Lüyu

Biodata

Geography and Access

Lüyu occupies the blessed land formed where Yuanhuai Heaven intersects with the world below. The Central Palace floats among colorful clouds between this blessed land and the grotto-heaven, remaining connected to the land beneath it 2.

Entry and Residency

• Students cultivating special Dao lineages face stricter travel controls than ordinary senior Qi Refinement students 7.
• Flying through the Central Palace without authorization can result in university disciplinary action. Lin Tongjiang is ordered fined after flying to Jiang Wangxuan’s breakthrough site 36.

History

The Central Palace originally housed the relatives and descendants of Yuanhuai Heaven’s cultivators. Over centuries, these families became powerful local clans. When Yuanhuai Heaven’s last Divine Core cultivator died fighting in the Six Realms, disorder followed, and some clans sought to exploit the absence of effective leadership. Stability gradually returned after True Lord Chengyue attained the Green Water Dao Fruit and took charge of Yuanhuai Heaven 4.

Under Chengyue, the old clans lost their dominance of the Central Palace. Its property belonged to Yuanhuai Heaven, with Lüyu managing it on the grotto-heaven’s behalf; only a small corner remained for remnants of the old order 4 44.

More than thirty years before the opening, True Person Chonghuan became university president. Although Lüyu was nominally comprehensive, competing Water Virtue lineages dominated its internal affairs. Chonghuan supported Metal Virtue and lightning studies to reduce that dominance 36.

Around thirty years before the opening, Yuanhuai Central Palace became one of the first stops on the heaven-and-earth high-speed railway. Chengyue personally named it Luyu Port, beginning a period of rapid commercial development. The resulting concentration of trade and currency helped Lüyu’s Metal Virtue departments approach the standing of long-established institutions within roughly a dozen years 2.

Luyu University

Admissions

• Enrollment cycle: New students are admitted every two years, normally for six years of study 1.
• Established specialties: Water Virtue and Wood Virtue historically account for most admissions; Metal Virtue and lightning admissions expand under Chonghuan 1.
• Freshman attainment: More than half of Jiang Jinyi’s Metal Virtue classmates have already reached Qi Refinement. The strongest freshman is at its Third Layer 1.
• Embryonic Breathing entrants: These generally possess extra-large Spirit Apertures or Ectopic Spirit Apertures 1.
• Spirit Root route: Applicants with implanted Foundation Establishment-grade Spirit Roots can qualify by reaching Embryonic Breathing Sixth Layer by eighteen 1.
• Contractual exceptions: Jiang Wangxuan’s enrollment contract guarantees Jiang Jinyi admission if she reaches Embryonic Breathing Sixth Layer by eighteen, despite her otherwise falling short of the university’s standards 1.

Cultivation and Teaching

Despite its staff and Yuanhuai Heaven’s financial support, Lüyu has a severe Foundation Establishment bottleneck:

• Over the preceding fifty years, senior students attempting the breakthrough suffer a casualty rate of nearly eighty percent, excluding seeds trained within the grotto-heaven 5.
• Many students prioritize connections, marriage prospects, and supporting their family lineages rather than attempting Foundation Establishment 5 41.
• Even students retained as Foundation Establishment seeds may eventually leave rather than risk the breakthrough 45.
• Teacher Xun emphasizes that resources can accumulate cultivation, but cannot substitute for Dao attainment 42.

Academic Departments

Leadership and Faculty

Commerce

• Financial center: Major banks and insurers operate in the Central Palace. Students can purchase lineage-specific cultivation resources and Law Artifacts there 2.
• Specialist imports: Rare Purple Mansion treasures, including Extreme Abyss Treasure Pearls and Lost Soul Heartbreak Grass, can be ordered for delivery within a month 2.
• Fuji Avenue: A major destination near the Heavenly River, housing Everlasting Protection Life Insurance’s Jiangnan headquarters and the Gold Federal Reserve’s Luyu Port branch 3.
• Spirit Root industry: Everlasting Protection supplies Spirit Roots throughout Qinghuan; Hengbao Group also maintains a substantial presence in Lüyu 3 14 49.
• Regional influence: Luzhou lies within Lüyu’s usual sphere of influence. Association with the university carries exceptional political and social weight there 10 13.

Notable Locations

Major Events

Grand Yin Recruitment Crisis

A Grand Yin Qi Refinement cultivator is reported murdered while attempting Foundation Establishment in Lüyu. Luyu Port closes its external high-speed rail routes, and True Lord Chengyue sends Chonghuan to Abyssal Secluded Ravine to reflect on his mistakes. Vast Cold Heaven and Jielin Hall prepare to suspend the university’s qualification to recruit Grand Yin cultivators 25.

Fang Lin subsequently urges Jiang Wangxuan to attempt his breakthrough in Jixia instead. Wangxuan refuses to abandon Lüyu and its teachers 27.

Jiang Wangxuan’s Foundation Establishment

After returning to Lüyu, Wangxuan enters seclusion at Clear Frost Osmanthus Garden. His White Hair Moon-Illuminating Pill proves tainted, but he survives and forges the Autumn Moon Osmanthus Immortal Foundation 30 32 36.

Rather than transfer to Jielin Hall, he remains at Lüyu as Chonghuan’s student. The revelation of his [Grand Yin] fate prompts Chonghuan to order his records secured, his residence moved, and assistance sought to conceal his fate 39 40.

Gu Household Return

Gu Changhuai’s appointment exposes the breach between the Gu Household and Lüyu’s Water College. All four voting Water Virtue professors oppose his appointment, despite two having previously intended to mentor him; Chonghuan uses presidential authority to approve it 50.

Chonglang dismantles the Gu Household’s old intelligence network after discovering its agents have changed allegiances and are misleading the family. He later orders Changhuai to leave Lüyu once the Alchemy Invocation Peak affair is concluded 49 50.