade Elite who befriends Lu Qingshan while their rankings are close 43.
• Molik — Second Grade Elite from the Nuota Galaxy who enters headquarters with Lu Qingshan’s recruitment group 34 35.

Story Role

Lu Qingshan’s Recruitment

Kanuo recommends Heavenly Pillar Mountain after recognizing that he can no longer adequately guide Lu Qingshan’s domain cultivation. Through Spencer, Lu Qingshan enters as a Second Grade Elite, then clears the Trial Tower’s seventh floor and formally becomes a First Grade Elite alongside Terrance 33 34 38 39.

Cultivation and Recognition

Lu Qingshan declines internal faction offers and devotes his time and points to Earth Domain cultivation. After approximately thirty years, his breakthrough at Heavy Mountain Peak allows him to rise to thirty-sixth overall. Another fifty years of cultivation brings him to the third-level Earth Domain; a Trial Tower rating of 11.2 then places him sixth 41 42 44 46 47 48.

His fifty-year advance from the second to the third domain level draws attention throughout Heavenly Pillar Mountain. Several World Lords consider taking him as a disciple, with compatibility of Origin Laws and further investigation of his background influencing their interest 50.