Kongtong Sect
The Kongtong Sect is located on Kongtong Mountain in Qinzhou, where the Song, Jin, Western Xia and Tubo realms meet. As the borders of successive dynasties shifted, the mountain changed allegiance several times and took in many capable foreigners who settled there, so loyalty to the throne runs especially thin.
At its height, Kongtong Mountain held more than a dozen sects and gangs, each occupying a corner and minding its own affairs. Only after several dynasties of change and absorption did they finally come under four gates: Flying Heaven, Soul-Stealing, Iron Fist and Mystic Skill. Each gate has its own Sect Leader, and to hold their own against the great sects of the Central Plains they banded together as the Kongtong Sect, with the four gates electing one among them to serve as Sect Leader.
Now the Former Sect Leader has passed away, the Kongtong Sect is leaderless, and none of the four gates will yield to another. These are troubled times.
The Kongtong Mountain area belongs to Pingliang. Zhao Huo sets out from the Tang Clan and, after two thousand li of travel, finally reaches the Kongtong Sect's territory in Qinzhou. The Kongtong Sect ranks alongside the Songshan Sect, Quanzhen Sect, Emei Sect, Qingcheng Sect and Diancang Sect as one of the Six Great Sects (the Six Great Sects). Tang Sheng says Kongtong is "one of the Six Great Sects of the Central Plains" too, but notes that this claim is disputed on several counts. For one, Qinzhou has since ancient times been a battleground, now belonging to the Song Kingdom, now to the Jin Kingdom, now to Western Xia; whether Kongtong even counts as a Central Plains sect is hard to say. Among the Six Great Sects, Qingcheng and Emei lie in the Shu region, Kongtong in the north, and Diancang in the south.
With war year after year, those with nowhere to flee hid themselves on Kongtong Mountain. Tang Sheng says Kongtong holds not only Song people but Jin people, Western Xia people, and even Tubo people. Yu Xiaomei says the mountain's folk are not limited to Jianghu people: vegetable farmers, hunters, barbers, actors—the lower nine trades, a bit of everything. A Flying Heaven Gate disciple boasts that "our Kongtong Mountain has been a treasure land since ancient times, embracing the martial arts of the Central Plains, Western Xia and Tubo," and Zhao Huo has also heard that "the Kongtong Sect is less exclusive; so long as you have a skill, even a lowly one, you won't starve." Yet the same Flying Heaven Gate disciple also says Kongtong "originally had no wish to meddle in Jianghu affairs."
Beyond the four gates' disciples, the mountain also holds ordinary villagers and townsfolk with no martial arts. Tang Weiyuan mentions what happened at Kongtong before the Wulin Assembly: the Soul-Stealing Gate suddenly turned hostile and "took hostage the common folk of the Iron Fist Gate's lower nine trades, who know no martial arts"; Sect Leader Wei stirred up the crowd, and the Kongtong commoners "had long harbored grudges against the Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing gates." As for the scenery, a Qingcheng Disciple, seeing Kongtong Mountain, mutters, "Why is this Kongtong Sect so bare and bald?" Local specialties include Kongtong immortal mushrooms, goji berries, aged wine and candied fruit, and the Iron Fist Gate's Duanxu Ointment and trauma medicine are quite effective. Kongtong's soy milk is salty, unlike anywhere else, and hard for the unaccustomed to accept.
Caught between Song, Jin and Western Xia, its position is awkward. Wei Ju says: "Kongtong's troubles are not only its position; the mountain holds Song, Jin, Western Xia and even Tubo people. It is all the harder to stand firm..." The Biographies record Shangguan Sun's calculations: Kongtong Mountain lies on the Great Song's frontier, and geographically speaking is even more troublesome than the Tang Clan. If the Kongtong Sect Leader were killed and the sect, in its fury, defected wholesale to the Jin, the consequences would be unthinkable.
The Four Gates of Kongtong
The four gates of Kongtong each harbor their own schemes. All four watch and hold one another in check, and worse things than that have happened. The Flying Heaven Gate and the Soul-Stealing Gate are the two most bitterly opposed.
The Flying Heaven Gate excels at Qinggong and sword techniques, the Soul-Stealing Gate at Unorthodox Weapons, the Iron Fist Gate at External Skills, and the Mystic Skill Gate values Internal Skill above all.
The four gates are told apart by the color of their clothes: the Flying Heaven Gate wears red, the Soul-Stealing Gate blue (not the same as the Tang Clan's blue-green; this is true blue), the Iron Fist Gate green, and the Mystic Skill Gate yellow. The Soul-Stealing Gate's scouts, who gather military intelligence, are called "scout marquises" and wear blue. The book recording the forging methods of all the four gates' weapons (including the Flying Heaven Dagger, the Soul-Stealing Iron Claws, the Iron Fist Hammer and the Mystic Skill Golden-Silk Whisk) is by rights not to be passed outside.
Though the four gates are at odds, they are surprisingly united against outside threats; and the villagers, facing outsiders, are likewise of one heart, the Iron Fist Gate folk especially unable to stomach the Flying Heaven Gate's swagger. A Soul-Stealing Disciple says the four gates have a pact of mutual non-aggression, and on that basis accuses the rebel faction led by Venerable Golden Crow of "violating the four gates' pact of mutual non-aggression." Each gate has its Elders. Huang Peihua surmises that Sect Leader Wei holds back and does not act because she is waiting for the four gates' Elders to gather at Banyu Terrace, when Golden Crow will have no way to shift the blame. During Golden Crow's rebellion, many Elders claimed neutrality and stood by with folded arms.
By the mountain's law (detailed below), the Iron Fist Gate handles guards and the people's livelihood, the Soul-Stealing Gate keeps order and guards against fire and flood, the Mystic Skill Gate manages finances and expenditures, while the Sect Leader's processions and rituals have always been presided over by the Flying Heaven Gate. Yu Xiaomei explains that all the Sect Leader's garments should be proposed by the Flying Heaven Gate, funded with money and materials by the Mystic Skill Gate, and woven by the Iron Fist Gate. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, by the Sect Leader's decree "the four gates are equal, with no distinction of high or low," and only the sole Sect Leader's Wife is held above.
Zou Bo once meant to imitate the Kongtong Grand Trial and hold the Qingcheng Segment Exam on a grand scale, spurring disciples of the various sects to spar and exchange. There was also an old custom called the "Seasonal Trial," discontinued after the Former Sect Leader's passing when the four gates fell out, and revived on the summer solstice of the June in the year Zhao Huo studies there—a preliminary bout before the Sect Leader Election.
Flying Heaven Gate
The Flying Heaven Gate is the first gate of Kongtong, and through the ages most Kongtong Sect Leaders have come from it. It would not be wrong to call it Kongtong's representative; when the Wulin sends invitations, it is the Flying Heaven Gate that coordinates. It also upholds the orthodox line, setting policy in council with the three other gates' Sect Leaders.
The Flying Heaven Gate practices Immortal Cultivation, and is charged with sacrifices to Heaven and prayers for blessing, and with talismans to drive off evil. The mountain folk all believe Kongtong's favorable weather rests entirely on the Flying Heaven Gate. Its Sect Leader, Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch, is mighty in Dharma power; rumor says he has a third eye on his forehead, three heads and six arms, and can even breathe Samadhi True Fire. His Eldest Disciple, the "General of Dao Techniques" Danxiazi, and the expert Venerable Golden Crow are both strong candidates for Sect Leader, and his Direct Disciple Yu Xiaomei is the most renowned of the current Kongtong Four Maidens.
Every Flying Heaven Gate disciple knows the Qinggong Flying Heaven Kick, simplified from another, deeper martial art, the Immortal Crane's Elusive Fist; the Flying Heaven Kick manual also records the basic drill of the 'Crane Stance'. There is also a Fire Cloud Sword Manual that Xiahou Lan mentions in passing. The gate's signature art is the Heartburn Seal.
Xiahou Lan's appraisal: for an unremarkable block, the Flying Heaven Internal Method keeps the mind behind the body, front foot empty, rear foot solid, exhaling seven parts and inhaling three, keeping the stance nimble—in plain terms, a coward always ready to bolt.
If Zhao Huo chooses this gate to study at the Kongtong Sect, he will lodge in the Lingguang wing on the south side of the guest house, and his Training will raise his Qinggong. He learns no immortal arts on the mountain, but plenty of boasting.
The Flying Heaven Gate sits on the highest ground of Kongtong, with superb views; Wei Ju warns to be careful not to slip. Crane Cliff is the Flying Heaven Gate's heartland, and it was once ordinary for its disciples to train there. The Biographies say that because of the First Lady, the Flying Heaven Gate was honored and raised up as Kongtong's face, though its virtue and ability were not enough to command respect. The Cloudreach Tower run by Flying Heaven Gate folk is the most expensive shop on Kongtong Mountain; its old cook puts on great airs, styles himself the imperial chef, loves to flash his badge at everyone, and does not mind that the place is empty as a sparrow's nest.
When a Flying Heaven disciple does wrong, unless caught red-handed they are usually unwilling to hand them to the Soul-Stealing Gate for trial; Yu Xiaomei says they then seal their acupoints, strip them naked, and hang them from a tree to be blown and rained on, called "naked hanging." Yu Xiaomei herself once suffered naked hanging for attempted murder, and Crane Cliff was closed for three days because of it. "Jumping off the cliff to atone" is another Flying Heaven punishment: jump you may, and if you live, it is all forgiven. Danxiazi says his master Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch was forever telling him to jump, so he now carries a grappling hook and rope everywhere. Iron Fist Gate disciples say the Evil-Warding Jade is bought from the Flying Heaven Gate. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, the Kongtong Sect boasts of Zhao Huo's name throughout the Jianghu, the Flying Heaven Gate most extravagantly of all, lifting the Sect Leader to the heavens and declaring him the Jade Balance Star Lord of the Northern Dipper.
The Flying Heaven Kick is the Flying Heaven Gate's entry-level martial art, and is sometimes seen at secondhand bookstalls in the Kongtong market. Flying Heaven Gate disciples say Senior Brother Golden Crow was charged by the Sect Leader to teach the martial arts in person. The Immortal Crane's Elusive Fist counts as the Flying Heaven Gate's prized art; Yu Xiaomei says no disciple without several years' standing or meritorious service is qualified to be taught it, and its Internal Method is exactly the same as the Flying Heaven Kick's. The Heartburn Seal was originally open and upright: if one trains calmly and step by step, drawing in the summer heat and tempering the organs, success comes in time. But with the Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing gates locked in fierce struggle, Flying Heaven seniors, seeking quick results, devised a shortcut of taking fire poison to force the heat up; nine out of ten disciples who train that way die young. The Heartburn Seal is meant for instant release on borrowed power and cannot sustain a long fight, and few even in the Flying Heaven Gate can use it.
Flying Heaven Gate disciples include the "Five Elites of the Flying Heaven Gate," the "Autumn Tiger," "'Fire Fox' Hu Lihuo," and "Heaven-Soaring Blazing Divine Eagle" Xu Sheng. The "Heat Official," who transferred from the Soul-Stealing Gate to the Flying Heaven Gate, is, according to Tang Weiyuan, the man most skilled at using Internal Skill to extract confessions.
The Biographies say of the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch that "his looks are uncommon, his garb bright as fire—truly a man who lives up to his name." Wei Ju says: "I've never seen him fly, but he does breathe fire." The Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch also takes up the Coin Sword and goes down the mountain with Flying Heaven disciples to catch ghosts. Tang Sheng says that over twenty years ago, Kongtong's Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch, Quanzhen's Daoist Qiu, Daoist Hao, Qingcheng's Sect Leader Zou, and Zhao Kui, who has today fallen so far as to become the Dharma King of the Hell Path, once gathered together to discuss the scriptures and the Way.
On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch has it out with Lei Qian and the Soul-Hooking Elder, each telling one secret. He admits, "The one on Banyu Terrace who gave the order for the Sect Leader to take up his sword and slay the demon—that was me," and says: "As a boy I followed my father from place to place as a street performer, playing zaju; I could play many roles at once and change my voice in song." Lei Qian says: "This monk and Soul-Hooking... have known your true colors since we were children, Old Yao; we guessed it was you long ago." And scolds him: "You're no fool. If you were truly no fool, you'd never have driven Danxiazi away back then."
During Golden Crow's rebellion, from the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch down to the rank and file, Huang Peihua says "about eighty percent followed the rebel," and a Flying Heaven Gate woman disciple says that of Golden Crow's faction, Flying Heaven Gate people "made up six or seven tenths." The Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch himself admits that Golden Crow's deceiving his superiors and stirring up trouble "cannot be said to have nothing to do with me," but argues, "Before the Sect Leader is decided, what crime is there in supporting my own gate's disciple?"
Danxiazi studied Immortal Cultivation under the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch. To accumulate Merit and break through his Realm, he took his leave and went down the mountain, throwing himself into the battlefield at Xiangyang. He is well regarded among the Song soldiers, who call him the General of Dao Techniques; Tang Buyi says "his general's title is empty, yet the soldiers truly obey his every word." Rumor says he can set up an altar and work a rain-summoning rite, and that he routed the Jin Guaizi Ma cavalry; some say he has cultivated to the Nascent Soul Stage. The compendium records that Danxiazi by chance learned Wind Blade and Fire Sword, which his master envied; his master told him "to break through to the Mahayana Stage you must accumulate Merit, and the fastest way to accumulate Merit is to go to war and save the nation," and sent him to the Song-Jin battlefield. Xiahou Lan too says the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch tricked Danxiazi with fair words into throwing himself into war. Others, on the other hand, demand: "If you had that ability, why did you run off after a couple of scoldings from your master?" Danxiazi himself regrets even declining to return for the Sect Leader's funeral, saying "I am truly disloyal and unfilial, and have no face to meet the elders of Kongtong."
Danxiazi has one eye and has been away from Kongtong for ten years. He has never walked the Jianghu; his record is all on the battlefield, and his fame is no less than the grandmasters of the various sects. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Wei Ju says that when it comes to a marching commander, Kongtong's first is the General of Dao Techniques; Shangguan Sun judges him a fine son who serves country and people, and stands on the Imperial Court's side. His famous art is Wind Blade and Fire Sword. As a youth he fell into the Zhengzheng Lake yet survived, and took the natural Spirit Pill "Ten-Thousand-Year Stone Milk," where the mountain's and river's spiritual essence gathers, and his Power advanced greatly. Danxiazi calls the Kongtong disciples he leads the "Wind and Fire Volunteers"; against the Wulin Alliance he uses a Fish-Scale Formation with Iron Fist disciples in front and Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing behind, and against Jinxiang Palace a wedge formation with Flying Heaven disciples in front and Iron Fist on the wings.
Before joining Kongtong, Venerable Golden Crow was the notorious "Nine-Lives Leopard," who could not be killed no matter how often struck; the older Jianghu folk still bristle to speak of him. In all his life he was subdued only once, by the Kongtong Former Sect Leader; after reforming and taking monastic vows, he sheltered under the Kongtong Sect. The world believes he has mended his ways, but the Biographies record that Venerable Golden Crow was originally a drill instructor of the Thousand Lantern Tower who burned five sticks of incense, second only to the Tower Master; Yu Xiaomei, the Thousand-Faced Demon, before she came to Kongtong as a spy, was trained in killing technique by this very man. Golden Crow in truth still answers to the Thousand Lantern Tower, merely lying low in Kongtong. His signature weapon, the Blazing Sun Hammer, comes from the Supreme Bliss Cult's evil arts and can drive sinister Internal Force into a person to harm the brain; once three hammer blows land true, no matter how loyal a minister or filial son, how chaste a maiden, all become obedient, mute, simple-minded wrecks. One struck by the Blazing Sun Hammer has his True Qi invade his body, leaving him muddled all day as if drunk or dreaming.
Venerable Golden Crow wears a "skin-change garment" stitched from the flesh and blood of living people; every so often he must, under the pretext of seclusion, kill someone and flay them to make a new one. Not one of his own sect has seen through his true face. The Iron Fist Gate's Tong Dachong, who once made his living collecting and laying out the dead, judges it living flesh and blood beyond doubt. Venerable Golden Crow himself says: "I am about to become the Kongtong Sect Leader... I will get the Kongtong Secret Treasure and the immortal sword... and the four young ladies Mei, Lan, Zhu and Ju besides...."
The Biographies say Yu Xiaomei is today the most honored person on Kongtong Mountain after the Four Sect Leaders; Wei Ju too says that apart from Danxiazi and Xiahou Lan, the disciples of this generation all look to Xiaomei as their model. The compendium records that the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch forcibly took the orphaned Yu girl as his disciple, renamed her Xiaomei, and cultivated her with intent, aiming at the position of First Lady; the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch also told Xiaomei: "I raised you to this age for one purpose: to make you the First Lady and shore up this gate's foundation so it never declines." Xiaomei's true identity is an assassin of the Thousand Lantern Tower; she says of herself, "When this Mei first met you, she was already a spy the Thousand Lantern Tower had planted in Kongtong," there to sow discord among the four gates and scheme to seize the Kongtong Secret Treasure. The Thousand Lantern Tower's Tower Master rates her the weakest Thousand-Faced Demon of any generation (less than a fifty percent chance of completing her mission). Later she is called the Fourth-Generation Thousand-Faced Demon.
Fire Guardian Yan Jiang, nicknamed "Mountain Fire," is said throughout the Jianghu to attack like fire. He secretly loves Xiaomei, and fearing others would censure him for coveting the Sect Leader's Wife from his station as Guardian, he married early. His wife Kong Que wears the Flying Heaven Gate's red, enjoys no favor from her husband, and envies and hates Xiaomei; yet after Xiaomei falls from power and is imprisoned, she alone spends money to arrange a visit to the jail. The Jianghu says that had he not taken a wife and taken up the post of Fire Guardian, he would have had a claim to compete for Sect Leader.
Soul-Stealing Gate
The Soul-Stealing Gate is charged within the sect with fire watch, night patrol and hunting criminals—grave responsibilities. Because they lie low by day and come out by night, their faces tend to look haggard; and since their martial arts differ greatly from the Central Plains sects, they are often misunderstood and criticized.
The 's surname is Yao; "Buzhiming" means "nameless," and he truly calls himself that. The Soul-Stealing Gate's martial arts are chiefly unorthodox ambush and assassination, so it is no wonder the Sect Leader hides his name. As for the Soul-Stealing Orchid, , she is hailed as the Jianghu's greatest beauty, but her heart is that of a snake and scorpion, ruthless and cruel, and she is famous for it.
The signature weapon of the Flying Heaven Gate's Venerable Golden Crow, the Blazing Sun Hammer, is precisely the bane of the Soul-Stealing Gate's martial arts. The Sect Leader took his elite into a cave for seclusion to ponder a counter, and by the time Zhao Huo begins his studies at the Kongtong Sect it has been half a year. During this time the Soul-Hooking Elder handles the Sect Leader's duties.
The Shadowless Claw is an unorthodox art every Soul-Stealing Disciple knows; today they have the Iron Fist Gate forge iron-clawed wrist guards to perform it, though in the past it was done with bare fingers. The essentials of the 'Frost Blade Breaking Bamboo Finger' are also merged into this manual.
Xiahou Lan's appraisal: for an unremarkable block, the Soul-Stealing Gate often swells its True Qi, coils and creeps, breathes out and claps its palms, overawing by sheer force—in plain terms, a coward who is all bluff.
If Zhao Huo chooses this gate to study at the Kongtong Sect, he will lodge in the Mengzhang wing on the east side of the guest house, and his Training will raise his Hidden Weapon skill. If fate allows, he may meet the in Soul-Stealing Forest, and even take her as his master.
The Soul-Stealing Gate serves as Kongtong's constables; its disciples carry a criminal-hunting token to enforce the law, and say themselves, "Kongtong's constables are us, the Soul-Stealing Gate." The mountain gate and the checkpoints are guarded by Soul-Stealing disciples too; on the departure day for Jiangling, those posted outside all crowd the mountain pass awaiting inspection and release. Xiahou Lan says that at the checkpoint, giving her name to the Soul-Stealing disciple on guard will usually get you through. The Soul-Stealing Gate's ritual implement, the Soul-Summoning Bell, when rung, sets every bell all the way to the Soul-Quelling Prison ringing in answer, and Soul-Stealing folk in the same color come swarming. Besides the iron claws, their most-used signature weapon is the Judge's Pen, which also has ties to the Mystic Skill Gate (per Tang Weiyuan). The entry art is the Earth Listening Manual; Soul-Stealing folk are skilled at stealth and spying, and the deep in Internal Skill can even use Secret Sound Transmission, hearing the faintest sound or tremor. Soul-Hooking Elder is especially skilled at Earth Listening.
The Soul-Quelling Prison on Soul-Stealing Peak is a mountain jail carved into hard rock; its wardens are Soul-Stealing disciples, and not only outsiders but the gate's own disciples are locked inside. Jianghu legend says that a prisoner who dies in the Soul-Quelling Prison has his three souls and seven spirits bound by the formation, never to be reborn.
Xiahou Lan says the Soul-Stealing Gate's founding patriarch was a chivalrous thief, and the claw arts were all for that sort of dirty work; the current Sect Leader cares for face, and what he passes to his disciples is the revised, open-and-upright version. She also says the Tang Clan's martial arts and the Soul-Stealing Gate's share much the same spirit, both aimed at the unexpected, and Zhao Huo too says the Tang Clan's style is closest to the Soul-Stealing Gate's. In one scene, the Soul-Stealing Gate questions Zhao Huo and then apologizes, giving him a "Kongtong Good-Citizen Voucher"; Zhao Huo is no Kongtong mountain man, so it is of no use to him, and he passes it on to Xiao Zhu. The Biographies say that using up this good-citizen certificate can convert part of the Great Smithy's private debt into Kongtong public debt.
There is another account of the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader's seclusion. The Biographies, written from the Soul-Hooking Elder's viewpoint, say the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader also meant to use force to make Xiahou Lan yield the position of Direct Disciple, but had both arms wrenched out of joint and his head trodden underfoot instead; ever since he has had no face to meet the elders of Kongtong and has hidden away in seclusion to train, not even daring to show himself at the Kongtong Seasonal Trial, sending only the Soul-Hooking Elder to attend in his place.
The Sect Leader's name is "Yao Buzhiming"; Tang Weiyuan says he has never seen the Sect Leader's true face, nor heard anyone speak his name, only addressing him as Sect Leader Yao. The Biographies say the Soul-Hooking Elder appeared out of nowhere five or six years ago, styled himself an Elder, and issued orders in Yao Buzhiming's name; when some grew suspicious and questioned him, the Soul-Hooking Elder rebuffed them all on the grounds that the Sect Leader was in seclusion, holding up the Sect Leader's Token.
On the route of Kongtong's endgame, this man's true identity is revealed. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, when the Soul-Hooking Elder has it out with the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch and Lei Qian, he says: "The Soul-Stealing Gate has no Elder called Soul-Hooking at all. I am the true Soul-Stealing Sect Leader, Yao Buzhiming. Controlled by the Thousand Lantern Tower's Patriarch Wuxiang through the Corpse Heart Gu, bound to another's will, I played the tiger's accomplice. This head of mine is the result of the poison worm reaching the brain." When the other demands he "tell one thing only Yao Buzhiming and the two of us know," the Soul-Hooking Elder says his original name was Yao Zhiming, and that over fifty years ago his father took his name to a fortune-teller, who read three great calamities in his fate; he changed his name and hid himself to escape destiny. The true Yao Buzhiming is the Soul-Hooking Elder; the one who appeared as Soul-Stealing Sect Leader was Patriarch Wuxiang in disguise. Iron Crown Daoist (in truth Patriarch Wuxiang) later says too: "In vain did this old man disguise myself as the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader and take such pains to lift him up, that he became the Kongtong Sect Leader." The Biographies say the plot to subdue Kongtong Mountain was fifteen years in the planning.
The Soul-Hooking Elder's title varies by route. In Kongtong's endgame, when the Sect Leader (Yao Buzhiming) comes out of seclusion, he steps down as Acting Sect Leader and calls himself "merely an ordinary Elder of the Soul-Stealing Gate." On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Wei Ju says "the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader Yao Buzhiming is nowhere to be found; the post of Soul-Stealing Sect Leader is still held in trust by Elder Soul-Hooking, pending appointment," and when the Four Sect Leaders rush to Meishan, the Soul-Hooking Elder is called "Sect Leader Soul-Hooking."
Jing Hong was the former Direct Disciple of the Soul-Stealing Gate, the Eldest Disciple under Sect Leader Yao Buzhiming, and is a Disowned Disciple of the gate. From birth she made becoming the Sect Leader's Wife her life's goal, and saw the previous Mystic Skill Gate woman disciple Huyan Ju as her rival, saying the honored place of First Lady belonged to none but her and Huyan Ju. Yet the moment Xiahou Lan arrived at Kongtong, she was told she was dismissed and packed off as an ordinary Soul-Stealing disciple; when Kongtong suffered a calamity, Xiahou Lan in a fury clawed her face to shreds, and she fled the mountain as a traitor, returning later as a Western Xia lackey and Golden Crow's accomplice. The Biographies say that seeing Xiahou Lan return from her travels with her Divine Skill perfected, able to drive the Soul-Stealing Phantom Claw with the Snow Mountain Internal Method, she concluded the Soul-Stealing Gate's Internal Method was dross; she says of herself, "Like Xiahou Lan, I've thrown off your Soul-Stealing Gate's dross. Now I wield the Soul-Stealing Gate's Soul-Chasing Whip and practice Western Xia's esoteric qigong."
Xiahou Lan was originally a disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect; after the Snow Mountain Sect was destroyed, she was brought to the Soul-Stealing Gate, forcibly renamed Lan, and taken in as a Direct Disciple (the compendium records her original name as "Xiahou Mei"). According to Xiahou Lan, it began when Snow Mountain Sect disciples met Kongtong folk at an inn; the fight went on until the Snow Mountain Sect was wiped out entirely, and the Flying Heaven Gate man who started it died in the melee at Snow Mountain. The compendium calls her the greatest expert of contemporary Kongtong, a single step from the Peerless Realm; the Biographies too say that of all Kongtong, only Danxiazi and Wei Ju might be able to match her. She does not obey the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader's orders, saying "I don't even put the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader in my eyes." She monopolizes Soul-Stealing Forest and lives there alone; even the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader can do nothing about her, and the gate's disciples dare not enter. She was the first Kongtong mountain-dweller to appear on the Imperial Court's Wanted Notice, and Yu Zhu the second after her. When she first entered the Jianghu she was gentle and demure, hailed as the Wulin's greatest beauty; later, struck by grievous news, her Temperament changed utterly, and she became the She-Devil everyone calls the Soul-Stealing Orchid. Only because the Kongtong Sect is wary of her, and because she keeps to herself and rarely goes out, has she escaped being set upon by the crowd.
When Venerable Golden Crow led four Guardians to storm the Tang Clan, the Water Guardian Yu Lin was in seclusion and never got to know Rui Sheng; the other three Guardians all had private ties with Rui Sheng (per the Biographies). On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Meng Xianyao says she is no longer a County Lady and lives on others' charity, and declares to Zhao Huo: "Tell that old thing Soul-Hooking to give up his hopes too. I would shave my head and become a nun, never marry all my life, and never be the Soul-Stealing Direct Disciple."
Iron Fist Gate
The Iron Fist Gate's duties are a mixed bag: everything from forging iron, farming, brewing, pickling, hunting, butchering, and everyday goods to trades not fit to mention in front of women—the Iron Fist Gate handles it all. Anyone the other three gates don't want gets shoved in here, so there are an unusual number of idlers and hangers-on. The weapons forged here are the finest in the Jianghu; it's said the Fire Mountain Sword Pavilion was originally a branch of the Iron Fist Gate that split off and became independent a hundred years ago.
The Iron Fist Sect Leader Lei Qian isn't very famous in the Jianghu. He's a blacksmith, warm-hearted and generous, known as Brother Lei. His Direct Disciple, the "Bone-Cracking Demon" Yu Zhu, is small in stature but monstrously strong—she can bend a coin with one hand, and as a child she once crushed the fist of a fellow disciple, an .
The Iron Fist Gate's people are a mixed lot, and some are light-fingered. The secret manual Iron Arm Divine Fist has already spread throughout the Jianghu; the Iron Fist Gate's own people can't use it, and nowadays it's even the signature skill of the .
If Zhao Huo chooses this gate for his studies at the Kongtong Sect, he'll stay in the Zhiming wing room on the west side of the guesthouse, and Training there raises Stamina. Most of the rest of his life is spent hammering iron.
As for why the Iron Fist Gate takes on all the odd jobs, the Iron Fist disciples say all four gates need food and daily goods, and the Iron Fist Gate has many people and thus many needs. The other three gates were unhappy, and in the ensuing quarrel the Iron Fist Gate gave way, taking on the menial chores the other three gates wouldn't do, and keeping food and clothing simple—enough to keep body and soul together. Lei Qian says the Iron Fist Gate "is the shabbiest gate in Kongtong": forging iron, mending feet, cutting hair, tailoring, farming, weighing goods, selling oil, running errands, and the like. Lei Qian says that although he's the Sect Leader, his martial arts aren't much use. During the Golden Crow Rebellion, Huang Peihua said, "The Iron Fist Gate is mostly the old, the weak, women, and children; their help is limited." The Biographies say the Iron Fist Gate toils all day, busy with the people's livelihood, content with a roof and a full belly, and has no heart for strife. Lei Qian laid down the rule that students on exchange get no stipend, and even those registered under the Iron Fist Gate must feed themselves; when they meet wealthy outsiders, they must fleece them ruthlessly. On the route where people protest the Nangong Family's financial support, the Iron Fist Gate is set off in an instant; Lei Qian explains, "Not a single coin of the money the Nangong Family sponsored this time landed in my hands"—it was all held by the Mystic Skill Gate.
All sorts of people live in Iron Fist Alley, and the main trade is the smithy. Most of the Kongtong people's tools and goods are ordered here, with orders booked out to the year after next. The Soul-Stealing Gate's Iron Claws and Xiahou Lan's Steel-Bone Umbrella all come from here, and even the Soul-Stealing disciples can't order the Iron Fist Gate's craftsmen around. Zhao Huo thinks to himself that the Song have strict laws controlling metal, yet the Iron Fist Gate openly sells farm tools and weapons—isn't that breaking the law and aiding the enemy? When the Iron Fist disciples make big money, they must first hand it up to the Sect Leader, who distributes it so the Iron Fist Gate's people prosper together; the internal rule is "if rich, do not forget one another," and those who earn must share with their hard-up fellow disciples. Yu Zhu says that even after earning money you still have to hand it up to the Sect Leader, and in the end you get at most thirty percent. The finished goods are made from the Iron Fist Gate's ore and belong to the Iron Fist Gate. Repairing broken blades for others is something all the disciples tacitly refuse to do anymore, because an elder of the Iron Fist Gate once suffered for it—a customer extorted him and left him bankrupt. An Iron Fist disciple says, "When you go to the square to meet guests, don't bring just anyone into Iron Fist Alley"—and Iron Fist Alley is just around the corner from Colorless Square.
The Biographies say the Iron Fist Gate can't compare with Flying Heaven, Soul-Stealing, or Mystic Skill: poor and crude, and even its gate-guarding secret manuals were stolen down the mountain by petty thieves and sold off. As for how Iron Arm Divine Fist leaked out, Lei Qian says a worthless disciple copied it out; nowadays seven or eight of every ten Greenwood heroes have practiced it, while few of the gate's own disciples are willing to—mainly because it's hard work. The Iron Fist Gate has the Spirit Pill "Dragon-Elephant Leopard Strength Pill," which the Sect Leader uses to build muscle and temper bone, and also a precious medicine meant to be offered to the Sect Leader in the future. As for Yu Zhu's divine strength, Xiahou Lan says half comes from nature and half from the Iron Fist Gate's secret medicine; the compendium says it comes from being tricked by Xiaomei as a child into swallowing the Spirit Pill "Iron-Scaled Black Python Blood."
The Iron Fist Gate's former Sect Leader was Deng Yi, known as Old Deng, and Lei Qian succeeded him. Yu Zhu was sold to Kongtong because her birth father was a compulsive gambler (the compendium records her price as five strings of cash), and Deng Yi bought her as a disciple. Yu Zhu herself says Deng Yi was drunk at the time and bought her on impulse, and regretted it afterward; if the former Iron Fist Sect Leader hadn't snatched her up, she doesn't know what would have become of her—she might have been sold into a brothel. On his deathbed Deng Yi left the Great Smithy to Yu Zhu, but he was a spendthrift, and the Great Smithy was a thousand strings of cash in debt. After Lei Qian succeeded him, he was much more lenient in restraining her. An Iron Fist disciple says that ever since that scandal in the Soul-Stealing Gate, after Guardian Huyan achieved liberation and ascended as an immortal, Sect Leader Deng's temperament grew more and more violent. Brothels were originally one of the Iron Fist Gate's nine great trades, but as soon as Sect Leader Wei arrived she cracked down and banned them all, and arranged for the sisters in the brothels to each have a trade to make a living. The Fire Mountain Sword Pavilion is now the foremost forge, a gathering of famous smiths, a sacred forging ground revered by smiths the world over. On one route, the Pavilion Master sends a letter inviting Yu Zhu; the Pavilion's master swordsmiths had also visited Kongtong before and mocked Xiao Zhu to her face.
On the route for Kongtong's endgame, the Iron Fist Gate's Direct Disciple is replaced. After the Battle of Jiangling, Yu Zhu's birth father comes to Kongtong, claiming to be the birth father of the Iron Fist Direct Disciple and the future father-in-law of the Sect Leader, and extorts money. Lei Qian lies to his face, saying Xiao Zhu died in battle at Jiangling, and sends word to Jiangling instructing the Iron Fist Guardian Tong Dachong to "kill one person" for him to make his lie hold, and expels Xiao Zhu from the sect. The Great Smithy's deed and savings will be settled and confiscated later. Tong Dachong tells Yu Zhu, "The Great Smithy and everything in it are all confiscated," and "The Direct Disciple belongs to the Sect Leader in life and is the Sect Leader's ghost in death. If you go back, you'll have to fight, and you'll lose, and you'll die," adding that his words speak for the Iron Fist Gate's people, "about ninety percent of it is sincere," and "From now on, the Iron Fist Direct Disciple is no longer called Yu Zhu," and tells Yu Zhu to go wherever she wants. The Biographies, written from Tang Weiyuan's understanding, say that Kongtong abandons her and forbids anyone else to take her in, lest it easily bring disaster. Lei Qian separately buys Yu Zhu's younger sister Yu Baohua, who had been sold by their birth father into a gambling den, and forcibly makes her the Direct Disciple; she is counted among the Kongtong Four Maidens, yet is doomed to rank last, and at Kongtong's endgame she even visits her sister in the Soul-Quelling Prison. Yu Zhu herself says, "I'm not the Sect Leader's Wife yet, and I'm not even the Direct Disciple."
On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Lei Qian also reveals his secret at the table with the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch and the Soul-Hooking Elder: "It was I who secretly pasted black powder on the roof of Banyu Terrace's cave. But I don't mind telling you, I never intended to hand the Divine Thunder Sword over to outsiders. What I had in mind then was to blow Banyu Terrace down and bury all the foreign enemies right there."
Mystic Skill Gate
The Mystic Skill Gate keeps the records, in charge of all texts, income and expenditure, household registers, and livestock. It's open during the day for Kongtong disciples to come and borrow books, but the books left out for anyone to leaf through are nothing but musty old pedantry.
The Mystic Skill Gate's territory is the Mystic Skill Cave. One cave leads into another, a chain running through the mountain—the most marvelous sight of all. The deeper the cave, the more precious the books stored, and none but senior, highly respected elders of the sect may enter. The last cave can only be opened when the Sect Leader comes in person or the Four Sect Leaders gather together; it would not be wrong to call it forbidden ground.
The Sect Leader Wei Ju was, before she entered the Jianghu, a talented lady of Lin'an, accomplished in poetry, letters, rites, and music. Among scholars the name "Wei Zhaodi" was thunder in the ears, like Li Qingzhao come again. She and Shangguan Ying are old classmates, and have a chance to meet each other while studying at the Kongtong Sect.
The Mystic Skill Gate excels at Internal Skill, and all its disciples practice the Iron Pipa Skill. Practitioners must use the Flying Heaven Gate's "Crane Stance" to stand on one leg, supporting the iron pipa with the leg, and use the Soul-Stealing Gate's "Frost Blade Breaking Bamboo Finger" finger strength to pluck the strings; they also need the physique tempered in the Iron Fist Gate before they can glimpse its mysteries. Even then they cannot produce a sound, and can only accumulate it day by day, quietly waiting for the Mystic Skill to gradually take form. A disciple only passes once they can play a whole tune on the iron pipa, which often takes seven or eight years.
If Zhao Huo chooses this gate for his studies at the Kongtong Sect, he'll stay in the Zhiming wing room on the north side of the guesthouse, and Training there raises Fist and Palm.
Ju Dongyin says Sect Leader Wei Ju knows every named, callable thing on Kongtong Mountain, even the cats and dogs. The one who keeps the livestock and manages income and expenditure can rightfully review the account books of all four gates; Wei Ju, carrying out the former Sect Leader's dying charge to govern the four gates, keeps accounts and settles Kongtong's assets following the Ministry of Revenue's Bureau of Expenditure procedures. Wei Ju can use the authority of the Mystic Skill Gate's record-keeper to borrow the other three gates' Martial Arts Secret Manuals for exchange students. The Mystic Skill Gate's arts can't be mastered in a short time, so a half-year of study is spent making up for it. During his studies, Zhao Huo is a guest of the Mystic Skill Gate, and food and clothing all have the Mystic Skill Gate to fall back on.
The Mystic Skill Cave is where the Mystic Skill Gate's people live, and also a highly confidential stronghold; without a Mystic Skill disciple accompanying you, even the Direct Disciple may not wander at will, and outsiders may not enter without being summoned. The Mystic Skill "Earth Listening Method" can tell an intruder's movements from the sound of footsteps. The cave's books are open at set hours, and there are morning assemblies in the cave, where after morning exercises the Sect Leader addresses them in the cave's training hall. Storybooks can be rented and read at the Mystic Skill Cave. There was a child who was a habitual thief; Sect Leader Wei held that killing without teaching is cruelty, spoke up for him, and brought him back to the Mystic Skill Cave to copy books and learn propriety, righteousness, honesty, and shame—but unfortunately he never reformed. There is a natural well shaft on the mountain that leads to the Mystic Skill Cave's scripture vault.
According to what Danxiazi "heard," the Mystic Skill Cave was carved out by Kongtong's forebears over several dynasties and generations, with the strength of hundreds and thousands of people; an elder of the Iron Fist Gate, nicknamed "Mountain-Boring Rat," was also a blacksmith by trade, skilled at boring through mountains and digging caves, and once helped the Mystic Skill Gate expand its caves. Within the cave is another world, leading to a Secluded Valley with fruit trees and farmland; in the cave, where daylight and rain fall through, Sect Leader Wei secretly grows vegetables. Once the "Forgetting-Dust Stone" is set down, the place is cut off from the world. On the route where the Golden Crow Rebellion's fighting worsens, Wei Ju resorts to her last measure, planning for everyone to retreat to the Mystic Skill Secret Realm and set down the Forgetting-Dust Stone.
After morning exercises, the Mystic Skill disciples gather in the cave's training hall to hear the Sect Leader's address and eat in the cave. The Mystic Skill Gate's food differs from the other three gates': plainer, with less oil and meat, accompanied by incense and music. The Rhinohorn Lotus Seed Decoction is the Mystic Skill Gate's drink for nourishing Qi and clearing the mind, restoring spent Qi. Male disciples sent from outside may not join the morning exercises. When Sect Leader Wei sees a marriageable female disciple who fancies Zhao Huo, she has a Senior Sister invite him to the Mystic Skill Cave to sit and meet her. Zhao Huo says that in this generation every disciple of the Mystic Skill Gate is a woman, while Nangong Qian says nine out of ten in the Mystic Skill Gate are women, who were meant all along to be married to the men of the three gates. Only male disciples may compete for Sect Leader, and at the scene of joining the Mystic Skill Gate, Wei Ju admits that in this generation the Mystic Skill Gate cannot produce a single male disciple fit to compete for Sect Leader, and welcomes Zhao Huo into the gate. On the route where Venerable Golden Crow makes trouble at the Tang Clan, Guardian Ju Dongyin relays a message from Wei Ju, asking Zhao Huo to come to Kongtong to fight on the Mystic Skill Gate's behalf and compete for Kongtong Sect Leader.
Wei Ju comes from the Gengyang Reading Studio. As soon as she reached Lin'an she made her name at poetry gatherings, and at a young age became a disciple of the Son of Heaven, once ascending the golden hall to meet the reigning emperor and being named Top Scholar by imperial decree; but a woman too talented is also a sin, and so she offended a powerful minister, was stripped of her honors, and exiled to the Jianghu (so say the Biographies). The court historians dared not record her name, and she in her pique swore never to write poetry in a benighted court. She is described as "frustrated in officialdom, fallen into the Jianghu," while she herself says she was never any noble lady of Lin'an, and is now the Mystic Skill Gate Leader besides. According to the compendium, she was a distant relative specially summoned from the Gengyang Reading Studio by the former Sect Leader before his death; her old name was changed to Ju, and she inherited the Mystic Skill Gate Leader's post and also served as Direct Disciple. The compendium also says, "I hear her martial arts are so high they startle the world, and even the Flying Heaven Sect Leader, the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch, who stands alone above the mountain, is a little wary of this Young Lady." A Mystic Skill disciple says that with her age and experience she can stand as an equal to the three gate leaders. Tang Weiyuan says the Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing gates are like fire and water, and that this generation can barely keep the peace only because Sect Leader Wei deliberately balances them openly and secretly; she does not lead the Mystic Skill Gate to contend for power, but styles herself chief steward, inventing pretexts to assign the Soul-Stealing Gate to key posts of guard and fire-watch. Not yet implemented: on Shangguan Ying's route, when the Fourth Senior Brother's mission to Kongtong succeeds, Tang Weiyuan also says Wei Ju asks to step down and pass the Sect Leader's post to the Mystic Skill Guardian Ju Dongyin; the common people all urge her to stay, and the other three Sect Leaders hold her in awe as well, and only when she pleads a wish to travel and clear her mind do the three Sect Leaders reluctantly agree.
The Mystic Skill Guardian Ju Dongyin is the senior expert in the Mystic Skill Cave second only to Sect Leader Wei, having mastered the Iron Pipa Skill on her own (see below). At Kongtong's endgame the Mystic Skill Gate also has Huang Peihua, a disciple of the former Mystic Skill Sect Leader: "By rank, below the Sect Leader and the Guardian, Peihua holds first place in name only." Wei Ju leads the Mystic Skill Gate's two hundred disciples in logistics, dispatch, and military planning, as the "Zhiming Bureau"; there is also a Mystic Strategy Squad of twelve, and the Flying Heaven Gate has a separate Blazing Fire Squad of twelve.
Kongtong Mountain Map
During free action while staying at the Kongtong Sect, the background of the destination-selection screen is a panorama of Kongtong Mountain.
In the year−3 Kongtong story added in the October 2026 major update, a "Great Kongtong Mountain Terrain Map" is shown when explaining the war situation.
Place names marked on the map: Hunyuan Peak, Yangbulan Mountain, Taihe Palace, Taiyang Zhang, Tongtian Bridge, Chaoyang Cave, Needle-Grinding Temple, Incense-Inserting Platform, Qipan Ridge, Soul-Stealing Forest, Huanglong Spring, Sheshen Cliff, Banyu Terrace, Zuanyang Cave, Candle Peak, Rotten Wood Bridge, Soul-Quelling Prison, Daxiang Mountain, Yixian Tian, Medicine King Cave, Chaotian Gate, Xiudu Bridge, Xiaoxiang Mountain, Eight Immortals Platform, Colorless Square, Zhengzheng Lake, Mystic Skill Cave, Ascension Palace, Wendao Palace.
North is at the top of the map. Among the places not marked, the Flying Heaven Gate's Flying Heaven Hall is on Hunyuan Peak, further north than Taihe Palace, while Crane Cliff lies in the Flying Heaven Gate's heartland.
A Tour of Scenic Spots
Colorless Market
Colorless Market, also called Four Symbols Square, is an absolutely neutral zone that none of the four gates meddles in. That said, most of the people who settle here are still from the Iron Fist Gate.
If you need anything for daily life, you can come here. Short on spending money? You can take odd jobs too. Want quick money? There are gambling dens and arenas, suited to people who want to pick up bad habits.
sometimes comes here to do business as well; with luck you can run into him.
Death Arena
"Someone like you, a spineless duelist, doesn't qualify to participate in the Death Arena Tournament hosted by my Kongtong sect!!"
Located in Four Symbols Square, the Death Arena Tournament is said to have a long history—longer even than the Kongtong Sect.
Legend has it that in the Three Kingdoms period, the Qiang, Wusun, and Yuezhi, and that famous Xiliang Ma Family Army, often fought chaotic battles in Liangzhou, none giving way to another. Later the Ma Family Army had to join Yuan Shang to fight Cao Cao, and with no time to deal with the foreign tribes' harassment, they came up with the Death Arena Tournament: the winner is king, the loser gets out.
Before Kongtong Mountain was unified, small and mid-sized sects stood everywhere, and any dispute was settled in the arena. To this day, the Death Arena tradition carries on. To enter you must sign a Life-and-Death Contract, and for each victory you take a tenth of the total winnings the gambling den paid out.
Banyu Terrace
The Kongtong Sect's assembly hall. Whenever the four gates have important matters to discuss, or for sacrifices and festivals, they come here. The Sect Leader Election is also held here.
This place is a marvel of craftsmanship, a hollow carved into the cliff face, with a cave dug out as a passage. In the roof of Banyu Terrace's cave is thrust the immortal sword used by the former Sect Leader; it is said that none but a powerhouse who has attained Immortal Cultivation and reached the Mahayana Stage can pull it out.
Soul-Stealing Forest
Kongtong Mountain's fields are all tilled and planted by the Iron Fist disciples themselves, self-sufficient.
Beside the fields is the Soul-Stealing Forest, which the locals all shrink from; loitering there at night is forbidden, and it's said unclean things are inside. But before any ghost gets to you, you're more likely to be beaten half to death by the Soul-Stealing disciples on night patrol, who take you for a vegetable thief.
The Jianghu's number one beauty, , lives in seclusion here. Strangers keep away.
Sect Leader
The Immortal Descends
The following is the Kongtong legend as told by Tang Sheng.
Small and mid-sized sects stood everywhere on the mountain. "Kongtong Sect" was only a general name, referring to all the sects on Kongtong Mountain. Later the four gates of Flying Heaven, Soul-Stealing, Iron Fist, and Mystic Skill swallowed up the others and became the four overlords. They agreed to a decisive battle, and the winner would be Kongtong's supreme ruler.
Then Kongtong's first Sect Leader appeared out of nowhere. Legend says he came east on a crane, wielding an immortal sword that commanded heavenly thunder, and blasted a great hole in the cliff face—Kongtong's wondrous sight, Banyu Terrace. Seeing the immortal's awe-inspiring might, the Four Sect Leaders all knelt and submitted, honoring him as Sect Leader, and from then on Kongtong had favorable weather and no more strife.
Before the Sect Leader passed away, he flung the immortal sword into the roof of Banyu Terrace's cave and rode his crane west. He left an immortal decree, prophesying that in every generation of Kongtong a Chosen One would descend, one who comes bearing heaven's mandate, an immortal from on high shaped into a human body from clay and sent down to wander the mortal world.
While the Sect Leader holds office, Kongtong is always blessed by heaven and invincible in every direction...
The Divine Thunder Sword
The sword thrust into the roof of Banyu Terrace's cave is named the "Divine Thunder Sword," Kongtong's mountain-guarding treasure. Wei Ju calls it "a mountain-guarding treasure passed down for a hundred years, the only one of its kind"; on the route where Danxiazi loses to Venerable Golden Crow and Zhao Huo cannot wake Xiaomei, the Divine Thunder Sword leaps from its sheath with a ring, the Painting Immortal snatches it in midair, and Zhao Huo leaps up to catch it, commanding thunder and lightning that make Banyu Terrace bright as day for an instant. Soul-Hooking Elder says, "To us Kongtong disciples, the Divine Thunder Sword above Banyu Terrace is the tiger tally and the imperial seal." If you're assigned to the Flying Heaven Gate during your studies, Wei Ju also says that although the former Sect Leader couldn't fly, he had an immortal sword that could fly to wound enemies. The Kongtong Sword-Riding Technique and the Songshan Sect's secret art Vajra Divine Spear Finger are both legends of the Jianghu, and most people don't believe in them. Another legend says that on the day the Supreme Bliss Cult raised its army, the Kongtong Immortal Sword hummed without cease, warning the world. On the route where Zhao Huo wants to decline the Sect Leader's post, Wei Ju mentions to Xiao Zhu that if this mountain-guarding treasure fell into an enemy's hands and was destroyed and discarded, by the mountain's law, "that is an unpardonable crime for which flaying alive would not be too much"—the enemy she means is Venerable Golden Crow.
How the Sect Was Founded
Besides the legend Tang Sheng tells, the Kongtong people have another account of the sect's founding.
Rui Sheng says that in the old days sects stood everywhere on Kongtong Mountain, and among the mountain's people were Song, Western Xia, Liao, and Tubo, "so whose country's law should you listen to?" The various sects were constantly fighting one another, with countless dead and wounded. "In the end the founding Patriarch laid down the mountain's law, and working in concert with three Sect Leaders, wiped out the other small and mid-sized sects by force, finally unifying Kongtong Mountain and founding the Kongtong Sect as it is today." "Afterward the Patriarch's son succeeded as Sect Leader and took the eldest daughters of the three gates as wives. On Kongtong Mountain, apart from these four families, no one else was ever again permitted to set himself up as a lord."
When a Mystic Skill Gate female disciple explains the rule that the Four Maidens will marry the new Sect Leader, she goes on to tell the same story: the founding Patriarch, unwilling to see the people slaughtered, joined with three other heroes to lead the four gates in cooperation, swallowing up the other small and mid-sized sects and founding the Kongtong Sect; the Patriarch then had his son succeed as Sect Leader and marry the eldest daughters of the three heroes to cement the alliance, "which was as much as to declare: on Kongtong Mountain, apart from these four gates, there is no other orthodox line."
Origins of the Martial Arts (Nanyue True Scripture)
Painting Immortal (actually the Second-Generation Thousand-Faced Demon) explains that Kongtong's true origin is the Nanyue True Scripture handed down by the Left Sage, the South Pole Immortal of the Southern Peak; later generations could not fathom its profundity and could only interpret it each according to what they knew and saw, splitting into the four methods of Flying Heaven, Soul-Stealing, Iron Fist, and Mystic Skill. The Flying Heaven Gate, hot-tempered as fire and unwilling to train hard, simplified One-Toe Riding the Wind into Immortal Crane's Elusive Fist, and then further into the Flying Heaven Kick. The Soul-Stealing Gate, every one of them cheating the next, taught their disciples to hold back moves, and the Soul-Quelling Skill was lost. The Iron Fist Gate could not preserve the seven paths of the Wounding Fist. In the end, the only thing passed down to this day is the Mystic Skill Gate's Iron Pipa Divine Skill, hard to learn and hard to master, revered as the Kongtong Secret Treasure. The Painting Immortal calls the other three gates' losses and simplifications man-made disasters, while the Biographies say One-Toe Riding the Wind was too abstruse and hard to understand, and so was lost. Once One-Toe Riding the Wind is mastered, power flows from the body to the legs, from the legs to the feet, from the feet to the toes; without bending the knees or exerting force, driven by Internal Force alone one can glide and race, concealing every sign of one's body—the finest Qinggong in the world.
The Painting Immortal says this is something even the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch hasn't figured out, and Yu Xiaomei, who spent years undercover in Kongtong, never heard of it either. The Painting Immortal also says, "If a wicked tome like the 'Four Fiends' Scripture' can exist in this world, then naturally there also exist righteous divine arts that can suppress a hundred evils—the Nanyue True Scripture is one of them."
The Sect Leader's Status
The Sect Leader is Kongtong's leader, equal in status to other sects' leaders and the Three Great Family Heads. Wei Ju says that to the various sects, a Kongtong gate leader is something of an empty title; the Biographies also say that the Iron Fist Gate's leader is, in the Jianghu at large, no more than some sect's Elder. The Biographies say that by Jianghu standing, the Tang Clan Sect Leader Tang Zhongling should rank equal to the Kongtong Sect Leader, with the four Kongtong gate leaders a step below. Wanli Pengcheng says, "Apart from the Songshan Abbot, the heads of this vast Wulin are all called Sect Leader, and Quanzhen calls theirs Grand Master. As far as this old man knows, the only one who can be called 'Sect Leader' in that special sense is Kongtong's supreme ruler." The Sect Leader is also called "Lord of Kongtong Mountain." The next Sect Leader is called the "Eleventh-Generation Sect Leader."
The Biographies say the Kongtong Sect Leader is a symbol of peace, born bearing heaven's mandate, like Kongtong's Son of Heaven—not a post you can take just because you want it, nor quit just because you say so. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, even returning the Kongtong divine sword does not free him from the role. Danxiazi says, "The Sect Leader is not merely a position but Kongtong's supreme spiritual symbol, the symbol of the end of chaos." Wei Ju says the Sect Leader is bound to heaven's mandate, and so long as he lives, everyone is willing to believe Kongtong's fortune is not yet spent and that they can live and work in peace. Wei Ju says the Four Sect Leaders' duty is simply to follow the Sect Leader's direction; the post of Mystic Skill Gate Leader can only be resigned with the Sect Leader's consent.
After the former Sect Leader passed away before his term was up, the election was postponed again and again, leaving the seat vacant for years. A Soul-Stealing disciple says, "This is our sect's great event once every thirty years. The former Sect Leader passed on before his term was up, and our sect has always taken in many extraordinary people—we cannot be without a head. Let the mountains shake and the earth move, next year's Sect Leader Election will proceed regardless." In the dialogue after Zhao Huo returns to the Tang Clan from his studies, he says the two contenders with the loudest support in this generation are both from the Flying Heaven Gate: one is the General of Dao Techniques, Danxiazi, far away on the Xiangyang battlefield, and the other is Venerable Golden Crow. If Danxiazi does not return from the war, the Flying Heaven Gate's candidate will surely be Venerable Golden Crow, and the Flying Heaven disciples believe Senior Brother Golden Crow will take over as Sect Leader next year. Yan Jiang holds that the only Flying Heaven representative qualified to compete for Sect Leader is Danxiazi; Ju Dongyin says the only one who can stand against Golden Crow is the General of Dao Techniques, but his heart is on the battlefield, and whether he returns is still unknown. The Soul-Stealing Gate is determined to win, and when Xiahou Lan fails to appear before the election, the disciples are frantic with worry. The Iron Fist Gate seems to have given up entirely on competing for Sect Leader (so says Zhao Huo).
In extraordinary times someone may act as Sect Leader temporarily. When Jiangling was besieged by the Demon Cult, the Four Sect Leaders resolved that the Flying Heaven Sect Leader, the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch, would temporarily act as Sect Leader in the crisis; Kongtong entered martial law, the four gates were strictly forbidden to fight, and violators would be dealt with by the mountain's law. Apart from those holding key posts such as fire-watch and records, the Kongtong disciples gathered at Banyu Terrace, with the Registered Disciples lined up by gate. The Soul-Stealing Sect Leader was still in seclusion, and the Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch confirmed with the Soul-Hooking Elder present whether his words could be taken as the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader's meaning.
The Contest for Sect Leader and the Investiture Ceremony
The duel for the position of Sect Leader, the "Contest for Sect Leader", is a contest of Destiny: "It answers to the will of Heaven above and carries the feelings of the people below; no third party may ever interfere." The winner takes all, the loser loses all; and if the challenged side shirks the fight, it loses all face. The battle between Danxiazi and Venerable Golden Crow became, at Banyu Terrace, a duel wagering the Sect Leader's seat. Yan Jiang said: "In the Contest for Sect Leader, only the victor is honored, and from of old nothing is off limits. If a trickster wins, it only means Heaven has judged that our Kongtong Sect has no future without trickery." "Kongtong Disciples may not harm a candidate for Sect Leader, or Heaven's punishment will fall." In the decisive battle with Golden Crow, the Guardians could not strike, yet they broke the array and cleared the way for Zhao Huo, entrusting their fate to him.
A Sect Leader may not be physically disabled. Meng Xianyao mocks Zhao Huo's looks, saying: "The Kongtong Sect Leader, like the heir of a great house, is the face of the sect and absolutely cannot be a cripple." The Biographies record Danxiazi's thinking: just as the Son of Heaven and the feudal lords, those who stand above others, must be a model for the myriad people, so must they be of proper appearance; a disabled person cannot succeed. If Venerable Golden Crow's foot is cut off and he is maimed, he loses his qualification as Sect Leader on the spot. On the route where Zhao Huo is defeated by the Eastern and Western Wulin, Zhao Huo is left disabled, and Yu Xiaomei says this is the smallest price: "Only by leaving you disabled, so you cannot become the Kongtong Sect Leader, can the Wulin Alliance be at ease." Yu Zhu says they insisted on at least this much, "so the Wulin Alliance can be at ease, so they will spare our lives."
Becoming Sect Leader requires the "Pilgrimage of the Four Gates": entering from the Iron Fist Gate's Hall of Seeking the Dao in the south, passing through the Mystic Skill Gate's Gate of Facing Heaven, on to the Soul-Stealing Gate's Grinding Needle Temple, and finally reaching the Flying Heaven Gate's Hunyuan Peak. The Kongtong verse sung along the way runs: "I have the will to ascend as an immortal, seeking the Dao beneath the temple eaves. Three hundred kowtows facing Heaven, and only then I reach the cloud road. With constancy I fear no hardship; an iron pestle grinds down to a needle. Hunyuan becomes one breath, and in broad day I fly to Heaven." This verse is both the mountain path and the road to immortality. After the pilgrimage, the crown is worn at Banyu Terrace, a Daoist name is taken, and the new leader takes up residence in the Taihe Palace and formally assumes rule over Kongtong. The Taihe Palace is the dwelling of successive Sect Leaders. Rites, music, sacrifices, and ceremonies have always been presided over by the Mystic Skill Gate.
The Course of the Sect Leader Selection
Where the position of Sect Leader goes depends on the route.
In the Kongtong endgame route where Venerable Golden Crow answers the Contest for Sect Leader, the Biographies record Golden Crow thinking: "You just happened to catch a sword, so why should it be you? You only came to study here for half a year!" He means to flee. Xiaomei and Zhao Huo together kick Venerable Golden Crow off Banyu Terrace, and Golden Crow dies. On another route, the Divine Thunder Sword descends between Zhao Huo and Golden Crow and clashes with Golden Crow's Blazing Sun Hammer: "That century-old sword could not escape either, and shattered at the sound." Zhao Huo, gripping a shard of the broken blade, pierces Golden Crow's throat. On this route, when the Divine Thunder Sword descends, Kongtong's civil war has already halted; with Golden Crow's defeat, the assassins from the Thousand Lantern Tower scatter like smoke in the dawn. Zhao Huo is welcomed as the "Eleventh Sect Leader". Wei Ju later says that if Zhao Huo insists on declining the post, then without his awe-inspiring protection, Xiaomei is certain to die; she also advises that if the Sect Leader does not wish to remain on the mountain, the sect's mundane affairs can be entrusted to the Four Sect Leaders to divide among them, with her coordinating in the middle.
On the route where Zhao Huo does not become Sect Leader, a Tang Clan Disciple says "the Kongtong Sect has finally chosen a new Sect Leader", and it is Venerable Golden Crow. Rumor has it that after returning to Kongtong, Golden Crow confessed his crimes, then with a glib tongue persuaded the Kongtong Sect to accept the Supreme Bliss Cult, thereby sparking Kongtong's civil war. On the day of the Sect Leader's grand wedding, the Direct Disciples of the Iron Fist and Mystic Skill Gates vanish one after another within a single day; just as suspicion falls on the Flying Heaven Direct Disciple, even Xiaomei disappears; Xiahou Lan never gave a fig for the Soul-Stealing Sect Leader's orders and has drifted off no one knows where. On the route where Golden Crow becomes Sect Leader, Tang Sheng sighs: "A Chosen One is not necessarily a Good Person." On another route, Venerable Golden Crow takes up the Sect Leader's post, obtains the Kongtong Secret Treasure, and his Power advances by leaps and bounds; he comes with his new bride Lady Mei to destroy the Tang Clan. There is also an ending where, after Golden Crow becomes the new Kongtong Sect Leader, he takes a dislike to Zhao Huo, who is sheltering at the Iron Fist Gate, and kills him with a casual palm strike. On the route where Venerable Golden Crow dies at the Tang Clan, the Sect Leader's post goes undecided day after day, the infighting among the Four Gates grows fiercer, and Kongtong, hard pressed to look after itself, can no longer make enemies abroad.
Shangguan Sun tells Song Bei that Zhao Huo has not yet made the pilgrimage or been crowned, so he does not count as the true Kongtong Sect Leader; if he dies, someone else in Kongtong will take his place, and that person will most likely be the General of Dao Techniques, Danxiazi. Shi Ming says he has heard that before the pilgrimage, Destiny is not yet settled. On another route, though Zhao Huo has not made the pilgrimage or worn the crown, Kongtong still acknowledges him as its master and sends craftsmen to sculpt a golden statue of him, enshrined in the Taihe Palace.
The Kongtong Four Maidens
In the spring of the year after Zhao Huo studies at the Kongtong Sect, the grand ceremony for the Sect Leader is to be held. The new Sect Leader, besides leading the Four Gates, may take the Direct Disciples of the Four Gates as wives. , , , and are all brides-to-be of the future Sect Leader. The first to be wed becomes the First Lady, and her sect is sure to rise in prominence because of it. The second, third, and fourth are taken as equal wives.
A Sect Leader may not serve consecutive terms, nor may he pass the post to his son out of favoritism; when the thirty-year term ends, he must return the sword and step down. If the Sect Leader has a son, the boy trains at his mother's own sect; if he has a daughter, she is always sent to the Mystic Skill Gate to be raised and groomed as the next Sect Leader. If the Sect Leader has no daughter, the most outstanding senior female disciple is chosen from within Kongtong to serve as Sect Leader.
And so what is the greatest taboo on Kongtong Mountain? Coveting Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju, the Kongtong Four Maidens! For any man to grow close to the Kongtong Four Maidens bodes ill for both sides; when the future Sect Leader learns of it, he is likely to bear a grudge.
Because of the discord among the Four Gates of Kongtong, the Four Maidens of earlier generations all came to wretched ends. As far as Xiahou Lan knows: (Beware, disturbing)
The Four Maidens' names are titles. Xiahou Lan says that from the day she entered the Kongtong Sect she was chosen as the Soul-Stealing Gate's Direct Disciple and groomed with all effort as a candidate for future Sect Leader's Wife; they took her original name and renamed her Lan. Each generation, the Soul-Stealing Gate has a Lan; when one dies, flees, falls ill, or grows old, the Gate Leader has another female disciple take the name in her place. The Four Maidens' places can be swapped: Venerable Golden Crow threatens Yu Xiaomei: "The Iron Fist Gate has swapped in a new Xiao Zhu; at most the Flying Heaven Gate will swap in a new Xiaomei too." On the route where Xiaomei is sent back to Kongtong from the Tang Clan, the Lady Mei Zhao Huo sees at the Wulin Assembly "is not the Xiaomei you know, but another beauty named Xiaomei". Wei Ju likes the name "Xiaoju". A Direct Disciple may renounce her qualification of her own accord; once she resigns, the mission and duties have nothing more to do with her. Old Man Zhai of the Iron Fist Gate once wanted Yu Zhu to renounce her Direct Disciple qualification so that his own daughter, then in her early teens, could take her place, "and in due course be sent to the Sect Leader's bed".
The Four Maidens' marriages are not their own affair alone; they bear on the rise and fall of their sects. This is a custom handed down on Kongtong Mountain for centuries, and outsiders have no say in it. Besides cultivating promising disciples who might contend for the next Sect Leader's post, the Four Gates also raise Direct Disciples as a fallback: should the bid for power fail, the sect can still keep a foothold in Kongtong. They keep their Direct Disciples under strict watch. A Mystic Skill Disciple says the four will one day fight to the death among themselves, so there is no need for false shows of friendship. Through the generations the Four Maidens, contending for the title of First Lady, have stopped at nothing: "false accusations, kidnapping, disfigurement, backstabbing, poisoning—nothing was beneath them." The Biographies call them "sisters in name, rivals in truth", but also say times have changed. Xiahou Lan says the Sect Leader marries the Four Maidens to balance the power of the Four Gates; the Biographies say the Four Maidens are raised from childhood by their sects as future Sect Leader's Wives, and marrying the Sect Leader is how Kongtong's situation is stabilized. This is a secret understood by all in the Kongtong Sect, explained to outsiders by Mystic Skill Gate Disciples after morning roll call. The men of Kongtong regard Xiaomei as a fairy descended to earth, enshrined in their hearts with respect. In outsiders' eyes, the Kongtong Sect Leader taking four lovely wives and concubines is a Wulin jest, but to the ears of Jinxiang Palace folk, it is no compliment.
A Direct Disciple's whole life is pledged to the future Sect Leader; apart from the Kongtong Sect Leader and the Four Sect Leaders, no one is qualified to instruct her. Yu Zhu says: "The greater the honor, the greater the duty." Danxiazi reflects that a Direct Disciple's body, mind, and spirit all belong to the Sect Leader; at the time of selection she must sever her ties of kinship, leaving her no way back, so that she can only put down roots in Kongtong. The Mystic Skill Direct Disciple is always a kin of the former Sect Leader and is an exception; looking over Kongtong's history, a Direct Disciple whose parents both still live is rare indeed. The compendium says the Flying Heaven Direct Disciple "is bound by her station and cannot travel far", and Yu Zhu once thought the Iron Fist Gate Guardian had come specially to bring her the pass to go down the mountain. The Four Gates usually show each other no pleasant faces, yet over Zhao Huo and Xiaomei taking a stroll they were united in indignation: disciples of three gates joined forces to surround and attack them, and Soul-Stealing Disciples even shouted, "Use the Kongtong Elusive Array on him!"
As for the reputation of the First Lady, the Biographies say Yu Xiaomei is the one and only choice for First Lady, her strongest rival being the Mystic Skill Direct Disciple and Gate Leader, Wei Ju; though Xiahou Lan holds the post of Direct Disciple, she has no mind to vie for spring. Soul-Stealing Disciples and others say Yu Zhu is doomed to finish last, a mere filler. Who the First Lady is depends on the route: there is a route where Wei Ju is honored as First Lady and still presides over the Mystic Skill Gate, and a route where Yu Xiaomei is First Lady and personally oversees the Sect Leader's attire; Danxiazi pays his respects to "the Sect Leader and Lady Mei", "the Sect Leader and Lady Zhu", and also speaks of "Lady Ju". The First Lady's authority suffices to summon Kongtong's reinforcements, and all the Kongtong Sect obeys her orders. Danxiazi says the title of First Lady should take precedence over that of Mystic Skill Gate Leader. On the route where Xiaomei is First Lady, the first Kongtong council since Zhao Huo took office ends in farce, Xiaomei is ordered shut out of the council, and the grand First Lady is reduced to a figurehead. Mei, Zhu, and Ju burn incense and pray to Heaven, including the missing Xiahou Lan in their number, and swear an oath of sisterhood; the Kongtong Four Maidens truly become sisters.
The Deaths of the Previous Generation
Some years ago, Danxiazi of the Flying Heaven Gate, Di San Xiang of the Soul-Stealing Gate, "White-Browed Tiger" Meng Chen of the Iron Fist Gate, and "Danqing Rakshasa" Yan Luosheng of the Mystic Skill Gate were known together as the Kongtong Four Talents, with hopes of contending for the Sect Leader's post.
One day, Tang Buyi and two others broke into Kongtong Mountain, beat Di San Xiang bloody, and carried Xiahou Lan off to roam the Jianghu. After Xiahou Lan returned, Di San Xiang suspected her of an affair with the man who had traveled with her; to prove her innocence, the two became husband and wife—not knowing that during her travels Di San Xiang had already exchanged vows with Huyan Ju.
Later, when Di San Xiang and Huyan Ju met in secret, through Yu Xiaomei's scheming they were caught by Xiahou Lan and Yan Luosheng. In that chaos, Huyan Ju shielded Xiahou Lan from Yan Luosheng's Judge's Pen and perished, and Di San Xiang killed Yan Luosheng.
The matter alarmed the Sect Leader, who came with the Four Sect Leaders, subdued Di San Xiang and Xiahou Lan, and imprisoned them on Soul-Stealing Peak, to be executed by the mountain's law on a chosen day. But the Sect Leader took all the blame upon himself, saying his own failure of virtue had set kin at each other's throats. He summoned the distant kin Wei Ju to succeed as Mystic Skill Gate Leader in place of his daughter, then dispersed his inner strength at the Flying Heaven Gate and ascended as an immortal.
Wanli Pengcheng calls the Former Sect Leader "Sect Leader Huyan of the Kongtong Sect" and says he was a Great Hero through and through; Lady Wen too calls the Former Sect Leader "Sect Leader Huyan" in her heart, and Iron Fist Gate Disciples say "Sect Leader Huyan ascended as an immortal". Wanli Pengcheng recalls the Former Sect Leader's immortal bearing and Daoist bones, guarding Pingliang so that the foreign tribes dared not run wild. Tang Zhongling says the Former Sect Leader was upright and of noble character, yet could not abolish the corrupt customs, letting stale rules poison his disciples; Yu Xiaomei says that in his day the old gentleman always had words of criticism for the old customs of the Four Gates of Kongtong. Xiahou Lan says the Former Sect Leader took her as a disciple and taught her tirelessly. After the Former Sect Leader passed away, the whole Kongtong Sect observed three years of mourning, and afterward the Four Ladies passed away one after another, and the Iron Fist Gate Leader too died of old age.
Xiahou Lan says that at the time the Flying Heaven and Iron Fist Gates had not yet chosen their Direct Disciples, and of the Kongtong Four Maidens only Lan and Ju remained. The previous Xiaoju was the Sect Leader's only beloved daughter, named Huyan Ju, and Xiahou Lan's dearest friend in all her life; Xiahou Lan says that without her and the Sect Leader, she, steeped day and night in hatred, would surely have become unrecognizable. Huyan Ju and Wei Ju were distant kin, alike in looks by seven parts, but utterly different in temperament: Wei Ju far gentler, while Huyan Ju, relying on being the Sect Leader's daughter, was imperious and fierce. Huyan Ju was the previous Mystic Skill Direct Disciple.
Di San Xiang, one of the Kongtong Four Talents, came from the Snow Mountain Sect and joined the Soul-Stealing Gate, and was thought most likely to succeed to the Sect Leader's post. Xiahou Lan says that after the Snow Mountain Sect was destroyed, Di San Xiang came to fetch her, but Huyan Ju stopped Xiahou Lan and urged Di San Xiang to endure hardship and bide his time, to join Kongtong and learn its arts so as to look after Xiahou Lan nearby. Di San Xiang combined the strengths of Snow Mountain and Soul-Stealing, and through Xiahou Lan and Huyan Ju's connections won much favor from the Sect Leader, his martial arts advancing by leaps and bounds. Later Danxiazi joined the army, and Meng Chen had his palm bones crushed by Xiao Zhu and his martial arts crippled; the only true rival left to Di San Xiang for the Sect Leader's post was Yan Luosheng of the Mystic Skill Gate—and Yan Luosheng claimed that the profound mysteries of martial arts were hidden in calligraphy and painting, and had no mind for solid hard training.
According to Xiahou Lan, Tang Buyi and two others broke into Kongtong and carried her off down the mountain to roam the Jianghu together, and Xie Wuchen of the Emei Sect inexplicably joined them halfway. Together they defeated the Supreme Bliss Left Envoy, whose Power in those days was far beyond their reach. Xiahou Lan says that journey has become a cherished memory.
Xiahou Lan says that the Sect Leader and the Four Sect Leaders, after subduing Di San Xiang and her, imprisoned them in the Soul-Quelling Prison, to be executed by the mountain's law on a chosen day.
The Kongtong Legacy
Struck as if plucking a string, it resounds through the meridians, and its sound lingers long without fading. The Kongtong Secret Treasure is the Iron Pipa Skill. More precisely, it is the Internal Force passed down through the line of Kongtong Sect Leaders across the generations.
What is kept in the forbidden ground of the Mystic Skill Cave is in truth nothing at all. The new Sect Leader enters with the Four Maidens, and with the Iron Fist Gate's protection, harmonizes Flying Heaven's Extreme Yang and Soul-Stealing Extreme Yin through Mystic Skill, thus achieving the Divine Power—this is the truth of the Kongtong legacy. Every Mystic Skill Gate member who practices the Iron Pipa Skill, once successful, receives the profound secrets face to face from the Gate Leader.
This too was why the Former Sect Leader summoned Wei Ju to Kongtong. Before he passed as an immortal, he gave his lifetime's Power to Wei Ju to hold in trust, waiting only for the new Sect Leader to succeed and the transmission to be made. This is why Wei Ju, who knows no martial arts, has such vast Internal Force.
The Secret Treasure is the key to maintaining the orthodoxy and the moral order, and may not be passed outside. If it is lost to another land, then Kongtong is undone. The Secret Treasure is passed only to the Sect Leader, and upon retirement is handed to the Mystic Skill Gate's Direct Disciple and hidden in the Mystic Skill forbidden ground. Only when the new Sect Leader takes up the seal may it be opened, and the treasure taken from the inner chamber for his own use.
Whoever covets it and comes to spy shall have both ears pierced deaf and both eyes gouged blind, that he may not lay a finger on it; whoever knows of it and leaks it shall have the root of his tongue cut out and his ten fingers severed, that he may not spread word of it. Should one not of our sect obtain it, the Four Gates shall be of one heart, and pursue him however far, and exterminate his three clans.
The Biographies say that before each Sect Leader steps down, he goes into seclusion and transmits the Iron Pipa Skill to his successor. The Iron Pipa Skill is exceedingly hard to master, and without decades of effort one can scarcely achieve even a small measure. The True Qi of the orthodox Iron Pipa Skill still resides in Wei Ju's body to this day, carefully nurtured through the Qiankun Creation Furnace in her hands, waiting only for the Sect Leader to be chosen, when she will enter the forbidden ground of the Mystic Skill Cave for a closed-door handover. The True Qi of the Iron Pipa Skill, poured into a blade, shatters any iron it touches. Wei Ju spent more than ten years of her prime youth bringing it to full mastery. According to the Kongtong Code of Conduct, one who has mastered the Iron Pipa Skill to perfection may learn the secret lore. Wei Ju says: "Mastery is only the beginning; the strength of the Iron Pipa Skill lies in accumulation." She also says it is the Kongtong Secret Treasure handed down for centuries. Xiahou Lan says the Snow Mountain Internal Method is meant to dissolve and melt force, while the Mystic Skill Gate prizes accumulation.
The Iron Pipa Skill is not unique in the world: Ju Dongyin, Guardian of Mystic Skill, through her own efforts and decades of toil, cultivated it herself; though far less vast and deep than the orthodox transmission, it is not to be underestimated. In the Kongtong endgame, she falls into Venerable Golden Crow's hands, her head shattered by the Blazing Sun Hammer, reduced to idiocy, her Internal Skill of decades of bitter practice stolen to fuel Golden Crow's great advance in Power, and afterward she dies. On the route where Zhao Huo refuses Wei Ju's invitation, Zhao Huo crosses hands with the Mystic Skill Guardian and becomes a wanted man, and the Kongtong Sect becomes his enemy. On the route where Venerable Golden Crow makes trouble at the Tang Clan, Kongtong promises that compensation and courtesy will not be lacking, but "the grudge between you and the Kongtong Sect is another matter; so long as your martial arts are not crippled and your breath remains, the Mystic Skill Gate of Kongtong will hunt you to the end". Wei Ju piously prays before the Former Sect Leader's spirit tablet, and on the old gentleman's behalf takes Zhao Huo into the sect, bidding Zhao Huo bow to the west, and to burn incense to the Former Sect Leader upon returning to Kongtong Mountain.
The Iron Pipa Skill is the bane of the Heaven-Swallowing Treasure Mirror, and the Biographies say this is precisely why Shentu Long schemed to destroy the Kongtong Sect; Shentu Long tells Xiaomei: "If I did not mean to destroy the Kongtong Sect, how could I let a slip of a girl like you, half-hearted in both resolve and strength, inherit that name?" On the route where Zhao Huo reveals the secret of the Kongtong Secret Treasure, all the world knows the Kongtong Secret Treasure has fallen into outside hands, and all Kongtong is in panic: some flee, some scheme for power, and Sect Leader Wei, blamed for failing to guard the treasure, is forced into seclusion in the cave.
The Four Great Guardians
The outstanding figures of the Four Gates of Kongtong, charged with guarding the Sect Leader and the Kongtong Secret Treasure. A Guardian may not contend for the Sect Leader's post, but one who is unmarried may hand the Guardian's duties to another and then go contend for the seat.
The current Four Great Guardians are the Fire Guardian, "Mountain Fire" Yan Jiang; the Water Guardian, "Wave Illusion Silverfish" Yu Lin; the Wind Guardian, "Warm Wind" Ju Dongyin; and the Earth Guardian, "Iron Spine Mountain Lord" Tong Dachong.
The Biographies say Zhao Huo once studied at Kongtong and knows these Four Great Guardians are no ordinary folk but the finest of the Four Gates, and that there may well be those among them stronger than Venerable Golden Crow; he cannot help but be secretly alarmed. On taking office, a Guardian swears loyalty before the Patriarch's statue (Yu Xiaomei says, "Yan Jiang was a fine man too, but a pity he lacked the nerve to contend for Sect Leader and took up the Guardian's post early, swearing loyalty before the Patriarch's statue, and so was cut off from the Sect Leader Election"; she also says, "As Guardian of the Flying Heaven Gate, by office he ranks highest in the Flying Heaven Gate after the Gate Leader"). Guardians not only guard but also supervise the candidates for Sect Leader; by the rules set by the founding Patriarch, they may not consult with the teachers they supervise, lest there be suspicion of favoritism or cover-up. After Venerable Golden Crow made trouble at the Tang Clan, the Four Great Guardians jointly impeached him, and the Soul-Stealing Gate meant to send envoys to arrest him, but he was first to incite rebellion. Guardians hold the orthodoxy supreme and, depending on circumstances, may disobey the Gate Leader's orders (per Yu Lin). When Venerable Golden Crow made trouble at the Tang Clan, Guardian Yu Lin said, "You are not the Sect Leader yet," and Ju Dongyin said she would report back to the Four Sect Leaders and see how he contended for the Sect Leader's post; Golden Crow too worried that if Sect Leader Wei of the Mystic Skill Gate took the chance to impeach him, his road to the Sect Leader's seat would be all the more winding. In one ending where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader and the Western Wulin goes to war with the Wulin Alliance, Tong Dachong says: "The Guardian's office guards the Sect Leader. Where the Sect Leader is, there we are." The Guardians hasten to the battlefield to guard him too. Whatever the Sect Leader eats or drinks must first be tasted for poison by the Flying Heaven Guardian; when that post is vacant, another Guardian tastes in his stead.
On the route where Zhao Huo defeats the Four Great Guardians one by one, the Biographies say Yu Lin harbors hidden designs, hoping to borrow Zhao Huo's blade to remove Venerable Golden Crow, so that one fewer rival contends for the Sect Leader's post. Lei Qian urges Tong Dachong, still unmarried, to hand over the Earth Guardian's duties and contend for the Sect Leader's post. All that Ju Dongyin says and does is at Sect Leader Wei's direction.
In one ending where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Huang Peihua pays her respects to the Sect Leader as "the Mystic Skill Gate's new Guardian". In one ending, the Kongtong Guardians hold the rear for Zhao Huo and die for the sect at Meishan; in another ending, the Kongtong Sect's Guardians all perish as well.
The Mountain's Law
Disputes within Kongtong Mountain are not handled by the authorities but by "the mountain's law". Yu Zhu says "even the officials have no say in matters on Kongtong Mountain". Soul-Stealing Disciples say the mountain's law is promulgated by the Kongtong Sect Leader, and includes provisions of the "External Code"; Danxiazi once had people recite "the mountain's law, External Code, chapter one, article one".
The punishments are harsh. A Soul-Stealing Disciple says of a certain thief, "this is the fourth time", and by the mountain's law he must lose an arm; a robber "loses a finger and is imprisoned ten days; a repeat offender loses a hand and is imprisoned a hundred days"; for offenses short of grave ones, one may be released on paying bail. Yu Zhu says those caught for treason against the sect and taken to the Soul-Quelling Prison are "first cut off from water and food for seven days, then hung up naked as a sacrifice to Heaven to feed the vultures". In one ending, Zhao Huo says the mountain's law "kills at the drop of a hat, hangs people up naked to feed the vultures—it's terrifying". Outsiders, unless they commit murder or arson or offend the Sect Leader, are not bound by the law; at most they are locked up a few days, or else driven down the mountain. In the Colorless Market, by the mountain's law, disciples of the Four Gates may not gather a crowd or raise a force here, let alone use force; even out-of-towners are protected by this rule, unless they break the law and are wanted by the Soul-Stealing Gate. Yu Xiaomei says someone once tried to carry her off down the mountain, and the Soul-Stealing Gate caught him and, by the mountain's law, cut off one of his legs.
Crimes of desertion, spying, and civil disorder can never be tolerated and must be severely punished; "by the mountain's law, one who plots against the Sect Leader is executed without mercy". Once Wei Ju held authority, she began cutting away at the mountain's law where it was too harsh and out of date.
The Study Abroad System
Disciples of other sects study at Kongtong for half a year, finishing before the grand ceremony for choosing the Sect Leader the following spring, so there is no conflict. The study abroad program was championed by the Old Patriarch Nangong of the Nangong Family; Kongtong Disciples say the Nangong Family Head donated generously, and Shangguan Sun says Elder Hero Nangong "did not hesitate to sponsor the study abroad with a thousand taels of gold". A Flying Heaven Gate Disciple says that out of respect for the Old Patriarch Nangong, their Master (Fire Dragon Immortal Monarch) braved censure and agreed to the matter on behalf of all Kongtong. Exchange students are welcomed at the Four Symbols Square by Flying Heaven Disciples. Soul-Stealing Disciples warn that down at the Colorless Square one must guard against thieves; Mystic Skill Disciples warn that in the Colorless Market one must be careful with one's belongings.
Which gate a student joins is decided by drawing lots, though there is also a branch where Wei Ju directly invites Zhao Huo to train at the Mystic Skill Gate. It is later mentioned that people of the other three gates all think that if Sect Leader Wei had not drawn the lot herself, Zhao Huo might well have joined their own gate. Lei Qian calls the exchange student Zhao Huo "half a Kongtong Disciple already", and a Soul-Stealing Disciple says, "By fate you've entered our Soul-Stealing Gate, so you're half one of us," and hands over the entry Secret Manual on the Gate Leader's behalf. Tang Zhongling says he chose Kongtong because "the Four Gates of Kongtong each have their specialty; on this visit you should broaden your knowledge".
The Biographies say the Old Patriarch Nangong, who championed the study abroad, has passed as an immortal, and the grand enterprise of study abroad has all but failed (on the route where Zhao Huo proposes bringing Xiao Zhu to study). On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, Nangong Yuan first meant to send his younger son to study at Diancang, then changed his mind and sent his second son Nangong Qian to study at Kongtong again, "to make a statement that the Nangong Family will share weal and woe with the Tang Clan and Kongtong, so that the petty men near and far, and the disaffected within the sect, will hold back in fear". On Nangong Qian's first study abroad, he did not keep company with the Kongtong heroes, but had the chance to befriend Zhao Huo.
Yu Xiaomei says the peaks of Kongtong rise sheer like swords and screens, and there are still countless natural wonders never fully explored, so an expedition team must be formed to investigate them, build plank roads for travelers, and she appoints herself captain of the survey. The expedition team is formed by force, its members dragged in against their will; its activities include discovering the shaft leading to the Mystic Skill Cave and boldly venturing into the Soul-Stealing Forest.
Relations with Other Powers
The Tang Clan
Tang Sheng says that in the Former Sect Leader's day, the Kongtong Sect and the Tang Clan had no dealings either. Tang Weiyuan says that under the Former Sect Leader the Kongtong Sect truly lived up to its name, but now it is in chaos. The Biographies say the Tang Clan and the Kongtong Sect are neither close nor hostile, and ordinarily have no contact. On the route where the Tang Clan shelters Xiaomei, the Kongtong Sect declares war on the Tang Clan; another route in the Biographies says Zhao Huo has gained the Internal Force of the Iron Pipa Skill yet refuses to take the Mystic Skill Gate as his master, violating a great Kongtong taboo, and Kongtong declares war on the Tang Clan (both enter a state of war). At the story's outset, Tang Zhongling says that experts of the great sects such as Kongtong and Diancang have sent challenge letters one after another, and the Tang Clan is gravely weakened. In another scene, the Tang Clan enters a hostile state with the Qingcheng Sect and the Kongtong Sect; the Kongtong Sect's state of war is lifted only later.
Venerable Golden Crow brings Kongtong's men to make trouble at the Tang Clan's Outer Fort at Meishan, proclaiming a challenge to the Tang Clan's foremost expert, on the pretext that Xiaomei and Xiao Zhu once stayed at the Tang Clan. On the Kongtong endgame route, the Biographies say Wei Ju makes a curtsy to Zhao Huo and Lei Qian claps his hands in approval, and that once peace is restored on the mountain, the two sects may well form an alliance; on another route, however, "Kongtong will not ally with the Tang Clan". There is also a scene where the four Kongtong Sect Leaders jointly send a letter to the Tang Clan. On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader, it is said that Kongtong and the Tang Clan are bound in brotherly alliance, of one breath and one branch, and the two sects jointly denounce the sect that harbors Supreme Bliss Cult villains, and later jointly put out a wanted notice for those spreading rumors; Zhao Huo says the Tang Clan and Kongtong are not subject to the Wulin Alliance.
Jinxiang Palace
Zhao Huo asks, if the Tang Clan cannot shelter the folk of Jinxiang Palace, what of Kongtong? Lady Wen says it is not that she has not thought of it, and that with Zhao Huo there, and with the Talented Woman Wei and the General of Dao Techniques to assist, it would be another matter; on another branch she refuses on the grounds of "not trusting them". Later Zhao Huo agrees to shelter the folk of Jinxiang Palace. On the route where Jinxiang Palace vanishes, another group settles at Kongtong, joins the Mystic Skill Gate, and changes to yellow robes. In one ending, Kongtong opens its mountain gate to take in Jinxiang Palace Disciples, who at first form an independent house and later are peacefully incorporated under the Mystic Skill Gate's rule.
The Thousand Lantern Tower, the Supreme Bliss Cult, and Western Xia
Behind the Kongtong upheaval, Western Xia's Thousand Lantern Tower is at work. Yu Xiaomei says she was ordered to infiltrate Kongtong "because the Kongtong Sect harbors the bane of the Heaven-Swallowing Treasure Mirror—the Iron Pipa Divine Skill", the aim being to seize the Kongtong Secret Treasure (see "The Kongtong Legacy" for details). Venerable Golden Crow's Blazing Sun Hammer comes from the evil arts of the Supreme Bliss Cult. In one ending where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader and the Western Wulin goes to war with the Wulin Alliance, Wei Ju sees through Western Xia's scheme: to prevent Western Xia from borrowing a road through Jin and joining forces with the Supreme Bliss Cult from within to seize Western Shu, she and Danxiazi lead Kongtong Disciples to join the Earth Auxiliary Troops and fight the Western Xia army together. All military intelligence sent by the official post was intercepted by the Supreme Bliss Cult; it was Flying Heaven Disciples, masters of Qinggong, who braved great peril and used Qinggong all the way to carry word to the Central Plains—yet the Wulin Alliance took it for Kongtong's forged intelligence, a stalling tactic. Kongtong moves its whole sect, half led by Danxiazi, based at Kongtong, to support the government troops; half led by the Guardians, to rush to the Tang Clan's aid. This move costs the Supreme Bliss Cult Leader a once-in-a-lifetime chance to strike suddenly at the Shu region, and the Imperial Court and the Wulin Alliance are able to regroup and meet the enemy. Another ending is that the Wulin Alliance Leader and the Kongtong Sect Leader both suffer grievous losses, Western Xia borrows the road through Jin, destroys Kongtong first, and is led through the pass by the Supreme Bliss Cult. Tang Sheng says the Mud Cult and the Six Great Sects are as incompatible as fire and water; when they meet on a narrow road, how could they let each other pass?
Wulin Alliance · Imperial Court · Jin
Wei Ju had drafted a strategy: use pressure from the four sects—Quanzhen, Songshan, Diancang, and Kongtong—to stir up the crowd, force the Assembly out of the Imperial Court's control, and help Zhao Huo ascend to the seat of Wulin Alliance Leader. But Quanzhen and Songshan withdrew from the contest without a word, and Kongtong, whose controversy over taking in refugees from every nation was even greater, could not find the footing to speak up; throughout the Assembly, Kongtong stayed silent (as the Biographies say). Wei Ju also said, "The Alliance Leader is merely the leader of an alliance; his standing is not necessarily above that of the Sect Leader." In one ending, Zhao Huo cannot forget old grudges and leads the sect over to the Great Jin; Wei Ju's pleas fail, and the Emperor of the Great Jin invests him as the Great Jin's State Preceptor. In another ending, the Wulin Alliance Leader seeks an audience many times, but Zhao Huo refuses him at the mountain gate every time; Kongtong, pleading its many troubles and need to rest and recover, voluntarily gives up its seat among the Six Great Sects and refuses to heed the Wulin Alliance's commands. The Wulin elders of the Alliance, seething with indignation, send a call to arms to Kongtong, wishing to muster the full strength of the Wulin for a distant campaign against Pingliang to surround and annihilate it; on some routes the Alliance Leader threatens to resign and they can only give up in frustration, while on others they cannot stop it. In the ending where Zhao Huo is defeated and dies, the Western Wulin Alliance is swallowed by the Wulin Alliance—only the Tang Clan and Kongtong are exceptions. The post-ending epilogue mentions that the Snow Mountain Sect is counted among the seven great sects of the Wulin, "a match for Kongtong."
the Battle of Jiangling
Kongtong sends a large force to Jiangling, and many disciples go down the mountain. Wei Ju goes to Jiangling with Kongtong's main force as well; when the Nangong Family's household servants come looking for Yu Zhu, Tong Dachong puts them off: "Our sect's Direct Disciple has already returned to Kongtong with the main force. This Young Lady, I do not know." When Kongtong's reinforcements reach Jiangling, the Wulin Heroes' spirits rise.
The Struggle for Kongtong
In Kongtong's endgame, Venerable Golden Crow's faction rebels in the mountains, and Kongtong falls into civil war. The Biographies say that the Golden Crow faction's main strength is the Flying Heaven Gate's people; though they fight well, they see it only as a sect's internal strife and lack any notion of logistics. The Golden Crow faction sends troops from the mountain peak and takes the Incense-Inserting Platform, the Needle-Grinding Temple, and Wild Fox Bridge. With the Incense-Inserting Platform taken, the Mystic Skill Gate loses all contact with Qipan Ridge; controlling Wild Fox Bridge is as good as crippling the Yixian Tian plank road; and striking the Needle-Grinding Temple not only wounds the Soul-Stealing Gate directly but cuts off the road to Heaven's Ladder. The Incense-Inserting Platform in the north is the outpost the Mystic Skill Gate uses to watch the Flying Heaven Gate, just as Ascension Palace is the Flying Heaven Gate's base for watching the Iron Fist and Mystic Skill Gates. Danxiazi says Candle Peak is where the enemy attacks, intending to sever the Mystic Skill Gate's route to the Medicine King Cave.
Wei Ju secures the rear and uses stratagems to freeze the Golden Crow faction in place. After Danxiazi arrives to take command, Kongtong's main army sweeps forward with overwhelming momentum, fighting to the very summit of Kongtong and forcing Venerable Golden Crow to break away and flee, pinning his hopes on Kongtong's sacred artifact. Wei Ju and Danxiazi plan to catch him at Banyu Terrace, wagering the Sect Leader's seat to force Golden Crow himself into the fray. Yu Zhu spends a full ten years alone digging a tunnel to the Soul-Quelling Prison, and when she emerges from it she is caught on the spot and thrown into prison. The Biographies say that Xiaomei's attempt on Venerable Golden Crow's life failed, and Xiao Zhu is suspected of conspiring to break into the Soul-Quelling Prison and free death-row prisoners; at this point the charge is at most infighting among fellow disciples, not a capital offense. But if matters drag on until the Sect Leader Election and Golden Crow secures the seat, Xiaomei will be beheaded and her corpse hung up for the unpardonable crime of attempting to assassinate the Sect Leader, and Xiao Zhu will be sentenced to be buried alive.
After the Golden Crow Rebellion, Kongtong is described thus in the Biographies and character entries: in the Golden Crow turmoil, the Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing Gates suffered the heaviest losses; had Wei Ju not mediated, that heap of loose sand called Kongtong would likely have fallen completely on the very first day of the Golden Crow Rebellion and become a Western Xia claw. The Biographies write that Nangong Yuan knew Kongtong's vital energy was gravely wounded, and that the surrounding small and mid-sized sects eyed it like tigers. Wei Ju says Zhao Huo ended Kongtong's ten years of infighting with a single word, bringing the four gates to submit in heart.
On the route where Zhao Huo becomes Sect Leader and leaves the mountain, Wei Ju holds real power, prettily calling it "all matters decided jointly by the Four Sect Leaders," when in truth the regulations are almost entirely drawn up by her hand, provisionally establishing "three bureaus and two offices." The three bureaus coordinate, deploying manpower and grain and building houses and temples; the two offices supervise the work schedules and temporarily take over the Soul-Stealing Gate's duty of rewarding good and punishing evil. The Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing Gates are so badly hurt that they cannot avoid ceding authority, handing it to the Iron Fist and Mystic Skill Gates to act jointly in their stead; thus the disciples of all four gates manage things together with one heart, yet stand above the four gates, sharing power in common governance. The Biographies say she also promotes capable and trustworthy people from the four gates to their own duties, quietly diluting the four gates' power thereby. The three bureaus and two offices are only a stopgap mobilization and must in the end return to the mountain's law and order, with the four gates each minding their own duty. Wei Ju also takes other measures—dismissing those who hold posts without doing the work (so that the elders of the Flying Heaven and Soul-Stealing Gates dare not trade on their seniority any longer), tearing down Iron Fist Alley, and promoting public schools—and in just a few months Kongtong becomes pragmatic, upright, and united, already showing the air of a small state standing above the Wulin's sects. Those living in peace and contentment come outside the Mystic Skill Cave to bow and thank Lady Ju, calling her a Zhuge Liang among women, the White-Faced Blue Sky.
Secret Manuals
- Flying Heaven Kick
- Immortal Crane's Elusive Fist
- Barefoot Divine Power
- Fiery Zen
- Heartburn Seal
- Wind Blade and Fire Sword
- Shadowless Claw
- Iron Arm Divine Fist
- Soul-Stealing Phantom Claw
- Snow Mountain Flying Goose Claw
- Notes on Eighteen Exotic Weapon Forging Methods
- Kongtong Mysterious Weapon Forging Method
- Iron Pipa Skill
- Selected Lyrics of the Song Dynasty
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