Ten Thousand Daos Born

Biodata

Principles and Sect Rules

• Founding precept: Cultivate the Dao of all living beings and uphold a benevolent heart. The sect continues to place living beings first despite its declining competitive standing 203.
• Ideal temperament: Elder Xiao describes its ideals as “a heart like a mountain, a nature like pine and cypress,” citing Sang Ying’s defense of Rizhao City as evidence of her suitability 196.
• Disciples’ responsibilities: Protect living beings, aid the weak against the strong, and punish the treacherous and wicked 209.
• Equal standing for men and women: Although most members are men, Elder Xiao explicitly rejects objections to a female chief disciple and tells anyone unwilling to accept one to leave 208.
• Safety before rankings: Before the sect competition, Elder Xiao instructs the disciples to prioritize their lives, even if doing so means another defeat 214.

Recruitment and Training

Thousandfold Formation

The Thousandfold Formation was established by the founding sect master. It contains hundreds of smaller formations and countless variations, serving both to select disciples and to find a person fated for the sect 196 201.

• Mandatory entrance test: Every prospective disciple must pass it, regardless of identity or cultivation. The rule has remained unchanged throughout the sect’s history 196.
• Three required formations: Only candidates who pass all three qualify for admission 202.
• Varied challenges: Sang Ying encounters animated wooden figures, a golden-tailed jiaoren, and a chamber that continually launches spirit swords 201 202 205.
• Defeat mechanism: Candidates carry leaf tokens that shatter and transport them away when they are defeated 201.
• Elder supervision: More than a thousand water screens relay candidates’ performances to the elders in the main hall 201.
• Length: The test can take more than ten days to finish 205.
• Sang Ying’s intake: Four hundred and ten candidates pass. Jing He emerges first, but Sang Ying is awarded first place and becomes chief disciple 206 209.

Master Selection and Instruction

Sect Grounds

• Layout: Nine floating mountain peaks surround and protect a larger central main peak, all enveloped in clouds and immortal mist 209.
• Entrance: A long white-jade staircase leads to the mountain gate. Gatekeeping disciples request calling cards from unfamiliar visitors and can sound an alarm 209 289.
• Main peak: Contains the main hall and Scripture Hall, hosting assemblies and communal instruction 201 209 210.
• Spirit creatures: Crane-like spirit creatures fly freely among the peaks and past visiting disciples 209.

Notable Members

Leadership and Elders

• Sect Master — An unnamed Spirit Transformation cultivator who enters prolonged seclusion after finding an opportunity to advance 214.
• Elder Xiao — The sect master’s senior brother and acting sect master for five years by the time of Sang Ying’s first sect competition. Oversees recruitment, admissions, and competition preparations 202 214.
• Jiulian / Venerable Army Breaker — Master of Carefree Peak and Sang Ying’s teacher. Known for his knowledge of the hundred schools and his effectiveness in disputes with other sects 202 204 210 230.
• Elder Gu — A sword-wielding elder who accompanies the competition delegation and agrees to shelter the Twin-Winged Snow Lion cub as a guardian beast 215 257.
• Venerable Hongyi — Accompanies the disciples on their voyage to the sect competition 215.
• Elder Chen — Initially questions Sang Ying’s suitability for the sect as a female cultivator, then competes with the other elders to recruit her 202 204.
• Supreme Elder — Watches the new disciples’ diligent training and expresses hope for the coming inter-sect competition 212.

Disciples

• Sang Ying — First-place entrance-test candidate, Jiulian’s disciple, and the new chief disciple. Leads the sect to first place in the inter-sect competition 209 210 293.
• Ji Fucang — Former chief disciple and a sea-patrol veteran. Reaches Spirit Transformation at 150, making him the sect’s fastest cultivator apart from Jiulian; he is expected to succeed his master after reaching the Soul Leaving Stage 246 292.
• Lan Fusheng — Music cultivator of Dream River Peak; suffers severe injuries from Chi Yan’s bewitching fire formation during the competition 210 227.
• Dong Fuzhu — Spell cultivator of Three Wonders Peak. Later fights the Devil Race while rescuing companions on the battlefield 210 615.
• Bai Kejin — Enters a sword-cultivation elder’s tutelage and competes alongside Sang Ying’s intake 210 214.

Resources and Assets

Cultivation Resources and Transport

• Ancient reserves: Despite its reduced standing, the sect retains substantial wealth accumulated since High Antiquity. Its small disciple population means resources exceed demand, though access still requires contribution points 209.
• Competition vessel: A treasure ship a hundred stories high, refined from the bones of ninth-rank Demon Beasts. Its pressure drives nearby sea beasts away 215.
• Spirit Artifacts: Jiulian wins two orange-grade Spirit Artifacts and one green-grade Spirit Artifact from Elder Xu after Sang Ying defeats Chi Yan 231 233.
• First-place prize: The inter-sect competition’s agreed reward is an entire Spirit Vein contained in a jade box 248.
• Guardian beast: A Twin-Winged Snow Lion cub is entrusted to the sect by its injured parent, which is fleeing the Beast Taming Sect 257.

Teleportation Arrays

• Acquisition: A disciple offers the sect knowledge of High Antiquity Teleportation Arrays in repayment for its kindness 451.
• Public instruction: The sect invites array masters from the lower realms to study the arrays, charging only one hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones 451.
• Small and large arrays: Early students learn the smaller arrays; higher-level array masters later master the larger ones and establish connections between small worlds 451.
• Impact: Tuition brings the sect considerable wealth, while its low fees earn it a reputation for benevolence throughout the lower realms 451.
• Overseas presence: As the network expands, the sect and the Jimo Household deliberately station personnel in other small worlds 617.

History

Founding and Decline

Founded in High Antiquity, Ten Thousand Daos Born was once the Immortal Spirit Realm’s greatest sect. Its title as the foremost of the three great sects dates back several hundred years, when it possessed both substantial strength and a large disciple population 209 227.

Its refusal to relax the Thousandfold Formation requirement eventually restricted recruitment. The intake before Sang Ying’s admitted only about a hundred disciples, compared with the thousands accepted by each of its two principal rivals. Because the grand sect competition admitted only the current intake, this disparity left it badly outnumbered 196.

Recruitment was not the sole cause of its defeats. Many capable disciples were assigned to guard Qing Zhou and patrol the seas, while rival sects recruited smaller sects as allies. The sect nevertheless retained its entrance rules and protective duties 199 214.

Recruitment of Sang Ying

Elder Xiao first invites Sang Ying to join after recognizing her talent, but Jimo Qing warns her against the sect. Later, Elder Xiao and the Azure Feather Sect elders openly compete to recruit her. The latter accuse Ten Thousand Daos Born of exploiting her reputation while still requiring her to pass its entrance test 153 195 196.

Sang Ying is drawn to the sect’s commitment to living beings and its defense of Qing Zhou. She enters the Thousandfold Formation and takes first place, thwarting the Mara Gate and Jing Household’s plan to have Jing He win and publicly reject the sect. She becomes chief disciple and takes Jiulian as her master 199 201 203 209 210.

Return to First Place

Elder Xiao appoints Sang Ying to lead the new disciples in the inter-sect competition. Departing from the sect’s previous reluctance to form alliances, she brings the Taotie Gate and Buddha Sound Temple aboard its ship before the group trial 214 237.

Su Fuyun subsequently accuses Sang Ying of killing Chi Yan and demands that Ten Thousand Daos Born lose its first-place reward. Sang Ying challenges the testimony and requests an examination of Chi Yan’s corpse 249.

Black Tortoise Realm

Ji Fucang leads the sect’s disciples after reaching Spirit Transformation. Following the expedition into the Hidden Moon Forest, the returning cultivators reunite with their companions, and Ten Thousand Daos Born receives prominent treatment at the Limitless Sect’s banquet for its service 292 314 316.

When Limitless Sect elders attack, Jiang Zhuoxue protects Sang Ying and the disciples by revealing his dragon form. Ji Fucang confronts Sect Master Wu and threatens to seek justice through Ten Thousand Daos Born 321.

Twin Orchid Realm Rescue

Ten Thousand Daos Born joins the Azure Feather Sect and Jimo Clan in suppressing rumors about Jiang Zhuoxue’s black dragon transformation and organizing a rescue party. Jiulian accompanies Sang Ying to aid the Twin Orchid Realm, promising to evacuate the disciples if defeat becomes inevitable 415.

After Sang Ying is taken by the Devil Race, Jiulian helps search for her. With the danger escalating, the sect presses for its young disciples’ return, and Jiulian eventually forces the reluctant disciples aboard the flying boat to withdraw 421 438 440.

Devil Race Crisis

Mutilated bodies discovered inside the Teleportation Array, together with failed attempts to contact the Cloud Mulberry Realm, alarm Elder Xiao and Jiulian. The sect fears for Sang Ying and the disciples stationed there 598.

Later, an unknown formation destroys a Teleportation Array just as the Mara Gate appears close to defeat. As reports of devils and Demonic Qi arrive from multiple worlds, Ten Thousand Daos Born and the Jimo Household exchange intelligence and conclude that the power behind the Mara Gate is collaborating with the devils 606 617.

During the subsequent catastrophe, the sect master calls for an investigation into the mysterious sandstorm draining Spiritual Qi, arguing that the cultivators cannot hold it back indefinitely 640.

Relations with Other Powers

• Jimo Household — A close partner whose ties with the sect deepen through the younger generation’s experiences in the Black Tortoise Realm. Their leaders jointly suppress the Mara Gate and coordinate intelligence during the Devil Race crisis 617.
• Azure Feather Sect — Both rival and occasional collaborator. Its elders contest Sang Ying’s recruitment, and its disciples have previously contributed to Ten Thousand Daos Born’s losses; the two sects later cooperate over Jiang Zhuoxue and the Twin Orchid Realm rescue 196 215 415.
• Mara Gate — Principal rival. Sponsors the Jing He recruitment scheme, targets the sect during competitions, and is later linked to the Devil Race 201 231 617.
• Taotie Gate — Competition ally invited by Sang Ying to travel aboard the sect’s vessel 237.
• Buddha Sound Temple — Competition ally whose Buddhist son requests passage with Sang Ying’s group 237.
• Beast Taming Sect — Mara Gate ally. One of its cultivators threatens a Crimson Flame King Lion’s cub to force the wounded adult to attack Ten Thousand Daos Born’s disciples 214.
• Seven Emotions Pavilion — Mara Gate ally associated with earlier competition losses. Hua Yaoyu once bewitched Azure Feather Sect disciples into helping the Mara Gate scheme against Ten Thousand Daos Born 214 215.
• Limitless Sect — Relations deteriorate when its elders attack the disciples and its leader demands Jiang Zhuoxue’s capture after he protects them 321.

Alternate Timeline: “What If”

In the alternate storyline, Sang Ying reaches Ten Thousand Daos Born using memories of her previous life. Her parents’ connections allow her to enter the Thousandfold Formation without waiting for the regular selection, but she still passes the test before becoming Jiulian’s disciple 704.

Her warning about an immortal resembling Gu Huaiwei prompts the sect to uncover his ties to the Mara Gate. Using a Gu insect containing his blood, it locates one of his bases and disrupts his plans in the Hidden Moon Forest and Hidden Nether Realm. He retaliates by contaminating more than half the sect with Demonic Qi, destroying the blood-tracking lead, and escaping 704.

• Renewed pursuit: The sect protects Sang Ying while following a karmic thread strengthened by Xiuming 705.
• Countermeasure: Wen Miaoshu develops an array disk that disables the fugitive’s Teleportation Arrays 705.
• Purification skills: Repeated exposure to his attacks makes purifying Demonic Qi one of the pursuing disciples’ most practiced techniques 705.
• Ten-year campaign: The pursuit nearly wipes out his forces. Sect members also seize Qi Yaoji’s remnant soul from Su Fuyun’s jade pendant on Crimson Snow Peak 705.