Prologue
Time: Unknown, perhaps a very distant past
Location: Shenzhou (Divine Land, ancient China), Haotu
"Heaven is not benevolent, and takes no interest in the flow of all things in the world."
— Laozi, *Daodejing*, Chapter 5
In the beginning, gods did not exist. Yet since time immemorial, the world as seen by human eyes had been filled with all manner of strange phenomena.
Thunderclaps that emitted bizarre sounds and every sort of natural disaster claimed countless lives, and refugees from these calamities filled every corner.
It was something that human strength could not even resist, let alone resolve.
Then, at some point, the heavens above became filled with the Jade Emperor and holy spirits, while below the earth arose the palaces of evil ghosts and King Yama.
Thus the tales of gods spread through the world, and innumerable people began to believe in and revere them.
Moreover, through various rituals born of their own delusions, humans prayed to the gods of heaven and earth for blessings and poured out their suffering. Eventually, practices such as burning incense became fashionable.
Since ancient times, no one could escape death. But who among them desired death and shunned life? The very stories of hell and King Yama struck terror into all, and so, in such circumstances, the tale of immortality was born.
Originally, humanity was relatively weak compared to other living creatures. But the saying that man is the lord of all creation could not be entirely false.
With the driving force of longing for longevity, humankind grew gradually wiser through successive generations, inheriting from their ancestors and devoting all their strength to probing the world.
Today, humanity still has not found the true secret to immortality. Yet those who pursued truth and cultivated the Dao, those who deeply studied the harmony of heaven and earth, became able to grasp tremendous power within the flesh of ordinary humans.
Some borrowed the strength of various secret dharma treasures to unleash thunderous voices and display their might, and tales were handed down of certain venerable ancestors living for over a thousand years. Thus countless people began to cultivate in order to obtain the Dao and become immortals.
The vast Shenzhou Haotu. This was a fertile land of the Central Plains continent, where nine out of ten people under heaven lived.
But in the borderlands of east, west, south, and north, where the mountains were rugged and desolate and human traces scarce, many primitive barbarian tribes also survived day by day alongside ferocious beasts and lethal poisons.
Thus, since ancient times, remnant races had survived in the human world, hiding in the deep mountains for long years without anyone's knowledge.
As time passed to the present day, Dao cultivators increased beyond measure, becoming more numerous than the carps in a flowing river. Such people gradually multiplied throughout the vast Shenzhou Haotu, and accordingly, countless different cultivation methods came into being.
Though the secret to longevity remained undiscovered, the endlessly emerging sects gradually began to distinguish themselves, dividing into proper sects and heretical sects.
They bickered with one another, and in severe cases, slaughter between them was far from rare.
People still felt that immortality was a distant, unattainable goal, yet the power that gradually grew through cultivation had no aim other than immortality.
The present world is one where righteousness has been set aright and evil has fled. The Central Plains continent overflowed with vitality, people lived in harmony, and goods were abundant. Furthermore, the orthodox major sects firmly protected this land.
Among them, Qingyun Sect, Tianyin Temple, and Fenxiang Valley stood at the forefront as the three great pillars of the orthodox path.
And this story begins with the Qingyun Sect.
* * *
Chapter 1. Qingyun
The towering Qingyun mountain range crouched upon the Central Plains like a coiled tiger.
Beneath the long shadow of the mountains flowed the great Hongchuan River, and on the sunny opposite shore stood the fortress of Heyang City. This fortress was a strategic point under heaven, a region more important than any other.
The rugged mountain ridges of Qingyun Mountain stretched for nearly a hundred li. Seven of its highest peaks soared above the clouds; normally, clouds draped across the mountainsides concealed their summits from sight.
Qingyun Mountain was covered in dense forests and fierce waterfalls, bizarre rock formations, and rare beasts. It was famed throughout the world for these deep and rugged vistas.
Yet there was something even more famous than the scenery: the sect established here, the Qingyun Sect.
The Qingyun lineage possessed an ancient history. Over a thousand years had passed since the sect's founding, an overwhelmingly long history unmatched by either orthodox or heretical schools.
Rumor held that the founder of the Qingyun Sect had originally been a master of the jianghu who had lived a shabby and dejected half-life. But in his forty-ninth year, while wandering west and passing by Qingyun Mountain, he recognized at a glance that this mountain was a place where spiritual energy gathered the qi of heaven and earth. Seizing this supreme opportunity, he immediately ascended the mountain and began cultivating the Dao, drinking the dew of its forests.
Before long, he discovered an ancient book of unknown name in a deep cave within Qingyun Mountain, in which various profound dharma arts and techniques were recorded. The profundity of its contents was beyond words, and the power of the Dao techniques written therein was great enough to shake heaven and earth.
Taking this as his chance, he set his mind right and began to cultivate. For a full twenty years, he endured the storms of the jianghu, savoring only modest joys of achievement.
Though he could not command the world, he could become a hero. Establishing a sect upon the mountain was the beginning. The sect was named Qingyun.
Because the records in the ancient book were similar to Daoist thought, this master styled his name like a Daoist and began calling himself Qingyunzi. Later generations of disciples revered him as Qingyun Zhenren.
When he reached the age of three hundred sixty-seven, facing death, Qingyunzi left final words to his ten disciples.
"I have devoted my energy to transmitting teachings and refining techniques for half my life, and especially labored to master feng shui and geomancy. This Qingyun Mountain is a rare sacred land in the human world. Because this mountain exists, the sect I founded shall surely prosper. You must never give up, and remember my words clearly. Clearly!"
All ten disciples nodded firmly, believing in Qingyunzi's teachings.
And so Qingyunzi suddenly departed the world.
But whether it was a trick of heaven or because Qingyunzi's teachings had been denied, for over a hundred years after, the sect not only failed to develop but declined with each passing day.
Of the ten disciples, two died young; four perished in duels filled with the ruthlessness of the jianghu and entangled grudges. Another was crippled, and another went missing.
Thus only two maintained the sect for fifty years.
One day, an unprecedented earthquake struck the hundred li of Qingyun Mountain. Mountains rose to pierce the heavens, and as the earth shook, countless casualties occurred. And in this earthquake, the Qingyun Sect lost another disciple.
The sole remaining disciple happened to be the one most lacking in aptitude and talent among the ten. Moreover, he had long refused to follow Qingyunzi's will and had incurred the resentment of outsiders coveting his master's ancient book, sparking several bloody battles.
Had he not borrowed the power of certain techniques that Qingyunzi had forbidden due to their extreme might, the Qingyun Sect would have already been destroyed by those events.
This situation continued for four hundred years, and the sect's original visage vanished so completely that calling it a mere corpse upon the mountain would not have been an exaggeration.
In the end, unable to escape the predatory hands of other sects, the Qingyun Sect had all six of its seven peaks except Tongtian Peak seized by external enemies.
Among them were groups of bandits and thugs who used the stolen peaks as bases to plunder in all directions, committing evil deeds without restraint.
Those unaware of the truth sometimes mistakenly believed that the Qingyun Sect, too, had fallen and committed crimes like these bandits.
In truth, the Qingyun Sect wished desperately to resolve this situation, drive out the enemies, and restore the sect's name, but it lacked the power and could only lament.
In retrospect, those days must surely have been the most tragic in Qingyun's history.
Approximately thirteen hundred years ago, the situation finally began to turn.
Whether Qingyunzi's teachings had finally begun to shine, or whether Heaven had grown weary of its tricks and decided to torment the Qingyun Sect no longer, none could say. But among the Qingyun Sect's eleventh-generation successors, an astonishing talent finally emerged: an unrivaled figure of outstanding ability capable of leading the masses, Daoist Qingye.
His surname in the secular world had been Ye, and he was originally but a poor scholar. Naturally intelligent, he had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, but by chance, at the age of twenty-two, he became the disciple of the Qingyun Sect's tenth successor, Wufangzi.
Immediately after entering the sect, within a single year, Qingye comprehended and mastered all of Wufangzi's sword techniques and dharma teachings, occupying a unique position among the disciples.
After another year had passed, even Wufangzi could not face Qingye without using techniques realized through deep cultivation.
Filled with surprise and joy, Wufangzi handed down the ancient book that had been passed through the hands of previous ancestors, allowing Qingye to comprehend its contents on his own.
From that point, Qingye entered the Huanyue Cave behind Tongtian Peak and carried out closed-door cultivation for over thirty years.
Rumor held that on the night he emerged, a full moon rose in the sky, its light illuminating all of Qingyun Mountain as brightly as midday.
Then, as fierce winds suddenly blew, the roar of a dragon on the rear mountain shook the hundred li, and none who heard it did not blanch in fear.
The rumors did not end there. A faint purple light soared toward the heavens, and with a loud sound, the tightly sealed Huanyue Cave burst open. From within walked Qingye, white-haired and white-bearded, wearing a smile. Such brilliant light poured from his body that those who saw it thought Qingye had become an immortal and were filled with awe.
From that day, he took the 'Qing' of Qingyun and his original surname 'Ye,' formally changing his name to Qingye.
"Master, please wait a while, and disciples, please go out and attend to matters. Let us gather again in one day."
For reasons unknown, having spoken thus, Qingye departed the following day with a single sword and punished all the external enemies occupying the six peaks.
Daoist Qingye's Dao arts were powerful, his methods cruel. He swiftly became renowned throughout the world, and the Qingyun Sect's prestige rose rapidly.
Another year later, Wufangzi yielded the position of sect leader to Qingye and departed the jianghu to cultivate the Dao, never again involving himself in the sect's affairs.
Having seized power, Qingye devoted himself to governing the sect, striving to help his fellow disciples develop beyond their current state, and selected successors to inherit the sect through strict standards. With the enlightenment he had gained through the nameless ancient book added to this, Qingye came to wield absolute authority within the sect, rivaling gods and demons.
From then on, the Qingyun Sect walked a solid path and established itself as a leader of the righteous path; two hundred years later, it reached a position where it led numerous other righteous sects.
True Person Qingye lived a long life, departing the world at the age of seven hundred fifty. He had trained his disciples with strictness throughout his life and took only seven of them. Qingye had these disciples each guard one of the seven peaks of Qingyun Mountain.
Among them, Tongtian Peak, guarded by the one known as the Head Disciple, was a place that could be called the center of the Qingyun Sect.
Today, the Qingyun Sect had disciples numbering nearly a thousand. Masters were as numerous as clouds, and its fame and prestige were so great that it was called one of the Three Great Sects together with Tianyin Temple and Fenxiang Valley.
And the one currently governing the sect, Daoxuan Zhenren, was one who wielded divine techniques unmatched under heaven, a peerless figure whom others could not equal.