Q&A: The Four Great Sects (Patreon)

I was going to schedule this for tomorrow, but I figure you have waited enough

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Who is the strongest cultivator out of the Four Great Sects? Is that person also the strongest on this side of the Dead Plains?

Whoever is the strongest cultivator in the Four Great Sects would automatically be the strongest cultivator on their side of the Dead Plains, yeah. The other powers simply aren’t a match for them. However, it is a bit hard to say who is the strongest. Fights between Divinities get tricky.

I guess it would be either Great Mother of the Divine Frozen Palace or the Old Man of the Mountain of the Infinite Mountain Sect. 

How long have the Four Great Sects been the pinnacle? What preceded them?

Before the Four Great Sects, there was the war between humans and demons. It was a whole different ecosystem back then. After the Great War, the former powers were either dead or drastically diminished. The Four Great Sects are the ones who rose in their place.

Were there, at certain times during their history, other powers that rivaled them or could be said to be their peers? 

Sure. However, the Four Great Sects are what has endured. Right now, they are unquestionably the strongest on their side of the Dead Plains.

How old are the Four Great Sects? 

Less than four thousand years old. They began appearing in the first couple of centuries after the war ended or so.

How do the leaders of the Four Great Sects feel about only being the strongest in their little part of the world?

It is not exactly a nice feeling. Knowing those on the other side of the Dead Plains are stronger than them causes some tension. They each have different ideas as to how to approach the situation.

Is having a member in the Divine Realm what determines whether a Sect is great or not, or are the four most powerful automatically "Great" regardless of their level?

Having someone in the Divine Realm has nothing to do with it. The Four Great Sects are called that because they have been the four strongest sects for as long as most people can remember

Are the current leaders the ones that brought them to prominence? 

Short answer, no. Longer answer, the Four Great Sects have always been growing. The current leaders are not the founders or the ones that brought them to prominence, but they did keep making their Sects grow stronger than they were before.

Who are the oldest ones and the youngest ones between the 4 divines?

The Old Man of the Mountain of the Infinite Mountain Sect is the oldest, followed by Great Mother, followed by Patriarch Feng, followed by the Wandering Wind.

Are the currently existing divinities the only ones the 4 sects produced, or did the previous ones die/move on in some way?

The Four that exist right now are the only ones the Sects have ever produced.

What was the relationship between the Four Great Sects and the Imperial Family before the Four got to divine status?

About the same. The Four Great Sects have more or less always been superior to the Imperial Family. Getting Divines was not a full sundae, just the cherry on top.

What were the other reasons for the Four Great Sects to join the Crimson Cloud Empire? How were they able to get ahead of the Royalty of the CCE?

It is not that the Four Great Sects chose to join the Crimson Cloud Empire. They just happened to be born there and saw no reason to ever move out. Similarly, they have mostly always been somewhat stronger than the Imperial Family and the gap just grew wider over time.

Does being a divine stop you from aging? How does aging, in general, affect them and Emperor Realm cultivators? Mostly curious due to Granny Zhao. 

Technically, it doesn’t. However, they aren’t perpetual motion machines, so they should, in theory, cease eventually. It’s just that “eventually” is more theoretical than actual. 

Granny Zhao is special for various reasons. 

How come the Divine Realm cultivators don't produce more children? Wouldn't their scions be pretty much guaranteed to be high-level cultivators if raised in their sects? 

It becomes harder to reproduce as one goes up in cultivation due to a myriad of factors. That said, yes, a child of a Divinity would be incredibly strong.

Which of the four divines had the easiest time acclimating to the changes that come with being a divinity?

The Wandering Wind. It’s schtick. 

Does the Wandering Wind have direct ancestry with one of the 108?

Nope.

What does the actual leader of the Endlessly Raging Valley think of the Wandering Wind? 

There kind of isn’t one. The Wandering Wind’s rise crushed a lot of things. It gave the Endlessly Raging Valley a cultivator in the Divine Realms, which they didn’t have before, but it also messed up their whole power structure.

That said, the Elders aren't exactly happy with her.

What does the Endlessly Raging Valley do with the slaves?

Buy low and sell high, basically. Prisoners of war from other countries and so on are bought, then sold in other places at a higher value. The money is then used for other ventures. High-value slaves are either sold at high prices or kept for various purposes. 

Some people in the Endlessly Raging Valley consider the whole thing beneath them. Others don’t care. 

Are there other cultivators like Elder Xun in the 4 great sects? People who are at the peak of the Emperor realm but unable to progress further?

Some.

On average, how long does it take someone to reach the Emperor Realm in the Four Great Sects?

Speaking averages for something like this is tricky and bound to lead to inaccurate assumptions. Extreme cases like the Wandering Wind did it in decades. Others needed multiple centuries. 

What is the average level of cultivation in a great sect compared to other places? Does the average cultivator there peak in the Earth, Heaven realm, or much, much lower?

Again, this gets into the issue of speaking of averages for such a broad issue. Let’s assume the average level for a common person is somewhere in the Nascent Realm. That’s not true of every city, obviously. There are places where common people can reach greater heights, but again, let’s assume. 

Similarly, the average in the Eternal Flame Clan varies between its many branches and between Outer to Inner to Core Disciples. For example, if you are an “average” Core Disciple of the Eternal Flame Clan, chances are you will reach the Heaven Realm eventually. 

However, if you are an Outer Disciple who has not managed to become an Inner Disciple, you’ll probably quietly transfer to a Branch Sect in some low power area and maybe peak at the True Realm.

How large are the Four Great Sects? Like, hundreds of people, thousands, tens of thousands? Even if they only admit very few people every time, it should add up quite a bit given that cultivators, especially on that level will be living for at least a few centuries.

Depends on the Sect. The Divine Frozen Palace has the lowest number of members. The Eternal Flame Clan has the highest. The total number of disciples in the Eternal Flame Clan, counting all its many branches, is probably in the tens of thousands. The Divine Frozen Palace would be only in the thousands.

Do any of the Four Great Sects spy on each other or other lesser Sects? Have there ever been any major instances of espionage or other clandestine operations between them in their history?

Tons.

The Four Great Sects are constantly spying on each other. Some disciples join Sects for the sole purpose of being spies. Of course, most of those end as only Outer or Inner Disciples. The higher you rise within a Sect, the more scrutiny you are under, and the harder it is to keep up a cover.

How often do people defect from one of the four great sects to another one? 

It’s technically rare. What I mean is that since there are disciples who enter just to be spies, it is possible for those people to become happier in their new Sect and just cut ties with their old Sect. They are not cases that can be proven, but they exist.

Public cases are significantly rarer.

Dai Jie once mentioned a "Battle of the Five Valleys" in which the DFP and EFC once fought together. What kind of battle was this, and how often does something like that occur?

Once upon a time, two rival Sects were hunting for an elusive white deer. Due to escalating tensions, they called upon their respective allies, the Eternal Flame Clan and the Divine Frozen Palace, who promptly decided they were going to keep the deer for themselves and agreed to share it.

Things might have grown complicated when the Infinite Mountain Sect got involved. 

The Eternal Flame Clan might have told the Divine Frozen Palace they totally had their back, but they might have backstabbed them instead. 

A very violent battle might have followed, and the white deer might have been killed in it.

Might.

It is something that happens every decade or so.

We know that the Divine Frozen Palace and Infinite Mountain Sect are on the same mountain range, as said in the first Divine Frozen Palace Interlude. What does that mean for the relationship between them? 

It does not play a big part in it. 

Yes, they are on the same mountain range, but it is a big mountain range that spans a massive length and is cut in half, so they are technically neighbors, but they are not the neighbors that have to constantly fight over the property line or the neighbors that have cookouts together. They are more like neighbors who occasionally see each other and wave and maybe have a couple of funny anecdotes and a couple of violent anecdotes. 

I believe one of the Fairies said that the Divine Frozen Palace is the only one of the Four Great Sects without a bloodline of the 108 amongst their number. What families in the other two Sects are of the 108 since we already know the Feng Clan is one? 

The Chen Clan in the Infinite Mountain Sect is one. The Ruan Clan and the Ding Clan in the Endlessly Raging Valley are also examples, though in that case, they have married each other a bunch of times, and each claims to be the “original” family. 

Are the Five Fairies the only emperors in the DFP?

No, but they are the main leadership of their Sect. There are also not many others. The Divine Frozen Palace has the lowest number of Emperors between the Four Great Sects.

How big of a scandal would it have been if Bai Lianshi had Feng Shang's child during their time together in the Dead Plains?

Huge.

There’d be plays, saucy books, and songs. 

Did the Feng brothers win during their time at the Tournament? 

Yes, but they each participated in different tournaments due to interference by several Elders who feared that if put in such a large state, the brothers might get caught in the heat of the moment and unreasonably escalate the situation due to their competitive nature.

They distracted Feng Gui (with blackjack and hookers), making him unable to participate. By the next tournament, Feng Shang was already too old to participate. 

What was the biggest upset in the history of the Crimson Cloud Tournament? And what's the highest someone outside of the Four Great Sects has ever gotten?

Emperor Xiang taking the first place is the answer to both questions. 

Has a member of the 4 Great Sects ever lost in the second round?

Yes. It has happened a few times. It was very embarrassing for those disciples.

How far apart in terms of skills and cultivation are each generation participating in the CCT? As in, a hundred years ago, was the average level the same?

A hundred years ago, the average level was not significantly lower, but it was lower. Currently, the average level of a participant of the Four Great Sects is mid-to-low Earth Realm. A hundred years ago, there’d have been a couple disciples in the high levels of the True Realm mixed in.

How often do the Four Great Sect lose their disciples in the CCT?

Every other tournament or so.

What is the worst the Four Great Sects have ever performed in the CCT?

Fifth place is the lowest they have gone.

Did Liu Jianguo ever interact with any of the Four Great Sects in a greater capacity?

Not particularly. He knew of them and may have run into their members a few times during his travels, but he was more focused on the Storm Dragon Empire.

Is the independent participant who managed to be in the top 100 of the previous tournaments Jianguo?

No. He never got to participate there.

Given that mostly only scions of the Four Great Sects "deserve each other", how is the problem of inter-sect romance and marriages getting solved by the sects' leadership?   

Inter-sect romance and marriage between the Four Great Sect can happen, but it does not happen at the highest levels. No Sect wants to give the other access to their full bloodline. 

What happens if, for example, the child of two Core Disciples of one of the Four Great Sects doesn't have enough talent for cultivation? Will they be thrown out of the sect? If so, when and how?

It is a very unlikely scenario. A child of two Core Disciples will receive all sorts of pills and elixirs to help him or her, on top of having the instruction of powerful cultivators. Even if he does not inherit his parents’ talents, he will at least reach an “acceptable” level. Maybe they will be sent off to a Branch Sect to be a big fish in a relatively small pond. 

In an extreme case, like some sort of crippling condition, the child will be given away. Maybe to a subordinate Sect or some other remote place to grow up in. This would be done not only to protect the reputation of his parents but also because a weak child would be an easy target for rivals. However, some parents may care more about the former than the latter.

Are the Fengs and the royalty of the Crimson Cloud Empire descendants of the same person in the 108? How exactly did the Crimson Cloud and the Eternal Flame separate?  

They are not. They both began as different families that found different halves of the same Inheritance. As for how one Inheritance split, well, it was a particularly violent death that led to an equally violent process of leaving behind an Inheritance.

Does each of the four great sects have a discipline they excel at much more than others? I am speaking more in terms of alchemy, formations, talismans, refining, blacksmithing etc. rather than the propensity for certain types of qi.

The Infinite Mountain Sect and the Eternal Flame Clan will tell you they both have the best blacksmiths. The Infinite Mountain Sect is closer to being right. The Eternal Flame Clan is more of a jack of all trades. 

The Endlessly Raging Valley is better at talismans, but all the cool kids want to use wind like the Wandering Wind.

The Divine Frozen Palace is actually good at formations as a way to sort of counter them being the smallest in number. There just hasn’t been a chance to show it because their members are all lone wolves that go and do things on their own.

How does Elder Xue view Jin? Is he just a talented disciple, or, as other characters have commented, does she attempt to fulfill the role of mom/parent for him?

Elder Xue cares a great deal for Liu Jin, but she does not quite realize that her affection for Liu Jin has parental shades, so she’s not willingly trying to be a parent to him. She feels a great deal of pride for him but also is somewhat sad that she’ll never really be his master because that position was filled long before she met him.